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"Teaching the things concerning
the kingdom of God..."
Looking
For His Appearing
Book
One
Table of Contents
Chapter
Title
Page
2. The Coming of the Holy Spirit 16
3. The Coming of Christ in Men 29
4. The Coming of Christ in the Feasts 42
5. The Coming of Christ in the Feasts (cont.) 55
6. The Coming of Christ in the Feasts (cont.) 67
7. The Coming of Christ in the Feast of Tabernacles 80
8. The Coming of Christ in the Feast of Tabernacles (cont.) 92
9. The Parousia Of Jesus Christ 104
10. The Parousia Of Jesus Christ (cont.) 116
11. The Parousia Of Jesus Christ (cont.) 128
12. The Apokalupsis Of Jesus Christ 141
13. The Epiphaneia Of Jesus Christ 154
14. The Epiphaneia Of Jesus Christ (cont.) 167
15. The Phanerosis Of Jesus Christ 179
16. The Coming of the Morning Star 191
17. The Coming of the Sun of Righteousness 203
18. The Coming of the Sun of Righteousness (cont.) 215
19. The Coming of the Sun of Righteousness (cont.) 227
21. Coming as the Rain (cont.) 252
23. Coming with Clouds (cont.) 277
Chapter 1
The Coming of the Lord
It was the last night of the
revival in the sleepy little south
I was just a boy at the time, but
it made a profound impression on me. In fact, when I saw my first aurora borealis, it
nearly scared me to death. I was sure Jesus was coming at last, and I knew for a certainty
that I was not ready for it. On another occasion I arrived home from school one late
afternoon. I stepped off the school bus in our rural district and made my way up the
embankment to the house. The house was open, the windows up, the doors unlocked; but no
one was to be found. Mother wasn't there. My brothers weren't there. The house was empty!
I called but no one answered. I checked across the road at the neighbors and they were
gone, too. Suddenly a terrible fear seized me and my blood ran cold. "Oh, my
God!" I thought, "the rapture has taken place and I have been left." There
is no doubt that I was the happiest little boy in the whole world that afternoon when my
mother came walking across the hollow. Of course, Jesus hadn't come that day nor has He
come (in that manner) any other day in the past forty years. Looking back, I wonder why it
took me so long to question what the preacher said.
Of course, among those who believe
in the return of the Lord, most simply take it for granted that His return could take
place at any moment, But is that true? Is it possible that you might step out the front
door of your home tonight, see a bright light flashing across the sky, and suddenly
realize that Jesus IS RETURNING, and He is returning NOW? After all, Jesus did promise to
return. "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go ... I WILL COME AGAIN, and
receive you unto myself" (Jn. 14:2-3). "For as the lightning comes out of the
east, and shines even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be"
(Mat. 24:27). Make no mistake about it! Jesus did promise to go away and to return to
planet earth.
In World War II when General
Douglas MacArthur withdrew from the
Before the Lord Jesus Christ left
this earth to ascend to heaven, He said, "I will come again." He, as the
glorified Christ, repeated these words to the apostle John on the lonely
Plain as Jesus had made the
promise of His coming again to His disciples, at the time of His ascension, they still did
not seem to grasp its significance. A faithful group of His followers stood looking upward
on that historic occasion. As the Lord ascended, He perceived their consternation and sent
messengers of assurance: "And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went
up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, You men of Galilee,
why stand you gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into
heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven" (Acts
1:10-11).
No subject in the entire Bible has
gendered more interest, study, speculation, and theological debate than the return of
Christ. It has been interwoven into practically every theory, creed, or doctrine expounded
by man. Through the ages it has been the object of scorn and mockery by enemies of truth,
and not a few times has it, through ignorance and carnal reasoning, suffered abuse and
distortion by well meaning friends. No subject has been more misunderstood or misconstrued
than this great truth; and yet it is the hope of the ages. The focus of the entire
scriptures is upon this great event. It is interesting to note that when men drew near to
God they would receive glimpses of this truth. Certainly the scriptures have much to say
about it but only the blessed Spirit of Truth can make it substance in our lives.
Most of the differences in
scriptural interpretation among Christians is the result of an incomplete knowledge of the
plan and purpose of God. Much of what is taught and believed in Christian circles today is
derived from the wrong source - Bible study! That statement may astound you, and you may
demand to know why I say that the great mass of confusion in Bible teaching stems from the
wrong source - Bible study. What's wrong with Bible study? Isn't this very article an
effort in Bible study? Ah, there is nothing whatever wrong with Bible study IF WE HAVE THE
RIGHT TEACHER TEACHING US. Christians gather together in Bible schools, Bible study
groups, Sunday schools, etc., to study the Word of God, but the problem with the vast
majority of such groups is that they have the wrong teacher - the human, natural, carnal
mind! They try to decipher the deep and wondrous and spiritual mysteries of the Word of
God with the human intellect, instead of allowing the One whom God sent to be our teacher,
the Holy Spirit of Truth, to unveil to pure minds and transformed hearts the hidden
mysteries of the
When we think we know it all, we
shut ourselves off from further revelation, and make it impossible for the Spirit of Truth
to guide us into all truth. We need to pay heed to the Biblical injunction, "If any
man think that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know" (I Cor.
8:2). Yes, we still have a lot to learn, there is yet much of the total picture to be
revealed to us, and as the beams of divine revelation stream from the glory above, let us
ever walk in that light, and as we do, it will be fulfilled in us what the scriptures say,
"The path of the just is as a shining light, that shines more and more unto the
perfect day" (Prov. 4:18). There are many precious christians who believe, and have
received the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, who try to fit into this one, initial experience
with the Lord, all the parts of the Word of God that pertain to further experiences. The
infilling of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, the in Christ experience, sonship,
overcoming and reigning with Christ, and many others, they think these have all been
incorporated in this first experience of regeneration. Yet, those of us who have received
the infilling of the Holy Spirit as another experience, know what blessing and reality
they are depriving themselves of when they assume that they have received the infilling of
the Holy Spirit when they first believed. The infilling of the Spirit is not the end
either, as many Charismatics seem to believe, it is merely the beginning of more and more
wonderful experiences with the Lord, and we continue to walk in the Spirit and grow up
into the image and glory of God.
In entering upon this grand and
wondrous portion of the Word of God we desire to do so with profound reverence and
humility of spirit, dreading to rush in where angels may fear to tread; and anxiously
desirous to bring out of the inspired words what is really in them, and to put nothing
into them that is not really there. As I have said, there is no subject where there seems
to be more of the confusion that attends carnal minds conjuring up inaccurate and
half-stated and fancifully conceived theories than this subject of our Lord's return. It
will take intense spiritual effort, and much prayer and holy brokenness before God, to lay
aside all one has heard and hears, to lay down all preconceived notions and ideas, to find
out just what the Holy Spirit teaches. The one question ultimately must be, What does the
Word of God actually teach? and not, What have men taught? We are determined in this study
to be committed to the Spirit of Truth and the Word of God only, in receiving an
understanding of Christ's coming, irrespective of any or all traditional views that might
tend to influence a forced or unnatural conception. We must be willing to let inspiration
lead and interpretation follow. Some will be constantly tempted to stop and ask,
"Why! how can that be!" regarding some point brought out in the study. And
perhaps nowhere more than at the point of truth I shall now set forth!
It may surprise many of my readers
to learn that the Bible nowhere speaks of the "second coming" of Christ.
Interesting, isn't it - how some of the major and most commonly accepted doctrines of
professing Christianity cannot be found in the Bible? There is no mention whatever of such
things as Christmas, Easter, the "immaculate conception" of Mary, mass, popes,
church buildings, the Trinity, or - the "second coming"! The Spirit of God has
dealt with me severely and consistently through many years that the Lord's people should
purge their conversation, purify their terminology, and remove from their consciousness
the multitude of non-scriptural and extra-biblical expressions carried over from Mystery
Babylon. We have both parroted and coined a great many unscriptural terms that have been
so misleading and have led us astray in our understanding of the scriptures and the
wonderful plan of God.
How often we, like the babes in
the harlot's house, refer to a minister of the gospel as "the pastor" of our
church or some other congregation of saints. To hear all the Christians today constantly
talking about "our pastor," "their pastor," "your pastor,
"my pastor," and "the pastor," one would certainly be led to believe
that this position of "the pastor" must indeed be one of the cardinal doctrines
and most highly acclaimed offices in the New Testament! The fact is, precious friend of
mine, the phrase "the pastor" is entirely foreign to the Word of God. It is an
un-scriptural and extra-biblical term.
There was no man in the New
Testament church who ever occupied a position called "the pastor." Not one
church raised up by the twelve apostles or by Paul had any such ministry as "the
pastor." Oh, yes, there were "pastors" plural (Eph.
We have been so completely
saturated, so thoroughly brain-washed in the errors of the religious systems that we do by
rote and speak by habit the ridiculous absurdities imbibed in the pews of
May the Mighty God come speedily
with His coal of fire from off the holy altar of Eternal Truth and forever sanctify our
speech! The second coming of Christ is not a biblical phrase. It has no scriptural
warrant. It is my deep conviction that it should be discarded altogether, for it is the
cause of much confusion of thought and not a little positive error. Many texts speak of
the coming of Christ, the coming of the Son of man, the coming of the Lord or similar
phrases. The word "second" never occurs with a word that can be translated
"coming." Let us consider a few passages. "For as the lightning comes out
of the east, and shines even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man
be" (Mat. 24:27). "We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord
shall not prevent them which are asleep" (I Thes.
These texts, and many others, all
include the English word "coming." But the preachers, when preaching from these
texts, always ADD the word "second" to each one, and proceed to preach on
"the second coming of Christ"! They invariably add the word "second"
to every "coming" in the New Testament, and then add the "second coming of
Christ" to nearly every chapter in the Bible - even in the Old Testament. Adding
"second" to the word "coming" does violence to the meaning every time.
Jesus did not say, "the second coming of the Son of man." James did not say,
"Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the second coming of the Lord." Peter did
not ask, "Where is the promise of His second coming?" Paul did not say,
"Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall ... destroy with the
brightness of His second coming." There is no justification whatever for adding
"second" to any of these inspired passages. I have all the confidence in the
world that the Holy Spirit inspired them to be written exactly as they should be written -
without the word second! You will have to rewrite the entire New Testament to support the
doctrine of the "second coming" of the Lord. The "second coming" is
not a biblical expression and first occurred among Christians as late as the middle of the
second century after Christ. I can not emphasize too strongly that the word
"second" is NEVER used in Holy Writ with the word "coming." That is
the simple and plain and incontrovertible truth, and this fact is elementary and basic to
a correct understanding of the coming of the Lord!
Someone will surely raise the
question: Can not the expression "second coming" be justified by the closing
verse of the ninth chapter of Hebrews? The passage reads, "So Christ was once offered
to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear THE SECOND TIME
without sin unto salvation" (Heb.
Some have tried to find three
"appearings" in these verses, but there are only two. And the words are taken by
unthinking people as though "appear the second time," or "second
appearing" were somehow the equivalent of, or a synonym for, the "second
coming." But this is merely playing on the language of our English version. The two
"appearings" in this passage do not even refer to the so-called "first
coming" of the Christ in
In the types of the Old Testament
the atonement for sin was not accomplished with the killing of the animal, and the
sprinkling of the blood on the altar, the people and the tabernacle; not until the High
Priest presented himself in the
Verse twenty-eight speaks of
another APPEARING, even a second appearing in connection with our salvation. It begins
with these words, "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many (referring to
verses 24 and 26 where it says He entered the
And further, the definite article
must be omitted: "So Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many,
SHALL APPEAR A SECOND TIME, apart from sin, to them that wait for Him, unto
salvation." That is how the Greek text reads. The statement is not prophetic, but
doctrinal; and the doctrine in question is not the so-called "second coming,"
but the PRIESTHOOD! It is not the prediction of an event to be realized by those who shall
be alive on earth at the time of the end, but the declaration of a truth and a fact to be
realized by every elect member of the body of Christ, no matter in what dispensation his
sojourn upon earth may fall.
Our Lord Jesus Christ appears a
second time to those who LOOK FOR HIM, who diligently seek for Him and follow after Him;
not any more as a sin offering appearing in heaven for us, but in the mighty manifestation
of His power usward, UNTO SALVATION. And this salvation is the work of our great and
wonderful High Priest. This same wonderful truth is set forth in Heb. 7:25 in these words,
"Wherefore He is able also to SAVE THEM TO THE UTTERMOST that come unto God by Him,
seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them." This phrase is given by Phillips
as "He can save fully and completely." Young's Literal, "He is able to save
to the very end." Amplified, "He is able to save to the uttermost - completely,
perfectly, finally, and for all time and eternity."
The Greek points out that He is
able to save COMPLETELY. He is able to save ALL THE WAY, even unto the valley of the
shadow of death. He is able to save altogether, NOTHING LACKING - complete salvation with
no flaw, complete as only a holy and omniscient and omnipotent God knows completeness and
perfection. This salvation "to the uttermost" is a complete salvation of spirit,
soul and body reserved for those who "come unto God by Him" - those who follow
all the way, into the Holiest, within the veil, to know HIM in all His glorious and
eternal reality. And it is not a salvation effected by Jesus flashing across the sky, but
by our great High Priest ministering from His throne of intercession! "The
uttermost" is the strongest and extremist word in all the world. There cannot be
anything beyond the uttermost. The uttermost is situated on the very extremist rim, on the
very outmost edge, and on the very highest pinnacle of all existing things. It is the
limit, the boundary, the completeness, the perfection, the fullness, the summit, the apex
and the ultimate of all realities. Oh, the wonder of it! Salvation to the UTTERMOST! What
a limit! What a boundary! What a summit!
The "uttermost"
salvation cannot be understood apart from our High Priest who has secured it and who now
ministers it to us from that higher realm of incorruptibility. Jesus pointed to this day
when, on the night of His judgment, before crucifixion, He announced to the startled High
Priest, Caiaphas, this amazing proclamation, "You have said: nevertheless I say unto
you, Hereafter shall you see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming
in the clouds of heaven" (Mat. 26:64). To paraphrase, Jesus says, "Though now
you see me in this low and abject state, nevertheless the day is coming when I shall
appear otherwise. Though you watch me die upon a Roman cross as a sin-offering, you will
shortly see me sitting upon the throne of my
Father and coming in the clouds of heaven."
How prone we are to view these as
two events, separated by a vast span of time. Our conception is of Jesus sitting upon the
right hand of God for a couple thousand years, at the end of which time He leaves His
throne to "come in the clouds of heaven." NOT SO! "HEREAFTER you will
see..." So runs the King James version, translating a Greek phrase which signifies
unequivocally "from now on" - or literally, HENCEFORTH. But it is safe to say
that the average reader, reading from the Authorized version, generally understands it to
mean something very different - not "HENCEFORTH shall you see the Son of man sitting
on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven," but "in the
hereafter," at some point in the indefinite future, you will see the Son of man
"sitting" and then "coming." The correct thought is, "HENCEFORTH
- FROM N-O-W O-N you will see the Son of man sitting...
and coming." These two
events, the sitting and the coming, are simultaneous. They are co-extensive. They
transpire at the same time. And they both happen "from now on." He sits AND He
comes. He sits upon the throne of heavenly power and He comes in the clouds of heaven! He
sits as our great High Priest and He comes as our transforming Saviour. He doesn't sit and
then come, He comes while He sits. It is not two separate, independent actions, but a
two-fold, interdependent action.
Has He not come to you, precious
brother, sister, in mighty saving power even as He sits upon the throne on High? Is it not
true that He has power to save completely just BECAUSE He is seated upon the throne? Ah -
it is not Jesus crashing down through the skies who is able to save to the uttermost - it
is, rather, Christ our High Priest on the throne of the Majesty on High who is able to
save us to the uttermost, seeing HE EVER LIVES TO MAKE INTERCESSION FOR US. Oh, we read so
much into the Word of God that is not there! With our limited and faulty carnal reasoning
we distort it all out of shape, making it say what it does not say, and not say what it
does say. Why cannot men cease their ignorant prattlings and learn once and for all that
our Lord Jesus Christ is fully able to sit and to come at the same time! It is high time
for all of God's elect saints to learn that Jesus is both High Priest and Saviour at the
same instant. He sits and He comes. He has appeared once and for all before the Father in
heaven as our sin-offering, and now He sits there continually as the High Priest of that
mighty life. And unto all who LOOK FOR HIM He will APPEAR A SECOND TIME UNTO SALVATION. He
has appeared in the presence of God FOR US, and now He will appear a second time UNTO US.
The subject is not His "second coming," but His glorious saving PRIESTHOOD! It
is time for all men to believe the Word of God and cease from following their own shameful
delusions.
We have been led to think in terms
of the first coming and the second coming, whereas the Bible speaks in terms of the
progressive revelation of Jesus Christ. Our God does not talk about the "first
coming" and the "second coming" - He talks about the progressive revelation
of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. For example, let us take a look at that thought in Micah
5:2, "But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, though you be little among the thousands of Judah,
yet out of you shall He come forth unto Me who is to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings
forth have been of old, from everlasting."
Notice, His "goings
forth." The plural is used. The goings forth of the Lord speak about the Lord Jesus
Christ! Now, the idea of "goings" has to do with the onward marching of God -
the unfolding of the purpose of God, step by step. This is what is indicated here. This is
what history is all about, the progressive revelation of Jesus Christ, the marching
forward of God, the ever-increasing unveiling of Himself to man. The unfolding of end-time
events and God's order for the ages to come, which are the main contents of the last book
of the Bible, are called "the Revelation of Jesus Christ."
The term "second coming"
is as unfortunate as it is unscriptural. It implies there has been only one coming of
Christ thus far. This is not true. It may surprise you to learn that the scripture does
not treat His coming at
An abundance of scripture supports
the fact that Christ was before
The pages of the Old Testament are
literally sprinkled with the accounts of the Lord's comings, beginning in
In Gen. 17:1 we find that
"The Lord appeared unto Abraham." In Gen. 17:22 it says, "God left off
talking to Abraham, and WENT UP FROM HIM." Interesting, isn't it, that the
We dare not lose sight of the fact
that our Lord has already had many comings, many appearings. We have limited the comings
of Jesus strictly to two because of our unscriptural terms "first coming" and
"second coming," but the truth is that He came; He continued to come; He comes;
He continues to come; He will come; and He will continue to come! There are numerous
"comings" and "appearings" of the Lord in the New Testament. BUT THEY
DO NOT ALL REFER TO THE SAME EVENT. The word "coming" is very often used in the
scriptures of a visitation or manifestation of the Lord to judge or bless or accomplish
some aspect of His plan and purpose among His people and in the earth. One would think,
listening to the preachers rant and rave about "THE second coming of Christ,"
that every time the Lord says, "I will come," He is speaking of one, specific,
particular, singular event sometime out in the dim and misty future. I do not hesitate to
tell you that this is a great error.
Rev. 2:5 tells of a COMING of our
Lord. "Remember therefore from where you are fallen, and repent, and do the first
works; or else I WILL COME unto you quickly, and will remove your candlestick out of his
place, except you repent." Since Jesus had gone a COMING of Jesus would be a RETURN.
So what does the Lord say? He warns the church at
The book of Revelation furnishes
us with a sequential overview of the comings of the Lord. Its inspired title is found in
the first verse - "The Revelation of Jesus Christ." The Greek word for
"revelation" is APOKALUPSIS meaning "unveiling, uncovering," and
hence, revealing." This is expressed in Rev. 1:7, "EVERY EYE shall SEE
Him..." The error of the unspiritual and unenlightened mind is that it immediately
assumes that every eye must see Him at the same time and in the same manner. But the
multitudinous ways in which the Lord comes and comes and comes throughout the illuminating
pages of this glorious book indicates to me the progressive revelation of Jesus Christ,
the many-faceted and many-splendored appearing of the Lord from one degree of glory to
another until, when all is finished, every creature in heaven, earth and hell shall have
had a revelation of the Son of God (Rev. 5:13).
With what divine genius does the
Holy Spirit on the pages of God's Word portray the living Son of God coming and standing
in the midst of the seven churches! This is an earthly scene. The risen and glorified
Christ was present in and among the churches. Jesus had promised to come back, and
according to chapters two and three of Revelation He HAD come back! Then follows swiftly
the tragic scene of Jesus Christ, the blessed Saviour, standing at the end of this age
COMPLETELY OUTSIDE the Laodicean church! No longer is He dealing with the apostate CHURCH
SYSTEM, but knocking, knocking, knocking at heart's door of INDIVIDUAL MEN AND WOMEN,
saying to them, "Behold I stand at the door and knock: if ANY MAN hear my voice and
open the door, I WILL COME in to him, and will sup with HIM, and HE with ME" (Rev.
3:20). This passage can only refer to a spiritual presence coming to any INDIVIDUAL, to
A-N-Y M-A-N who will open his heart's door to
intimacy of fellowship and vital union with the Christ of God.
As one has written concerning this
significant passage, "The message is to "any man," a message that abandons
the multitude to their religious play, to their church creeds and their church Christs; a
message that says, 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if ANY MAN hear my voice and
open the door, I will come in to HIM and sup with HIM and he with ME.' The church of the
last days is the church of the INDIVIDUAL. It is the individual believer with a PERSONAL
RELATIONSHIP to Christ. For the man who will forsake ALL ELSE and sup with Christ this is
an age of glory, an hour of preparation such as we have never known. This is a time when
the Spirit of God is speaking TO YOU AS AN INDIVIDUAL. He seeks to sup and dine and feast
with you apart from all the religious confusion about us. It is a glorious day when we see
the promise that is ours in this hour" -end quote. And what is the promise? The
promise, wonderful promise! is of HIS COMING. "I WILL COME in to HIM, and will sup
with him and he with me." Ah, is this the so-called "second coming" of
Christ? It is not the one men preach about or that Christians expect and wait for, but,
beloved saints of God, it IS THE COMING OF CHRIST, nonetheless. He does not come once and
in just one way. He comes and comes and comes in the progressive revelation of HIMSELF!
There is neither time nor space to
discuss all of these comings and appearings fully in one brief article, so we shall pursue
these great truths in the months to come. We shall touch just enough at this time to let
you see clearly that there are more than two comings of Christ mentioned in the Bible, and
that trying to apply all the scriptures on the Lord's coming to just two comings, has
caused a lot of confusion and erroneous teaching and has caused the Lord's people to miss
completely some of the most marvelous aspects of God's great and wonderful purposes.
On the day of Pentecost Christ
came again as the Comforter. "And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you
another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of Truth: whom the
world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him: but you know Him; for He
DWELLS WITH YOU, and shall be IN YOU. I will not leave you comfortless (orphans): I WILL
COME UNTO YOU. Yet A little while, and the world sees me no more; but YOU SEE ME: because
I live, you shall live also. At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in
me, and I IN YOU" (Jn.
In Mk.
Like a choir of many voices and as
the sound of many waters, the testimony of the Word of God resounds with abundant and
stunning and inescapable evidence that the coming of Christ is not a single event, but
includes many different manifestations. His coming to us is a many-sided experience. To
multitudes He appears as Saviour. They find Him at the crossroads of their lives. He
becomes their salvation but they never venture any deeper to know Him intimately. They
have only a superficial knowledge of Him. To others He appears as Chief Shepherd and
Bridegroom. These hear His voice and are moved by His love, and follow on to know Him in
deeper measures of intimacy and union. To others He appears as a Thief. He comes into
their world uninvited and unannounced, He overtakes them unexpectedly and breaks up their
life style and smashes their religious games. And unto others He appears as Fire,
consuming their hay, wood, and stubble, eliminating by the spirit of burning all that is
of self and not of God. The coming of the Lord is as many-faceted as the most dazzling
crystal of earth or the most beautiful diamond known to man. In the Old Testament, the
rabbis were often confused by the seeming contradictions in the descriptions of the coming
of the Messiah. In some of the passages the Messiah was described as coming as a Suffering
Servant to be wounded for transgressions and bruised for iniquities. In other passages He
was coming as a Conqueror to rule and to defeat the enemies of the people of God. The
people asked their scholars for an answer to this seeming contradiction. The rabbis would
often go so far as to say that two Messiahs were coming. They were wrong; the same Messiah
was coming twice. But more than that! Yea, a thousand times more! The same Messiah comes
five, ten, thirty, ten thousand times, in as many and varied ways and manners as there are
dealings and operations of God to be wrought in the lives of men and in the destiny of
nations upon this earth. My earnest prayer to God is that the spirit of wisdom and
revelation may somehow make forever plain to all who read these halting lines that we have
seen too limited a vision of the truth, but bringing all the facets together, there is the
fuller view where it readily appears that there are many-splendored dimensions to HIS
COMING.
If the coming of the Lord is not a
progressive revelation in many manifestations, then, pray tell me, WHICH of the many
comings enumerated earlier IS THE SECOND COMING? When He says, "I will not leave you
orphans: I WILL COME TO YOU," is THAT "the second coming"? or is it when He
declares, "Behold, I COME as a thief?" Or when He says, "I WILL COME unto
you as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth," is that manifestation
His "second coming"? Or is it when He comes as lightning, or as the sun of
righteousness, or as the Bridegroom, or as King, or with His saints, or to His saints, or
in His saints? Paul said that Jesus would come with a "shout," also with the
"voice of the archangel," and with the "trump of God." Jesus said,
"Behold, I come as a thief." Certainly thieves do not blow trumpets and shout!
Nor did Jesus blow trumpets when He ascended from the
But these are not contradictions.
They are word pictures to help our finite minds comprehend more clearly some of the great
factors involved in the coming of Christ and what His coming means to the whole creation.
When we put all these together and add to them all the other illustrations of the Bible
pertaining to Christ's coming, we begin to understand that what we are to look for is not
a human being coming down through the literal clouds, setting fire to the earth and
toppling over the mountains, but mighty manifestations of the risen and glorified and
ascended Lord of heaven and earth, leading to the transformation of mankind from
selfishness and hate to compassion and love; from war and destruction to peace and
reconstruction; from dead in trespasses and sins to alive in Christ; from the carnal mind
to the precious mind that was in Christ Jesus; from sickness and death to health and life;
from funeral processions to the quickening power of His resurrection!
And hence it is that so very few
Christians have really scriptural thoughts about the coming of their Lord. They are
looking into prophecy for the church's hope - they confound "the Sun of
Righteousness" with "the Morning Star" - they mix up the coming of Christ
"IN His saints," and His coming "WITH the saints" - they have not the
foggiest notion what is the difference in time or manifestation between His coming as Rain
or His coming as Fire; His coming as Saviour and His coming as Lord; His coming as
Lightning or His coming with Clouds; His coming as Bridegroom or His coming as King. All
this is a most serious mistake, against which I am compelled by the Spirit of God to warn
my readers. Not very many know when or how the Lord comes in any of His manifestations
therefore, they cannot know how to MEET HIM!
Almost all of Christendom teaches
that the return of the Lord is one single, future event. They are generally agreed that He
will come in a body of flesh, with wounds in His hands, feet, and side, and that He will
be suspended in the sky in such a manner that every eye of all human beings living on this
earth at that time will see Him and thus know of His coming. How much more reasonable and
understandable is the glorious truth! Former misconceptions and crude theories concerning
this great event should not be permitted to hinder us now from ascertaining the simplicity
of the truth concerning it, as set forth in God's blessed Book and revealed unto His elect
saints now by the Spirit. Whenever I long for the Lord to move by His Spirit and make
Himself real by His presence, or manifest the greatness of His power in some place or
circumstance, my heart cries out, "Come, Lord Jesus!"
There is a principle in the
scriptures concerning the coming of the Lord. That is, we must spiritually discern and
respond to His comings in our midst and in our individual lives. Jesus said, "Occupy
till I come." In the midst of all our activity we are to ever look for His comings.
We must be spiritually perceptive and awake at all times. Then, recognizing His presence
and turning aside from all that would distract, we can move with Him in His visitation. As
we respond to His comings, be it in blessing, refreshing, quickening, enlightenment,
transformation, Lordship, fellowship and communion, judgment, correction, stripping,
purging or cleansing - we shall come to KNOW HIM in all His wonderful reality and be made
like Him as His own in the earth. Oh, listen for the sound of His comings!
Chapter 2
The Coming of the Holy Spirit
Both secular and sacred history
agree that about two millenniums ago there was born in Bethlehem a babe, who was named
Jesus; that He grew to manhood's estate; that He was a great teacher; that He was
crucified on a Roman cross, and died; and that the church systems of Christendom profess
to be based upon the teachings of this great Teacher, Jesus of Nazareth.
The Bible record reveals that
Jesus of Nazareth, at the age of thirty years, was baptized in the river Jordan, at which
time a voice from heaven declared Him to be the Son of God; that He selected twelve
disciples, who were His special pupils during the three and one-half years of ministry
that followed; that He preached the Kingdom of God and performed mighty signs and wonders
and miracles among the people; that His crucifixion had been foretold by the prophets in
the Old Testament; that on the third day after His death He was resurrected from the dead;
that forty days thereafter He ascended into heaven and ten days later the Holy Spirit was
given to His faithful disciples, who were waiting at Jerusalem as directed by Him; and
that these disciples confidently expected the return of Jesus Christ, and that later, in
their epistles to the church, they spoke of His coming again. These facts are conceded by
all who believe the Bible. Therefore, if the scriptures conclusively establish the fact of
His coming again, then we should expect to find therein evidence as to the manner of His
coming, the time of His coming, and the purpose of His coming.
Throughout the past several years
the Holy Spirit has progressively been teaching me some wonderful and revolutionary things
regarding the return of our Lord. It is not new to us to have the Holy Spirit, the Spirit
of Truth, tear away many of our former cherished beliefs; this He has been doing since the
move of His Spirit many years ago whereby he began to draw us out of the religious systems
of man in order to reveal Himself and unfold this glorious One that we call the Lord Jesus
Christ. As we were separated from the static systems of Mystery Babylon we began to be
taught by the Spirit of Truth, the One sent by God to teach us all things, and to guide us
into all truth. The realization soon broke in awesome solemnity upon our quickened minds
that most of what we believed, had been taught, and cherished, was not the truth at all,
but just the thoughts and reasonings of the natural mind, the interpretation of the
scriptures through the instrumentality of the intellect of man, and not by the Spirit of
wisdom and revelation from God.
The first prerequisite to being
taught by the Spirit of Truth is a readiness to lay down any, and all, preconceived ideas
of what the scriptures teach, with a holy disposition to accept what the Spirit teaches.
It is an obvious fact that all Christians believe many doctrines simply because they have
been handed down from generation to generation. Our forefathers, our church, and our
brethren believed them for generations, and we believe them because they did. Much of what
we believe, we believe because people for many years and long centuries have believed
thus, but not one precious child of God in a thousand ever takes the time or expends the
energy or spiritual initiative to discover the origin of his beliefs, and whether they are
truly scriptural. We just blindly follow on in the traditional path because father and
mother and friends believe that way. But because our fathers, or the majority of
Christians, have believed a thing is no guarantee that it pertains to the realm of truth!
We made this startling discovery when the streams of light began to flow from the realms
above and the blessed Spirit of Truth began to dig down deep beneath the surface of the
scriptures, the letter of the Word, opening to our astonished understanding the deeper
things of God. We soon found out, however, that when the Spirit begins to bring to light,
and uncover the hidden mysteries of the
The things the Spirit reveals are
always different from what men have previously believed, and how often they are staggered!
The Truth is light, and the light reveals the great darkness in the carnal and childish
concepts conceived by the natural mind by interpreting through the intellect the dead
letter of the Word; and because the truth is so contrary to the ideas treasured and
nourished for so long, many are incited to fight against it. Because they are not seeking
truth, and not contending for truth, they set themselves to defend to the death their old
established doctrines, never taking the time to search out whether they are right or
wrong. Oh, how subtle, how deceitful and foolish the heart of man! "The heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9).
Only the Lord knows what is in the heart of man, and He says, "I the Lord search the
heart, I try the reins." We can be fully convinced in our heart that we are standing
for the truth, when the opposite is true. How we need to have our hearts circumcised and
broken before God, and our eyes opened, and our ears unstopped, so we can see and hear
what the Spirit has to say to the churches!
Most of what is taught in the
earth contains some element of truth. Most Christian church doctrine has some truth in it,
enough to make it acceptable to some people, but I do not hesitate to tell you that there
is so much mixed with it that is not truth at all, and this is what has created all the
divisions between the children of God. It isn't the truth that divides, it is all that is
false that is mixed in with the truth that separates. Truth mixed with falsehood ceases to
be truth. Since the coming of Christ is a major theme of the New Testament, and linked to
man's complete redemption, why is it so variously taught and conceived? Who is responsible
for distorting the truth, and what gain is made by doing so? Perhaps Paul furnishes an
answer in this scripture: "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned" (I Cor.
Let me reiterate here one of the
salient points from our previous study on this subject. I am sure it surprises many of my
readers to learn that the Bible nowhere speaks of the "second coming" of Christ.
Interesting, isn't it - how many of the major and most commonly accepted doctrines of
professing Christianity cannot be found in the Bible? Even without the vast and conclusive
testimony of scripture, even without the illuminating effect of the Holy Spirit of Truth,
we would be inclined to suspect the "orthodox" teachings of the churches on the
so-called "second coming of Christ" simply because all of the preachers and
teachers and professors of Mystery Babylon are so united in dogmatically proclaiming it!
Some will shudder at the very thought of questioning so sacred and orthodox a doctrine.
Let them transfer their reverence from such empty shells of human supposition to the
living, imperishable Word of God, and their feelings will revolt at that which they now
revere. We have long enough covered up the truth with Babylonian babblings. Let us clear
them aside so that we may look upon the face of God's holy Word.
The term - "the second coming
of Christ" - is not scriptural and cannot be found anywhere in the Bible; yet it has
influenced the thinking and teaching of most Christians to accept and believe concepts
that simply are not true. We have been so confused in our thinking that everything in the
scriptures pertaining to the coming of the Lord, His appearing, His manifestation have to
fit into His coming as a man two thousand years ago, or to His so-called "second
coming" when every eye shall see Him. This is wrong. Many texts speak of the coming
of Christ, the coming of the Son of man, the coming of the Lord or similar phrases. The
word "second" never occurs with a word that can be translated
"coming". The "second coming" is not a biblical expression and first
occurred among Christians as late as the middle of the second century after Christ. I
cannot emphasize too strongly that the word "second" is NEVER used in Holy Writ
with the word "coming". That is the simple and plain and incontrovertible truth,
and this fact is elementary and basic to a correct understanding of the coming of the
Lord.
A great deal of faulty reasoning
is apparent among Christians when the subject of the coming of the Lord is under
discussion. We have been led to think in terms of the first coming and the second coming,
whereas the Bible speaks in terms of the progressive revelation of Jesus Christ. Our God
does not talk about the "first coming" and the "second coming" - He
talks about the progressive revelation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We dare not lose
sight of the fact that our Lord has already had many comings, many appearings and shall
continue to have many more. We have limited the comings of Jesus strictly to two because
of our unscriptural terms "first coming" and "second coming," but the
truth is that He came; He continued to come; He comes; He continues to come; He will come;
and He will continue to come! There are numerous "comings" and
"appearings" of the Lord in the New Testament. BUT THEY DO NOT ALL REFER TO THE
SAME EVENT. The word "coming" is very often used in the scriptures of a
visitation or manifestation of the Lord to judge or bless or accomplish some aspect of His
plan and purpose among His people or in the earth. One would think, listening to the
preachers rant and rave about "THE second coming of Christ," that every time the
Lord says, "I will come," He is speaking of one, specific, particular, singular
event sometime out in the dim and misty future. I would be remiss if I failed to tell you
that this is a great error.
We have seen that on the day of
Pentecost Christ came again as the Comforter. In the scriptures Christ is presented coming
with clouds; coming as lightning; coming as a thief; coming with a shout, with the voice
of the archangel, with the trump of God; coming as Bridegroom; coming as King; coming as
the morning star; coming as the sun of righteousness; coming in resurrection power; coming
as Judge; coming in flaming fire of judgment; coming as Saviour; coming as Christ; coming
as Lord; coming as refiner's fire and fuller's soap; coming to His temple; coming on the
Mount of Olives; coming in the air; coming on a white horse; coming as the Chief Shepherd;
coming in His Kingdom; coming as seasons of refreshing; coming in glory; coming on His
throne; coming with His angels; coming with His saints; coming to His saints; coming in
His saints; etc.; etc.
It should be evident to every
spiritual mind that Truth is greatly suffering when all the above "comings" of
the Lord are crammed into just ONE "second coming" of Christ. Like the sound of
many waters the testimony of the Word of God resounds with abundant and stunning and
inescapable evidence that the coming of the Christ is not a single event, but includes
many different manifestations, past, present and future. His coming to us is a many-sided
experience. The confusion on this subject reminds me of one of the six blind men of
There
were six blind men of
Who went to see an elephant, though all of them were blind,
That each by observation might satisfy his mind.
The first approached the elephant, and
happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side, at once began to bawl,
This mystery of an elephant is very like a wall.
The second, feeling of the tusk, cried, "Ho, what have we here,
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear,
This wonder of an elephant is very like a spear."
The third approached the elephant, and happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands, thus boldly up and, spake,
"I see," quoth he, "the elephant is very like a snake."
The fourth reached out an eager hand, and felt above the knee,
"What most this wondrous beast is like! is very plain" said he, "
'Tis clear enough the elephant is very like a tree. "
The fifth who chanced to touch the ear, said, "Even the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most; deny the fact who can;
This marvel of an elephant is very like a fan."
The sixth no sooner had begun about the beast to grope,
Than seizing on the swinging tail that fell within his scope;
"I see," said he, "the elephant is very like a rope."
So these blind men of
Each in his own opinion exceeding stiff and strong;
Though each was partly in the right, they all were in the wrong!
How like the doctrines of
Christendom today! Each one seeing only part of the picture; having little or no
understanding of the overall plan and purpose of God. Just seeing a fraction and not the
total picture; and yet like these blind men of
As we come up through the various
stages of spiritual growth, we get hold of a truth. And, like each of those blind men, we
jump to the conclusion that what we hold to is THE WHOLE TRUTH when, in reality, it is
only a part. It never occurs to us that there might be another side that is equally valid,
equally important, and equally essential to our understanding. We cling stubbornly to the
elephant's tail, thinking it is the whole elephant, and then wonder why circumstances
contradict our great and wonderful truth. Certainly, part of the elephant was like a
spear, part of him like a rope, part of him like a tree trunk, but the total animal was
something far more than any of these, and though each of these blind men was right about
the little part that he understood, they were all entirely wrong about the whole!
The coming of the Lord is not the
simplistic event that many have made it. This explains why so very few Christians have
really scriptural thoughts about the coming of the Lord. They are looking into prophecy
for the church's hope - they confound "the Sun of Righteousness" with "the
Morning Star" - they mix up the coming of Christ "IN His saints," and His
coming "WITH the saints" - they have not the faintest idea what is the
difference in time or manifestation between His coming as Rain or His coming as Fire; His
coming as Christ and His coming as Lord; His coming as Lightning or His coming with
Clouds; His coming as Bridegroom or His coming as King. Not very many know when or how the
Lord comes in any of His manifestations, therefore, they cannot know how to MEET HIM!
Almost all of Christendom teaches that the return of the Lord is one single, future event.
How much more reasonable and understandable is the glorious truth! Christ came, He comes,
He continues to come, He will come and will continue to come. Nothing - absolutely nothing
in the scriptures limits Christ's coming to one singular future event. The doctrine of the
second coming of Christ as an event that has never occurred (in recent times) is as
fictitious as Henry Kissinger being the antichrist, the immaculate conception of the
virgin Mary, the infallibility of the Pope, or the pre-tribulation rapture! Former
misconceptions and crude theories concerning this great event should not be permitted to
hinder us from ascertaining the simplicity of the truth concerning it, as set forth in
God's blessed Book and revealed unto His elect saints now by the Spirit. Whenever I long
for the Lord to move by His Spirit and make Himself real by His presence, or manifest the
greatness of His power in some place or circumstance, my heart cries out, "Come, Lord
Jesus!" It is a marvel of church history that practically every great move of the
Spirit of God has been accompanied by the proclamation of the soon coming of the Lord. In
times of spiritual revival there is always a childlike readiness to look and long for
Christ. It has been a remarkable feature of the vast majority of spiritual visitations
that either by preaching, prophetic utterance, tongues and interpretation, visions,
dreams, or other spiritual phenomena the Lord has declared in the midst of His people,
"I am coming soon!" It was noted by many, in the early centuries of the church,
and during the revivals of the past few centuries, that it seemed to be a necessary
companion to the quickening which God was then effecting, that they looked for the coming
of the Lord, that they were filled with the expectation of His presence, that it was not
merely a mighty blessing that had reached their souls - as indeed it was; but along with
this, and above this, there was the fixing of the heart on the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They yearned to behold Him and know Him in deeper measures.
During a mighty move of the Spirit
in
A great many who read these lines
can bear living witness to the fact that in the great Pentecostal outpouring at the turn
of this century, the overriding message spoken by divine utterance was just this:
"Jesus is coming soon!" The question follows, In all these moves of the Spirit
of God through the centuries, where the soon-coming of Jesus Christ was proclaimed, DID HE
COME? Did those who prophesied lie, or did "soon" mean two thousand years later,
eighteen hundred years later, two hundred years afterwards, or a century thence? The Holy
Spirit does not lie, neither does He create illusions, nor does He tantalize us with
something which we have no hope of seeing within our lifetime. Most assuredly HE CAME! Ah
- He came not in the way people expected; He came not in the manner that the saints were
looking for Him; but His word was certain, and I can assure you that every time He said He
was coming SOON -- HE C-A-M-E!
All through the 1800's, in revival
after revival, throughout various parts of the earth, the Spirit of God thundered out the
message, "Jesus is coming soon!" Then Jesus came. In Pentecostal power, at the
turn of the century, He came! But the sad fact is that the complacent and lukewarm
Christians and ministers in the historic churches of that day missed His coming
altogether. They were unprepared for such a coming. They were no more aware that the
Christ was present among His people in a new and fresh manifestation of His person, than
the Jews were aware two millenniums ago that their prophesied and long awaited Messiah
walked among them. It happened as the scripture declares of His coming of old: "He
was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto
His own, and His own received Him not" (Jn.
Again the Spirit sounded forth the
message: "Get ready - Jesus is coming soon!" And all the Pentecostals thought
they knew what that meant. Midway through the twentieth century, again there was to be a
mighty cry unto God for a fresh and deeper manifestation of His glory. Bands of saints
across the land and around the world prayed and interceded for more of God. When God
responded this time the glory erupted in a
A man was traveling, and issued
from a range of hills on to an extensive plain. He crossed a stream that ran off to his
right over a long stretch of sand; after an hour or so a thread of water gushed toward him
from the right, falling over a cascade of white marble to his left; soon another stream
was approaching him from behind, flowing over gravel through pure red soil, and going off
into the woods nearby. With the appearance of water again after an hour's riding, the
question arose: How many rivers had he crossed one or several? The contours of the region
were not decisive against several; the traveler was a stranger in the neighborhood; to
find out from an inhabitant of the country was difficult; but he had adopted a method that
gave him a definite and accurate conclusion: he had observed that the water at every
crossing, in every direction, and over every succeeding bed of sand, of rock, of gravel,
of marble, carried always, not only a particular substance of solution, but also a
peculiar kind of grass floating on the surface; he drew the conclusion, with such
certainty as the Method of Agreement in Inductive Logic could afford him, that the several
streams were one: one stream in extremely varied surroundings. He had crossed the same
stream several times!
Now in the history of God's
dealings there is a stream of the manifestation, appearing, revelation, and unveiling of
Himself to men that meets us everywhere - from the heaven blest Garden of God in Eden to
the closing verses of the final chapter of the book of Revelation wherein John the beloved
cries out with the anguish of love, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" "They have
seen Thy goings, O God, even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary" (Ps.
68:24). Now, the idea of "goings" has to do with the onward marching of God as
King - it touches the coming of the King, and His kingly rule among the children of men.
It passes through the most varied country as the King appears to Adam, to Noah, to
Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses, to the children of Israel, to Samuel, to David, to
Solomon, to Isaiah, to Ezekiel, to the Jews, to the Church, to Paul, to vast numbers of
saints, the apprehended ones in every age. This is what history is all about, the
progressive revelation of Jesus Christ from age to age, from dealing to dealing, from one
stage of His purpose to another, the marching forward of God and the unveiling of His
glory in our individual lives, in the corporate body, and in the affairs of men and
nations. Christ has come and come and come; He came in the Old Testament, He came in
Bethlehem, He came in the resurrection, He came on the day of Pentecost, He came on the
Damascus road, He has come to His people again and again in seasons of refreshing, in
quickening, in judgment, and all these comings will be finally consummated when at last
the Christ has conquered every enemy, filled all things with Himself, and God becomes
All-in-all. The many comings will then be seen to be but the ONE COMING of the Lord in
extremely varied circumstances, stages, and unfoldments.
It has been asserted that other
than the epistle to the Galatians, Paul used a secretary or scribe to write all his
letters. Paul dictated a long letter to the saints in
The word ANATHEMA means devoted to
the wrath of God; it means to be lifted up to the wrath of God; it means to be accursed.
It is the word found so often in the Old Testament of the accursed thing - that which had
been devoted to the curse of God. If anyone love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be
devoted to the wrath of God; offered up unto the withering curse of the Almighty, to be
duly processed by His judgments. The result of a lack of love for Christ is the ANATHEMA,
the curse of God. It begins right here in this life with the withering of the soul, with
the withering of its capacity to love those things which are good and true and beautiful
and noble.
Paul concludes with a second
strange word: MARANATHA! In the King James version that is part of the same sentence. It
makes little sense that way, however. Linguistic scholars have concluded that it is
properly a separate sentence; that Paul stopped after the word ANATHEMA (accursed), and
lifted his pen only to place it down again to write a new sentence composed of two words
in the Aramaic language, that form of Hebrew which was the lingua franca of
We cannot love one who is simply a
myth or a legend and so we are called to love One that lived a life of flesh and blood,
One who suffered on our behalf, One who endured the agony of the cross for us, One who
rose from the dead, One who ascended into heaven, One who came again on the day of
Pentecost in mighty Spirit power, One who now dwells in our hearts by faith, the One who
has already come. We are not called to love merely a promise, but a present Christ who has
lived and died and rose again for us. Furthermore, it means that the Lord is at hand; even
now He is with us, always accessible to us. He is present. We cannot love simply a memory,
but a living Christ. He is here to work mightily within us in the present. "THE LORD
IS AT HAND. MARANATHA." Finally, it calls us to a remembrance that Christ will come
again, and even that is at hand. The Lord is on His way. His coming is imminent. He has
come and continues to come. He comes and He shall come and shall continue to come. He will
come in as many and varied ways and manners as there are needs in your life and mine, dear
one, and in the whole world of men and movements and nations. MARANATHA! JESUS IS COMING!
THE LORD IS AT HAND!
I would draw your attention to the
book of Revelation, the unveiling of Jesus Christ. This marvelous book contains deep and
rich teaching for the elect saints concerning the coming of Christ; symbolic, mysterious,
wonderful, but always to be approached reverently, humbly, with head bowed low and shoes
removed from off our feet, as people standing on holy ground. Nineteen hundred years ago
the beloved disciple on the lonely isle of
BEHOLD! This is the word with
which John begins his description of what he saw. Someone has said that the word
"behold" in the scriptures is the "Stop, Look, and Listen" sign of the
Bible. It always calls for special attention and directs our focus to a truth of unusual
importance. The word comes from the Greek IDOU, a demonstrative participle. There are four
things we should understand about this word. First, it bids the reader or hearer to give
attention to what is being said, as if we were to say, "Now listen!" Second, it
is used when an event is specified which seems impossible, yet occurs. Third, it is an
exclamation of one pointing out something and calling attention to it. Fourth, it means to
observe what is about to be said and consider it thoroughly.
Now let us look at the two words
that follow: HE COMETH. "Behold! He cometh." This phrase is from the Greek word
ERCHOMAI. It is the third person singular, present indicative. Any reader who knows the
conjugation of verbs knows what that means. First, it means HE COMES as a present tense
reality. The verb is present indicative. He comes. He is in the act of coming. Behold! He
is (now) coming! In other words, He has been coming, He is still in the act of coming, and
He continues to come. This is extremely important. More than once the coming of the Lord
is spoken of in this tense throughout the book of Revelation. It's not a future thing, not
something that shall happen somewhere down the course of history, but it is something that
IS. Oh! that God with flames of His holy fire would burn this truth indelibly upon the
hearts of all who read these lines.
The church world is either looking
back to an historical Christ, or forward to a futuristic coming of Christ, and they miss
this word ERCHOMAI which means "Behold, H-E C-O-M-E-S,
He is coming, He continues to come, He will continue to come." It is something that
can happen right now. It means that He comes from one place to another. He comes out of
the realm of spirit to be manifested in flesh, expressed and revealed in a visible,
tangible way to the material creation. ERCHOMAI means to come, to make one's appearance
come before the public. It means that He comes and appears before the view of the people
round about. And this coming, has already happened, it is now happening, and it shall
continue to happen. This is the revelation that so captivated the apostle John that he
could only stand and in amazement exclaim, "Behold! He comes!"
The coming of the Son of God did
not begin with the lowly birth at
That glorious Name by which God is
known in the Old Testament, "Yahweh," is a name which indicates a Coming God.
This is neither the time nor place to enter into a lengthy technical and linguistical
study, but the word Yahweh, the greatest rabbis will tell you, means the Coming One. For
many years I have read various interpretations of the name Yahweh. Some say it signifies,
"I am." Others say, "The Coming One." Other scholarship seems to
consider "The Eternal" as the most satisfactory. Another definition has been
given as "The Self-existent One." Actually there is merit in all of these
interpretations. God is eternal just BECAUSE He is Self-existent and therefore not
dependent on any outside help or support. He is the One who in Himself embodies essential
life, permanent existence, derived from no source outside Himself, and absolutely
dependent upon no other person, thing, or circumstance for its continuance. And because He
is Self-existent and eternal He is the One who always has been, who now is, and who always
will be. Therefore, He is the One who is always coming, always at hand.
How graphically this grand truth
is expressed in the introduction to the book of Revelation with these words, "Him Who
is, and Who was, and Who is coming" (Rev. 1:4). And again, "Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty, Who WAS, and Who NOW BEING, and Who is the COMING ONE" (Rev. 4:8).
The trilogy of holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, refers to the threefold time, past,
present and future. The holy One Who was from eternity, the holy One NOW BEING, and the
ever COMING ONE. The Lord God Almighty is not someone to come sometime in the distant
future. He is the One Who WAS coming, Who IS coming, and Who shall CONTINUE to come,
manifesting Himself to His people in blessing and judgment and redemption until every eye
has beheld Him and every heart has acknowledged Him, Lord of all.
In the Hebrew scriptures salvation
is of Yahweh. No other name is given which His own people could invoke for help. Even when
the Messiah came in flesh in order to be the Saviour there was no real change, because in
Hebrew HE IS YAHWEH-SAVIOUR, which is the meaning of the name Jesus. Peter could assure
the Jews that "there is salvation in no other: for there is NONE OTHER NAME under
heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts
How few realize the fullness which
is in our Lord's redemptive name! Suppose we spread it out before us and unfold its
meaning. Then "Jesus" is the SAVIOUR WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS COMING. How
wonderfully this fits into His history! Most of those who saw Him in the flesh saw only
the One who is. Of His past glory with the Father they knew nothing. Of His future
exaltation they did not dream. They saw little more than His present humiliation. Anyone
who really knew His Name realized what He had been, and what He would be, as well as what
He was. He is a Saviour who plans and performs and perfects, in the past, in the present,
and in the future. Ah, sons of God, the one who has come to you and has begun a good work
in you is the same One who will come and come in your today and in all of your tomorrows
to perfect that good work, bringing it to completion, and present you faultless in the
image of God. It is an on-going process, an ever-unfolding salvation.
Yahweh is the ever-coming One. The
Coming One is my Lord and my God. Various Yahweh combinations or compound names are used
in the scriptures, each indicating how He comes to us:
Vast multitudes of Christians
leave heard of these wonderful covenant names of God and thrill to the things they hear,
but their hearts cannot comprehend nor understand the vital truth and reality of the
message. They "listen to the music, but never hear the song." How often through
the years I have encountered this lack of comprehension among the Lord's people! 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. They will talk long
and loud about "Christ IN YOU the hope of glory," "the Kingdom of God is
WITHIN you," "Ye are the BODY of Christ," and then turn around and with the
next breath say that the "coming" of the Lord is still a distant, singular,
future event. When men profess that they have seen this truth of the ever-coming Christ
and confess that the Christ is their Saviour, Sanctifier, Healer, Baptizer, Provider,
etc., and then wistfully add, "and my soon-coming King," I know they have not
seen it.
They have seen nothing. Do they
not make Him their COMING King because they are not sure whether they want this Man to
rule over them? Most folk do not mind Him ruling over Castro and the devil and the
millennium, but they feel they are free moral agents and have little desire to own Him as
King of their present domain. That is why so many have kept Him COMING. The Lord wants to
be King NOW. He wants to come to you today and invade the foundations of your heart and
life and reign gloriously within the temple of your being. Ah, my brother, my sister,
Christ is coming to me constantly. I feel Him near. I sense His presence and behold His
glory from realm to realm. He manifests Himself to my consciousness in close and glad
communion. He transforms my mind and heart and life and flows from my innermost being so
that deep calls unto deep. I am not saying that He is not yet to come, even to me.
Certainly He has not come to me, or to you, in all the fullness of Himself! But His coming
in God's great tomorrow is not a single, once for all, event - it will be but the
consummation of that glory in which He is appearing to us, in us, and through us in our
today.
So many people wonder, Will Jesus
come in my lifetime? Will I live to see the return of the Lord? Well, start living and
allow Jesus to come again in your lifetime! How many lifetimes do you have? You have only
this one lifetime - let Jesus come in your lifetime! As someone has said, Let Jesus come
in your lifetime and begin to have the TIME OF YOUR LIFE! Then you can cease gazing up
into the skies wondering when Jesus is going to come, and you can step into the NOW of God
and begin your progression back into God where He is all-in-all in your life. NOW is
always the best time to live. TODAY is always the best time to walk with God. THE PRESENT
is always the best time to see and know the Lord. I have this peculiar trait of enjoying
life NOW. You can dream of tomorrow and you can look back into the past, but all you have
or will ever have is RIGHT NOW. It is always NOW. God is NOW. Get into TODAY, into God's
NOW and begin living - JESUS HAS COME!
My heart earnestly cries that the
day may speedily come when all of God's elect will know assuredly and understand
thoroughly that Christ is always coming again, and each new quickening of the eternal
Word, and each fresh inworking of His grace brings Christ throbbing upon earth. Christ
always comes to hearts that are opened to receive Him. A soldier of World War I told how
on the battlefield and in the trenches some saw a white Christ coming to them in their
hour of need and they were strengthened by that vision. In our hour of need, if we trust
in Him, the Presence is always near. Lift up your heads to the hills, the high places of
God in the Spirit. Can you see the Christ there? Isn't it your weakness and
carnal-mindedness if you cannot see the Blessed One?
Christ also comes in judgment
against our carnal and traitor lives. What a mess we make of the testimony of our Holy
Lord, even if we finally never succeed with our carelessness! Christ comes as the
Convicting Spirit that calls the soul on the block of judgment and asks why the failure!
Christ does come every day to judge, to bless, to transform. Have you not felt that
Presence? Been aware of it? Experienced it? "No!" Then, God pity your soul. Some
day, you, too, in your far country will come to yourself. Then you will see the Christ and
find He was dogging your footstep as you went down and tried to escape Him. Christ is the
"Hound of Heaven," and, though we flee Him down the nights and down the arches
of the years and through the procession of the ages, He never gives up. Our fears cannot
keep us moving fast enough to escape Him and our speed can never outdistance His movement
of love. He will pursue us to the lowest hell and there demand our heart's surrender.
God has purposed to reveal every
aspect of His purpose through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. So we are living this very
day in a progression. God is marching on! He wants to reveal Himself and unfold this
glorious One that we call the Lord Jesus Christ. He is standing at the door knocking. Open
the door and invite Him and He will come in to you and will sup with you on a plane where
you have never before known Him. God is preparing a people at this very time who are
waiting for a further revelation of God. These apprehended ones are not saying, "Oh,
if I could just tell you about those good old days when God moved in mighty power ... if
only we could have continued to move in those days of glory." This people God is
preparing today is not lamenting or trying to recapture or perpetuate the glory of the
past. It is a true and wonderful fact that for every day there is fresh manna, there is
that fresh unveiling of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not a time for God's sons to try to
recapture the past, or try to warm over the glories of yesterday. There is something brand
new for you and me today in the economy of God! The elect of God are now in a time of
patient waiting as they are being prepared for the hour when the younger sons of God shall
come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of the firstborn Son. This is not a
time for those who treasure the beautiful hope of sonship to get excited about doing
exploits for God in the waning anointing of yesterday or by the threadbare methods of the
past. The glory that fills our expectant souls today is born of the knowledge that the
hour of His manifestation is at hand - the hour when the Christ shall come in fullness to
be revealed IN HIS SAINTS, and they shall reign over the earth.
I am prophesying a new and fresh
revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. The night is falling on the present order. Already we
are seeing evidence of the dawning of a new day breaking forth upon us and many thousands
of the Lord's elect are even now arising to behold the first rays of the dawn and to drink
in the intoxicating freshness of the morn. There is a mighty cry in our hearts for the
Lord to move in a fresh and altogether new way in our lives and in the earth. Many things
are happening in the Pentecostal and Charismatic realms today, but I do not hesitate to
tell you that all of these things are but stale "leftovers" from previous
visitations. We are due for a fresh move and a new work of God in the earth today! So the
night is coming, bringing an end to particular forms of the movings and operations of the
Spirit of God. Though all the manifestations of the past have been precious and needful,
yet our God in this hour is moving on. A new manifestation and revelation of the Christ is
coming in the midst of us, and I hear and see the signs that He is beginning to come. We
are living in the early dawn of another APPEARING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. This appearing
will be through the long-awaited manifestation of the sons of God. This truth is burning
within my bones, pulsating within my bosom. I am being quickened by these things. My one
desire is to be available to be a part of this appearing of the Lord that is preparing the
sons of God for the wind-up of this age and the inauguration of a far greater age of
glory.
Every time there is a change in
the working of God we are thrown into a crisis situation. There is something about us that
is never quite prepared for change. There is always that shock of seeing a cherished order
vanish away, while wondering what the next order will be. But this is how it is. The Lord
God reveals His glory and it accomplishes a purpose. Then the end of that day comes. The
night steals in upon that era. God is ready for a new order, a new day, another phase of
His workings. Again, even as I pen these lines, there is a fresh working of God in the
earth. Again there is a "going forth" of Jesus Christ, released in another form
through a many-membered body of sons of God. God moves on and a new glory is ready to be
revealed. It will not be revealed upon those unspiritual souls who sit by saying, "My
God delayeth His coming; He has not come and is not now coming; He will come bye and bye
and take us up to heaven." Ah, those who for two thousand years have kept Him coming
in a singular event away out there in the future some where fulfill exactly the words of
Jesus; these are the "evil servant" who says in his heart, "My Lord
delayeth His coming!"
I must speak very plainly, my
friends. This next move of God, the manifestation of the sons of God, will not come
through those who are waiting for a rapture to whisk them away to the skies. It will come
through a people who are crying out from the depths of their spirits, "Oh God, visit
us afresh. Do a new thing! We need YOU! Creation groans for deliverance! Come! Lord Jesus,
and meet us on a higher order, in a higher dimension. Come to your temple in fullness.
Come! with the power necessary to purge and cleanse us and transform us into your image.
Come! that we might behold your glory and be changed from glory to glory. Come! that the
eyes of our understanding may be enlightened, that we may see Thee today in present
revelation. The whole earth is waiting with bated breath for the glory of the Lord to be
manifested. Come! and cause righteousness and praise and deliverance to spring forth
before all the nations. Even so, Come! Lord Jesus!”
It is the beautiful time of
waiting and watching for His appearing. It is the time to listen for the glad heralds of
the morning.
"It may be morn, it may be
night or
Chapter 3
The Coming of Christ to Men
When the end of the second World
War, first in Europe and then also in Asia, was announced, wives and brides, and also
fathers and mothers rejoiced because it opened up for them the prospect of a rather speedy
return of loved ones from whom they had been separated for a considerable period of time.
They carefully scanned the newspapers for whatever indications these might contain of the
order in which the land, sea, and air forces would be demobilized. And when they heard of
the point system, they began to figure out how long they would yet have to wait for the
return of their husbands, sweethearts, or sons. Naturally, they were greatly interested in
the time of their release and of their home-coming. Every indication of the fact that the
time would not be long caused their spirits to rise and filled their hearts with gladness.
Sometimes they grew rather impatient with whatever delayed the glad return and the joyous
reunion. In that respect they resembled those who love the Lord Jesus Christ, who rejoice
in the thought of His return and eagerly look forward to the time of His glorious
appearing. They are certain that the day of His return will fill the cup of joy to
overflowing.
It need hardly be said that in the
teachings of Jesus and the early apostles the thought of some future coming of His looms
rather large. On a careful consideration of their words, however, it soon becomes apparent
that they do not always speak of His coming in the same sense. The study of the teachings
of the New Testament on this point calls for careful and prayerful and reverent
discrimination. The supposition by the teachers and believers in the church systems that
every time the scriptures speak of Christ's "coming" they have one particular
and singular future event in mind can only lead to confusion and error. It should be
self-evident that Christ's coming as Bridegroom (Mat. 25:1-10) cannot be to the same
people, at the same time, in the same manner, nor for the same purpose as His coming as a
Refiner's Fire (Mal. 3:1-3). He comes as Bridegroom to His prepared, adorned, and
expectant bride in a deeply spiritual relationship of intimate love and vital union,
whereas He comes to those apprehended to be His Royal Priesthood in a manifestation of
severity - purging and purifying. Both are said to be His COMING. Christ's coming again as
the Spirit of Truth (Jn.
As in the rebuilding of the wall,
in Nehemiah's time, it was first necessary to remove "heaps" of
"rubbish," just so in these days, in order to rightly understand the truth
concerning our Lord's return, it is necessary to remove "heaps" of
"rubbish" - rubbish of tradition, prejudice, misinformation and
misinterpretation. The church world has become so thoroughly indoctrinated with the
simplistic, childish and crude imaginations of the natural mind that it is practically
impossible to get people to consider the Lord's coming as it really is in the scriptures.
They are warned to regard with suspicion and reject all teaching on the subject any
different from that which they have been taught. In fact, to think of the venerable
doctrine of the church on this subject as being FALSE, strikes them as being blasphemous.
There is only one sure path in this important hour, there is only one way to know the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Even now, as in the long ago, our
blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, standeth, saying, "I have yet many things to say unto
you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth is come, He will
guide you into all truth" (Jn.
