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
BREAKING THE SEALS
(continued)
And I beheld when He had opened the sixth
seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake;
and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair,
and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig
tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven
departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and every island were moved
out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the
rocks of the mountains
(Rev. 6:12-15).
As the sixth seal is broken the whole scene changes and John sees in vision such a
display of divine power as to cause believers to wonder and unbelievers to stagger. The
throne room vanishes, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders are not in
view, the horses have galloped away, the temple is gone, the altar scene has disappeared. The Seer is looking down upon the earth. He sees a great earthquake, an eruption of nature
that not only shakes the boot of Italy, not merely Japan, Portugal, Nicaragua, or San
Francisco, but convulses the whole world of nature with mountains sinking, abysses
yawning, cities falling; the sun goes into total eclipse, a big full moon appearing as a
huge, awe inspiring bloody ball, stars fall from their sockets, plunging into the earth
not comets or meteors but stars!
and the heavens are rolled up like a scroll. He
sees the sea raging and every island engulfed, the whole population in terror, high and
low, all ranks and classes seeking shelter, as men do in times of catastrophe. The vision, if taken literally, implies that God
would visit this earth with judgments so terrible and universal that kings, crown princes,
field marshals, the rich and the strong, all bondmen and free men, would hide in caves and
cry for the mountains and rocks to cover them from the wrath of the Lamb.
Of course this is not to be taken literally! Such
a convulsion would be the total destruction of the universe! Stars do not fall to the earth. Some of them are larger than our entire solar
system! Should even one star literally fall
upon the earth there would not be even a cinder left.
And we know, even from the book of Revelation, that the world exists long after
these events. Again, I remind you that this
is a picture.
It is a figurative description! The
imagery is taken from the prophecies of Joel and Isaiah where the coming of the day of the
Lord is described in metaphorical terms of the dissolution of the heavens and the earth,
denoting the passing away of the old spiritual
order and the establishing of the new! (Joel 2:30-31; Isa. 34:2-4). On one occasion Isaiah says, The moon shall
be confounded and the sun ashamed when the Lord shall reign in mount Zion (Isa.
24:23). This is a prophecy of the superior
light of the kingdom of God dimming into obscurity the lesser light of the old covenant of
the law and the old-order church systems of man. Another
metaphorical use of the sun is found in the prophecy of Jeremiah, Her sun is gone
down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them
will I deliver to the sword (Jer. 15:9). This
was a prophecy of the rejection of Israel because of the sin of unbelief. And again the prophet Micah says, The sun
shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them (Micah 3:6)
the withdrawal of the light of inspiration from the prophets of Israel because of
their unfaithfulness to the Lord.
You see, beloved, we dont really need to spiritualize anything, for the greater part of the
whole of scripture has already been spiritualized by the Holy Spirit! It is only the carnal mind of unspiritual men that
seeks to literalize the word of God of which
Jesus said, The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.
Of the carnal-minded literalists who were offended by the
teaching of Jesus, the Lord said, In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which
saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and
shall not perceive: for this peoples heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull
of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their
eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be
converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears,
for they hear (Mat. 13:14-16). Those
who see only the letter of the word simply do not have ears to hear the Spirit! Upon
first glancing upon a scripture we will get the surface meaning, but we must look deeper
to gain Truth. When you read of the sun being
darkened and the moon turning to blood, the stars falling and the mountains and islands
moving out of their place, it may be difficult to see that this refers to your little
world, as the sixth seal is broken! But
when you do see, you will be blessed indeed, for blessed are the eyes that see, and the ears that
hear!
The following are some quotes from Jane Leade, a wonderful prophetess of the
1670s. I proceed now to the
opening of the sixth seal where the first thing
observable is the great earthquake, representing the terrible shaking of the very
foundation of the old earth in which is the original
seed of sin (the hour of whose judgment is come) and the trumpet hath sounded for the dissolving this
first earth and heavens that their place may be no more found. The wind of the mighty Spirit blows upon all
flesh to make it die and wither. The sun of the outward reason is changed into
blackness and the moon of the senses into
blood, and all the starry imaginations drop
like untimely fruit, and every island and mountain
of strength melteth away. There can be no
hiding in this day a consumption being determined upon the whole universe which has
been under the Beasts captivity.
We may call this a blessed ruin or
undoing to see a destruction come upon all that hath kept the Lamb and His kingdom
out. This causes a great outcry and
perplexity in the properties of degenerate nature where the king of reason and the captains, the senses, do not know whither to
flee from the face of Him who is come to make all things new, which could not be until all
of the old building was broken down and taken to pieces where the fretting leprosy of sin
did still rise. The wisdom of God could no
better way contrive for the laying of a sound and sinless foundation for the New Jerusalem
according to this fore-contrived model, than by that express word which came unto me, that
none could or ever should come to the opening of the seventh seal till all this was fully finished. And I must give witness that is happening and doth
not seem grievous because of what is to succeed and follow when the next seal shall be
opened within end quote. What a word!
