KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES
studies in end-time revelation
THE HEAVENS DECLARE
Part 11
LIBRA -- THE SCALES
We continue with our study of the first of the Decan, or minor constellations, in the house of Libra -- THE CROSS (CRUX) -- known as 'The Southern Cross.' It is situated beneath the feet of the Centaur. This is one of the most beautiful of the Signs in the heavens. At the time of the coming of Jesus Christ this Southern Cross was visible in the latitude of Jerusalem. In Hebrew this Decan is called ADOM, which means 'the cutting off.' In Dan. 9:26, we read: 'After threescore and two weeks shall MESSIAH BE CUT OFF... 'Here we have the connection of the Messiah with the Crux or the Cross --~ the 'cutting off" of the Messiah. Of our Lord it is written: 'and after He had appeared in human form He abased and humbled Himself still further and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!' (Phil. 2:8, Amplified).
Two thousand years ago, the CROSS didn't inspire religious awe or thoughts of the Messiah's redemption. Instead, the cross inspired sheer TERROR. A crucifixion was a gruesome, torturous, and shameful way of dying ---the lowest form of execution, reserved for traitors and hardened criminals. Most criminals were crucified immediately after their trial because the forebodings of pain were more than most mortals could handle. The crucifixion of Jesus was typical in this respect --- He was crucified on the same day He was convicted. But this death sentence was no sudden surprise to Jesus. He anticipated His death by the cross throughout His three - and-one-half year ministry. As a young man growing up in Galilee, He undoubtedly witnessed a number of Roman crucifixions. According to the customs of the times, to be hanged on a tree was to be forever accursed -- to have the memory of your name blotted out both in earth and in heaven. The triumph of Christ over this kind of death only adds immeasurably to His ultimate victory, because He transformed His cross -- the symbol of the curse --into the symbol of His eternal triumph. Yes, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death --- EVEN THE DEATH OF THE CROSS! Oh, the wonder of it!
One of the most strangely arresting statements in the Word of God is that Jesus is the "lamb SLAIN FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD' ( Rev. 13:8). Well do I know that there are shining depths and lofty heights of meaning in that sublime statement, yet the central thought seems to be plain enough. It is that long ago "-when 'the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy" --- the purpose of creation and redemption was conceived and wrought out in the heart of God in celestial realms. The sacrifice and death of the Christ did not start with the events surrounding Calvary; it began away back them at the beginning, and culminated on Calvary. He was the Lamb who was put to death from the beginning. Just as the cross did not begin at Calvary, so the crucifixion of Christ did not begin at Calvary. Peter expressed the fact that the cross existed as a work of God before the foundation of the world in this manner: 'Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was FOREORDAINED B-E-F-O-R-E THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, but was manifest in these last times for you' ( I Pet. 1:18 -20 ). The day came .... wonderful day! --- when that love-purpose, conceived and enacted in eternity, cast its shadow into time. The fullness of time having come, God "sent forth His Son." And on the cross of Calvary the eternal purpose became an historic verity.
Christ came into this world, humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, to bring us back to God and the glory we had with Him before the world was. That may seem a strange statement to some, but because God is God, all the wisdom and understanding of the universe dwells in Him. We must expect Him to say many things and state many facts that the natural mind cannot comprehend nor pry into. It is the inspiration of the Almighty that giveth understanding. The most unlearned and simple among men can comprehend the deepest things of God in that moment when the divine light from above shines upon them. It is a divine certainty that Christ was with the Father and loved by the Father before the worlds were made or the ages framed. 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God" (.In. 1:1-2).
In that wonderful prayer Jesus prayed on the night before His crucifixion, He said: "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: FOR THOU LOVEDST ME BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. "And .... blessed be God! --- it is no less a divine certainty that in that long -ago eternity God loved and elected some OTHER SONS in Christ, as the pen of inspiration affirms: "According as He hath chosen us in Him BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD · . . having predestinated us unto the adoption of children (placement as sons) by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will ' (Eph. 1:4-5). 'For whom He did FOREKNOW, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among MANY BRETHREN" (Rom. 8:29).
