KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES

THE HEAVENS DECLARE

Part 33

AQUARIUS — THE WATER POURER

(continued)

The Sign of Aquarius is the figure of a mighty man holding a great urn upon his shoulder, from which comes a seemingly inexhaustible stream of water flowing downwards until finally it flows directly into the mouth of a great fish, which receives it and swallows it all. Water, of course, is a great symbol of the Holy Spirit which God promised to pour out upon His people and the earth. It is also the symbol of the Word of God — Divine Truth and Reality. Christ is both the Spirit and the Word. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (Jn. 1:1). "Now the Lord is that Spirit" (II Cor. 3:17). All that God is was emptied into Jesus Christ, He became a receptacle, a vehicle for all the fullness of God. Now, all that Christ is, is being emptied into His body until we are filled with all the fullness of God — having all the life giving properties of God. The nature of each son of God is to pour out the living water of the Spirit and the pure, living Word of God just as God poured it into Jesus and Jesus poured it into us. Pour out His life for others — that's what Jesus did! We must empty out that same life on a groaning creation and break the bondage. The whole creation is awaiting this son company of people who will be the strong man of Aquarius with the water jar. Their life-giving waters will be emptied upon a dry and cursed earth just as the waters were first emptied upon them — creation itself will be released into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God.

We come now to the three Decans, or minor constellations, which surround Aquarius and which enhance or fill up the message of the Sign. The first constellation is a fish with a wide-open mouth into which flows the water from the huge urn which Aquarius holds. It's name is PISCIS AUSTRALIS, meaning The Southern Fish. This constellation is marked by a single bright star, FOMALHAUT, which means The Mouth of the Fish. The fish receives and drinks the water from the unlimited and unceasing supply of the waterman. It is the picture of the believing acceptance of the Living Spirit of Truth that Christ bestows upon all who come unto Him to drink. "If any man thirst, let Him come unto Me, and drink!"

In a previous Study I shared the great truth of the Law of Giving and Receiving which is the very law of creation and redemption. I showed that God in His eternal and immutable nature is love — all goodness. When we understand that God is love, we can then go on to discover the attribute through which we become aware of His existence — HIS DESIRE TO SHARE. This desire to share is the consequence, the effect of His goodness. A God of love without creation is unthinkable — impossible. Here we have the first principle of creation — God's infinite desire to impart led to the creation of a vessel to receive His blessings. The Creator's nature is love — sharing or imparting; however, there can be no sharing unless there is some object that can receive. So God's infinite desire to impart implies a desire to fulfill every possible dimension and quality of desires to receive. Can we not see by this that God's infinite desire to give demands AN AGENT WITH THE DESIRE TO RECEIVE! The very nature of God requires CREATION! So the first step in creation was to bring forth the manifestation of the DESIRE TO RECEIVE! The creation of this vessel with the desire to receive was the beginning and the end of creation. He therefore created the universe with all the hosts thereof, and this world with its inhabitants. Thus the Creator could now bestow upon the creation His infinite love and inexhaustible abundance. God is the Lover, creation the beloved! "For God so loved the world..." That is the first fundamental revelation of the law of God in creation — God gives and we receive.

There naturally follows the second stage in which we learn the great truth that God only makes us Receivers in order that we may become Givers! Ah, first He must create in us the desire to receive; second, He must involve us in the grand purpose of the receiving — to mature us into His image until we have thoroughly learned the great law of His Being, of His Kingdom — it is MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE! This leads directly into the light of the truth set forth in the Sign of Aquarius and the constellation of The Southern Fish — Aquarius is THE GIVER; The Southern Fish is THE RECEIVER. From time to time and stage to stage the roles of Giver and Receiver change as the Receivers become Givers. But the Sign points to one thing — that God Himself has flowed out and is still flowing on this earth into humanity AS LIFE. We may ask, in what form has God flowed out? He has flowed out first in His Son, in Jesus Christ; and then He has flowed out as the Holy Spirit. Let us see God's order: God Himself is the spring, the very source of the water of life; Jesus Christ, the first-born Son, is the fountain, the reservoir of this divine water; and the Holy Spirit, flowing through the body of Christ, the corporate son, is the living stream, the river flowing all the time. On the one hand, the Lord Jesus Christ receives from God, we receive from the Lord Jesus Christ, and creation receives from the sons of God. On the other hand, God gives to Christ, Christ gives to us, and we give to creation. In each step Aquarius depicts the Giver, while The Southern Fish portrays the Receiver. This is God's divine order in the Kingdom of God!

The second constellation in the Sign of Aquarius is PEGASUS — The Winged Horse. Here is the picture of a great horse galloping forward with full speed, with great wings spreading from his shoulders. The familiar figure of the flying horse moving swiftly has been made popular as the trademark of a well-known brand of petroleum products. A winged horse, however, is unknown to nature. It must therefore be understood as a figure. The meaning of this symbol is declared by the names of the stars in the constellation. There are 89 altogether. The brightest comes down to us with the ancient Hebrew name of MARKAB, which means returning from afar. Another bright star is called SCHEAT meaning who goeth and returneth; ENIF, the branch; AL GENIB, who carries; HOMAN, the water; MATAR, who causeth the plenteous overflow. Putting these thoughts together, we see Pegasus as One who returns from afar; He is the branch who carries the water, causing a plenteous overflow! In the first chapter of Zechariah the appearance of such horses are the symbols of those whom "God hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth," not merely to see and report the condition of affairs, but to shake and disturb nations, in order to bring deliverance and establish peace, righteousness and blessing upon all.

Pegasus was known to the Greeks as "the horse of the gushing fountain." He was a celestial horse, ever associated with glad song. Pegasus is winged; he moves with heavenly speed. On great wings he rides the winds. He is master of the air, god-like in his power. Pegasus is a prophetic revelation of the glorious coming of HIM who pours out the living water. In the religious systems of Babylon we have been led to think in terms of the first coming and the second coming of Christ, whereas the Bible speaks in terms of the progressive revelation of Jesus Christ. Our God does not talk about the "first coming" and the "second coming" — He talks about the progressive revelation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. For example, let us take a look at that thought in Micah 5:2, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee He shall come forth unto Me who is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting."