Under the more outward prophecies of the Old Testament given to the nation of
fleshly Israel, the falling of stars, sun darkened, etc. often indicated the fall of
nations, empires, kings, and rulers. But in
the spiritual meaning of the spiritual book of Revelation given to the body of Christ,
when you see all these cataclysmic upheavals it simply means that because of the raising
up of Christ in our lives there is a brand new king upon the throne! Who was ruling before isnt ruling anymore! Lights have been put out. Strong dominions in our lives have been shaken to
their foundations and removed from their places.
The
spiritual heavens of former realms and orders in our spiritual walk have been rolled
together as a scroll, and the sun (truth) that lightens the outer court has been draped in
darkness, giving way to the greater glory of the most holy place. Oh, yes! You
will remember that there was no light from man in the most holy place, only the blazing
glory of Yahwey Himself. In the holy place
the light was that of the candlestick, the inward anointing of the oil of the Holy Spirit in our vessel. But in the outer court the light is the natural
light of the sun, moon, and stars, lights from the realm outside of us, shining upon us,
but not experienced within. The light of the
sun, the letter of the word, has been extinguished, and the little light of the moon of
traditions, rituals, ceremonies, sacraments, ordinances, and programs has been turned to
blood so that the life and reality to which they pointed are now visible,
seen, and experienced within. All the
dominions and powers of our previous life in the flesh and our former walk in the various
realms and orders of spiritual experience have all passed away with great commotion and a
great noise. Christ alone remains!
And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake (Rev. 6:12).
Throughout the word of God the earthquake was a regular feature of divine
visitation. When God descended upon mount
Sinai, the whole mountain quaked greatly (Ex. 19:18). Isaiah prophesied that men would hide in caves
from the terror of the Lord, when He ariseth to shake mightily the earth (Isa.
2:19). Once again, in a little while, I
will shake the heavens and the earth, writes Haggai (Hag. 2:6). Earthquake denotes a sudden, powerful, and violent
disruption of the normal state of things. No
human power can control or bring about earthquakes. Many
times we have seen on the news cities that were shaken by temblors, and have seen the
wreck of some of the finest dwelling places and business buildings the ingenuity of man can devise.
In a few seconds, while the hearts of men stood still with terror, while no human
hand could possibly aid them, the great concrete structures crashed and shattered to ruins
in the street below. Men and women grabbed
their babies and fled blindly for shelter they knew not where. No human power can stay an earthquake, or even
definitively warn of its coming.
It is interesting to note that the first time the Greek word for earthquake is used
in the New Testament is in the story of the storm that arose when the Lord was asleep in
the ship and the disciples were afraid. It is
in the phrase, There arose a great tempest
in the sea (Mt. 8:24). Tempest carries
with it the thought not merely of a seismological event, but of any violent storm, wind,
turmoil, disturbance, or upheaval. This
concept is confirmed by the use of the word in classical Greek. Plato uses it of disturbances, disorders, and
commotion. It denotes quakings in general. It is used of the shaking of a fig tree, and in
the Greek translation of Joel 2:10 it is used to denote violent disturbances in the
heavens. And here in our text the result of the great earthquake, or the great shaking, is that everything in both the heavens
and the earth is affected and moved out of its place!
The whole system of the world is implicated in the vastness and violence of
the commotion!
In the
light of the context and the references in various portions of scripture, it is my
conviction that the passage before us indicates primarily the shaking of all external orders.
You see, my beloved, the Adamic nature within us was fully dealt with by
the time we reached the fifth seal the soul was slain under the altar. But now there are those powers from without which
would influence us, affect us, and dominate us, and all this must be dealt with too! And that is the true work of the sixth seal! Only with the mind of the Spirit can we discern what it is that is passing away by means of the
great convulsions of the sixth seal. Whereas
the ministry of the four horses and their riders brings to finality the death of all within us that is contrary to the Spirit, the
upheaval of the sixth seal sweeps away everything about
us with which we have identified in our carnal life and immature spiritual walk, all
in which we trusted, and by which we functioned.
Everything orders, systems, material things, methods, movements,
governments, structures, ordinances, fellowships, personalities, affiliations, vocations,
and a thousand things more are all once and for all and forever shaken away from us,
dissolved, removed from our experience and our walk as far as the east is from the west. I dont mean by this that all these things
actually cease to exist rather, it signifies that for us
they cease to exist! The Lord Jesus said,
The prince of this world cometh, and hath
nothing in me (Jn. 14:30). Jesus is
telling us, The prince of this world cometh and finds nothing in me that corresponds to him or that responds to him. Nothing! In
that blessed, holy moment the whole satanic realm passed away for the firstborn Son of God! It doesnt say that Satan ceased to exist
but for
Jesus he had ceased to exist! So far
as Jesus was concerned there wasnt any devil anymore!
Today, for me, the old-order church systems have ceased to exist. Oh, they are still out there in their own little
world, but I dont live in that world anymore and they have no place in the world
where I dwell. They are gone forever passed away!
