Note: J. Preston Eby, in order to continue to devote his full energy to writing no longer works in the office and does not receive this email. He does, however, respond to any urgent correspondence via snailmail. |
To be added to the mailing list to receive the current issue of Kingdom Bible Studies each month: |
"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God..."
FROM THE CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE
Part 82
THE
UNIVERSAL SONG
(continued)
And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round
about the throne and the living creatures and the elders: and the number of them was ten
thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands
(Rev. 5:11).
What a vision greeted the enraptured apostle!
Have you ever tried to figure out how many messengers were around the throne? Here is your answer: ten thousand times ten
thousand, and thousands of thousands myriads of myriads! The number of those who join in the praise is
beyond count! It might well be translated,
And the number of them was armies multiplied by armies, and armies of armies. These are all messengers of God, for that
is the meaning of the word in Greek. They are
not necessarily angels as we usually think of angels, but they are messengers of God,
whether of men or any other order.
saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing (Rev 5:12).
The Lamb is here declared to be worthy to receive
power as well as wisdom, riches, strength, honor, glory, and blessing. Remember, the things John beholds in the visions
of the book of Revelation are things that were yet future at the time he was shown them,
the things which must be hereafter (Rev. 1:19; 4:1). How can Christ, who had already been given all
power in heaven and in earth, receive power? We know that all power originates with God. God hath spoken once; twice have I heard
this; that power belongeth unto God (Ps. 62:11). Fifty-six times the scriptures proclaim God to be
THE ALMIGHTY. Almighty means
all-ruling, all powerful, absolute sovereign, omnipotent. The omnipotent God gave our Lord Jesus Christ all
power in heaven and in earth! The question
follows How can Christ who has already been given all power now receive power?
The truth is, of course, that although God is the supreme authority and power of
the universe He does not hold or exercise that power either arbitrarily or unilaterally. While man is not truly a free moral
agent, yet God does cede to His creatures the power of choice, decision making, and
spheres of authority and dominion. From
the very beginning God ordained that man should choose to eat or not eat of the
tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God did not interfere with man when he made an
unwise choice for He had a great purpose in mind.
The one question possibly asked more than any other is: Why did God permit
the present reign of sin, sorrow, and death? Why
did He permit the serpent to present the temptation to our first parents, after having
created them sinless and upright in the image of God?
Or why did He place the forbidden tree in the midst of all the others? Despite all the attempts to turn it aside, the
question remains Could not God have prevented all possibility of mans fall?
The difficulty arises from a failure to comprehend the plan of God! God could have prevented the entrance of
sin, sorrow, and death, but the fact that He did not should be sufficient proof to us that
its present permission is designed ultimately to work out some greater good. The problem lies not with Gods wisdom or
ability, but with mans denseness and dullness of understanding! The natural man lives in a fantasy world. There are many species of insanity. All sin is insanity, in different degrees. The carnal mind is an insane mind given wholly to
destructive delusions. The natural man is
mentally ill beyond comprehension. The carnal
mind is spared from this classification in our world, only because the vast majority of
the inmates in this vast asylum called society is equally mad and in harmony
with the delusion. There is a universal
insanity of the so-called wisdom of this world, inherited from the deranged
serpent in Eden. The wisdom of this world is
foolishness with God! This mortal, this
deranged mind of old Adam, must be put off, and the new man or real man, the sane man in
the precious mind of Christ must be put on. The
carnal mind is exceedingly stupid. Carnal
reasoning is dull-witted, lame-brained, simple-minded, silly, and absurd! Gods plans, seen in their completeness,
will always prove the wisdom of the course He pursues.
Some inquire, Could not God, with whom all things are possible, have intervened in
time to prevent the full accomplishment of Satans designs? Of course He could have! But such interference would have thwarted the
accomplishment of His own wise purposes! His
purpose was to make clearly and eternally manifest the absolute perfection of His own
nature and the integrity and correctness of
all His ways, and to prove to all men, angels, and creatures in all worlds and realms
the unavoidable disastrous consequences of departure from them.
Sin, sorrow, and death are Gods great cosmic object lesson! God could have made all of us like robots,
programmed to be holy and to act righteously at all times and under all circumstances. But should He have done so, the one thing we all
would lack is character. We would be
holy, but without the knowledge of why we are holy, or the understanding of the
consequences of not being holy. We would not
be holy because we desired holiness, or because, with knowledge, understanding,
and wisdom, we chose to be holy. God
didnt want robots! He wanted sons and
daughters! God, in His omniscient wisdom and
knowledge, understood fully the difference between good,
evil, holiness, and life. He planned for us
also to understand! Not by being told, counseled, or trained like animals, but by
experience. Oh yes, experience is the best teacher! Our heavenly Father purposed to take us a route
through which we would learn experientially the true nature of all things, that through
the interchange of good and evil, and the deep dealings of the Holy Spirit, every man and
every creature ultimately would be brought to the place where they would knowingly,
willingly, and eternally choose and cling to the way of life, light, and
love! Arent you glad!
