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"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God..."
FROM THE CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE
Part
101
THE SEALING
OF THE 144,000
(continued)
Of the tribe of Benjamin were
sealed twelve thousand (Rev. 7:8).
Benjamin was the twelfth and last son of Israel, and the second son borne to him by
Rachel, his beloved and dearest wife. When
Benjamins older brother was born, Rachel named him Joseph, which means may He add which made Joseph a prayer within himself, for Rachel used this name
to make the statement that she desired of the Lord yet another son. She asked the Lord to add to her one
more son beyond Joseph! This prayer was
answered when Josephs younger brother, Benjamin, came forth from Rachels womb. His birth, however, was an occasion of joy mingled
with sorrow. The record states, And
they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel
travailed, and she had hard labor. And it
came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that
the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt
have this son also. And it came to pass,
as her soul was in departing (for she died), that she called his name Benoni: but his
father called him Benjamin. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to
Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a
pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachels grave unto this day (Gen.
35:16-20).
As Rachel lay dying, her last act was to name her newborn son Benoni, meaning son of my pain. Jacob, however, named the child Benjamin, meaning son of the right hand. The scene is strikingly reminiscent of the apostle
Johns vision of the birth of the manchild! Just
as Rachel was in hard labor to bring forth Benjamin, so the sun-clad woman of chapter
twelve of the Revelation is seen travailing
in birth, and pained to be delivered. Then we read of this marvelous birth, And
she brought forth a manchild, who was to rule
all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his
throne. We know, of course, that the
position to which this overcoming manchild company is caught up is that which is occupied
by the firstborn Son of God who is seated at the right hand of God! And just as Rachel died following Benjamins
birth, so the woman who brings forth the manchild flees into the wilderness. Both figures reveal the great truth that as soon
as this son is birthed the old order which birthed it forever passes from the
scene! Rachel went to her grave, and
the church-order-mother of the manchild flees to the wilderness. The son of the right hand now brings
forth a new day and a new order as he reigns upon the throne!
A son! A son at the right hand! In Benjamin we complete our journey into sonship
and to the throne! The throne of Israel was
in Jerusalem, and it is wondrously revealing that Jerusalem was located, not in Judah as
is commonly supposed, but in the territory of Benjamin!
(Josh. 18:28). Many have seen a
reference to Jerusalem in Moses blessing on Benjamin, And of Benjamin he said,
The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him; and the Lord shall cover him all day
long, and He
(the Lord) shall dwell between his (Benjamins) shoulders (Deut.
33:12). The dwelling place of the Lord among
His people Israel was in Jerusalem, in the temple. Thus,
the Lord later located His sanctuary, the temple, in the territory of the inheritance of Benjamin! The
glory of the Lord now rests upon the sons of
God who make up the body of Christ, which is also the true and eternal and spiritual and
heavenly temple of God and the New Jerusalem!
Gods glory is not now, nor has it ever been, on a denomination, program, or
building of mans design. His glory is
the glory of Christ, which is the radiance and splendor of His mind, nature, and power in
the realm of the Spirit. The glory of the
Lord is that holy and awesome presence of the Lord that is supernatural, marvelous beyond
my faltering lips or feeble pen to describe. That
glory belongs to the Christ body! The
unspeakable glory that Jesus had with the Father before the world was is now given unto
Gods sons! And the hour is nigh at hand
when we shall be crowned with the fullness of the wondrous, majestic, and awesome glory
and honor of the Lord! Through Gods
sons the name of the Lord shall be exalted in all the earth and before all nations! The nations shall come to the light of the glory
of God upon us, and kings shall come to the brightness of our rising! When the Christ body is complete and mature and
united in one, when we shall have fully experienced within ourselves all the character and
purpose of the twelve tribes of Israel through the dealings of God, we shall be changed into His likeness in spirit,
soul, and body and crowned with glory and
honor. We shall then have dominion over the
whole creation in that wonderful and omnipotent power of His resurrection! Oh, yes! The
Christ body is the temple of God, the priests of the Lord,
and the kings of the kingdom. All
of this is represented spiritually in the sealed ones of the tribe of Benjamin!