Notice, His "goings forth." The plural is used. The goings forth of the Lord speak about the Lord Jesus Christ! Now, the idea of "goings" has to do with the onward marching of God — the unfolding of the purpose of God, step by step. This is what is indicated here. This is what history is all about, the progressive revelation of Jesus Christ, the marching forward of God, the ever increasing unveiling of Himself to man. The unfolding of end-time events and God's order for the ages to come, which are the main contents of the last book of the Bible, are called THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST.

The average Christian's conception is of Jesus sitting upon the right hand of God for a couple thousand years, at the end of which time He leaves His throne to "come in the clouds of heaven. " NOT SO! "HEREAFTER you will see the Son man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven" (Mat. 26:64). So runs the King James version, translating a Greek phrase which signifies unequivocally "from now on" --or literally, HENCEFORTH. But it is safe to say that the average reader, reading from the Authorized version, generally understands it to mean something very different - not "HENCEFORTH shall you see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven," but "in the hereafter," "at some point in the indefinite future," you will see the Son of man "sitting" and then "coming." The correct thought is, "HENCEFORTH — FROM N-O-W O-N you will see the Son of man sitting...and coming." These two events, the sitting and the coming, are simultaneous. They are co-extensive. They transpire at the same time. And they both happen "from now on." From now on He sits and He comes. He sits upon the throne of heavenly power and He comes in the clouds of heaven! He sits as our great High Priest and He comes to us as our transforming Saviour. He doesn't sit and then come, He comes while He sits. It is not two separate, independent actions, but a two-fold, interdependent action.

Has He not came to you, precious brother, sister, in mighty saving power and indwelling life even as He sits upon the throne on High? Like a choir of many voices and as the sound of many waters, the testimony of the Word of God resounds with abundant and stunning and inescapable evidence that the coming of Christ is not a single event, but includes many different manifestations. His coming to us is a many-sided experience. To multitudes He appears as Saviour. They find Him at the crossroads of their lives. He becomes their salvation but they never venture any deeper to know Him intimately. They have only a superficial knowledge of Him. To others He appears as Chief Shepherd and Bridegroom. These hear His voice and are moved by His love, and follow on to know Him in deeper measures of intimacy and union. To others He appears as a Thief. He comes into their world uninvited and unannounced, He overtakes them unexpectedly and breaks up their life style and smashes their religious games. And unto others He appears as Fire, consuming their hay, wood, and stubble, eliminating by the spirit of burning all that is of self and not of God. The coming of the Lord is as many faceted as the most dazzling crystal of earth or the most beautiful diamond known to man.

We dare not lose sight of the fact that our Lord has already had many comings, many appearings. We have limited the comings of Jesus strictly to two because of our unscriptural terms "first coming" and "second coming," but the truth is that He came; He continued to come; He comes; He continues to come; He will come; and He will continue to come! There are numerous "comings" and "appearing" of the Lord in the New Testament. BUT THEY DO NOT ALL REFER TO THE SAME EVENT. "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty messengers, when He shall come to be GLORIFIED I-N HIS SAINTS, and to be admired IN all them that believe in that day" (II Thes. 1:7,10). Jesus Christ is coming again, and He is coming to be glorified IN His saints and to be admired IN the sons of God who by His grace have come into His image throughout the ages. These sons are the body of the Son of God. This is the fullness of the Christ. Not for the world nor all that is in it would I for one moment miss the glory of the age and ages which are to come! To reign with Christ and with Him usher all creation into the glory of God, which has been the vision of the prophets, the dream of the sages, the cry of the sons, the purpose of God, and the longing and expectation of all creation is a prize of far vaster worth than all the power and glory and wealth of all the nations of earth combined. Though God's Christ is One, it will take the ages to come to reveal His manifold beauties and graces. He is the one Christ, yet His body is made up of many redeemed souls. He is the true Vine, yet there are many branches. He is the only-begotten Son of God, yet He is leading many sons to glory. He is the only Saviour, yet He is bringing a whole company of saviours up on Mount Zion.

I bring you good news. YOU ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST. Not the "mystical body" as the theologians of Babylon are wont to define it, but you are T-H-E B-O-D-Y of Christ and Christ is IN YOU of a truth, precious friend of mine, to manifest the fullness of Himself. We can think and know and act like God and not like men. Let us pray as did Paul: "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again UNTIL Christ be FORMED in you " (Gal. 4:19). The New English Bible says, "I am in travail with you over again until you take the shape of Christ." The Amplified Bible reads, "I am again suffering birth pangs until Christ is completely and permanently formed (molded) within you!" Wuest's translation renders, "I am again striving with intense effort and anguish until Christ be outwardly expressed in you."

In looking at a piece of petrified wood we can see this. One time it was wood, NOW IT IS ROCK. For something has happened to it. Certain minerals entered into every cell of that piece of wood and wrought a complete change in it. The process continued until that piece of wood had become rock. Same shape, same size and it has exactly the same cell structure. But what a great change has taken place! THIS IS WHAT GOD IS DOING IN US. Something is happening to us. We do not understand all about it, but we know that there is a change going on in our innermost beings. It is God permeating us with Himself. God is impregnating us with Himself. God is taking over, filling even our very cells with all He is and will be. This change is taking place in our inner selves, in our minds, in our spirits, and even in our bodies. This process shall continue until we arrive at the condition of being saturated with God. God's life within us produces a metamorphosis. God shall so fill us, shall so overwhelm us that we take on the very characteristics of God. The glory that fills our expectant souls today is born of the knowledge that the hour of His manifestation is at hand — the hour when the Christ shall come in fullness to be revealed IN HIS SAINTS, and they shall reign over the earth.