God deliberately gave to man an area of autonomy self government
POWER. God not only foresaw that, having
given man freedom of choice, he would, through lack of full
appreciation of sin and its results, accept it, but He also saw that, becoming
acquainted with it, he would still chose it, because that acquaintance would so impair his
moral nature that the sense-consciousness of the flesh realm, with its ensuing evil, would
become more agreeable and more desirable to him than the narrow way of life. Still, God subjected man to sin and death, while
at the same time preparing the remedy of the sacrifice of Christ for mans
deliverance from its awful consequences the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world!
God in His infinite wisdom knew that to subject the creation to vanity would be to
lead mankind, through experience, through creation, the fall, redemption, and the
restitution of all things, to a full
appreciation of the exceeding
sinfulness of sin and of the matchless brilliancy and glory of Gods divine
nature in contrast with it thus teaching him the more to love and honor his
Creator, who is the source and fountain of all goodness, and forever to shun that which
brought so much woe and misery upon the human family.
So the final result will be undying love and overwhelming appreciation for our
glorious Father, and eternal abhorrence and avoidance of all that is contrary to His
nature and will; and consequently the firm and unalterable establishment of everlasting
righteousness and spirit life throughout all Gods vast domains. Every creature in heaven, earth, and throughout
the furthest reaches of the universe shall eternally profit from the demonstration God is
now giving His creation through the permission of sin and all its attending evils and
woes. What a plan!
God intended from the beginning for
man to rule. Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness: and LET THEM HAVE DOMINION (Gen. 1:26). The writer to the Hebrews wrote: What is
man that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou visiteth him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels;
Thou crownest him with glory and
honour, and didst set him over the works of
Thy hands (Heb. 2:6-7). The
expression, Thou crownest him,
denotes clearly that God gave man KINGLY RULE and authority in the earth. The eighth Psalm reveals that mans dominion
is to eventually encompass the whole vast universe of galaxies, stars, suns, planets,
moons, and all that dwells in them! Gods
plan is to give man dominion over all the works of His hands, indeed, over ALL THINGS!
But Gods purpose is for man to exercise that ruling authority and
dominion in union with Him. And this is what man departed from in the fall! Man chose to rule independently of God;
to do his own thing apart from the life of the spirit. He rejected Gods authority and rule over
him. The carnal mind ever pursues an identity
apart from God, proclaiming the ancient error, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds: I will be like the most High! (Isa.
14:13-14). I will
I will
I will! So man, in his distorted consciousness, rules his
own life and destiny apart from God, yea, in opposition to God! And the inevitable result of this course is
confusion, chaos, sorrow, and death. How
uncontrovertibly certain are the words of inspiration: There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death ( Prov. 14:12). Yet
God has ordained this to be for an appointed time!
This brings us back to our question If the Lord HAS all power, how
is it that He receives power? The
answer is to be found in that great sonship prayer which is commonly referred to as the
Lords Prayer. Setting forth the great
principles of sonship prayer Jesus taught, When you pray, say, Our Father which art
in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will
be done in earth, as it is in heaven (Mat. 6:9-10). What does it mean for Gods kingdom to come?
What does it mean for Gods will do be done in earth, even in this earth which we
are, as it is done in heaven? Ah, I am the king of my life; I am seated upon the throne; I make the decisions; I do according to my own will. But when Jesus the Lord comes I must abdicate my throne and let Him sit upon
the throne! The testimony of every son in the
kingdom of God is: Till Christ was raised up in my life I was the Commander in Chief. Since I have been introduced to the Christ within He commands!
Oh, yes! THY WILL BE DONE IN
EARTH is something for now, not tomorrow, nor during the millennium, nor in the ages to
come. You see, my beloved, when I (that is, my human consciousness, my Adamic
identity, my carnal mind) resign from the dominion I have exercised in my life and abdicate
the throne, in that same blessed moment the whole realm of dominion which I have
usurped and reserved unto myself IS GIVEN TO THE LORD, THE SPIRIT! The power I once held in my own hands is yielded
up to Him so that He now exercises the power and authority that I previously exercised. Thus, HE
RECEIVES POWER! He receives the right to rule
my life. He never took that right by force
but He receives the right when I yield it up to Him.