Many a sermon has been preached on the rule of the kingdom of God on earth, and I
think most of them have missed the mark because they see only God reigning over His
kingdom. The greatest mystery of the ages is
that on the throne of God today is a MAN. God
came down from heaven and invaded humanity, He took upon Himself the nature and body of a
man, so that when He went back to the throne (His omnipotent power in the Spirit), He
would take humanity back to the throne. There
is no mystery to it that God sits on the throne, He belongs there; but to think now that
MAN is sitting on the throne! Jesus of
Nazareth, a MAN approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs
THIS
JESUS hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Therefore BEING BY THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD EXALTED
(Acts
2:22,32-33).
There is confirmation of this in Acts 7:55-56 where we read concerning Stephen,
But he being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the
glory of God and JESUS STANDING ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD.
And said, Behold I see the heavens opened and the SON OF MAN standing on the right
hand of God. Of course God does not
physically have either a throne or a hand! The
right hand of God is simply a metaphor denoting the visible manifestation
of the invisible spiritual realm of all authority,
power, and dominion. Moses and the
children of Israel claimed to have seen
the right hand of God (Ex. 15:6) when the waters fell in upon the armies of
Pharaoh and they were drowned. What did they
actually see? Nothing but a tremendous
manifestation of Gods power and glory! This,
they called the right hand of God.
The right hand of God is not a physical location somewhere in the universe. The throne of the God who is omniscient,
omnipotent, and omnipresent spirit is not a
physical one, but speaks of the REALM OF HIS SUPREME AND UNIVERSAL AUTHORITY AND
RULERSHIP; and our Lord Jesus Christ has been exalted to the glory of that rulership. The right hand of God is the realm of manifest power and authority out of and by the
Spirit, a position of eminence, a condition and a state of divine being. It is the assumption of the almighty power and
universal dominion of the Father! It is the
dispensing of His positive energy force into
His creation. The right hand
signifies the chief place, position of excellence or favor, next to the chief ruler. Those manifesting and dispensing the life and
power of God into creation are not themselves
GOD HIMSELF. They are the expression and
revelation of God who indwells them and flows through them!
Thus, since they are not the very power itself, but the vessel or vehicle of
that power, they are described as on the right hand of God or at the
right hand of power or at the right hand of the Majesty of High. Exalted to that high realm Jesus no longer walks
in a limited, physical, mortal body, for He now indwells the spirits of His many brethren,
who are THE FULLNESS OF HIM THAT FILLETH ALL IN ALL (Eph. 1:22-23). Can you not see the mystery?
Blessed be God! We now have a share in
the realm of the right hand! When we were dead through our trespasses,
God made us alive together with Christ
and raised us up with Him, and made us sit together with Him in the heavenly places (the
heights of His own exaltation) (Eph. 2:5-6). This
shows that as we come to know the resurrection life of Christ, we are also made to
experience the ascension of Christ. We are chosen of God not only to be made alive
from the dead and have Gods life, but also to sit in the heavenly places as ASCENDED
MEN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD!
This
brings us to the thought I want to share in this message.
Almost all churches and most believers are not aware of it, but for the most
part we have made God to be a one-armed or one-handed Being. Of course we realize that God is spirit and has no
body of material substance and consequently no arms or hands such as we have. But spirit is real, God is real, and the eyes of the Lord are omnipresent
spirit eyes, His universal ability to see by the spirit!
God does not possess some wonderful eyes up in some far-off heaven somewhere
with X-ray vision by which He can see through the long distances of space. Oh, no! God
is spirit, He is everywhere, and the eyes of the Lord are everywhere! He sees you right there where you are, not from a
distance, even as He also, at the same time, sees all things everywhere throughout all the
unbounded heavens right there where He is by His omnipresent spirit! All the faculties of God are omnipresent spirit
faculties and exist by His presence in all places at the same time. The arms and hands of God are omnipresent spirit
arms and hands, bespeaking His universal ability to act, touch, and perform by His Spirit!
The thought of God having a right hand and a left hand
should not be strange to us, although the preachers have so often presented God as a
one-handed Being. In the scriptures we find
the right hand of God mentioned a great many times, and the left hand of God is mentioned
on a number of occasions. A great deal has
been said as to the meaning of the right hand, but few have seemed to have any
understanding or revelation of the
significance of the left hand.