Our human minds cannot measure eternal things nor such divine love. Human love is limited to days, weeks, months, and years in duration. Thirty -five years ago I stood by my lovely, blushing bride-to-be in a marriage ceremony under the stars. A year and a haft prior to that hour we had fallen in love -- deeply, devotedly. In pledges written poetically, and in promises whispered personally, we had spoken of our love that would last forever and ever. Yet it came as a stunning, shocking, sobering reminder of the frailty of earthly love when I discovered in our marriage vows that we could only pledge our love to each other 'until death do us part.' There was a moment when our love was born -- but there would be another moment when it will cease! Not that we embrace death -- but all EARTHLY THINGS pass away whether by death or by transformation to a higher plane of existence. Not so with the love of God! God's love toward us did not begin the day we were born into this world. You may go back beyond the time when a wave beat upon a beach, or a star shone in the sky, or glorious Seraphim cried 'holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty!' and when you get back as far as the mind can reach you will know that GOD KNEW YOU THEN, GOD LOVED YOU THEN, GOD PURPOSED FOR YOU THEN, GOD PREDESTINATED YOU THEN, and the blessed Lamb of God was SLAIN FOR YOU THEN UPON THE ETERNAL CROSS IN THE HEAVENS. This is a deep spiritual truth, a mystery of the universe. Think and pray over it and the Holy Spirit will teach you.
THE PRINCIPLE OF THE CROSS
We have come to see that the great cross of Christ was not the wooden one upon which He was crucified. The real cross of Jesus the Christ lay in the eternal disposition of Christ --- His humility, His sacrifice, His spirit of self-denial, His laying aside His glory, His pouring out of His life, His lowering of Himself to raise all, in Him, up to God. This was no single act --- it was a constant and all - pervading nature. This is the real cross where He was eternally slain before the world was.
After Christ was risen from the dead the apostles went out to preach His Kingdom, and what they preached was the cross. And wherever they went into the wide world they carried the cross, and the power of that cross transformed the world. It changed Saul of Tarsus from a fierce persecutor of the saints to a tender believer and a fearless apostle of Jesus Christ. Its power changed wicked men into holy ones. It shook off the bondage of paganism and altered the course of history. Its power departed when it was changed from a transforming principle in men's lives and made an outward symbol to be hung around the neck as an ornament. Paul said, 'But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world' (Gal. 6:14). Paul's GLORYING in the cross was not an IDOHZING of the "old rugged cross", not an ornament to be worn, not a symbol to be displayed, not a magic sign to ward off evil, not a christian fetish, not a relic to be prayed over. Again the apostle wrote, "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God" (I Cor. 1:18).
"The preaching of the cross" . . . Here we note that the word "preaching" is actually the Greek word LOGOS --- THE WORD. The word LOGOS goes far beyond just an utterance, a spoken saying, or particles of speech -- it reaches into the very will, purpose, intent, and thought behind the words. The LOGOS (WORD) OF THE CROSS speaks to us of the full will of the cross, the full purpose of the cross, the full intent of the cross, the mighty power of the cross working in our life, which becomes in us THE POWER OF GOD. As Ray Prinzing wrote: "IT IS NOT IN THE SYMBOL, IT IS IN THE WORD --- in the outworking of the will and purpose of God through the cross, that becomes HIS POWER IN US. Or, shall we say, it is the experiential outworking of the cross in our life which becomes THE POWER OF GOD. Talking about the cross, singing about the cross, doesn't do but the inworking of this WORD OF THE CROSS becomes a marvelous thing." Not the theory of the cross, but the tremendous, heart - gripping WORD --- the REALITY of the cross is what towers in our interest.
The principle of receiving all divine things involves giving it all up. As Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac, and the rich young ruler was told to sell all his possessions and give to the poor, so the principle of the Cross is one of sacrifice --- forsaking and relinquishing all. A. C. Dixon wrote: 'May the Spirit of God help us now to go a little farther into this Holy of Holies, and try to realize the meaning of CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIHED, with the glory of it, the glory of giving up glory, the honor of surrendering honor, the reputation of being of no reputation, for the sake of the glory, honor and reputation of others. Seeking glory and grasping after honor may mean selfishness; but there is a higher glory than seeking glory, and a deeper honor than grasping after honor ---the glory of the sacrificial spirit which gives up glory and honor for the sake of others.
"Let us imagine, if we can, a man in this world who is truth incarnate. In him is all troth; and I mean by troth, reality without sham --- no pretence. There is not a ring of unreality about him. A man like that would be the glory of his nation. Then imagine another man in whom all light centers. I mean by light, knowledge and understanding, light on every subject in the universe; and if you could find a man like that he would be the glory of his nation. Then look for another man in whom life is centered --- physical life, intellectual life, ethical life, spiritual life, all the life you can think of incarnate in this one man. He would be the glory of his nation. Then find another man in whom all wisdom is centered, not simply knowledge, but how to use it. He never makes a mistake, never acts foolishly. He would be the glory of his nation. Find another man in whom all power is centered, and he would be the glory of his nation. Then another man in whom all love is centered, love that is pure, love that is not flecked with lust; everything that is lovely and of good report centers in him. He would be the glory of his race.
