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"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God..."
FROM THE CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE
Part 107
THE SOUNDING
OF THE TRUMPETS
(continued)
And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the
sea: and the third part of the sea became blood: and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and
had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed (Rev.
8:8-9).
The second angel
sounded! A great mountain burning with fire
was cast into the sea! If ye have faith
as a grain of mustard seed, Jesus once declared, ye shall say unto this
mountain, Be thou cast into the midst of the sea
and it shall be done. In fire and flame
John beheld such a mountain hurled into the sea!
The seed of the
kingdom of God is planted within each of us to change us into the image and likeness of
Christ. As a firstfruits today, we are the
first to be changed! It is within us that the seven trumpets are sounding, bringing
wonderful and powerful processings and transformations in our lives. When the second angel sounds, As it were a great mountain burning with fire
was cast into the sea (of mankind): and the third part of the sea became blood. It does not say that a literal mountain
burning with literal fire was cast into the literal sea.
Oh, no! However, if we can
understand the language used in its literal sense, we can then gain a clear conception of
what it is intended to signify when used in its figurative or spiritual sense. A burning mountain would be one in
volcanic eruption, emitting flames, smoke, and lava.
The casting of this into the sea would produce a violent commotion of the
waters, stirring them to unfathomed depths. Clouds
of steam would ascend and the surface of the water would be agitated into fury. Billows would rise mountain high, engulfing the
ships within range of the disturbance, and the natural result would be that fish and other
sea animals would be killed. When we get a
picture of the absolute awesomeness of the scene John beheld in spirit, and understand the
language in its proper figurative and spiritual meaning, we are better able to grasp the
ideas involved. The things represented,
however, must be suggested by the things seen in the picture. A mountain in scripture represents a kingdom or a power.
Notice the
words, As it were a great mountain
As it were reveals that this is a
parable, a symbolic picture, a metaphor, a figure of speech, an allegory, a likening or a
comparison. It signifies that there is a
happening within us that can be compared to, or
understood by, a burning mountain being cast into the sea, causing a third part of the sea
to become blood. Without doubt this great
mountain which is burning with fire, the fire of God, is the heavenly
mount Zion, the power and glory and dominion of the rule or kingdom of God coming
cataclysmically into our experience. Consider
the symbolisms in the following scripture and hear the word of the Lord! When
the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged
the blood of Jerusalem, from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the
spirit of burning, the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon
her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for
upon all the glory shall be a defense (Isa. 4:4-5).
When we
understand that mountains in scripture represent kingdoms, governments, or rulerships, we
will understand Johns vision! This is
the entrance of HIS KINGDOM, burning with fire, cast into the sea of our
lives, the body realm, which is the seat of all the gross sins of the flesh and the
bestial nature of the natural man. This fiery
kingdom comes to cleanse that which has been so utterly corrupted and defiled. The great truth of this is revealed in king
Nebuchadnezzars dream which was interpreted by Daniel. Daniel said to the king, Thou sawest until a stone was cut out without
hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them in
pieces
and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain that filled the whole earth (Dan.
2:34-35). There is but one great mountain
the triumphant kingdom of our Lord! This
kingdom begins in the lives of Gods elect, and it is here that it must first
cleanse, change, and transform all of our being, spirit, soul, and body. Ultimately it will smite all the kingdoms of man,
and fill the whole earth! Truly this is
redemptions outworking in beautiful portrayal!
There can be no
doubt that this great mountain burning with fire is the mountain of the
dominion of the kingdom of our great and glorious God!
The kingdom of God is the authority, power, glory, and dominion of God by
the Spirit! The word kingdom
is a contraction of the term kings domain. The term kingdom of God can mean no
other than the domain over which God exercises rule as King. It is Gods declared purpose therefore that His people, His holy nation, His peculiar treasure, should be the domain over which
He would rule as King, and ultimately all the earth and every creature and all things. The Lords greatest dominion at this time is
in the lives of His elect and chosen ones! We
are now becoming ruled and governed by the Lord totally and absolutely. He has extended the dominion of His kingdom to our
hearts and lives, and now the Lord will rule us with complete and undisputed dominion! And He will continue to rule and reign in our
lives until every enemy within us is made subject to Him.