We often miss the truth because
too many of us have been relying on our intellect to interpret to us the scriptures,
instead of looking to the Teacher sent from God, to do His work, and perform His ministry.
Even Spirit-filled Christians depend mostly on commentaries and books by the hundreds,
written by men, and often men void of the Holy Spirit, as their source of information and
understanding of the scriptures, and the Holy Spirit is relegated to a back room in our
minds, and rarely consulted about anything the scriptures have to say. We need to
reinstate Him to His proper position and allow Him to fulfill the ministry He came to do.
Now don't think I am against books, I am not. I use books. If I were opposed to writings I
would not be sending out this article. Many people have been helped by what is written,
but far too many saints think that through Bible study, and by searching the scriptures
alone, they can come to an understanding of the things of God, and acquire a knowledge of
the truth. But if we are really studying the Bible, in the light of revelation, this is
what we will find, for this is what the Bible teaches: that apart from the revelation of
the Holy Spirit, there is no way that we can search out, nor understand, the things of
God, and His ways. Hear what the scripture itself says: "O the depths of riches both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how UNSEARCHABLE are His judgments and His ways PAST
FINDING OUT" (Rom.
Down through the pages of the
Bible and the ages of time God revealed Himself to various men and women in their times.
The principles were always the same, but the manifestation of His appearing was different
in each case. He appeared to Moses as a burning bush; to Israel as a cloud and pillar of
fire; to Gideon as the Angel of the Lord; to Isaiah as the glorious One high and exalted
upon a throne; to Ezekiel as a wheel in the middle of a wheel; to His disciples as a
mortal Man, the Lamb of God; to Mary as the gardener; to Saul of Tarsus as a blinding
Light brighter than the noonday sun; to John the Revelator as One standing in the midst of
the candlesticks with hair white like wool, feet like brass burning in a furnace, and a
sharp two-edged sword proceeding out of His mouth.
As God revealed Himself in
different ways in the Old Testament times, so in the New Testament times He is still
revealing Himself in higher heights and deeper depths through the glorified Christ Jesus.
As Luke points out in Acts, chapter one, Jesus BEGAN to minister when He walked in a body
of flesh on the earth, until He ascended back to the Father. Then as you read on in the
book of Acts, you find that He BEGAN to minister through now, not just a single body of
flesh, but through a corporate body of believers as the Body of Christ came to birth on
the earth. As you read this message, my earnest prayer to God is that He might BEGIN to
move and work and manifest and appear in YOUR LIFE in a new and fresh unveiling of
HIMSELF! A new manifestation and revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ is coming in the
midst of His apprehended ones, and I see signs all about that He is beginning to come -
again! Truly we are living in the dawn of another and greater and more glorious appearing
of our Lord. Praise HIS wonderful name!
While there is a widespread belief
in the nearness of the coming of Christ, it is a fact that so many false teachings have
been connected with this great truth that it is to be feared, when the event itself takes
place, precious few who profess to believe in His coming will be prepared to receive Him
because of the false views they hold regarding the manner and purpose of His coming. I do
not pretend to understand the exact sequence of all things which are soon to come upon the
earth, neither do I believe that any man or woman on earth is fully informed of the events
that shall mark the end of this present age and the glory of the age to come. But of this
we may be sure: the minds of Christians have become so blinded by grimy old tradition they
hold as doctrines that they are almost completely immune to truth. They are like the Jews
of old who were so set and sure that the Messiah would come and restore the kingdom to
At the time Jesus was born on
earth, the Jews had fallen into such slumber and inertia, although outwardly they were
religious and self-satisfied, that they did not know the Word of God when He was made
flesh and came and dwelt among them. When their Messiah came, for whom they had been
looking for centuries, they neither knew Him nor received Him. Because He was born in a
stable, and His body, the tent in which He tabernacled when upon earth, was poor and
without comeliness; because He did not come in pomp and worldly power and glory, the Jews
knew Him not.
At that time the Jewish people
were expecting the Messiah. They were students of the prophecies, and were acquainted with
those predictions which indicated the time of the Messiah's coming. They knew that the 483
years of the Messianic prophecy of Daniel (Dan.
In the words of the notable
English mystic, William Law, writing about the year 1750, "Consider how it is that
the carnal Jew, the deep-read scribe, the learned rabbi, the religious Pharisee not only
did not receive but crucified their Saviour. It was because they willed and desired no
such Saviour as He was, no such inward salvation as He offered them. They desired no
change in their nature, no inward destruction of their own natural tempers, no deliverance
from the love of themselves and the enjoyments of their passions. They liked their state,
the gratifications of their old man, their long robes, their broad phylacteries and
greetings in the markets. They wanted not to have their pride and self-love dethroned,
their covetousness and sensuality to be subdued by a new nature from heaven derived into
them. Their only desire was the success of Judaism, to have an outward Saviour, a temporal
Prince that should establish their law and outward ceremonies over all the earth. And
therefore they crucified their dear Redeemer and would have none of His salvation because
it all consisted in a change of their nature, in a new birth from above, and a
They rejected the humble Nazarene
though they saw His mighty works and heard His wonderful words of life. They were looking
for the glorious Messiah to come, put down the Romans, and deliver them from the Gentiles.
They expected a king who, taking the throne of David would establish a temporal government
more powerful than any on earth, and that all the kings of the Gentiles should nourish and
bow down to
They
all were looking for a King
To slay their foes and lift them high
Thou cam'st, a little baby thing
That made a woman cry.
"In Him was life; and the
life was the light of men. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh
into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him
not" (Jn. 1:4,9,10). A great light shined in the darkness, the greatest light that
has ever been upon the face of the earth and yet, to this day, they are dwelling and
walking in darkness. There was light all around - the light of God's Christ. The very
glory of the Father was revealed to them as the scripture said it would be. All God ever
could be or ever shall be was manifested in Jesus Christ. No greater light could have
shown unto them than that light, because the Light of lights was there to see. Most of
them did not recognize Him, neither did they know that the Lord of glory was in the midst
of them, their very God.
Because Christ was not in person,
purpose and work what the Jews thought He should be; because He was not the conquering
Lion of Judah, but instead He came as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world;
therefore they are still waiting for One to come who will fulfill their earthly-minded
desires and carnal concepts and worldly ambitions. How strange it is that one generation
will not learn from the mistakes of their predecessors! Oh, Christian, look not only at
the old Jew, but see thyself in this glass, for practically the whole body of evangelical
churches today is looking forward with that same intense watching for a rapture or a
kingdom that will deliver them from the world's bondage and establish them on temporal
thrones of political power and authority in the earth. True, there shall come a day when
the sons of God shall be manifested, when God's King-Priest company shall arise in power
and authority, when the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the
sea, when ALL nations and kindreds shall serve Him, when ALL THINGS in heaven and in earth
shall be subdued unto Him; but, precious friend of mine, this marvelous work shall be
wrought, not by worldly political or military might - but by dynamic SPIRITUAL POWER!
If you entertain the crude notion
that reigning with Christ means sitting behind a desk over in Jerusalem with telephone at
hand and television cameras running, you know nothing as you ought to know of that blessed
Kingdom of God which is "not of this world" and which "comes not by outward
show," but is "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." And I
do not hesitate to tell you that when Christ comes in mighty power to bring the triumph of
His Kingdom into new and greater dimensions on this earth through the ministry of that
body of sons so painstakingly and meticulously formed under His hand of dealing through
this age of grace, vast multitudes of Christians will MISS HIS COMING because it will not
conform to the manner, purpose or result that they imagine it should be. Like the Jews,
these Christians will continue on with their religious games, singing, clapping,
preaching, prophesying and waiting for a second coming that will meet their demands and
fulfill their misguided expectations. Ah, we blame the Jews for their blindness and
unbelief, and of making the Word of God of none effect through their tradition, but are
there not vast multitudes of the Lord's people in our own day who are doing this very
thing? The Jewish nation was not ignorant of the teaching of scripture concerning His
coming - in fact, they were good Fundamentalists, anxiously expecting His arrival but they
had drifted so far from the Holy Spirit of God, that when the day arrived they did not
know it because it took the Holy Spirit to reveal it. And as the Jews of old and their
descendants failed to recognize the coming of the Lord in their day, together with the
many related events, even so a similar sleeping church today fails to recognize the signs
and events which herald a new manifestation of that same blessed Person!
When Jesus walked in flesh upon
this earth there were very few among the multitudes who recognized Him. It was Peter among
the disciples that was blessed to know the revealing of the Son. "And Simon Peter
answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and
said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it
unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven" (Mat.
According to the very first
statement in the Gospel of John, that kindly Nazarene, that gracious Galilean, that
friendly Teacher who walked the paths of
He who came to His own, was the
One who had led them through the wilderness, and who had revealed God to them; He had gone
before them in the cloud by day and in the pillar of fire by night. It was He who had
dwelt in the unutterable and unapproachable glory in their Holiest of all; it was He who
had defeated their enemies for them, and had spread His pavilion over them, so that all
nations were afraid before them. He it was, who came to His own and THEY KNEW HIM NOT.
That, indeed, is such an incredible thing, such a fantastic and sublime truth, you would
think that there would have been an unending celebration that would have gone on for
centuries, as the welcome was prepared and the red carpet rolled out for Him. But, rather,
to our utter astonishment, we read those incredible words: "He was in the world, and
the world was made by Him, and the world KNEW HIM NOT." I think that enwrapped in
those simple words we have the entire tragedy of the carnal
mind. "The world knew Him not."
"He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." Is not this the essence of
the natural mind? The world knew Him not! The Roman world looked upon Him with that
unconscious, stupid, bovine stare; it knew not what it saw. The religious world looked
upon Him and perceived Him only as a threat to their wicked schemes and hunger for power.
Still today the Christ is in the world and the world knows Him not!
Dear child of God, how many times
has He come to you in a different wav than you were expecting, and you knew Him not? How
many times, in answer to your prayers, He came to you in some humble or mean thing, and
you knew Him not. How many times you asked great things of Him, and He commenced to answer
your prayers through low, mean channels. He hid behind the wall, He came to you, and you
knew Him not. When we become spiritually lazy or stubborn or willful, when we become
indifferent or fall asleep, when we walk along the path of our own will and flesh, we will
hear the voice of the Lord saying, "Rise up, My love, and come away with Me!"
Have you ever come before the Lord, thinking that you were pressing forward into Him, and
He convicted you that you were motivated by self? Has He made you know that you have not
been going as fast as He would have you, or as you thought you were going? When we hear
His voice let us drop everything and everybody; and let us hasten to the place where the
Lord can meet us!
The false teaching that the
"second coming" of Christ is one singular event limited to a specific date in
the future when Jesus Christ will come in a single body of flesh, with wounds in His
hands, feet, and side, and that He will flash through the skies, snatching away His
faithful followers, carrying them with Him to some far-off heaven somewhere, has given
rise to innumerable speculations, predictions, calculations, prophecies and projected
dates concerning when this stupendous event is supposed to transpire. Various dates have
been set for the "rapture" or for the "end of the-world." History and
the Bible have been so interpreted that this or that ruler or dictator or pope or
statesman has been called "The Antichrist" who would hasten the return of Christ
and the commencement of the "Great Tribulation." The inspiring promises about
our Lord's coming have too often been an issue of sensationalism. Men have quarreled and
quibbled and fought over a most precious assurance, and have missed altogether the
wonderful blessing and the glorious reality. Because of the distorted understanding of
this blessed truth many ridiculous theories have been spawned about the "time"
and "manner" of the coming of Christ.
In the past few decades, several
small groups, devoutly following the leadership of a would-be prophet, abandoned their
jobs and professions; sold all their worldly goods, and confidently awaited a precise
moment when either the "rapture" would occur, or Jesus Christ would return. All
such predictions failed, of course. Usually the news media only inform us of the sheepish
admissions of such would-be prophets that they will have to restudy the prophecies,"
but we never hear about the victims of their hare-brained schemes who divested themselves
of their accumulated goods only to find that the dogmatically trumpeted prophecies were
only so much "pie in the sky." On a larger scale, major church movements have
been equally disappointed, their embarrassed leaders frantically attempting to discover
some alternative explanation as to WHY their confident prophecies did not come to pass as
they had proclaimed! Over the years I have seen some of the most carefully constructed
theories collapse like proverbial houses of cards! A peculiar and easily recognizable,
identifying stamp of all these would-be prophets (or prophetesses) is some strange
"key"; some obscure "clue"; some magic "formula"; some
alleged "cycle"; or some private "revelation" which THEY, and THEY
ONLY, know!
Emphasis on the nearness of
Christ's "second coming," so strong in many Christian circles today, is nothing
new. In the early church dates were set for the Lord's return again and again through the
first two or three centuries. Augustine set the date for the end of the world at A.D.
1000. History tells us that a general belief prevailed In Europe towards the close of the
tenth century that the year 1000 would witness the coming of Christ, the day of judgment,
and the end of the world. On the basis of the interpretation which some of the early
Church Fathers (Augustine, etc.) gave of Rev. 20:4, the conviction gradually gained
popularity in the church that at the end of the first thousand years of the church's
existence the second coming of the Lord would take place. It was supposed to be the time
when the church would be perfected and the natural life of men would come to an end. As
the time drew near, a general panic seized the minds of men. Many pious people reasoned
that since the present order was ending it would be folly to further attempt to satisfy
their temporal ambitions or fulfill their earthly goals. They simply ceased working, sold
or abandoned their homes, farms and businesses, and bought a little plot of ground near
some church building or monastery, and not a few moved to the
In the Middle Ages Joachim of
Floris, an Italian monk strongly inclined to mysticism and ecstasy, pondered deeply on the
hidden plan of God. He spoke of three dispensations: the first that of the law or the
Father, the second that of the gospel or the Son, and the third that of the Holy Spirit.
According to his reckoning, the first dispensation belonged to the past, the second was
approaching the end since the church had become very worldly, and the age of the Spirit
was destined to begin in the year 1260 A.D. Then the church would be purified; Jews and
Gentiles would be converted in great masses; a final conflict would be waged against the
evil forces of the world; and then the new order would begin under the blessed reign of
Jesus Christ. But these hopes were also dashed to the ground.
At the time of the Reformation
some of the Anabaptists raised the cry of the speedy return of Jesus Christ. They
established their headquarters at Muenster, set up their own government under the alleged
direction of the Holy Spirit, and thus founded the New Zion in anticipation of the
momentary return of Jesus Christ as their King. The city became the scene of unrestrained
fanaticism that knew no bounds, and which was finally forcibly suppressed by the
government.
Martin Luther at one time taught
that Christ would come in the year A.D. 1530. The Puritans looked for Jesus to set up His
Fifth World Empire in the seventeenth century. Daniel DeFoe tells us in his JOURNAL OF THE
PLAGUE YEAR that, in the midst of the Great Plague in London, England in 1665, a woman on
a square gained a hearing for her prognostications that the Coming of the Lord was right
near; a few gathered, then many, then a crowd, as she pointed excitedly toward the heavens
to "A Horseman in the Sky." The Son of Man was coming; could they not see Him?
Some thought that they could. And during the
Napoleonic wars, when the Man of Destiny was bestriding Europe and the Near East like a
colossus, what a hey-day the prophecy-mongers in England had, with the book of Daniel and
the book of Revelation in one hand, and the latest mail from Egypt in the other! They were
all cocksure that the Antichrist had come, and some of them actually prophesied what
Napoleon would do next, just as the same excitable souls are eyeing Henry Kissinger, the
World Bankers, or Pope John Paul II today! (1986)
In our own country similar
prophets arose. During the second quarter of the nineteenth century William Miller, who
became the founder of the Millerite sect, traveled through
As the predicted day drew near
many took their horses and fodder for two or three days, and went out into the woods,
expecting to be all the more likely to see all that was to be seen when once away from the
crowded city. All over the States there were people who had made ascension-gowns in which
to soar into the air in proper costume. They waited, and they waited, and I am sure that
no text could have been more appropriate for them than this, "Ye men of
Toward the end of the nineteenth
century there was another group, an entire American Colony in the city of
In the present century the
notorious Pastor Russell, the spiritual father of Jehovah's Witnesses, boldly proclaimed
that the Lord would return in the year A.D. 1914. When that year passed by without the
expected appearance of the Lord and marked instead the beginning of the first World War,
to save face, followed the example of Miller. He maintained that the Lord had indeed come,
but was now in hiding because of the wickedness of the people. In due time He was bound to
show Himself. Russell's successor, the eloquent Judge Rutherford, kept alive the
expectation of the speedy transformation of the living saints. The burden of his message,
which was spread over billboards, shouted over the radio, and blazoned to the world in
paid advertisements was "Millions now living will never die." It was a rather
daring assertion, seeing that it could be so easily proved, or disproved. A leading
laundry, which had more humor than reverence, adopted the slogan as its own, making it
read in this fashion: "We do the dyeing for the millions now living."
Then there was the Great Pyramid
delusion. Back about the turn of the century a man by the name of Morton Edgar published a
book titled PYRAMID PASSAGES. The thrust of this book was that the Great Pyramid of Gizeh
in
It was conjectured that every
passage and chamber therein silently but eloquently symbolized in size, length, structure,
etc. the whole wonderful plan of God from the heaven blest garden in Eden down to the
times of the restitution of all things when every enemy should be destroyed and God would
be All-in-all. Those who studied the Pyramid from that standpoint were able to locate all
the major events of history there - Creation was there, Calvary was there, the Reformation
was there, the return of Christ was there, and the Millennial Age. It was all laid out
neatly and precisely in the measurements, passages, chambers, and symbolism of the Great
Pyramid! And, since the measurements from certain well established points to another, for
instance, from Calvary to the Reformation, were all quite precise, it followed that the
measurements from the Reformation to the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom (and hence,
the second coming of Christ) were conclusive. The testimony of the Great Pyramid showed
irrefutably that Christ would return in 1914!
When Christ didn't make the
anticipated appearance in 1914, the theory was later revised by Dr. Adam Rutherford of
Again, the system was revised!
According to
The error of these delusions is
manifest in their repeated failure. I am sure that all of my readers remember the great
1982 Planetary Alignment hype. According to certain Fundamentalist preachers the
"rapture" was going to take place on
Therefore, reasoned certain
preachers and teachers, since the earth would be purged by fire in 1982, the Great
Tribulation must precede that event by seven years, necessitating a beginning in 1975.
Furthermore, since Jesus must come, according to their imaginings, BEFORE the Tribulation;
and considering that He would come with the sound of a trumpet, and at the "last
trump"; it was concluded that He would split the eastern sky on the date of the FEAST
OF TRUMPETS in the year 1975 - precisely on Sept. 6! I arrived in
Some months ago I received in the
mail a booklet sent from a country in South America, in which certain brethren share that
it has been revealed to them in a strikingly supernatural manner, and confirmed through
many humble saints and varied spiritual manifestations, that Pope John Paul II is the
Antichrist; the "rapture" will take place in 1987; and the consummation of all
things will follow in 1991. I do not hesitate to tell you that none of these things will
happen, either! Another letter came across my desk bearing this news: "We've met some
interesting saints who have been walking in the Spirit since 1948 & 1950. One said (in
1948) a sister had a Christmas cactus and a spider came on it and spun the word:
MILLENNIUM 198-. The date was complete to the year, but no one could believe that the
Lord's coming would be so long delayed as the eighties. After all, the Lord was moving
mightily and the Jews had just come back to their homeland! The words and date remained
for three days and three nights and then both spider and web disappeared. But no one could
remember the date, though many had seen it."
Though Jesus and the apostles told
us there would be a rash of false prophets in the closing days of this age, I never cease
to be amazed at the number of people who are claiming that they have some kind of direct
revelation from God about any number of events to transpire in this hour, and the dates on
which they are to occur. In 198l Bill Maupin, leader of the Lighthouse Gospel Tract
Foundation in
You may smile to yourself at such
obvious error, but I will incur the wrath of many well-meaning people when I declare that
not a few of these false prophets are in the so called "end-time" or
"sonship" message, and in the midst of those sincere saints pressing on into the
fullness of God. Over the past several years I have heard countless visions and prophecies
proclaiming that the Great Tribulation would begin in 1970, or 1975, or 1978, or on some
other date; that the sons of God would be manifested in 1968, or 1974, or 1976, or 1978,
or 1982, or 1986, or 1988; many other events I have heard prophesied, none of which ever
came to pass! Some of these deceivers required their people to go out into the wilderness
places to establish wilderness hideouts, hoping to escape the coming judgment. Some, to
this day, are stockpiling guns and ammunition and food and plan to shoot their way through
the tribulation.
Every attempt that has been made
to fix a date, even approximately, has brought the truth into discredit, and has
dishonored our Lord, especially in view of the fact that many predictions have been made,
and then changed with startling craftiness, in order that the date might still further be
postponed, in view of the previous mistakes. These failures point out not merely that
these men are mistaken about the TIME of Christ's return; they prove further that their
WHOLE CONCEPT OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST IS FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED - they know not WHEN
He comes; they perceive not the PURPOSE of His coming; and they understand not HOW He
comes! The "orthodox" teaching on the "second coming" of Christ gets
people into many unexplainable predicaments, out of which they cannot extricate themselves
honorably and logically. The system will not work. It will not work because it is a lie.
There is not one scripture in the whole Bible to uphold the popular theory. But there are
many to prove it false, and much precious and extremely vital truth which the preachers
and churches have totally missed.
THANK GOD that He delivers us from
all this fantastic nonsense! And in its place he directs our attention to what HE is
doing, yes, that which HE IS BECOMING and FULFILLING in His elect. We look, indeed, for
HIS GLORIOUS APPEARING, and rejoice with joy unspeakable in that wherein He has appeared
unto us, and in the glory in which He shall yet appear in surpassing splendor, praise HIS
wonderful name!
THE COMING OF CHRIST IN THE FEASTS
It is infinitely necessary that
every Christian understand that the coming of the Lord is carefully established and
explicitly revealed through the Old Testament Feasts of the Lord. There is a simple order
which God has established relative to the unfolding of truth and the progression of His
purposes, and it is this: "Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that
which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual" (I Cor. 15:46). This
principle is evident everywhere in the scriptures. First the old creation, then the New.
First Adam, the man of earth, then the Last Adam, the Man from heaven. First the Passover,
with its lamb slain in
While men speak of the "first
coming" and the "second coming" of Christ, God's program is in THREES. God
has promised to meet with man in THREE DIMENSIONS. "THREE TIMES in a year shall all
thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which HE shall choose; in the feast
of UNLEAVENED BREAD (Passover), and in the feast of WEEKS (Pentecost), and in the feast of
TABERNACLES: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty" (Deut. 16:16). God says
that He will meet with man THREE times - in the three great Feasts of the Lord!
"THREE TIMES in a year shall all your males appear before the Lord." To
"appear before the Lord" designates not only an action on your part, but a
reciprocal action on God's part. Not only must you appear, but HE MUST APPEAR! It is a
joint-meeting in which YOU APPEAR B-E-F-O-R-E H-I-M,
or as the apostle has so eloquently explained, "When Christ, who is our life, SHALL
APPEAR, then shall YE ALSO APPEAR WITH HIM in glory" (Col. 3:4).
The Feasts of Yahweh were but
types and shadows of those things which were yet to come. These Feasts portrayed in their
typology God's plan for man even to the very end of the ages. They bring to us the
unfolding purpose of God for us from the foundation of the world. An Old Testament type is
literally a word picture or living example that prefigures that which is to come. In
another sense, it is an exact shadow of that which does not yet exist. The apostle Paul in
speaking of those things which happened to
The three primary Feasts given to
When God meets man in the first
dimension, He meets us in the Feast of Passover. Jesus appears to us, He comes to us as
SAVIOUR in that realm. "When I see the blood, I will pass-over you!" (Ex.
12:13). I dare say every reader of these lines has passed through that Feast, has met and
seen and experienced the Lord in that realm. "For even Christ our passover is
sacrificed for us" (I Cor. 5:7). Jesus is the Lamb of God. The Old Paschal Feast is
gone forever. We no longer need a Paschal Feast of the old type, we no longer need to
appear before the Lord in
The Feast of Pentecost was a
separate Feast and the Pentecostal experience is a separate experience. Has God met with
you a second time? Has Christ come to you in a second dimension of His presence and life
and glory? Has He come from heaven as a rushing mighty wind and filled your house with
power and glory? Has He appeared to you as Baptizer with the Holy Ghost and fire? Have you
appeared before Him in the spiritual Feast of Pentecost? Then you are blessed indeed! But
God does not stop at Pentecost and the second Feast is but the "earnest" and the
"firstfruits" of the final Feast! In
The last great Feast of the
Israelite year was Tabernacles ... and startling as it might seem, this is the Feast that
remains to be fulfilled! Tabernacles is called "the Feast of Ingathering, which is in
the END OF THE YEAR." Pentecost is only the firstfruits of the Spirit, but
Tabernacles is the full harvest - FULLNESS! And this fullness comes in the END of the
year, at the completion of our walk with God, and I believe that we have not witnessed
such fullness in any save in our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and neither shall we until the
very close of this present age, The Feast of Tabernacles could not be celebrated until
Israel had left the wilderness behind, and was dwelling in Canaan. Even so, Christ is
bringing a great company of apprehended ones, in the END of this age, out of their
wilderness wanderings of immaturity, carnality and struggle on into their promised land -
the measure of the stature of the FULLNESS OF CHRIST. Oh, yes, God shall surely give unto
the elect sons of God the FULLNESS OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD of which we, up until this time,
have only received the "earnest" or "firstfruits."
I do not hesitate to say that we
are still partaking of the Feast of Pentecost. But I have good news for you. JESUS IS
COMING AGAIN! He is coming in the Feast of Tabernacles, and BLESSED are they who are
called to this great Feast, that which supersedes Pentecost, that which is the balance of
the meal of which Passover and Pentecost were merely the first courses. As we leave this
Feast in great strength, those who shall represent the
Chapter 4
THE COMING
OF CHRIST
IN THE FEASTS
No revelation, doctrine or system
of teaching in the Old Testament can be fully comprehended until it has been correlated
and integrated with the revelation of the New Testament. Together, the two books form the
interlocking halves of one perfect whole. It may be said that the seed of all New
Testament truth is found in the Old Testament text. But if that is true, it is equally
accurate to say that all truth revealed in the New Testament is concealed in the Old
Testament. In a word, the flower of revelation which blossomed from Moses to Malachi has
come to its fruit in the records from Matthew to Revelation. Therefore there can be no
contradiction between the teachings of these two sections of God's Word, as one must
merely complement the other.
The theme of the Old Testament is
"Someone is coming!" Every prophet of the ancient times looked forward through
the ages to the Coming One. Moses began the theme when he wrote, "The Seed of the
woman shall bruise the serpent's head," and Malachi closed the continued reiteration
joined in by all the prophets, when he told of the Sun of Righteousness which should
arise, with healing in His rays. But the New Testament has two themes, both of them
centering in one Person. The first theme is "Someone has come!" This, indeed, is
borne out by Philip, who sought out Nathanael with the startling greeting, "Come and
see! We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write!" He did
indeed come, but the shame of His rejection remains as the vilest blot upon the page of
human activities. Rejected, cast out, and crucified, He ascended back into heaven, from
whence He had come. Then follows the second theme of the New Testament, which may be
stated as "Someone is coming again!" Thus the entire scripture centers in the
Person of One who was to come, who did come, and who is coming again. He is the coming One
of Old Testament promise, and is the object of our present study.
The Old Testament prophecies
concerning the coming of Christ exhibit the same peculiarity as those of the New
Testament, in that they foretell many distinct events, but do not usually state the order
of their occurrence, or the length of the interval between them, or the manner of their
fulfillment. The students of Old Testament prophecy who sought to fix the time of the
coming of the expected King would have pondered such passages for example, as Zech. 9:9:
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold THY KING
COMETH UNTO THEE. He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and
upon a colt, the foal of an ass." And in the attempt to fix the order of His coming
in relation to other predicted events they would, of course, have noted particularly Isa.
40:3: "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the
Lord"; and Mal. 3:3: "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the
way before Me; and the Lord Whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple"; and Mal.
4:5: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and
dreadful day of the Lord."
From these prophecies the
expositor might have insisted, and with a show of reason, that the Lord could not
"come" to His "temple" until the messenger should first appear to
prepare the way "before" Him; and that they who looked for Him to appear before
the predicted messenger were indulging a vain expectation. Yet the fact is that the Lord
came, on the natural plane, to His Old Testament Temple, thirty years BEFORE the predicted
messenger appeared to announce Him; and He was seen by Simeon (the "hearer") who
was led by the Holy Spirit, by Anna, who waited upon the Lord in the temple, by the
shepherds who were keeping their flocks by night, and by the wise men from the East, who
saw His star, and hence must have been watching in the night; and, moreover, His coming
was made known "to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem" (Lk. 2:38).
It seems to me that for centuries
our eyes have been kept holden to many of the great truths of the scripture. We have read
and studied the Bible, taking for granted that our minds comprehended fully what was
written, and frequently just reading over the passages and understanding little or nothing
of the precious gems of divine truth which lay hidden just beneath the surface. We should
not berate ourselves for this lack of understanding, always keeping in mind that God never
reveals anything to anybody until HE IS READY to reveal it, and He is never ready to
reveal anything until the "fullness of time" has arrived in which He is about to
accomplish that which He discloses.
For centuries
I do not hesitate to tell you that
modern Christians are viewing the Bible completely "out of focus" in the same
way as did the Jews of old! We will never discover anything that God chooses to hide from
us, but our highest concern should be that when God does draw back the curtain and send us
light that we receive the hidden treasure, for if we reject it, the light we have becomes
darkness and we can understand nothing. When the Spirit of wisdom and revelation
illuminates a truth to our heart, it is time to grasp it and pursue it with all spiritual
vigor and determination, for if we tarry it will be covered again, and we will miss it. Do
you remember that Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, “I thank Thee, Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast
revealed them unto babes. Even, so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight"? The
moment the blessed Spirit of Truth begins to unveil a truth, it is time to earnestly seek
Him and beseech Him to instruct us in it. Do not submit God's revelation to the criticism
of some dead church member or indoctrinated preacher, for they like the crows that gather
to the farmer's field will steal away the seed of the truth before it has a chance to
sprout or take root within you.
'There can be no doubt that we are
living in an hour when the Lord is revealing many things that concern the return of our
Lord Jesus Christ. I am certain, however, that even now we see them only darkly. We catch
only faint and fleeting glimpses of the glory of His many-splendored coming. We are
looking for the REVELATION of Jesus Christ. We are looking for the UNVEILING of the sons
of God. The revelation will reveal what is hidden. The unveiling will reveal what has been
kept concealed. As the lightning flashes forth from the ominous darkness of swirling
stormy clouds, so the manifestation will disclose what has been hidden in the darkness.
I would draw your attention to an
enlightening passage of scripture in Prov. 22:19-21. "That thy trust may be in the
Lord, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. Have not I written to thee
EXCELLENT THINGS in counsels and knowledge, that I might make thee know the certainty of
the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto
thee?" The word "EXCELLENT", as used here, is the Hebrew word SHALISH
meaning three-fold, or weighty. It is most interesting to note that Young's Literal
translation renders it, "Have I not written to thee THREE TIMES with counsels and
knowledge?" A free translation would run, "Have I not written unto you
THREE-FOLD things?" Three-fold things. These are the excellent things of God. These
are weighty things, things which have depth upon depth upon depth in their meaning. This
three-fold principle is brought forth again and again as the Spirit unfolds the truth
appointed for His overcoming company in this important hour.
While men speak of the "first
coming" and the "second coming" of Christ, God's program is in THREES. God
has promised to meet with man in THREE DIMENSIONS. He has met man historically and
experientially in the first and second realms. I declare to you that He will meet with us
dispensationally and experientially yet a THIRD time! The pattern is clear: "THREE
TIMES in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which He
shall choose; in the feast of UNLEAVENED BREAD (Passover), and in the feast of WEEKS
(Pentecost), and in the feast of TABERNACLES: and they shall not appear before the Lord
empty" (Deut. 16:16). God says that He will meet with man THREE times - in the three
great Feasts of the Lord! "THREE TIMES in a year shall all your males appear before
the Lord." To "appear before the Lord" designates not only an action on our
part, but a reciprocal action on God's part. Not only must we appear, but HE MUST APPEAR!
It is a joint-meeting in which WE APPEAR B-E-F-O-R-E_H-I-M, or as the apostle has so
eloquently explained, "When Christ, who is our life, SHALL APPEAR, then shall YE ALSO
APPEAR WITH HIM in glory" (Col. 3:4). When this three-fold aspect of His appearing is
clearly understood, then the fact that the scriptures nowhere speak of just a "first
coming" and a "second coming" takes on new meaning!
The Feasts of Yahweh were but
types and shadows of those things that were yet to come. These Feasts portrayed in their
typology God's plan for this world even to the very end of the ages. They bring to us the
unfolding plan of redemption that was ordained before the foundation of the world. An Old
Testament type is literally a word picture or an object lesson that pre-figures that which
is to come. In another sense, it is an exact shadow of that which does not yet exist. The
apostle Paul in speaking of those things which happened to Israel in their wilderness
journey stated, "Now all these things happened unto them for ENSAMPLES (EXAMPLES),
and they are written for OUR ADMONITION (INSTRUCTION), upon whom the ends of the world
(age) are come" (I Cor. 10:11).
It is made very plain by this
scripture that
The three primary Feasts given to
In order to understand the coming
of the Lord in the Feasts, it will be helpful to trace the origin of the word itself. When
we speak of a feast, we are prone to picture a banquet of rich foods and an evening of
entertainment. But such is not the original concept of the word. Festival comes a little
nearer to expressing the thought. It suggests gala attire, parades, singing, dancing - a
holiday spent in celebrating some new event or in commemorating one in the past. The
Hebrew word translated feast is CHAG. It refers to a SACRED feast - not an ordinary meal
given for entertainment. Its original meaning is a procession, a dance, or a public
dramatization of some event. The eating and drinking which accompanied it were of
secondary importance. From the earliest times it was the custom of heathen peoples to
observe certain festal days. Primarily these seasons were for the purpose of worshiping or
appeasing their idol gods. The occasion gave them an opportunity to openly display their
beliefs, by various forms of art and ceremony, and thus to instruct all who witnessed the
celebration in the tenets of their religion. This custom continues to this very day among
primitive peoples. Our own American Indians, though now educated according to our way of
life, still preserve their cultural and religious heritage by means of such ceremonies and
festivals.
In Old Testament times they had no
books or other means of teaching one another. Most of the religions confined their
ordinances to a small body of priests, and the common man had little or no religious
instruction. However, the feast was the exception to this rule. When the festal season
dawned, all work and business were laid aside, and old and young alike donned their finest
garments and jewels and joined the great crowds in an open display of "worship"
and religious education.
There is no indication that the
children of
How precious the knowledge that we
have a God who hungers, thirsts, deeply desires, to feast with His people - a God who from
the beginning has tried to show us that His greatest delight is not in showing His
authority, but in enjoying intimate and close fellowship with His children. It is true
that He disciplines, that He leads us in paths of sacrifice, fasting, travail and tears -
in their proper place. But He causes the sacrifice to be turned into increase, He
exchanges the ashes for beauty, and the tears He turns to laughter! He set a Feast of
fruits before Adam and Eve, the like of which man has never been able to reproduce, and He
communed with them face to face. He ate with Abraham in his tent at noonday. He spread a
table in the wilderness for the entire nation of His chosen, and gave them the very bread
of heaven. Jesus performed His first miracle at a wedding feast. He fed five thousand on a
hillside. He did not hesitate to attend feasts, nor to eat with publicans and sinners. He
also attended the Feast of dedication and the Feast of Tabernacles (Jn.
The Feast means, that God and man
are brought together, the Lord appears unto man to associate Himself with him in an
intimate manner, in an extremely close and joyful relationship. Christ comes in three
Feasts, three unique and wonderful relationships between Himself and His people, and these
relationships become real to us and become His coming and His appearing unto us, praise
His glorious name!
The Feasts have at least three
aspects to them. They have the memorial aspect, they were done in memory of something,
they pointed back to something, back to something God had done. The Feast of Passover was
kept in memory of
Every one of these Feasts had also
a prophetic aspect. That is, they pointed not just to the past, but they pointed forth to
the future. They pre-figured something that God was going to do. They were prophetic in
their implication. They pointed toward something that God declared He purposed to yet
perform for His people. The prophetic aspect of the Passover was that the slaying of the
Paschal lamb pre-figured Christ's death on
Every one of the Feasts of the
Lord have not only a historical aspect, pointing back to something God did, and a
prophetic aspect, pointing forward to something God would do; but every one of them has a
personal and individual aspect in our lives experientially. Each Feast finds its
fulfillment in our forward walk in God. In Passover we see a picture of our justification.
In the Feast of Pentecost we have a picture of our baptism with the Holy Spirit, the
"firstfruits" of our inheritance. In the Feast of Tabernacles we find a picture
of our glorification, our entrance into the fullness of our inheritance and possession in
God, even all the wisdom, knowledge, life, victory, nature and power of the Almighty.
A feast involves an appointed day,
a public assembly at a fixed time or season. The feast days were occasions when
Another important truth in
relation to these Feasts is that they are all HIS FEASTS! There are so many Christians
today who are possessed of the childish notion that God is the manager of a great heavenly
super market, or that He is a glorified celestial Santa Claus. All we have to do is just
quote our favorite "faith scripture," snap our finger, turn our faith loose, and
God comes running with a load of goodies with which to satisfy our every whim and fancy.
NOT SO! He is LORD. He is SOVEREIGN. He is KING. And these are not our Feasts, they are
HIS FEASTS. This is a grand and sublime truth we must understand from the beginning if we
would progress into the depths of God. These are HIS FEASTS, the Feasts of THE LORD! He's
the Host, and we are the guests. Sometimes people like to appear religious, and they hang
on the wall a little plaque that says, "Christ is the unseen guest at every
meal." I trust, my brother, my sister, that Christ is NOT the guest in your home! He
should be the HOST! He must be LORD!
GOD appointed who would meet with
Him in the Feasts. All the males of
The children of
The Feast of Pentecost was a
separate Feast and the Pentecostal experience is a separate experience. Has God met with
you a second time? Has Christ come to you in a second dimension of His presence and life
and glory? Has He come from heaven as a rushing mighty wind and filled your house with
power and glory? Has He appeared to you as the Baptizer with the Holy Ghost and Fire? Have
you appeared before Him in the joy and glory of the spiritual Feast of Pentecost? Then you
are blessed indeed! But the idea entertained by many Christians is that now since we have
had Passover and Pentecost, there is nothing left to do but die and go to heaven, or catch
the rapture, whichever comes first. That's what most folk tell me. There's nothing more.
The only things that remain to be experienced in God beyond salvation and speaking in
tongues and blessings are golden streets and harps and palm branches for eternity. But I
have news for you, my friend. God does not stop at Pentecost and the second Feast is but
the "earnest" and the "firstfruits" of the final Feast! In
No Bible scholar in the world will
dispute the truth that on
The last great Feast of the
Israelite year was Tabernacles ... and this is the Feast that remains to be fulfilled!
Tabernacles is called "the feast of the INGATHERING, which is in the END OF THE
YEAR." Pentecost is only the firstfruits of the Spirit, but Tabernacles is the full
harvest - FULLNESS! And this fullness comes in the END of the year, at the completion of
our progressive walk with God, and I believe that we have not witnessed such fullness in
any save in our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and neither shall we until the very close of
this present age. The Feast of Tabernacles could not be celebrated until
I do not hesitate to say that for
the most part we are still partaking of the Feast of Pentecost. How bountifully the table
has been spread with His presence and divers gifts of the Holy Spirit! But the Feast of
Tabernacles, the Feast at the END of the year, is the Feast of Fullness. I have more good
news for you. JESUS IS COMING AGAIN! He is coming in the Feast of Tabernacles, and BLESSED
are they who are called to this great Feast, that which supersedes Pentecost, that which
is the BALANCE OF THE MEAL of which Passover and Pentecost were merely the first courses.
And the balance must therefore come, the remainder of the meal which will give strength to
the laborers to go forth and accomplish great things for the Master. And this Tabernacles
Feast, being the last, shall bring perfection! It will bring the consummation of our
SALVATION, spirit, soul and body. As we leave this Feast in great strength, those who will
be in control of this planet from that time forth will be abiding in the fullness of
RESURRECTION LIFE and will be forever free from the curse, spirit, soul and body. It shall
mean a new day of hope and deliverance and glory for the whole earth as the Lord COMES
AGAIN to meet man in this great and glorious Feast of HIS FULLNESS. In the Feast of
Passover He comes as JESUS, the Saviour. In the Feast of Pentecost He tomes as CHRIST, the
Anointed One, and thus the Anointer, for the anointing which we have received, we received
OF HIM. But in the Feast of Tabernacles He comes as LORD, the Lord of the harvest, the
Lord of Fullness! There is a depth of inworking taking place these days in those whom He
has apprehended for the realms beyond. They are slowly, but surely, coming to know Him as
LORD of all their life. There are depths of truth which cannot be uttered by voice or
inscribed by pen, so may HE grant illumination far beyond what is here written.
THE COMING OF CHRIST IN THE FEAST OF PASSOVER
The people of
God here gave
No longer would they serve the
Egyptian taskmaster under cruel bondage, but they were to serve the Lord their God. No
longer were they to eat the leeks and onions and garlic of
Every redeemed spirit will shout a
thousand hallelujahs at the rich truths portrayed by this prophetic symbolism. Enlightened
eyes can readily see Jesus, the Son of God, being selected by the Father to become our
Paschal Lamb. We can see Him, laying down His life without murmur or complaint, wounded
for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. Ah, how blessed to have His
precious blood applied, to be among the redeemed (Eph. 1:7), to be justified (Rom. 5:9),
to be at peace with God (Col. 1:20), and to experience restored fellowship with our
heavenly Father (Eph. 2:13)! How very real to every true believer has been this
deliverance from the world and a life of sin. Indeed, the Passover experience is a brand
new beginning, a new day, a new year, a new calendar, a new life, a new era for the child
of God. Old things begin to pass away, and all things begin to become new. The bondage of
the world and sin, the old life-style of serving the lusts of the flesh and of the mind is
left behind, giving way to a new walk in the Spirit of God, a life of servitude to the God
of our salvation. "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of
righteousness" (Rom.
The coming of Christ in the Feast
of Passover brought a new beginning for us and for the whole world. Did it really make any
difference? Was the world any different for His coming? The coming of Jesus Christ into
the world was the greatest boon in the history of mankind. In fact, the coming of Christ
so clearly divides the history of the world into B.C. and A.D., that no one can write a
letter or sign a check without bearing mute testimony to the incomparable excellencies and
accomplishments of the Carpenter of Galilee. Indeed, Jesus makes a great difference! All
the world is different because He came. Can you even imagine what the world would be like
today had He NOT COME? The entire history of mankind before His coming can be seen as
nothing other than a preparation for His advent into the world. All history since His
coming has simply been the unfolding of the progress of His Spirit in the hearts of men
and the effect of His Kingdom in the world.
I would like to have you consider
with me the wonders of the coming of Christ in the Feast of Passover. His coming was an
event that caused men and women and even mighty angels in heaven to wonder. How the angels
must have wondered in astonishment when they saw, to their utter unbelief, that the
glorious Word of God had left His eternal glory in heaven, where unnumbered cherubim and
seraphim worshipped Him with unceasing adoring adulation, and now was born in the filth
and stench of a stable. It was not a plaster of Paris stable with little white donkeys,
but a filthy stinking stable, where the Son of God was born. How the angels must have
wondered at that! A time of wonder! Not only the angels, but Mary herself was filled with
wonderment. "How shall this be," she said, "seeing that I know not a
man?" Her heart was filled with amazement and Joseph must have been overwhelmed with
astonishment at the news that his wife had conceived by the Almighty. "The power of
the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of
thee shall be called the Son of God."
Mary's heart was filled with
wonder and she kept these things in her heart and pondered upon them - that God Almighty
had come and had been born in human form. What amazement, what wonder must have filled her
soul when she looked down into the face of that little baby to which she had given birth
and knew that this was not just a human baby but was the incarnate God. This was the
Creator of the galaxies who had come to dwell in human flesh. Her heart must surely have
been overwhelmed with the wonder of that! Consider the Magi who came all the way from the
How many people down through the
ages have been filled with wonder. And all that I have said pales into insignificance
beside the surpassing wonder of this blessed One hanging and dying like a common criminal
upon a Roman cross. Behold, the Lamb of God! Behold the Paschal Lamb! Behold the blood of
Jesus! Beloved, it is the most incredible story in the history of the world! It is tragic
that the repeated telling of it robs it of its wonder and astonishment in our hearts.
Perhaps one of the most wonderful things about the reality of Christ our Passover is the
motive that brought it to pass - a motive of love, infinite love, undying love,
unconquerable love, the unconditioned love of God who sent the Son of God into this world.
But there is an even greater
wonder than this. John the beloved in his Gospel said, "And the Word was MADE FLESH
and dwelt among us" (Jn.
In order to understand the coming
of Christ to us today, we must first understand His coming in that Passover Feast of long
ago. When was it, beloved, that you BEHELD HIM for the first time? Was it not by the eye
of the spirit? Did you not see Him by the eye of the spirit hanging on a tree, becoming
the sacrificial Lamb on your behalf? But what you saw so clearly by the revelation of the
Spirit in your heart actually happened on a hill outside
Oh, yes, Jesus died on that hill
by
God said, "When I see the
blood I will PASS OVER you." For years I thought that meant that God would "skip
over" them, that when He passed through the land meting out death to the firstborns,
he would see the blood and "pass on by." "I will skip over you." But
that isn't what He said. Notice Ex. 12:23: "The Lord will pass through to smite the
Egyptians; and when He seeth the blood upon the lintel, and over the two side posts, the
Lord will PASS OVER THE DOOR, and will NOT ALLOW THE DESTROYER TO COME IN UNTO YOUR HOUSES
TO SMITE YOU." Now who was doing the smiting? The Destroyer! "I will pass over
the door, and will not allow the Destroyer to come in." God was saying, not that He
would skip over them, or pass them by, but He was assuring them, "I will become a
tent, I will impose my presence over you and you can stand under the tent of My presence
and be safe! The Destroyer will be out there but he can't get in - because I will be
there! I will pass over you, and will not allow the Destroyer to come in unto you."
Who is the Destroyer that was in
the
In Old Testament times Satan was
the angel of death, appointed by God to that purpose. "Behold," says the Lord,
"I have created the waster to destroy" (Isa. 54:16). The Lord unleashed the mad
dog, the devil, that night in
God passed over their houses to
protect them. He became a defense for them. He became a refuge. His power became a strong
and impregnable fortress round about them. Ps. 91 is, I believe, an allusion to the
Passover. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under
the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, HE is my refuge and my fortress: my
God; in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and
from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings
shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for
the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that
walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall
fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation;
there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling."
If you have met God in the Feast
of Passover, if the Christ has come to you in the reality of this wonderful Feast, where
are you today? Under His feathers, under His wings! The Passover God has come and has
passed over us, when we embraced Him as our Saviour. When you took the blood of Jesus and
applied it to your life, that blood brought the covering presence of the Almighty God. You
have perfect protection against the Destroyer! I have no time for the crowd of
fear-mongers that roams our land today. I have nothing in common with those who constantly
peddle fear - fear of tribulation, fear of the terrible conditions at the close of this
age, fear of the Antichrist, fear of economic collapse, fear of communism, fear of the
Illuminati, fear of computer systems, fear of conspiracies, fear of demons, fear of death.
There is a lot of false teaching
going around today on demonology, and men casting all kinds of devils out of the saints,
and bringing a totally erroneous concept which is neither scriptural nor right, leaving
people in confusion and in fear of demons and the devil. When you come in under the
covering of the Passover God, the God who passes and hovers over you as a fortress and a
defense, you have perfect protection against the Destroyer and all his forces. I do not
hesitate to tell you today that I am not afraid of the devil - the devil is afraid of me!
And he's afraid of you, if you have truly experienced the Lord in the Feast of Passover.
Nowhere does the Bible state that the Christians fear the devil - it says in James 2:19
that the devils believe and What? - tremble!
It is the devils that are
trembling today! God has a people who are marching through the land triumphant above all
the fear of demons, the devil, the world, death, and all that business. There is a
tremendous need for the Lord's elect to know their place under the blood and in the
indwelling and overshadowing presence of the Lord. HAS HE COME TO YOU IN THE FEAST OF
PASSOVER? Are you eating and drinking and rejoicing with Him in that wonderful Festival?
Ah, GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN YOU THAN HE THAT IS IN THE WORLD!
Chapter 5
THE COMING
OF CHRIST
IN THE
FEASTS (continued)
I believe every word that the
Bible says about the coming of our Lord; I don't believe what the apostate churches say
about it, nor what the television evangelists say about it, nor what the tradition-bound
preachers say about; but I certainly believe what the Bible says about it!
Briefly, I would again draw your
attention to a passage of scripture in Prov. 22:19-21. "That thy trust may be in the
Lord, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. Have not I written to thee
EXCELLENT THINGS in counsels and knowledge, that I might make thee know the certainty of
the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto
thee?" The word "EXCELLENT", as used here, is the Hebrew word SHALISH
meaning three-fold, or weighty. It is most interesting to note that Young's Literal
Translation renders it, "Have I not written to thee THREE TIMES with counsels and
knowledge?" A free translation would run, "Have I not written unto you
THREE-FOLD things?" Three-fold things. These are the excellent things of God. These
are weighty things, things which have depth upon depth upon depth in their meaning. This
three-fold principle is brought forth again and again as the Spirit unfolds the truth
appointed for His overcoming company in this important hour.
While men speak of the "first
coming" and the "second coming" of Christ, God's program is in THREES. God
has promised to meet with man in THREE DIMENSIONS. He has met man historically and
experientially in the first and second realms. I declare to you that He will meet with us
dispensationally and experientially yet a THIRD time! The pattern is clear: "THREE
TIMES in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which He
shall choose; in the feast of UNLEAVENED BREAD (Passover), and in the feast of WEEKS
(Pentecost), and in the feast of TABERNACLES: and they shall not appear before the Lord
empty" (Deut. 16:16). God says that He will meet with man THREE times - in the three
great Feasts of the Lord! "THREE TIMES in a year shall all your males appear before
the Lord." To "appear before the Lord" designates not only an action on our
part, but a reciprocal action on God's part. Not only must we appear, but HE MUST APPEAR!
It is a joint-meeting in which WE APPEAR B-E-F-O-R-E H-I-M, even as He appears in His
glory as He did in
The three primary Feasts given to
THE COMING OF CHRIST IN THE FEAST OF PENTECOST
The Feast of Pentecost was the
second of
Many are under the misapprehension
that the day the waiting disciples received the Holy Spirit, is called the Day of
Pentecost because the Lord poured out His Spirit on that day. But the
Bible says that the Spirit came "when the Day of Pentecost was fully come." The
fact is, the Day of Pentecost had been celebrated annually for 1500 years BEFORE the
outpouring of the Spirit recorded in the book of Acts. The Feast Day of Pentecost was a
Feast kept in remembrance of an historical event in
The two loaves, the ten
sacrificial animals offered with the bread, the new meat offering, and all the details of
the Feast of Pentecost pointed back to the power and glory of God when He met with His
people at
For fifteen long centuries
Pentecost! What a vast treasure
house of spiritual reality and experience looms before us as we contemplate the tremendous
implications of the word! We could not begin to adequately explain the meaning of the
Feast without saying that it is the celebration of the receiving of the Law. The baptism
in the Holy Spirit certainly begins with the manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit,
speaking in tongues, prophecy, miracles, healing, discerning of spirits, etc. It has been
said that receiving the Holy Spirit is like buying a pair of shoes - the
"tongues" come with it! I believe that. But - speaking in tongues may be the
evidence that you have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, but it is in no way the
evidence that you are walking in the Spirit. Tongues are not the evidence of either a
Spirit-filled or a Spirit-led life. But I will tell you what is! In Ex. 19, when the
children of
There is the power of a REAL
PENTECOST! It is sad that that has not been the experience of most Pentecostals. Someone
has said that if you have all "Word" (Fundamentalism) you will dry up, and if
you have all "Spirit" (Pentecostalism) you will blow up; but if you have both
the Spirit and the Word you will GROW UP! The real Pentecost, precious friend of mine, is
not signs and wonders and miracles, but the Law of God written upon the heart. Jesus
walked out this glorious Feast upon earth, He fulfilled all the Law as the anointed One of
the Father, and revealed the nature, mind, will and power of God before men. Now HE is the
One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit! For us as members of His body, we keep the Feast of
Pentecost when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, endued with power, transformed in mind
and heart, receiving the earnest of our inheritance, the gifts and fruit of the Spirit
ministered by love.
It is important that the Feast of
Pentecost occurred at a separate point in time from the Passover and was different and
distinct from the previous Feast. For the second time, all males were to appear before the
Lord in the place of His choosing (Deut.
How sad that good men of God who
have experienced the glory and wonder of the Passover experience, should now close the
door to further reality in God and deny that the Feast of Pentecost is a second and
further appropriation of the presence and working of God in His people. In fact, most of
Christendom has never even come into this Pentecostal experience. They have refused to
come to the Feast! They have not appeared before the Lord as commanded. We find that their
leaders have barred the door, telling the people that both the old Feast of Pentecost in
the Old Testament and the glorious manifestations of power in the New Testament
fulfillment, are events of ancient history, that the early church enjoyed them for a
season, to help get the church off to a good start, but it is not for them today - so they
are denied the blessings of the gifts and graces of the Spirit, and that satisfying praise
and worship which comes by His quickening within. Speaking in tongues is a
"no-no", or any supernatural moving of the Spirit as He would anoint those who
go on from Feast to Feast. Yes, for many the Lord has come to them only once - in the
Feast of Passover - and they experience and know Him only as Jesus the SAVIOUR. So we
praise God for the ones who are receiving of His Spirit around the world today, being
called to appear before the Lord in the second great Feast of Pentecost, to receive of its
ministry to them. The Lord came down and appeared to Moses on the Mount. And the Lord has
come down and is appearing to, in, and through His people in the spiritual Feast of
Pentecost. We marvel at how religious leaders will acknowledge the COMING OF JESUS as
SAVIOUR in the Feast of Passover, and yet refuse to acknowledge the COMING OF C-H-R-I-S-T,
i.e. the ANOINTING SPIRIT, which is to abide within us and guide us into all truth, and
reality and maturity of His life, in the Feast of Pentecost.
When Moses ascended
As it was necessary for
We must see clearly from the light
of scripture that in the Old Testament period the Spirit of God did not indwell men. In
that time the Spirit of God descended upon man to move man to do God's work; the emphasis
was upon the Spirit of God being the power to man. In the Old Testament the anointings of
God's Spirit came and went, fell and lifted. The Spirit was never completely
"given" to any man - prophet, priest or king. This is why we read such
statements as these: "And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of
prophets met him; and the Spirit of God CAME UPON HIM (Saul), and he prophesied among
them" (I Sam.
The prophet Ezekiel saw this day
of the New Testament, of the remarkable regeneration by which men would actually be born
of God to become sons of God, and he prophesied, saying, "Then will I sprinkle clean
water upon you, and ye shall be clean... a new heart also will I give you, and a new
spirit will I put WITHIN YOU: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and
I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit WITHIN YOU, AND CAUSE YOU to
walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them" (Eze. 36:25-27). In
Christ, we not only have our sins forgiven in the Feast of Passover, but as we follow on
to the next Feast there is an impartation of a NEW SPIRIT, a NEW LIFE, even the divine
life of God. We are impregnated by the Spirit of God, and a baby spirit, a divine nature,
is conceived within us. This new embryo is the offspring of God in Christ, so that God
becomes, not figuratively, nor creatively, but very literally in a Fatherly way OUR
FATHER, the Father of our spirit. Therefore, "If any man be in Christ, he is a NEW
CREATURE" (II Cor.
Immediately I hear some reader
saying, "But why do you say the baptism in the Holy Spirit is the coming of CHRIST -
is it not the coming of the Holy Spirit, and is not the Holy Spirit a different member of
the Godhead?" But, dear reader, do not be too hasty in your judgment.
In II Cor. 3: 17 we read these
arresting and outstanding words: "Now the Lord IS THAT SPIRIT." For comparison
and further clarification let us go to additional translations and get their insight into
this portion of scripture. From the Jerusalem Bible we read II Cor. 3:15-18: "Yes,
even today, whenever Moses is read, the veil is over their minds. It will not be removed
until they turn to the Lord. NOW THE LORD IS THE SPIRIT, and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is freedom. And we, with our unveiled faces, reflecting like mirrors the
brightness of the Lord, all grow brighter and brighter as we are turned into the image
that we reflect; this is the work of the Lord who IS THE SPIRIT." We are told that we
reflect the brightness of the Lord like mirrors, and that we shall continue to do so until
we are transformed into that bright image that we now reflect. But, in turning to Rom.
I prayerfully invite all who read
these lines to carefully consider the following words spoken by our Lord. "He that
believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. But this He spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him were to receive:
for the Spirit WAS NOT YET; BECAUSE Jesus was not yet glorified" (Jn.
Jesus promised that if He went
away He would send "another Comforter." The basic fact underlying the truth of
the Comforter is just this: "For the Spirit WAS NOT YET; BECAUSE Jesus had not yet
been glorified" (Weymouth Translation). In other words, this peculiar manifestation
of God AS THE COMFORTER did not and could not exist until Jesus had ascended on high. This
is intimated in Ps. 68:18 wherein the Psalmist says, "Thou hast ascended on high...
Thou hast RECEIVED GIFTS for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God MIGHT
DWELL AMONG THEM."
Do not misunderstand me. I do not
say that the Holy Spirit did not exist previous to the glorification of the Son of man,
for the very term "Holy Spirit" signifies "the Spirit Who is holy",
even the everlasting God (Jn. 4:24). But I do say that the manifestation of God AS THE
ABIDING COMFORTER was utterly impossible until Jesus was glorified; and this because of
the very nature of the Comforter, for the scriptures teach that He proceeds from the
Father and the Son (compare Jn. 15:26 and Acts 2:33), thereby combining almighty POWER
with mediatorial and intercessory GRACE. How clearly this is expressed as follows:
"For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of
Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be
made like unto His brethren, THAT
HE MIGHT BE A MERCIFUL AND FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST. For in that He Himself hath suffered
being tempted, He is able to SUCCOUR them that are tempted" (Heb.
These things were spoken of Jesus
in the days of His flesh; what have they to do with the Comforter? Listen! "Therefore
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of
the Holy Spirit, HE hath shed forth this..." (Acts
May the blessed Spirit of Truth
help every reader of these lines to understand the precious truth that when the Spirit
came on the Day of Pentecost, He came not only as the Spirit of the eternal God, but just
as surely the Spirit of the GLORIFIED JESUS, the Spirit of the crucified, resurrected,
ascended and exalted Christ, the bearer and communicator to us, not merely of the life of
God as such, but of that life as IT HAD BEEN INTERWOVEN INTO THE HUMAN NATURE IN THE
PERSON OF CHRIST JESUS. The Spirit of the glorified Jesus, the Son of man become the Son
of God - HE could not BE until Jesus was glorified! God IS a Spirit, and there is only
"one Spirit." The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ are the one Spirit. Now
the Lord IS THAT SPIRIT. "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be
that the SPIRIT OF GOD dwell in you. Now if any man have not the SPIRIT OF CHRIST, he is
none of His" (
This thought opens up to us
further the reason why it is not the Spirit of God as such, but the Spirit of Jesus, that
could be sent to dwell in us. Christ came not only to deliver man from sin and the law and
its curse, but to bring human nature itself into the fellowship of the celestial life, to
make us partakers of the divine nature. In His own person, having become flesh, He had to
sanctify the flesh, and make it a worthy and willing receptacle for the indwelling Spirit
of the Father - God. Having done this, He had, in accordance with the law that a lower
form of life can rise to a higher, only as it is seized upon and transformed by the higher
life, prepared Himself by death to give Himself as the seedcorn to bring forth fruit in
us. From His nature, as He brought His humanity into subjection to the Spirit, as it was
then glorified in the resurrection and ascension, His Spirit came forth as the Spirit of
His human life, glorified into the union with the Divine, to make us partakers of all that
He had personally wrought out and acquired, of Himself and His glorified life. And in
virtue of His having perfected in Himself a NEW HOLY MANHOOD on our behalf, the SECOND
MAN, the LAST ADAM, He could now communicate what previously had no existence - a life at
once human and divine! And now, blessed be God! Jesus has been glorified; there is now the
Spirit of the glorified Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, which is the Spirit of God.
We seldom stop to consider that
this precious Comforter, "another Comforter", is the Spirit of God in a
dimension that did not and could not exist until Jesus had been glorified. We do not
realize that He is indeed the eternal Spirit, the ever living Almighty God, but tempered,
so to speak, by the FEELING of our infirmities wrought out in the days of His flesh; that
the very flesh and blood of Jesus, with all His life of suffering and submission, have
been combined with resurrection life and sent to dwell in us, and that this is what Jesus
meant when He said, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood,
ye have no life in you ... He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me.
and I IN HIM...it is the SPIRIT that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing" (Jn.
6:52-63). Oh! the tremendous import and the awful reality of the fact that the ever living
God became flesh, was touched with the feeling of my infirmities, made the sacrifice for
sins once for all, and now lives after the power of an endless life, a priest for ever,
coming to dwell in my heart as a quickening Spirit!
If further proof is needed that
the Comforter is NOT a Being separate from the Father and the Son, it is surely found in
Jn. 14:21-23: "He that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him,
and WILL MANIFEST MYSELF to him. Judas (brother of James) saith unto Him, Lord, how is it
that Thou wilt MANIFEST THYSELF unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered, If a man
love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and WE will come unto him,
and make OUR abode with him." Here He promises that the Father and the Son will come
to those who truly love our Lord Jesus, yet He distinctly states that this coming will be
a MANIFESTING OF HIMSELF - a revelation and a personal relationship distinct from any they
had received or could receive during His earthly ministry, and therefore "another
Comforter" but still the very SAME JESUS! "WE will COME UNTO HIM, and make our
abode with Him," promises Jesus. And yet the preachers think that every time Jesus
speaks of His "COMING AGAIN" He is referring to some future coming when He will
split the eastern sky in His body of flesh. Would to God that the Lord's people could see
that the scriptures have many, many things to say about HIS COMING that the preachers and
churches know absolutely nothing about!
THE COMING OF CHRIST AS
THE SPIRIT
As we continue our meditation upon
this wonderful theme of the coming of Christ in the Feast of Pentecost, we will fasten our
attention upon the ascension of our Lord; and if I had sufficient imagination I should
like to picture our Lord and the eleven walking up the side of the Mount of Olives,
communing as they went, - a happy company, with a solemn awe upon them, but with an
intense joy in having fellowship with each other. Each disciple was glad to think that his
dear Lord and Master who had been crucified was now among them, not only alive but
surrounded with a mysterious safety and glory which none could disturb. The enemy was as
still as a stone: not a dog moved his tongue: His bitterest foes made no sign during the
days of our Lord's after-life below. The company moved onward peacefully towards Bethany -
But they have come to a
standstill, having reached the brow of the hill. The Lord stands conspicuously in the
center of the group, and, following a brief discourse, He pronounces a blessing upon them.