I am prophesying a new and fresh revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. The night is falling on the present order. Already we are seeing evidence of the dawning of a new day breaking forth upon us and many thousands of the Lord's elect are even now arising to behold the first rays of the dawn and to drink in the intoxicating freshness of the morn. There is a mighty cry in our hearts for the Lord to move in a fresh and altogether new way in our lives and in the earth. Many things are happening in the Pentecostal and Charismatic realms today, but I do not hesitate to tell you that all of these things are but stale "left overs" from previous visitations. We are due for a fresh move and a new work of God in the earth today! So the night is coming, bringing an end to particular forms of the movings and operations of the Spirit of God. Though all the manifestations of the past have been precious and needful, yet our God in this hour is moving on. A new manifestation and revelation of the Christ is coming in the midst of us, and I hear and see the signs that He is beginning to come. We are living in the early dawn of another APPEARING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. This appearing will be in and through the long awaited manifestation of the sons of God. This truth is burning within my bones, pulsating within my bosom. I am being quickened by these things. My one desire is to be available to be a part of this appearing of the Lord that is preparing the sons of God for the wind-up of this age and the inauguration of a far greater age of glory.

All the comings of the Lord are set forth in the winged horse of the heavens riding triumphantly, the image of aggressive action, of a prosperous conquest. He comes as Deliverer and Blesser with great swiftness, power and joy. Pegasus typifies Christ as the horse of universal conquest. He goes on from conquering to conquer. He accomplishes this victory both within and through His people, His body, His many brethren, the enChristed. Experience His triumph in your own life, my beloved, then you, in union with Him, will ride the heavens victoriously in Him, and He in you. It is through us, precious saints, that the power of Christ's redemption is manifested upon earth. It is through us that this salvation is put to the test, and men see what it will do. It is in our lives, that its power to give speed, strength and victory is manifested.

THE SWAN

The last Decan or part of this story of Aquarius is CYGNUS — THE SWAN, the lordly king-bird of the waters. There is a cross in the northern sky, sometimes called the Northern Cross, in contrast to the Southern Cross. This star group is called CYGNUS, and it reveals a beautiful swan flying across the heavens. While it is called a cross, and appears as a cross, this beautiful shape is formed by the principal stars which outline the wings and the length of the body of the swan. Thus, it, is in fact, a swan-cross. But this mighty bird is not falling dead, like Aquila, but is seen here in rapid flight. In classic writings the swan was considered the emblem of poetic dignity, purity and grace. It seems to be flying down the Milky Way, in the same general direction with the river which pours from the heavenly urn. It is thus the bird of matchless beauty, purity, dignity and grace, bearing aloft the cross, and circling with it over the blessed waters of life. As the white dove is the emblem of the Holy Spirit, so the elegantly pure and graceful Swan, bearing the cross, and moving with the life-flow of the Holy Spirit, is the symbol of the blessed MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION — the MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT in mercy, grace, goodness and blessing. It is the ministry of the sons of God and the joyous and abundant life they bring to all men everywhere. It is the swift heralding and bearing of the glad provision of redemption and restoration to all people. It is the graceful holding forth of the reconciliation by His cross to the nations over which, with outspread wings, this ministry cries, "If any man thirst, let him come and drink!" "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely!" It is the ministry embodying both the cross and the river of God — reconciliation by His blood and transformation by His life!

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. He came to bring peace. Peace is alien to earth. When sin entered, peace fled. The moment that sin entered, peace fled, and Adam and Eve themselves were at strife with God and each other, so that their firstborn son had the spirit of the devil and was a murderer from the beginning. He slew his own brother. The second Man, the last Adam, was the Lord from heaven. When He was once rejected, in the days of His flesh, His disciples, with indignation, besought Him to command fire to come down from heaven and destroy these evil people. His answer comes down to us through the ages: "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them" (Lk. 9:55-56). The firstborn son of Adam was a murderer, but the firstborn Son of God was a Saviour. One was the peace-breaker shedding his brother's blood, the other was the Peacemaker shedding His own blood that He might make peace with God and man. Yet the Christ had power to destroy men's lives if He had the will. When He stood there with the cross in full view, He said to His persecutors that it was in His power to call twelve legions of angels. If that heavenly host which hovered about that Son could have once made itself manifest, oh, how they would have swept that doomed city. That accursed conclave of false priests, and those wretched, blind and filthy- minded heathen soldiers! How the breath of those heavenly angels could have swept the life out of them and swept them down into hell and the grave. But that is not God's way in redemption. That is not the mission of the Son of God nor of the sons of God.

"For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to RECONCILE ALL THINGS unto Himself, by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled" (Col. 1:17,20-21). "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given unto US the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God" (II Cor. 5:18-20).

It is utterly impossible for any man or any creature on earth or in heaven to exclude himself from the work of this most precious ministry — the ministry of reconciliation. Before the reader can shut himself, or any other man or being out from the application of this grace, he must prove that he does not belong to either the earth or heaven, or that he is not a part of the "all things" that were created by and in the Christ in the beginning, and that therefore he is excluded from being reconciled, since he has no identification with any of the "all things" that were created and that are being reconciled unto God. This he cannot do, and hence he must see that God is beseeching him and all to be reconciled! Every foot of this earth and every man upon this earth belongs to Christ, for He made the earth and He made every man. On that wonderful day when God created "all things" in earth and in heaven He also said, "Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness. Christ made every man and tasted death for every man, and therefore every foot of the earth and every man on the earth belongs to Christ my Lord, first by right of creation, and second by right of redemption.