All things shall be subdued unto the Son of God! That is the testimony of scripture. And that is how He receives the power, the riches,
the wisdom, the strength, the honor, the glory, and the blessing! It is all the wealth and strength and glory of the
kingdoms of this world yielded up to Christ the Lord.
And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven,
saying, The kingdoms of this world are become
the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever
(Rev. 11:15). Oh, the wonder of it!
We are to crown the Lord, the Spirit, as King in every place of our being, outer
and inner. It was the humiliation of France,
in the fifteenth century, that her king Charles VII, was not crowned in the proper city,
where former kings were crowned. Joan of Arc,
burning with the high resolve to resolve this dishonor, and have the king crowned in
Rheims, emerged from obscurity, gathered an army, drove the enemy back from one point to
another, until she dislodged him from Rheims. The
king came then. The crown was placed upon his
brow in the right place; and the fair maiden bowed at the foot of the throne, with tears
of joy streaming down her beautiful cheeks. Where
are we to crown our King? We are to
crown Him in the most sacred and authoritative chamber of our nature, from whence proceed
the impulses and propensities of spiritual life. The
authority and dominion of life is in the spirit, in your spirit and my spirit. AND FROM THENCE HE WOULD BE CROWNED AND RULE IN
LIFE OVER THE KINGDOM OF OUR BEING.
So, precious friend of mine, when you conduct the King to the place of crowning in
your nature, you may have to escort Him down a winding passageway, intricate with
illusions, imaginations, fears, errors, and distortions of the carnal mind, dismal with
sin, sickness and weakness, bare and jagged with earthly consciousness and evil
tendencies, on through the gloom and grind of carnality, corruption, and death, to the
most sacred altar of your heart. There
implore Him to arise and cleanse and purify all your entire nature every whit. Submit trust all the powers of your being
into His mighty hands that HE MAY RECEIVE THE POWER OF RULERSHIP in you and through you in
the kingdom of God!
And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and
the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and
thousands of thousands
and every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth,
and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying,
Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb for ever and ever (Rev. 5:11,13).
As John goes on with his songs we might have expected him to say, I
heard, but he first says, I beheld. This is a book of visions, and there are
continuing references to what is seen. But
he did also hear! Though there
are many singers he speaks of the voice, which is the one voice heard through the
many the voice of the spirit, the voice of the truth and the revelation in the
Spirit of the Lord. There is only one voice! Hearing the voice goes beyond the sound, beyond
even the words. Jesus said, My sheep
know my voice, and a stranger they will not follow. Its not just that the sheep understand the
words the shepherd speaks, but they know recognize, discern, and perceive
the voice.
There are various Greek words for know, each bearing its own shade and
depth of meaning, in this case it is oida, denoting absolute knowledge. Praise God, there is a realm where you can have
absolute knowledge of His voice without doubt or questionings. I do not hesitate to say that such absolute
knowledge comes as a result of prolonged and intimate association, communion, and
relationship with HIM. I know my
wifes voice, not merely its sound, but also its meaning and intent. By each inflection of her voice I discern her
attitude, determination, state of being, etc. Such
knowledge has developed as a result of more
than fifty years of being her HUSBAND! His
sheep His mature ones shall come to the place where they unmistakably know
His voice, not just hear it, but know
it. It is precious as we tune out the voices
of this world, and of our own carnal minds, and listen only to the voice of the spirit
within; the more we do so day by day the stronger and more resonant and meaningful becomes
His voice unto us.
There are many pitiful words and pathetic messages pawned off on Gods
precious people under the guise of the word of God. But the Lord is bringing forth a people in this
day who have gotten beyond dead doctrines and religious traditions. God is causing us to hear with our spirit the
Voice of the Living Christ, for He is the Word of God, the Truth of God, and the Reality
of God. I cannot emphasize too strongly that
it takes more than sermons on sonship, and exhortations on perfection, and claims about
our high attainments in God, and boasts about immortality to make truly manifest sons of
God. We must HEAR HIS VOICE, for it is only
those that hear His voice who shall live!
It takes more than having meetings, singing choruses, clapping hands, shouting
Amens and Hallelujahs, prophesying, and preaching to one another about the deep mysteries
of God to bring us to the knowledge of God and transformation into His likeness. We shall have to see Him and touch Him and hear
Him and walk with Him as did John on the Isle of Patmos.