This is the present truth of the kingdom of God!
The kingdom is
not the reign of God as such, for God is ultimately reigning as the King eternal and the
Lord of the universe at all times. The
kingdom is the gracious action of the sovereign God of heaven by which His reign is recognized and reverenced and entered into by those men whom God had previously
permitted to walk in their own sense of self-hood. The kingdom is the gathering together of all
things into one in Christ. The kingdom is
reconciliation. The kingdom is regeneration.
The kingdom is deliverance. The kingdom is
salvation. The kingdom is transformation. The kingdom is every man presented perfect in
Christ Jesus! The kingdom is God All-in-all!
The kingdom of
God is limited to that domain where Gods saving,
transforming power has defeated all opposition, broken down every wall, transformed
all that is contrary to Gods nature; mind, will, emotions, and desires have been
brought into oneness and harmony with Gods nature and authority. Where the nature of God and the mind of Christ
have mightily conquered, the state of things is called the kingdom of God! Where hearts are changed, where sin, and error,
and darkness have been defeated, where truth and righteousness advance, where life and
light and love hold sway, where the will and ways of the Father are raised up as reality
and life in a people, where the mind of Christ rules out of union with God there the kingdom of God has come and is
advancing! In the kingdom of God it is no
longer God ruling over you by an external law
and sovereignty, but the life, mind, heart, nature, power, wisdom, knowledge, and will of
God entering into you, becoming your very own
reality. And THAT IS THE PICTURE JOHN SAW
OF THE BURNING MOUNTAIN OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD BEING CAST WITH MIGHTY POWER INTO THE SEA OF
OUR LIVES!
The seven
trumpets portray the work of God in transformation in His elect! When the first trumpet sounded the Lord sent the
hail of a hard word and the fire of His divine power to burn off from our
soulical earth realm the religious fleshly works that had grown up out of the earth of our
carnal minds. Is that not where God starts
with His chosen and apprehended ones as He sets about to conform them to the image of
Christ? He first sets His hand to deliver us
from the outward works of religious Babylon. But
now, this great spiritual mountain of the Holy Ghost fire of God is cast into the sea of
mankind! This happens, my beloved, as the
power, authority, and glory of God by the Spirit is raised up in the lives of Gods
elect! The sea is the realm of
the sinful, fleshly, earthly, deceitful, and wicked Adamic nature of the natural man. The sea is turned to blood, thus showing the
destruction of the fleshly and corrupt Adamic nature within!
The third part
of the creatures in the sea that had life, died, revealing that the unbridled emotions,
the fleshly passions, the ungodly desires, and the wickedness of the Adamic heart are
brought to death within the Lords elect. One
third reveals that God is not at this time doing this in the whole race of men, but
only in the one third company His elect!
Fishes are among the lowest order of animal life. The creatures in the sea represent the various
aspects of the beastly nature in us all, the passions of the flesh that swim about in the
consciousness of those who live and walk after the flesh. Usually an emotion or desire
does not have life unless it is stimulated or stirred up in some way. That happens in temptation! When
made alive such emotions and desires have great power unto either good or
evil. Many a child of God has fallen into sin
and failure, and many a preacher has had his ministry discredited and ruined, because of
the awesome power of the fish or
passions and desires swimming about in his lower, outer flesh nature. No one type can express them all, so there are
creatures great and small, powerful, cunning, ugly, menacing, viscous, poisonous,
sometimes even beautiful and apparently wise and highly intelligent in their own way, but
all feeding off of each other, inhabiting, living, and manifesting in the lowest realms of
mans being.