He lifts His hands, and while He is lifting them and is pronouncing words of love, He
begins to rise from the earth. He has risen above them all to their astonishment! In a
moment He has passed beyond the olives, which seem with their silvery sheen to be lit up
by His radiance. While the disciples are looking, the Lord has ascended into mid-air, and
speedily He has risen to the regions of the clouds. They stand spell-bound with amazement,
and suddenly a bright cloud, like a chariot of God, bears Him swiftly away. That cloud
conceals Him from mortal gaze. Though we have known Christ after the flesh, now after the
flesh know we Him no more!
They are riveted to the spot, very
naturally so. They linger long in the place, they stand with streaming eyes,
wonder-struck, still looking upward. It is not the Lord's will that they should long
remain in shock; their reverie is interrupted. They might have stood there till wonder
saddened into fear. As it was, they remained long enough; for the messenger's words
pierced their souls: "Ye men of
Ten days after that little group
of ardent disciples stood gazing up into the heavens in bewilderment, wondering at the
phenomenon of their beloved Master rising bodily from their midst and disappearing into
the cloud, they were startled by another manifestation of the miraculous. It was the Day
of Pentecost, and as they were waiting and praying in the upper room in
Many years ago B. F. Headley
penned these true and graphic words: "At this point, let us scan carefully Jn.
"Now please be honest with
plain English, with yourself and with God, and answer these questions. Was Jesus talking
to His disciples about something which was to take place during their lifetime, or was it
something which was to be two thousand years, or more or less, after their death? That He
spoke of events which were to transpire before their deaths is very evident, else He would
not have said, 'that when it is come to pass, YE might believe.' They could not believe in
something which was to happen after they were dead and gone, but it was very possible that
they could believe in something which happened while they were yet alive and He was
desirous that they should believe it when it came to pass, therefore, He fore-warned them
by saying, 'I have told you BEFORE it come to pass, that WHEN it IS come to pass, YE (not
those who come after you) might believe.'
"Now let us ask another
question. What was Jesus talking to His disciples about? Immediately I hear someone
answering, 'His going away.' But that is not right. He was talking about, not only His
going away, which is only half of the subject, but He was talking about His COMING BACK.
Knowingly or unwittingly, we have observed the first half of that statement of Jesus and
forgotten about the second half of it. He was talking just as much about His coming again
as He was talking about His going away. So the whole subject to which He was calling their
especial attention was 'I go away AND come again.' It was ALL of this in both phases of
the subject, both the going and the coming, to which Jesus was calling their attention and
fore-warned them about it ALL when He said, 'I have told you before it come to pass, that
when it is come to pass, ye might believe.' What was to come to pass? He was to 'go away
AND come again.' When was it to take place? During the lifetime of those disciples to whom
Jesus spake! Was Jesus to 'go away' during the lifetime of those disciples? Yes, that is
just what He said. But, was He to 'come again' during the lifetime of those disciples?
Yes, Jesus said that He would do that very thing also. Did those disciples die? Evidently
they did die for we have no record of any of them being alive today in the flesh, and
there is record of the deaths of many of His disciples. If then, Jesus was to come again
before the death of those disciples in accord with what is written in the scripture quoted
above, can we logically conclude that He did anything other than just what He said He
would do, that is, 'go away AND come again?' And both the going away and the coming again
must have taken place centuries ago during the lifetime of those disciples, if we are to
believe that Jesus did what He said He would do" - end quote.
Jesus said, "I will not leave
you comfortless: I WILL COME to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more;
but YE SEE ME: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day YE SHALL KNOW THAT I AM IN
MY FATHER, AND YE IN ME, AND I IN YOU" (Jn.
Let us look at some other
interesting and enlightening statements about the coming of the Lord. Meditate deeply upon
these words, my beloved. "And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you ANOTHER
COMFORTER, that He may abide with you for ever; I will not leave you comfortless: I WILL
COME UNTO YOU" (Jn. 14:16,18). "Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is
it that Thou wilt MANIFEST THYSELF unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and
said unto him, If a man love Me ... My Father will love Him, and WE WILL COME unto Him,
And make our abode with him" (Jn. 14:22-23). "A little while, and ye shall not see Me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me, BECAUSE I GO TO THE FATHER. And
ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and
your joy no man taketh from you. AND IN THAT DAY ye shall ask Me nothing. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you"
(Jn.
How clear it is that Jesus was
talking about His coming again, but not in the way that is generally perceived as His
second coming, but yet a true and personal coming to the one who loves Him and keeps His
commandments. It was not to be a manifestation to the world, for the world would know
nothing whatever of it; but it would be in very fact the COMING of "this same
Jesus" to indwell their hearts by His Spirit.
The disciples were greatly
perplexed when Jesus died. But then He arose the Conquering Christ! The fact of the
Christ's resurrection is historic. The man who disputes it disputes the best established
fact in history. He was seen by those who had despaired of His existence. He ate with
them. He drank with them. He walked with them in a bloodless body. He talked to the
despondent and brokenhearted apostles the eleven, for nearly forty days. It was impossible
to be deceived. He spoke, and was seen and heard on one occasion by five hundred, the most
of whom were living at the time that Paul made the declaration that they knew Christ and
had seen Him after His resurrection. He proved His resurrection by telling them that if
they would go to
When the disciples came to face
Now the Son had returned in the
power of the Spirit. Behold a new day, fresher than the first day of creation! From
henceforth He would come to indwell His people. Pentecost had arrived. The very same
Spirit that rolled away the stone came to indwell the Lamb of God, to raise Him far beyond
the gates of death, to raise His humanity up into the uncreated life of the Father.
Pentecost, O blessed Pentecost Day, the day the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the
dead came as a gift of our heavenly Father to indwell here below. This made the change in
the disciples. Christ IN THEM made the difference. He had been WITH them, but now He was
WITHIN them. No platitudes can give you this power, no sterile form, no static doctrine,
no empty ritual can turn your heart and transform you into a God-man upon this earth.
Jesus prophesied that He would
come again in the lifetime of the disciples - not only during their lifetime - but before
the ministry He had given the twelve and the seventy would be completed. How utterly
amazing His words, believed not by one in a million Evangelicals and Fundamentalists
today! Hear it! "But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for
verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have
gone over the cities of
But if we are to be told that this
is not the meaning, nor the half of it, and that Jesus speaks of another coming, to other
evangelists, in other ages, and in other lands, a coming which, after nineteen centuries,
is still future, and perhaps remote - then the question arises: What may not scripture
mean? The grammatical sense of words no longer suffices for interpretation; the Word of
God is a riddle to be guessed - an oracle that utters ambiguous responses; and no man can
be sure, without a special revelation, that he understands what he reads. Strange, isn't
it, that to-day it actually takes A SPECIAL REVELATION to embrace the simple truth He
declared! Oh, where is He who walked the
Today is the second thousand years
since He came in the flesh, lived, ministered, died, resurrected, ascended into heaven,
and returned as the Spirit. The second thousand years is drawing to a close and, blessed
be His name! He is the same. He pursues His mission still and reigns in majesty over His
Kingdom by entering into these temples of clay, and filling our spirits and our souls and
our bodies with His own eternal presence and power, making us one with Him, members of His
very own body, of His flesh, of His bone, and of His blood. He is redeeming a vast family
of sons, into whom He is putting within them His mighty Spirit, inworking His glorious
mind and nature, inscribing on the heart His Law of Life, so that we, who were destined
from the beginning to be the revelation of HIMSELF to the creation, may complete His
mighty work for the redemption of humanity.
Joy to the world!
the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heav'n and nature sing ..
Chapter 6
THE COMING
OF CHRIST
IN THE FEASTS (continued)
The three primary Feasts given to
It is a wonderful fact that God
came down and appeared at each of the Feasts of Israel. The Lord first came into the midst
of the children of
The Lord also manifested Himself
at the inauguration of the Feast of Pentecost. At
Finally, the Lord appeared at the
Feast of Tabernacles on the occasion of the dedication of Solomon's temple. "And it
came to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in
praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and
cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good; for His
mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of
the Lord; so that the priests could not minister by reason of the cloud: for the GLORY OF
THE LORD HAD FILLED THE HOUSE OF GOD" (II Chron. 5:13-14). Is it not clear that the
COMING OF THE LORD and the APPEARING OF THE LORD are associated specifically with the
Feasts, and when the Lord commands, "THREE TIMES in a year shall all your males
appear before the Lord," He is assuring His people that HE ALSO WILL APPEAR and meet
with them in these THREE DIMENSIONS.
THE COMING OF CHRIST IN THE FEAST OF PENTECOST
For fifteen long centuries
There came a day in the long ago
in which our blessed Christ, feeling the limitation and restriction of His body of flesh,
cried out in anticipation of spirit, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall
he do; BECAUSE I GO UNTO MY FATHER" (Jn. 14:12). Now there is a wonderful reason WHY
those who believe on Jesus are going to do the works He did and even greater works. It is
just BECAUSE. Do you know what "because" means? It means that what follows is
the reason or cause - the WHY - you will do these things. "The works that I do shall
ye do also; and greater works than these shall ye do; BECAUSE ..." Because of what?
"Because I GO UNTO MY FATHER!"
Only moments before uttering this astounding statement Jesus had told His disciples that
the Father was in Him and He was in the Father; but now, seizing upon the mysterious
omnipresence of the Father and drawing its cloak of mystery even more tightly about His
Person, He announces that He is "going" to the Father. The question follows:
Where did Jesus have to go to get to the Father?
With words divine in wisdom and
sublime in significance Jesus explained to the benighted woman of
All three definitions emphasize
that a spirit does not have flesh and bones (Lk. 24:39). Similarly, Jesus indicated that
the Spirit of God does not have flesh and blood (Mat.
So where did Jesus go when He
"went unto the Father"? It is infinitely necessary that every child of God
thoroughly understand that we cannot over-emphasize the value of knowing that our heavenly
Father IS AN OMNIPRESENT SPIRIT. Thus, when our precious Lord "went to the
Father," that is but another way of saying that He went TO THE SPIRIT! Can we not
understand by this that our Lord was indeed saying, "Because I go to the SPIRIT. The
Spirit is in Me, and I am in the Spirit; but because this physical Man goes back into an
invisible spirit existence from whence He came - then ye shall do the works that I do now,
and greater works than these shall ye do." Why? Because that Spirit can COME BACK to
you!
Where did Jesus go? He went not to
the vast empty space in the North. He soared not away to another planet, nor to some far
distant galaxy. Nor did He ascend to that celestial Disney World in the sky with wonderful
streets of gold and spacious mansions over every sun-kissed hill top, that the preachers
love to preach about. Oh, no! He went into the spirit realm. When He was made flesh and
dwelt among us He couldn't get into us with that body of
As Jesus prepared to leave this
earth realm, He promised His disciples that His departure would be their gain; the
Comforter would take His place, to be to them far better than He had been, or ever could
be, in His bodily presence. This would be true because His own relationship with them had
been very much external, and, in consequence of this, had not resulted in what might have
been expected. He had been WITH THEM, and they were still very carnal, earthy. But the
coming Spirit would be IN THEM; He, Jesus, would return to them as the Spirit, in an
intimacy and vitality they could not know as long as He was outside them, merely WITH
them. He would return to them, not in flesh and bone, but as the Spirit, as an Indwelling
Presence, in the power of which they would have at their disposal, and as their very own
possession, yea, even as their very own
being, ALL THAT JESUS IS!
"...the Spirit of Truth ...
He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I WILL COME
TO YOU" (Jn.
"The last Adam was made A
QUICKENING SPIRIT" (I Cor.
Two things, and two alone, were
essential before Jesus could FILL ALL THINGS WITH HIMSELF. He must GO AWAY. And He must BE
GLORIFIED. He must go to the Father, ascending back into a spirit existence; and He must
be received up into union and participation with the eternal Spirit, becoming of the same
substance and essence of the eternal Spirit. The glorious truth is just this: JESUS
ASCENDED UP FAR ABOVE ALL HEAVENS TO BECOME UNIVERSAL. HE BECAME SPIRIT TO BE
UNIVERSALIZED. HE ASCENDED THAT HE MIGHT FILL ALL THINGS. It is majestic! Wonderful!
Sublime! Do not mistake me. This is no longer the Jesus of Galilee who was so foully done
to death by religionists more than nineteen hundred years ago; He is the same, yet not the
same. He was limited then; He is unlimited now. He dwelt in a single body then; He dwells
in a many-membered body now. It cannot but be that that human Jesus has entered into the
full consciousness of God and grasped the scepter of omnipotence. That, and nothing less
than that, demonstrates the eminence of His ascension and glorification.
Before the ascension, His presence
was occasional; since the ascension it is constant. Before the ascension, His presence was
formal; since the ascension it is vital. Before the ascension, His presence was
approximate; since the ascension it is inner. Before the ascension, His presence was
limited; since the ascension it is infinite. Our presence with one another is occasional,
formal, approximate and limited; but His presence is constant, vital, inner and universal.
Hallelujah!
It was on the solemnest of nights
that Jesus spoke one of the most marvelous truths concerning His coming again. Some months
previous, on the last day of the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, He stood in the
temple and cried, saying, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He
that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of
living water" (Jn.
Suddenly a shadow falls over this
scene. "Little children," Jesus says to His disciples, "yet a little while
am I with you. Ye shall seek Me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot
come; nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I
go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto
you" (Jn. 13:33; 16:7). The hour is late. With their unspiritual minds they think He
is getting tired. He means to retire to rest. But Peter asks straight out, "Lord,
whither goest Thou?" Into the garden? Back to
This truth fell upon the disciples
like a thunderbolt startling a summer sky. For thirty-three years He had lived among them.
These past three years they had learned to love Him. Day after day they had shared
together the sunshine and the storm, and their hearts clung to Him with a strange
fascination. And just when everything was at its height, when it seemed He would soon be
hailed as the King of Israel, when their association with Him was now pledged indissolubly
in the most solemn sacrament, the unexpected words come, "I must say goodbye; it is
expedient for you that I GO AWAY!" It was a crushing blow to the little band. They
had staked their all upon that love. They had given up home, business, friends, pleasure,
and promised to follow Him. And now He says, "I must go!"
Let us see what He means by it.
Why did Jesus go away? We all remember a time when we could not answer that question. In
fact, we wished He had stayed, and had been here now, walking among us. Your understanding
will be greatly enlightened when you are able to grasp this simple truth I now bring to
your attention: the reason Jesus went away was so He could be very near! It seems a
mystifying paradox, but He went away to be very near; He ascended far above all heavens THAT HE MIGHT FILL ALL THINGS! He went away from
being nearby, so that He could return and be closer to us even than the air we breathe,
closer than the blood coursing its way through our veins!
Suppose, again, He had not gone
away; suppose He were here in that same nail-scarred body now. Suppose He were still in
the
Now the Christ foresaw all this
when He said it was expedient that He should go away. Observe He did not say it was
necessary - it was EXPEDIENT, a means to an end. The objection to the opposite plan was
simply that it would not have worked. So He says to you, "It is very kind and earnest
of you to come so far, but you mistake. Go away back from the walls of the
And yet, even today, untold
millions of Christians have learned nothing of this simple, sublime truth. Many precious
saints are just living for that day when Jesus comes, or they get to heaven, and they can
SEE HIS PERSON, bask in His favor, and have PHYSICAL CONTACT with Him. Many picture
themselves kneeling in reverence at Jesus' feet, as did Mary of Bethany, kissing His feet,
gazing intently into His eyes, strolling hand in hand with Him down Hallelujah Boulevard,
or sitting on one of the hillsides of glory for a day, leisurely talking things over with
Him, asking all the questions they have always wanted to ask, and unburdening their heart
of the many concerns they have so long desired to pour out to Him - personally. There are
those among us who, like Thomas of old, want to put their finger on the print of the
nails, their hand in His riven side. How the unspiritual heart cries out for the touch of
the vanished hand and the sound of the voice that reverberated once over the Galilean
hills!
But, my brother, my sister, we
need to face FACTS! Do you realize that there are vast numbers comprising untold millions
of people (Dan.
Ah, to bring the Christ back in
the flesh, to know Him once more after the flesh, would be one gigantic step backward, an
outrage of immense proportions, an absurdity! Do we not already KNOW HIM? Are not those
who have not seen His earthly form more blessed, according to the words of Jesus, than
those who saw and believed? O twice born men who through faith have been born of His
life-giving Spirit, behold, we have fullness of fellowship with Him NOW. He speaks to us
and continually manifests Himself to us in tenderest tones. Even now we delight in the
blessed wonder of His glorious presence. We walk with Him now in the Spirit, and unburden
our hearts to Him at any hour of the day or night, and He communes with us in the garden
of our hearts. And HOW do we know Him? Why, BY HIS SPIRIT! And it is through the FULNESS
OF THIS SAME SPIRIT that we shall ultimately SEE HIM and KNOW HIM "AS HE IS".
There is simply no other way! What, I ask, could His flesh body ADD to our relationship in
Him? If our confidence is in HIS FLESH BODY, then we shall of all men be most miserable.
What incredible limitation! We should be able to share with Him on that personal, human
level ONCE EVERY 2,000 ... 4,000 ... 10,000... or 50,000 YEARS!
He went away THAT THE COMFORTER
MIGHT COME. Oh that the eyes of men might be opened to see how truly it was expedient that
He go away in His visible body of flesh that He might return as the invisible Spirit so
that we might know Him by the Spirit and receive Him as our very life!
I am convinced that it is right
here at this point where so many of the Lord's precious people need this teaching:
"It is EXPEDIENT (advisable, desirable, advantageous, profitable, to your interest)
for you THAT I GO AWAY." Like those disciples, so many sincere Christians have
believed in Jesus with all of their heart, love Him, and seek to follow Him - but, the
Jesus they believe in, the Jesus they love, the Jesus they seek to follow and obey, is the
Jesus in the picture on the wall; the Jesus with piercing blue eyes, flowing chestnut
hair, fine chiseled features, well trimmed beard, Galilean robe. It is the Jesus of
Bethlehem's manger, of
How many of God's dear saints are
still worshipping the Jesus of the flesh! Truly they believe on Him, love Him, and long to
see Him when He comes. And yet, in their longing to see Him, some glad day after while!
They find that He is not presently their satisfying portion, their All-in-all. There is
yet such a lack in their lives; so much carnality, strife, struggle, weakness,
insufficiency and limitation. The only reason can be this: they have not yet fully
inherited the promise: "The Spirit shall be IN YOU ... He shall glorify Me: for He
shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you." The absolute imperativeness of
Christ's going away, the absolute reality of His coming again as the Indwelling Spirit,
they do not fully understand nor appreciate. They have not been able to say with the
inspired apostle, "Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet NOW HENCEFORTH
know we Him no more" (II Cor.
To many it is a difficult thing to
set aside the Christ of the flesh, to know only the Christ of the Spirit; to set aside the
Christ who works through the agencies of the external, through efforts, systems,
ceremonies, methods, influences from without, of men and means, and come to know Him alone
who works INTERNALLY after the power of an endless life. "As many as RECEIVED HIM (as
Spirit), to them gave He power to become the SONS OF GOD" (Jn.
KNOW HIM NO MORE AFTER THE FLESH
We do not wish to weary the reader
with unnecessary repetitions, but it is our earnest hope that all may clearly see that it
would be a monumental tragedy should we revert again to the knowing of Christ after the
flesh - even His resurrected flesh that appeared before the astonished eyes of the
wondering Thomas. I do not hesitate to say that the strongest temptation to every man is
to guide himself by what he can see, feel and handle. This is why the disciples wanted
Jesus to remain. This is the core of all ritualism and ceremonialism, of all the blinding
creeds and lifeless traditions of the church systems, of all the foolishness of candles
and crucifixes and incense and robes and temples and programs and ordinances and prayer
books. It is the essence of idolatry. Men want to see God, therefore they make images of
Him, or an object of ceremony or ordinance that He can be present in. I do not laugh at
ritualism; it is intensely human. It is not so much a sin of presumption; it is a sin of
mistake. It is trying to undo the going away of Jesus Christ. It is trying to make believe
that He is still here IN THE FORM.
If men cannot have the historical
Jesus here in the flesh, they then create some fleshly thing to represent Him. And the
fatal fallacy of it is that it defeats its own end. He who seeks God in tangible form
misses the very thing he is seeking, for God IS A SPIRIT. The desire burns within man to
see God and this desire is given him to make him spiritual, by giving him a spiritual
relationship; and he cheats himself by exercising the flesh instead of the spirit! Hunger
and thirst after God are given us by the gracious hand of our Creator to raise us out of
the realm of the seen and the temporal, for the things which are SEEN are TEMPORAL, but
the things which are not seen are eternal, says the Lord. But instead of letting the
spiritual appetite elevate us into the realm of the Spirit where God dwells, we are prone
to degrade the very instrument of spiritualization and make it minister to the flesh.
It was expedient in order that the
disciples of Jesus should be SPIRITUALIZED that Jesus should become A SPIRIT. They could
not have Him in the flesh and in the Spirit too; His bodily presence would hinder the
spiritual indwelling. They must part with the Jesus they knew before they could receive
the GLORIFIED JESUS as the Spirit. Christ Himself had to give up the life He had before He
could be glorified either in the heavenlies or in us. Even so, in our union with Him in
the Spirit, we too must give up the Christ we have known in the past, however we have
known Him, if indeed we are to become partakers of all He is by the Spirit.
This is hard to grasp, we are so
earth-bound, used to visible forms and appearances, and the very word "spirit"
leaves one groping for something more tangible. Yet because of His inner moving and the
unfolding revelation of Himself within, I have come to realize that to settle for a
"form", ANY FORM, is to possess the alabaster box without the higher experience
of knowing the fragrant ointment within. It is not the box we want, it is the ointment!
Thus we refuse to cling to the "form" for our hearts are crying out for the
"essence". God has often accommodated His people in their childishness and for a
time provided a "form", but later He SHATTERED THE FORM that they might become
aware of the essence. The hour has arrived when every man and woman of God who would
follow on to KNOW THE LORD must experience a total breaking forth from every structured
form and encrusted tradition, that we might KNOW HIM, the essence. Yes, it is a shattering
process, most severe as the forms of rituals, ceremonies, religious systems, creeds,
ordinances, ministries, and religious exercises of many kinds are literally swept away
that we might now come to KNOW CHRIST ALONE as the inner Reality and Life.
The inspired writer of the book of
Hebrews penned one of the most profound statements in all the Word of God when he wrote,
"He taketh away the first that He may establish the second" (Heb. 10:9). The
writer of this letter had a great task before him. He had to try to make some people see
the meaning of a loss. In what tender and masterly fashion he did his work matters not to
us for the moment. Suffice it to say one can scarcely conceive of it being done better.
The letter was written to some Hebrews who could not reconcile themselves to the loss of
the
We can only look with sympathy on
those Hebrews in their difficult passage from the old to the new. It is not easy to
abandon an established tradition. Habits of thought and conduct get a wonderfully strong
hold upon nations and upon individuals. One can clearly see that the believing Jew would
be very slow at times in realizing the meaning of the new conditions of spiritual life
involved in his acceptance of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Messiah. So to these men in
their passing confusion of thought - to these men who understood far better what they had
lost in the passing of the Jerusalem Temple and ceremony than what they had gained in the
formation of the living temple of God built of countless living stones destined to be the
habitation of God by the Spirit - came the writer of this letter to the Hebrews, to enter
into their difficulties, to show them that upon the loss against which they were feeling
resentment and uttering it, there was being built an IMMEASURABLE GAIN which they but
dimly appreciated.
"He taketh away the first
that He may establish the second." The writer says, "I acknowledge you have lost
something - something very beautiful and comforting, something that has met your spiritual
needs for centuries. But I want you to look beyond that loss, and find the splendid
meaning of it, and see how that it is really the figure of a more glorious worship and a
greater reality of life than ever
Let us notice a few of God's
firsts and seconds. God's seconds are always better than His firsts which He gives to
mankind. Meditate deeply upon these: Cain - Able; Cain's sacrifice - Able's sacrifice;
Ishmael - Isaac; Esau - Jacob; Letter - Spirit; First Covenant - New Covenant; Water
baptism - Spirit baptism; First Adam - Second Adam; First earth - New earth; Old man - New
creation; Jesus in flesh - Jesus in Spirit. The New Testament presents a more glorious
message than the Old; the last Adam redeems what the first Adam lost; the message of God's
grace unfolded in the New Testament far excels the Law of the Old. The second is greater
than the first. It always is when God takes and gives. As someone has written, "In
His great wisdom our God has arranged many things in pairs, or shall we say, by
contrasting twos. Some of the 'firsts' may seem to be very good, and for a time quite
acceptable, but in due time they are to be followed by the 'seconds' which are higher,
better, and more desirable than the firsts. Perfection is found in God's seconds. Often
the firsts are but a type and a shadow of the reality which is later to be found in the
seconds. In the former we find the negative realm working out its purpose, and in the
latter there is the glorious positive fulfilling its sphere. The more one ponders each
fragment of truth revealed, the more they yearn to leave behind the realm of imperfection,
fragmentary, and enter into the freedom of the Spirit of Life in fullness" -end
quote.
The first is of the earth earthy -
the second is of God from heaven. And that is an epitome of the whole process of
salvation, both for the individual and for the creation. He taketh away the outward that
He may establish the inward, the seen that He may establish the unseen, the material that
He may establish the spiritual.
There are two passages in the New
Testament which, taken together, form perhaps the most perfect illustration of this
principle of which we have been thinking that can be found anywhere. They are these: (1) I
go unto My Father (2) I am with you always. Jesus Christ, took Himself from His disciples'
eyes that He might give Himself to their hearts. They lost the first, the physical
presence, that they might find the second the spiritual presence. And as we seek ever to
have the Spirit of Christ and do His service, so in countless ways shall this great
principle of true gain by seeming loss have effect on our lives. Ever we shall be losing
the less to find the greater; losing the outward to find the inward; losing semblance to
find realities; losing shadows to find substance; all the former things shall have passed
away and all things shall have become new, praise His wonderful name!
How many millions of children have
gone through Sunday schools, grown up, attending church all their lives, listening to
preachers and teachers explaining Moses and Jesus of Nazareth; and if you ask them on
their death bed, what they know of Christ; they picture baby Jesus, Mary's son growing up,
or Jesus teaching the multitudes, laying His hands upon the sick and suffering, and being
nailed to the cross. They know that He came back from the dead for forty days, and then
ascended into heaven, never to be seen or heard from again in that body of flesh. These
know absolutely nothing about CHRIST THE SPIRIT, CHRIST AS HE I-S, THE GLORIOUS CHRIST
W-I-T-H-I-N!
Ah, how do WE see Him? As He WAS,
or as He IS? Is our understanding of Him as the lowly Son of man, great and wonderful as
He was in that former state, or do we see Him as He IS in His exalted position at the
right hand of the majesty on high? Do we see Him as the crucified One? It is wonderful to
see Him in that way. Do we see Him as the One who endured the cross, despised the shame,
conquered death and rose triumphant from the grave? Or do we see Him as the ascended One,
the glorified One; the One who transcended the law of sin, rose above the confining,
limiting physical laws of nature and ascended into the Spirit realm of God, the Head of
all principalities and powers, far above them all; crowned with glory and honor; Lord and
King of the universe; FILLING ALL THINGS WITH HIS QUICKENING LIFE. Do we see Him as a
physical Man, or do we see Him as Saul of Tarsus saw Him on the
How we praise God for the coming
of Christ in the Feast of Pentecost! Truly He has come as the Spirit to write the Law of
God upon our heart. This is the power and glory of PENTECOST! Wonderful as was the
presence of Christ in the world, that physical presence cannot be compared to the
magnificent glory of the SPIRIT CHRIST dwelling in the heart of man. No outward
manifestation of power can take the place of His indwelling presence. It is from within
and not from without that the work of transformation is to be carried forward from glory
to glory until we shine in that same image of Christ.
Though Christ had walked and
talked with His disciples, eating with them, praying with them, teaching them, and
continually demonstrating the mighty works of God among them, even giving them power to
heal the sick and cast out devils in His name, yet at the time of His departure there was
but little sign of any work of transformation within them. All was by grace. Peter was
still capable of cursing like a sailor and lying like the devil! Judas was still capable
of stealing, fraud, and acting a traitor. In the face of pressure they were all capable of
forsaking Him and running away in despair. They were still very natural, carnal men, as
almost all the Old Testament saints had been before ever the Christ of God walked the
paths of earth. God in Christ had indeed been among them, for the Holy Spirit was not yet
given, but He was definitely not IN THEM!
All the evil in the world today,
even as Jesus said, comes from within the evil heart of man. Therefore, since all evil
begins within and not without, transformation must begin within and not without. A man who
makes his New Year's resolutions to change and reform his habits has only an outward
change, and usually temporary at best, while his heart remains unchanged. But the man who
ceases his sinfulness and carnality because his heart is changed from within is indeed a
New Creation man. Herein, then, lies the first and greatest blessing of the coming of the
Lord in the Feast of Pentecost. Jesus had been with them, but now He would be IN THEM,
renewing from within. He would become the dispensation of God into man by the Spirit. How
wonderful it must have been to walk the hills of
A child may be given an acorn by
his father - a tiny seed in which is locked the mighty oak that will one day tower upon
the spot where it fell into the ground, under whose shadow man and beast will rest, and in
whose enormous branches the birds of the air will build their nests. His father digs a
hole in the earth and the child places the seed in it. In the darkness, hidden, buried, it
is nourished and fed. Tiny roots push out seeking nourishment. Finally, spring comes and
at the right moment there appears the first manifestation of the mighty oak. A tiny shoot
appears. The father takes his child to see. "Isn't it wonderful!" he tells the
child. "Look at that tiny shoot." The child begins to cry. "I want my
acorn! Where is my acorn?"
In like manner, God our Father
ordained that a New Creation should be brought forth in the image of Himself, to be born,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed. He followed the same wonderful pattern
that infinite wisdom had devised to produce all things from a seed. First He must bring
into the world the holy and incorruptible One who was to be called THE SON OF GOD, for He
Himself was to become THE SEED of an entirely new creation of incorruptible SONS OF GOD.
Then, true to the pattern of sowing and reaping, that seed must fall into the ground and
die; "For," said Jesus, "the hour is come that the Son of man should be
glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (Jn.
They would in their childish folly
cling to the physical, historical Christ of the flesh, demanding that He be brought down
from heaven again in just that singular body of flesh and bones, were they able. Is it not
therefore abundantly true that, if the incorruptible life sealed up within God's Christ
was to be released into the new creation harvest, then God's Christ must die. How else but
by death could incorruptible life be released that they who dwelt in death might through
faith partake of the power of His life-giving Spirit? O what a death! O what a
resurrection! O what an ascension! O what a glorification! O what an outpouring of
HIMSELF! Who can fathom the depths of truth set forth in these words of our Lord: "It
is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come
unto you. I will not leave you comfortless: I WILL COME UNTO YOU."
Praise God! He
has come!
Chapter 7
THE COMING
OF CHRIST
IN THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES
Even though we have heard that we
are living in such a day of miracles and sensational happenings that people are
shock-proof, let us remind you that people are not shock-proof! Soon a series of prophetic
fulfillments of a sensational nature will be transpiring right here on this earth that
will shock millions of people who thought themselves to be shock-proof heretofore! Truly,
we are living in a day of miracles. Every time we look at a new born baby we are looking
at a miracle, and every time we see a giant plane take off the ground into the air with
hundreds of people on board, we are looking at a miracle. However, these will fade into
insignificance, compared to the miracles that are just ahead.
The prophetic Word of the Lord
gives promise of a time to come when the Lord will move mightily by His Spirit. At that
time the Lord will restore that which was lost all through the ages past and the long
night of man's selfhood and rebellion against God. There is an event soon to take place
which shall overshadow and eclipse all former, lesser, manifestations of God's glory and
power in the earth. The glories of this great event will inspire, initiate, and bring to
fulfillment the times of the restitution of all things. The grandeur, the splendor, the
glory and the great power of God to be manifest at the time of this event is impossible
for us to comprehend presently, for we are still living and moving, for the most part, in
the realm of the "firstfruits" of God's Spirit. The grand and glorious event to
which we refer is the coming of Christ in the Feast of Tabernacles!
In previous articles we have
explored the coming of Christ in relation to the three great Feasts of the Lord in
The Spirit-filled believer
anticipates the fullness of God on the basis of this humble beginning. The
"firstfruits" of the Spirit is at once a possession, a rich, blessed, and
unquestionable reality, and an initial endowment. As an
initial gift, it stands in direct
line with the expectation. The very fact of its reality is "the guarantee
of... the full possession of salvation." The baptism in the Holy Spirit is the
guarantee of our full inheritance (Eph.
Let us illustrate another way. In
eastern lands it ever has been, and is, customary for there to be an intermediary in
arranging a marriage. The Bible picture of this is in Genesis 24, where Abraham's servant
Eliezer, goes on a long journey to find a wife for Isaac. He takes with him a good report
of his master's son, and tells how that his father has made him heir of all his vast
possessions, and he then shows the damsel and her friends SAMPLES of this wealth in camels
and jewelry, and gives them some of the latter. Thus allured, Rebecca left her known
circle and took a long, desert journey to become Isaac's wife, though she had never seen
him. Thus did Paul the apostle speak to the saints : "I have espoused you to one
husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ" (II Cor. 11:2).
Fulfilling the role of Abraham's servant, Eliezer, the apostle bestowed upon those who
heeded his words a FORETASTE of the vast and immeasurable wealth of the
There is a mystery about the Feast
of Tabernacles. It is the only one of the three major Feasts of Israel that as yet has not
had a New Testament fulfillment. Therefore it has not been celebrated in a parallel Feast
by Christians the world over as has been the case with the other two Festivals, those of
Passover and Pentecost. Truly we can say - Passover HAS come, Pentecost HAS come, and
Tabernacles MUST come, for each is a part of God's great plan for His people. We have had
the Feasts of Passover and Pentecost and both of these Feasts have been fulfilled IN THIS
AGE IN THE CHURCH which is His body, and right here on earth. For some strange reason men
seek to postpone the last Feast to some future age, or give it to the Jews, or relegate it
to some beautiful "Isle of Somewhere," and consequently the real spiritual
meaning and import of the Feast of Tabernacles is completely obscured and lost. The grand
truth is that like the others, the Feast of Tabernacles will be fulfilled in the body of
Christ RIGHT HERE UPON EARTH. It will be fulfilled dispensationally, it will be fulfilled
in us individually, and it will be fulfilled in us as the Corporate Man. The grand truth
of this has been wonderfully quickened by the Spirit of God to multiplied thousands of
saints around the world in these last days.
The Feast of Tabernacles must have
been most picturesque and striking. At the Feast of Tabernacles Israel set aside seven
days unto the Lord. From the 15th to the 21st day of the seventh month they left their
houses and dwelt in booths built of various trees and rejoiced before the Lord. The booths
were to remind the people of the deliverance of the Lord when He brought them out of the
wilderness where they lived in booths and brought them into the land of promise. The 1st
and 8th days of the Feast were extra sabbath days. There are several names for the Feast
of Tabernacles. It is called the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Ingathering, the
Solemn Feast, the Feast of Booths, the Feast of the Seventh Month, and the Great Feast.
There were seasonal rains in
At the celebration of Tabernacles,
not only had the barley and wheat been harvested, but also all other grains, the fruit of
trees, the olives, the grapes, all that could possibly serve as food or drink. The harvest
was complete. "...the Lord thy God shall bless thee in ALL THINE INCREASE, and in ALL
THE WORKS OF THINE HANDS, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice" (Deut.
What sets the Feast of Tabernacles
apart from all the others is the abundance enjoyed during the Feast. It's the full
harvest. Passover came right after the bleak winter season, and there was little food to
spare. Pentecost marked only the "firstfruits" of the wheat harvest. But at
Tabernacles there was plenty! Everyone looked forward to enjoying the full fruit of their
labors. It was the close of the agricultural season when all the products from grainfield,
oliveyard, vineyard, and the fruit trees were garnered. Hence the name, "Feast of
Ingathering," under which it was instituted (Ex.
Thus, the Feast of Tabernacles
speaks to us of two things: abundance of fruit; and rest from our labors when the harvest
is complete. All the Feasts are types of Christ. Each one, as a type, is complete and
perfect in itself; but the last one, the Feast of Tabernacles, is the all-inclusive and
greatest type. The lamb of the Feast of Passover as a type of Christ is indeed complete
and perfect; yet it is a type of Christ in a much limited measure. As far as the Lord
Himself is concerned, He is not limited at all, but as far as our experience of Him is
concerned, there is such a limitation. When we come to the Lord and receive Him as our
Salvation, 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
we arrive at the last Feast, the Feast of Tabernacles, the UNLIMITED CHRIST, Christ is
unlimited to us, He becomes ALL IN ALL. The other Feasts are limited, we know Christ by
measure in them, but in the Feast of the SEVENTH MONTH we know Him in all fullness and
rest with Him in all His glorious and eternal abundance for ever more! All the other
Feasts can be measured. There is an extent, a limit, to the features and realities of
Christ they prefigure. Not so with the Feast of Tabernacles, here the harvest is complete,
all the fruits of the land are gathered in, the people now rest and rejoice and eat to the
full of the fruits of the land. Here Christ is known as the inexhaustible and
immeasurable, and we rest from all our labors, and enjoy HIM as the fruit.
Oh, what a grand and glorious
realm lies before us in the Feast of Ingathering! The day of the full fruit of the Spirit!
The day of Perfection! The time of full and complete Redemption, spirit, soul, and body!
The full and complete experiencing of HIMSELF! The fullness of Strength and Power and
Glory! The Feast of Feasts! The strange part of the whole thing is this, that the whole
purpose and plan of God for this day and hour is completely obscured and lost amidst the
shout And euphoria over the "firstfruits," and most of the Pentecostals and
Charismatics do not know what it is all about. They can see the healings, deliverances,
miracles, prophecies, singing in the Spirit... and so forth; and they understand not that
it is God in His great mercy inviting His people to enter on in to their full inheritance.
They do not realize that all this is but the foretaste and earnest of their heritage, and
that God bids them arise and come away with Him to the Great Feast that lies before!
There was much sacrificing of
animals during this Feast. The first day 13 bullocks were sacrificed along with two rams
and 14 lambs. Each day following for seven days of the Feast one less bullock was
sacrificed, but still two rams and 14 lambs were offered each day. The sacrifices were not
just burned up, they were eaten and there was more than enough to go around. Whereas at
Passover and Pentecost there was only enough for the household, at Tabernacles there was
plenty for all; the servants, the poor, the stranger - ALL could partake!
In all these types and previews we
can see a glorious picture of the Latter Days. A time of harvest is coming, a great
outpouring of blessing and love and power and glory will be upon the saints. Not an
outpouring from heaven, but an out-pouring from the innermost being of God's matured ones,
His HARVEST COMPANY, as mighty Niagaras of Living Water gush forth, a tremendous
outflowing from the very Fountain-Head of the River of God which will send streams of
salvation into all the world. It will be a time of deliverance and blessing and
transformation such as we have never known. God will "tabernacle" with His
people in a new and glorious way, and will be manifested in their midst with such power
that the whole world will know it. He will make a great Feast, and all who respond to the
invitation will be welcome at His table. The latter-day Harvest of Ingathering will be
reaped from the entire world. All nations will participate in His Feast of Tabernacles.
The mountain of the Lord's house shall be exalted above every other mountain.
"The redeemed of the Lord
shall return and come with singing unto
It is a wonderful day for a
believer when he becomes conscious of the fact of the INDWELLING CHRIST; that it is,
indeed, the very Christ of God who has come in and taken up His abode within man, and He
is no longer a distant Christ in some far-off heaven somewhere. No greater truth can
enthrall the ransomed spirit of a saint of God than the blessed truth that Jesus Christ
HAS COME AGAIN! Has He come to you, dear one? Has He come to you in the Feast of Passover,
revealing Himself to you as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? Has He
entered into the deepest recesses of your being and washed you whiter than the driven
snow? Has He come to you a second time? Has the Christ come to you in a second dimension
of His presence and life and glory? Has He appeared to you as the Baptizer with the Holy
Ghost and Fire? Have you appeared before Him in the joy of the spiritual Feast of
Pentecost? I have good news for you, my friend. God does not stop at Pentecost. JESUS IS
COMING AGAIN!
There are some who clearly see
this blessed truth that Christ has come already as Saviour and as the Anointing Spirit,
who then presume that the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was
"the second coming of Christ" and that, therefore, all the
scriptures pertaining to the coming of the Lord find fulfillment in our present walk in
the Spirit. But these apparently overlook the fact that the entire New Testament was
written AFTER PENTECOST - and it contains more than one hundred and fifty references to
the coming of the Lord Jesus as being yet in the future.
However great the blessings may be
with which His comings have already enriched believers and still continue to endow them,
these blessings are merely the harbingers of the full harvest which the Lord has in store
for those elect saints who "follow on to KNOW the Lord." It certainly cannot be
said that the measure of the coming of Christ now experienced has brought the full
realization of all the blessedness and glory that pertains to His coming again, and that
it will be utterly in vain to look for any further coming of the Lord. As we have pointed
out, the New Testament Epistles were written many years after the Holy Spirit was poured
out on the day of Pentecost, and these Epistles repeatedly refer to the coming of Jesus
Christ as something that was still future at the time they were written.
When we turn to the New Testament
we find the thought focused in the coming of the Lord, and connected therewith is the word
"until". When the times of the blessedness predicted by the Old Testament
prophets are brought before our attention by the Holy Spirit, He says that they will be
brought in by the coming of the Lord, for God will "send Jesus Christ ... whom the
heavens must receive (retain) UNTIL the times of the restitution of all things" (Acts
3:21). When the Spirit reminds the saints of the responsibility to fight the good fight of
faith, it is "UNTIL the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Tim.
The apostle Paul added to the
preponderance of evidence that, to the Spirit-filled saints in the Church, there was a
coming of Christ that was yet future, when he penned these meaningful and encouraging
words to the brethren at Thessalonica: "Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of
God. For our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy
Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your
sake. And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much
affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the
living and true God; and to WAIT FOR HIS SON FROM HEAVEN, whom He raised from the dead,
even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come" (I Thes. 1:4-6, 9-10).
The same thought is expressed in
Titus 2:13, "LOOKING FOR that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." The words "looking for" are from the
Greek word PROSDECHOMAI meaning LOOK FOR, WAIT, TO RECEIVE; thus A WAITING that keeps you
LOOKING with the expectancy of RECEIVING! It requires this whole statement to actually
give the full depth of meaning of this one word.
Paul wrote, "But if we hope
for that we see not, then do we with patience WAIT for it" (Rom.
Completeness and perfection,
however much desired, are not obtainable through an "in part" possession. Once
we understand this one great principle, we no longer condemn ourselves for not manifesting
perfection here and now. It would be like giving a farmer a pound of seed and a bag of
fertilizer and then expect him to raise enough food in one short season to satisfy the
starving millions of
The Holy Spirit has left no doubt
that the Christ has not returned in all the fullness of Himself. Christ has ascended into
the heavens, and He has returned in a "firstfruit" measure of Himself, but His
absolute fullness remains locked up, as it were, in the unseen realm, awaiting a day of
manifestation. Now HE is the One "whom the heaven must receive UNTIL the times of the
restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets
since the world began" (Acts
The inworking of the Christ which
we have known thus far, however precious and glorious it might be, is still IN PART - with
carnality, sin, limitation, sickness and physical death still upon us, and suffering being
used in the purification process. Ah, the Christ HAS come, and the Christ IS YET TO COME,
for truly He came, and He continued to come; He comes, and He continues to come; and He
shall come, and shall continue to come until He has come in all the fullness that HE IS.
Yes, the heavens have received Him, His glory has been reserved in the invisible realms,
and kept in store for the progressive unveiling and revelation of His power and majesty.
He has come in the foretaste of
His omnipotence, working all through this present age in the hearts of the remnant,
gathering out of each generation A FIRSTFRUITS, until the times of restitution. Then He
shall be released, breaking forth in visible manifestation of the fullness of His nature,
power and being, to begin the great work of restoring ALL THINGS back into God. How we
yearn for that fullness! How our souls pant after Him! How we groan within ourselves,
waiting for the glory that shall be revealed! He shall not remain forever withholden in
the invisible sphere, but we shall RECEIVE OUT FROM the heavens, for He shall come to us,
and in us, and out of the invisible shall proceed the visible manifestation, as the
prophet foretold, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is
risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the
people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and HIS GLORY SHALL BE S-E-E-N U-P-O-N
T-H-E-E. And the nations shall come to THY LIGHT, and kings to the brightness of thy
rising" (Isa. 60:1-3).
Jesus Christ IS LORD, but He is
not yet the Lord of lords, exhibiting fully that Lordship in His body, to restore
creation. If you don't understand that there are some things waiting to be accomplished,
then you need help in the scriptures. There are those who would try and claim and
appropriate to themselves the fullness and perfection of God right now. They are already
perfect, mature sons, filled with the fullness of God, immortal and incorruptible, ruling
and reigning with Christ - so they say. Their boast is louder than their living, and their
claims exceed their experience. The reports of their great power and authority over the
creation are highly exaggerated.
Christ is not coming to evacuate
His poor, discouraged, bedraggled, defeated Church to some distant planet to escape the
ravages of the antichrist. HE, the Head of the Church, is coming in power and victory to
His body, to assume the Headship and Lordship over the Church. When He was on earth He
said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have their nests; but the Son
of man hath no place to lay His head."
I can assure you, beloved, that Jesus was not in the least concerned about a place to
sleep at night! He was the Head, and He was perfect. But there was not a perfect body
imbued with all the fullness of divine life, ready for His Lordship. There was no place
prepared for His Lordship to rest, no body to put His Headship upon so that creation would
see the completed Christ, Head and body, in the glory and dominion of perfection. So the
Holy Spirit has been perfecting that body. He has been producing sonship. He has been
making a place for the Son of man to PUT HIS HEAD.
There was leaven involved in the
ritual of the Feast of Pentecost, as the Lord commanded, "Ye shall bring out of your
habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be
baked with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord" (Lev. 23:17). The loaves
of bread would speak to us of God's people in union with Christ. "For we being many
are one bread, and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread" (I Cor.
Thus, the Feast of Pentecost is
not the fullness. Pentecostal people love to call themselves "Full Gospel";
there are people right here in little
I want you to see a principle,
where God's mind is, where His heart is. It's to bring a people to maturity. When you live
in a Church world that tells you that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is the fullness of
the Spirit you get into the same rut you came into in the Passover experience when the
Baptists told you you received everything when you were first saved. Projections of that
kind of thinking will do one thing - they will stagnate your growth. If you've got it all
you don't need anymore; and if you have the fullness, what else can you have? It is
alarming to some when you come along and say there is more than a Passover experience of
the new birth, you can also receive a Pentecostal experience of the baptism in the Holy
Spirit like they had in the book of Acts. That bothers Passover folks! But not nearly as
much as it bothers Pentecostal folks when you tell them that what they have is not the
fullness, but merely the "firstfruits" of the Spirit and the "earnest"
of their inheritance! That bothers them in the most horrendous way!
When you tell Spirit-filled people
that they are just living on the "milk," they get bothered even more. But Heb.
6:1-2 gives us the foundation for the Christian walk which the writer says is
"repentance from dead works, and faith toward God, the doctrine of baptisms, and of
laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment." All
these are but the first elementary principles of the doctrine of Christ, for those,
according to the apostle, who use milk! Now notice that one of these milk bottles is
labeled "the doctrine of BAPTISM(S)." And what God knows is what I know and what
I am telling you - the baptism in the Spirit, that blessed Pentecostal experience,
precious as it is, is foundational, it is milk, it is just baby food! It's a springboard,
not an ultimate. It's not an end, just a means to an end.
Now don't misunderstand me, and
don't misconstrue my words. I would not for one moment minimize this foretaste, this
firstfruit of the Holy Spirit which we have received in the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Blessed Feast of Pentecost! I would not for one moment depreciate the great outpouring of
the Spirit which began at the turn of the century, in which millions came to Christ and
were transformed. Neither do I belittle in the least the glorious moving of the Holy
Spirit which swept across the land and around the world beginning in 1948. I do not speak
in derogatory terms of the speaking in tongues, prophecy, gifts of healing, laying on of
hands, five-fold ministry and the mighty manifestations that accompanied the restoration
of these gifts and ministries to the body of Christ. I myself have been a glad partaker of
its glory. I may say with the esteemed apostle Paul, "I thank my God that I speak
with tongues more than ye all." I would not deny it in life or in death. Since the
day the Holy Spirit swept with indescribable bliss and glory into my life at the altar of
a Pentecostal Camp Meeting, at the tender age of twelve, I have seen hundreds, yea,
thousands, receive the power of the Spirit. Yet in my heart I know for certain that all
the glory we have seen is but a faint shadow of the glory that shall be revealed at the
Feast of Tabernacles, bringing the manifestation of the sons of God, for which all
creation has groaned for six thousand years.
The purpose of the Holy Ghost is
not to make you feel good, nor to enable you to speak in tongues, heal a few sick folks,
and get your prayers answered. The purpose of the Holy Ghost is to baptize you with the
Holy Ghost and Fire and purify your spirit, soul, and body, bring you into a realm with
God where you are changed from strength to strength, from glory to glory, and faith to
faith until you come into a walk with God where you begin to grow up into all the nature,
wisdom, knowledge, power and glory of God. That's the heart-cry of God in this hour. God
wants to mature a people and fill them with all the fullness of God.
Then the glory of the Lord will
fill the whole body of the sons of God in the fullness thus far known only by our glorious
Forerunner and Head. His glory shall flow and flow and fill the earth. Then shall be
fulfilled the words of the Saviour, "The works that I do shall ye do also, and
GREATER WORKS THAN THESE SHALL YE DO." The power of God shall at last conquer the
nations, and sin, and sorrow and death shall be swallowed up in victory. The coming of the
Lord in power and great glory is at hand. The time of the Feast of Tabernacles draweth
nigh. The Royal House of King-Priests after the order of Melchizedek is about to be
revealed. In that day the lame man shall leap as the hart, and the tongue of the dumb
shall sing. The eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped. The
desert and the solitary place shall blossom as the rose. Men will learn war no more. The
times of the restitution of all things will dawn in awesomeness before the eyes of all
nations. Heaven and earth shall kiss and all things shall be reconciled to God. It will be
the time of the manifestation of the manifested sons of God when the earth shall be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
What I am proclaiming, announcing
and declaring is that there is a THIRD experience in God. There is a visitation, an
appearing and coming of the Lord called Tabernacles that is going to come to pass in the
Church today, right here upon this earth, and the implications of this Feast go far beyond
anything you or I could possibly imagine. Does not the scripture say that eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither has it even entered into the heart of man the things that God
has made available for those who love Him? People ask me what manifested sonship is going
to be like. I do not exactly know. It is like trying to describe how a space ship works to
a savage in the jungle. Most of the Church world today is like Sarah, laughing at the idea
that God would visit His people again in a mighty way.
One cannot explain what Passover
means to an unregenerated and unbelieving man unless God causes him to see it. Passover is
distinct from anything that an unbeliever has ever experienced. There are those who have
experienced Passover, having been born again by the Spirit of God, but they have no
comprehension at all of what it is to experience Pentecost. It is like trying to explain
the world of man to a worm. Today, there are people who have experienced both Passover and
Pentecost and yet, they are as blind as bats to what the Feast of Tabernacles is going to
be like. I am declaring that there is a THIRD REALM in God for us to experience. There is
a fullness we do not yet have. This third dimension brings His Lordship. And this Feast,
being the last, brings perfection! It will bring the consummation of our SALVATION,
spirit, soul and body. This third dimension in God is the place where you and I, in the
Spirit, move beyond the veil into the
Great were the glories seen by men
like Noah, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, David and Solomon. Glorious were the manifestations of
God's power that swept the Judean hills when our Lord spake as never man spake and healed,
cast out devils, and even raised the dead to life again. Sublime beyond explanation were
the holy visitations at Pentecost and in the years that followed as multitudes, both of
men and women, were brought to the feet of Jesus Christ, and by the hands of the apostles
God wrought mighty miracles and special signs and wonders until the world was turned
literally upside down with the glory of the heavenly visitation. It would have been
wonderful to have dwelt there then and to have rejoiced with them for all the wonderful
works of God. Marvelous beyond description were the works of God as He birthed His infant
Church! Blessed as were all those things and marvelous as were the results, yet more
glorious still is the hope pulsating within the breast of all creation as "the whole
creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, for the earnest expectation
of the creation waiteth for the MANIFESTATION OF THE SONS OF GOD. Because the
creation itself ALSO shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God" (Rom.
The supernal glories that lie like
the towering
Let the mountains reverberate with
the sound of the message, let the hills shout aloud for joy, and all the trees of the
forest clap their hands! For we now stand on the threshold of a new dimension of the
At the closing of this article I
am deeply impressed to share the following vision received by an old prophet of God many
years ago, one of the Lord's pioneers of this Gospel of the Kingdom in these last days. He
wrote: "In that vision which lasted all night, the most wonderful vision I ever had,
in which I saw the sons of God in action all over the world, ministering to the multitudes
in every tongue and nation, to all people, I saw both men and women ministering. I saw
them standing, suspended in mid-air, in the midst of a busy intersection of a large city,
with all traffic stopped, and thousands of people seeing them with their eyes, and hearing
them with their ears, regardless of distance, and without the aid of mechanical devices. I
saw them speaking to a people of one language, and in a moment's time I saw them
transported to another people of another language, speaking to them in their own language,
having power over all mechanical devices and natural laws, so that they could cause every
activity to cease, and every eye to be fixed upon them, until their message had been
delivered.
"I saw them walk upon the
water; and I saw the terror in the faces of the wicked, at the sound of their voices. I
saw the professing Christians fall upon their faces in true repentance, crying out for
mercy, and I saw them being genuinely converted. I saw the skeptics being convinced, and
the blasphemy of the wicked, as they would rail and mock, only to be struck dumb or blind
at just a word from the manifested sons and daughters of God.
"The vision lasted all night,
as in my spirit I was living in that future time, when God will be manifested in fullness
in His sons and in His daughters, while my body was back there in bed alongside my wife.
Sometimes the scenes would make me weep and I would sob, my body shaking violently with
pain and agony, whereas another scene would cause me to laugh with holy laughter, as I
witnessed the genuine repentance of the shallow Church members.
"I'll never forget the vision
of the young girl (the daughters of God) who spoke with the voice of many waters. Human
language could never describe the quality of her voice. All I can say is, it was so filled
with love and compassion, it would break the hardest stone, and at her command, every
infirmity, every sickness, every blindness, every lameness was healed; every one was made
perfectly whole, even those who had been lunatic from birth.
"Sister Britain got no sleep
that night, and finally when the dawn was ready to break, she asked me why I didn't get up
and write the vision. I did try, but could not hold my hands on the keyboard of the
typewriter. Some unseen force held them aloft over my head. I walked the floor and wept,
and begged the Lord to permit me to write some of the visions I had seen, to preserve them
in black and white. At last He did, and I wrote just a very few of the visions I had seen,
for a large book could not contain them all.
"What did the experience do
for me? That vision set my soul aflame! Should I publish what I had written? What would
people think of me if I did? Surely they would think me mad! I was just getting started in
the writing and publishing ministry, and surely, I thought, that one message would cause
all men to lose confidence in me! Finally with tears streaming, I said, I'm going to
publish it, regardless of the cost. I know it's true! I know it's going to come to pass!
And though all men turn against me, I'm going to publish it anyway! And so we did. We then
waited anxiously to hear the reaction of the people. To our surprise, the message thrilled
their hearts. THEY BELIEVED IT! They still believe it!" -end quote.
And now many years after, the old
prophet has long ago passed from the scene. But today, not only the small number who were
touched by his word, but multiplied tens of thousands of saints in every nation under
heaven have been quickened to these wonderful truths. A vast army of saints is now in
preparation for the greatest day in earth's long history - the Feast of Tabernacles, the
manifestation of the sons of God.
Hallelujah!
Chapter 8
THE COMING
OF CHRIST
IN THE FEAST
OF TABERNACLES (continued)
All over the world in this
particular moment in history, the Spirit of God is speaking to the elect concerning an
imminent manifestation of Christ. The trumpet has sounded - the appointed time has come.
Christians in every nation have heard the voice of the prophets, foretelling of this most
awesome intervention of God's power that is about to sweep the earth.
The prophetic Word of the Lord
gives promise of a time to come when the Lord will move mightily by His Spirit. At that
time the Lord will restore that which was lost all through the ages past and the long
night of man's selfhood and rebellion against God. There is an event soon to take place
which shall overshadow and eclipse all former, lesser, manifestations of God's glory and
power in the earth. The glories of this great event will inspire, initiate, and bring to
fulfillment the times of the restitution of all things. The grandeur, the splendor, the
glory and the great power of God to be manifest at the time of this great event is
impossible for us to comprehend presently, for we are still living and moving, for the
most part, under the economy of the "firstfruits" of God's Spirit. The grand and
glorious event to which we refer is the coming of Christ in the Feast of Tabernacles!
The Feasts of Passover and
Pentecost found fulfillment in our Lord Jesus Christ. But we have no record at all of the
Feast of Tabernacles ever finding fulfillment in the early church or the New Testament
economy. Now, inasmuch as this Feast did not find fulfillment in the early church, nor has
it found fulfillment at any time in the New Testament order of things - what deduction
should we make from that observation? We should deduce that if God fulfilled the first two
Feasts, HE IS GOING TO FULFILL THE THIRD! And this third Feast, the Feast of Tabernacles,
REMAINS TO BE FULFILLED! The grand truth of this has been wonderfully quickened by the
Spirit of God to multiplied thousands of faithful saints around the world in these last
days.
What sets the Feast of Tabernacles
apart from all others is the abundance enjoyed during the Feast. It's the full harvest. At
the celebration of Tabernacles, not only had the barley and wheat been harvested, but also
all other grains, the fruit of trees, the olives, the grapes, all that could possibly
serve as food or drink. The harvest was complete. On the spiritual plane this points to
the fact that God has been using His people everywhere to whatever degree He has prepared
the vessel for that revelation of the Christ. There has come a beautiful unfolding of His
purpose, the outflow of His life and the manifestation of Himself throughout this church
age, right up to the present time. But there shall yet come the ultimate, the total, and
complete revelation of Jesus Christ - not a narrow, limited thing, not to get a number of
people saved and filled with the Spirit, and healed and blessed and used - but the Kingdom
of God coming with power and with glory, as an expression and a manifestation of God in
His total capacity with no limitations, with all the power, with all the glory, all the
might, all the majesty, all the authority, so that nations will be swept into the Kingdom
of God, creation delivered, and the last enemy, even death, destroyed from off the face of
the earth for evermore. What bright and glorious prospects loom before the vision of all
who press on to the Feast of Tabernacles!
Since the church's birth almost
every generation has known something of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Most of these
moves would have to be characterized as something less than worldwide. They swept cities,
states, even nations at times, but few were global. But now, even beyond the strength and
influence of the celebration of the Feasts of Passover and Pentecost, there has been
released from heaven in the last several years an even greater sense of expectancy. It is
the expectancy that ALL HEAVEN is about to break loose in the midst of the Lord's elect on
a worldwide basis. Do you identify with that expectancy? God is raising up voices in every
hamlet and metropolis to say, "The earth is about to see the glory of God in a most
remarkable way." I am convinced that a host of heavenly messengers has recently been
released to every corner of the earth bearing the message, "And the glory of the Lord
will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it, for the mouth of the Lord has
spoken it" (Isa. 40:5, NIV). What I am proclaiming, announcing and declaring is that
there is a THIRD experience in God. There is a visitation, an appearing and coming of the
Lord called Tabernacles that is going to come to pass in the church today, right here upon
this earth, and the implications of this Feast go far beyond anything you or I could
possibly imagine.
In those blessed days of the holy
visitations at Pentecost and in the years that followed, there was an humble disciple,
filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom, who spoke to the people and did wonders among
them. But some of the religious crowd of skeptics doubted all that he said. The Bible
tells us they could not resist "the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake," so
they "stirred up the people" and set up false witnesses, accusing Stephen of
blaspheming both Moses and God. Stephen's anointed wisdom told that religious crowd that
the Lord would destroy the temple of stones, to fulfill the temple and the law IN A
PEOPLE, and would change their customs and worship (Acts 6:13-14). That is exactly what
the Lord did, but the religious Jews refused to accept the change that came. So today,
more than nineteen centuries thence, Jews the world over continue to worship in their
synagogues according to the Mosaic customs in apparent ignorance of the fact that the
mighty God has forever abolished that order and replaced it with the higher order of His
Spirit in the true church which is His body. Likewise there are vast multitudes of
Christians today who will not believe the anointed wisdom of the Lord's messengers who are
telling of God's purpose to again change the order and establish a new spiritual
administration over the earth!
God is speaking to His people
today and saying to us as He said to
The church world today has no
vision for what is about to happen. All it can think about is getting raptured away into
the clouds. Our prime concern is to prepare the ground for the truth concerning the Feast
of Tabernacles, which surpasses the glory of Pentecost even as the noon-day surpasses the
brightness of early dawn. If the saints of God could only catch a glimmer of the glory of
the Feast of Tabernacles which even now looms before us, they could not possibly cling to
the stagnant remains of yesterday's visitations. If the Passover was wonderful - and it
certainly was - how much more wonderful has been Pentecost in its fullness! And if
Pentecost is wonderful, how much more shall we expect Tabernacles to exceed it in glory?
And even now as the-first faint rays of this glorious Feast begin to appear on the eastern
horizon, we have every reason to rejoice - knowing that the days of deliverance and
restoration are here. And little by little we can see how the pattern is being unfolded
before our eyes.
There was a time when doctrine was
the passion of my life. I was an avid student of theology and meticulously examined
various doctrines. Some of them I rejected, and others I embraced. I thought it most
important to search the scriptures and, from the letter of the Word, determine what is the
truth about a great number of things. Then I got into the gifts of the Spirit and for a
season miracles were happening and wonderful healings and deliverances, and the gift of
prophecy gushed forth like rushing streams from the mountain tops. Then God began to open
the realm of sonship to my wondering spirit, and He has brought me to the place over the
past several years where my one and only desire is to SEE HIM and KNOW HIM. I am telling
you that the Person of Jesus Christ is exciting me more than anything else that I have
ever found in the Word of God or in the realm of experience!
