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KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES
"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of
God..."
FROM THE CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE
Part 187
THE
BATTLE AT
ARMAGEDDON
(continued)
“And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs…for they are the spirits
of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and
of the whole world, to gather them to
the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
Behold, I come as a thief.
Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he
walk naked, and they see his shame.
And he gathered
them together into a place called in
the Hebrew tongue Armageddon” (Rev. 16:13-15).
The battle of the great day of God Almighty, like everything else in
the Revelation, is a
spiritual battle just because
it is
God’s battle!
God does not fight His battles with carnal weapons of tanks
and guns and missiles and bombs, but with the
sword of the Spirit, which is the
living word of God!
The setting of this battle is concerned with the destruction of
Babylon
the Great and the judgment which is sent upon it.
Hear it! “And the great
city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and
great
Babylon
came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the
fierceness of His wrath (passion)” (Rev. 16:19).
As we move from this passage on into chapters seventeen and eighteen
everything is about the judgment
and destruction of Babylon!
The dealing of God upon Babylon is a mighty
spiritual operation of God — not
a literal warfare. But the
carnal-minded theologians and the ignorant secular world have seized upon
the word “Armageddon” and have used it as a cryptic synonym by which to
describe the final world conflict.
Some of the erroneous usages of the word “Armageddon” include such
definitions as: “Site of the great end-of-the-world battlefield of the
Apocalypse”; “Atomic Armageddon”; “Will the next war be Armageddon?”;
“Armageddon occurred in the holocaust of the Second World War”.
There is no scriptural or spiritual
basis for any of this when one reverently considers the context as a whole.
The battle at Armageddon occurs first of all
within the Lord’s people, but
also through His people.
And as God assembles the “kings” to this battle He says,
“Behold, I come as a thief.”
The church and the world are both going to be greatly surprised
when they learn that the so-called “battle of Armageddon,” the “battle of
the great day of GOD ALMIGHTY,” unleashed in all its fury, is first and
foremost the greatest display of
divine power and glory, revealed through God’s people, that this world
has ever witnessed! It has been
said that heaven would be hell to the sinner.
And that is exactly right.
The unveiling of the might and power and glory of God in the midst of
this crooked and perverse generation is going to produce
on the one hand great consternation, distress, shrieking, gloom, and
destruction to all the hardened hearts and organized systems which are
opposed to God, and on the other hand life and victory and deliverance when
the judgments have accomplished their work and every knee bows before His
majesty.
As we have pointed out again and again the battle at Armageddon is
the battle of THE GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTY.
The prophet Joel prophesied of this great “day of the Lord,” saying,
“Multitudes, multitudes, in the
valley of decision, for the day of
the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
The sun and the moon (ruling powers) shall be darkened, and the
stars shall withdraw their shining.
The Lord also shall roar out of Zion (the mount of sonship), and order His voice from Jerusalem (His holy city); and the heavens and the earth
shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope (shelter) of His people, and the
strength of the children of
Israel.
So shall ye know that I am
the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy
mountain (kingdom): then shall
Jerusalem
(the Lord’s people) be holy…and it shall come to pass in that day, that the
mountains (strong kingdoms) shall drop down new wine
(joy and revelation), and the hills (lesser kingdoms) shall flow with
milk (of the word), and all the rivers of Judah (those who are a praise)
shall flow with (living) waters, and a fountain (of life) shall flow forth
from the house of the Lord” (Joel 3:14-18).
What can be more clear than this: the great day of the Lord brings
the shaking of heaven and earth, that is, judgments from the Lord — while at
the same time, in that
same day, in God is shelter
and refuge and new wine and milk, and refreshing waters from the house of
the Lord! Little wonder that
the day of the Lord is called both a “great” and a “terrible” day!
A battle unto victory is always both great
and terrible!
Armageddon brings the triumph of God’s kingdom within His people.
It brings the glory of the saints.
“Then shall Jerusalem be
holy.”
“So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God
dwelling in
Zion.”
It brings to an end the rule of religious
Babylon over the
Lord’s people, the destruction of every system and device of man, life and
liberty to the captives. The
veil of spiritual blindness that hangs like a pall over God’s people shall
be removed and at last they shall see things as they really are and behold
the glory of the Lord. Wine and
milk and living waters shall flow as life-giving streams to every saint of
God everywhere. What a day!
A day of darkness and gloominess on one hand, but to those who wait
upon the Lord it is “the morning spread upon the mountains.”
As God assembles to this battle He says,
“Behold, I come as a thief” (Rev.
16:15). This battle comes “as a
thief” upon those who are attacked by the Lord!
By this we are to understand that the sleeping church recognizes
neither the war of Armageddon nor the day it ushers in.
What divine sense that makes!
For the masses of God’s people are still looking for a war in the
Middle East instead of God fighting the battle in their hearts!
How often we look in the wrong place to find our enemies.
Our true enemies are WITHIN.
These are the enemies that prevent God’s people from possessing their
full inheritance in their promised land — CHRIST.
Kings in the
Middle East
have nothing to do with that!
The Lord’s people are blind and asleep in relation to the true battle of
God’s great Day. A thief comes
while people sleep, unheralded, unsuspected, and unrecognized.
He blows no trumpet; he wants no fanfare.
He works in secret and by stealth.
Then when the morn comes, they learn of their loss, but too late.
The thief has come and gone, and with him their treasures.
Thus the Spirit conveys to us the great truth that when God sets His
hand to deliver His people out of Babylon
He slips up on them and they aren’t
aware that He has conquered their hearts and delivered them of all their
“earthly” and “religious” treasures until the work has been accomplished!
What a marvelous strategy!
There is a coming of the Lord as a thief.