Let us look for a moment at the meaning of these two words, right and left. The word right as used with
hand is generally the Hebrew yamiym
meaning stronger, more dexterous. The
word for left is smowl meaning
dark. From the meaning of these
two words it is easy to understand that Gods right hand is His strength and
dexterity, or His wonderful ability to do all things!
The implication is that the right hand of God is the GOOD HAND of God, doing GOOD
things. The Psalmist confirms this when he
says, In Thy presence there is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand are PLEASURES FOREVERMORE! (Ps.
16:11). Again, The voice of REJOICING
AND SALVATION in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. The right
hand of the Lord is exalted (Ps. 118:15-16).
To which the prophet Isaiah adds his inspired testimony, Fear thou not; for I
am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will STRENGTHEN thee; yea, I will HELP
thee; yea, I will UPHOLD thee with the right hand of
my righteousness (Isa. 41:10).
It is not my purpose in this message to expound upon the subject of the left hand of God, but in passing let us note, as I
have pointed out, the left hand in the Old Testament means dark and from this we can readily
understand that it signifies the opposite of the right hand what we call bad or
evil. The left hand represents the dark side of
God. This is the hand of God so
little understood! The distinctive work of
these two hands is graphically portrayed in the wonderful parable Jesus told of the sheep
and the goats. How sobering are these
meaningful words of truth: And He shall set the sheep on the right hand, but the goats on the left. Then
shall the King say unto them on the right hand,
Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world
then shall He say also to them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into
age-abiding fire, prepared for the devil and his angels
(Mat. 25). But just what or who are these two hands of God? The two hands of God represent two aspects of
Gods dealings, two ways in which He moves and acts to accomplish His purposes. We can readily see from the parable of the sheep
and the goats that God deals through both positive
and negative forces. Those in the right hand of God are a spiritual people raised up to manifest the glory
of God; they are the deliverers and blessers of humanity!
But those in the left hand are called vessels of wrath and
vessels of dishonor. When
God raises up negative forces in the earth, to judge something, or destroy a system or an
order, those negative forces accomplishing Gods will represent the left hand of God!
It may be communism bringing judgment on an apostate religious system, but
whatever it is it is negative, yet an
instrument in the hand of the Lord! His left hand, of course! Although they are raised up as a negative
instrument in the hand of the Lord, there are no rewards for the work they do, they
receive no kingdom, no status in the order of God for the ages to come. Rather, they are placed under the dealing hand of
God in a process of fiery judgment to receive correction!
Thy right hand, O Lord, is become
glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the
enemy (Ps. 15:6). While it is difficult
for us to conceive of God becoming something more than He already is, and as to His nature
there can never be any change, yet the Spirit reveals that the right hand of God had not previously been all that
it was when the children of Israel triumphantly marched dry-shod through the Red Sea, for
the prophet speaks of a day wherein the right hand
of the Lord is become glorious in power, denoting a
process in the unfolding of the power of His right hand in the midst of men. And, while the right hand of God is first and
foremost the realm of Gods almighty power and authority, His right hand became
glorious in power when it was revealed through mighty signs and wonders through the person
of the man Moses.
May
I now point out that there has again been a wonderful enlargement in the revelation of
Gods right hand, for Jesus Christ has been exalted to the realm of the right hand;
and there shall be a further enlargement, for the promise is sure, 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).
Thus Jesus was able to say, ALL POWER is given unto me in heaven and in
earth (Mat. 28:18), and again, But YE SHALL RECEIVE POWER after that the Holy
Ghost is come upon you
(Acts
1:8). Gods right hand is becoming a
people, the Christ, Head and body, a many-membered SON OF THE RIGHT HAND; and the
manifestation of God in and through this RIGHT HAND COMPANY shall become
even more glorious in power as the appointed hour for the unveiling of the sons of God
arrives. These shall not only declare His
word, but shall have authority and divine ability to see it established in the earth! When the power of God arises in all fullness in
His body of sons, and He is exalted in the people He has prepared, how unspeakably
glorious and honorable He will be in the eyes of His creation! These are the hundred and forty-four thousand who
have come all the way into the tribe of Benjamin THE SON OF THE RIGHT HAND! That is where the glory rests!