"Now find, if you can, a man in whom all of these things are centered --- all troth, all light, all life, all wisdom, all power, all holiness, and all love, and you would say that a man in whom all of these were incarnate was not only the glory of earth, but he is the glory of heaven. In such a man you have the glory of all worlds. Yet we have just approached the glory of the Cross. I have been describing to you our LORD JESUS CHRIST! He is the only One who ever came into this world of whom it could be said, 'In Him is all Troth, all Light, all Life, all Wisdom, all Power, all Holiness and all Love.' These things incarnate in Christ make Him not only the glory of earth but the glory of heaven. YET YOU HAVE NOT TOUCHED THE GLORY OF THE CROSS. I have just described in this faint, feeble way the glory of the incarnate God.
"Let us go a step farther and see what the Cross means. If you can find a man in whom all truth is centered, not contending for the troth, but dying for those in error, you have reached another degree of glory. If you can find a man in whom all light is centered, light not displaying itself, but dying for those in darkness; if you can find a man in whom all wisdom is centered, not wisdom admiring itself, but dying for the ignorant; if you can find a man in whom all life is centered, not protecting itself, as a coward would, but giving itself for those who are dead; if you can find a man in whom all holiness is centered, holiness not cultivating itself, though that is a good thing, but holiness giving itself on the altar, dying for the unholy and the impure; if you can find a man that has all power, not exerting itself, but willing to be weak, restraining itself, that it may carry out its noble purpose of sacrifice for sin; if you can find a man that is all love, not simply enjoying itself, but love on the altar, love dying, love giving itself, to the cross in order that the unlovely might be saved; if you can find all these, you will have some little conception of what the Cross of Christ means. Now put all into one --- O God, help us to realize it! ....all Truth, all Light, all Life, all Wisdom, all Power, all Holiness, all Love, incarnate in one Man, who gives Himself for the untruthful, for the darkened, for the dead, for the weak, for the unholy, for the unlovely and you have some conception of what the Cross of Jesus Christ is in its deeper meaning" --- end quote.
TAKE UP YOUR CROSS
Jesus' secret to the life of sonship was: "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever shall save his life shall lose it and whoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it" (Mat. 16:24-25). ". . . let him deny himself" --- not: protect, defend, uphold and promote himself, or feel sorry for himself. How can you love any one else if you have all of that to do? Most people would rather deny the movie theater, the liquor store, the gambling den, the Babylon church system, communism, and Fidel Castro, but the message is clear --- "If any man will be My disciple, let him . . . deny HIMSELF." Poor, sweet, innocent little SELF! A brother in Christ once asked whether there can be found in all the universe a more possessive, blinding, or deceiving devil than the devil of self. It is self, self, always SELF that stands between you and true sonship to God. It is the friendly hand of SELF that turns you away from your cross and refuses to let you take it up and follow Christ w the place of execution. Would God that all who treasure the beautiful hope of sonship would learn this divine secret: It is the SE~-LWE that stands between them and the full manifestation of the will, purpose and glory of God in their lives. It is SELF --- the outer man of sense consciousness -- that shuts us out from the vibrant and incorruptible life of the SPIRIT.
In his remarkable book, BORN CRUCIFIED, the author, L. E. Maxwell, makes the following potent observation: 'The victorious believer will become aware of many forms of SELF which must yet be dealt with. We shall discover in our service for Christ, self-confident and self-esteem; in the slightest suffering, self-saving and self-pity; in the least misunderstanding, self-defense and self- vindication; in our station in life, serf-seeking and self-centeredness; in the smallest trials, self-inspection and self-accusation; in the daily routine, self-pleasing and self-choosing; in our relationships, self-assertiveness and serf-respect; in our education, self-boasting and self-expression; in our desires, self-indulgence and serf-satisfaction; in our successes, self-admiration and self-congratulation; in our failures, self-excusing and serf-justification; in our spiritual attainments, self-righteousness and self-complacency; in our public ministry, serf-reflection and self-glory; in life as a whole, self-love and selfishness. THE FLESH IS AN ' I ' SPECIALIST. These are but a few of the multiplied forms of the flesh to be discovered and taken to the cross. In the palace of Wurtzung hangs a hall of glass. It is called the hall of a thousand mirrors. You enter. A thousand hands are stretched out to meet you, a thousand smiles greet your smile, a thousand eyes will weep when you weep; but they are all your hands, your smiles, your mars. What a picture of selfish man! Self all around, self multiplied, and serf-deceived' -- end quote.