It happens at the battle of Armageddon!
Nearly all Bible teachers have missed this fact.
This is not a coming or appearing of the Lord that is before the
public. It is not an unveiling
before the multitudes. You will
see no report of it on CNN. A
thief does not go down to the public square with a sound system and say,
“I’d like to make an announcement.
At three o’clock in the morning I’m going to visit the
wealthiest lady in this town and
I’m going to steal everything I can get my hands on.”
He doesn’t do that! He
comes at the darkest part of the night.
He comes with softest tread, without noise, without light, without
warning. He comes as silently and
stealthily as possible, unobserved by the sleepers.
He comes to rob. He
comes to take away everything that he can.
He is after gold and pearls and jewels of great price.
Men are unaware of the event until he has come and gone and the items
of value to the owner have disappeared with Him.
The Lord Jesus says that at the
gathering of the forces to Armageddon HE WILL COME AS
A THIEF!
The “rich lady” to be robbed is Babylon!
As our friend Connie Asbill once
wrote, “Like Israel
who was rich in covenants and
promises, this woman (Babylon)
is rich with the word that has been brought to her, not only by the
scriptures, but by those men who have been raised up out of the midst of her
to speak truth under the anointings of God.
In Revelation 17:4 she is seen ‘arrayed in purple and scarlet color,
decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her
hand…’
Babylon
is, indeed, a RICH WOMAN.
That she is rich by the hand of God, and is not merely pretending to
be rich, is seen in Hosea 2:8 where the Lord Himself affirms that He is the
source of her wealth.
Babylon
is not, however, aware in the depths of her being that He is her supply, and
therein lies her ultimate undoing, for the Lord said, ‘She did not know that
I (the Lord) gave her corn and wine and oil, and multiplied her silver and
gold…therefore will I return and
take away
my corn in the time thereof and my wine in the season thereof and will
take away my wool and my flax
given to cover her nakedness, and now will I
discover her lewdness in the sight
of her lovers and none shall deliver her out of my hand.’
“Babylon is a rich woman — but it is with these
very riches from the hand of God that she has prepared her own idols, having
held the truth in unrighteousness and changed these riches and truths of God
into a lie. That is what the
Lord says in this passage: ‘She did not know that I gave her corn and wine
and oil…which THEY PREPARED FOR BAAL.’
Deceived by the very riches that were given to bring her to God, Babylon exalts herself because of that which
she possesses, saying within herself, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and
shall see no sorrow’ (Rev. 18:7).
Now, I am aware that the highest meaning of
Babylon
does not mean the organized church system but is, rather, a condition in the
mind or spirit of man, which means that we have all, at one time or another,
and perhaps even until now, are partakers of her.
But the Spirit of the Lord quickens to me that in this case He is
specifically talking about the
church system, as such.
All that the church possesses was given to her out of the anointing
of God, imparted to her through anointed men, and these men of bygone
generations she admires.
Nothing has changed, however, since the days of Jesus when He said to the
religious leaders, ‘You garnish the sepulchers of the dead prophets — but
kill the living ones.’ The
anointed word has been set in concrete in the church system, and like the
rephaim — the physicians of no
value who embalmed Israel
— so has the church system so
embalmed the Christ — fixed
Him in a
static position so that He
can move no further. Holding
the very form of truth, the
church system denies the essence and life of that truth…and boasts in
her wealth! Yet, the Lord says,
‘Because thou sayest,
I am rich and increased with goods
(doctrines and forms and rituals and eschatology charts) and have
need of nothing (not even the anointing) and
knowest not that thou art
wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked…’
Because of all this, ‘I will spew you out of my mouth!’”
— end quote.
Our text reveals two significant truths.
First, the battle of Armageddon is fought for the destruction of
Babylon.
Second, in this battle the Lord comes upon Babylon
as a thief.
He comes in a spiritual visitation of judgment to strip and purge
from His people in Babylon
the death of the carnal mind; those outer, earthly things they cherish above
the spirit and truth and glory of Christ.
That is what a thief does — he plunders the house, carrying off those
things treasured by the householder!
He appears as a thief in the night, and there have often been times
in the lives of all of God’s called and chosen elect when
He has stolen out of the dark hour of our ignorance some carnal
concept, some religious tradition, some perverted doctrine, some Babylonish garment of exquisite design that we
have hidden in our tent of experience.
Ah, we must stay awake to
joyfully receive Him in His coming to us, His appearing in us; if we fail to
do so He will come like a thief, He will come into our world uninvited and
unannounced, He will overtake us unexpectedly and
break up our life style and smash our religious
games, exposing our pretense.
Those who are awake to reality do
not have their houses plundered.
These willingly yield up the things they once prized, which now are
counted but dung that they might win Christ.
Armageddon happens to every individual in a personal
sense. Every man’s heart is an
Armageddon, a battlefield in which the forces of flesh and spirit struggle
against each other. Within our
own inner man is where the great battle of the day of God is fought, and God
in our spirit must prevail against the world, the flesh, the devil, and the
spirit of Babylon that are striving
for the mastery there. No
person who comes to the full knowledge of the truth, no person who comes to
the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, no person who comes
either to manifest sonship or to the marriage of the Lamb
can escape this battle!
As we have previously shown, Armageddon is a Hebrew word signifying
the “mount of Megiddo.”
The town of Megiddo
occupied a very marked position on the southern edge of the
Plain of Esdraelon, and commanded an important pass into the
hill country. This locality was
the great battle-ground of
Israel, on which were fought many of the
famous battles of Old Testament history.
There Gideon and his little band alarmed and discomfited the
Midianites, who destroyed one another in their flight (Judges 7:19-23).