Sin has passed away from me, this present evil world, the political systems of man,
and a thousand more things I once delighted in, utilized, participated in, depended on,
trusted in, and had an affinity for have been shaken loose from me, carried away,
dismantled, rolled together as a scroll, and obliterated from the heavens of Gods
Spirit where I now live and move and have my being..
Those coming into this experience find it to be cataclysmic in nature and universal
in scope. Christ alone must remain! Nothing else is left. Oh, the wonder of it!
If you can receive it, my beloved, this is the end of the
world! There are two games men often
play, although they are not always aware that they are playing them. One is, How long will I live? and
statisticians are happy to provide us with numbers that speak about average life
expectancy. The other is, When will the
world end? and lots of so-called prophets are happy to predict that for us too! Sometimes we hear it said concerning the end of
the world, I hope it doesnt come in my day. The expression, the end of the world,
is a familiar one to most people living in so-called civilized countries; but in the minds
of many, the end of the world has frightening connotations.
This is due to a traditional concept of Gods plan and purpose for
mans future. Dark Age tradition teaches
that the end of the world foretold in the scriptures means the destruction of the planet
earth, and the catching up bodily to heaven of all the faithful Christians, and all
non-Christians will be consigned to their eternal doom in the fires of hell. Naturally, with this concept of the end of the
world, most professed Christians prefer not to think much about it, and non-Christians
even less!
Scriptural truth pertaining to the end of the world has been so distorted by
superstition, myth, folklore, and fairy tales, that in the minds of many people they have
become almost repugnant. How many thousands
of sincere people have been horrified when they have heard the tales of this terrible
calamity that has been imaginatively pictured to them by overenthusiastic, carnal minded
evangelists! Some years ago a noted minister
sought to encourage humanity by announcing that the end of the world would not come for
fifty million years. Doubtless many noble
religionists felt greatly relieved at this news, and rejoiced that such a calamitous event
would not befall the earth in their day, nor in the day of their children and
grandchildren!
But what a different viewpoint of this subject we obtain when we examine the
scriptures, and seek the spirit of truth, apart from the superstitious creeds of the Dark
Ages. The scriptures proclaim that the end of
the world is something to which all should joyfully look forward! Indeed, when all the Bible prophecies relating to
the subject are fully understood in the light of the Holy Spirit, it is found that when
Jesus taught His disciples to pray, Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven, He really was instructing them
to pray for the end of this present evil world, and
a better one to take its place! The many
delusions in the minds of the people concerning the end of the world are not to be found
in the scriptures at all. The true revelation
of God has nothing whatever to do with the literal burning up or destruction of planet
earth! Concerning this physical planet on
which we live, the prophet Isaiah says, Thus saith the Lord that created the
heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed
it to be inhabited (Isa. 45:18). What a clear word that is!
A friend said to Mark Twain, I am worried.
The world is coming to an end. Dont
be worried, replied the famous humorist, we can get along without it. Mark Twain may not have known it, but he spoke the
truth. He spoke the very word of God! We can get along without it, because the apostle
John has given us this truth, The world
passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever (I Jn. 2:17). It was this same John who on Patmos wrote,
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth
were passed away (Rev. 21:1).
Thank God, there is an end of the world! The
question is what is the world?
Is it the planet earth, the nations with their governments, the buildings and
infrastructure, the homes, businesses, and factories, society, or the people themselves? The apostle John clearly defines for us what is
meant by the world in these words: Love not the world, neither the things that are
in the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of
the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he
that doeth the will of God abideth forever
(I Jn. 2:15-17). The world is
here discovered to be just three things: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life. Thats the whole
inspired definition! The world is really in
the heart of man! It is mans lust
after, and pride in, the natural, physical, corruptible, valueless, transient things of
earth instead of His love for God and things spiritual and eternal. John says that these three things are ALL
that is in the world or the sum total of everything the world is. And the most interesting thing of all is that
everything the world is is WITHIN US! Study
all the Bible passages about the world and it becomes abundantly clear that the
world is not planet earth! We see
the outward expressions and manifestations of the world everywhere, in society, education,
business, government, culture, entertainment, and religion with all their good and evil;
but all is merely the external projection of the inner world of our own natural, fleshly,
human life!
We always thought the end of the world would be quite a dramatic event. Let me tell you something. The end of our
world is indeed quite a dramatic event! Once
a heaven and earth pass they are gone forever, they are not coming back. Go and fast for forty days to get them to come
back. They still wont show up!
And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal
and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth
and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled
together (Rev. 6:12-14).
Whose voice then shook the earth: but
now He hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but heaven also (Heb. 12:26).
The book of Revelation is full of the symbolism of stars falling or otherwise. Christ is Himself the bright and morning star
(Rev. 22:16). He is the star which Balaam
prophesied should arise out of Jacob (Num. 24:17). He
holds in His right hand the seven stars which are the messengers of the seven churches
(Rev. 1:20). A star falls (Greek: had
fallen) from heaven to earth (Rev. 9:1) and upon close examination is discovered to be
none other than Adam, who fell from a heavenly state.