Why did the love of Christ lead Him to the cross? Because nowhere in Him did SELF rise up and say, ' I have had enough of it.* Nowhere in Him could serf say, 'I should not have to suffer so much,' or 'I should not have to give so much.' When Judas betrayed Him, there was no place in Him where self could rise up and say, "I trusted this man to be the treasurer and now be has sold me down the river.' Or when Peter denied Him, 'I gave him the keys to the Kingdom and now be denies Me.* He could truly say, 'The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me (In. 14:~0). There was no ground in Him where the carnal mind could do its work. The path of sonship is truly one of denying ourselves, submitting to the cross as the Lord applies it to our lives, and following Him all the way. The road to Mount Zion passes through the hill of Golgotha. This is a WALK which requires all that we have and all that we are.
There is no place where serf is a more cunning and deceitful devil than in the realm of our SPIRITUAL LIE. Volumes have been written on the CRUCIFIED LIFE -- the surrender of our will to God, of becoming nothing, that He might become everything. I am sure that some of my readers have sung the little chorus that expresses this beautifully:
'Lord, take me and break me until I'm nothing,
And make me and mold me until I'm something,
Then take me and use me for Your glory,
Until all that I am is You.'
As another has written: 'Herein is a definite inworking of the Spirit, till we recognize that in ourselves we are nothing -- as pertains to the spiritual realm. Then He will make us a 'something' -- indeed, the new creation is to become a part of HIMSELF, so we. truly bear His image. And we are able to say with Jesus, ' I can of mine own self do nothing' (In. 5:30). Now ,this we have found -- the deep inworkings of the cross do not take away our self-respect, sense of self-value that belongs to the natural realm. It is dealing with an entirely different realm. The cross is used to cancel out any self, effort to become spiritual. All of the natural gifts and graces wherein we are endowed in the earthly, proper for their sphere, do not qualify us for spiritual glories. We are born into this earthly realm, receiving whatever strengths, abilities, and weaknesses, that are appointed to us. And we grow and develop to the fullest potential we are able. Likewise, we are BORN into the heavenly realm, and endowed with HIS gifts and graces, and then are to progress toward spiritual maturity. Thus we find that we have a LIE WITHIN A LIFE. The natural has its sphere, the' spiritual has its sphere. The spiritual will help you to be even a better natural person, BUT THE NATURAL CANNOT HELP YOU BE A BETI'ER SPIRITUAL PERSON. For 'it is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing' 0n. 6:63).
'The lesser (flesh) can be helped by the greater (spiri0, but it is self-evident that the lesser can add nothing to the greater. Day by day we cry out to the Lord' for HIS EVER PRESENT HELP, and He enables us to accomplish the task before us -- imparting wisdom and understanding even beyond our inherent abilities. He truly condescends to men of low estate, and ministers to us in the very nitty-gritty of this earthly living. Yet, when it comes to growing in spirit, that His life might fill and flood us, and that all comes under His indwelling control --- the flesh can add nothing to this. 'Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? (Mat. 6:27). It is HIS LIFE growing within us, ministered to by the Spirit, receiving of His grace. True, we can 'give ourselves to these things' in our yielding and seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, but we cannot BIRTH OURSELVES into His Kingdom, nor can we make ourselves more righteous -- self-effort produces self-righteousness. And that is the self which is dealt with by His cross. Spiritual life must be spiritually sustained.
Paul taught this to the foolish Galatians, asking them, 'Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh (Gal. 3:3) --- Gospel Echoes.
The Spirit-substance that nourishes our spirit is the life of the Father within. When we live out of SPIRIT we walk in GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS and SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS has no place. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracle of God -- out of his innermost being. When one speaks the truth, when one speaks and performs what he hears from the Father, it is GOD IN MANIFESTATION, and self is there crucified upon the cross in God's heart. God is raising up a people today, sons who no longer are self-conscious. The secret of Jesus' sonship was that He paid no attention whatsoever to Himself. "Whatsoever I see the Father do, that is what I am doing, whatsoever I hear the Father say, that is what I am saying." The Father said, "You are the way, the truth and the life," so He said, "I am the way, the truth and the life." He did not say it with His eyes turned to the outer man, thinking how important He was, how vital He was to the situation. He said it because His heart was set on the Father. He said, "The Father has given Me the words I should say." And He spoke the words the Father gave Him with no self-consciousness at all.