I must emphasize that God is the Creator of ALL THINGS. Notice the things that the inspired apostle includes in creation. ALL things in the heavens, or all things that are in and constitute the RULING ELEMENT — "the heavens do rule" (Dan. 4:26). ALL the things on the earth, or all things that are in or constitute those elements which are ruled, or under authority. ALL things that are visible, or that are discernible to the physical senses — ALL that the eyes can see, ALL that the ears can hear, ALL that we can touch, feel, taste, or smell — has been created by God. ALL things that are invisible were created by our God — ALL the wisdom, ALL the knowledge, yea, even that which has not yet been tapped or conceived of by the mind of man — GOD CREATED. ALL of the myriad machines and devices that shall yet come out of the mind of man, were created by God. ALL of the vast forces and powers and universal laws that science has not yet discovered, were created by God. ALL the thrones, and the glory and the power of those who occupy them, were created by God. ALL the dominions or lordships, the mastery and the supremacy, were created by God. ALL the principalities and powers, angels, intelligences, chief ones, in heaven and in earth, invisible and visible, spiritual and natural, were created by God. And it is not just the fact that all of these were created by God that startles us the most, but it goes on to say that BY THE BLOOD OF HIS CROSS ALL THESE THINGS ARE RECONCILED TO GOD IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH. This implies that the principalities and powers in the heavenly realms needed reconciling and are reconciled by the blood of God's Son. This is why the Redeemer was both a HEAVENLY BEING and an EARTHLY BEING. He was the Word from heaven made flesh upon earth, heaven and earth blended into one, so that the Son could say, "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven" (Jn. 3:13). Praise God, even the principalities and powers in the heavens are included in the glorious reconciliation and peace secured by the blood of His cross, the Man who was from heaven, born on earth, reconciling both realms into one IN HIMSELF. Glory! What more beautiful picture of this wonderful ministry of reconciliation could we find than the graceful Swan flying through the heavens in the configuration of the cross, following the life-giving stream of the River of God!

The most abusive and vindictive letters I have received through the years have come from people who claim to be in the sonship company through which God will set all creation free. One letter I well remember was from one of these "creation-delivering-sons" bitterly denouncing me and the teaching of the "reconciliation of all things." He said it is "destructive" and "satanic" and that he was sick of it all. When people call these precious and scriptural truths Satanic, they unwittingly blaspheme the Holy Spirit, for it was He and none other who inspired Paul to write these words: "And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to RECONCILE ALL THINGS UNTO HIMSELF." It was the Holy Spirit who said that "God was in Christ, RECONCILING THE WORLD unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation." And in the face of such wonderful and all inclusive statements as these, these have the brazen audacity to write to me and make such Holy Spirit-defying statements as: "I don't believe in the reconciliation of all things." The simple truth is, my beloved brethren, that until we are able to embrace God's immutable intention of reconciling all things unto Himself, we will never be able to clearly see God's plan for this present age nor for the other ages yet to come. And most certainly God will not entrust into our hands the blessed ministry of reconciliation as long as we remain hostile toward God's gracious purpose and vindictive toward men for whom Christ died and the creation we are sent to rescue and redeem.

The fact that we see and appreciate God's great and wonderful plan for all men leaves no room in us for a dilatory, don’t care spirit. The elect of God are always conscious of their unique calling. We are given the high honor of being laborers together with God." Some day when the last devil has been subjected, and the last sinner broken in humility and contrition at the lovely feet of Jesus, we shall realize, as we may not now, just how great that honor really is, and how much we have missed if we fail to share in this task to which the Almighty has set His hand. I must confess that I am deeply grieved in my spirit when I meet these would-be sons of God who look with contempt upon those who still have a passion for souls and desire to see men delivered from the power of sin and satan. I am aware of the fact that the hour has not yet arrived when God shall deal with all nations, and multitudes of past generations, to bring forth His salvation in them, but it is my deepest conviction that one of the sure marks of sonship is THE SPIRIT OF RECONCILIATION. Why speak of our great hope of what God shall do in the ages to come if the spirit of that hope is not now alive in our hearts? It is not the doctrine of reconciliation that shall change the world and all things, but the ministry of reconciliation. The ministry of reconciliation springs from the spirit of reconciliation. If you would not walk across the street to see some poor soul delivered and converted by the redeeming power of Christ, don't waste your time relating to me how you are chosen of God to help in the delivering of the whole creation from the bondage of sin and death. The Spirit of Reconciliation must reign within our hearts. The Ministry of Reconciliation must issue forth from our lives. Rivers of living water must, even now, pour forth out of our innermost being, bringing hope and victory and life to all who will come and drink! May we soar and fly o'er the land in the graceful and gracious nature of the Swan!

This beautiful ministry of reconciliation is the activity of the Holy Spirit in and through those who are chosen, processed and equipped to bring life to the world. What a fitting symbol of the majesty, grace and power of this ministry is the image of the Swan flying through the heavens, displaying the cross, while moving with and by the flow of the river of Living Water. It has been God's purpose from the foundation of the world to indwell and express Himself through man. In the process of accomplishing this God has manifested Himself in three aspects of His Person. Electricity serves as an illustration of this threefold manifestation of God. It includes these three stages: the source, the manifestation, and the realization. These seem to be three different things, but in reality they are one. The source, the manifestation, and the realization are all three activities of the electricity. Electricity is energy, and if energy did not exist there could be no source, no manifestation, no realization. In the same way that you have electricity in three different stages, so there is one eternal Person of God expressing Himself in three distinct aspects and operations of His Being. At one end there is the source of the electricity —the generator producing it. Then there is the manifestation of electricity in a thousand different ways: the hot coils of the stove, the lighted filament in the light bulb, the running engine in the machine, etc. Finally, there is the realization of electricity — the light coming from the light bulb and flooding the room, the heat coming from the stove, etc.

The light that you read or work by, the heat in the house which makes you comfortable, the sound of the doorbell when it rings, these are simply electricity realized. As you read and work in the light you don't think very much about the bulb on the ceiling, or about the generator miles away. You just utilize and enjoy the light in the room! And yet, without the bulb there is no light, and without the generator the bulb can produce no light. Each stage is necessary. Similarly, God as FATHER is the source of our divine life — the generator. God as SON is the manifestation of that divine life — the bulb. And God as HOLY SPIRIT is our realization of this divine life within — the light (life) filling our room: our hearts, minds, spirits and bodies. But these are not three different Persons! These are just three stages of the very SAME THING! The thing proceeding from the generator is energy, the thing flowing and manifesting through the bulb is energy, and the light filling the room is energy! Not three different energies, but the same energy. Likewise, the divine life in the Father is GOD, the divine life in the Son is GOD, and the divine life transmitted to us as the Spirit is GOD. Not three different Gods, but the one God! The Holy Spirit is in us as the very transmission of God, transmitting constantly all that God is in Christ to us. As the body of Christ we are the expression of God by the Holy Spirit to the creation. What a calling! What a potential!