We must hear His voice speaking to us in the deepest recesses of our being. We must commune with Him in the glory that
radiates from the face of Jesus Christ. Sonship
comes only by personal association with the living Christ!
And think not, precious friend of mine, if you cannot now discern His voice amidst
the confused babble of voices that fill the earth, that you will hear HIS SHOUT when He
comes in that glorious Word by which He shall finally deliver us from the last vestiges of
sin and death and present us faultless before His Father as holy sons of God with
power and great glory.
In the heavenly mists of that long ago Eden Adam heard the voice of
the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool (Heb. spirit) of the
day. Every day has a voice! Every day of the Lord bespeaks of a
season of a particular dealing and purpose of God in our life. The voice of the Lord is speaking in the spirit
anointing and purpose of that particular day.
All who have truly been called to sonship to God are now hearing the
voice of the Lord God walking in the spirit in the anointing
and purpose of this new kingdom day
to which we have now come! We hear not just
the message, for multitudes hear the message but never truly hear the voice. Because they do not recognize the voice they do
not discern the importance and significance of the word they hear. It bears no fruit of righteousness and power in
their lives. They continue on in their carnal
ways, and often in the old-order religious systems of man, professing to embrace the
revelation of this new kingdom day, but void of its transforming power. Those apprehended for this day are now hearing the
voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live!
The voice is a tone, a note, a chord, a knowing, an inner hearing and
quickening beyond the message of the words.
In our text above great pain is taken to declare another glorious day a day
when not a single creature of God, whether in heaven or upon the earth, whether in the sea
or even the lowest realms of degradation under the earth, shall fail to bow
the knee and joyfully proclaim the worthiness of the Lamb!
This includes all men and all creatures of all worlds throughout the universe! This includes all angels, holy and fallen, and
includes the devil as well! And every
creature
heard I saying
It
means that absolutely everything that has life or breath will, in that great day, rejoice
and exult and jubilantly cry, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto
Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever! Praise shall be universal for the Lamb, for He is
worthy indeed!
John beheld in spirit the wonder of a day when the universe shall be free from sin
and sinners, and a universal song of adoration goes up to God and the Lamb. It is futile to attempt to apply this to the
church in its present state, or to any time in the past since Adam fled from the garden of
God. At the time of which John speaks, every creature in heaven and on earth
and under the earth without any exception sends up its anthem of blessings to God and the
Lamb! While we praise God for every moving of
His Spirit and every step of His all-wise plan, the fact remains that none of the revivals
of history has ever once-for-all defeated Satan, sin, and death. No revival at any time in any land has ever turned
the whole world to God! No dealing of God with humanity has ever brought to pass the total triumph of His kingdom in all
realms! Sin and death still stalk across the
earth, the vast masses of humanity held tight in their terrible clutches, with sorrows
beyond description. Is there no deliverance
for these?
How truly the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now! And creation waits not for another Luther,
nor another Paul, nor another Finney, nor another Peter, nor another Moody; waiting not
for another Pentecost, nor for another evangelistic crusade or healing campaign, nor for
another prophet. For the earnest
expectation of the creation waiteth for THE MANIFESTATION OF THE SONS OF GOD (Rom.
8:19). And why does all creation stand in the
wings waiting with bated breath, crowding the door and standing on tiptoe to see the
wonderful sight of Gods sons coming into their own?
For the creation itself ALSO shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the sons of God! (Rom. 8:21).
Think about it!
Thank God, Daniel 7:27 is really true! And
the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom, under the whole heaven, shall
be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom, and ALL DOMINIONS SHALL SERVE HIM! Thank God, Ephesians 1:10 is actually the fully
inspired word of God! And this is in
harmony with Gods merciful purpose for the government
of the world when the times are ripe for it the purpose which He has
cherished in His own mind of restoring the whole creation to find its
one Head in Christ; yes, things in heaven and things on earth, to find their one Head in Him.
(Weymouth translation).
What love! What wondrous love! What victory!
What an unspeakably glorious consummation! The
might of Gods strength which operated in Christ, raising Him from the dead, was
sufficient to exalt Him to the highest pinnacle of the universe, thus ensuring that all
His enemies would be reconciled to Him, that every opposing power would be made
subordinate to Him, that all sin and death in every realm and in every man and in every
creature throughout all the unbounded heavens would be so swallowed up of HIS LIFE until
God would be ALL IN ALL, bless His glorious name! The
gospel of the grace of God! Truly it is not
just for this age, but extends to all ages and realms, for every creature cries blessing
and honor and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for
the ages of the ages. Thats
how it reads in the Greek! May it flood our hearts that they may, indeed, be illuminated
with the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ!