Gods elect is represented in chapter twelve as a woman with a crown of twelve
stars, denoting the divine government of the Spirit.
A great star falls in chapter eight, its name is Wormwood, and its function is to
make bitter all rivers and fountains of water, that is, the streams of ideas, concepts,
dogmas, traditions, culture, understanding, and worldly wisdom which invigorate and
fortify the souls of men in the earth-realm. The
beautiful symbolism of the book of Revelation is exceedingly rich in spiritual meaning and
the church world has lost most of these wonderful truths in our day through the arid
literalism with which the prophecies have been approached.
Stars are a type of light in the
heavens, a light which came into creation of the fourth creative day. The light of the stars is a part of the rulership
of the night. The stars in our present text
are not the literal stars in the sky, nor are they the bright and shining stars of the new
heavens, of which our Lord Jesus is the bright and morning star. He is also the truth, and it is the illumination
of that truth that makes Him the bright and morning star, the announcer and harbinger of
the new day of the Lord! Stars are also used
in describing messengers and rulers, both false and true stars of the old heavens
and stars of the new heavens. In chapter
thirty-seven of Genesis, Joseph had a dream. I
have dreamed
and, behold, the sun
moon, and eleven stars made obeisance to
me. Josephs father correctly
interpreted the dream when he said to Joseph, Shall I, and your mother, and your
brethren come and bow down to you? In
other words, Josephs father, mother, and eleven brothers were the sun, moon,
and stars in his life, but would give way to him.
This meant that Josephs father, mother, and eleven brothers, who were the
sun, moon, and stars ruling in his life, would, in effect, fall
from that heaven, would now bow down to him instead, and he would rule over them! That, of course, is exactly what happened!
The stars of the old heavens bespeak our natural understanding, carnal perceptions,
earthly consciousness, temporal knowledge, worldly wisdom, soulical discernment, religious
dogmas, and all the personalities and vehicles which represent, disseminate, promulgate,
and promote these. Oh, how many stars there
are in the old heavens! The luminaries of the
political world, the economically powerful among men, the shining ones of
Christendoms leaders, and leaders of all religions, the educators and professors of
the worlds schools of learning, the scientists, doctors, and psychologists, all
shine forth in the old heavens! Their
influence, control, and prestige are being removed from our lives so that Christ only will
be the Light of our life! Ultimately they
will fall and withdraw their shining over the whole world of men as the new heavens of
Gods sons, the kings and priests of His kingdom, are established over all mankind
and all realms.
The stars of the old heavens are falling in the spirit. Throughout church history, and especially over the
past few decades, we have seen the fall of various church leaders and
well-known evangelists, preachers, and
priests. Anointed ministers should be doing
the will of God, living the life of God, speaking the words of God, and lifting the
Lords people into the heavens of truth and reality.
Instead, we are witnessing stars of the old religious heavens doing their own
thing, promoting themselves, deceiving the people, making merchandise of the gospel, and
fleecing the sheep. The Lord shall bring
judgment to the entire church system, to deliver His people out of it! How we praise God that within ourselves these stars have already fallen
from the heavens of our lives! What a change
has taken place as the Lord has caused these stars to fall in our experience, and rolled
the whole of the old heavens together like a scroll!
The powers of the heavens, or the realm of the spirit, and the rulerships
and dominions over our lives, have been mightily shaken!
There is gross darkness in the hearts and lives of most people, both
unbelievers and believers, which is a result of the superficial light of the old heavens. But the new heavens shall radiate the glorious
Light of Christ to dispel all the darkness in mens hearts and change the world! Arent you glad!
It was when the prophet Joel beheld this Day in the Spirit that he exclaimed,
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great
and terrible (awesome) Day of the Lord come (Joel 2:31). This doesnt mean that the literal, physical
sun up in the heavens, ninety-three million miles from earth, is going to nova and go dark.
If it does, were all dead! And
if the sun could somehow go dark without exploding, we would be plunged into an instant
ice age the likes of which the planet has never seen.
We would all become frozen statues haunting an incredible darkness. Nor does it mean that the moon which graces the
night sky with its beauty is going to turn into literal, physical blood. This is symbolic language!
The sun is our natural light. The
figure speaks of that which is light to us turning to darkness. The Spirit of God is speaking to us today that in
order to enter into this new Day of the Lord the natural light, the natural source of life
for the Adamic man, all of our carnal, letter-of-the-word, religious understanding which
we have put upon the word of God and the things of God, together with the moral,
philosophical, governmental, all other powers and orders that have influenced and
dominated our lives, are now being turned into darkness.