There Deborah the prophetess met the enemies of
Israel, like grasshoppers for multitude and armed to
the teeth, and without a weapon, just when it seemed
Israel
was being surrounded to be totally exterminated from the earth, out of
heaven God sent His deliverance (Judges 4 & 5).
There the backslidden king Saul was defeated by the Philistines (I
Sam. 31:1-6). There king Josiah
was slain by Pharaoh-Necho in one of the most disastrous conflicts in the
history of Israel
(II Chron. 35:22-25). There
also king Ahab and his wife Jezebel lived, in the city of Jezreel,
where Jezebel afterwards met a horrible death (II Kings 9:30-37).
Because of its commanding position, many other nations, according to
secular history, warred around Megiddo
— Jews, Gentiles, Saracens, Crusaders, Egyptians,
Persians, Druses, Turks, and
Arabs have all pitched their tents on the Plain of
Esdraelon.
Today, the “mount of Megiddo” or “Armageddon”
lies in ruins. Actually, the
city had been deserted for more than five centuries when John saw his vision
on Patmos! But
the choice of Megiddo
as the type of the greatest of battles was no accident.
In John’s day, even after so many years, Megiddo’s violent history
still commanded fear. The ruins aren’t impressive.
The palaces and temples were destroyed, removed by archaeologists on
an expedition in the early twentieth century as they uncovered city after
city built one on top of the other.
The huge trench they dug now dominates the site.
Megiddo’s magnificence derives from the fact
that a visitor can stand on a ledge overlooking the trench and see fragments
of life from more than twenty different cities — five millennia of human
history cut into bedrock. Each
group that came built on top of the ruin of the city there before it.
The one thing of importance here is that the book of Revelation is a
book of symbols in which is set
forth in symbolic form the final and ultimate struggle within the Lord’s
people between truth and error, the mind of Christ and the carnal mind,
righteousness and unrighteousness, spirit and flesh, light and darkness, the
Lamb and the dragon, the world system and the kingdom of God, and the true
church and Mystery Babylon. In
this portrayal are used, on the one hand, such symbols as “beast,” “dragon,”
“false prophet,” “Babylon,”
“harlot,” “unclean spirits,” “frogs,” etc.; and on the other hand, “Lamb,”
“manchild,” “144,000,” “overcomers,” “bride,” “holy city,” and others.
“Armageddon” is another of the symbols used in the book, and it is
associated with the great and final deliverance
of all God’s redeemed people from the carnal church systems of man and all
the ignorance, delusions,
errors, carnality, and limitation of that realm.
It is the day when Christ arises as the Mighty Conqueror within His
people! It introduces the third
spiritual feast — Tabernacles!
When we take these important facts into consideration, the word
Armageddon assumes a significance just as definite as does
Waterloo, although a very different one.
It reveals a struggle in which God is specifically interested and
in which HE totally and completely directs the issue, assuring final
and glorious victory for the spiritual forces of His kingdom.
Since this is the last great spiritual battle to be experienced by
those who comprise His church on earth, it must result in the defeat of all
the agencies and influences of the world, the flesh, and the devil — thus
opening up the way for the deliverance of all God’s people from the
Babylonian religious systems and their growth, development, and perfection
into the fullness of Christ.
This is why it is described as “the battle of that GREAT DAY OF GOD
ALMIGHTY!”
When we consider this great
battle, we are not, therefore, to expect any
gathering of the nations
literally to the hill of Megiddo.
Rather we are to look
for that which is symbolized by that mountain.
Armageddon is to be viewed in a
spiritual sense as is
everything else in the book of Revelation.
It is first and foremost a spiritual battle
within the Lord’s people, yet
it also involves the great red dragon and the manchild — the manifest sons
of God. The battle actually
begins in the heavenly realm and then spreads to the earth-dwellers and the
sea-dwellers.
“And there was
war in heaven: Michael (Christ)
and his angels (messengers) fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought
and his angels” (Rev. 12:7).
This is why, when the sons of God have prevailed and have cast the
dragon out of the heavenlies, the cry goes out,
“Woe to the inhabiters of the earth
and of the sea! for the devil is
come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth he hath but a
short time” (Rev. 12:12).
The devil’s passion and determination meets head-on with God’s
passion and determination — and Armageddon begins!
We shall, therefore, see this battle carried forth in both the
heavenly and earthly realms — both individually and
collectively.
All through the ages men have, by faith, reached out and appropriated
some measure of deliverance from the carnal
mind and the carnal nature; but corporately as the body of Christ and as the
church we have never
really done so. But let me say
that the deliverance of the Lord’s
people
as a body and as the church
is just ahead and the completion and consummation of that perfecting work
the Spirit has been progressively bringing forth in a company of saints over
the past several decades. God’s
people have been groaning with the apostle
Paul for the past two thousand years, “O wretched man
that I am! who shall deliver me from the body
of this death?” (Rom.
7:24). God has certainly heard
our cries, and soon He shall bring His Army into a glorious liberty in the
spirit, wherein they shall be completely delivered
from their sins, from their carnal minds, from the spirit of Babylon, and from all sickness, pain, and
death! The perverted soul of
man shall finally be restored under the dominion of the spirit and in union
with the spirit, and even this vile body shall be transformed, fashioned
like unto HIS body of glory.
This great deliverance MUST COME!
Let us stop trying to justify ourselves, insisting on our outward
holiness of conduct, when we ourselves know that inwardly we are yet raving
beasts, and beholding our strife, pettiness, envyings, and fleshiness it is
apparent to everyone about us that we do not possess
it. “Living epistles” do
not have to tell the world how holy or how spiritual they are!
This world will see it and will be
amazed to discover something real and genuine in the midst of a crooked and
perverse generation. The
victory of which we speak is the victory of CHRIST HIMSELF.