The redemption of Gods elect, men out of every tribe, tongue,
people, and nation, is far from being the whole story of Christs reconciliation
and redemption. John hears the choirs of
heaven joined by the voice of the whole creation in a universal outburst of
praise to God and the Lamb! Hear it! And every creature which is in heaven,
and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in
them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and
glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and
ever! (Rev. 5:13). Such is the
universality of Christs achievement that His victory cannot stop short of universal
response. No wonder that the four living
creatures and the twenty-four elders sing a new song proclaiming the worthiness of the
Lamb to take the book and open its seals! No
wonder an innumerable company of angels round about the throne take up the refrain:
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain! No
wonder that every created thing in heaven and in earth and throughout the underworld
unites in the great chorus of blessing, glory, honor, and power unto the Lamb!
This is the very music of heaven! As
we look at the praises rising up out of chapter four and chapter five of the Revelation,
it can be seen that they comprise in substance two great oratorios the Oratorio of
Creation in chapter four, and the Oratorio of Redemption in chapter five. It is interesting to note that an oratorio is a
musical composition in which solos and choruses combine to the accompaniment of instruments.
Here the voices of angels and the living creatures and the elders with their harps
form an immortal choir, chanting celestial praise. As
one writer has pointed out, the arrangement of these musical numbers is most artistic. The worship begins with a quartet as the four
living creatures sing the seraphs song, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God
almighty, which is, and was, and is to come!
This is followed by the choir, consisting of the twenty-four elders, which
continues the praise of God, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and
honour and power: for Thou has created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were
created.
Then are heard the solo voices: Who is worthy to open the book, and to
loose the seals thereof? Then
comes the response: The Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to open the
book and to loose the seals thereof! Then
as the Lamb takes the book out of the hand of Him that sits upon the throne, there is
heard the unison of the quartet and the choir of elders singing the new song concerning
the worthiness of the Lamb, For Thou hast redeemed us unto God by Thy
blood
and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the
earth! Scarcely had the quartet
and the choir finished this ascription of praise, than with thrilling crescendo the climax
and grand finale are reached. The limitless
expanse of Gods universe became vocal, and, led by the unnumbered angelic host, the
infinite reaches of creation, filled with its myriads of worlds and suns and these all
peopled with the creatures of the mind of God, joined the sublimest anthem of praise to
the Lamb that divine ears will ever hear. The
strains of this mighty coronation song swell until their echoes fill all the ceaseless
ages of eternity with unspeakable melody! Then,
as the tumult of universal praise dies away, there is heard the sound of a grand Amen! It is from the lips of the four living creatures. A breathless silence follows, and the elders fall
down and worship. Such is the Universal Song
the Celestial Song of Creation and Redemption!
The following is a beautiful writing which appeared some years ago in The
Sharon Star. No name of an author was
attached to it, so whoever the author is, deeper than the human heart can fathom is the
meaning and mystery of the words he shares. I
quote:
Many centuries ago there was a Greek musicologist named Boethius. Boethius theorized that there were three main
levels of music, and he gave each level a name. The
lowest form of music was what he called musica
instumentalis. This referred to audible
music, either sung or played, performed mainly for entertainment purposes. This is the kind that all people are most familiar
with. As we all know, there have been
countless works of music written and played over the years which have been and still are
incredibly beautiful but which still belong to this category.
The second highest level of music, according to Boethius, was what he called musica humana, which was an audible music, but
referred only to that which existed between God and man.
It was not intended to be entertaining, but the music was spiritual in
nature. The song being sung could be a
prayer, an exhortation to people, or it could even be a prophetic song. We, of course, are familiar with and thankful for
the gift of spiritual singing, that of singing a higher song in the Spirit that has never
been sung before.
But Boethius recognized that
there existed music of yet a far higher
nature. He recognized that there are
symphonies that have always been playing in a realm that far transcends our natural ears. He recognized that the earth, nature, the
atmosphere, and all of Creation are lost in melodies far, far more beautiful than any
human ear can hear, but which can be heard only by those who have spiritual ears to
hear, those who listen to the voice of the Spirit.
He called this level of music musica
mundana, also given the names Music of the Cosmos, Harmony of the
Spheres, or the Symphony of the Universe, which referred to this very
vibration of all celestial and terrestrial bodies and all of Creation. The scriptures declare that even the very elements
give glory to the King of kings! (Isa. 55:12; Job 38:7; Isa. 44:23). Yes, there is indeed such music saturating even
the air all around us. But only the sons and
daughters of the living God can tune in to that higher frequency and sing its melody, for
these are they WHO ARE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD!