God is raising up sons in these days whose eyes are set upon the Father, who will be able to declare, "We are the light of the world," not out of self-consciousness, but because of a God-consciousness, who is speaking out of our innermost being, "Arise and shine, for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." The Lord said to Paul, "They will not accept thy word, turn to the Gentiles, for I have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles, thou shalt be My salvation to the ends of the earth." If Paul were diplomatic, if Paul were religious, if Paul were self-seeking, if Paul were self-saving, he would have kept the revelation to himself and just walked out of town calmly and said, "Well, they do not understand, but really, I have a deeper and greater calling, I will just go off to fulfill it." The Father said to Paul, 'I have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles, thou shalt be for salvation to the ends of the earth." So Paul said to the people, "For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth." (Acts 13:47).
Jesus instructed His disciples: "Into whatsoever city you enter and they receive you not, shake the dust off and say to them: Nevertheless, the Kingdom of God has come nigh unto you" (Mat. 10:14; Lk. 10:11). Do not walk out of town silently, muttering to yourself, "They did not realize what we represented, that we are, in expression, the Kingdom of God, which is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. They did not realize that the Kingdom of God is working and living and expressing itself in us." There can be no self-seeking, no self-saving in these days, there can be no self-protection in the life of sonship. The sons of God cannot be self-righteous, parading the ideas of the carnal mind before men under the guise of spirituality, but neither can the sons of God be so wrapped up in self-saving that they pretend to be more humble than they are, and pretend to be what they are not. God is declaring that the creation is groaning and travailing, waiting for the unveiling of God's sons. Are we going to sell the world short in these days? Are we to deny that the Lord is saying to His elect, "As the Father sent Me, so send I you"? Are we to deny that we are the sons of God, calling ourselves, like Babylon's masses, "sinners saved by grace," "Christians," etc. Why have we not heard this word before? Because the Father did not send the babies to be the saviours of the world. The baby Jesus in the arms of Mary was not the saviour of the world. The Father sent His SON to be the saviour of the world. And there was no salvation or expression or manifestation until He began to be about thirty years of age, then it was that the Father spoke from heaven: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And on the mount of transfiguration: "This is My Son, hear Him." When the son has come to maturity he has but one desire, to do the Father's will, to speak the Father's words, and to accomplish the Father's purpose. Jesus said: "In the same manner in which My Father has sent Me --- as a son in maturity in full commitment to His will, with the Father dwelling in Me, My eyes fastened on Him and My whole being swallowed up into Him --- as the Father has sent Me to be Light and Life and Salvation and all that creation needs --- SO SEND I YOU!
No man can walk this path of sonship apart from the cross. When the blessing of God comes, when the power and glory of God arise upon us, what happens? We speak either out of the life of God with no self-consciousness, or self takes the credit for what we have received and struts about like a peacock, with its tail all spread out, parading flesh before men. Self will assume the tide of 'Reverend," 'Head Elder,' 'Senior Pastor," 'Bishop,' 'First Apostle,' 'the Prophet,' "General Overseer,' or 'God's man of faith and power for this hour,' subjecting the people to his dominion for prestige, power or gain. I do not hesitate to tell you that men who have never denied self and who know nothing of the work of the cross have been blessed by God with gifts and self has usurped these gifts and used them for its own ends -- building vast empires of flesh in the name of the Lord. These men of reprobate minds presumably serve God but are dedicated to material gain. They promote what they term a "faith message' or a "life message" with joy, peace, miracles, blessing, healing, prosperity, glory, fame, power, and anything else you can invent which would appeal to the lusts of the flesh, and make life on earth one continuous glorified "Disney World' experience. In the name of Jesus Christ, and under the banner of spiritual ministry, they separate the simple, God-fearing saints from their money. These religious racketeers, wearing the masks of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, promise blessing, healing, miracles and prosperity "-BUT NOT WITHOUT A PRICE. Their 'prayer request" forms are attached to their 'offering' forms, subtly suggesting that if you GIVE you will GET. Their clever promises and adroit manipulations have led tens of thousands of distressed and needy souls to send in their meager incomes in hope of a miracle in return. The apostle Paul bluntly describes these crafty promoters of greed and warns the godly against their message and methods in these forceful words: '.. . men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that GAIN IS GODLINESS: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain . . . and having food and raiment let us therewith be content. But THEY THAT WILL BE RICH FALL INTO TEMPTATION AND A SNARE, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL: which while some have coveted after, they have ERRED FROM THE FAITH, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, FLEE THESE THINGS; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." 0 Tim.6:5-11). Again, 'For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose GOD IS THEIR BELLY, and whose glory is in their shame, who MIND EARTHLY THINGS." (Phil. 3:18-19).