I cannot emphasize too strongly
the infinite importance of the APPEARING OF CHRIST. There is a people today who LOVE HIS
APPEARING. Vast multitudes of Christians will be thrilled with the passing, temporal
blessings of His next visitation, but the elect will behold the glory of Christ, and will
be made ONE IN HIM in every aspect of Himself that He discloses. The nominal Christian
will find great joy in the fact that a new anointing is present, and that glorious things
are being accomplished throughout the earth, but the elect will SEE CHRIST and will be
made glad PARTAKERS of His glory. CHRIST will be the theme of this next move of God in the
earth. He is the great Subject, the central Person of all our desires and yearnings. We do
not desire more messages ABOUT HIM, we are simply crying out to KNOW HIM IN ALL HIS
GLORIOUS AND ETERNAL REALITY.
Though we find deep satisfaction
in the sweet communion that we have with Him, and the secret converse we have together as
He journeys with us through the wilderness, how oft our hearts long for a closer touch
with our precious Lord! No words can express the rapture that is ours when we walk and
talk with Him by the way; but we yearn for HIS FULLNESS, when all veils and limitations of
earth shall forever pass away. There are times when He makes Himself so real that our
small capacity can hardly stand the strain of such revelations. It is as though we were
bringing a pint cup to receive the waters of
"Behold, I come quickly"
(Rev. 3:11). "And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every
man according as his work shall be" (Rev. 22:12). "He which testifieth these
things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Rev. 22:20).
There is an important and sublime
truth contained in the passages just quoted. The word "quickly" is from the
Greek TACHU meaning shortly, without delay, swiftly, SPEEDILY, or SUDDENLY." While
there is significant truth, not understood by the average Christian or preacher, in the
statement of Jesus two thousand years ago, that He would come shortly and without delay,
it is to the thought of the SPEEDINESS or SUDDENNESS of the Lord's coming that I would now
draw your reverent attention. This principle of SUDDENNESS adheres to almost all the
"appearings" and "comings" of the Lord. Look closely for a moment at
the following examples: "Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the
way before Me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall SUDDENLY come to His temple ... He shall
come, saith the Lord of hosts" (Mal. 3:1). Here is a great one: "Watch ye
therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at
Then there is poor Saul of Tarsus,
who ran headlong into a blinding "suddenly": "And it came to pass, that, as
I made my journey, and was come nigh unto
The coming of Christ in the Feast
of Tabernacles will break just as unexpectedly and suddenly and startlingly upon a
sleeping church and an unbelieving world as did the coming of the Lord as the Passover
Lamb and His coming in mighty Spirit-power on the day of Pentecost. It is my deep
conviction, and I share it prayerfully, that the Lord Jesus will come forth in fullness in
His elect body on the exact date of the Feast of Tabernacles, in the fall of the year (not
necessarily this year - but the cry of our heart is ever, Come, Lord
Jesus!).
The Feasts of the Lord portray
distinctly the three primary manifestations of the Christ, and it is of immeasurable
importance that we thoroughly understand that the comings of the Lord have ALWAYS
TRANSPIRED ON THE PRECISE DATES OF THE FEASTS WHICH FORESHADOWED HIS APPEARING. The Son,
Jesus, was literally, physically born - not in December - but at the time of the Feast of
Tabernacles in October (see our booklet, FIVE REASONS WHY THE SONS OF GOD SHOULD NOT
CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS, free, upon request). The Lamb of God, Christ our Passover, was
literally and physically slain for us at the exact hour when the gleaming knives were put
to the throats of the Paschal lambs all across the
The Feast of Tabernacles took
place on the 15th day of the 7th month, the month of Ethanim (around October), and lasted
seven days. I do not hesitate to predict that the manchild company, the sons of God, will
be born, literally and dramatically birthed upon the stage of this world, in a blaze of
earth-shaking supernatural power and glory, during the Feast of Tabernacles time. They
will be the "firstfruits" that will enter into HIS FULLNTSS, the total
incarnation of God upon earth. When the Lord comes in a mighty way once more at the Feast
of Tabernacles, all flesh shall see the salvation and glory of the Lord. Whatever the year
may be, the manifestation of the sons of God will take place when the Feast of Tabernacles
is "fully come". That will be the greatest of all "spectaculars" the
world has ever witnessed, when He erupts from within His many-membered body in the
fullness of which Pentecost has been only a foretaste. The inhabitants of the earth will
be terrified, yes, even paralyzed! Instantly they will know this is no natural phenomenon,
no traditional religious service; while deep within, the Voice shall witness: TRULY, THIS
IS THE SON OF GOD! The effulgence of His Person shall appear upon His chosen ones, the
intensity of His brilliance, equating to that of seven suns, shining through the
undulating "garment" composed of tens of thousands of glorified saints, a
star-studded, super-spectacular, seven times the power of Pentecost, the likes of which
has never been witnessed by man since the dawn of creation.
On Friday afternoon,
In years past we were taught that
Jesus would come again to this earth in a singular, limited physical body. And when He
made this world-wide appearance, all the church would suddenly be raptured and taken up to
heaven. Whenever I minister that the Christ has ascended and been glorified, assuming
again that glory which He had with the Father before the world was, and that He now
returns as a glorious Spirit-Being, filling all things, and that W-E A-R-E HIS BODY, some
tell me that I have taken all their "blessed hope" away. But let me assure each
reader of these lines that I have learned to never take away anything unless I can give
something better in return. I may take your "hope" away, but in its place I give
you REALITY.
Ah, God has not left us without a
blessed and inspiring hope and ere we have finished this series of articles, the Lord
permitting, we shall disclose to you, what, to us, is a most transcendent vision for the
yet future fulfillments of the prophecies of the scriptures concerning the coming of our
blessed Lord, to be completed in a cycle of events so stupendous and wonderful that we
stand in awe as we behold them. Of this cycle, the ministry of Jesus nearly two thousand
years ago was but a miniature. There is that glorious coming of Christ set forth by the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the apostle Paul, of which he says, "And to you
who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His
mighty angels, in flaming fire ... when He shall come to be GLORIFIED I-N H-I-S
S-A-I-N-T-S, and to be admired IN ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE in that day. Wherefore also we
pray always for you, that our God would account you worthy of THIS CALLING, and fulfill
all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power" (II Thes.
1:7-11).
This facet of the Lord's coming is
called His REVELATION - "When He shall be REVEALED from heaven." When He comes
in the Feast of Tabernacles His coming will be greater than the singular Man Jesus
appearing in the sky. When He comes He will exhibit majesty, glory, power and such
splendor as is now unknown and inconceivable. He will be "REVEALED FROM HEAVEN"
- that is, He will descend out of the glory of the Father in heaven, and will come to be
"GLORIFIED I-N H-I-S S-A-I-N-T-S, and to be ADMIRED I-N ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE."
The ground of the admiration which
HE will receive will be what will be seen, not in the sky, not in Jerusalem, nor yet in
that singular body which Thomas' thrust-out hand touched and felt, but IN HIS
SAINTS. That is, their graces, their love, their nature, their glory, their wisdom, their
perfections and powers will be the occasion of producing admiration of HIM, for HE will be
seen as the source and reality of it all. One translator has rendered it, "and to be
made marvelous in all them that believe." I have said it before, and I now say it
again, I am not so concerned about the MANIFESTATION of the SONS of God; I look, rather,
for the MANIFESTATION OF G-O-D I-N HIS SONS! There is coming a day, the glory of which is
indescribable, when the Christ shall be manifested in an all glorious manner, and the
source of His highest triumphs will be what is seen IN the saints. His main honor, when He
comes in the Feast of Tabernacles, will not be the outward splendors, which Christendom is
ever expecting, nor the angels which will accompany Him, nor the display of His power over
the elements and all laws of nature, but the SAINTS who have been made ONE IN HIM, and
through whom HE will be revealed. He shall then be admired and glorified in His TRUE BODY
to a total and ultimate degree.
This appropriate honor of Christ
in the church which is His body has never yet been fully seen. His people on earth have,
in general, most imperfectly reflected His image! They have been comparatively few in
number, and scattered upon the earth. They have been poor and despised. They have been
persecuted, and regarded as the "filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all
things." The honors of this world have been withheld from them. The great have
regarded it as no honor to be identified with the elect of God in any generation, and the
proud have been ashamed to be enrolled among the number of those who follow the Lamb
whithersoever He goeth. At the Feast of Tabernacles all this will be changed, and the
in-Christed will show to admiring worlds what are the exceeding riches and power of His
grace.
There is a church, which is His
body, "which is the FULLNESS OF HIM that filleth all things" (Eph.
I want to take you back to that
scene which transpired twenty centuries ago on the Last Great Day of the Feast of
Tabernacles. Let me briefly describe to you how that "last great day" was
conducted. Early, early on the morning of that day, a million people and more, who had
been dwelling in tents and booths all around
What was the scene? From the
They went down to Siloam and the
High Priest dipped the Golden Vessel into the clear, pure Water. Then having taken the
Sacred Water, he reversed the procession, and passed up with the Water in his hand, while
the choir sang, the instruments played, and the people chanted that great song, the
twelfth chapter of Isaiah: "Behold, God is my Salvation; I will trust and not be
afraid: for the Lord Yahweh is my strength and song; and He is become my Salvation;
THEREFORE WITH JOY SHALL YE DRAW WATER OUT OF THE WELLS OF SALVATION." They swept
upward to the
Just at that moment a young Man,
humble, an untitled Rabbi, stood forth before the multitude. Not as King did He come, but
stepping forward He took the place, doubtless, of the High Priest. Standing there beside
the Sacred Altar, He lifted up His hands to the multitudes on
That day Jesus was speaking of the
Holy Spirit, just as when at Sychar's well He said to that woman of Samaria, "If thou
knewest the Gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give Me to drink; thou
wouldst have asked of Him, and He would have given thee Living Water." She did not
understand. But, oh, how gently He made her know! Into that parched and weary woman's
heart, who had had five husbands and was now living in shameless adultery, there came -
into this barren, barren heart - the Water, a Well of Water, a Spring of Water, that made
her a Messenger of God. She went into the city and brought out all the men of Sychar to
the feet of Jesus. There is a thirst in the heart of every man for the Fountains of Living
Water. The vast majority of mankind has mistaken the thirst they have for Living Water to
be a thirst for some temporal thing. Vainly they imagine that their thirst can be quenched
by partaking of the stagnant waters of earth’s cisterns. Like lost sheep they wander
through the wilderness of life seeking satisfaction and finding none. Place after place
they roam in their pitiful search for the Fountain that satisfies, but find it they never
can until at last they come to Christ. "If any man thirst," says Christ,
"let him come unto Me and drink!" He becomes all in all to every searching
heart. When Jesus comes, the thirsty soul finds the Fountain of Living Waters. There his
thirst is slaked forever. Henceforth the River is in Him, a literal Niagara of Living
Water springing up unto eternal life. "The
With reverent heart and bowed head
I now direct you to the wonderful truth that it was on this Last Great Day of the Feast of
Tabernacles, at the ceremony known as "The Pouring Out of the Water," that Jesus
stood and cried, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that
believeth on Me...out of his belly shall flow Rivers of Living Water." This He spake
of the Spirit which they should receive. That the time would come when men would no longer
draw their experience from wells of Divine provision, but an artesian fountain of Living
Water would rise up in the soul, and flow forth unto humanity in mighty
The Jewish people have always
believed that their Messiah would appear on this last, Great Day of the Feast. In fact,
they still believe it. This is why Jesus had to be there on that Day. He had an
appointment to reveal Himself to
We must keep in mind that when
Jesus appeared in
"After surrendering my heart
and life to the Master I heard of the infilling of the Holy Ghost, and sought it with all
my heart. I was told that this would be the fullness of God. I expected that I would be
filled with His fullness and have power to turn the world upside down and do all kinds of
miracles and impossible things. How disappointed I was when I found that I didn't have
that kind of power, and I wondered why. Later I discovered that far from being filled with
all the fullness of God, I had merely received the firstfruits of the Spirit - far from
fullness. What Jesus said about Rivers of Living Water flowing has not happened yet. O
yes, we have seen little trickles and gushing little rivulets here and there, but nothing
like mighty Rivers.
"Once I was visiting a church
shortly after coming back from our missionary stay in
Launch out into the
deep, Let the shoreline go;
Launch out, launch out, In the ocean Divine;
Out where the full tides flow!
"I quoted these words and
said how I longed to do just that, to launch out into the deep and be swallowed up in the
Divine Fullness. The Elder's wife got up and said, 'Bro. Wylie, if you had been with us in
the prayer meeting on Friday night, you would have been out in the deep.' I answered her,
'Sister, there is a world of difference in having a little shower of rain fall on you, and
launching out into the depth of the Divine fullness.' O my, how can we be content with a
little trickle when there should be Rivers flowing! I believe the day is here for these
Rivers to break forth and flow as they ought to. The scripture says that this had not
happened yet, when the Lord spoke these words, because that He was not yet glorified; but
when He was glorified it would happen. As I am sitting here meditating on these things,
and talking to the Lord about it, I said, 'Father, now that your Son has been glorified,
why has it not happened as He said it would?' Do you know what He just told me? He said,
'The Christ has not yet been glorified.' As I considered those words I realized that the
Head has been glorified, but the body has not yet been glorified, and when the rest of the
Christ is glorified then the prophecy will be fully fulfilled. Then there will be Rivers
of Living Water flowing in the totality of all that that means!" -end quote.
None can deny that Jesus spake of
the outpouring of the Spirit that would follow the glorification of the Head; but there
was also a deeper teaching in His loud utterance, for, after all, Pentecost is just a
stepping-stone to Tabernacles. What then, in brief, is the conclusion one is compelled to
arrive at in piecing together these types and passages? That the blessing of Tabernacles
proclaims the inward revealing of the life of Jesus Christ in a fuller and mightier way
than ever before experienced; that whereas Pentecost is a "firstfruit" or
"earnest of the Spirit," Tabernacles is a HARVEST, or greater manifestation, a
flowing of the Living Waters in such power that even the mortal and corruptible workings
in our flesh and blood shall be swallowed up in HIS LIFE, and shall overflow to a fainting
and thirsting world in such glory and power that it shall change and transform all things.
It is the healing, life-giving
stream that we read about in Ezekiel: "These waters issue out toward the east
country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into
the sea, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass, that every thing that
liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be
a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be
healed; and everything shall live whither the river cometh" (Eze. 47:8-9). Jesus
said, "I will make you fishers of MEN." The manifestation of the sons of God
shall eclipse anything we have ever read about in the Bible or church history! This Water
has been flowing ever since Pentecost; we realize that; but soon it shall gush forth from
HIS HARVEST COMPANY who have drunk deeply at the blessed Fountain-Head of Life, and shall
empty into the mighty oceans of humanity, bringing life and blessing and salvation to a
dry and parched wilderness where no life is. A great outpouring from beneath the very
throne of God, the dominion of God personalized in His obedient elect, will send streams
of salvation into all the world.
Truly, in a way never imagined by
sinner or saint, the burning words of the prophet will be fulfilled: "And the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the
Lord hath spoken it" (Isa. 40:5). Isaiah again enlarges on this prophecy: "The
Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the
earth shall see the salvation of our God" (Isa. 52:10). It is true that this has
happened in measure throughout this Gospel age, but it has never happened on the scale
where all things are transformed under the Lordship of God's Christ. We have been made
eye-witnesses of the firstfruits; now we await the HARVEST! We have been made glad
partakers of the rivulets of Pentecost; now our souls pant for the gushers of Tabernacles!
JESUS IS COMING AGAIN!
The message of this article is
just this: Jesus is coming again! He will never come again into the body of His
humiliation, never again walk to rest upon the well, or sleep in the storm tossed boat,
never to again be smitten in the face and spit upon and crucified. Can we not all thank
God that that part of it is finished? "In like manner as ye have seen Him go
away," so will be the manner of His coming. It was an hour of His Kingdom glory and
the holy rapture of His translation. And so will He return. So He has returned. So He does
return. His return on the day of Pentecost was in a mighty rushing sound, in tongues of
flame, in prophetic ecstasy, in gifts of apostles and miracles. He came to fill His body,
His church, with this power. Can we even begin to comprehend the greater glory of His
coming in the Feast of Tabernacles? All this will be reproduced on a larger scale. It will
be the FULL HARVEST of His life. He will come with the keys of death and the grave in His
hands for His elect sons. He will come in power as the Judge of the living and the dead.
He will come as King of kings and Lord of lords in sovereign grace to carry out the great
work of reconciling and restoring ALL THINGS. Some presume that they have already received
this anointing, already reign as kings in the Kingdom. Their lives and their ministries
give the lie to their claims. I have not witnessed a power and a glory greater than
Pentecost in any place, nor in any person, nor through any ministry anywhere on this
terrestrial globe. Have you? But it is coming. You can count on it!
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit
at Pentecost was never intended to accomplish so great a purpose. God's purpose in this
age has been, not to deliver the whole creation, but to "take out a people for His
name" in order that, by His goodness to us in Christ Jesus, He might display in the ages to come the transcendent RICHES OF HIS GRACE (Eph. 2:7).
Having accomplished His purpose for this age, the Lord shall then use the finished product
from this age, a company of sons in His own image, to be the deliverers of creation.
We have heard many so-called
Gospels. The world is full of poor deluded souls who are trying to establish their own
particular creed of imaginings and mistakes. We try to go to the world, we try to tell
them the message, by using all the world's own methods, to advertise, to appeal to their
emotions, to entertain them with music. It only proves our impotence, that we have not
left the world very far behind if we can return and employ the world's ways so easily.
Today, everyone with a little bit of preacher's "itch" is attempting to get
themselves a little congregation, a little following, to build a little kingdom. These all
imagine that somehow they are going to go out and storm the world and "take the
world" for Christ. But a new day has dawned, a day when the pure and unadulterated
Gospel of the Kingdom must go forth to the whole world. Religionists have tried in vain to
lift the world out of its shame by their ambitious programs and preaching their own ideas
and the doctrines of the antichrist. It simply would not work. The world has grown
steadily worse. Their lofty phrases, and text-book prayers, and apologetic platitudes, and
time-honored traditions have utterly failed. Now a new company is to go forth with a
burning message of truth direct from the throne, and in the fullness of power reserved for
this day. The anointing of the sons of God shall be an anointing WITHOUT MEASURE, and the
message of these sons shall be a message stripped of all the ineffectual absurdities that
have been preached throughout the years. Religionists have side-stepped, and mollycoddled,
and back-slapped too long. Their day is done. The sun is sinking in the western sky of
this age of the "in part" realm. A new day is dawning for those who have been
quickened from above. A new army is being prepared for this new day, an army of the sons
of God perfected in His image, filled with the precious mind that was in Christ Jesus,
radiating the effulgence of His glory, demonstrating the omnipotence of His power. And
there shall be an exultant victory. For now the day is dawning when "A-L-L nations
shall come and worship before thee" (Rev. 15:4). "And... all the nations ...
shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to KEEP THE
FEAST OF TABERNACLES" (Zech.
I believe I speak the truth when I
say that many of us have reached the point of no return - there is nothing to go back to,
not in the flesh, not in the world, not in the church systems; there is nothing out of
which we have been drawn by the Spirit of God to which we would return; it is all so
empty, meaningless, lifeless, worthless. Now we must FOLLOW ON TO KNOW THE LORD IN HIS
FULLNESS. It is vain to come out, unless we are committed to ENTER IN. We are committed to
a course which cannot be altered, for it is fixed in its destination - His throne!
"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also
overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne" (Rev. 3:21).
We do not desire the throne for
what we can get out of it, for our own fame and fortune, but for the infinite potential it
holds for blessing and restoring the creation. "For the creature was made subject to
vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because
the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the
glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation GROANETH AND
TRAVAILETH IN PAIN together until now" (Rom.
It is not more preachers we need.
It is not more radio broadcasts or television programs. It is not more missions and
missionaries. It is not more tracts or even Bibles. It is not more programs and crusades.
It is not another revival. All we need is the cry of the groaning creation and the prayer
of the travailing saint to be joined with the unutterable longings of the Holy Spirit, all
crying in unison and harmony for the manifestation of the sons of God. There is an elect
people who, even as I pen these words, are being made participators in this grandest of
all dramas of history. Their prayer, praise God, is soon to be answered. The long awaited
revelation is at hand. The glorious Lord is soon to be revealed from heaven in flaming
fire to be exhibited in great glory and power and admired IN HIS SAINTS.
Ah, my brother, my sister, do not
sell creation short! Do not settle for less than God's best! All creation is standing on
tiptoe, waiting and counting on you. If you love Israel; if you love the peoples and
kindreds of the earth who know nothing of the Saviour; if you love the sad, the tormented
the sick and the dying; if you love the burdened brute creation; if you love the
mountains, the trees, the rivers and the oceans so mindlessly being destroyed under the
hand of greed - you will joyfully welcome the hope of the manifestation of God in His
sons; for it is the hope that shall bring to the groaning creation, emancipation from the
bondage of corruption, into the liberty of the Children of God; to Israel her Messiah; to
the heathen idolater, the knowledge of God; to the rebellious, correction; to the sick and
dying, health and life incorruptible; to the Bride, the presence of the Bridegroom; to
mute nature, blessed release from the cruelty of man and the blight of the curse.
You have kept the Feast of
Passover. We trust that you have also kept the Feast of Pentecost. But will we now move on
from
In the crimson of
the morning, in the whiteness of the
In the amber glory of the day's retreat,
In the
I listen for the coming of His feet.
I have heard His weary footsteps on the sands of
On the temple's marble pavement, on the street,
Worn with weight of sorrow, faltering up the slopes of
The sorrow of the coming of His feet.
Down the minster aisles of splendor, from betwixt the cherubim,
Through the wondering throng, with motion strong and fleet,
Sounds His victor tread, approaching with a music far and dim-
The music of the coming of His feet.
Sandaled not with shoes of silver, girded not with woven gold,
Weighted not with shimmering gems and odors sweet,
But white-winged and shod with glory in the Tabor-light of old-
The glory of the coming of His feet.
He is coming, O my spirit! with His everlasting peace,
With His blessedness immortal and complete,
He is coming, O my spirit! and His coming brings release;
I listen for the coming of His feet!
Chapter 9
THE PAROUSIA
OF JESUS CHRIST
Once I read a story and it goes
something like this. Bamba Gumba might be a tribal king. We will assume that he is. And we
will assume that he rules in aboriginal splendor over loyal subjects in the wilds of
Here he takes in the sights, and
obtains certain colorful ornaments of which his tribesmen of the hills are extremely fond,
and for which they will gladly pay him many times the cost. But one day, while listening
to a conversation, there is suggested to his alert mind a plan of extraordinary merit. He
is of course well aware of the superstitious nature of his subjects; and here at last is a
plan which will take advantage of that superstitious nature and yield him handsome
dividends. He knows that, because of his unchallenged authority, and as a result of the
high esteem in which he is held by his subjects, the plan cannot fail. And so he returns
home, envisioning an end to all his worries in regard to finance.
As soon as he arrives he summons
his under chieftains into conference. The plan demands immediate action. No time can be
lost. This, he explains, is a matter of unlimited emergency; and steps must be taken at
once to avert impending horrible disaster. In
I am sure that no one who reads
these lines would ever allow himself or herself to be deluded and carried away by such a
fantastic invention as the foregoing! We are Spirit-born children of God, free from
bondage to dark superstition and offensive delusions. We are intelligent, educated, Bible
loving, church taught; we are of sound judgment. We would never stoop to like ignorance.
Six English words that all mean "oomph" - the very idea! We are altogether too
smart and too spiritual! But are we really as smart and as spiritual as we think? Dear
Reader, human nature is the same the world around. You and I may think we are smart; but
let me tell you, if you and I had been raised in the domain of a Bamba Gumba, no matter
how high our educational achievements might be, and no matter what our mental capacities
might be, if we had been raised in that environment then, except for a miraculous work of
grace, when others began carrying chickens to Bamba Gumba, we also would start carrying
chickens.
Ah, we laugh at even the thought
of our being carried away with an "oomph" tale of a Bamba Gumba. We sort of
unconsciously pride ourselves that we are altogether too smart to be fooled by any of the
delusions of pagan religion, silly superstitions, or such. But the cold facts are that
from every denominational pulpit in Christian America, as well as in every other nation on
earth, is preached ignorance, just as offensive and just as irrational as the invention
here depicted to wheedle money, corn and chickens from the poor benighted bushmen of
The poor downtrodden bushmen of
For in the New Testament, in the
original Greek, are found six different words and phrases which have been represented to
us as ALL meaning the very same thing - the "coming" of the Lord or the
"second coming" of Christ! And while a few scholars have gone to the trouble to
tell us what these six words mean, yet I do not hesitate to say that not one Christian in
a million has earnestly sought the Lord for spiritual wisdom and divine understanding
concerning these important matters. There is confusion in the minds of many when they come
to this great truth of our Lord's return and much of this uncertainty stems from a failure
to understand the diverse meanings of these six Greek words which are used in connection
with His coming. While Bamba Gumba's six words all meant "oomph," OUR six words
are all construed to mean "second coming"! Until the great scriptural truths
contained in these six Greek words dawn upon our enlightened hearts by the quickening of
the spirit of wisdom from on High, though we may be earnest students of God's Word and
feel satisfied with what we have, nevertheless, there will be in our possession a great
mine of eternal riches and heavenly wealth of which we are able to appropriate only a
small portion.
The subject of this study was not
chosen simply to make a play on words but to direct attention to transcendent realities of
infinite importance. Words are wonderful things. They open vistas to the mind of man that
are utterly limitless. They break hearts, or cause the despondent to sing with joy. An
announcement of a birth or the sad news of a death alike are conveyed by words. Mighty
empires rise and fall at the issue of words from the lips of great kings, and powerful
generals. Words are among our most wonderful possessions. Through the centuries they have
stood for certain meanings, and simple regard for truth demands that we treat words as
they were intended to be dealt with. Important truths pertaining to the manner of our
Lord's return have been long hidden by mistranslation. As we all know, the Bible was not
written originally in the English language, hence we who use the English language must
depend upon translations from the original Hebrew of the Old Testament, and the Greek of
the New Testament. While in most instances in our English Bibles very little of the
richness of meaning has been lost through mistranslation, there are exceptions in which
profound truths of the divine plan have been long concealed by unwitting mistranslations.
The apostles spoke and wrote a
language called "he Koine dialectos," and while a few generations ago this
vernacular form of Greek was not fully known, the researches of archeologists have given
us a complete and comprehensive understanding of the New Testament vocabulary. The Greek
is a more precise language than the English. The English Bible uses a few terms which
relate to the coming of the Lord, but there are actually six Greek words used in relation
to the Lord's return. For the sake of simplicity we shall list these words, with the
shades of meaning they present, and then go on to consider them in more detail.
1. PAROUSIA. This word occurs
twenty-four times in the New Testament. It comes from the verb PAREMI which means "at
hand," "to be present." The noun signifies "Presence." This verb
emphasizes the actual personal presence of the one who comes. "Be patient unto the
COMING (presence) of the Lord" (James 5:7). PAROUSIA never indicates the act of
coming or the arrival of a person, but denotes the presence of one who has already
arrived.
2. APOKALUPSIS. This word comes
from the verb APOKALUPTO meaning "to uncover,” "unveil," and stresses
the appearing or revelation of one by means of an uncovering or unveiling. It is the
disclosure of one who has been hidden under cover. "Be sober, and hope to the end for
the grace that is to be brought unto you at the REVELATION (unveiling) of Jesus
Christ" (I Pet.
3. EPIPHANEIA. This word is to be
found six times in the New Testament. It comes from a verb which signifies "to shine
upon," "bring to light," "to appear," "to manifest."
The noun is "manifestation," "brightness." It is the appearance out of
darkness of a star that has been there all day, unseen and unperceived, and suddenly
manifesting at night. This word is used in the sense of the glory or majesty that is
revealed by the coming of the Lord.
4. PHANEROO. This word means to
render apparent or make manifest, not necessarily a visible presence, but a perception.
"When He shall appear (become apparent), we shall be like Him" (I Jn. 3:2).
5. ERCHOMAI. This word is used to
indicate the actual act of coming, not, as with PAROUSIA, the presence of one who has
arrived, but the event of coming. "Behold, HE COMETH (is in the act of coming) with
clouds" (Rev. 1:7).
6. HEKO. This word stresses the
point of arrival at a certain place, as I am come and I am here. "Hold fast till I
COME (to you)" (Rev. 2:25).
Of course these six Greek words do
not mean six different comings of the Lord; but the distinction between them enables one
to see what the texts mean with reference to the coming of His presence, to His abiding
presence, to the revelation or unveiling of His presence, to the manifestation or
out-raying of the glory and majesty of His presence. By no means do any of these words
mean identically the same thing. For instance, both the word EPIPHANEIA and PAROUSIA occur
in a notable verse: "Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume
with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the BRIGHTNESS (epiphaneia) of His
COMING (parousia))" (II Thes. 2:8). Actually translated the verse reads: "The
MANIFESTATION of His PRESENCE."
It is obvious that He CAN be
present without manifesting the fact; and the present One CAN manifest the full glory and
majesty of His presence with a brightness above the noon-day sun. Yonder, on the mount of
Transfiguration, He suddenly shone before His disciples till the midnight became as the
midnoon of a cloudless sun; yonder, above the road to Damascus, so close to Paul and
unseen, then shining out till the glory of the shining blinded him and made him fall from
his horse prostrate in the dust of the highway; yonder at Patmos when He appeared unto
John and so blazed forth in the manifestation of His presence that the disciple fell at
His feet as one dead with the weight of the glory. He can be present and yet unmanifested,
as yonder at the foot of the golden ladder Jacob slept with a stone for a pillow and
awakening, cried out in holy awe, "Surely the Lord I-S in this place, and I knew it
not!" (Gen. 28:16). The manifested and unmanifested presence of the Lord. The Lord
present and no one aware of it; then suddenly revealed and every eye beholding Him. This
is the teaching of the two words, EPIPHANEIA and PAROUSIA. As these two words are both
applied to the coming of the Lord; as this great event is spoken of both as HIS EPIPHANEIA
and HIS PAROUSIA, and the difference between manifested and unmanifested is absolute; as
they are two things as well as one, two things as to MANNER and capable of being applied
to the same thing as a fact; as both ARE applied to the fact of His coming, then the
coming of Christ has in these two words two distinct aspects; the aspect in which He is
manifested; another aspect in which He is unmanifested.
Betimes, in the throes of trouble
and testing, the heavens have seemed as brass and God appeared to be a million miles away,
when suddenly, the Lord shone forth out of our darkness to show His mighty hand of
deliverance on our behalf. Ah, HE WAS THERE ALL THE TIME, as present as present can be,
but in one instant He MANIFESTED His presence and our sorrow turned to joy, our despair to
victory, praise His name! How often it has happened to us, as it did to Jacob, when he
awaked out of his sleep, and he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew
it not." He was lonely, He was troubled, He was fearful, He was fleeing from his
brother Esau, things were just not going in his favor at all. Exhausted, he took a stone
for a pillow and laid down to sleep. And then he had his dream with the visitation of God.
Then suddenly he realized that God was IN THIS PLACE, and he had not been aware of it,
shadows of loneliness, shadows of weariness, shadows of emptiness, shadows of despair,
shadows and more shadows had obscured any sense of the presence of God being with him. YET
GOD WAS IN THAT PLACE, and had been with him all the time. And God is in YOUR PLACE,
precious friend of mine, wherever and however it is. He may only be present (parousia) or
His presence may be manifested (epiphaneia), yet God is there accomplishing some precious
things, whether you are aware of it or not. Through overlooking these important
distinctions we have missed much heavenly wealth and glory that lies concealed within the
six Greek words and which unfold the various facets of our Lord's coming. Our vision was
greatly enlarged when we discovered by revelation of the Holy Spirit this multi-faceted
splendor of HIS COMING!
The story has been told of a
beautiful incident that occurred many years ago in the North of England. A young Salvation
Army girl, only recently saved, was overflowing with the joy of the Lord and was eager to
share her salvation with all others. Walking along the street of a little
In like manner, when we are asked,
"Do you believe in the coming of the Lord?" we may reply, "Do you mean His
PAROUSIA, or do you mean His APOKALUPSIS, or do you mean His EPIPHANEIA, or do you mean
His PHANAROO, or do you mean His ERCHOMAI, or do you mean His HEKO?" Ah - we believe
in ALL His comings, and it all the facets of His comings!
In a map of the heavens a
"d" appears beside some of the stars, indicating that although these stars to
the naked eye are single points of light, the telescope reveals them to be double, or
triple, and, in some cases, to lie one behind the other, separated by immeasurable space.
Some time ago, on a stop-over in
As in the works of God, so also in
His Word - distance and angle of vision count for much. Events that to the casual reader
appear to be but one, as they are approached by the telescope of divine illumination are
seen to be separated into various facets and manifestations. Just as it could not be
learned from the Old Testament, by the deductive powers of the carnal mind, that what
seemed to be one coming of Messiah would resolve itself into two, first in humiliation and
then in glory; so also it cannot be learned by careless study of our English versions of
the New Testament that the return of our Lord is a many-splendored, progressive REVELATION
OF JESUS CHRIST. Our God does not talk about the "first coming" and the
"second coming - He talks about the progressive revelation of Jesus Christ, the Son
of God. As we have stated again and again in this series, the scripture shows clearly and
unmistakably that our Lord has already had many comings, many appearings, and shall
continue to have many more. The truth is that
He came; He continued to come; He comes; He continues to come; He will come; He will
continue to come, praise His wonderful name!
A friend recently wrote in a
letter regarding these things: "What a tremendous expansion of heart, mind, and
spirit this revelation invites, what a turning of the diamond like the many-faceted wisdom
of God in first this direction and then that direction, what a reaching out in all
directions to lay hold on HIM in whatever form He should appear, in whatever manner He
should express, in whatever dimension He should move. I am completely overwhelmed by the
power of this word. It has the strange dual effect of simultaneously lifting me up to soar
in my spirit into the high realms of His truth and of reducing me to rubble before the
majesty of His life! Quite frankly, I hardly know what to do with myself in the wake of
its impact. I am absolutely beside myself with wonder. Oh, listen to the sound of His
comings! Surely, what I feel tonight is akin to what
The Greek word PAROUSIA is
translated as "coming" in your King James Bible, and that is where a lot of the
problems with the so-called "second coming" begin. The word actually means
"along side" or "presence." And there are many, many scriptures that
the Bible projects as talking about the "coming" of the Lord that are not
talking at all about a physical descent of Jesus from the sky. They speak rather of His
coming in us, His appearing through us, and the glory of the fullness of the presence of
the Lord in the midst of the church, the presence of the Lord in the earth.
The effect of error on the work of
the early translators is apparent in many of the prophecies pertaining to the return of
the Christ. The theory which developed during the Dark Ages held that the Christ would
return to earth as a sort of glorified man. In this form He was suddenly to appear in the
sky, be visible to the entire human race for a short time, and then as He approached
closer to the earth it was to be enveloped in flames, the unconverted of the human race
whisked off to a place of eternal torture, while the saints would be taken to heaven. All
of this was to begin and to be completed within
This distorted conception of the
return of Christ, and its purpose, caused the Church of England scholars to translate the
Greek word PAROUSIA by our English word "coming," when its real meaning is
"presence." In their twisted theology there was simply no way in which Christ
could be present in the earth for more than a few hours. He was to return, and rapture His
people almost immediately away to heaven, so they could not conceive of His coming meaning
His PRESENCE. The word PAROUSIA is used twice in the New Testament when it does not apply
to Jesus, but to the apostle Paul. These uses of the word establish its real meaning. Paul
expresses others' appraisal of him, saying, "His letters, say they, are weighty and
powerful; but his bodily presence (PAROUSIA) is weak" (II Cor.
It can be seen at once that the
use of the word "coming" to translate the Greek word PAROUSIA in the foregoing
texts would have given an entirely wrong meaning to Paul's words. In these passages it is
the PRESENCE of a human being that is involved, so we understand what Paul means. He is
not discussing his "coming" or "arrival," his "journey" to
them, but his actual presence in their midst. So we need only to move from the
understandable into the realm in which we do not fully understand in order to realize what
the prophecies mean which discuss the PAROUSIA of our Lord; that meaning being His ACTUAL
PRESENCE, not His "coming."
PAROUSIA is formed from the
present participle of the verb "to be" (EIMI), with a prefix meaning
"alongside." It means to be near or to be present. It is clear that it describes
not an event, but a STATE or CONDITION, that involves duration, a period of time. It is
defined by Liddell and Scott as "a being present, presence." In each place where
it is translated "coming" in the King James Bible, the Revised Version has
"Greek: presence" in the
margin. The Greek antonym for PAROUSIA is APOUSIA meaning "un-presence" or
"absence," and is used in the passage quoted above from Phil. 2:12 wherein Paul
says, "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence
(PAROUSIA) only, but now much more in my absence (APOUSIA), work out your own
salvation..." No translator would think of rendering APOUSIA as "going"; so
neither should PAROUSIA be rendered as "coming." It is "presence"
contrasted with "absence." The word simply means "present." It would
be the answer that a soldier would give to a roll call. Two thousand years ago the
"coming" of the Son of God to this world took place in a split-second of time
when He was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary; but it was followed by His parousia
or presence in this world for almost thirty-four years; many events took place during that
time of His PRESENCE.
This is without doubt one of the
most important truths in the whole New Testament. Nowhere does PAROUSIA mean
"coming" or "coming again." The whole church world proclaims that the
"second coming of Christ" is the HOPE OF THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. It is not His
coming that is the hope of the church, but IT IS HIS P-R-E-S-E-N-C-E which is the hope of
the church and the hope for the world. The PAROUSIA is a LIFE IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD, not
simply a flashing of Jesus across the skies. From the hour of the first dawn of creation's
light to this present moment no soul of man has ever been brought into relationship with
God or transformed into His image apart from the effectual MANIFESTATION OF THE PRESENCE
OF GOD.
Archeological discoveries reveal
that the Greek word PAROUSIA was used in ancient times to describe the visits of kings or
emperors to various cities and provinces of their realms. The word was what we might call
a "royal word." Throughout the papyri there are references to the entry of
monarchs with great pomp and circumstance into ancient cities or nations which are called
the "parousia of the king." Mention is made of special taxes being levied, and
large supplies of wheat being provided for the "PAROUSIA" - not for the moment
when the king arrived, but for his stay in the locality, as when in
One discovery reveals that taxes
to pay the expenses of such a visit were raised by issuing a special PAROUSIA coin. Since
royal visits were usually few and far between it was the custom of the ancients to strike
new coins to commemorate the occasion. These would be minted with the "likeness"
of the victorious general, or the reigning ruler who was "present" to judge his
people, impressed on each new coin. In instances where it was a conquering general who was
making his parousia, striking down the former king or taking him captive, the coins of the
old realm were "called in." They were then smelted and new coins poured in
homage to the new King. As many numismatists have observed one can follow the travels of
Caesar Hadrian by studying the many commemorative coins struck in the places where he made
his parousia.
In like manner, on the spiritual
plane, when the Lord Jesus Christ conquers our self-will and casts down the flesh from its
place of rule in our hearts, He replaces the old coinage of Adam's "likeness"
with the new coinage of the Spirit which bears His own image. This will be complete when
the POWER OF HIS PRESENCE has completed its wonderful work upon our lives. Praise God, the
day shall surely come at the close of the wonderful times of the restitution of all things
when there will be no "coinage" in earth's realm, as well as in heaven's, which
does not bear HIS glorious "likeness" for all creation will be restored into
harmony and oneness in Him again! Even now, a FIRSTFRUITS has been ushered INTO HIS
PRESENCE, And in the words of the old hymn, "What a wonderful change in my life been
wrought since Jesus came into my heart!"
"Watch ye therefore, and pray
always, that ye may be accounted worthy... to stand before the Son of man" (Lk.
The PAROUSIA is THE GLORY OF HIS
PRESENCE and THE PRESENCE OF HIS GLORY. So little has His presence been realized by those
Christians who fill Sunday after Sunday the pews of the harlot church systems, that even
many who are baptized in the Spirit have more fear of the power of the adversary than they
do have of the knowledge of the majesty and presence of the King of Glory. His presence is
not always best known in the realm of soulish worship, with its clapping, dancing and
shouting, nor in the manifestations of religious fervor. Praise God for the reality of
rejoicing in Him, but many have discovered that they thought God was only in the
Cathedral, so He called them out from there. We thought God was in the great revivals with
signs and wonders and miracles, so He separated us from this. We thought the presence of
God could be conjured up by much singing, clapping, and shouting, so He sent fiery trials,
strippings, and separation even from this. Finally, isolated and all alone, then He says,
"Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art..." (Gen. 13:14).
I am with you IN THIS PLACE, perhaps obscured by the shadows, but I am there, working
within to conform you to My image, and bring you forth in My likeness. Though we share an
existence apparently filled with nothing but the mundane happenings of the routine, YET
GOD IS PRESENT AND ACCOMPLISHING GREAT AND MIGHTY THINGS within. God reveals Himself to
the humble in the lowliest of disguises, but the proud who never look beneath the surface,
fail to find Him even in the greatest of His manifestations.
It is time for God's people to
wake up to the true and real meaning of the PAROUSIA of our Lord Jesus Christ. The word
PAROUSIA is used three times in the second epistle of Peter (
"The POWER and PRESENCE of
our Lord Jesus Christ" refers not to His arrival on the holy Mount, but to the
manifestation of His STATE OF BEING during that period of time in which the disciples were
"eyewitnesses of His majesty." Notice how the apostle associates the POWER and
the PRESENCE of Christ with the GLORY OF GOD that appeared in the hour of Christ's
transfiguration. In fact, the Lord Himself explains that this manifestation of the GLORY
was in reality, the very
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST IN HIS BODY
We will never be able to
understand God's great and eternal purpose in the body of Christ until first we see Jesus
as the PATTERN SON. Over the past forty years we have heard much about signs and wonders.
Great crusades have been held under large tents and in huge auditoriums, where vast
multitudes of people have witnessed mighty demonstrations of the healing, delivering and
wonder-working power of God. Some of these, of course, were spurious ... clever tricks
foisted upon the people to deceive and mislead God's people, to magnify the flesh and
glorify man, preachers making themselves millionaires by their flamboyant deception, using
trickery to rob the simple, the widow, the well-meaning, and thousands of the Lord's
precious little ones. But not all of these signs have been of the devil. The very fact
that, there is a counterfeit proves that there is a genuine, for no one counterfeits that
which does not exist. In our day, as in olden times, God is showing forth His power and
making known His Presence by many signs and wonders.
The writer of the book of Hebrews
tells us that this glorious gospel "at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and
was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him; God also bearing them witness, both with
SIGNS and WONDERS, and with divers MIRACLES, and GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST, according to His
will. . ." Mk.
But I would not dwell upon the
many signs and wonders that God is giving forth in this hour, and there are many. A
greater sign than all of these has been given and it is this marvelous and glorious
wonder, God's greatest sign, of which I would write today. JESUS is God's greatest sign!
In Isa.
Now a sign is that which points to
something, and this man Jesus - His birth, His life, His ministry, His miracles, His
words, His death, His resurrection, His ascension points unerringly to something beyond
Himself. You see, the SIGN was not fulfilled when Jesus was born and walked this earth,
for He was not the fulfillment of the Sign - He WAS HIMSELF THE SIGN! "Therefore the
Lord Himself shall give you a sign... and shall call His name Emmanuel." When Jesus
came the Sign was GIVEN. But a sign is not fulfilled when it is given. It is fulfilled
when that to which it points comes to pass! The babe lying there in Mary's arms; the young
boy disputing with the lawyers and doctors of the law; the Christ of God proclaiming the
Gospel of the Kingdom; Jesus of Nazareth anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power going
about doing good, healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, casting out devils, raising the
dead; the Son of God disclosed in majesty and power on the mount of Transfiguration, His
raiment shining exceedingly white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white them; the
Lamb of God dying on Calvary's hill; Jesus the Christ raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father; Christ ascended to sit on the throne of the Majesty on High - all this is the
greatest SIGN God ever gave to the earth, and it shall not fail. That to which it points
shall most surely come to pass, praise His glorious name! Jesus Christ is THE SIGN which
points unerringly to that great thing which God is doing in the earth, the MANIFESTATION
OF THE SONS OF GOD!
Many centuries before Jesus walked
on earth the Holy Spirit spoke prophetically through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah,
saying, "Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given Me are for SIGNS and
WONDERS..." (Isa. 8:18). We discover in Heb. 2:13 that the One who spoke those
marvelous words was actually our Lord Jesus. And He says that He is for a Sign. And so are
the children (sons) that God hath given Him, those who are to be conformed to His image,
the body of the Christ, the overcomer. Hallelujah! All the sons of God together are but a
Sign, the firstfruits of God's creation, pointing to a vast harvest yet to be gathered
into the Kingdom of God in that glad day when Christ has subdued ALL unto Himself and
delivers up the Kingdom to the Father that God may be All-in-all, everything to everyone -
everywhere.
Perhaps some reader of these lines
is beginning to question... If Jesus IS the Sign, and the scriptures most plainly show
that He is, then who or what is the FULFILLMENT of that Sign? Our precious Lord does not
leave us in doubt, for the Bible very plainly reveals this great mystery. This is the
wonderful secret that was revealed to the apostle Paul, which he calls "MY
gospel." For it was Paul who saw the glorious truth of the BODY OF CHRIST, the
PERFECT MAN, the SONS OF GOD, the MANY-MEMBERED MAN that God would make after His own
image and likeness to reign over all things upon earth and over the vastnesses of infinity
forever (see I Cor. 12:12,27; Rom. 8:29; Heb. 2:10; Eph. 4:13; Rev. 21:7; Rev. 2:26-27;
Rev. 3:21).
Yes, Jesus is a Sign. His life is
a Sign pointing to, and a pattern for, His anointed body. Those who are in His body shall
follow in His steps and be conformed into His image. This thing of which Jesus is a Sign
is a SON COMPANY, born from above, filled with His Spirit, possessed of His glorious mind,
caught up into the purposes of God, processed through Father's faithful dealings, and
anointed for rulership... to sit on the throne with Him. This body of people, though
composed of a multitude of saints throughout the world and gathered out of the ages, yet
is seen in the scriptures as ONE BODY, spoken of as God's ONE PERFECT MAN, the OVERCOMER,
and the MANIFESTED SONS OF GOD. As we have already said, how this body comes into
existence and what happens to it and through it can be learned by studying the Pattern,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And although there will be unnumbered multitudes of people saved by
the grace of God through the precious blood of Jesus, and we do thank God for these dear
ones, yet the high purposes of God are tied up in that company of saints who press their
way toward the mark for the prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Consider now what is next in order
for the people of God today! Would you like to have a true prophetic insight into God's
purposes and plans? Then study the Pattern, the Sign. See how the baby Jesus began to grow
up into mature manhood. Except for one brief glimpse of the boy Jesus at the tender age of
twelve, we know nothing of how He grew from babyhood to manhood. Yet we know that He did.
And though the growth of His body in this hour may appear to be imperceptible from day to
day, its progress is sure, and in the Father's appointed time it will come to the full
maturity of the stature of the fullness of the Christ. Let us look at the boy Jesus. When
we do see Him, where was He? What was He doing? See Him there, He is in the temple, His
mind upon the things of God... astounding the lawyers and the revered doctors of the law
with His knowledge of God and the depth of His revelation, while the other children are
playing their religious games in the market-place. The doctors of the law cannot
understand this lad, who someday will be God's Man, neither can they answer His searching
questions. See how He is about His Father's business, recognizing at least in a measure
who He is and His divine calling.
See Him at
From His anointing at
What does this mean to you and me,
my brother, my sister, who have received the call to follow the Lamb? We don't yet see all
things under the feet of God's CORPORATE SON (Heb. 2:8), but (verse 9), "we see
Jesus, crowned with glory and honour." We see the Head of this body supremely
victorious, waiting until the body comes to the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ, so that His enemies become His footstool. The Head is victorious, triumphant and
crowned! But this glorious work He began will be carried forth until His whole body, even
the feet, shall rise to the place of authority and power that He has. Now in these last
days there is coming forth a body of people, raised up by the Holy Spirit of God, who are
not content to let Satan and the carnal mind rule here on this earth. They are crying out
for deliverance and interceding for the
Can our finite minds comprehend
even in a measure what this shall mean, to walk in the STATE OF
Do not mistake it, my friend -
Christ is coming literally, personally, bodily. The appearance and presence (parousia) of
Christ is IN HIS BODY. "Now YE ARE the BODY of Christ." The PAROUSIA, the
PRESENCE of Christ is in the Body. Consider now with reverent honesty the inspired words
of the apostle, "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall
be revealed from heaven ... when He shall come to be glorified I-N HIS SAINTS, and to be
admired I-N ALL THEM that believe in that day" (II Thes. 1:7, 10). That is the
presence, the coming of the Son of God in and through the Christ Body. And He is coming,
coming, coming, from glory to glory, from experience to experience, from inworking to
inworking, until we know the POWER AND GLORY OF HIS PRESENCE in all the fullness of
HIMSELF.
We know that we have a token of
His presence, being "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). We have
received the firstfruits of His presence and, even now, there are occasions when others do
sense His presence in us, and we become a particular manifestation of the Christ to them
in their need. If just this "in part" measure of our present possession can
betimes shake individuals, families, communities, cities and nations for God, what will it
be like when we are filled with the fullness, and literally become the embodiment of HIS
PRESENCE in the earth? No wonder we read, "The creation waiteth for the manifestation
of the sons of God" (Rom.
"Then shall the trees of the
wood sing out at the presence of the Lord, because He cometh to judge the earth" (I
Chron.
When God's PRESENCE becomes
PERSONIFIED in the mature and perfected body of Christ, and God sends His sons forth
throughout the land, then all the exalted kingdoms of man will melt like wax before them.
It will not just happen because of what they say, or what they do, but because of WHO THEY
ARE - BECAUSE HIS PRESENCE IS WITHIN THEM IN SUCH POWER AND MAJESTY AND GLORY AND
FULLNESS. What an hour! The "end time" is not the waning and vanishing of the
glory of the Holy One. The "time of the end" is the manifestation of the
consummation of the FULLNESS OF THE GLORY OF THE LORD.
"Be patient, therefore,
brethren, unto the presence of the Lord. Look! The farmer keeps looking for the precious
fruit of the earth, exercising patience over it until he gets the early and the late rain.
You, too, be patient; make your hearts firm BECAUSE THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD HAS DRAWN
CLOSE" (James 5:7-8).
Chapter 10
THE PAROUSIA
OF JESUS CHRIST (continued)
The Greek word PAROUSIA is
translated as "coming" in your King James Bible, and that is where a lot of the
problems with the so-called "second coming" begin. The word actually means
"along side" or "presence." And there are many, many scriptures that
the Bible projects as talking about the "coming" of the Lord that are not
talking at all about a physical descent of Jesus from the sky. They speak rather of His
coming in us, His appearing through us, the glory of the fullness of the presence of the
Lord in the midst of the church, the presence of the Lord in the earth.
The word PAROUSIA is used twice in
the New Testament when it does not apply to Jesus, but to the apostle Paul. These, and
other, uses of the word establish its real meaning. Paul expresses others' appraisal of
him, saying, "His letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence (PAROUSIA)
is weak" (II Cor.
This is without doubt one of the
most important truths in the whole New Testament. Nowhere does PAROUSIA mean
"coming" or "coming again." The whole church world proclaims that the
"second coming of Christ" is the HOPE OF THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. It is not His
second coming that is the hope of the church, but IT IS HIS P-R-E-S-E-N-C-E which is the
hope of the church and the hope for the world. The PAROUSIA is a LIFE IN THE PRESENCE OF
GOD, not simply a flashing of Jesus across the skies. From the hour of the first dawn of
creation's light to this present moment no soul of man has ever been brought into
relationship with God or transformed into His image apart from the effectual MANIFESTATION
OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD.
The PAROUSIA is the ENVELOPING
PRESENCE OF CHRIST and to stand before the Son of man is to awake to the wonder and glory
and majesty and power of HIS PRESENCE. It is the fullness of all that one can conceive of
as being the reality of His promise, "For where two or three are gathered together in
My name, THERE AM I IN THE MIDST OF THEM," and again, "And, lo, I AM WITH YOU
ALWAYS, even unto the end of the age." The PAROUSIA is THE PRESENCE OF HIS GLORY and
THE GLORY OF HIS PRESENCE.
Do not mistake it, my friend -
Christ is coming literally, personally, bodily! Yes, He comes literally, for the Lord IS
literal, actual, REAL! He comes personally, for He IS truly THE PERSON of all persons! And
He comes bodily, for the appearance and presence of Christ is IN HIS BODY. "Now YE
ARE the BODY of Christ." The PAROUSIA, the PRESENCE of Christ is in the body.
Consider now with reverent honesty the inspired words of the apostle, "And to you who
are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven ... when He
shall come to be glorified I-N HIS SAINTS, and to be admired I-N ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE in
that day" (II Thes. 1: 7, 10). That is the presence, the coming of the Son of God in
and through the Christ Body. And He is coming, coming, coming, from glory to glory, from
experience to experience, from inworking to inworking, until we know the POWER AND GLORY
OF HIS PRESENCE in all the fullness of HIMSELF.
Woe! unto those who stand gazing
intently into the starry heavens to behold One coming again to occupy some remote spot of
God's earth, to sit in a royal chair in
The PAROUSIA OF JESUS CHRIST, the
PRESENCE OF THE SON OF GOD is a past, present and future reality. His PAROUSIA is the
ongoing, progressive unfolding of Himself. How often we have yearned for a deeper
consciousness of His presence, and wondered where we could find His presence, that is,
visible manifestations of His presence, that specific sense of being in the very presence
of the Christ in a literal and conscious manner.
The Old Testament is replete with
occasions when God manifested His presence in some form or manner so that the people knew
they were IN His presence, and all these manifestations were climaxed when Jesus Christ
came forth as the visible expression of the invisible God, being "the brightness of
His glory, and the express I image of His person" (Heb. 1:3). The Bible does not tell
us how in the morning of the world God manifested His presence and walked with man among
the trees of the Garden, but this we read, "Adam and his wife hid themselves from the
PRESENCE of the Lord God amongst the trees of the Garden" (Gen. 3:8). Obviously this
was more than just the consciousness of the cosmic omnipresence of God, there was some
kind of a local manifestation of which they were very conscious, and which they felt they
could hide themselves from.
Then we read in Gen. 4:16,
"And Cain went out from the PRESENCE of the Lord." Thus we know that there was
some form of expression accommodated to sinful man, and from which it became his nature to
flee. We would not in any way infer that the presence of God was disclosed merely in some
earthly figure, with arms, legs and torso, as a man, for GOD IS SPIRIT, but God is able to
so manifest Himself in His glorious presence that we are consciously aware of Him, and
know that we are before His face. God manifested His presence in remarkable and awesome
ways to Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Ezekiel and
scores of others throughout the Old Testament dispensations.
But the greatest manifestation was
when Jesus came, EMMANUEL, God with us. Jesus said, "He that hath seen Me hath seen
the Father." He knew He was the visible expression of the Father. There were brief
moments when certain individuals also came to know who He was, though for the most part
"He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He
came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (Jn.
As stated earlier in this series,
I believe every word that the Bible says about the coming of our Lord; I don't believe
what the harlot church system says about it, nor what the television evangelists say about
it, nor what the tradition-bound preachers say about it, nor even what some Bible
translators say about it; but I certainly believe what the Bible says about it!
We have amply demonstrated that
the Greek word PAROUSIA, generally translated "coming," literally means
"presence." In the following texts relating to our Lord's coming the word
PAROUSIA appears in the Greek text and should be translated PRESENCE; and in giving the
texts we are using the word PRESENCE. "What shall be the sign of Thy PRESENCE?"
(Mat. 24:3). "So shall also the PRESENCE of the Son of man be" (Mat.
24:27,37,39). "They that are Christ's, at His PRESENCE" (I Cor.
"Come now and let us reason
together," saith the Lord through the lips of Isaiah; and again, "If ye be
willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land" (Isa.1:18-19). Let us
therefore reason together with Him by giving thoughtful, prayerful, and reverent
consideration to the scriptures He has provided, using this key word PAROUSIA in
connection with the so-called "second-coming" of Jesus. Let us do this with
hearts hungering and thirsting after righteousness and willing minds open to conviction by
the blessed Spirit of Truth through the inspired Word, and willing to abandon false
opinions and conceptions born of faulty translation and traditional teaching; remembering
that He has shined forth with ever-increasing light since the beginning of creation; is
shining forth now, and will continue to shine forth until the darkened hearts of all
humanity have been warmed, melted, and returned to God; remembering that He has been, is
now, and will continue to be entering, accompanying, bringing in, filling out His Kingdom,
that wonderful realm in Christ in which all humanity shall eventually find their life when
His Spirit has been poured out upon all flesh; and remembering that we of this age are
merely a few specially chosen for His name to be used as instruments for future ages in
the expansion of His Kingdom; it is not at all strange that He should now desire to tell
us of His PRESENCE and the glorious work planned for and to be accomplished IN AND BY HIS
PRESENCE in this age and in vast ages yet unborn. With these thoughts in mind let us now
prayerfully examine the following scripture passages.
I THES.
This incorrect translation of the
Greek text suggests that the apostle Paul believed that those believers at Thessalonica
would be preserved physically, enjoying health and longevity for 2,000 years, until the
so-called "rapture." Those of you who are qualified to read the Greek text may
be surprised to learn that the Greek words meaning "until" (MECHRI, HEOS, ACHRI)
are not to be found in this passage. These verses say nothing whatever about being
preserved "until" or "unto" the coming of the Lord. The word
translated "unto" is the Greek preposition EN which is the equivalent of our
English word IN. The Greek preposition EN clearly defines LOCATION or POSITION. Dr. Robert
Young, author of Young's Analytical Concordance, in his Literal Translation correctly
translates the verse, "And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your
whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved unblameable IN THE
PRESENCE of our Lord Jesus Christ." The Concordant New Testament renders, "Now
may the God of peace Himself be hollowing you wholly; and may your unimpaired spirit and
soul and body be kept blameless IN THE PRESENCE of our Lord Jesus Christ." The
Diaglott reads, "And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your
whole person - the spirit and the soul and the body - be preserved blameless IN THE
PRESENCE of our Lord Jesus Christ."
You see, precious friend of mine,
there is a whole world of difference between being preserved blameless UNTIL THE COMING of
the Lord, and being preserved blameless I-N THE PRESENCE of the Lord! Is it not by HIS
ABIDING PRESENCE that we are able to be kept and preserved blameless, faultless, without
blemish or spot? It should be apparent that the primary thrust of this scripture is a
sanctification and preservation of the whole man in a state of holiness and perfection by
the power of the presence of the Lord. "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" (Eph. 1:4). This is utterly amazing! Vile sinners such as we - assured that it
is the purpose of God in election and predestination that we should be WITHOUT BLEMISH
before the Father! Such a condition is first stated to be true in our forerunner, Christ:
"...the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb WITHOUT BLEMISH" (I Pet.
That our Father shall bring this
work to its final consummation and present us FAULTLESS is certain! Ah, under the
searchlight of His holy presence, have you not beheld your own weakness and unworthiness
and despaired that your life could ever be conformed to the image of God's lovely Son?
True, in your own strength and initiative such a feat can never be performed, but the word
is sure: "HE HATH CHOSEN US ... THAT WE SHOULD BE HOLY AND WITHOUT BLAME before
Him!" Chosen - to be without blemish! What a calling! And the One who has so chosen
is the same who is well able to bring it to pass! "And you, that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath HE reconciled in the body
of His flesh through death, TO PRESENT YOU HOLY AND UNBLAMEABLE AND UNREPROVEABLE in His
sight" (Col. 1:21-22). Furthermore,"...unto HIM THAT IS ABLE TO KEEP YOU FROM
FALLING, and to PRESENT YOU FAULTLESS before the presence of His glory" (Jude 24). He
- I-S A-B-L-E! He - is able to PRESENT YOU FAULTLESS! Yes, beloved, He can and will do it.
Let us trust Him. Perfection is not a thing He gives us apart from Himself. Perfection is
nothing but Christ Himself, most compassionately and most faithfully intervening in our
daily life, most really and fully giving and living HIS LIFE IN US. The mighty CHRIST
WITHIN is the guarantee of our perfection as sons of God.
Holy, without blemish,
unblameable, unreproveable, blameless, without spot or wrinkle - all are related terms.
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself
for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that
He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such
thing; but that it should be HOLY AND WITHOUT BLEMISH" (Eph. 5:25-27). There is much
difference between a spot and a wrinkle. A spot is "a stain coming from
defilement," indicating an eruption of unrighteousness in one's life. A wrinkle is
"a fold, a drawing together." A wrinkle is a blemish, though there may be no
defilement with it. A garment may be spotlessly white with no stain upon it, but if it is
wrinkled, its beauty and usefulness are marred. A wrinkle is a blemish revealed UNDER
PRESSURE, bespeaking a weakness, such as discouragement, distraction, confusion,
immaturity, etc. - not defilement, no wickedness, evil or sin involved, but marring the
beauty and usefulness, nonetheless. The body of Christ, God's house of sons shall not have
even a wrinkle! Our precious Lord is going to cleanse the members of His body with the
washing of water by the Word and make them whiter than snow. The hand of the Father will
smooth out every wrinkle by the intense heat and pressure of His dealing hand, until the
body of Christ appears in all the glory and beauty of CHRIST'S COMELINESS.
Holy and without blemish! In
linking holy and without blemish so closely, the Holy Spirit would lead us to rejoice in
the Father's declaration, to reach out after nothing less than to be fully holy AND mature
- without blame, without lack, fully furnished and COMPLETE IN CHRIST in every aspect of
our being. The hour is coming and now is when the sons of God who are coming into the
image of the firstborn Son, Jesus Christ, find themselves drawn irresistibly by the Spirit
into the state of being of that blessed company of the 144,000 redeemed ones John beheld
in vision upon the holy mount of Zion: "These are they which follow the Lamb
whithersoever He goeth... and in their mouth was found no guile: for they are WITHOUT
FAULT (blemish) before the throne of God" (Rev. 14:4-5).
NOW, can we not understand what
Paul really meant when he expressed the confidence that the Thessalonians would be
preserved BLAMELESS I-N THE PRESENCE of the Lord? Oh! what a mess men make of God's Word!
This beautiful passage of scripture has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the
so-called "second coming" of Christ! When the simplicity of the wording in the
Greek language is understood, how PLAIN it all becomes! But precious and simple truths
such as these have been altogether lost by the religious systems in general. The world is
altogether too full of babblers of every description, who resist the truth of God to the
uttermost. It is high time for the truth to be told in no uncertain terms, and high time
for all who love the truth to abandon the pews and doctrines of
I THES. 3:13. "To the end (purpose) He may establish your
hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming (parousia,
presence) of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints." Young's Literal Translation
says, "To the establishing your hearts blameless in sanctification before our God and
Father, I-N THE PRESENCE of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints."
