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"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God..."
Echoes
From
Book
Three
By J.
Table of
Contents
Chapter
Title
Page
35
The
Dominion of Angels (cont.)
101
39
Return
to
Chapter
31
THE SERPENT
Now the SERPENT
was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made... and the SERPENT
said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die... and the Lord God said unto the SERPENT,
Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of
the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it
shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel (Gen. 3:1,4,14-15).
The subject on
which I now write is one of both peculiar difficulty and solemnity. Of difficulty on more
accounts than one, but more particularly in view of the false, and, indeed, heathenish
ideas that have been bequeathed to us from times of spiritual darkness and superstition,
and the acceptance of which can only be due to a lack on the part of the Lords
people of the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God. To sweep away the dust, and
cob-webs of mere tradition, or popular folly that have buried this truth, and given us a
merely ridiculous parody on this subject will incur the misunderstanding and wrath of not
a few sincere people.
The book of
Genesis is probably the most important book ever written. The word genesis of
course means origin or beginning, and the book of Genesis gives
the only true and reliable account of the basic entities and conditions of the universe
and of life. Genesis yields vital information concerning the origin of ALL THINGS
and therefore the meaning of ALL THINGS!
When God speaks
of the beginning He is speaking of the originating point of the subject in
question. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1).
Away back yonder, before the dim and distant ages that are gone, our heavenly Father
purposed and planned and commanded; and lo, the worlds came into being! Out of
invisibility came forth the visible; where previously there had been but empty space, now
matter appeared and took form: a kingdom was in the making. It all began in the
beginning. All these things had their origin in Him, and they were His workmanship
from the beginning of their creation. It is interesting to note that in the Hebrew text
this word beginning is 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. There is neither time nor space to enumerate all that is included within
the scope of the beginnings in Gen. 1:1, but surely it can be summed up in
just two words: ALL THINGS. 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 (Col. 1:16-17).
The truth to
which the Spirit of God would now draw our attention is this: When God speaks of the
beginning He is speaking of the ORIGINATING POINT of the subject in question. It is
written of Jesus when He had turned water into wine, THIS BEGINNING of miracles did
Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory; and His disciples believed on
Him (Jn. 2:11). This means, simply, that the miraculous aspect of the ministry of
Jesus Christ had as its originating point this miracle of the water turned into wine. He
had performed no miracles before this time, but from this day forth many more were to
follow. This, so far as His miracles were concerned, was the beginning. Thus
we may clearly see that if something is manifested in a certain form from the
beginning that means that from the time it was first formed, established, and came
into being it has been in that condition.
Webster defines
beginning as (1) a start (2) the time or place of starting or coming
into being; origin; source. It should not be difficult for anyone who has a working
knowledge of the English language to understand the meaning of in the beginning
or from the beginning. The beginning of anything is simply THE TIME OR PLACE
OF ITS STARTING OR COMING INTO BEING.
Yet, the whole
teaching of the church system has perpetrated a crude notion which collides head-on with
this plain and unmistakable truth of Gods Word! Despite the fact that from the
beginning obviously means from the start, origin, or coming into being of a thing,
men have taught a doctrine for long centuries which blatantly contradicts this simple
statement of divine fact. I speak of that which is taught concerning Satan the
Devil.
Orthodoxy has
long taught that Satan was, in the beginning, a high and beautiful archangel in heaven.
The theologians and preachers recite over and over how Satan was originally the
anointed cherub that covereth... the most beautiful and wise of all Gods creation!
This being was, so they say, the ruler and leader of the angelic beings and apparently led
them in their praise of God and shouts of joy... the greatest being God ever created, one
who had unequaled strength, wisdom, beauty, privilege, and authority, and was the next
form to God Himself. This blameless, perfect one, named Lucifer, was created without any
form of evil and with the greatest intelligence of any created being. Then, we are told,
(oh the wonder of it!) this Lucifer, suddenly realizing how beautiful and intelligent he
was, became inflated with power and pride and his heart was lifted up in rebellion against
God. According to the story, Lucifer gathered one-third of the heavenly angels to his
cause, mustering an army with which he planned to knock God off His throne and supplant
himself as king and god of the universe and there was war in heaven! Luckily, God
won, cast Lucifer out of heaven and he became,
instead of an holy angel, the Devil that he is today.
It is nothing
short of amazing that such a doctrine could have enjoyed such widespread acceptance in the
light of the plain teachings of the scriptures on this subject. Any man who fails to
discern between facts and fables, and who opposes or rebels against facts, is a fool.
Fools manifest their true state by resisting and ignoring facts. Please remember, there is
a world of difference between facts, beliefs, and fantasies. I believe the core of our
natural earth is hot, perhaps molten. But no man knows anything about the true conditions
down there. There is no possible way of ascertaining or demonstrating the truth or falsity
of my belief. So it remains merely a belief: it may be true, or it may be false. On the
other hand, if I thought our natural sun were made of red paint, that would be a fantasy,
just a highly improbable or irrational idea of my own. But facts are altogether different.
They are actualities, realities, whether they can be demonstrated as such or not. Ice is
cold. That is a fact which can be demonstrated. The earth is round. That fact has through
recent centuries been must conclusively demonstrated. It is neither a belief or a fantasy.
Fire burns; one must have air to breathe; these are facts, and, only fools will oppose or
resist them. And now we are going to state some facts. Let us contrast what MEN say and
believe with what GOD says!
MAN says that
Satan IN THE BEGINNING was holy, but later fell from that estate. JESUS said of Satan,
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a
MURDERER (not an angel) from the BEGINNING, and abode not in the truth, because
there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a
liar, and the father of it (Jn. 8:44). In these studies on the Garden of Eden we are
searching out the BEGINNING, probing into the very mists of the past, the times before
this age and past ages, that we might understand the grand and glorious purposes of our
omnipotent and omniscient heavenly Father which He hath purposed from the beginning of the
world. How authoritatively the Lord Jesus reveals that way back there, in THE BEGINNING,
in even HIS beginning, Satan WAS A MURDERER!
The verse we have
just quoted states that Satan abode not in the truth. In the Greek text this
verb is the imperfect tense of, I keep my standing, or simply I stand, and
the form is meaning that even before the fall or as far back as this person existed HE WAS
NOT TRUE. Dr. Robert Young, in his Literal translation of the Bible, renders this verse:
He was a manslayer from the beginning, and in the truth HE HATH NOT STOOD, because
there is no truth in him. The
MAN says that
Satan IN THE BEGINNING was perfect and sinless. But the apostle John, writing under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, penned these words in regard to Satans origin:
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil SINNETH FROM THE BEGINNING
(I Jn. 3:8). This could not be rightly said of Adam. According to Genesis 2 and 3, it was
not until after Adam was created in spirit essence, after he was lowered
into the realm of flesh, after he was placed in the Garden, after he named
all the animals, after the woman was taken from his side, after she listened
to the serpent and ate the forbidden fruit it was AFTER ALL THESE THINGS that Adam
sinned. Adam was not a sinner from the beginning. But the Devil, according to I Jn. 3:8
W-A-S A SINNER F-R-O-M T-H-E B-E-G-I-N-N-I-N-G!
Now, if we are to believe the Bible means what it says and I believe it does
we must believe that from his very beginning SATAN WAS EVIL.
WHO MADE THE
DEVIL?
Yes, my friend,
there is a Devil but the Devil of orthodox Christianity is but an invention of the
imagination of man. What people say about the Devil and the testimony of scripture about
him are two altogether different things. Well did the apostle warn, 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 (I Tim. 4:1). Doctrines of devils
does not mean necessarily doctrines spawned by devils, rather, doctrines about devils. The
theologians and saints of the middle ages spent aching hours working out the shapes, sizes
and special responsibilities of the various demons that Satan commanded. There was even a
demon called Ukobach, who was credited with the invention of fried food! Many of the
contemporary teachings on demonology are straight out this Dark Ages superstition. The
whole system of demonology which came to us from medieval times had its origin in the idea
of animism which influenced the thinking of the pagans in early history. They believed
that all nature was commanded and controlled by invisible spirits upon whose capricious
whims all events relied. Life in those ancient times was a constant struggle with the
elements over which men had no control. The unpredictable behavior of the sea, periods of
drought or storm, the appearance of volcanoes and the titanic upheaval of earthquakes were
all viewed with awe and fear. All these phenomena, benevolent or destructive in turn, were
gradually seen to be under the control of spirits, they did not just happen!
The reason some have held the view that Satan was originally an angel is because it seems
to relieve God of the responsibility for evil and sin in the world. When they are asked
whether a good God created a bad Devil, they can reply: No, He did not create the
Devil; He created a beautiful and powerful angel who later became the Devil! This
sounds good on the surface, but when the searchlight of the spirit of wisdom and
revelation from God shines in our hearts, this line of reasoning is seen to be but shallow
inductions of the natural mind.
How COULD an
all-wise and holy God create an evil Devil? Our reply to that is another question: If God,
all-wise and all-knowing, created a being and designed within this being the inherent
ability and potential to become evil a will capable of rebelling against Him
and if in His omniscience He knew beforehand that this creature would become evil, is God
then any LESS responsible for the Devil? If, on the other hand, we say that God created a
holy being and did not know he would become evil, then God is not omniscient and the Devil
got a step ahead of God! If the Devil could do something back there that was outside of
Gods plan, which God did not know he would do, then HOW CAN WE BE SURE HE MIGHT NOT
PULL A FAST ONE ON GOD AGAIN! Ah, beloved, such carnal reasoning is an affront to the
majesty of the Most High God! Is it any less thinkable that God would create an evil one
than to suppose that He would create a holy one with the God-given ability to become evil?
In either case, there is absolutely no way to absolve GOD from the responsibility for the
existence of the Devil!
That all
things are of God is declared again and again in the Bible. Did not the Lord say to
Pharaoh, that man of rebellion against all that was of God, Even for this same
purpose have I RAISED THEE UP, that I might show My power in thee, and that My name might
be declared throughout all the earth. (Rom. 9:17). The infinite wisdom of Gods
mind cannot be searched out by these puny little heads of ours. We must discard our
childish theology and bring our minds into harmony with the mind of Christ. We must begin
to peer through the mighty telescope of Gods wisdom as it looks through the vast
universe of good and evil until heavenly light bursts with blazing brilliance upon our
inquiring spirits and we see with crystal clear vision that God is in all things, and is
responsible for all things, including the so-called evil things as well as the good
things. Is it not a fearful thing to say that evil is of God? There is nothing fearful
about this view unless the TRUTH be fearful! I would not be surprised if some of the
compatriots of the prophet Amos may have thought he was speaking blasphemy when by the
Holy Spirit he said, Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be
afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and THE LORD HATH NOT DONE IT? (Amos 3:6).
There are untold millions of Christians who do not like to believe that A-L-L T-H-I-N-G-S
A-R-E O-F G-O-D including evil. They much prefer to believe, as the harlot system
has taught them, that in the beginning God made everything perfect, then one
of the perfect angels made himself into the Devil, and proceeded to wreck the
works of Gods hands, so degrading Gods beautiful and perfect creation until
the Lord Almighty Himself was hard put to the test to discover some way to restore the
creation from the clutches of the Devil. And after six long and tortuous milleniums of
conflict and struggle, contest and effort, the battle still rages on year after year and
generation after generation, the Devil out-foxing God at times, and God getting the upper
hand eventually. Childish prattle! Vain imaginations! Carnal-minded stupidity!
Why, oh why can
men not believe the simple, unvarnished Word of God. Ah we have Gods
own Word for it His positive statement that HE CREATES EVIL. That they may
know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that THERE IS NONE BESIDE ME. I am the
Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and
create evil. I THE LORD DO ALL OF THESE THINGS (Isa. 45:7). God creates evil! It
cannot be! But here it is in the Word. What will you do with it, beloved? We must
explain it somehow, the fundamentalist says, surely it doesnt mean that
God creates evil, sin, sinners, devils, or wrongdoing it must mean that He creates
physical evil famines, pestilences, hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, floods,
calamities, judgments, etc. which God sends upon mankind as punishment for their
wickedness. Not so! The word here for evil is the Hebrew word RA which is used
throughout the Old Testament to denote wickedness, sin and wrongdoing. In some five
hundred passages it is so used!
For example, in
Gen. 6:5 we read, And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of his heart was only evil (ra) continually. Again, And
the Lords anger was kindled against Israel, and He made them wander in the
wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil (ra) in the sight of
the Lord, was consumed (Num. 32:13). In Ps. 34:13-15 we admonished, Keep thy
tongue from evil (ra), and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil (ra), and do
good... the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry.
The very same word in the original is also rendered wicked and wickedness
more than a hundred times. So God declares, I form the light, and create darkness:
I make peace, and create evil. I the Lord do all these things!
Why should puny man attempt to shield the Almighty from the responsibility He Himself has
taken? If He says He creates peace, then believe Him. If He says He creates evil, then
believe that, too. Do you remember how they brought the blind man to Jesus, and as the
poor fellow stood there, the disciples said to Jesus, Master, who did sin, this man
or his parents, that he should be born blind? Jesus replied, Neither hath this
man sinned, nor his parents: BUT THAT THE WORKS OF GOD SHOULD BE MADE MANIFEST IN HIM
(Jn. 9:2-3). So through the evil of blindness the glory of God was manifested in the end!
As soon as this
significant truth dawns upon your enlightened consciousness, the knowledge of WHENCE CAME
THE SERPENT will speedily follow. The Word of God is certain and unmistakable. The record
is clear and unequivocal. The Holy Spirit emphatically declares, Now the Serpent was
more subtle than any beast of the field which THE LORD GOD HAD MADE (Gen. 3:1). Two
things are here revealed: the nature of the Serpent is a beastly nature and GOD
MADE HIM! Suppose that instead of trying to explain this passage in harmony with some
cut-and-dried creed, we let all creeds go and wait upon the Spirit of the Lord to give
understanding of what the passage really means. Then, if the creed does not harmonize with
the light the Spirit brings, throw the creed away. At any rate, here is the statement in
the Word and we will be brave enough to receive it as truth and trust the same One who
spoke it to explain it. The Serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field
which THE LORD GOD HAD MADE. These words deserve volumes of explanation, but can you
not see that they are filled with the spirit of revelation? God made the Serpent, God made
him with a beastly nature, God made him subtle, God made him the Devil and Satan. God made
him a murderer and a liar from the beginning! It is completely impossible for any man to
truly know and love God until his spirit has been taught that before all things, through
all things, in all things, and after all things is God, omnipotent, omniscient, immutable,
eternal, purposeful, and filled with righteousness, love, kindness, forgiveness and truth.
He was before all things and BY HIM ALL THINGS CONSIST. There is no angel, principality,
or power anywhere in all the endless vastnesses of infinity that does not hold his
authority by direct appointment of God. In Him all men and angels and creatures live and
move and have their being, for He fills all things. By Him and for Him and to Him are all
things. From Him everything comes, by Him everything exists, and in Him everything ends,
bringing glory to God forever and ever, Amen.
Hardly had the
human race been called into existence, than we find a strange enemy making his attack upon
it under the guise of a serpent. Although the writer of this account gives no name
to this creature, except the serpent, other scriptures leave us no doubt as to
who it was. Mere serpent, mere animal, it could not possibly be; for speech is the
distinctive characteristic of intelligent mind, and that this Serpent obsessed the faculty
of both speech and reason was and is enough to prove that someone of a higher kingdom and
order than that of beasts and reptiles was acting. The preachers are always telling us
that the Serpent in the garden was one of these long, slender reptiles that have backbones
and ribs and scales on the outside of their bodies. Numerous pictures have been sketched
of the snake dangling from a tree limb, conversing with Eve. But the inspired Word of the
omniscient Creator contradicts the uninspired word of the tradition-ridden theologians!
John the Revelator stood transfixed in the visions of God on
Here Satan is
called that old Serpent. The word old is from the Greek ARCHAlOS
which means original or primeval. Primeval means FROM
THE FIRST AGE OR AGES. Phillips translation reads, Then I saw an angel coming
down from heaven with the key of the pit and a huge chain in his hand. He seized the
dragon, the SERPENT OF ANCIENT DAYS, who IS both the Devil and Satan... Another
version states, And he seized the dragon, the ORIGINAL SERPENT, WHO IS the Devil and
Satan. The Amplified Bible renders, And he gripped and overpowered the dragon,
that OLD SERPENT OF PRIMEVAL TIMES, WHO IS the Devil and Satan. Man says that
a fallen angel, Lucifer, somehow got into the serpent and spoke through its mouth; but the
almighty Father declares that that original Serpent I-S T-H-E D-E-V-I-L A-N-D S-A-T-A-N!
Phillips
translation reads, Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key of the
pit and a huge chain in his hand. He seized the dragon, the SERPENT OF ANCIENT DAYS, who
IS both the Devil and Satan... Another version states, And he seized the
dragon, the ORIGINAL SERPENT, WHO IS the Devil and Satan... The Amplified Bible
says, And he gripped and overpowered the dragon, that OLD SERPENT OF PRIMEVAL TIMES,
WHO IS the Devil and Satan... It is a common fault among us to repeat what the
theologians and preachers of
MAN, on the one
hand, says that a fallen angel, Satan, used the serpent in
Children in
school learn what we call definitions. A definition is an explanatory statement which
tells us just exactly what a certain thing is, as an island is a tract of land
completely surrounded by water. God also gives us definitions in His Word. He tells
us exactly what certain things are. And in the Scripture just quoted He has told us
exactly what the serpent is: That original serpent, WHICH IS the Devil and Satan.
Now let us make this a little plainer. Definitions of men can be given backward. For
instance, the definition, An island is a tract of land completely surrounded by
water, can be given thus: A tract of land completely surrounded by water is an
island. This is but another way of stating the same fact. It does not, in any way,
change the meaning. Now let us try this on the definition of the serpent. That
original serpent IS the Devil Satan IS that original serpent.
That, dear reader, is GODS OWN DEFINITION of the serpent in
The imagination
that a thing can have its beginning in God, and then become something other than
what God foresaw, purposed, intended, or planned for it is a vain imagination that comes
from the distorted mind and the wild imagination of man and not a truth that comes from
the omniscient mind of our heavenly Father, for OF HIM AND THROUGH HIM AND TO HIM, are all
things; to HIM be glory forever and ever! Amen! (Rom. 11:36). Even more enlightening is
the translation from Goodspeed which says, For FROM HIM EVERYTHING COMES: THROUGH
HIM EVERYTHING EXISTS; AND IN HIM EVERYTHING ENDS. GLORY TO HIM FOREVER! AMEN. Or as
the Amplified Bible bluntly and beautifully words it, For from Him and through Him
and to Him are all things. For all things originate with Him and come from Him; all
things live through Him, and all things center in and tend to consummate and to end in
Him. To Him be glory forever! Amen so be it.
The words of this
precious portion of Scripture cast a ray of divine illumination across the gloomy pages of
human tradition that for centuries has confused mens minds and attributed to Satan
the power to be and to do apart from, and in rebellion against God, causing
mens faith in the omniscience, immutability, and omnipotence of the Lord to falter
and die. There came a blessed day in my life when my Father in heaven let me hear a secret
from His own heart, a secret that few have understood throughout all generations of the
Church. When He breathed into my listening ear it well nigh stunned me because of my own
tradition and unbelief, yet I could not doubt the truth He taught me when He said, 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). ALL THINGS were made by Him, and without Him was not
anything made that was made (Jn. 1:3). I was as one shocked by a lightning bolt out
of the sky by these words because for years all my teachers had instilled the very
opposite into my mind. God, they told me, made a beautiful, glorious
angel, but the Devil made himself! But when I heard the voice of the all-wise
Lord, speaking from the throne of His all-powerful majesty, taking upon HIMSELF all the
responsibility for THE ENTIRE CREATION, my heart was amazed in His presence and for the
first time in my life the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will, began to unfold in my deepest heart.
God is THE CAUSE
of all that is. It all exists with the one purpose of showing forth His glory. Every
object in nature, and every creature in the universe has its only reason of existence in
this that the wondrous goodness and wisdom and power of God may shine out through
it. God is the end and aim of all things, because He is their
beginning and origin. All must fulfill His will because all came from Him and exist only
through Him.
Most of the Lords
people have an image of Jesus. They think they know just what the Lord looks like.
But the image invariably corresponds to the idea of what He was when He was here in the
flesh. But there isnt a single person in all the world today who can know just what
Jesus might look like. Until they get rid of that image, they are going to have a
very limited conception of the Christ. When the image goes and people begin to see Him as
He really is, then our conception of Him will be enlarged beyond anything we can
imagine. Now, just as most of Gods people entertain an image of Jesus, SO THEY HAVE
ONE OF SATAN. This image, too, must go before any of us can see things correctly. When all
of the seventy came back to Jesus with the report that even the demons were subject unto
them in the name of Jesus, He counseled them not to rejoice in that fact, but to rejoice
in the fact that their names were written in heaven. Then the Lord announced, I
beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven (Lk. 10:18). The preachers tell us that
this refers to the time, away back before the foundation of the world, when Lucifer was
cast out of heaven.
How art
thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the
ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend
into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the
clouds: I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides
of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying,
Is not this the MAN that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the
world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his
prisoners? (Isa. 14:12-17). It should be clear to every enlightened student of Gods
Word that all truth has applications on different levels. It is my conviction that the
inspired statements in the afore quoted passage may be applied on the historical level,
the prophetical level, the spiritual level, and the personal level. In its first and
historical application the one called Lucifer refers to the literal king of
the Kingdom of Babylon in the days of Isaiah who although mighty in political and
military power and the most exalted ruler among nations would fall just like other
rulers of the past. The prophetical application points to the king of Mystery Babylon,
the chief antichrist of the worlds apostate church system, who is not recognized for
what he is, but is lauded as the greatest religious leader in the world, by whom untold
millions of those who name the name of Christ are deceived, as it is written, And
the whole world wondered after the beast. The spiritual application is found in the
fall of man from his original position of glory, eminence and dominion. The message is
clear the subject of Isaiahs prophecy is a MAN not an angelic
spirit-being! They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee,
saying, Is this THE M-A-N that made the earth to tremble...that made the earth as a
wilderness: that opened not the house of his prisoners? (Isa. 14:16-17).
Lucifer,
instead of being the name of an angel who became the Devil, was THE NAME THE ANCIENTS
GAVE TO THE MORNING STAR. Pliny, a noted historian of antiquity, says, Before the
sun revolves, a very large star...when in advance and rising before dawn receives the name
Lucifer, being another sun and bringing the dawn... Lucifer, the light-bringer, is
the Latin equivalent of the Greek word PHOSPHOROS, which is used as a title for Christ in
II Pet.1:19. Peter had been discussing the glorious experience that he, along with James
and John, had had with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. Speaking of the voice that
spoke to them there, he said, We have also a more sure word of prophecy whereunto ye
do well to take heed... until the day dawn and the DAY STAR (Greek: phosphoros; Latin:
lucifer) arise in your hearts. I do not have the ability to make this truth any
plainer than Jesus Himself made it when He called Himself the PHOSPHOROS or the LUCIFER in
Rev. 22:16, saying, I AM... the BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR. In the messages of
Christ to the seven churches in the book of Revelation a special promise was always given
to him that overcometh, but to the church at Thyatira He gave a promise that is
worthy to fill every page of this article. May our Lord give us the spirit of revelation
to understand what He said: And he that overcometh... I will give him THE MORNING
STAR (Rev. 2:26, 28). Just think of that! My beloved, ponder if you will
whether we call it Day Star, Morning Star, or Lucifer
it is all the same. This rising of the Day Star in our hearts is the
out-raying of the Christ within, for, you see, HE IS the Day Star! It should be obvious to
every spiritual mind that what is recovered through the redemption of Jesus Christ
is WHAT ADAM HAD IN THE BEGINNING WITH GOD. Adam in the image and likeness of God was so
indwelt by light, so a partaker of the Christ Life, that he was himself a DAY STAR
the shining one of creation!
Truly, Adam
is the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms, and made the earth a
wilderness, for it was to him and him alone that these terrible words were spoken, Cursed
is the ground (earth realm) for thy sake (Gen. 3:17). As we meditate upon these
sobering words of judgment, we cannot imagine words that more exactly describe the tragic
picture of the fall of man from his exalted position in God. Driven from the garden, the
Kingdom of Heaven on earth; the whole earth realm (cursed) with sorrow, sin and death for
his sake; no more could Adam hear the voice of God walking in the cool of the day
he no longer possessed spiritual ears. No more could Adam eat of the blessed fruit of the
tree of life he no longer possessed a spiritual mind. No more could Adam behold the
glories of that heavenly realm he no longer possessed spiritual eyes. He who had
never known anything but the rest of God was to labor and toil in the earth. The heavens
were closed, the communion with the spirit was broken, and Adam found himself stripped of
the life and light and dominion that had been his he no longer possessed a
spiritual nature. What a loss! What unspeakable loss!
In its personal
application the king of
When the Lord
Jesus told his disciples that He beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven, He was saying
that he had seen Satan FALL OUT OF HIS (JESUS) HEAVEN, or actually Jesus had seen Satan
FALL BEFORE HIM, and become subservient to Him in the realm of the Spirit. So far as Jesus
was concerned Satan was no longer in possession of any authority whatsoever. Jesus spake
not of an historical event, but a living reality that He had seen occur within His own
consciousness, life and ministry. THIS WE ALL MUST SEE AND KNOW if we are to have any
sense of victory in our lives, if we are to truly walk as the sons of God. We must realize
that if Satan has fallen he is not the almost-almighty head of a kingdom, but he has been
stripped and his kingdom has been broken. This must be embraced as a wonderful reality
within ourselves. When we realize that Satan has fallen before THE CHRIST WITHIN US, then
we really will be set free! When this truly happens we are on our way not to a rapture
but to that high and holy position that God has created for us and determined to
bring us to.
To those who have
Satan yet in their consciousness elevated to a position of power and who carry in their
thinking an image of him, HE HAS NOT AS YET FALLEN. Such people have made a god of him,
but in your life, precious one, He is to be cast down, and you are to know once and for
all that THERE IS ONLY GOD WHO RULES ALL. If God is controlling a part of this world and
Satan is running another part, may God indeed help us! We would be under two
governments and our lives would be a hell. But to some of us, at least, SATAN HAS FALLEN
and has ceased to be a king in our domain. When this truth is revealed in power and glory
within your deepest heart, for you, at last, THERE WILL BE NO DEVIL ANYMORE!
In closing this
message I would share a beautiful and significant vision received by a sister in
Rapping me
in His love, He carried me away in spirit into the world of harmonic life and light.
There, after His usual welcome of love and taking away my fears, He took me to look. When
I did so, I saw what seemed to be dark, evil-looking teeth which were sharp, pointed, long
and ugly. Coming out from these teeth was something very repugnant which He named poison.
Then God took something that was a part of His very own being and gave it to those ugly,
hollow teeth that looked like great serpent fangs which were pouring out poison. This
poison from the fangs flowed into that part of Himself which God had given to them, and in
this way were fully satisfied. Flowing into the part which God had given, the poison was
fully satiated. This part which had come forth from Him and was a part of His own
being completely absorbed all the poison that these great Fangs poured forth
end quote. What a Word!
WHY THE DEVIL?
Over the years
many books have been written, many songs have been sung, many sermons have been preached,
and many things have been said about and blamed on the Devil. Sad to say, but the vast
majority of Christians fear the Devil more than they do God! Satan has been blamed for
everything from the car breaking down to ingrown toenails. People have painted him as a
huge, ugly, impish personage with horns, bedecked with a red suit, having a long pointed tail and carrying a
pitchfork. The Word of God, however, has somewhat to say about who and what Satan is and
WHY HE IS WHAT HE IS.
Jesus declared of
Satan, The thief cometh not, but for the steal, and to kill, and to destroy; I am
come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (Jn.
10:10). Out of Gods own mouth proceeds the assertion, I have created the
waster to destroy (Isa. 54:16). We gather from this passage that Satan is a created
entity with a definite purpose. That purpose is revealed in the opening words of the above
quoted verse: I have created the smith (the Devil) that bloweth the coals in the
fire, and that BRINGETH FORTH AN INSTRUMENT for his work. The smith that
bloweth upon the fire is also the one who heats the furnace seven times
hotter! Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery Mat which is to try you,
as though some strange thing had happened unto you (I Pet. 4:12). Our trials and
testings are associated in the Word of God with the ministry of Satan. You never thought
of Satan having a ministry? Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted (tested) of the Devil. And when the Tempter came to Him, he said, If Thou be
the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread (Mat. 4:1-3).
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the Devil shall cast some
of you into prison, that ye may be tried
be thou
faithful
and I will give thee a crown of life Rev. 2:10). And the Lord
said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as
wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art
converted, strengthen thy brethren (Lk. 22:31-32). Be sober, be vigilant,
because your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may
devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world (I Pet. 5:8-9).
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 AN OPPOSITE. Few will teach you this principle, but I
declare it to you today. 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 if there was no darkness. What could we know of life
if there were no death? What would we know of health if there were no sickness?
What could 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
tempted. No man can be declared strong until he has been tested for weakness. No man can
be proven honest until he has been presented with the opportunity to steal or cheat. No
man can be declared virtuous until faced with opportunities with women other than his
wife. No man can be an overcomer until he has faced the dreadful foe. Those who are worthy
to slay their Goliaths must first have slain their lion and their bear. No man can be an
overcoming son of God until he has encountered THE SERPENT IN THE WILDERNESS and come
forth victorious! Everything has its right and wrong, its truth and error, its good and
bad, its proper use and its misuse, and the one must overcome the other. Sweet must
overcome and swallow up bitter, smooth rough, soft hard. Life swallows up death, said Paul
in II Cor. 5:4; and it gets its strength from HAVING AN OPPOSITE WHICH IT HAS SWALLOWED
UP. You cannot say a certain yes in a decision, until you have first canvassed the
alternatives and said an equally certain no to each of them. The strength of the yes is
swallowing up the nos! Not in having no nos, not in ignoring their existence,
but in facing them and replacing them by the final yes. And here we have Gods
perfect wisdom in the formation of the human race and in bringing forth a convenient
opposite, the wrong one, the evil one, THROUGH WHOM HE WOULD BRING HIS VAST FAMILY OF SONS
TO MATURITY. Though He were a Son, yet learned He OBEDIENCE by the things which He
suffered (Heb. 5:8). For it became Him... in bringing many sons to glory, to
make the captain of their salvation PERFECT through sufferings (Heb. 2:10).
As one has
written, God is constructing a temple, made of living stones, through which to
manifest Himself throughout the ages to come, hallelujah, and Satan was created (a sinner
from the beginning) as a chisel and hammer to be used in the construction of this
building. The living stones that are even now being placed in this temple have been
chosen, says the Lord, in the furnace of affliction (Isa. 48:10). God,
however, is mercy; God is love; God is compassion. He is a healer, not a destroyer. It
was, nonetheless, necessary that an oven be heated in which to purify the gold a
furnace in which the wood, hay, and stubble were to be burned but God, in His
nature of love, could not perform the necessary affliction. It was for this reason that He
created AN INSTRUMENT that was capable of performing this essential action in the lives of
men, for in Satan God literally created a chastening rod.
If we can
realize that behind the acts of Satan is the mighty hand of God working to bring forth
gold from these earthen vessels, we can rejoice, as David, in our afflictions and trials
and exclaim with him, It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might
learn Thy statutes (Ps. 119:7). Praise God! When we begin to see the GOOD that comes
from the assaults of Satan on our lives, we are able to appreciate all the more the
greatness of our God and the depth of the wisdom of His great mind. Praise His wonderful name! He is truly a
God of power and might, and ALL things are in His hand even this adversary whom we
call the Devil.
The Hebrew word
for satan is used two ways, with the definite article, the satan, and without
the article, the word satan simply means adversary. There is no
thought of monstrosity or evilness, but simply opposition. Thus the scriptures speak of
adversary, an adversary, and the adversary. It is that
which is ADVERSE to ones well being, desires, plans, hopes, goals or causes, whether good
or bad, real or imagined. Jesus told His disciples that He must go to
If there are
those who feel that in these messages on The Serpent the picture I have painted exhibits
the prevalence of the darker hues, I am so glad now to literally splash the canvas with
flaming colors. And then in the light that the Spirit brings we will discern the true
meaning of the momentary process, and the glory that follows. As one has written, God
is constructing a temple, made of living stones, through which to manifest Himself
throughout the ages to come, and Satan was created as a chisel and hammer to be used in
the construction of this building. The living stones that are even now being placed in
this temple have been chosen, says the Lord, in the furnace of affliction
(Isa. 48:10). God, however, is mercy; God is love; God is compassion. He is a
healer, not a destroyer. It was, nonetheless, necessary that an oven be heated in which to
purify the gold a furnace in which the wood, hay, and stubble were to be burned
but God, in His nature of love, could not perform the necessary affliction. It was
for this reason that He created an instrument that was capable of performing this
essential action in the lives of men, for in Satan God literally created a chastening rod.
If we can realize that behind the acts of Satan is the mighty hand of God working to bring
forth gold from these earthen vessels, we can rejoice, as David, in our afflictions and
trials and exclaim with him, It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might
learn Thy statutes (Ps. 119:7). Praise God! When we begin to see the good that comes
from the assaults of Satan on our lives, we are able to appreciate all the more the
greatness of our God and the depth of the wisdom of His great mind. He is truly a God of
might and power, and all things are in His hand even this adversary whom we call
the Devil Connie Asbill.
Ah, my 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 trouble. There is purpose
in infirmity. There is purpose in light and darkness. There is purpose in
good, and there is purpose in evil. There is purpose in adversity and in the
adversary who brings it. Yes, my brother, my sister, there is purpose in the
existence and work of Satan! Without this understanding all the work of God in all ages
becomes a hit and miss, trial and error affair unworthy of our mighty God of whom it is
written, The Most High
liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and His Kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing: and HE doeth ACCORDING TO THE WILL in the army of heaven,
and among the inhabitants of the earth: and NONE CAN STAY HIS HAND, or say, What doest
Thou?
One of the
fundamental laws of creation is that an OPPOSING FORCE is necessary for growth, and to
produce strength, stamina, and endurance. Any living thing that grows up without any
opposition is weak and powerless. Gods NEW CREATION must be strong and powerful, and
anything that desires to be strong, or anyone, must wrestle with a force that is contrary
to them. Any man who wants to develop muscular power to be strong, must spend weeks and
months and years in vigorous training doing heavy exercises, lifting heavy weights, using
the opposing force of gravity to develop his strength. A man who wants to be
a great wrestler, doesnt just wrestle when he is in the ring. At his training center
he has his wrestling partners with whom he wrestles by the hour. If he didnt do this
he would be weak and powerless in the ring. A boxer has his punching bags and sparring
partners, with whom he spends hours every day. Those opposing forces are
indispensable to develop strength and technique. A plant that grows in a greenhouse
sheltered from the winds and rains, pampered day after day, may grow large, but it is
inherently weak, and if suddenly exposed to the elements will wither and die. But a plant
that is constantly exposed to the fierce winds and pounding rains, burning heat and
chilling cold, is strong and not so easily destroyed.
So it is with us
as human beings. One who grows up in a sheltered environment, who is pampered all his
life, everything provided on a silver platter, grows up a weak, helpless, 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 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 wrestling partners to wrestle with, so we
will become strong. These are opposing forces THANK GOD FOR THEM! Is innocence
synonymous with virtue? The Father of spirits did not look forward to a distant day, at
the time of His begetting, expecting that some day a multitude of innocent ninnies and
dummies would stand before Him. How many of those who read these lines want their children
to grow up 100%innocent? Never having experienced the slightest temptation or
adversity in any form? This is precisely why God placed the Serpent in Eden with
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that man through the experience
of the opposites might in the experience be led to OVERCOME all things and to stand before
the Son of man in the strength of character, perception of mind, and quality of life of
God Himself. It is all part of our Fathers wise and magnificent plan!
Thou
couldest have no power at all against Me except it were given thee from above, Jesus
told Pilate. What Satan wrought against Job was ordained by the Lord who carefully marked
the bounds of the adversarys activity. Job was no baby saint, for no one less than
God Himself had given testimony that Job was a perfect and upright man, one that feared
God and eschewed evil. God had blessed this man with great wealth and a large family. He
had seven sons and three daughters. He owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels,
five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses. His household was very great with
many hired servants so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. The
thing we want to note is that although Job was wealthy in temporal things, rich in
spiritual things, and proclaimed perfect by the Lord Himself, he had not been tried
by fire as sons of God must be he was as yet UNTRIED, UNTESTED, and UNPROVEN.
In the midst of Jobs ordeal of affliction and suffering the spirit of prophecy came
upon him and he opened his mouth and spake concerning the purpose of God in it all,
declaring, But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come
forth as gold (Job 23:10). Never do I cease to be amazed at how the preachers and
teachers, apparently without exception, join their voices in unison with those of Jobs
contemptible comforters, indicting and blaming poor old Job, charging that God brought all
these calamities upon him because he had sin in his life, or because he was
self-righteous, or because of some other appalling fault in Job. The only reliable
testimony we have of Jobs true state of being is that spoken by the Lord Himself,
and HE declared that Job was A PERFECT MAN! Perfect, yes; but untried! His perfection
remained to be tested, proven and demonstrated. Now, what does God do but deliberately
hand over this perfect and upright man into the hands of Satan to do his worst upon him,
only that he should not touch his life. It was because that God desired to test Job that
He brought forth the smith to blow upon the fire. Please note that it was not
Satans idea to persecute poor old Job! Oh, no! It was God Himself who brought, up
the subject! There Satan was, presenting himself before the Lord, appearing for duty, and
God asked, Where have you been? Satan replied, Walking up and down in
the earth (no mention of Job at all). Well, Satan, the Lord asked,
have you considered My servant Job? Have you noticed that he eschews evil and fears
God? Have you noticed that, Satan? You can be assured, dear ones, that Satan had
noticed Job, but he wasnt doing anything to him.
One of the most
glorious testimonies of the preservation of the saints of God is given here in this
passage by Satan himself. Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast Thou not made a hedge
around him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side? Praise the
Lord! Yes, there truly is a hedge around the people of God, and that hedge is Jesus Christ
Himself. The Psalmist recognized and rejoiced in this fact when he said, 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 (Ps. 91:1-2). Youve put a hedge around him, Satan said,
and I cant get to him! Then he went on to say, You must put forth
THINE HAND and touch all that he hath, and he will curse Thee to Thy face. But the
Lord, who searcheth the reins and the heart, who knoweth them that are His, knows who can
be trusted with affliction, and will not allow any to be tested beyond what they are able
to bear. He therefore said to Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power
in thy hand only upon himself put not forth thine hand. One can only know God
by vital relationship to Him. Job KNEW God! Job knew in his deepest heart that God is
good, loving, true, righteous, omnipotent, omniscient, immutable and faithful in all His
way. At one point in his trial he exclaimed, I KNOW that my Redeemer liveth. ...and
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, and
again, I KNOW that Thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden
from Thee (Job 19:25-26; 42:2). Being a perfect man Job understood the nature of
God, he knew what God is like how He is. Armed with this knowledge he was
unshakable and unmovable as the hand of Satan moved against him. With lightning swiftness
the misfortunes fell as tribulation and affliction smote this man of God. All hell broke
loose upon him. His possessions were gone. His servants were gone. His cattle, his family,
and his dwelling place were as though they had never been. And now he was desperately ill,
tormented with pain, and without even a bed to sleep on he lies down in the ashes of what
was once his beautiful home to listen to the relentless arguments of his friends,
monotonously attempting by lengthy speeches to make a fool of him and prove that his
present despair was the result of his own sin and disfavor with God. I do not know how
many days their debate continued, but such miserable comforters as these are always at
hand, ready to attest that those who have entered the furnace of affliction have been bad
examples as Christians, unbelieving, unfaithful, or that they harbor secret sins and so
are deserving of punishment. Unless the Lord Himself has convicted them of sin, or lack of
faith, or of lack of understanding and applying the Laws of Life, sufferers should pay no
attention whatever to them. If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence
before God (1 Jn. 3:21).
In one tragic day
all Jobs earthly wealth and glory had vanished as a mist before the rising sun. But
did Job curse God for all this calamity? Did he even curse the Devil? Was he a fair
weather saint without spiritual understanding? No, indeed! He rent his mantle, shaved his
head, and falling upon the ground, he WORSHIPPED GOD with the unmistakable words of
reverence, Naked came I out of my mothers womb, and naked shall I return
thither: THE LORD GAVE, AND THE LORD HATH TAKEN AWAY; BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!
(Job 1:22). You see, beloved, all external evidence shouted aloud that God did not love
Job, that God had forsaken him, that God did not see him, that God wasnt concerned
about what happened to him, and that God wasnt just. It seemed that God had now
revealed Himself to be the opposite of all Job had experienced and known of Him. But,
praise God! Job knew God! He therefore knew that in spite of all the external evidence, in
spite of how terrible and hopeless things appeared, God had not forsaken him, God did love
him, God did see him, God was concerned about what happened to him, God was in control of
everything, and God was just. Ah, this is faith trusting Gods goodness,
wisdom and faithfulness in the knowledge that HE has everything in control, that ALL is
according to HIS purpose, IN SPITE OF ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY! Faith declares with
Job, Though God slay me, yet will I trust Him, and then after being
slain TRUSTS HIM! Job, stripped of all, tried by fire, tested in the furnace of
affliction, found that the key to life is not some creed or doctrinal statement of what we
believe about God, but that which we KNOW OF HIM by virtue of intimacy of fellowship and
vital union with Him. The trial of your faith is much more precious than gold that
perisheth (I Pet. 1:7).
Surely this is
the lesson learned by Job, and this is the lesson being learned by us as we see our
earthly dependencies passing away and withering as grass before our eyes. How could we
have a more perfect illustration of how God uses EVIL and how God uses SATAN as an
instrument for our good? Although Job suffered intensely, yet in the end HE WAS GREATLY
BLESSED BY HIS HARD AND BITTER EXPERIENCE. If God thus uses Satan, the
embodiment of evil, as a minister for good in the case of one individual, is it hard to
believe that ALL EVIL is utilized by God for good in all cases?
It all fits into
the Divine economy, not in the sense that God wills evil, but in the sense that He
appoints it for a purpose and unto a greater end and overrules it in the great
disciplinary and instructive processes of redemption. He turns the tables on
the Devil the wrath of men, as the Psalmist puts it, is made to praise God. The
flesh, the world, and the Devil for the final vindication of Gods government have to
be permitted to run their course. Most diseases do. Meanwhile the suffering caused and the
immeasurable tragedies are designed to serve Gods purposes. We see this, too, in the
trials of Joseph carried into
A story is told
about a new immigrant who got a job as a gardener. Next door was another gardener, a local
man who did not like immigrants. He did all he could to provoke the new man. The family
employing the new immigrant asked their gardener what he thought of the troublesome
gardener next door. He is my very good friend, he replied. Surprised, they
asked, How can he be your friend when he does such unkind things to you?
He is my very good friend, was the answer, because he shows me what not
to do. 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 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
OPPOSING FORCES WE NOW ENCOUNTER are working together for our good to develop the
strength, character, wisdom and power we must acquire? Why the Devil? After every battle I
may say, Thank you, Mr. Devil! for helping to make me a son of God. Surely
this is the lesson learned by Job, and this is the lesson being learned by us as we see
our earthly dependencies withering as grass before our eyes and passing away. The emphasis
of many today in the Sonship Message is on life gaining immortality for
the body. That is indeed a glorious aspect of our inheritance as sons of God. But I do not
hesitate to tell you that it is not enough! In fact, that message by itself is truth out
of balance. It is not mere length of life we seek, but a quality of life the nature
of God! Should I today bypass the grave and carry with me into immortality the inherent
weaknesses, faults, idiosyncrasies, passions, lusts, and flaws of character which have
dogged my steps throughout my earthly sojourn I would still not be fit to reign as an
overcomer over the nations and all things. Not only must we have life, we must have the
nature of that life fully developed in us producing the image of God. And we will never
reign until we have been thoroughly tested, tried and proven!
The New Testament
abounds with this same truth. Did you notice how strangely Matthew and Mark speak of
Christs temptation? And immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness
to be tempted of the Devil. What a strange statement! The Holy Spirit of God drives
the sinless Son of God into the wilderness to be tempted of Satan, the arch enemy of all
righteousness, a murderer from the beginning, and the father of lies! Ah, but it was
necessary for the Son to be PROVEN, to be STRONG, to demonstrate His ability to OVERCOME
in these realms before entering into His glorious ministry and the death of the cross.
Truly God creates evil and uses it, too, for His glory! The apostle fully understood this
great truth and practiced it himself. He instructed the Corinthian believers to deliver
such an one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh (i.e., the flesh life), that the
spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus, and he declares in his letter to
Timothy that he himself has delivered certain brethren unto Satan that they may
learn not to blaspheme. But the apostle had experienced something of this kind of
discipline also, for he says, Lest I should be exalted above measure through the
abundance of the revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, THE MESSENGER OF
SATAN TO BUFFET ME, lest I should be exalted above measure. All this dearly shows
that Satan is a force created by God for a specific work, and even that work shall result
in blessing for Gods children and redound to the glory of God!
Since Jesus is
the Pattern Son, all that happened to Him is the example for our lives. Jesus was being
prepared to launch His ministry which was to declare that the
For as much
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself took part of the
same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the
Devil (Heb. 2:14). The word destroy does not mean to kill or annihilate,
for we know God did not kill the Devil or annihilate him! Destroy, in the original, means
to bring to naught; render powerless; make of no effect So through
death the Lord Jesus BROUGHT SATAN TO NOUGHT, RENDERED HIM POWERLESS AND MADE HIM
OF NO EFFECT. The Lord came and put upon Himself the flesh, the body of
sin, the body of death, the dust realm, the man of
earth, and BROUGHT IT TO THE CROSS that through death (of the man of dust) He
might bring to naught him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil. When the
flesh is crucified, when the dust of the carnal mind, the man of the earth is put to death
on the cross SATANS GROUND IS DESTROYED BENEATH HIM, his sphere of activity is
removed, his base of operation is closed, he is rendered completely powerless and
ineffective. Thus, it is by this death on the cross that Christ destroyed the Devil! When
the Son of God came into the world, when He had been tested on every point and had
overcome the adversary in all things, He uttered these significant words: I will not
talk with you much more, for the prince (evil genius, ruler) of the world is coming. And
he has no claim on Me he has nothing in common with Me, THERE IS NOTHING IN ME THAT
BELONGS TO HIM, he has no power over Me. (Jn. 14:30, Amplified). Ah, this is the
glory of sonship nothing in common with Satan! There was nothing in Jesus that
corresponded to him and nothing that responded to him! None of the nature of Adam that
pertains to Satan. So mighty was the indwelling life of the Father within Jesus that Satan
had no power over Him, no place within Him. And, precious friend of mine, when you have
died completely to that Adamic life, when there is none of the dust of Adam in you, SATAN
WILL HAVE NO POWER OVER YOU, NO PLACE IN YOU. Satans base of operation will have
been destroyed, his sphere of activity removed. God destroys Satan by destroying
(rendering inactive) YOUR FLESH.
Dear saints of
God, dont believe for one moment that anything in all Gods great universe is
out of control! God IS GOD. There is NO OTHER GOD. Satan is NO GOD in his own right. Our
God IS in full control of every sphere of activity, and the Serpent himself operates
directly under the
There is only ONE
GOD not two. Yes, Satan is indeed the god of this world, but those born
from above are not of this world even as our Lord is not of this world. Satan enthroned in
the temple of the carnal man is a god not THE GOD. There is no power
apart from God. Omnipotence has ALL POWER, and our Lord Jesus Christ has ALL POWER in
heaven and in earth, and to acknowledge any other power is to dishonor God. Here me now
and believe me now or later G-O-D HAS N-O ADVERSARY! Satan is not the adversary of
God! That is a preposterous misconception of popular religion. God created the adversary
for our perfection and testing he is mans adversary, not GODS! The
truth is so simple, so plain, a child of ten can understand a principle so apparent, while
the learned doctors of theology step right over it and never see it. In relation to God
there are no antagonistic powers, nor laws, spiritual or material. Either there is no
omnipotence, or omnipotence is the only power. Jesus Christ is OMNIPOTENT! He said so
Himself. He that is in you IS GREATER than he that is in the world. He IS! Then if Jesus
our Lord is Sovereign, and He is, He can do anything He pleases. He doesnt have a
Devil that opposes His every move and binds everything He does. He doesnt have a
Devil that is trying to take over His whole world that He has created as most people
imagine. HE IS SOVEREIGN! HE IS OMNIPOTENT! ALL POWER is given unto Me, He
said All power is OMNIPOTENCE! He creates His own evil when evil is needed to form and
fashion a subject or people or nation He is working on. God does have a NEGATIVE FORCE at
work in His creation, a negative dimension of SPIRIT, the adversary of those being
conformed into his image, the fiery furnace of refining, the rod of chastening, the
sparring partner, the violent storm bending the tree to make it strong. Glory to God! The
Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth!
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 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, and power
we must acquire? Why the Devil? After every battle we may say, Thank you, Mr. Devil!
For helping to make me a son of God. In due time the saints are going to take the
place of the principalities and powers in the heavenlies, and instead of them ruling over
us, we shall rule over them. This is even now reality to the degree that we have met them
in battle and conquered. This is Gods plan for us!
Chapter
32
THE
SERPENT
(continued)
Now the SERPENT was more subtle than any beast
of the field which the Lord God had made... and the SERPENT said unto the woman, Ye shall
not surely die... and the Lord God said unto the SERPENT, Because thou hast done this,
thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt
thou go, and dust shalt eat all the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee
and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt
bruise his heel (Gen. 3:1,4,14-15).
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, but pointing to that which is higher and grander, the
verities of the spiritual world. One cannot read Pauls 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.
5:17).
Adam, in the
image and likeness of God, ruling all creatures and all things, is the type of man in
Christ, as God makes him. Man in Christ, man in Gods image given power and dominion,
is Gods government in the
Genesis, like all
the other books of the Bible, has its own unique purpose in the revealing of Gods
plan. Its first and foremost object is to show us GODS ORIGINAL THOUGHT AND PURPOSE
in creation. In the letter we show a physical man given dominion over the physical
earth. In the Spirit we see a spiritual man given dominion over the spiritual
world. And so it is written: Who (Christ) 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 Gods image in Christ 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!
Can it not be
seen by this that in the beginning 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 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 FIRSTFRUIT COMPANY
OF SONS IN GODS 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 wills.
And God
said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion...
(Gen. 1:26). That man would bear the image of God and have dominion over all things is the
first announcement of Gods 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).
The word subdue
here is the Hebrew word KABASH meaning 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 mans 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 and
to keep it. The word keep here is the Hebrew word SHAMAR which means
to guard, as you can see in chapter 3:24 where this same word is used of the
Cherubim which God placed at the east of the Garden to guard it from mans
presumptuous entrance after he sinned. So He drove out the man; and He placed at the
east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to KEEP
(or guard) the way of the tree of life.
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 Gods 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, them 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 Gods 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 be speaks a falsehood, he speaks what is
natural to him; for he is a liar and the father of lies (Jn. 3:8; Jn. 8:44, Amplified Bible).
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 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 Gods
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 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 GODS 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 and every creature of earth
typifies a reality in the realm of SPIRIT good or bad, positive or negative. This
can be seen dearly 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 mans 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 a 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 the 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 Christs 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 scripture unclean birds are a type of evil
natures, 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. 16:21-23). Then follows
the lowest realm of all the dragons, fish, and sea creatures, those spirits
finding lodging and expression in the BODIES of men.
All these,
hostile to the image of God in man, Adam was commanded to SUBDUE, 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 had 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 ironclad 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. 10:19). The promise belongs to YOU and
to ME, for it is the
I pointed out in
a previous article on this subject that the original serpent in
Here Satan is
called that old serpent. The word old, as we have noted, is from
the Greek word archaios which means ORIGINAL or PRIMEVAL. Primeval
means FROM THE FIRST AGE OR AGES. Phillips translation reads, Then I saw an
angel coming down from heaven with the key of the pit and huge chain in his hand. He
seized the dragon, the SERPENT OF ANCIENT DAYS, who IS both the Devil and Satan...
Another version states, And he seized the dragon, the ORIGINAL SERPENT, WHO IS the
Devil and Satan. The Amplified Bible says, And he gripped and overpowered the
dragon, that OLD SERPENT OF PRIMEVAL TIMES, WHO IS the Devil and Satan. MAN says
that a fallen angel, Satan, somehow got into the serpent and spoken through its mouth, but
GOD declares that THAT ORIGINAL SERPENT I-S T-H-E D-E-V-I-L A-N-D S-A-T-A-N!
THE SERPENTS
MEAT
The ancient
Serpent, having beguiled Eve, became the recipient of the first curse in history.
Most students of the Word know that man was cursed, the woman was cursed, the ground was
cursed, the earth was cursed, but few remember that before all this the Serpent was
cursed. The curse is first mentioned in Gen. 3:14. And the Lord God said unto
the serpent, Because thou hast done this, THOU ART CURSED above all cattle, and above
every beast of the field; upon thy belly shall thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the
days of thy life.
It will prove
most instructive to note Gods order of speaking, and then the judgment, or sentence
passed. The Lord called unto the man, inquiring, Where are thou? And Adam
answered that they had hidden themselves, because of their shame as they realized they
were naked. Then God said to the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And
Eve replied that the serpent had beguiled her, and she did eat of the forbidden fruit.
Then God spoke to the serpent, and said at once, Because thou hast done this, THOU
ART CURSED. Most of us have thought that he was cursed long before this! In the passing of
the judgment-sentence, God began with the serpent, then to the woman, and ended with the
man, reversing the order from when He first spoke to them. In the curse to the serpent, He
said, Upon thy belly shall thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy
life. The serpent, being called before the tribunal of the Almighty, received a
two-fold curse, recorded here in strong figures of speech which sternly emphasize the
power of the judgment: UPON YOUR BELLY SHALL YOU GO and DUST YOU SHALL EAT.
Science will tell
you that snakes which crawl upon the ground do not eat dust. They eat frogs, insects,
rats, birds, rabbits, fish and eggs. When God inspired Moses to write Genesis the latter
certainly knew that snakes do not eat dust. These terms are symbolic and spiritual. This
is not speaking of a literal snake dangling from a tree limb in some ancient paradise. The
serpent in Eden had not only the faculty of speech, but reasoned upon matters relating to
God and man; he speaks of good and evil as though possessed of a thorough knowledge of the
laws of the Kingdom of God; he argues against the divine prohibition; steals upon the
woman with the most alluring subterfuge, and finally persuades her to disobey the
commandment of the Lord. No mere animal, it is evident, could be capable of what is here
attributed to the serpent! Furthermore, loss of speech was not part of the curse; if the
serpent in
This is a symbol
and the Deceiver, Satan, that old Serpent, the Devil, has to eat dust! What is the dust?
Not the dirt of the ground. Not even the dust of the frogs, rabbits, field mice, etc. In
the passing of the judgment-sentence, God began with the Serpent and said, DUST
shalt thou eat. Then to the man, God said, In the sweat of thy face shall thou
eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for DUST THOU
ART, and UNTO DUST shalt thou return (Gen. 3:19). So that first Adam, fleshly,
sinning, and cursed is declared by the counsel of the Lord God to BE DUST. Said the wise
man, For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust (Ps. 103:14).
That we are DUST! Not very flattering, not very complimentary, is it? This great gob of
mud called man, strutting his superior know-it-all attitude even in the face of the
Almighty! Dust! Our FRAME! DUST! What for value is a frame of dust? HE remembers that we
are dust whether we do or not.
Words are
helpless, hopeless, and inadequate when necessity demands that we explain the things
pertaining to the spiritual realm. Only in spirit can we understand the incomprehensible.