The word "spirit," in the Old Testament, is the translation of the Hebrew word RUACH, the primary significance or root-meaning of which is WIND. The word "spirit" in the New Testament comes from the Greek word PNEUMA, whose primary significance or root-meaning is likewise WIND. The English word "ghost" used in the King James Bible, though now somewhat obsolete and not in general use, is derived from the Greek PNEUMA, its original meaning being exactly the same as the word "spirit," meaning WIND. But let no one hastily conclude that we are about to attempt to prove that the Holy Spirit is a holy wind, for nothing could be farther from our thought.

There are two basic characteristics of the wind which qualify it to so fittingly serve as the supreme symbol of the Holy Spirit. The wind is first of all a POWERFUL FORCE, and secondly it is INVISIBLE. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth: so is everyone that is born of the SPIRIT" (Jn. 3:8). You cannot see the wind, and yet you are aware of its reality because of its power with the visible effects of that power manifested all around you. In earlier times the wind was used broadly as a source of energy. Man has always known how to use sails on a boat or ship. Later, he learned to use the same principle to construct a windmill, using the force of the wind to turn grindstones, pump water, and do many other kinds of work. In like manner, the invisible and powerful INWARD ENERGY AND FORCE which motivates and transforms our lives into the image of God is the HOLY SPIRIT! And God's ministry through us to creation is by the invisible but powerful energy and force of the HOLY SPIRIT. It is interesting to note that the Swan in the Sign of Aquarius rides the wind! The ministry of the sons of God, the ministry of reconciliation, is motivated, propelled and executed by the Spirit!

Jesus spoke a great spiritual truth when He said to Nicodemus, "Ye must be born again." Nicodemus was unable to comprehend the idea of being "born again," even though Jesus used the wind as an illustration to help make it plain. The wind, as we have pointed out, is both powerful and invisible. It moves about, freely and powerfully, and while we may hear the sound and see the effects, we cannot tell from whence it comes, or whither it goeth, we have no control over either its coming or its going — "So is everyone who is born of the Spirit," Jesus said. Indeed, the way of the spiritual person, especially that of the Lord's elect, is as the wind that "bloweth where it listeth." That person becomes spiritual by encountering various growth experiences, passing through one stage of development after another, often involving one "church" and "fellowship" association after another, until ultimately they arrive at the place of spiritual stature called "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" where there are no religious trappings, no denominational characteristics, no sectarian attachments, and no adherence to the traditions of the elders, or to the rituals, ceremonies, doctrines, programs, creeds, structure, or methods of the popular church system. These blessed ones are now free to be LED BY THE SPIRIT for "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Rom. 8:14).

The way of the Spirit is truly strange to the natural mind of man and the carnal precepts of religion, but to the spiritual person, His ways are life and truth and reality. The way of the Spirit-born person is as the wind that blows, and so also is the moving of the Spirit. The Spirit of God blows, first upon one, and then another, and another, touching the lives of those who are chosen for that hour in God. His Spirit is as the wind that "bloweth where it listeth," so that the sound thereof is heard, yet no one can control it or make a form or structure of it. That is certainly a different expression than one sees in the systemized programs of man! The blessed realm of the Spirit is a wondrous realm that cannot be intellectually learned or perceived, but we are experiencing the way of the Spirit by walking in that realm. Wisdom has declared, "As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all" (Eccl. 11:5). The flowing of the precious Holy Spirit is spontaneous and unpredictable as the wind that blows where He wills. Therefore, we cannot expect to know the works of God except by that same Spirit. The mighty, omnipotent movings of the Spirit of God are truly a mystery. Not one among us, of ourselves, could predict what He will do next. But if we are truly born of the Spirit of God, and are flowing in union and harmony with Him, we will then be blessed with the experiences necessary and vital to our new identity and ministry as SONS OF THE SPIRIT — C-H-I-L-D-R-E-N O-F T-H-E W-I-N-D!

In order for one to know and properly understand the all-sufficiency of the Spirit of the Christ within, he must first see what Christ is. I do not say who Christ is, but what Christ is. There are many different titles and names ascribed to Christ in the scriptures; however, we will not here consider the names of Christ, but the substance of Christ, His very essence. My automobile, made of metal, is called an automobile, but its substance is metal. What is the substance of Christ? "Now the Lord is THE SPIRIT" (II Cor. 3:17). What is Christ? Why, He is the SPIRIT! He may be called by many titles and names, all descriptive of His various attributes, characteristics, ministrations and offices. He may be known as Saviour, as Redeemer, as Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Comforter, Prophet, High Priest, King, Lord, I Am, and scores of other glorious titles. But what is His substance? "The last Adam was made a QUICKENING SPIRIT" (I Cor. 15:45). The message is clear — the substance of Christ is SPIRIT. "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of His Son into your hearts" (Gal. 4:6).

Two things were essential before Jesus could return as the Lord, the Spirit. He must GO AWAY. He must BE GLORIFIED. "This spake Jesus of the Spirit, which they that believed on Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified (Jn. 7:39). On our behalf, as man and the Head of man, Jesus was resurrected, and then ascended, being admitted into the full glory of the Divine, and His human nature received up into union and participation with the eternal Spirit (transcendent God), of the same essence and substance as the eternal Spirit, taking on the qualities of omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence. Is He omnipotent? "ALL POWER is given unto Me in heaven and in earth" (Mat. 28:18). Is He omnipresent? In Eph. 4:10 we have this simple but instructive statement: "He that descended is the same also that ASCENDED UP FAR ABOVE ALL HEAVENS, THAT HE MIGHT F-I-L-L

A-L-L T-H-I-N-G-S." Having ascended in Being into the fullness of the SPIRIT the Lord Jesus could now come down as the Spirit of the GOD-MAN —most really the Spirit of God, and yet as truly the Spirit of Jesus the man. He could come down as the Spirit of the GLORIFIED JESUS, to quicken our spirit by His Spirit, making us one in Him. God be praised! Jesus has been glorified! He has ascended up far above all celestial realms! He has emanated from that realm to fill all things! And now, praise His name, He is being glorified IN US!