How we praise
God for the sacred knowledge that the all-consuming power of the Holy Ghost fire of God
and the authority and dominion of His kingdom within kills everything that
swims in the sea of the bestial nature of the outer man of earth! Here, only one third is dealt with, which can also
indicate a partial victory, the initiation of the triumph of the Christ within,
but when the last trump has sounded the mystery of God will be finished (Rev. 10:7). All the elect of the Lord will stand whole,
perfect, mature, and triumphant in the holy and glorious image of their Father!
And the
third part of the ships were destroyed.
Ships are that
which cross the sea, and transport the necessities which supply the natural man all that
assists him to fulfill his desires, aims, and purposes.
Ships are vehicles of commerce goods, food, wealth by which
the desires and ambitions of men are fulfilled and find expression. Ships sail on the sea, but are not the sea as, for example, a gun is not a
murderer, but merely a vehicle often used by
murderers. It is something without by which the carnal or evil intentions,
desires, and plans of men are carried out.
Let me
illustrate. Suppose for a moment that I am
the teacher of a sixth grade science class. I
have in my mind a vast storehouse of knowledge about things scientific which I wish to
convey to my students actually to transfer
from my mind into their minds. I must find a
vehicle, an instrument by which I can transmit this knowledge. The vehicle will be not just one thing, but a
number of things. The first will be words. By
words I can transfer knowledge from my intellect into the intellect of the students. Another vehicle could be a blackboard and chalk. Another might be movies. And, of course, more important than all experiments!
None of these things are me, but
they are vehicles used by me, vehicles of transference
answering to the ships of the sea! Just as ships carry produce, raw materials, and
merchandise from one country to another, so the words, object lessons, movies, and
experiments transfer ideas from one person to
another. Metaphorically, they are like ships!
Governments use
many metaphorical ships or vehicles. A government is an authority, a rulership. But in order to rule, there must be various
agencies of that rule which transfer the power from the governing body to the governed. Some
of the ships of mans government are taxation, laws, police, judges,
bureaucracies, government agencies, and politicians.
Armies also have many ships, ships of tanks, airplanes, aircraft
carriers, submarines, bombs, guns, etc. None
of these are the army, but they are vehicles
used by the army to transfer the will and power
of the government upon the enemy!
In
the religious realm there are many ships, ships of organizations, buildings,
programs, radio and television programs, schools, ceremonies, hymn books, prayer books,
confessionals, candles, incense, and a thousand more.
The natural mind is ever seeking something visible and tangible. Throughout the centuries the church systems have
accumulated a vast number of traditions, rituals, methods, and techniques, each of them
supplanting something of the living reality and power of the Christ within. These things have become so universal in the
churches of the world, and in the lives of their members, that there is no thought of ever
being able to run the church and its business without them! Generation after generation, people have been
raised up from childhood in this atmosphere and have absolutely no knowledge of anything
else or another way. It never even enters the
minds of these people that THE CHRIST is the Head of the church, He is the Life of the
church, and the whole sufficiency for the church, its people, its work, and its needs.
John saw the destruction of all these religious
ships later on in his visions and recorded it thus: And
the kings of the earth who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her
(religious Babylon), shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke
of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that
great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour is thy judgment come. In one hour so great riches have come to naught. And every shipmaster,
and all the company of ships, and
sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood
afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto
this great city! And they cast dust on their
heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were
made rich all that had ships in the sea by
reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate (Rev.
18:9-10,17-19). The devastation of religious
Babylon includes not only the destruction of the system itself, but the burning up of all its ships!
The great lament
of the sailors of Babylon is that Babylons means
of commerce is ruined! This limits their
ability to be about the things that they do, their activities and way of life are
impacted, devastated. Ah, my beloved, this
has been and is being fulfilled in the life of every son of God! The spirit of truth has come to us as the
burning mountain of the Lords authority in our lives and has stripped away and
purged from us all the old-order methods and religious practices of the passing systems of
man!