When we attain to this victory, there will be no need to formulate
weak excuses why the victorious saint can again fall into carnality and sin
and suffer defeat — for this place
in Christ
knows no defeat.
We shall not have to explain how Satan gained an advantage over
us and planted a new seed of unbelief in our heart, and the victory we once
had was lost; for this victory is the
very victory of Christ.
“Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no
more dominion over Him. For in
that He died, He died
unto sin once…” (Rom.
6:9,19). Here victory over
death is linked with victory
over
sin!
Christ died to sin once, that is, completely —
therefore He was raised from the
dead to die no more! He that
overcometh enters into the very victory and triumph of Christ — a victory
which is complete and can never
be lost, reversed, or forfeited.
It is the very victory of Jesus Christ Himself
over sin and death, and the
overcomer is therefore “more than conqueror” through Christ that loved him.
And now the faithful dealings of God to bring this very thing to pass
have come: the purgings, the strippings, the processings, the refining
fires, together with the raising up of the faith, nature, character,
revelation, wisdom,
and power of Christ within us.
Ah, it is truly a picture of darkness and gloominess on the one hand, but on
the other hand it is “the morning spread upon the mountains!”
It is indeed
— Armageddon! It is the battle
which shall finally usher the Lord’s people
into the FULLNESS OF REDEMPTION, spirit, soul, and body, free from
the curse, delivered out of Babylon, having passed through
their Armageddon, to lay hold
upon the fullness of Christ’s victory and triumph!
Yes, friends, we are still talking about Armageddon!
The last battle!
Armageddon is the end-game.
That is what final judgment is all about!
For you it will not be 2,000 years from now.
Your Armageddon may be today, ten years from now, or in the next
twenty-four hours. I dare say,
it is going on right now!
It is within you, it is within God’s elect, it is coming within the whole
church, and it is coming wherever the beastly carnal nature and the bestial
world system seeks to place its mark of ownership on men.
Whenever it comes, it will bring an
end to your rebellion, to
your struggles, to your captivity.
It will bring glorious and eternal deliverance!
And in this battle the last
enemy that shall be destroyed is
death!
And
sin is the enemy destroyed
just before death!
How much greater, grander, more glorious are the fruits of this
victory than any that could be obtained by some carnal war over in the
Middle East!
This is Armageddon!
The battle of the ages.
The overthrow of the adversary,
and of sin, sorrow, limitation, and death.
It is here, within, that the devil, carnality, bondage, error,
sickness, pain, and death must be dethroned.
It is here that the flesh, the carnal mind, and the world must be
overcome. It is here, within,
that the kingdom of God
must come in righteousness and power.
The death in us must be conquered.
Sin in us must be overcome.
The curse in us must be removed.
Rebellion in us must be subdued.
Life in us must break forth in fullness.
Then we will really have something to minister to a sin-weary world
in its darkest hour of despair and hopelessness.
We will possess within ourselves
the answer that can lift men out
of Satan’s bondage, out of sin’s clutches, out of religion’s grip, and out
of death’s darkness — once and for all.
Church history has never
produced a people that could do this.
But the day of the Lord is at hand!
Press on, saints of God, for we are on the winning side!
I know, for with anointed eyes I have read the last chapter of the
Book!
KEEPING YOUR GARMENTS
“Behold, I come as a thief.
Blessed is he that watcheth,
and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame”
(Rev. 16:15).
In the midst of this conflict, Jesus inserts a word of encouragement
and warning. He lets us know
that we are dealing with a spiritual
truth — not a natural event.
He states that we must be
watching. It helps to note
just what “watch” means. It
does not mean counting dates.
It does not mean standing gazing up
into the sky. It does
not mean keeping up with world events on the news.
But “watching” means being ready,
that is, alert, attentive, vigilant, awake, alive to what God is doing,
aware of what is taking place, and guarding, protecting, and preserving our
garments, our spiritual covering,
and in so doing we shall be blessed!
Those who do not do so will be found
naked, and men will see their
shame.
Our text above proves beyond any doubt what this
battle is all about! To be
naked means
to have one’s flesh exposed.
Therefore, during the heat of the conflict “keep your
garments,” your spiritual covering, so that you will not be found naked —
your flesh exposed — and people behold the shame of your carnality!
Therefore the great purpose of the battle is to conquer and get rid
of ALL CARNALITY!
In the very earliest pages of man’s history we read of
Adam and Eve, “And they were both
naked, the man and his wife.”
It seems to the unenlightened mind that this little statement could
have been omitted. Of what
importance is it whether Adam and Eve moved about in Paradise
naked or clothed? Yet it is an
important and necessary little statement; it uses a rather insignificant
fact, as it appears to us, to show forth something wondrous in the whole
economy of God. Ah, beloved,
the story of Adam and Eve in Eden is far too intricate and
wonderful for my little mind to fully grasp, but I am able to see that the
Holy Spirit has been very faithful and remarkably specific in recording the
exact state of being of man in the beginning and of us IN OUR BEGINNING!
Adam and Eve were both…NAKED!
That is the divine assertion.
I do not see, as some teach, that Adam walked in the Garden
clothed upon and enveloped in some kind of effulgent light.
There is not one verse of scripture in the whole Bible that even
suggests that Adam
was originally
clothed in heavenly light, or
that he lost his vesture of light when he sinned.
What is stated, unequivocally, is that he was NAKED…and in that state
he was
not ashamed.
Following the fall there was a great difference, man was
still naked but…was
ashamed! He did not don
the apron of fig leaves because he was newly naked, but because he now
knew, understood that he was
naked! Can we not see by this
that man’s first state in Eden
was that of
innocence — naked but with no
shame. Little children are
naked and are not ashamed simply because they are innocent!