There is a work of the cross that cuts deeper in the lives of God's sons than the things of which we have been speaking. The revelation of Jesus Christ is the need of the hour. Only a present intervention of the divine mind, only a present revelation of the spirit of wisdom and power will be able to met the need. If God does not give a special ministration and the spirit of wisdom and power to meet the need, it will not be met. There are no buttons to press to solve problems and deliver creation. The further we move in God the more helpless and totally empty we become.
God is moving on. The higher we go in God the more refined become the testings. God is causing us to take positions and stands, not against the BAD simply, but against things that are GOOD. Of course, if you take a stand against things that are good and were started by God, formed by God, ordained by God, it will appear as if you are an instrument of the devil out to destroy the work of God. But God said once, "That which I plant, I will pluck up" (Jer. 1:9-10; 18:6-10). I rejoiced for years because I saw that "every tree which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up" (Mat. 15:13). Now, as we move on in God, we must rejoice when we see God pluck up that which HE PLANTED. God says, "That which I built, I will destroy." We are to rejoice when we see God destroy that which He built. Unless God has done a work in our spirits by the power of the Holy Ghost, we cannot believe that. Our own concept is that if God built it, the only one out to destroy it is the devil. But God says: 'I will destroy." May The decade of the 1990's be a decade in which we are prepared to lose the good as well as the bad, prepared to see God pluck up that for which we have given our life to see it planted, where we see God break down and destroy that for which we have sold ourselves out.
Most of us have no problem as to our bad, we know the flesh and all that it represents must go to the cross. But all of us have areas in our life which we think are good: a devotion, a commitment, a consecration, a faith, a prayer life, a knowledge, a ministry, but which are as much SELF as the bad temper, the lust, and the rest of it. God is saying that everything must go. That which is left will only be CHRIST HIMSELF formed in us. Why is this? Because when God has planted something, after a while we become idolatrous about it. Idolatry is really the self-life projecting itself into the things of God so that they turn into idols because they become the thing which is produced by our consecration, our prayers, our dying. But we do not want it to die, because it has cost us too much, and it represents a work of God in our life. We have given our whole life to see this thing come into being, and anyone that comes along to destroy it is destroying all our consecration, the prayers we have prayed, the reputation we have lost, the deaths we have died. After God has established it, you are telling me that it has to die? But that is exactly it! If it lives we will do what Israel did with the brazen serpent. We make an ephod out of it and go after it to worship it. I know people today who instead of worshipping God, worship worship. It is not the Lord they delight in, but the soulish sensation they get out of 'worship.' Others worship a message -- the faith message, the sonship message, the Kingdom message. Many worship experiences and ministries. Wherever God has brought us in previous dealings, God is progressively moving forward. Today He says: 'Build it",tomorrow He says, 'Destroy it." Today He says: 'Plant it," tomorrow He says, 'Pluck it up.' Today He says: 'Get a harvest,' tomorrow He says, "Let the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die.' He who has a right to build has also the right to destroy when He is through with a thing. And, woe! unto that man who cannot discern the times.
Unless Christ is being formed in us, unless self is firmly nailed to the cross, we will not surrender to the planting of the corn of wheat; we will not accept the destruction of the thing God has used so mightily in our life. Many who read these lines have given their lives to some realm in God, and now the Spirit speaketh expressly, 'Get up and leave it.' Why did the Jews crucify Jesus? Because of His position relative to the Law. The Law represents Moses and the deliverance out of Egypt, and then one day Jesus stands in their midst and announces: "It was said by them of old time . . . but I SAY UNTO YOU!" bringing an entire new dimension of Grace. Israel knew that if you make an end of the Law, you make an end to Israel. The whole life of Israel was wrapped around Moses and the Commandments and the Law. They knew that if you take that away, it means the end of "US', and that is what they did not want. We want "US' to continue on forever. But it is 'GOD' who must continue on! No matter who we are, where we came from, what God has done for us, the time comes that we become swallowed up into God , so that when it is all over it will be God alone remaining. Not what we have been formed into remains, but the Lord alone.
There is no clearer statement of truth in all scripture than the truth that the sons of God are the temple of God, the body of Christ, the dwelling place of the Most High. It was with an expression of wonder that Paul demanded of the Corinthians, "know ye not that YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, WHICH TEMPLE YE ARE' 0 Cor. 3: 16-17). And again, "What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD; as God hath said, I will DWELL IN THEM, and WALK IN THEM.. . '(II Cor. 6:16).