The spirit of wisdom and revelation from God must enlighten the eyes of our understanding.
Here we have a word picture describing the relationship which exists between that
old Serpent the Devil and the realm of death. Just as dust speaks of a
waterless soil, so the realm of the Serpent is separated from the realm of the Holy
Spirit. Adam was formed of the dust of the ground, of the physical, carnal, earthly
sense-realm, and as such, became the rightful food for the Serpent. This means that the
Serpent the negative spirit realm now finds its base of operation and
fulfillment of its nature, desires, and purposes in and through mankind. By the very
nature of things, when the Serpent eats, he seeks to SATISFY HIS APPETITE and GRATIFY HIS
DESIRES. Originally he found pleasure and purpose in higher things and had access to
higher realms (of spirit), but the curse of eating dust limits the object of
his devouring. Today, the sphere of Satans activity is earth, and the object of his
devouring is the man of the earth. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the
Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour (I Pet. 5:8). As
the creatures of the forest are constantly alert lest some other animal of prey catch them
unawares and devour them, so are we admonished to be sober and vigilant for as sure
as the snake swallows the rabbit, so certain is it that Satan seeks to DEVOUR YOU! Your
dust, your earthiness, your flesh, your carnal Adam-man-nature is the Serpents meat!
By feeding upon the dust-man who loves earthly things, Satan devours him makes him
part of himself It means your whole being swallowed up into the negative spirit-realm,
captive to and expressing the negative energy of that realm. This gives fresh and dear
meaning to the statement of the apostle, The whole world lieth in the Wicked One
(I Jn. 5:19). The whole world has been consumed is captive to and living out of
the NEGATIVE REALM! Who can deny it?
The message is
clear Adam and those belonging to him are of the earth, earthy. The Holy Spirit bears
witness: And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last
Adam was made a quickening spirit The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is
the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that they are earthy: and as is
the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the
earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly (I Cor. 15:45-49). The
Amplified Bible reads, The first man was from out of the earth, made of dust
earth-minded; the second man is the Lord from out of heaven. Now those who are made of the
dust are like him who was first made of the dust earth-minded; and as is the Man
from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven heaven-minded. And just as we have
borne the image of the man of dust, so shall we and so let us bear also the image
of the Man of heaven.
Ray Prinzing
has aptly written: The curse was on the serpent, for deceiving, and the seed of the
serpent still carries that curse, and the nature of the deception that caused it. There
are two seeds which are spoken of, the womans seed, and the serpents seed. One
bespeaks of the positive realm, the other bespeaks of the negative. However, it is to be
pointed out that if the womans seed has a literal fulfillment, personified in a man,
and a people, so also the serpents seed has to be literally fulfilled in a man, and
a people. A seed line that is evidenced in those after his own kind. That the
serpents seed was also expressed through people is evident when we read that Cain
was of that wicked one (I Jn. 3:12). This is more explicit in the Greek text,
where the word of is ek, literally OUT OF the wicked one. Then
Jesus spoke of some, saying, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your
father ye will do (Jn. 8:44). If they are of the same spirit, then they will do the
lusts of that spirit realm. Obviously Cain, who was OUT OF the wicked one, received the
curse reaffirmed on him, for he slew the truth and propagated a false system. Righteous
Abel fell victim to the cursed one, for a time, but there is One, whose blood now speaketh
better things than the blood of Abel, and through Him victory comes.
It is not
the creature, but the negative spirit force motivating the creature, against
whom we take dominion. When the spirit of the world is now energizing to
disobedience, there is an immediate conflict between that spirit, and the Spirit of God
dwelling within us. In some this is but a small thing, and the contrary spirit
is held in control by their normal, congenial disposition. But in others, this serpent
spirit is so aggressive, that when you walk into their presence, or they come into
yours, there is an immediate clash without either one saying a word. Our warfare is not
with the various races on earth today, nor yet with men of our own lineage, but we do
contest the spirit of the deceiver that motivates them. It is not the man or woman
but there are natures, spirits, curses that remain in the earth today, that the
CALLED-OUT-OF-THE-LORD are facing in this conflict of the ages. That is why we need to be
filled with the Spirit of God, lest we become carnal and start fighting flesh on a carnal
realm end quote.
Whenever we live
in the earthly life of Adam, we are earthly and also on earth and fall into the sphere of
Satans activity, becoming the object of his devouring, drawn deeper and deeper into
that negative realm. Dear saints, you wonder why Satan tempts you, pressures you, torments
you, and you have constant battles with that realm? It is because you are still bearing at
least a portion of that image of the first Adam, the man of dust. And dust is the Serpents
meat. He has the power to eat on you as long as you have that nature of Adam in you. On
the other hand, whenever we live in the heavenly life of Christ, the identity of the image
of God, we are heavenly and in heaven. Thus, we TRANSCEND SATANS SPHERE of activity
and are no longer subject to his devouring. This is the son realm where no dragon
abides, for he is cast out of this heaven where the manchild reigns! Would you, dear
reader, like to starve that old Serpent, the Devil? Then get rid of the dust! Stop bearing
the image of Adam, renounce that mistaken identity, and as Paul exhorts, Let us bear
the image of the Man of heaven. When you have been completely transformed into the
image of Jesus Christ, then you will have nothing in you for Satan to feed upon, nothing
to satisfy his appetite or gratify his desires. And it is there that death will be
conquered! As a brother once wrote: I can tell you, beloved, that already Satan is
finding short rations and skimpy meals in some of Gods sons that are pressing on to
the High Calling. Victory after victory they are gaining, because they are crucifying that
earthy nature. They are letting the Christ come forth in His fullness in their lives, and
beginning to bear more and more of His blessed image. They have no fear of Satan or of his
weapons. They could walk through the midst of hell itself, and no devil could touch them.
Thieves, murderers, drunkards, gamblers, and harlots cannot contaminate them. Filthy lucre
cannot tempt them, apostate religion cannot attract them, nor fleshly methods or soulish
ministry ensnare them. They are Overcomers, witnessing to the world of the image and power
of the Living Christ! This is the purpose of God for His sons! It is for you, beloved...
believe, and enter in! end quote.
Can we not see
that the more we live and walk in the Spirit, the less we are disturbed by the
agitations of the soulish realm, or the shenanigans of the flesh? Caught in the lowlands
of the flesh, one is an easy prey for the serpents and scorpions and creeping things which
inhabit that low realm. Rising up to walk in the Holy Spirit a new perspective is found,
flesh is both seen and recognized for what it is, and left behind, while the horizons of
the Spirit beckon onward, and upward, in the realm of the heavenly where no dragon dwells.
So many of Gods precious people dwell in the dust realm, and, as someone has said,
there is no need to describe at length the dust storms. We have all faced them
far too often the jealousies, the envyings, the back-bitings, gossipings, anger,
agitations, lusts, fears, bitterness, strivings, and all the other expressions of the
carnal nature, the realm where the Serpent dwells and eats to the full!
UPON YOUR BELLY
YOU SHALL GO...
Its not
news to any of us that we are in the midst of a war between two kingdoms: the
This brings us
back to the curse laid upon the Serpent in the beginning: Upon your belly shall you
go. This judgment speaks of infinitely more than a literal snake slithering along
upon his literal belly, just as the word heel speaks of infinitely more than a
location on the foot, and the word head speaks of something greater far than a
mere physical head in the words of the next verse: And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; and it shall bruise thy HEAD, and
thou shall bruise His HEEL (Gen. 3:15). So, upon your belly you shall go,
paints for the eyes of our understanding the picture of the Serpent crawling in
humiliation, prostration, limitation, and subjection upon the ground. The Psalmist uses a
similar expression in Ps. 44:25, For our soul is bowed down to the dust our belly
cleaveth unto the earth. Such denotes a prolonged prostration and a depth
of subjection as could never be conveyed or expressed in normal terms.
The very fact
that God states that the Serpent was now to crawl upon his belly, which obviously he had
not done before, reveals that there was a descending from one realm to another,
from a greater to a lesser, from a higher to a lower. Moving on his belly limits the
sphere of the Serpents activity, now he can only creep along the ground. Previously
he had access to loftier realms, his sphere of activity extended to higher domains
exalted realms of pure spirit expression but he is now lowered into the dust-realm,
into the world of man, and confined to the earthy, restricted to action upon and
expression through THE MAN OF THE DUST How truly this accounts for the words of the
apostle in Eph. 2:2, And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and
sins: wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to
the prince of the power of the air, THE S-P-I-R-I-T THAT N-O-W WORKETH I-N THE CHILDREN OF
DISOBEDIENCE.
Ah, yes, this
evil spirit is IN MAN! When the serpent was lowered into the dust realm, man became
the base of operation for his activity. I do not hesitate to declare to you, my beloved,
that you will find Satan operative in NO OTHER REALM in the whole universe! You do not
meet the Devil in rocks, trees, fish, mountains, rivers, clouds, birds, nor on far-away
planets, in distant galaxies, in flying saucers, nor in any other object or location
outside of man. You dont have to worry about the Devil stealing the keys to your car
and driving off with it! But you may have to worry about the devil in men doing so!
You need not fear the Devil walking into your living room with a shot gun and blowing your
brains out, but the devil in men has done so tens of thousands of times! The Devil
as an invisible spirit, or a hideous creature in a funny red suit will never try to seduce
your wife, but the devil in some man may surely attempt it. I must tell you frankly
that I have not had any problem with that Devil out there someplace, but I have had a
great deal of difficulty with that Devil whose countenance I behold when I look in the
mirror!
Can we not see
that under the curse God limited Satan to the dust of the earth, to the realm of
the First Adam the man of dust? Many have seen the connection between Satan and the
carnal mind and, not understanding by revelation the origins of these things, have
assumed that the carnal mind is Satan. The truth, however, runs deeper than that it
goes to the spirit of the mind. Through the curse Satan became one with man, the
energy force of human nature, the spirit of the carnal mind, slithering about in the
lowest realms of mans earthiness, in the crooked thoughts, selfish desires,
distorted emotions, in the illusions and delusions of the sense-realm of the world of
appearances, and in all the corrupt motions of the flesh. May God graciously give us
enlightenment to see that included with Satan is the
The reason why so
many fail when it comes to the wiles of the Devil is that they dont really want to resist
him. You see, Satan never appears as a monster with horns and a forked tail, carrying
a pitchfork. HE COMES IN YOUR THOUGHTS! HE APPEARS IN YOUR DESIRES! HE COMES IN YOUR
IMAGINATIONS AND REASONINGS! Some people are always saying, I hate the Devil.
Well, you may as well say, I hate myself. One day I asked God, God, why
dont you just kill the Devil and let it be over with? You will never guess the
answer I received. The Lord said, If I kill the Devil, YOU WILL DIE? And verily I
say unto you, Except a man hate his own life, and will count all things but loss, and
reckon himself indeed to be crucified with Christ, he will never know victory over the
Wicked One.
You will find men
and women who claim to hate the Devil and all he stands for, but no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it. In so doing he gives place to the Devil. It is
the flesh that lusts against the Spirit! The flesh unceasingly wars against the King and
His Kingdom that is within you. Just as the religious leaders of the Jews cried, We
will not have this man to rule over us, so the flesh, your flesh, and my flesh,
desperately striving to perpetuate the corrupt nature of Adam within, would push Christ
from the throne of the heart and reign in his stead. The energy force and motivating power
of the flesh is the ancient Serpent of Eden. Multitudes do not understand this mystery,
and few will proclaim this truth. The sacred mysteries of God are revealed only by the
Holy Spirit of Truth. This is one of those mysteries which I unfold before you today. It
is never our striving against the evils of the world, the flesh and the Devil that gains
any victory at all; the almighty Christ within us would destroy them all in one smashing
defeat; but we have the wretched habit of refusing to yield our hearts to the King. Christ
alone can put the adversary under foot and forever bruise his head! Our responsibility is
to resist the Devil and YIELD OURSELVES UNTO GOD THAT HE MAY REIGN.
Praise God! The
heavens declare that God has a man ORPHIUCHUS the serpent crusher HERCULES the
strong man, the mighty man, the valiant champion who slays the three-headed monster and
crushes the head of the dragon. It is a glorious thing to see that in the unchanging stars
of the heavens and the shining Signs placed by God in the night sky, we have a gallery of
divine truth, a portrait of Gods TRIUMPHANT CORPORATE MAN, THE CHRIST OF GOD. Ah, Hes
a wonder this CHRIST WITHIN! Just as surely as Satan is incarnated in mankind, so
is the living Christ of God enthroned within the saints! The greater, grander,
transcendent truth is, beloved, that THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU! The Christ that we
preach is nigh at hand. He is not far from every one of us, the apostle Paul
says. Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven (that is, to bring Christ
down from above) or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring Christ up from
the dead.) But what saith it: The Word (Christ is NIGH THEE, EVEN IN THY MOUTH, AND IN THY
HEART (Rom. 10:6-8). Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today, and for ever.
Unless we are sure that He is unchanged and unchangeable, that He is right here WITHIN US
in every turn of life as really as He was in the body of Jesus of Nazareth, unless we live
daily in the power of this, our life will never be pure, we will never see His works, we
will never know His quickening, we will never conquer sin and death, and he brought to the
Father. Therefore, why strain your eyes to pierce the clouds? The cloud that hides Christ
from us is in ourselves, in our love of serf, in our blind adherence to traditions, in our
devotion to the outer world of appearances. Let us ask God to send the living wind of His
Spirit from the innermost part of our being, that bloweth where it listeth, to sweep it
aside, and then we will see Christ as our life at every step of the journey. You
can never overcome your seducing enemy by your own wisdom or strength. Christ alone can
put him under foot and forever braise his head. AND CHRIST IS YOUR LIFE! Arise, O
ye mighty ones, and conquer for the MIGHTY ONE I-S W-I-T-H-I-N Y-O-U!
In Genesis 3:1 we read, Now the serpent
was more subtel than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto
the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? The
word serpent in our language comes from the Latin serpo meaning to creep,
but the Hebrew term has no relation to the form or motion of any external attribute of a
serpent. The word used here for serpent is the Hebrew word NACHASH which is a primitive
root meaning to hiss or whisper. It, furthermore, means to search or
scrutinize closely, to find out by experiment, to practice divination, augury, incantation
or enchantment. According to Webster incantation means the chanting of special
words or a formula in magic spells or rites, Incantation may speak in addition of
hypnotism. The Serpent, then, is a HISSER, a WHISPERER, a DIVINER, an EXPERIMENTER, an
ENCHANTER, a MAGICIAN, and a HYPNOTIST! And, I might add, so is the carnal mind!
In Isaiah 8:19
the Holy Spirit has recorded for our learning a most significant exhortation. And
when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards
that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? For the living to the
dead? The same inspired prophet penned a prophecy concerning Jerusalem under the
prophetic term Ariel, saying, Thou shalt be brought down, and shalt
speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall blow out of the dust, and thy voice shall
be... out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust
(Isa. 29:4). Here we read of spirits that peep and mutter, which speak out
of the ground and whisper out of the dust. Is this not reminiscent of
the Serpent in
Whisperings out
of the dust there is something sinister in the thought, but beyond the evil that is
suggested, there is also the thought of subtle suggestion a whispered
temptation something so subtle one could wonder from whence it comes, a word so low
and so whispered as to be almost imperceptible or is it a thought, a desire,
a command from an inner nature? These whisperings ARISE FROM THE DUST OF THE CARNAL
MIND, OUT OF THE GROUND OF THE ADAM NATURE where lies the Serpent! It is significant to
note that the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the
Lord God had made (Gen. 3:1). The contrast is drawn between the Garden and
the field. Adam lived and walked in the Garden, and his responsibility was to dress
and keep it. Garden is from the Hebrew GAN, meaning a fenced or protected
area. It was, furthermore, cultivated and tended. Field is from the Hebrew SADEH,
indicating that which is spread out; flat land; wild farm or wilderness. The field where
the Serpent dwelt was an unfenced and uncultivated area. This field bespeaks of the mind
of the flesh the unbroken, unharnessed, unbridled, untended, unplowed, unprocessed,
undisciplined, unprotected sphere from whence the Serpent whispered out of the dust
the subtle voice whispering enticingly from the unexplored wild lands of the FLESH!
This whisper, this tantalizing hiss is communicated through the thoughts, reasoning,
desires, passions, plans, hopes, fantasies and cravings of the CARNAL MIND! In the first
age of Adams creation, God used the Serpent to reveal what lay dormant, undiscovered
and uncultivated within mans innermost being a CUNNING NATURE EGO
SELFHOOD independent of God. If by the grace of God you can see the truth of this,
you will then plainly discern in all the propensities of the carnal mind the CREEPING,
SLITHERING, WHISPERING, DIVINING, ENCHANTING, HYPNOTIZING SERPENT OF EDEN!
Before pursuing
this thought, we do well to consider also the word translated subtle in this
passage. Now the serpent was more subtel than any beast of the field. The
Hebrew word for naked in Gen. 2:25 is AROM. The English word that describes
the Serpents nature in Gen.
3:1 is subtel, and the Hebrew word here is ARUM. Both AROM and ARUM are
derived from
In this
connection a friend has written, There was a tree set in the midst of the garden
called the Tree of Life. God had given man the right to eat of that tree and in eating of
it, man would enter into eternal life. The tragedy that we have seen is, however, that man
did indeed eat of that tree for if one will read carefully he will find that
the Tree of Knowledge of which man ate was also in the midst of the garden, which can only
mean that the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge are ONE AND THE SELFSAME TREE. The
Tree of Life, however, is the essence of the truth and the Tree of Knowledge is the form
of truth! Here is the key form vs. essence. It is just the difference
between the letter of the Word and the spirit of the Word; between law and
grace, between ritual and reality, between doctrine and life,
between shadow and substance, between facts and truth. And vast
multitudes of Adams descendants today have not learned the difference between these
two trees, or between the voice of the Lord God in the Garden and the hissing of the
Serpent from the field. So many of the Lords people have not to this day discerned
between flesh and spirit, between the letter that killeth and the spirit that giveth life,
between the external ritual and the internal reality, between the outward shadow and the
inward substance, between facts and truth, or between form and essence. Jesus never said,
Ye shall know the facts and the facts shall make you free. He
stated, rather, Ye shall know the TRUTH! And what a difference there is! Facts
are merely the FORM OF TRUTH, the husk of the kernel, truth held by the carnal mind in the
intellect as dead-letter doctrines, laws, creeds, forms, rituals, ceremonies, ordinances,
works, activities, etc. all figures representing or standing for
truth and reality, but within themselves containing NO LIFE. The letter killeth,
the apostle assures us. The spirit giveth life. The words that I
speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life, saith the Lord.
Jesus proclaimed, I am the truth, I am the life The Serpent
said, God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened!
That was a fact and ye shall be as GODS, knowing good and evil
was also a fact, for after Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree, the Lord God
Himself verified the Serpents statement as being a fact. Behold, the
man is become AS ONE OF US to know good and evil, God said (Gen. 3:22).
Again a friend
has aptly written, In form, then, the serpent had the truth. He had, in fact,
drawn on the very Word of God itself to tempt Eve, for the Lord had said, I will
create man in My own image. What the serpent failed to reveal, however, was the essence
of the form which is that INDEPENDENTLY OF GOD man can never be a partaker of the
divine nature! This should have been a self-evident truth, but man failed to see it. He
was deceived by the very form of truth taking the Word of God which had promised to
make him in the image of God, receiving it as a doctrine rather than a revelation,
as form rather than life, and was thereby brought to ruin, cheated out of the very thing
he sought. Man became a god, alright, in the eating of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil but he became a god in the wrong realm, for at the same time that God
acknowledged mans deity He also CAST HIM FROM THE GARDEN cast him
from the heavenly realm and set him in the earth to till the ground
from which he was taken. Musing upon this incident years later, the prophet David wrote,
What is man that Thou art mindful of him. . . for Thou madest him to have dominion
over the works of Thy hands... It was as a god that man had dominion, but a further
reading of this passage reveals that the works of the hands of God over which man was
given dominion under the first covenant was limited to the earth realm. Thus, we
find that Adam truly became a god as the serpent promised and the Lord
confirmed but he was not an heavenly god. He became, rather, the god of this
world (1 Cor. 4:4) end quote.
The Serpent did
not preach truth, he preached facts. Form apart from essence. Dead doctrine about God
instead of participation through union with God. Man came into knowledge,
but he lost his life. In fact, man became a partaker of that wisdom possessed by
the Serpent, the wisdom of this world. It is significant to find that in the
contrast of the wisdom of the world, as over against the wisdom of God, James says, This
wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish (James 3:15).
This is always the Serpents approach to us. EARTHY that which appeals to the
flesh, the natural senses. SENSUAL literally, soulish, that which appeals to the
ego and the mind. DEVILISH that which touches the human spirit realm to defile with
the negative spirit of the world. But, thank God! there is also the wisdom that is
from above which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be
entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy
(James 3:17).
THE SEED OF THE
SERPENT
The course
of bad men leads 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 (Prov.
4:18-19, Moffatt). The burning truth that lies hidden in these words of inspiration is
borne home to our hearts with ever increasing power as we see the lengthening shadows
falling ominously about us heralding the end of the age. It is not without purpose that
the Holy Spirit has been directing our thoughts and bending our inmost nature toward the
seeking of those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God, an
inward drive none can know or understand but those elect saints who have been BORN FROM
ABOVE. All about us we see the paths of wicked men leading them into ever increasing
darkness while on the other hand the path of the just, shining more and more with the
revealing light of truth, inspires our hearts to sing that gladsome song, The meek
shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek Him: your heart shall
live forever. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and
all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the kingdom is the Lords:
and He is the governor among the nations. All they that be fat upon the earth shall eat
and worship: ALL THEY THAT GO DOWN TO THE DUST shall bow before Him. A SEED shall serve
Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. THEY shall come, and shall
DECLARE HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS unto a people that shall be born (Ps. 22:26-31).
Several important
truths are revealed in these verses of Scripture. The Holy Spirit witnesses that A-L-L
the ends of the world shall remember (their former estate) and turn unto the Lord,
also, A-L-L they that go down into the DUST shall bow before Him, and then the
means by which this marvelous work shall be brought to pass, a SEED shall serve
Him... and THEY SHALL DECLARE HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS.
This thought of
the seed carries us back to the beginning, when the Lord announced to the
fallen man and woman, and to the serpent, And I will put enmity between thee and the
woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise
His heel (Gen. 3:15). Between thy seed and her seed that is
between thy posterity and her posterity, for seed, as used here, means children
or offspring. There are two seeds spoken of, the womans seed, and the serpents
seed. By the seed of the woman is meant the positive realm, and the seed of the serpent
bespeaks the negative. The great soul-gripping truth is that as the womans seed has
a literal fulfillment personified in a MAN and a PEOPLE, so also the serpents seed
must be literally fulfilled in a man and a people. The law has been from the
beginning that every living thing reproduces after his kind.
In the Bible one
can trace a whole line of righteous men from Abel to Christ, and our Lord came into the
world of that linage. That the serpents seed was also expressed through people is
evident when we read in I Jn. 3:12, Not as Cain, who WAS OF that wicked one,
and slew his brother. This is more explicit in the Greek text, where the word of
is ek, literally OUT OF the wicked one. The Spirit has provided
abundant evidence of the serpents seed in the Word of God. Jesus told a group of
self-righteous Pharisees, YE are of YOUR FATHER THE DEVIL, and the lusts of your
father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, HE SPEAKETH OF HIS OWN: for he
is a liar, and the father of it (Jn. 8:44).
In Genesis
chapter four we find the story of how Cain, after his offering was rejected by the Lord,
said to his brother, Let us go out to the field. And when they were in the
field, Cain rose up against his brother, and killed him. And the Lord said to Cain, Where
is Abel your brother? He said, I do not know. Am I my brothers keeper?
And the Lord said, What have you done? The voice of your brothers blood is
crying to Me from the ground. Cain told his lie because it was his nature to do so,
he speaketh of his own, it came out of himself. No one told him to lie,
indeed, no one TAUGHT him to lie. No one tricked him so that he would have to tell
a lie, for FROM WITHIN, OUT OF THE HEART OF MEN, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,
murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy,
pride, foolishness: all these things come FROM WITHIN and defile the man (Mk.
7:21-23), and Cain spoke out of his own state of being which he inherited from the wicked
one. Cain WAS OF that wicked one. The seed of the serpent was in him, and he
manifested after his kind. In this the children of God are manifest, and THE
CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL: Whosoever doeth not righteousness IS NOT OF GOD (that is, IS of the
Devil), neither he that loveth not his brother (I Jn. 3:10). Every day we are
learning that the natural man has no power to resist evil. Man himself is inherently evil,
born in sin and shapen in iniquity, the seed of the serpent lies within.
The story is told
of an aged learned minister of the Gospel in a certain town. One morning, while taking his
usual walk by the side of a river, a young man who had been far away attending a distant
university, where he had become an atheist, who used to sit under this good mans
ministry, and knew his habits thought he would have some fun with the Preacher
as he called him. At the university he had imbibed the teachings of some Ingersoll or some
similar child of the devil, and he came back full of his infidelity. Meeting the Preacher,
he said, Good morning, Preacher. Good morning, son, said the
minister. Preacher I have just had bad news, said the young man. Well,
what is it? asked the Preacher. One of your great friends is dead,
replied the youth. Oh, and who is he? asked the old man. It is the
Devil, and he laughed long and loudly. But there was no laugh on the face of the
Preacher. Putting his hands upon the young mans shoulder and looking straight into
his face he said, Poor fatherless child, what will become of you now that your
father is dead?
Ah, there may be
a bit of humor in the quick wit of the old Preacher, but the truth is unmistakable. The
serpents seed! The world is full of them. When John the Baptist called the Pharisees
and Sadducees a generation of vipers, he was calling them little serpents
issuing out of the belly of the great Serpent sons of the Devil! Being of the same
mother carries its importance, imparts of her traits, etc. But being of the same father
brings in the nature of the blood line.
This is what got
Jesus in so much trouble with the Jews, when He said, I and My Father are one
(Jn. 10:30). They realized that if He claimed that God was His Father, then He also had a DIVINE
NATURE, and WAS GOD. For God to bring forth after His own kind would be the
begetting of gods! Jesus plainly said, I speak that which I have seen with My
Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. They answered and said unto
Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, IF ye were Abrahams children, ye
would do the works of Abraham (Jn. 8:38-39). He then went on to mention how they
sought to kill Him, and this was not the way of Abraham. They were doing the deed of their
father a murderer from the beginning. They then protested, We have one
Father, God, but Jesus again pointed out to them that they were not manifesting the
nature of God, but were doing the lusts of their father, the Devil.
If ye know
that HE is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness IS BORN OF HIM
(I Jn. 2:29). Or, the lusts (desires) of your father ye will do (Jn. 8:44).
Thus, OUR DESIRES, and the works that spring forth from our inner being, give a
strong indication of WHO our father is. When we are delighting ourselves also
in the Lord; then HE SHALL GIVE THEE THE DESIRES OF THINE HEART (Ps. 37:4). But if
we are walking in OUR OWN DESIRES, then we are fulfilling those things planted within by
the wicked one. Sons of God! may OUR FATHER ever be the One to GIVE US, IMPLANT WITHIN OUR
HEART H-I-S DESIRES so that we do only those things which please the Father, God
working within us both to will (give the desire) and to do (bring to fulfillment) of HIS
good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). Both potentialities lie within each of us.
Now it was in the midst of the Garden that man first
encountered the ancient Serpent. Its not news to any of us that we are in the midst
of a war between two kingdoms: the
This brings us
back to the curse laid upon the Serpent in the beginning; Upon thy belly shalt thou
go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life (Gen. 3:14). These terms are
symbolic and spiritual. This is not speaking of a literal snake dangling from a tree limb
in some historic paradise. This is a symbol and the Deceiver, Satan, that ancient Serpent,
the Devil, has to eat dust! He was cursed to this low realm of eating dust because that is
exactly what he was doing when he tempted mother Eve. Adam was formed of the dust of the
ground and bore the image of the earthy and as such became the rightful food for
the Serpent. The Serpent the negative spirit realm now finds its base of
operation and the fulfillment of its nature, desires, activities and purposes IN AND
THROUGH MANKIND. By the very nature of things, when the Serpent eats, he seeks to SATISFY
HIS APPETITE AND GRATIFY HIS DESIRES. Today, as in
The very fact
that the Serpent was now to crawl upon his belly reveals that there was a descending from
one realm to another, and man, with the Serpent in him, now grovels in the dust, trapped
in the humiliating quagmire of trouble, pain, sorrow, sin, sickness, limitation, fear and
death. Moving upon his belly limits the sphere of the Serpents activity, now he can
only creep along the ground, lowered into the dust-realm, confined to the lowlands of the
earthy and material, restricted to expression through THE MAN OF DUST. Truly he is the
S-P-I-R-I-T that now worketh in the children of disobedience (Eph. 2:2).
Because of this remarkable curse you will find Satan operative in NO OTHER REALM in Gods
vast universe! Satan is one with man, the energy force of human nature, the spirit of the
carnal mind, slithering about in the lowest realms of mans earthiness, in the
crooked thoughts, perverted desires, depraved emotions, in the illusions and delusions of
the outer world of appearances, and in all the corrupt motions of the flesh.
I want to tell
you where everything is everything is right there where you are WITHIN YOU. Everything.
On the positive side God is in you, Christ is in you, your hope of
glory, the Word of Christ dwells in your heart by faith, your body is the temple
of the Holy Ghost which is in you, the glory of God has come upon you and is
arising upon you from within, the wonderful mind of Christ is in your mind and the
Kingdom of God is within you. On the negative side the spirit of antichrist
is in you, the man of sin sits in the temple of God which is your body, the
beast rages in the ravenous emotions of your soul, the image of the beast is seen in
you by your outer actions, the nature of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters
(peoples) is in you, and that ancient Serpent, the Devil, and Satan is within
you, the spirit that now worketh IN the sons of disobedience (Eph. 2:2).
Men dream of a
Devil a hideous and obscene monster in human form; a short, skinny elf in a red
body suit, with impish face, horns, pointed ears, a spade beard, thin mustache, having a
long forked tail and a pitchfork in his hand. If you ask one thousand church-going
professing Christians to describe for you, the Devil, would not all of them
describe him in the fashion portrayed above? Or would they describe him to you as a snake.
Millions of professing Christians suppose they would recognize the Devil instantly.
But would they, really? I do not hesitate to tell you that the Devil of
Christianity is a myth. The famous preacher, Charles H. Spurgeon, was once
correcting the sermons of a class of preacher boys. One young man waxed eloquent on the
subject: Putting on the whole armor of God, and dramatized each piece put on.
Then when the armor was on, he cried out: Now where is the Devil! Mr. Spurgeon
cooped both hands around his mouth, and whispered: inside the armor.
Let me illustrate. The following story has been chronicled by another. The year was 1941.
But go with me
now into that long ago when Jesus walked the dusty trails with His disciples. He had asked
the twelve disciples who they thought He was. Peter promptly answered, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God! Then Jesus said to him, Peter, flesh
and blood did not reveal this unto you, but My Father which is in heaven. In other
words, This understanding didnt come from your fleshly mind. You didnt
think this up by yourself. This is not the product of your own nature, or the result of
your reasoning and logic; this came to you from My Father. So remarkable was this
revelation to Peter that the Lord said to him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Bar-jona! So here we have an instance of the Father working in Peter, imparting His
thoughts and understanding to Peter.
Only minutes
later Jesus began to introduce to His disciples the subject of His coming suffering and
death on the cross. The possibility of the death of their beloved Lord was a prospect so
foreign to the thinking of the disciples that they were hardly able to comprehend His
presentation of this unspeakable fate. Was He not the Messiah? Was He not the Son of God?
Did He not come to establish a great Kingdom? Were not they, the disciples, to reign with
Him in that Kingdom? With these questions in mind, they could hardly endure the dark
foreboding which grew in their minds as Christ talked about the future. Then Peter, who
had just been pronounced blessed, took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, Be
it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee! Ah, when Jesus mentioned the
cross and dying, Peter began to rebuke Him. Where did he find the senseless courage that
would dare to rebuke the Lord? The answer is disturbingly evident
far, far too clear to be a comfort to any of us! The Lord Himself gives us the answer,
for. He turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind Me, SATAN! thou art an offence
unto Me; for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
What a shocking way to talk to the great apostle Peter, the one possessing the revelation
of the Christs identity, the one called blessed, the one to whom the Lord had just
given the keys to the Kingdom Heaven! Atrocious to say to this man of deep revelation and
keen perception, Thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that
be of men! Indeed, Get thee behind Me, S-A-T-A-N! How unthinkable!
Hearing Peters
entreaty to the Lord, which of us would not have said that this was the language of
genuine affection, tender solicitude, and loving concern? No doubt we would have chimed in
and said, How kind! How true! How good! Amen! But Jesus replies, Get
thee behind Me SATAN! And our Lord was not merely on a name-calling spree
when He uttered these words, either. He never uttered words in vain, without a definite
meaning. Jesus did not speak merely to Satan in Peter, neither did He say, Peter.
Furthermore, He did not tell Peter that his words sounded like the words of Satan.
He simply addressed Peter AS SATAN. Peter as Satan on what basis? That he
was demented, insane? That he was a medium, bringing spirits out of the supernatural
sphere? No merely that he SPOKE AS A MAN!!! Get thee behind Me, Satan, you
who think and speak like a man! Is this not also what James was saying when
he described the wisdom of man in these words: If ye have bitter envying and strife
in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. THIS WISDOM descendeth not from
above, but is EARTHLY, SENSUAL and D-E-V-I-L-I-S-H! (James 3:14-15). Here we see
that that which is earthly and sensual is that which is considered by the
Spirit of God, DEVILISH!
On the surface
there doesnt seem to be anything wrong with what Peter said. It was a good thought,
a kindly thought He didnt want to see His Lord and Master suffer and die, and he
said so. What was wrong with that? Wasnt that a good sentiment for him to have? What
was wrong with it was that it was the product of Self, it emanated from human sympathy and
not from the heart of God. Anything that proceeds from Self, by the very nature of things,
is bound to be opposed to the mind and will of God, for if His thoughts, and His ways, are
as far from being like ours as the heavens are above the earth, there can be no unity in
them at all. Self and Satan despise and hate the cross. They will scamper wildly in any
direction to avoid it. They will turn their backs upon it, dig under it, try to go around
it or climb over it, but they will never embrace it. The cross is the death knell of Self,
and Self is the arch enemy of the cross. The friendly sympathy of Self is the cunning mind
of the Serpent
Again in Jn. 6:70
we read, Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you I-S A D-E-V-I-L?
Here our Lord of course referred to Judas. In the scriptures we have some very plain
statements to the effect that certain men WERE SATAN or DEVILS. Please, let us not forget
that we are still studying the fully inspired Word of God, and not some infamous fairy
tale. The Devil, about whom we are studying, hates above all else to have his real
identity and location made known. The only way he can carry on his business is to
deceive men and women into thinking he is what he is not. As long as we think he is some
funny little man with horns and a pitchfork we can never be deceived by him! I
fearlessly declare, beloved that Satan and the carnal mind are so ONE that
you cannot have one without the other! Satan and Self are so ONE that they
are indivisible! Satan and human nature are so ONE that they cannot be
separated! Is it any wonder, then, that the friendly hand of Self, yea, the friendly hand
of Satan, was so quickly extended to prevent our Lord from going to the cross? This
shall not be done unto Thee, exclaimed Peter. You must not talk that way,
Lord. You are the Christ, you can never go to the cross! You must save yourself. Dont
go to
And now we
uncover some other startling facts. The Greek word DIABOLOS is the Greek word for devil
In all the Greek New Testament it is never used for anything or anyone else. But in three
appearances of the word in the New Testament, the men who were supposed to translate that
original, instead of translating it in harmony with every other use of the word rendered
it in such a way as to mystify and hide the truth. When translated in harmony with the
rest of the scriptures, here is what I Tim. 3:11 actually says. It is talking about
deacons. And it says this, Even so must their wives be grave, NOT DEVILS (diabolos),
sober, faithful in all things. Just imagine a deacon marrying a funny black thing
with horns, a pointed tail and cloven hoofs! In Titus 2:1-3 Paul is giving some
instructions concerning the churches and the believers in those churches. And here is what
he writes to Titus: The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh
holiness, NOT DEVILS (diabolos), not given to much wine, teachers of good things. In
II Tim. 3:1-5 we read this: This know also, that in the last days perilous times
shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce
breakers, DEVILS (diabolos), incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof. What an indictment against human nature,
and against modern religion! In the last days perilous times shall come. For men
shall be ... DEVILS... having a form of godliness, but denying the power
thereof.
Jesus, on many
occasions, drew this analogy of men as serpents devils. In my mind when Jesus
uttered the following parabolic phrase, He was revealing one of the most important and
foundational truths of all times. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Ye
serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
(Mat. 23:25, 33). John the Baptist used the same terminology. But when he saw many
of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers,
who hath warned you to flee the wrath to come? (Mat. 3:7). Various translations
render this passage...Ye generation of vipers, Ye offspring of vipers,
Ye broods of snakes, Ye serpents brood, etc. You see, Christ
and John were well aware of who and what and where the Enemy was and
ever shall be.
As in Christs
day, so today, the churches are, indeed, full of devils And they have no more
desire to go to the cross than Peter did. Well does this enemy of God, enthroned in the
human heart, this adversary of redemption and of all mankind, know that, in the blessed
hour when the I is crucified and brought to death, all his power and all his
authority and sway in that life is broken forever. His appetite is denied, his desires are
rejected, his base of operation is destroyed, and his work is abolished in every life that
has become identified with Christ in the cross. Once a man has embraced fully the cross of
Christ and Self has become forever dead with Him, then it is with him even as the
firstborn Son in triumph declared: I will not talk with you much more, for the
prince (evil genius, ruler) of the world is coming. And he has no claim on Me, there is
nothing in Me that belongs to him, he has no power over Me (Jn. 14:30, Amplified).
Satan has no power at all when SELF is gone. Then he has no more power in your life or
mine than he had in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. How unspeakably wonderful the hour
for any man when Satan shall find nothing in him upon which he can feed or lay
hold, nothing upon which he can satisfy his evil desires or his corrupt nature, nothing
that responds or corresponds to him! When Self is crucified with Christ the lust of the
flesh is mortified, the lust of the eyes is dead, and the pride of life is nailed to the
cross. The man of dust exists no more and from then on it is NOT I, BUT CHRIST!
Because of the
inborn weakness of the flesh, all who cherish the blessed hope of sonship must learn never
to trust in themselves or to lean upon the failing arm of flesh, but to find their
overcoming power in the omnipotent Spirit. Our constant failures and our proneness to
yield to the ever present overpowering lusts of the flesh should be incentive enough to
cast off the tattered garments of our self-righteousness and self-confidence that we may
make the INDWELLING LORD our strength, our righteousness, our shield, and the
lifter of our heads. Only Christ, dwelling within, can make us stand. HE is our victory.
Our help cometh from the LORD!
THE SERPENT
DESTROYED
Mans body
as originally created by God was something very good, but it has now become the
flesh. The body was pure, since it was created good, but when the body was corrupted
by the serpent, it became flesh. Paul said, ...in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth
NO GOOD THING (Rom. 7:18). Through the fall Satan came to dwell in our members,
causing our body to become flesh i.e., a damaged, ruined body.
Since Satan and
man became one through the fall, Satan is no longer outside of man, but IN man. But
God, shut out from the consciousness of man, declared, I will also become
incarnated. If Satan wrought himself into man, then let Me enter into man and put man upon
Myself. Do you see? GOD put on this man through incarnation. When God became
incarnated as a man, the kind of man He put on was a man corrupted by Satan. God,
sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh (
Forasmuch
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself took part of the
same; that THROUGH DEATH He might DESTROY HIM that had the power of death, that is, the
Devil (Heb. 2:14). The word destroy does not mean to kill or annihilate,
for we know God did not kill the Devil or annihilate him! Destroy, in the original, means
to bring to naught; render powerless; or make of no effect. So through
death the Lord Jesus BROUGHT SATAN TO NOUGHT, RENDERED HIM POWERLESS AND MADE HIM
OF NO EFFECT.
The following
illustration, shared by another, beautifully illustrates how this was accomplished. If a
mouse is loose in a house, it is rather difficult for the owner to catch it. But if he
sets a trap with a little bait, the mouse will then be tempted to catch the bait. The
mouse at first will think he has succeeded in getting the bait, but will not realize that
in fact he has been trapped by the owner of the house. Then, since he is trapped, it is so
easy for the owner of the house to come and put him to death. Similarly, Adam became a
trap to catch Satan! When Satan came to possess man, it appeared he was successful, but he
did not realize that he fell into a trap. Satan thought man was his home, but did not know
that man was a trap. He thought man was his food, but man was only the bait. By taking
man, he was caught and imprisoned in man.
Then in
one single act God pulled the rug out from under Satan! The Lord came and put upon
Himself the flesh, the body of sin, the body of death,
the dust realm, the man of earth, and BROUGHT IT TO THE CROSS that
through DEATH (of the man of dust) He might bring to naught him that had the
power of death, that is, the Devil. When the flesh is crucified, when the dust of
the carnal nature, when the man of the earth is put to death on the cross SATANS
GROUND IS DESTROYED BENEATH HIM, his sphere of activity is removed, his base of operation
is cancelled, so that he is rendered completely powerless and ineffective. Thus, it is by
this death on the cross that Christ destroyed the Devil!
Jesus Christ was
truly tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. Though He were a Son,
yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered. It became Him, for
whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many Sons unto glory, to
make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. And being
made perfect He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey
Him.
When the Son of
God came into the world, when He had been tested on every point and had overcome the
adversary in all things, He uttered these significant words: I will not walk with
you much more, for the prince (evil genius, ruler) of the world is coming. And he has no
claim on Me he has nothing in common with Me, THERE IS NOTHING IN ME THAT BELONGS
TO HIM, he has no power over Me! (Jn. 14:30, Amplified). Ah, this is the
glory of SONSHIP nothing in common with Satan! None of the nature of Adam that
belongs to Satan. So mighty was the indwelling life of the Father within Jesus that Satan
had no power over Him. And, beloved, when you have died completely to that Adamic life,
when there is none of the dust of Adam in you, SATAN HAS NO POWER OVER YOU. When YOUR
FLESH is fully brought to the CROSS, crucified with Christ, Satans base of operation
has been destroyed, his sphere of activity removed. God destroys Satan by destroying YOUR
FLESH.
I can tell you,
dear ones, that already Satan is finding very little ground to creep upon in
many of Gods Sons who are pressing on to the High Calling of God in Christ. The old
serpent is finding short rations and skimpy meals in Gods chosen ones who are
putting off the dust of the carnal mind and putting on THE MIND OF CHRIST. Victory upon
victory they are gaining, for they have taken up THEIR CROSS and the cross has become the
giant X that marks out the dust nature forever. These elect sons of God are beginning to
walk in newness of life as NEW CREATION BEINGS. For them THE CURSE IS LIFTED, Satan is
conquered, and the Christ is arising in glory and splendor in their lives. They are
bearing more and more of His blessed image. They have no fear of Satan or his weapons.
They could march right through the bastions of hell itself, and in the presence of all its
hosts no evil could overtake them. The bestial spirit of this world cannot contaminate
them. Filthy lucre cannot tempt them. Fame and power cannot entice them. Lust and
sensuality cannot draw them. They are overcomers, even THE SEED that serve the Lord! They
shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation, they are an entirely new ethnic group,
the body of the Man from heaven, Sons of the Most High; they shall come, and SHALL DECLARE
HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS.
But 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, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them (II Cor. 4:3-4). But even unto this day... the veil is upon
their heart. Nevertheless when it (the heart) shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be
taken away (II Cor. 3:15-16).
Can we not see
by reading these instructive statements that if we can effectively express outwardly the
reality of the indwelling Christ, the world will see God. The Christ is unveiled in
and through the members of the Christ body. The good news we are proclaiming is in
each one veiled, waiting to be manifested and displayed. If the good news of the
reconciliation of God, if the good news of the glory of God, if the good news of
immortality and life in Christ Jesus, if the good news of the
It is now time
that the prince of this world be cast out, the spirit of blindness in mens minds,
which veils the glory of the Christ within. It is time for the Son of man to be glorified.
Turn, O man, and behold the Lord! See the Lord as He is in His temple! The god of
this age doesnt want this for any man. The god of this age is old Adam, the outer
man, the man of your first birth, the man of flesh, who minds earthly things. It is your
manhood, your humanity that does not want to fully see Christ, because for you to really
see Christ is to give up all the reasonings, preconceptions, understanding, knowledge,
decisions and the pursuits of the flesh to find that life-source which is the antithesis
of SELF. The Adamic mind of selfhood will seek to keep you looking away from the tree of
life by every means at its disposal. Contrary to what some teach, Self is not the Spirit,
for except a man deny Himself and take up his cross he cannot be the disciple of
the Christ. Self will blind you so that you will not turn to the Lord. Why must the prince
of this world be cast out? So that the light of the glory of God, who is the very IMAGE
(GK: CHARACTER) of God, may shine to men! The character is in you, it is in the
Christ, in your spirit. When you behold this Christ within the glory of Christ begins to
shine and the veil is done away; the character of God is seen by all about.
The one thing
that terrifies the forces of darkness is the fear that some day those who believe in
Christ will wake up to the dynamic potential in the life of the Spirit within them
and begin to live fully out of that realm. When this happens, the great problems that
plague mankind will disappear. Ignorance will go; sin will go; disease will go; limitation
will go; Satan will go; death will go; bondage of every sort will fade away and the
Through the
triumph of the Christ life within them the whole creation shall be delivered from its
bondage to corruption, for the Lord of hosts will destroy the face of the covering (the
flesh) cast over all people, and the veil (carnal mind) that is spread over all nations.
He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all
faces; and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth. And it
shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save
us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, and will be glad and rejoice in His
salvation! (Isa. 25:7-9). Hallelujah!
Chapter
33
THE
SERPENT
(continued)
Now the
SERPENT was more subtel than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made... and the
SERPENT said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die... and the Lord God said unto the
SERPENT, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every
beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt eat all the days of thy
life: and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed;
it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel (Gen. 3:1,4,14-15).
The ancient
serpent, having beguiled Eve, became the recipient of the FIRST CURSE in history. Most
students of the Word know that the woman was cursed, the ground was cursed, and the earth
was cursed, but few remember that before all this the serpent was cursed. The curse is
first mentioned in Gen. 3:14. And the Lord God said unto the SERPENT, Because thou
hast done this THOU ART CURSED above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon
thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. The
serpent, called before the tribunal of the Almighty, received a two-fold curse, recorded
here in strong figures of speech which sternly emphasize the power of the judgment: UPON
YOUR BELLY SHALL YOU GO and DUST YOU SHALL EAT.
This is a symbol
and the Deceiver, Satan, that old serpent, has to eat dust! What is the dust? Not the dirt
of the ground! In the passing of the judgment-sentence, God began with the serpent and
said, DUST shalt thou eat. Then to the man, God said, In the sweat of
thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou
taken: for DUST THOU ART, and UNTO DUST shalt thou return. So that
first Adam, sinful, fallen, and sentenced is declared by the counsel of the Lord TO BE
DUST. Said the Psalmist, For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that WE ARE DUST
(Ps. 103:14). That we are DUST! By the very nature of things, when the serpent eats, he
seeks to SATISFY HIS APPETITE and GRATIFY HIS DESIRES. Originally he found pleasure in
higher things and had access to higher realms, but the curse of eating dust
limits the object of his devouring. Today, the sphere of Satans activity is earth,
and the object of his devouring is the man of the earth. Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking WHOM HE MAY
DEVOUR (I Pet. 5:8).
There is also the
sentence: Upon your belly shall you go. This judgment speaks of infinitely
more than a literal snake slithering along upon a literal belly of flesh and blood. The
very fact that God states that the serpent was now to crawl upon his belly, which
obviously he had not done before, reveals that there was a DESCENDING from one realm to
another, from a higher to a lower, from a greater to a lesser. Previously he walked in
loftier realms, his sphere of activity extended to higher domains, but he is now lowered
into the dust realm, into the sphere of man, confined to the earthy, limited to action
upon and expression through THE MAN OF THE DUST. Thus we read in Eph. 2:2, And you
hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
THE SPIRIT THAT NOW WORKETH IN THE CHILDREN OF DISOBEDIENCE. Ah, yes, this
evil spirit is IN MAN!
It is not
difficult for us to acknowledge that GOD was manifest in the flesh through the incarnation
of Jesus Christ. What we have often failed to perceive is that there has also been AN
INCARNATION OF SATAN IN THE FLESH. Just as God was manifested in the flesh
through Jesus, the last Adam, and now through His body, so it is becoming knowledge to us
that Satan has been manifested in the flesh of the first Adam, and now in his posterity!
THE SERPENT A SPIRIT!
Oriental imagery
is never more graphically displayed in all its eloquence than in the use of the biblical
word SERPENT as a figure of Satan, the Devil. This symbol, along with a number of other
word pictures, is very expressive of his nature and activity. I make no apology for
declaring to you the truth that each and every creature of earth typifies a higher 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 (the realm of SPIRIT). 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 mans earthiness, in the
thoughts and desires and ambitions of the carnal mind, full of deadly venom. Even the
fowls of heaven, as the law of Moses shows us, clean and unclean, each bespeak of a kind
or quality of nature, expressing those characteristics that originate in the spirit realm.
Hence, in scripture unclean birds are a type of evil natures, as John the Revelator shows
in Rev. 18:2, And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great
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. We know the Lamb, the meek and sacrificial
nature of the Christ within, the Son of God, gentle, kind, compassionate, redemptive,
blessing all He touches; but have we not 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).
Some teach that
in all the universe there is but ONE SPIRIT the Holy Spirit of God. I solemnly tell
every person who reads these lines that the scriptures are clear, and give us a wonderful
understanding of the workings of SPIRIT. SPIRIT, like everything else in nature, has its
opposites positive and negative, good and evil, light and darkness. As was pointed
out in our previous message on this subject, spirit is not good neither is spirit
evil. Spirit is just a type of thing, just as flesh is a type of thing. For
that matter, flesh is neither good nor evil. It is just there. Flesh becomes evil when its
use is perverted. Flesh is good when it is properly used as the
Let us mediate
deeply upon this word--SPIRIT. The English word spirit is from the Latin
SPIRARE, meaning to breathe, the words respiration, expiration, and inspiration
all being derived from the same source. The word spirit in the Old
Testament is the translation of the Hebrew word RUWACH, the primary significance or
root-meaning of which is WIND. Similarly the New Testament Greek word for spirit,
PNEUMA, comes from PNEO, meaning to breathe or blow, the primary significance
or root-meaning being WIND. The English word ghost used in the King James
Bible, though now somewhat obsolete and not in general use, is derived from the Greek
PNEUMA meaning a blowing or a wind. But let no one hastily conclude that we are
about to attempt to prove that the Holy Spirit is a holy wind, for nothing could be
farther from our thought. Since one cannot live without air and breathing in the realm of
the physical, wind and breath are used symbolically of the Holy Spirit, apart from whom
there can be no life in the realm of the divine. The Holy Spirit is Gods breath, Gods
out-breathing, Gods ENERGY FORCE by which He accomplishes His purpose and executes
His will. Many times we have thought of the Holy Spirit as power, and certainly He has
power, but power is basically the ability or capacity to act or do things
and it can be latent, dormant, inactively resident in someone or something. Force, on
the other hand, more specifically describes energy projected and exerted on persons
and things, and may be defined as an influence which produces or tends to produce
motion, or change of motion. Power might be likened to the stored energy in a
battery, it is there, but inactive. Force, however, could be compared to the
current flowing from the battery, starting the car. Force, then, more accurately
represents the sense of the Hebrew and Greek terms relating to Gods Spirit, and this
is borne out in a consideration of the scriptures.
It will greatly
aid our perception of the activity of the Holy Spirit once we understand the simple truth
that all spirit is ENERGY. Energy has many forms, but it is not something that you can see
or hold in your hand. You can think of energy as something that can make things change.
For example, a moving object has energy because it can change things by crashing into
them. Heat is another form of energy. Heat energy can change ice by melting it into water,
and heat it more, changing it into vapor. It can run the engine of an automobile, jet
plane or rocket. There is another kind of energy, called chemical energy. It is in the
coal or oil that heats buildings. It is in the food that nourishes your body and keeps you
active. There is atomic energy which can be set free from the atoms of some materials. And
there is the energy carried by light waves, called electromagnetic energy. It is the
electromagnetic energy in sunlight that warms the earth. Light waves, streaming out of the
sun, carry energy to us across nearly a hundred million miles of space. When the energy of
the light hits the earth, part of it changes to heat. Some of it is stored in plants as
chemical energy.
Another kind of
energy of which we, the people of God, are aware is SPIRIT ENERGY. In physics energy is
known as the capacity for doing work. The Greek noun for energy is ENERGEO and its verb
form is ENERGEIA. These words are used in the Greek New Testament several times. Because
of the association between doing work and energy, the words are
generally translated into English as work or working. Since so
much has been learned about energy in recent years it would now be far better to translate
the words for just what they mean energy or energizing. Let us look at a few
scriptures. That ye may know... what is the exceeding greatness of His power to
us-ward who believe, according to the working (energeia) of His mighty
power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead (Eph. 1:18-20).
Yes, it was energy, Gods energy, which RAISED CHRIST FROM THE DEAD! And the record
further states that He was raised up by the SPIRIT of God! And not only did Paul say that
it was Gods energy (His invisible power-force) which raised Christ up, but he went
on to say in Eph. 3:7 that it was the same energy of God which transformed his own life
and made him a minister of Jesus Christ. Whereof I was made a minister, according to
the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working (energeia)
of HIS POWER. Then on top of this Paul declares that it is this SPIRIT ENERGY of God
which is WORKING WITHIN US to bring us unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Chris From whom (Christ the whole body fifty joined together and compacted by that
which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working (energeia)
of every part, maketh increase of the body... (Eph. 4:16). And furthermore he states
that He that is joined unto the Lord IS ONE SPIRIT (2 Cor. 6:17). ONE SPIRIT!
ONE ENERGY SOURCE! ONE ENERGY FORCE! YOU AND THE LORD! Them is one body, and ONE
SPIRIT (Eph 4:4). You will know a great truth when you understand the simple fact
that in the Kingdom of God there is ONLY ONE SPIRIT. In union with the Lord you are that
one spirit. All spirit is energy, exerting a force, or influence upon creation. GOD is the
supreme source of energy, the highest and purest form of energy, and the wonder of it is
beyond comprehension, but in union with God Y-O-U ARE THE ENERGY SOURCE FOR ALL THINGS!
All creation stands on tip-toe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God pouring
fourth the energy of divine spirit love, joy, peace, righteousness, provision and power!
Through this ministration ALL THINGS SHALL BE C-H-A-N-G-E-D! Behold, I make all
things new (Rev. 21:5).
The Holy Spirit
is Gods ENERGY FORCE. It is Gods energy force projected and exerted upon
creation. It is Gods motion, action and influence in one measure or another upon,
in, and through man. Yahweh accomplished the creation of the universe by means of His
Spirit or ENERGY FORCE. Regarding the planet earth in its early formative stages, the
record states that The Spirit (energy force) of God was moving to and fro over the
surface of the waters (Gen. 1:2). Psalm 33:6 says, By the word of the Lord
were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath (spirit) of His mouth.
Like a powerful breath or living wind, Gods Spirit can be sent forth to exert power
even though there is no bodily or visible contact with that which is acted upon. Where a
human craftsman would use the force of his hands and fingers to produce things, God uses
His Spirit. Hence that Spirit is also spoken of as Gods hand or fingers.