This music is more than just sound. There
are not necessarily any words with it. It is
not learned in words, nor does it depend upon words.
But it is a living, throbbing vibration of all that God is, which is felt and
released from the very center of the spirit! This
music is the beauty and glory of the
Resurrected Christ! It is the unbroken
communion between Christ and His Church, between the Bridegroom and the Bride, and between
the Creator and His Creation!
The source of power behind this Song of Songs is not musical overtones but
SPIRITUAL VIBRATIONS of Perfect Love, Life Everlasting, Joy Unspeakable, and unending
expressions of Praise and Thanksgiving, springing up from deep within a heart that is
filled with all the fullness of Him who reigneth forever and ever! It is a song BORN OF LOVE! It doesnt just tickle our natural ears, but
it pierces the heart and spirit of men! The
Song actually operates on a Love so great that mens hearts shall be opened and
melted as they hear! The Day shall come when
they shall respond to the quickening power of that Song and join their voices with all the
angelical host and sing and sing with such a lyrity of heart, mind, soul, body, and spirit
until they become enraptured into the beauty of infinite harmony! Creation shall then be truly lifted! Chains shall be broken! Captives shall be liberated as the Resurrected
Christ is made alive!
We, as members of this glorious body of Christ, are called not only to sing
that Song, but to BECOME that Living Song of Songs! And
give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make
Jerusalem a praise in the
earth (Isa. 62:7). It is when we BECOME
this precious melody of love that its power is made manifest. We then BECOME this rhythm of glorified
life, yea, earths heartbeat of Joy. I
pray that we all put on ears to hear and join our voices with all the myriads
of angels and become that Song. For each
individual who develops the power to hear it with spiritual ears can send it on and lift
the burdened hearts of a weary world! Hallelujah! For, Blessed are the people that know
the joyful sound
! (Ps.
89:15).
As the never-ending fire of God which cannot go out, this Song has always
been ringing throughout Creation and it cannot die. Its
melody of Life, Love, and Praise DEMANDS expression!
Some men may slam their doors, and try to drown it out, but all their noise cannot
smother the living crescendo of Love! Its
power and impact are too great; it cometh from above
end quote.
Some time ago a word from brother Carl Schwing crossed my desk and I was especially
impressed by the following testimony: Some nights ago, upon my bed, as my thoughts
were upon the Father, my spirit was carried away to the KINGDOM OF THE ELEMENTS
I
felt the strong wind blowing against my face, I reached out to touch the rain and snow, I
could hear the heaving of the oceans, and the song of the four seasons; I heard the
clapping of the trees, I heard the mountains shout for joy and the valleys sing, and the
song was always the same: Christ is Lord! Christ
is Lord! Christ is Lord! I remained in
that realm for an hour or so, as my body was in a state of perfect peace. Tonight I understand more deeply what I
experienced: The Kingdom of God had visited the kingdoms of the earth (not of the world),
for as He had created these kingdoms before creating man, so now they are first to receive
the Knowledge of the Lord (the awareness of His presence). My brethren, can you not see how close the Hour
is? The Father is walking amid His creation
and all creation is being shaken by His presence
and we, O sons of God, are
being changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye by His
presence! end quote.
Some years ago brother Paul Mueller
shared the following illuminating experience in one of his papers. To help us understand this truth, I would
like to share with you a wonderful experience I had while in Nigeria, West Africa thirty
years ago. One afternoon the Lord appeared in
my room, and said to me, The Kingdom of God is at hand! As soon as He said that, He immediately turned
away and left the room. Needless to say, I
was surprised and amazed by that visitation. As
I thought about it later, I began to doubt that it was of the Lord. Since I saw no other manifestation of the Kingdom,
I thought the whole experience should be questioned.
A few days later, as I was walking down a path from our house to the Bible School
where I taught Bible classes, the Lord again got my attention. This time, as I was walking through the lush
Nigerian bush, I heard the leaves, the shrubs, and the plants singing a combined song
of praise to the Lord, and of travail for the Kingdom of God. I stopped to listen! The sound of it all was so arresting that my
attention was fixed for a few minutes on the awesome, majestic wonder of that scene. The sound was so awe-inspiring, I thought it to be
a most heavenly sound. The whole creation
around me came alive with that combined song of praise and travail. In fact, the creation is always singing and
travailing (Rom. 8:22), but for those few minutes I was given ears to hear it! As I stood there transfixed by the wonder of it,
the Lord spoke again and said, Now do you doubt me when I tell you the Kingdom
of God is at hand? I replied,
No Lord, help me never to doubt your word again end quote.