There is no hope for it! It has no
spiritual illumination in it, nor can it quicken us or produce within us any spiritual
seed of life. The natural light is being turned off! As
the elect of God we are today being clothed upon
with the illuminating glory of the Living Christ! And
the moon all those reflective ordinances, rituals, creeds, religious works,
programs, and flesh oriented activities are being turned to blood, brought to life within us, so
that we are made partakers of the reality,
having no need any more for the shadow. Instead of the cold, reflective light that only
rules over us in the night time darkness of our walk as carnal Christians, the Lord is now
bringing His called and chosen ones into the hot, throbbing, pulsating, radiating,
penetrating LIGHT OF LIFE! Ah, our sun shall be fully turned into darkness, and our moon into blood, before that great and notable
day of the Lord comes in our lives! The
natural light of the carnal understanding must totally pass away, while the typical and symbolic must be spiritually fulfilled within each of us. This is how the Day of the Lord is now dawning in
our hearts!
There is one further thought I would insert here.
It is true that the apostle Peter quoted the scripture above (Joel 2:31) in his
great sermon on the day of Pentecost. When
the Spirit was poured out from on High, Peter stood up and declared, This is that which was spoken by the prophet
Joel! And what happened on the Day of
Pentecost, and in the days following, was certainly a fulfillment of Joels prophecy! Yet, it is evident that it was not the complete or
only fulfillment of the prophecy, for long years after the day of Pentecost John beheld in
spirit the same scene of the sun being turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, and
the stars falling from heaven. You see, my
beloved, it is not a one-time event, but rather an on-going
reality! On
the day of Pentecost, by the power of the Spirit, the old heavens of the old covenant, the
physical temple, the priesthood of Aaron, the law, and the significance of the fleshly
Israel, passed away for those first followers
of Jesus. But every member of Gods
elect must also experience the same wonderful happening now our heavens are passing away so that we may enter
this new Day of the Lord! Isnt it
wonderful!
And the heaven departed as a scroll
when it is rolled together
(Rev. 6:14).
A scroll in ancient times was the book of today; it was opened by unrolling the
scroll to the proper place for reading from it, and rolled together to close the book. This was the primary form of books until the
invention of movable type by Gutenberg in A. D. 1436.
We see a clear example of the use of scrolls in the ministry of the Lord
Jesus. He entered the synagogue in his
hometown of Nazareth on a Sabbath. He took
His turn in standing up to read from the scriptures, and they handed Him the scroll of
Isaiah. The account in Lukes Gospel
reads, And when He had opened the book (Lk. 4:17). Jesus did not turn the pages of a book like we do
to find the place where Isaiah 61:1 was recorded. Rather,
He unrolled the scroll of Isaiah to the proper place and read from it. When He finished reading the record states,
He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister (Lk. 4:20). The two ends of the scroll were rolled together.
Rolling the two ends of the scroll together, then, is equivalent to closing the
book! The rolling together of the heavens as
a scroll is similar to closing a book. It
means that the book is closed on
the old heavens and on all their power over us and all they represent! They are passed
away! On the scroll of the old heavens is
written all the religious beliefs of the church systems of man and other religions as
well. On the scroll of the old heavens is
written all the political ideologies of the nations.
On the scroll is written all the philosophies of the great thinkers of the world. On the scroll is written all the natural
experiences we have had which shaped our thinking as natural men. Everything we ever heard or learned from carnal
men and the carnal systems of men which developed and nurtured our natural life and
understanding as human beings is written on the scroll of the old heavens. All of our fleshly imaginations, hopes, desires,
dreams, pursuits, and goals are written on the scroll!
By what means, then, does God move to roll up the scroll of our old heavens? No one knows what His dealing in each life will be
to accomplish this, but our Father knows just what is needed in each of our experience to
produce the collapse of our old heavens! He
leads each of us down the precise path that prepares us for this awe-inspiring event. And it is not a calamity when it happens, for the
old heavens must be removed to make room for
the new heavens! There was a day when
atheistic communism had control of a large part of the world, and control of the minds of
men. As atheism flourished they boasted that
they would obliterate the knowledge of God from the face of the earth. It appeared that the philosophy of atheism would
close the book on the true church in those captive nations. But today communism is not even a serious factor
in world politics! How surprised and awed
most people were when God got ready to roll those heavens together as a scroll! The Lord had revealed to me in a dream six years
before it happened that it would happen, and I
declared this in several meetings and conventions during those years, beginning in Daytona
Beach, Florida. I will never forget my own
excitement when a parade of Christians down a boulevard in Moscow was flashed on the
evening news and I cried out through the house for Lorain to come and see it, for I had
seen that very parade in my dream those years before!
How swiftly and phenomenally it all took place! Oh, yes! When
the Lord gets ready to roll up any heavens as a scroll He has both the wisdom and the
power to do it swiftly and effectively!