How our glad hearts rejoice and our tongues drop down their pearls of praise in the sacred knowledge that we are each a living stone in the living temple of God, rising to form a holy sanctuary in the Lord. There is, however, a holy ambition of God that transcends the form of what we are becoming in Him. Only with the mind of the Spirit can we fathom the deep mystery John the beloved encountered on barren Patmos when in vision he beheld the glorious Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. With astonished wonder and open-mouthed amazement he cried, 'And I saw NO TEMPLE THEREIN!' What a wonder! The Bible calls us the temple of God, but one day we will cease to be the temple. 'And I saw no temple therein: FOR THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY AND THE IAMB ARE THE TEMPLE OF IT" (Rev. 21:22). Think of it! The very thing that is represented by us must one day be swallowed up into GOD HIMSELF --- no longer to be a 'container" of God, but SPIRIT as our total reality. As the Lord has spoken to us in times past, Christ has been doing things in us, He has been putting a devotion in us, forming a commitment, creating a character, perfecting a ministry, performing a work of grace in our life until we can say: "I am what I am by the grace of God." The Lord has worked and wrought within us until of this commitment, and of this faith, and of this consecration, and of the blessings and gifts and ministry and attainment we can say: "The Lord hath done it for me." But that is over. From now on God is not interested in what He has done FOR YOU. From henceforth it must be "When Christ who is our life shall appear.. ." If there is a mind in us, it must be mind of Christ, not our religious mind that is cultivated through the years until it is religious and devoted and full of the Bible and stayed on God. From now on it must not be our mind stayed on Him, it must be HIS MIND IN US.
What we have witnessed to for years was a work of God, His salvation in us, His peace in us, His victory in us, we had become a product of the work of God. But God's purpose is not that we shall be a testimony of the work of God, but that there shall come a revelation of A PERSON, that the revelation will BE CHRIST. It will not be a revelation of the work of God, but a revelation of the Person of God in us. God is talking to His sons about PERSONIFICATION, MANIFESTATION, REVELATION AND IDENTITY. Now you are going to PERSONIFY CHRIST as you have embodied the works of Christ. Christians represent the work of God: Saved from this, having received that, changed into something else, but it is still 'ME'. What you see is a marvelous expression of the handiwork of God. But God intends that the hour should come when there shall be a revelation of the Person of God, the Identity of God, so that HE IS OUR LIFE. Not: we have life because He has wrought life in us, but "Christ who is our life shall appear" He no longer gives us peace, He becomes our peace, our righteousness, wisdom, redemption, sanctification, ALL THAT HE IS until we are no longer a witness to a work or an experience, but a witness of His Person, His Identity as our reality. Are you willing to have nothing but the Person Are you willing for God to be your life, and you His life until HE IS ALL THERE IS? Are you willing to forget the work and the experience to bear HIS IDEN'ITYY? In our moving on into God, God is saying to us: "What I did for you yesterday, the works of God, must now become the Person of God in you. The cross must strike not only at our carnality and sin, but at all our blessings and experiences and attainments in God. While we praise God for all His mighty acts on our behalf, in and through us , it must all be slain by the cross until we no longer talk about the work of God wrought in us, for that is duality --- God and me. When men saw Jesus, the salvation of God, they saw more than a work of God; they saw the PERSON OF GOD, for, 'He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father/' 0n. 14:9). Ultimately God's purpose is that when the cross has done its work Christ will be so formed in us, so expressed and revealed through us, until he that sees us sees the Father. There are tens of thousands of people here in Texas and tens of millions around the world today who are living witnesses to the work of God, of His handiwork, the power of the blood, the power of faith, the glory of His gifts and graces. But what is God looking for and creation groaning for that is DIFFERENT from what we have had for two thousand years? Ah --- creation is groaning for the manifestation of the sons of God, the unveiling of GOD IN HIS SONS, a people who are no longer witnesses to the work of God, but who bear the very Person of God, who bear the very Identity of God, from whom flows the life of God without limit or measure. What the Spirit is saying is that God must have a people in whom the Lord, the Spirit, is BECOMING rather than DOING. That is what the manifestation of the sons of God is, that is what the revelation of Jesus Christ is, there will never be the unveiling of Jesus Christ if all I can talk about is what He has done. His works are not Him --- HE is a Person. Paul said, 'It pleased God to reveal His Son in me.' Not, 'It pleased God to reveal some of the works of His Son in me and give me an experience. And when he prayed earnestly for the saints: 'My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you", Paul did not mean that they should receive another healing, another miracle, another answer to prayer, another gift of the Spirit, another revelation, or die a little more death and so on. There came an hour when Paul knew that the works of the Lord would not be sufficient, but that the Lord Himself had to be put on, so that instead of having a work of faith, or a work of love, or a work of power, the Lord Himself, the spirit of life within, would BE THE FAITH, LOVE AND POWER. It looks as if you are turning your back on these wonderful experiences in God, but you needed them to bring you where you are. The lesser is swallowed up of the greater.