Jesus told the Pharisees, If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the
Kingdom of God is come unto you (Mat. 12:28). But Luke, in recording the same event,
expresses it thus: If I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the
Kingdom of God is come upon you (Lk. 11:20). The Spirit of God is the finger of God,
the working, the activity of God usward. How great is His working!
There are two
basic characteristics of the wind which qualify it to so fittingly serve as the supreme
symbol of the Holy Spirit. The wind is first of all a powerful force, and secondly it is
Invisible. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth: so is everyone that is born of the
spirit (Jn. 3:8). You cannot see the wind, and yet you are aware of its reality because of
its power with the visible effects of that power manifested all around you. In earlier
times the wind was used broadly as a source of energy. Man has always known how to use
sails on a boat or ship. Later, he learned to use the same principle to construct a
windmill, using the force of the wind to turn grindstones, pump water, and do many other
kinds of work.
Because the wind
is both invisible and powerful; the biblical words RUWACH (Heb.) and PNEUMA (Gr.), meaning
wind, gradually took on much wider meanings, and came to represent any invisible
power or influence, good or bad. And since Gods power, within or without, is
exercised through channels and by agencies beyond human sight or perception, therefore
this word spirit came more and more to be applied to all of the Lords
dealings and operations. The invisible and powerful INWARD ENERGY FORCE which motivates
and transforms our lives into the image of God is the HOLY SPIRIT. Only by the Holy Spirit
are we guided beyond the outer senses, and beyond the letter of the Word, into the
glorious and eternal reality of the deep things of God, even all those things
which God has in reservation for them that truly love Him, which the human eye hath not
seen, the human ear hath not heard, neither hath entered into the human heart to
understand and appreciate.
That spirit is
a proper term for nature, ideas, thoughts, attitudes, desires, mind, will, and all such
characteristics is illustrated by a story I read one time. An eider was telling of a young
lad in a certain congregation. This boy was a devotee of baseball. He was a little
leaguer. When the world series ran he came to the meeting of the church dressed in a
baseball outfit, a glove on one hand and a small transistor radio in the other. His pocket
was stretched by a ball. He didnt hear the ministry that came forth in the meeting.
His ear was glued to that radio. He refused to miss one word of the announcers
description of the game. Now, that boy was FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT OF BASEBALL. He thought
baseball. He talked baseball. He even took his bat to bed. It was all he cared about. He
was filled with it. It was his life!
As I am writing,
equal rights is still an issue in our land. There are people filled with the spirit of
equal rights. They dont have time for anything else. They are consumed with a desire
to petition, lecture, organize, march. Nothing else matters. They eat, sleep and dream
equal rights. Their money, time, talents and energies are exhausted as they pour
themselves into the struggle for equality. They are FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT of equal rights
for all people. These people are filled with an attitude, a mind, a disposition, a will, a
passion, and all these characteristics produce a tremendous INFLUENCE upon the thinking,
attitudes and actions of multitudes of citizens. Perhaps now we can understand what it
really means to be FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT means to not only be filled with the
consciousness of the Person and presence of the Holy Spirit of God, but with all the
characteristics within that Spirit: His nature, will, mind, ways, virtues, disposition,
purpose, etc. How many believers settle for something far less than this! We are living in
an hour when it is popular, the in thing, to be a Spirit-filled
Christian. But truly I say to you that multitudes have settled for a superficial
experience of tongues, or some gift, or feeling, and
have never even dreamed of what it means to become literally filled with each and
every characteristic of the divine nature and power of God! Becoming filled with the Holy
Spirit must do far more for us than cause us to repeat some foreign syllables suggestively
whispered in our ear, or to become ecstatic in our emotions. To be Filled with the Spirit
means to be filled with ALL THE SPIRIT IS. It means that the life and nature and power of
the indwelling Spirit must control and swallow up completely soul and body until there is
no manifestation but of the Spirit Jesus, that blessed firstborn Son, was so filled, for
He possessed the Spirit without measure. And Paul prayed for the saints that
they might be FILLED WITH A-L-L
THE FULLNESS OF GOD (Eph. 3:19). This measure is reserved for all who will go all
the way with God, to be sons even as Jesus was the Son of God. Sonship is the
hope of creation, and the SPIRIT WITHOUT MEASURE is the hope of the sons! It is there that
sin, sickness, limitation and death are swallowed up, and the wisdom, nature, life, power
and glory of the living God is revealed through His people.
Let us take a
closer look at some of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit. He is variously defined as
The Spirit of God, The Spirit of Christ, The Spirit
of Holiness, The Spirit of Truth, and Spirit of a Sound Mind, The
Spirit of Liberty, The Spirit of Burning, The Spirit of the
Father, The Spirit of the Son, The Spirit of Promise, The
Spirit of Meekness, The Spirit of Understanding, The Spirit of
Wisdom, The Spirit of Glory, The Spirit of Counsel, The
Spirit of Grace, The Spirit of Adoption, The Spirit of Prophecy,
The Spirit of the Lord, etc., etc. These various titles, repeated many times,
and used interchangeably, give us a full. proper assurance that they are related to the
same HOLY SPIRIT indeed, frequently the word Holy is added in,
combined, as for instance, The Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of
Promise, etc. These various expressions are descriptive of the spirit, nature,
disposition, power and glory of one God, the Father; and also the spirit, nature,
disposition, power and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, because He is the expression of the
Father; and also it is the spirit, nature, disposition, power and glory of all who am
truly the Lords in proportion as they have been made ONE IN HIM. He that is
joined unto the Lord is ONE SPIRIT (I Cor. 6:17).
Each of these
characteristics is a form of the energy of God. This energy is transmitted from the spirit
into soul and body to produce its power within us, just as electricity is transmitted from
a battery to an engine to make it function in a certain way. When the Spirit of
Holiness is transmitted into our lives and consciousness we begin to function in our
personality in that characteristic of Gods holiness, thus becoming holy. When the
Spirit of Wisdom is transmitted into our consciousness we cease from
our own natural reasoning and commence to act in accordance with the higher wisdom of God.
When the Spirit of Life permeates our being even our bodies shall be quickened
by His life within until this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal
shall have put on immortality. Then shall be fulfilled the word which was spoken, We
shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed (I Cor.
15:51).
Our failure to
see that the Holy Spirit of God is not the only form of spirit in the world leads us into
all manner of error and misunderstanding. There is another spirit mentioned
frequently throughout the Word of God, and in opposite terms, namely, The Spirit of
Fear, The Spirit of Bondage, The Spirit of the World, The
Spirit of Error, The Spirit of Antichrist, The Spirit of Jealousy,
The Spirit of Slumber, etc., etc. These terms signify the WRONG SPIRIT--the
spirit, nature, disposition, power and will which has its chief exemplification in Satan,
the Devil, the Serpent, the Adversary; the same spirit manifesting itself in all who walk
in and live out of the carnal mind. Sin, error, darkness and death are all
characteristics of the SPIRIT OF THE NEGATIVE REALM, even as holiness, truth, love, life,
etc. are all characteristics of the one Holy Spirit.
As mentioned
previously, there are brethren who are convinced that all spirit is the same spirit and
that there is only one spirit in the world, which is the spirit of God in every man. But
we are constrained to take heed to the testimony of the Holy Spirit wherein He says,
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but TRY THE SPIRITS WHETHER THEY ARE OF GOD:
because many false prophets are gone out into the world (I Jn. 4:1). Both the HOLY
and the UNHOLY spirit bear the characteristics of personality, both alike are invisible,
both are powerful, both are spirit, both are energy!
It is true
for the child of God there is only ONE SPIRIT, and that is GOD in every man born of the
Spirit, for he that is joined unto the Lord I-S ONE SPIRIT. It should be
equally obvious and self-evident that the man who is not joined unto the Lord is N-O-T OF
THE ONE SPIRIT. Why else would the apostle differentiate between the spirit of man and the
Spirit of God saying. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of
man which is in him Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God
(I Cor. 2:11). Even for the
redeemed, before they are brought to that full union with God, there is the distinction
between the spirit of man and the Spirit of God. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage
again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, where by we cry, Abba, Father.
The Spirit Itself beareth witness with our spirit; that we are the children of God
(Rom. 8:14-16). It is only when OUR SPIRIT is quickened by HIS SPIRIT and brought unto
UNION WITH GOD that you have the ONE SPIRIT.
I would draw your
reverent attention to some of the characteristics of the unregenerated spirit of man. Duet
2:30 speaks of a certain Sihon, king of Heshbon, of whom it was said, The Lord thy
God hardened his spirit (RUWACH) and made his heart obstinate. Dan. 2:1 shows
Nebuchadnezzar dreaming dreams wherewith his spirit (RUWACH) was troubled and his
sleep brake from him. David had this to say: Blessed is the man unto whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit is no guile. The latter
statement would indicate that there are those in whose spirits there is guile. That is why
Paul had to say, Cleanse yourselves from all filthiness of the spirit. (ll Cor
7:1) If the spirit were always a holy thing, it would not be at all in keeping with the
truth for Paul to exhort us to be cleansed in our spirits. That there is filthiness in the
spirit of man is testified by Job who said, My breath is corrupt. The word
breath is misleading, for it is the Hebrew word RUWACH spirit My
spirit is corrupt would be a more literal translation. That is why David also said,
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me
(Ps. 51:10). The very fact of the need for renewal speaks of a WRONG SPIRIT that needs to
be set right Who can deny that the spirit of man has been contaminated?
The Lord is
nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
(Ps. 34:18). On the other hand, pride goeth before destruction and a haughty
spirit before a fall (Prov. 16:18). There is a generation with whom the Lord is
not pleased, as this is His testimony against it. They set not their heart aright
and whose spirit was not steadfast with God (Ps.78:8). Another contrast is drawn in
Eccl. 7:8 where the Holy Spirit says, The patient in spirit is better than the proud
in spirit. It is all SPIRIT but one is separated unto God, as seen in the
fruit it bears, and the other is not. How awesome this indictment by the Lord, Thus
saith the Lord God: Woe unto the foolish prophets that follow their own spirit and have
seen nothing (Eze. 13:13). Malachi warns, Take heed to your spirit that ye
deal not treacherously (Mal. 2:15). And to cap it all off (though scripture could be
piled upon scripture), James says, The spirit (pneuma) that dwelleth in us LUSTETH
TO ENVY (James 4:5). That cannot in any way be the spirit of the New Creation, nor
can it be of the spirit of the image of God in every man. It is in this passage that James
goes on to say, RESIST the devil, and the method whereby we resist that spirit
within that lusteth to envy is shown in the following verse: Draw nigh unto
(be separated unto, enter into union with) God... purify your hearts... ye DOUBLE MINDED!
(James 4:5-8).
Well did Jesus
know the limitation of the spirit of man apart from the Holy Spirit. Well did He know that
our understanding could not possibly ascend beyond the things of man. He did not leave us
thus comfortless and confined, but promised in words that cannot fail, When He, the
Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. And yet again, When
the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of
truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me (Jn. 15:26). And not
only is there the Spirit of God and the spirit of man, there is also a spirit in the
children of the Devil, the prince of the power of the air, the SPIRIT that now
worketh IN the children of disobedience (Eph. 2:2). How significant and full of
meaning are these words of the apostle John: Ye are of God, little children...
because greater is HE that is IN YOU, than HE that is IN THE WORLD (I Jn. 4:4). Then
two verses later John dearly identifies these two spirits which are in the people of God
and the people of the world: We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that
is not of God heareth not us. Hereby we know the S-P-I-R-I-T OF TRUTH and the S-P-I-R-I-T
OF ERROR. Paul adds to this his testimony: Now we have received, not the
spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that
are freely given to us of GOD (Cor. 2:12).
In words fraught
with eternal significance the inspired apostle exhorts, Be renewed in the S-P-I-R-I-T OF
YOUR MIND (Eph. 4:23). One has so aptly written, commenting on this verse: Note
that it reads: in the SPIRIT of our mind, for this is far more than just mental gymnastics
of our own serf-efforts. It is the energizing of His Spirit upon our human spirit which in
turn takes dominion over our mind and brings our mind into subjection to the Spirit of
truth. There is beneficial results in the power of positive thinking, even on natural
realms. But true transformation comes when it is in THE S-P-I-R-I-T OF YOUR MIND. Oh, it
may become the norm of our life to just be thinking HIS thoughts, because of the
enlargement of His Spirit force within us. It is more than merely a renewing of the
mind it is the renewing of SPIRIT the spirit of the mind. It is an
absolute must to receive from a realm higher than Adam can give in order to have our minds
renewed. The change comes from the Lord from heaven, out of the spirit realm of God,
uniting with our spirit. It is the heavenly Jesus dwelling in our hearts, making us ONE IN
HIM.
Elwin Roach has
shared this illuminating thought concerning the transformation of the mind: the
word, renewing, is adequately rendered in Rom. 12:2; however, to be a little more
accurate, the word could be translated RENOVATION (see Strongs Exhaustive
Concordance). We are then transformed by the renewing of our minds. There is only a slight
difference in the two words, but when renovation is used, we get the thought of a complete
house rearing, house cleaning, and then a total refurbishing. Everything old is removed
and replaced with all new furnishings. God, however, does something differently in His
renovation. He does it just the opposite. He does not clear out the old things and leave
our minds a total void and then start filling them with new thoughts. He starts bringing
in the new thoughts first, and with this the old passes away and gives place to the new
and all this is of God. Think about it!
The activity of
the mind is primarily in the realm of THOUGHTS. Thoughts are very real and alive. Thoughts
are SPIRITUAL REALITIES, transmitted energy, coming upon your person via the gate of your
mind. This energy (thoughts) is transmitted into your conscious mind from the unconscious
to cause you to act and react in a certain way. Thoughts do not originate in mortal brain.
Thoughts are invisible and powerful entities which have their origin in the dimension of
SPIRIT. Thoughts do have an objective! You should know and become aware of the
objectives of the thoughts that enter your mind. Every decision you have ever made or
ever will make has its origin, intent and power in the INVISIBLE REALM the realm of spirit.
You will never understand the mystery of life until you thoroughly know that there is
a negative and a positive spirit force. The negative leads to death; the positive to life.
The mind is the gateway, the channel through which these energy forces affect our lives.
The thoughts that come to us bear the characteristics of the spirit force operating in us.
Let us list some of the characteristics of the negative realm: ...unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, debate, deceit, malignity,
whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil
things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural
affection, implacable, unmerciful (Rom. 1:29-31). What a list. Search your mind...
stop and think! Are some of your thoughts carrying these characteristics? They carry
within them the power of death!
Now let us list
some of the characteristics of the spirits (thoughts) which come from God. But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance (Gal. 5:22-23). Thoughts carrying these characteristics come
from God, the author of life. Each of these characteristics will cause you to take
on and express the very NATURE OF GOD, for they are the energy producing the very power of
Gods nature in the life. What frame of mind do you find yourself living in much of
the time? Think now! Is it creative, holy, virtuous, joyful, confident, loving,
life-giving, humble, temperate, peaceful? Or is it depressed, discouraged, uncertain,
frustrated, angry, fearful, hateful, proud, self-centered, intolerant. You are what
you are because of what you have been THINKING! We are constantly entertaining and
being influenced and shaped by thoughts which have an origin. They are spirit. They
are like the wind they just blow into your mind. They are energy:
motivating, directing, compelling your actions. They are POWERFUL, INVISIBLE FORCES that
shape your destiny!
Prov. 23:7 says,
For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Well did the prophet
assert: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose MIND is stayed on Thee
(Isa. 26:3). To which is added the inspired testimony of the apostle Paul: If ye
then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the
right hand of God. Set your affections (thoughts) on things above (spiritual, heavenly),
not on things on the earth (natural, carnal) (Col. 3:1-2). And again, Finally,
brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are
pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any
virtue, and if there be any praise, THINK on these things! (Phil. 4:8). This we can
do, praise His name, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty
through God to the pulling down of strongholds; CASTING DOWN IMAGINATIONS (thoughts), and
every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into
captivity EVERY THOUGHT to the obedience of Christ (I Cor. 10:4-5).
Beyond the effect
of spirit upon us and the energizing of spirit within us, there is that ability to
MINISTER SPIRIT. Every child of God should seek that God would open his eyes to show him
this wonderful ministry of the Spirit. Paul spoke of it in these inspired words,
Who also hath make us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter,
but of the SPIRIT: for the letter killeth, but the SPIRIT giveth life... if the
ministration of death... was glorious... how shall not the MINISTRATION OF THE S-P-I-R-I-T
be rather glorious (II Cor. 3:6-9).
This passage
contains two significant phrases: Who hath make us able ministers of the
New Testament... OF THE SPIRIT and the ministration of... SPIRIT. The New
Testament is not the black, leather covered, book called the Bible. This book is
what Paul calls the letter. It is the law, the record, the history, the form
which tells us many things about the historical man called Jesus. The twenty-seven books
called the New Testament are merely the guide given to point us to the TRUE NEW TESTAMENT,
Jesus, the Christ of God! Search the scriptures, said Jesus, for in them
ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which TESTIFY OF M-E (Jn.
5:39). Our scripture says that God has made us able ministers of the New Testament!
To minister the New Testament does not mean to minister sermons, doctrines, laws,
commandments, or facts about Jesus Christ. To minister the New Testament is to minister
the very life of God which is CHRIST IN OUR SPIRIT. He hath made us able ministers
of... the SPIRIT. The word minister implies the thought: to serve, impart, give out
or wait on. As a member of the New Creation you have been called to be an able minister of
the New Testament a minister of the SPIRIT!
You may say,
Who, me? Me a minister of the SPIRIT? Why, I cant even testify without
stuttering and my knees knocking! How can we minister spirit. We know how to
minister tangible things: our hands minister food to our mouths, they wash our bodies,
clothe our bodies, minister ointments and medicines to diseased or painful members, and
serve others in a multitude of ways. This is not hard to understand but how can a person
minister SPIRIT? We minister spirit when we minister WHAT THE SPIRIT IS within us! As we
walk in the attitude and will of God, speak the words of God, act in the wisdom of God,
express the character of God, manifest the nature of God, there is transmission of spirit
energy to the people, events, and circumstances about us.
How can we
describe that Holy Spirit which is within us? We can describe the fruit of the apple tree
in terms of the characteristics of the apple, i.e., peeling, meat, stem, core, seeds,
texture, flavor, etc. The characteristics make up the description of what an apple is,
what it is like. Similarly, we may describe the Holy Spirit in terms of the virtues or
attributes of the Spirit called the fruit of the Spirit. Now the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance (Gal. 5:22-23). This is the image of God, what God the Spirit is like!
And the new man of our spirit is created in the image and likeness of God (Eph. 4:23-24).
Here are nine individual realities which are not visible to the natural eye, yet we know
they exist, for like the wind we have observed their influence and effect. They are
Spirit, YOUR SPIRIT, and you can minister out of that realm!
What kind of
fruit does a natural tree bear? You will answer, Natural fruit, of course.
That is right. In nature everything produces after its kind. Apples produce
apples, oranges produce oranges, vegetables produce vegetables, etc. If natural trees
produce natural fruit, what kind of fruit should we expect from SPIRIT? The answer is
simple: SPIRIT FRUIT! The fruit is of the same nature and substance as that which produced
it. If God is Spirit, Holy Spirit, then it follows that the fruit of the Spirit is
likewise Spirit. To minister Spirit, therefore, means nothing more nor less than to
minister the virtues of the fruit of the Spirit to another person. It does not mean to
minister the letter of the Word, or pronouncements of judgment, to preach sermons, or
convince people through argument of a doctrine, or show people where they are wrong,
ungodly, or under condemnation. NO! That is all the ministry of the letter which
killeth! We are called to minister the SPIRIT WHICH PRODUCES LIFE!
God is not
complicated. Spirit is not complicated. God is Spirit, and God is love. Love is not
complicated. Love has no problems communicating, influencing, ministering. When those
around us are discouraged or distraught, we can minister encouragement to them by our
word, attitude and action. When people are sad and sorrowful, as ministers of Spirit, we
will minister joy and faith unto them. In the presence of fear we will exude and speak
peace. When our enemies hate us we will love them in return. When men curse us we will do
good to them, when they revile us we will bless them. When our friends are depressed,
uncertain, and frustrated, we will manifest such calmness and confidence that will lift
them from the shrouding gloom of despair into faith and victory.
It is a
significant fact that all the virtues and characteristics of the Holy Spirit are
spirit, and therefore ARE ENERGY POWER! In the area of will, attitude, nature,
mind, disposition, etc., there is always a transmission of energy. Havent you
noticed how one persons attitude will rub off on to another person? One
can begin complaining and soon everyone is complaining. One begins to be argumentative and
before you know it everyone in the room is in a heated argument. Or a whole group of
people may feel frustrated and hopeless in a situation, and just one person can enter the
room with a cheery smile, radiating the aura of confidence and assurance, speaking a
positive word of encouragement and victory, and soon the whole atmosphere changes,
becoming charged with this new expectation, the spirit of the whole group being raised up
into hope and anticipation. What is this? It is the work of spirit invisible, intangible
energy POWER! Invisible, but very real. And very powerful! There is constantly, in
this world, the definite transference of spirit energy from person to person,
negative or positive. The rise and success of false religions, ideologies like nazism and
communism, rock music, immorality, etc., are the direct result of negative spirit
influence transmitted to the masses through faithful ministers of unrighteousness who have
become FILLED WITH THE UN-HOLY SPIRIT, and consequently transmitters of the same.
Think not, dear
friend, that in order to minister the Holy Spirit you must speak idle words, put on a
front, or exert some self-effort to impress someone. We are not subscribing to Dale
Carnegies concepts of HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE. Such methods are
soulish pretense and carnal hypocrisy. But you do have a right to know that since your
spirit has been quickened by HIS Spirit all the virtues and abilities of the Holy Spirit
actually are inherent within your nature. By recognizing the reservoir of life, ability,
power and nature within (our true identity) we are enabled at any and all times to
appropriate it for ourselves and minister its realities to all whom we contact. And this
is P-O-W-E-R the very POWER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD!
One thing must be
very clear. There are three dimensions of spirit energy which daily touch our lives: God,
the satanic, and the human. Every thought, word and action of mankind emanates from one of
these three invisible but powerful sources. As sons and daughters of the Most High we are
called to the high calling of being transmitters of the life-giving energy of God here
upon this earth! Yes, you can minister SPIRIT HOLY SPIRIT! Hallelujah!
GET THEE BEHIND ME
SATAN!
While earthly races vary in
stature, physical features, and color, the nature of man is unvariable and universal. For
the carnal nature there are no national boundaries, no aspects peculiar to a certain
tribe, no ethnic group or national entity has any monopoly on the serpent that lies in the
heart of man. All men of every country and every tongue and every race are possessed of
the very same thoughts, impulses, desires, emotions, and state of being, for all are
partakers of the collective nature of Adam. The mind of Satan is the mind that worketh in
all the children of disobedience. This is the mind that inspires the ever increasing evil
and confusion that today is running rampant among all nations. This is also the mastermind
that dominates the religious confusion of this dark hour.
From the day of the fall in
We need not be surprised to
learn that the serpent lurks in the corruption of the mind and heart of man. Can there be
found in all the universe a more possessive, blinding, or deceiving devil than the devil
of SELF? Over and over again in the Word of God we find this terrible truth reiterated.
Do you believe,
precious friend of mine, that Satan can work in someone right there where you are, and in
someone in New York City, in someone in London, in someone in Moscow, in someone in Hong
Kong and in someone in Nairobi all at the same time? It is true but how?
Can he travel at the speed of light and be in that many
people around the world at the same instant? Is he omnipresent? Absolutely not! He
dwells IN MAN he is right there in every mans mind and heart and nature.
We see this
principle fulfilled in the story of Job. Now there was a day when the sons of God
came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them (Job
1:6). May I reverently add that every time the sons of God present
themselves before the Lord Satan comes also among then! It bespeaks of a
condition within these sons our minds vs. His mind, our will
vs. His will, our ways vs. His ways. It is a heavenly place within
the sons of God wherein we must be tested to show whether we be sons indeed. This impudent
Devil of self-will is in every man, and even our Lord Himself surrendered His own will to
the Fathers, saying, Father, if Thou be willing remove this cup from Me:
nevertheless, not My will, but Thine, be done (Lk. 22:42). Until every
son has been completely perfected and thoroughly tested it is not possible for the sons of
God to come and present themselves before the Lord without Satan coming also among
them. Does he not walk in the natural mind of every man? It is written, And the Lord
said unto Satan, Whence cometh thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to
and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it (Job 1:7). Now the
Lords questions are never for His own enlightenment. He knew well whence Satan came.
Oh, yes, Satan had been walking to and fro throughout the earth God knew this
for he walks in our earth, even that earth which we are, from the
east to the west, from the north to the south, from sea to sea and from pole to pole he
walks in the earthly planes of our souls, in the secret chambers of our minds, in the
fleshly motions of our bodies; he travels up and down in us from the heights of our
heavens to the depths of our hells. There is not a day that he leaves us! Dust is his
habitation.
All the way to
glorification this inner antagonist is present. This is why every revival God has ever
sent through the ages ended in apostasy. Satan not the Devil with horns and
pitchfork but that inward Devil of fleshly wisdom, sense-knowledge and carnal zeal
has a subtle way of identifying himself with every move of the Spirit of God, so as
to corrupt it from within. Many years ago F. J. Huegel wrote: Students of the great
Welsh Revival (1900-1903) say that the wonderful stream of Divine Life little by little
lost its saving efficacy, as another stream from a very different source, naturally very
filthy, began to mingle with the River of Water of Life proceeding from the Throne and
from the Lamb. Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves
before the Lord, and Satan came also among them (Job 2:1). Beware of false fire.
Beware of the counterfeit glow. When the soulish takes the place of a pure working
of the Holy Spirit, you have a revival whose fires, though they purport to be
from Heaven are more likely to be from Hell. There are any number of doors
through which Satan may enter to get control of revival. An undue stressing of the
emotional; excitement which grieves and suffocates the Holy Spirit who works quietly; a
glorying in the evangelist rather than in the Saviour he preaches; dap-trap methods; self
whatever the form in the ministry itself, obstructing Christ, veiling His cross and His
glory; these are some of Satans keys end quote.
The same sad
story has been chronicled for us in our generation by George Hawtin in his excellent
booklet, MYSTERY BABYLON. Speaking of the events that surrounded the great Latter Rain
outpouring of the Spirit in 1948, he says, The spirit of
Perhaps it
was a miracle. I do not think it was chance. I learned that men could be baptized with the
Holy Spirit. So I sought and found this blessed new experience in God, and joys flowed
like a river as the Comforter came in. But here again the arms of another daughter of
God does
not leave you in a dry land for long if you are bound to be one with Him. Should my life
be very long on earth, I shall never be able to forget the glory, the awe, the reverence,
the holiness, and the power that came to our classroom as we waited on God that glorious
13th of February, 1948, when God began to do a new thing that was destined for a time to
shake the church all over America. How we sang the songs of deliverance! How the praises
of God echoed down the corridors of the soul and re-echoed among the battlements of
heaven! Music of heavenly choirs on earth went sweeping up the sky steeps while angels
stood at heavens gates and swept their harps of gold. Day after day, month after
month the celestial wonder continued. Heaven came down our souls to greet and glory
crowned the mercy seat. People came for thousands of miles to drink at the ever flowing
fountain of life and it looked for a time as though the walls of
But the
Babylonian captivity was not over yet. As I look sadly in retrospect now, I can see with
great clearness that the great and blessed move of God was not two years old before the
sectarian spirit began to show its ugly head and men began to hide the Babylonish garment
in their tents together with the silver and the wedge of gold. The old Babylonish garment
was well hidden deep beneath the earth of the tent, but it was there nonetheless, and the
whole move was becoming more and more enfolded by another tentacle of the great octopus.
Stricter and more rigid became the teaching and the discipline. There was to be no
fellowship with anybody who was not within the confines of our ever narrowing circle. We
were the true church. We were the elect. We stood on the foundation and all other
men stood on sinking sand. No man must cast out a devil unless he followed us. No teaching
was worth the time it took to tell it unless it originated with us. We were the most
spiritual people in the world. We were going to reign in the kingdom and even now we were
beginning to reign. We had the gifts of the Spirit, and we were going to call the
shots in the tribulation. The elders were no longer fathers, but men who were to
carry out the will of those who were lords over the heritage of God. Everything was cut
and dried and firmly enfolded in the arms of another of the harlot daughters of the
Babylonian system. We boasted of the gifts of the Spirit, but what had become of them?
Where were the healings? Where were the miracles? Where was the faith, the gift of
languages, the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge? The only thing that was left was
prophecy and it became a weariness to the flesh, flowing continually from the mind of man
and scarcely ever having any fulfillment. Prophecy that has no fulfillment comes from one
of two sources: from the mind of Satan or from the mind of man, but never from the mind of
God. How often I have listened to people fumble for words as they prophesied thus giving
the lie to their words having been inspired of God. How is the faithful city become a
harlot! end quote. To this faithful testimony I would add again the
sons of God came and presented themselves before the Lord, and how clearer can it be that
SATAN CAME ALSO AMONG THEM!
The entire
religious world is today walking in fleshly wisdom which seems so logical to the carnal
mind. Fleshly wisdom always seems to make more sense than does the wisdom of
God! Satan causes carnal wisdom to prosper because it is denial of the life of the Spirit,
so that many times Christians and churches operate contrary to the Spirit with the
argument, It works! Their method of evangelism is contrary to the ways of the
Spirit, but since it works they continue in it. The program of the
church is contrary to true spirituality, and is built generally around flesh-appeal
activities of ceremonies, concerts, social activities, sports, Sunday School contests,
puppet shows, movies, special speakers, sensationalism and other carnal tactics and
techniques, but the organizations continue in it because it works and causes
the church to prosper in numbers and in finances, while their spirits remain
dwarfed and hideously shriveled and stunted, if indeed they have been quickened at all! It
must be remembered that if anyone or anything prospers on principles other than the
life of the Son of God, that person or thing is being prospered by the Devil and not
by God!
Turn with me to
two verses of scripture in Gal. 3:3 and Phil. 3:3-4. Are ye so foolish? Having begun
in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? We are the circumcision, who worship God
in the Spirit
and have no confidence in the flesh The flesh is
the name by which the Word designates our fallen condition Satan in man. Well did
William Law write these words of keen insight: In this antagonism of the flesh to the
Spirit the flesh has TWO DISTINCT STRATEGIES. On the one hand, the flesh lusts against the
Spirit in its committing sin and transgressing Gods commands. This is the evil of
the flesh. On the other hand, its hostility to the Spirit is no less manifested in its
seeking to serve God and do His work! This is the good of the flesh. In yielding to
the flesh, the soul sought itself instead of the God into whom the Spirit could have
raised it. Self-effort and self-development prevailed over Gods life. And now, so
subtle and mighty is this spirit of self, that the flesh, not only in sinning against God,
but even when the soul learns to serve God, still asserts its power, refuses to let the
SPIRIT ALONE LEAD, and in its effort to be religious, wants to serve God independent of
the Spirit and is still the great enemy that ever hinders and quenches the Spirit. It is
because of this cunning deceitfulness of the flesh that there often takes place what Paul
speaks of to the Galatians; Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by
the flesh? Unless the soul is brought into absolute submission to the Spirit, the
surrender to the Spirit being very entire, and the holy waiting on Him be kept up in great
dependence and humility, what has begun in the Spirit, very early and very speedily passes
over into confidence in the flesh.
Just where the
flesh seeks to serve God, there it becomes the strength of sin. Do we not know how the
Pharisees, with their self-righteousness and carnal religion, fell into pride and
selfishness, and became the servants of sin and the children of the Devil? Satan has no
more crafty device for keeping men out of life than inciting them to a religion, even a
serving of God, in the flesh. He knows that the power of the flesh can never
conquer sin nor please God, that in the flesh and the serving of the flesh no one will
ever become a son of God, for those who become sons not only defeat the Devil in
the wilderness of temptation, but also deny their owns souls, wills, plans, abilities,
desires, ambitions, hopes and dreams to declare: I do nothing of myself; but as my
Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And He that sent me is with me; for I do
always those things that please Him. The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth
the Father do: for what things so ever He doeth, these also doeth the Son. The words that
I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the
works (Jn. 8:28-29; 5:19; 14:10).
If there is one
lesson a son of God needs to learn it is this: If I am to deny self in my
relationships with others, to conquer selfishness, anger, and lack of love, I MUST FIRST
LEARN TO DENY SELF IN MY RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD! There the soul, the seat of Self,
must learn to bow to the Spirit, where God dwells. Listen, my brother, my sister, to the
voice of the blessed Spirit of God. It is confidence in the flesh that motivates men to
busily and craftily work for God rather than seeking the Lord until He works.
It is Self doing what the Spirit alone can do; it is the Soul taking the lead, in the
hopes that the Spirit will second its efforts, instead of trusting the Holy Spirit to lead
and to do all, and then waiting on Him. Oh, brethren! How we need to watch this! All that
is not of life, of the Spirit, is merely the good of man soulish. How much of our
religious exercises have been soulish! I can tell you of a truth that most of the power
in the modern revival meeting is nothing at all but soul power. Have you not
noticed yourself that in many church services, revival meetings and crusades a kind of
atmosphere is first created psychologically to make the people feel warm and excited? A
chorus is repeated again and again to warm up the audience. The people are feverishly
urged to get into the spirit of the meeting. Some stirring stories are told.
Special music is sung. The people are instructed to stand up, sit down, say Amen!
and Praise the Lord! When the atmosphere is thoroughly heated up, the preacher
will then stand up and preach. If he does his job skillfully he can anticipate a large
altar call. These are methods and tactics, but they are not the power of the
Holy Spirit! Many preachers today think they have power (even many so-called sons of God);
but they are merely employing psychological soul power to influence people and manipulate
congregations. Many have become self-made experts in manipulating people and crowds. The
Bible Schools of Babylons religions offer a course for ministerial students called homiletics.
Homiletics is the art of writing and preaching sermons. The sad truth is that the vast
majority of religious activities is just that an art. You can go to school
and LEARN HOW TO DO IT! How to prepare sermons. How to speak persuasively. How to use
gestures. How to tell jokes. How to preach. How to stir people by the skillful use of
sentimental stories about death, repentance, hell, heaven, needs, miracles, etc. This all
seems so desirable, so good! But I say to you that you can learn these very same
psychological techniques, apply them in the business world, and sell vacuum cleaners! The
fact is, most all salesmen employ these same proven procedures of presentation,
sentimentalism and pressure to sell insurance, automobiles, real estate, and thousands of
other items daily! They dont need any Holy Spirit to do that! All that is necessary
is some good human personality mixed with some proven techniques and one can persuade
people to buy almost anything! These are means and methods, but they are not the power nor
work of the Holy Spirit. They are no more spiritual when used religiously than they are
when employed commercially. In the
There is no
life in methods, techniques, or formulas. How much better it would be if the Lords
servants would expend their energies, like Mary of old, at His feet, learning to know
Him and to know His ways. How much better it would be were the time spent on
our knees, low and humbled before God, that He might place within a deep distrust of
the flesh. How I pray that God would truly reveal to all those apprehended to sonship
that the one great hindrance to the life of sonship is the power of the flesh and the
efforts of the self-life. Open our eyes, we pray Thee, to this snare of Satan. May we all
see how secret and how subtle is the temptation to have confidence in the flesh, how
easily we are led to try and perfect in the flesh what has been begun in the Spirit May we
learn to trust Thee to work in us by Thy Holy Spirit, both to will and to do only those
things which THOU ART DOING! Today, after hearing the Fathers call to sonship,
after partaking of the deep and vital dealings of the Spirit of God, I have had to totally
repudiate all such soulish wisdom of the carnal mind, all such fleshly tactics of
Babylons kingdom to bend low before the disciplines of the Father of sons, to
travail mightily that God would bend me, break me, bind my soul power, bridle my Self, and
block all that would proceed from my carnal mind. If I have learned anything of the ways
of the Father I have learned this one thing: He who would be a son of God must be able to
discern what is done from his soul power and what is done by the Spirit of God; further,
he must confess and utterly forsake all that pertains to his own soul power, nailing it to
the cross of Christ, that ultimately his own faith, as well as that of his hearers, may be
found to stand solely in the power of God and not in the wisdom of the flesh. This is the
only route, my dear brother and sister, into the glorious reality of sonship to God. All
the good works of the soulish realm can never, in a billion years, deliver the creation
from its bondage to the tyranny of corruption. Only the mighty working of THE LIFE OF THE
SON OF GOD can accomplish this. It is the Spirit that QUICKENETH; the flesh
PROFITETH NOTHING. Therefore Get thee behind me, SATAN!
Can you not see
now how it is, my beloved, that when the sons of God present themselves before the Lord,
Satan comes also among them? This very same experience happened to none other than our
blessed Lord Jesus the Pattern Son. Did you notice how strangely Matthew and Mark
speak of Christs 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 of Satan, the arch enemy of all righteousness, a murderer from
the beginning, and the father of lies! Ah, but it was necessary for the Son to be PROVEN,
to be made STRONG, to OVERCOME in these realms before proceeding on into His glorious
ministry and the agony and death of the cross.
Do you suppose
the Devil came to Jesus there as a weird-looking figure, with little, evil-looking horns
protruding from his temples, and a pointed tail? How often with our childish and distorted
understanding, have we pictured Jesus confronted by that legendary figure in the red suit,
with a pitchfork in his hands! This is naught but foolishness, for Satan is spirit, and
spirit is INVISIBLE ENERGY! How many times have you been tempted by the Devil? Can you
count the times? How often has he spoken to you, enticing, suggesting, compelling? Have
you ever seen him? Have you ever heard his audible voice? Certainly not! And
yet you HAVE sensed his presence, you HAVE heard his voice, you HAVE felt his
power! It was all in your MIND, in your EMOTIONS. And does not our Lord, the Spirit of
Truth, speak to us in the same way? That still small voice, the inner urging, the inward
knowing, the spiritual consciousness all from a dimension beyond the natural
senses. Because it is all in our mind and heart does not mean that it is
imagination or hallucination! In the depths of my spirit I am absolutely certain that
there was not some hideous spirit-being materializing before the eyes of Jesus in
that Judean wilderness. Remember Jesus was not only the Son of God, He was the Son
of man. And being both He was capable not only of hearing from God, but hearing those
things that be of man. So when we speak of that ancient Serpent which is the Devil and
Satan, we are not talking about some mighty fallen angel, but that mind which
savors the things of man the carnal mind. The apostle James put it this way: But
every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished,
bringeth forth death (James 1:14-15). The Moffat Translation reads, Everyone
is tempted as he is beguiled and allured by his own desire, the Desire conceives
and breeds sin, while Sin matures and gives birth to death. Everyone has desires of
one kind or another, and that really can be quite natural. When we see the word lust,
most Christians think it is used exclusively in a negative, sensual, or sexual context The
word simply means desire, and a persons desires are not always evil. The
Greek word EPITHUMIA is translated primarily as lust in the King James Bible,
but the same word is also translated desire in Lk. 22:15 where our Lord
Himself told His disciples how much He longed (desired, lusted) to eat the Passover with
them. A related Greek word, EPITHUMEO, is often translated as desire and is
used in several places in a positive context, as in desiring to know the things of God
(Mat 13:17). Even in the things of the Spirit one must keenly discern between his own
desire and the desire of the Spirit.
The record states
that after fasting for forty days, Jesus hungered. When youre hungry, what kind of
desire do you have? You want to eat! In that crucial moment the Tempter came to Him. He
began to feel the physiological pangs of hunger, and then the thought occurred to
Him. Jesus dropped down from the high and holy thought of God, into the reasoning of the
human mind. He descended in consciousness from the Son of God to the Son of man. He said,
I know who I am; I can turn these stones into bread. And in His natural
mind the voice cunningly suggested, If you are the Son of God, go ahead and do it!
Use your sonship to fill your belly! Use it to satisfy your own needs and desires!
But Jesus quickly discerned that wily Devil and knew how to nip that idea in the bud
before it had time to blossom. He got to it before it could conceive, before it could
start making a baby of sin. Jesus answered out of the depths of His spirit, It is
written man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of
the mouth of God (Mat.4:4). And that ended that temptation! The battle lay
not with some mythical personage outside of Himself. The conflict was within. The
voice was an inner voice. The suggestion was in His mind, its power in His emotions
and will. God speaks to us in our mind and spirit Satan also speaks in our mind and
heart. There is no monster without. There are three things in this vast world, and only
three the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; briefly,
appetite, avarice, and ambition. I do not think you will be able to avoid the conclusion
that all the inventions, creations, and contrivances of man are in existence to cater to
these three things. It was with these three things that Eve was tempted. She saw
the tree was good for food (the lust of the eyes), a tree to be desired (the lust
of the flesh), a tree to make one wise (the pride of life), and the temptation was
not from without but from within. How remarkably the three temptations of Jesus in the
wilderness parallel these three! Every temptation of the Devil comes to us through the
lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. There are no others. Not
for Adam and Eve, not for Jesus, and not for us.
Humankind has an
enemy a wily Nemesis, an adversary, described in Gods Word as desperately wicked,
deceitful above all things. This enemy has adversely affected every generation of
humankind from the Garden of Eden to the present Just who, or what, is this
inimical deceiver? The prophet Jeremiah unmasked this enemy in these words of inspiration,
The HEART is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, and he went on
to ask the searching question, who can know it? To the enlightened mind
of this prophet, the depth of iniquity of which the human heart is capable is so great
that it is beyond the ability of any man to comprehend. How many times have you heard it?
Someone perpetrates an unbelievably ghastly crime; like the axe murders of an entire
family by a young lad barely in his teens, or the brutal murder of a father and a mother
by a teenager a few years ago, who buried them in a shallow grave, and then repeatedly
drove a tractor over the site, in an attempt to cover the crime and yet relatives,
close friends and near neighbors all said, in a state of bewilderment and shock, But
he was such a nice, quiet, decent boy!
A motion picture
some years ago portrayed the dual lives led by a judge, who had two families, some
distance apart! He had married two different women, was actually living
with each for a certain number of days each week; would then disappear, as if he had some
important responsibilities in a distant town, when in actuality he was going to spend the
remainder of that week with a second family. Obviously, each wife thought she knew
this man, thoroughly! After all, just how well do you know you own
spouse? Interesting, isnt it? We feel we truly know our husbands, wives,
children; our closest and dearest friends. But according to the word of God we dont
even know ourselves. We, perhaps above all people, are most often deceived by our own
hearts! There is a deeper part to all of us a part that only God
knows! As a friend has so aptly written: We should not find this so amazing a
passage of scripture if it were not for one important thing. Jeremiah did not list an
exception, saying, The heart is deceitful above all things except the Devil.
He merely stated that the heart is deceitful above all things, PERIOD! Since Jeremiah
spake by the Spirit of God, this could not possibly have been a slip of the tongue or
something uttered before it was thought through. If the heart is deceitful above all
things, it naturally follows that there is nothing more deceitful. The heart of man, then,
is the MOST DECEITFUL THING IN THE WORLD!
There is no
doubt whatever in my mind that Jesus had this very scripture in mind when He spoke the
words recorded in Mk. 7:15-23.There is nothing, He said, from without
a man that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him,
these are they that defile the man. Having said that, He uttered the statement that
so often followed His teachings when there was contained in them a mystery, IF any man has ears to hear, let him hear.
If we will be honest with ourselves, we will have to admit that we have fostered and
taught for generations a concept that directly contradicts the words of Jesus Christ, for
we have, indeed, declared that there IS something from without a man that can enter into
him and defile him. We have called him Satan (an adversary), and so he is! We have called
him a murderer and a liar, and so he is! We have had much truth about him but the
one thing we have NOT known about him is his LOCATION! We have said that he was without
Jesus said that he is within! If there is nothing from without a man (and in
the Greek that reads: not one thing) that entering into him can defile him, then we
must conclude the Satans activity is not without, but within.
As we
continue to read this passage, we hear Jesus say, For from within, out of the
heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts,
covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride,
foolishness: all these things come from within and defile the man. Every sin
category imaginable is contained in this discourse. Everything that a man could ever think
or do that is evil is said by Jesus to come not from outside of man but from
within! In our consideration of this passage, there is one all-important phrase that we
must be careful to note, for it is the key to the true nature of Satan and the heart of
man. Jesus said, For from within out of the heart of men... It is
imperative that we notice the grammatical number of the two words here. The word heart
is singular being in the Greek in the genitive singular case. The word men
however is plural being in the genitive plural case. We have, then, ONE HEART but
many men! end quote. This heart is the heart of the Self, the inward nature
of man, one great nature shared by all the inhabitants of the world, the very heart of
Adam shared with his many-membered body!
The natural mind
is the mind channeling the condition of the human heart. It is not the same mind that
understands how to drive your car, or lusts after someone of the opposite sex, that also
understands the mysteries of the
THE DRAGON IN THE
SEA
And the
great DRAGON was cast out, that OLD SERPENT, called the DEVIL, and SATAN, which deceiveth
the whole world: he was cast out into the earth... and I saw an angel come down from
heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid
hold on the DRAGON, that OLD SERPENT, which is the DEVIL and SATAN, and bound him a
thousand years (Rev. 12:9; 20:1-2).
Large sections of
scripture, in fact a preponderance of the prophetical books, are couched in symbolic
terms, hiding much of the mysteries of God in figurative language. This
is done quite purposely by the Lord that the unspiritual while seeing actually
see not and hearing actually hear not (Mat. 13:10-17). The
careful study of the key Semitic symbols, in which so much of the Word of God is given, is
vitally important to the one who would rightly divide the word of truth. Since
the book of Revelation is a sign-i-fied or sign-language book
(Rev. 1:1), we should not be surprised to find that it abounds in Semitic symbols which
convey the truth in figurative language.
Just as the title
serpent in Genesis describes the Devil as wily, seductive, poisonous, and
deadly, so the term dragon is descriptive of his great power, magnitude, and
terrifying monster qualities. Hear what the scriptures say about the Serpent and the
Dragon, and it will be very clear that these are one and the same. And there
appeared another wonder in heaven: and behold a great RED DRAGON, having seven heads and
ten horns...and the great DRAGON was cast out, that ANCIENT SERPENT, called the DEVIL, and
SATAN, which deceiveth the whole world...and they worshipped the DRAGON which gave power
unto the beast... and an angel came down and laid hold on the DRAGON, that ancient
SERPENT, WHICH IS THE DEVIL AND SATAN, and bound him... (Rev. 12:9 13:4; 20:1-2).
The Dragon is a fabulous mythical creature that never really existed except in the
imaginations of men. They were supposed to be enormous in size, up to forty feet long.
They had wings like a birds, scales like a reptiles, claws like an eagles,
and long tails like an alligators. They breathed fire. The Dragon always stood as a
symbol of wrath and destruction. In Africa and
As the subtle
Serpent came with stealth into the Garden of Eden defiling with selfhood the hearts
of the parents of the human race, making a murderer of Adams first son, so has he
developed in mankind from that small and unimposing beginning to become a monster of
gigantic dimensions filling the whole world with religious delusion and fleshly
corruption. In Genesis Satan entered
When Adam and Eve
departed from
We need not be
surprised at the increase of this satanic power at the end of the age. Can we not see that
in every age the degree of wickedness in the earth is proportionate to the INCREASE OF
MANKIND? Of a dim and distant age it is written, And it came to pass, when men
began to multiply on the face of the earth...God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of his heart was only evil
continually (Gen. 6:1,6). And of our own age it is declared, This know also
that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their
own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,
unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, devils, incontinent, fierce, despisers
of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers
of God (2 Tim. 3:1-4). Two millenniums ago the apostle Paul accurately prophesied,
But the evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being
deceived (II Tim. 3:13). May the Spirit of the Lord open wide the eyes of our
understanding to see the simple and evident truth that as MEN increase in the earth
THE DEVIL INCREASES! In making this statement, I am fully aware that such a thought runs
contrary to long-established views of theology, but we are not in the least
concerned with the views of Babylons theology, for so-called theology is not really
the truth of God but the ideas of men. I am concerned only with the truth of God as
it is revealed in His Word in the light of inspiration and revelation.
Now we come to an
amazing promise which may be hard for the natural mind to interpret, but when men seek the
face of the Lord He sends His Holy Spirit to dispel the darkness of the carnal mind that
He may reveal to our broken and contrite hearts the things that pertain to the eternal
purposes of God. The promise is stated: In that day the Lord with His sore and great
and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent even leviathan that
crooked serpent; and HE SHALL SLAY THE DRAGON THAT IS IN THE SEA (Isa. 27:1).
The word leviathan means literally a beast dwelling in the sea. In
the Hebrew the chief word for dragon is TANNIN and in meaning is synonymous with
LEVIATHAN. The translators of the Greek Septuagint used the word DRAKON to render both
words. DRAKON is derived from another Greek word, DERKOMAI, which means sea serpent,
serpent of the abyss. Leviathan, the sea-serpent, and the Dragon are thus different
aspects of the same being, for note, In that day the Lord with His sore and great
and strong sword shall punish LEVIATHAN the piercing SERPENT, even LEVIATHAN that crooked
SERPENT; and He shall slay the DRAGON that is in the sea. The prophetical type for
the victory described in this passage is found in one of the Psalms of David. Speaking of
the mighty deliverance of
Before we speak
further of this, I would like to point out that throughout the scriptures the sea is a
type of the raging, restless, surging masses of unregenerate humanity, tossed to and fro
by the inner storms of the turbulent nature of fallen man. The prophet Isaiah penned these
inspired words, The wicked are like the troubled sea, which cannot rest, whose
waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked (Isa.
57:20-21). Jude also described the carnal man when he said, These are raging
waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame (Jude 13). The beloved John,
banished on the Isle of Patmos, had a vision of a great whore sitting on many waters.
The angel revealed the meaning of the many waters, saying, The waters which thou
sawest, where the whore sitteth, are PEOPLES, and MULTITUDES, and NATIONS, and TONGUES
(Rev. 17:5). John also saw a vision of a beast rising out of the sea, a beast
coming up out of the midst of the multitudes of raging, restless, seething humanity, the
sea of man. The natural sea is a great deep, an abyss (Gen. 1:2; 7:11; 8:2; Deut 8:7;
33:13). The Psalmist wrote of this abyss of fleshly men, They search out iniquities;
they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of
them, and the heart is DEEP (an abyss) (Ps. 64:6). To the enlightened mind of
David the depth of iniquity of which the human heart is capable is so great that it is
beyond the ability of man to comprehend. The heart of man is an UNFATHOMABLE DEPTH, or, as
Jeremiah observed, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who
can know it (Jer. 17:9). While John the Revelator saw the beast (outward
manifestation) rising out of the sea (abyss, depth) of humanity (the carnal mind), Jesus
expressed the same truth thus, For from WITHIN, O-U-T O-F THE HEART OF MEN, proceed all
these evil things!
But God, blessed
be His wonderful name! Has a remedy for this sea-dwelling beast, Leviathan the crooked
Serpent, the Dragon in the sea, for His plan of redemption is directed toward removing
this beast with His strong and mighty sword the sword of the Spirit, which is the
Word (truth) of God! The Word of the Lord declares, thou rulest the RAGING OF
THE SEA: when the waves thereof arise, THOU STILLEST THEM (Ps. 89:9). Many centuries
ago the Spirit of God inspired these beautiful words of promise, The floods have
lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves.
The Lord on high IS MIGHTIER THAN THE NOISE OF MANY WATERS, yea, than the MIGHTY WAVES OF
THE SEA (Ps. 93:3-4). Praise God! HE rules the inner raging of the sea and He
stills all its tempests! That unstable nature within, so quickly moved by the
storms created by the carnal mind, the torrents of passion, the streams of vain
imaginations, the waves of frustration and fear, the winds of doubt and unbelief, the
turbulent emotions of body and soul all are quieted by the Lord, the Spirit, who
arises within in peace, confidence, truth and faith to RULE THE RAGING OF THE SEA. And
then follows the calm, the state described by Paul, that we be no more tossed
to and fro with every wind... but may grow up in all things into Him who is the Head, even
Christ (Eph. 4:14-15). The Spirit of God within is great peace, overflowing joy,
unfailing love, unwavering righteousness and omnipotent power. It is only necessary then
to gain the conscious awareness of the presence and life of God as the essence of
our being, and to know that this life is the law and substance of our reality. When your
consciousness is imbued with the Spirit of Truth not merely the letter of truth,
but the Spirit of Truth all inner and outer tempests are stilled, the sea is
calmed, and the Dragon out of the sea vanishes over the horizon.
When John beheld
in vision the unveiling of Christ Christ the Head and Christ the body he
also saw a throne set in heaven with Christ upon the throne. And before
the throne there was a
The Sword
of the Lord is the Word of God, the living and energetic Word, the almighty Word by
means of which He slays the DRAGON IN THE SEA. When the bestial nature which once
brought forth raging waves of the sea is conquered the sea of man is
peaceful and serene, expressing the peace of the
The mark of what
a kingdom is, is to be seen in the King. Christ now reigns on the throne of the Father,
and that throne is individualized as the power of His presence in the heart of every
saint. There is an embodiment, a manifestation of the Kingdom; its power is
seen in the lives of those in whom it rules. The Christ lives and dwells and rules in our
hearts! The blessed firstborn Son proclaimed to those called to be His many brethren:
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I
unto you Jn. 14:27. As you acquire peace in your heart from God by the spirit of
sonship, I have good news for you! You have received a dispensation of the
How the world
needs this peace! Mens hearts are failing them today for fear in looking after those
things which are coming upon the earth. The land is filled with violence, moral breakdown,
broken homes, corruption and evil men in government, gang warfare, rebellion, sorrow and
death. The world continually sinks deeper and deeper into sin and ever-increasing
degradation, reveling in drunkenness, promiscuity, sodomy, blowing its minds with drugs,
deafened and demented in body and soul by the raucous racket called music,
cheating, lying, stealing, raping, murdering, until it has become a seething mass of
godlessness and immorality. Ah the TROUBLED SEA! How often the raging waves of that
sea beat with fury within our own breasts in the form of doubts, fears, frustrations,
anxieties, sorrows and confusion. Thank God, there is another sea, the sea of glass, the
power of the Lords Spirit to minister the peace of God in the midst of tempest
a strong and mighty Word of the Lord with which to slay the Dragon in the sea. This
is the message Jesus intended to convey when in the midst of the storm on the
As we consider
these thoughts, may God almighty grant that His Spirit may instruct us in the way of truth
and understanding. When John beheld the Lord coming upon a white horse, followed by the
armies from heaven, he saw a sharp sword going out of His mouth that
with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron (Rev.
19:15). In the midst of all the confusion and darkness of this hour the Spirit of God is
calling out a people for His name. He is training them in the school of obedience and
refining them in the furnace of affliction. He is stripping them of self-interest,
draining them of self-will, plucking from their hearts all the deceptive ways of
These sons shall
be able to raise their voices in mighty declarations of authority. This authority is
rooted in their own experience. By the understanding of the Almighty they shall have
conquered the Dragon of sin and limitation and death in their own lives. Then shall be
fulfilled on the grandest scale ever the word spoken by the Lord, And these signs
shall follow them that believe; in My name they shall cast out devils; they shall
speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing,
it shall not hurt them, they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover
(Mk. 16:17-18). Some people have thought this meant to be able to handle poisonous snakes
without being bitten. Others have supposed it meant that IF you accidentally took up a
serpent, as Paul did on the
Thank God, this
wonderful victory is even now being established in the experience of a people apprehended
of God. How we long for such a day as this for all people and nations! Today we hear much
of deliverance ministries and many go about casting out devils in
lengthy sessions of exorcism attended by manifestations such as coughing, vomiting, etc.