O
sing unto the Lord a new song; for He hath done marvelous things: His right hand and His holy arm, hath gotten Him the
victory. The Lord hath made known His salvation: His righteousness hath
He openly showed in the sight of the heathen. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation
of our God. Let the sea roar, and the
fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together before the
Lord; for He cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall He judge the world, and
the people with equity (Ps. 98:1-3,7-9). Think
of it His enemies submit, the nations are ready to worship Him, and sing to His
name, the ends of the earth shall turn to Him, because His right hand shall do marvelous things, and He shall
make known His salvation to all!
Truly,
beloved, this RIGHT HAND COMPANY will get Him the victory!
There is no doubt about it, no devil, no wicked men, no laws passed by
legislatures, no edicts of kings, no armies of nations can stop this company from doing
the things God has declared they will do, and because of their ministry, the nations will
come to know the Lord and sing His praise. As
the work of restoration progresses, what harmony, what glorious unity shall fill the
universe, as this company of king-priests flows together, by that which every joint
supplieth, to gather together into Christ all things, till all has been set in array, and
God is indeed ALL IN ALL everything to every one!
It is indeed wonderful!
How
sweet shall be the influence of this RIGHT HAND COMPANY, the positive force of Gods energy, ministering
His life, His joy, His peace unto creation! How
thankful we are not to be numbered among those who are called to the left hand, to walk in darkness, and be vessels of
wrath. There is no harshness in the ministry
of the right hand; oh yes, even the right hand dashes the enemies in pieces,
but it is the destruction of the negative qualities that there might be Life. These
bring correction ministered in love, leading all mankind to the fountain of living water,
feeding them in green pastures, causing them to lie down and rest, and not be afraid. Ah we would SEEK THE THINGS AT THE RIGHT
HAND! If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth at the right hand of God (Col.
3:1).
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. That 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 all are 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 alive. God
has purposed that righteousness and glory shine forth before all nations! This is going to be done through those who are
being transformed into the likeness of His firstborn 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!
With what joy and holy wonder do I tell you today that the power of Jesus Christ is
the power that will again be manifested on the earth through the ministry of Christs
many brethren, the sons of God! What a calling rests upon the firstfruits! How humbly we should seek God, how fervently we
should cry out to the Lord, that His work be completed in us to bring this sonship
ministry to pass in the earth! How we praise
God for the in-part ministry of the church age it has been glorious beyond words
and has brought us to where we are in God. But
none can deny that the ministry of Jesus has not been fully duplicated in all the power
and glory of the kingdom of God! Who among us
can raise his hand and tell me that in him, or in his prayer group, or in his church, or
in his movement, or in his sonship convention, the miraculous sonship ministry of Jesus
has been reproduced in all of its fullness and power?
Regardless of how much revelation we have, or how many miracles we have
seen, or how many spine-tingling prophecies we have heard, were we to make such a claim we
would all be found liars. After two thousand
years of the meticulous formation of the Christ body, creation still groans and travails waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God who shall deliver creation itself from the bondage of
corruption.
The greater ministry of the sons of God will allay every disturbing element; break
the power of sin and death; put down every wrong; still every clamoring tongue; calm every
raging sea; touch every inflamed sore of society; unite into harmony every quarrelsome
crowd; heal every excruciating pain and suffering; pilot every tossed soul into the harbor
of rest; banish all fear, malice, bigotry, and hatred in the melting fire of divine love;
bind every demonic power; dissolve every corrupt government; undo every heavy burden;
swallow up every false philosophy and religion into the quickening of truth and reality;
heal every sickness, disease, and torment; fill to the full every lack and void; impart
life more abundant to all men everywhere; and give joy unspeakable and full of glory until
the whole earth is full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the
sea, and all creation pulsates with the scintillating life and light and love of God!
This revolution will come through the ministry of the sons of God and will
penetrate and judge the motives, character, intents, activities, and institutions of the
whole world! This marvelous work will be
wrought by a company of king-priests after the order of Melchizedek. This sonship ministry will be the most awesome and
powerful ministry the Lord has ever unleashed on an unsuspecting world! Nothing will be able to stand before it! No philosophy, creed, science, academics, or
humanistic concept of men shall be able to gainsay the wisdom of God in His sons! It will consume and break in pieces the
whole fabric of the nations! The economic,
cultural, educational, military, ecclesiastical, and political structures that man has
erected by the carnal mind and fleshly wisdom will disintegrate before the very eyes of
all men! These sons of the Most High are even
now being prepared and empowered with the mightiest weapon in the universe the
sword of the Spirit which is the living word of
God! All things and all creatures obey
the command of the word of the Most High God! At
His word creation springs forth and darkness flees from before His face!