If at this hour we still need God to DO for us rather than for Christ to BECOME in us, then we are not ready for any revelation or unveiling. When God sends His manchild forth, He sends them forth as those in whom Christ is so fully formed that it is not a matter of needing God to do any thing more, for these sons live entirely out of God their life within. May Christ be so fully revealed in all of us is my earnest prayer and my deepest desire, that in these coming days there will not he any longer a cry in our being, O God, do something more for me,' for that leaves me with myself on my hands. The secret of Jesus was that for three and a haft years He did not have to be more consecrated, He did not have to he more dedicated, He did not have to he more victorious, all He had to do was let the Father within live out through Him. This is sonship --- Christ fully formed in us, Christ living out all the glory of God, in all the fullness of His Life and Light and Love and Power and Victory, expressed through us, and AS US.
Blessed Father! let it be so in us. Let Christ be fully formed in me and in all who read these lines and in all the body of Christ. Oh God! let the work of doing for us come to an end, until it shall be GOD IN US. Lord! cause Jesus Christ to become in us our Peace, our Joy, our Life, our Victory, our Mind, our Nature, our Power, our Wisdom, that from this moment on there shall be the expression of Himself, not a witness to His work, but a revelation of His own Person and Being and Nature. Oh God! may that divine nature, that divine reality of God be so fully manifested in us, that the creation that is groaning for the unveiling of God in His sons will see Him unveiled in His body, unveiled in His Church, unveiled in His ministry, unveiled in His King-Priests, that every eye shall see Him and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him, and every knee shall bow to Him. Amen!
There should be no need to remind those who read these pages that the cross does not end when God becomes ALL in us -- for the cross is eternal in the heart of God. Let us rehearse what is meant by the cross of Christ. Truth, light, life, wisdom, holiness, power and love all in ONE CORPORATE MAN --- the Christ, Head and body. What a character that is! Yet truth, light, life, wisdom, holiness, power and love by themselves do not make for true glory. I have heard people testify about the work of God in them and all they were doing was bragging. They were boasting and glorying in what God had done for them, in what God had given them, and all they had was centered in themselves. But truth becomes truly glorious when it goes to the cross, when it becomes sacrificial, not defending, but dying upon the cross for those enslaved by error. So with light when it goes to the cross, not displaying itself, when it is willing to give itself for darkness; when life refuses to protect itself, but goes to the cross and gives itself for those who are dead; when wisdom goes to the cross, not admiring itself, but giving itself for the ignorant; holiness, not boasting in itself, but giving itself for the unholy; power not exerting itself, but holding itself back in order that it may be sacrificed for those who are weak; love not enjoying itself, but pouring itself out for the unlovely. That is greatness, great through conforming to the death of Christ, great in that all that is good is on the altar of sacrifice for those in need. That is God, for God brought the whole vast universe, the creation, all things visible and invisible, in the heavens and in the earth, out of Himself; then He gave Himself to the creation, to live for the creation, to dwell in the creation, that He might be ALL-IN-ALL. Truly this is the heart of God and the hope of creation!
I would close with these true and transforming words from the pen of George Hawtin. "Hear, Oh man of God, and give earnest heed, ye sons! It is now in this dreadful age of greed and selfishness, violence and spoil, that the Father all-glorious is finding a people who has nailed SELF and SELFISHNESS to the cross of Christ. He is picking them out one by one, setting them apart as sheep are set apart from goats and as wheat is separated from the tares. These are beginning to reign with Him in that kingdom of SELF-LESS-NESS, even the kingdom of God. The self and greed that has reigned in the earth for six thousand years will not exist in that wonderful day of the kingdom of God, the seventh dispensation, the day when God and all His creation will rest from the labor and travail of the past. Make no mistake about this: should one carnal mind be among the sons of God in that day, the earth would be brought to the same curse as it is now. But such cannot be, for all who will reign with Him have passed by the way of the cross, delivered forever from self. 'Not I, but Christ' is their eternal theme. THE WAY OF THE CROSS HAS LED US HOME."
To be continued ...
J. PRESTON EBY
P O BOX 371240
El Paso Texas
If you would like any of these messages or would like to be on J Preston Eby's mail list you may write him at the above address or e-mail me at Gary@Sigler.org and I will forward your request to Preston. He has nothing to sell, all his writings are free to all. You may contribute to his ministry to help spread this message to the world, but gifts are not tax deductible.