Some are told they have legions of devils and they are given names like lazy devil,
false doctrine devil, lust devil, gossip devil, etc.,
etc. We praise God for all who are delivered in any measure from bondages of any kind, but
often it is like a man at the mouth of the mighty Mississippi trying to bail out the river
with a bucket there seems to be no end to the masses of spirits, bondages,
problems, and works of the flesh with which people contend. We find, however, that the
redemptive work of Jesus Christ is not merely that which deals with the branches of the
tree, but is that which essentially must lay the axe to the root of the tree.
That is, it is that which must take action against the Adamic mind, against the Adamic
nature that exists in the very root of mens lives. That is why Paul said, for
we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places (Eph. 6:12). It is interesting to note that the word principalities
is from the Greek ARCHE meaning commencement, beginning, origin. This bespeaks not
of the branches of the tree, but the root the commencement, beginning, origin or SOURCE
of the problem not flesh and blood, but the SPIRIT which now worketh in the sons of
disobedience! This is the Serpent, Satan, the Devil enthroned in the human nature!
The ultimate
warfare lies in that deep inner realm where the source of all things is
found. As long as we content ourselves to deal with individual demons, or to
treat social ills, or to wage war against sin, or to struggle with
the lusts of the flesh, all of which exist in the external realm of the tentacles,
we shall find ourselves ever defeated in even these things. Do not try to reform the outer
world of appearances. When you meet with thievery, drunkenness, adultery, pride, cursing,
false religion, worldliness, or any form of degradation, do not look at it, but through
it. Do not look with the eyes, with the natural understanding or perception look
with the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Look through the individual, beholding by the
spirit the root and source of the issue and there will flow grace to help. We do
not deal with people in their outer form or with manifest problems we deal with
spirit. We are not called upon to heal a person; we are not called upon to reform a
person; we are not called upon to heal some terrible disease; we are not called upon to
change the outer activity of a human body. We are called upon to minister the living
Presence, to impart mercy, love, grace and power. Then the hearts of men will respond!
The grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men. That is what
we are called to do. Redemption lays the axe to the root of the tree, deals with the
strongman who sits enthroned in the nature, pierces the head of the octopus, automatically
destroying the power of the tentacles! Speaking of the hour when the sons of God would
rise to that place of authority in Jesus Christ, John the Revelator wrote, And there
was war in heaven and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not
(Rev. 12:7-8). Men must rise to that place of understanding, consciousness, and authority
in the Spirit wherein the axe is laid to the root not to some individual
manifestation, some outer expression, some external action, some pesky little demon
but to the ROOT ITSELF: the ADAMIC NATURE. WHERE SATANS SEAT IS! In dealing
with the root, the tentacles will take care of themselves. This goes far beyond merely
casting out the negative, it involves such a complete TRANSFORMATION OF
CONSCIOUSNESS AND BEING until the negative HAS NO GROUND TO STAND UPON, NO PLACE TO DWELL.
THE BOTTOMLESS
PIT
And I saw
an angel come down from heaven, having the key to the BOTTOMLESS PIT and a great chain in
his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and satan,
and cast him into the BOTTOMLESS PIT, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him...
(Rev. 20:1-3).
The bottomless
pit is certainly not a hole in the ground; it is, rather, a Semitic symbol which
signifies a state or condition wherein there is no bottom, thus NO GROUND TO STAND UPON.
Satan was given ground in mans life when the Almighty declared to him,
Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat... (Gen. 3:14). Praise
God, when our adversary, the Devil, is cast into the bottomless pit, it means that he is
circumvented to a realm where he has no ground to stand upon, no base for his activity,
and no foundation upon which he can build his work. God is pulling the rug out from
under the Devil as He renews our minds and transforms our nature, that there be no
basis upon which the forces of evil can operate. This indicates such a transformation of
being that not only are the works of the Devil destroyed in us, but also it is impossible
for him to corrupt us again. Thus conformed to the image of the Son we can say with Jesus,
The prince of this world cometh, and HATH NOTHING (no place) IN ME!
In those blessed
sons of God, joined in Christ as one body, God is raising up a house in which He can dwell
and manifest His glory without interference or conflict. When the apostle Paul wrote to
Timothy, he revealed a truth which lies in contrast to the picture of Satan in the
bottomless pit. ...that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the
house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth
(I Tim. 3:15). There are three aspects of the church mentioned in this wonderful passage:
the house of God, the church of the living God, and the pillar
and ground of the truth. What does this term the house of God mean? When
you refer to your house, you mean the place where you dwell, where you live,
where you work out your life, where you are comfortable and at home; and that is just the
meaning of the house of God. It is not an empty cliché, it is not a light or loose term.
The house of God is the place where God dwells, where He lives, where He works
out His life, where He is comfortable and at home without any strain or struggle. This
house is none other than the church of the living God. Notice that the term here is not
merely God, but the living God. He is living! He now dwells in the
church, lives in the church, moves in the church, and works out His life, not in some
superstitious religious way, but naturally and comfortably in the church. When we say that
the church is the house of God, we must have a very deep realization that God DWELLS,
LIVES, AND WALKS OUT HIS LIFE in this house!
The true church
is not only the house of God, but it is also THE PILLAR AND GROUND OF THE TRUTH. The
question follows What is truth? Do not think that truth means doctrine! Truth is
not what you believe about a thing, the truth is the very fact of the thing itself. The
word truth means REALITY. Nothing is real in the whole universe, nothing is truth;
everything is but a shadow. Nothing is what it appears to be. All of us could look at the
same object, and every one of us might see it differently. Many who read these lines have
traveled and seen in the distance a mountain having a certain form, perhaps a likeness to
some other object. But as you got closer and drove around the mountain it took on
altogether different shapes and the original appearance was not found there at all. Each
of us interprets all things according to the finite sense of human mind, in the light of
the education, environment, and background of our individual experience and knowledge. To
understand that what we see represents only our concept of that which is actually there is
important. Everything that can be seen, everything that can be touched, everything that
can be possessed and enjoyed is not real for creation is but the shadow of God.
Only the Son is His image, His out-raying, His manifestation all else is but His
shadow. The correct understanding of the book of Hebrews makes this very clear. Whatever
exists in this universe is but a shadow, not the real thing! What is the real thing?
It is CHRIST HE is the reality of everything! The food you eat is not the real
food, but only the shadow of the real food. The real food is Christ! The physical life you
live is not real life, but only a shadow of the real life. The real life is Christ! I
AM THE LIFE, saith the Lord. He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the
Son of God hath not life (1 Jn. 5:12). If a friend has a photograph of himself, you
will say, This is so and so. But in truth that is not so and so. It is only a
picture, an image, and a false image at that. In fact, all images that are not the
projection of life itself are false, for living realities are not found in images. Most of
what we call images are but shadows, for a shadow is an image. All the types, all the
figures, in the Old Testament, as well as creation itself are but shadows of the REALITY
WHICH IS CHRIST HIMSELF. Christ is the truth, Christ is the reality of the whole universe.
If you just have a doctrine about Christ, you do not have the reality of Christ. And if your
spirit has not been quickened by His Spirit, you still do not have either life or
reality, for the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, howbeit an unlit candle
which gives no light! Christ Himself is the reality, and His Spirit is the SPIRIT OF
REALITY.
The people
in whom this living God dwells, lives, and moves, is the PILLAR AND GROUND upon which the
reality stands. It bears the reality. Within this people the living God dwells, and
upon this people the truth, the reality stands. Ah, as the nature of Gods
people is changed by the Spirit of God Satan finds himself shut out, excluded from their
lives, no ground to stand upon, no base for his activity, indeed, HE IS IN A BOTTOMLESS
PIT! As new creation people our lives BECOME THE PILLAR AND GROUND of this universal
reality, which is the Lord Jesus Christ! In the church God dwells, because the church is
the house of God. And upon this people is BUILT THE REALITY OF CHRIST. Redeemed by His
precious blood, justified by His grace, quickened by His Spirit, transformed by His Word,
we become the base, the sure foundation upon which all the glory of God can
be displayed. And on this holy ground is where the saint of God discovers that Satan is
bound, securely chained, and a great seal set upon him. This is not a future event
it is an eternal reality to those who walk in the Spirit. In the story of the Pilgrims
Progress, you will remember that Christian was approaching a narrow
passage as he traveled toward Porters Lodge for the night. In the narrow passage he
saw two lions but did not know that the lions were chained. Then he was afraid and
considered going back, for he thought that nothing but death was before him. But the
Porter at the lodge, whose name was Watchful, perceiving that Christian
was about to turn back, cried with a loud voice not to fear the lions for they were
chained and could do him no harm. So Christian warily walked into the narrow
passage, trembling for fear of the lions. He heard the lions roar. He felt their hot
breath on his flesh, but they did him no harm for they were, indeed, on a chain. Christian
then clapped his hands for joy and boldly went on through the narrow passage and arrived
safely at the other side. Satan, the roaring lion, is chained, my friend! Not going to be
he IS. Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, the messenger of the everlasting
covenant, has chained him and set the seal upon him. And this Jesus lives and dwells and
moves in you and me! Sometimes it seems as if the world is full of lions crouched for a
spring as if there are lots of terrifying things about to happen from formidable
adversaries all about. But when we discover the power of the indwelling Christ, we find
out that, as terrifying as those things seem to be, they are already chained by God.
Springing doesnt get them anywhere.
Hear it! All the
reality of the universe is established upon the lives of Gods saints! If anyone
wants to know what life is, he will see and touch it in Gods people. If someone
would like to know what love is, what joy is, what peace is, what truth, faithfulness,
righteousness, power, glory, wisdom or knowledge is, he will see it and touch it upon and
within this people. And the government shall be upon His shoulder (Isa.
9:6). Upon the shoulder means that THE WHOLE BODY BEARS THE WEIGHT OF IT.
Jesus Christ is the Head, the mind, the leader, but the power and glory of the Kingdom
rests upon His body, the PILLAR and GROUND of the TRUTH. What a day, when all
nations become a bottomless pit for Satan, and he has no more ground in the nature of
the human family! I can tell you, dear ones, that already Satan is finding very little
ground to creep upon in those elect sons apprehended as the firstfruits of Gods
redemption. Victory upon victory they are gaining as they are changed from men of the dust
to men of the Spirit, from the image of the earthy to the image of the heavenly.
The reality of His divine life is being built up in their inner man, and even now THEY ARE
THE GROUND, THE BASE, THE FOUNDATION OF THE TRUTH, even Mount Zion of which it is written,
Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner
stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth (this) shall not make haste (be anxious)
(Isa. 28:16).
Is there a
Devil, a real being with personality? If so, who created him, and why does an all-powerful
God of righteousness and love permit such a being to exist? Many answers have been given.
On the one hand, there is the view that the Devil is a hideous looking creature in a funny
red suit, with cloven hoofs and a forked tail, whose chief business is to tempt and
endeavor by all devious means to destroy Christians and to preside over the alleged
tortures of the departed damned. On the other hand, some say the Devil never existed; that
he is a fiction of the imagination; a crude myth or superstition. Others tell us that the
Devil is dead.
And so
theyve voted the Devil out,
And of course, the Devils gone;
But simple folk would like to know
Who carries his business on!
Oriental imagery
is never more graphically displayed in all its eloquence than in the use of the biblical
word SERPENT as a figure of Satan, the Devil. This symbol, along with a number of other
word pictures, is very expressive of his nature and activity. Let us remember that there
is much language in the scripture that is figurative and much that is allegorical. When
our Lord Jesus said, Ye are the salt of the earth, He was speaking quite
evidently in figurative language. He did not mean that Christians were to be put into a
gigantic salt shaker and shaken over the globe. Nobody would be so ridiculous as to
believe that. And when Christ said, I am the light of the world, He did not
mean He had to be lit like a candle and put up somewhere where He would shine! There are
figures of speech in the Bible. In our everyday conversations we make numerous referrals
to the nature, character or personality of creatures or things, such as: That guy is
a real turkey, He is a snake in the grass, She can swim like a
fish, He is sharp as a tack, She is neat as a pin. These are
all figures of speech designed to express an image we are seeking to convey. All of us are
accustomed to using symbolic language to communicate an analogous idea on a different
plane of understanding. When Satan is spoken of as a serpent it no more means a
literal snake than when Dan is so called in Genesis 49:17. Dan shall judge his
people, as one of the tribes of
Let all who read
these lines thoroughly understand that when we discuss the Garden of Eden, the Serpent in
the Garden, and the fall of man, it is not with any idea of drawing an historical sketch.
The past is meaningless unless it relates to the present. It is because we see repeated
all around us, day after day, generation after generation, the same carnal, fleshly
attitudes and activities that brought about the original fall, and in the repetition of
these attitudes and activities there is the tragic and dreadful departure from REALITY and
the LIFE of the Spirit of God, even among the Lords own people who dwell in the
Garden of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. So obvious and incontrovertible is this fact
that I do not hesitate to say the Garden of Eden is not so much a past event as a present
and continuing event. It is a crisis leading to a process a continuing unfoldment.
This is the tragic effect of mans first departure from God. It happened back there
in the past... but it continues to happen because the spirit of Adam is within us
all! It is, then, for our own instruction and learning that we draw on the lessons brought
to us by that past event, which though it occurred long millenniums ago, still finds a
place of relevancy not only in our modern society but among all who name the name of
Christ and, sadder to say, within those who have received the call to sonship and have
gone without the Camp, as well.
THE ACCUSER
The various names
for the Serpent are most instructive. In the word serpent there is the idea of
cunning, of slyness, the wiles of the devil. It is not the thought of
monstrosity showing itself in a public way, but diplomacy working under cover and carrying
its point underhandedly. In the word satan we have the thought of the
adversary merely. There is no thought of evilness, but simply opposition. From the
beginning there has been that which has stood in opposition to the life of the Spirit in
man, and has fully earned its reputation as the most adroit of adversaries. Paul describes
it as the flesh warring against the Spirit, and the carnal mind that is enmity against
God. The flesh and the carnal mind are neither inanimate objects, but living, energizing
realities, truly the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience (offspring
of old Adam). The word devil means an adversary who slanders, or an
accuser. This title is used throughout scripture, where he is revealed as the
slanderer of God and the accuser of man. In that long-ago
The scriptures
draw a wonderful contrast between the intercession of Christ, on the one hand, and
the accusation of the Devil, on the other hand. As I have studied the Word of God
and been taught by the precious spirit of Truth many things have become evident, one of
which is that while intercession may be Godward, the scriptures reveal that the primary
thrust of the intercession of the Christ is not Godward at all, but manward, an
intercession that is to us-ward, to bring us to God, to draw us to the Father, to
work mightily in us, that we might yield ourselves unto Him, to live out the revelation of
the Spirit in our lives. The real truth about the intercession of the Christ has been
clouded by the corrupted theology of man. I am sure that you, as I, have heard preachers
try to describe His ministry of intercession. It goes something like this. Satan, our
enemy and the accuser of the brethren, stands before the Father up in heaven accusing us
day and night. Satan tells God about all our failings; he enumerates to God every sin we
commit in thought, word, or deed. He is constantly, unceasingly, relentlessly and
unmercifully accusing us of every shortcoming and weakness. The Father, on the other hand,
is portrayed as greatly offended and incensed by our sins, and exceedingly wroth with
sinners; a vindictive punisher, somehow obligated by His superior sense of justice to be
the avenger of every little thing we do wrong. Many parents have unwittingly darkened the
hearts of their little children with threats of the certain vengeance of this God who is a
constant terror over the life. Now dont you do that because GOD will punish
you! And even much stronger things are told to little children. God becomes a mean,
harsh, vindictive old man up in the sky with beady little piercing eyes possessing
wonderful X-ray vision which can penetrate into the deepest recesses of mind and heart,
and the thickest darkness of night, scrutinizing every thought and action. This God,
moreover, is waiting, lurking about everywhere, with a punishing whip of large dimensions!
Enter the Son.
You know as well as I do that the church system has always taught that this God of
exacting justice and undiminished wrath must be appeased, soothed, turned aside from His
furious vengeance, and that this feat can only be accomplished by the bold and insistent
intercession of the compassionate SON, our wonderful Lord and elder brother, standing
opposite Satan, before the judgment-throne of the Father, as our Advocate, our Lawyer,
pleading our cause, beseeching God to be kind to us for His sake, to commute our sentence,
and begging for our lives on the ground that He paid the price for the forgiveness of our
sins. According to this hypothesis the anger of God can only be appeased by looking upon
the bloody sweat and cruel, ugly death of His Son, as He stands there interceding for us.
I do not hesitate to tell you that such a teaching is utter rubbish and the brashest sort
of nonsense. It springs from the Romish tradition that likens God the Father to a fearful
and offended despot, spoiling for the blood of the offenders, and it makes Christ to be
the One who pleads with God on behalf of the victim until the Father is consoled and
placated. And if it werent for our Advocate, Jesus, God would listen to the Devils
accusations and really lay it on to us. We could even lose our salvation because of Satans
accusations, if it werent that the merciful Jesus is there to prevent God from
casting us into hell, by presenting His blood on our behalf. Such is a gross caricature of
the truth. More than that, it is a stupid absurdity and a horrible blasphemy. Praise God,
the Spirit is unfolding Truth in ever-increasing dimensions of glory which magnifies Gods
glorious nature of love and mercy, His wisdom and power, His goodness and the prudence of
all His plans and purposes.
It is my
conviction that not even Satan is senseless enough to believe that he could approach OUR
FATHER and convince Him to condemn us because of our failures. Nowhere does the scripture
state that Satan accuses the saints to God. What it does say is that the accuser of
our brethren is cast down, which ACCUSED T-H-E-M B-E-F-O-R-E
OUR GOD day and night (Rev. 12:10). It is one thing to be accused before,
that is, in the presence of, or in front of another person, and another thing altogether
for the accuser to accuse you TO the other one. It should be abundantly evident that Satan
does not accuse us to God, he merely accuses us before God. It is not the
almighty and omniscient God, my brother, my sister, whom Satan wishes to convince of your
unworthiness it is YOU! Satan has no misconceptions about his ability to persuade
God of your weakness and worthlessness, but if he can influence YOU to believe that you
are unworthy, that you are a failure, that you are hopeless, that it is impossible for you
to attain to the High Calling of God in Christ, that it is beyond the realm of possibility
for you to lay hold upon life and immortality; or that God does not love you, leaving you
condemned and helpless he is thereby able to rob you of all your hope, faith,
confidence, joy, peace and victory!
Dont think
for one moment, my beloved, that this scene is set in some far-off heaven somewhere! Satan
is not standing in a red devil suit before the great white throne somewhere beyond the
milky way ah, he lurks, rather, in the corruption and unbelief of our own carnal
minds, in the unrelenting voice of our own distorted conscience, in the perverted
reasoning and logic of our silly superstitions about God, slithering about in the lowest
realms of mans earthiness. The reason why so many saints fail when it comes to the
temptations and condemnations of the Devil is that they dont really want to resist
Satan. We have been taught in the past to flee from the Serpent, that old dragon that
appears as a roaring lion, and this we have been doing all along; but on this Day, this
glorious Day of illumination and truth, all of us who walk in the light of this Day will
discover that it has been the very Serpent that has been BRUISING YOUR HEELS all these
years in your house, causing you to err, to sin and stumble day and night! And it
is the very Dragon that has been ACCUSING YOU DAY AND NIGHT BEFORE GOD IN THE TEMPLE OF
GOD WHICH YOU ARE! You see, Satan never comes as some hideous monster with horns, a forked
tail and a pitchfork. He doesnt blare at you through a loudspeaker. HE COMES IN YOUR
OWN DESIRES! HE SPEAKS IN YOUR OWN THOUGHTS! HE TORMENTS THROUGH YOUR OWN FEELINGS AND
EMOTIONS! The battle rages in the MIND, whisperings out of the dust realm, accusations
that shout at you from within. And God is there, too! The indwelling Spirit of God
likewise speaks from within, out of the spiritual mind, the voice of inspiration, the
spirit of revelation, words of grace and wisdom drop from His tongue, the still small
Voice of the Father from within His temple of clay, graciously assuring, I love you,
My beloved son; you are My very own son, and I will be a Father to you; I will strengthen
you, I will uphold you, for I am the Faithful One and will complete the good work I have
begun in you and present you faultless before My throne. And there, before God in
His temple within rises the other voice, the voice of the carnal mind, the
voice of the flesh the Accuser! It is there in the imaginations of the mind, in the
heavens of that universe which you are, that Satan the Accuser must be cast down, and
every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God within.
The Devil may
accuse us, but God will never condemn. Is God for us, or against us? Is He on our side, or
isnt He? What shall we say to all this? If God be for us, who can be against
us? Who can be our foe, if God is on our side? He who did not withhold or spare even
His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously
give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against Gods elect when it is God who
justifies? Who shall come forward and accuse or impeach those whom God has
chosen? Will God, who acquits us? Who is there to condemn us? (
What does it
mean, that Jesus makes intercession for us? Jesus is our mediator, our intercessor and our
advocate; He stands between God and us, but just what is He doing when He does this? Is He
pleading with the Father to be merciful to us and forgive us? No, a thousand times no! The
Greek word is ENTUCHANO meaning to meet with, to converse with, to entreat.
The question is just this: With whom does the Christ meet, with whom does He converse, and
whom does He entreat? God, or man? God so loved the world that He gave His Son for us. God
so loved! God gave the Son! Does the Father of love have to be entreated to be kind
and merciful and gracious unto us? Listen! To wit, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto Himself, NOT IMPUTING THEIR TRESPASSES UNTO THEM... now then we
are ambassadors FOR CHRIST, as though GOD DID B-E-S-E-E-C-H
Y-O-U by us: we pray (Greek: beg, petition, beseech, intercede) you
in Christs stead, BE YE reconciled to God (II Cor. 5:19-20). Therefore, we
find that HIS INTERCESSION IS TO US-WARD, to meet with us, to converse with us, to entreat
us, to petition us, to intercede with us, to reveal the Fathers heart to us, to
bring us back to Father, that we might be reconciled to God; working in us that we
might know Him in all His glorious and eternal reality. All this attention of Christ is
directed toward us. God does not have to be interceded with for us, it was the invisible
and unknowable God who sent the Christ to us, to meet with us, to woo us, to draw us that
we and the Father might be one again.
THE GOD OF THIS
WORLD
In his first
epistle, the apostle John informs us that the whole world lieth in wickedness
(1Jn. 5:19). This present evil world (Gal. 1:4) is now governed by those who
obey the carnal nature, the Serpent within them. Satan, the god of this world,
rules through carnal individuals (old Adam), thus filling this world with the wickedness
and corruption so evident everywhere. The result of the Serpents work, through the
carnal nature in mankind, is the conglomerate world system economic, political and
religious prophetically called
To properly
understand the wisdom of this world which is foolishness with God
we must first understand what is meant by the world. The Greek word for world
is KOSMOS, which means system, arrangement, or organization. There are two things which
have captured our attention, having been quickened for our consideration by the Spirit of
God. These two are sin and the world. Because both are contrary to the Spirit of
God, they must be dealt with and purged from all who would walk in sonship to God.
However, the defilement of these two aspects differs. The contamination of sin is savage,
hurtful and ugly, while the contamination of the world is cultured and refined,
appealing to the intellect and the artistic in man. The contamination of sin is like dirty
motor oil poured on a beautiful white wedding gown. But the contamination of the world is
like a colorful pattern printed on white doth. From the human standpoint, a wedding gown
with dirty motor oil splashed on it is considered filthy and undesirable, whereas a cloth
with a colorful design is not dirty, but rather desirable. However, in the sight of God,
BOTH ARE UNDESIRABLE! Gods standard has always been neither a stained garment nor a
colorful piece of cloth, but a pure white garment. And to her was granted that she
would be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the
righteousness of the saints (Rev. 19:8). He that overcometh, the same shall be
clothed in white raiment (Rev. 3:5). Just as a dirty spot is not pure white,
even so a colorful design detracts from the pure whiteness. Likewise, the world appears
better than sin, but when related the divine nature, both are contaminating and require
purging.
Furthermore, the
effect of sin and the world upon man differ greatly: sin defiles and degrades man, whereas
the world possesses man. It is just as serious for mans life to be controlled and
dominated by the world as to be defiled by sin. If Satan only uses sin to contaminate man,
he only causes man to be perverted and shamed, but if he uses the world to possess man,
then man is alienated from God into a realm of ego-centric self-sufficiency and
self-deception. Sin may be defined as an act of disobedience to God, while the
world may be defined as mans organized system or kingdom by which he lives in independence
from God.
A study of
Genesis makes the difference apparent. Although Adam was corrupted by sin, he was still
living in the presence of God. It is not until Genesis 4 that we read of Cain: And
Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the
Sin began with
Adam in the Garden, for Adam sinned and was corrupted by sin and overcome by death, but he
did not fall into the world at that point, neither was he possessed by the world then. The
word world, as we have pointed out, translates the Greek word KOSMOS meaning
order, arrangement, system of things. The world is a negative thing in relation to
God. James declares, ...the friendship of the world is enmity with God, whosoever
therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (James 4:4). The apostle
John adds his testimony, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the
world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in
the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of
the Father, but is of the world (1 John 2:15-16). Many Christians have the mistaken
notion that the world is the movie theater, the dance hall, stylish clothing, and such
like. Others confuse the world with the earth. But the world is the present system
of things upon this earth conceived by the carnal mind and generated by the natural man.
The world consists of all that man has instituted that replaces God in his life.
The present political, economic, educational and religious systems are not of God, but of
the world. When people, activities, or things whether good or bad, beautiful or
ugly enslave man and usurp God, they comprise the world. Anything that causes man
to disregard the Spirit, be removed from the anointing, or be independent of God is the
world. All that does not come from the Father, all that originates outside of the
consciousness of God, all that man institutes by his own carnal wisdom and fleshly
activity is of the world, and is contrary to the life, nature and ways of God. There is an
interesting statement in Eph. 1:4. 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. The word foundation translates the Greek word KATABOLE which is a
compound word made up of BALLO meaning to cast, to throw and KATA meaning
down. When man fell from his high and holy relationship with God and was cast
down into the carnal realm of existence, the foundation of the world was laid
in his heart and actions. But blessed be God! The apostle Paul informs us that God
the Father elected some sons in Christ before the foundation of the world!
The word before translates the Greek word PRO meaning to go before, to
precede. Hence, the Fathers act of choosing us in the Christ preceded the fall
of man and the establishment of the world system. We are not told how many days, years or
eons this choosing preceded the world, but methinks it was away back there when the
morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy!
Since the world
is in such opposition to God we must consider its origin and process of development. The
world began with Cain. Cain built the first city organized society, civilization
which typifies the worldly system of independence from the SPIRIT. The world did
not exist when man was created (except in abstraction), but developed gradually after the
fall, as man removed himself from the anointing and walked in his own carnal way. When man
was brought forth from the formative hand of God there was already the universe, the
heavens and the earth, and all created things; but the world did not exist. Following the
fall, when unregenerated man began to multiply upon the earth the Serpent in man gave
direction and character to the New World Order of man, thus the scripture
speaks of the natural man as walking according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the SPIRIT that now worketh IN the sons
of disobedience (Eph. 2:2).
There are three
primary requirements for mans existence and well-being on earth: provision,
protection, and pleasure. For man to live an abundant and fulfilled life in the earth
realm he needs the provision of food, clothing, shelter, etc., a means of defense to
protect himself from adversaries, and a form of recreation and amusement for his
happiness. Prior to the fall GOD WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR PROVIDING THESE THREE NEEDS OF MAN,
and they were supplied abundantly in the Garden of Eden experience. After Cains
departure from the anointing, the scripture describes him as of that Wicked One
(I Jn. 3:12). The preposition of is in the Greek EK out of
Cain was OUT OF that Wicked One the seed of the Serpent!
Out of the descendants of Cain were produced the founders of mans own system of
supply for these three great needs of life. These were the three sons of Lamech. Jabal was
the father of tent dwellers and cattlemen (Gen. 4:20). Tents and cattle are for the supply
of mans living and therefore belong to the category of provision. In the beginning
God intended that HE should be our provision and so made Himself available to man in the
Tree of Life, that in union with Him we should have all things, even the supply of God
Himself. Jabal represents mans own efforts, apart from the anointing, to make
provision for himself. Spiritually, this symbolizes the carnal religious systems with
their rituals, ceremonies, and ordinances designed to feed God into man. All
religion is the invention of man in his effort to meet mans spiritual need apart
from the anointing! Alas! they understand not that the reality of Gods life is
not contained in, nor ministered through, doctrines, programs, rituals, ceremonies or
ordinances. Those who live in that realm know nothing of the mighty power of the
indwelling Christ of God. Mans religion is of the world, for it is outside of
God, being not of the Spirit, nor by the anointing.
Another of Cains
sons, Jubal, was the father of all that handle the harp and organ. Playing harp and organ
is for pleasure and inspiration and thus pertains to the category of pleasure. This
worldly aspect is fulfilled, spiritually, in the maze of social activity in religion, as
well as in much of the music, programs, and sermonizing, all of which is designed to be
pleasant, acceptable and entertaining to the people. I personally have little use for most
of the concerts, programs, and pulpit showmanship which constitutes much of the so-called
ministry among Gods people today, for it is, without doubt, very
appealing to the carnal mind which is ever wont to feed upon soulish entertainment rather
than with reverential awe and holy brokenness to drink at the fountains of living water
from the throne of God. I am convinced that our faithful heavenly Father has given the
ministry of the blessed spirit of Truth for the perfecting of the saints, whereas
the worldly church system has given us a veritable smorgasbord of religious shows
for the entertaining of the saints. Most solemnly do I declare unto you that all
such ARE OF THE WORLD, and not of the Father, for their methods and means are outside of
the anointing of the Spirit and can never lead Gods people beyond the husks of mans
own vanity. Thank God! a people is arising who are finding their way out of Cains
pleasure land of entertainment and sentimentality, back to the Paradise of God, back to
the Tree of Life, where they partake deeply of this sublime truth: ... in Thy
presence is fullness of Joy, at Thy right hand there are pleasures
forevermore! (Ps. 16:11).
The third son,
Tubal-Cain, was the instructor of every artificer in brass and iron instruments. These
instruments were formed for the purpose of defense, thus referring to the category of
protection. Ignorant of the power and sufficiency of the indwelling Spirit, with what
pompousness do the religious systems construct about them their walls and implements of
defense! Church history is replete with examples of revival after revival in which men
were sovereignly caught up into heavenly places of glory and power, only to have man put
his hand of flesh upon the workings of God, to control, protect and preserve it, as though
the omnipotent Spirit needed mans useless wisdom and regulations to preserve His
mighty work! Out there in Cains world you must have the earthly braw and iron
implements of Tubal-Cain the implements of organization, denomination, creed,
coverings, fellowships, rules, regulations, boards, etc., to defend and preserve the work;
but, blessed be God! as one moves westward into the anointing of Gods
presence and life the omnipotence of the indwelling Spirit Himself becomes our
fortress and exceeding strong tower! With what deep comprehension of the ways of the Lord
did the Psalmist pen the words of faith in the power of God alone when he wrote, Blessed
is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy
countenance. For THOU art the glory of their strength: and in Thy favor shall our horn be
exalted. For THE LORD IS OUR DEFENSE; and the Holy One of
In these three
important inventions of the sons of Cain man found within himself the answer to his need
of supply, defense and amusement. Man found no need of God, of the anointing, for he set
about to establish his own world, independent of God. This was the civilization produced
after mankind departed from the presence of God a godless life created by men. This
present world system of things is patterned after the order of Cain. It is all outside
of God. That does not mean that it is all evil. It simply is not of the Spirit! How
clear that in this earth the politics, economics, education and religion is outside of
God! When we have learned how the world was formed, it is easy to define the world.
Originally, man was in the family of God, lived by God, relied entirely upon Him, and had
at his disposal ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD. Now the Serpent, through subtlety, sophistry, the
carnal mind, the wisdom of this world, has systematized the world to replace God in being all
to man. Man, having forsaken his inheritance, having departed from the presence, and
having lost the anointing relied upon the world and was overcome by the world. Therefore,
the world consists of everything that replaces God and possesses man.
Cain built a city
as did Nimrod after him. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare
Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son,
Enoch (Gen. 4:17). There was no city in
He who makes Gods
house of living stones depend on mere outward forms; he who confounds Truth with the
shibboleths of sects and denominations, or the usurpation of preachers, builds upon the
baseless and shifting sands. The true and eternal church depends solely on the presence of
Christ. Sweep away from your spiritual walk as much as you will the infinite cobwebs which
the ambition and the ignorance of men have spun for centuries over the surface of the
faith. Fling to the four winds the voluntary humility and all the vain deceits,
traditions, and ordinances, which, like those of the Pharisees, are but weak and
beggarly elements. It is not the form but the essence which constitutes true
religion. Christ knew nothing of external paraphernalia, and those who follow the Lamb
know nothing of it either. Distinguish between the flickering shadows of outward symbols
and the verities of eternal life. Distinguish between the valueless injunctions of touch
not, taste not, handle not, and the divine nature which produces love, joy, peace,
righteousness of heart, and all were suddenly swept away, it would in all probability
cease to function. If the churches had to drop all their rituals, forms, programs
and ceremonies; all their confirmations, baptisms, and communion services; all their
special singing, organ music, and altar calls, they would feel as though they had been
stripped naked and could not serve God in any way. All this simply demonstrates the
terrible fact that the faith and dependence of the churches is not in God, but is
in the trappings they have accumulated to themselves throughout the centuries. The thought
that God is perfectly able and fully willing to run His church without the aid of anything
in the way of fleshly contributions, is found to be abhorrent to the average church
member.
Gods true
church, in contrast to the false religious system of
The truth that is
set like a diamond in the pages of Gods Word is the absolute and total sufficiency
of the Christ within. To say that the Christ Himself is not sufficient for our whole life
as sons of the Most High, that the indwelling spirit of life is not enough, that there is
something the outer man must do to add to, supplement, or improve on what He is within
us is an insult to God and a blasphemy against our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet we see men
doing this on every hand. The carnal mind is never able to take God at His word! It
continually seeks to initiate some additional actions or services on the natural plane to
take the place of pure spiritual reality.
When Jesus came
in the flesh, He came into a world steeped in religion. He came into a condition brought
about by centuries of teaching the law and the rites and sacrifices of the temple worship.
Into this had been woven the traditions of the elders, an accumulation of those same
centuries. It had come to include also even the washing of pots and cups, together with
ceremonies of washing of hands before eating and a multitude of other practices imposed
upon the people by their leaders. The temple in the city of
The people were
constantly taught and instructed that they must observe all the things the priests and
Pharisees told them, or they would perish. Jesus came into their midst and said that all
those things would do them absolutely no good whatever, but if they wanted life
they should come unto Him and drink merely by believing into Him! He
was placing the Christ and faith in the Christ against all the accumulated tradition of
the nation. He was assuring them that they would NOT LOSE A SINGLE THING by coming unto
Him, and casting all else away from them. And they would gain life. But who could
hear such a thing in the day of Christ. In fact Jesus Himself said that no man could come
unto Him, except the Father who had sent Him, would draw that man. It is just as true
today! Ah, beloved, if you were to go into any church on any Sunday and say to the people,
If you will cast aside all your form, all of your traditions, all of your rituals,
all of your ordinances, all of your cherished and time-honored creeds, all of your solemn
assemblies, all of your myriad activities, all of your committees, and SIMPLY COME UNTO
THE CHRIST AND BELIEVE INTO HIM AND DRINK OF H-I-M, YOU WILL LOSE NOTHING, but you will
gain the glorious and eternal reality of God forevermore, what kind of
reception would you receive? You would actually be asking the people to give up everything
they are doing and all the things they have been given by their ministers and
church orders with which to serve and worship God exchanging it all for GOD ALONE.
What an unbearable burden it would be for the people to be REDUCED TO GOD, to possess nothing
but GOD HIMSELF! You would find this an almost impossible thing to accomplish. Truly
Christ has been usurped by the world.
THE TRADUCER
As we have
pointed out, the most outstanding characteristic of the Serpent is his ability to deceive.
From the very dawn of human history, as recorded in the Bible, he is depicted as a liar
and deceiver. The Serpent beguiled me and I did eat, was Eves plaintive
cry, and in the closing book of the Bible, the fact of his deceiving nature is further
emphasized in the words of the Revelator who described him as that old Serpent
called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world (Rev. 12:9). The
apostle is referring back to that significant statement in Gen. 3:1 wherein we read,
Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord
God had made.
The Bible was not
written in English, but Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. It is to the ancient Hebrew words we
will refer, to glean the truth from this passage. From a casual view of these words comes
the ancient myth of a snake wound around a tree in the Garden of Eden. However, the Hebrew
word translated serpent is NACHASH. This word NACHASH means to hiss,
mutter, whisper; as do enchanters. Secondary meanings are to divine,
enchant. It is because of these expressions that the noun serpent
appears. An allied Chaldean word means brass, actually polished brass, from a root word
meaning to be bright. Dr. Bullinger, in the Companion Bible, says, the Hebrew term
probably includes the sense of fascinate, enchant This element of fascination
connects with the later use of Nachash as serpent. Satan, then, is a
WHISPERER, an ENCHANTER, a FASCINATOR, and a SHINING ONE! He is a speaker, a teacher, a
diviner, a creator of illusions and appearances a deceiver!
And just how does
Satan deceive? A key is found in the Greek New Testament name for Satan the devil
The Greek word is DIABOLLOS. DIABOLLOS is a compound of two words DIA and BOLLO.
DIA means a channel of an act and BOLLO means to throw either
with force, or without force, yet with a purpose, or even carelessly. Hence, the
Devil is A CHANNEL SOMETHING PASSES THROUGH. The pipe through which water enters your home
is a channel a means of passage. The frequency bands assigned to a single
transmitting station for either radio or television is called a channel the
frequency or means of passage of communication from the station to your receiver. Any
channel is the vehicle through which a thing passes from one location or state to another.
And, may I add, the Devil is the channel (DIA) through which a carnal thought, idea,
concept, desire, passion, etc. passes before it reaches your CONSCIOUS MIND. This explains
very well why Strongs Analytical Concordance has rendered the compound word
DIABOLLOS as a traducer. The English word traduce means TO
TRANSFER FROM ONE ORDER OF REASONING TO ANOTHER ORDER OF REASONING, as to translate from
one language to another language. Hence, the Traducer, the Devil, the Translator,
the Interpreter sits enthroned in the mind of man and his primary job is to transfer or
translate KNOWLEDGE!
This ancient
Phoenician coin, which was minted long ago in the bustling commercial city of
To classical
scholars, the symbols on the coin are familiar ones. They are found in the art and
mythology of many civilizations through the millennia. What do they all mean? First,
consider the snake. The snake on the Phoenician coin is the symbol of a powerful god whom
the Romans called Aesculapius, the Greeks Asklepios. Who was this personage?
Aesculapius was an ancient pagan god of healing. To his temples sick people came from all
over the world. His symbol was the serpent! This symbol has come down to us today
in the two snakes which intertwine the staff on the shields of the medical profession.
Persons wishing healing from this god were instructed to lie down in his temple so that
the tame snakes of the priests could slither over them. The sufferer who was fortunate
enough to have this dubious honor take place was said to have been touched by the hand of
the god of healing! His healing powers are reflected in the meaning of his name,
Aesculapius. It means, literally, THE MAN-INSTRUCTING SERPENT. Now we see a
significant connection! The Serpent who sought to teach mankind is
mentioned, of course, in the third chapter of Genesis, where he seduced our first parents,
Adam and Eve. It is none other than mans adversary, that serpent of old,
called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world (Rev. 12:9). In mythology,
Aesculapius was believed to be the child of the Sun, and thus the enlightened
of mankind. He was often represented in art by a serpent or as an old man holding a staff
around which a snake is entwined.
This Traducer,
or Translator, or Enlightener, is nothing more nor less than the spirit
of your mind! Those elect saints who read these lines know that the metaphysical and
occult channelers have no light of truth or Holy Ghost power to set men free
or transform into the image of God, but how often we fail to realize that there is a
MASTER CHANNELER sitting as a god right within our own minds, and how often we yield our
lives into his hands of illogical reasoning deception and delusion. The words
coming from this Translator may be enticing and exciting but only to the natural
man; and, my beloved, they minister death! Hence the need to heed the apostles
inspired admonition, Put off the old man... and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind (Eph. 4:22-23). The simple truth is: YOU CANT TRUST YOUR
INTERPRETER! Of him our Lord stated plainly, There is no truth in him. When he
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it (Jn.
8:44). And he is that crooked serpent (Isa. 27:1).
The magicians of
Again I would
quote the timely words of a friend who has shared with us her keen insight into the
mysteries of God. Paul in II Cor. 11:3 warns the church at
We find,
then, that in cheating Eve out of her inheritance, in causing her to fall from the Glory,
the serpent employed the use NOT OF AN OUTRIGHT LIE but of a TRUTH! He used
an argument that is correct in form, but because it was only form and had
lost the essence, Eve was deceived by it. What was the argument, that he used that
was correct in form but was actually invalid? Hear it! God doth know
that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened? That was a truth
and ye shall be as gods was also a truth, for after the man and the
woman had eaten, the Lord God Himself verified the serpents statement as being
absolute truth. Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil,
God said. In form, then, the serpent had a truth. What the serpent failed to
reveal, however, was the essence of the form which is that INDEPENDENTLY OF GOD man
can NEVER be a partaker of the divine nature! This should have been a self-evident truth,
but man failed to see it. He was deceived by the very form of truth and was thereby
brought to ruin, cheated out of the very thing that he sought. Man became a god, alright,
in the eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but he became a god in
the wrong realm, for at the same time that God acknowledged mans deity
He also CAST HIM FROM THE GARDEN cast him from the heavenly realm and set
him in the earth to till the ground from which he was taken. It is one thing
to be a partaker of the divine nature and it is quite another thing to be the
god of this world! In the former, there is contained the thought of
TOTAL DEPENDENCE in the latter, the principle of INDEPENDENCE. Though the
terminology is the same that is, ye are gods the essence is not.
The man has become as one of us but he did not become, in his
rebellion, an actual partaker of divinity. The serpent, then, through reasoning that is
superficially plausible but is actually fallacious, beguiled Eve. It was through a mere intellectual
grasp of the word of God that Eve was cheated out of her inheritance in the
Living One and fell into the realm of death. We must not, as we consider these things,
lose sight of the fact that the apostle Paul had a fear for the church that BY THE VERY
SAME DECEPTION, our minds should also be corrupted! I fear, said he, lest... as the
serpent beguiled Eve through SOPHISTRY (the form of truth without the essence), so your
minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. May we have ears to
hear! end quote.
The apostle Paul,
in speaking of Christ as One in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
hastily adds: And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with
enticing words. The word beguile here is in the Greek PARALOGIZOMAI
meaning to mis-reckon, to wrongly reason. It is a compound word consisting of
PARA meaning along side of from which we get our English terms paralegal
and paramedic. In medicine the word PARA is used to denote something disordered
or abnormal. The second half of the word is the Greek LOGOS which is translated to
mean the WORD OF GOD, as in Jn. 1:1. Ah the great Traducer, the Translator, the
Interpreter, the Beguiler is he who causes us to NOT REASON GODS WORD CORRECTLY. The
deceiver adds an idea along side of Gods Word the form added to the essence,
the letter added to the spirit, the shadow promoted instead of the substance,
and the results are very DISORDERED AND ABNORMAL! Eve did not correctly reason the things
the Traducer communicated to her conscious mind and this whole world of illusion,
deception, sin, pain, limitation, sorrow and death is the tragic result!
Earlier I pointed
out that the second half of the Greek word DIABOLLOS (Devil) means to throw
or to cast, or to cast right through. Another word that has been quickened in my
spirit is input. We get input from the negative realm of spirit
the spirit of our carnal mind. This dart throwing of the adversary refers to
thoughts, beliefs, concepts, ideas, feelings, moods, desires, etc. injected into your
conscious mind out of the invisible realm. Though we may be alert for danger from without,
the greatest danger always lies within ourselves. Both our ability and our wisdom are but
foolishness in the sight of God, and should we consciously or unconsciously set our hearts
upon them, we find ourselves leaning upon our own meager resource, devoid of the Spirit of
God, and abandoned to our own devices. With what holy unction does the apostle Paul exhort
the saints, Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to
withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand, ...above all, taking the shield
of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked
(Eph. 6:13,16).
You want to watch
that crafty Translator within! In the temptation of Jesus we discover this wily
adversary-coming upon the Master with Bible in hand, so to speak. It is written!
this was the glittering weapon, the fiery dart, the master-stroke of the Traducer.
If Thou be the Son of God, command these stones to be made bread. It is
written! he thundered as he offered the kingdoms of earth to Jesus if He would bow
to the shrewd worldly wisdom the Traducer outlined in His mind by which He could have
conquered even the might of the Roman empire. An easy way to popularity was pointed out
it was suggested that He cast Himself from the pinnacle of the temple. No harm
would come to Him for God had promised to send His angels to care for Him. And the
multitude, amazed, would follow Him. What gave immeasurable force to the Traducers
suggestions was his appeal to the awful authority of Gods Word. He cast about the
things he offered the glow of Divine approval. He enforced his ideas with the sacred
sanction of the scriptures. It was with the Bible in hand that he approached the Son of
man. It is written! If the Word of God supports it, if the Bible sanctions it,
why it must be good. How the Traducer loves to come to us with the Bible in his hand! It
casts about him such a holy air. But here is where we discover the awful depths of the
Traducers duplicity. He is no stranger to the scriptures, and he will quote the Word
when such a procedure will serve his purpose. When he deals with a chosen one of God,
obviously, he must meet such a one upon the high plane on which he lives. He could get
nowhere by suggesting the gross sins of the flesh to one separated unto God. It must be
through the Word. It must be through a carnal, twisted, literalistic and erroneous
understanding of that Word the letter that killeth. The letter killeth, and
Satan has the power of death! The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil are the same tree in the midst the tree of knowledge is the
outer form of truth, whereas the tree of life is the spirit of truth. To be
carnally minded is death, says the apostle. How much plainer can it be that the
crowning work of the Traducer is to put a natural, carnal, reasoned, intellectual
interpretation to the Word which is spirit and life. He takes the language of SPIRIT and
translates it into the perverted, garbled dialect of fleshly wisdom and carnal
understanding. People sometimes accuse me of spiritualizing away the Word of God.
How, I ask, can you spiritualize something that already I-S SPIRIT AND LIFE? The danger
lies not, precious friend of mine, in spiritualizing away the Word it is, rather,
in canalizing away that which is SPIRITUAL! To bring the spiritual thrust and
essence of the Word down to the low lands of carnal forms of religion is the subtlety of
the Serpent. Ah, what a Translator he is! What a liar and deceiver! And all the time he is
quoting the Word of God and rejoicing in what a really sound fundamentalist
he is.
There isnt
a vice you cannot justify, there isnt a doctrine, however contrary to the heart of
God, you cannot prove, there isnt a religious methodology you cannot deify, there
isnt a Babylonian garment you cannot glorify, by appealing to the scriptures. All
have an, it is written to fall back on. The damnedest lie can be made to
appear true. All the Traducer needs to do is to quote scripture. Every dirty heresy
abroad, every false cult, all find in Gods Word their foundation. They that
are unstable and (spiritually) unlearned wrest... the... scriptures unto their own
destruction (II Pet. 3:16). I have learned that one can prove or disprove anything
with scripture. Brethren sometimes write to me trying to engage me in lengthy debate over
some point of doctrine the letter that killeth. The hour is too late, the time too
short, the purposes of God too urgent, my friend, to give myself and the precious time and
energy Father has placed in my care to such foolish wranglings and carnal disputations.
This is not a moment to jot every doctrinal i and cross every creedal t.
There is a truth that runs like a golden thread throughout all the pages of Holy Writ,
teaching us that the elect whom God has chosen must become aware of the abiding presence
and indwelling life of the Spirit. Students of theology, poor souls, pour over
their musty volumes, they learn all the arguments and proofs of the doctrines about
God, but the almighty God Himself they do not know. They become ineffective and
spiritually impotent because they have separated Truth from the Person, knowing the form,
standing on the letter, reciting the doctrine, articulating the facts, but
having no vital, living relationship with Him who alone IS THE TRUTH. A lifetime of
walking with God has taught me that it is possible for one to know all the arguments and
appear to have all the answers, but still be a stranger to the heart of God. I testify to
every man who reads these words, however, that the moment any man begins to know Him
wonderful changes take place in his understanding, for to know Him is to be like
Him. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,
are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord
(II Cor. 3:18). His Word is SPIRIT, His Spirit is LIFE, and His Life is POWER to
transform, to awaken our consciousness to the abiding reality of Himself, to raise our
being up into that heavenly, eternal sphere where I AM THAT I AM.
My good friend
Elwin Roach, in his PATHFINDER PUBLICATIONS, some time ago wrote a series of timely
articles on this subject of The Traducer. In closing I would share a portion of the wisdom
that flowed from his anointed pen.
When we
hear religious teaching and acquire knowledge, if the thoughts are not coming from the
Spirit of Christ (the anointing), they are passing through this soothsayer
(traducer) before reaching our minds. This is the sayer who is soothing, he
is lying, and is calculating. He is the translator for the humanistic, Adamic mind. The
Traducer is very accomplished at what he does. Therefore, we should become more cautious
WHAT we are hearing and HOW we are hearing, as Jesus warned in Mk. 2:24 and Lk. 8:18. Men
and women alike have the tendency to try and grasp any and all things with their own minds
that has been so logically put together by this brilliant Traducer, but let us be reminded
of this: The carnal mind cannot receive the things of God, for they are spiritually
discerned, and there is nothing about it which desires the things of God, for that mind is
enmity against God (I Cor. 2:14; Rom. 8:7). However, as we have already mentioned, the
Traducer does make the word of God pleasing and understandable to this dusty mind. Very
often, when we read the Bible, the words coming off its pages go through the channel,
through the dia, that thing in the mind called the traducer, the translator. This
is what has produced so many fictions, frictions and factions in the church. The Traducer
has helped to form many thoughts, ideas, reasonings, imaginations, images and idols
in other words, A LOT OF WIND, A LOT OF WINDY DOCTRINES! This translator is very
consistent, for he can only translate one way. He always conveys dusty thoughts and carnal
revelations, because this is all that the mind of man can receive. All scriptural truth
(the reality of God) comes from above, even from Jesus who is the truth, the Lord
from heaven. In other words. THE TRADUCER VEILS THE TRUTH, while JESUS IS TRUTH REVEALED!
HIS MAJESTY THE
DEVIL
Down through the
centuries many books have been written, many songs have been sung, many sermons have been
preached, and many things have been said about the Devil. Satan
has been blamed for everything from ingrown toenails to the disappearances in the Bermuda
Triangle. It pains me to say it, but to most
Christians Satan is their GOD ALMIGHTY, for they fear him more than they do the Lord of
glory. I do not believe, as the above title
suggests, that Satan is worthy of one iota of respect or honor, but none can deny that the
vast majority of Christians certainly do, by word and action, ascribe to him the attribute
of omnipotence. Most professed Christians do
not believe in ONE GOD they honor at least two, one good God and one evil God. And to hear them articulating their esteem of these
Gods you would be led to believe that the Devil is certainly the more accomplished and the
most powerful of the two, for they talk far more about the Devil, and spend more time
lauding his praises, ascribing to his negative realm dread of mammoth proportions. Some continually worry that he is lurking around
every corner, and when they least expect it he is going to hit them from behind with
everything he has. The average testimony
meeting is full of praises for the Devil. If a
score were kept, the Devil would come out the winner by about two to one over the Christ,
relative to what has been done. I heard
the story once of this certain minister who dreamed one night that on his way down the
road he met the Devil. Alright, you old
Devil, he shouted, I am going to kill you and put and end to you for all those
nasty things youve been doing. I am going to let you have it, you old Devil!
As he drew near to the Devil with fists clenched, ready to smash the Devils face,
the Devil said, Hold it! Dont do that! Remember if you kill me, you will have nothing to preach
about. What a word!
The good God,
according to the common testimony of church goers, is ever trying to do this and
that, while the Devil is continually interfering with His plans, frustrating His purposes,
usurping His instruments and defeating the issue. On some good days the good God wins, on
some bad days He loses. They go about continually talking to the Devil, praying to the
Devil (though they call it commanding and rebuking), and give place to him over and over
again. They bind him in this meeting or in that situation, but, like Samson
breaking the cords of Delilah, he bounces right back in full regalia at the next meeting
or occasion. These devil-worshippers ever beat the air against him and do
occasionally, they claim, win a battle against him, but the war rages on. If
they do not get an immediate answer to their prayer, they are sure the Devil is hindering.
If everything does not go according to plan, the Devil is interfering. If obstacles appear
along the way, the Devil is fighting them. The outcome of this battle exceeds the
ludicrous it is a terrible blasphemy. Not only are most Christians constantly
defeated in their spiritual life, but they actually consign to the Devil the final victory
in Gods creation. The majority is thoroughly convinced that in the end the Devil
wins at least 90% of humanity and carries them down with him into everlasting damnation
and hell-fire. The picture drawn is of a frustrated God who so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son to be its Saviour, but alas! only a handful of the teeming
billions of earth can be persuaded to take advantage of His gracious provision, the rest
led captive by the ruthless and unrelenting grasp of the Devil. The bad God is thus far
more effective in his designs for mankind than the good God. I long with intense longing
that the Lords precious people will repent of ever having believed the insipid and
useless traditions that make the almighty God seem to be a victim of the will of His own
creation. It is my opinion that most of the theology of the Christian world is stupid
prattle that seeks to render the almighty God impotent by robbing Him of His omnipotence.
It teaches that God gave His Son that all the world through Him might be saved and then
renders His sacrifice hopeless by leaving ninety-nine percent of all His creatures in the
hands of the Devil for all eternity. In this view God finally gives up, throws up His
hands in defeat, and says, Ive had enough! He then turns the billions of
souls over to the Devil, consigning them all to banishment from His presence into the
unending torments of fiery damnation. The fact is, precious friend of mine, a scene such
as this would be comparable to the President of a country handing the masses of his nation
over to the enemy as punishment because his General lost the war while he (God),
his General (Jesus) and the army (the saints) are rewarded with peace, wealth and pleasure
forevermore. Everyone becomes a prisoner, burning forever in torment, EXCEPT THE ONES WHO
HAD THE RESPONSIBILITY OF WINNING THE WAR! I tell you solemnly and reverently that the God
I serve is not the author of this kind of nonsense. Such a doctrine as that belittles the
power and wisdom of God and does despite to the spirit of grace, the atoning work of
Christ, and the precious blood that He shed so that the world through Him might be saved.
Such a doctrine as that is, undoubtedly, one of the doctrines of devils of
which Paul warned. I say that because I cannot think of anyone outside of the Devil
himself who would be happy with the prospect that
I say to all who
read these lines that OUR GOD IS SOVEREIGN AND OMNIPOTENT. If ever there will come victory
over the negative realm, the adversary, it will be when we come to KNOW THAT GOD IS GOD,
AND THERE I-S
N-O O-T-H-E-R GOD. He is sovereignly in control of all that
touches our life, and of the march of history and the final outcome for all creation. The
nations know not this God, nor do the professing Christians in the church systems know
Him. So the Lord almighty within must bring forth those who can be His witnesses
people who have come to experientially KNOW THAT HE, and HE ALONE I-S GOD. Those whose
very lives convey the message and bear the evidence that there is but ONE GOD. We have had
enough of the worlds stupid witness, those who believe in a God for good, and
another God for evil, and oft times it is not clear which GOD they are
declaring, especially when they spend more time exalting the prowess of the Devil than
they do proclaiming the praises of their Creator and Redeemer. Let all men know God
is even now producing His witnesses WHO KNOW that HE alone is God, that HE controls the
interplay between good and evil, that all is by HIS design and at HIS word, and the
evidence of this reality is demonstrated by their lives. Once Christ truly and
experientially becomes LORD OF ALL IN YOU, then He will have abolished for you all
Devil-consciousness and HE will be both the Center and the Circumference of your reality.