Yet these
religious ships of the Babylon systems of man are not the same ships
that are destroyed at the sounding of the second trumpet,
by the burning mountain cast into the sea!
The sea is not the soulical, religious realm, but the lower body realm, the
bestial nature of the natural man. Does not
the flesh utilize a thousand things to fulfill its desires and passions? The message is just this when the Lord
comes in His kingdom authority to establish His rule in our lives, one of the first things
He begins to put His finger on is the sins of the flesh.
But not only does He deal with the sin nature, He also wipes away all the
outward things and activities which we utilize to fulfill its lusts, to entertain the
flesh, to pander to the flesh, to promote the flesh, to indulge, satisfy, gratify,
satiate, wallow and revel in the flesh. When
the burning mountain of Gods holy fire has consumed the ships in the
sea of our lives, we no longer go to the places we used to go to, nor do we do
the things we used to do! Father cleans up
our walk, He purifies our life-style, establishing righteousness in all the outward
expressions of our life. Arent you
glad!
And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a
lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains
of waters: and the name of the star is called Wormwood:
and the third part of the waters became wormwood;
and many men died of the waters, because they
were made bitter (Rev. 8:10-11).
As the
trumpets blow we see actions that originate out of the heavens of the spirit and enter
powerfully into the earth and the sea of our natural lives.
The seven angels stood before God the same location of
the seven spirits which are before the throne and are sent
forth into all the earth. The heavens
of God are within our spirit! It is the realm
of the spirit where God dwells and from whence He moves to redeem and transform us in soul
and body! The trumpets sound out of the
heavens, or the realm of the spirit! The hail
and fire mingled with blood come out of the heavens of the spirit within us, and are cast into our earth, or our
soulical life. The great mountain burning
with fire comes out of the spiritual heavens within and is likewise cast into our sea,
or the bodily, fleshly, lustful, and sinful dimension of our being. And now a great star falls from heaven, burning as
it were a lamp, and falls upon the third part of the rivers and fountains
of waters!
There is a very
important truth which we should all learn in this connection, and we will explain it as
well as possible here. How many times
throughout the scriptures the life of God is spoken of as a flowing stream of water! How
excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men
shall be
abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of Thy pleasures. For with Thee is the fountain of life (Ps. 36:7-9). The Lord Jesus tells us that the water
that He gives will become a fountain of living water within us, springing
up unto eternal life (Jn. 4:14). He says
again that whoever is thirsty may come to Him and drink, and whoever believes into Him
will have rivers
of living water flowing from within him (Jn. 7:37-38). All these words relate to one thing that
God Himself has flowed out and is still flowing out on this earth into humanity AS LIFE!
On the day of
Pentecost the Lord poured Himself out as the Holy Spirit.
This Jesus God raised up again,
to which we are all witnesses. Therefore
having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the
promise of the Holy Spirit, He hath poured forth this
which you both see and hear (Acts 2:32-33, New American Standard). Notice the word poured in these
verses. He poured out the Holy
Spirit, and the Holy Spirit became the flowing stream of the divine water (spirit and truth)
of life! For twenty centuries since
that time, the Holy Spirit has been flowing in this world.
This flowing has never stopped and it shall flow throughout all the ages! It shall flow until there is no place in the whole
universe that has not been bathed in its life-giving waters! God has poured out His Holy Spirit, flowing with
His divine life and His living word! There is
now a river, a flowing of Gods life, and this flowing is the Spirit of God Himself,
poured out by the resurrected, ascended, and glorified Jesus, fulfilling the prophecy of
Zechariah the prophet: In that day there
shall be a fountain opened to the house of
David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness (Zech. 13:1). This fountain is naught but the head waters
of the glorious river of life which in that long-ago beginning
flowed from Edens lovely garden, and now flows from the throne of God within our spirit!
In nature there
is water in every part of the atmosphere, but a river is a concentrated
and channeled
current or stream of water. A river is a large stream of water that flows
downhill through a channel, within banks. Without
a channel you can have no river!