JAMES 5:7-8. "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the
coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth,
and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also
patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." Young's
Literal Translation reads, "Be patient then, brethren, till the PRESENCE of the Lord;
lo, the husbandman doth expect the precious fruit of the earth, being patient for it, till
he may receive rain - early and latter; be patient ye also, stablish your hearts, because
THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD H-A-T-H DRAWN NIGH."
Are these early church saints
enjoined to wait for a distant "coming" of Jesus, which they are told is
"drawing nigh," but which would not have happened yet 2,000 years thence? The
subject here is not Jesus crashing someday down through the skies; it is rather His coming
as the "former and the latter rain" upon the earth. There has been a general
misunderstanding of the passage under consideration, for it is clear that the Lord's
coming as rain, the former and the latter, is a SPIRITUAL VISITATION in the midst of His
people. The rain bespeaks of the pouring out of the presence and glory of Christ as the
quickening Spirit, as He moves to give forth His presence in blessing and restoration. The
coming of Christ unto His own is as the rain, and this truth is clearly stated by the
prophet Hosea, "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: His GOING FORTH
is prepared as the morning; and HE SHALL COME UNTO US AS THE RAIN, as the latter and the
former rain unto the earth" (Hos. 6:3). Therefore, rain represents the visitation of
the Lord to His people. How the saints of God are thirsting for these living streams from
heaven!
How little do we realize that God
is more anxious for the "latter rain" than we are! And why? Because He is the
Gardener; and He is waiting for the Harvest when His people will grow up into the measure
of the stature of the fullness of Christ. He is looking for the Feast of Ingathering when
He might gather in the precious produce of a vast field of people fully conformed to the
image of that first "seed" that was cast into the earth. Praise God, He sends
the rain, the former and the latter rain, with refreshing showers of blessing in between.
"Behold, the Husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long
patience for it, until he (it) receive the early and latter rain." And then we are
admonished, "Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the COMING (PRESENCE) of the
Lord," for in a very real sense the coming of the latter rain IS the coming of the
Lord upon His people. This great Ingathering is the Harvest for which the Husbandman has
been waiting since the foundation of the church.
In
The mighty outpouring of the Holy
Spirit on the day of Pentecost proved to be the former rain moderately. It is beyond the
ability of any man to fully comprehend the far-reaching results of the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost. This glorious outpouring of the Holy Ghost was not only a real experience to
those who received it, but a heavenly visitation that shook the entire earth as nothing
either before it or since has ever done. The entire course of history was changed thereby.
As one has written, "So great was that outpouring that by the end of the century one
twentieth of the entire Roman Empire had been converted to Christ, and by the year A.D.
300 Christianity far exceeded paganism. Following Peter's sermon at Pentecost, three
thousand souls were saved and the day following another five thousand were saved. In the
days following multitudes both of men and women turned to the Lord. Mighty signs and
wonders were done by all the apostles. By Paul's hand God wrought special miracles. The
sick were brought and laid in the street that the shadow of Peter falling upon them might
bring healing to their bodies. The glory of that former rain beggars description. Truly
they had been baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost and the heavenly 'wind' was
blowing whithersoever it listed. This was a mighty manifestation of THE GLORY OF GOD. This
was GOD'S GLORY falling as rain among the people and filling their hearts with joy and
gladness, transforming their lives and making them sons of God" -The Page.
I do not hesitate to tell you that
there is coming a great and glorious outpouring of the Spirit in these latter days which
will be the fulfillment of the "latter rain." For some 85 years now mercy drops
have been falling, and betimes windy showers of refreshing and quickening have swept
across the face of the earth. The last or most recent shower of latter rain blessing came
during the years 1948-1953. But the celestial deluge is yet to fall in GREAT POWER AND
GLORY. Glorious beyond words to describe was that wonderful outpouring of God's glory at
Pentecost, but no language of men below nor of angels above can begin to describe the
SURPASSING GLORY of the outpouring in these last days. The latter rain is coming, the
manifestation of the PAROUSIA or PRESENCE of the almighty Christ of God, and compared to
it the former rain was a flickering candle before the burning brilliance of a noonday sun,
or a trickling stream compared to the vast ocean currents beyond the power of man to
either produce or control. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on that wonderful day of
Pentecost was the former rain, but never let the truth grow dim that this same Jesus shall
come in great power and glory as the latter rain. Then will come the manifestation of the
sons of God, for which all creation has groaned for six thousand years. Then the glory of
the Lord shall be revealed from the living, completed
I COR.
Let us now see how it is that
"in Christ" all shall be MADE ALIVE. The whole chapter of I Cor. 15 deals with
resurrection. The word resurrection is so inadequate to express the true thought or idea
that the Holy Spirit is conveying to us. The common conception of this word carries with
it the idea of opening all the graves in the world and the arising out of them of the
physical bodies of those who have died. But since death is something more than physical
bodies, you can be assured, dear ones, that resurrection is something far beyond bringing
bodies out of tombs. To have a false or limited view of the resurrection is to have a
false and limited view of God's work throughout the ages until now. If our view of the
resurrection is dwarfed, then our whole view of God’s plan is dwarfed.
So we read that in Christ ALL
SHALL BE MADE ALIVE. The contrast is not between corpses and walking bodies, but between
the dying process and the life process in God. The Greek text actually reads, "As in
Adam all ARE DYING, SO in the Christ shall all be made alive." The terms "are
dying" and "shall be made alive" are in the incomplete tense in the
original, which denotes an action in progress. The long drawn out activity of death in
dragging men down to sin, sorrow, death and the grave is put in contrast with the
ceaseless activity of life imparting holiness, power, incorruption and glory. All who
endured the first shall enjoy the second. Here is a message for mankind which should lift
it above its misery! The process of His life, and hence, the process of resurrection has
already commenced with us! Truly, "He HATH QUICKENED us together with Christ ... and
HATH RAISED US UP" so that "If ye then BE RISEN with Christ, seek those things
which are above" (Eph. 2:5-6; Col. 3:1).
To be "made alive" is
more than some instantaneous event to take place some time in the distant future.
"Made alive" is not a blasting open of graves and the coming forth of the bodies
that have been buried in them. "Made alive" does not point to some future event
when people will go soaring off into the heavens. When Jesus stood before the tomb of
Lazarus, He rebuked Martha for looking for some manner of event in the far distant future
and told her that the RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE WAS STANDING THERE BEFORE THEM. "I AM
THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE." The resurrection and the life had just walked into
town! Oh, saints of God, do you not see that the eternal Father in the Christ was and is
the resurrection? "I live by the Father," Jesus declared. The resurrection was
not some THING that happened to Jesus, not some EVENT of which He was a partaker, not some
DAY marked by the calendar. The resurrection was and is A MAN! "I AM" - there it
is! "I AM the resurrection and the life." To possess the Man, to put on the Man,
to enter into union with the Man is to have resurrection, for the Man IS the resurrection.
"In Christ shall all be made alive."
There is a wonderful Law known to
men of science which is called the Law of Biogenesis. This Law demonstrates that during
all of recorded history life has only come from pre-existing life. No human power has ever
been able to produce life out of inorganic chemical substances. We know that life is not
now being originated on earth and that all the life forms today spring from pre-existing
life forms of some kind. The inorganic world is staked off from the living world by
barriers which have never yet been crossed from within. No change of substance, no
modification of environment, no chemistry, no electricity, nor any form of energy, nor any
evolution can endow any single atom of the mineral world with the attribute of life. Only
by the bending down into this dead world of some living form can these dead atoms be
gifted with the properties of life, without this direct contact with life they remain
fixed in the inorganic sphere forever. It is a very mysterious Law which guards in this
way the portals of the living world. And if there is one thing in nature worth pondering
for its strangeness it is the spectacle of this vast helpless world of the dead cut off
from the living by the Law of Biogenesis and denied forever the possibility of
resurrection within itself. Here we stand in the presence of the uncrossable gulf - the
gulf of all gulfs - the gulf between DEATH and LIFE.
As we consider these thoughts may
God Almighty grant us that His Spirit may instruct us in the way of truth and
understanding. Let us open wide our hearts and minds before the Lord that He may reveal
the eternal truth of this subject to our hearts. The principle by which, in nature, the
inorganic is raised up into the organic, and, in like manner, in God's economy, the
natural man is raised up out of death into the life of the
How futile in the face of such
truth as this is any form of self reformation! How worthless and unprofitable the empty
rituals and the vain and lifeless traditions of
What is this wonderful and
mysterious quality which constitutes Spiritual life? What is this strange new power which
can raise us up out of the realm of darkness and death and give us eternal life and glory
as sons of the living God? The answer is brief - it is Christ! "He that hath the Son hath
life; and he that hath not the son of God hath not life" (I Jn.
The Law is: Except a mineral be
born "from above" - from the Kingdom just above it it cannot enter the Kingdom
just above it. And except a man be born "from above," he cannot enter the
Kingdom just above him. There being no passage from the lower Kingdom to the higher,
whether from inorganic to organic, or from Natural to Spiritual, the injection of a LIFE
is a necessity if a stone or a plant or an animal or a man is to pass from a lower sphere
to a higher sphere. The earth will never possess the
With my poor and puny ability I
cannot make the truth of Christ's indwelling life to be a living, transforming reality to
your heart. None but the Spirit of God can perform this wonderful and divine act of
illumination. He alone can take the things of God and show them unto you. Nevertheless, I
can certainly assure you that, the moment the grand and glorious FACT of HIS INDWELLING
LIFE grips your heart and fills your mind, the reality of His divine indwelling will
immediately begin to transform your life. Yea, and I shall further add that the knowledge
of His abiding life will also begin to change your mind, quicken your emotions, and renew
your body as well.
Truly the resurrection is not a
future hope - it is a present reality. As those in Adam "are dying" so in Christ
men "ARE being made alive." Receiving of His life we find it to be a
RESURRECTION LIFE. The word "resurrection" is from the Greek word ANASTASIS
meaning - a standing or rising up. It denotes much more than our English word resurrection
which we term to mean a restoring to life again. The Greek word means the WHOLE PROCESS OF
ADVANCING AND RISING UP UNTIL THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE REALM IS REACHED, and our goal is
nothing short than full conformation into the image of God that, when He shall appear, we
shall be like Him. Resurrection is the process of STANDING UP and ADVANCING, it is arising
from the dust and the low realm of the earthy, to bear the image of the heavenly.
Resurrection is the process of having our life lifted up from the earth, to be raised to
the heavenlies, joined in one with the fullness of the Spirit of God. Our alienation and
separation from God, with all the dreadful attending sorrows, are already beginning to end
in this life as through Christ we ARE MADE ALIVE! And, blessed be His name, in Christ
shall A-L-L be made alive!
And just how shall all be made
alive? IN and BY and THROUGHOUT THE ENVELOPING PRESENCE OF THE LORD, saith the scripture.
Becoming Christ's, and abiding IN HIS PRESENCE is the Biblical formula for being
"made alive"! "As in Adam all are dying, so in the Christ shall all be made
alive, but each in his own order, a first-fruit Christ, afterwards those who are the
Christ's IN HIS PRESENCE." How much more reasonable, logical and demonstrable is this
than the erroneous time-worn theory that it is Jesus streaking across the heavens, and
blowing a trumpet, that will raise the dead out of their graves! The apostle Paul in
strict harmony with this principle wrote, "But if the Spirit of Him that raised Jesus
from the dead DWELL IN YOU, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your
mortal bodies BY HIS SPIRIT THAT D-W-E-L-L-E-T-H I-N Y-O-U" (Rom. 8:11).
The life that quickens (makes
alive) the mortal (dying) body is not something outside ourselves. The idea is not that
Jesus comes riding on a cloud and suddenly "zaps" the bodies of men with a
current of divine energy, instantly transmuting them into shining incorruptible beings.
This is the vague form in which many babes in Christ conceive the truth, but it is
contrary to Christ's teaching and to the analogy of nature. Vegetable life is not
contained in a reservoir somewhere in the skies, and measured out spasmodically at certain
seasons. Animal life is not bottled up somewhere in the blue beyond and dropped down to
earth now and then when it is time for an embryo to be formed. The life is IN every plant
and tree, every animal and fish and fowl, inside its own tissue and substance, and works
there as a mighty power to form even that which is contained in the life. The life is
permanently fixed and rooted in the organism. Life is not one of the homeless forces which
promiscuously inhabit space, or which can be gathered like electricity from the clouds and
dissipated back again into space. Life is definite and resident; the Spiritual Life is not
a visit from a force, but a resident tenant of the soul. "The
Incorruptible life is not derived
from the occasional touch of Jesus as He "passes this way," nor from the weekly
refreshing that comes to our souls as we gather together in our church meetings. Thank God
for the fellowship and encouragement of those of like precious faith, and the ministry of
every precious member of the body of Christ, but I declare to you that the life
incorruptible, immortal, and eternal can only be experienced by yielding to the CHRIST
WITHIN, conscious of His voice, His hand guiding, and His power continually transforming
the spirit, the mind and the body into the image of Him who created them. Glory to God!
MAT. 24:27. "For as the lightning cometh out of the east,
and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming (parousia, presence) of the Son
of man be."
In order that we may get a correct
understanding of this verse and its momentous spiritual vision, we must give consideration
to the word translated "lightning," since this translation has given rise to a
most erroneous concept of the coming of Jesus. It has led Christian people, almost without
exception, to look forward to that blessed event as an instantaneous affair, which shall
flash suddenly across the heavens and startle the world with its vividness. But nothing
could be farther from the truth and nothing could have befogged our vision more.
The Greek word translated
"lightning" in this passage is ASTRAPE. The meaning, as given in Strong's
Concordance, is "lightning; by analogy, glare; bright shining." So we see at
once that scholarship recognizes this word as meaning a "bright shining" of
light which might arise from a source other than a flash of "lightning." It is
so used, in fact, in Lk.11:36 where we read, "If thy whole body therefore be full of
light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the BRIGHT SHINING
(ASTRAPE) of a CANDLE doth give thee light."
Let us now pose a question. Does
"lightning," as we understand the English word, always "come out of the
east and shine unto the west?" Does it not flash from north, south, east or west
according to the location of the clouds which are charged with either positive or negative
electricity? And yet, the "bright shining" here spoken about is expanded to
shining "from the east even unto the west." Again, if the coming of the Lord is
portrayed by "lightning," it would be only in limited areas and over only
portions of the earth from time to time. Is such a view consistent with the scripture that
"every eye shall see Him and every knee shall bow?" And yet the same people who
liken His coming to the "lightning" will likewise zealously uphold the latter
view. Let us no longer be children in understanding!
But, I ask, what light does ALWAYS
come out of the east and shine even unto the west? Does not the light of coming day arise
always in the east, gradually brightening the horizon until the sun becomes visible and
its rays illumine the eastern sky and "spread as a carpet" over the countryside,
city and hill, bathing all in its warmth and beauty as it shines even unto the west? Has
not our Lord Jesus been likened unto the "Sun of righteousness" to "arise
with healing in His wings?" And the Psalmist hath declared, "The Lord God is a
sun... the Lord will give grace and glory" (Ps. 84:11). Praise God, the Sun of
righteousness has arisen in our heart and He giveth grace and glory for "we beheld
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth"
(Jn.1:14). The light of that Sun has shined brightly into our darkened soul and is
bringing life and immortality to light through the gospel. Dear reader, you may have Him
flashing for a brief moment across your cloudy, dark, stormy earthly sky if you so choose,
but we are glad to see Him with SPIRITUAL EYES and behold His grace and glory as it
spreads over the whole world of mankind from east to west until it shall embrace the whole
human race, bringing warmth and beauty and life where all was, and still is largely,
spiritual darkness and death.
Yes, dear friends, His coming, His
parousia, His presence is not to be an instantaneous, brilliantly blinding light flashing
across the natural heavens from any local quarter as the word "lightning" might
and does incorrectly portray; but His coming, His presence, has been, is now and shall be
like the DAWN OF A NEW DAY that constantly increases from the first faint rays of
spiritual light until the soul and body of the individual are flooded with the noonday
brightness of the blessed Sun of righteousness. And so it shall be universally until that
light has brought every created being into subjection to our Lord and He shall reign until
He hath put all enemies under His feet, for "the entrance of Thy words giveth light;
it giveth understanding to the simple" (Ps. 119:130). Shine on, O King eternal!
Chapter 11
THE PAROUSIA
OF JESUS CHRIST (continued)
In previous articles we have amply
demonstrated that the Greek word PAROUSIA, generally translated "coming,"
literally means "presence." This is without doubt the key to one of the most
important truths in the whole New Testament. Nowhere does PAROUSIA mean "coming"
or "coming again." The PAROUSIA OF JESUS CHRIST, the PRESENCE OF THE SON OF GOD
is a past, present and future reality. His PAROUSIA is the ongoing, progressive unfolding
of Himself. How often we have yearned for a deeper consciousness of His presence, and
wondered where we could find His presence, that is, visible manifestations of His
presence, that specific sense of being in the very presence of the Christ in a literal and
conscious manner. The PAROUSIA is the ENVELOPING PRESENCE OF CHRIST and to stand before
the Son of man is to awake to the wonder and glory and majesty and power of HIS PRESENCE.
It is the fullness of all that one can conceive of as being the reality of His promise,
"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, THERE AM I IN THE MIDST OF
THEM," and again, "And, lo, I AM WITH YOU ALWAY, even unto the end of the
age." The PAROUSIA is the PRESENCE OF HIS GLORY and the GLORY OF HIS PRESENCE.
The doctrines and creeds of most
churches of our day have developed around and focused upon six events in the life of the
Christ. These are known as the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the
Ascension, Pentecost and the Second Coming of Christ. But because the fourth of these, the
Ascension, has been so falsely interpreted and distorted by the unspiritual minds of
tradition-bound theologians and teachers, the church world has come to the wrong
conception of the last two - Pentecost and the Return of Christ.
If one did not search the
scriptures, but listened only to church preaching, hymns and doctrines today he would
surely gather the idea that the Christ has gone somewhere. No one seems to know where He
is, but He is in some far-off heaven somewhere literally and permanently seated upon a
majestic throne. At any rate, all are quite sure that He has left planet earth, for did
not the disciples see Him go? And so the vast majority of Christians are convinced and
firmly believe the New Testament affirms that Christ is no longer on earth. But let us
SEE!
The longer I travel in my
pilgrimage along the blessed pathways of the celestial kingdom the more I become aware of
the mighty significance of every word breathed into the sacred pages of scripture, which
our heavenly Father has graciously given for our understanding, training and guidance. How
carelessly we peruse its pages! How casually we read its astounding and earth shaking
statements! How lightly we pass them by and how thoughtlessly we contradict their plain
and simple pronouncements, teaching instead for doctrine the traditions of men! What an
infinite transformation would be wrought in our understanding and experience should we
dare to believe A-L-L that the scriptures have spoken concerning Him!
When our wonderful Lord Jesus was
holding precious communion with His beloved disciples in those heaven-blessed days
following His resurrection, on one occasion when He appeared in their midst, we read,
"And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him: but some doubted" (Mat. 28:17).
What! Are they still doubting? Why, even Thomas has been convinced by now! Are they still
doubting? Ah, it does not mean that. Let me briefly give you the scene, not so much from
the English translation but from the finer reading of the Greek in which Matthew wrote the
record.
It was like this. The eleven were
gathered at the appointed place, but Jesus had not come. He was not late - He was never
late - but according to their reckoning He was late, and He had not come. Peter goes down
to the brow of the hill, which commands a view of the path winding up the hillside, to see
if He is coming, but there is no sign of Him. Another disciple goes down to see if He is
coming and returns, shaking his head. The Master has not arrived. Is He really coming? And
suddenly, as before, He is there. He is there - not immediately in their midst, but just a
little way from them. He is suddenly there! and no one had seen Him arrive. Of course, as
before, it is probable that He had been there all the time and suddenly He made Himself
visible to them and they all saw Him. As they looked upon Him suddenly appearing yonder
before them, the majesty of His person compelled them to worship. It is the
"prostrate" word for worship, the word which means that they were flat on their
faces before Him. And in the very act of worshipping, some doubted.
Wavering worshippers! Do you know
anything about that? This message seems to me to be always urgent upon those who follow on
to know the Lord. It is so tragically possible still to worship Christ and yet, in the
very act of worshipping Him, to waver. Now this word "doubted" is an unusual
word: it only occurs twice in the New Testament and both times are in Matthew. When Peter
walked on the water and was saved by his Master, Jesus said unto him, "O thou of
little faith! Wherefore didst thou doubt?"
It is the same word; and it is only on these two occasions, then and there, that this word
is used in the New Testament. It means literally "to stand in two ways at once".
I don't think I can illustrate it, but I think you will see what it means. Anyway, you
will from Peter walking on the water. One moment he was looking at his Lord, and walking
by faith: the next moment he was looking at the waves, and walking in fear. Then again
looking at his Lord and receiving strength: but immediately a big wave makes him lower his
victorious gaze and he is once more frightened and floundering. Wavering - standing in two
ways at once - vacillating back and forth between the spirit and the flesh - one moment
full of faith, the next moment full of fear. A very unsatisfactory way of walking and
living! As James says, "He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the
wind and tossed: let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the
Lord."
Ah, then I think I see what this
means. I think I can sympathize with them, methinks I have done it in my own soul again
and again. As they looked at Him standing there suddenly before them, they were compelled
to worship, so glorious was He, so commandingly majestic. As some of them lifted their
gaze from their prostration on the ground, they looked into His eyes and they saw
something that was so challenging there that they knew He had big things for them: they
knew that He was calling them to something great: and as they looked at Him, worshipping
Him, they shrank, some of them, from what they knew He was going to give to them and
demand of them. I think He must have had His flint face on that day. They wavered!
Wavering worshippers!
Do you not remember some great
experience, some glorious meeting, some wonderful manifestation of God's presence, some
mighty move of His Spirit, some awesome unveiling of His glory when the Lord Christ was so
exalted before you in the power of the Holy Spirit that you were worshipping Him. There
was nothing else to do - you had to worship Him. Did you waver as you worshipped? In the
face of His glory, at the majesty of His presence you caught an enthralling glimpse of the
glory set before - the glory of sonship to God, the holy expectancy of being made like
Him, conformed to His image; the awesome wonder of sharing His mind and His wisdom, His
authority and His power; the calling to be a joint-heir and co-ruler with the Christ in
the marvelous work of redemption and restitution, to restore the creation into God again.
This high and holy calling, known only by revelation of the Holy Spirit of Truth, is a
jewel and a prize to be greatly cherished and revered by God's elect. What a vision! What
a hope! But - did you waver as you worshipped? Is it not true that in the very face of the
ecstasy of the moment of divine illumination and quickening we are at once distraught by
the haunting voice of the carnal mind pressing its demands upon us: You will never make it
to perfection! Our inherent weaknesses and persistent faults, our unconquered carnality
and obvious mortality present themselves before us, magnified like weird mocking monsters
dancing hideously in the twilight, taunting, jeering, scorning, sneering, condemning -
just who do YOU think YOU are? A son of God? - indeed! You will never be a son of God! You
wretched little pretender! You can't make it, such a high and holy calling is forever
beyond your grasp, you will never be an overcomer, you claim too much, its not for real!
Oh to worship Christ without wavering!
No wonder they wavered! For look
what He had to say to them. "Jesus came," --you see, He came right up to where
they were now, came close - "and spake unto them, saying" --and, Oh, what a word
is this! You have noticed the four "alls"? "ALL power is given unto Me in
heaven and on earth. Therefore go ye and disciple ALL nations, baptizing them into the
Name, teaching them to observe ALL things whatsoever I have commanded you, and, lo, I am
with you - literally - ALL the days, even to the consummation of the age." Consider
His power. "All power is given unto Me..." All authority (exousia, not dunamis)
hath been given to Me in heaven and on earth! His power! That position our ascended Lord
occupies today. All authority in heaven and on earth is in the loving hands of our living
Saviour. His power! Consider His plans. "Go ye therefore and disciple ALL
nations..." Consider His principles. "Teaching them to observe ALL things
whatsoever I have commanded you."
Consider His PRESENCE. "And,
lo, I AM WITH YOU ALL THE DAYS - perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion - to the
very close and consummation of the age" (Mat. 28:20, Amplified). "All the
days" - Sundays and Mondays. All the days! Days of sunshine and blessing and glory -
days of thundercloud and turmoil and trial. ALL the days! Days when everything goes right
and days when everything goes wrong. Days when you have the victory and days when you
suffer defeat. "All the days I am with you!" Throughout the march of the
centuries an innumerable multitude of men and women have claimed these beautiful words as
the unfailing promise of our lovely Lord Jesus. But, precious friend of mine, that is not
a promise! I dare say you will find it in the Promise Box, but it is not a promise.. He
did not say, "I WILL be with you all the days." it is better far than a promise;
it is a FACT! "I AM with you always" - making no conditions - not saying:
"If you do this, that and the other, I will be with you" - but stating as an
accomplished, perpetual, unchanging fact the complete assurance of a constant and
age-lasting PRESENCE OF THE CHRIST with us. How much plainer can any statement be? Yet the
preachers today confidently affirm that HE IS GONE! "Christ is in heaven," say
they, "but His Spirit is with us here," as though His Spirit were somehow not HE
HIMSELF. Who is the Lord, anyhow? "Now the Lord I-S THAT SPIRIT" (II Cor.
When the holy Christ of God
uttered His wonderful proclamation, "And, lo, I AM with you always," that
proclamation forever established that in truth the Christ NEVER WOULD DEPART. There is a
wonderful difference between ascending and departing. Jesus said, "I ascend unto My
Father, and your Father" (Jn.
That cloud intrigues me. "And
a CLOUD received Him out of their sight." "Received Him out of" is one word
in the Greek meaning "to take under". It signifies to take up by placing one's
self underneath, in the style of a hiker carrying a backpack, or as a waiter holds a tray.
It is one of Luke's medical terms.
A cloud is perhaps the best known
Eastern symbol for the swirling, lustrous radiance which hides "the face of His
throne" (Job 26:9). The Hebrew term translated "cloud" in Ezekiel is
AWNAUN, a word which is occasionally used of a nimbus or thundercloud, but which is
repeatedly used for THE GLORY CLOUD OF YAHWEH. The first appearance of AWNAWN,
"cloud," as a technical term for the Shekinah is found in Ex.
Just as the CLOUD "covered
the mount" at the giving of the Law (Ex. 24:15-18), so, also, it "covered the
tabernacle" when it was completed. "And the Glory of the Lord filled the
tabernacle, and Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the
Cloud abode thereon, and the Glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle" (Ex. 40:34-35).
Many years later, when Solomon had finished the work of the temple, "The Cloud filled
the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the
Cloud; for the Glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord" (I Kings
This is the Cloud of HIS GLORY
into which the triumphant saints of God are to be caught up." "And the dead in
Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the CLOUDS" (I Thes.
The Resident within the shimmering
Cloud of Glory is just the Lord Himself, the source of the dazzling light, for it is HE
who causes the celestial host to shine forth, thus forming the "cloud" and
manifesting His glory thereby. Yes, He shall be revealed TO US, shall complete all of His
work and purpose in us, lifting us up into higher realms of the Spirit, and completing
that UNION WITH THE WHOLE BODY OF THE FIRSTBORN. Then shall He be revealed IN US in
fullness as Paul explains, "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord
Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty messengers, in flaming fire ... when
He shall come to be GLORIFIED I-N HIS SAINTS, and to be ADMIRED I-N ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE
in that day" (II Thes. 1:7-10).
I would draw your reverent
attention to the following two scripture passages. "Behold! He cometh WITH
CLOUDS" (Rev. 1:7). "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these,
saying, The Lord cometh WITH TEN THOUSANDS OF HIS SAINTS" (Jude 14). Or, "Lo,
the Lord comes in holy myriads of Himself" (Literal translation). If you will take a
few minutes to meditate upon these two verses you will begin to realize that the Lord
coming WITH CLOUDS and the Lord coming WITH SAINTS is not two separate events, but just
the same thing. The "cloud" that received our Lord Jesus out of their sight on
the day of His ascension, was the same "cloud" which revealed the majestic
Person of Yahweh on
May the blessed Holy Spirit open
the eyes of our understanding that we may see that beyond the veil of the flesh is the
realm of God, the realm of the Spirit, and it is there the Christ of God dwells, and it is
there He must be touched, seen, known and experienced. He did not "leave us" for
He promised He never would; His "disappearance" from the sight of men was not a
lessening of His PRESENCE with us in any way. Rather it was an intensification of that
PRESENCE. For the Christ was transferring that PRESENCE from one body to many bodies. He
was expanding and enlarging His power and influence and character greatly among men. That
expansion and enlargement has continued throughout the centuries, and the body of Christ
has continued to grow and develop in preparation for the full and total and complete
manifestation of His life when every elect son of God has come forth finally from Father's
hand full grown in the mind, nature, will, power and dominion of Almighty God.
Our testimony joins in harmonious
accord with that of the beloved disciple John when he declared, "WE KNOW THAT THE SON
OF GOD IS COME." He is here now in the world, IN US, and it will have to be through
us that the world will come to the knowledge and experience of this PRESENT CHRIST. The
enveloping and overwhelming of HIS PRESENCE - this is the PAROUSIA of Jesus Christ! With
this precious truth in mind let us now reverently consider a couple more texts touching on
the PAROUSIA of our Lord.
HIS PRESENCE AND THE GATHERING UNTO HIM
II THES. 2:1. "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming
(parousia, presence) of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto
Him..." This scripture has been much used to substantiate the rapture teaching by
assuming that the PAROUSIA of the Lord was a future event and likewise "our gathering
together unto Him." When we endeavor to receive the revelation of spiritual truth, we
are at once brought into conflict with the pre-conceived ideas of time-honored tradition.
I exhort the saints therefore to lay aside every concept that they have received from man
which they have not thoroughly investigated upon their knees with an open Bible and in
holy brokenness before God. The mists and darkness of carnal minds and lifeless creeds
have obscured the meaning of this beautiful passage from all but a few, but those words -
"by the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ" and "by our gathering together
unto Him" - precious friend of mine, have reference to very present reality which was
first spoken of by the Lord Himself when He said, "For where two or three are
GATHERED TOGETHER in My name, there AM I IN THE MIDST of them" (Mat. 18:20). There
you have the two ingredients: The presence of the Lord, and the gathering together unto
Him.
The Concordant New Testament
translates this passage thus: "Now we are asking you, brethren, for the sake of the
presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to Him..."
We read so much into the
scriptures that simply isn't there! To suit our purpose of emphasizing what the scriptures
REALLY say, in contrast with what most people THINK they say, we shall paraphrase seven
well-known verses from the Gospel of John, chapter fourteen, in keeping with the popular
teaching of our day. To hear the preachers expounding the things of God it should read
something like this:
"Let not
your heart be troubled: ye believe in hell, believe also in heaven. In heaven there are
many mansions: you know I have told you this and have described its beautiful golden
streets many, many times. I am going to heaven to prepare a mansion just over the hilltop
for you, and if I go and prepare a mansion for you, I will come again and take you away to
heaven, that where I will be you will be also. And you all know well that I am going to
heaven, and you know the way to heaven. And Thomas saith unto Him, Lord, we didn't know
you were going to heaven and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way,
the truth and the life: no man shall ever get to heaven but by Me. If ye had known Me, ye
should have known My Father also: but when you get to heaven you shall know Him and you
shall see Him" (in. 14:1-7, Paraphrase).
Strange as it may seem, the
subject of the fourteenth chapter of John is NOT HEAVEN! Jesus rarely spoke of heaven in
the traditional sense during His teaching ministry. For Jesus came, not as a revelation of
some geographical or astral location, but as the expression of a glorious PERSON. And that
Person is the FATHER. It may come as a shock to some who read these lines, but the word
heaven, or any synonym thereof, does not appear even once in this entire chapter! But the
term FATHER is used some TWENTY-THREE times! It should be obvious to any thinking mind
that the thrust of Christ's words was to bring His disciples into a living relationship
with the almighty and infinite Father. Said Christ, "All things are delivered unto Me
of My Father: and no man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the
Father, save the Son, and HE TO WHOMSOEVER THE SON WILL REVEAL HIM" (Mat.
"And if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto MYSELF; that where I AM, there ye
may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto Him, Lord,
we know not whither Thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am
the way, the truth, and the life: no man COMETH UNTO THE FATHER, but by Me."
It would be of utmost profit for
any of us to diligently consider this important question: Where does Jesus say He will
receive us to? "I will come again, and receive you UNTO M-Y-S-E-L-F." To
understand the deep meaning of this significant statement we must see by the spirit of
wisdom and revelation just WHERE CHRIST IS. The Lord has never anywhere promised to carry
us off to a beautiful Isle of Somewhere, but in the tenderest tones He assures us that He
is Himself the WAY TO THE FATHER. "I am the WAY ... no man COMETH UNTO THE
F-A-T-H-E-R, but by Me." Jesus is the WAY! The way to where? Why, bless your heart,
He is the way to the Father! The WAY is not a route through the Milky Way, the WAY is a
PERSON! And the DESTINATION is likewise a PERSON. "No man cometh unto the FATHER, but
by ME." It is IN CHRIST that we are enabled to enter into intimate relationship and
vital union with the Father.
Before either the firstfruit
company or the rest of creation can be brought to the Father it is vitally necessary that
there be a GATHERING UNTO THE CHRIST. It is my deep conviction that this is the grand
truth the Holy Spirit is pointing to in I Cor. 15:24-28. "Then cometh the end, when
He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put
down all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies
under His feet. And when all things shall be subdued UNTO HIM, then shall the Son also
Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in
all."
From the earliest times of
antiquity the Lord has spoken through the mouths of His anointed prophets foretelling this
wonderful GATHERING TOGETHER UNTO CHRIST. The patriarch Jacob, at the time of his death,
acting under the direction of the Holy Spirit, and with the spirit of prophecy upon him,
called all his sons together to tell them what their posterity should become in the
purposes of God. Laying his bony, trembling hand upon the head of his son Judah he
prophesied, saying, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from
between his feet, until Shiloh (Christ) come; and UNTO HIM SHALL THE GATHERING OF THE
PEOPLE BE" (Gen. 49:10). Paul asserts, as we have shown, "Now we beseech you,
brethren, by the coming (presence) of out Lord Jesus Christ, and by OUR GATHERING TOGETHER
UNTO HIM..." (II Thes. 2:1). It seems to me that these two passages compliment and
explain each other, and that both clearly point to the oft repeated term "in
Christ" or "in Him." Again and again, the Holy Spirit of God sets forth
that privileged position IN CHRIST. "Therefore if any man be IN CHRIST, he is a new
creature ... and all things are of God who hath reconciled (harmonized, gathered together)
us TO HIMSELF by (in) Jesus Christ" (II Cor.
God was in Christ. And it is
there, in Christ, that God reconciles and gathers together the world and all things unto
Himself. When a man or a woman becomes a member of Christ's body he or she commences to be
rooted and grounded IN HIM. From Him we draw our life as roots draw their food and
sustenance from the earth, and it is by the life of Him that we are built up and grow to
be a holy temple (the many mansions) in the Lord, an habitation for God through the
Spirit. The wondrous parable of the Vine and the branches, with the accompanying command,
"Abide in Me, and I in you," has been to us a source of rich instruction and
edification. And though we feel as if we had but very imperfectly learned the lesson of
abiding in Him, yet we have tasted something of the joy that comes when the soul can say,
"Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I do abide in Thee."
Many years ago the saintly Andrew
Murray penned these inspiring and challenging words: "You know what abiding in Him
is. It is to consent with our whole soul to His being our life, to reckon upon Him to
inspire us in all that goes to make up life, and then to give up everything most
absolutely for Him to rule and work in us. It is the rest of the full assurance that He
does, each moment, work in us what we are to be, and so Himself enables us to maintain
that perfect surrender, in which He is free to do all His will. Let all who do indeed long
to walk like Christ take courage at the thought of what He is and will prove Himself to be
if they trust Him. He is the TRUE VINE; no vine ever did so fully for its branches what He
will do for us. Honor Him by a joyful trust that He is, beyond all conception, supplying
you with His infinite fullness, the TRUE VINE, holding you by His almighty strength. And
as your faith thus looks to Him, instead of sighing and failure, the voice of praise will
be heard repeating the language of faith: Thanks be to God! he that abideth in Him does
walk even as He walked. Thanks be to God! I abide in Him, and I walk as He walked"
-end quote.
But this is not all. You find in I
Pet. 3:18, "Christ, also, hath suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He
might bring us to God." There we have the great object of Christ's work. "That
He might BRING US TO GOD." Christ came and died and rose again to bring us to God.
Listen to what we read in the book of Hebrews, about the better hope of the New Testament
"by which WE DRAW NIGH UNTO GOD." Listen to what we read in the same chapter,
"He is able to save completely them that COME TO GOD BY HIM."
You know there is a great
difference between the way to a house and the house itself. I may be traveling through the
most beautiful scenery, on a lovely, pleasant day, with delightful company, and enjoying
every step of the way, and yet, I am not content to stay there always. I have gone into
that way to bring me to the end, the object of my journey. Christ is the way; what is the
end of the way? The end is God - the Father. Christ wants to bring us to God. You often
find Christians so occupied with Christ they never get time for God. You ask me, is there
any difference between going to Christ and going to God? A very great difference! In
Christ I have the gracious and merciful side of God's character. But that is not all of
God's character I need to know. In Christ I have the condescension of God coming near to
me, but the object of that condescension is to bring me to that place where I can come
unto Him - to be one with the Father and like the Father in every way. You can never have
all that God has provided unless you learn the lesson that Christ is going to win your
heart that He may bring you back to God. Just think, Christ was not, in Himself,
self-sufficient when He was on earth. He lived every day with the thought within Him:
There is One greater than I, and My blessedness is to live in dependence upon Him, with a
will given up to His will and in a trust that counts upon His working. And if I am to be
in Christ and Christ in me, what was His life must become my life; fellowship with the
Father and dependence upon the Father.
Christ came to bring me to God. I
not only need faith to realize that He is in me and I in Him, but by faith I need to give
myself up to His working, that as a living Person He shall reveal the will of God
perfectly in me, and so breathe into me His own disposition and His Own life. Christ is to
dwell and live in me. I am not to count Christ as a separate being, dwelling in my heart
as a locality, but Christ is to be in my heart, in my life, in MY thinking, living and
willing, as the very life of all I do, so that He lives Himself out through me. So Christ
is formed in me, and God sees the very figure, the very form of Christ within me. And as
Christ is thus manifested within me in His disposition and Spirit, the nearness of God
becomes more intimate and the fellowship with God becomes more close. Oh! beloved, God
wants us to come nigh to Him in Christ.
Christ suffered, that He might
bring us to God. What did He suffer? Nothing was too great. He endured All, that He might
bring us to God. Are you willing, my brother, my sister, to take the time and trouble that
you may be brought nigh to God? If that has become the object of our desires we will
understand the work of Christ far better, and our understanding and knowledge of that work
will bring far more abundant fruit. Jesus came to reveal the Father, and to bring us back
to the Father, by degrees. He came to save the world, this is true, but beyond that He
came to reveal the Father. He is the way to the Father. By Him we can return to the
Father. As one has said, He did not fence everybody in to a "Jesus realm." Jesus
knew the limitations of our human realm; He also knew the source of fullness, and so He
said, "I go to My Father, for My Father is greater than I" (Jn.
From the pen of another ready
writer let me quote the following words of truth and wisdom. "There is a ONENESS WITH
THE FATHER, a relationship which He would have us enjoy, where we receive directly from
Him all that we need. Jesus also spoke of that dimension when He said, 'In that day ye
shall ask Me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father
in My name, HE will give it you' (Jn.
"While we praise God for all
that HE DOES, and IS DOING in the hearts of men, and for whatever is being wrought in
groups, churches, etc. still we hear the cry over and over again, 'Where can we go to find
the answers we need?' For NO MAN has been found worthy to open and to read the book' (Rev.
5:4). Indeed, we find that the more we progress towards spiritual maturity, the less
anyone else has an answer for us. Paul once wrote, 'He that is spiritual judgeth
(discerneth) all things, yet he himself is judged (discerned) of no man' (I Cor.
"Others, who are just
beginning their walk with Christ, come to you, or to some group, and receive help.
Prophecies are given, words of exhortation, edification, and comfort come forth, and they
receive the answers they need. Yet you find for yourself there are none who can discern
for you - in fact, far too often they do not even understand your question, let alone get
an answer for it. We look for a Seer, a Prophet, one who can draw out of the deep the
water of life to satisfy, and 'there is no man able.' Why? Because God now purposes to
bring us, yes, if necessary, TO PRESS US into a new relationship with Himself, until we
learn to go directly to our Father and receive from Him all that is needed for the
occasion. While we appreciate our spiritual brethren, their love, their fellowship, their
counsel, yet we are being brought to the place where we have to say, 'I'll go to the
Father, for MY FATHER IS GREATER THAN ALL.' Thus we find ourselves being brought to the
threshold of a new dimension, a deeper relationship than we have experienced heretofore.
While others run from meeting to meeting, from preacher to preacher, from brother to
brother, God places within your heart that deep yearning to GO TO THE FATHER. If He can
give my brother a word of prophecy for me, why can't He speak it directly into my own
heart? He can, and He does! When we learn to go to Him, and not just lean upon others for
our 'group therapy.'
"'For this cause I bow my
knees unto THE FATHER of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and
earth is named' (Eph.
'All of the training and
discipline of bringing a child to maturity, to where God can invest in them the fullness
of His Spirit, to where they will AT ALL TIMES be motivated and controlled by the Spirit,
all of this is now leading into a deeper dimension - where the crowning glory of sonship
is manifested in fatherhood. If all the ways of natural life are normal, no young man is
content to just stay at the age of recognized maturity, strong, qualified to be on his
own. But soon there awakens within him that desire to be able to produce out of himself,
be it in the field of creative activity, birthing a business of his own, developing an
established practice in his chosen profession, or raising a family and establishing and
providing for his own home. But regardless of how his energy is expended, he desires to
accomplish something, to make a name for himself, to raise up out of his own efforts that
which testifies to his ability. In the realm of our spiritual application, we find this
holds a tremendous word of truth. God is doing more than just bringing His chosen remnant
to maturity so that they can stand in full strength, but He is also leading them on in to
fatherhood. And while it is true, we are already projecting our vision beyond experience
in these spiritual realms, yet God is placing a vision before His own, a goal set before,
and then HE will bring them into the fulfillment thereof.
"Jesus, the very man Christ
Jesus, knew His position as a SON, but He also knew of His position as Father, and that it
was expedient for Him to return to that realm from which He would be able to impart, pour
out of Himself, that flow of the Spirit which we now need to bring us to maturity. He had
condescended to men of low estate, manifest in the flesh, becoming an offering for our
sins, but when the sacrifice was complete, He was ready to ascend far above all
principalities and powers, that He might again be the fullness of Him that filleth all in
all. 'He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He
might fill all things. AND HE GAVE...' (Eph. 4:10-11). Yes, returning into His fatherhood
position He began to give, imparting out of Himself, sending forth the Spirit into our
hearts, whereby now we are able to cry, 'Abba, Father.' HE IS OUR FATHER, for from Him we
have received grace for grace. And when He shall have finished imparting of this
superabundance of His grace to us-ward, we shall have that same sufficiency which He
possesses, and be able to impart to others. Therefore, we repeat, the challenge is not
just to become a 'son', but to go on, and being filled with His fullness, so that we
become LIFE-GIVERS, even as HE became a life-giving Spirit. IT IS FROM HIM THAT WE SHALL
DERIVE OUR FATHERHOOD.
"THERE IS A FATHERHOOD REALM!
A position in God where we shall be able to impart life. How we have wept in days gone by,
and how there still yearns within us that deep desire for His fullness, when we see
someone in need, and find that we do not have that 'substance' to be able to meet that
need. If there be any love and compassion within us, of course we can pray, encourage,
share the burden, but we still cannot impart life. We take them to an altar and pray with
them, but we cannot save them, it is a sovereign act of God. We hold up their hands in
praise, tell them to hang on - to let go - and highly confuse them as to how to receive
the infilling of the Holy Spirit, but we could not, and cannot impart the Spirit to them.
We are not yet fathers! But God is going to bring His remnant to that place where He can
receive them INTO HIMSELF, and by reason of this union they will have something to impart.
Now it is self-evident that inasmuch as from our Father God all fatherhood takes its title
and derives its name, and inasmuch as those who enter into this realm in God are filled
with His fullness, and are partakers of His divine nature, so that they might beget the
same, then it follows that the attributes of our own Father are to be found in these
'fathers' " -Ray Prinzing (end Quote).
We are forced to the conclusion,
then, that when Paul says, "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming (parousia,
presence) of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him," he
speaks of something higher far than the childish notion of Jesus streaking across the
heavens like a flaming meteorite while bodies arise from the cemeteries to be
"gathered together" unto Him in the upper atmosphere. It is not a physical or
limited thing at all, it bespeaks a realm of SPIRITUAL REALITY. It is not a gathering
together of physical bodies unto a certain place, but a gathering on a spiritual plane of
experience unto the person of HIMSELF. The Christ is gathering a people together IN HIS
PAROUSIA, IN HIS PRESENCE that He may bring them to God. God is not one place, and Christ
another place, and we another place. It is not even necessary that the Lord should return
from some far-off heaven to this earth in order to raise the dead. All that He has
undertaken to do He can do from anywhere, for He is the fullness of Him that filleth all
in all! The power of the voice, or the touch, or the manifestation of the Son of God is
not diminished by distance. He who at
And as the apostle shows in the
verses which follow this grand statement in II Thessalonians, chapter two, there is a Day
yet to come - O glorious Day! - the Day of Christ, the Day of many sons come to glory, the
Day of perfection and maturity, the Day of fullness and triumph, the Day of power and
dominion, the Day of creation's deliverance and restoration back into God. But the dawning
of that Day is rooted in a FIRSTFRUIT COMPANY that LIVES IN HIS PRESENCE, being GATHERED
TOGETHER UNTO HIM, and there IN HIM, brought by and through Him, unto the glory of THE
FATHER - FATHERHOOD!
II PET. 3:3-4. "Then shall come in the last day scoffers ...
saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things
continue as they were from the beginning of creation."
The King James Version gives,
"Where is the promise of His coming?" but again the word "coming" is
the Greek word PAROUSIA meaning "presence". A free translation would be,
"Where is the promise of the presence of Himself? for since the fathers fell asleep
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." Or it may be
phrased, "Where is His promised presence - seeing that all things continue on as from
the beginning of creation?" That is, where is the FULFILLMENT of the promise? The
scoffers imply that the promise has utterly failed; that the Christ is not present; that
there is not the slightest evidence that His coming has ever been accomplished; that they
who believe He is here now are certainly deluded! What is the reason scoffers say such
things? Well, partly because Christians are saying just the same thing! That is, that the
Lord is coming at some future time and they are not holding forth the truth of HIS
PRESENCE.
The fact that all things continue
to go on as they have always done is proof, to the carnal mind, that the Lord is still
away. The sun rises and sets; the tides ebb and flow; the seasons follow each other in the
usual order; men are born, live and die; one generation succeeds another, as has always
been the case; nations rise and fall; there are wars and rumors of wars; sin abounds; and
all external evidence points to the belief that these conditions will continue as they
have always done. So - WHERE IS HIS PROMISED COMING? the scoffers demand.
The world lieth in the lap of the
Wicked One and is dead in trespasses and sin and the natural man understandeth not the
spiritual things of God, neither can he for they are spiritually discerned. Scoffers
belong to the world, but how much more pitiful when we find that the great mass of
Christians, who are supposed to be children of light and to have spiritual discernment,
are failing to "receive Him because they see Him not" but continue to gaze into
the skies. While Christians century after century have eagerly scanned the heavens for
signs of the appearing of the Lord, they have forgotten to live in the glory of THE
PRESENCE OF CHRIST here and now. Now that the Lord is beginning to open our eyes to the
message of life for this hour may He grant us grace to walk gladly in the brighter light
of the enlarged vision. It is my earnest prayer that the believing heart of every saint
separated unto God by His Holy Spirit may be gripped by this blessed truth: It is possible
for saints here and now to live in the constant and continual presence of the Christ who
walked the shores of Galilee; the Christ who healed the sick and raised the dead; the
Christ at whose voice demons fled like darkness before piercing light; the Christ who
spake as never man spake; the Christ who lived and died and rose again and ascended on
high; the Christ who has been given all power in heaven and in earth; this mighty Christ
walks with us still, yea, walks WITHIN US, closer to us even than the air we breathe or
the blood that courses its way unceasingly through our veins. As the days have passed,
especially in recent months, there has come to me the ever-increasing assurance that I am
dwelling and walking in the PAROUSIA OF JESUS CHRIST - His PRESENCE. The Christ is no
longer far away; He is here. No longer need saints say "Who shall ascend into heaven
to bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the deep to bring Christ again
from the dead? The WORD (Christ) is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart" (
Let all God's elect rejoice in the
truth I now present. Lay hold upon it as you would a precious jewel because its truth
uncovers the secret key that will unlock the door to great spiritual experience and
understanding. The moment the solemnizing fact of CHRIST'S PRESENCE grips your heart and
fills your mind by the Holy Spirit, the REALITY OF HIS ABIDING PRESENCE will begin to
transform your life. How wonderful the presence of Christ! Where is His promised presence?
Ah, He who told us in words that cannot fail, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto
the end of the age," now abides with us forever, whom, "having not seen, we
love; IN WHOM, though now we see Him not (with physical eyes), yet believing, we rejoice
with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (I Pet. 1:8).
Chapter 12
THE APOKALUPSIS OF JESUS CHRIST
In the New Testament, in the
original Greek, are found six different words and phrases which have been represented to
us as ALL meaning the very same thing - the "coming" of the Lord or the
"second coming" of Christ! And while a few scholars have gone to the trouble to
tell us what these six words mean, yet I do not hesitate to say that not one Christian in
a million has earnestly sought the Lord for spiritual wisdom and divine understanding
concerning these important matters. There is confusion in the minds of many when they come
to this great truth of our Lord's return and much of this uncertainty stems from a failure
to understand the diverse meanings of these six Greek words which are used in connection
with His coming. Until the great scriptural truths contained in these six Greek words dawn
upon our enlightened hearts by the quickening of the spirit of wisdom from on High, though
we may be earnest students of God's Word and feel satisfied with what we have,
nevertheless, there will be in our possession a great mine of eternal riches and heavenly
wealth of which we are able to appropriate only a small portion.
In previous articles we have amply
demonstrated that the Greek word PAROUSIA, generally translated "coming,"
literally means "presence." This is without doubt the key to one of the most
important truths in the whole New Testament. Nowhere does PAROUSIA mean "coming"
or "coming again." The PAROUSIA OF JESUS CHRIST, the PRESENCE OF THE SON OF GOD
is a past, present and future reality. It is the fullness of all that one can conceive of
as being the reality of His promise, "For where two or three are gathered together in
My name, THERE AM I IN THE MIDST OF THEM," and again, "And, lo, I AM WITH YOU
ALWAYS, even unto the end of the age." The PAROUSIA is the PRESENCE OF HIS GLORY and
the GLORY OF HIS PRESENCE.
This brings us to the second Greek
word we shall consider - APOKALUPSIS. This word has been translated in the Bible by
various English words such as lighten, revelation, manifestation, coming, appearing and
revealed. We can easily understand how the translators could use such a variety of
word-meanings to describe the word APOKALUPSIS, but it was not really because APOKALUPSIS
held various shades of meaning in the original tongue. To know the past of an individual
helps us to understand him better. To know the life history of a word makes its present
meaning clearer and more nearly unforgettable.
In English, for instance, the word
rostrum is defined as a place where one stands in giving a speech. But originally this
Latin word meant "a bird's beak," such as the beak of a hawk or sparrow. But now
this meaning does not even enter one's mind when he hears or reads the word. In the days
when
The Greek word APOKALUPSIS is a
derivative of APOKALUPTO. APOKALUPTO is a compound word composed of
In the following texts the word
related to our Lord's appearing is from either the Greek APOKALUPSIS or APOKALUPTO.
"Even so shall it be in the day when the Son of man is REVEALED" (Lk.
Only by REVELATION, UNVEILING can
we know the Christ of God or behold Him in His ineffable glory. When the light of the Holy
Spirit shines in, the mists that have hung like a cloud over our minds, obscuring the King
in His beauty, are cleared away. Then the realities which were once unseen become clearly
visible and that which was once seen through a glass darkly is now seen face to face and
that which was once known only in part is now known as we are known. The word
"unveiling" is certainly the clearest possible translation of the word
APOKALUPSIS. On the basis of this "unveiling" of our wonderful Christ, we may,
then, expect the APOKALUPSIS to be understood not as a matter of His COMING, but merely of
SEEING. It is not at all a question of our Lord making some change in location, as
"coming" from high heaven back down into the atmosphere of this planet; it is,
rather, the matter of Him who is already present with and within us BECOMING UNVEILED -
uncovered, disclosed, revealed in the power of the Holy Spirit that we may truly BEHOLD
HIM in the fullness of Himself. It would be one thing for you to "feel a
presence" in your room, but something greater should that presence become visible, so
that you SEE CLEARLY what was once veiled in obscurity.
Since APOKALUPSIS means to reveal,
or unveil, there must be something to unveil or which may be unveiled. That something must
be PRESENT or it cannot be unveiled; and it must be hidden from sight or it cannot be
disclosed. This is exactly what we have shown in foregoing articles concerning the Lord
Jesus, namely, that He is PRESENT and that He is hidden from sight of the natural eye
because "the Lord is that Spirit." But, praise God, we are now to find that His
invisible presence, parousia, is to be revealed, disclosed, uncovered, unveiled, and that,
too, to the whole world in due season. Are we looking for a so-called "second
coming" of the Lord? Emphatically we are NOT looking into the sky for such a thing
BUT, most emphatically, we ARE looking forward for the disclosure, uncovering, revealing
of the Lord NOW PRESENT BUT HIDDEN in Spirit form. Truly, the APOKALUPSIS of Jesus Christ
is a yet future vision for the great mass of Christians as well as for the world, and to
all of us there is yet much to be unveiled.
Retaining the foregoing in mind,
let us now note briefly the following scriptures. "We greatly rejoice ... that the
trial of your faith ... might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing
(apokalupsis, disclosure, uncovering, revelation, unveiling, manifestation) of Jesus
Christ" (I Pet. 1:6-7). Prayerful pondering of this scripture is all that is needed
to grasp the meaning of the honor and glory that shall be ours, not in being caught up
into the starry skies out of the trials which produce the honor and glory, nor in Jesus
coming riding upon a cloud in the upper atmosphere, but when He is UNVEILED TO THE WHOLE
WORLD IN HIS MANY-MEMBERED BODY OF SAINTS bringing deliverance to the entire groaning
creation through the manifestation of His grace, glory and power which shall yet bring a
larger measure of life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Again, "So that ye come
behind in no gift, waiting for the coming (apokalupsis) of our Lord Jesus Christ" (I
Cor. 1:7). Ah, we are waiting for the marvelous apokalupsis, disclosure, unveiling of
Jesus Christ, that which transcends HIS GIFTS, wonderful as they are, as He manifests the
fullness of the Son of God and His great, many-membered Christ body, but we are no longer
gazing into the sky for His so-called "second coming" at some indefinite future
date. Praise God, we are beholding the handiwork of our God on every hand today as He
moves the nations like pawns on a chess board in mighty preparation for the closing events
of this age and the ushering in of the more glorious age to come.
The great Italian sculptor,
Benvenuto Cellini, told of receiving a block of marble with one flaw. Because of this
flaw, no artist would submit a design - except one. In the public
Oh! God unveil our minds, unveil
your word, unveil your great and eternal purpose, unveil yourself, unveil your glory,
unveil the mysteries of your kingdom. Take away the veil from our eyes. Let us consider
for a moment the holy hope spoken of by the apostle Paul when he penned these soul
enthralling words, "Even the mystery which hath BEEN HID FROM AGES AND FROM
GENERATIONS, but now is manifest to His saints ... which is CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF
GLORY" (Col. 1:26-27). The glory spoken of here is not heaven as has been generally
supposed, but SONSHIP. That is the highest and most glorious glory that God has ever given
or ever will give. "The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them," said
Jesus (Jn.
There is yet another act of God
that transcends by far anything that has ever been known. It is the REVELATION, the
UNVEILING of Jesus Christ. It is the REVELATION and UNVEILING of the sons of God. The last
book of the Bible is called, significantly, the REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST. It is
interesting to note that when we come to the sixth verse of the first chapter it speaks of
how HE "hath made US kings and priests unto God." As the revelation progresses
with THE CHRIST always as the central figure, we next find Him standing IN THE MIDST OF
THE SEVEN GOLDEN CANDLESTICKS with a special message and call to the OVERCOMERS out of
these various churches. Thus, in the unveiling of Jesus Christ, we also come to the
UNVEILING OF THE OVERCOMERS - those who eat WITH HIM of the tree of life, live WITH
HIM free from corruption and death, share WITH HIM a new name, rule WITH
HIM over the nations, walk WITH HIM in resplendent white, dwell WITH
HIM in the city and temple of God, and sit WITH HIM upon the Father's throne from whence He
rules over all the vastnesses of infinity for evermore! And so, through the book, again
and again, we see this many-splendored unveiling - THE SON and the sons, THE LAMB and
those with Him on Mount Zion, THE WORD and they that are with Him who are called, and
chosen and faithful. Time would fail to speak of the two witnesses, the woman clothed with
the sun, the manchild caught up to the throne, the bride of the Lamb, etc.; but all are
facets of this unfolding revelation of THE CHRIST and His anointed ones, His many
brethren, prepared as salvation unto all the ends of the earth.
There is coming a day when all the
glories of the Son of God will be revealed and manifested in the sons of God. With a heart
of understanding and a spirit bright with the hope of God's eternal purpose the apostle
penned these meaningful words, "...it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb, and called me by His grace, to REVEAL (apokalupto.; unveil) HIS SON I-N ME"
(Gal.
With all emphasis I must declare
that we are now hastening toward the hour of the long awaited UNVEILING of the sons of
God. For many millenniums all creation has groaned and sighed under the thralldom of sin
and sorrow and death, but our heavenly Father had a purpose wonderful and glorious beyond
words to express when IN HOPE He subjected the whole creation to the desolation of the
curse. "For the creation was subjected to frailty - to futility, condemned to
frustration - not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of HIM
who so subjected it. Yet WITH THE HOPE that creation itself will be set free from its
bondage to decay and corruption and gain an entrance into the glorious freedom of God's
children" (Rom. 8:20-21, Amplified). Ever since that day and because of that hope
which springs perennial within the bosom of every man and all things, "...the whole
creation waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God's sons to be made known - waits for
the revealing (apokalupsis), the disclosing of their sonship" (Rom.
The blood, the sword, the fire,
the cross, and the dealings of the Holy Spirit have not been working in us through these
many years in order to make us ready for a harp in heaven. It has been in order to prepare
us to be an habitation of God through the Spirit. And, Why? In order that the hour would
come that Christ Himself once fully formed in us, would be able to be manifested not only
in His works and gifts, but IN HIS PERSON. Until now we have manifested the works of God
through the gifts of God, we have witnessed to what salvation has done for us, but now God
wants us to be the revelation of HIMSELF. The gifts and the works were only to bring us to
the Person. The hour is upon us when there must be a full and complete UNVEILING of the
Person of Jesus Christ through us. For years we have been saying: "If the world could
only see the works of God!" Well, we have shown them His works and it was not the
answer, for so often the works, the signs and wonders and miracles, fascinated the eyes of
the curious and blessed the people's flesh, but did not impart unto them the glory of the
Son of God. God did not save the world by works, He saved the world by a Person.
"These were written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God;
and that believing ye might have life through His name" (Jn. 20:31). This life which
comes by believing IS A PERSON. "I AM the life," says Jesus (Jn. 14:6). And the
book of Revelation is not the book of the revelation of powers hidden through the ages, or
the book of the revelation of historical or future events, but it is the book of the
UNVEILING OF JESUS CHRIST. All through the book we see Jesus Christ. In the faithful
witness, in His coming in clouds of witnesses, in His presence in the midst of the
candlesticks, in the Lamb, in the 144,000, in the manchild, in the city, in the temple, in
the throne - all is the flowing out of HIMSELF. Of course, when you have Him in all of His
glory, majesty and Person, automatically you have His works. If He is who He is, He can
open every seal, perfect His body, judge the nations, manifest His mighty power, deliver
creation, and restore all into Himself again.
Is it not a miracle that God is
bringing us to this hour when there is that awareness in us that there must be an
unveiling, a revelation, an indwelling and expression and manifestation of a Person?
"Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears, for they hear," the Spirit
testifies. It should not be difficult for even the least of saints to understand that this
is the answer to all the world's needs. For this purpose the people of God have been going
through all the dealings and processings of God, particularly during the last few years,
in order that Christ may be fully formed in them. In order that God would have a people
through whom He can manifest Himself without inhibition, without limitation, without any
hindering of the full flow of Himself, so that it will be the full manifestation of His
love, grace, power, life, salvation and deliverance to all humanity. A people no longer
conscious of His gifts - wonderful though His gifts are but conscious of GOD HIMSELF. Not
proclaiming the works, but unveiling the Lord Himself as life, light and love. This is
once more "God manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit" (I Tim.
I cannot emphasize too strongly
that the unveiling and revelation that is coming through the sons of God to one another
and to the people of the world will be, and is, the REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF.
God purposed to save the world, not by sending salvation, but by sending A SAVIOUR, who
becomes our salvation. Salvation is merely a by product of A SAVIOUR. "The Lord is
become my salvation" (Ps. 118:14). "The Lord is our light and our
salvation." He not only sends light through some inspiration from the scriptures, but
Jesus Christ who IS the light of the world BECOMES OUR LIGHT. This is the realm of which
it is said, "When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done
away" (I Cor.
When that which is perfect is
come, when Christ Himself is come and has BECOME our light and our salvation and our
strength and our joy and our all in all, then all divisions are gone and everything that
separates from one another. Light from the scriptures separates because one may have more
light than another, but when Christ Himself is our light and our life, He brings unity.
There is no division, separation or fragmentation in the unveiling of Christ. "Is
Christ divided?" (I Cor. 1:13). When CHRIST is revealed the army of Joel goes forward
and nobody breaks ranks and nobody thrusts one another, because they have found their
union IN HIM. As long as our union is in our state of development it is based, for
example, on the same experience of salvation, the baptism in the Spirit, or light from the
scriptures. But when we were Fundamentalists rejoicing in our experience of salvation we
would still fight! Or, if our union is based on the same expression of divine healing, or
deliverance, or speaking in tongues, or church government, or water baptism, is it not
true that we would still quibble. When our union is in CHRIST and in HIM becoming our all
in all, then all ground for pride and self and division is gone. "If any man be IN
CHRIST, he is a new creation" (I Cor.
Up to this present time we have
had a revelation, but mostly of His gifts and works. Oh, occasionally there would be a
bright shining of His presence and in the midst of the activity you could see His face.
But practically everybody who has had a vision of God's Christ has only seen His face.