In that day, my beloved, for you, THERE IS NO DEVIL ANYMORE!
I do not wonder
sometimes that those who only read my writing think that I am a hard and vindictive man,
especially as I warn men of the error and abominable apostasy of the nominal church
systems. But if you only knew, I am one of the most peaceable and gentle men in the world.
I am a very quiet man (except in the pulpit!), and believe that I am merciful and
compassionate toward every sinner, I have only been a fighter because I had to fight. Was
Jesus Christ not a great fighter? Is He not a great fighter still? And is He not the
Prince of Peace? Is He not Gods Lion, the Lion of the tribe of
Oh, that is such
a sublime verse where Jesus said, ALL AUTHORITY is given unto Me in heaven and in
earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations... (Mat. 28:18-19). Do you see that?
There is a tremendous power in that Therefore, I am with you. I will back you.
Every angel in heaven if needful will come forth and surround you. Fight! What does it
matter, the puny governments and armies and courts of THIS WORLD? All authority is given
to the Christ of God, and we are the members of Gods Christ! The hosts of God will
troop over all the skies, ten thousand times ten thousand millions, if need be. Embrace
TRUTH! Speak TRUTH! Live TRUTH! I COMMAND... Go ye therefore, you poor fishermen,
and tax-gatherers and discredited rabbis, go, I am with you. If only we realized
what power there is behind us!
God is raising up
a SONSHIP COMPANY that will go for the Devils fortresses, to batter him, shatter him
and break up his kingdom. God is even now preparing an army of OVERCOMING ONES,
transformed in the spirit of their mind, triumphing over sin, error, limitation and death,
who shall go forth in the power of the SPIRIT to pull down the strongholds of creed and
ritual and religious foolishness and ignorance and set the captives free; who will beat
down the strongholds of mis-conceptions, mis-information, mis-understanding sin and
death and let the prisoners go free! Satan is not a God like unto the Lord my God.
He does not interfere with Gods purposes nor frustrate Gods plans. ALL
AUTHORITY is given to the Christ of God in heaven and in earth! How much authority
is ALL authority? I shall fight that battle against the lies of religion and
for the supremacy of the Christ while there is a drop of blood in my body. I shall claim
that every foot of this earth and every man upon this earth and under the earth belongs to
Christ, for He made the earth and He made every man. He tasted death for every man, and
therefore, every foot of the earth; and every man on the earth and under the earth belongs
to Christ my Lord. They are His by right of creation and they are His by right of
redemption. No Devil anywhere can gainsay that fact. I claim for His this great and
universal Kingdom. The church has forgotten that Christ came to establish a Kingdom and
that it must break in pieces and CONSUME (take into itself) every other kingdom including
the Devils kingdom. The Gospel which Christ preached was the Gospel of the
We must have it!
We shall fight it out to the end, and we will win. The Christ in us shall win. Sin shall
be abolished. Disease, death, pain, and hell shall pass away. This victory must be fully
accomplished in the firstfruits first. The Day is at hand. Then, O Christ, and then alone,
wilt Thou see the travail of Thy soul and be satisfied. Then, O Christ, and then alone,
can we be satisfied; when the last rebel has bowed at Thy feet, and there is no more
Fight; for there is no more Devil anywhere. Hallelujah! God shall reign forever, the
reality of creation! It is a living hope; this hope that, at last, every poor sinner will
have heard the glad sound, and that at last every poor spirit in earth and heaven and hell
will bow before the Christ, and will own His sway, and there shall be harmony and peace
and unity everywhere, for God shall be All in All. That is my hope.
Chapter
34
THE
DOMINION OF ANGELS
And the
Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now,
LEST HE PUT FORTH HIS HAND, and TAKE ALSO OF THE TREE OF LIFE, and eat, and live forever:
therefore the Lord God sent him from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he
was taken. So He DROVE OUT THE MAN; and placed at the east of the garden of Eden
CHERUBIMS, AND A FLAMING SWORD which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life
(Gen. 3:22-24).
When we come to
the garden of Eden it is evident that this is more than merely a piece of real estate
somewhere over in
Think of the
momentous tragedy when that first blessed pair, made in the image of God, commissioned to
rule the world and have dominion over all things, entered into transgression at the
forbidden tree and consequently God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till
the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man... The original denotes
something more than a gentle dismissing. The words sent him forth is the term
used in speaking of the divorce of a wife from her husband, which implies a violent
separation, a stern and angry ejection. Man was thrust forth from the garden, thus losing
his life, his glory, and his DOMINION.
He was cast forth
from a heavenly realm into the natural realm. It is the realm that can be seen with
natural eyes, heard with natural ears, touched with the natural hand, tasted
with the natural palate, and smelled with the nostrils. The realm of the spiritual
is neither seen nor touched by any of the physical senses, yet, it is ten thousand times
more real than the natural world. Man has been excluded from that heavenly realm ever
since that unhappy hour in which God banished him from the glorious garden in
THE CHERUBIM AND
THE FLAMING SWORD
When man was
banished from his realm of life, glory and dominion, the record states, So He drove
out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life (Gen. 3:24). Man must be
excluded from the tree of life until a provision is made by which he can approach and
partake of it. Nor is Adam merely driven out of
Some teach that
the Cherubim with their flaming sword were placed at the portals of
Moreover, those
Cherubim at the gate of Eden did not have a metal sword to ward off such as would
approach, but the Hebrew denotes a movable sword, that is, a flash or a flame, such as of
lightning, which is unsteady and blinds the eyes. This flame or lightning is depicted as
having the form of a sword that is in continuous motion and moves to and fro. Because of
the cutting, flaming sword of the Cherubim, no living human being makes his way across
that dread portal! The tree of life, yea, all that
The Cherubim
bespeak of a REALM OF DOMINION which we shall explore later. The word that proceeds from
the Cherubim is typified in the flaming sword. The word sword is found in the
Bible over 400 times. That indicates the tremendous importance the Spirit of God attaches
to it. There are both the positive and negative aspects. Hear the Word of the Lord as the
apostle Paul speaks of the whole armor of God, admonishing the saints to put on...
the sword of the Spirit, WHICH IS THE WORD OF GOD (Eph. 6:17). Then the
writer to the Hebrews declares that the sword of Gods Word is QUICK.
Quick means LIVING AND ACTIVE LIFE-GIVING! For the Word of God that speaks is
alive and full of power making it active, operative, energizing and effective; it
is sharper than any two-edged sword... (Heb. 4:12, Amplified). Ah, yes, here is the
sword that conquers the death in us and GIVES LIFE! As it is written, It is the SPIRIT
that quickeneth; the FLESH profiteth nothing... for the LETTER KILLETH,
but the SPIRIT GIVETH LIFE (Jn. 6:63; II Cor. 3:6). The sword of the Spirit
is the quickening, energizing, life-giving WORD OF GOD!
I shall not
hesitate to explain to you, dear ones, that there are two aspects of the Word of God.
Jesus Christ is THE WORD THE LOGOS THE LIVING WORD! But there is also that
word which Paul calls the letter. The letter is the record and history, the
laws, rules and regulations, the types, shadow and figures, the external observances of
sacraments, ordinances and rituals, the visible FORM OF THE WORD which tells us, in terms
understandable by the NATURAL MIND, many things ABOUT the Living Word, Jesus
Christ. As I meditated upon the Cherubim and the flaming sword in Genesis the Lord began
to speak to me saying, The flaming sword is a word. I would ponder this,
arrive at nothing, only to have the words come again, The flaming sword is A WORD!
Then in a sudden burst of divine illumination, the truth of it dawned upon me. Jesus
Christ is THE WORD THE LIVING WORD and IN H-I-M IS LIFE! But the flaming
sword at the portal of
It is important
to note that the sole purpose of the Cherubim with the flaming sword was to KEEP MAN OUT
from life! The flaming sword did not minister life, but death. It did not impart life,
neither did it point to life or lead to life. It was a SWORD OF DEATH... a WORD OF DEATH!
It was not the sword of the Spirit, but the sword of the letter of the Word!
On the personal
and individual plane, the Cherubim are guards which prevent men from entering into the
inner truth of spiritual life and reality, by their own works or intelligence. It is only
the spirit of truth proceeding from the Lord that enlightens man and enables him to see
clearly the inner truth of the Word of God. If a man endeavors to enter into the mysteries
or sacred secrets of the spirit from himself and his own intelligence, and not from the
spirit of wisdom and revelation from God, he is deceived by the flashing light of the
flaming sword and the blinding brilliance of the Cherubim the glory in the
external, written, letter of the Word. This is the mercy of the Lord, for if a man were to
enter into the glory of the Kingdom of God out of self-effort and carnal conceit, he would
profane it, and his later state would be worse than his former state. The Cherubim are
guards in the letter of the Word which prevent man by his own strength, wisdom or ability
from entering into the inner sanctuary of truth. There are many things in the letter of
the Word which are hard sayings, many things which cause those who do not
penetrate the realm of the spirit to question, How can this be the Word of God?
On the other hand, there are multitudes of fundamentalists who only know God
in the outer husk or chaff of the letter of the Word. They are quite certain that in that
surface realm of superficial truth they have attained to all reality and have a corner on
pure doctrine and eternal life. The letter of the Word is therefore written in such a way
that those who are unenlightened by the Holy Ghost can never get past the flaming sword to
enter into Gods glorious and eternal reality; and so it is that the spirit of the
Word is hidden from the wise and prudent in the systems of this world and is
revealed unto babes those who are birthed into the realm of the spirit from above!
THE FLAMING SWORD
Mans
approach to the realm where God dwelt was barred completely by the flaming sword by
A WORD which issued as a fiery, consuming stream from the dominion of the Cherubim. With
what divine genius does the Holy Spirit on the blessed pages of Holy Writ unfold for us
the identity of this death-angel. There was a day in the long ago when Gods chosen
people
So terrible was
the voice from Sinai that those who heard it begged and prayed that it might say no more,
for what it commanded was more than they could bear. So fearful was the spectacle that
Moses cried out as Adam did at Edens gate, I am terrified and tremble!
Amidst the terror of blinding, piercing streaks of lightning and the deafening roar of
thunder, under which the whole mountain shuddered, God gave the law, the letter that
killeth, the MINISTRATION OF DEATH! Fearful judgment, fierceness of fire, devouring the
adversaries this is the message from Sinai!
How I wish Gods
people could understand the law. The law of the Old Testament was of a three-fold
character: (1) the civil law of rules and regulations governing every aspect of
daily life, social relationships, business dealings, etc., (2) the ceremonial law
of external religious observances of sacrifices and offerings, of feast days and holy
days, of rites and ceremonies, of ritual washings (baptisms) and purifications etc., (3)
the moral law of the Ten Commandments, the Thou shalts and the Thou
shalt nots.
The Old and New
Testaments are contrast. Law and life are the contrasts. You surely have noticed how Paul
clearly points out the striking differences between the ministration of the law and the
ministration of the Spirit in II Cor. 3:6-11. Who also hath made us able ministers
of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth, but
the Spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in
stones, was glorious, so that the children of
LAW and LIFE
what contrasts! FORM or ESSENCE what a difference! Every creature naturally
acts according to the life that is in it, without any law or compulsion from without. The
bird needs no law to bid it fly, or the fish to make it swim: its life makes it a delight.
A law is a proof that the life is lacking. The law that forbids stealing is a proof that
the life of those for whom it is made is wrong. And a law is not only a proof that the
right life is lacking, but it is helpless to produce it. And not only is it helpless to
produce it, but it administers judgment to those who break it. It may check and restrain,
but cannot transform. It can demand, but cannot give; it has power to command, but not to
create what is seeks.
Ah, beloved, the
law is not the way to God, neither does it point, direct or guide man back into life,
instead it bars the sinner from coming to God. It says, Do this, or die. Keep this,
or perish. The law, ANY LAW, was not designed to save a single member of Adams
fallen race, or to keep anyone saved, or to bring anyone to perfection, but rather to
cause us to look elsewhere. We cannot progress with God into true sonship until the Spirit
of God has made wonderfully real to our hearts the blessed fact that there is not a law,
commandment, creed, ordinance, ritual, sacrament. ceremony, tradition or EXTERNAL
OBSERVANCE OF ANY KIND that can bring one closer to God! They are, one and all, but
thieves and robbers as Jesus said (Jn. 10:8), for while men trust in them they rob men of
the life of God in the Spirit, standing between the seeker and Christ, shutting him up
into a FORM while cutting him off from the SUBSTANCE. And I must state with the greatest
possible clarity that nowhere in all the world has the FORM OF TRUTH, EMPTY EXTERNAL
CEREMONIES, ORDINANCES and RITUALS held more deadly sway than in the church system. The
flaming sword of the dead LETTER OF THE WORD has slashed its way from the pulpits until
the precious life of the Spirit has been lost and the horrid stench of death hangs like a
shroud over Gods people. Moses law or the man-made rules and rituals of your
church, it makes no difference, my friend, ALL LAW is a DEAD WORD and will kill you if by
it you seek to enter into God!
Please bear with
me for a few moments more as I point out the importance of the law to give to anyone, for
while these things may seem elementary to many who read these lines, they are basic to the
things I shall later share concerning the ministry of the Cherubim. Now we know that
what things so ever the law saith, it sayeth to them who are under the law: that
every mouth may be stopped, and ALL THE WORLD MAY BECOME GUILTY BEFORE GOD. Therefore by
the deeds of the law shall NO FLESH BE JUSTIFIED in His sight, for by the law is THE
KNOWLEDGE OF SIN (not the knowledge of God!). But now the righteousness of God
without the law is manifested... (
Righteousness and
life do not come by the law; therefore, something else must come by the law. What is it?
What does the law bring forth? The law brings us to CONDEMNATION AND DEATH! The
ministration of DEATH, written and engraven in stones. In the light of this
truth can we doubt that the flaming sword at Edens gate bespeaks a WORD OF DEATH
the LAW the FORM OF TRUTH? The flaming sword SEPARATED mankind from the
presence and power of God! It shut God up from man, and man out from God! It stood between
man and his lost heritage in God and said, Stay out, keep away, no admittance!
This, I am convinced, is what Paul meant when he penned these inspired words to the saints
at
THE DOMINION OF
ANGELS
We have stated
that the Cherubim represent a REALM OF DOMINION. In the beginning Adam was given dominion
over all things. When he was driven from Edens lovely garden he not only lost his
dominion but was brought under dominion. Not only did he relinquish his God-given
rulership but now alas! he himself would be ruled over. He forfeited his sonship to
become a servant. Upon his departure from
I am convinced by
the Spirit of God that the Cherubim represent an angelic administration the
dominion of angels! All the ancient sages of
Sometimes the
Hebrew word MALACK or the Greek AGGELOS is used in reference to those messengers or envoys
sent by men, those sent by Satan, and those sent by God. Any messenger sent by a king, or
any other person, is in the original languages of the Bible called an angel of that
person, viz: a messenger. If sent by a human being, the messenger-angel was the personal
representative of that one, in the message he was commissioned to bear. Lk. 7:18-28 speaks
of the messengers of John the Baptist as angels. Yet in the same passage we learn that the
messengers sent were two of Johns disciples! The term is also used of John the
Baptist himself, only it is translated, Behold, I will send My messenger
before thy face. The context always decides whose angel or messenger it is. John was
filled with the Holy Spirit, to bear a word of God, to accomplish a mission for God and
for the Anointed One Christ. In the anointing, the word, and mission, John was a
man-angel of God, the greatest prophet born of women!
In the Old
Testament the technical term Angel of Yahweh refers specifically to the
eternal Word of God in His appearances to men as Gods mouthpiece or messenger.
There are many passages where He is identified as Yahweh Himself. For example, the
Angel of the LORD (Yahweh) in Gen. 31:11-13 says, I am the God of Bethel,
and, in Ex. 3:2-6, He declares, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham.
Any messenger of
God is His angel, His personal representative in that particular mission and message.
And Jacob went his way, and the angels (messengers) of God met him. And when Jacob
saw them, he said, This is GODS HOST: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim
(two companies, two armies) (Gen. 32:1-2). When James the apostle is retelling the
story of the spies who came to Rahab in the days of Joshua he uses the word which in other
places is translated angel, yet there we find it is messengers. So we might show scores of
illustrations of the same type revealing the fact that the word angel is often translated
messenger and frequently refers to men in the flesh. The Word of God is not lacking in
evidence, however, that there are in Gods universe both TERRESTRIAL ANGELS and
CELESTIAL ANGELS, messengers of spirit from heaven and messengers in the flesh on earth.
On the night of the birth of Jesus Christ, the solitary shepherds faithfully tending their
flocks in the fields surrounding the slumbering city of David were startled by the sudden
interruption of their mundane activities as the angel of the Lord came upon them,
and the glory of the Lord shone round about them (Lk. 2:9). And just as suddenly and
supernaturally there was with the angel a MULTITUDE OF THE HEAVENLY HOST praising
God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men
(Lk. 2:13-14). Then follows the significant statement, And it came to pass, as THE
ANGELS were gone away from them I-N-T-O H-E-A-V-E-N,
the shepherds said one to another... (Lk. 2:15). Ah, angels from heaven! The apostle
Paul referred to these when he wrote these words of exhortation: But though we, or AN
ANGEL FROM HEAVEN, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached
unto you, let him be accursed (Gal. 1:8).
While there are
messengers or angels on many planes, both in the flesh and in the spirit, I have no
hesitation in saying that there is a messenger-realm, an angelic-order that is a special
creation of God and distinct from both God Himself and the man-angels so often seen in the
Bible. There is a verse of scripture in Heb. 2:5 that reads thus: For unto the
angels HATH HE NOT put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. In verses
1-4 of the same chapter we find that the preaching of the great salvation
brought by Jesus brings us finally to a glorious new age in which the saints shall rule
and reign over all things. In verses 10-12 the apostle reveals that these ruling saints
are the Sons of God. My heart goes out in prayer that the God of all wisdom and
understanding will open the hearts of all who read these lines that they may see that the
world or age to come shall not be ruled over by the messenger-realm, the angelic-order
but by MAN! If man-angels, whether in the flesh or out of the flesh, are the only
angels there are, then these words of inspiration are totally without meaning or
intelligence: For God did not put the future world of men under the control of
angels, and it is this world that we are now talking about. But someone has truly said:
What is MAN, that Thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that Thou visiteth him? Thou
madest him a little lower than the angels; Thou crownest him with glory and honour, and
didst set him over the works of Thy hands; Thou didst put ALL THINGS under his feet.
Notice that when the writer put all things under the sovereignty of MAN: he
left NOTHING OUTSIDE OF HIS CONTROL. But we do not yet see all things under
his control (Heb. 2:5-9, Phillips). Again, For to which of the angels did He
ever say such words as these: Thou art My Son, This day have I begotten thee? Or,
again: I will be a Father to him, and he shall be to Me a Son? Does He ever say
this of any of the angels: Sit thou on MY right hand, till I make thine enemies the
footstool of thy feet? (Heb. 1:5, 13-14, Phillips).
Three outstanding
truths are clearly evident in these verses. First, there is an order of angels which are
not men. Secondly, these angels will not rule over the world to come. And thirdly, the
sons of God, born from above, are of a divine order HIGHER FAR THAN ANY OF THE ANGELS, to
whom is given all power and authority. Of Christ and His many brethren it is
written, This Son, radiance of the glory of God, flawless expression of the nature
of God, Himself the upholding power of all that is, having effected in person the
cleansing of mens sins, took His seat at the right hand of the majesty on high
BEING MADE SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE ANGELS, as He hath by inheritance obtained a
MORE EXCELLENT NAME THAN THEY... it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom all
things, in bringing MANY SONS TO GLORY, to make the captain of their salvation perfect
through sufferings. For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are ALL OF
ONE: for which cause He is NOT ASHAMED TO CALL THEM BRETHREN (Heb. 1:3-4; 2:10-11,
Phillips & KJV).
We should direct
our thoughts to yet another consideration, the meaningful words of Paul in I Cor. 6:1-3,
Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and
not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?
And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
Know ye not that WE SHALL JUDGE A-N-G-E-L-S? How much more things that pertain THIS LIFE.
The writer of Hebrews says that angels shall not judge the world, but Paul states that the
saints shall not only judge the world, but will even judge the angels! Ah, can we not see
by this that GOD HIMSELF IS PREPARING A GOVERNMENT AND A KINGDOM that will swallow up all
others until the kingdoms of this world, and all the principalities and powers of the
heavenlies have become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign
forever and ever. Can we not see that there is a company of saints, the sons of the Most
High, who shall yet govern this world and all the unbounded heavens in wisdom and
righteousness? And can we not see that there is an angelic-realm which shall not
rule the world to come, and who are never called sons of God, the very fact that it
is specified that they shall not rule THE WORLD TO COME proves that they DO RULE
there is a realm which is subject to the DOMINION OF ANGELS!
It is a well
known and documented fact that the religion of ancient
With these
thoughts in mind we approach a most enlightening passage of scripture. Among the most
precious and awe-inspiring chapters in Gods precious book, Hebrews chapter two
stands out in magnificence. After contrasting the ministry of angels with the ministry of
sonship in chapter one, the writer proceeds to say, THEREFORE we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which WE HAVE HEARD, lest at any time we should let them
slip. For if the WORD SPOKEN BY ANGELS was stedfast, and every transgression and
disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so
great salvation; which at the first began to be SPOKEN BY THELORD, and was confirmed unto
us by them that heard Him (Heb. 2:1-3).
Two WORDS
are presented to us in these verses. The first is THE WORD OF ANGELS. Of that word it is
stated, ...and every transgression received a just recompense of reward. The
second is THE WORD SPOKEN BY THE LORD. This is the word which brings so great
salvation. Oh! that God may give us hearts to grasp the importance of these things
which have been hid from the wise and the prudent, but God hath revealed them unto babes!
In the whole world and in all of history there have never been but two words: the
WORD OF ANGELS and the WORD OF THE LORD! The word of angels brought judgment to the
hearers, whereas the Word of the Lord brings great salvation. The word of angels was
spoken of old, the Word of the Lord began to be spoken when Jesus came into the world.
The scriptures
abound with the evidence that the word of angels is the LAW the whole realm of
commandments, regulations, external observances of ordinances, ceremonies, traditions
etc., while the Word of the Lord is the gospel (good news) of CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF
GLORY. The word of angels is the ministration of death, written and engraven
in stones, but the Word of the Lord is the ministration of the Spirit
written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in
fleshy tables of the heart. The word of angels is the letter that killeth,
whereas the Word of the Lord is the Spirit that quickeneth as Jesus said,
The WORDS that I speak unto you, THEY ARE SPIRIT, and they are LIFE (Jn.
6:63).
The Jews counted
it one of their great privileges that the law was GIVEN BY THE MINISTRATION OF ANGELS.
Paul declared that the law was added because of transgressions, till the seed should
come to whom the promise was made; and it (the law) was ORDAINED BY ANGELS in the hand of
a mediator (Gal. 3:19). I am aware that someone will exclaim, But the law wasnt
given by angels, the law came by Moses! Let us read this verse from the Amplified
Bible which brings out the truth quite clearly, And it (the law) was arranged and
ordained and appointed THROUGH THE INSTRUMENTALITY OF ANGELS and was given by the hand of
a go-between an intermediary person (Moses) between God and man. Yes, Moses
received the law on behalf of
That magnificent
saint, Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost, indicted his murderers with these
pungent words moments before his untimely death in the streets of
The words of the
Psalmist are very revealing, The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands
of angels: the Lord is among them, AS IN SINAI, in the holy place (Ps. 68:17). At
Sinai the Lord was in the midst of that blazing phenomena which the ancients called Shekinah.
We read that Moses went up into the mount and a CLOUD covered the mount. The GLORY
OF THE LORD abode upon
Note further that
the chariots of God composed of innumerable blazing angelic hosts are said by
the Psalmist to surround the King of Glory as in the Holy of holies. This
confirms the truth that the pillar of fire which is also called the cloud,
is composed of the angelic host which surrounds the throne of God in the manner in which
Ministers of State surround a King in his courtroom. As God was at Sinai so
also He was in the Holy of holies. In both instances He dwelt in the midst of
the Shekinah. The Glory Cloud penetrated the goat hair tabernacle and came to rest between
the gold Cherubim above the mercy seat (Ex. 25:10). Observe that the pillar of fire
did not consume the goat hair tent. The reason? The fire is composed of
angelic spirit beings who are Gods ministers (servants, not sons), and whom He has
made FLAMES OF FIRE. These flames do not consume the servants of God, yet they
may burst as the wrath of God is poured from the cup of His fury for these are
administrators, the upholders and the executors of HIS LAW!
We will never
comprehend the importance of the superiority of SONSHIP over the ANGELIC DOMINION until we
understand that to the angelic realm is committed the ministry of the law. The dispensing
of the law is an angelic ministry. The upholding of the law is an angelic administration.
And the power of the law rests in the DOMINION OF ANGELS.
BEYOND THE
ANGELIC DOMINION
The angelic realm
and the law are inseparable. The law was given by the disposition of angels. The word
disposition is from the Greek DIATAGE meaning arrangement, i.e.
institution. In the English language some of the synonyms for disposition are administration,
management, conduct, direction, control, and superintendence. The angelic not
only delivered the law into the hands of Moses, but throughout the entire dispensation of
the law they were the unseen but ever-present ADMINISTRATORS and RULERS of the law-system.
Thus, every man who is UNDER THE LAW is also subject to the DOMINION OF ANGELS!
The law is the
flaming sword, the fiery, consuming, devouring, judgmental WORD, the outer FORM of truth,
the letter that killeth, the ministration of death stationed so long ago at the portal of
Paradise. The law made nothing perfect, declared the apostle, but the
BRINGING IN OF A BETTER HOPE DID (Heb. 7:19).
Being made
SO MUCH BETTER than the angels, as He (Jesus) hath by inheritance obtained a MORE
EXCELLENT name than they. For unto which of the angels said He at any time, THOU ART MY
SON, this day have I begotten thee? (Heb. 1:4-5). He who was above all angels became
lower than the angels for a little time; that He might lift men from their abasement, and
set them on His own glorious level in His heavenly Fathers Kingdom. The superior
excellence of sonship above angels consists in this, that God has wrought redemption for
us in His Son, has quickened our spirit with His Spirit, begetting us out of the loins of
His own divine life. The whole epistle of Hebrews is the unfolding of the glory of the
person and work of the Son. As the New Testament is higher and grander than the Old, so is
the realm of sonship higher and more excellent than angels. The more completely we
comprehend this, and have our hearts permeated by it, the better we shall apprehend the
High Calling of God in Christ Jesus now prepared for us. The book of Hebrews is the
book of BETTER THINGS. The book begins with a glorious declaration as to how God
speaks and reveals Himself to us. Once He spoke through prophets and angels (Heb. 1:1;
2:2), but now He reveals Himself in sonship. And dear friend, if you think Jesus is
keeping all the glory of this sonship and heir-ship to Himself, then you havent read
Rom. 8:17 where it tells us that we are HEIRS OF GOD, and JOINT HEIRS WITH CHRIST.
If we would grasp
the truth and experience the reality of this we must tarry here in deep humility until God
reveals to us what it means, that HIS SON is the Captain, the Leader of our salvation,
bringing many sons to glory. The infinite excellence of SONSHIP above the angels is the
measure of that heavenly life THE SON brings and gives within the SONS. The angels could
tell of God and of life and of righteousness. The Son has, the Son is, that LIFE OF GOD,
and gives it. He that has THE SON, HAS LIFE!
Ah, yes, Jesus
has been highly exalted and given a name above every name, seated at the right hand of the
majesty on high; there He dwells, opening up and keeping open THE WAY BACK INTO
EDEN, even a NEW and a LIVING WAY, through the veil, into the Holiest of All. He brings us
back to our lost dominion. He brings us to the throne of the universe, the throne of our
Father. Let no one think that I speak of what is too high. I speak of what is your
heritage and destiny. The same share you have in Jesus on the cross, you have in Jesus on
the throne. Be ready to sacrifice the earthly life for the heavenly; to follow Christ
fully in His separation from the flesh and the world and His surrender to the Fathers
will; and Christ in the heavenlies will prove in you on earth the reality and power of HIS
HEAVENLY LIFE!
No promise is
given to the angels of ruling the age to come, nor of having all enemies put under their
feet, not of sitting on the right hand of God, nor of being joint heirs with Christ. Yet
these promises are all given to us, after having first been given to the first begotten
Son of God. No angel will ever know what it is to sit in the throne of God. This place is
reserved for him that overcometh, for the saints who are in Christ Jesus.
Sonship is a relationship to Deity that angels cannot know. Heb. 1:10 shows that the
firstborn Son was the creator of heaven and earth. Heb. 1:6 states that God Himself became
human substance and was brought into this world of sin. When the firstborn came into the
world of men the angels were told to worship Him. Why? Because He was the very substance
of Deity. He was their Creator! Why did they have to be told to worship Him?
Because He was so much in the likeness of man! Angels would not worship man, they had been
given dominion over man. They had to be told that this man was more than man, He was Deity
veiled in humanity. I am sure that many of my readers would tremble in awe and marvel at
the presence of a mighty angel. Yet, the realm of sonship is HIGHER FAR THAN THE ANGELS
WILL EVER ATTAIN TO! This is the place Jesus walked and overcame every enemy. This is His
inheritance which He shares with us, His body.
It is recorded in
the book of Exodus (Ex. 34:29) that, upon Moses return to the congregation of Israel
after He had gone up into Mount Sinai to receive the covenant of the law, the skin of
his face shone with the glory of God and he hung a veil over his face so that the
children of Israel would not behold the glory that was slowly fading away. Have you ever
wondered why it was that the face of Moses shone after he had received the law that kills,
and why he put the veil over his face? Now when Paul was commenting on this remarkable
incident in the life of Moses, he said, But if the ministration of death, written
and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly
behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done
away: How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather (more) glorious?
And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, THAT CHILDREN OF ISRAEL COULD NOT
STEDFASTLY LOOK T-O T-H-E E-N-D OF THAT WHICH I-S A-B-O-L-I-S-H-E-D
(II Cor. 3:7-8, 13).
The manifestation
of the ANGELIC GLORY must have been awesome the talk of the whole camp of
The law has a
glory, the glory of the angelic realm, but it does not compare to the glory that is in THE
SON. When Moses received the law from the hands of the angels, his face shone with the
glory of the law. This glory would fade away, but
I must tell you
plainly that many Christians today also refuse to see the fading glory of the law as they
cling to their iron-clad rules, regulations, dress codes, do this, dont do that,
observe this ordinance in this precise way or you will go to hell, the continual preaching
of judgment and damnation upon the people. Much ministry we have in the church systems
today is tainted with the ministry of the law the exhortation to works for
justification, external observances of rituals and ordinances by which the blessing of God
is supposedly ministered, bondage to multiplied church laws and regulations etc. You can
always spot a person who is living under the power of the law the law is a MINISTRY
OF CONDEMNATION! (II Cor. 3:9). You can also recognize the man or woman walking in the
spirit of sonship. A son is not a minister of condemnation. Jesus is not a minister of
condemnation, but of love, forgiveness, mercy and life. For God sent not His SON
into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him MIGHT BE SAVED
(Jn. 3:17). When the law said that one caught in the act of adultery should be stoned, the
SON said, NEITHER DO I CONDEMN THEE: go, and sin no more (Jn. 8:5-11). Jesus
said in John 5:45, Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there
is ONE THAT ACCUSETH YOU, EVEN MOSES (the law), in whom YE trust. My brother! My
sister! Hear the words of Paul in Rom. 8:34: Who is there to condemn us? Will Christ
Jesus, the Messiah, Who died, or rather Who was raised from the dead, Who is at the right
hand of God actually pleading as He intercedes for us? Christ maketh INTERCESSION
for us. He will not condemn and intercede at the same time, that gets ridiculous!
To be a minister
of the New Priesthood is to release people into grace by faith, not by works. In the
atmosphere of Gods grace and glory the believer can then be dealt with by God until
the whole nature is changed and transformed from a sinner under death to a saint under
life. No man can stop sinning to be saved! Once a man has been saved by the grace of God
through faith, he can then learn by Gods grace HOW TO STOP SINNING TO BE M-A-D-E
P-E-R-F-E-C-T!
We are in a transition period. The hangover of the law is still upon us, for though it has
been thoroughly taken away, we have clung to its principles. If a preacher demands that
you drop your cigarettes or drinking before you can experience Gods grace he
is saying that you are under the law and must earn your way into grace. If you are
exhorted to do something to get blessed, you are still under the law and receiving
by works. If someone commands, Thou shalt not be angry with thy wife, or
Thou must not covet a new fancy car, where is the power to
perform it? We all know we are to love one another. When a preacher rants and raves
because of the lack of love, where is the power to perform it? It is certainly NOT IN THE
DEMAND! You should have family devotions You must not overeat
You should be on time to meetings we all know this is well and
good, we desire to do even as we are told and yet fall short. Why? Because we have been
ministered to as by law. Paul said, I preach CHRIST the power of God!
Thank God! there
is a New Covenant of grace, and in that grace is contained the power of God to transform.
There is no one single leap into perfection, but how we rejoice that the EXTERNAL LAW with
its angelic dominion is done away, replaced by the NEW COVENANT which is established upon
better promises, for the Spirits inworking shall fulfill within us all the
righteousness of the law, being a ministration of righteousness unto more abundant life.
I cannot
emphasize too strongly that all who live their lives under rules, laws, by-laws, creeds,
commandments, regulations, what we must or must not eat or drink, what we must or must nor
wear, how we must observe this ordinance, that ceremony, and the other ritual HAVE PLACED
THEMSELVES UNDER THE DOMINION OF ANGELS and do despite to the Spirit of grace and life in
Christ Jesus.
We are not
admonished to LOOK UNTO THE LAW, but to LOOK UNTO CHRIST. We are nowhere told to LOOK FOR
ANGELS, but unto them that look for HIM shall He appear the second time without sin
unto salvation (Heb. 9:28). Even that which was made glorious (that is, the law) had
no glory at all by reason of the glory that excelleth. The glory that excelleth is the
LIFE IN JESUS CHRIST. Surely, if that which speaks death to sinners is glorious, that
which speaks of incorruption, immortality, and eternal life to saints is more glorious.
All who walk in the life of sonship have no veils over our faces, but REFLECT LIKE MIRRORS
THE GLORY OF THE LORD. We are transfigured by the Spirit of the Lord in ever-increasing
splendor into His own image. Glory!
Chapter
35
THE
DOMINION OF ANGELS
(continued)
And the
Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now,
LEST HE PUT FORTH HIS HAND, and TAKE ALSO OF THE TREE OF LIFE, and eat, and live forever:
therefore the Lord God sent him from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he
was taken. So He DROVE OUT THE MAN; and placed at the east of the garden of Eden
CHERUBIMS, AND A FLAMING SWORD which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life
(Gen. 3:22-24).
When man was
banished from his realm of life, glory, and dominion, the record states, So He drove
out the man; and He placed at the east of the
Because of the
cutting, flaming sword of the Cherubim, no living human being could make his way across
that dread portal! The tree of life, yea, all that
The Cherubim
represent a REALM OF DOMINION. In the beginning Adam was given dominion over all things.
When he was driven from Edens lovely garden he not only lost his dominion but was
brought under dominion. Not only did he relinquish his God-given rulership but alas! now
he himself would be ruled over. He forfeited his sonship to become a servant. Upon his
departure from
THE MINISTRATION
OF DEATH
As I meditated
upon the Cherubim and the flaming sword in Genesis the Lord began to speak to me saying,
The flaming sword is a word. I would ponder this, arrive at nothing, only to
have the words come again, The flaming sword is A WORD! Then in a sudden burst
of divine illumination, the truth of it dawned upon me. Jesus Christ is THE WORD
THE LIVING WORD and IN HIM IS LIFE! But the flaming sword at the portal of
As Andrew Jukes
has written: When Adam left Edens glory his fallen mind was in mercy shut out
from that blessed realm of life, for it was unfit to deal with heavenly things. FORMS OF
TRUTH (for the Cherubim and the flaming sword were such forms) reveal, as through a veil,
some ray of glory such as the fallen mind and nature can bear. To the fallen man the way
back into life and reality was closed, he could not enter there. But at the gate
were FORMS OF THE HEAVENLY, carnal representations of that higher realm; Cherubim, veiling
the reality and yet revealing the shadow of Gods glory; figures of the true,
which the natural mind could understand, instead of purely spiritual communications,
serving as a veil for heavenly things, reminding man in a vague kind of way of a realm now
lost to him, and yet, like the veils of the tabernacle, which were covered with Cherubim,
shutting man out from the very substance of that which lies within!
In my previous
article on this subject I set forth in some detail the great truth that the Cherubim
represent an angelic administration THE DOMINION OF ANGELS. The scriptures abound
with evidence that the ministry of the angelic realm is the administration of the LAW
the realm of commandments, regulations, external observances of ordinances, do
this, dont do that, perform this ritual and that rite etc., etc. In the giving of
the law to
We note that they were TABLES
OF STONE, bespeaking a cold, dead, hard WORD. These were written by the finger of God, but
contained within nothing of the LIFE of GOD HIMSELF. It was the
LAW, called a testimony, which is the same word as witness. The
law came as a testimony, a witness to the children of
Many and varied
have been the speculations about the identity of the Cherubim. Some have taken the highly
symbolic description in Eze. 1:10 quite literally and view the Cherubim as
celestial winged creatures having physical features both animal and human, each with four
faces: of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. Some have seen in the two Cherubim
overshadowing the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies a representation of the Father and the
Holy Spirit gazing with satisfaction upon the blood-stained mercy seat of Christs
redemption. Others have interpreted the two Cherubim as illustrating two attributes of
Jehovahs character Love and Justice. Then there are those who see these
Cherubim as two aspects of the Christ, Head and body, while others identify them as the
sons of God who are the radiance of the glory of God and the flawless expression of Gods
nature.
In spite of all
the considered opinions of men, a careful and prayerful study of the Biblical record
concerning the Cherubim clearly demonstrates one significant fact: the ministry of the
Cherubim was never a POSITIVE ministry, it was always (without exception) a
NEGATIVE ministry! It may be said with certainty that their purpose was not to reveal Gods
glory, but rather to conceal it! They did not ever bring men to God, but they did shut men
out from God! Throughout the Old Testament the Cherubim are seen in relation to judgment
on sin. They are the GUARDIANS of the life and the holiness of God. The following are some
examples:
1. Gen. 3:21-24
The Cherubim standing in judgment in the beginning guard the tree of life
with the flaming sword at the gate of
2. Ex. 26:31-33
The Cherubim are inwrought within the veil (Heb. 10:20), and are seen guarding any
presumptuous intrusion to the Holiest of all.
3. Ps. 80:1
The Shepherd of Israel dwells between (not IN) the Cherubim. Thou that
dwellest between the Cherubim, shine forth (from your concealment).
4. Ps. 99:1
The Lord reigns and sits between the Cherubim.
The word Cherubim
is, according to Dr. Taylor Lewis, derived from the Hebrew root CHARAB, meaning to
cut, to engrave, a meaning that carries with it, like the engravings on a coin, the
idea of representation but not the substance or reality of that which is
represented a form. The Cherubim we gather from the word itself, were to be
the representative of God, at least in one aspect, as the image cut on a coin
represents fully the sovereign, or government that issues it. When our first parents had
forfeited, by their disobedience, their place in Eden and were expelled the Lord God
placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim and a flaming sword, which turned every
way, to keep the way of the tree of life. The Cherubim here represent that in the
character of Gods government that forbade the return, or approach, or
blessing of His sinning creatures.
THE CURTAINS OF
THE TABERNACLE
Much of the
following information on the Tabernacle, curtains, veil, etc., has been gleaned from
various books on the subject. The most costly building, for its size, ever erected, was
the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. Though only forty-five feet long, and fifteen feet wide,
and having only two rooms, one the size of an ordinary living room, and the other the size
of a bedroom, its cost is estimated to have exceed two million dollars. All of its
framework and its furniture was overlaid with pure gold. It stood within an enclosure the
size of a city lot, and was bounded by a white linen fence seven and one-half feet high,
suspended on sixty pillars or posts of solid brass, resting upon sockets of brass. This
enclosure was called the Court of the Tabernacle. White linen, of course, speaks of Gods
perfect righteousness. The brass pillars point to Gods judgment upon sin. Gods
perfect holiness, revealed in the tables of the law which He gave by the hand of Moses,
prevents and forbids man from coming unto God, as long as he has sin upon him. This fence,
therefore, was put up to close God in and to shut the people of
The roof of the
Tabernacle consisted of four layers of material. The first covering placed over the
Tabernacle and, therefore, the only one which would be visible from the inside, was a
curtain of fine twined linen, embroidered with blue and purple and scarlet color. It
covered the entire top of the Tabernacle and hung over the sides, almost to the ground. Of
this first and innermost layer of fine linen we read, Moreover thou shalt make the
Tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and
scarlet: with Cherubim of cunning work shalt thou make them (Ex. 26:1).
Three outstanding
truths are clearly evident in this verse. First, the first and innermost set of coverings
are emphatically called in the Hebrew The Tabernacle. Thou shalt make
the Tabernacle, ten curtains. The Tabernacle! Dwelling place of God! But
could it not also be called the
Secondly, we are
told that there were to be exactly TEN curtains. Ten is the number of TESTIMONY. Ten
stands for responsibility, intensified, signifying the measure of responsibility and its
judgment or reward. This is a number used under the LAW, there were TEN COMMANDMENTS
representing the law-covenant, man was responsible under the law to keep the commandments
and bear a testimony for God and, if he did not, the law was a testimony against him!
Thirdly, and in
our present study the most important feature of all, beautifully embroidered in the
pattern of these linen curtains were the FIGURES OF CHERUBIM overshadowing both the
THE VEIL
One of the most
awesome sights in all
I have previously
stated the fact that the ministry of the Cherubim is consistently through the scriptures
revealed as a negative one, ever concealing the life and glory of God, always shutting man
out from life; a veiled, vague, shadowy manifestation of glory, but a ministration
of condemnation and death. Nowhere is this more evident than when we come to the veil
of the Tabernacle. The whole ritual of Old Testament worship, under the law, was one that
served to maintain the distance between God and man. BOUNDS WERE SET ABOUT SINAI, so that
not even a beast might touch it: and the people felt their safest place was afar off. One
tribe alone was permitted to encamp around the Tabernacle: one family alone of that tribe
was singled out to be allowed to enter the Holy Place: and one man alone of that family
had access to the Holiest; and that, only once a year, and with such preparations, and
fearful ceremonies, as must have inspired him with dread, lest, in the very act of
approach, through some omission, he might incur the judgment of the Most High. All others
were barred, and any attempt to enter meant certain death.
Now, the way into
the Holiest was barred completely by a heavy veil. Behind this veil was the
1. The veil of
the Tabernacle (Ex. 26:31-35).
2. The veil of
the
3. The veil upon
Moses face (Ex. 34:33-35; II Cor. 3:11-16)
4. The veil of
Christs flesh (Heb. 10:19-20).
5. The veil of
blindness on
6. The veil upon
all nations (Isa. 25:6-9).
I have stated
these things to emphasize the following fact: Just as the fine linen curtains had
inwrought Cherubim, SO THIS VEIL WAS TO HAVE CHERUBIM! And thou shalt make a veil
of... fine twined linen of cunning work: WITH CHERUBIM shall it be made: and the veil
shall DIVIDE unto you between the
The measurement
of the veil (ten cubits) bespeaks the LAW. The Cherubim interwoven in the veil are
representative of the angelic principalities and powers, the administrators of the
law-system. The veil itself, we are told by the apostle, is THE FLESH OF CHRIST. 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. Armed with this understanding that the veil is HIS FLESH I would point out
the wonderful significance of the CHERUBIM EMBOSSED UPON THE VEIL, thus something
imposed upon the flesh of Christ. Consider now how remarkable this statement by the
apostle Paul, But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman, MADE UNDER THE LAW, to redeem them that were under the law (angelic
rule), that we might receive the adoption (placement) of SONS (Gal. 4:4-5).
Hear it! As the
veil of the Tabernacle lay beneath the image of the Cherubim, so was the human FLESH OF
THE SON OF GOD PLACED U-N-D-E-R T-H-E L-A-W! The Son of God left His glory, and descended
to the depths of shame and reproach. He came into a world of men on this side of Eden,
this side of the Cherubim and the flaming sword, and took our place of disgrace. He came
down in human form, took upon Him the form of a servant (Phil. 2:7), and was made in the
likeness of men, made under the curse of the law, subjecting Himself to the principalities
and powers upholding the law, the ministration of death.
Now notice what
the writer of Hebrews says of Him: But we are able to see Jesus, who was RANKED
LOWER THAN THE ANGEL FOR A LITTLE WHILE, crowned with glory and honor because of His
having suffered death (Heb. 2:9). The Authorized Version reads, But we see
Jesus, who was MADE A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS... This phrase, made a
little lower than the angels does not mean that He was merely a little less
important than the angels, or that His body was in some way inferior to that of the
angels; the Greek indicates that He was made SUBORDINATED TO ANGELS, lower in rank,
therefore ruled over and governed by the dominion of the angelic realm!
To be subordinated
to angels is the same as being made under the law, for all who
are under the law (and all that it represents) are subjected to its angelic government. My
dear friend, if you go to
THE CHERUBIM OVER
THE MERCY SEAT
Before proceeding
to the glorious triumph of sonship over the government of the angels, bear with me as I
share briefly one further aspect of the ministry of the Cherubim. The Ark of the Covenant,
a gold-plated, oblong box, stood behind the veil in the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. It
was a symbol of the nature and life and authority of God the place of His throne.
The
Let us meditate
in deep reverence upon a few of the scriptures which speak of the function of the Cherubim
over the mercy seat. And the Cherubim spread out their wings on high, and COVERED
with their wings over the mercy seat, with their faces one to another (Ex. 37:9).
They did WHAT? REVEALED Gods grace and glory? Oh no! my brother, my sister, they did
no such thing! They COVERED the mercy seat, the place of Gods glory! The
word in the Hebrew is SAKAK meaning to FENCE IN, COVER OVER, HEDGE IN and SHUT UP. Ah! the
ministry of the Cherubim hasnt changed one iota since the day they made their
appearance at the gate to
The all-wise and
eternal God, recording with unerring accuracy through the pages of His blessed book, again
bears immutable witness to the fact that the ministry of the Cherubim is the ministry of
CONCEALING GOD rather than REVEALING HIM: And the priests brought in the Ark of the
Covenant of the Lord unto his place... into the Most Holy place, even UNDER THE WINGS of
the Cherubim: for the Cherubim... COVERED THE ARK (II Chron. 5:7-8). The Hebrew word
here for COVERED is KACAH meaning TO COVER, CLOSE, CONCEAL, HIDE and
OVERWHELM! No revelation of God here!
Heb. 9:5 says,
And over it (the
To every
Christian with a spiritual mind and an understanding heart it should be extremely obvious
that nothing in the whole vast universe except Jesus Christ IS T-H-E T-R-U-T-H. There is A TRUTH in the law, and in
ritual, in creed, ceremony, ordinances, baptisms, communions, foot washings, etc. but it
is the words without the music, the outer shell without the kernel within, the external
FORM OF TRUTH void of the power of the INDWELLING SPIRIT OF LIFE.
In that marvelous
declaration at the opening of Johns gospel, In the beginning was THE
WORD, and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God, much more is
involved than that which meets the casual eye. THE WORD here is in the Greek THE LOGOS. In
the beginning was the Logos. We do not have a word in English that is the direct
equivalent of Logos. In fact, it is well nigh impossible to express its meaning by even
the use of a sentence or a paragraph. The LOGOS is the WORD SPOKEN, but it is more than
that. It is the LIVING SPOKEN WORD, and yet more than that. It is A LIVING PERSON SPEAKING
THE LIVING WORD. Dr. Adam Clarke says it should remain untranslated. It was THE LOGOS who
spoke the words, Let there be light, and there was light. It was THE LOGOS who
before the tomb of Lazarus said, Lazarus, come forth, and he came forth. The
Logos is the living, speaking, manifesting, LIFE-GIVING WORD OF GOD!
The only true God
I know about is the One who identifies Himself as the LIVING God! The only true Word I
know anything about is that Word which is LIVING AND ENERGETIC as Heb.
4:12 says in the Greek and is sharper than any two-edge sword. Thus,
any word that is not living, life-giving and energetic is NOT T-H-E W-O-R-D OF
GOD! It may be a true word about The Word; it may be a beautiful doctrine, a good
commandment, a beneficial law, a touching ceremony, an inspiring ritual, a soothing
sacrament, an excellent program, a meaningful religious exercise, a successful method,
even an ordinance seemingly instituted by the letter of the Word but it is not The
Word of God! The Word of God is The Logos the Living Word Christ Himself,
who IS THE TRUTH. Anything, then, that purports to be the Word of God, no matter how much
truth it is, is NOT the Word of God unless it is COMING FORTH IN LIFE AND PRODUCING LIFE.
In FORM the TRUTH
of God, stripped of its LIFE, is turned into a LIE, and this is what the passage Heb. 9:5
means when it says in the Greek that the Cherubim shadow the Ark of His
Presence, bringing a DARKNESS OF ERROR over the realm of Gods ineffable glory! That
which appears to be reality, but is, in fact, form, is A WORD which is AN ERROR. This is
what Paul was pointing out in II Tim. 3:1-9 where he says, This know also that in
the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves,
covetous, boasters, proud...having a FORM of godliness but denying the POWER (life)
thereof... EVER LEARNING (the form of truth) but never able to come to the knowledge of
THE TRUTH (Christ, the Substance).
In closing these
thoughts on the ministry of the Cherubim I would mention that the Cherubim over the mercy
seat stood with their faces ONE TO ANOTHER; even to the mercy seatward were the
faces of the Cherubim (Ex. 37:9) The face always represents the outer revealing of
the inner nature. But here, instead of an open face turned outward in revelation, the
faces are turned inward concealing! Can we not see by this that in the
Cherubim, the law, the letter of the Word, the form of truth, there is NO REVEALING OF
GOD, but a dark and terrible concealing of His life!
BEYOND THE CHERUBIM!
And then, in
the fullness of time God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to
REDEEM THEM THAT WERE UNDER THE LAW (Gal. 4:4-5). Not to redeem them that were under
the power of sin, lust, fornication, drunkenness, murder and thievery, but to redeem them
that were under THE LAW! Oh yes, thank God! He saves from all those things, but to redeem
means to purchase, to buy back, and those He purchased were under the dominion of the
Cherubim with the flaming sword. Christ came under the dominion of that law and its
administrators, walked under it and fulfilled it PERFECTLY, then in that
consecrated human body He took our sins to the cross, He paid the penalty and the price,
and when He finished the work let us see what happened to the veil which represented His
flesh: Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And,
behold, THE VEIL OF THE TEMPLE WAS RENT IN TWAIN FROM THE TOP TO THE BOTTOM... (Mat.
27:50-51). No human hand rent the veil in twain; neither was it torn from the bottom
towards the top, but a hand from above rent it from the top to the bottom.
It was a miracle.
It was a heaven-sent miracle. Historic writers tell us that the veil was so firmly woven
that two teams of oxen pulling in opposite directions, with the veil between them, could
not tear it apart. Neither could the veil be repaired, for it was rent by Gods hand
from the highest heaven. History also tells us that the priests tried to mend and sew the
veil together again, but were unable to, for no thread, no cord, would hold in the
repaired part. It was rent once for all, and forever. Access to the heaven of heavens, to
Paradise lost, to that blessed
The grand and
glorious truth to which the Spirit of God would now draw our attention is this: THE SAME
HAND THAT RENT THE BEAUTIFUL FABRIC WHICH HITHERTO HAD CONCEALED THE HOLIEST OF ALL
SIMULTANEOUSLY RENT THE CHERUBIM UPON IT! In all my thirty years of ministry I do
not recall ever having heard any teacher or preacher touch upon that fact. There are so
many things written in Gods Word that beggar description, defy understanding and
challenge explanation, but their mystery can be revealed and made shining clear by the
illumination of the Holy Spirit. This wonderful truth that Jesus not only opened up
the way through the veil, but as well THROUGH THE CHERUBIM will open up a whole new
world of understanding and glory to those whose enlightened minds can grasp the wonder of
it. Yes, Jesus passed from the Holy Place of His sanctified human flesh into the Most Holy
Place of His glorified body FAR ABOVE not only the realm of human flesh, but FAR
BEYOND the angelic dominion of the LAW and A-L-L E-X-T-E-R-N-A-L F-O-R-M-S O-F
T-R-U-T-H!
How often through
the years have I encountered a lack of comprehension among the people of the Lord! They
have eyes, but they do not see. They examine the outer shell, but never taste the kernel
within. They say they understand, but their spirit has not grasped the truth. Someone will
ask, How do you know they do not see or understand? The answer is so simple.
TRUTH TRANSFORMS the receiver and flows from him so that deep calls unto deep. During
recent years numbers of people have told me that they have entered with Christ beyond the
veil, into the Holiest of All. You will have to write a very large book, dear ones, if you
are going to convince me that you have passed through the veil while you continue to
observe the outer forms of the church systems and practice the carnal ordinances, external
ceremonies, man-made methods, Babylonian holidays and holy days, programs etc. which
are a visible FORM OF TRUTH BUT NOT T-H-E T-R-U-T-H ITSELF. Ah, talk is cheap indeed. It is not he who
proclaims the theory of entering with Christ beyond the veil who has entered, but he who
once for all leaves behind ALL THE OLD ORDER OF THE HOLY PLACE to enter with Christ
in to a realm higher far than any observance or dominion beside THE FULLNESS OF THE LIFE
OF GOD W-I-T-H-I-N!
Let me present to
you this realm BEYOND THE CHERUBIM! The Greek word for heaven is OURANOUS.
The meaning of ouranous is ELEVATION, HEIGHT, EXALTATION, EMINENCE. It has
both natural and spiritual applications. In its spiritual application it bespeaks THE
REALM OF THE SPIRIT in which God and all celestial beings dwell FAR ABOVE the realm
of the physical, material, earthly, and mortal. It is not a geographical or astral
location. It is not a place. It is A DIMENSION OF LIFE AND REALITY, A STATE OF BEING, A
SPHERE OF EXISTENCE. Every spirit life-form lives on a plane of spiritual awareness and
being. Each of these planes constitutes a heaven, a spiritual realm ABOVE THE
PHYSICAL. Jesus, in His body of resurrection, ascended up F-A-R A-B-O-V-E A-L-L
PRINCIPALITY AND POWER, AND MIGHT, AND DOMINION, AND EVERY NAME THAT IS NAMED. He
was made to sit at the right hand of God, FAR ABOVE the realms of all the other forms of
spiritual life that inhabit Gods vast universe; not above them geographically, but
above them in RANK, in QUALITY OF LIFE, in EMINENCE and POWER and NATURE and GLORY!
In the scriptures
there are many heavens. Each is an ouranous, a plane of spiritual
life, an order of being, a rank, a realm of dominion, a sphere of activity, a nature and
glory elevation, height, exaltation and eminence. In Eph. 1:20-21 we have something
more. ... which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him
at His own right hand IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES, F-A-R A-B-O-V-E
ALL PRINCIPALITY, AND POWER, AND MIGHT, AND DOMINION, AND NAME THAT IS NAMED, not only in
this world, but in that which is to come. The Greek phrase en tois epouraniois,
in heavenly places, bears a remarkable revelation. Here the word ouranous
is compounded with another word and the compound word thus formed is of such great import
to us that we must consider it very, very carefully. We have the Greek word EPI, which
means superimposition, or in plain speech, ABOVE or OVER. When joined to
OURANOUS, it becomes EPOURANIOIS. The two words joined together mean above heaven
or higher than the heavens or the highest heaven or FAR
ABOVE ALL HEAVENS.