Among all the creatures which God made, Adam-man
stands out unique…stark
naked…which means devoid of true
wisdom and knowledge, with his inner nature
revealed, opened up, exhibited, and made bare.
Oh! that God may give us understanding to see that to be naked simply
means to have THE FLESH UNCOVERED AND EXPOSED!
Then suddenly “they knew
that they were naked” — they became conscious that their flesh lay bare and
exposed — sad fruit of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil!
No sooner does a man discover his nakedness than this knowledge gives
birth to a sense of
condemnation and there
follows the impulse to make an
effort to cover the nakedness.
Thus, in the case of Adam
and Eve, the discovery of their nakedness was immediately followed by an
effort of their own to cover it — “they sewed fig-leaves together and made
themselves aprons.” This is the
first record we have of man’s attempt to remedy, by his own device, his
condition, but this was not the single act of
Adam of old, it is truly the act of each of us, yes,
OUR VERY OWN! The Spirit would
make very real to our hearts, dear reader, that
Adam’s effort to cover his nakedness was not a mere
physical or moral act, it was a RELIGIOUS ACT.
The nakedness in Eden
bespeaks the revealing of a carnal state of being, and the attempt to cover
that nakedness was indeed an expression of
RELIGIOUSNESS!
In an attempt to appear other than he is man sews together very wide
leaves of the fig tree, that is, he tries every device he can, including
multiplied religious works and observances, to gloss over his true
condition. But all the garments
which men devise to hide their nakedness become mere “spider’s webs” when
the dazzling light of God’s revelation shines upon them.
There is nothing more obvious than the fact that leaves quickly
wither, turn brown and brittle, and fall off and, indeed, clothed
in all the dead works of religion
man’s flesh shows through and
it becomes manifest that his covering is pitifully insufficient.
What is this “flesh”
which can be “exposed,” making a man “naked”?
The word sarx is the Greek
word translated “flesh” in the New Testament.
Sarx means the meat of a
physical body, whether it be man, or beast, or birds, or fishes of the
sea; not the outer layer of skin immediately visible to the eye, but the
raw meat under the skin.
To physically have the flesh “exposed” in this sense would mean
to have the outer skin removed, causing the raw meat underneath to be
visible. Thus, the flesh speaks
of more than just our physical body with its normal needs and desires for
food, clothing, comfort, rest, exercise, etc.
God made our body, He knoweth our frame, and remembereth that we are
but dust, and there is no condemnation for being tabernacled in this body of
clay. But
“the flesh” literally speaks
of that inward nature which is
earth-minded, with its lusts and self-centeredness, its ego and I-will which
are in rebellion against the spirit.
Thus, the flesh is not the outward, visible man of meat, muscle, and
bones, but the inward nature.
The flesh is the name by which scripture designates our NATURAL LIFE,
our HUMAN NATURE — soul and body.
The soul at creation was placed between the spiritual or divine and
the physical or worldly, to the end that both soul and body might be raised
up into perfect union in the spirit which would result in man attaining his
destiny — a spiritual body.
When the soul yielded to physical lusts, it came under the power
of the body — it became flesh.
And now the flesh — human nature, soul and body united
in one — is not only without the spirit, but even hostile to it: “The
flesh lusteth (wars) against the spirit!” (Gal. 5:17).
To be naked means to have the flesh uncovered and exposed.
Good flesh or bad flesh, it really makes no difference.
In the “knowledge of good and evil” both the good and the evil are
flesh!
The “good” of that tree will kill you just as quickly as the
“evil” of the tree. Adulterous
flesh or religious flesh, it matters not.
I can guarantee you that I’ve been seen naked a few times!
Oh, yes, I had my natural clothes on, perhaps my finest J. C. Penney
suit, but I was nonetheless caught naked!
Have you ever been caught naked?
Have you ever had someone slip up from your blind side in a moment
when you were not expecting them and you didn’t reveal anything to them but
what you are in your flesh, by some ungodly act, some angry outburst, some
un-Christ-like attitude, some trait of religiosity, or some carnal
self-assertiveness, and you could
only hang your head in shame and confess that for whoever saw you,
you didn’t leave one ounce of witness of the life and nature of the son of
God that you are, nor did they behold the glory of God at all in you?
Then dear brother, precious sister, YOU WERE CAUGHT NAKED, you were
discovered with your flesh exposed, you were found with your carnal nature
displayed! You may have had
your store-bought clothes on, but you were no less naked than Adam and Eve in Eden.
It means that in that moment your carnal state was made bare, laid
open, exhibited, and men did not see the Lord’s life, all they saw was your
natural, Adamic life.
They beheld your nakedness and then you felt ashamed when you
realized what you had revealed unto them.
In innocence there is no shame when our flesh is exposed.
Before God has dealt with us and revealed His robe of righteousness
to us, there is no shame. But
after He speaks and clothes us with the robe of righteousness, there is
always the sense of shame when our nakedness appears before men.
And never
forget, dear one, that “good” flesh is no better than “bad” flesh!
Ministering without the anointing, serving God out of human zeal or
with man-made methods, going through the religious motions of worship
performed by rote rather than from the spontaneous arising of His life
within — all this is as much an exposure of
our flesh as if we were
caught in bed with our neighbor’s spouse!
“Behold, I come as a thief.
Blessed is he that watcheth,
and keepeth his garments,
lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”
This gives us the picture of a Roman sentry supposed to be on
guard duty through the night.
They wore a garment, a robe, a uniform; the robe was the profession they
made to be guards, the insignia or proof of their position, just as nurses,
policemen, and many other professions wear
today. There was a captain.