When John saw Him in the book of Revelation, he did not just see His face, but he could
describe His head and His hairs white as snow, His eyes as a flame of fire, His voice as
the sound of many waters, His right hand holding seven stars, His mouth out of which
proceeded a two-edged sword, His countenance as the sun shining in its strength, yes, he
could even tell you about His feet which were like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a
furnace. Ah, my beloved brethren, the revelation of Jesus Christ has only been in part so
far. We know in part, and we prophesy in part, but in these last days there must come AN
UNVEILING of the whole Christ. Christ must be seen in all of His glory, in the whole of
His body, in a full and marvelous unveiling of Himself. This old world will not end in
tragedy some dark night when sin sweeps in like a flood and the devil is winning. NO!
History does not end in failure. I have read the last chapter. With the eyes of faith and
revelation I have beheld the final act, the closing drama. All of human history will be
consummated with the full and complete revelation of the Person of Jesus Christ in His
overcoming body as salvation and light and life unto all creation. Press on, saints! We
are on the winning side!
UNCOVERING THAT WHICH IS HIDDEN
Jesus Christ Himself is the Son of
God because in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9). But I do not
hesitate to add that the fullness of the Godhead that dwells in Christ our Lord has not yet been
UNVEILED before our wondering eyes. In his letter to the saints at Colossae, the apostle
Paul begins in the second chapter, saying, "That their hearts might be comforted,
being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding,
to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; IN WHOM
ARE HID all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
ALL - not merely some - of the
rich and valued treasures of wisdom and knowledge are contained in Christ. Therefore any
search for them outside of HIM is doomed to failure. The deep meaning of Paul's words is
that in the Christ is stored up all the divine treasures of wisdom and knowledge - not
PARTIAL wisdom, not a few FRAGMENTS of knowledge but ALL - the fullness of all things
dwells in Him. It is not necessary to go elsewhere, investigating human systems and
sciences, eastern philosophies or man-made religions, to gain either wisdom or knowledge.
All these are embodied in JESUS CHRIST. They are "hidden" in Christ as in a
treasure house - but in the sense that they are so concealed that they can be shared by
those who are willing to make the effort to secure them. "Those that seek shall
find," is the law of the Kingdom. More and more fully can Christ be known. Larger and
larger are those priceless stores which must be sought and can be found IN HIM. No other
revelation of God is needed, but in Christ are boundless riches yet undiscovered even by
the very elect.
"So that thou incline thine
ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after
knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and
searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord,
and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of His mouth cometh
knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous ... and
preserveth the way of His saints" (Prov. 2:2-8).
Our God delights to conceal a
thing as well as reveal it. Part of the route Jesus walked on earth was the path of
"concealment." Rather than bursting forth upon the scene in unbridled
omnipotence to silence all His enemies, divine wisdom caused Him to withdraw from their
midst, to walk in solitude, to be humbled, esteemed as nothing, mocked and ridiculed,
rejected of men. As someone has pointed out, there is in our God a glorious humility which
is in tremendous contrast to the ego of man. Man continually wants to be seen and heard,
seeking positions of power and prominence, yet our great Creator hides Himself, so that
men will have to "SEEK the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him,
though He be not far from everyone of us: for in Him we live, and move, and have our
being" (Acts 17:27-28).
Long centuries ago the patient
patriarch Job testified, "Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward,
but I cannot perceive Him: on the left hand, where He doth work, but I cannot behold Him:
He hideth Himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him: but He knoweth the way that I
take: and when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job. 23:8-10).
Ray Prinzing penned the following
words which I feel certain bear eloquent testimony to the experience of us all.
"There are many other times when we go seeking God, for a clearer revelation of Him,
to 'feel' His presence, and develop more of a God-consciousness, and I dare say, He seems
not to be found. HE HAS CONCEALED HIMSELF. And though we run to this meeting and that
meeting, phone this preacher, and write to another to see if there is a 'word for us,' all
of our chasing and beating the air is an exercise in futility - and then we settle down,
to say, 'I cannot see Him. BUT He knoweth the way that I take...' For the moment I do not
know where HE IS, but He knows where I am - and when HE has tried ME, I will come forth as
gold - because HE will perfect that which concerneth me. Bless His holy name!
"ALL THE TIME HE KNOWS WHERE
WE ARE! 'Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things
are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do' (Heb.
The apostle Paul taught us,
"For as far as this world is concerned you have died, and your new, real life is HID
WITH CHRIST IN GOD" (Col. 3:3-4, Amplified). The awesome potential and unfathomable
fullness of our new life is HID with Christ in God, so do not be surprised if you are not
able to display the power and glory of this new life on all occasions. Were you to be a
blazing revelation of that life to all men NOW, it would wreck the wonderful purpose of
His hiding in you. There are seasons when the Lord's people are gathered together, and in
times of holy meditation, contemplation, prayer, praise, and seeking, when the Spirit of
God moves in an unusual manner, there are glimpses into the hidden realms in God. But when
we return to the routine of the day, and the monotony of every day living, where the world
beholds us, is it not true that the vast majority of our associates are completely unaware
of our identity. The life of God within is veiled, and they see you, but there is no
comeliness nor spectacular manifestation so that they flock to you to see what you have.
You may rejoice all you will in your sonship, but chances are the world about is no more
conscious that you are a son of God than were they that the "firstborn" was
God's beloved Son. "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world
KNEW HIM NOT" (Jn.
The mystery of Christ is the
greatest mystery of all the ages, this mystery which is "Christ in you, the hope of
glory." HIS LIFE hidden now within us shall totally transform us, spirit, soul and
body. HIS LIFE shall not forever be concealed within, for I testify to you that we are
soon to see it unfold. "When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will
appear with Him in the splendor of His glory" (Col. 3:4, Amplified). Ah - there shall
be A REVELATION, AN UNVEILING of His life, His glory, His people, and because we have long
been hidden IN HIM, we shall also share in that revelation - partakers of the divine
glory. When all the mixture of flesh and spirit manifest through us in gross confusion,
kingdom building, Babylon personified, has been sifted, purged, separated and brought to
death because we share the awesome "fellowship of His sufferings, being made
conformable unto His death," then shall HIS LIFE be finally unfettered, unhindered,
unobstructed, and HE SHALL APPEAR in all the fullness of Himself and WE SHALL APPEAR WITH
HIM in the splendor of His full-orbed glory! Our life shall not always be hid. He who is
our life shall be manifested. Why should we want to be known in this day of His rejection?
Let us rest with Him at God's right hand and wait until His time has come. But when His
hour strikes, then our time will have come - and He will not be glorified apart from us!
THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST
The book of Revelation opens with
the statement: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ." The word "revelation"
comes from the Latin REVELATIO, an unveiling. The Greek word is APOKALUPSIS, the removing
of a veil. By transliteration APOKALUPSIS is our word "apocalypse." The
Revelation is the apocalypse or the unveiling of Jesus Christ. Many Christians would
object strenuously if we said that the book of Revelation was anything other than a
REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST just as it declares itself to be and, yet, the whole content of
the book has been and is still shrouded in a veil of highly symbolic language that has
defied the understanding of natural men for centuries, and to the most spiritually minded
much of its real meaning is still partially hidden, although, with the increasing light of
the Holy Spirit of Truth shining upon its pages, we have been entering into more and more
of its hidden truths, howbeit, we have yet much to learn of the full and complete vision.
Now, we have already pointed out
that that which is to be revealed, unveiled, or disclosed must BE PRESENT, else it is
impossible to disclose or uncover it. If this book with all of its mystifying language and
symbolism, is an APOKALUPSIS, revelation, disclosure, uncovering, unveiling, manifestation
of JESUS CHRIST, then it follows that He must be present, not coming in a future sense as
to distance, but here and now present although His presence, parousia, is veiled, hidden
from our natural sight. Did He not say, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end
of the age?" If, then, we are to understand THIS revelation, disclosure, uncovering,
unveiling, apokalupsis of Jesus Christ, it must be only as the Holy Spirit unlocks our
understanding to this wonderful book and the realities of its message. This is just what
has been and is taking place as the light of His invisible presence shines into our
darkened minds and brings to us a revelation, a disclosure, an unveiling, an apokalupsis
of Jesus Christ and our hearts are made to exult and marvel at the wonders of our God.
"The Revelation of Jesus
Christ..." This significant statement at the very beginning of this book, is the
inspired key to all the contents which follow. This is not merely a revelation of
historical or endtime events, but the unveiling of a Person - CHRIST. In fact, one of the
reasons that the book of Revelation has been so misunderstood is because men have thought
it was the unveiling of events that are in the future. It is not the unveiling of events
but the unveiling of a Person who has not yet been seen in all of His glory and beauty.
Today He is like a statue that has the veil put over it, awaiting the day when the veil
shall be removed and He shall be seen in all of His glory.
It is the thought of some that the
Revelation is a book filled only with that which is frightful and sensational. There are
figures of wild beasts, monstrous creatures; there are convulsions of nature, thunders and
lightnings and earthquakes; there are trumpets of judgment and bowls of wrath. But all of
these are incidental. They are the freaks one sees in the side show. The main event is THE
REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST. This unveiling is the central truth, the primary meaning and
prevailing purpose of this book.
Actually, at Christ's coming in
the flesh two millenniums ago He was not revealed; rather He was concealed. "The Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among us," John said. The Word (Christ) was made flesh,
taking upon Himself the tabernacle, or tent, of flesh. Just as God had manifested Himself
back in the Old Testament through a tabernacle, with all sorts of coverings and curtains
that shut man out from Him, so the Lord Jesus came in a tabernacle of flesh. He was put in
the concealing wraps of a human body. God was not revealed when Christ came the first
time, except in measure to a few - a Simeon, a Simon Peter, and a small company of
followers. It still can be said, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." Christ, when He came
in flesh, declared God; He exegeted Him, explained Him, let Him out in the open where, for
the first time, one can see the heart of God. Yet we have not seen GOD. The coming of
Jesus was not the revelation of Jesus Christ. The unveiling of Jesus Christ is set forth
in the New Testament as a hope and reality unto which God's elect is still moving.
Peter admonishes us,
"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the
grace that is to be brought unto you AT THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST" (I Pet.
Understood as THE REVELATION OF
JESUS CHRIST and immediately the book is changed from a history book to a SPIRITUAL BOOK
relating the progressive unfolding of the very victory and triumph of the Christ of God.
The saints have heard the term "apocalypse" and it conjures up ideas of the
wrath of God, tribulation, destruction and the end of the world. Yet the word APOKALUPSIS
from which our English word "apocalypse" is derived, carries no negative
connotation in the Greek. Our word "revelation" is likewise the Greek word
APOKALUPSIS. The whole book of Revelation is the Apocalypse that is so important to us. It
is the revealing of Jesus Christ. If we try to read and understand Revelation without
knowing that Jesus Christ is intimately involved, we will spend all our time trying to
understand and explain facts, such as: How many horses are there, and what colors are
they? Why are they running? Who is the woman sitting on the beast? Who is the antichrist?
What does the number 666 mean? And we miss THE REVELATION! We realize that all these
concepts are symbolic and represent SPIRITUAL REALITIES, but the importance of the book is
its purpose - the unveiling of God's Christ.
Each part of the record, of the
woes, thunders, vials, beasts, in all their sundry and various situations, are all to
serve but one purpose, and are allowed to exist for one end, namely, to BRING FORTH A
REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST. And this revelation comes to its magnificent conclusion when
He that sits upon the throne proclaims the wonderful fiat: "Behold, I MAKE ALL THINGS
NEW" (Rev. 21:5). The Revelation is the unveiling of Jesus Christ. In, by and during
that unveiling, many things are made to appear in the true light. That means that all the
evil things which appear do so BECAUSE of the true light, and in THAT LIGHT they are made
to appear in their true character: JUST WHAT THEY ARE. It is the LIGHT OF THE LAMB which
causes that to be so. Both in the
One can never understand correctly
the book of Revelation if his eyes are engaged with some side issue. The unveiling of
"the beast" and his "image" are side issues. That is, they are
unveiled as the RESULT of the flooding light issuing forth from God's blessed Lamb. In
that true light of God, the negative realm appears AS IT IS, for what it is, in order that
it may be duly brought to judgment, dealt with, and eradicated from our lives. The
fiercest beast I have ever known in my life was the beast of old Adam's nature, the carnal
mind, the seed of the serpent lurking within my own bosom. The heart is deceitful above
all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? How I praise God with joy unspeakable
and full of glory for the penetrating light of heaven's Lamb which uncovers the subtleness
and deceitfulness of this wild beast, the bestial nature lumbering about in MY EARTH! It
is not the uncovering of these evils which throws light on the Lamb. The unveiling of the
Lamb, as the Word of God, the Spirit of righteousness and wisdom and glory, the King and
LORD of creation exposes all that is not of God, that it might be once and for all
dethroned from mind, heart and action. As the daylight destroys and removes the darkness -
in the very nature of things - so the unveiling of Jesus Christ is the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God destroying, removing, swallowing up the power of the flesh,
the world and the devil IN US. The daylight FILLS the world just as truly as the night
darkness ever did. Even so, the light of God shall fill the world, our world, and the
world outside of us as truly as the darkness of sin, sorrow and death has done. Before it
is all over, every creature in heaven, earth and hell shall have had a revelation of the
Son of God.
Thank God! the
"apocalypse" is a thing of rarest beauty and divine majesty rather than a
frightening, dreadful and fearful time as the preachers proclaim. True, not all the
uncovering is glorious at the time, the woes and thunders are fearful experiences, and the
occurrences of the beast and the dragon, with their rise and fall, are shuddering to the
natural mind, but viewed from the position that all is the consequence of HIS UNVEILING,
and results in a new heaven and a new earth, indeed ALL THINGS NEW, so overwhelms and
enthralls us that we can but respond in glad unison with the revered Seer of Patmos,
"EVEN SO, COME! LORD JESUS."
The book of Revelation sets before
us a glorious Person, with the veil removed from Him, and with the veil removed from our
eyes so that we may look upon Him and see with the beloved John that the important things
are:
1. The Judge - not the judgments.
2. The Lamb - not the dragon.
3. The Seven Spirits of God - not the spirits of devils.
4. The Rider on the White Horse Who has Four Names - not the four horses.
5. The Throne of God - not the seat of the beast.
6. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah - not the beast out of the sea.
7. The Faithful and True Witness - not the false prophet.
8. The 144,000 Sons of God on
9. Those who have The Father's Name on their Forehead - not the mark of the beast.
10. The New Jerusalem - not the city
11. The Bride of the Lamb - not the harlot riding the beast.
12. The Glory of God - not the darkness that covers the earth.
13. The Unveiling of Jesus Christ - not the antichrist.
There is a dimension of the
revelation of Jesus Christ that transcends the speaking of words, the writing of books,
and the preaching of sermons. The unveiling of Jesus Christ is the need of the hour and
the hope of creation. If God does not give a special ministration of the spirit of wisdom,
righteousness and power to meet the need of creation, it will not be met. There are no
buttons to press that can deliver mankind from the power of sin and death or solve the
complex and frightening problems that exist in the world today. The further we move in God
the more helpless and totally empty we become, for our nothingness is magnified in the
light of HIS GLORY.
The hour for the unveiling of
God's Christ is at hand. May God grant to each of his apprehended ones the understanding
that from this time on God is not interested in the little "blessings" He has
bestowed on you. From now on it must be "WHEN CHRIST WHO IS OUR LIFE SHALL
APPEAR..." If there is a mind in us, it must be the mind of Christ, not our religious
mind that has been cultivated through the years until it is devoted and full of the Bible
and stayed on God. From now on it must not be your mind stayed on God, it must be HIS MIND
IN YOU. What we have witnessed to of the work of God, His salvation in us, His peace in
us, His victory in us, are a product of the work of God; but God's purpose is not that we
shall be the work of God, but that there shall come a revelation of a Person, that will be
Christ. It will not be a revelation about God, but the UNVEILING OF GOD IN US.
Are you willing, my brother, my
sister, to have nothing but the PERSON? Are you willing to lay aside the gifts and the
blessings and forget the experience to have the Person? The hoary headed old prophet,
Simeon, took up the baby Jesus in His arms and declared: "Mine eyes have seen Thy
salvation." The salvation He saw was not a blessing or an experience, it was THE
BABY. What the Spirit is saying is that God must have a people in whom the Lord is
BECOMING rather than DOING. That is what the manifestation of the sons of God is, that is
what the revelation of Jesus Christ is, and there will never be a revelation of Jesus
Christ if all I can talk about is His gifts and His blessings and His works. His works are
not Him - HE IS A PERSON. Paul said, "It pleased God to reveal His Son in me,"
not, "It pleased God to reveal His gifts through me and give me some great
experiences." And when he prayed, "My little children, of whom I travail in
birth till Christ be formed in you," Paul did not mean that they should receive a
little more cleansing with the blood, a little greater anointing in the gifts, die a
little more death and so on. There came an hour when Paul knew that the works of the Lord
would not be sufficient, but that the LORD HIMSELF had to be put on in all fullness, so
that instead of having a revelation of the acts of God, there would be THE UNVEILING OF
JESUS CHRIST.
"Blessed Father! let it be so
in us. Let Christ be fully formed in me and in all who read these lines, and in all the
elect body of Christ. Lord, let the work of doing for us come to an end, until it shall be
Christ formed in us. Mighty God! cause Jesus Christ to become in us our peace, our joy,
our salvation, our wisdom, our victory, our power, our life, that from this moment on
there shall only be the expression of HIMSELF, the revelation of His own Person and Being
and Nature. O God, let that divine Nature, that divine Person of the Son of God be fully
manifested in us, that the creation that is groaning for the unveiling of Jesus Christ
will see Him unveiled in His body, unveiled in His church, unveiled in His ministry,
unveiled in His king-priests, unveiled in His sons, that every eye shall SEE HIM.
Amen!"
Chapter 13
THE EPIPHANEIA OF JESUS CHRIST
In this study we approach the
third Greek word related to the "coming" of our Lord Jesus Christ - EPIPHANEIA.
This word is to be found six times in the Greek New Testament. It comes from a verb which
signifies "to shine upon," "bring to light," "to appear, "
"to manifest. " The noun is "manifestation," "brightness."
The lexicographers define it, "an appearance, show, display, grandeur,
splendor." In its use in classical Greek, it applies to the invisible divinities that
become visible. It also applies to the appearance of the sun after the passing away of the
clouds. The best possible translation is MANIFESTATION. The EPIPHANEIA of Jesus Christ is
ultimately the FULLNESS OF THE MANIFESTATION OF HIMSELF to the saints, the world and
creation!
This word is found in the
following texts where, with one exception, it is, in the King James version, rendered
"appearing." "Keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the
APPEARING of our Lord Jesus Christ; which in His times He shall show, who is the blessed
and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords" (I Tim. 6:14-15). "I
charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and
the dead at His APPEARING and His kingdom" (II Tim. 4:1). "There is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord... shall give me at that day; and not to me
only, but unto all them also that love His APPEARING" (II Tim. 4:8). "Looking
for that blessed hope, and the glorious APPEARING of the great God and our Saviour Jesus
Christ" (Tit.
Let us consider for a few moments
the difference between the three Greek words presented thus far. We have shown that the
word PAROUSIA means "presence." It is the fullness of all that one can conceive
of as being the reality of our Lord's promise, "For where two or three are gathered
together in My name, THERE AM I IN THE MIDST OF THEM," and again, "And, lo, I AM
WITH YOU ALWAY, even unto the end of the age." Nowhere does PAROUSIA mean
"coming" or "coming again." The PAROUSIA is the ENVELOPING PRESENCE OF
CHRIST and is a past, present and future reality. The second word, APOKALUPSIS, means
"to take the cover off, to uncover, unveil, reveal or disclose." It implies the
drawing away or removal of everything that veils or hides. Since APOKALUPSIS means to
reveal, or unveil, there must be something to unveil or which may be unveiled. That
something must be PRESENT or it cannot be unveiled; and it must be hidden from sight or it
cannot be disclosed. This is exactly what we have shown in foregoing articles concerning
the Lord Jesus, namely, that He is PRESENT and that He is hidden from sight of the natural
eye because "the Lord is that Spirit." But, praise God, we are now to find that
His invisible presence, parousia, is to be revealed, disclosed, uncovered, unveiled, and
that, too, to the whole world in due season. Are we looking for a so-called "second
coming" of the Lord? Emphatically we are NOT looking into the sky for such a thing
BUT, most emphatically, we ARE looking forward for the disclosure, uncovering, revealing
of the Lord NOW PRESENT BUT HIDDEN in spirit form. Truly, the APOKALUPSIS of Jesus Christ
is a yet future vision for the great mass of Christians as well as for the world, and to
all of us there is yet much to be unveiled.
Let us now notice that the
EPIPHANEIA of Jesus Christ is something greater and grander by far than either His
PAROUSIA or His APOKALUPSIS. God poured out His Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Christ
came to His church as the blessed Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, the indwelling Christ,
the Lord, the Spirit; but that was not the EPIPHANEIA of Jesus Christ. From that time
until now the Christ of God has dwelt within the regenerated hearts and lives of vast
multitudes of men and women who have by faith received Him; but this is not the EPIPHANEIA
of Christ. Jesus has been with His people for these twenty centuries, to aid, to comfort,
to teach, to quicken, and to bless; but this is not His EPIPHANEIA.
Let us SEE! The PAROUSIA is the
reality of His presence with us - though hidden and unseen. The APOKALUPSIS is the drawing
aside of the veil or covering that hides Him from view, enabling us by the spirit of
revelation to behold the King in His beauty. The EPIPHANEIA is the MANIFESTATION or
OUTRAYING of Himself which follows the unveiling. The manifestation is consequent upon the
unveiling; when that takes place the hidden One is no longer hidden but seen. Once brought
out into view He then springs into action, bares His holy arm, arises in His strength, and
the MANIFESTATION of His presence commences. This truth is expressed in a notable verse:
"Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of
His mouth, and shall destroy with the BRIGHTNESS (epiphaneia) of His COMING
(parousia)." Actually translated the verse reads "THE MANIFESTATION OF HIS
PRESENCE."
Ah - He can be
present and remain unseen, and truly this has been one of the more difficult aspects in
this tremendous calling of God upon His elect as He has made known in our hearts the
beautiful hope of sonship - that secretness, aloneness, hiddenness of His working.
"Verily Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour" (Isa.
45:15). How often He veils Himself, and we cry out like Job, "Oh that I knew where I
might find Him! that I might come even to His seat! I would order my cause before Him, and
fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which He would answer me, and
understand what He would say unto me. Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; backward,
but I cannot perceive Him: on the left hand, where He doth work, but I cannot behold Him:
He hideth Himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him" (Job 23:3-9). At times
such as this we yearn to see the manifestation, the awesome display of His working - that
we might behold His glory and bask in the sunlight of His love. He can manifest
His presence, and manifest it with a brightness above the noon-day sun. The EPIPHANEIA is
just this MANIFESTATION of the fact that the Lord is present; the very manifestation of
the presence of Himself. Thus we see that the EPIPHANEIA refers to the operation and
display of His power and glory which make manifest in an open and discernible way the
reality of His presence. It is not just one manifestation somewhere in the indefinite
future, but a constant, continuing, progressive and ever-increasing manifestation.
Certainly, the presence of Christ has not been manifested to the world in general.
Therefore we endeavor to "keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the
APPEARING (manifestation) of our Lord Jesus Christ; which in His times He shall show, who
is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords" (I Tim.
6:14-15). The indwelling Christ must become manifest to the outer world. The parousia, the
inward presence of Christ, is to have ultimately an outward manifestation and
demonstration.
In these articles on the appearing
of Christ, it is not our purpose to merely present another Bible study or more doctrinal
views. Rather it is our earnest desire and holy responsibility to present CHRIST and the
glorious hope of HIS APPEARING, and to encourage all who read these lines to prepare for
the MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST to, in, and through His "many brethren." All of the
Lord's overcomers are indeed "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious
appearing of Christ" (Tit.
May almighty God help us to turn
in our thinking, in our heart and spirit to behold Him and see Him as He is, not as He
was. The Bible says, "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh; yea though we have
known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more (i.e. no longer
merely as a man)" (II Cor.
Another day Jesus said,
"There will be some standing here, who shall not taste of death till they see the
Kingdom of God come with power" (Mk. 9:1). And He took with Him Peter, James and John
and went up into a mountain. There these men saw something magnificent. The Lord Jesus'
very countenance and His whole Person was changed. He was clothed with a quality and a
degree of glory they had never seen before in all the days previous to that hour. They
beheld another glory, but it was the same Person. It was the same Jesus Christ, but
another glory! And this, without question, left a deep, lasting impression upon Peter. He
wrote years later, "I will endeavor that you may be able, after my decease, to have
these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when
we made known unto you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were
EYEWITNESSES of His Majesty" (II Pet. 1:15-16). Ah, Peter had experienced the
unveiling and manifestation of the Son of God!
Saul of Tarsus met Jesus Christ on
the road to
THE APPEARANCES OF CHRIST AFTER HIS RESURRECTION
It was the early morning of the
most important day in the history of the world. Jesus had died three days before and was
laid in Joseph of Arimathea's newly-hewn tomb. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of her
beloved Master early in the morning after the Sabbath. Mary looked into the tomb and saw,
shockingly, two messengers in brilliant white, one sitting at the head of the sepulcher
and the other at the feet right where Jesus' body had lain. Amazed, she saw the grave
clothes between them and noticed the napkin that had been used to cover His face rolled up
and laid on a nearby rock shelf. Tears streaking her face and her sobs quieted by the
shocking sight she saw, she heard one of the men say, "Woman, why are you
crying?" She answered, with a voice that was shaking with fear and grief,
"Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don't have any idea where they have laid
Him."
She backed out of the tomb, turned
towards the pleasant garden place where a few other people seemed to be gathering, and
found her way partially barred by another stranger who spoke to her, and he also wanted to
know the cause of her sadness. She thought this man was the gardener, and supposing that
he had been in the vicinity most of the time since Jesus had died, she didn't think it
strange that he said, "Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?" She
looked at him and said, "Sir, if you are the one who has carried Him away, please
tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away." Suddenly, with the tone
of voice and accent with which she was familiar, and which on many occasions had stirred
her very soul, He now spoke to her, saying, simply, "Mary!" What was that tone?
That familiar timbre of voice? This man did not look like Jesus. He was not dressed as
Jesus had always dressed. But it was the unmistakable voice - the voice of Jesus. In that
wonderful heaven-blest moment she knew. It was Jesus! Stunned almost to the point of
fainting, she exclaimed, "Master!"; reaching out a hand, incredulously,
thinking, "It can't be! But it is!" She tried to take His hand. Jesus withdrew
His hand and said, "No, don't touch Me! I have not yet ascended unto My Father - but
I want you to go to My brethren and say to them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father,
and to My God and to your God." Mary knew that she had seen Jesus, but she knew also
that now He was different. She hurried up the pathway, went back into the city, and came
to the disciples' hideout. She related every word that had been told her - but the
disciples looked at her as if she were crazy.
Later that same day two of Jesus'
disciples were strolling along toward a village called Emmaus which was about seven miles
from
We had hoped - we had trusted -
and now everything has been dashed into despair, for He was crucified! Our world came
tumbling down around us, ending in death. And now suddenly there is this other report that
He is alive again. Now we are totally confused, we don't know what to believe. Ah, how
often has this been repeated in the lives of the Lord's people! A man arises claiming to
have the anointing of God upon him, God's man of faith and power for the hour, his star
rises with brilliance, his message seems to give new hope to them, when suddenly it all
falls down again - he is proven to be but a huckster, a religious racketeer, faking the
gifts, off with a woman, etc. until people become cynical and wary of anything new, they
will not trust any man. And well they ought to feel this way. But wait - God has a
remnant, God has a man, a many-membered man, THEY ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP, His very own
nature, character and quality of being worked into them. And, blessed be God! yet again
the divine CHRIST-LIFE shall be manifested in power and glory on this earth, and before
the face of all nations. Praise His wonderful name!
As the men walked along the road
to Emmaus, after their hopeless tale about His death, burial, and the puzzling empty tomb,
Jesus, seeing their doubts chided them, "Oh, you foolish men, and slow of heart to
believe in everything the prophets have spoken! Wasn't it thoroughly planned that Christ
should suffer all these things and enter into His glory?" There followed a quick
synopsis, as they walked along, of every major prophecy from Genesis to Malachi, with
Jesus interpreting to them in every scripture the events concerning His own life and
ministry. Jesus opened their understanding, He gave them the real reason, the divine
purpose behind all these events. There was a QUALITY, A MEANING that stretched far beyond
anything they could have dreamed of. So also, were our eyes to be opened in this day, we
would see a depth in God's purpose in our inworkings which would astound us. No wonder it
is written, that when the revelation of His purpose is ultimately brought forth, "The
kings shall shut their mouths at Him: for that which had not been told them shall-they
see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider" (Isa. 52:15).
They were amazed that this
stranger could know all of these things, wondering at his words, as they drew close to
Emmaus. When they made as if they would turn off the main road to go to the village, it
appeared as if this stranger would go further. Cleopas and the other disciple begged Him
to stay with them, saying, "It's almost evening, and the day is nearly gone."
They went in, and after a light supper was prepared, sat down to eat. Just at the
beginning of the meal, as was custom, they asked their guest to bless the food. He picked
a piece of the flat bread, blessed it, broke off a piece, and gave one to each of them. At
this moment, Luke says, "their eyes were opened" and they knew who He was! With
all of His gracious words ringing in their ears, talking rapidly and earnestly all the way
along the roadway to Emmaus about the things the Christ would have to suffer, His life,
His calling, the training of His disciples, the manner of His death, and His resurrection,
they sat-in absolute astonishment as, having reached out to take a piece of bread, and
with a jolt realizing it was Jesus, even as they looked at Him smiling at them across the
table, He vanished!
They cried out in a combination of
ecstatic joy, fright, doubt and wonderment! Shaking their heads, they looked at one
another in absolute astonishment. With their scalps prickling and every hair standing
almost on end, they sat in stunned silence. Had this really happened? But the piece of
bread was still in their hand, and THEY had not broken it! The place was set, the meal was
steaming in its common bowl, and yet Jesus, who had just been sitting across from them,
unrecognizable to them at first, had instantly disappeared! They said, "No wonder our
hearts seemed to burn within us while He was talking so earnestly to us on the way as we
walked along, and gave us such understanding of the scriptures!" Hastily, they took a
few quick bites of the meal, got up, and began to trot along the road to
When the eleven were all gathered
together, they related "how the Lord is risen indeed and has appeared to Simon!"
They were busily explaining all about the conversation, the stranger who had appeared to
join them, relating all the things He had said to them, while the astonished disciples
were listening with a mixture of doubt and wonderment, when, shockingly, Jesus flashed
into human form right in their midst! They were frightened almost out of their wits! They
thought it was some spiritual apparition and were terrified! They knew they had locked the
door, because they were terribly afraid their hideout would be discovered by the religious
leaders or Roman soldiers, and they themselves be made to suffer some terrible persecution
for being His chief followers.
Jesus said, quietly, "Peace
be to you!" Astonished, they stepped back, eyes wide in dumbfounded amazement. With a
smile on His lips, Jesus said, "What's bothering you? Why are you reasoning around in
your minds? See, these are My hands and My feet! It is I, really!" As if to give
emphasis to the fact that He was in their midst again with bodily form as a human being,
in the very same body which had been quite literally resurrected, CHANGED INTO SPIRIT
(although manifested as flesh), and that He now possessed the ability to instantly
materialize once more in His fleshly form, asked, "Have you got anything here to
eat?" As their startled eyes widened, He sat down with them at the table, and began
to eat the fish! Following the meal Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I
give unto you. Even as the Father has sent Me and commissioned Me to fulfill His purpose
on this earth, so I am commissioning you." He breathed on them each, and said,
"Receive the Holy Spirit! Whatsoever persons' sins you forgive, they will be
forgiven; and whatsoever persons' sins you retain, they will be retained." Following
this brief encounter, Jesus dematerialized again! The disciples were left in bewildered,
excited amazement about this stunning event.
It happened repeatedly - in many
parts of the country, with different groups at different times. On one occasion, as
attested to by the apostle Paul years later, more than FIVE HUNDRED of those who had known
Jesus were gathering together in a special meeting when He had appeared before them, and
THEY ALL SAW HIM!
Mary had seen a
"gardener." Two of the disciples had seen and conversed with a
"stranger." The eleven in the upper room saw the Master as He formerly appeared.
Later, a group of them saw Him on the lakeshore, and thought it was a
"fisherman." He was with them forty days after His resurrection, but they saw
Him only on a few brief occasions. The entire time that He was manifest to them, had it
all been crowded into one day instead of being at intervals during the forty days, would
probably have been less than twelve hours, or one eightieth of that entire time. This
being true, it is evident that He was present with them UNSEEN about seventy-nine
eightieths of that period of forty days. And even when they did have MANIFESTATIONS, they
were not (except once, on behalf of the doubting Thomas) in a form exactly like the one
they had known so intimately for three and a half years, and had seen but a few days
before. It is not once intimated that they knew Him by the familiar features of His face,
nor even that He was recognized by the same appearance as in other manifestations. Yes, He
was different, so different that they were puzzled to understand Him, and to know just how
they could still be His disciples.
The Lord Jesus comes to us in
different ways. There are many modes and forms of the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are going to have another manifestation, beloved. It is dawning. It has begun even now.
Praise the Lord! It is the same Lord Jesus, but manifested in a further unfoldment of
Himself, progressively bringing us to the realization of His fullness.
"After that He appeared in
ANOTHER FORM unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country" (Mk.
The story of the appearances of
the Christ between the resurrection and the ascension tells us that, in the knowing of
Jesus by those to whom He manifested Himself, the spiritual senses predominated over the
physical, and the spirit played an ever larger part in the work of perception. It is
abundantly clear that it was no apparitional and illusionary Christ that the disciples
recognized; but it is equally clear that they who had been wont to recognize their Lord in
precisely the same way as they recognized one another, now needed that their physical
senses should give way to the spiritual faculties of the spirit of wisdom and revelation
from God, the eyes of their understanding being enlightened that they might KNOW HIM.
Form plays so large a part in our
physical and material reckonings, judgment by appearance is so necessarily a part of our
life in a world of appearances. But all who would be sons of God must learn that, even as
the same Christ came to Mary Magdalene, to the disciples on Tiberias, and to the two who
journeyed to Emmaus in forms which they did not immediately recognize as Him, so that
spiritual life which Jesus revealed, and for which He stood, and ever stands, may take
unto itself more than one form of manifestation as it makes its way into the hearts and
lives of men. "He appeared in another form." He is always doing that. Would that
we were able always to find Him! Would that our faith were deep enough, would that our
love were broad enough, would that our insight were keen enough, to recognize Him in all
the forms and fashions of His coming unto the children of men!
Some find the Christ as Mary
Magdalene found Him suddenly when He called her name. Some find Him in the doing of His
will, as the disciples who cast the net in Tiberias, and found it was their Master and
Lord they were obeying. Some go the journey to Emmaus - the way of many a heart-burning,
many a meditation, many a mind and spirit struggle and find Him in the breaking of bread
at His hand. At the core of all spiritual experience there lies the same eternal truth,
for it is the same Christ who meets us all; but many are the forms experience can take.
Some find Him in the blessing, others with Job upon the ash-heap of stripping and
desolation, who, being brought very low and tested to the uttermost can shout the
triumphant declaration: "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine
eye seeth Thee!" (Job. 42:5). Therefore, let not the man who has met the Master in
the garden of Joseph doubt that He was ever seen on the shore of Tiberias; and let not him
who hath found Him on that dawn-lit beach think it improbable that He ever walked and
talked with the travelers to Emmaus.
"HE APPEARED IN ANOTHER
FORM." It is the same Christ revealing Himself to men in another form. So, my
brother, my sister, as we ponder the mysterious manifestations of the risen Christ among
the faithful and devout disciples, let us remind ourselves that this same Jesus is ever in
our midst, and we must be ready to recognize Him as He becomes manifested to us from day
to day, and from glory to glory, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We will never be able to
thoroughly comprehend Christ's presence, His unveiling, or His manifestation until we
understand these wonderful truths in terms of the progressive revelation of Jesus Christ.
This is what the
Historically there have been times
and seasons of the manifestation of Christ. In those heaven-blest days of the early church
the Christ of God was poured forth in such power and glory that it is beyond the ability
of any man to fully comprehend the far reaching results of His operation through the
apostles and prophets and saints of that generation as they brought to the face of the
earth another unique expression of the glory of God. The Christ of Galilee had disappeared
from their midst, but again there was a going forth of Jesus Christ, released in another
form through a many-membered body. It was a heavenly visitation that shook the entire
earth, changing the course of history and the destiny of nations and empires. This was
GOD'S GLORY arising upon the people and filling their hearts with joy and gladness,
transforming their lives and making them sons of God. Truly, it was the MANIFESTATION OF
CHRIST.
Late in the fourth century a
Scottish lad by the name of Patricius (Patrick) had spent six long years of his young life
subjected to the unspeakable horrors of slavery deep within the forests of
The glorious manifestation of the
Christ of God stirred and shook
At times God has raised up mighty
men and, as it were, pulled apart but a little the veil, giving a glimpse of the force of
a ministry filled with the fullness of His power the harbinger of greater things to come.
Such men were John Wesley and George Whitefield who turned
At the turn of this century, in
the country of
No less striking and wonderful has
been the manifestation of Christ in power and glory in the great Pentecostal outpouring of
the Holy Spirit which came first to America, and then to the world, at the turn of this
century and continues to this present hour. I am thankful for my Pentecostal heritage and
for those Pentecostal experiences, but I am even more grateful that the Lord in His mercy
opened the eyes of my understanding and permitted me to see and experience something of
that manifestation of Christ to His people in those hallowed years following 1948. Great
and wonderful beyond the telling was the glory of the Lord that erupted in mighty signs,
wonders and miracles, in divers gifts of the Holy Ghost, in prophetic utterance and
direction by the laying on of hands, in the song of the Lord in the mouth of vast
multitudes as the praises of God echoed down the corridors of the soul and the music of
celestial choirs on earth went sweeping up the sky steeps. And it is precious to me now
that out of this gushing fountain of HIS MANIFESTATION was birthed the precious
"present truth" of sonship, the Kingdom of God, and the reconciliation of all
things! Truly, the Christ appeared "in yet another form."
We have not yet witnessed the
magnitude of ministry that shall be revealed through the manifested sons of God. God is
preparing His perfected and mature body, anointed with the fullness of the seven-fold
Spirit of God, and this enchristed company shall appear on the cosmic stage of history in
these last days with ten thousand times more power than a St. Patrick, a Wesley, a
Whitefield, a Finney, or any of the revival showers of this century. God has moved deeply
upon my heart in these days to prophesy to God's elect that there is coming a great and
glorious MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST before the face of all nations and the whole earth. There
will be a fresh revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's going to come in the midst of a
people who truly "love His appearing," and I see and hear signs that already He
is beginning to come. We are standing on the threshold of a new and fresh and
transcendental manifestation of our Lord. These things are burning like a furnace inside
of me. I am being quickened by these things. I know God is on the move, and my deepest
desire is to be a part of this manifestation that will usher in a new day for this
sin-cursed planet. The Lord wants to reveal Himself in our midst in a new way, and through
us to creation. I am asking God to unveil and manifest Himself to me in these days in a
fuller way. Oh God! do a new thing. Are you, precious reader of these lines, hungry for
that today? Are you anxious and eager for the Lord to appear? Are you truly looking for
His appearing, the manifestation of Himself, His EPIPHANEIA?
The whole earth and all creation
is waiting for the glory of the Lord to be manifested. The dealings of God in your life
and mine are fraught with divine purpose. There is something far greater ahead of us than
walking on streets of gold or flitting about in white night gowns strumming harps. This
was the mentality instilled into me as a young man. Thank God there is a heaven, but I
want to tell you something. All the dealings of God toward us - the cross, the suffering,
the processings, the blessings, the glory - are all intended to put something of His
nature and character into us. This working will enable Him to be made manifest in this old
dark world in which we live. God has purposed that righteousness and glory shine forth
before all the nations. This is going to be done through those who are being transformed
into the likeness of His Son. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed from the
living, completed temple of His body. His glory shall fill the earth. His power will shake
the nations and all nations shall come and worship before HIM. The harvest of this age
shall be gathered.
Oh, how our love for God grows
when once our eyes envision the wonders of His marvelous purposes, which were purposed in
Christ before the world began! Have you noticed the precious understanding of Paul when he
penned his fatherly letter to Titus his own son in the faith, when full of the Holy Ghost,
his soul aflame with the revelation of God's magnificent plan, how he made known the hope
of God's glory to his beloved son? "The grace of God," says the apostle,
"that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men" (Tit.2:11). This has already
taken place, we all know: the all-saving grace of God has appeared where ever the gospel
is proclaimed, in the measure that it is proclaimed, "teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this
present world" (2:12).
But is this all? Is the grace of
God appearing to all men "in this present world" all there is to God's great
purpose? Is there no portion that goes beyond what we have heard, known and experienced of
His grace in "this present world"? Is there no expectation which will surpass
the limitations of this age of sin, sickness, travail and death; this age of the duality
of good and evil, light and darkness, sin and salvation, victory and defeat, hope and
despair? The King James version adds - "Looking for that blessed hope, and the
glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Tit.2:13). Young's
Literal Translation is more true to the Greek text when it says, "Waiting for the
blessed hope and MANIFESTATION OF THE GLORY of our great God and Saviour Jesus
Christ." The Diaglott adds its testimony: "Waiting for the blessed hope, even
the APPEARING OF THE GLORY of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ."
A wonderful experience awaits the
child of God when for the first time he sees that there is an expectation right here upon
earth of the MANIFESTATION OF THE GLORY OF JESUS CHRIST. The message is clear - the
"grace" of God has already appeared: the "glory" of God is going to
appear; and THIS IS WHAT WE LOOK FOR - THE APPEARING AND MANIFESTATION OF THE GLORY OF OUR
GOD AND SAVIOUR! It is not "the glorious appearing," but the "manifestation
of the glory," although the manifestation of the glory will certainly be most
glorious! And where is His glory to appear? In the same scene where the grace of God has
appeared! "For I reckon that the sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to
be compared with the GLORY WHICH SHALL BE REVEALED IN US. For the earnest expectation of
the creation waiteth for the MANIFESTATION OF THE SONS OF GOD (who reveal the glory)"
(Rom.
His seed has come into us, we have
been born of the Spirit of God, God is having a people in whom is the Spirit of His Son,
so that there is a relationship with the Father and a forming and a revelation and an
outflow of the Father's character, mind, and will. For what reason? So that God can appear
IN THE MIDST of His apprehended ones and so that God can appear THROUGH His people at any
time He wants and in any form He needs to appear. "When He shall come to be glorified
IN HIS SAINTS, and to be ADMIRED IN ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE in that day" (II Thes.
The unveiling (apokalupsis) of
Jesus Christ prepares the way for the manifestation (epiphaneia) of Jesus Christ, and the
manifestation of Jesus Christ is the appearing of Jesus Christ. As I have stated earlier,
there are many different modes and types of the manifestation of Jesus Christ. "Who
shall abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when HE APPEARETH?" Ah, Jesus
Christ has come as Saviour and has appeared in saving power in the midst of all the saved
ones. He has come as Baptizer with the Holy Spirit and has appeared in the glory of the
anointing in the midst of all the Spirit-filled ones. He has come as Healer and has
appeared in miracle-working wonder in the midst of all the healed ones. How we praise God
for all of these appearings - but now He must appear in "yet another form" - as
KING, as LORD, as PRIEST, as the SON OF GOD, as G-O-D.
Jesus Christ wants to reveal
Himself in dimensions far beyond those of Saviour, Baptizer and Healer. "Who shall
STAND when He appeareth?" asks the prophet. I tell you in truth that it is those who
have been MADE ONE IN HIM in that in which He is appearing. When He appears as Saviour it
is the saved ones who STAND WITH HIM IN THAT APPEARING. When He appears as Baptizer, it is
the Spirit-baptized ones who STAND WITH HIM IN THAT APPEARING. When He appears as Healer
it is the healed ones who STAND WITH HIM IN THAT APPEARING. Those who KNOW HIM in the
manifestation of Himself are able to stand with Him as the embodiment and expression of
His manifestation in that realm. God is teaching us the way of overcoming, the reality of
His authority and Lordship. Why is He establishing that authority and that Lordship in the
hearts of His elect? Because He is the Lord and Head of the body, the church. Of course
you will never know His Lordship, except by the Holy Spirit: "No man can say that
Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." The Lordship of Jesus Christ must be set up in
our hearts, where His will becomes our delight. Why does He want us to come into lordship
and authority? So He can appear in the midst as the LORD OF LORDS! If we are not lords,
ruling with authority, He cannot come as Lord of lords. He is not Lord of slaves. He is
not Lord of babies. He is Lord of LORDS! Why is God bringing many sons to glory? That in
the midst of all the sons Jesus Christ might appear as the pre-eminent One, THE SON among
the sons!
"Well," you say,
"why does He not appear as King of kings?" Because most of us are beggars.
"Oh, God, please bless us; Lord, do this, do that; give us this, give us that."
And if He appeared as King of beggars we would be ashamed before Him at His appearing. In
all our poverty, in all our need, in all our self-pity, in all our limitation, foolishness
and carnality, should suddenly the Majesty of the heavens, the blessed and only Potentate
appear, why right away we would fall with our faces in the dust in shame before Him. But
if we are standing as kings in the presence of God, reigning in life, undefeated and
victorious, overcomers and conquerors in all things, rejoicing because His throne is in
our hearts, then we welcome the King of the kings in the midst of the kings! And we can
STAND when HE APPEARS!
Do we love His appearing? Do we
want God to make us a people for Himself, so that in whatever form He desires to appear,
He can appear in the midst? The inspired apostle John has taught us that when HE APPEARS
WE MUST BE LIKE HIM. It says, "We shall be like Him," but it also means, "We must be
like Him." Can we not see that if we are not like Him in the way He wishes to appear,
He cannot appear in that form? We are HIS BODY, the vehicle, the expression and
manifestation of the Christ. Because we are His body, whenever He manifests Himself, He
will manifest Himself in the form of that body, in whatever form the body is. If He must
appear as Saviour, He must appear among and through saviours. If He must appear as
Deliverer, He must appear among deliverers. If He appears as the Chief Cornerstone, He
must appear among living stones. If He appears as the Son of God, He must appear among
many brethren conformed to His image. If He appears as High Priest, He must appear among
the priesthood. If He comes as Lord, it must be among other lords. If He comes as King, He
must be king in and through other kings. If He is going to be revealed as GOD, He must be
revealed among the gods (Ps. 82:2,6).
"Who shall stand when He
appeareth?" When He appears as King, only the kings can stand with Him, everybody
else has to fall before Him. When He appears as Lord, only the lords are able to stand
with Him, the rest will bow before His appearing. When He appears as Judge, only the
judges (I Cor. 6:2; Dan.
This is the glory of the
EPIPHANEIA - the MANIFESTATION OF JESUS CHRIST! May all who read these lines continue to
yield their lives under the mighty hand of God, unto his processing, waiting for that
blessed hope, the MANIFESTATION OF THE GLORY OF JESUS CHRIST!
Chapter 14
THE
EPIPHANEIA OF JESUS CHRIST (continued)
The third Greek word related to
the "coming" of the Lord Jesus Christ is EPIPHANEIA. The lexicographers define
it, "an appearance, show, display, grandeur, splendor." In its use in classical
Greek, it applies to the invisible divinities that become visible. It also applies to the
appearance of the sun after the passing away of the clouds. The best possible translation
is MANIFESTATION. The EPIPHANEIA of Jesus Christ is ultimately the FULLNESS OF THE
MANIFESTATION OF HIMSELF to the saints, the world and creation!
Let us now notice that the
EPIPHANEIA of Jesus Christ is something greater and grander by far than either His
PAROUSIA or His APOKALUPSIS. The PAROUSIA is the reality of His presence with us - though
hidden and unseen. The APOKALUPSIS is the drawing aside of the veil or covering that hides
Him from view, enabling us by the spirit of revelation to behold the King in His beauty.
The EPIPHANEIA is the MANIFESTATION or OUTRAYING of Himself which follows the unveiling. The manifestation is consequent upon the unveiling;
when that takes place the hidden One is no longer hidden but seen. Once brought out into
view He then springs into action, bares His holy arm, arises in His strength, and the
MANIFESTATION of His presence commences. This truth is expressed in a notable verse:
"Then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of
His mouth, and shall destroy with the BRIGHTNESS (epiphaneia) of His COMING
(parousia)." Actually translated the verse reads "THE MANIFESTATION OF HIS
PRESENCE."
The story of the appearances of
Christ between His resurrection and the ascension tells us that it was necessary for the
spiritual faculties to be quickened in order to perceive the Lord in His varied
manifestations. Almost on every occasion when the Lord manifested Himself to His disciples
it was as it had been with the men who walked the road to Emmaus, "After that He
appeared in ANOTHER FORM unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country"
(Mk. 16:12). He appeared unto them in another form - not another Person. It was the same
Christ and Lord. But there was some difference of manifestation. That is the plain truth
coming to meet us out of the region of mystery where for us the final truth of things
dwells. After His resurrection Jesus was to His disciples Jesus - with a difference.
"HE APPEARED IN ANOTHER
FORM." It is the same Christ revealing Himself to men in another form. So, my
brother, my sister, as we ponder the mysterious manifestations of the risen Christ among
the faithful and devout disciples, let us remind ourselves that this same Jesus is ever in
our midst, and we must be ready to recognize Him as He becomes manifested to us from day
to day, and from glory to glory, by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus comes to
us in different ways. There are many modes and forms of the appearing of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We are going to have another manifestation, beloved. It is dawning. It has begun
even now. Praise the Lord! It is the same Lord Jesus, but manifested in a further
unfoldment of Himself, progressively bringing us to the realization of His fullness.
LOOKING FOR HIS APPEARING
There is one wonderful trait that
identifies the sons of God, and that is that they LOOK FOR HIS APPEARING - indeed, they
LOVE HIS APPEARING. Paul taught the Thessalonians to "wait for His Son from
heaven" (I Thes.
Oh beloved reader of these lines,
what scenes are before us! What grand realities! What brilliant glories! May we live in
the light and power of these things! How we love His appearing in all the wonderful ways
in which He has already appeared and in those in which He shall yet appear! We will never
be able to thoroughly appreciate the Christ's appearing until we understand clearly this
wonderful truth in terms of the progressive revelation of Jesus Christ. There are
different degrees of the manifestation of Christ. One of the biggest lies ever foisted
upon gullible babes in Christ is the foolish notion propounded by the church systems that
there is to be but one single "appearing" of the Lord at some indefinite date in
the future. I would have to tear my Bible all to pieces if I taught that. The grand truth
is that He appears unto His elect from glory to glory, in ever-increasing unfoldments of
Himself. He appeared; He continued to appear; He appears; He continues to appear; He shall
appear; He shall continue to appear. Praise His wonderful name!
We are distinctly told that men
SAW the Christ following His resurrection. "To whom also He showed Himself alive
after His passion by many infallible proofs, having been seen of them forty days"
(Acts 1:3). And in Acts 10:40-41 we read: "Him God raised up the third day, and gave
Him TO BE MADE MANIFEST, not to all the people, but unto witnesses that were chosen before
of God, even to us who did eat and drink with Him after He rose from the dead." The
list of those who saw Him is given in I Cor. 15:5-8. He appeared to CEPHAS. He appeared to
the TWELVE. Then to above FIVE HUNDRED BRETHREN at once. Then He appeared to JAMES. Then
to ALL THE APOSTLES. "Last of all," Paul says, "He appeared to ME
also." That doesn't mean that after Paul He would never appear to anyone else - if
that were true, how could WE look for and love His appearing? Many years after Jesus
appeared to Paul He appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos! Time had marched on. The glory
that John had seen in the days of Jesus of Nazareth was now a thing of the past. It had
done its work, and had left an indelible impression upon John's being and its mark upon
the world. But, nonetheless, it was a thing of the past. Likewise, the glory of the New
Testament Church had risen to great heights. The disciples had gone throughout the entire
civilized world and spread the glad tidings of redemption through Jesus Christ, and the
ushering in of the grace of God. But we find that by the time John arrived on
John was at this time waiting for
a further revelation from God. He was not lamenting and saying, "Oh, if I could just
tell about those good old days with Jesus when He was here ... if only we could have
continued in those blessed years of joy and victory and glory in the early church."
He was not trying to recapture the glory of the past. He was there for the Word of God and
the testimony of Jesus in that day! Thus a tremendous unveiling came in that bleak island.
The Lord Jesus appeared to John in a glory greater far than any glory in which He had
beheld Him hitherto. And this manifestation of Christ was the herald of a new and glorious
dealing of Christ in the midst of His people!
But let us go back to Paul for a
moment. "Last of all He was seen by me also." Saul of Tarsus was a Pharisee and
the son of a Pharisee. He came in religious zeal breathing threatening and slaughter
Against the disciples of the Lord. He was a man who was filled with indignity and
hostility and bitterness. If he found any Christians, men or women, he sought to bind them
and bring them to
In that moment Saul saw a vision
that was to change his entire life. Everything was changed in the brilliance of that
light. His world was turned upside down - rather, right side up! His right, he discovered,
was wrong; his faith was unbelief; his earnestness was treason; his truth was error; his
zeal was rebellion. Everything suddenly turned topsy-turvy and he realized that this
Jesus, whose name just a moment before had been an epithet, an object of derision, of
laughter, of scorn, of hatred, now suddenly was the Lord of glory, the All Holy One, the
Altogether Lovely One, the Creator and Redeemer of the world! In that moment Saul was
changed from the persecutor to a disciple. He fell to the ground a sinner, and rose a
saint; he fell to the ground a sighted man who was blind, and rose a blind man who could
see. He saw the greatest sight in all the world. He saw his God for who He really is. In
that moment Saul bowed low before the God of grace and power; he was brought to submission
to Jesus Christ. And through Paul's life and ministry the church was established
throughout the far-flung Empire and the course of history was forever altered.
Skeptics down through the
centuries have tried to explain that conversion and the dramatic events it precipitated.
But, precious friend of mine, there is no explanation other than the SUPERNATURAL
SOVEREIGN WORK OF GOD. That is our God! And I do not hesitate to tell you, beloved, that
God is getting ready to move again! All over the world in this particular moment in
history, the Spirit of God is speaking to His apprehended ones concerning the imminent
manifestation of the sons of God. The trumpet has sounded, the appointed time has come.
Elect saints in every nation have heard the voice of the prophets, foretelling of this
most awesome intervention of God's power that is about to sweep the earth and shake all
nations.
Although Jesus Christ appeared in
glory to Saul of Tarsus on the road to
APPEARANCES OF CHRIST TO INDIVIDUALS
I say again - I repeat it with
assurance of His Word of truth - "looking for His appearing" does not mean
gazing into the skies for Jesus to flash down from heaven on a cloud. There are many modes
and forms of the appearing of the Lord Jesus. EACH MANIFESTATION IS ON THE PLANE OF
CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE PERSON TO WHOM HE APPEARS, AND EACH IS DESIGNED TO MEET A NEED.
Understand this truth, my beloved, and you will comprehend a great mystery of the
Some time ago a friend shared the
following experience which wonderfully illustrates the point I am endeavoring to get
across. "Last fall, the Lord began to show me what was the cup that passed to Jesus
in the Garden. It was not physical death. No one could ever convince me that Jesus was
afraid of physical death, because He has released me from such fear. If I am not afraid,
then He could not have been afraid either. No, that cup which He so dreaded was something
far more than death to His physical being. I saw that it was that cup of Proverbs that
says, 'Look not on the wine when it is red in the cup, for at last it biteth like a
serpent and stingeth like an adder.' That word, 'red' is, in the Hebrew, 'Adam.' 'Look not
upon the cup when it is ADAM!' The dregs of that cup, while looking beautiful and
sparkling and clear on the top, are shown to be a serpent. It was that cup that was passed
to Jesus in the Garden, and that brought from His holy lips, 'If it be possible, let this
cup pass from Me!' And then-the Lord quickened to me that word which says, '
"THIS is the real death that
Jesus Christ died - and is still dying! It is the death that He died from the foundation
of the world, and has continued to die again and again, in every age - as He has stripped
Himself of His glory, come down to be contained in forms - candles sitting on an altar,
images placed around a wall, doctrines that belie His very nature - identifying - pouring
His anointing into them to bring forth a measure of His life! This is the sacrifice of
Christ Jesus! As I sat in a meeting one Sunday morning, I saw it so beautifully
illustrated. There the Spirit of God was moving among the people, their pastor just having
been filled with the Spirit not long before...the Spirit moving amongst all that
foolishness of crucifixes and candles, of ritual and form, even in clerical garments. But
Christ was there - in Life! MOVING, yet fixed to the cross of that dreadful tree of
legalism and form! I sat there and looked at the altar and the idolatry there and murmured
a prayer of thanksgiving: 'What a God you are to allow Yourself to be brought down so far
IN ORDER TO SERVE!' Nailed to the cross of form, shedding the blood, which is the New Wine
of the Spirit, the very essence life of Christ" - end quote.
There is a remarkable testimony of
the appearing of the Lord, altogether as sovereign and glorious as that of the apostle
Paul, that comes to us from one of
“I was not disobedient to the
heavenly vision, but went to my little tool-house to pray, yet I cannot remember that I
had at that time any faith in the Saviour or expectation of being heard or answered - to
all appearance I was sunk too low for that. I rather thought this vision was to bring me
to my final end. Therefore I trembled in myself, and was almost desperate, fearing that I
should shortly sink under that awful line of curses. When I came into my little
tool-house, to the best of as I usually had done - that is, I pulled off my blue apron,
and covered my head and face with it; for I was like the poor publican, I could not even
look up to God - I was afraid He would damn me if I offered to do it. I kneeled down, and
began to pray extempore, the language of one desperate, precisely thus: 'O
Lord, I am a sinner, and Thou knowest it. I have tried to make myself better, but cannot.
If there is any way left in which Thou canst save me, do Thou save me; if not, I must be
damned, for I cannot try anymore nor won't.'
"The very moment the last
sentence dropped from my lips, 'the spirit of grace and of supplication' was poured into
my soul, and I forthwith spake as the Spirit gave me utterance. I immediately prayed with
such energy, eloquence, fluency, boldness, and familiarity as quite astonished me; as much
as though I should now suddenly speak Arabic, a language that I never learned a syllable
of. And the blessed Spirit of God poured the sweet promises into my heart, from all parts
of the scriptures, in a powerful manner, and helped my infirmities greatly by furnishing
my faltering tongue with words to plead prevalently with God. Yea, that blessed Spirit
enabled me to compass the Almighty about with His own promises, which were so suitable to
my case, that His blessed Majesty could not get out of His own bonds. It came to pass
that, after I had been wrestling in this manner for about the space of a quarter of an
hour, behold, Jesus Christ appeared to me in a most glorious and conspicuous manner, with
all His body stained with blood! He appeared in His aspect as one greatly dishonored and
much abused, and yet inclined to pity me. I turned my eyes from Him, but He pursued me,
and was still before me. I fell to the ground, and laid on my face, but could not shun the
sight.
"The more I strove to avoid
Him, the nearer He approached, the vision opened brighter and brighter, and the deeper
impression was made upon my mind; and the more I condemned myself, and tried to creep into
darkness from His sight, the more He smiled upon me, and the more He melted, renewed and
comforted my soul. When I found I could not shun Him, nor shut out His dissolving beams, I
arose from the ground, and went into the garden. Here I found that all my temptations were
fled; my hard thoughts of God, and the dreadful ideas I had of Him in His righteous law,
were dissipated; my sins, which had stood before me during so many months, with their
ghastly and formidable appearance, had spread their wings and taken flight. My darkness
was dispelled by the rays of the Sun of righteousness, and life and immortality appeared
in such a glorious point of view, that I swooned in the soul-renewing and
soul-transporting flames of everlasting love. All the horrors of the damned, and my
meditations upon their irrevocable doom, vanished; confusion and despair sank into
oblivion; the self-existent Jehovah, the God of armies, had put all to flight, and kept
both throne and field alone, waving the banner of eternal love. I went into the tool-house
in all the agonies of the damned, and returned with the
Another testimony of the same
magnitude comes from far away
By age sixteen he had read the
Granth of the Sikhs, the Muhammadan Quran, and a number of the Hindu Upanishads - a
remarkable achievement. But it was all in vain. His mother had taken him to priests and
sadhus (holy men) who might point out to him sacred texts which would show him the way;
and for some time, under the direction of a Hindu sadhu, he practiced a form of Yoga - one
of the methods, much esteemed among Hindus, of seeking identification with the Supreme
Spirit, and the resultant peace and illumination, by concentration leading up to a state
of trance - but with no avail. There was no peace! With the Bible he first became
acquainted at the
The story of his conversion is
best given in his own words, quoted from one of his addresses. "Preachers and
Christians in general had often come to me and I used to resist them and persecute them.
When I was out in any town I got people to throw stones at Christian preachers. I would
tear up the Bible and burn it when I had a chance. In the presence of my father I cut up
the Bible and other Christian books and put kerosene oil upon them and burnt them. I
thought this was a false religion and tried all I could to destroy it. I was faithful to
my own religion, but I could not get any satisfaction or peace, though I performed all the
ceremonies and rites of that religion. So I thought of leaving it all and committing
suicide. Three days after I had burnt the Bible, I woke up about
"At
"When I was converted by the
vision of Christ a power like electricity entered my soul and took possession of it. With
it came the joy I was wishing to get. This was heaven itself! When I got up, the vision
had all disappeared; but although the vision disappeared the Peace and Joy have remained
with me ever since. I went off and told my father that I had become a Christian. He told
me, 'Go and lie down and sleep; why, only the day before yesterday you burnt the Bible;
and you say you are a Christian now.' I said 'Well, I have discovered now that Jesus
Christ is alive and have determined to be His follower. Today I am His disciple and I am
going to serve Him' " -end quote. Sundar Singh devoted His life to the Lord and
became an Indian "sadhu" or wandering "holy man," traveling across
I am certain that many of my
readers who are of mature years remember reading or hearing the "Betty Baxter
Story." I personally heard Betty Baxter give her extraordinary testimony more than
thirty-five years ago, and have never forgotten the profound impact it made on my young
life. She began by saying, "As far back as I can remember, I can never recollect a
day without pain and agony in my body. From the time I was just a baby, and all my
life-long I suffered pain in my body. From the time I was an infant when the doctors said
I was born abnormal, there was something wrong with my spine and with my heart. My daddy
began to take me from one doctor to another. He took me from specialist to specialist, to
clinics and hospitals. Every doctor, after X-rays, gave the same answer - there was
nothing that could be done for me. At the age of eleven I was taken to the large
"I grew worse as I was shut
away from the world in my bedroom at age eleven; my spine curved, my chest sunk in, until
at the age of fifteen when they stood me up I stood as tall as my four year old brother.