While Gods presence, life, light, and love, enfold and embrace all
things, the river
of life is the flowing of Gods concentrated life, intensified and
magnified as it were a thousand times, flowing through a restricted area, concentrated in
all its fullness within the banks of that channel. This
concentrated stream of the absolute fullness of Gods divine life is the wonderful river of life
which holds the power of cleansing, renewal, restoration, and transformation for all unto
whom it flows! The powers contained within
these waters of life are incomprehensible to the natural mind, for they are the powers of
heavens own divine and incorruptible life! These
celestial waters contain the divine, wondrous ability to wash away the very power and
effects
and results
of sin and death!
Every child of
God should seek that the Lord would open his eyes to show him that we who drink deeply of
Him BECOME THE CHANNEL by which God flows out unto humanity! God Himself is the wellspring,
the eternal source
of incorruptible life and glory; Jesus Christ, the firstborn Son of God, is the fountain,
the reservoir
of this glorious life; and the sons of God are the river
by which His life and glory shall be communicated to all the arid barrenness of the
earth-realm! That is the mystery. And
He showed me a pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev.
22:1). On the highest peak of the universe
there is a throne, one throne, it is the throne of GOD, and on that throne the blessed
Lamb is sitting. The Lamb is the firstborn
Son of God who stands on Zions holy hill, followed by 144,000
redeemed ones who have put on the MIND OF CHIRST and the NATURE OF THE FATHER. Mount Zion is but another figure for the throne of
God and the Lamb! And yet the 144,000
overcoming sons of God are with the Lamb upon mount Zion!
As I mentioned above, God is the source of this water of divine and
incorruptible life and glory; the Lamb is the fountain or the reservoir of this glorious
life; and the 144,000 with the Lamb on mount Zion are the channel, the river through which
His life flows out. How can mankind
experience and know the divine and incorruptible life of God? Why, only in the river! The incorruptible
body and the divine life of the manifest sons
of God shall constitute that channel through which the stream of the fullness
of Gods divine life is destined to flow out unto all mankind and to the entire
creation of God! Is that not why the whole
creation is standing on tiptoe, watching with bated breath to behold the wonderful sight
of Gods sons coming into their own! The
entire creation expectantly waits for the manifestation, the unveiling, and the outflowing of God through
His sons! Isnt it wonderful!
Oh! This is the river of God which flows out of the
throne! I would remind you, however, that the
rivers and fountains of waters which, at the sounding of the third trumpet, are made
bitter by the Wormwood, have nothing whatever to
do with this great river of God! That is
the great truth revealed in our text! These
are not heavenly, celestial waters flowing out of the throne of God instead, they
are the rivers of earth. Not the literal springs and rivers where
people swim, boat, and fish, of course, but the rivers of mans human life and mans fallible word rather than Gods divine life and heavens living word! Just as the Spirit of God and the living Word of
God make up the wonderful river of life in the kingdom of God, and flow out from God, so
the spirit of the world and the word of man comprise the carnal
rivers and waters of the earth-realm which flow out of the carnal
minds and hearts of natural men. No symbol of
our human experience is quite so suggestive as that of a river! Our very consciousness is only a changing current,
moving onward toward some distant and hidden sea.
The creeds,
doctrines, teachings, and philosophies of the church systems are not pure rivers of the
water of life from the throne of God. They
are polluted waters! Sometimes they are
not the truth at all, other times they are half-truths, misunderstood truths, misapplied
truths, or truth on a lower level. The church
systems teach, for example, that December 25 is Christs birthday, but it is not
true. The preachers constantly chatter about
the imminent rapture of the saints yet it is not true! The church systems insist that every man who has
lived and died on this planet without a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is eternally
doomed and damned to the unending torments of a fiery hell.