At certain and unannounced hours the captain made his rounds to
inspect and relieve the watch; sometimes he took one guard and left another.
At times a guard became weary and slumped down.
Presently he was asleep.
Is there anything more despicable and criminal than to sleep at the post of
duty? What must be said of a
captain who sleeps on the bridge?
Or a soldier who sleeps at his post?
Or a light-house keeper who sleeps in the night?
Or a soul who sleeps in the deceptive bed of religious activities,
unaware of the movings and wooings of the Spirit?
When the captain of the guard discovered the sleeping sentry, as the
custom was, he grabbed the tunic from him without waking him.
When he arose his shame was evident, the captain had come and gone,
had stripped off his profession, made him naked and put him to an open
shame.
So we are exhorted to “watch” for the Lord’s coming at Armageddon,
for He comes as a thief!
Those who are faithless will be stripped of their profession, naked
and ashamed before the bare light of day.
He comes like a thief to steal from the “professing” church the
garment that has under it no “possession.”
This is the Lord’s warfare against
Babylon!
He is coming to snatch away the religiosity, the mere profession, and make
it naked before the gaze of judgment.
He warns all who name His name to be on the watch, and for each one
to keep his garment; that is, to “hold fast” to the robe of righteousness.
“Behold, I come quickly:
hold fast that which thou hast,
that no man take thy crown” (Rev. 3:11).
Cling fervently to the hope within you today, dear child of God.
Embrace and never let go the reality you have found in
the Christ within. Trade it not
for the worthless tinsel pandered by the harlot system in the broad ways of
Mystery Babylon. Treasure the
truth you know as you would treasure the most priceless gem of earth, and
guard it with all the vigilance of your being, for there, and there alone,
is reality, life, immortality, and glory eternal!
The great truth of being spiritually “clothed upon” appears early in
the revelation of God to mankind.
As soon as man sinned, God
made them garments, the Bible declares.
Some say that the “skins” with which God clothed
Adam and Eve were the outer covering of a mortal
body, the “skin” of the flesh.
It is my conviction, however, that the sinning couple
needed a covering just because
they were flesh — for suddenly
they “saw that they were naked”
and commenced to sew together aprons of fig leaves.
It is obvious that in their sense of guilt they perceived that
their flesh was exposed!
The slain lamb is the figure all through scripture for God’s
gracious provision of “atonement,” and the word atonement in Hebrew simply
means “to cover.” Was it not,
therefore, the “skins” of the slain Lamb with which the Lord, in a figure,
clothed father Adam and mother Eve?
And that is the “robe of righteousness”!
These are beautiful word pictures with which the Holy Spirit conveys
to our understanding eternal and heavenly truths!
The first thing God does is strip away all the artificial, man-made,
religious coverings, and presents His own glorious covering, the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world!
In the symbolism of the garden
of Eden
story Adam
and Eve silently watched as the Lord God selected a lamb and slew it there,
fastening it to a tree before their wondering eyes, the victim then being
made naked, stripped of its skin, that a covering might be provided for the
naked ones. Thus, with this one
wondrous act does the God of heaven introduce
the cross, the atonement, and
the Christ as man’s covering!
When God clothed Adam and Eve in the skins
of the slain Lamb, yet dripping with the precious blood, He showed that they
were COVERED WITH THE LIFE OF THE LAMB!
When God covers a man with the covering of His own Lamb the covering
is so complete that
no flesh will be seen — only Christ!
This is not merely a reference to our initial salvation, but
speaks further
of the finality of our perfection as the sons of God!
Fully clothed in the life of the Lamb, we bear the Lamb’s own image,
likeness, and identity.
Therefore, blessed is he that
watcheth, and
keepeth his garments, lest he
walk naked, and they see his shame!
THE BOWL POURED INTO THE AIR
“And the seventh angel poured
out his bowl into the air; and there came a great voice out of the
temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done” (Rev. 16:17).
The previous bowls have been poured out upon the earth, the sea, the
rivers and fountains, the sun, the throne of the beast, and the great river
Euphrates. This,
the last and greatest, is poured into the air; and immediately there is
heard a voice out of the temple in heaven, proclaiming, “It is done!”
What, then, is symbolized by the plague poured into the air?
Of what is the “air” the emblem? In
the Revelation the whole of nature is used as a great complex parable or
symbol. What does the
atmosphere especially signify?
And the answer is not difficult.
If earth, sea, rivers, fountains, the sun, a throne, etc., denote
manifest spiritual realities, the
air obviously would symbolize an
invisible spiritual realm.
And here we are helped by sundry hints of scripture usage.
This plague is certainly not any natural phenomenon like the
explosion of an atomic bomb or a nuclear device in the atmosphere or in
outer space above our earth, causing a deadly fallout and contaminating the
very air we breathe. Nor is it
some form of biological warfare spread through the atmosphere by terrorists.
To aid our understanding of the symbolic significance of the term
“air” in scripture, let us turn to another mention of it.
“We…shall be caught up
together with them…to meet the
Lord IN THE AIR: and
so shall we ever be with the
Lord” (I Thes. 4:17).
Many years ago, while meditating upon this precious passage of
scripture, the Spirit unfolded within my consciousness the significant truth
that our catching up “into the air” can never be properly understood apart from the inspired words
of the same apostle Paul
wherein he states, “And you hath He
quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: wherein in time past ye
walked according to the course of this world, according to the
PRINCE OF THE POWER OF THE AIR, THE
SPIRIT THAT NOW WORKETH IN THE CHILDREN OF DISOBEDIENCE”
(Eph. 2:1-2).
There are several key words or terms that unlock the storehouse of
spiritual truth contained in these verses.
Consider — PRINCE, POWER, AIR,
SPIRIT, WORKETH, and IN.