Just as our old heavens are rolled together as a scroll, so are the new heavens
unrolled and unfurled over us as a scroll! The
firstborn Son of God has revealed to us the wonder and the glory of this reality! It was at the Jordan River when Jesus was thirty
years of age that He was baptized by John the Baptist, and following His baptism He went
straightway up out of the water and at that precise moment the record states that
lo, the heavens were opened unto Him. The heavens were opened, unrolled as a scroll, unto Jesus! Then it was that the Holy Spirit descended
upon Him and the voice of the Father in heaven was heard, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Was it not the heavens of His
sonship that were opened unto Him? The
old heavens of the age of the law were rolled together as a scroll, and Jesus stepped out
under the heavens of sonship to God. That is
why He could say, in quoting Moses, It was said by them of old time
but I say unto
thee
and He said just the opposite of what the law proclaimed! He was under new heavens!
The writer to the Hebrews tells us that the prophecy in Psalm 40:6-7 was a prophecy
of the Son of God. It reads, Lo, I
come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do Thy will, O my
God: yea, Thy law is within my heart. Jesus
said that He had come to do all that had been written of Him in the volume of the book, that
is, in the book of life, the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ! Before ever the light of the sun shone upon this
terrestrial ball, it was inscribed in the heavens that God would send His Son and His sons
into this world to reveal the glory of God. In
that long ago time when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted
for joy, it was because of what was written in the book, in the scroll of
Gods eternal purpose in the heavens. This
is the scroll that was opened to Jesus when the heavens were opened unto Him
and the voice came from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased! It was the Fathers
voice, and the Father was reading what was written in the scroll concerning His Christ! What was written was at that moment fully revealed
to the firstborn Son of God and He understood that His hour had come for
manifestation to Israel and to all mankind. This
is what was indicated by the heavens being opened to Him! From that day forward the Lord Jesus read from
that book in the opened heavens by the spirit of revelation, and He recalled the things
that were written there to be fulfilled in His walk of manifest sonship upon earth. And that is what is now happening to every member
of Gods elect called to sonship. It is
indeed wonderful!
All the old heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll. Then the new spiritual heavens of Gods
manifest sons shall be opened so that all men and nations shall be enabled to walk in the
light of the Lord!
And every mountain and island were
moved out of their places (Rev. 6:14)
Mountains always occupy a dominant position in relation to the surrounding terrain
and are imposing and strong, consisting primarily of rock. From this standpoint they
fittingly picture kingdoms, governments, organizations, and strong dominating powers which
impose themselves over men. We will come back
to this thought later on.
An island is a cut off place separated from the mainland. It represents people and movements which have an
independent spirit, who live in their own little world, and are not aligned with the great
and powerful kingdoms of men, yet they are a habitation and stronghold within themselves
and unto themselves. The message is just this
everything of the old heavens and the
old earth, from the least to the greatest, from the weakest and most isolated to the most
powerful and proximate, are being folded up, swept away.
There shall be nothing left to identify with, cling to, or trust in! For the first heaven and the first earth are
passed away.
And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the
chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves
in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that
sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb (Rev. 6:15-16).
Dearly beloved brethren, I do not hesitate to tell you that it is Adam who wants to
hide from the face of Him that sits upon the throne, because he doesnt know God! Because
of sin, because of walking after the flesh, it was in the swirling mists of that long ago
Eden that Adam in fear first slinked away among the shadows to hide himself from the
presence of the Lord amongst the trees of the Garden.
Adam is the only man who hides from the presence of the Lord!
Six groups or classes of men are here mentioned as overcome with terror and as
hiding themselves. The number six is the
number of man, humanity, the flesh Adam! These bespeak six aspects of the strongholds of
the flesh and the carnal mind in the natural man! The
kings mentioned are the chief rulers on earth, or the strongest, most powerful
propensities and proclivities of the law of sin and death within our natural life. The great men, or noblemen, or princes, are the
members of the kings court, representing those seemingly good dispositions, character, qualities, and
attributes of human life which are esteemed by men and applauded and honored by the world. The chief captains are the kings generals
and commanders, portraying those passions of the flesh which war against the spirit (Gal. 5:17). The rich men are men who have great power by
virtue of their wealth. These stand for
worldly knowledge and fleshly wisdom, power, fame, and prestige which comprise the
values of the carnal man. The
mighty or strong men are those habits, practices, ways, fashions, and traditions that are
entrenched in the nature, stubborn, difficult to overcome, and do not easily yield to the
dealings of God in our lives. Under the term
every slave are included all those areas of false religion, religious spirits,
spiritual deception, spiritual pride, and hypocrisy of men who are held captive of the
devil. And by every free man is
meant the ego of our self-hood whereby we imagine ourselves to be free moral
agents possessing the right to do things our way, the I will
of the carnal mind. I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High! (Isa.
14:14). The term does not indicate those who
have truly been delivered and set free by the
Spirit of God, for all six of these classes of men are Adamic men who are crying out for the
rocks of the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of Him that sits upon
the throne, and from the passion of the Lamb!
It is the world created by the Adamic man that God is out to destroy! The Adam man wants to hide within the safety of
the mountains of the carnal religious, economic, political, and social kingdoms of this
world to keep from being destroyed. He hides
in busy-ness so he wont have to think about God!