When Jesus comes into us, He comes within as the all-sufficient Spirit to make us all that we must be as God-men. Soon, now, there shall come that long awaited manifestation of the sons of God to this sin-cursed world. Creation shall be set free from its bondage to corruption. We shall behold the glory, wisdom, and power of the Son of God manifested in all fullness in a many-membered body body right here upon this earth. These sons are even now putting on the fullness of His divine life in spirit, soul and body. They are being transformed into His image, filled with His wisdom, quickened by His life. How the whole creation groans and travails for this! The work of preparation is even now in full swing; Paul tells us that this is when Christ shall come "to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe in that day" (II Thes.1:10). Let us believe it, beloved; for He comes to be glorified in all them that believe (for it) in that day! Hallelujah!

Here I would share some inspired and challenging words from a brother we labored with some years ago. He began with the beautiful text from the Gospel of John, chapter six. "Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed. I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; he that believeth on Me shall never thirst....it is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." In order to understand the great mystery that Jesus is seeking to reveal to us in these verses, you need to understand the word, "quickeneth," that is used in the King James translation. It is an old English word that the King James translators used to describe the original wording in the Greek scripture, which meant "to give life," or "that giveth life," or "that is the source of life." So what Jesus was really saying here is, "It is the Spirit that giveth life," or "It is the Spirit that is the source of your life." The next thing we need to understand in order to comprehend this great mystery is that when Jesus said, "It is the Spirit that giveth life," or "is the source of your life," He was not talking about the Holy Spirit of God alone, but He was talking about your own spirit, for, "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Cor. 6:17). Your own quickened, regenerated, recreated, born-again spirit — which is the Son of God dwelling in you —is the source of your life.

The next thing we need to understand, to comprehend this mystery, is the meaning of the word "profit" Jesus used here when He said, "The flesh profiteth nothing." Now the profit on any investment is always the increase. It is that which was not, which is created out of the investment’s creative powers of that which one starts with. If I invest a thousand dollars, and it brings back two thousand dollars, then the second thousand dollars is the increase, the profit, that is literally brought forth out of the creative powers that were in the first thousand dollars to increase itself, to double itself, when properly invested. Therefore, this word "profit" is a creative word. It implies the power to create, to increase one’s self, or to reproduce one’s self. Therefore, when Jesus said, "The flesh profiteth nothing," what He was trying to get over to us is that there is no creative power in the flesh — in anything that is physical and material in this earth. It cannot increase itself, it cannot reproduce itself; in fact, it can’t even sustain the life that it has, for if our spirit was to depart from our flesh body, it would immediately begin to deteriorate and go back to the dust from whence it came. When Jesus said, "The flesh profiteth nothing," He was revealing to us that every visible, carnal, natural, material, physical thing in this world, including our own flesh body, is not creative. It has no power to increase itself; it doesn’t even have the power to sustain its own life. All it can ever be is the visible manifestation or expression of the Life of Spirit, and of the creative power that is in Spirit.

On the other hand, when Jesus said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth," or "It is the spirit that giveth life," or "is the source of your life," what he was seeking to reveal to us is that the spirit is creative, that our regenerated spirit has creative power. Therefore, the great mystery and the great truth that Jesus was seeking to reveal to those who can receive and understand it is that it is our own spirit that is the source of our life, that we carry the source of our life around in our own beings; and therefore, our own spirit being the source of our life we are not dependent on anything outside of our own being for our life. For you see, when you are a source, you are the beginning. A spring from which a river comes out of the earth and flows into the earth is the beginning of that river. It is the source from which the water of that river comes. And therefore that’s what Jesus was trying to get over to us —that since we have been born of the seed of God, and since Christ, who is the beginning and the end, is that regenerated, recreated, born-again spirit that is within us, it is your spirit that giveth life, or that is the source of your life, and being a source within itself, is therefore not dependent on anything outside of itself for its life. For when you are a source, you are the beginning; therefore you are not dependent on anything before you or anything after you, or anything outside of you for your life. The truth that Jesus teaches us is that we carry the source of our life within our own spirit and we are not dependent on any fleshly thing outside of our own spirit for life. It is because Jesus came to the revelation of this truth and the reality of it within Himself that He could step out into the world and say, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end." Knowing that He carried the source, the beginning of His life within His own spirit, He could say, "I am the beginning." Knowing that the creative power that was in His spirit to bring forth His final destiny, and that that destiny was under the control of the creative powers that were within His own spirit, He could say, "I am the end."

When Jesus said, "The flesh profiteth nothing — it is the spirit that quickeneth, that is the source of your life," He was revealing to us the great truth that the source of our life is not in the flesh, not in the visible, not in the carnal, physical, material things, or anything that is of this natural world; but all those things are but outward manifestations of the creative powers that are in the life of Spirit, and that the source of our life is in our own spirit. Now the problem with all of God’s people, you see, is that they have not known this great truth. They have thought that they are dependent for their lives on the carnal, material, physical things of the flesh of this world — natural money, natural housing, natural clothing, natural food, natural body, natural abilities, the laws of nature. All of us have thought that those things were the source from which our life came. In fact, we have so been deceived that those visible, physical, carnal, natural things were the source of our life that we were so completely dependent upon them that if we were cut off from them — if we lost our job, lost our money, lost our housing, lost our food — we thought that we would die! For you see, this is the great lie that the devil deceived man with through the fall. When man lost the consciousness of his spiritual nature, and degenerated down into the consciousness of the carnal, natural nature, the devil convinced man that he was dependent upon the visible and the physical and the natural for his life — natural money, natural job, natural business, natural body, natural housing, natural clothing, natural possessions, natural food — natural, natural, natural! We have been so convinced that that is the source of our life that we have been scared to death that if we were cut off from that source of life, we would die.