Our Lord and
Saviour when on earth, was made under the law, for a little while lower in rank than the
angels; He descended beneath all heavens to be made in fashion as a man, and, with all of
Adams race was subjected to the angelic dominion established by God over this
planet. But then He arose the conquering Christ. And not only that, but He ascended victor
over all the powers of the realms beneath AND ALL THE POWERS OF THE REALMS ABOVE!
Wherefore God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is ABOVE EVERY
NAME (Phil. 2:9). Or as Paul tells us in Eph. 4:10, He... ascended up FAR
ABOVE ALL HEAVENS. This does not mean, as the Churches so foolishly tell us,
that Jesus ascended up to some Disney World in the sky, far above all the galaxies.
Nowhere is it stated that He ascended up beyond planets, stars, or universes. Hear it!
He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand IN EPOURANIOIS
FAR ABOVE ALL PRINCIPALITY, AND POWER, AND MIGHT, AND DOMINION, AND EVERY NAME THAT IS
NAMED... AND HATH PUT A-L-L T-H-I-N-G-S UNDER HIS FEET (Eph. 1:20-22).
Far above
all principality and power means not merely above witches and goblins and demons and
devils. It means above all the angelic hosts in celestial realms, yea, above E-V-E-R-Y N-A-M-E that is named
anywhere in all Gods unbounded heavens! Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the
Majesty on high, exalted NOW.
And let demons
rage. Let fools and unbelievers hang their heads in shame. We quote once more from that
blessed Book which is given by inspiration of God and is wonderfully true. BUT
GOD... HATH quickened US together WITH CHRIST... and HATH raised US UP
together, AND MADE US SIT TOGETHER IN HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST JESUS! (Eph. 2:4-6).
And this heavenly places where we now sit with our Lord and Saviour is this
same SUPER-HEAVEN, or epouraniois, the same position which He holds far above
all heavens. We who have come the way of the cross, we whose spirits have been
quickened by His Spirit, are enthroned with Him in this super-eminence N-O-W. This is not
a place. It is the realm far above every dominion INCLUDING THE DOMINION OF ANGELS! It is
the sphere of Gods own divine life where we live in Him and move in Him and have our
being in Him. And yet Christians in ignorance and unbelief sing, When we all get to
heaven, What a day of rejoicing that will be! Ah, it IS! Heaven for those made alive
in Christ is not a future hope. It is not something we are expecting to receive; it is a
present reality, a blessed and eternal reality NOW. Oh yes, our bodies may still be
tied to earth, but those truly born from above are discovering the blessedness of HEAVEN N-O-W!
Once heaven
seemed a far off place
Till Jesus showed His smiling face;
Now it is here within my soul,
Twill be while endless ages roll.
O hallelujah!
yes tis heaven;
Tis heaven to know the Son thats given;
Oer land or sea, what matter where:
Where Jesus is tis heaven there!
There is a much
misunderstood passage of Scripture in Col. 2:15 where we read, And having spoiled
principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
The popular interpretation of this verse is that the principalities and powers spoiled
by Christ were the negative forces of the demonic kingdom that Christ, by His death
and resurrection, overcame the demonic realms, conquering and humiliating Satan and his
hosts, triumphing over them. With the deepest reverence and godly fear I must declare to
you that Jesus did indeed conquer sin, death, and Satan, but this glorious fact IS NOT THE
SUBJECT IN THE VERSE QUOTED ABOVE. The notion that these principalities and powers were devils
is a most grievous error. Note the verse that precedes this: Having cancelled and
blotted out and wiped away the handwriting of the note with its legal decrees and demands,
which was in force and stood against us hostile to us. This note with its
regulations, decrees and demands HE SENT ASIDE AND CLEARED COMPLETELY OUT OF THE WAY by
nailing it to His cross (Col. 2:14, Amplified). Then the verse immediately following
our text: Let no man therefore (because the principalities have been spoiled)
judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of
the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come, but the body (substance, reality)
IS OF CHRIST (Col. 2:16-17).
The subject here is not the
bondage of the Devil, but the ordinances of the LAW! Interesting that the Greek word for
having spoiled is APEKOUSAMENOS which is a compound
Greek word consisting of two prepositions and a noun.
Let us consider
further the work of the cross and of the Christ who died upon it that our minds may be
enlarged and we might better understand how this LAST ADAM included IN HIMSELF every
person and everything that belonged to the OLD creation on this side of Edens gate,
putting it all out of the way, nailing it to His cross. In thus crucifying the whole world
in His Son, He robbed principalities and powers and all rulers of condemnation and death
of the fearful power they held over us by reason of the fall. By His death He blotted out
and made ineffective every ordinance that was against us, because laws are not made for
dead men nor do they apply to men of the new creation who, with Him, have risen to newness
of life, but to those only who still live as members of the old creation.
Not only was the
law against us, it was a curse to us. For as many as are of the works of the law are
under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the
law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is
not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every
one that hangeth on a tree: (Gal. 3:10-13). Paul says that Christ has redeemed us
from the curse of the law. In another place Christ is the end of the law.
Herein lies the great contrast on the one hand you have the curse of the law while
on the other hand you have the freedom of Christ removing us from slavery under the law.
So here is Christ redeeming us from the curse of the law. What he is saying in effect is
that the angels that brought and mandated the law brought Gods people under a curse
and that it was Christ who came to free us from that curse. It doesnt sound
reasonable at first but there is no doubt that if you study the Old Testament and the law
administration you will see the harshness, vindictiveness and cruelty it brought. I have
known men who have become atheists because they couldnt understand or accept the
behavior of the God of the Old Testament who ordered, for instance, the genecide of whole
races and cultures of people. We should look at the God of the Old Testament and ask
ourselves whether He is a God we would like to serve under, for evidently Christ had other
ideas He expressed and revealed God in a totally different light, way, nature and
reality. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and
hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute
you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun
to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For
if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the
publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
(Mat. 5:43-48).
Where then
lies the point of the Law? It was an addition made to underline the existence and extent
of sin but only until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred.
The Law was appointed by means of angels, by the hand of an intermediary. The very fact
that there was an intermediary is enough to show that this was not the fulfilling of the
promise. For the promise of God needs neither angelic witness nor any intermediary but
depends on him alone.
Before the coming of this faith we were all IMPRISONED UNDER
THE POWER OF THE LAW, with our only hope of deliverance the faith that was to be shown to
us. The Law was like a strict tutor in charge of us until we went to the
If Jesus
suffered, died, rose again and ascended to relieve us from angelic religion and its
consequences, why cannot we be free from the bondage that they have brought upon us? Why
are so many precious saints of God restricted, condemned, and oppressed by their doctrines
and legalism? I do not hesitate to tell you that all legalism, man-made rules and
regulations, ecclesiastical hierarchies, rituals, ceremonies, ordinances, sacraments, and
every other form of bondage that religion lays upon people stem from the
dominion of angels and not from the liberty and grace of Jesus Christ. The pathway to
freedom from angelic dominion is open to everyone. Most Christians are unaware of this
aspect of Christs triumph. Most saints readily recognize that Christ died to save us
from our sins. But I can assure you, my friend, that you can forgive all the sins you like
but if someone is continuing to hold over you the condemnation of sin
THE LAW even when you have been forgiven, you still labor under the consciousness
of guilt, unworthiness, condemnation and judgment. The demands of the law are never lifted
off the person who lives under condemnation. And all who live under a sense of guilt,
shortcoming, and condemnation are yet subject to the dominion of angels!
The apostle Paul had some
statement about this that are most revealing. I marvel that ye are so soon removed
from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not
another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
(Gal. 1:6-7). This other gospel is a perversion of the gospel of Christ, it is
not the gospel of Christ, but something else. It may be called the gospel of
Christ, but it is something that penetrates into another direction. It is LAW! Then Paul
declares, But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you
than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say
I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let
him be accursed. (Gal. 1:8-9). Paul drew a very clear line of demarcation as if to
say, Look, if you go the way of law, sin consciousness, condemnation, works, and
outward observances, you will be brought under the dominion of angels, but if you stand in
the truth of the grace of Christ you can be free. You have that choice. If the gospel you
receive bears the stigma of angelic religion, or comes from an angel itself, then it is an
error which will bring a curse.
When Christ arose
from the realm of Adams death He then ascended passed right through the
dominion of the Cherubim with the flaming sword! He strode boldly and fearlessly back into
Edens garden; He claimed again the dominion and the eminence and the glory which
once belonged to the first Adam. He made an open show of the Cherubimic realm, not only
triumphing over them to pass through the gate, but leading them in a splendid celestial
procession, showing them as HIS SUBORDINATES AND SUBJECTS, becoming Himself the Head not
alone to His body, the Church, but indeed ... the Head of A-L-L PRINCIPALITY AND
POWER!(Col. 2;10).
What heavenly peace comes
into the spiritual mind when we understand this mighty truth: WE DO NOT PASS THROUGH THE
CHERUBIM WITH THE FLAMING SWORD in order to enter back into
We rejoice in the
triumph of Christ in His life, at
In closing this
article my prayer is that the God of all wisdom and understanding may reveal to each of my
readers the majesty of the High Calling which is yours in Christ. We are living in an hour
of intense interest in the ministry and visitation of angels. How many Gods people
would tremble in awe and marvel at the presence of a mighty angel! Today we have these
self-proclaimed prophets announcing their visions and dreams, telling of spectacular
angelic visitations and their special revelations and doctrines and Gods
precious saints are inspired to seek after a visitation by angels. I must speak a word
against that! Dear ones, if you cherish the bright hope of sonship hearken to the words of
the apostle Paul in Col. 2:18-19, Let no man beguile you of your reward in a
voluntary humility and worshipping (paying respect to) angels, intruding into those things
which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not HOLDING THE HEAD,
from which all the body... having nourishment ministered... increaseth with the increase
of GOD. The Moffatt translation reads, Let no one lay down rules for you...
with regard to fasting or ANY CULT OF ANGELS, presuming on his visions and inflated by his
sensuous notions, instead of KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH THE HEAD... The Phillips
translation says, Nor let any man cheat you of your JOY IN CHRIST by persuading you
to make yourselves humble and fall down and worship angels. Such a man is...
in his cleverness forgetting the Head. It is from THE HEAD ALONE that the body... is
nourished and built up and grows according to Gods laws of growth.
To not worship
angels means simply that we are not to give them a degree of respect or homage or esteem not
due to them. Oh, beloved, the realm of sonship is HIGHER FAR THAN THE ANGELS WILL EVER
ATTAIN TO! Angels are N-O-T your superiors they are your inferiors! THEY marvel and
stand in awe of YOU! Oh, yes, God may dispatch an angel with a message to you, many are
the examples of this in the Word, for the angels are... spirits in the service of
God, commissioned to SERVE THE HEIRS of Gods salvation (Heb. 1:14, Phillips).
But if a
There are certain
things that you can do that angels cannot do. God has never called an angel His son
(Heb. 1:4-14). No promise is given to the angels of having all enemies put under their
feet, nor of sitting on the right hand of God, nor of being joint-heirs with Christ. Yet
all these promises are given to us who have been raised up to sit with Him in the higher
than all heavens. The angels live and move in the lower heavens. Spiritually, they dont
descend to deliver a message to you, they must ascend, finding
temporary admittance into a realm not theirs, as when the messenger boy delivers a
telegram to the office of an important person. No angel will ever know what it is to sit
in the throne of God. This place is reserved for him that overcometh, for the
saints who are in Christ Jesus. Sonship is a relationship to Deity that angels cannot
know.
Angels cannot
preach the gospel or expound the deep mysteries of God. I have met people who were asking
angels to explain scriptures and discuss doctrine with them. That is dangerous! Every such
one I have met, without exception, has fallen into a delusion! Never, never, my brother,
my sister, ask an angel to explain scripture or discuss the truths of the
I am reminded of a most
frightening directive given to Moses by God. And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart,
and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt,
unto the land which I swore unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed
will I give it: And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite,
the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: Unto a land
flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a
stiff necked people: lest I consume thee in the way. (Ex. 33:1-3). The people of God
had spun completely out of control because of lust and idolatry. Not only did they murmur
and complain against the Lord, and disbelieve His Word, but they wanted to dance, to play,
to fornicate, and to create their own god in a golden calf. Then followed the dread
revelation that the Lord had removed Himself from them He had departed lest He slay
them in His anger. But still they were commanded to move on to claim their inheritance in
the land. God said, I will give you what I promised. He was bound to keep His
covenant with them for Abrahams sake. God said they could go on into their
inheritance but HE WOULD NOT GO UP WITH THEM. Instead, He would SEND AN ANGEL
BEFORE THEM! They could claim all their rights, all the blessings and promises; they could
move on with an angel to lead them; but because of their sin and stubbornness they
had no more claim on the Lords presence. They could have their blessings and His
protection and their angel but not HIMSELF! What a dreadful and colossal loss! An
angel in the place of God! How many of my readers would relish that choice
exchanging the Lord for an angel! But Moses wanted something greater than a land flowing
with milk and honey. He wanted to know and experience the presence and glory of the Lord
God Himself. And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this
people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I
know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now therefore, I pray thee,
if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, THAT I MAY KNOW THEE, that I may
find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. And he said, My
presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy
presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I
and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so
shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the
earth. (Ex. 33:12-16). Moses was unwilling to settle for an angel and an
inheritance. The only favor he wanted was the abiding presence of his Lord. So it was with
Paul, whose heart cried out, Oh, that I might know Him!
Being made
so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they. For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day
have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to Me a Son?
Oh, yes, when Christ overcame this dark world He ascended to the higher than all heavens,
passing through each realm, overcoming in each, becoming Head in each, reaching the
highest plane of all GODHOOD there to rule over all the realms beneath Him.
It is THERE that you and I are given JOINT-SEATING WITH HIM! If we live in this epouraniois,
LET US ALSO WALK IN THIS EPOURANIOIS! Beyond the veil, beyond the
Cherubim, in the Holiest of All
Chapter
36
THORNS
AND THISTLES
And unto
Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened 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).
As I have stated
repeatedly in this series of articles, the Garden of Eden represents the realm of the
The Garden of
Eden represents man living in the presence of God Almighty, walking in the presence and
glory of celestial realms, with the heavens opened over his head. Living by the fruit of
the tree of life man would know God as the indwelling power of life and be full of light,
abounding in heavenly wisdom and knowledge, fearful in power and dominion, ethereal as a
spirit and shining in the image of God. Man as master and Lord over all things! Man living
above sin, sickness, pain, sorrow and death! In Edens lovely garden the effulgent
perfumes of the heavenly realm were fragrance and life to mans nostrils. He touched
spiritual things and tasted spiritual realities. THIS was the glory of
THORNS AND
THISTLES
There is neither
time nor space to consider the myriad ghastly consequences of the fall of man, but I would
draw your attention to the judgment pronounced to the man: 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). All the natural is a parable of the
deeper spiritual realm, so let us look at the natural aspect first. The physical creation
was brought under the same law of curse and death that came to Adam. Where previously the
earth had freely yielded ALL that was needed to sustain Adams life, now it was to
oppose even Adams efforts to cultivate his own food. The man would now have to
struggle for survival. It would be only with sorrow, or pain, or great
stress, involving significant physical effort, that Adam could continue to sustain his
physical life. Sorrows and pains were to become a very real and distinct part of his
existence in the earth. The soil of the earth itself would now oppose Adams efforts
to cultivate it. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee. Where
previously the perfect earth had nurtured only plants that were beneficial to the life of
man in his domain, now the imperfect earth was to nurture noxious plants that would
compete against those beneficial plants that were expected to produce mans food.
Instead of keeping and tending a garden full of sweet smelling flowers, dwelling in a
paradise where there were not weeds to choke, or thorns or thistles to tear, prick or
poison, the whole earth would be invaded by these, which would only be kept at bay by the
sweat of Adams face. Instead of caring in joy for the
Where once Adam
walked about among the most fertile trees, in lovely meadows, and among vegetation and
flowers of all kinds which grew spontaneously and profusely, there now sprang up out of
the earth darnel, wild oats, weeds, nettles, thorns and thistles in such abundance that
the good plants were almost overwhelmed. Consider a field that has been plowed and
prepared for planting. The moment it has been sown, weeds and darnel come up more quickly
than the crops that are useful for life. In fact, you can diligently tend your ground, and
still find that the winds will blow in the seeds from afar, and they have to be constantly
dealt with. Unless they are destroyed with diligent care by the farmer every day, those
pernicious plants gradually take possession of the field, and the good seed is choked. The
earth indeed is innocent and would gladly produce the best products, but it is prevented
by the curse which passed upon it for mans sake. Well did George Hawtin
pen these penetrating words: Men who are accustomed to fighting every curse in this
age would not know what to do if they were to suddenly find themselves in
As previously
stated, all the natural is a parable of the deeper SPIRITUAL REALM. 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, but pointing to that which is higher
and grander, the verities of the spiritual world. With this truth in mind let us consider
further the words of the Lord in Gen. 3:17, cursed is the GROUND (the earth)
for thy sake. The Hebrew word that is translated ground here is the same
word that is translated earth in Gen. 1:1 and other passages. The verse could
well be rendered, Cursed is the EARTH for thy sake.
What is the
earth that is cursed? Ah, far more than just the dirt of the ground we walk
on! Of the formation of man it is written, And the Lord God formed man of the DUST
OF THE GROUND (Gen. 2:7). Then to man God said, For out of it (the ground)
wast thou taken: for DUST THOU ART (Gen. 3:19). The sweet singer of
Ah, yes, as
surely as the thorns and thistles grow up out of the earth of your garden and choke the
life out of the good plants you have planted there, so do evil thorns and
thistles abound in the earth of mans carnal nature to choke
out the life from the good seed of the Kingdom of Heaven planted there by the heavenly
husbandman! Can we not see that there came a fundamental change in the nature of man, the
fall was a DESCENT from life on a higher plane to life on a lower plane, from a
spiritual state of being to a sensual state of being. Where once the ground of
Adams spiritual mind brought forth spontaneously and profusely the manifestations of
Gods life, now his carnal mind would produce a vast crop of fleshly manifestations
designed to choke the life of the spirit. So now man WORKS... and WORKS... and works...
diligently pursuing multiplied religious observances, external forms, activities of all
sorts, and for all his effort he is able only to produce a pitifully small harvest of
reality, seeking out but a meager spiritual existence! The weeds are not a
special creation of God, for the Lord declared, Thorns and thistles shall IT (the ground)
BRING FORTH to thee. The weeds are the natural product of the earth
to which the man is banished the realm of the carnal mind! Here, the good seed has
to be planted and cultivated, but the weeds are inherently present!
PLANTING THE
The first parable
given by the Lord Jesus Christ is the one commonly called the Parable of the Sower. It is
about the
The first word of
this parable challenges attention Behold Hearken! The last word
repeats the challenge He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. As we
hear, may the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God make very clear to our hearts that
this important parable is not the parable of the Sower, nor yet of the Seed, but
rather a parable of the SOILS. It is about the soil of human understanding and response
into which the Word of the
Ah, there stood
the Sower in their midst, and He was also the Seed! He was cast into their earth, He spake
as never man spake, the Word of eternal life, the Word of the Kingdom, of a higher plane
of life available to men, the life of the Spirit. Although no one can, with the natural
mind, understand the level of life belonging to the
The fault was not
in the Sower, nor yet in the Seed, but in the Soil. The fault was not in the factor of
initiative, but in the factor of response; the hearer was at fault, for he was in a
condition incapable of receiving the Word. There must be fertile ground and a
favorable climate for plant growth. From the soil, the rain, and the sun, comes an inner
life which, coursing in its veins, causes it to prosper. We cannot now deal with all the
aspects of the parable, but let us meditate briefly upon the seed which fell among
thorns not on ground already covered with thorns, but on land fouled
by latent weed-seeds. Who has not seen a grain field brilliantly but ruinously streaked
with red poppies or defaced by patches of thistles? The weeds were not visible when the
crop was sown; they were in the uncleansed soil. There is a gradual ascent in quality of
the four types of character revealed in the parable. The first, the soil of the wayside,
is impenetrable. The second, the rocky ground, is too shallow, but the third is rich earth
with possibilities of a generous harvest. This hearer is a man of high potential, of
genuine vision, but he is not wholehearted, part of him is held in reserve, uncrucified.
He lives in a state of duality, double-mindedness, divided between irreconcilable
loyalties: Ye cannot serve God and mammon. The care of the world and the
deceitfulness of riches choke the Word, Jesus says. This man fails to bring forth
the fruit of the Kingdom because the soil of his life is thorny ground in
which the weeds growing up choke the Word!
As with the
plant, so it is with the growing life of the child of God. It is completely impossible to
over-emphasize the importance of this foundational and fundamental truth: YOU ARE THE SOIL
into which is cast the Word of the
That ye
should walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto His kingdom and glory (I
Thes. 2:12). Wherefore we RECEIVING A KINGDOM which cannot be moved, let us have
grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear (Heb.
12:28). Him that overcometh will I grant to SIT WITH ME IN MY THRONE, even as I also
overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne (Rev. 3:21). The Greek word
for kingdom is basileia meaning to rule, or reign, as well as all the
territory or realm over which the king reigns. Thus, one could say that the word kingship
could be used quite properly as an indication of the position of one receiving a kingdom.
Those who truly become ONE IN UNION WITH HIM are to reign in glory with Him. It is a
faithful saying and full of truth that ALL who are WITH HIM are called, and chosen,
and faithful (Rev. 17:14). Think not in your heart that you pass your days here
upon this earth, carefree, self-seeking, and careless concerning the high purposes of God,
suddenly one day to find yourself sitting with Christ governing the universe and
reconciling all things unto Him, because such a thing will not be.
God does not have
any honorary positions in His Kingdom! You do not just awaken one fine morning
to look in the mirror and discover that you have been raised up to sit with Christ in the
sphere of His almighty power and infinite dominion. Well did Paul say, If we suffer,
we shall also reign with Him; but if we deny Him, He will deny us (II Tim. 2:12). To
deny Him means more than verbal cursing and swearing and saying with Peter,
I know not the man. It simply means that if we do not permit Him His rightful
place of LORDSHIP in our lives, if we deny Him in our identification with Him in His
suffering, rejection and death to self, He will deny us the right to share the glory and
dominion which follow death to self. Righteousness is the very foundation of His throne,
and not until we are holy as He is holy will we be qualified to share that
throne with Him. Many in this hour aspire to their kingship rights to fulfill
their own will, in the lust for power to exercise dominion over others. The idea of
exaltation and authority fills their hearts with pride, their ego becomes inflated. But
before we receive a heavenly kingship we give up our rights, our will, our ways, and learn
to be servant of all. Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the Kingdom of Heaven; but HE THAT DOETH THE WILL OF MY FATHER (Mat. 7:21). When in
every fiber of our being there is a surrender to His will, followed by active obedience,
then shall we enter into oneness with HIS KINGSHIP. Then shall the deep and earnest prayer
of our heart be, THY Kingdom come, THY will be done, in us. Until it is truly
NOT I, BUT CHRIST we have not yet qualified to receive from Him a Kingdom
sharing His throne.
This truth of the
Kingdom of God within us is of such dimension and vital importance to Gods
apprehended and separated ones that one scarcely knows how best to articulate its
significance that Gods people may be inspired to forsake the weak and beggarly
things of earthly cares and pursuits and the vain trappings of tradition and religion to
lay hold upon the glorious and eternal reality set before us. Jesus Christ has been in the
process of PREPARING the Kingdom for almost two thousand years. The first word of
teaching to fall from His lips declared, The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. It
was at hand when He spoke, for He was Himself the embodiment, expression and manifestation
of the Kingdom. After preaching the Kingdom and displaying the glory and power and peace
that issues from it, He then began to prepare through many fiery trials and severe
processings A PEOPLE who themselves shall BECOME its fulfillment, its living reality in
expression.
The
But in some,
thank God! the seed of the Kingdom brings forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, some a
hundredfold. Thus it has been through the centuries as God has prepared His Kingdom in
men. In Jesus day there was some good soil, and therefore Jesus sowed in hope. Among
the multitude there were men and women who were sin-sick and world-weary, who longed and
yearned and prayed for the righteousness, peace, and joy of the
Let it be fully
understood that all through the past nineteen hundred years the
There are two
errors abroad in the land. The first error is the notion that the only manifestation of
the
The second error
is the idea that there is a difference between the body of Christ and the Kingdom, that
the Kingdom has not truly come, that the KINGDOM IS A FUTURE AGE. Those who subscribe to
this teaching are always LOOKING FOR THE KINGDOM TO COME and cannot believe that it will
ever be here until after the second coming of the Lord or the manifestation of the
sons of God. The truth lies between these two extremes. That the Kingdom of God is not
merely a future hope but a present reality should be among the most evident of truths for
the law and the prophets were until John: since that time the Kingdom of God is
preached and EVERY MAN PRESSETH INTO IT and the Father hath delivereth us from
the power of darkness, and HATH TRANSLATED (Gr: transferred) US INTO THE KINGDOM OF HIS
DEAR SON (Lk. 16:16; Col. 1:13). What we long for and so intensely await is not the
reality of the Kingdom but the INCREASE OF THE KINGDOM.
Long ago the
prophet announced, For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the
government shall be upon His shoulder: OF THE I-N-C-R-E-A-S-E OF HIS GOVERNMENT AND PEACE
THERE SHALL BE N-O E-N-D (Isa. 9:6-7).
Eternal INCREASE! Eternal increase of HIS KINGDOM! From realm to realm, from age to age,
from galaxy to galaxy of the INCREASE OF HIS GOVERNMENT there shall be N-O E-N-D! An ever-increasing Kingdom and dominion
until God is all in all from sea to sea and throughout all the unbounded heavens. It is
inconceivable to imagine any scripture or any inspired saying that could possible enlarge
on such all-embracing words as these. Ah, yes, my friend, this age will end, yea, is
ending, and another more glorious age looms bright upon the horizon. But make no mistake
about it, the next age is NOT THE KINGDOM OF GOD. It is but the next stage of an
ever-increasing Kingdom that through ages of ages shall grow, enlarge, advance, expand,
intensify and triumph unto the glory of its eternal King.
The spiritual
realms of the
THE CARES OF THIS
LIFE
The first mention
of thorns and thistles is just this side of the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve sinned,
God sent them forth from the Garden and said, cursed is the ground (earth, outer
man) for thy sake; ... thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee. Ever since
that time man has contended with weeds. The thorns and thistles became the symbol of the
cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of life which grow
rampant in the lives of men and women today, choking the spiritual life of the Kingdom.
Our temptations, fleshly desires, carnal appetites, worldly pursuits, pressures, and needs
can all be symbolized by the bramble patch. Forever clinging, grabbing, tearing, choking,
and hurting, the realm of the carnal mind reaches out to ensnare and entangle us in a
hopeless jungle of no release. So for millenniums man has been fighting thistles, without
and within, unsuccessfully. The roots run deep and wild, springing up in unsuspected
places with a harvest of pain.
While there could
be many and varied applications of the weeds growing in the fertile soil of the carnal
mind, in His parable of the Soils Jesus spoke of how there was that seed which fell among
the thorns that choked it. And when He gave the meaning of the parable, He said it was
choked by CARES, and RICHES, and PLEASURES OF THIS LIFE and therefore brought no fruit to
perfection. The word cares is from the Greek merimna meaning literally
divisions, distractions. Jesus gave another solemn warning about these distractions
in Lk. 21:34-36: And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be
overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come
upon you unawares. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to
escape all things... and to stand before the Son of man.
The cares of this
world have turned many peoples lives into a pressure cooker. The strain of everyday
living is steadily growing worse because of financial problems, higher taxes, inflation,
government policies, the disturbing world situation, added responsibilities, sickness,
hospital bills, rebellion in the home, unemployment, etc. The divisions and distractions
of this life are numerous beyond recounting, we are all faced with them every
day. There are necessary involvements in daily living from which we cannot and would not
escape, but when they so OVERWHELM us that we find ourselves fragmented and so divided
that we are unable to gather ourselves together to focus sharply upon the purposes of God
in our lives then we need to be LOOSED from these snares, escape from them, flee
out of them. The cares of life are insidious coming between, choking out a crop,
making it unfruitful. Some give all their thought to the things of this life,
as though they would live here forever. God cannot work with such as these. To be near to
the heart of God, to feel the pulse beat of His compassion for creation, one must walk
with God in the highlands of the Spirit. It is tragic but true that in the lives of many
of Gods saints, instead of lovely gardens of roses, marigolds and lilies, we find
stinkweeds, thistles, and thorns. And those who live in the midst of such patches of weeds
can never produce a harvest of fruitfulness in the
With what keen
insight and spiritual discernment did George Hawtin admonish all who would follow on to
know the Lord: I feel I cannot be too strong in my earnest exhortation to all who
read that we would earnestly seek day by day to have an ever increasing fullness of the
Holy Ghost. It is your God-given duty to seek for the Spirit with far greater earnestness
and sincerity than you would for silver or gold. I greatly fear that the god of this age
is the dollar bill. It is called the almighty dollar and certainly that is the honor given
it by most Christians today. Earthly and financial gain has become the prime and foremost
requisite in most Christian lives while prayer, meditation, the reading of the Word.,
praise, kindness, love, the grace of giving, tithing, the leading of the Spirit, constant
communion, repentance, and all such things that pertain to the fullness of the Spirit have
been relegated to the realm of annoying nuisances that hinder us from going all out for
the god of this age. How sorely we need to read and learn the lesson taught us by Peter
when he wrote, And beside all this, giving all diligence add to your faith virtue;
and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to
patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness
charity. Now listen to the promise that follows this exhortation. For if these
things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren or unfruitful
in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ
For if ye do these things, ye shall never
fall; for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 2 Pet. 1:5-8,10,11. Praise
God, there is an escaping from the cares of this life if we take care of the weeds
in our earth!
God has a way out
of the briar patch! When everything starts to fall apart, HIS LIFE WITHIN gives the
strength and faith to ride out each crisis, to PASS THROUGH all these things, and to stand
before the Son of man, praise His name!
There is another
area of division and distraction that is a part of the cares of this life also and
that is the religious realm which can cause one to be so caught up in its
programs and works that it literally becomes a CARE. Well do I remember former years of
pastoring churches when every weekend was crowded with such a whirlwind of feverish
activity, meetings, visitation etc. that come Monday morning I needed another sabbath to
rest and recuperate from the one I had just been through! I suppose I will make some
enemies, but I must tell you the truth nonetheless. How much eager-beaver religious work
is done out of a carnal desire to make good or appear successful! How many hours of prayer
are wasted beseeching God to bless projects that are geared to the glorification of men!
How much hard-earned money is poured out upon men who, in spite of their tear-in-the-voice
appeals, nevertheless seek only to make a fair show in the flesh! I have no hesitation in
saying that a dynamic personality and a shrewd knowledge of human nature is ALL
that any man needs to be a success in religious circles today, including the spirit-filled
ones.
Let no one
misunderstand me. I am not in any way condemning meetings, ministry, or corporate
expression. We praise God for all the precious saints that the Lord has gathering together
in seasons of praise, worship, seeking the Lord, exhorting and edifying one another in the
spontaneous flow of His life, we also meet and minister among these as the Lord enables
and are blessed and strengthened thereby. But the church systems, for the most part, have
accepted the monstrous heresy that noise, size, activity and bluster signify that
something vital is being accomplished for God. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely
found. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations, committees, board meetings,
basketball tournaments, religious splash parties followed by devotions, weekend camping
trips with a Bible quiz around the fire, Sunday School picnics, puppet shows, building
fund drives, business mens banquets, revival meetings and a world more of feverish
activities which occupy time, energy, and attention but can never satisfy the deepest
longings of the heart. The shallowness of the average Christians inner experience,
the hollowness of his worship, the emptiness of his words, and that servile IMITATION OF
THE WORLD which marks the religious systems promotional methods all testify that the
whole program, instead of being a divine out-raying of THE CHRIST LIFE, is naught but part
and parcel of the cares of this world.
Oh! to escape
religiosity that we might learn to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. And we rejoice to
see how God is causing His people to flee this care. And let me assure you, my brother, I
have no intention of assuming the burden of paying for mens programs, building mens
kingdoms, or joining in their efforts to save the world, when God already has a plan for
the salvation of all nations which will work, while mens efforts have failed. But to
remain in the midst of all this activity and not become caught in its snare, is an escape
which only God can work in us and maintain for us.
Dear man of God;
dear woman of God; dear friend and brother of mine! Let us pull up by the roots the
noxious, choking weeds of religious excitement and pseudo devotion and seek the face of
the Lord in deep humility until He comes and breaks up our fallow ground and rains
righteousness upon us! The soil that shall bring forth fruit unto perfection is that which
has been PLOWED UP, CLEANSED, and impregnated with the incorruptible seed of the Word of
God, daily exposed to the arising of the Sun of Righteousness upon it, and the rain of His
Spirit of life.
BURNING OFF THE
FIELD
Jesus identified
the thorns and thistles of the ground as the cares of this world, the
deceitfulness of riches, and pleasures of life which choke out the good seed of the
indwelling
This may be a
hard word for some, but the simple truth is that quitting your job, moving away from the
city, buying a farm, clearing land, building a cabin, getting back to nature, trudging
through mud, hand-pumping water, raising your own food, canning, cooking on a wood stove,
sewing our own clothes, using an outdoor john, reading by lantern light, storing guns and
ammunition, in short BECOMING SELF-SUFFICIENT has absolutely nothing
whatever to do with producing the fruit of the Kingdom of God and entering into sonship!
Now, if you just naturally enjoy roughing it, or if your desire is to farm, then go ahead!
Farming is a noble occupation, but farming will in no way enhance your prospects of
becoming a son of God! In fact, those who go to such lengths to prepare themselves in a
natural way for the calamities to come upon the earth can become so involved with the
physical and material aspects of coming events that the CARES OF LIFE AND THE DECEITS OF
THESE THINGS CHOKE THE FRUIT-BEARING LIFE right out of the Kingdom seed!
The sons of God
live NOW in the peace of the
The thorns sprang
up in our earth as a result of Adams fall. But God has a way out of the briar patch!
The One who came into this world so many years later to pay the penalty for mans
sin, was forced to wear a crown made of these vicious plant spines. In recording the
events of the trial and crucifixion of our Lord, the apostle John writes, and the
soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put in on His head (Jn. 19:2). The so-called
holy land is like the rest of the world unholy and it has more
than its share of them. Probably no other country exists where so many plants of this sort
thrive and flourish! At least two hundred thousand different species of thorny plants can
be found there. Listen! Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee... and the
soldiers platted a crown of thorns and put it upon HIS head. We shudder at the
thought of the piercing thorns and never look beyond them to a creation DELIVERED FROM THE
CURSE, and a King reigning WHERE THERE IS NO MORE CURSE.
We have read the
dead letter of the Word seeing only the physical, while the reason and the results
were completely missed! Thorns... cares of life... pressures... problems... fleshly
desires... and then comes the Word: Casting ALL YOUR CARE upon HIM; for He careth
for you (I Pet. 5:7). Think of it thorns upon HIS brow! Ah, thats where
they all belong! May our meditations upon these things make us more aware of the curses
that still remain upon the ground, and the need for full deliverance and restoration, not
for ourselves alone, but for ALL OF GROANING CREATION. May we be able to truly commit
our cause to the Lord, finding a deep place of peace and confidence in the very
midst of the agitations and turmoils of the world about us.
Some will not
cast all their cares upon Him, becoming identified with His thorn pierced brow, finding
blessed deliverance from the curse, having their soil cleansed from the weeds of inner
wickedness. For these careless or rebellious ones God also has a process. This ground in
which the seed sprouts up with such promise only to be choked later, is described in Heb.
6:4-8. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of
the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good
Word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them
again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put
Him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain... and bringeth forth herbs
meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: but that which
beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; WHOSE IS TO BE
BURNED.
The first eight
verses of Hebrews chapter six are dealing one central truth going on to
perfection. The apostle says, And this we will do, if God permit. He
then speaks of those who fall away, their spiritual life is choked, where once they had
feasted on the glorious Word of God, and had tasted the powers of the coming age, but now
turn away from the reality of these things, and the Arthur S. Way translation says of them
that it is a task beyond human powers to go on indefinitely rekindling in them the
new-life purpose. But as the earth has to be purged by fire to rid it of the thorns
and thistles, so also these who will not continue in the increase of the Kingdom because
their ground bears a bountiful crop of briars will have to be purged BY FIRE before
they will come to that place of being able to bring forth fruit unto perfection. One
cannot continue forever with a polluted, uncleansed soil, but will eventually be dealt
with by fire to end the cause of their fruitlessness, that they might be restored into
oneness with the purposes of God. M. R. Vincent, in his WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT,
points out that in Heb. 6:8 it is the earth which is burnt, the land itself,
and may I add that as a field full of thorns and briars is burned over, making way for
the plowing and cleansing of the soil so that a new crop may be planted, so will God
deal with our crop of weeds as He sends His purifying fire into our lives consuming the
clinging, pricking, choking underbrush.
Chapter
37
THE
BLOOD OF THE LAMB
A Lamb is obviously a very
familiar figure in the Word of God. The first blood earths startled soil ever drank
was shed in that primeval Paradise in
Redemption is not an
afterthought of God by which He hopes to salvage a few of the broken and shattered pieces
of His creation. Redemption is PART OF THE PLAN OF CREATION. If the fall of man is part of
the plan of God, then the redemption of the fallen creation must also be a part of the
same plan that issued forth from the fathomless depths of His omniscient mind. If Peter
was speaking the truth when he wrote of Gods Lamb, Who verily was FOREORDAINED
BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, but was manifest in these last times for you (I
Pet. 1:20), then the fall of man must certainly be a part of the plan of the Creator. For
what possible purpose was the blessed redemptive Lamb foreordained before the world began
if redemption itself were not already in the mind and plan of God? All Christians love to
quote the Golden Text of the Bible, For God so loved the world, that He gave His
only begotten Son... (Jn. 3:16). Yet what is the real message of this beautiful
passage? Is it not that God SO LOVED that He GAVE His Son? Does not I Pet. 1:20 make it
very plain that the actual giving of that Son was before the world began and
before man was driven from the Garden planted eastward in Eden? Ah, the agonies of the
cross were endured only two thousand years ago on Golgothas hill, but the actual
giving of the redemptive Lamb took place before the present world-system began and the
actual slaying of the Lamb took place from the beginning of the world-system, in the
mysterious mists of the sacred Garden of long ago. Well do I know that there are deep
mysteries involved in this, yet the meaning is clear enough. It is that long ago before
The morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy the
purpose of redemption was conceived and carried forth as a burden of love and a sacrifice
of pain, in the heart of God. But the day came wonderful day! when that
love-purpose, conceived in eternity, was born into time. The fullness of time having come,
God sent forth His Son. Upon the cross of
It is clear that the plan of
redemption was prepared in its fullness before ever the voice of God commanded,
Let there be! It was not completed just in case man should fall,
but because the fall of man and his redemption from sin and death was part of the process
by which he would come into Gods image and live in the eternal realm as a creature
of experience and knowledge, completely redeemed, completely purified, completely
perfected, completely matured, completely instructed, and completely incapable of sin or
death forevermore. Is it any wonder that John on Patmos heard every creature which is in
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and all that are in them exulting in such a
plan as this and crying out in ecstasy, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power,
be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto THE LAMB for ever and ever! (Rev.
5:13). Creation and redemption walk hand in hand through all the pilgrim journey from
Two thousand years ago, the
CROSS didnt inspire religious awe or thoughts of the Messiahs redemption.
Instead, the cross inspired sheer TERROR. A crucifixion was a gruesome, torturous, and
shameful way of dying the lowest form of execution, reserved for traitors and
hardened criminals. It was undoubtedly one of the most barbarous and exquisitely cruel
forms of torture known to man. The method used by the Romans in the time of our Lord was a
refinement of this gruesome form of death devised by the ancient Assyrians. The sadistic
form of crucifixion originally was IMPALEMENT of the enemy upon sharp stakes. Cutting the
branches off a small but sturdy tree, these masters of torment would shape it into an
upright post with a razor-sharp point. Hauling their victim to the crucifixion site they
would rip the clothing off his body in the presence of his frightened associates. These
strong soldiers would then lift him up in the air over the upright CROSS, poising his
wildly twisting body momentarily over the sharp point in the rectal area. Suddenly, with
precision timing, the powerful warriors who held him would drive his body downward with
all their might. If they were especially skilled they would drive the sword-like stake
through the intestines, and all the way to the diaphragm. Although strong enough to drive
the cross into the heart they would stop short so that the screaming, jerking victim would
gyrate long enough to burn the event into the souls of his watching countrymen. The
Assyrians knew that such a memory would aid them in conquering other cities, tribes, and
nations without so much as a battle.
The Greek word used in the
New Testament for cross is STAUROS. From the time of Alexander the Great, who
also practiced the awful art of crucifixion, the term STAUROS meant an upright
stake. In respect to the Roman cross the word STAUROS referred to the upright post
the horizontal beam was called the PATIBULUM or cross-arm for there was no
word in the Greek language for cross as the Romans made it. The Persians who
picked up the practice of crucifixion from the Assyrians were the first to change the form
of execution by impalement through the bowels to impalement through the hands. Their
purpose in this was not to be more humane but, rather, to cause a more lingering death to
impress the vanquished with the foolishness of resisting their military might. The Persian
version of crucifixion, using the crossbeam in addition to the upright post, was picked up
by Alexander and his generals and carried back to the Mediterranean world.
The Romans learned the art of
torture by crucifixion and immediately set out to refine and improve it in many subtle
ways. At the time of Christ the Romans made use of four cross forms. In addition to the
upright STAUROS which was used alone for impalement through the bowels, there was what
they called the CRUX IMISSA in which the cross-beam was located about one-third the way
down the post. This is the traditional design which is usually associated with the cross
upon which Jesus was slain. The third Roman cross form was called the CRUX COMMISSA in
which the crossbeam was hauled to the very top of the pole, forming a T-shaped cross. The
fourth Roman cross form was in the shape of the letter X and was called the
CRUX DECUSSTA. Tradition maintains that Peter was crucified upside down on this shape of
cross. The Latin word CRUX, which was the Roman term for these instruments of torture,
comes into English as cross by way of the French CROIX.
Regardless of the cross form
used it was a slow and agonizing death reserved for traitors, slaves and in general
the SCUM of the Roman world. But the process of crucifixion involved more than the shame
of a brief public hanging. First, the victim was mercilessly scourged with spiked whips,
sticks and all manner of physical and verbal abuse. Then the victim was forced to CARRY
his own heavy cross to the site of the crucifixion. Afterwards came the painful process of
nailing his hands and feet to the cross. Finally, this slow, agonizing death was
aggravated by taunts, threats and buffeting from the crowd. The terror of the cross
like the anticipation of a public hanging is heightened by the victims fear
of the event. Most criminals were crucified immediately after their trial because the
forebodings of pain were more than most mortals could handle. The crucifixion of Jesus was
typical in this respect He was crucified on the same day He was convicted. But this
death sentence was no sudden surprise to Jesus. He anticipated His death by the cross
throughout His three-and-one-half year ministry. As a young man growing up in
Of all the lives that have
suddenly ended in what would seem to be defeat and tragedy, none would have appeared to be
more defeated or more tragic than the life of Jesus, the teacher from
When Jesus hung upon the
cross the heavens robed themselves in midnight mourning and bowed to the earth and wept.
The rocks in their dumb grief burst, because their Creator was put to death by those whom
He came only to save and bless; and the earth itself rocked with convulsive throes. As the
Lord of glory hangs there absolute silence takes the place of the noisy babble of
the crowd. At length after three hours, the silence is broken, and a cry pierces the
darkness, till it strikes a heaven not opened now, but closed even to Him, My God,
My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
In spite of the awful fact of
Calvarys dreadful scene I would be remiss if I failed to tell you that the CROSS OF
CHRIST was not a cross of wood. The cross on Golgothas hill was undoubtedly a wooden
cross, but the cross of Christ which the apostles preached and in which they gloried and
by which the world is reconciled to God was something more than a wooden beam. When in
wisdom and holy expectation our Lord exhorted His disciples, saying, If any man will
come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up HIS CROSS, and follow Me, He was
not making reference to a cross of wood, but to a cross that would bring death to ones
own identity, will and ways, and identify his life henceforth with the life of Christ. The
DEATH OF THE CROSS is in some mysterious and divine way the gateway to the LIFE OF THE
CROSS. The wooden Roman cross on which Jesus was crucified was not actually HIS CROSS, for
the cross of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe, all the
handwriting of ordinances of the law were nailed to His cross, and He made peace and
reconciled all things in heaven and earth unto Himself by the blood of HIS CROSS. No
literal parchment was nailed to the cross of
It is my deep conviction, and
I say it with all reverence and respect to my blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, but the truth is
that Jesus in the natural suffered no more on the cross than thousands of others who were
nailed to a tree, or thousands of others who died on the rack during the Roman
inquisition, or thousands of others who were burned at the stake, or fed to the lions, or
made blazing human torches at the Circus in Rome. The physical suffering was no greater.
The cross of Christ refers to a greater spiritual cross and a greater spiritual death. The
cross of Christ had its beginning that day in heaven, when the Word of God, being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of NO
REPUTATION, and took upon Him the FORM OF A SERVANT, and was made IN THE LIKENESS OF MEN;
and being found IN FASHION AS A MAN, He HUMBLED Himself, and BECAME OBEDIENT UNTO DEATH,
EVEN THE DEATH OF THE CROSS. Fierce as was His suffering at Calvary, that fearful
hour of agony and blood was but the final act of a life of the cross as step by step He
descended from the majesty and glory of equality with God to the fearsome moment when in
anguish He cried, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
Though I am sure it is
impossible to plumb the shining depths and the inexhaustible riches of the meaning of the
cross, I would like to endeavor to set before you the deeper meaning of the cross of
Christ. We will never understand the mystery of the cross until by the spirit of wisdom
and revelation from God our eyes perceive the eternal cross in the heart of God Himself.
The only true and eternal life in the universe is the life of God. He alone is
self-existent. He alone is reality. He alone is eternal substance. If we are to fully know
and partake of that life, we must die to all that is contrary to that life. Everything
that exists in the universe has its opposite and as surely as God exists there is
the opposite for all that He is. God is love and the opposite of love is hate. God
is light and the opposite of light is darkness. God is truth and the
opposite of the truth is the lie. God is life and the opposite of life is death.
Every positive has its negative, and all the laws of the universe reveal this principle of
opposites. Jesus enunciated the fundamental principle of life (spirit, God) when He said
that except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone; but if it die
it brings forth the increase of life. Every negative must be brought to death. Everything
in the universe must die to all that is contrary to divine life and nature, being born
again of the Spirit. This is the meaning of Behold, I make ALL THINGS NEW
(Rev. 21:5). This has been the Fathers plan for man man in the image and
glory of the incorruptible God.
The principle was set in
motion with the first man, Adam. Adam had to fall into darkness, sin and death, not
because he was inherently evil or rebellious, but because all that is contradictory to God
must be stirred up, experienced, faced, understood, repented of, overcome and eternally
put to rest in mans will before the image of God can shine safely and eternally
through him. In recent months my whole understanding of why the cross is the gateway to
LIFE has been clarified and crystallized within my spirit. I have come to see that God
Himself dies to everything but His self-giving self, which is love. God Himself dies to
every dark principle that would sow selfishness, pride, strife, bitterness, trouble, pain,
sorrow, chaos, disappointment, weakness, limitation or evil of any kind. The cross is the
very heart of God, and the basis of why He is the ETERNAL GOD. He is eternally God just
because He IS ETERNALLY all that makes Him God.
In the increasing light with
which God is filling the hearts of His elect, this scripture, Hear, O Israel: The
LORD our God is ONE Lord, bears a depth of meaning greater, far and deeper than the
surface truth we have understood with natural minds. That this passage may become clearer
to our minds, scintillating in heavens light like the ray which is broken into many
prismatic hues, consider now the glorious things concealed in this mighty word of the
Lord. The Lord our God is ONE. One, in the numerology of scripture, means UNITY, UNITED,
UNDIVIDED, UNFRAGMENTED. One is the primary number, denoting beginning or source. Unity
being indivisible, and not made up of other numbers, is therefore independent of all
others, and is the source of all others. One excludes all difference, for
there is no second with which it can either harmonize or conflict. One means unity and
unity comes from the word unit.
In reference to His
substance, God is SPIRIT. In reference to His state of being, God is ONE. That which is
ONE is that which is UNITED, UNDIVIDED, UNFRAGMENTED. Oneness speaks of unity, harmony,
singleness, concord, solidarity. God is ONE! The fact that there is ONE GOD must not be
confused with the truth that GOD IS ONE. Perhaps, as someone has said, this is only
another aspect of viewing the same truth, for God is truly one, undivided in Himself, or
in His will and purpose. And surely HE alone is God! But this One God IS ONE. It is a
great and blessed fact that God is ONE. He who is united, undivided and unfragmented in
every aspect of His nature and state of being cannot be influenced, affected, moved,
upset, frustrated, changed, altered, damaged, destroyed, made discordant or set at
variance in any way. The character of God is eternal, change-less, unaffected. The love,
joy, peace, righteousness, wisdom, justice, power and will of God do not rise and fall,
rise and fall, rise and fall. Matters not what happens nor what men devise or devils say
or do, the love of God, the purpose of God, the holiness of God, the power of God are
steadfast, unmoved, unquenched, unaffected, without fluctuation. He is Jehovah, the
SELF-EXISTENT ONE. He is ONE. No power in the universe can cause any deviation whatsoever
in Gods nature, will or action.
But how is it that God is
UNCHANGEABLE in His nature is it because He CANNOT change or because He CHOOSES not
to change? Truly God cannot lie and God cannot be anything other than life,
light and love. But why CANNOT He be? The answer that the blessed Spirit of Truth has
revealed in my heart is because HE HAS ETERNALLY DIED TO THE POSSIBILITY THAT DARKNESS CAN
ARISE IN HIS LIFE! The entire principle of darkness has its foundation in the life of God,
for was it not God Himself who divided the light from the darkness. And God called
the light Day, and the darkness He called night (Gen. 1:5). I form the light,
and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil. I the Lord do all these things
(Isa. 45:7). This mystery of darkness in Gods nature remains unrevealed because He
has eternally WILLED to be Life, Light and Love. All the negative potential is there
the law of opposites but there is a cross in Gods heart--by which He
eternally dies to all that would make Him anything less than GOD. This is ALWAYS happening
in Gods life, because the cross is an eternal fact. Eternity doesnt
mean unbeginning time in the long ago or unending time in the inscrutable future. Eternity
means NO TIME. Eternity is TIME-LESS. This means that the decision to die to the negative
principle is not subject to review or change it is forever settled and determined
in the heart of God. Thats why He says over and over, I change not. It
is not that He is intrinsically set so that He cannot change. Rather, it is that He has
ETERNALLY CHOSEN not to change. It is an eternal, accomplished, irrevocable choice, born
of wisdom and understanding. It is the eternal cross in His heart. Therefore He cannot
change. He is forever love. He is forever pure. He is forever righteous. He is forever
wisdom. He is forever Light and Life. He is forever SAFE!
The cross is the secret of
Gods gift of love. It means that God does not live for HIMSELF. All the selfhood of
God is forever crucified upon the cross in Gods heart. Selfhood must be a vital
characteristic in any life. The selfish desire that would cause God to live for
Himself--to this God eternally dies. He has willed to be a self for others instead of a
self for self, by eternally dying to the dark, selfish principle. Andrew Murray said that
the spirit of love in AN ETERNAL WILL TO ALL GOODNESS. The best and most wonderful word in
the universe is Love. For God is love. What is love? The deep desire to give itself for
the beloved. Love finds its joy in imparting all that it has, all that it is, to make the
loved one happy and fulfilled. 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
THE GOODNESS that is in Himself and comes from Him. The creation of ever so many worlds
adds nothing to, nor takes anything from, this immutable God: He always was, and always
will be the same immutable WILL TO ALL GOODNESS. So that as certainly as He is the
Creator, so certainly He is the Blesser of every created thing, and can give nothing but
Blessing, Goodness and Happiness from Himself, because He has in Himself nothing else to
give.
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 opportunity to be more triumphant. The rebellion (selfhood) of Adam opened
up avenues for mankind to experience and know the incredible depths of the love of God!
God IS LOVE! And His sons are of His own nature. The Sons of Love! What a blessed title!
Little wonder, then, that the whole vast creation, sold under slavery and bondage to sin,
sorrow, and death GROANS for the manifestation of THE SONS OF LOVE!
From this flash-point, Life
sheds forth Light and Love. The whole creation sprang out from this unselfish love, for
God said, Let there be... and God SO LOVED THE WORLD that He gave...
Life begins after the cross, even in the life of God. The cross is more than Calvary
it is the fulcrum or point of power in which the entire infinite might of the
forces of divine desire issue in love, creation, and self-abnegation for others. This is
why Jesus said, Take up YOUR CROSS and follow Me. We carry our cross with us
in our walk IN SPIRIT the cross that God has in His heart not to suffer
physically necessarily, but to die to all negatives and all selfhood and selfishness and
spring forth as rivers of living waters in life anew. So we become life and light for
others. As Adam Parker wrote, How does the sun in the sky give light? It is
continually dying to produce light. We dont see the death, or the dark contracting
forces in this great star. We only see the light. But death is the key to the light. And
that light is the life of our world in the physical dimension. So also the Son, with the
cross in His heart, is the Daystar risen in our lives. We share in His eternal death and
new life, for He is our very life and He in us is the light of the world that
brings life to all men.
All the books in the world,
though written with pens of silver and ink of gold, could never fully describe the glories
of His cross, nor could all the learned tongues of men or the heavenly voices of angels
explain to the mind of man how He, who was rich, for our sakes became poor that we through
His poverty might be made rich. Eternity itself will not be too long to sing the praises
of such a One, who came from the cross in the bosom of God to shed His life blood that all
creation might find eternal life in Him.
I would draw your reverent
attention to a few significant passages of scripture. Most Christians seem to think that
the time the Christ of God left the glory above was when He was conceived in the womb of
the virgin of Nazareth and born a babe in Bethlehems stable, laying down that life
that He had with the Father, birthed into our life which is a life of death, separated
from the eternal glory of the Father for a mere 33 years, then laying aside that robe
which was of flesh to return to the Father and take again that glory which He had with the
Father until that wonderful day when the angel Gabriel was dispatched by God to Mary in
Nazareth. But a close inspection of the scriptures will give us a different idea.
In that wonderful prayer
Jesus prayed on the night before His crucifixion, He said, I have finished the work
which Thou gavest Me to do. Then He went on to ask, And now, O Father, glorify
Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glory I had with Thee before the world (cosmos) was
(Jn. 17:4-5). These words certainly indicate that Christ had been away from the Fathers
glory for a lot longer than 33~ years. He is actually saying that He left the glory BEFORE
THE KOSMOS CAME INTO BEING. How long ago that was I dont have the foggiest
notion--but it was certainly centuries, millenniums, yea, vast and innumerable ages before
our blessed Christ walked among us. Now He was asking the Father to restore to Him the
glory He had forsaken before ever the cosmos came into being. In the 24th verse we read:
Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that
they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: FOR THOU LOVEDST ME BEFORE THE
FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.
Why these references to the
beginning, yea, before the beginning, before the founding of the cosmos? What happened
away back there that He should appeal to it? Why did He speak of the Fathers love
for Him in that distant point of time? Did not the Father always love Him? I feel deeply
within that something tremendously important happened at that time that invoked a special
love from God, His Father, causing Him to love His Son in a very special way. One thing is
certain--that was the time when the Christ left His pre-existent glory. Otherwise, why
should He say, Father, glorify Thou Me, with Thine own self, with the glory I had
with Thee B-E-F-O-R-E
THE KOSMOS WAS. If He had left the glory of the Father only when He came to earth as
a man, why not say, ...the glory which I had with Thee before I came to earth?