According to these plain statements of scripture there exists a
“power of the
air.”
This “power of the air” is identified as a “spirit,” and this
spirit is located “in” the children of disobedience, wherein he “works.”
Can we not see by this that the “prince of the power of the air” is
not something or someone outside of us, but a spirit-power that operates
right here WITHIN MAN.
Furthermore, this spirit-power that works within man
also emanates from man, exerting an influence throughout the atmosphere that
surrounds the earth, giving motivation to the myriad activities and events
that transpire in the world,
which Paul calls “the course of this
world” that men walk in under the control of this “power of the air.”
Thus it is called the “POWER of the
AIR.”
Dr. Charles Price wrote a little book entitled
Made Alive in which he shares
this instructive information: “Every atom of matter — every piece of mineral
— indeed
everything which is the result of God’s creative intelligence is surrounded
by an ‘aura’ or an emanation
which is identical with and corresponds to the
nature of the substance from
which it comes. There is a
sense in which personalities are possessed with this ‘emanation’ and
‘extension’ of themselves into their surroundings.
It is a radiation which can be felt when someone walks into a room in
which you may be seated. Our
personality becomes affected by
their personality. They have
power to elevate or depress.”
I would like you to really get a grasp of this thought.
We all know people who by their very presence can lift us up, and
impart a sense of well-being, who can lift our spirits up to heights of joy
and happiness. Others can leave
you feeling depressed just by spending a few minutes in their presence.
The thought I want you to get is the fact that every created thing
has this aura surrounding them,
which is an actual radiation of their nature and personality into their
surroundings. It is an
extension of themselves into their environment on an invisible spiritual
level. This aura or emanation
is our nature and emotions radiating from us into our surroundings, and it
affects everything and everyone around us.
It is a radiation that flows from our spirits or our souls, and the
stronger our spirits
or our souls are the greater the radiation.
If you find it difficult to believe the very atmosphere or air waves
are charged by the emanations of energy, positive or negative, then go
directly from a worship service where the saints are worshipping in the
spirit, and enter a night club where ungodly men and women are drinking,
cursing, lusting, laughing, and singing, and the difference you
feel in a very real and powerful
way is the difference between the positive and the negative life force.
Grasp it! A couple
centuries ago we could not have understood as we do now how communication by
sound and picture can be broadcast instantaneously THROUGH THE AIR.
Wherever you are as you read these words, chances are there are
myriad voices, pictures, and music IN THE AIR around you.
A radio, television, or other electronic device tuned to the right
wavelength would make them audible to you.
You may not have realized it, but both spirit and soul in every man
are a receiver and a transmitter.
You may be tuned in on the wavelength of the Holy Spirit or you may
tune in on the wavelength of the negative realm, the demonic, the
spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience.
Prophets are uniquely sensitive to the spirit realm of God, whereas
“psychics” are often sensitive to the soulical realm of man.
You don’t hear anything with your natural ears because spirit and
soul do not broadcast in audible words or sounds.
Spirit broadcasts in thoughts, attitudes, impulses, and emotions.
The flesh broadcasts in thoughts, attitudes, impulses, and emotions
of lust, perversion, greed, vanity, jealousy, anger, envy, deceit, fear,
competition, strife, hatred, rebellion, violence, bitterness, debate, etc.
Here is the real cause of all the world’s evils!
Why do movements like communism, New Age religion, the hippy
movement, the rock culture, the drug culture, casual sex and sexual
permissiveness, and a hundred more movements contributing to the deception
of masses of people and the moral breakdown of society, suddenly rise up and
sweep across the earth within a few short years like a plague, permeating
everywhere, changing the attitudes, outlook, societal character, and moral
fabric of everyone, including the people in the churches?
What is this? It is the
work of SPIRIT — invisible, intangible
energy — power!
Invisible, but very real.
And very powerful! There
is constantly in this world a transference of spiritual energy from the
invisible world into the visible. Ah, it is the
power of the air, the powerful spirit
organization in earth’s atmosphere, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience!
That awesome
negative spiritual energy
permeates the atmosphere, producing a SUPERCHARGED ATMOSPHERE, influencing,
impressing, affecting, impacting, swaying, impelling, changing and altering
the opinions, convictions, desires, and actions of vast masses of the
population. The people hear no
audible voice, they do not see a visible Satan, and they comprehend not from
whence come such attitudes, impulses, and desires.
The adversary has a large elemental power.
The natural man breathes in, as it were, the satanic influence.
In their daily lives they think and live by this spirit influence and
according to this world’s system of things.
On the other hand, when great and glorious revivals spontaneously
break forth and sweep across a community, a nation, or around the world, it
is the
spirit of the living God
moving, energizing, quickening, transforming, permeating the very
atmosphere, sweeping men up into the living presence and power of God!
Oh, the wonder of it!
The word for “air” in the Greek language is
aer meaning “to breathe.”
The “power of the air” is thus the ENERGY OF BREATHING!
Thoughts and influences from the invisible realm and unconscious
realm
breathed
in and
breathed
out — expressed in words in the conscious realm and lived out as
deeds in the physical world — going forth as energy, power, spiritual
influence in the atmosphere of earth.
These are not merely
thoughts or merely words, for
both spirit and soul of man are tapped into the timeless sphere of eternity
wherein is that which is called by the scriptures
“the powers of the heavens.”
This is the realm of PURE ENERGY, and the unconscious mind of man
is tapped into this vast supply of energy, and not only tapped in, but when
the mouth is opened, the energy is brought forth from the unconscious realm
and released into the atmosphere of man’s physical world, carrying a very
real power capable of either blessing or cursing mankind.