Jesus, in our text, when He was out in the Wilderness with His people, and needed bread, by-passed the flour mill and sat down on the ground, and through the operation of that spiritual law of faith, drew right out from within His own spirit enough bread to feed five thousand people. For you see, beloved, there is a source of life, and all that pertains to life, including bread that sustains life, which is not dependent on the natural resources of this world. It is the source of life — SPIRIT. The Bible makes it very clear that all life, and every manifestation of life that is in this universe, originally came right of Spirit. Thus the apostle Paul says in Heb. 11:3 that through faith we understand that the worlds were framed, by the Word of God; so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Therefore, the Bible says that everything in this world which is visible and physical — in the beginning, originally, was not made of something visible or tangible already existing — which does appear — but was made of the resources that came originally right out of Spirit, by the spoken word of faith. Therefore, you see, Jesus, as He sat on the ground that day and fed five thousand with five loaves of bread, had become a manifest Son of God who was not subject to the laws of nature, neither underneath them; and therefore not dependent on the natural resources for bread, but could by-pass them. He was a spiritual Son of God who was sovereign over all physical laws, and therefore could go right back to the original source of bread and draw it right out of His own spirit.

Do you notice how easily Jesus did this? The scripture says that Jesus instructed His disciples, "Make the men sit down." You see, when you get bread from this source, you don’t have to get it standing up, with a plow or sickle in your hand, laboring and sweating, as men have for six thousand years, since they’ve been under the curse; but you sit quietly down and bring forth all things sitting down. The men sat down, and Jesus sat quietly down with them. The record states that Jesus just quietly took the loaves of bread, and when He had given thanks, He distributed it to the disciples — as much as they would. You see there was no shortage here. Everyone got to eat a much as he wanted, as much as he would! And Jesus did it so smoothly and so easily — He simply sat down, gave thanks, and began to hand it out. He didn’t have to go through all the soulish and natural things that we do today, in order to work up a little faith. He didn’t have to go through a thirty-minute praise service, dance around in the Spirit for ten or fifteen minutes, speak in tongues, prophesy, and then say, "In the name of Jesus, let there be bread!" This great truth that we’re seeking to share with you, that it is the spirit — the Spirit of Christ in your own Spirit — that is the source of Life, had become so real to Him that, moving in the spiritual law of faith, He could draw it, effortlessly, right out of His own spirit.

Out of the experiential knowledge of this great truth Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life." Simply because He knew that through coming into the world and shedding His blood to cleanse us of our sins, and make us clean vessels, so the Holy Spirit could recreate us, regenerate us, birth us again, restore us to the consciousness of our true identity, grow us up in the Spirit to that place of manifested sonship that He was at, whereby through Him in us, we might go back to the original source of Life, and of Bread, and of Reality, for He is the Bread of Life to us; not this natural world system, neither the natural resources of this natural world system. It is the Spirit that createth Life, the flesh profiteth nothing. Jesus said it this way: "That which is of the flesh is flesh, and that which is of the Spirit is spirit." He set before us two ways of life. You call live your life in the flesh, or you can live your life in the Spirit. You can walk in the flesh, or you can walk in the Spirit. You can draw your experience out of the natural realm which passes away, or you can draw your existence out of the spiritual realm which liveth and abideth forever. You can live your life according to natural law, or you can prepare your mind and heart to live your life according to Spiritual Law. To you today, as to men of old, Jesus says, "Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but labour for the meat that endureth unto everlasting life." You see, beloved, the problem with us is that we have spent all of our life laboring for the meat that perishes; working in business and labor for the natural meat, wearing ourselves out, growing old and weary, our hair turning gray, sweating and toiling always for the meat that perishes, and often have not spent a balance of time and effort laboring for the spiritual meat that will endure when all the natural meat has perished. Yes, the bread that Jesus fed the five thousand was natural bread, although He drew it out of the realm of Spirit. But by learning and knowing and moving in that realm of the true source of Life He was able to go on and by the same law of faith overcome all natural things and, finally, conquer even the last enemy — death — and stride victoriously out of the tomb! Therefore it is time for all who have received the call to sonship to begin to labor for the Spiritual Meat that shall endure into everlasting life, when all the natural meat has passed away! (end quote).

The measure of life unto which we have been called has been seen in Christ Jesus. "Far it pleased the Father that in Him should ALL FULLNESS dwell" (Col. 1:19). "For in Him dwelleth ALL THE FULLNESS of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:9). Though we, the members of His body, have received "of" that fullness, yet the concern of the Father in this hour is that there come to pass a further enlargement of our capacities to contain Him, to live out of Him, and to minister Him, for He seeks a body through which He can manifest all the fullness of Himself to creation. Paul prayed for the Ephesian believers to this end: "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints WHAT IS THE BREADTH, and LENGTH, and DEPTH, and HEIGHT (of capacity); that ye might be FILLED WITH A-L-L THE FULLNESS OF GOD" (Eph. 3:17-19). Only the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God can minister to our yearning hearts the full comprehension of what is the breadth, and length, and depth of the supply of God in the Spirit and of our capacity to express Him. But one thing God would have us understand in all simplicity — the increase of our capacity COMES THROUGH OUR GROWTH AS MEMBERS OF CHRIST'S BODY. This point is made very plain in Eph. 4:15-16 where we read, "But speaking the truth in love, may GROW UP I-N-T-O H-I-M in all things, which is the Head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, MAKETH INCREASE (ENLARGEMENT) OF THE BODY unto the edifying of itself in love." Ah — there is an increase, an enlargement of the body, not numerically, but an increase of expanded capacity for manifesting Him!