He hides in church membership, he hides in religious activities, he hides in
lodges, he hides in tithe paying and supporting charities, and doing good works, thinking
that will save him. He hides in morality and
respectability, supposing that the garments of self-righteousness will cover his
nakedness. Man seeks security in the myriad
systems of this world, believing that these things are sufficient to justify him before
God. Adam is afraid to meet God, because of
the false vision he has of God. It is only in
the mind of Adam that man is alienated from
God. And you, that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath He reconciled (Col. 1:21).
These precious words teach us that it was in
our minds that we were alienated from God, that is, it was in our imagination!
God was never alienated from us, but in our minds we perceived ourselves as
alienated from Him. And God was never our enemy; we were enemies IN OUR MINDS BY WICKED WORKS! God has never left man, never been the enemy of
man, never hated man, never turned against man, never deserted man. It was the other way around! And God never reconciled Himself to us He
only reconciled us to Him! Isnt that wonderful? But Adam has become psychotic, he imagines that
God is a tyrant, that God is against him, that God is out to get him, so when
He sees the One sitting upon the throne he cries out for the rocks and the mountains to
fall upon him to hide him from the face of the One that sits upon the throne! What a tragedy!
I have a vision of God who is full of love and full of grace, compassion, mercy,
and redemption. Hes not trying to hurt
anybody, for He loves all men and desires all men to come into union with Him. So why should we be afraid of our Father? Men have been given a wrong view, a mistaken
image of God! God is love, the Bible tells us. God is love is in the Greek God
is agape. Agape
is pure, divine, unconditional love flowing from a nature which expresses itself in terms
of care, concern, and endearment toward all His creatures, and actively manifests that
interest and affection and high purpose by acts of loving care and self-sacrifice in
behalf of the objects of His love.
that
ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good,
and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust (Mat. 5:45). For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son (Jn. 3:16).
In our natural world a house may be constructed of many constituents lumber,
nails, brick, paint, wallpaper, and what not, all together making a house. But not so with God! God is not made up of parts. HE IS ONE DIVINE BEING, ETERNAL, UNCHANGEABLE AND
INDIVISABLE. A house can be torn down and all
its parts separated, the lumber burned, the brick pulverized, other pieces sold for scrap,
some re-cycled. But God cannot be divided,
for all His parts are so unified within Himself that His love does not
militate against His judgment, nor does His mercy oppose His justice.
When God judges it is love that judges, just as the love of a Father
corrects his erring child. God did not
condemn man to destroy him in hell, He condemned Him to save him! Paul says it so succinctly, For God hath
concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon
all! What a revelation that is! What a thought love as a Judge! His
justice demands His mercy, for He knows understands what is in man, what
makes him act as he does. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, John wrote. Faithful I can understand but just? Is
forgiveness justice? Isnt justice opposed to forgiveness? With justice dont you get what you deserve? What is there about justice that would compel God
to forgive us! Ah, the reality is that the
love of God has been demonstrated towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died
for us. Love sent Christ to die for us though
we didnt deserve it! Love sent the Son
into the world. Love died for us, paid our
debt, canceled our responsibility. Since love
has done this for us it is only just
that is, right, lawful, proper, appropriate,
legitimate, reasonable, and legally binding
for God to forgive us all our sins! He would,
in fact, be unjust NOT to release us! For God
to require us to pay our penalty when it has already been paid by another would be a gross
injustice! Oh, the beauty of it! So you see, my beloved, God has no
parts for there is no difference or conflict between any of His glorious
attributes, all are unified within Himself and God is GOOD!
God being love and being all over and in His creation, means that throughout this
whole world of ours there is that mysterious love which underlies all our existence, is
interested in and involved with each of us, and will see to the welfare of every one of
His creatures. While God allows evil for His
own wise purpose, for our training and development into overcoming sons of God, this
creation will never be surrendered to evil! The
God of love will ultimately prevail not simply for us, or on our behalf, but in us as He reconciles all unto Himself and raises
up the power of Christ in every man. That is
the scheme of love! And love never fails!
This sacred knowledge brings stability to our lives at a time when the outer
world seems to be headed into despair and destruction.
However, as the love of God does not cancel out His wrath, so His wrath does not
cancel out His love! Every parent who has
ever punished a child understands this! Wrath
and love work together to correct what is wrong and make it right. Strictly speaking the wrath of God and His love
are not equally eternal attributes of God. God IS love, but nowhere do the scriptures infer
that God IS wrath! You do not see in any
listing of Gods attributes that wrath is included.
Wrath is not named as one of the fruits
of the Spirit. When sin is finished in
Gods universe His wrath will end, but His love will abide eternally upon all His
creatures and upon all the works of His hands. God
reacts to sin by wrath stern measures of
punishment and correction. The wrath really
is the love of God in reverse! When we
believe God, obey God, and begin to walk with Him we experience His love in salvation,
goodness, and blessing. When we disbelieve
and disobey Him and turn from His ways His love turns on us in judgment, punishment, and
correction. It cannot be otherwise! According to the word of God His wrath is but for a moment but His love is unending! In
wrath God remembers mercy because GOD IS LOVE!