The Lord shall utter His voice (speak His word) before His army: for His camp
is very great: for He is strong that
executeth His word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide
it? (Joel 2:11). All
that I have stated above is summed up in that one small passage of scripture! This army of God is earths deliverers and
the Lords restoration hosts; not a revival crusade, not a political action
committee, not a movement or organization, not a regiment of soldiers, but a spiritual company of divine origin and formation
invincible and all-conquering! These
are the marching men and women of God progressing through the ages, tramping the corridors
of Gods purposes, binding time and eternity together, fulfilling their mission,
bringing the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.
Wherever the desperate needs of men are, from Indias vast land, teeming with
hundreds of millions, from Africas dark juju ceremonialism, from the igloos of
Iceland to the farthest reaches of Tierra del Fuego, from Wall Street to the Great Wall of
China, from the ivory-covered halls of learning in Paris, or Cambridge, to the dusty roads
of the commonplace of all nations wherever man may be found the sons of God
shall bring the blessings and benefits of the kingdom of heaven with power and great
glory!
The ministry and rule of sonship is ready to be poured out upon the nations of this
world. What a perfect luxury of blessing shall come upon all mankind! The ministry of Jesus revealed in the four
Gospels, shall be intensified by tens of thousands of manifest sons of God stepping forth
in the power of His resurrection in the midst of the earth!
When the mighty work of salvation, restoration, and transformation is
complete, there will be none of those painful
and debilitating diseases which now plague mankind. We
shall need no doctors and the great clinics and hospitals of our cities and towns will
have no patients who need treatment, surgeries, or nursing.
From every mental hospital the inmates will stream forth shouting for joy at
finding that Gods Christ has touched their minds with His omnipotent hand of love
and power, just as did the man of the Gadarenes in Jesus day. From every prison in the world will leap forth
prisoners of every sex and every age to testify to the saving, delivering, and
transforming work of God in their lives, breaking completely and forever the shackles of
sin and satan, turning thieves, murderers, and rapists into men of mildness,
righteousness, and compassion. The power of
sin and death being broken, the undertaker will look in vain for corpses and will find it
the hardest thing in the world to keep his business open!
NOW HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD! When
Gods spiritual work in the mind, heart,
nature and character is finished in each of His sons, the sign
that the hour for the manifestation of the sons of God has arrived will be given
throughout the whole earth. On a day much
like today, those who have been fully awakened within and transformed into His likeness in
spirit and soul, will step into another dimension. Suddenly,
instantaneously, and simultaneously every sickness
and disease in each and every body of all the sons of God will be totally and permanently
healed. This will be the most astounding mass-miracle
of the ages! A shuddering will run through
their bodies. In an instant these sons will
burst into the resplendence of the shimmering glory of God brighter than the noonday sun! Incorruptible life will surge forth from within,
quickening their mortal bodies with vibrant, self-perpetuating life! Their minds will at the same time be expanded with
divine wisdom, understanding, and discernment! All
things will become open and known! The
secrets of the universe will become as clear as the letters of the alphabet! Creative power will flow from their mouths and
their hands! The secrets of mens hearts
will be revealed and they will know all that is within man; but they will not be permitted
to speak these things except in private; only mercy, grace, and omnipotent love will flow
forth to mankind! But the very first
sign that the hour of manifestation has arrived will be the sudden, instantaneous,
and simultaneous HEALING OF EVERY SICKNESS AND DISEASE IN THE BODY OF EVERY SON! You can watch for that sign
that the day of full manifestation is here!
Some will not receive this word, but it does not matter. The sign will be fulfilled, and glorious shall be the
Day unto those who are appointed unto it!
This will be Benjamin THE SON OF THE RIGHT HAND!
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great
multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and
tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms
in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb (Rev. 7:9-10).
In visions of glory while on the isle of Patmos, John was made to see a great
multitude of saints which no man could number.