The ungodly movements of the world, be they social, entertainment,
political, religious, educational,
or otherwise, are the direct result of negative spirit influence transmitted
to the masses through faithful ministers of unrighteousness who have become
filled with the un-holy spirit, and consequently transmitters of the same,
producing the supercharged atmosphere of sin and death.
In this way Satan is indeed the “prince of the power of the air,”
meaning that he is the
invisible ruler, which
activity and authority he exercises
in and
through men — “the
spirit that now
worketh in the children of
disobedience!”
The air is the realm of the firmament, or a dimension of heaven;
therefore the air signifies the spiritual atmosphere, either positive or
negative, where men walk. All realms of life have their “atmosphere” — the
air. If you go to a bar there
is an atmosphere there. If you
go to a brothel there is an atmosphere there.
If you go to a rock concert there is an atmosphere there.
If you go to a Baptist church service there is an atmosphere there.
If you go to a Pentecostal church service there is an atmosphere
there. The atmosphere at a
Catholic mass is altogether different from the atmosphere at a
Charismatic meeting.
Every realm has its atmosphere!
When you enter the presence of a son of God who knows the truth as it
is in Jesus, who walks in the wisdom of the mind of
Christ, who expresses the unconditional love of God, and dwells in the glory
of God — there is a clear, powerful, victorious, confident, peaceful,
transforming atmosphere there!
The message is just this — “the air” in its spiritual sense bespeaks
the atmosphere of man’s
consciousness and
understanding — especially his
spiritual understanding which
today is super-charged by fleshly and satanic energy radiating from the
cosmic heart of unregenerated and religious men.
But I have some good news for you, my friend!
Satan shall be bound, removed from his sphere of influence and
authority “in the air”!
“And the seventh angel poured out his
bowl into the air; and there came a
great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is
done!” What does this
mean? It means that when the
seventh angel pours out his bowl “into the air,” he is pouring out GOD’S
WRATH OR PASSION on the realm of the dragon, the beast, and the false
prophet, which in this context signifies particularly the SOULICAL RELIGIOUS
CONCIOUSNESS AND THE FALSE RELIGIOUS SPIRIT OF BABYLON and its fruitage
among the Lord’s people. It is
the intervention of God into the consciousness of His people who are
captives to carnal church systems of man.
We must always remember that above all
Satan is religious!
Oh, yes! When “the
prince of the power of the air” is judged and cleansed from the realm of the
“powers of the heavens,” THAT POSITION IS NOT GOING TO GO UNFILLED.
ANOTHER POWER MUST BE RAISED UP INTO
THAT VACATED REALM OF DOMINION TO BECOME THE ENERGY FORCE THAT INFLUENCES,
AFFECTS, IMPACTS, SWAYS, IMPELLS, CHANGES, AND TRANSFORMS THE UNDERSTANDING,
CONVICTIONS, DESIRES, AND ACTIONS FIRST OF ALL THE PEOPLE OF GOD, AND
EVENTUALLY OF THE INHABITANTS OF THE WHOLE WORLD, GIVING DIRECTION AND
MOTIVATION UNTO TRUTH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS!
THAT, my beloved, is what it means for the saints of God to be
“caught up IN THE AIR!”
As Satan and all the religious spirits that control God’s
people are dispossessed from their position in the heavens of man’s
consciousness, God’s chosen and separated elect are caught up or elevated
into that place of influence, power, and authority.
God is now preparing a company to fill that place, that sphere of
spirit-energy and control that has been occupied by the false religious
spirits, and thus the sons of God
become “the power of the air” and “the powers of the heavens,” and
our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed as the
true
“Prince of the power of the air.”
Glory to God! We are
raised up into that realm now, in the measure that we have appropriated it,
but the fullness remains to be revealed.
What a prospect! God’s
people now under the power of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, delivered, enlightened, quickened, renewed,
transformed, and filled with the glory of God under the power of the
Righteous Ones! What changes
shall yet be wrought in the church and in the earth!
What righteousness, peace, truth, and joy shall then flow forth unto
the people of the nations! Oh,
the mystery of it! Oh, the
wonder of it!
The natural-minded Christian is looking to be suddenly snatched up
into the air, away from the earth, to inhabit mansions on golden streets
somewhere in the blue beyond.
The spiritually-minded child of God looks to be
laid hold upon by a higher power
and lifted into a heavenly realm in the Spirit from which he can do
something for this world. The
almighty Father is preparing a people who shall bind the devil and all his
false religious spirits and usurp their place of cosmic power in the
atmosphere of man’s consciousness, supercharging even the very atmosphere of
earth with vibrations and influences of life, light, love, righteousness,
truth, and glory! When the Righteous Kingdom
is in power, the cruel usurper will be absent; when the Righteous Kings hold
sway, and the great tempter is overcome, men’s motives to godliness, truth,
and life will be unhindered.
The present activity of God is devoted to selecting, training, testing,
developing, and perfecting this conquering, ruling company.
Just think — you have the unique potential to be a transmitter of the
LIFE-GIVING ENERGY of God Almighty here upon this earth!
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 also radiate the glory of His
essence.
This is the real purpose of our calling, and the meaning of being caught up
in the air. Recognize, O saint
of God, the radiant glory that is even now vibrating from your being, and
seek His presence, that the glory and power might be greatly increased for
the sake of His body as well as a lost world.
Release the Christ within!
Praise God, what a day!
You can change the atmosphere about you, regardless of how dark or hopeless
it may appear. You can radiate with
His power and glory, like a blazing light where darkness covers the earth
and gross darkness the people.
Arise and shine! Your light has
come! The glory of the Lord has
risen upon you, and His glory shall be seen upon thee!
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Updated
by Sharon Eby 06/26/2017 05:20:00 PM