There were knots the size of hen's eggs beginning at the base of my neck, one after the
other down to the base of my spine. My arms were paralyzed from my shoulders to my wrists,
I could only move my fingers. My head was twisted and turned on my body. And in this
condition, with all hope given up for me, my parents were advised not to spend any more
money on doctors as there was nothing medical science could do. My mother was a devout
Christian who deeply loved Jesus. She was desperate, she didn't want me to die. She began
to read and study God's Word. She found the answer to what she was searching for in the
Word of God. One day, very excited, she came to my room and exclaimed, 'I've found the
answer! It says here that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. It says
here that ALL things are possible, if you can only believe.' She said, 'Betty, this lets
me know that if I have faith and really believe, you're not going to die, but God is going
to heal you, bring you out of that bed, make you whole, and you will walk by His power.'
"
There is neither time nor space to
relate the numerous details that ensued. There were many and varied crisis' in Betty
Baxter's condition, climaxing in an out-of-body experience as she came to the river of
death, only to be turned back by the Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, on a hot August
afternoon, sitting in the living room in a big overstuffed chair piled high with pillows,
as she prayed, the Lord Jesus spoke in an audible voice beside the chair, and said,
"I am going to heal you completely on Sunday afternoon, August 24, at
"August 24 finally came.
Daddy and my brothers and sisters went to Sunday School and Church. That afternoon mom had
invited a few friends together to pray for me. At a quarter till three she came into my
bedroom, leaned over my bed and said, 'It's fifteen minutes till three. Do you want mother
to carry you and put you in the big chair in the living room?' I told her, 'Yes,' and
thought, 'fifteen minutes! And I've waited over fifteen years for Jesus to come and heal
me.' They carried me into the living room and put me into the chair with the pillows with
my head resting on my knees and my arms hanging at my side. When I'm happy I always cry.
So the tears were rolling down my cheeks because it was time now for me to be healed. My
baby brother knelt in front of me and shook his little head and said, 'Don't cry any more
Sis, it will only be a minute and you'll be bigger than I am.' They knelt around my chair
and mom said, 'It's ten minutes now, what do you want us to do?' I replied, 'Start
praying, I want to be praying when he comes.' The last thing I remember hearing was my
mother saying, 'The hour is come; you won't fail me, will you Lord? You're going to come
and heal her because the hour is come.'
"Then I didn't hear any more.
There was no wind that day but suddenly a great rushing wind swept through our living
room. The drapes swirled in the wind; a door slammed somewhere, and then the wind subsided
and all was silence. In this calmness and stillness I knew now that Jesus would really
come. My eyes were glued to the opposite side of the room; I watched and waited, it seemed
I dare not breathe. As I looked I saw taking form before me a white, fleecy cloud. As I
watched, stepping out of that cloud was the Lord Jesus Christ! He stepped forth out of
that cloud dressed in flowing garments of glistening white. His face shone with a radiance
so bright that I closed my eyes and opened them again while my eyes grew accustomed to His
brightness. He stood there a tall man with outstretched arms. I can't describe Him to you.
If I were an artist I could not draw Him as He really was. He came walking toward my chair
and the closer He got the better I felt. But I felt so unworthy, too unworthy for Jesus to
touch me - but if I can touch His garment I know I'll be healed. My fingers reached out
trying to touch His clothes, and in the stillness I heard my mother cry out, 'Jesus!
You'll have to come closer, she can't reach that far.' But He didn't come closer, and soon
the strength that was in my fingers was gone and they fell at my side. He showed me by
this that my last feeble effort had failed. It must be HIM and Him alone to heal my body.
"As He stood there I saw
beside Him two rows of trees and they stood tall and straight. As I watched, one in the
center began to bend until the tip of it touched the ground. I wondered why the one little
tree was all bent over while the others stood straight and tall. Then I saw Jesus walk
through that row of trees. When He got to the little bent tree He reached out His hand and
placed His hand where it was bent and with a loud crack and pop the tree straightened up
like the others. I said, 'That's me, alright! He's coming by today. He'll put His hand on
my spine, the bones will crack and POP as the vertebras go into place, and I'll be
straight like other girls.'
"Then He took a final step
and stood just beside the chair. He leaned down and looked straight into my face and said,
'Betty, you've been patient, kind and loving. Henceforth I promise you joy, health and
happiness.' With the final word, 'happiness,' He stretched forth His hand and my body
became tense waiting for the hand of Jesus. I felt a hot sensation rush through my body.
Two hot hands were placed on my fallen organs and I felt everything inside of me move into
place. I knew that internally I was healed. Two hot hands - as hot as fire - took my heart
and squeezed it and for the first time I could take a deep breath without gasping and I
knew that my heart trouble was gone. And then I felt His hand pressed on the very center
of one of the knots on the center of my spine - there was a tingling sensation as though I
had touched a live electric wire, the bones snapped and cracked as the vertebras went into
place. In the presence of those who were there they saw the knots fade and disappear. My
hip snapped into its right position, my paralyzed arms were raised high and in ten seconds
I stood on my feet straight as I'm standing tonight, healed by the mighty power of the
Lord Jesus Christ!" end quote.
A sister in Christ relates how
that in recent years in
Just this past year a precious
brother on our mailing list wrote and shared his experience. He said, "I have met
with considerable criticism over the past for having put forth this understanding. In
1942, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit on the kitchen floor at home on the farm. The Lord
Jesus appeared to me at that time, and because of this I have been unshakable in certain
knowledge. He has appeared on various occasions since, but not in the same way. If He can
appear to me, there is no reason why He would not appear to any saint."
While we praise God for all of
these beautiful experiences of those who have received a manifestation of the Lord, let us
never lose sight of the principle that EACH MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST EXISTS ON THE PLANE OF
CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE PERSON TO WHOM HE APPEARS. He will always appear on the level and in
the manner and form that men can receive Him and that meets their need. You will note in
connection with all the appearances of the Lord related in this article that in every case
the Lord manifested Himself in a physical form to either an unconverted person or to a
saint who had as yet received no call or vision of the deep things of God. Let not those
who grow up into the stature of the Son of God imagine for one moment that Christ will
appear to them in the same mode or form as He appeared to sinners and to babes in Christ!
After His resurrection the blessed
Christ of God appeared to His followers in various forms. Mary saw Him as a
"gardener." Two of His disciples saw Him and conversed with a
"stranger." The eleven in the upper room saw the Master as He formerly appeared,
but not as crucified, with scars. Later a group of them saw Him on the lakeshore, and
thought it was a "fisherman." But Thomas doubted. He said that he would not
believe that Jesus had been raised from the dead unless he could see the nail prints in
His hands and feet and the spear wound in His side.
There are few recorded instances
of Christ's appearings more enlightening than the account of Christ's personal revealing
of Himself to Thomas. Eight days later, while they were gathered in a room with the doors
closed, Jesus suddenly materialized in their midst. They were awe-stricken. Jesus looked
straight at Thomas and said, "Thomas, come here!" Thomas took several hesitant
steps forward, eyes searching the face, studying intently to see if there were anything
familiar about this person whose voice seemed identical, yet filled with an even greater
note of authority. "Come on," He said, "Go ahead, Thomas, I want you to put
your finger right here into My hand." Thomas reached out his finger and actually put
it inside the large tear in Jesus' hand where the bones had been separated and the flesh
grotesquely torn. Thomas' finger was tingling from its contact with the cold flesh and
bare bones of Jesus' hand. The figure took off His outer garment, and pulled up His shirt
underneath to reveal a gaping, livid wound in His side. Jesus said, "Go ahead, put
your hand into My side!" Trembling with fear, Thomas reached out and actually put his
hand completely into the gaping aperture that had been left by the Roman spear. Thomas'
stomach was churning, his mind reeling, his eyes glazed with shock. It was He! It really
was! This was in fact the very same Jesus he had himself seen proved dead, standing here
before him alive! His legs went limp and he fell at His feet, at those mangled feet, and
he looked up into that compassionate face and there was wrung from his soul, from the very
depths of his being, a confession, and He cried, "MY LORD AND MY GOD!" In that
instant, as though some mighty wind had swept away the cobwebs of his mind, Thomas' doubts
disappeared and he KNEW that He was alive; and he could SEE, and he could understand!
The undeniable truth is that Jesus
appeared with the nail prints and the wounded side ONLY TO DOUBTING THOMAS. Can we not see
by this that unless Jesus chose to show the scars they were not visible - that for the
moment He descended to the point of CONSCIOUS THINKING where Thomas, who could only
believe by seeing with the human eye, could see? NO BLESSING WENT WITH THOMAS FINDING OUT
ABOUT THE RESURRECTION. Jesus said kindly, "Because you have seen Me you have
believed! I'll tell you, B-L-E-S-S-E-D are they that have NOT seen and yet have
believed!" Blessed are they that have not seen Me in this form with the scars - for
He appeared to many - and yet have believed! Blessed are they who receive Me in whatever
form I manifest Myself. Blessed are they who do not cling to any manifestation that is
past. Blessed is the one who does not have to handle with his hand the unseen things of
the Spirit. That one WILL be able to see and handle and experience the hidden things of
God, the all-glorious Christ revealed WITHIN.
Believers as a whole are not
moving to that. They hate to hear it and the majority of Christians refuse to admit it,
but they are one and all "DOUBTING THOMASES." They will not believe that
"this same Jesus" has returned unless and until they SEE HIM AS THOMAS SAW HIM.
"Except I shall see - I will not believe," said doubting Thomas, and he has and
will have his innumerable successors as long as time remains. The cry of almost all
Christian people today is, "We want to see Jesus." Men think it is so spiritual
to want to see Jesus with earth-bound eyes. We used to sing a song and one line in the
chorus said, "And I shall know Him by the nail prints in His hands." We have
sung that, in order to KNOW Jesus, we would have to see the nail prints. Oh fools, and
slow of heart to believe! We have preached about poor old doubting Thomas, but the great
majority of God's people really are "doubting Thomases." They have to see the
print of the nails and the wound in the side of Jesus. They are telling the Lord that He
MUST manifest something which they can see and understand by the flesh. Something they can
handle. And I do not doubt for one moment that there is in the
Several months ago a dear sister
from
Yes, HE CAME, but not in the form
the sister expected. Seeing with the natural eye and hearing with the natural ear are not
all there is of seeing and hearing. "No man hath seen God at any time" thus, yet
all God's children have seen Him, and known Him, and held communion with Him. We HEAR
God's call, our "high calling," we HEAR the voice of our Shepherd, and are
constantly LOOKING unto Jesus, and while we see not yet all things put under Him, we do
SEE JESUS crowned with glory and honor and with unveiled face we BEHOLD the glory of the
Lord and are changed into the same image, for God hath shined in our hearts giving the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the FACE of Jesus Christ.
"And they shall SEE the Son
of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Mat. 24:30).
"Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall SEE Him" (Rev. 1:7). Every
one who is a scholar knows that the words "see" and "know" are
identical in their spiritual meaning. When I tell a brother something He did not see
before, and I am trying to get him to see it, all at once there passes over his face the
illumination which indicates intelligence. He says, "Brother Preston, I see it!"
What does he mean? He does not mean that he sees anything with the eye of flesh. He means
that he "knows" it. I talk to a blind man who has no eyes to see at all. I
explain something to him and presently he says, "Brother, I see it." Does he see
anything? No! But he KNOWS it. How many times in the day do you say, "I see it."
Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall SEE GOD." Suppose I
give you the meaning of this passage: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall
KNOW God." The apostle Paul said, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness,
without which no man shall SEE the Lord" (Heb.
As one has written, "In the
midst of turmoil Job cried, 'I know that my Redeemer liveth, and He shall stand in the
latter days upon the earth, and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my
flesh shall I SEE GOD: Whom I shall SEE FOR MYSELF, and MINE EYES SHALL BEHOLD, and not
another.' He was positively sure in his own mind that in some distant future day he would
SEE GOD, but what he did not know was that AT THAT VERY MOMENT God was leading him into
the coveted experience. Within a few days he would shout with ecstatic joy, "I have
heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: BUT NOW MINE EYE S-E-E-T-H THEE!" (Job
42:5). It is easy to put off spiritual experience for the millenniums to come, but God
would have us enter them now. 'That I may KNOW HIM' was the ceaseless longing of Paul's
heart. Too many sermons are preached ABOUT GOD, but too few people come to KNOW HIM
personally. You can never know people by hearing about them even from their closest friends. You must see
them, know them, and understand them personally. However vivid a description may be given
of an individual, you could still pass him on the street without knowing who he was or
even live in the same house with him without knowing he was the person in question. So
also it is with God. You will know many things about Him by hearing, but you will only
KNOW HIM when your eye SEES HIM. 'No man can see God and live,' but that does not mean
that he will live the same anymore, but will live as God lives in the Spirit" - The
Page.
To see the Christ with the
understanding, to perceive Him with our spirit, to know Him experientially dwelling in our
"deep," our innermost life, this is the vital necessity for our day. The place
where you really find Christ is WITHIN. "Christ liveth in me." As His life
matures within, as HE grows up within you, you can continually LOOK FOR HIS APPEARING, HIS
MANIFESTATION. From the deep of your spirit He will move in His operation outward into
soul and body, reconciling, changing, transforming all. That is the greatest place you
will ever SEE HIM.
"Even so, come (manifest)
Lord Jesus!"
Chapter 15
THE
PHANEROSIS OF JESUS CHRIST
The cry of the deepest in man has
always been to see God. It was the cry of Moses and the cry of Job, the cry of psalmist
and of prophet; and to the cry there is heard the distant sound of approaching answer. In
the fullness of time the Son stepped forth with the startling proclamation that He Himself
was the appearing of God before men. "If
ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him, and
have seen Him. Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth US. Jesus
saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet thou hast not known Me, Philip?
he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, show us the Father?
Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I speak
unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the
works" (Jn. 14:7-10).
This brings us to the fourth Greek
word associated with the so-called "coming" of the Lord. The noun is PHANEROSIS
and the verb PHANEROO. This word means "to appear" or "manifest." The
word EPIPHANEIA which we have already considered also means "manifestation" -
but with a difference! PHANEROO is often used when someone is manifesting someone else, as
when the Son manifested the Father, or when we manifest the indwelling Christ in our
lives. EPIPHANEIA means to manifest oneself, not someone else; and it not only means to
manifest oneself but to manifest oneself fully. We can have a partial manifestation, one
that is not complete; but when the Lord said He would manifest Himself to those who keep
His commandments it was a form of this word that He used. This is not a partial
manifestation, but complete and perfect.
But when the pen of inspiration
employs the word PHANEROO it speaks not so much of God manifesting Himself TO us, but,
rather, God manifesting Himself THROUGH us! It is someone manifesting someone else - the
Christ and His body of the enChristed becoming the manifestation of GOD in the earth. Let
us consider a few examples where the word PHANEROO is used. "I have MANIFESTED
(phaneroo) Thy name unto the men which Thou hast given Me" (Jn.
17:6). "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life
also of Jesus might be MADE MANIFEST (phaneroo) in our body"
(II Cor.
"For in Him (Christ Jesus)
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him" (Col.
2:9-10). Jesus Christ is the visible expression of the invisible God. What often confuses
people is that they forget that what is made visible on this earthly plane is one realm,
and the glory of the SPIRIT realm is another. The Fatherhood realm is of spirit, to beget
after Himself, for "He is the Father of spirits" (Heb. 12:9). Yet to become
manifested in a visible realm of flesh and blood, He took upon Himself the creaturely form
of His own creation, and became also the SON OF MAN. "GOD was manifest in the
flesh..." (I Tim.3:16). And now, members of His body, of His flesh and of His bone,
our mission to MANIFEST HIM is one of the most glorious parts of our conformity to our
Lord. He says it plainly in the most solemn moments of His life: "As My Father hath
sent Me, even so send I you" (Jn.
The wonderful purpose of Christ's
PHANEROSIS, His appearing and manifestation, is that men may SEE GOD. One of the sweetest
of all the beatitudes is: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see
God." This may, in some respects, be called the greatest of all the beatitudes; for
surely of all things, the most sublime is seeing God. The word "see" in the
original tongue is interchangeable with the word "know," and must be so
understood. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall KNOW God." "Oh,
I see!" is an expression frequently used to denote comprehension and knowledge. The
scriptures often employ the term "see" in exactly this manner. It is essential
to understand this if we are to find harmony in the many prophetic statements which tell
of Christ's coming.
Rev. 1:7 is a prophecy descriptive
of the manner of Christ's return, and those who will be affected by it. We quote:
"Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which
pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him." This text has
been misused in an attempt to prove the erroneous theory that Jesus will return as a flesh
and bone man and be suspended in the sky until every individual throughout the whole earth
has had an opportunity to see Him. But this crude interpretation of the prophecy is quite
out of harmony with the Bible's use of language. Example, how the Bible uses the function
of the eye to symbolize discernment. After Job's long experience of calamity and trial,
and the revelation of God's heart to him, he cried out in communion with God, "I have
heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: BUT NOW MINE EYE S-E-E-T-H THEE!" (Job
42:5). All will concede, we believe, Job did not see God literally, but he saw Him,
nonetheless. Jesus said to His disciples, "Blessed are your eyes, for they see"
(Mat.
To "see" means to KNOW.
"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall KNOW God." A pure heart is one to
which all that is not of God is strange and jarring. A heart that has no desires but for
the glory of God, whose affections all center in Him, whose delight is in His perfect
will, such an one will truly see and know the Lord. It is better to know God than even to
see Him by the eyes of sense. There were many who saw Jesus who did not know Him. They saw
the Christ, but they knew not that He was the Christ. They saw His miracles, but they did
not know Him. They even rejected Him and hated Him, some of them. You could see Jesus
Himself in bodily form today, but unless you had purity of heart you could not know Him to
be the Christ. It is only purity of heart which gives purity of sight.
When we turn our telescopes upon
the stars and see them in their beauty and glory; when we see that one star differs from
another star in glory, and when we see masses of stars in beautifully variegated colors,
we see God in the heavens. We see God in the beautiful thoughts which He has given in His
Word. We see God in the lives of men and women who have God in them. We see God Himself if
our eyes are opened to see things which are heavenly. We see in the apocalyptic vision how
John the apostle saw Jesus; how he describes the wonderful revelation of Christ; how he
fell at His feet as dead when he saw Him. His spiritual eyes saw Him. After all, purity of
heart is the attainment of spiritual eyes. I believe it is possible to see a vision we
never have seen because of the grossness of our sight.
The following words by George
Hawtin bear eloquent testimony to the truth I now proclaim. "I have often thought of
the wonderful words 'no man can SEE GOD AND LIVE.' Oh how often we have quoted that
wonderful passage as proof that we may not hope to see His face. Will you allow me
reverently to say something else? Though it is true that no man can see God and live, it
is equally true that no man can see God and die. Men do not die in God's presence, neither
do they live AS THEY USED TO LIVE, but they are TRANSFORMED. Hallelujah! They are changed;
they are transfigured; they come into THAT SAME IMAGE of Him who created them. In whatever
measure God reveals Himself to man, to that same measure you are changed and nothing can
avoid that conclusion. There is no possibility of any man's ever being the same again or
living as he used to live once he has personally met the Lord and his eyes have beheld
Him, the King in His beauty. 'As for me,' said David, 'I will behold Thy face in
righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake with Thy likeness.' My own heart answers
Amen. That is when I, too, shall be fully satisfied" -end quote.
There are a few scriptures which
seem to indicate that it is not possible for us to see the Lord. The Lord said as much to
Moses: "Thou canst not see My face: for there shall no man see Me, and live"
(Ex. 33:20). John goes further: "No one has ever seen God" (Jn.
But if we will search the
scriptures we will see that men DID see God! There are passages in the Bible where seeing
God is spoken of as a deadly danger. Gideon feared for his life when he saw the angel of
the Lord, but the Lord consoled him and told him he would not die (Judg.
Jacob declared that he had seen
God at the place he named Peniel, which means "the face of God." The record
states: "And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: FOR I HAVE SEEN GOD FACE TO
FACE, and my life is preserved" (Gen. 32:30). These scriptures would appear to be
contradictions and illustrate our need for the light of truth and understanding in this
matter. On the one hand God told Moses that no man could see Him and live, while the
record shows clearly that JACOB SAW GOD FACE TO FACE, and his life was preserved. And,
indeed, if no man can see God and live, then God's word to Moses has reference to THE
SOULISH LIFE, which is actually death! Jacob SAW GOD AND HIS LIFE WAS PRESERVED,
indicating that this life which was preserved was the life of the spirit, the true life of
God, the divine quality of life which is beyond the veil of tears and sorrow and pain.
What a marvelous and
incomprehensible potential this: TO SEE GOD! Now, we know, of course, that God has no
corporeal form. "No man hath seen God at any time" (Jn.
Heaven is naught but the biblical
name for the REALM OF GOD'S SPIRIT, the invisible and omnipresent dimension of SPIRITUAL
REALITY. And it is all around us. We are one with it by virtue of our Spiritual Life. We
touch heaven as we touch God, we dwell in heaven as we dwell in God and we experience
heaven as we experience God. Heaven is eternity, but what we know here and now, with our
spirits imprisoned within these walls of carnal minds and bodies, we know only serially,
in a sequence called "time," which never permits of our comprehending an
experience in its entirety. All true Christians have touched heaven when they touched God,
but all of our experiences have been limited by this physical world. We have seen and
known God through experiences, but no limited experience can enable us to SEE GOD AS HE IS
or to know Him as He is. Men speak of the experience of salvation, the experience of the
baptism in the Holy Spirit, the experience of healing, or of a vision, or a dream, or a
miracle, or a revelation. We rejoice in each of these blessed experiences, each one
bringing a "knowing" of something of the life and glory and reality of God, yet
in none of them do we truly SEE GOD AS HE IS in the unbounded fullness of His glorious and
eternal reality.
As long as our eyes remain closed
to the CELESTIAL REALM, we will never see God as He is. Jesus Christ is the image of the
invisible God. There is a most enlightening passage of scripture in Jn. 1:18. "No man
hath seen God at any time." Were we to discontinue reading at this point, we would
abandon all hope of ever seeing God. However, if we will continue reading we will discover
this amazing truth: "...the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,
HE HATH DECLARED HIM." Let us now give earnest attention to the rendering given by
the Amplified Bible that our souls may bask in that blessed hope that is laid out here in
the vivid words of this translation. "No man has ever seen God at any time; the only
unique Son, the only begotten God, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him
- He has revealed Him, brought Him out where He can be seen; He has interpreted Him, and
He has made Him known."
Therefore, our conclusion must be
that God can be seen by those to whom it is given, for Christ hath declared Him. The Greek
word used for "man" in this passage (no MAN hath seen God) is OUDEN and has
reference to ONE MAN. This word comes from another Greek word which has to do specifically
with ONE MAN: the man alone and without Christ. Therefore, the man alone and outside of
Christ does not and cannot see God. On the other hand, the man IN CHRIST can see God and
will be changed. He who sees God will not continue to live the same, but will experience a
wonderful and glorious transformation as, like Jacob of old, HIS LIFE IS PRESERVED. The
whole matter becomes easier to understand when we read further in John's Gospel: "Not
that any man hath seen the Father, SAVE HE WHICH IS OF GOD, HE HATH SEEN THE FATHER"
(Jn.
To SEE GOD is a holy privilege,
reserved for those who are IN CHRIST. It is given to those elect saints called to the high
calling of God IN CHRIST JESUS, or for those who are "OF GOD" according to Jn.
6:46. Jesus encouraged His followers to behold the Father, when He said, "Have I been
so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath
seen the Father" (Jn. 14:9). Jesus then promised the Comforter, saying, "Yet a
little while, and the world seeth Me no more; but YE SEE ME: Because I live, ye shall live
also. At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you"
(Jn.
Consider now these words of wise
counsel penned by another writer: "In order to see God and have that single eye
toward Him, we will have to lay aside all the doctrines of men and the theories about Him
which only clutter our vision and obscure the reality of His glory. The world is full of
doctrines made up of half-truths, speculations and ideas about God and His truth which
only tend to be an opiate dulling our spiritual senses and filling our vision with the
cloudy mists of unbelief. But the elect shall BEHOLD THE LORD, seeing Him who is invisible
to the natural man, and they shall inherit the fullness of the promises contained in the
wonderful and glorious SPIRIT OF ADOPTION. The Psalmist expressed the wishes of all the
sons of God, when he said, "Arise, O Lord, deliver my soul from the wicked... from
men of the world, WHICH HAVE THEIR PORTION IN THIS LIFE ... AS FOR ME, I WILL BEHOLD THY
FACE IN RIGHTEOUSNESS: I SHALL BE SATISFIED, WHEN I AWAKE, WITH THY LIKENESS" (Ps.
17:13-15), This indeed is our wish and desire, for within the heart of every true son of
God there beats the lively hope of THE SPIRIT OF ADOPTION, and the intense desire to be
delivered of the spirit of this age, "from men of the world, which have their portion
in this life." We seek to behold the face of the Lord in righteousness and will only
be satisfied when we awake in His likeness. Things of this world mean nothing, for our
only ambition now is to SEE HIM AS HE IS" -The Living Word.
It is important that we keep in
mind the enlightening truth that the Greek word PHANEROO, used of Christ's appearing, is
most often used when someone is manifesting someone else, as when the Son manifested the
Father, or when we manifest the indwelling Christ in our lives. The sons of God are
apprehended to BECOME GOD'S CHRIST, that they, too, may REVEAL THE FATHER. This brings us
to a passage of scripture, the truth of which is seldom, if ever, heard among the people
of God. The preachers and teachers invariably misapply it, but it is fundamental to our
understanding of the manifestation of the sons of God and the appearing of Christ.
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be
called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we
know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And
every man that hath this hope in him purifieth Himself, even as He is pure" (I Jn.
3:1-3).
I have quoted from the King James
version which reads, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God." Some other translations say the same
thing and some say - we are the children of God. That is the proper rendering as the Greek
word is TEKNON which means little children or a child, instead of the Greek HUIOS which
means a full grown son and is correctly translated "son" in Rom. 8:14, 19 and
other places. Beloved, now - right now - we are the little children of God. And this is no
small thing! "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the children of God, therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew
Him (the Father) not." Children of our heavenly Father! The offspring of God! This is
our present calling and standing. We are already born of God, and the life we have from
Him is Christ. This is not a question either of hope or of attainment. The grace of God
has already given us life in Christ, and Christ's relationship with the Father.
Every believer is NOW a child of
God; but does this give him a place of honor in this world? If any of us were a son of the
queen of
"Now are we the children of
God; but it doth not yet APPEAR (phaneroo - is not yet manifested) what we shall be: but
we know that when HE shall APPEAR (phaneroo) we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as
He is." Here we have the truth brought out with great clearness and force. We know
what we are - God's children. But "it doth not yet appear what we shall be." The
word - appear - is the Greek PHANEROO, meaning MANIFESTATION. What we shall be is not yet
manifested. And what shall we be? What do all little children become? Why, ADULTS, of
course! The children become sons. Sonship
is a higher realm than just being children.
The future the Father has planned
for His sons is away beyond our ability to comprehend or even imagine. I am overwhelmed
with awe when I think of what is ahead for us. Rom.
Paul prayed for this understanding
for us when he wrote, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him; the eyes of
your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His
calling..." (Eph. 1:17-18). Can we know what this glorious hope is? Is there any way
we can begin to comprehend it? Yes, but I doubt that we can begin to grasp the glory of it
in its fullness; but the scripture says, "God reveals it to us by His Spirit."
As we are able to receive some small measure of the wonder of our calling the Spirit will
reveal it to us in a measure. As the Spirit begins to open the eyes of our understanding
how different it is from what preachers have been telling the people for centuries, of a
glory land where all is eternal day with nothing to do but sit on a cloud, play a harp,
and own a little cabin somewhere in a corner of heaven.
The manifestation of the sons of
God has not yet taken place. When they are manifested they will receive in the whole
universe of God the honor due to those who are in this wondrous relationship. "We
KNOW that when He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him." This is fully revealed
to faith; we know it with divine certainty. But WHAT WE SHALL BE has not yet been
manifested; if it had been, who could withhold the place of dignity due to a son of God?
Thank God its manifestation hastens apace, for "when He shall be manifested, we shall
be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." When He is manifested, we are like Him.
No wonder that HE should be glorified and admired IN us when we are seen in His likeness.
Precious counsel of God, that "whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many
brethren!" Thrice blessed accomplishment when the saints are so manifested in
"the image of His Son" that it is evident they are the "many brethren"
of that "firstborn." Sovereign pre-eminence is His! but they are owned as
"brethren;" they are MANIFESTED "sons of God" - the "many sons
brought to glory."
To be like Him, made in His image
and likeness is the purpose of God for His sons. It is not only His purpose for His sons
but also for the whole human race. This is what He had in mind when in the beginning He
said, "Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness." He wasn't speaking
here of the first man Adam with his wife, Eve; He was referring to the entire human race
which will ultimately, in the ages to come, be brought into this same likeness. There is a
firstfruits company the Lord is working on now, bringing them into this place where they
will be LIKE HIM. This is the Father's purpose for this day, to bring this company to
perfection and into His likeness. These are His elect, His chosen ones, His foreknown whom
He did predestinate to be conformed into the image of His Son, that He might be the
firstborn among many brethren.
You will never understand what it
means to be a son of God until first you clearly see who it is that "appears" or
is manifested in our text. The preachers have been wont to quote the words, "But we
know that, when HE shall appear, we shall be like HIM; for we shall see HIM as HE
is," and then apply the "He" and "Him" to our Lord Jesus Christ.
This passage has been used untold thousands of time to confirm some sermon on the
"second coming" of our Lord in clouds of glory to "rapture" the
church. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Notice that this passage and those
which form its celestial setting, make NO REFERENCE TO JESUS CHRIST. The plain,
unequivocal truth is that Jesus Christ is not mentioned even once in these verses! It has
nothing whatever to do with any "second coming" of the Lord Jesus. John is not
here concerned with the historical Jesus. John clearly declares that by the Father's
abounding love WE are now "the children of GOD" children of the FATHER - not
Jesus. Then he goes on to say, "It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that, when HE (the Father - not Jesus) shall appear, we shall be like HIM (again, the
Father); for we shall see HIM (the Father) AS HE IS." John is speaking to SONS and is
declaring that when THE FATHER shall appear to His sons "we shall be like Him"
and shall then see the Father "as He is." The entire passage addresses the
relationship of the Father to His sons and the sons to their Father, and makes no
reference whatever to the "coming" of Jesus Christ.
There is certainly no lack of
fantastic and distorted notions among Christians which they imagine to be truth. In the
same way the teachers and preachers have taken these verses that teach of the Father and
have interposed Jesus Christ, so they also have taught from these same verses that by
beholding Jesus as He is we will be changed into His likeness. It is a wonderful and
blessed truth that "beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed
into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Cor.
With all emphasis I must declare
that it is not "seeing" the Father as He is that changes us into His likeness,
rather, it is our becoming like Him which enables us to see Him as He is. "We know
that we shall be like Him; FOR we shall see Him as He is." The fact that we see Him
as He is is the evidence, the proof, the demonstration that we are finally LIKE HIM. How
could we possibly "see Him as He is" in any state of being less than exactly
like Him? Natural minds discern the natural. Spiritual minds discern the things of the
Spirit. Natural minds cannot discern the things of the Spirit because they each belong to
two distinctly different realms. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they
are spiritually discerned" (I Cor.
For natural minds to comprehend
the spiritual is equally as impossible as for worms of the earth to comprehend things
human. Humans are of a higher order than are worms.
Let me illustrate. When I met the
girl who was later to become my wife she had four brothers, all living at home. When I
visited
Now he could see her as she really
was BECAUSE HE HAD BECOME LIKE HER. Growth, experience, maturity, responsibility - these
were the factors that caused him to now view his mother from the mature perspective of a
man, an adult. Ah - at that moment the revelation broke within my bosom, sweeping like a
giant tidal wave through my understanding: WE CAN ONLY SEE GOD AS HE IS WHEN WE BECOME
LIKE HIM! It is not seeing Him as He is that transforms us into His likeness; it is
transformation into His likeness that enables us to see Him as He is - THE FATHER OF LOVE.
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed..." The intent of I Jn.
3:2 is to show that at the time of HIS APPEARING or HIS MANIFESTATION His sons shall
already be in the state of BEING LIKE HIM. It is a work that must be accomplished previous
to His manifestation, a prerequisite for His manifestation, indeed, He CANNOT APPEAR until
we are like Him and see Him as He is!
There must come within our being
the harmony of the outer and the inner, when He appears we must appear like Him. He cannot
appear to the outer world in any more capacity than we give Him to appear. When we appear
LIKE HIM then that which He is appears through us. He cannot manifest through anything
less than the image of Himself. The greater cannot flow through the lesser without
restriction and limitation. To be like Him, to see Him as He is, guarantees the
manifestation of Himself through us!
Are we LOOKING FOR HIS APPEARING?
If we are there is something we should be doing now. Listen to this! "Beloved, now
are we the children of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that,
when HE SHALL APPEAR WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man
that hath this hope in him PURIFIETH HIMSELF, even as He is pure." Many are looking
for His appearing and quote this verse seemingly believing that a sudden transformation
into His likeness shall take place at His appearing. Not so! There will be no sudden
transformation, my friend, when we see Him at His appearing. We had better get our eyes on
Him now, purifying ourselves to be even as pure as He is pure. How does one purify
himself? We purify ourselves in obedience to the truth (I Pet.
"Wherefore come out from
among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I
will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the
fear of the Lord" (II Cor.
The pure in heart shall SEE GOD,
and every man that hath the hope of SEEING HIM AS HE IS
purifieth himself. To purify
oneself is to "unmix the heart" so that there is no mixture of that which is
soulish and that which is spiritual. It is to depart from every goal and every aim in life
except the Lord Himself, to cease all activity except that which is produced by the
Spirit, to have an eye single to God's glory and the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
All things must bow low before the will of God.
So many saints are very much in
the position of a blind man in a beautiful flower garden. All around him are glorious
colors; but he is quite unaware of them. If we suppose him to also be devoid of the sense
of smell, we shall see what a very small part of the glory of the garden exists for him.
And if we further suppose him to have no hands, we shall see how the garden practically
does not exist for him at all. Yet it is all there, if he could but sense it! Have we not
all been condemned to a far greater tragedy in that we have been planted by the power of a
new spirit and a new heart inside the very portals of the Kingdom of God and have walked
in the very midst of the eternal glories of heaven, but our hearts have been so mingled
with the clatter of this world that our eyes have not been able to see them, our ears have
been dead to their sounds of joy, our nostrils unable to smell their fragrance, our hands
unable to lay hold upon the eternal glory.
The inspired George MacDonald
wrote: "None but the pure in heart see God; only the growing-pure hope to see Him.
Even those who saw the Lord, the express image of His person, did not see God. They only
saw Jesus - and then but the outside Jesus, or a little more. They were not pure in heart;
they saw Him and did not see Him. They saw Him with their eyes, but not with those eyes
which alone can see God. Those were not born in them yet. Neither the eyes of the
resurrection-body, nor the eyes of unembodied spirits can see God; only the eyes of that
eternal something that is of the very essence of God, the thought-eyes, the truth-eyes,
the love-eyes, can see Him. It is not because we are created and He uncreated, it is not
because of any difference involved in that difference of all differences, that we cannot
see Him. If He pleased to take a shape, and that shape were presented to us, and we saw
that shape, we should not therefore be seeing God. Even if we knew it was a shape of God -
call it even God Himself our eyes rested upon; if we had been told the fact and believed
the report; yet, if we did not see the GODNESS ... we should not be seeing God, we should
only be seeing the tabernacle in which for the moment He dwelt. In other words, not seeing
what in the form made it a form fit for Him to take, we should not be seeing a presence
which could only be God. To see God is to stand on the highest point of being. Not until
we see God - no partial and passing embodiment of Him, but the abiding presence - do we
stand upon our own mountain-top, the height of the existence God has given us, and up to
which He is leading us. That there we should stand, is the end of our creation. This truth
is at the heart of everything, means all kinds of completions, may be uttered in many
ways; but language will never compass it, for form will never contain it. We not only may,
but we must so KNOW HIM and it can never be until we are pure in heart. Then shall we know
Him with the infinitude of an ever-growing knowledge" -end quote.
Had you been beside Moses during
his forty days in the heart of the cloud, when He saw God face to face, you would not have
seen Him if you had not been holy. Had you stood beside the Martyr Stephen, when he beheld
the glory of God, and the Son of man standing beside Him, your eyes would have discerned
nothing if you had not been holy. Yea, if it were possible for you to stand within the
pearly gate (were there such a thing!); you would not see the sheen, as it were, of
sapphire; you would carry with you your own circumference of darkness; and the radiant
vision would vanish as you approached. "Without holiness no man shall see the
Lord." The one condition for seeing God in His Word, in nature, in daily life, in
circumstances, in the darkness and pain of the present travail, in the affairs of men and
nations, in closer-fellowship, in intimate communion, in vital union, yea, in all things,
is holiness of heart wrought there by His own indwelling. My brother, my sister, follow
after holiness as men pursue pleasure; as the athlete runs for the prize; as the votary of
fashion follows in the wake of the crowd.
It should be abundantly clear that
only SONS conformed to HIS IMAGE can ever S-E-E GOD. "And we know that, when He shall
appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." But the hope that now
looms bright before us, HIS FIRSTFRUITS, is the same hope that abides for ALL MANKIND.
Truly, "At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in
earth, and things under the earth; and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father," and just as surely, "EVERY EYE SHALL SEE
HIM" (Phil. 2:10-11; Rev. 1:7). What a hope!
Another beautiful illustration is
found in Lk. 2:25-30, when Simeon, who had received the promise from God that he should
not see death until he had SEEN the Lord's Christ, came by the Spirit into the temple,
when Joseph and Mary brought in the child Jesus. "Then took he Him up in his arms,
and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according
to Thy word: FOR MINE EYES HAVE S-E-E-N THY SALVATION." What kind of eyesight is
this? A little babe in the arms of his mother, and yet Simeon's eyes were opened to see -
not just the form of the babe, but THY SALVATION! This certainly was not an uncommon
sight, mothers were constantly coming into the temple with their children, to do for them
after the custom of the law. And no doubt there was a vast multitude of other people in
the temple on that day; they, too, saw the babe in the arms of his mother, but they did
not see THY SALVATION, for having eyes, they saw not - "and the world knew Him
not."
When the scripture said: "The
glory of the Lord shall be revealed and ALL FLESH SHALL SEE IT TOGETHER," which is
the vision of Habakkuk, which is the word of Isaiah: "ALL FLESH SHALL SEE THE GLORY
OF GOD" (Luke says: "All flesh shall see the salvation of God"), God is
saying the same to the world today, in saying to us who have received the call to sonship:
THE SONS OF GOD ARE TO BE THE SALVATION OF GOD UNTO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH. "That they
might be unto Me for a people, for a name, for a praise and for a glory" (Jer.
When the glory of God is to be
revealed, which is the salvation of God, it will be the unveiling of the sons of God. For
"saviours shall come up on
When the
And let me say today, the reason
the world will know the church and the body of Christ and the sons of God to be the
salvation of God, is because God is pouring out His Spirit upon all flesh and all the ends
of the earth shall SEE THE SALVATION OF GOD. All humanity, with that quickening of the
Spirit, will have their eyes enlightened to SEE in the body of Christ the salvation of
God, to SEE in the sons of God the glory of God and the salvation of God. Yes, my beloved,
both statements are wondrously true: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall
see God," and "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and EVERY EYE SHALL S-E-E H-I-M!"
Glory to God!
Chapter 16
THE COMING
OF THE MORNING STAR
Astronomy is the oldest science
that is known to man. Last night on top of
The Old Testament ends with the
glorious promise of the arising of the Sun of Righteousness. But the New Testament does
not begin with the Sun of Righteousness. Wise men came from the East and walked down the
streets of
Now how did they come to associate
the coming of Christ, as a King with a star? If you want to know where they got it you
will have to get into the gondola of a heathen prophet and go up with him. Back in the
book of Numbers this heathen prophet who had a message from God said this, "I shall
see Him, but not now: I shall behold Him, but not nigh: there shall come a STAR out of
Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and
destroy all the children of Sheth... out of Jacob shall come He that shall have
dominion" (Num. 24:17-19). "I shall see Him, but not now (the One of whom I am
speaking is not present yet): I shall behold Him, but not nigh (this is not going to
happen within the foreseeable future): there shall come a STAR out Jacob..." Out
there in a pagan, heathen land there was given this prophecy to the Gentiles that a STAR
was coming! They were to watch for a star, if you please. They had that prophecy in that
area of the world. They were looking for a star, and when they saw it they converged on
The star in Matthew chapter two is
just the beginning of this matter in the New Testament. If we go to the last book, the
book of Revelation, we see two things: the first is that the Lord Jesus is the star, not
the evening star but the Morning Star (Rev. 22:16); secondly, we see that all the stars
mentioned in the book are people. We have so frequently discussed the symbolism of the
book of Revelation that there will be no need to remind those who read these lines that
every sentence in this marvelous book has a symbolical and figurative significance and
stands for some SPIRITUAL REALITY. The language of the Bible is the language of symbols.
The sweet singer of
On a clear, moonless night the
stars overhead are a wonderful sight. If the weather is warm, we can easily become
engulfed in the awesome spectacle. The overwhelming variety, the mind-boggling distances,
and the intriguing patterns soon capture our imagination. Only the cool night wind or the
reminder from the back of the neck that we are not accustomed to looking up for so long
will bring us back to earth sooner than we might like.
A star is a huge ball of glowing
gas in the sky. The sun is a star. It is the only star close enough to the earth to look
like a ball. The other billions of stars are so far away that they are no more than
pinpoints of light - if they can be seen at all. There are more than 200 billion billion
stars. Suppose that everyone in the world were to count the stars. Each person could count
more than 50 billion of them without the same star being counted twice. Stars are enormous
objects. The largest stars would more than fill the space between the earth and the sun.
One star can measure more than 100 million miles across! We can hardly imagine the great
distances that separate the stars. The star nearest the sun is more than 25 million
million miles away from the sun. But even this great distance is only one-billionth the
distance from the sun to the farthest stars. Gazing upon the multitude of stars that shine
in the nocturnal heavens, one might despair of ever reading anything intelligible in their
design - they seem to be so scattered, so entirely without order, spread with such
confusion over the face of the sky. And so far away, so silent.
Some time ago our daughter took an
aptitude test to discover her career abilities, or what she is best at. She came across
questions that were expressed in this way: "A group of four things are set before
you; three of them have something in common and one of them seems out of place. Find the
one that does not belong." How about a little test right now. In the first chapter of
the Bible we read "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day,
and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also" (Gen. 1:16). Again,
"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day
from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years"
(Gen. 1:14). Of the four things set before us in this verse did not one of them seem
strangely out of place? Some one is asking, "What four?" Notice again:
"...and let them be for SIGNS, and for SEASONS, and for DAYS, and YEARS." Does
one of them seem out of place? It would be obvious to everyone with even an elementary
knowledge of astronomy that the heavenly bodies have a great deal to say about our YEARS,
our DAYS and our SEASONS. But how are they SIGNS? What is a sign? Perhaps the best way to
answer our question is by answering another question first. What, precisely is the purpose
of a "sign"? Is it not to proclaim a message? To give information? To tell a
story which is important to the one who put up the sign? A sign is also something
arbitrarily selected and appointed to represent some other thing. To SPIRITUALLY
comprehend the creative record, we must admit that God intended these orbs of light as
expressions of some special teaching; something different and higher far than what is
naturally deducible from them. Stop there for just a moment. Ask yourself what the
inspired Psalmist means when he says that every day speaks to him and to us. What does he
mean when he declares that every night is a showing forth of KNOWLEDGE? To whom does he
refer when he says that there is no place on earth where the language or speech of men is
spoken that "their voice is not heard"?
FINDING CHRIST BY THE LIVING STAR
There are signs in the heavens!
There are stars revealed in the Word of God which portray the plan and purpose of God. In
this study we want to consider the mystery of the Morning Star, the identification of the
Morning Star and what it represents to us in the spirit. The Morning Star is mentioned
twice in the book of Revelation and is involved with Jesus and with the promise of the
Lord to the overcomers. What or who is the Morning Star? Come and see! "And, behold,
I COME QUICKLY ... I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last
... I am the root and the offspring of David, and THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR" (Rev.
22:12-16).
The Lord Himself is the Morning
Star. I do not hesitate to tell you that to see Christ is to behold the Morning Star. To
know Christ is to know the Morning Star. To experience Christ is to experience the Morning
Star. How can we find Christ? How can we see and touch and experience the Christ? This was
the same problem that confronted the wise men of old. One thing is certain. To find Christ
is a living matter; it is not by a knowledge of the Bible and doctrines and Church
traditions. Jesus was born in
You see, precious friend of mine,
merely to hold the Bible in your hand and read Micah 5:2 (revealing that Christ would be
born in
Oh! that we may see this star.
What is the star? The star is the LIVING REVELATION, the QUICKENING VISION of the Christ
wrought in the heart by the illuminating activity of the Holy Spirit. The star is not the
dead letter of the Word, the outer shell or husk of the truth. What is needed today is not
the knowledge of static creeds and lifeless traditions, not empty ceremonies and impotent
programs, not more religious activities, but the heavenly vision, the celestial glow and
gleam, the holy brightness and brilliance of THE STAR, the vision that carnal concepts can
never reach. Ah, my friend, what have you? Do you have the Bible, do you have religion, do
you have Church meetings, or do you have the star? Do you know all the verses, claim all
the promises, and stand on all the doctrines, or do you have the heavenly star? Are you
clinging to the dying embers of yesterday's revelation and yesterday's move of God, or are
you following the on-going path of the Living Star?
You see, the wise men need not to
have gone to
Then the wise men departed from
We want to see that star today. Oh
what bursting there must have been in the bosom of the Seer of Patmos as the sublime words
of Jesus swept like a thunderous tidal wave over his awakened consciousness! "I AM
the root and the offspring of David, and THE BRIGHT AND THE MORNING STAR." From the
desolation of Patmos John had beheld the natural Morning Star many a time after a night of
storm, floating in the infinite spaces of the morning darkness. In our solar system the
Morning Star is that bright planet - Venus which at some seasons of the year appears so
beautifully in the east, at the darkest hour of the night, leading on the morning - the
harbinger of the day. Paul said, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand"
(Rom. 13:2). The hour spoken of by the apostle is that time just before the dawn - the
darkest part of the night. It is the time of the Morning Star. The Morning Star is the
last great star of the night season, the brightest star of all the stars that adorn the
canopy of the heavens at night. In fact, it is still visible as the sun spreads its first
rays over the horizon. It is the last star to disappear into the surpassing glory of the
dawn.
THE STAR THAT SHINES IN A DARK PLACE
The appearance of Christ as the
Morning Star is a most glorious manifestation of the Lord to His elect. It is amazing how
one fresh word of revelation from the Lord can change the whole course of our
understanding and give us renewed hope and a fresh vision of the necessary dealings and
processings of God in our lives to usher us onward into His fullness. I have been inspired
and encouraged with this precious truth. This is indeed a revelation of the Lord's purpose
and ways that has inspired within new understanding, confidence and anticipation of the
glory that lies before. It is my deep desire that all who read this message shall be
encouraged in their forward walk in Christ.
There is a remarkable and
illuminating passage of scripture in II Pet. 1:16-19. "For we have not followed
cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father
honour and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard,
when we were with Him in the holy mount. We have also a more
sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well
that ye take heed, as unto a LIGHT THAT SHINETH IN A DARK PLACE, UNTIL THE DAY DAWN, AND
THE DAY STAR ARISE IN YOUR HEARTS."
There has been a world of
misunderstanding and misinformation connected with these significant words of Peter. Peter
said that we have a sure word of prophecy. We are admonished to give heed unto this sure
word of prophecy until the day dawn, and the day star arise in our hearts.
It cannot be disputed that most Christians have carelessly assumed that
that sure word of prophecy is the holy scriptures. But the sure word is not the Bible!
Peter does not merely state that we have received a sure word of prophecy. I would draw
your reverent attention to his exact words. This is very important. "WE A-L-S-O have
a M-O-R-E sure word of prophecy." Then he goes on to say in the subsequent verses
that the prophecy came not in OLDEN TIMES by the will of man: but "holy men of God
SPAKE as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost" (II Pet.
The record of the dazzling-glory
of Christ's transfiguration is gathered from the accounts of the three Gospel writers.
"He was transfigured before them," says Matthew, "and His face did shine as
the sun, and His raiment was white as the light." To this Mark adds this descriptive
sentence: "His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on
earth can white them." Luke in his account adds the significant statement, "His
countenance was altered, and His raiment was white and glistering." The significance
of the word GLISTER is that that which glistens is merely reflecting light as a bright
object might reflect the light of the sun, but that which glisters shines from light that
comes from within itself. It was in this manner of animated illumination that Jesus was
seen in transfiguration. The light which He really is was shining as the sun from within
Himself. He IS LIGHT, even as a star IS LIGHT.
With overwhelming awe these three
men awakened from the drowsiness of their sleep, for they had been sleeping (Lk.
What did Peter, James and John see
on that mount? There was the blessed Lord Jesus, with Moses and Elijah, the type of two
things - the law and the prophets. There you have two men - the greatest of all lawgivers,
and one who epitomizes in the most splendid manner all that the prophetic mantle embodies.
And in the presence of these the heavenly Father gives all glory and honor unto His Son
with the command to the disciples: "Hear ye Him." HEAR HIM! When the disciples
heard it they fell on their faces, seized by alarm and struck with terrifying fear. All
their life times they had been instructed to give the utmost respect and unfailing
obedience to every sacred word of Moses and the prophets. But Jesus came and touched them,
and said, Get up, and do not be afraid. And when they raised their eyes they saw no man
but Jesus only. The message is clear - the law and the prophets have forever passed away,
and today there is just THE VOICE OF THE SON OF GOD. "For the testimony of Jesus is
the spirit of prophecy" (Rev. 19:10). This voice of the Son of God, the indwelling
testimony of Jesus, the inward illumination of the Christ within as the spirit of
prophecy, IS THE MORE SURE WORD OF PROPHECY WHICH WE HAVE.
Hear what the apostle says about
this more sure word of prophecy. "Whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto A
LIGHT THAT SHINES IN A DARK PLACE, UNTIL the day dawn, and the DAY STAR ARISE IN YOUR
HEARTS" (II Pet. 1:19). Two-foldedness is the teaching here, both in type and
antitype; they fit each other in the law of the analogue as hand and glove, and each bears
conclusive witness of the other. First, there is the light that shines in a dark place.
Second, there is the Day Star that arises in the heart, bringing in the dawn or brightness
of the day. Every person understands what the Morning Star is. The Morning Star appears at
the darkest part of the night. It rises above the horizon suddenly just before the
blackest part of the night. It is seen and greeted only by a few who are watching for it.
The rest of the world is asleep. Only astronomers and heaven gazers and
waiters-for-the-dawn see the Morning Star. The sun, on the contrary, floods the whole
world with light and awakens and gives life to all nature. Before its illuminating rays
the darkness and shadows of night are scattered. The Morning Star is not daylight. You
never saw a man wakened up in the morning by the Morning Star. You must get up early to
see the Morning Star. What wakes people up in the morning is the streaming sunlight - it
is daylight. The Morning Star is all very good for a man in the dark morning, but the
Morning Star is not the day.
Two-foldedness is the thought
which leaps along all the lines proclaiming the coming of our Lord as Light: He comes as
the Morning Star, as a light shining out in the darkness; and then He comes as the Day
Star, as the sun arising in all its strength and majesty, bringing in the day. The most
notable of all stars is that star which is called the sun. The sun is the center of our
solar system. All the planets of our solar system revolve around the sun. In the scripture
the sun is called the Day Star - it is the star of the day. It is the one star in God's
vast universe which gives us the light of day. And just as the natural sun is the center
of our physical solar system, so the spiritual sun, or Day Star, is the center of our
spiritual solar system. The Day Star typifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He is spoken of in
Mal. 4:2 as the Sun of Righteousness who arises with healing in His rays. Peter calls Him
the Day Star which arises IN OUR HEARTS. The entire
Do you inquire what is the Morning
Star? It is the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is the Sun of Righteousness? It is the Lord
Jesus Christ, but the Lord Jesus seen, experienced and known in a totally different
dimension. The symbols proclaim it. The Morning Star is a symbol. The rising sun is a
symbol. The Morning Star comes before the sun. It gives no shattering, awakening signs of
its coming. It comes at the hour when the night is disputing with the morn. It comes when
all the lowlands are in depths of darkness, when the mountain peaks stand out against a
tremulous sky, and the myriad stars seem like the eyes of watchers waiting for the dawn.
It shines with noiseless softness upon the earth, like a golden lamp let down by an
invisible chain. It poises itself for a brief moment on the rim of the night and the rim
of the morning, like a note of unuttered song. It quivers there for a space as though it
were a tear from the eye of God, sorrowing that so many should sleep and miss the one
transition hour from darkness into light. It disappears and the earth seems full of a
strange hush. Then there are mists that rise like wraiths above the streams. Shadows and
shapes come and go. Voices are calling to each other. Things are in motion and undefined.
The star has come and gone and the interval between the star and the sun is on. The sun
comes after the star is gone, or the star disappears because of the surpassing glory of
the sun. The sun comes like one who has a bow, and he goes forth conquering and to
conquer. He shoots his gleaming arrows upward and they fall slanting into the eyes of men
to waken them. All the heavens own the coming. They turn into rose and amber and purple of
amethyst; they flame and flash, they seem to swoon in glory till the edge of heaven and
the edge of earth melt into one undefined, shivering, unequal line of splendor; all the
land is flooded and drowned in light, and every mountain, every valley is disclosed.
These symbols have been applied by
divine authority to the coming of Christ. His coming is compared to the Morning Star. He
comes to us like that bright and morning star. He comes while the darkness of our carnal
minds is disputing with the morn of holiness and truth. He comes when all the base
emotions and desires of the flesh are in deepest darkness; when the mountain heights of
pride, ego, self-centeredness and self-will stand out in their self-appointed majesty
against the heavenly ways and divine will of the precious mind of Christ Jesus. He
descends in noiseless softness as the star of the morning, indicating an imminent change,
a transformation, that the morning comes; it is a pledge of the faithfulness of God, it is
intermingled with the first rays of the light of the sun, it comes as a herald to announce
the arrival of a light so bright and so powerful and so glorious that all must be
transformed before it.
His coming is also compared to the
sunrise. He will come, a bow will be given unto Him, and He shall go forth conquering and
to conquer. There will be the "light of His arrows and the shining of His glittering
spear." He shall arise with healing in His wings. Aye! But the healing shall be the
health of fire consuming iniquity, the fire that leaves neither root nor branch of evil.
By the purifying, transforming, healing rays of the Sun of Righteousness we shall be
changed into His likeness, the night in us swallowed up by God's great Day. The coming of
Christ is as star-light and sun-rise. And how we praise God for both!
I WILL GIVE YOU THE MORNING STAR
"And he that overcometh, and
keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall
rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers:
even as I received of My Father. AND I WILL GIVE HIM THE MORNING STAR" (Rev.
2:26-29). I want to show you a mystery about the Morning Star. We have indicated to you
that the Day Star is the sun, because it is the Day Star that brings the dawn, the day.
The sun typifies Jesus Christ in all His blazing glory bringing in the fullness of light
and dispelling the night. Anyone who possesses even an elementary knowledge of astronomy
knows immediately that the Day Star and the Morning Star are not the same star. The
Morning Star is a different star than the Day Star. And Jesus, in speaking to the
overcomers who shall rule the nations, says to these overcomers concerning this power to
rule the nations, "I'm going to give you something; I'm going to give you something
called the MORNING STAR." That Morning Star embodies within it the nature and
qualities of your power over the nations, and indicates the purpose and result of that
rule.
The Morning Star is promised to
all who "overcome" and who walk with Christ in blessed submission to God.
Inasmuch as Christ declared Himself to be "the Morning Star" and He promised to
GIVE this Morning Star to all who overcome, then it is obvious that something unique and
special of Christ is imparted to the Lord's faithful overcomers. This is a
"coming" of the Lord you will seldom, if ever, hear anything about from the
preachers and teachers of the harlot church system. The television evangelists, who love
to flaunt the "rapture" before their undiscerning audiences, know nothing of
this coming of our Lord as the Morning Star. But the giving of the Morning Star involves
an impartation of the Christ. The Morning Star is a glory of the Christ within, as HE
shines in the darkness of our weakness and inability and frustration GIVING A VISION OF
AND HOPE FOR THE DAWNING OF THE FULL DAY. During our spiritual growth unto full stature,
the Christ within has been developing from experience to experience, from strength to
strength, from hope to hope. And now He comes to impart to a people the glorious hope of
the day - THE TOTAL VICTORY AND COMPLETE TRIUMPH OF THE CHRIST LIFE WITHIN THE ELECT, AND
THE WONDERFUL BLESSING AND DELIVERANCE OF ALL MANKIND THAT ENSUES.
How pathetic that for vast
multitudes of believers today their one cherished hope is to escape this planet and live
forever in some far-off heaven somewhere. And they would abandon the teeming billions of
earth to writhing endlessly in the unspeakable horrors of damnation and hell, while they
flit about in white night gowns over the Elysium fields of that glory world above. These
poor deluded souls have absolutely no concept of God's glorious DAY prepared for all
mankind! Their sole interest appears to be in saving their own necks, along with the
trifling hand full of saints captured from the hands of an almost-omnipotent devil.
Again, I ask, when does the
Morning Star appear in the natural world? Just before the dawning of the day! Who sees it?
The one who has been watching during the dark and dreary hours of the night. Anyone
acquainted with natural things, or who has traveled by night, knows that the appearance of
the Morning Star is hailed as the intimation that day is at hand. In the morning darkness
it shines with a most wondrous, clear, silver light, dazzling as a gem of rarest hue.
Someone once wrote, "At
How plain, how practical the
application! There is a remnant of God's people over the whole earth that have taken heed
to the word of prophecy as to a light that shines in a dark place. The Morning Star has
shined in their hearts, foretelling the approach of Eternal Day at the arising of the Sun
of Righteousness. This remnant have fixed their eyes upon Jesus, they are looking away
from all the darkness of this world, from the chaos of sin, sickness, pain, rebellion,
crime, drugs, war, hatred, injustice, fear and death stalking the earth; and they are
looking away from the seeming hopeless carnality of their own lives, away from people,
away from limitation, from everything to the Everlasting Hills of God. There is to be a
restoration! Today we see a terrible lack of things being right, or in divine order. There
is a divine order for creation, an order of life and harmony. There is a proper order for
animal life, vegetable life, and human life. But all things are out of order, in frightful
chaos. The curse must be lifted, every enemy put under our feet. Divine order for the
universe must be restored. All creation is groaning and crying for release from the curse
of sin, decay and death. And everything hinges on that body of SONS that are to be
manifested in that perfect state of divine order. And those who receive of this victory
and glory, the wonderful mind of Christ, conformed to the image of the Son, with a full
and complete triumph over sin, carnality and death, in spirit, soul and body - do not
these make up that blessed company TO WHOM IS GIVEN THE MORNING STAR? And, in thus
receiving the Morning Star, do they not in turn BECOME THE MORNING STAR? Flooded with HIS
LIFE AND LIGHT they become the herald, the harbinger of the near-approaching dawn.
Praise God that we are living in
the times of this restoration. It is the greatest day in the long history of man. It is at
hand. I know it's at hand because I see a people being pressed and processed into the very
life of God. Not only you and me, but all creation as well will thrill to what God brings
about in this grand and glorious restoration! "The creation itself shall be delivered
from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God"
(Rom.
Ah, yes, the mists and shades of
night are all about. In fact, it is darker than ever before. That tells us what time it
is! Sin abounds. The love of multitudes has waxed cold. The wanton harlot, Mystery Babylon
the great, sits exalted astride the nations and reigns as a queen over the earth. Violence
fills the lands. As in the days of Noah, every imagination of the thoughts of men's hearts
is only evil continually. But in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation is a
people - a people whose hearts have been charged from above - a people who have been given
the Morning Star - and they hail the rising orb of light that tarries but a little until
the Sun of Righteousness brings in the dawn. The whole creation shall be gladdened by the
dawning of "a morning without clouds" - the opening of a bright and never-ending
DAY OF GLORY! Those to whom the Morning Star has been given, those blessed saints unto
whom has been committed the word of universal reconciliation, those who have received the
call to sonship, who yield themselves unto God to be transformed in mind and heart, in
spirit, soul and body, conformed into the image of God's Son; these, I declare, ARE GOD'S
MORNING STAR COMPANY. And as of old, the morning stars are now prepared to sing together,
and all the sons of God shall again shout for joy!
On a personal level, all that
ultimately shall be fulfilled collectively and universally, is first accomplished
individually within God's elect sons. The meaning to the individual of receiving the
Morning Star is that a new day is prepared to dawn in our experience. It signifies the
awakening of the heart, the quickening of the mind, the infusion of light and
understanding, the up-springing of hope and purpose, and the stirring of faith to
apprehend new heights and realms and realities in God. A whole new state of consciousness
is coming to fruit in us. A new day lies before us. And the Morning Star is the Christ
within bringing into focus the consciousness and energy of that fresh unfoldment of HIS
LIFE.
All of the vision is fulfilled in
our Lord Jesus Christ who is the "I AM." So we look for the new day, HE IS THE
NEW DAY, and its dawning reality within is vitally a part of HIS COMING. He is that
"LIGHT that shineth in a dark place," and as He comes to us, finally "the
day dawns, and the day star arises in our hearts." And in very truth, for us the new
day has begun!
What
a wonderful change in my life has been wrought
Since Jesus came into my heart;
I have light in my soul - for which long I have sought,
Since Jesus came into my heart!
Yet what we now have within as the
Morning Star is but the foretaste of that greater dawning still to be realized. And there
are periods of time when it seems to us that HE TARRIES, for we understand not what He
meant when He said, "A little while, and ye shall not see Me: and again, a little
while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to the Father" (Jn. 16:16). We long for Him,
yearn for Him, we thirst for the fullness of His life, and we find it difficult to wait
even "a little while." We can watch the clock, scrutinize the changes taking
place within, observe the signs of the times, analyze every prophecy spoken, and fret
ourselves with the "time element," or we can set our gaze firmly upon Him,
knowing that HE HAS APPOINTED THE TIME OF THE DAWN, and He will bring us to His time.