Ah it was not in Marys womb that He descended from the glory of the Father,
it was much farther back BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD!
Notice now these wonderfully
meaningful words penned by John the Revelator. And all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship him (the beast), whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb
SLAIN FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD (Rev. 13:8). Let us notice just what truth is
stated here. A better rendering would be, The Lamb that was PUT TO DEATH from the
founding of the cosmos. Weymouths translation reads, All the inhabitants
of the earth will be found worshipping him; every one whose name is not recorded in the
book of Life--the book of the Lamb offered in sacrifice FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.
The sacrifice and death of the Christ did not start with the events surrounding Calvary;
it began away back there at the beginning, and culminated on
What does it mean that Christ
was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world? The word world
in these passages translates the Greek word KOSMOS meaning order, arrangement,
system of things. The world is a negative thing in relation to God.
James declares, ...the friendship of the world is enmity with God, whosoever
therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (James 4:4). The apostle
John adds his testimony, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the
world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in
the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of
the Father, but is of the world (I Jn. 2:15-16). The world is the present system of
things upon this earth conceived by the carnal mind and generated by the natural man.
The world consists of all
that man has instituted that replaces God (the Spirit) in his life. The present political
systems, economic systems, educational systems and religious systems are not of God, but
of the world. When people, activities, or things whether good or bad, beautiful or
ugly enslave man, they comprise the world. Anything that causes man to disregard
the SPIRIT, be removed from the anointing, trust in the outer world of flesh, or be
independent of God is the world. All that does not come from the Father, all that
originates outside of SPIRIT, all that man institutes by his own carnal wisdom and fleshly
ability is of the world, and is contrary to the life and nature of God.
The word foundation
(foundation of the world) translates the Greek word KATABOLE which is a compound word made
up of BALLO meaning to cast, to throw and KATA meaning down. When
man fell from his high and holy relationship with God and was cast down into the carnal
realm of consciousness, the foundation of the world was laid in his heart and
actions. But--blessed be God! The apostle Paul informs us that God the Father elected some
SONS in Christ BEFORE the foundation of the world! According as He hath chosen us in
Him BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD... unto the adoption of sons... (Eph. 1:4-5).
The word before translates the Greek word PRO meaning to go before, to
precede. Hence, the Fathers act of choosing us in Christ preceded the fall of
man and the establishment of the world system.
These blessed ones chosen by
the Father are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world (Rev. 13:8), and they are the heirs of the
It was when the Christ hung
upon the cross before the foundation of the world, in the precincts of
The glorious theme of the
holy scripture is the Person and Work of Him whose lovely title is The Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world. This gracious title for our Lord Jesus Christ
is indeed one of the most charming symbols used in the Bible to describe Him who loved us
and has washed us from our sins in His own blood. Whenever the serious seeker after truth
explores the meaning of the various Semitic symbols used to depict the Person and Work of
the Saviour he becomes aware that each stands for a specific aspect of truth. In the case
of the Lamb it is with the truth of redemption that we deal, for redemption is
by the blood of the Lamb. Ye were not redeemed by such corruptible things as
silver and gold...but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot (I Pet. 1:18-19). Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
not the child that was born, though He was indeed worthy. Not the miracle-worker of the
sea, or by the grave of Lazarus. Not the teacher whose words enthralled the multitudes on
the mountain, or across the waters of blue
We would have thought that in
calling our Lord the Lamb this name would have been used only in respect to
His humiliation in His earthly life. However in scripture it is most used in reference to
His eternal glory in the heavenlies. Peter saw Him as the Lamb foreordained before the
foundation of the world. John saw Him as a Lamb that had been slain from the foundation of
the world, highly exalted, standing in the midst of the Throne. This slain Lamb is IN THE
MIDST of everything: in the midst of the Throne, and of the four Living Creatures, and of
the Elders. This Lamb is peculiarly the One who is IN THE MIDST, just as the tree of life
was IN THE MIDST of the
The term Lamb is
used of Christ no less than twenty-eight times in Revelation, and has two vital
characteristics. Christ is the sacrificial Lamb and the conquering lamb. He
is never presented this way except in the majestic scenes around the Throne. We see the
Lamb marching to the ultimate throne of universal empire in complete triumph and as
absolute victor. Confronting the power of the beast and the kings of the earth, and the
hordes of hell, and the lewdness and deception of the harlot system, and the wars and
battles and bloodshed that fill the soul with dread, is THE POWER OF THE LAMB, whose
victory has been assured and whose glory is guaranteed. God has given the Lamb for a
leader and a counselor; so He is both our leader for we are they who follow the
Lamb whithersoever He goeth and He is our counselor and commander; a counselor to
counsel us concerning the things of God and His Kingdom, the Kingdom that hath no end. So
glory to God and to the Lamb! Glory be unto God and the Lamb forevermore! And the Lamb
shall have the victory! Of this we are assured, though all the wild beasts and the wolves,
and the dogs, and the goats and bulls of Bashan, the spotted leopards, and all the wild
heifers of Ephraim, the horses of Pharaoh, and the wild Ishmaels, profane Esaus, envious
Cains, which may gather in a brotherhood, and Gog and Magog, professor and profane, if all
these rise against the Lamb and His followers, without or within, yet I say the Lamb shall
have the victory over the beast, the whore, and the dragon, over the flesh, the world, and
the devil, for Christ is Lord over them all, for He was slain before they were, and will
be reigning when they are gone, blessed be His wonderful name! He has conquered and shall
conquer all who rise up against Him. For seventy years the ruthless, atheistic communist
regime in
But the Lamb in the book of
Revelation has another note. The word used for LAMB here is peculiar to this book. It is
the diminutive form of the Greek word for lamb, and is not found elsewhere in the New
Testament. It means a young lamb, or a lambkin, weak and small. Our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself is THE LAMB of God, and joined to Him are the members of His body, His brethren,
the younger sons of God, the lambkin company. To see this company as the body of the
Lamb is not to magnify man, but to exalt Christ, for it is HIS LAMB LIFE formed in
them and lived out through them, giving expression to the Lamb nature. We know that HE is
the preeminent One, and that it is HIS LIFE which is given, and by that life we are
conformed to HIS image, made partakers of HIS divine nature, becoming the revelation of
HIMSELF in the earth. All the qualifications of The Lamb must now be found in this people
who make up the body of The Lamb. As one has written: THE LAMB beautifully took care
of all the work on Gods side towards man, and the lambkin will have a beautiful
ministry from mans side, to bring things back to God. His kingdom shall come, His
will shall be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. There are many paths through the
sunshine and the shadows, but we learn to see His hand in it all, for He is preparing and
fashioning those who shall become part of the lambkin, who are ONE IN THE LAMB, to be
given for the salvation of the ends of the earth.
It is in keeping with this
that in Revelation chapter fourteen, we find the Lamb standing on Mount Zion. Having been
rewarded with the glory that follows, He is now highly exalted. We are told
that in eastern countries where, of course, this symbolic scene is set, when sheep and
goats are left to roam where they will, the goats invariably climb to the tops of the
hills, while the sheep ordinarily seek the low places, the valleys. So to John it must
have seemed most unusual that a Lamb should be on
Even now, as Christ sits
enthroned at the right hand of the Father, He reigns in virtue of the fact that He is a
Lamb. He reigns as a Lamb-King, because God is raising up lamb-kings in the earth, and it
is the work of the Holy Spirit in the earth to establish in each member of the body of the
Lamb in the earth the nature, and the character, as well as the authority of Him who sits
on the Throne. He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it
unto you (Jn. 16:14). It is the work of the Holy Spirit not only to impart unto His
people the POWER of God, but ALL that pertains to the exalted Lamb, His very nature, and
character, and life, that He might be here in the earth, dwelling in His body, to be to
you and me, yea, to be through you and me EVERYTHING THAT JESUS IS UPON THE THRONE. The
lambkin as a figure of Christ is indeed complete and perfect; yet it is a type
of Christ in a limited measure and at the same time in the greatest measure. How strange
this sounds to our ears, how curious to our minds! 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 as 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 the total triumph of
the Lamb is achieved within, Christ is unlimited to us, He becomes ALL IN ALL. It is His
almighty strength in the heavens revealed through the weakness of our humanity on earth
the TRIUMPHANT LAMBKIN! Hallelujah!
THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB
What is this stream of life
from the Lamb upon the Throne, and why is the Lamb so highly exalted until eternity
re-echoes the song of His praise: The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory and blessing! The
wonderful answer comes: Thou art worthy... FOR Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us
to God by Thy Blood. It is the blood of the Lamb that bestows this glory
upon Him. By His own blood He has entered the Holiest of all, and is seated upon the
Throne of the Majesty in the heavens. His blood has accomplished this. The blood of Jesus
is the greatest mystery of the ages, the deepest mystery of divine wisdom. Let us not
imagine that we can easily grasp its meaning. God thought four thousand years necessary to
prepare men for it, and we must take time, yea, sacrificial time in His presence, if we
are to gain a knowledge of the awesome and marvelous power of the blood. I know of no word
in the Bible or in human speech that contains such glories! This great and eternal truth
shines with ever increasing brilliance from Edens fragrant Garden of long ago to the
jasper walls of the New Jerusalem descending from God out of heaven; from Adams
covering of skins and Abels humble sacrifice of the firstfruits of his flock to the
very Throne of God Himself where, glorious in power and might, the Lamb reigns and the
seven Spirits of His divine Life are sent forth into all the earth.
The blood of Jesus Christ is
of such vast importance to God the Father that He has decreed that there shall be (1) no
remission, (2) no salvation, (3) no atonement, (4) no redemption, (5) no propitiation, (6)
no cleansing, (7) no justification, (8) no peace, (9) no new covenant, (10) no
sanctification, (11) no reconciliation, (12) no entrance into the Most Holy Place, (13) no
sonship, without the blood of Jesus Christ whose blood is called by Paul the BLOOD OF GOD
(Acts 20:28; Heb. 10:19-20).
Mary Rosenthal, a
Christian Jew, has related the following story. My grandmother was a very religious
Jewess. She was an orthodox Jew. So under Judaism, as an orthodox Jew, my grandmother
would have a man, a Gentile, in our case a black man, who would come into our neighborhood
every Friday evening after sunset. He would come into our neighborhood and he had his
prescribed customers within that Jewish community. He had those customers because under
the Law, they were not permitted to turn on the lights or turn off the lights after sunset
on Friday, the beginning of the Sabbath. He would come into our home because my
grandmother would begin cooking a chicken dinner before the Sabbath began Friday evening,
but she couldnt turn the stove off after the Sabbath began that was breaking
the Law. She could get it started in time, but she couldnt turn it off. We had a
coal furnace you were not allowed to throw coal on the fire during the Sabbath
you would be breaking the Law. You were not allowed to remove the ashes from
underneath that was breaking the Law. So we had a Shabat Goy, a Sabbath
Gentile, who would come into the neighborhood, and he would come into my grandmothers
home, and she would say, Turn that light on, turn that one on, and shut that one
off. Come back in an hour and a half, and the chicken will be done then, and he
would return and turn the stove off at 8:30 at night. Then he would return a third time at
11:00 P.M. to fill up the furnace so the coal burner would burn all night. My grandmother
would get up on Saturday morning and she wouldnt get into a car because it broke the
Sabbath. She wouldnt carry money it broke the Sabbath. She wouldnt walk
more than three-quarters of a mile it broke the Sabbath. Let me tell you what my
grandmother would do for Yom Kippur, the highest holy day, the Day of Atonement. I can
remember as a youngster, she would take me by the hand on Yom Kippur, and she would go
into a store in our community. In this particular store, at the season of the year, the
only thing they sold was chicken live chickens chickens that would be in
wooden, slotted crates, along the whole wall of that store from the floor to the ceiling.
My grandmother, with me in tow, would go up and down, looking at all those chickens, for a
half hour she was examining all those chickens. I often wondered why I now realize
she was looking for one without spot and without blemish. Then she would find one that
looked healthy and wholesome and she would open the cage and grab that chicken; she would
turn around to the counter and pay for the chicken. With the chicken in one hand and me in
the other she would walk to the back of the store. We went into that little room where
there was a man who was trained in the ritual slaying of animals. He would kill the
chicken by slitting its neck, the prescribed way by the Law, turn it upside down, drain
all the blood out according to the Law. Then he would take that chicken and swing it over
our heads, and he would say a prayer I remember seeing this bloody chicken going
over my head, and he would say, This is a kaparah a covering or
atonement for sin! There is a small remnant to this day, just a handful,
perhaps one fiftieth of all Jews, who know that God said in the Old Testament that without
the shedding of blood there is no covering for sin, no remission of sin. So she
would take a chicken, have the chicken slain, and it was for a covering for sin
still seeking to be justified by the continual works of the Law.
Never forget, precious friend
of mine, that Jesus came as THE PRICE WHICH COVERS, the substance in the scale that
replenishes all deficiency. He shed His blood His divine life pouring it out
for us. Life and blood are synonymous. Spirit and blood are synonymous. Spirit, blood, and
life are all different names for the same element. Jesus performed His mighty works by the
shores of
There is a deep longing and
intense hunger in the hearts of vast numbers of the Lords people in this significant
hour. They are earnestly searching for reality but the church systems and so-called
revival movements have failed to meet their need. But the profound hunger, the intense
need in their life cries loudly for satisfaction, their soul seeks ardently and resolutely
after truth, life and eternal substance. Their great need is not being met by the churches
nor by the television evangelists, nor by the crusades, nor by all the good meetings with
their tongues, prophecies, healings, manifestations, and preaching of faith and
prosperity. So these dear folk begin to look to other sources. Many of these other
sources are dangerously deceptive, especially to those who desire more
knowledge, deeper truth, or the latest revelation. My
beloved, there is an invasion right into the camp of those whose hearts have been moved by
the call to sonship of humanistic new age philosophy that is deceiving
many precious people today. It was prophesied by the apostle Peter that this enemy of the
Lamb of God should appear right in the midst of the very elect. But there were false
prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who
privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them
and bring upon themselves swift destruction (separation from the flow of divine life)
(II Pet. 2:1). The key word is even denying the Lord that bought them.
The denial is against the atonement, the ransom, the redeeming blood. They are offended at
the Lord that bought them, though they may be devoted to the Lord that taught them.
Ah, in very fact, they do not deny the Lord they call Jesus Lord and esteem Him as
the Son of God, the Christ, our Guiding Teacher, our Great Example, the Way-Shower, our
Pattern. They speak effusively of His goodness, His love, meekness, unselfishness,
understanding, compassion, mercy, power, and wisdom. They believe that His mission was to
show us just how great is the potential of the true spiritual identity within every man,
and the raising up of the Christ-consciousness within. They proclaim that Jesus became the
Saviour by blazing the trail and showing the way of salvation to all who
would follow in His steps. The only problem is that they are required to go in their own
power, their own inward identity, their own godhood, their own inherent divinity, to
follow Jesus into the fullness of the divine life. There is no reconciling, atoning,
redeeming, cleansing, sanctifying, justifying, transforming power of His precious blood
involved, no quickening of His life, no new birth, no washing of regeneration or renewing
of the Holy Ghost. And yet, to the natural mind it all sounds so good so very right!
But we must truly allow the Holy Spirit of Truth to give wisdom and understanding that
we may discern the difference between the precious and the vile. These satanic
agents are described by the inspired apostle as those who appear to be teachers of the
deep mysteries of God, yet they bring in damnable heresies, in all cunning craftiness and
subtlety, consummating in the repudiation of the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ.
It is not strange that there is resentment against the mystery of the blood which does not
exist against any other thing in the vast panorama of Truth. It is not strange that the
ministers of satan, appearing as the apostles of Christ and messengers of Light, should
fortify their lies and hypocrisies by contending for almost every phase of revealed truth,
including the bright hope of sonship; yet subtly omitting, or violently denying, the one
and only point upon which the interests of God and Satan divide.
In the testimony of scripture
the order is ever: Unto HIM that loved US, and WASHED US from OUR SINS in HIS OWN
BLOOD. And, to as many as received HIM, to THEM gave HE power to BECOME the
sons of God. Break these links and the chain is gone. Let us never forget this! Some
trust so strongly in their own divinity, in the raising up of the Christ-consciousness
within every man, that they need no Saviour beyond themselves, no sun or wind or rain from
without to quicken the life within. The unwary are caught by it. All this time the blood
of Christ is omitted or ignored. Not one word is said about it. The silence is ominous. Do
let us understand truth clearly, for there shall be false teachers among you, who
privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even DENYING THE LORD THAT B-O-U-G-H-T THEM and
bring upon themselves swift destruction. The destruction is the drying up of the spiritual
life, the aborting of the spirit of sonship, and ultimate separation from the High Calling
of God in Christ Jesus. Do away with the blood of atonement, the blood of remission, the
blood of salvation, the blood of propitiation, the blood of reconciliation, the blood of
justification, the blood of cleansing, the blood that gives eternal life, the blood of the
new covenant, the blood that speaketh better things than Abels, the blood by which
entrance is made into the Most Holy destroy, I say, this wonderful stream of the
precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot and every room
within the towering temple of reality comes crashing down to earth! The love of God became
a man, the love of God became human flesh, the love of God in Jesus Christ has flowed into
our souls as the precious blood of Christ to wash away the veil of carnal consciousness
and quicken us again to our true heritage in God. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were
not redeemed by such corruptible things, as silver and gold from your vain manner of life
received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a
Lamb without blemish and without spot. Hallelujah for the blood!
Multiplied millions of
Christians in all lands hold the blood of Christ to be precious. The word precious
means of great price or value, costly, of great desirability, honored, esteemed or
beloved. But there must be a reason why the blood is precious! Through many years of my
Christian walk I never learned of any reason why it is esteemed except that God
counts it to be the most valuable and precious of all blood to Him. I was never told
whether it was intrinsically valuable or if it was valuable because of what it could and
did accomplish. To be intrinsically valuable or precious means that it is of itself
precious and does not necessarily need to accomplish any work to get its value. For
example, the value of precious gems is determined not so much from their usefulness as
from their intrinsic value and the desire that people have to own them. My sincere prayer
is that the spirit of wisdom and revelation may enlighten the eyes of our understanding
until we clearly see that the blood of Jesus Christ was and is precious both in respect to
its INTRINSIC VALUE and because of WHAT IT COULD AND DID AND DOES NOW DO.
The mystery of the blood is
far too intricate for my little mind to fully grasp, but there is a most interesting
statement found in the very first command which God gave to man after the awful judgment
of the flood in the days of Noah. After the wickedness of man had reached its peak in
antediluvian days, God, in order to spare the human race from complete corruption sent a
great flood upon the earth and destroyed all men except one single family which by the
grace of God had still remained perfect in his generations. With this new
family on a cleansed and renewed earth, the Lord begins a new chapter in the history of
humanity. No sooner had God, however, released Noah from the ark, than He gave him some
instructions concerning his conduct, lest another judgment fall upon them. Chief among
these instructions was the commandment, Eat No blood. Every
moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you
all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, ye shall not eat
(Gen. 9:3-4).
Because life is in the blood,
and not in the flesh of Gods creatures, He permitted men to eat flesh but it
must be without blood. God is very insistent, even in the New Testament, on this
point. In giving the national dietary and ceremonial laws to Israel He repeats the
prohibition of Gen. 9:4. And whatsoever man there be of the house of
Gods commands are never
arbitrary but always logical, reasonable, and with divine purpose. Many reasons can be
found for abstaining from blood. We might mention the reasons of health and hygiene,
but there are two reasons which stand out most prominent. First, the life is in the blood
and life is sacred. It was Gods special gift and the effect of His own
breath. Moses tells us in Genesis this wonderful and little understood fact: 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). Truly do I declare unto you that a profound
mystery lies here! Since life is in the blood, all flesh is lifeless without blood. Here
then is Adam formed of the dust. Just a lump of matter without life. God breathes into his
nostrils and lo, he lives. Now mark well, God did not cause Adam to begin to breathe the
air in the atmosphere around him. It was not breathing air that made Adam a living soul.
GOD BREATHED into his nostrils. God is Spirit. It was the very breath of God that entered
into Adam, the very spirit of life from God. Since the life is in the blood, it is
my deep conviction that it was blood which God added to that body when He breathed
into him the breath of life! Not the mortal, corruptible, dead blood that flows in mankinds
veins today. Adams body was of the earth but his blood was DIRECTLY FROM GOD. Since
the life of all flesh is in the blood, and in view of the fact that God typified the
regeneration of mans blood by the slain animals of Israels altars, God demands
that we respect the life of all flesh and to eat blood, therefore, is to insult the life
of God! Ah, the power of the blood is in the worth of the life. In the blood of Jesus THE
POWER OF THE DIVINE LIFE DWELT and worked hence its intrinsic value. He came with a
blood not unlike the first Adams blood before he sinned and the spirit of life fled
from him. He was the Son of God by conception but the Son of man by birth. He was a
specially prepared body to contain a SPECIALLY PREPARED BLOOD that was to be THE LIFE of
all humanity. This blood was precious from the fact that it was a unique blood which would
do something for all humanity that no other blood could ever do. It was the Word that
became flesh, who was made man. It was the life of God that dwelt in Him. That life gave
His blood, every drop of it, an intrinsic value. The blood of a man is of more worth than
that of a sheep. The blood of a king or a great general is counted of more value than
hundreds of common soldiers. The blood of the Son of God! it is in vain the mind
seeks for some expression of its value; all we can say is, it is His own blood, the
precious blood of the Son of God!
Jesus came as the Head of an
entirely new creation. In fact He Himself WAS A NEW CREATURE, different from any that had
ever been. I want to make it very plain that Jesus was in no way derived from the First
Adam, either by flesh or by blood. If He had even one ounce of the first Adams blood
coursing through his veins, then He Himself NEEDED A SAVIOUR. Hear now what Paul says of
the Christ: The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a
quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is
natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the
second man is THE LORD FROM HEAVEN (I Cor. 15:45-47). Jesus was not fifty percent
the first Adam and fifty percent the last Adam. He was one hundred percent the last Adam!
He was not fifty percent the first man and fifty percent the last man. He was not fifty
percent the man of earth and fifty percent the Lord from heaven. The second man I-S (100%)
THE LORD FROM HEAVEN. To be the second man and the last Adam He could in no way contain
any part of the first Adam. To be the man from heaven He must not be a descendant of the
man of the earth. He must be an entirely NEW KIND OF MAN, separate from every other
creation of God, as was the first man Adam in the day when he was created. The first Adam
was truly without father, without mother, and without descent he was not derived
from the life of any other man who had ever lived. So the last Adam! Though He was
conceived IN the womb of Mary, He was not OF Mary. He was not formed from the union of the
sperm of God with the ovum of Mary. His genes were not half from Mary and half from His
heavenly Father. That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called THE SON
OF GOD, declared the angel to Mary. Mary was merely a surrogate mother. That
fact should settle for all time the morality of surrogate motherhood! Jesus was as truly
man, as truly flesh, as was the first man, but He was also as truly a UNIQUE CREATION OF
GOD as was the first man in Eden.
Oh. the mystery of it! Oh,
the wonder of it! Jesus Christ was THE WORD MADE FLESH; He was not old Adams flesh
imbued with Gods life. He was the second Man, the Man from Heaven, the God-man, Head
of a new species of Men, a new creation of God in the earth, each member of which is a SON
OR DAUGHTER OF THE MOST HIGH! The life is in the blood. As the value of this life, so the
value of the blood. In Christ there was the life of God; infinite as God is the worth and
the power of that blood! In Christ there was the life of man in its perfection; in His
humility, and obedience to the Father, and self-sacrifice, that which made Him unspeakably
well-pleasing to the Father. The blood of Jesus, God and man, poured out in death, that
was a perfect fulfillment of Gods will, and a perfect victory over sin and self,
effected an everlasting atonement for sin, and put it forever out of the way, destroying
both sin and death and him that had the power of it. Therefore it was, that in the blood
of the everlasting covenant Jesus was raised from the dead: that in the power of that
blood He entered the highest heaven; and THAT PRECIOUS BLOOD IS NOW AND FOREVER AVAILABLE
TO US WITH ALL ITS INCORRUPTIBLE POWER. His blood is His divine spirit of life which has
come into us Christ in us, our hope of glory.
This great mystery of the
blood has often been misunderstood. It has been supposed that the Old Testament sacrifices
meant that God exacted bloodshed as a condition for the requital of mans guilt. What
a hideous affront it is to the God of our salvation to wickedly accuse Him of needing to
give His own Son as a propitiation TO APPEASE HIS OWN WRATH, though this is the
inexcusable lie we hear continually from the pulpit and over the air waves! God is
portrayed by the preachers as so mad at sin and sinners, so violently angry and beside
Himself that He is metaphorically foaming at the mouth with uncontrollable rage which can
only be appeased by looking upon the bloody sweat and cruel, ugly death of His Son upon a
Roman cross. All sermons and songs that picture God as a God of rage who must be appeased
and soothed by blood are heathenish and should be piled on a bonfire and
burned. The Old Testament sacrifices serve as a beautiful revelation of Gods love
towards us, in His reconciliation. Whatever
Never was holiness more
vindicated, than at the cross, when Jesus suffered for sins, the Just for the
unjust, that He might bring us to God (I Pet. 3:18). Never was love more
lavishly outpoured than when God SO LOVED the world that HE GAVE His only begotten
Son, that whosever believeth in Him should not perish, but have the life of the ages
(Jn. 3:16). Notice, dear reader, it does not say that God was so mad at the world,
or so offended by the world, or so angry with the world, or so vengeful
toward the world, or so caught in a dilemma because of His justice but GOD SO LOVED
the world that HE GAVE. Hallelujah! We stand in awe before this fulfillment of Gen. 22:8,
when by the Spirit Abraham prophesied to Isaac, GOD WILL PROVIDE HIMSELF a lamb for
a burnt offering. As one has pointed out: And that is just what He did, He
provided HIMSELF! Stripping Himself of His glory, He who was in the form of God, took upon
Himself the form of man, and offered that form in that great sacrifice, yea, POURED OUT
THE LIFE CONTAINED IN THAT FORM, which life was freely given to reconcile all things back
into Himself. Never was grace more majestic in its operation, than when He made Him
to be sin (Greek, literally, A SIN-OFFERING) for us, Who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him (II Cor. 5:21). How inspired the words of
John the Baptist when he declared of Jesus, Behold the LAMB OF GOD, which taketh
away the sins of the world (Jn. 1:29). Ah, this Lamb was no sacrifice to appease
it was the perfect and purposeful embodiment of Gods grace and mercy and love
and life to reconcile a hostile world unto Himself!
Appeasement is the basis of
the offerings and sacrifices in all pagan religions. J. A. Dowie once wrote: The
religions of the world are worldly, are sensual, and are devilish for the most part. No
one will doubt that is true in
Can we not see by this that
the Christians have copied the heathen and have made a fiendish devil of their God, and
have then used the sacrifice of Jesus to appease this God who is more like a
malicious devil than a loving and gracious Creator and Redeemer? Most Christians know, by
hearing at least, that God is Love, but the sense of condemnation from His
Presence beclouds the vision of the heart, so that The Face which He has revealed in
Christ Jesus cannot be seen. Often that is because of the continual preaching which
describes God as a destroyer of Him as an avenger of every little thing that they did
wrong. Parents have said, Now dont you do that because GOD will punish you! He
will punish you! And even much stronger things are told to little children. It is
one thing to describe God as a loving Father, and all the relations of the little child to
a LOVING Father who corrects in order to bless. It is quite another thing to darken the
heart of a little child with threats of the certain vengeance of a Being who is a constant
terror over their life. It is a false and terrible thing to leave upon the heart of a
little child, as their first impression of God, that He is always waiting, lurking around,
to punish them.
Think of it! That little
child whose whole being is susceptible to LOVE; who is always looking for and wanting
LOVE; who is capable of the purest and fullest simplicity of response to LOVE think
of it! Marked and stamped with the impression that God is one to be constantly
scared of. As though He is waiting everywhere with a punishing whip of large dimensions!
Such impressions remain through a whole lifetime as an actual foundation of belief and
action. That Wonderful Father! That Gracious Redeemer! That most Loving of all Beings! Oh,
how I LOVE Him! He turned my heart back again and restored me into His life. God, the
Father, the Most High, sent Jesus the very fullness of His own heart sent
Him into the world to die on Calvarys cross. But the real grasp of what that love
and mercy actually IS, may often be nearly destroyed by the impression of WRATH deeply
ingrained in the mind. If our basic understanding of God is that He is a
Destroyer, that impression can discolor and influence our thought and our prayer life and
our faith so that we can with great difficulty SEE HIM AS HE IS. How wonderfully He
changes that when we come to Him repenting and believing in His loving Word. We cry out
with an almost inexpressible joy that we LOVE Him. It is love, HIS LOVE, which does it! He
flows in to our lives in WHAT HE IS, and we no longer think of Him as a great force out
there somewhere or a great destroyer, but as the LIFE GIVER.
The real meaning of the Old
Testament sacrifices in time became lost, but originally they were not based on the idea
that God was exacting the penalty of death from an innocent victim as a means of
satisfying His vengeance against sin and sinners. The blood of the victim has an
altogether different meaning: it symbolized not death, but life. Dr. Westcott in his note
on I Jn. 1:7 calls attention to the passage I have already referred to in Leviticus which
throws great light on the Israelite sacrifices. The life of the flesh is in the
blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it
is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life. The blood was shed
with the object of detaching and releasing the life, setting it free, so to speak, from
the gross material conditions of the body, and in this state presenting it as an offering
to God. The idea was not primarily that of exacting a death-penalty from an innocent
victim. Incidentally the creature had to die, but only in order that its life might be
offered to God as a symbol of the life God has provided for all men as an atonement,
a covering, a remedy for sin. The outward and visible sign was the blood,
but the inward and spiritual grace is the life which it symbolized, the life God gives
above and beyond our human capacity, to give freedom from guilt and victory over sin. This
life is the blood of Gods Lamb, Jesus the Christ. But the blood of the Lamb is
something more than the red liquid that ran through the veins and arteries of Jesus
physical body. That red liquid is not the property of our salvation, and there is no
Biblical basis for attributing any unusual properties to Christs body fluids. The
term blood of Christ is far more significant than any magical or mystical
power ascribed by religion to the natural blood of Jesus. There is an old Roman Catholic
dogma which says that Christ carried His blood with Him to heaven in a bowl. Without even
knowing its source, the preachers and churches today cling to that ludicrous idea from the
Dark Ages and perpetuate a form of mysticism around the physical blood of our Lord. But it
was not the plasma with its corpuscles, platelets, and nourishment which provided
redemption for a fallen race, but the DIVINE LIFE of God in Christ! It was His heavenly
blood, His celestial and divine life which was poured out to transform men and raise them
up into the
Beloved sons and daughters of
God! The blood of Jesus! The blood of the Lamb! Oh, think what it means! God gave it for
your redemption from Adams race and your transformation into the image of God. God
accepted it when the firstborn of the new creation entered heaven and presented it on your
behalf. God points you to it and asks you to believe in its omnipotent energy, in its
everlasting sufficiency. Ah, this heavenly Man was injected into a whole world full of men
descended from the earth-man to impart something we had lacked from the day Adam was
driven from Edens portals. That something was LIFE, LIVING BLOOD, for He said He
came to give life to the world. He could impart a life to the world that would change it
completely.
When Adam transgressed, the
life of God, which had been breathed into his nostrils, departed from him and all that was
left was a residue, that mortal something which flowed as blood in the veins of his body.
This blood contains nothing of the life of God and in its composition and nature is
similar to the blood of the animal kingdom, for when the glorious power of divine life
departed from Adam, he entered into the kingdom of death. Adam was made a living soul.
From the Greek the statement reads, The first man Adam was made a zoe psuche
(living soul). ZOE is the word which throughout the whole of the New Testament is
used of the life of God, divine life, eternal life. PSUCHE, on the other hand, is used of
the natural life of animals and men. This life, ZOE, is the life Jesus promised to give to
man when He said, I give unto them eternal life (zoe), and they shall never perish,
and this, beloved, is the LIFE THAT DEPARTED FROM ADAM when he transgressed, leaving him
ashamed, fearful and dead. The life is in the blood, but our blood, being devoid of
eternal life (zoe), is in reality dead blood capable of sustaining only physical, animal
life (psuche), and that only poorly until man returns to the dust from whence he came. It
is not without significance that, when the bodies of men are embalmed, the first act is to
remove the corruptible blood that the dead body may be better preserved. To redeem this
dead sinner, life must be again imparted. The only remedy for death is LIFE. This life is
in the blood, and so blood must be furnished which is sinless and incorruptible. Now none
of Adams race could do this, for in Adam all die. There was only one,
yes, ONLY ONE, who could furnish that blood the virgin-born Son of God, the Man
from heaven, with a human body, but sinless supernatural blood, inseminated by the Holy
Ghost.
Jesus came to bring life to
the world. Here is where His blood differed from the ordinary blood or life of men. His
blood was precious in that it was able to do something for all mankind which mankinds
own blood or life could not do. The natural blood or life of mankind was only for a few
years at most, but the blood of the Christ was the LIFE OF THE AGES. So there must somehow
be a discontinuance of the blood of a few years, that the blood or the LIFE OF THE AGES
might be injected into mankind.
For it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins (Heb. 10:4). It was
impossible for the blood of Old Testament sacrifices to take away sin because that blood
was dead blood. There was no power of life in it. Nevertheless, because of the faith of
the worshippers in that BETTER BLOOD which was to come, those animal sacrifices were
accepted by God for the time then present or for the time being, and by this faith the
worshippers were sanctified, and being thus accepted by God they patiently awaited the day
when the BETTER BLOOD OF THE LAMB OF GOD, in which was eternal life, would not only remove
their sin, but erase the sentence of death, quickening them in spirit and transfusing
their beings with the incorruptible blood of the Man from heaven. We say, and rightly so,
for the scripture says, that Christ died for us. There is marvelous significance in
those words, however, for when He died He GAVE HIS LIFE TO US. The precious blood that
drained from His body on the cross is now manifest as THE SPIRIT, the LIGHT OF LIFE. That
eternal life, which two thousand years ago was confined to the blood of His body, now,
being loosed by death, is SHED ABROAD to become available as life eternal to all who
believe. By the shedding of His blood life was given. By the receiving of His life DEATH
IS CANCELED. In the light of life darkness and death flee away. Hallelujah for the blood!
THE CLEANSING OF THE BLOOD
In the service of God as
ordained by the hand of Moses for Israel, there were two ceremonies to be observed by Gods
people in preparation for approach unto Him. There were the SACRIFICES and the CLEANSINGS.
Both were to be observed but in different manners. Both were to typify the redemption
by which the Lord Jesus Christ would restore men to right relationship with God. As a rule
it is only the sacrifices which are regarded as typical of redemption through Christ. The
writer of the book of Hebrews, however, points out that the DIVERS WASHINGS as well as the
SACRIFICES were figures for the time then present of the good things to
come through the High Priestly ministry of Jesus Christ and through His blood. We
are told in I Jn. 1:7 that the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us
from all sin. This word cleanseth does not refer to the forgiveness
received when we first trust in Christ; but to the effect of Gods grace IN Gods
children who WALK IN THE LIGHT. The word is: If we walk in the light as He is
in the light...the blood of Jesus Christ, Gods Son, CLEANSETH US from all sin.
That this cleansing refers to something more than pardon appears from what follows in
verse nine: He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to CLEANSE us
from all unrighteousness.
There are two kinds of
functions of the blood of the Lamb. One is to take away or kill, and the other is to add
or supply. On the one hand it takes away the negative elements we should not have in us,
and on the other hand it adds in the positive elements we should have in us. What is taken
away is the element of Adam in us, and what is added is the element of Christ the
new creation life. What is taken away is old. What is added is new. What is taken away is
earthly and carnal, and what is added is heavenly and spiritual. What is taken away is
dead, and what is added is living. When the blood of the Lamb works within us, it has
these two kinds of functions manifest within us: one is to progressively take away all of
our old creation man, and the other is to continually add all of Gods new creation
man. In this way HIS LIFE within us gradually increases from glory to glory.
It is like the blood in our
physical body, which contains two kinds of elements: the white corpuscles and the red
corpuscles. White corpuscles have one function, to kill germs that invade the body; the
red corpuscles also have one function, to supply nourishment to the whole body. When the
blood circulates and flows within us, the white corpuscles kill and clean up the germs
which have invaded our body, while the red blood corpuscles supply every part of our body
with needed nourishment. Likewise, when the blood of the Lamb works within us, or when the
life of God in the Lamb works mightily within us, the two elements, life and death,
contained in the life of God have the function of killing and supplying within us
that is, killing the spiritual germs of the carnal mind and the fleshly nature, and
supplying us with spiritual nourishment, which consists of the life and nature and power
of God Himself.
Concerning the cleansing
power of the blood of the Lamb, no greater statement of truth was ever made than that
given by the beloved John on the rocky steeps of Patmos: Unto Him that loved us, and
washed us from our sins in His own blood (Rev. 1:5). Some modern translations
substitute the word freed for washed, but a look at the Greek word
shows that they are in error. The word is LOUO meaning to BATHE THE WHOLE PERSON in
the same way clothes are laundered in water. But praise be to God! this is not
an outward washing but an INWARD CLEANSING. One aspect of the power of the blood of Jesus
lies in its marvelous ability to ABSORB all that is in the blood or the life of the Adamic
man. The apostle Peter by inspiration penned these words of deep and wonderful truth:
Who His own self BARE OUR SINS in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to
sins, should LIVE UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS (I Pet. 2:24). This one who hung upon the cross
possessed a life or a blood that would course its way through the veins of
our inner nature and remove all our sins, infirmities and death. It is very wonderful and
thrilling to many Christians to stand up and testify that they have been washed in the
blood of Jesus. But if you would ask them to explain how they were washed in the
blood, about the only answer many could give is that it was by faith. The Christian who
has testified concerning being washed in the blood of Jesus has been unable to tell how
because he has not understood the significance of one word that he was using. That word is
WASHED. We have somehow in the past unconsciously given to that word washed,
as used in connection with the blood of Jesus, some special meaning. It must be that we
have not been able to associate such a common and lowly procedure as washing clothes with
the work done by the blood of the Lamb. And that is just where we have missed the whole
point!
I would point you to this
simple and self-evident fact: WHAT IS TO BE WASHED IS DIRTY. That is the reason for its
being washed. It is filthy and contaminated and it needs to be washed. And the
result of the washing is that the article becomes clean! Ah what a good feeling it
is after a day of sweaty, dirty work, to come home, take a refreshing bath, and get into
some clean clothing. The dirt and grime and filth of the work has been washed away and we
feel like a new person. All the members of Adams race need washing! Not physically,
but mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The mind, the heart and the nature of mankind
are as full of the filth of the flesh as it is possible to be. The life of the blood is as
full of filth and corruption as is the man, so it can do nothing to cleanse. Mans
nature is literally saturated with sin, evil, fear, pride, self-righteousness, hatred,
bigotry, weakness, anger, lust, sickness, sorrow, limitation and death. We know what it
means to wash our clothes in water, how they are plunged into it and saturated with it,
for several minutes agitated and moved about in it until the dirt is softened and
loosened, it is then removed from the garment and SUSPENDED IN THE WATER and carried away.
The water has TAKEN UNTO ITSELF all the defilement that was in the clothing. After some
rinsings the clothes are taken out of the washer, sparkling clean, and with none of the
filth that was in them in the beginning. How beautiful they look! How fresh they smell!
Such is the process used today by millions in the washing of clothing. Yet this has not
generally been associated with the wonderful washing process that mankind goes through in
the blood of the Lamb.
Where does this washing take
place, and what is it that is washed? It is the heart. It is in the deep, hidden, inner
life of man that this effect of the blood, the life, the spirit of Christ is experienced.
Sin has penetrated into the heart, and the whole nature has become saturated with it. The
blood too must PENETRATE THE NATURE; as deeply as the power of sin has gone, so deeply
must the inner nature be cleansed by the blood. This is wrought by the daily experiencing
of HIS LIFE in the nitty-gritty of everyday experience. This is not some mushy,
sentimental, religious experience at the altar of some church, but the APPROPRIATING OF
HIS LIFE in the crucible of each problem, trial, temptation, weakness, testing, and
difficulty we encounter, until self and sin are completely dealt with, washed away, and
the mind and will of Christ reign supreme in our lives. Clothes are agitated when
they are being washed; in the old days and still in many areas of the world they are
beaten with rocks to loosen the dirt. Ah, we hope to kneel on a thick carpet before a
plush altar and experience the wonderful cleansing of the blood of the Lamb, but it can
never be so, my friend. It is in the midst of all the agitation of the pressures of life,
in the turbulence of crisis, trouble, pain and despair that we encounter HIS LIFE WITHIN
as the answer, and submitting, receive a mighty and eternal cleansing. Where sin ruled,
His life must rule. Where self reigned, His precious mind must reign. Where the flesh
manifests its lively activities, there the spirit of the Lamb must conquer, bringing
righteousness, peace and joy. It is in the minds and hearts of men that the cleansing of
the blood must take place. Out of the heart are the issues of life just
in proportion as the heart is cleansed, so the entire life is cleansed, the whole man
outwardly and inwardly is TRANSFORMED by the power of the blood!
THE LIGHT OF LIFE
There is a wonderful
statement in the Song of Solomon wherein the Shulamite maiden, beautiful type of Gods
elect, says, My Beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand
(S. of S. 5:10). This was in answer to a question put forth by the daughters of
The scene is set in the
Shulamites search for her Beloved. As she pursues her Beloved the flame of her love
burns brighter; faster and faster she hastens through the streets of the city to find Him,
all the while He appears more wonderful to her soul. In her marvelous description of her
Beloved, she mentions, first of all, the combined, though contrasted colors of white
and red. To a superficial reader, this might signify only health and beauty. Let us
bear in mind that the daughters of
These two colors make her
Beloved different from, and more than every other beloved. They, above all, make the
Christ of God different from, and more than all others. They, more than all else, make Him
the only fruitful Tree in all the forest of the sons of men. These two colors distinguish
Him and mark Him out before all eyes; and because of which, every knee shall bow, and
every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. She
knew, as some even who profess to be sons of God do not know, that all religions are not
a way into union with God! The meaning of the word white is
dazzling, bright, illuminated by the sun, sunny. Dazzling white, as the brightest
sunlight. The meaning of the word ruddy is red, to show blood, to dye or make
red. The one name above all other names, by which the Christ of God is known, is the
Lamb. This is the name by which He is known as the sacrifice of God. John the
Baptist calls Him the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. It
is the pure, spotless Lamb of God to which the sacrifices of the Israelite worship
pointed, and whom they foreshadowed.
The characteristics of the
meaning of white, namely, dazzling, illuminated, and shining as the sun,
were literally manifested in the transfiguration of Christ on the Mount. We are told in
Mat. 17:2 that He was transfigured before them; and His face did shine as the sun,
and His garments became white as the light. In the ninth chapter of Mark, we are
told that His garments became glistering, which, in the Greek, means: To
lighten forth, flash forth like lightening. Within that form that was marred more
than the sons of men, dwelt glory ineffable. As He prayed upon the Mount of
Transfiguration, He opened a little way the robe of humanity with which He had covered
Himself when He came down to earth, and His majesty and glory burst forth! None can
overlook the precious significance here, when the scripture is compared with the clause
that we are now considering in the Song of Solomon. The Shulamite declares that her
Beloved is white, or that He is dazzling, white as the light, shining as
though illuminated by a mighty sun.
Ah was this not a
breaking forth of the glory of the incorruptible blood of God flowing
through the veins of His perfect humanity? With this wonderful thought in our minds let us
with humble reverence consider the words of the apostle John: In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In Him was LIFE; and the LIFE
was the LIGHT OF MEN (Jn. 1:1,4). Notice the words: IN HIM WAS L-I-F-E. Now: THE
LIFE IS I-N T-H-E B-L-O-O-D.
Finally: THE LIFE WAS THE L-I-G-H-T OF MEN. In these statements we discover three
synonyms: life, light, and blood. In an article that has come across my desk are found
these words of truth: You have heard of the light of a candle. You have heard of the
light of the stars. You have heard of the light of the moon. You have heard of the light
of the sun. But this is the light of life. When men speak of the light of the sun,
we understand. When they speak of the light of the moon, we understand. May we not now
understand the truth of Christs words: the light of life? I doubt not that my
next sentence will be a disturbing jolt to the understanding of many, but the truth as I
see it is simply this: Life and light and blood are one and the same thing, manifest on
three levels just as vapor and water and ice are one and the same thing on different
levels. I am well aware that what I am saying is entirely new and may come as a shock to
many who read.... a proper understanding of it will assist us to grasp the greatness of
that prominent Bible theme, the precious blood of Christ. Not only will we better
grasp its meaning, but we will know why that precious blood of Christ is THE LIFE OF THE
WORLD. I see no way that we can avoid the conclusion that His LIFE is in fact RESURRECTION
itself. It redeems from sin, because sin found man in life and brought him to death, but
the blood of Christ, which is eternal life, finding man in death, brought life, and that
is what redemption is.
The glory of the
transfiguration was the momentary unveiling of the glorious heavenly light of Christs
blood-life. It was in truth the manifestation of the light of life promised by our Lord
Jesus in Jn. 8:12: He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have
the LIGHT OF LIFE. It shone from His face. It glistered from His garments. It
surrounded Him like a halo. It radiated from Him like the rays of the sun. His eyes were
like lamps of fire the light that swallows up all darkness and death of the carnal
realm. There in the Mount of Transfiguration His disciples beheld Him in the glory of the
light of life of His incorruptible blood. This was resurrection life, kingdom life,
heavenly life, incorruptible life. And, my beloved, this beautiful picture tells us what
OUR INCORRUPTIBLE BODIES WILL BE, the glistening light of life that Christ Himself
actually is. What a powerful metamorphosis when this light of life has matured and bursts
forth from within all the sons of God, vanquishing all that pertains to this mortal realm.
There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body, the inspired apostle tells
us. Those who imagine that the incorruptible body will be a body that sleeps, drives a
car, goes to work at a factory or office, and eats hamburgers have never seen by the
spirit the glory of the resurrection. When Jesus burst out of the tomb in resurrection He
came forth in the full brilliance of this divine light of life. In this glory Paul saw Him
in his
OVERCOMING BY THE BLOOD
If your desire is to truly be
an overcomer in all things, a part of the firstfruits of Gods redemption in this
important hour, a most wonderful key is found in I Jn. 1:7. If we walk in the light
as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST
GODS SON CLEANSETH US FROM A-L-L S-I-N. There is a way for the Lords
people to be freed from ALL SIN! If we walk in the light. How? AS HE IS
in the light. Do not forget for one moment, dear ones, that the life is the
light and the blood is the life. To walk in the light as He is in the
light means to walk in the LIFE as HE is in the LIFE. There is a great principle here!
Paul says in Rom. 8:1-2,
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh but after the Spirit. For the LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE in Christ
Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. What makes me free from the
law (power) of sin and death? Why, the LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE makes me free! Do we not
understand that life swallows up death and light dispels darkness? His precious life
blood (spirit) flowing through our lives accomplishes this. But havent we
always had it turned around in our thinking? How many of us have been struggling to die
so we can live! How often have we told ourselves, If I can get rid of my old man,
if I can conquer this habit, overcome this temper, this unruly tongue, this lust, this
nature, this... this... this... then I will have the life of Christ manifested in
me! We have tried to get rid of sin so we could have righteousness. We have made
valiant efforts at conquering the death in us so we would have life. We have worked at
eradicating the darkness from our lives so we could walk in the light. Dearly beloved
friends, we have had the cart before the horse! It is like saying, I will stand here
in this dark room and rebuke the darkness, and when all the darkness has been chased away
I shall have light. The simple fact is you can rebuke the darkness until men carry
your dead body out to the mortuary, but THE DARKNESS WILL NEVER LEAVE UNTIL YOU TURN ON
THE LIGHT. There is no vacuum that can suck up darkness, no chemical that disintegrates
it, no force that can move it. The problem is not to get rid of the darkness, but to
produce the light!
The LAW OF LIGHT is that it
always dispels darkness. It never fails! So if you have been trying to get rid of the
darkness of the carnal mind and the fleshly nature in you, by rebuking it, resisting it,
struggling with it, fighting it, ignoring it, praying to be delivered from it, having
hands laid on you for it FORGET IT! These are one and all efforts at
self-reformation. None of those methods has one iota of power to remove the darkness from
a life. Only LIGHT is able to remove darkness! Brother, sister, TURN ON THE LIGHT in your
life, expose yourself to the mighty presence of the Holy Spirit in your life, open
yourself to the creative power of His Word within, thrust yourself into the living stream
of His precious blood, and the LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF HIS LIFE working powerfully within
will begin to make you free from the law of sin and death. You cant take death out
of a corpse to make it live, but put life in it and it will live! And there is no way that
you can remove the law of sin and death from heart and nature, but you take the law of the
Spirit of Life in Christ into you and I tell you the truth the death will be
swallowed up!
I have had the experience of
becoming so involved with the pressures of everyday living until the vital presence of God
was crowded out of my life. When we spend all our time working and visiting and
fellowshipping in carnal things, reading the newspaper, watching television, tinkering
with hobbies, and multiplied other natural activities the Spirit is crowded out of our
lives, the flow of His life-blood is hindered. How filled our lives are with EARTHLY
THINGS! Constantly going, going, going, and doing, doing, doing. Occasionally we spend a
few minutes in prayer, or in the Word, or in blessed fellowship with another saint, or
time and effort wasted in some dead meeting, and then wonder why there is no power
in our lives and we are not overcomers! There is a LAW OF LIFE that must be at work in us.
But you dont really need to be concerned about the law of life, you just need
the LIFE! The law will work naturally. When the life is there the law will work. When the
law is working the power of darkness and death is annulled, the negative realm is
neutralized. Therefore, seek LIFE! If the glorious presence of God, the light of life, can
keep me in the spiritual state of overcoming victory for ten minutes...or for two
hours...or for three days...then the same substance of HIS LIFE WITHIN can keep me
in that condition of victory and transformation for as long as the flow of His life is
maintained this is the absolute unfailing key to overcoming! Death always
sets in in any body member where the flow of blood is prevented. People have lost hands
and arms and feet and legs when for some reason the blood circulation was cut off.
Maintain the flow of the precious blood of Christ and you will have little trouble
with the flesh.
And they overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 12:11). All who would be sons of God must overcome
the dragon of the carnal mind and the beastly nature of old Adam. It comes not by pleading
the blood, thinking positive, or confessing the promises. In proportion as we live
in close and abiding contact with the blood we shall experience increasingly its powerful,
omnipotent effects. He who gives himself up to continual intercourse with THE LAMB, joined
in one spirit with Him, will experience through His blood a TRIUMPHANT LIFE beyond his
conception. He will see the law of life at work. The old carnality, the old weaknesses,
the old desires, the old thoughts, the old emotions, the old frustrations will begin to
fade away, diminishing and diminishing in the cleansing of His blood. Ah, precious saint
of God, try no longer to get rid of, or quit doing, or kill,
or die, or change, anything! Only expose your whole being to the
light and you will begin to live by the life of Gods dear Son.
The blood of the Lamb is
described as a fountain opened in the house of David for sin and uncleanness (Zech.
13:1). By the power of the Holy Spirit it streams through the heavenly
Chapter
38
RETURN
TO
And the
Lord God planted a garden eastward in
To him that
overcometh will I give to eat of the TREE OF LIFE WHICH IS IN THE MIDST OF THE PARADISE OF
GOD (Rev. 2:7).
As we approach
the conclusion of this series of articles in which the blessed Spirit of God has
graciously opened a little way the veil, revealing before our wondering eyes some of the
glorious mysteries of the Garden of Eden, my deep desire is that men may see the whole
plan of God as celestial harmony, hymning its beautiful song from the heaven-kissed hills
of Eden to the brilliant glory of the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven.
The book of Genesis is a most remarkable book, and I think all who comprehend even a
minute portion of its mystical truths will agree when I say that all the other books of
the Bible are messages from God progressively enlarging on the revelations from this
wonderful book. The whole Bible shows the progression of the plan of God from Alpha to
Omega, from beginning to end, from Eden to Eden, from Paradise lost to Paradise regained,
from man in the image of God in the beginning to God all-in-all in the end.
LOOKING UNTO
JESUS
In the state of
New Mexico more than a hundred years ago a cowboy became curious concerning a certain
gaping hole in the earth, out of which millions of bats emerged every evening at dusk. He
secured equipment and supplies but tried in vain to persuade certain friends to accompany
him and help on a proposed exploration venture into the inky blackness below. At last a
Mexican boy was found who had sufficient courage to go with him. That venture resulted in
the discovery of the wonders of the now-famous
The extent of
these caverns with their innumerable passages, and rooms, and blind alleys, and grottos,
is not known. It is known, however, that they are of considerable extent, and that there
are different levels or floors, some as deep as 1,100 feet below the surface have been
explored, and deeper ones exist. According to the latest information available to this
writer some thirty-five miles of passageways have been explored, of which only three miles
are open to visitors. Although the known entrance to these caverns is
Following the
path of man from his expulsion from Edens fragrant Garden into the incomprehensible
darkness of sin, sorrow and death, and onward until that final day when every man is
presented faultless before the throne of His glory, is comparable to entering a cave which
has but one entrance and one exit. Only ONE! Between these two points there are
innumerable passages and rooms and blind alleys with an entrance but no exit. Someone had
to go before and explore to find a safe passageway. And only those who follow this plain
path of the explorer can ever again see the light of day. All who deviate from this course
become hopelessly lost.
Let us make
man in our image and after our likeness, was the proclamation of the Lord, and
having so proclaimed His intention, the Father set in motion a plan which included the
lowering of man into this dark depth of sorrow and travail, for his learning, testing and
proving. Thousands of years would pass before the first Son of man, the first begotten Son
of God, would emerge from the inky darkness and be presented perfected and faultless as
the Captain of our salvation and the redeemer of us all. Then, after perfecting the first
Son, other thousands of years would roll by while He who hath begun a good work in
US is performing it right up until the day of Christ. Ah, One has entered into this
dark and treacherous realm of sin and death in which all mankind gropes, and has
discovered the WAY OUT! He marked out before us the one safe passageway, the plain path of
faith and obedience, and all those faithful ones who FOLLOW HIM will emerge at the one and
only exit to stand again in the light of Gods eternal day, bright and blessed.
I think this
understanding will give much greater meaning to the apostles inspired admonition in
Heb. 12:1-2: Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto
Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of
God. As Andrew Murray has written, LET US RUN there we have the intense
exertion, claiming all the emotion, will, and action of our beings. LOOKING UNTO JESUS
there we have the inner life of the spirit, a heart always fixed on Jesus in faith
and worship, pursuing the Forerunner, who has entered within the veil for us, leaving
behind His track and footsteps for us to walk in. This is the new and living way which
leads to life and to God. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
He leads in the way of faith, He walked in it Himself, He opened it for us, He draws and
helps us in it. In Hebrews chapter eleven the roster of Old Testament saints, from
righteous Abel onward to king David, gives us thrilling examples of faith, but Jesus is
the Source and Leader and the Perfector of OUR FAITH, the faith that through death enters
into resurrection life and the Holiest of All, that better and more perfect thing which
God had opened up for us and for all mankind.