Asked by one of the elders, Who are these, clothed in white robes, with palms
in their hands, and whence have they come? John
answered, Sir, you know. And the
elder said to him, These are they which have come out of great tribulation; they have
washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:13-14). Each of these white-robed saints had to experience
great tribulation.
It seems to me that these are the very people who had been followers of
Jezebel, the false prophetess, the false ministry of the church systems, who committed
spiritual fornication and ate spiritual food that was defiled by idols doctrines
corrupted and contaminated by false images and conceptions of God. Were we not all there at one time? To these the Lord Jesus said, Behold, I will
cast her into a bed (of trouble), and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their
deeds (Rev. 2:22). The Lord said of
Jezebel, I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not
(Rev. 2:21). Thank God! He gives us space to repent! He sees the depth of our being. He reveals what He sees to us. Like a parent correcting a child, He gives us
space to repent. He doesnt just slap us
around! If we will not heed His warnings,
then come His feet of brass that burn as a furnace! Can
we not see? Do we yet understand? He casts her into a bed of trouble rather than
pleasure, He throws all who fornicate with her into great tribulation, He kills her
children. This is the judgment which comes. This is the judgment which will redeem Zion! This is the judgment which washes away the filth
of the daughters of Zion and the blood of Jerusalem!
This is a revelation of judgment from the Lord which begins at the house of
God (I Pet. 4:17) and then flows out from that house to all creation!
It is interesting to note that the term great tribulation appears only
twice in the book of Revelation, and neither time does it apply to the world. In
both cases it has to do with the Lords own people!
What elaborate and fancy fictions men have written and preached about the
so-called great tribulation that is supposed to come upon the whole world! Jesus said He would cast the spiritual fornicators
of the church age into great tribulation,
unless they repented. What do you suppose would be the purpose of the
great tribulation? Why, bless your heart,
would it not be to influence and motivate them to repent!
Our
English word tribulation comes from the Latin word tribulum. The
tribulum was a hollowed out rock where they poured their wheat or other grain with the
husks still upon it the chaff was still attached.
There was another rock suspended above it which was connected to a lever. The lever was used to make the rock crash down
upon the wheat. When it struck the wheat with
force it broke the chaff loose from the kernel. Bellows
were then employed to blow the chaff away from the grain, after which it was gathered for
a future burning. The kernels were gathered
into the barn. This process was called tribu-lation! The
great truth revealed to us from this concerns the great purpose of tribulation. The work of tribulation is specifically designed
by God to separate the chaff from the wheat. That is the mystery! Gods people have been passing
through the fires of tribulation all through the centuries.
All who will be purged and purified, all who will wash their robes and make
them white, all who will have an abundant entrance into the kingdom of God must
pass under the relentless blows of the tribulum
(Acts 14:22). This is the process our
all-wise Father has ordained to separate the precious from the vile in the life of every
saint of God. The sons of God are now
experiencing this work of tribulation and are being perfected through the trials and
testings they suffer. But the great
multitude of the nominal church world have yet to pass through the fires of the
great tribulation!
Every time you see the twenty-four elders, or the four living creatures, or the
hundred and forty-four thousand Gods king-priest ministry immediately
afterward you see a vast throng of people praising and glorifying God because they are
free! Thats what the overcoming
company, the sons of God, the Melchizedek priesthood, is all about! These are Gods prepared instruments to
release and restore creation, and the great
multitude is the first group out of all the nations that is released and restored! John was a great mathematician, and he managed to
count up to 144,000 footstep followers of the Lamb standing upon mount Zion. But that was only a representative number for the
company of the manifest sons of God. As for
the church of God, gathered out of all the tribes and tongues and peoples and nations of
earth, he gave up all idea of computation, and confessed that it is a number that no
man can number. That would be a lot of
people, because even if there were billions
they could still be numbered! Even the
population of the whole world today has been numbered!
But the construction of this statement in the Greek is most revealing. I quote from the Emphatic Diaglott which says, After these things I saw, and lo a crowd great,
which to have numbered no man was able. What
that means is IT IS A MULTITUDE GREATER THAN WE COULD HAVE EVER DREAMED! It staggers the imagination of man that God could
have, from one man Jesus, and a handful of fishermen, tax-collectors, and the like,
brought forth such a work in the earth!