Yes, the night is far spent,
praise God! There are cycles of the DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL as the Spirit brings to light
realms of darkness within us of which we were not previously aware, until we are
overwhelmed with our own darkness. The dark cycles sweep over us, pressures from within
and without, deep-rooted tentacles of the self-life, carnal reactions that lay
undiscovered, corruption hidden in the depth of the heart, until just the appropriate
circumstances are arranged by Father's wise hand to draw them forth. But, praise God!
there is within that darkness THE LIGHT THAT SHINES IN A DARK PLACE, CHRIST WITHIN AS THE
MORNING STAR, INSPIRING HOPE OF THE DAWN. It is common with man to judge after the seeing
of the eye and the hearing of the ear, and during the black of the night we despair that
release will ever come. But there is another realm, deeper yet, the realm "of
spirit," and we can commune with our own spirit which becomes one with His spirit,
and find there is a light within, the Morning Star, as the Psalmist said, "The Lord
my God will enlighten my darkness" (Ps. 18:28). "Day
unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge" (Ps. 19:2). The
workings of God come in these cycles of night and day. God sends the blessings, the
movings of the Spirit, the quickenings, the illuminations and they carry you through a
time of darkness. Then as things seem to ease up a bit, pressures lift, victory breaks
through, and a morning appears. Glory streams through your day. The Sun of Righteousness
has arisen. Yet comes the next cycle of processing, the shadows deepen into darkness, and
you cry out for the Lord to enlighten your darkness, and, bless His name! fresh
quickenings from within carry you through another night of testing.
"But of the times and the
seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly
that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace
and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child;
and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should
overtake you as a thief. YE ARE ALL THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT, AND THE CHILDREN OF THE DAY: WE
ARE NOT OF THE NIGHT, NOR OF DARKNESS" (I Thes. 5:1-5).
I know what the church system has
taught, but they taught a lie. They teach that the Day of the Lord is the seven-year
tribulation at the end of the age. They have no scriptural foundation. The Day of the Lord
is that special period of time, not twenty-four hours, and not one singular time, when the
Almighty God actively manifests Himself in dealings to end unrighteousness and establish
the reign of His righteousness. Many individuals and churches and nations through history
have encountered their own unique "Day of the Lord," their Hour of Visitation. I
am making known a DAY unto you, beloved, and the day I am proclaiming is the Day of the
Lord, and it is upon us now. We must not be established upon the traditions of the elders
or the doctrines of men. We must allow the Holy Spirit of wisdom and revelation from God
to unfold Christ, that we may know Him when He appears, in whatever form or manner He
appears, that we miss not the Day of Visitation as did the Jews of old. A great light
shined in the darkness, the greatest light that has ever been upon this earth and yet, to
this day, they are living and walking in darkness. The very glory of the Father was
revealed to them as the scripture said it would be. All God ever could be or ever shall be
was manifested in Jesus Christ. No greater light could have shown unto them than that
light, because the Light of lights was there to see. Most of them did not recognize Him,
neither did they suspect that the Lord of glory was right there in the midst of them. If
they had entered into Him, He would not have declared that another day yet remained for
the children of God. Don't let us, dear ones, miss our "Day of Visitation." Let
us not fall short of that which He is speaking unto our hearts, that we might hear His
words and instructions and begin to walk in the light of that glory. "For yourselves
know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." The
Jewish nation was not ignorant of the teaching of the scripture concerning His coming; but
they had drifted so far from God in their hearts, that when that day arrived they knew it
not because it took the Holy Spirit to reveal it.
The Day of the Lord always comes
as a thief in the night. There have been many seasons of the Day of the Lord. I admonish
all who read these lines - be established in YOUR DAY. It's a new day, the Day of the
Lord. It is coming in like a thief. Christ's presence is beginning to fill the whole earth
and the glory of God is risen upon a people. This is not a fallacy, this is the immutable
Word of the Lord. This is the very truth, the very understanding as the Spirit has made it
known unto His people, that they might know the counsel of God for this very day. Though
multitudes continue to walk on in darkness, you shall walk in light. Many stubbornly cling
to those things which are passing, the relics of a former day of glory, but those whose
hearts have responded to the call are taking hold of those things that are new. The former
heavens He shall roll up like a scroll and set aside. There is a new heaven and a new
earth for you today, saints of God!
"And the evening and
the morning were the FIRST DAY" (Gen. 1:5). God's days
always begin with evening, pass through the travail of night, and joy comes in the
morning. Most Christians who rejoice in the truth of the PRESENT DAY OF THE LORD have
altogether missed the awesome words thundered by the prophet in Amos 5:18-20. "Woe
unto you that desire the day of the Lord! To what end is it for you? The day of the Lord
is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went
into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day
of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?"
There is that aspect of the Day of the Lord which is darkness and not light. It is a day
of darkness and there is no light in it. You see no light, discern no sweet rays of cheer.
You get caught up in the Day of the Lord and God begins His work in you. He comes to do
away with the old that He might establish the new. What strippings! What purgings! What
purifyings! What desolations! And the evening and the morning become your day. God is
purging and purifying us from the things of man in the Day of the Lord. All flesh, our
flesh, is become as grass. He is turning your world upside down and emptying it out and He
will completely re-lay the foundations and put a glory in you that will out-shine the sun.
What a glorious Day! Have we not experienced something of the night season when all is
darkness and gloom? That is the evening, the night time of the Day of the Lord. Then, at
the darkest hour, there comes the appearance of the Morning Star - a ray of hope and
expectation. And joy comes in the morning!
There is another fascinating facet of this
truth that presents itself to us. Though we are caused to pass through the night, the
Morning Star announces the end of the night, bringing with it bright expectations of the
dawn and the day. It will be helpful for us to locate our position in the night, or in the
day. Are we children of the night, or do we pertain to the MORNING STAR COMPANY and the
day? The answer lies in the answer to another question - What are we looking for these
days? Doom, collapsing of the economy, tribulation, the antichrist, one world beast
government, mark of the beast, darkness and gloom? If all you can see is the night, then
surely the scripture is fulfilled in you, "Men's hearts failing them for fear, and
for looking after those things which are coming on the earth" (Lk.
For more on 'signs in the heavens' and the original zodiac read The Heaven’s Declare
Chapter 17
THE COMING
OF THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
The Word of God turns man's
attention repeatedly to the heavens. "The heavens declare the glory of God... day
unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge" (Ps. 19:1-2). The
heavens do not speak English, yet they speak to every Englishman and every American. They
speak in every language to every people. The Old Testament closes with God directing man
to look to the heavens. God says, in effect, "Look up to the heavens, and don't miss
it, because it's important!" "Unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of
righteousness arise with healing in His wings" (Mal.4:2). The Old Testament closes
pointing a finger to the East, to the sunrise, proclaiming that all who fear the Lord are
to look in that direction because there is the promise of sunrise. It points us to the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Sun of Righteousness, arising with healing rays
over the horizon of this earth-realm. And, brothers and sisters, that is a fitting figure,
because the Lord comes to usher in a NEW DAY.
A person who speaks only the
English language can take a book written in French, and, while he may not be able to read
it except with much hesitation and mispronunciation, still he can struggle through it
after a fashion. Occasionally he will come to a word which closely resembles the English
with which he is familiar. But, because he knows nothing of the meaning of French words,
no matter how well he can read the text, it means nothing to him until he learns what each
individual French word means. Even so Christians who read Bible prophecy, if they do not
understand the prophetical language, are confronted with a similar problem. Prophecy is
invariably written in prophetical terms, and unless one understands the meaning of each
individual term, though he may be able to read the text fluently, yet he has no
understanding of what he reads. So, before one can understand prophecy, he first must
receive a revelation of the prophetic language. Fortunately the Word furnishes us with the
keys to prophetical terms, by which we may through the Spirit become proficient in the
prophetic language.
There are many terms used in
prophecy, such as stars, moon, sun, sea, rivers, trees, mountains, hills, islands,
valleys, heaven, earth, beasts, horns, eyes, etc., etc. In our last study we considered
the mystery of the Morning Star. There are stars revealed in the prophetic Word of God
which portray the plan and purpose of God. If we go to the last book in the Bible, the
book of Revelation, we see three things: the first is that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is the Morning Star (Rev. 22:16); secondly, we see that all the stars mentioned in the
book are people (Rev. 1:20; 9:1, etc.); thirdly, the Morning Star is involved with the
promise of the Lord to the overcomers, and is promised to all who overcome (Rev. 2:29).
The giving of the Morning Star involves an impartation of the Christ. The Morning Star is
a glory of the Christ within, as HE shines in the darkness of our weakness and inability
and frustration GIVING A VISION OF AND HOPE FOR THE DAWNING OF THE FULL DAY. There is a
remnant of God's people over the whole earth today into whose hearts has shined the
Morning Star. And, in thus receiving the Morning Star, do they not in turn BECOME THE
MORNING STAR? Flooded with HIS LIFE AND LIGHT they become the herald, the harbinger of the
near-approaching dawn.
Long centuries ago in Babylon the
aged prophet Daniel received this challenging and assuring word from the Lord: "And
they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many
to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever" (Dan. 12:3). There are many other
stars besides the Morning Star in God's glorious celestial realm, His spiritual heavens.
Here the signification of stars is identified with the saints. Each member of God's elect
is one star in God's spiritual universe. You are a star in God's economy! You are
appointed to have an eternal fixed position in God's heavenly Kingdom as a star, as a
shining one, as a luminary. There are different degrees of glory to the stars, "There
is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars:
for one star differeth from another star in glory. SO ALSO IS THE RESURRECTION OF THE
DEAD" (I Cor.
I am sure every reader of these
lines is familiar with the old song, "Will There Be Any Stars In My Crown?"
There is no scripture to indicate that the saints will wear "starry crowns," but
there is scripture which is greater by far! It is the privilege of all who treasure the
beautiful hope of sonship to dwell upon the consolations of this marvelous promise,
"And they that be teachers shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they
that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever." God's universe embraces all
places. This little world of ours, and each star and sun and planet are but tiny grains of
sand on the seashore of infinity. Each one is small indeed in relation to all the rest of
the systems, and in relation to limitless space. A conception of its magnitude can be
gathered only from the stellar worlds themselves. What are those stars, in the likeness of
which the teachers of righteousness are to shine forever and ever? How much of brightness,
and majesty, and length of days, is involved in this comparison?
The sun of our own solar system is
one of these stars. If we compare it with this globe upon which we live (our handiest
standard of measurement), we find it an orb of no small magnitude and magnificence. Our
earth is nearly eight thousand miles in diameter, but the sun's diameter is eight hundred
sixty-four thousand miles. In size it is one million three hundred thousand times as large
as our globe. In the matter of its substance, it would balance three hundred thirty-two
thousand worlds like ours. What immensity is this! Yet this is far from being the largest
or the brightest of the orbs in the heavens. The sun's proximity, only some ninety-three
million miles from us, gives him with us a controlling presence and influence. But far
away in the depths of space, so far that they appear like mere points of light, blaze
other orbs of vaster size and greater glory.
There are stars, as, for instance,
Arcturus, which emits light equivalent to one hundred fifty-eight of our suns; Capella,
one hundred eighty-five; and so on, until at last we reach the great star Rigel, in the
constellation of Orion which floods the celestial spaces with a brilliance fifteen
thousand times that of the ponderous orb which lights and controls our solar system! Why,
then, does it not appear more luminous to us? Ah, its distance is equivalent to
thirty-three million diameters of the earth's orbit; and the latter is one hundred
eighty-six million miles! Figures are weak to express such distances. It will be
sufficient to say that its glowing light must traverse space as only light travels - one
hundred eighty-six thousand miles a second - for a period of more than ten years before it
reaches this world of ours. There are many other stars which are hundreds of light-years
from our solar system. A few years pass away, and all things earthly gather the mold of
age and the odor of decay. But the stars shine on in their glory as in the beginning.
Centuries and cycles have gone by, kingdoms have arisen and slowly passed away. Yet the
stars' brightness is not dimmed, nor their force abated. The dew of youth still seems
fresh upon them. No faltering motion reveals the decrepitude of age. These shine on in
undiminished glory through all the ages of time.
Thus shall those wise and blessed
sons of God shine who turn the inhabitants of the world to righteousness. Thus shall their
ministry and their years roll on from age to age until that wonderful age of all ages, the
dispensation of the fullness of times wherein everything in heaven and in earth and in all
realms is gathered together into one in Christ and God becomes All-in-all. What glories
lie beyond this, we cannot yet know. Of this we may be sure: we who are redeemed have
entered a progressive institution, a Kingdom in which stagnation will never enter. We will
ever go on "from glory to glory," for "of the increase of His government
... THERE SHALL BE NO END" (Isa. 9:7). We will never come to the place where we can
sit down with folded hands and say, "This is the end." We, who have been born
into the heavenly realm, have entered a stage of action, we have become active agents in
the greatest development program ever conceived. A whole universe awaits our touch and
guiding hand. "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? Thou hast put ALL THINGS in
subjection under his feet. For in that He put ALL in subjection under him, He left
N-O-T-H-I-N-G that is not put under him. But we see NOT YET all things put under him
(man). But we SEE JESUS..." (Heb. 2:6-9). Surely these words can mean nothing less
than UNIVERSAL DOMINION!
Away out there in the blue is a
Kingdom of life and light and love for every son of God to explore and develop and
perfect. And if ever, in all the countless ages to come, that Kingdom should become too
small or overcrowded for its citizens, let us remember that we, being as He is, are
therefore, one and all, the very same kind of Beings as He who simply spoke the Word, and
lo! the present worlds appeared. Being like Him, we will also be creators, one and all,
and not destroyers, as in our human state. "WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM.”
God says that men enter His
heavenly Kingdom by being born into it (Jn. 3:5). Men do not die to go to heaven, they are
born there. And then after they are born into that state - after they become heavenly
beings - they can lay up, by their obedience to the heavenly Father, heavenly riches which
will not only be a place, but royal pomp and splendor and majesty and dominion beyond
compare. Sonship does not only entitle one to residence in God's limitless and eternal
domain, but to the ownership and rule of that domain, in proportion to qualifying in
service now. Oh, that it were possible to lift men up above the shadows, and give them
just a glimpse of something higher! Mortal minds are so entirely inadequate; human eyes so
dim; human ears so dull!
Heaven is not a mansion over the
hilltop, not the gratifying of the needs and desires of this vessel of clay. It is not
that which will bring creature comfort. It is not a state of eternal creature enjoyment
and rest. The celestial realm is something infinitely higher. It is eminence, power,
majesty, glory. It is becoming the same kind of a Being as the One who made the worlds
(Jn. 10:34-36; I Jn. 3:2), and will bring, not inactive rest with fluttering wings and
strumming harps, which in a few short hours even becomes exceedingly tiresome, but
activity and accomplishments far surpassing that of earth's limitation. And it includes
kingship and priesthood over God's eternal and infinite domain. It is dominion and power
and influence far above that which earth can contemplate or even imagine. And then the
place which we receive after entering this heavenly state is not heaven, but that which we
receive as a consequence of our entrance into the celestial sphere. The place is the
reward which faithful heavenly beings will receive as their very own, a part of their
inheritance, heavenly real estate.
The stars are distant lights. They
shine in other spheres. There is no doubt that vast numbers of these stars are
"suns" like unto our own, the centers of great solar systems, with heavenly
bodies that revolve around them, perhaps populated by beings of which we know nothing at
this present time. Thus will it be in the Kingdom of the Son, in the spiritual heavens of
God's universal and eternal dominion. Each son of God will be a star, a sun, shining forth
in living and everlasting luster. Each member of the elect will faithfully radiate his
beams of life and light and love, shining in those spheres which the omniscient Father
shall allot to them. Thus each shall become the central star of a spiritual solar system
composed of myriads of creatures in God's glorious creation which revolve around them,
unto whom they shine as the revelation of God's nature, glory and power. And thus shall
the scripture be fulfilled, "Then shall the righteous SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the
Kingdom of their FATHER. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Mat.
There is also a negative aspect to
the stars - "falling stars." Today we see those who, as falling stars, blaze
their way across the heavens. They make a spectacular entrance, and shine brilliantly for
a season, and just as suddenly they are gone - their light becoming darkness. Ah, they
have done mighty works, they have preached to multitudes, they have cast out devils, they
have healed the sick, they have prophesied in His name, they called Him Lord; but they
were not subject to His law, His order, His purpose. They were "doing their own
thing" and perverting the light into the building of their own kingdoms. He will say
to them, "I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity" (Mat.
There are also those stars
described as "wandering stars." Jude 12 and 13 tells us, "These are spots
in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear:
clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth,
without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out
their own shame; WANDERING STARS, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness
forever." So many who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ today are not stars,
there is no radiance of His glory from their lives. Some, however, are stars, but they are
wandering stars. Do you know what a wandering star is? In our universe a proper star has a
certain position and fixed orbit. It continues in its appointed course steadfastly. But
there are some stars with no fixed position or orbit: they are wandering stars. They are
stars, but they are not steadfast stars. If you follow them you will be misled. If you
accompany them they will not take you anywhere in God. These possess no clear vision of
God's purposes, no stable comprehension of His plan, no submission to His dealings, no
learning of His ways, no dedication to His principles, no putting on of His mind, no
divine order in their walk. These are tossed to and fro by every "new" teaching,
wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, the prey of the cunning and cleverness of
unscrupulous men - personality followers. They ever seek some "new thing," and
let a new revelation come along, or a new teacher come to town, and they will run after
him and flock around him for a season, but there is no fruit of God in their walk; just as
quickly they cool off to the excitement of the "new," and wait for the next
sensation to appear. They themselves are wandering stars: they have no ground, no
foundation, no standing, no goal toward which they are unswervingly moving under the
guiding and disciplining hand of the Father. Today they say this, and tomorrow they say
that; they are wandering. Be careful! You will never arrive at sonship by following a
wandering star. If you are wandering you are wasting your time. If you would go to a
certain place, get out your map, get on the right road and in the right lane; and as you
drive, you will reach your destination. Above all we would BE His stars, bright shining as
the sun. In the entertainment world, the "movie stars" shine from their false
and lofty skies. God, at the same time, is exalting His sons, the "moving stars"
of the heavenlies, that they may swallow up all lesser lights. In becoming
Christ-centered, we become life and light to those worlds which rotate around us. We
follow on in our prescribed course, in the order and harmony of God's spiritual universe!
LIGHT
The Lord Himself is the Bright and
Morning Star. Hear what the apostle Peter says about the Morning Star. "Whereunto ye
do well that ye take heed, as unto A LIGHT THAT SHINES IN A DARK PLACE, until the day
dawn, and the Day Star arise in your hearts" (II Pet. 1:19). Every person understands
what the Morning Star is. The Morning Star appears at the darkest part of the night. It is
seen and greeted only by a few who are watching for it. The rest of the world is asleep.
The sun, on the contrary, floods the whole world with light and awakens and gives life to
all nature. Before its illuminating rays the darkness and shadows of night are scattered.
The dark place where the Morning
Star shines is IN OUR HEARTS. The place where the Day Star arises is likewise IN OUR
HEARTS. We should not be obliged to present lengthy arguments to prove that without God
the heart of man is hopelessly dark, incurably carnal, and desperately wicked. It is most
enlightening to read the words of Jeremiah who said by inspiration of the Holy Spirit that
"the heart is deceitful ABOVE ALL THINGS, and desperately wicked: who can know
it?" (Jer. 17:9). To the enlightened mind of this prophet, the depth of iniquity to
which the human heart is capable is so great that it is beyond the ability of any man to
comprehend. As a friend has said, "We should not find this so amazing a passage of
scripture were it 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 from without a man, that entering into him can defile him:
but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. 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" (Mk. 7:15,21-23).
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 OUT OF THE HEART OF MAN. What an
incredibly dark place, the human heart! No wonder the apostle made the heart of man the
location of the Morning Star - the star that appears at the blackest part of the night!
Man today wants to hear nothing
about the depravity of his heart, the utter corruptness of man's nature. Twentieth century
man has endeavored to forget it, to deny it, to ignore it, to turn his back upon it, to
get away from it, to escape it, and hope in some way that it will just go away and leave
him alone. But it will not! The reality of man's sin has filled to overflowing the prisons
and mental hospitals of this nation until they sprawl as endless cities. Wing after wing
of these institutions is filled with people who are there primarily because their lives
are overwhelmed and crushed by their sin which they've striven to ignore or deny. When
will we face reality for the way it is and seek God's remedy for it instead of our own
daubing at the surface blemishes of the fatal cancer within? Even Freud, unbeliever that
he was, in his psychoanalytic studies probed deep into the soul of men. There, as he
plunged down into that subbasement of the human soul which he called the "id,"
he found lurking in all the crevices and corners of that soul such foulness, such
unbelievable hate, such attitudes towards those whom they were supposed to love, such lust
and greed and pride, that he himself was shocked at what he discovered. But he was
unknowingly putting his imprimatur on the Word of God which says, "For all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of God ... The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked: who can know it? ... I the Lord search the heart."
Ah - the Lord searches the heart!
And just how does He do this? The wise man replies, "The SPIRIT OF MAN is the candle
of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly" (Prov.
Every man's life is his own castle
of many rooms. By His indwelling Spirit, the candle of the Lord has been moving from one
room to the next, silently, carrying the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. He
has been challenging every activity, deed, act, word, and even every thought and intent of
our lives. Now we come to the close, and just as we are ushering our heavenly investigator
to the last room of the castle of our lives, as we are walking down the hall, He stops,
looks down and says, "What is this?" We had devoutly hoped that He would not
notice that trap door set so securely in the floor. Hardly anyone knew about it at all;
and casually we toss it off. "Oh, that's just the basement, Lord. You really wouldn't
want to go down there." "Oh," He answers, "but I would. In fact that's
why I came - to go down there." So, over all your protestations His will wins out.
You lift that creaking door, and as it opens, there is the odor of stinking flesh and
hidden corruption and the sound of bats' wings, and a circular, narrow stairway leads down
into the inky blackness below. With anxious heart, you follow Christ down those stairs,
wondering what evils shall be brought into His light. As the shadows flee before that
light which radiates from Him, you reach the floor of the basement with all of its
darkened chambers and its unclean imagery. There is no place to hide, for the light that
comes from Christ reveals all. Jesus has come, the Morning Star has appeared, the candle
of the Lord has come to search the heart and reveal the very depth of the secrets, the
suppressed attitudes, secret motives, hidden desires, concealed ambitions, all the
darkness of the soul. Thank God! He does not uncover our iniquity to destroy us, but to
save us and purify unto Himself a people to show forth His glory in the earth.
Years ago when farmers were
clearing land they had great trouble with the stumps of trees. It was easy to cut down the
tree but to burn out the stump was a long and torturous process. Finally somebody invented
a machine that had a long boom and a huge hook. This hook was planted around the stump
between the roots. Then there was a whirring of machinery and a grinding of wheels and
levers, and the stump of the tree was ripped from the ground despite the desperate
clinging of the roots to their accustomed earth. The Living Word of God is the hook which
would go down into the dark soil of our hearts and pull out the stump, root, and all the
very last vestiges of carnality, self and wickedness. The wonderful law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus - there is nothing like this law found in all the legislation of
ancient or modern history. All the enactments of princes and potentates may cover the
deeds, acts and words of their servants. But only God can command the heart. The greatest
tyrant who ever lived could do nothing to quell the hatred that raged like a tempest in
the hearts of his subjects. He could do nothing to hush the curses that smote him like
white lightning. Here, therefore, we see the signature of God, for only God searches the
heart, and gives promise of the dawn!
All sin is but the perversion of
that which is legitimate in its proper order. Sex, for example, is a wonderful and
beautiful thing in the order of God, but misused it is demeaning and creates problems of
guilt, distrust, broken homes, venereal disease, etc. Within the marriage union it is
holy, the apt figure for the spiritual love and union between Christ and the Church; but
out of order expresses itself in fornication, adultery, homosexuality, bestiality and all
manner of uncleanness. All the false religiousness of the
Man's nature is saturated with
powerful drives of desire, ambition and creativeness. It has been said that the powerful
horses of desire and ambition have to be dealt with in some way. There have been numerous
proposals for dealing with these wild horses that gallop in the breast of every one of us.
The Buddhist has his suggestion. Gautama, the Prince, recommended very simply that we
shoot these wild horses, thus ending all desire, and get rid of all ambition. Thus we
would rid ourselves of all misery. The behavioral psychologist today has an opposite view
from that of Gautama Buddha. He declares that we should simply let the horses run wild.
Whether you are age five, ten or twenty-five, just do the thing that feels good. Let it
all hang out. Then what do you have? You have a society just like ours, where you cannot
walk the streets in safety at night. You are afraid to send your children to some schools,
lest they not come home at all, with or without an education. But God has something to say
about those wild horses. He says that we are not to shoot them and we are not to let them
go; but we are to tame them. We are to harness them, ride them and redirect them to God's
glory. Some people say, "You have never tried to ride my wild horses. That wild horse
of lust - I have tried to tame it and have landed on my back in the dust. That wild horse
of ambition for the things of THIS WORLD has thrown me many a time. We will never be able
to tame them, and it is folly for us even to try." But when Christ comes in HE CAN
TAME THE WILDEST HORSE. This One who tamed the raging waves of the sea of Galilee can tame
the raging horses in our hearts. That desire can be redirected. That ambition can be
redirected. That zeal can be harnessed. Our drives are not to be annihilated; rather they
are to be sublimated. They should be purified and reprogrammed to a higher and greater
cause - the cause of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ - the cause of the
God has made us to reach for
something more glorious than the stars, which will live forever, for the eternal
The Morning Star is the candle of
the Lord that shines in the dark place of the heart, searching all the inward parts of the
desires, affections and nature. The Sun of Righteousness is the arising of the glory of
the Lord shining in His full strength and majesty, dispelling the darkness, bringing in
the day of victory, life and glory. In scripture the sun is called the Day Star - it is
the star of the day. It is the one star in God's vast universe which gives us the light of
day. And just as the natural sun is the center of our physical solar system, so the
spiritual sun, or Day Star, is the center of our spiritual solar system. The Day Star
typifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He is spoken of in Mal. 4:2 as the Sun of Righteousness
who arises with healing in His rays. Peter calls Him the Day Star which arises IN OUR
HEARTS. The entire
Thus, in the prophetic scriptures
the Lord is symbolized by the sun. The natural sun is the brightest luminary in the
natural heavens. And to help us in correctly interpreting the meaning of the spiritual
sun, Gen. 1:16 informs us that God made "the greater light (the sun) to RULE the day,
and the lesser light (the moon) to RULE the night." Here we first have the idea of
both the sun and the moon being RULERS. Then we find that God, the supreme Ruler, is
called in the Word a "Sun." "For the Lord God is a SUN and a shield"
(Ps. 84:11). "Thy SUN shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself:
for the LORD shall be thine EVERLASTING LIGHT" (Isa. 60:20).
The comfort and hope of the
Morning Star and the dazzling brilliance of the Day Star both originate in the hearts of
God's elect. But the scriptures are clear that their influence is destined to extend to
the world and beyond to the farthest reaches of creation. "I am the light of THE
WORLD," said Jesus, and again, "YE are the light of THE WORLD" (Jn.
One of the most beautiful word
pictures of the Lord's coming is painted by the prophet Malachi when he likens the
manifestation of Christ to the Sun - the "Sun of Righteousness." This
"Sun" will rise, declares the prophet, with "healing in His wings."
Here the rays of the sun are likened to great wings upon which it rises, and under the
shadow of which is found health and life - "healing." It is the rising of this
"Sun" that will scatter the mists and gloom of the long night of sin and weeping
through which the human race has been stumbling over the broad road leading to
destruction. When the sun rises the face of nature is changed. When He who "rules the
day" appears in fullness of strength, the whole world answers to the mighty change;
evil is judged; the oppressor is broken to pieces and the captive set free. He who
"rules in righteousness" chases all before Him which is unsuited to His sway,
and brings in the long sighed-for Sabbath for creation.
There has been a dawn for us and,
blessed be God! there shall be a dawn for all creation. The peoples of our planet will not
remain in the icy clutches of an ever-deepening darkness until all hope is gone, until
there is nothing but total darkness and death. No, light will appear - more light than the
world has ever seen - at the arising of the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His rays.
The whole face of this old world is yet to be changed by the arising of the Sun of
Righteousness within His people!
There will be no unsolved problems
anywhere not taken care of by the bright shining of the glory of the Lord through His
sons, for nothing short of a universal dispensation of this glorious Sun's healing rays
can fulfill Jesus' own promise concerning the manner and object of His coming. Consider
the problem of war. Today we find mankind devastated by the ravages of war, revolution and
anarchy. But in due time, the LORD will say to the raging nations, "Be still, and
know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen (nations), I will be exalted in
the earth" (Ps. 46:10). It will be then that the nations will "beat their swords
into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks," and NATIONS shall learn war no
more (Mic. 4:1-4). We hear much these days about poverty. Poverty is indeed one of the
major problems in the world. But through the wise rule and gracious administration of the
sons of God, a "feast of fat things" will be made "unto all people,"
and every man will dwell under his vine and fig tree, and there will be none to molest nor
make afraid (Isa. 25:6; Mic. 4:4). We read further concerning this problem that God's
Christ "shall judge the poor of the people, He shall save the children of the needy,
and shall break in pieces the oppressor... for He shall deliver the needy when he crieth;
the poor also, and he that hath no helper (the forgotten man)" (Ps. 72:4,12).
The problems of religion will also
be solved. Today earth's millions worship a multiplicity of gods, and even those who
attempt to worship the true God are hopelessly divided into factional groups from which
there comes a jargon of conflicting claims, dogmas, and doctrines, some even claiming that
God is dead. But all this will be changed, for the proclamation of the Lord is that
Mystery Babylon shall with violence be thrown down and burned with fire, for strong is the
Lord that judgeth her. And the promise of the Lord is sure: "For then will I turn to
the people a pure language (understanding of God), that they may all call upon the name of
the Lord, to serve Him with one consent" (Zeph. 3:9).
Then there is the major problem of
sickness and death. Unless this problem can be solved, mankind will still need endlessly
to travel through the valley of the shadow of death. In such an event there could be no
lasting happiness anywhere, for every happy home would be intermittently blighted by that
dread enemy which counts its victims by the billions. But the Spirit of God has testified,
"The creation itself ALSO shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the
glorious liberty of the children of God" (Rom.
The enlightening rays of the Sun
of Righteousness will fill the earth, not only your earth and my earth, but that earth out
there - until all the shadows and darkness and night have been chased away. This means
that all doctrines of devils, all superstitions, all human creeds and dogmas, all human
precepts by which men are taught to fear God rather than to love Him; all political
intrigues, all humanistic education and institutions, as well as the thousand and one
other evils which plague a dying world, are to be swept away, replaced by the glorious
KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD AND HIS TRANSFORMING GRACE. With the glory of God filling the earth,
there will come also the destruction of all the myriad citadels of sin and vice and crime.
As that glorious Sun of Righteousness forces its healing rays into the various dens of
iniquity, the hells of this world, the satanic darkness of these rendezvous of evil will
give place to the glorious enlightenment of the NEW DAY.
There will not be a nook or corner
in the earth where the light from that glorious Sun will not penetrate. The warmth of its
healing rays will pervade the slums of our great cities and radiate into the institutions
of suffering which we call hospitals. The prospect for the suffering peoples of earth is
truly a marvelous one. It has been well said that the hopes of the world are as bright as
the promises of God, and these are very bright indeed. And not only bright, but sure. How
glad we are to know that the limited scope of God's Kingdom in the earth today is not the
end of the matter! And how blessed we are with the knowledge that the Christ does not
arise to destroy the earth, but to bless the people with peace, health, provision and
life, and that through the powerful agencies of His Kingdom He will fulfill all the grand
promises of sages and prophets, that all the families of the earth shall truly be blessed.
The Sun of Righteousness shall
arise and arise and arise until there is no more night anywhere in God's vast universe. No
man anywhere will be able to escape the glory of God. The apostle John said that GRACE AND
TRUTH came by Jesus Christ (Jn.
We have experienced Christ as the
Morning Star, the Christ within shining forth in the dense darkness of our carnal state of
being. Before us looms the arising of the Sun of Righteousness, the Day Star, swallowing
up all into THE DAY of God's fullness. When there is a shipwreck at
God lights our candle, gives to us
the Morning Star, that HIS LIGHT MAY BECOME OUR LIGHT. It is not possible to explain these
truths to human satisfaction. The things that eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man MUST BE REVEALED to us by the Spirit. You see, God is
light and when that God-light works its way out into our outer-man we begin to shine as
the firmament. The Day Star is the OUTRAYING of the Father, the FORTHSHINING of the Son;
it is being "filled with all the fullness of God," it is "Christ formed in
you" and it is "the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness."
It is from such a realm of glory
and eminence and blessing that Adam fell! Since the transgression in
The question is asked concerning
God's elect, "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear
as the sun?" (S. of S. 6:10). "Looketh forth" would better be translated
"breaketh forth." "Who is she that BREAKETH FORTH AS THE DAWN?" The
imagery here bespeaks the Day Star arising within the body of Christ until the morning so
breaks forth through them that they themselves BECOME THE DAWN. It is my conviction that
even as I pen these words there is a blessed company of saints scattered across the earth
in whom the knowledge of the glory of the Lord is breaking forth as the dawn. "Then
shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: HIS GOING FORTH IS PREPARED AS THE
MORNING (DAWN)" (Hos. 6:3). Even the initial glow of His breaking over the horizon is
breathtaking and stunning. There is something grand and glorious, sweet and refreshing and
inspiring in the morning hour. "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and
thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the
glory of the Lord shall be thy reward" (Isa. 58:8).
We have passed through a time of
great darkness. It has been a long night of travail - yearning, waiting, longing. Darkness
has blinded the minds of men, a deep sleep has been upon the Adamic race, the death of the
carnal mind has kept earth's inhabitants in the regions of the shadow of death. But let it
be shouted from the housetops - THE LIGHT IS COMING! It is time to cast off all works of
darkness, now to be clothed with the armor of light. CHILDREN OF LIGHT, STARS AND SUNS, WE
ARE TO BECOME. Birthed into the new age, to bring forth the glory and triumph of His
Kingdom. Thank God, the first rays of light of the new day are painting the eastern sky!
Thank God, a few of His chosen ones have arisen to behold the glories of the dawn and to
drink in the intoxicating freshness of the morn!
Oh, I am so glad the night is
passing. It has been such a long night, and the people have been so weary, and they can
find no rest, no rest, no rest; for human breasts and human hearts can find no rest until
they find it in God. I am glad the night is far spent; the Day is at hand; that the
glory-dawn is piercing through the sky. It is morning, NOT
"Hast thou commanded the
morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; that it might take
hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?" (Job
38:12-13). Ray Prinzing has so aptly commented on this passage: "Job was in a
profound communion with the Lord, and was being challenged with facts and mighty works
which were far beyond him. 'Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?
declare, if thou hast understanding. When the morning stars sang together, and all the
sons of God shouted for joy.' Among the questions proposed to Job came this one: 'Hast
thou caused the dayspring (or literally, the dawn) to know his place?' God was doing more
than causing Job to recognize His omnipotence and His greatness, but underneath these
questions God was also imparting revelation to Job - THAT THERE IS A DAY, THERE IS A DAWN,
AND THIS DAY SHALL KNOW HIS PLACE, it shall know its proper timing, it shall know its
position, and it shall perform its task and purpose. There is a DAY that shall dawn, and
when it does, it will SHAKE THE WICKED, or all wickedness, out of the earth, and
righteousness shall be established. IT IS THE DAY OF HIS KINGDOM. Such a day is more than
a time element, for this day IS A PEOPLE. And when they have been fully prepared, then
shall their going forth, like unto the Son of God, be prepared as the morning, and they
shall shine with HIS LIGHT AND GLORY, 'a light to lighten the nations.' "
Praise God, the morning IS
PREPARED, the dawn IS BREAKING - a people who embody and personify the hopes of creation,
a people who are experiencing deep within the transformations so necessary to bring
deliverance to the earth, to change the world. The sun comes up at an early hour of the
morning and if you are up at that time you will see it rise, but if you sleep until
The reason there is darkness today
is because of the false doctrines and dark traditions of the church systems. No wonder
God's people are full of unbelief, filled with doubts, and overwhelmed with fears. No
wonder they magnify the works of the devil and declare him more than they declare God.
They know not the DAY in which we are living, because of the darkness of their minds. They
receive death and they feed on darkness all about them. But God has raised you up, my
brother, my sister, as a light this very day, that you might dispel the darkness and
remove these heavens that men have been dwelling under and establish something completely
new in the earth, a new heavens in which the Sun of Righteousness arises with healing in
His rays. Bring forth in your life a new likeness, the image of God, that you may declare
HIM that is supreme throughout all the earth and that He may reign in every heart. Behold
the dawn!
But the popular churches are still
lost in dreams. They have not yet awakened. They know not of the dawn. But we who are of
the day, and who are not lovers of the drunkenness of false doctrine nor sleepers of the
night, have a higher heritage. "We are not of the night, nor of the darkness.
Therefore let us not sleep as do others" (I Thes. 5:5-6). We who have received the
love of the truth are heirs to a higher calling. We have privileges, and we have duties to
perform. We must be about our Father's business. There must be a parting of the ways. It
is time to forsake the shame and error of the harlot system, and time to look up, time to
arise and shine. The day is at hand. The night is spent. We must go forth and lead the way
for all who will follow. "Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy
beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come
into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean" (Isa. 52:1).
Hallelujah for the Sun of
Righteousness!
Chapter 18
THE COMING
OF THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (continued)
The Lord was presented to us, in a
previous article, as the Morning Star. He is now before us as the Sun of Righteousness -
the day-spring from on High. How beautifully apt both these figures are, we have already
seen, and this will become more evident as we proceed. We have seen the relation between
these two characters in which the Lord comes. He comes as the Morning Star. He comes as
the Sun of Righteousness. The Morning Star is the candle of the Lord that shines in the
dark place of the heart, searching all the inward parts of the desires, affections and
nature. The Sun of Righteousness is the arising of the glory of the Lord shining in His
full strength and majesty, dispelling the darkness, bringing in the day of victory, life
and glory. In scripture the sun is called the Day Star - it is the star of the day. It is
the one star in God's vast universe which gives us the light of day.
Thus, in the prophetic scriptures
the Lord is symbolized by the sun. The natural sun is the brightest luminary in the
natural heavens. And to help us in correctly interpreting the meaning of the spiritual
sun, I Jn. 1:5 informs us that "GOD IS LIGHT, and in Him is no darkness at all."
The light which God is is the sun of God's spiritual solar system. "For the Lord God
is a SUN and a shield" (Ps. 84:11). In the Old Testament as well as in the New, we
find that light is given as a symbol or picture of God. Indeed, its very definite language
says that light is God and God is light. The 27th Psalm begins with this word, "The
Lord is my light." This phrase is found frequently in the Psalms, as for instance in
Ps. 36:9, "For with Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light shall we see
light." Also Ps. 43:3, "O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me;
let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles." Ps. 56:13, "For
Thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not Thou deliver my feet from falling, that I
may walk before God in the light of the living?" Again in Ps. 89:15, "Blessed is
the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy
countenance." There are sixteen other references in the Old Testament, besides these,
which refer to light as emanating from God. These evidence the fact that in some
intangible way the physical creature that is such a mystery to us is associated with the
Person of God. We read in Dan. 2:22 that light dwells with God. That is to say, light is
part of the very "being" of God. It is part of His own Person, makeup and
nature. It is embodied in Him. Light has its origin in, and emanates and radiates from
God. From the brightest star in the universe to the tail of the tiniest firefly - all
light comes from God.
When God created, He began with
light. Yes, when God said, "Let there be light," out of dark nothingness came
billions of galaxies with billions upon billions of blazing stars. What is light? This
question has been a puzzle for millenniums. People once thought light was something that
traveled from a person's eyes to an object and then back again. If anything blocked the
rays from the eyes, the object could not be seen. Since the 1600's, scientists have made
many discoveries about light. They have learned that light is a form of ENERGY that can
travel freely through space. The energy of light is called RADIANT ENERGY. There are many
kinds of radiant energy, including infrared rays, radio waves, ultraviolet rays, and X
rays. And yet, light is something more than just waves. As you know, certain kinds of
light will pass through objects that would stop waves. We can see only a tiny part of the
different kinds of radiant energy. This part is called VISIBLE LIGHT or simply LIGHT.
While we recognize light as a
physical creature it nevertheless has what may be called a spiritual nature. One of the
many marvelous phenomena of light is the fact that it can be passed through a physical
substance as hard as rock with its speed unimpaired, and its nature unchanged. Even though
it passes at many thousand times the speed of a bullet through a physical object, light
leaves no hole to mark its passage, and the object through which it thus passed is
undamaged! Glass, you know, is artificial rock. The
same elements that make stone are used by man in his manufacture of glass. Indeed, the
glassware of the laboratory is generally called flint glass, and had the American Indians
possessed this type of glass they would have chipped it into arrow heads and weapons
superior to those of native flint. Man, by his art and device, takes the elements of stone
and transforms them into an artificial sheet of rock which he calls glass. Light, flashing
through space, passes unimpeded through this physical substance leaving no hole to mark
its passage, being unimpaired in the process. When one physical substance can pass through
another physical substance leaving both unimpaired and unchanged, it is certainly related
to the spiritual!
"And the earth was without
form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep ... and God said, Let there be
light: and there was light" (Gen. 1:2-3). Now what was that light which God spoke
into the darkness in that long ago beginning? Was it the sun, or the moon or the stars, as
some Bible teachers try to tell us? It couldn't have been, for the sun, moon and stars had
not yet been made. They were not made until the fourth day. So this had to be some other
light. Now if the Son was the beginning of the creation of God (Rev. 3:14), as He claimed
to be, then He must have been connected with this first light somehow. And if He is the
beginning and the end, the first and the last, then it is clearly evident the He Himself
was the light God brought forth at that time. Let us look at the last light, in the next
to the last chapter of the Bible, "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of
the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, AND THE LAMB IS THE LIGHT
THEREOF" (Rev. 21:23). So in the end there is no need for the sun nor the moon, for
the glory of God and the Lamb is the light. If HE is the light in the end, He must have
also been the light in the beginning - for HE IS THE BEGINNING AND THE END!
Now let us consider some
significant statements that Jesus made about Himself. He said, "I am the light of the
world (Greek: kosmos); he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of life" (Jn.
The glorious Son of God is the One
in whom the unapproachable and utterly incomprehensible glory of God is made manifest. As
we only know the sun by the light that shines from it, so is Christ THE OUTSHINING, the
revelation of God's glory. As the light that shines from the sun is of one nature with it,
so the Son is of one nature with the Father and is Himself called "the everlasting
Father." As the light that shines from the sun is one substance with it, so the Son
is THE EXPRESS IMAGE OF HIS SUBSTANCE (Heb. 1:3) and is Himself called "the Mighty
God." It is all important that we know the glory of Jesus. The more the soul is
filled with that glory, and worships Him in it, the more it will see with what confidence
it can count upon Him to do a divine and supernatural work within us, and lead us to an
actual living out of the glory of the Son in our lives. Let us turn away from earth, that
in the knowing of Him our own lives may be transformed, until He, who is the outshining of
the divine glory, SHINES INTO OUR VERY HEART, and He, to whom the Father has given such a
place as Creator and Upholder and Heir of all, takes that place within us too, and be to
us the beginning and the center and the end of all; until He who IS THE IMAGE OF GOD so
possesses our beings that WE BECOME THE OUTSHINING OF GOD'S GLORY and THE EXPRESS IMAGE OF
HIS PERSON.
"In Him was life; and the
life was the light of men" (Jn. 1:4). Now we are confronted with something else - two
of the simplest things in the world: light and life. ZOE and PHOS are the two words in the
original language. From ZOE we get zoology, the study of life; and from PHOS we get photo
or anything that is built on it, such as photograph - it is light. These two things are so
common, we take them for granted. Life - we see it everywhere. There may be a great deal
of life right where you are at this moment. You go out in the woods and you see the same
thing - life. It greets you on every hand; but can you explain it? You see in the Tabloids
headlines from time to time announcing that men have now discovered the source of life.
But if you read them, you find that they have not found the source at all, though they
think they are close to it. They put the microscope down on a green leaf. One moment that
little cell is arranged one way and is dead as a doornail. The next moment the thing is
rearranged in another way and it is alive. And then the thing starts growing and doubling,
dividing and multiplying itself. Why does it do that? Life!
I often wondered how it could be
that God was omnipresent; that He could be everywhere at once, as the Psalmist said,
"Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I
ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold Thou art there. If
I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there
shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me" (Ps. 139:7-10). God can be
everywhere, and fill the universe with Himself because the glory of God is the RADIATION
of His Light-being into the whole kosmos. God is likened to a SUN, so that bright orb that
shines out there in space is a type of God. Let us consider this for a moment.
It is interesting to note that God
did not do away with the darkness altogether, rather He separated the light from the
darkness, calling the light "day" and the darkness "night" (Gen.
1:4-5). Darkness, in a measure remained, and still does. Isaiah tells us that in the end
days darkness shall cover the earth, and great darkness the people. He is speaking here of
spiritual darkness, of those people and realms that have not been exposed to the TRUE
LIGHT. Though this condition has existed since the beginning, thank God! it shall not
continue forever, for He who is the true light shall chase away altogether the darkness,
and nothing but the true light will fill God's vast universe. In I Jn. 2:8 we read this
assuring statement, "Yet I am writing you a new commandment, which is true in Him and
in you, because THE DARKNESS IS PASSING AWAY and the true light is now shining"
(R.S.V.). Thank God, the darkness is passing away like the night before the penetrating
rays of the dawn. He who separated the light from the darkness in that beginning, because
the darkness comprehended not the light, shall obliterate completely the darkness from the
new creation. "Behold, I make all things new." There will be no darkness in it
at all, for God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. And when the final
chapter is written, when the curtain comes down on the closing act of the grand drama of
creation and redemption, God will be ALL IN ALL.
Light is life, darkness is death.
Whenever we read of light it always speaks to us of life; when we read of darkness it
bespeaks of death. Light is that which dispels the darkness. When one brings a light into
a dark place the darkness flees, because, you see, darkness is a negative thing, it is
really nonexistent; it is just the absence of light. Provide the light and the darkness is
gone. I have often wondered why the light in the beginning didn't do away with the
darkness; the darkness remained. Why didn't the darkness disappear, when the light came on
the scene. If you turn on a light in a dark room the darkness is gone. Where did it go? It
didn't go out the door nor through the window. It didn't go anywhere because it is a
negative, a no-thing. So why didn't the Light in the beginning dispel the darkness? The
answer, of course, lies in the counsels of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of
His own will. God in His infinite wisdom planned to separate the light from the darkness,
causing light and darkness, day and night to co-exist side by side, that through the
progression of the ages He might reveal to the entire creation the awesome ability of the
light to conquer the darkness. This is a great lesson, and once every being in all realms
has learned it well, none will ever seek the darkness again.
This is a great mystery, but the
present creation was created on a level of death, and death was from the very beginning,
and still is, the state of being of the physical world. As long as darkness exists death
will hold its power. Even before man graced this blue-green orb, death was in the
universe; and this is why we see darkness as the first condition of creation in Gen. 1:2.
And God didn't do away with all the darkness, He ordained the night to remain. This meant
that death remained in the creation. So everything of this gross material realm, when it
was brought-forth from the hands of the Creator, had the potential of death in it. Death
was a built in factor in all things. But included in God's great and eternal purpose is
the abolition of darkness and death; and the Almighty, in working out His plan, is doing
just that. When He has finished His marvelous purpose there will be no darkness nor death
anywhere in the unbounded heavens. "The last enemy that shall be DESTROYED is
death" (I Cor.
When God separated the light from
the darkness in the beginning, He called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.
We are also told that He made two great lights, one to rule the day and the other to rule
the night. Man with his limited carnal understanding has restricted this to our solar day
and lunar night, and to the sun and the moon. But our almighty Father had something
infinitely higher in mind than this! These are mere types and shadows of reality. There is
a greater spiritual meaning to all this. There is a REALM OF LIGHT and a REALM OF DARKNESS
in creation which has nothing to do with our solar day and lunar night. They are realms in
the spirit, and we can be inhabitants of either. The realm of light is ruled over by the
Son of God, the Sun of Righteousness, who is THE LIGHT; and the realm of darkness is ruled
over by Satan, the Prince of darkness. Paul, in writing to the saints at Thessalonica,
stated, "Ye are all the children of the light, and the children of the day: we are
not of the night, nor of darkness" (I Thes. 5:5). There are many other passages where
we read of the children of light, the children of the day; and the children of the night
or of darkness. So we can be either children of the Day, or children of the Night. We can
either walk in light, or walk in darkness; it all depends on who we are following. Jesus
spoke this beautiful truth: "I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have THE LIGHT OF LIFE" (Jn.
As we consider this world in which
we live, we see that all of the physical light we have here springs from the sun in our
sky. Take away that orb and darkness would soon cover the earth. All vegetation would
droop and die as it turned yellow, then brown and black and crumbled into the earth. Soon
after that all animal and human life would have the same fate. The verdant creatures which
grace the surface of the earth have been created to live in light. No one who has ever
seen the sickly color of some plant that has struggled for life in semi-darkness can fail
to miss the contrast between the green thing which grew in the sunshine, and the pale
travesty which grew in the shade. In total darkness every man would become blind within
three days, and death would follow shortly after.
The life that we know comes from
the sun. In the same way, Jesus Christ is the Sun of Righteousness. The reason for the
decay and death that we have all around us is due to a lack of righteousness. Sin! Sin is
the lack of rightness, or righteousness. When man sinned, death entered his world. It is
what the apostle Paul referred to as "the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2).
Because of this inexorable law of sin and death mankind, upon Adam's disobedience, fell
into the corruption of the world around them. The scientific term for that is ENTROPY. It
is known as the second law of thermodynamics, and it states very simply that all things in
the universe are moving toward greater randomness, toward decay and dissolution. Thus,
according to the scripture, the entire "creation was made subject to vanity - frailty
and futility" (Rom.
This condition is so universal
that it was formalized about a hundred years ago into a fundamental scientific law, now
called the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This law states that all systems, if left to
themselves, tend to become degraded or disordered. Physical systems, whether watches or
suns, eventually wear out. Organisms grow old and die. Hereditary changes in species are
caused by gene mutations which in many cases have resulted in deterioration or extinction
of the species itself. The astounding fact is that there is no reason known to science why
things should grow old other than the second law of thermodynamics which simply describes
a universal fact that takes place everywhere, from the smallest atom to the greatest sun.
Entropy controls all things, and entropy is nothing other than THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH
which bespeaks a lack of righteousness which is God's way of saying that in a universe
made by God, the all-holy One, unrighteousness cannot be allowed to have permanent
existence. Thank God! there is a counterlaw, a transcendental law, THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT
OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS. Christ Jesus, the Righteous One, came into this world and was
declared to be the Son of God according to THE SPIRIT OF HOLINESS" (Rom. 1:4) and was
raised from the dead BY THE SPIRIT OF HOLINESS. Can we not see by this how HOLINESS is
linked to LIFE and UNRIGHTEOUSNESS is connected to DEATH? The law of entropy CAN be
broken! The second law of thermodynamics CAN be transcended! The law of sin and death CAN
be superseded! "How?" you ask. "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall
die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, YE SHALL LIVE. For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death" (Rom.
Though the sun is over
ninety-three million miles out there in space, it radiates light, heat, energy and life to
everything on the earth. The nature of the sun is that of light, heat and energy, and it
radiates itself into all our solar system. Even though it is so distant from us, if it
weren't for our atmosphere, the light and heat would burn everything to a crisp in a
matter of minutes. How much farther its radiation would go, I have no idea, but it could
travel an inestimable distance into space. The sun supplies us with light, heat, energy
and life that is needed to support life on this planet. Without it no life could exist on
this earth. The sun is the source of all this. God is a SUN, and what the sun is to the
earth, God is to the creation. He is the life, the light, the energy that pervades and
radiates through the universe, on all levels and in every realm, supporting and sustaining
all things. Just as our sun radiates itself into our solar system, and supports and
sustains natural life on this planet; so God radiates Himself into the entire universe to
support and uphold and give life to everything He has created.
In that age of antiquity when the
earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep, the time came
for our heavenly Father to bring forth His image in creation. "Let there be
light," was the Word of the Lord, and there WAS LIGHT - not the light of the sun, for
the sun was not given His command until the fourth day, but the light that shone was that
TRUE LIGHT, even the light of God's Christ (Gen. 1:4). If I may add this thought, we must
conclude that ALL LIGHT is God's light, even the light that shines from the sun, the moon
or the stars. We call it natural light, but can we be wrong in concluding that even
natural things are also from the hand of God - spirit lowered in vibration to the material
plane?
The pen of a ready writer has
written these words of wisdom and understanding: "Our little minds can but dimly
grasp the wonderful transformation that took place when the Spirit of God began to move on
the face of the deep. The water, of course, was ice because there was neither light nor
heat. That was the true ice age, of which men of science often speak. But now the Spirit
of God was moving upon the deep, dividing darkness from light, dispelling the bitter cold,
melting the endless snows and the timeless ice, to make the dry land appear that both
vegetable and animal life could spring forth at God's command to live and thrive. Thus it
is written, 'Thou sendeth forth THY SPIRIT; THEY ARE CREATED: and Thou RENEWEST the face
of the earth' (Ps. 104:30). What a marvelous transformation was taking place in that
natural creation as OLD THINGS began to pass away and all things became new! Gone was the
darkness, the death, the snow, the ice, and the dreadful cold, and in its stead bustling
life and bubbling song filled the whole earth. The earth, that was without form and void,
and the gross and terrible darkness that covered it like a shroud is the Lord's symbolic
picture of the condition of unregenerate man. The description given in Gen. 1:2 - the
earth was WITHOUT FORM and VOID and darkness was upon the face of the deep - is an apt and
accurate description of the spiritual condition of a man outside of Christ, unconverted,
unregenerate, and not born again. The word VOID conveys the meaning of emptiness,
destitution, unoccupied, of no effect. What more accurate picture could be given of an
unregenerate man as he lives without God or hope in the world? The earth was "without
form" before the Spirit of God moved upon it, and darkness - gross, outer darkness -
was upon the face of the deep. O man of the world, is not this a picture of your life
without God? What form or shape can be given to such an emptiness as a life lived without
the Lord? Darkness hangs like a pall over the soul that is dead in trespasses and sins,
and, should one gain the whole world and lose his soul, it would profit him nothing at
all. Moffatt in his translation of Prov. 4:18-19 has so significantly stated, 'The course
of bad men lies through darkness dim. They cannot see what makes them stumble; the course
of good men, like a ray of dawn, shines on and on to the full light of day"' -The
Page.
We are told that when a man gets
away from this earth a short distance, he is in total, absolute darkness, and it is
frightening to be out where there is nothing from which the sun can be reflected. Our
little globe is out in a dark universe, yet that is nothing compared to the spiritual
darkness that envelopes it. When the sun disappears, there is physical darkness over the
land; but twenty-four hours a day there is spiritual darkness here, awful spiritual
darkness. Man does not know God; man is in rebellion against God; man is in sin that
blinds him to God. In the Lord Jesus Christ there is life, and the life that He gives is
the LIGHT of men. In fact, His life is the only thing that can kindle light in the heart
of an individual. An unregenerate man has no spiritual life within him. This is the reason
that when you present to him Jesus Christ, he says, "I don't get it. I don't
understand that at all."
The light shines in the darkness
of this world at this moment. I have a notion that somebody reading these pages is saying,
"Why is that preacher talking about being in Spiritual darkness? I understand
everything." No, unless you know Jesus Christ as your life and light, you do not
understand, and even then you understand only in that measure and to the degree that you
truly KNOW HIM. The Spirit of God has to open your heart and mind and enlighten you before
you can ever see Him as the light of life. May I say to you, friend, this world is in
spiritual darkness. John stated it this way. "The light shineth in darkness; and the
darkness comprehended it not" (Jn. 1:5). Understand this, O man, and you will know a
great mystery. The word "comprehend" is an unfortunate translation. And a
wiseacre did not help it by rendering it, "and the darkness was not able to put it
out." That is no translation at all. The word in the Greek is KATELABEN, meaning
actually "to take down." It is the picture of a secretary to whom the boss is
giving dictation, and she stops and says, "I can't take that down, I am not able to
take it down." The light shines in darkness and the darkness is not able to take it
in. Barriers have been erected. That is it exactly. Someone said to me, "Boy, was I
in darkness before I received Christ! And I don't know why I didn't see." well, that
is it - you were in darkness and you did not see. Barriers of sin, ignorance, and unbelief
were set up; the darkness just could not take it in.
Nor, may I add, can the religious
darkness of carnal-minded Christians "take down" the glorious light of
revelation truth that shines so brilliantly into the minds and hearts of those who follow
on to KNOW the Lord. The natural man CANNOT understand the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, for they are SPIRITUALLY
discerned. In all matters of revelation and spiritual understanding it is impossible to
overestimate the absolute necessity of the sovereign and omnipotent moving of the Holy
Spirit upon the darkness of our deep, who comes to take the things of God and show them
unto us. Two worlds exist all about us - the natural world and the spiritual world. The
natural realm is the realm of man, but the spiritual realm is the realm of God. When God's
appointed hour comes for a man to be quickened, illumined and given understanding, He
sends the Holy Spirit to dispel the darkness of the natural mind that ever hangs as a
cloud about us that He may reveal to our wondering eyes the things that are real and true
and eternal. It is "when He the Spirit of truth has come" that men are guided
into all truth.
Again I share from the words of
another, "It is He, the Holy Spirit, who, after revealing TRUTH to our darkened
hearts, miraculously transforms the believer into the very truth he sees. The Spirit of
God reveals to the believer's heart what the truth of God is and what the mind and will of
God is and having done so, He makes him PARTAKER of the truth so that he, by beholding the
truth, actually BECOMES the truth he beheld. He reveals salvation to us and we become THE
SAVED. He reveals His plan of redemption and we become THE REDEEMED. He reveals His
eternal purpose of sonship and we become the SONS OF GOD. These things concern His
heavenly calling. As a flower opens to the light of the sun, so eternal purposes unfold in
the light of the Holy Spirit and we, seeing and believing them, embrace them and become
partakers of them" -end quote.
"And God said, Let there be light: and
there was light" (Gen. 1:3). And
God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day
from the night; and God made two great lights;
the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the
stars also" (Gen. 1:14,16).
I would draw your reverent
attention to the words here used for light. The Hebrew text of Gen. 1:3 says, "Ye hi
or: wa ye hi or." The nearest to a literal translation our language will permit is to
say, "Light be, and light was;" or even better, "Exist light, then exists
light." Our English word, light, appears again in the English translation of the
Bible in the plural form in the fourteenth verse, God said, "Let there be lights in
the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night." There is, however, a
vast difference between the word for light, the substance, in verse three, and the one
translated lights in verse fourteen. In verse three the Hebrew word is OR, while in verse
fourteen the word is MA-OR. This latter word is best translated as luminary; light
container; or light holder; and these light holders are placed about throughout His
universe like street lights in a big city. We have the same distinction in the Greek where
PHOS appears as light, the essence, and PHOSTER as the word for a light container. The
MA-OR, then, are the great luminaries such as the flaming suns, and even their reflecting
satellites called moons, the meteors, and the nebulae; but OR itself is the very substance
and being of light.
In the Old Testament symbology the
Hebrew word used for light, as standing for the Person of Christ our Lord, is OR, and in
the New Testament the Greek word for light, as applied to the Person of Christ, is PHOS.
The significance of this is noted when we see that the characteristic word for the body of
Christ in the New Testament is PHOSTER, or light holder. Jesus Christ then is the Light
and we are the luminaries which contain or shine forth the Light. The most significant
appearance of this word in connection with the children of God is Phil.
As we consider this truth we
should especially notice in reference to men, that II Sam. 23:3-4 reads, "He that
ruleth over men... shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun ariseth." And
in II Sam.
LIGHT-BEARERS! Friends, Christ is
the light, the light is within, it must break through, it must ARISE, it must have
pre-eminence in our hearts. The glory of God is the emanation or radiation of His nature,
and this glory surrounds Him. As we become partakers of the divine nature, we will also
radiate the glory of His nature. This is the real purpose of our calling. The Christ
within, not another man's revelation, nor another man's faith, but your own INDWELLING
LIGHT enables you to manifest as one of God's light bearers. Other people can follow the
wandering stars and the falling stars, vainly chasing after the illusive light within
them, but, praise God, there is a people in whom the God of light is being birthed and
formed, partakers of His divine nature, conformed to His image, a new life found within -
a new star in God's spiritual universe BECOMING. Each and every son of God must ultimately
come to that place where all his need is fully met by the INNER SUFFICIENCY of the
indwelling spirit of life, not from that which stands without.
We cannot deny, while for the
child of God the light is growing brighter and brighter day by day, yet for the world in
general it is becoming darker with every passing hour. But God is not going to leave the
world swallowed in darkness, He is preparing HIS MESSENGERS OF LIGHT, HIS CELESTIAL
LUMINARIES will be established in His heaven, and they announce by their shining a new age
to come, when light shall be upon every man. The SIGN COMPANY (Gen. 1:14) which heralds
the new creation of God shall be made manifest. Yet what an humbling, purging, purifying
process must be accomplished in this company ere God will exalt them in "due"
time! Ah, He must thoroughly teach us complete submission to HIS WILL so that we know it
is by DIVINE GRACE ALONE, and never anything in ourselves that will give us this position.
If you try to shine in God's heaven without first having been filled with Him who IS THE
LIGHT OF LIFE, you will fail. Those religious ones, those great ones, those "big
names" who streak across the sky in a vain effort to arouse the attention of the
world, end in darkness and defeat. They are but meteorites, burning out as they fall
through the atmosphere of earth. But in His time GOD PLACES in proper position HIS
LUMINARIES that shall shine with the glory of God for the ages.
LIGHT-BEARERS! These are known
collectively as
"Arise, shine; for thy light
is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall
cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and
His glory shall be seen upon thee" (Isa. 60:1-2). There is a people UPON WHOM OUR GOD
IS ARISING. He isn't going to arise in the skies of the physical heavens, as the
church-world ignorantly expects, but UPON HIS PEOPLE. "For the Lord shall arise upon
THEE, and His glory shall be seen upon THEE." His glory will not be seen streaking
across the physical heavens, BUT UPON HIS PEOPLE. Darkness does cover the earth and great
darkness the people, but in spite of the abounding desolations, we live in the most
glorious hour of all time for the people of God; for we have been selected by God to be
priests with Christ in the grand task of bringing reconciliation, restitution, and
restoration to the whole fallen world order. Nothing that man has done has so desolated
the world that it is beyond hope. On the contrary, when we see sin and darkness all about
us, let us be encouraged by the divine principle, "But where sin abounded, GRACE DID
MUCH MORE ABOUND" (Rom.
In the very midst of all this darkness upon the land and gross darkness upon the people, God is arising upon His chosen ones. How joyful we are that God, who is the Light, gets right down where the darkness is. He does not come from afar to dispel the night, but "God ... commanded the light to shine OUT OF DARKNESS" (II Cor. 4:6). First, God has met us right where we are, the dawning of God's day has blazoned our sky and made us a body of light to usher in a new day for all creation. The brightness of our rising brings the dawning of the new day. As we shed His glory abroad,