A distant relative of mine, Dr. Richard Eby, was accidentally killed a number of
years ago when he fell to the street from a three-story building. Instantly he was conscious in the realm of the
spirit. One moment he was conscious with a
flesh-restricted mind, the next moment with a spirit-released mind whose speed of function
was that of light. He was instinctively aware
that the Lord of lords was everywhere about him, though he did not at that time see Him. Hours later he was raised from the dead, and of
one of the wonderful experiences encountered in that heavenly sphere, he says, Music
surrounded me. It came from all
directions. Its harmonic beauty, unlike
earthly vocal or instrumental sounds, was totally undistorted. It flowed unobtrusively like a glassy river,
quietful, worshipful, exceedingly edifying, and totally comforting. It provided a reassuring type of comfort much like
a protective blanket that whispered peace and love. I
had never sensed anything like it! This music
was sounding within my head, not from an eardrum.
Obviously it was not airborne. Most
unusual to me was the absence of any beat. Then
I realized that without time this heavenly music could have no beat
which is a measure of time! I was hearing
harmonic perfection, undistorted by any interposed medium between me and its source, as
heard mind-to-mind.
Richard Eby explains that since God is the Creator of the universe He is the
Composer of the Song of Creation. This
universal Song is the prime communication of worship, praise, and thanksgiving. Music became the resulting harmony from all
creation, both of matter and energy. All
resonated in unison with the Spirit. It is
like a triad of sub-electronic particles with and around which God constructed everything
in the universe. The wave-forms we call
Light; whereas the material forms we call
earth and water and air. The original
creation mirrored the composition and perfection of Person-God. All things vibrated in unison with Him! There was total accord and harmony everywhere as
the whole cosmos was resonating with and in God. Each separate thing or being thus carried out an
appointed task in His scheme for the universe. A
celestial-form of music resulted as the morning stars sang together and all the sons of
God shouted for joy! Dr. Eby adds: The
music around me suddenly seemed louder. I
rushed to a nearby tree and grasped its trunk to my ear; it was singing! I lifted my right elbow to my head; it too
emitted the same joyous, beatless melody. Excitedly
I stopped to pick some flowers, and found them already in my hand. They too were playing the tune!
There is a story of the Lost Chord that has been told in exquisite verse,
and in rapturous music. Perhaps you have
heard of the lady who in the autumn twilight laid her fingers on the open keys of a great
organ. She knew not what she was playing, or
what she was dreaming then; but she struck one chord of music, like the sound of a great
Amen. Something called her away, and when she
returned to the organ, she had lost that chord divine.
Though she longed for it and sought it earnestly in unnumbered hours of practice,
it was all in vain. It was a lost chord.
And so in our world today a voice of longing cries out of every human soul in
surges of incomprehensible yearning. It is a
voice that is felt, not heard. None has ever
walked the pathways of this planet who has not felt the haunting refrain of that
Lost Chord moaning out its unutterable lamentation. And one and all try to silence that plaintive cry
as it sobs forth its heartbreaking sorrow beneath the burden of a faint glimmer from some
long forgotten memory
or world
or lost existence.
Whenever I hear the story of that Lost Chord it reminds me of the lost memory, the
lost understanding, the lost knowledge, the lost joy, the lost peace, the lost power, the
lost glory, the lost life that has
fled from mankind. That whining refrain of
sadness, darkness, and death, echoing weirdly out of each mans soul, is but the
fragmented, scrambled notes of the great Lost Chord, as they are released with harmonic
dissonance and discord. It is like the
exquisite notes of a masterpiece sounded forth indiscriminately without harmony at the
hands of an unlearned child. The notes may
all be there but there is no lovely melody, only a raucous racket.
There is recorded in the book of Job the statement of a glorious former time when
the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy (Job
38:7). That exquisite harmony was muted when
man was lowered out of the realm of pure spirit into this gross material realm, and then
muted further by sin and the subjection of creation to the bondage of corruption, as
mankind became overwhelmed with the consciousness of this dense realm of the earthly,
material, and temporal. But through the
quickening of the Spirit of the resurrected and ascended Christ A NEW SONG IS ARISING
the Universal Song, indeed, the Lost Chord begins to vibrate and sing within our
hearts again!
Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter,
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore,
Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness,
Chords that are broken will vibrate once more!