There is still a deeper meaning beyond this. To
number in the spiritual sense signifies to know
the quality, because a number in scripture does not signify a literal number, but the
quality of a thing. For example, twelve is
the number of divine government. One hundred
and forty-four thousand is twelve squared by itself times one thousand (which stands for
the day of the Lord). Therefore, we can know
that there will not be exactly 144,000 sons of God, but the sons are those in whom the
government of God finds its highest expression, bringing the day of the Lord! The number reveals their quality, not their quantity. All
the numbers in the whole book of Revelation bear that significance! A whole book could be written just about that. Therefore, by Johns estimation of a
great multitude which no man could number
is meant in the spiritual sense that no one but the Lord alone knows their quality! The Lord alone knows where each has come from
spiritually, some from Baptist, some from Methodist, some from Pentecostal, some from
Roman Catholic, some from the Mormons, some from Episcopalian, some from Jehovahs
Witnesses, some from Seventh Day Adventist, etc. Oh, yes! Dont let it dismay you
that I include some groups that by many are considered cults. Men look on the outward appearance, but God knows
the heart! Whoever believes on the Lord Jesus
Christ shall be saved! It doesnt say,
He that believeth and hath all his doctrine straight. Oh, no! God
has people everywhere! And only He
knows their spiritual state, only He knows their ultimate place in Him! The Lord alone knows the quality of their
affection after Him, and arranges all into order according to it.
God
has a precise order for every man and every thing to be set free and restored into the
truth, the life, and the purpose of God. Here
it is clear that the religious realm of Christianity (Jezebel) is released first! This
is a great harvest! The 144,000 are the firstfruits of Christs full redemption (Rev.
14:4). This harvest principle reveals the order of God in the restoration of all things
God has an order and there is a progression in His great program of redemption,
reconciliation, and the restitution of all things. The
next part of the harvest (after the firstfruits) is the big harvest, not the full harvest
in the end of the year, but the complete wheat harvest that comes after the
waving of the firstfruits. These are people
uniquely His out of every nation, kindred, people, and tongue. The Greek word is ek meaning out
of. This is the full redemption of the
church which is Gods called out people out from among the nations (Acts
15:14). God will restore His people who have
been held captive in religious Babylon! And
that is the first thing on His agenda following the manifestation of the
sons of God! The firstfruits of His
redemption are the sons of God. Next in order
is the church. Then the salvation of all
nations. After the salvation of the nations
shall come the gradual resurrection and restoration of every man who has lived and died
from Adam all the way through the ages. And
finally, the restoration of all spirits and all worlds
and all realms throughout the endless vastnesses of infinity!
John described the great multitude of saints this way: These are they which came out of great
tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He
that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor
any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them,
and shall lead them unto living fountains of
waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes (Rev. 7:14-17).
Surely this passage describes the blessing of God to come upon His people! They are coming out of great tribulation, which is
in this case the judgment sent upon the woman Jezebel presented in chapter two of the
Revelation. They are being chastised of their
Father for their spiritual harlotry in the land of spiritual Babylon, and through this
process their robes are washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. Thank God, John sees a great multitude that has come out of great tribulation. A wonderful transformation has taken place in them
through the process of the great tribulation! They
have now washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the
Lamb. Their robes werent always
white! Before their great
tribulation their robes were soiled, stained, spotted, dirty, polluted, and filthy! They were truly Gods people, but were not
yet washed from the defilement of religion and religious systems!
As a result of their going through
that great tribulation, Gods purpose is accomplished in their lives.
These are the redeemed of God who have washed their robes from the defilement of
the false doctrines, empty rituals, blinding traditions, fleshly methods, and carnal
programs of the church systems of man. White
robes in the book of Revelation denote the righteous acts of the saints (Rev.
19:8). It is the righteousness of Christ with
which they are clothed, resulting in righteous, truly spiritual acts manifested out of their lives upon
this earth. All of them have endured the
strippings, purgings, prunings, threshings, refinings, and purifying dealings of God and
have been thoroughly chastened and corrected by the Father.
They are seen coming out of this great tribulation waving palm branches of victory
and praise to God! They are now a righteous
people, and they are a joyful, praising people! The
Lord has led them through the processings of His Spirit, separating from them all the
garbage of religion, making them pure and righteous in the sight of God.