Another lie of enormous proportions! In
sermons and songs they hold out the hope of a planet called heaven where the Lords
people will live in literal mansions, strum harps, and dance up and down literal streets
of gold forever, but with carnal minds they
mistake the symbol for the reality! Some
teach the awful heresy of what is called limited atonement, others teach
baptismal regeneration, others claim that there is no salvation outside of
their church or movement; even some in this message of sonship and the kingdom of God have
proclaimed that if you are not submitted in their particular group or order you can never
be a son of God! There are even those who teach polygamy as the divine order of God, while
others continually set dates for the coming of Christ or the end of the world. God help us!
There are rivers and waters of so-called truth that
flow out of Mormon springs, out of
Scientology springs, Christian Science springs, New Age springs, Spiritist springs,
Buddhist springs, Moslem springs, Roman Catholic springs, Hindu springs, Humanistic
springs, and a thousand more. These are, one
and all, but the rivers of Babylon! Can we not now hear the profound lament and deep
sob of the prophet who wrote the words of the Psalm, By the rivers
of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst
thereof. For there they that carried us away
captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, sing
us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we
sing the Lords song in a strange land? (Ps. 137:1-4).
Let us return
now to our text. And the third
angel sounded, and there fell a great star
from heaven, burning as it were a lamp,
and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and
upon the fountains of waters. The epithet great is attached to the
star that falls or comes down from heaven. It
must now be made clear to our hearts that this great star is none other than
the Christ who dwells within our spirit! He
has descended out of the heavens of Gods Spirit!
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout
with the trump of God (I Thes. 4:16). He descends at the sounding of the third trump! And He burns as a lamp! He
is the Word of God! Thy word
is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my
pathway (Ps. 119:105). The great
star is a burning word of
authority and power! It is Christ Himself,
the Word of God, who descends out of the heavens of the spirit to fall upon the soulical
rivers and upon the well-springs of imaginations, carnal knowledge, and worldly wisdom
that flow within our earthly, natural, human life and identity. These constitute the word and spirit of a carnal
realm Christ falls upon these with His blazing word of Spirit and Truth and turns
them to wormwood bitterness!
By that bitterness death is brought to that realm! Can you not see the mystery?
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 Jerusalem and said, Where
is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east. Not the sun, but the star. God hung in the heavens something supernatural,
something new, something divinely glorious a star.
Many foolish theories have been espoused as to what this star was. Some think it was a flying saucer! Others say it was a conjunction of the planets! I must remind you, however, that the star moved from east to west, the wise men followed the star, and finally the star came to
hang right over the house where the young Christ
child lay. There is no conjunction of
planets that can do any of those things! And
out of the East, these men who had been studying the stars, began to converge on
Jerusalem. And if you think there were just
three little old wise men there, you need to read the story again. There were probably three hundred! I dont think for one moment that three men
from Persia could have caused such a commotion in Jerusalem. Matthew says that at their appearance king Herod
was troubled greatly disturbed and THE WHOLE OF JERUSALEM WITH HIM. They came from every direction. They came from all the countries of the mysterious
Orient. And they said, We have seen His
star, and weve come to worship Him.
Now how did they
come to associate the coming of Christ 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 received 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 arise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab
(type of the flesh)
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 of
Jacob
Out there in a pagan,
heathen land there was 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 Jerusalem!
The star in
chapter two of Matthews Gospel is just the beginning of this matter in the New
Testament. When 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 symbolisms 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 Morning Star is mentioned twice
in the Revelation and is involved with Jesus and the promise of the Lord to the overcomers
of Gods elect. And, behold, I come quickly
I am Alpha and
Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last
I am THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR (Rev.
22:12-16). And he that overcometh
I will give him the morning star (Rev. 2:26,28).
Oh, yes! The elect of the Lord in this hour have been given
eyes to see this star and hearts to receive 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, nor the outer shell or husk of the truth. Every man and woman who has received the call to
sonship has now passed beyond the knowledge of static creeds and lifeless traditions,
beyond empty ceremonies and impotent programs, beyond man-made religious activities, and
has been given the heavenly vision, the celestial glow and gleam, the holy brightness and
brilliance of THE STAR, the vision of the glory and majesty of God in Christ that carnal
concepts can never reach!