Men have been given a wrong view, a mistaken image of God! Religion preaches and serves a God who is a
monster, who is mean, cruel, and vicious. They
say that God is love, but in their hearts they believe that God is vindictive, implacable,
harsh, unmerciful, and exacting, because they believe that
Gods judgment against sin and sinners is eternal torture in the fires of hell without one degree of mercy. They also believe that God is fickle, for He will
send to this eternal hell men who never had a chance, who never heard the name of Jesus,
who were ignorant and undiscerning, who were careless and unconcerned, although they did
not hate God or deliberately walk in rebellion against Him.
But then, the vilest man who ever lived, who hated and blasphemed and abused
and murdered, if on his deathbed, at the last breath of his life, he simply says,
Father, forgive me; Lord Jesus, save me, this one gets to go to heaven! Now that, my beloved, is classical fickleness!
But God has revealed to us how wonderful He is He loves every man so much
that His judgment against sin and sinners is not eternal, unmerciful, unrelenting torture
and damnation His judgment against sin and sinners is Jesus hanging on the cross in our place and on our
behalf! Oh, yes! God was in
Christ reconciling the world unto Himself! God
came in Christ to die for every man, yet He is going to torture most of mankind for all
eternity with no respite those two ideas dont
compute! They just dont add up! They are contradictions! So there is no need to
hide, no need to call on the mountains and rocks to hide us from the face of our sovereign
Lord! Let it all go, let God sweep away the
old creation, renounce the mistaken identity of the old, carnal, natural Adamic man, and
God will raise up the new man, Christ in your life! You
will stand tall and blessed and powerful and glorious in the new heavens and the new
earth! Praise God for the sixth seal!
When the sixth seal opens the face of
the Lamb appears. When His face begins to
shine the kings of the earth and their noblemen, and their magnates, and their military
chiefs, and the wealthy, and the strong, and everyone, whether slave or free, run to the
caves and dens of the earth and cry out to the rocks of the mountains, Fall on us,
and hide us from the face of Him who sits upon
the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb! That
is fearful Adam talking! But I tell you
by the word of the Lord the Lord God who walks in the Garden in the cool of the day
will bring you out from under your rock just as He brought Adam out from behind his tree! There is no place you can run to and hide where
this face cannot be seen! Thats what
the book of Revelation is all about the revelation, the unveiling of Jesus Christ! There is no escape from the face of the Lamb. Somewhere, someday, somehow, He will get you, He
will win, you will be captured, captivated, conquered by Him! He is out to get you not to destroy you,
but to save you and make you His chosen one! He
will ravish your heart. He will win your
love. He will gain your adoration. He will command your obedience. This face is a voice. If those who heard this voice on Sinai could not
escape the voice speaking on earth, how much more can we not escape the voice that now
speaks from heaven!
Thus there comes a time in our spiritual unfoldment where everything we have seen
and known, believed in, understood, trusted in, and been related to disappears the
old heavens and the old earth pass away amidst great commotions and to us it is as though
they never existed. We recognize that we have
been birthed into a new order, a new day has dawned upon us, a new world has appeared and
we have been translated into a higher kingdom, and everything pertaining to that old order
has passed away. The personalities we once
esteemed and drew our life from are no longer part of our world. The things we used to do, the places we used to
go, the religious systems that controlled us, the traditions we kept, the rituals we
performed, the ordinances we observed, the worship we enjoyed, the teachings that inspired
us none of these hold anything for us anymore nor do they even exist in this new
life of sonship to God.
There was a time when we were not quite ready for this to take place, there were
certain practices of our old life and certain trappings of our old religious life that we
hung on to because we were familiar and comfortable with them. But the day came when all the old elements had to
go, the old heavens and the old earth passed away with a great noise, the sun of that
realm was turned to darkness, the stars all fell, the heavens were rolled up as a scroll,
every mountain and island fled away, that whole world once and for all and forever
disappeared from our experience and for us it
no longer existed at all.
Every son
of God knows that the change we have undergone is so drastic that we have a hard time even
remembering the other world we lived in before.
I remember on one occasion, some twenty years after the Spirit had drawn us
out of the Pentecostal denomination, the Lord impressed me to visit a small Pentecostal
church not far from our home. As I sat in
that meeting listening to the classical Pentecostal style of preaching, the thundering
against sin, the legalism and condemnation heaped upon the people, and the old songs about
flying away to heaven and wont it be wonderful there, I thought to
myself in amazement, My God! Do you
mean there are still people on this planet serving God like that? It all seemed so strange, so foreign to me, as
though I had entered a far-away land, or was having a nightmare born of some long
repressed memory. That world had passed away
for me and barely did I recall what it was like! It
is indeed wonderful!
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first
earth were
passed away.
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 |