Yes, let us run,
looking unto Jesus! Looking not to ourselves or our weaknesses, but to Him who
strengtheneth us. Not to ourselves or to our faith, whether in its weakness or its
strength, but to Him whose presence is the life of our faith. Not to the world or its
temptations, but to Him who hath said, Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
Not to Satan or his threats, but to Him who hath brought him to naught. Not to men, their
fear or their favor, but to Jesus, the God-man, Immanuel, God with us, our Brother and
King. Looking to Jesus and Jesus alone! Looking to Him always and in all. In trial and
trouble, as in joy and prosperity; in solitude and repose, as in company and business; in
praise and worship, as in the mundane activities of daily life; always, only,
looking to Jesus. Looking to Him, to see what He is, to hear what He speaks, to do what He
says, to follow where He leads, to trust for all He waits to impart. Looking to Him to be
changed into His likeness from glory to glory. Let us run the race with patience, LOOKING
UNTO JESUS!
Do you know, dear
friend, why the masses of Christians today have little or no revelation of the purpose of
God, no hope of sonship, no going on to perfection, no putting on of the mind of Christ,
and no conformation to His glorious image? It is because at every turn they have ceased to
LOOK UNTO JESUS, having left the road He has marked out to wander in Stygian blackness.
Here, there, and everywhere, one finds in tracts, books, magazines, on the radio and
television, and from behind pulpits across the land some poor deluded traveler who is
proclaiming his particular alley his theory, his doctrine, his gift, his ministry,
his sect, his baptism, his form, his tradition, his methods, or feeble little spiritual
experience to be the only passageway to a new and better day. But in all these we
find no true dawn. Instead of bright sunlight and clear skies, all we find here is some
poor soul groping hopelessly by the pathetic light of a flickering match which he himself
holds.
I present to you,
beloved brother, sister, a RISEN SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS in all His beauty, majesty, and
incorruptibility, who bids us FOLLOW HIM to enter the glories of His new day of life and
light and glory! There is but
RETURN TO
To him that
overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise
of God (Rev. 2:7).
It is astounding
how the word paradise has been perverted through the fanciful teaching of men
swayed by tradition and their sentiments rather than revelation. Seldom is a funeral
sermon preached that the deceased is not put in
A most wonderful
and significant event, completely passed over by the vast majority of christians, occurred
at the time of the crucifixion of our Lord. In the purposes of God extending from Paradise
lost to Paradise regained, the time came when all three of the characters (God, Adam, the
serpent involved in the ancient drama in Eden MUST meet again this time AT THE
CROSS! You will understand a great truth when you see how it is that Christ, Adam, and the
serpent ALL MET AT THE CROSS. Let me unfold for you this deep and blessed mystery which
transpired on the hill called
Do you imagine,
my friend, that it was an accidental and inconsequential incident that Jesus was crucified
between TWO THIEVES? No way! The truth of God is multi-faceted and the scriptures abound
with many and varied representations of the redemptive plans, purposes, and processes of
God. There are those unique passages which point to all that has been wrought and made
blessed reality IN CHRIST. The prepositional phrase in Christ, appearing some
thirty-five times in the New Testament, is filled with spiritual dynamite! Vital
necessity, this reality of being IN CHRIST. This has much depth and preciousness in it
when we remember that Christ is made up of many members, and that they ,are joined
together as one, ONE MANY-MEMBERED CHRIST. There is a realm of fullness to come into, and
it is IN CHRIST, until it is no longer Christ and me but just
CHRIST. God has chosen us IN HIM, and we are made alive IN HIM. We are new creatures IN
HIM and are to walk IN HIM as we have received Him, rooted and builded up IN HIM and
established in our faith. We become the righteousness of God IN HIM, we are established IN
HIM, and can do all things IN HIM that strengthens us. God always leads us to triumph IN
HIM, making our lives a sweet savor of Christ. IN HIM we have every spiritual blessing in
heavenly places; as we abide IN HIM we are made complete IN HIM who is the head of all
principality and power.
We should direct
our thoughts to yet another consideration. Wonderful as is this troth of our
identification IN CHRIST, let all who read these lines know and thoroughly understand that
there is another and blessed aspect of truth to be embraced in the precious words
WITH CHRIST. Now I believe that I am quite correct in this statement--I am
certain that Paul never said that he was crucified IN CHRIST He did say that he was
crucified WITH CHRIST. Paul gave us a remarkable clue to this great mystery when he
explained, I am crucified WITH CHRIST (Gal. 2:20), and again Knowing
this, that our old man is crucified WITH HIM, that the body of sin might be destroyed
(Rom.6:6). With these words in mind it should not be difficult to see that Paul never
makes the statement or the inference that Christ DIED IN HIS STEAD. But Paul made it the
sharing of a common death by saying that he was crucified W-I-T-H CHRIST. This may seem to
be an insignificant and unimportant point, but it makes a whole universe of difference
whether we were crucified IN CHRIST or WITH CHRIST. Every word of inspiration is
meaningful and full of depth. Truly Christ died FOR US, not in our stead, precluding our
dying, but on our behalf, thus enabling us to truly die and rise again WITH HIM.
I am
crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me (Gal.
2:20). What is this that Paul says: I am crucified with Christ? What does the
apostle really mean? In what sane and solid sense does he use these hitherto un-heard -of
words? Saul of Tarsus, we have his own word for it, had never seen Christ in the flesh,
nor His cross either. He had not been in Gethsemane with Christ like Peter, nor on
Nearly half a
century ago Lloyd C. Douglas wrote a best selling religious novel called THE ROBE. Paul
Rees, in reviewing the book, points out that its readers will remember that Marcellus
Gallio was the Roman tribune who was supposed to have been the officer in charge of the
actual crucifixion of Jesus. When Marcellus returned to his quarters after the
crucifixion, he made a confession to his Greek slave Demetrius. He confessed that he felt
dirty and ashamed. When Demetrius tried to console him by reminding him that he was only
obeying orders given him by Pilate, Marcellus asked, Were you out there? ... Were
you there when He called on His God to forgive us? And the rest of the story is
concerned with the strangely persistent way in which this Roman noble was haunted by his
sense of guilt for having crucified the Lord. He, who was supposed to be upholding the law
by executing a guilty man, was somehow condemned by that mans innocence and made to
feel guilty himself. WERE YOU OUT THERE, he asked. It is a fair question that
Marcellus put to Demetrius. And the answer is Yes. WE WERE ALL OUT
THERE! Whether Roman or Greek, whether Israelite or Gentile, we WERE there when they
crucified our lord.
Yes, the Christ
was crucified for us on our behalf but Paul goes deeper into the
mystery that is Christ and says that if we want to understand the deep meaning of the
cross, we shall have to see, not just Christ dying for us, but also our identification
with Him, we will have to see ourselves on that cross dying with Jesus. You see, IF JESUS
MERELY DIED INSTEAD OF US, then Jesus will merely rise instead of us. Selah. Pause and
think about that ! The scripture declares that we are crucified with Christ so that we may
rise with Christ. If there is no participation in the cross, there can be no participation
in the resurrection. George Hawtin has given beautiful expression to this precious truth
in his article, THE CHRIST LIFE. He writes: Every man and every woman will have to
face the cross. If there be no cross, neither will there be a crown. We will have to face
it in our own lives and, if I am not mistaken, we will have to face it every day we live.
For to me to live is Christ, and to DIE is gain (Phil. 1:21). Death to
ourselves will be the greatest death we ever die. This death will never be accomplished by
our vain struggling and trying, but it will be accomplished in that blessed hour when the
Holy Spirit reveals to our hearts the truth that He revealed to Paul: I AM CRUCIFIED
with Christ. The world itself cannot contain the full truth of this precious
statement, I am crucified with Christ. We will never GET crucified nor will we
ever have faith to crucify ourselves. We will never go to an altar and accomplish this act
by faith. The lesson we must learn, my earnestly seeking friend, is simply this: Before
ever there was a world or a sinner in it, God Himself by His almighty power placed ALL MEN
IN HIS SON JESUS CHRIST and then, having done so, He crucified Him and, when He crucified
HIM, He also crucified ME, because I was in Him. When HE crucified His Son, He
crucified YOU, because He had placed you in Him. All this took place before the foundation
of the world. All men died IN ADAM and, because all men died in Adam, ALL MEN live IN
CHRIST, because God has placed all men in Him. For as in Adam ALL die, even so in
Christ shall ALL be made alive (I Cor. 15:22). But, you ask, why
is it then that all men are not saved? The truth is that all men are saved, but all
men have not yet believed, because God has not yet opened their eyes. All christians are
crucified with Him, but few, oh so few, have ever been told that crucifixion is an
accomplished reality accomplished by God Himself and left for us to accept and
believe. Once the believer grasps this truth and seizes upon it by faith, then he
understands that all of the old carnal realm with all its terrifying specters was a paper
tiger, an alarming, petrifying panic, a phantom, a dead lion, no more real than a
nightmare. My brother, my sister, in that good and glorious moment when you see God by His
almighty power placing ALL MEN IN CHRIST, yea, even before the world began, and, having
done so, He sent Him to the cross to be crucified, then you will know that, when Christ
was crucified, YOU were crucified, for you were in Him. Then you will join with Paul and
every participant of the revelation, saying, I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST. Then
you will be able for the first time in your life to RECKON YOURSELF DEAD UNTO SIN, BUT
ALIVE UNTO GOD end quote.
Now actually,
Paul nor any of us, nor anyone else from Paul all the way down to us, was actually,
physically, bodily crucified with Christ. I refer of course to that particular time of the
crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus the Christ was there at the crucifixion as the embodiment and
manifestation of THE LIFE OF GOD IN THE SPIRIT, the pure, sinless, separate, divine,
heavenly One pouring out His divine life for the world. So also did Adam, man in his
self-consciousness in the soul, have a representative or a manifestation of himself there
at the crucifixion. One man, a thief, was there as the representative of the living soul,
of all humanity, or the representative of the first Adam, if you please. And the remaining
thief, the jeering malefactor, was the representative of the serpent and his kingdom, the
spirit of the carnal mind, the power of sin and death in our members. And ALL THREE DIED
ON THE CROSS TOGETHER! They all died the same natural death and not one of them was
saved from it. The two thieves, above all who have ever lived, were truly and uniquely
CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST.
Turn aside with
me for a few moments and meditate upon these THREE CROSSES on Golgothas hill. We
will find a very wide field of truth opened before us in these THREE CROSSES. There were
THREE MEN met together there by the counsel of God that fateful day. Three, in the
numerology of scripture, stands for that which is solid, real, substantial, complete, and
entire. E.W. Bullinger, in his book, NUMBER IN SCRIPTURE, points out that All things
that are specially COMPLETE are stamped with this number three. Gods attributes are
THREE: omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. There are three great divisions
completing time PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE. Three persons, in grammar, express and
include all relationships of mankind. Thought, word, and deed, complete the sum of human
capability. The simplest proposition requires three things to complete it; viz., the
SUBJECT, the PREDICATE, and the COPULA. Three kingdoms embrace our ideas of
matter--MINERAL, VEGETABLE, and ANIMAL To which I would add--man himself is a
TRIPARTIITE being composed of SPIRIT, SOUL, and BODY. Those three parts comprise the whole
man. The three crosses on that hill far away were there by neither accident nor
coincidence. There is deep mystery and divine meaning in the scene!
It is interesting
to note that two of the three men there that day were THIEVES. I must emphasize that any
man, message, action, or entity that brings to mankind any thing less than LIFE is a THIEF
and a ROBBER! Man is spirit, soul, and body, and is it not a self-evident truth that TWO
OF THESE THREE have no life of themselves and can transmit naught but corruption and
death. Truly did Jesus say, It is the SPIRIT that quickeneth (giveth life); the
FLESH (soul and body) profiteth nothing (Jn. 6:63). The apostle Paul adds his
testimony in these words, For to be carnally (fleshly) minded IS DEATH; but to be
spiritually minded IS LIFE and peace. And if Christ be in you the BODY IS DEAD because of
sin; but the SPIRIT IS LIFE because of righteousness. If ye live after the FLESH, ye shall
DIE; but if ye through the SPIRIT do mortify (put to death) the deeds of the BODY, ye
shall LIVE (
You remember that
the thieves began to rail on Jesus, but one of them said, Lord, help me! The
rulers, and the soldiers, and the people standing there derided and mocked Him, but this
one malefactor asked that Jesus have mercy upon him. How foolish it seems to the natural
mind for this one to ask Jesus to help him or have mercy upon him, for here are two men,
both dying upon a cross, yet one requests help of another who is in no better position to
help him than he is himself. Such a thing appears utterly ridiculous and because it was so
absurd in the natural there MUST BE A MYSTERY HIDDEN IN THESE THINGS. All three of these
died at approximately the same time, on the same day. When the soldiers came to Jesus, He
was already dead and they broke the legs of the two thieves so that by shock, as we know
it today, their deaths might be hastened. All were dead by sundown. So the manifestation
of God in the flesh (spirit) died. The manifestation of humanity (Adam) in the flesh also
died. And the manifestation of the serpent (sin, carnal mind) died. They all entered the
realm of death.
Listen now with
infinite care as the drama of
With these
poignant words he confessed a wonderful faith in the almighty power of Christ. It has no
parallel in the Bible. There hangs the cursed malefactor with Jesus of Nazareth, and he
dares speak and say, I am dying here under the just curse of my sins, but I believe
Thou canst take me into Thy heart and remember me when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom.
The word remember means to recollect and both of these words can be broken
down into two words: re-member and re-collect. The prefix re before them means
to REPEAT OR TO DO SOMETHING AGAIN. So the malefactor was asking that when Jesus came into
His Kingdom, He would remember him, or make him a member again. He was saying, RE-COLLECT
or collect me again into that Kingdom and give back to me my original place. This is
re-storation, re-newing, re-demption, re-conciliation, re-freshing, and re-surection he
was asking for! This was man, Adam, the living soul seeking the restoration of life,
fellowship, authority and glory that he first had in Christ! This is the soul
crying out to the spirit for salvation!
Oh. that we might
learn to believe in the almighty power of the CHRIST WITHIN! The penitent thief believed
that Christ was a King and had a Kingdom, and that on the other side of the cross He would
take him up in His arms and in His heart and remember him, make him a part again, when He
came into His Kingdom. He believed that, and believing that, he died. Dear brother,
sister, you and I need to take the time to come into a much larger and deeper faith in the
power of Christ, that the almighty Christ will indeed take us in His arms and carry us
through this death process, revealing the power of His death in us. Christ must do it.
Christ CAN do it! Now that Christ is upon the throne, now that the revelation has dawned
that HE has all power and authority in heaven and in earth, would you be afraid to do what
the malefactor did when Christ was upon the cross, and entrust yourself to Him to die His
death and to live His life? Christ, the very Christ of God within your spirit, will carry
you through the very process He went through. He will make the process of death work in
you until it is complete and your soul is swallowed up into the reality of HIS SPIRIT.
We have seen the
faith of this man. Now let us consider the response of Christ to his cry. First, the Lord
met him with that wonderful promise, Today shall thou be with Me in
Such truth as
this requires deep spiritual thought and meditation. What do you think, beloved, Jesus
meant when He announced the glad tidings to this poor thief dying WITH HIM, Verily,
I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be WITH ME IN PARADISE. Today--in
Consider the
scene! And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in
Beloved, these
are but symbols, shadows, word pictures of grand and glorious SPIRITUAL REALITIES. Great
and precious promises are given to the overcomer the overcoming one is
promised a crown, a throne, a white stone, a new name, a feast of manna from a golden
bowl, the fruit from the tree of life, and the privilege of becoming a pillar in the
During those
moments of agony upon the cross, God ordained that one solitary first-fruit of Adams
race should be gathered from the world of sin and death and restored to the Paradise of
God as wonderful proof that THE WAY WAS OPENED UP. It was the Spirit of God that moved
upon the heart of this dying thief, causing him to turn his eyes upon the crucified Lord.
There was a quickening, a rending of the veil of the carnal mind, and opening of the
heavens above him, and in an instant his vision became clearer than that of all the
multitude, and the soldiers, and the priests, and even the disciples. He saw in the Man
hanging between him and his fellow thief, the Messiah, the Son of God, the last Adam, come
to OPEN ANEW THE GATE OF THE PARADISE OF GOD.
That is why Jesus
came to open again to man the Paradise of God. He lived and moved and ministered
from that
TODAY! Today
shalt thou be with Me in
And yet, the
mystery would not be complete apart from the knowledge that there is within us that which
must die upon the cross NEVER TO LIVE AGAIN. The second thief died and for him
there was no repentance, no hope, no today or tomorrow, no offer of life, no promise of
Can we not see by
this that there is that which must die to live and there is that which must die never to
live again. Christ died to give us His life. The repentant thief represents that in man
which must die to receive of HIS LIFE that it may live. Death alone, without ANOTHER LIFE,
is not enough to bring us back to Gods world. We need death to get out of this
world, but we also must have the life of God to live in Gods world! The soul of man
is the receptacle of His life in the Spirit--in which union mans soul is redeemed,
restored to the Paradise of God. This is the first thief. This thief dies to live by
receiving the life of the Christ upon the cross in the midst. But the second thief
represents that serpent in us which must forever be done away, whose head must be
thoroughly crushed once and for all, the BODY OF SIN which is DESTROYED. Knowing
this, that our old man IS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM, that the body of sin might be DESTROYED,
that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is DEAD is freed from sin (
If you can see
it, my beloved, the second thief is that work of the cross the apostle sets forth in Gal.
6:14, wherein he says, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. There
are vast multitudes of believers in the church systems today who may have grasped the
concept of the death of Christ for them, and go about glibly declaring that Jesus died for
them, and yet they do not even faintly perceive the fact that this also means that THE
WORLD IS CRUCIFIED UNTO THEM. When the Bible speaks of the world in the New Testament, it
is not referring to planet earth nor to the created universe, not to the stars and clouds
and mountains and flowers, but most always to the WORLD SYSTEM to the corrupt
system of this world order with all its evil devices, with all its vain and false and
selfish and corrupt desires, its aims and goals and purposes, its self-centeredness and
egotism. The world in scripture is this whole fleshly and carnal system that
passes from father to child down through the centuries. The result of mans rebellion
against the Spirit has been the establishment of a whole world system which the Spirit
testifies is PASSING AWAY.
If we are Gods
elect the world has been crucified to us; it is dead. It is somewhat like a man who loves
a woman. He greatly loves her but one day she dies, perhaps even in his arms. He looks
down at her body which just a moment ago was warm and moving. Now all is still and silent.
The light has gone from the eyes. Perhaps, if he really loved her, he might even yet
smother her face with his kisses. Wait but an hour or so and that body will grow cold, and
a little longer and it will no longer be soft, but now stiff and cold. Wait but a few days
and it will begin to rot and stink. A ,week later one would not be able to stand to go
into the room with it. That is what the Lord says should be happening in every believers
life concerning this whole world system, with all its vaunted success, all of its goals,
with all of its economics, politics and religion. The world has already received at the
cross, its death blow. Even its king, the devil, has received a wound in his forehead from
which he will utterly perish. So this system is crumbling into oblivion. Even now you can
smell the putrefaction of it. For the sons and daughters of the Most High it has lost its
allurement with all its baubles and successes which men in the world count of great value
and of high esteem.
Ray Prinzing
commented on this passage: While experimentally the world becomes crucified unto me
so that we no longer have any desire for the things of the world, no lusting for
friendship with the world, no latent feelings that can be awakened and stirred up by the
world; to make it even more complete, I am crucified to the world. Thus, as
far as the world is concerned, you become dead to them also. They have no more desire for
you there is nothing in you that appeals to them, you are as useless to them as a
corpse. You cease to exist in their realm. Dont be amazed, then, if they no longer
seek you out or try to fellowship with you. Only those who are quickened to the same new
life which you are receiving, can fellowship with you in that life. To all others you are
a stranger and a foreigner.
In the Song of
Solomon the King, beautiful type of Gods corporate Son, Head and body, exclaims,
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me up to the mountain of
myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense (S. of S. 4:6). Myrrh in the scriptures is a
figure of death, while frankincense is a figure of life, and was uniquely the fragrance of
the
It is not enough
to make an occasional trip up to the cross, for death must become a mountain to us, we
must go there to stay until the day breaks and the shadows all flee away. It bespeaks of a
STATE OF
THE LAW OF
CIRCULARITY
Nothing is more
evident in the Word of God than the fact that man had his beginning IN GOD. Every son of
Adam, born as he is in trespasses and sins, enters into this world shrouded by the
darkness of the carnal mind and imprisoned by the power of the carnal nature. But it was
not always so! Everything everywhere OUTSIDE OF CHRIST belongs to the realm of death, and
because it belongs to the realm of death, it likewise belongs to the realm of darkness.
Before ever man touched this dreadful realm the record states: In the beginning
WAS the Word, and the Word WAS with God, and the Word WAS God. In Him WAS life; and the
life WAS the light of men (Jn.1:1,4). WAS! It is a wonderful fact that in Him IS
life, and His life IS the light of every man who believes, but, wonder of wonders, in that
long ago beginning Christ WAS THEN THE LIFE and His life WAS THEN THE LIGHT OF MEN. It was
into this realm OUTSIDE OF CHRIST, the realm of OUTER DARKNESS, that Adam was banished
when he partook of that strange tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There he died, as
God had warned, and we all died in him. Thus death passed upon all men, for all have
sinned. Has mankind not fully proved throughout the centuries that he is in truth the son
of Adam? Which of all Gods commandments have we not broken, justifying ourselves in
having done so even as Adam seemed to do.
Oh, sweet mystery
of the ages, that a second Adam should stand upon the earth and declare, The thief
cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE
LIFE, and that they might have it more abundantly. For the bread of God is He which cometh
down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. I am that bread of life. If any man eat
of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I
will give for the life of the world (Jn. 10:10; 6:33,48,51). No greater revelation
can break upon any mans consciousness than this simple truth that there is ONLY ONE
LIFE in the universe, and that one life is JESUS CHRIST. May God make this truth real to
your hearts! When a man comes to Christ the life, he comes not only to the life that IS
the light of men, but to the same life that in the beginning WAS the light of men. What we
have received in Christs opening again of
Let me give you
now a scripture that shows the hand of God in this and the extensive scope of both the
departure from, and the returning unto, God. I quote from Ps. 90:1-3. 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. THOU TURNEST MAN TO DESTRUCTION; and sayest, RETURN, YE CHILDREN OF MEN.
You could never read this word return here, if you had not first read that man
had been turned away to destruction. In this passage the word destruction
has this meaning in the original: A COMPLETE COLLAPSE, crumbling man to a contrite
condition.
Here is the
picture: For the magnificent purpose God had in mind He made all the provision necessary
before the foundation of the world. He made provision for a Lamb to be slain (Rev. 13:8).
He made provision for a company of people to be chosen in Christ, to be Holy and without
blame before Him in love, as a firstfruit of His redemption in the earth (Eph. 1:4-5,10).
Then He brought into
After turning man
to destruction God then says, RETURN TO ME, ye children of men. In verse four
of Psalm ninety, the writer makes the statement that in Gods sight a thousand years
is as a day when it is passed. But in verse thirteen the Psalmist exclaims, Return,
O LORD, HOW LONG? In the beginning of the Psalm the writer is joyful in the
knowledge that though the Lord has turned man to destruction, yet God has also given the
command to return, and what if it does take a thousand years or more, it is but a day in
Gods sight. But by the time the writer reaches the position of the thirteenth verse,
he begins to cry out, saying, O Lord, HOW LONG is all this going to take? HOW LONG
before our full return to You? A thousand years had become an unbearably long time.
Surely this is the cry from the hearts of men today! This is the crying, groaning, and
travailing we find the creation passing through in the 8th chapter of Romans, waiting for
the manifestation of the Sons of God.
There was a day
when Paul, standing in the center of the Areopagus (Mars Hill Auditorium) declared to the
philosophers of Athens, The God Who produced and formed the world and all things in
it, made from one common origin, one source all nations of men to settle on the face of
the earth, having definitely determined their allotted periods of time and the fixed
boundaries of their habitation - their settlements, lands, abodes; SO THAT THEY SHOULD
SEEK GOD, IN THE HOPE THAT THEY MIGHT FEEL AFTER HIM AND FIND HIM, although He is not far
from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being; as even some of your
own poets have said, FOR WE ARE ALSO HIS OFFSPRING (Acts 17:24-28, Amplified).
Oh, yes, He
turned us to destruction, but planted deep in the sub consciousness of every man the
SECRET COMMAND to RETURN, which has become that inner desire, yearning, craving, seeking,
feeling, compulsion which is never satisfied until man does find himself home in God once
more. All the religiousness of men, from the witch doctor in the jungle to the modernist
in the pulpit in
Mankind is yet
groping about in the dense darkness of the carnal mind, knowing not that HE is standing
right there in the shadows, were their eyes opened to see. Yet He hath appointed a day
Oh glorious day! when His light shall shine forth and the plan shall be
completed as the apostle saith, For God has allowed us to know the secret of His
plan, and it is this: He purposed long ago in His sovereign will that all human history
should be consummated in Christ, that everything that exists in Heaven or earth should
find its perfection and fulfillment in Him. In Christ we have been given an
inheritance, since we were destined for this, by the One who works out all His purposes
according to the design of His own will (Eph. 1:9-11, Phillips).
The very laws of
physics and mathematics establish with indisputable certainty the absolute inevitability
of the creations return back into God. Psalm nineteen was long a source of amusement
to Bible critics. In speaking of the sun, the Psalmist says: His going forth is from
the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing
hid from the heat thereof (Ps. 19:6). It was claimed that the writer of this verse
obviously believed in the ancient notion of the suns revolving about the earth. This
charge is most unjust, since we still use words and phrases of the same sort, simply
because from our natural viewpoint the sun does rise in the morning, move across the sky,
and set in the evening. The whole science of nautical and engineering astronomy is based
on the assumption, made purely for convenience, that the earth is the center of a great
celestial sphere, moving along the surface of which in ordered paths are the sun, moon,
planets and stars. And as far as any practical usage is concerned, this is so. On this
assumption, courses can be plotted, positions determined, and scores of other applications
made.
But the words of
the Psalmist have a deeper, more scientific meaning than that. It is now concluded by the
leading astronomers that the sun, with the entire solar system, actually does move through
space at the tremendous speed of 600,000 miles per hour in such a gigantic orbit that it
requires over two million centuries to complete it, but complete it it shall, returning
again and again, as the ages roll onward, to the point of its beginning. Furthermore, it
is believed that our galaxy is also moving with respect to other galaxies. The suns
circuit IS from one end of the heavens to the other! Who can accuse the Holy Spirit of
ignorance of modern astronomy?
The entire
universe is an infinite sphere and each galaxy, solar system, star and planet within it
moves continuously and harmoniously in circular motion; thus, all worlds and suns have
circles for their pathway. This principle has been referred to by scientists as the law
of circularity. Science is beginning to tell us that in the highest development of
physics and mathematics the old theory of straight lines of infinite length has to be
changed and modified to satisfy all the data of electro-dynamics, light, and some of the
new electrical phenomena. There is no such thing in the universe as an absolutely straight
line of infinite length. All straight lines will be found to be portions of immense
circles. This law of circularity runs through all nature. If you were to leave planet
earth traveling steadily in one direction, the day would surely come, be it in some
distant age millions or billions of years hence, when you would arrive back at the precise
point of departure, having completed the circuit home again! Someone (a scientist)
has said that if we were to build a telescope that would see into infinity, we would one
day be looking at the back of our heads!
This great law of
circularity by which all things in Gods creation are seen to RETURN to the place of
their BEGINNING, in its spiritual significance, is expressed in Rom. 11:36: For FROM
HIM and THROUGH HIM and TO HIM are all things for all things originate with Him and
come from Him; all things live through Him, and all things center in and tend to
CONSUMMATE AND TO END IN HIM. To Him be glory forever! Amen (Amplified). All
manifestations of nature discernible to the senses confirm this law of circularity. The
sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. The
wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about
continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run
into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither
they return again (Eccle 1:5-7).
The King James
version of Rom. 11:36 begins, For of Him... This word of comes
from the Greek word ek literally meaning OUT OF. This clearly places God as the
Source of all things, and hence the Amplifieds beautiful translation, For all
things originate with Him and come from Him. Col. 1:16 says, For it was IN HIM
that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen,
whether thrones, dominions, rulers or authorities (Amplified).
The law of
circularity requires that EVEN AS ALL THINGS BEGAN IN CHRIST, ALL SHALL END IN CHRIST.
I am ALPHA and OMEGA, the beginning and the end, the first
and the last, saith the Lord (Rev. 22:13). Only the glorious mind of
Christ can reveal to our hearts what that means! Through a glass darkly I can see that He
was the FIRST before all things. Can I also believe that HE IS THE
LAST? If He is the BEGINNING, can my feeble mind dare to comprehend what it signifies when
He says that He is also the END? All that existed IN CHRIST before the ages began, shall
RETURN INTO HIM AGAIN that He may be the FIRST and the LAST, the BEGINNING and
the END. All that came out of Him, lowered into the realm of vanity, completes its circuit
and returns once more to its former estate RETURN TO PARADISE!
From the earliest
years of my memory there stirred deep within my bosom an insatiable longing after Christ.
Though only a child, I wanted to know Him who once was spat upon for me, who was crowned
with thorns for me, who died and rose again and ascended to the highest heaven for me. I
wanted to intimately KNOW the Christ, the great and good Friend who was compassionate to
all men, who forgave the thieves and harlots and drunkards, and healed the sick and
gladdened the sorrowful, who brought the dead to life again, and loved and blessed the
children. Oh! how I wanted to KNOW HIM! Sometime after my twelfth birthday, the Lord came
to me in a remarkable visitation, flooding my life with billows of His presence, power and
glory. From that moment Christ became a living Reality. He filled the skies. He filled the
earth. He filled my life and flooded my heart with unspeakable love for His creation. He
whispered in my ear and unfolded within the depths of my spirit the precious knowledge
that He is the Good Shepherd who will seek until the last lost sheep is in His fold. He
proclaimed the omnipotence of His love in the sweetest of tones. The Good Shepherd who
came from heaven, and gave His life, will seek, and seek, and seek, and save, and save,
and save, until He has brought all men back to God. This is the work of the Redeemer and
the redeemed. I remember sitting, some time after this experience, in the auditorium of
the public school in the rural community where we lived in south
They told me as I
went on in my Christian life that Christ did not die for every one. How is that,
I would ask, the scripture says that He tasted death for EVERY MAN (Heb. 2:9).
But,
Ah, but,
I said, here is another scripture which says, For therefore we both labour and
suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men,
specially of those that believe. THESE THINGS COMMAND AND TEACH (I Tim. 4:10-11). It
says, ALL men But it does not mean that, they contended,
And you will be a heretic if you say that! But, I said, Peter
wrote in his epistle that GOD IS NOT WILLING that ANY should perish, but that ALL should
come to repentance, and Paul wrote to Timothy that God WILL HAVE ALL MEN to be saved, and
to come unto the knowledge of the truth. If God wills all men to be saved, and men will
not to be saved, whose will is stronger, the will of God, or the will of men? Many try to
absolve God from the responsibility for His creation by saying that MANS WILL is
more powerful than GODS WILL, that God cannot, or will not CHANGE mens wills,
that men will to be sinful and hostile to God, therefore God cannot save them. But all
such forget that nor only did God create man, HE CREATED MANS WILL WITH ALL ITS
CAPABILITIES AND PROPENSITIES! It is my deep conviction that in the end it is GODS
WILL that shall be done! But, Preston, they said, God made man a
free-moral-agent, and if man wills to be lost God will not override his will. Well,
I said, that is what you say, but that is not what the Bible says.
And,
I said, Paul states these unmistakable words in Rom. 5:15-19, But Gods
free gift is not at all to be compared to the trespass His grace is out of all
proportion to the fall of man. For if many died through one mans falling away
much more profusely did Gods grace and the free gift that comes through the
undeserved favor of the one Man Jesus Christ, abound and overflow to and for the benefit
of many. Well then, as one mans trespass one mans false step and
falling away led to condemnation for A-L-L M-E-N, SO one Mans act of
righteousness leads to acquittal and right standing with God, and life for A-L-L
M-E-N. For just as by one mans disobedience THE MANY (the mass, all) were
constituted sinners, SO by one Mans obedience THE MANY (the mass, all) WILL BE
CONSTITUTED RIGHTEOUS made acceptable to God, brought into right standing with Him
(Amplified Bible). Oh, they would say, it cannot mean that by one
Mans act all will be saved, for man is a free-moral-agent and he must make up his
own mind, and if he rejects the offer of life during this life it will never be offered
again. Ah, my good friend, I reply, it does not say that. You are
putting words into Gods mouth.
And here,
I said, Jesus says, I, if I be lifted up from the earth WILL DRAW A-L-L M-E-N
unto Me (Jn. 12:32). It does not mean that, they argued, it
means He will draw all men who believe. But how many does it say He will draw?
All men. To which I answer, If that proclamation is not true, if He is
not strong enough, and purposeful enough, and loving enough to draw every spirit on earth
and in hell, and throughout the universe, to Himself, then He has told a lie. If He can,
but wont, then He is a mean, hard, vindictive tyrant. And if He cant, then Hes
not God. Oh,
It came with such
power one day. I said, Oh Master! let me have a word that covers it with certainty.
As I began to pray, my thoughts went to what Christ had prayed, recorded in Jn. 17:1-3, as
He opened His lips and prayed to the Father, saying, Father, the hour is come;
glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may also glorify Thee: as Thou hast given Him POWER OVER ALL
FLESH, that He should give eternal life to AS MANY AS THOU HAST GIVEN HIM. And this is
eternal life, that THEY might KNOW THEE the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou
hast sent. I have always been fond of a plain, straight logic. As I read those
beautiful verses, I saw that Jesus WAS GIVEN POWER OVER ALL FLESH, making All Flesh His,
that He might give eternal life to as many as God had given Him power over; therefore, as
God had given Him power over ALL FLESH, and He had authority to give eternal life to all
that had been given Him, to all flesh, it was perfectly clear that eventually all flesh,
all spirits born into human flesh should be redeemed, and brought back to God.
I do not hesitate
to preach it. I do not hesitate to tell it. At the same time I have warned the sinner that
if he sins, the face of God is against him; that if he sins, hell is in front of him; the
way of the transgressor is hard, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men; let no man deceive you with vain words, for
because of these things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience. But let
us not falsely say that such men will never be saved.
Long millenniums
ago Adam was banished from the Paradise of God and its life-giving tree. But God has
provided a way by which His banished may return! Some glad morning, when the unfolding
plan of God is complete, all who once stood in Adam in the Garden will again
be gathered together and their eyes will behold with endless joy that heaven blest
In the typology
of scripture the Garden of Eden is synonymous with the Holiest of All. In the power of
Christ, though the firstfruits of Christs redemption still move about in a world
which is under the curse, where the traces of sin are visible on all hands, they have
found their way, by faith, to the bosom of the Father, and are NOW AT HOME AGAIN IN GOD!
The mighty transformation that has come and is coming to our lives shall be experienced
ultimately by ALL MEN, Gods own law of circularity secures it, and none can resist
it, praise His glorious name!
Chapter
39
RETURN
TO
(continued)
And the
Lord God planted a garden eastward in
To him that
overcometh will I give to eat of the TREE OF LIFE WHICH IS IN THE MIDST OF THE PARADISE OF
GOD (Rev. 2:7).
It is generally
supposed by most professed Christians that the words paradise and heaven
are essentially synonymous and that in the Bible they are both used to describe the eternal
home of the saved. There is an old tradition, however, one of the many
doctrines of the Pharisees taught by the Rabbis in the time of Christ, that
there was a realm of the world of the dead, called Sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek,
located deep in the heart of the earth. Out of the discussions and theories of the Rabbis,
there grew a popular belief that Sheol, or Hades, was divided into two compartments, the
lower and the upper, Gehenna comprising the lower, the region of the damned with its
flames and torments; the upper being Paradise, the intermediate place of bliss and rest
into which, at the time of death, the spirits of the righteous entered to await the
resurrection day at the end of the world.
The earnest
prayer within my heart is that Gods apprehended ones may turn aside from all such
carnal-minded traditions and fables of the Pharisees. Jesus warned His disciples: Take
heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees... then understood
they how that He bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the DOCTRINE
of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees (Mat. 16:6,12). Paul also admonished Titus,
his son in the faith, Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of
men, that turn from the truth (Tit. 1:14). There is only ONE PARADISE to be found in
all the pages of Gods blessed Book, and that is the glorious Paradise in
All the important
revelations in the Book of Revelation are taught by symbols. The symbols used in
Revelation, in fact, throughout the entire Bible, are things and circumstances concerning
which we, as humans, have at least some knowledge; otherwise the symbolic language of the
Bible would have no meaning to us. There are things we know about the sun, the moon, the
stars, and about sheep and goats, wheat and tares, rivers and trees, storms and
earthquakes. So when the Bible uses these as symbols, certain lessons are conveyed to us.
In Revelation
chapters two and three, seven wonderful promises are made to the faithful followers of
Jesus, the overcomers of this present age. All these promises are illustrated
by things with which we have at least some acquaintance. We read in chapter two, verse
ten, Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. No
child of God possessing a spiritual mind, in reading this, supposes that he will be
wearing a literal crown in some far-off heaven someday! A crown signifies rulership, and
the overcomers will share in the highest form of life in the universe, the divine and
incorruptible life of God. To receive a crown of life means to rule and reign
in the power and nature of the divine life!
In chapter two,
verse seventeen the promise is given, To him that overcometh will I give to eat of
the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written,
which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. The expression, hidden
manna, takes us back to the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. In the Most Holy of this
tabernacle, was the Ark of the Covenant. In this was placed a golden bowl of
manna. While the manna collected daily by the Israelites corrupted, bred worms, and stank,
that which they placed in this golden bowl did not. This, then, reveals the truth of
INCORRUPTIBILITY. No spiritual person supposes, however, that the overcomers will someday
go to heaven and eat literal manna from a literal golden bowl! But all who are apprehended
to the High Calling of God in Christ shall eat and eat and eat of the incorruptible bread
of HIS INCORRUPTIBLE LIFE until all the death of the carnal mind and the corruption of the
flesh in them has been swallowed up of His life and the day comes when, even in their
bodies, this mortal shall have put on immortality and this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption.
In Rev. 3:12 the
promise is, Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he
shall go no more out. No overcomer will be transformed into a pillar, as Lots
wife was turned into a pillar of salt, to be placed in a literal temple in heaven. This is
a symbol of the sure and fixed position to be attained by those who overcome all things.
Now we are being processed, tried, and tested, and are subject to falls along
the way. We catch a vision of high and holy realms in God and, in moments of exceptional
anointing, enter for a little while into those blessed experiences, only to have the
anointing lift and the vision fade, once more to face the mundane activities of daily
life. Ah, there is a promise, bright and blessed, that in due time the processing will be
completed, the testing will be finished, the secret inworkings of God consummated, and
those who have overcome will be as pillars, fixed and secure, in that glorious spiritual
temple which will be the meeting place between God and men in the ages yet to come.
Beloved, so
should we understand the blessed promise given of eating of the tree of life in the midst
of the Paradise of God. This does not mean that the overcoming sons of God will live in an
earthly
THE WAY OF THE
CROSS LEADS HOME
We often ask
earnestly, How can I enter fully into this glorious life of
But what is the
cross? Does Christs death save us unless we die WITH HIM? Our Lord distinctly
says, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross,
and follow Me; for whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose HIS
LIFE for My sake shall find it (Mat. 16:25). Again, This is a faithful
saying, If we be dead WITH HIM, we shall live with Him: if we deny Him, He also
will deny us (II Tim. 2:11-12). The overcomer must be able to say, I am
crucified WITH CHRIST, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me
(Gal. 2:20). We are debtors, not to live after the flesh, for if we live after the
flesh we shall die; but if we through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, we
shall live (Rom. 8:12-13).
Why is the way of
life for us through the cross, that is through death? Why can it not be otherwise? If we
see the way by which man got away from God, we shall see the way of his return, and why
this must be through death; for indeed the way, by which we came away from God in
A friend has
shared this beautiful explanation of the fall of man in
In FORM,
then, the serpent had a truth. He had, in fact, drawn on the very word of God itself to
tempt Adam and Eve, for the Lord had said, Let us make man in our image. What
the serpent failed to reveal, however, was the ESSENCE of the form which is that
INDEPENDENTLY OF GOD man can NEVER be a partaker of the divine nature! This should have
been a self-evident truth, but man failed to see it. He was deceived by the very form of
truth taking the Word of God which had promised to make him in the image of God,
receiving it as a DOCTRINE rather than a revelation, as FORM rather than life, and was
thereby brought to ruin, cheated out of the very thing he sought.
Man becomes
a god in the eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil but he becomes a god
in the wrong realm, for at the same time that God acknowledged mans deity
He also CAST HIM FROM THE GARDEN cast him from the heavenly realm and set
him in the earth to till the ground from which he was taken. Musing upon this
incident years later, the prophet David wrote, What is man that Thou art mindful of
him... for Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands. It was as a
god that man had dominion, but a further reading of this passage reveals that the works of
the hands of God over which man was given dominion under the first covenant was limited to
the EARTH REALM. Thus, we find that Adam truly became a god as the
serpent promised and God confirmed but he was not an heavenly god. He became,
rather, the god of THIS world (II Cor. 4:4). It is one thing, however, to be
a partaker of the DIVINE NATURE and it is quite another thing to be the god
of THIS WORLD. In the former, there is contained the thought of TOTAL DEPENDENCE
in the latter, the principle of
By disobedience
and independence man was separated from God and died to Gods world. Can we not see
by this that death is a PASSING OUT OF ONE WORLD INTO ANOTHER? Adam passed from Gods
world into his OWN WORLD and by this death TO GOD man lost the place which
God had given him in Paradise, fell into the kingdom of darkness; as Andrew Jukes said,
His inward life turned like sweet wine into sourest vinegar, into a life of
ceaseless aching restlessness; to escape which he turns to outward things, hating to come
to himself even for a moment, unconsciously driven by his own inward dissatisfaction to
seek diversion from himself in any outward care, pleasure, or vanity; while his body
became like that of the beasts, subject to the elements of this world, and to all the
change and toil which make up the course of this world. From that
fateful day to this man without God has been hopelessly blind to eternal things, pitifully
helpless, and desperately carnal. Once our eyes become closed to the invisible
things, then we are blind to the eternal things, for the things which are seen are
temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. When our eyes are closed
to the invisible, then our vision changes from things above to things beneath.
Because we are no longer conscious of the invisible and the eternal, we begin to feast our
eyes on the visible and the temporal. Without God men are hopelessly IN THE FLESH. They
pass their time in worthless pursuits of the flesh. Their days are spent in vanity,
seeking to gratify the five senses of the physical body, all of which perish with the
using. They are remarkably ALIVE to a PERISHING realm, the realm of death.
As Andrew Jukes
put it, such was the fall of man, and it explains why death is needful for our return to
God. Death is the only way out of any world in which we are. It was by death to God that
we fell out of Gods world. And it is by death WITH CHRIST to sin and to this
world that we are delivered from the power of sin and the toil and sorrows of this outward
world. For we are, as the Word of God and our own hearts tell us, not only in the outward
world bodily, but in our spirits we are living in a spiritual world, which surely is not
heavenly, but hellish, and no soul of man is at rest or satisfied till quickened by the
Spirit of God. And, may I say, you will never get out of this world alive! To get out of
this dark world we must die: die to this physical sense-oriented nature, to get out of the
seen world, and die to sin to get out of the power of darkness. We must die both to the
bodily realm and the spiritual realm of darkness if we would be free to enter again
through the portals of
But now we ask,
How can I die this death? The answer is, Get another life! We
often speak about the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, but I doubt if we fully
realize that the Holy Spirit is a HEAVENLY LIFE come to expel the selfish, fleshy,
corruptible, earthly life. Death alone, without ANOTHER LIFE is not and cannot of itself
be enough to bring us back to Gods world! We need death to get out of this world,
but we also must have the life of God to live in Gods world! Just as without the
life of this world we could not enter this world, so Gods life must again be
quickened in man before he can live again in Gods Kingdom. In Christ the work has
been accomplished! In Him Gods life has again been raised up in man, and in the
power of this life Christ has died both to sin and to the world, and so, through death,
resurrection, and ascension has come back out of darkness to Gods right hand. But
whether in Christ, or in us, the work is only wrought through death.
Fallen man is
still excluded from
Crucified WITH
HIM! How can I enter into this fellowship of the cross? We find an illustration in the
story of the penitent thief. The immature and self-assured disciples made all kinds of
brash statements prior to Christs death. Thomas said, Let us go and abide with
Him. And Peter said, Lord I am ready to go with Thee, both into prison, and to
death. But the disciples all failed, and our Lord took a man who was the off
scouring of the earth and hung him upon the cross of
Let us consider
with care the drama of
During those
moments of agony upon the cross, God ordained that one solitary firstfruit of Adams
race should be gathered from the world of sin and death and restored to the Paradise of
God as wonderful proof that the way was opened up. It was the Spirit of God that moved
upon the heart of this dying thief, causing him to turn his eyes upon the crucified Lord.
There was a quickening, a rending of the veil of the carnal mind, an opening of the
heavens above him, and in an instant his vision became clearer than that of all the
multitude, and the soldiers, and the priests, and even the disciples. He saw in the Man
hanging between him and his fellow thief, the Messiah, the Son of God, the second Adam,
come to OPEN ANEW THE GATE OF THE PARADISE OF GOD.
Thank God, the
Jesus of the penitent thief is my Jesus! Thank God, the cross of the penitent thief is my
cross! During the thirty-three years of Christs life there was not a man upon earth
that had such wonderful fellowship with the Son of God as the penitent thief, for with the
Son of God he entered glory. What made him so separate from others? He was on the cross
WITH JESUS and entered Paradise WITH HIM. And if I live upon the cross with Jesus, the
As another has so
wisely exhorted: Let us commune together of things that will greatly help our walk
in God, for the Spirit of God teaches me that Gods people will not yea,
cannot forget the things which are behind until the glory of the things which lie
before has laid hold upon them, captivating their hearts, enthralling their vision, and
quickening their steps as they urgently press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. He who wears a thin and ragged coat will wrap it
close about him and keep it as a precious thing, though in it his body shivers with cold, until a new and better
garment is offered him. Then, despising the old, he will cast it from him to embrace with
joy the new. Gods people do not yea, cannot release their hold on the
fleeting things of this present evil age, persuade them as we will, until their vision has
caught a true glimpse of the eternal. 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.
BEYOND THE
BORDERLAND
Few men have been
caught away by the spirit of inspiration as was the wise king Solomon when he penned the
beautiful Song of Solomon. God dropped one thousand and five songs down into the heart of
Solomon, but of these, only five, comprising the Song of Solomon, have been preserved and
have found a place in Holy Scripture. Inspiration named it The Song of songs.
Just as the Holy of holies was the Holiest place of all, just as the Heaven
of the heavens is the highest Heaven of all, just as the King of kings
is the greatest King of all, so the Song of songs is above and beyond all the
songs that have ever come from human heart and human lips.
Gods
meaning of a song is message, revelation. All songs are meant to
convey a message. Man calls anything a song, any weird beat, the ba-ba-bu of the
jungle is merchandised as a song. In the Book of Revelation we read of a new song
bespeaking a NEW MESSAGE, a NEW REVELATION, a NEW EXPERIENCE in God. The Song
of songs doesnt just contain a revelation, it is THE REVELATION OF
REVELATIONS, the MESSAGE OF MESSAGES. This is the Song that is above all other songs; a
Song sent down from the courts of Heaven, from the throne of God; a strain from the
celestial choir. This is the ineffable, preeminent Song; ineffable because it is of the
ineffable love and relation between Christ and His bride. Preeminent because it is of Him
who is The Head of the body, the Church; because it is of Him, Who is
the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things He might have the
preeminence. For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him should all the
fullness dwell.
In chapter four
of this lovely Song there is a beautiful passage in which the Bridegroom calls to the
bride, imploring, Come with Me from Lebanon, My spouse, with Me from Lebanon: look
from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Herman, from the lions dens, from
the mountains of the leopards.
The lion is the
symbol of the enemy as a roaring, open foe, going about seeking whom he may devour;
strong, courageous, but bitter and full of open hatred toward God and man. The leopard is
the symbol of the enemy, as a subtle, fierce, swift foe, moving against the spiritual life
of Gods people. In Revelation 13:2, the leopard is used as an emblem of the
antichrist spirit. It is in the borderlands, the enemy pushes the fiercest warfare that he
may capture and destroy those who are escaping from the corruption that is in the
world by lust.
He never pursues
and attacks those who are in the world and have no desire to escape; neither can he follow
those who hasten beyond the borderlands and border mountains to dwell in the secret place
of the Most High, to which God is calling his chosen ones. It is against those who linger
between the world and the
In the natural,
mountains once crossed do not face us again; but spiritually, these mountains of decision,
which lie between Gods best and compromise, are continually facing us in realm after
realm. At every step and point of decision, in every experience and circumstance, the call
of God to come away with Him, is as urgent as it was the first time He called us. Even
after we leave the high peaks and ranges of the border mountains, it is surprising how
many foothills there are before we are clear of the borderland; and we are not safe until
we have left even the foothills. Many times the enemy makes sudden sallies and carries a
belated traveler back to the highest peak of bewilderment and indecision.
The Bridegroom
would not have His beloved loiter in these mountains; He calls her to come with Him that
she may possess ALL OF THAT WHICH HE HAS PREPARED FOR HER. He has translated her out of
darkness into His marvelous light, out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of
light; and He would not have her lingering in the questionable region that separates light
from darkness. He woos her to hasten in the race, by inviting her to look from these high
passes and behold the glorious Paradise of God shining bright before her, the land of the
fullness of the glory of the Lord where man walks in the image of God.
It is not enough
to have visions of the High Calling of God in Christ. It is not enough to have visions of
the life of sonship to God. It is not enough to have visions of a realm of perfection and
glory where the carnal mind is exchanged for the mind of Christ and death is swallowed up
of His life. Visions are not possession; and though they may be from God, they are only
given to encourage us to hasten our footsteps that we may enter in. It is not enough for
us to leave the world and religious
How many who
start on the journey, settle down in these border mountains! How many settle for something
better than what God called them out of, but LESS THAN WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN CALLED TO! Ah,
yes, this borderland is an alluring place, a subtle experience, a crafty and cunning
temptation. It is the territory between
The borderlands
are a dangerous place for all who SETTLE THERE. If they are not devoured by the enemy that
lurks there, they eventually retrace their steps and are found in the world from whence
they came. Ah, we praise God for these borderlands, for it is needful that we PASS THROUGH
them, but pass through we must! The mountain vision of a distant land of beauty and
sunshine does not feed nor warm the one who sees it. Moses did not go over into Canaan,
though for forty years he bore the children of
Though the
vineyards were ever so green and fruitful, what joy could they bring to him who would
never enjoy their fruits nor drink of their vintage? Though the pomegranates were large
and luscious, though the olive trees were green and loaded with fruit, he would never eat
of this perfect fruit nor be anointed with the pure, abundant oil. Though the sun shone
brighter than he had ever seen it in
There were some
among the disciples, who were privileged to behold the glory of the heavenly
Though Peter,
James and John beheld the glory of Christs Sonship and heard the voice of the Father
witnessing to Him, they could not go with Him at this time. Before they could go in to the
glory of sonship to God they had a course to run, they had a ministry to fulfill, they had
a fight to fight, they had a faith to keep even unto death. Only when they had done these
things, could they enter into this glory, which they beheld in a measure upon the Mount of
Transfiguration. So it is with us. How beautiful is that land of far distances! Our souls
are ravished by the revelations of our high calling, which we see while upon this high
elevation, caught up in the Spirit. But we must come down and hasten over the path that
leads to the possession of all we have seen, and all that God has offered us. There is no
working of the enemy so treacherous as the working of deception that would make us mistake
for POSSESSION the great REVELATIONS God gives of sonship and the
Truly, this is
the enemy as a treacherous leopard, deceiving the unwary soul. If the deception is not
perceived in time, that soul becomes puffed-up with a lot of HEAD-KNOWLEDGE and
SELF-SATISFACTION, which is fatal to receiving that which has been revealed. Better would
it be to not have any revelations, than to mistake them for land possessed; for some who
steadily obey the Lord and follow Him without such revelations, will reach the goal; while
the others may not.
How the Lord woos
His chosen ones to come after Him! From those high border places over which we must go to
come into the land, He lets us look upon His Garden. He allows us to overlook the high
terraces of the Paradise of God, and oft times we catch glimpses of the Forerunner who has
entered there for us. With that vision permeating our hearts, we hasten onward!
Though my natural
eyes have not beheld the sacred glories of
JUSTIFIED!!!
Old Adam, the
flesh, the carnal mind will never pass through the portals of
Justification is
neither forgiveness nor pardon. Forgiveness, of necessity, is a recognition of guilt
but covered by mercy. To forgive means to overlook an offence and to give up the
desire to punish. Without guilt THERE CAN BE NO FORGIVENESS! Nor does justification mean
to make righteous; this, too, would be a recognition of guilt, unrighteousness, and thus
justification would be a correcting of an unrighteous state, not a declaration of
righteousness. No one is justified by the law for the law CONDEMNS, and
condemnation is antithesis of justification. We are justified by the faith of
Christ, and not by the works of the law (Gal. 2:16), for there is therefore
now NO CONDEMNATION to them that are in Christ Jesus (
It may be shown
by contrasting CONDEMNATION with JUSTIFICATION that both acts are judicial and not
executive. The act of granting pardon is an executive act, the act of a ruler
president, king, governor etc. who grants reprieve to one pronounced guilty
by a judge or jury simply because it pleases him to do so. He thereby restores to society
one who is still JUDICIALLY GUILTY, yet free to resume his place in society as a normal
citizen. Justification, on the other hand, is the act of a judge, a forensic
act, in which a judge pronounces the person arraigned as FREE FROM GUILT and entitled to
be treated as righteous according to the law. If to condemn does not mean
to make evil then to justify does not mean to make good.
Therefore, since condemnation is judicial, so, also, justification. When the Bible says,
God justifies the believer, we are not at liberty to say that it means
that He either pardons, forgives, or sanctifies him. It means, and can only mean that He
pronounces him JUST without fault.
Justification
must not be confused with sanctification. Justification does not bring about reformation,
or a change of character, causing those who were bad to become good.
It is a declarative act on the part of God in His judicial role as Judge, and not in His
executive role as Sovereign. It is a forensic act in which the Lord declares that the
accused is NOT GUILTY, and the accused cannot be condemned but must be granted an
acquittal, declaring the one arraigned to be entitled to all the blessings, benefits and
rights of the
Ah to be
justified means to be ACQUITTED. Acquitted means to be declared by a court of law NOT
GUILTY EXONERATED! Justification means that you really DIDNT DO IT! Thus,
justification relates not to forgiveness or pardon for the errors and sins of the OLD
NATURE, but to the STANDING AND STATE OF BEING OF THE NEW CREATION. The New Man, born from
above, really DIDNT DO IT! The New Man is CHRIST IN YOU, the divine nature,
the image of God. The old man is declared DEAD, the New Man is positively NOT GUILTY,
therefore we are JUSTIFIED before God, acquitted, and the case dismissed! God delivers us
from all that we are in the first Adam, that we may be all that is true in the last Adam.
So, AS HE IS, so are we in this world (I Jn. 4:17), and If ye know that
He is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is BORN OF HIM (I
Jn. 2:29). Furthermore, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed
remaineth in him: he cannot sin, because he is born of God (I Jn. 3:9).
Therefore, ...since
we are justified acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God
through faith, let us grasp the fact that we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ... therefore, since we are now justified acquitted by Christs
blood, how much more certain is it that we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and
wrath of God (Rom. 5:1,9, Amplified Bible).
Yes, old Adam was
pronounced GUILTY and banished from Edens fair Garden. But new Adam is declared
RIGHTEOUS and may, therefore, stride boldly back into
J. PRESTON EBY
THE
END
Of
the Study of
Echoes From Eden
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