The appearance
of Christ as the burning star which is a lamp
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
perfection and fullness. I have been inspired
and encouraged with this precious truth! This
is indeed a revelation of the Lords purpose and ways that has inspired within new
understanding, confidence, and anticipation of the full change of Gods sons into the
likeness of Jesus Christ and 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.
The Morning Star
is promised to all who overcome and who walk with Christ in blessed submission
to the will of the Father. Inasmuch as the
Lord Jesus declared Himself to be the Morning Star, and He promised to give this Morning Star to all who overcome, it is
obvious that something unique and special of Christ is imparted to the Lords
faithful overcomers. This is a coming
of the Lord you will seldom, if ever, hear about from the teachers and preachers of the
church systems. The television evangelists,
who love to flaunt the rapture before their undiscerning audiences, know
nothing of this coming of the Lord as the Morning Star!
They know not what it means to us when the great star
falls from heaven upon the rivers and the fountains of waters of that earth which we are! 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 burns like a lamp, shining in the darkness of
our natural consciousness, human reasoning, carnal ideas, imaginations, concepts, beliefs,
human reasoning, understanding, and mind-set, GIVING A VISION OF AND HOPE FOR THE DAWNING
OF THE NEW, FULL DAY OF THE MIND OF CHRIST AND THE GLORY OF THE FATHER. During our spiritual growth unto full
stature, the Christ within has been developing from understanding to understanding, from
experience to experience, from strength to strength, from hope to hope, and from glory to
glory. And now He comes to impart to a people
the glorious hope of the new day THE TOTAL
VICTORY AND COMPLETE TRIUMPH OF THE CHRIST LIFE WITHIN!
The great
starwhich is Christ, comes as a burning lamp! This burning lamp is a burning word! The
presence, glory, and word of Christ falls into our carnal rivers and fountains of waters. These rivers and fountains of waters are not in
the sea, the lowest dimension of our nature, the passions and motions of sin
in the body. Rather, the rivers and fountains
of waters flow through our earth, the realm of the soul the intellectual realm of knowledge
and understanding. The star that falls upon
the fresh water of earth results in the contamination of the waters! Not only the third part of the world of rivers,
but also the fountains of waters, that is, the water sources are polluted. Men often get their water supply from the rivers
of earth, which originate out of the fountains
of waters which sometimes flow from the snows and glaciers of the mountains,
and sometimes are the underground springs and wells which flow out of the earth. To contaminate or cut off their water supply
is to render men desperate and helpless, and even to insure their sickness and death!
The fountains
of waters represent the sources of ideas, concepts, philosophies,
teachings, precepts, creeds, doctrines, traditions, observances, customs, and laws
all the intellectual, moral, and religious influences of this world which are the sources from which men
draw their life, their natural joy and refreshment, their ways of thinking, their
understanding of the world, their vocations, life-styles, and relationships. Rivers suggest the flow
of these ideas and beliefs as they are taught, propagated, promoted, and assimilated into
the minds, hearts, and behavior of men. These
waters flow through school and college classrooms, seminars, television programs, books,
court rooms, political propaganda, church pulpits, cultural traditions, and a hundred
other places. Different belief systems moving
in intellectual, moral, and spiritual channels constitute the outflowing of these waters as rivers. If ever a purging was needed, it is here! The fact that Christ comes upon these earthly
streams of worldly wisdom and carnal knowledge and embitters
them to the consciousness of His people is indeed good
news! Ray Prinzing once said it so well:
Bitter as the wormwood might be that is used to purge out the error of tradition,
carnal concepts, the false images, etc., yet when He has finished this tremendous
judgment, The earth shall be filled with the
knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea (Hab. 2:14). God has appointed HIS CLEANSING AGENTS and they
shall be most effective in their working, and though bringing death to the old, it also
bespeaks of the preparation for the birthing of the new.