There is a glorious company that stands upon mount Zion with the Lamb, they are of
the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north (Isa. 14:13; Ps. 48:2), brought
there by the transforming grace of God, and they sing as it were A NEW SONG before the
throne, which no man (earthly realm, carnal mind) can learn. It is called as it were a new song
because though it seems new, it is not new at all! It
is the same song Creation sang in that long ago beginning when the morning stars sang
together and all the sons of God shouted for joy! It
is heard through the celestial realms again as the new
morning stars take up that lost chord and express the Life and Glory and Reality of
God in spirit and in truth. Well did Ray
Prinzing write, Thrilling to note that the word song is the Greek word
for an ode. An ode isnt the
same as a hymn which is a song composed and sung, whereas an ode is a spontaneous outflow
of melody and praise that finds its expression in song by the Spirits inner
prompting. Now a morning star means
the first, early, or foremost one. And it is
given as the herald or messenger to announce the day which is coming forth. The night might seem dark, but the morning star
shines out to announce that the GREATER LIGHT OF GOD shall soon be seen over all the
earth. Truly the knowledge of the
glory of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea. Ah, this gives new hope for coming days, His lighted stars betoken the victory end quote.
I cannot tell how all lands will worship
When, at His bidding, every storm is stilled;
Or who can say how great the jubilation
When all the hearts of men with love are filled.
But this I know, the skies will thrill with rapture
And myriad, myriad human voices sing;
And earth to heaven, and heaven to earth, will answer,
At last the Saviour, Saviour of the world, is King!
Thirty centuries ago the Psalmist cried out in spirit, Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I
will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
All the way through the book of Psalms, even in its most sorrow-laden
passages, you feel that you are walking in a smoldering volcano of praise, liable to burst
out at any moment into a great flame of thanksgiving to God. And as the book draws to its close, the flame
leaps high from the crater: here you have praise, and nothing but praise! You have perhaps watched a great conductor
bringing every member of his orchestra into action towards the close of some majestic
symphony; have seen him, as the music climbed higher and higher, signaling to one player
after another, and always at the signal another instrument responding to the summons and
adding its voice to the music, until at the last crashing chords not one was left dumb,
but all were uniting in a thrilling and triumphant climax.
So these final Psalms summon
everything in creation to swell the glorious unison of Gods praise. They summon symbolically to the sun riding in the
heavens, You come in now, and praise Him!
And then to the myriad stars of night, You now, praise Him! Then to the mountains, piercing the clouds with
their summits, Praise Him! Then
to the kings and judges of the earth, Praise Him! Then to manhood in its strength and maidenhood in
its grace and beauty, Praise Him! Then
to the multitude of the redeemed in earth and heaven, Praise Him! The crescendo continues until the whole wide
universe is shouting with every voice the praise of God alone. The Psalms in their sequence show forth the
redemptive progression that can only end when every heart beats in unison with the heart
of God; when every mind shall harmonize with divine wisdom and purpose; when every knee
shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father!
The loving, praising, worshipping attitude of the whole universe is to be complete
and perfect. Thus all the ends of the earth
shall offer up their praise and thanksgiving to Him for His great love, salvation, and
inflow of life. What a THANKSGIVING DAY that
will be! Every knee on this globe, and in the
heavens above, and in the underworld shall confess the Lordship of God and His sons. What a TESTIMONY MEETING! There has never been one like it. The summing up of the universe is the revelation
of harmony. It is not that the harmony comes
at the end, but that the harmony is revealed at the end. The universe is all music, but it is not all music
to our ear. We only hear a few chords, and
they are most often minor chords. The minor
chords seem discords when we hear them in their fragmented position; they lack the full
symphony to bring out their symmetry. Often
our hearts cry out that we are living in a world filled with discords. The Father must teach us that we are living in a
world of perfect music, but we only hear a small portion of the music. Sorrow, pain, disappointment, heartaches,
frustration, and travail, not to mention sin and death, seem to our ear sad and discordant
notes. Often we feel that the coming melody
shall atone for the grating chords. Nay, my
brother, my sister; say rather that the grating chords themselves shall be revealed as
parts of the completed harmony. Then shall we
fathom the depths of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
Then shall we understand His ways that are past finding out! Then shall we see just how it is that all
things work together for good! The melody is not to come, it has come already; it
has only to be completed to be revealed, and then the harpers shall stand upon the glassy
sea.
To be continued
J. PRESTON EBY
Links to other ministry websites
Not finding what you need? SEARCH HERE
Search
this site or the web
powered by FreeFind |