Cleansed
and purified by the Lamb, they are transformed and brought very near to His throne of
love, grace, and power! By this work of
spiritual cleansing, they are given access to the throne zone not to sit on the
throne, but to stand before the throne where they do not reign, but they
serve God by worshipping Him day and night in His temple. He that sitteth on the Fathers throne (the
overcomers) dwells among them. Because the
Christ body dwells among them, these delivered saints from the old order church systems of
the world shall never hunger or thirst again, for the Lord will now feed them and fill
them with true spiritual food, the heavenly manna they were deprived of at the tables of
Babylon; and they shall drink from the fountain of full and abundant life. There is now a flow of life, a reality of life,
which has satisfied the very depths of their being. They
do not look for another. They do not
fantasize about another. They have found Him
whom their soul loveth and He is more than enough!
Neither
shall the sun smite them anymore, for they are now called out of the outer court where
they formerly dwelt, where the sun shines, into
the secret and covered place of the most High, in the inner sanctuary of His presence. God will eliminate all sorrow and wipe all tears
from their eyes; no more travailing and weeping for more of God, for they shall now at
last be satisfied! They no longer have any inner turmoil, for all the
tears are gone. As Ricky Evans has pointed
out, The word tear comes from dakru
which means an inward cry that cannot be heard audibly, inner turmoil. It speaks of those dissatisfactions, those
longings, that warfare which goes on within us, while we keep a smile on our face and
dont let anyone know our deep dark secrets. Gods
life, His presence, the reality of His person, wipes away those cries, removes the inner
turmoil.
Some
may think that because this multitude stand before the throne they must be up
in heaven someplace, instead of being a people upon earth.
We must remember, however, that the scene is symbolic and spiritual, and
therefore has nothing to do with physical location! If
it is on earth that they wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb,
why should it not be on earth that they wear them? If
they come out of great tribulation on earth, why should they not carry their palms on
earth also? The palms bespeak of praise! They
are before the throne and it is here on earth that the apostle says, Let
us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:16).
The
great multitude is a people, the Lords people, long held in the dark clutches of
horrible darkness in religious Babylon, the carnal, man-made church systems, now set free
through the ministry of the manifest sons of God, and ushered out of the feasts of
Passover and Pentecost, on into the glory of the feast of Tabernacles. One point indeed ought to be carefully kept in
view. The great multitude all has palms in their hands (Rev. 7:9). The palms in the hands of the great multitude are
not the palms of victory in any earthly contest, but the palms of the feast of Tabernacles, and it is upon
the thought of that feast the scene is molded. The
feast of Tabernacles, it will be remembered, was at once the last, the highest, and the
most joyful of all the festivals of Israel! It
fell in the month of October, when the harvest not only of grain, but of wine and oil, had
been gathered in, and when, therefore, all the labors of the year were past.
Even this was not all, for we know that in the later period of their history, the
house of Judah connected the feast of Tabernacles with the brightest anticipations of the
future as well as with the most joyful memories of the past. They beheld in it the promise of the Spirit, the
great gift of the coming age; and that they might give full expression to this
anticipation, they sent on the eighth, or the last and great day of the feast, a priest to
the pool of Siloam with a golden urn, that he might fill it from the pool, and, bringing
it up to the temple, might pour it on the altar. This
is the part of the ceremonial alluded to at the point when the joy of the people reached
its highest point, and we read that In the last day, that great day of the feast,
Jesus stood 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. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should
receive (Jn. 7:37-39). These
words rang and echoed down the streets of Jerusalem as the crowds gathered around the
priest when he brought the water from the pool, and they waved their lulabs small branches of palm trees, the
same palms referred to as being waved by the great multitude! The courts of the temple vibrated with their glad
song, With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation (Isa. 12:3). Ah, the great multitude wave the palms of joy and
praise unto God! They draw living water out
of the wells of salvation, out of the depths of the Spirit which they have received! This is the Spirit beyond Pentecost, this is the church, the vast
multitudes of the redeemed, through the ministry of the sons of God, brought into THE
FEAST OF TABERNACLES! Oh, the wonder of it! Isnt it wonderful!
To be continued
J. PRESTON EBY
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