Praise God!
Where there are
rivers there is a flow of life with vegetation, trees, crops, food, birds, and animals of
many kinds. Religion is a flow of life in the
soulish dimension of man. There was a time in
our life when it was a blessing to us to live in that realm, it was a lamp unto our feet,
and important to us in our progress from the Egypt of the world to our promised land of
the fullness of Christ. We received a certain
level of life from that realm! We were
encouraged, strengthened, and edified through the preaching, teaching, singing, clapping,
worship, sacraments, programs, concerts, activities, ceremonies, traditions, etc. But as we follow on to know the Lord there comes a
time when the Father shines a greater light upon our pathway and soon we
find that all the streams and fountains which once gave us life, are turned to bitterness
and death for us! In the light that the
Spirit brings we are enabled to truly see the religious systems of man for what they are!
It is the Lord who does this! Notice
And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and
the waters became wormwood (bitter) The star is Christ! It is Christ Himself who causes the streams of our
natural life, human understanding, worldly wisdom, and mans religion to be made
bitter! And many men died of the waters, because they
were made bitter. Oh, yes! The very thing that was once life to us has now
become death! That is the wise way and
effective processing of the Lord in the lives of His elect!
Oh, yes, the
Lord governs even in those realms that He brings to an end within us. The government of man is not the purity of the
kingdom of God, yet we know that there is no
power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God
(Rom. 13:1). God governs from that level, nothing is out of our
glorious Fathers control or beyond His power or purpose. Our human identity, the knowledge of this world,
history, science, mathematics, technology, psychology, medicine, government, politics,
law, religion all is ordained of God as steps and instruments in the unfolding of
His wise plan. There was a time when many of
those things meant much to us, there was a time when we followed the political scene,
supposing that democracy was Gods ordained system of government, and that if we
could just elect a president and congress with godly, Christian values, it would somehow
bring the kingdom of God in our nation. Well,
at times we got the leaders we thought God had sanctioned, but things got worse and the
nation continued to morally slip into hell! At
last the political waters became so bitter to us, and so polluted with death, as our
Father revealed the utter carnality and stupidity of man in it all, that we turned from
those waters with disgust. There was a time
when God blessed us through religion, it met a need in our lives in the early stages of
our walk with God, and we thought that was the way to reach God and serve God. Religion had a great influence in our earth as its
streams flowed through our land with blessing, encouragement, and excitement! But one blessed day a great star
from out of the high realms of the heavens fell with mighty force upon the rivers and the
fountains of waters of the kingdom of Babylon within us, and in an instant of time they
were filled with wormwood and became terrible bitterness and death to us! This has also happened in the life of every
apprehended son of God!
Can you not see
the mystery? There is an ascending scale in
the Fathers dealings with His sons as one by one the angels blow and the trumpets
sound! At the sounding of the first trumpet,
hail and fire mingled with blood were cast into our earth, and the trees,
those deeply rooted things that grow out of our earthly nature, and the grass, those
surface coverings and masks in our lives which hide the nature beneath from being seen for
what it is, were burnt up, consumed by the passion of God.
This was the beginning of Gods work in His called-out ones! When the second trumpet sounded, a great
mountain burning with fire was cast into our sea, the sea became blood, and
the lustful passions and gross sins of the flesh (fish and sea animals) began to be
destroyed. Even the ships, those things we
employed to indulge our flesh, were taken from us. And
now the third trumpet has sounded and the Lord is striking at the source of all the carnal streams of the spirit of
this world which have fashioned our lives according to mans wisdom, but not after
the mind of Christ or the nature of God. It
is an on-going work, from experience to experience, from dealing to dealing, and from
glory to glory! When all the seven trumpets
have sounded their message the mystery of God will be finished and all the holy sons of
God will stand in the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, truly manifest
before creation as the sons of the living God!
To be continued
J. PRESTON EBY
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