It is right at this point that the average Christian sells himself short. Especially the Pentecostal or Charismatic! How many of the Lord's precious people who seek the Holy Spirit mistakenly seek a "blessing," or an "experience." To "speak in tongues" is often their highest aim, or to be "slain under the power," and if they can attain to that phenomenon then they are happy and satisfied in their belief that they have received all, or at least most, of what God has for them in this life. HOW PITIFUL IS SUCH AN UNDERSTANDING! How desperately short we sell ourselves when we seek the Holy Spirit as an "experience" that we are to attain instead of presenting ourselves as vessels to be filled with all the incomprehensible inexhaustibleness of GOD! This Spirit, who is God, and is sent forth by God, full of wisdom and truth, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, glory and power brings in His mighty fullness ever-increasing measures of His own unlimited and unfathomable abundance. May all who read these lines clearly understand that the fullness of which we speak is not quantitative — it is qualitative. It is not that we are filled with more and more of the same degree, but with higher dimensions, unfolding development, expanding heights and depths, maturity of life, reality more intense and perfect. Yes, God would fill us and then expand us that He might fill us the more, until we attain even that "measure of the stature of the FULLNESS OF CHRIST," which measure is nothing less that the full development within of HIM THAT FILLETH ALL THINGS!

I have observed in the ministry of Jesus that there was never a problem He faced that He could not solve, never a need that He could not meet, no victory He could not win, no realm of revelation, experience, or relationship to God that He could not possess. Some of us speak of the exploits we have done in Jesus' name, but we seldom mention all the times we have failed! Some of us fast and pray and wrest an answer from the Lord and then run squarely into another problem that we can't solve at all. If Jesus, the firstborn Son, needed the Spirit WITHOUT MEASURE, then we, His elect boy, need it too!

It is interesting to note that nowhere in the Gospels in the supernatural ministry of Jesus Christ ever associated with the gifts of the Spirit. No place does it ever say that Jesus received or operated in a gift of the Spirit. However, like most people, I assumed He did! And I could always make it fit. Every time Jesus healed someone I assumed that He exercised the gift of healing, although the scripture didn’t say so. Every time He prophesied coming events I said that He moved in the gift of prophecy, although the Holy Spirit never said so. When He spoke to Nathaniel, revealing the secrets of his heart, I said that He spoke a "word of knowledge" although the record says no such thing. How is it that Jesus did not operate in the gift-realm? Because He moved in the fullness of the spirit of sonship. There is a world of difference between receiving a "gift" from God and possessing the SONSHIP ANOINTING. Jesus explained it this way" "He that cometh from above is above all.... for He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him. The Father loveth THE SON, and hath given all things into His hand" (Jn. 3:31-35). How much greater is the Sonship Ministry than the gift-realm. "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away" (I Cor. 13:9-10). The ministry of Jesus was not in the gift-realm, not in the in-part-realm, not by measure — and therefore not even in the realm of New Testament Church economy. His ministry was the ministry of a SON OF GOD in the fullness of the power and glory of the Father!

For many years now there has been a great moving of the Spirit of God across the land and around the world. It has manifested itself through many movements on various levels. We have witnessed great evangelistic ministries, the divine healing ministry, the restoration of the New Testament Church order with its five-fold ministry, the nine gifts of the Spirit, the impartation through prophecy with the laying on of hands. But I can testify to you that none of these ministries has come within the range of the ministry of Jesus Christ the Son of God. No matter which of the healing ministries you watched, no matter what prophet you heard, matters not what miracle, sign, or wonder, it did not measure up to the ministry of THE SON OF GOD. We kept saying, "We have the same anointing, the same Holy Ghost, the same power, the same authority, and we can do all the works (or even greater) than Jesus did!" And as hard as we tried, as strongly as we wanted to believe it, as much as we rationalized it, it still just wasn’t true! We had the same anointing, alright, and the same Holy Spirit — but we had it in the form of gifts — not in the fullness of the SPIRIT OF SONSHIP! Therefore creation continues to groan, and we ourselves do groan within ourselves, waiting for the MANIFESTATION OF THE S-O-N-S OF GOD!

How much greater is the sonship ministry than the gift-realm! The prophet Isaiah prophesied of the Son and the sons: "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord" (Isa. 11:1-2). This does not say that Jesus would receive a "gift" or "the word of wisdom." It says that what He received was the S-P-I-R-I-T OF WISDOM. It doesn’t state that Jesus had a "gift of healing" or a "gift of miracles." He received, instead, the S-P-I-R-I-T OF MIGHT. Jesus didn’t have merely a "gift" or "the word of knowledge." He possessed the S-P-I-R-I-T OF KNOWLEDGE! Not a fragmentary word of wisdom here, or a fragmentary word of knowledge there, or a gift of healing working tonight, and a gift of prophecy operating tomorrow night. NO! Upon the firstborn Son rested all the fullness of the sevenfold Spirit of Sonship, just as the prophet declared, saying,

"The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,

The Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding,

The Spirit of Counsel and Might,

The Spirit of Knowledge and Fear of the Lord."

This sevenfold Spirit of God is the fullness of the wisdom, glory, nature and power of God. This is the Spirit WITHOUT MEASURE. This is the SEVEN SPIRITS OF GOD. This is the SEVENFOLD BRIGHTNESS OF GOD’S GLORY! This is why our Lord Jesus Christ could heal every disease, could cast out every kind of devil, could raise the dead — even after they were deteriorated and stinking — could discern every thought and intent of men’s hearts, could command every element of nature, and even die and rise again! Some of us have been able to do a very limited amount of this. Some of us have had a gift of healing and have healed some sick people, but who has healed them ALL, even in one meeting? Some of us have been healed ourselves, but who among us has been healed EVERY TIME? Some of us have prophesied, have had a word of knowledge, but who has had every word that he has ever spoken come to pass? The miracles we have witnessed and experienced have been glorious, indeed: gas put in our tanks, batteries charged, finances supplied from unexpected sources, etc. But who among us has walked on the sea or fed five thousand men with five small loaves and two fish? Some have had their countenances lighted with the glow of the joy of the Lord, but who has stood on the Mount of Transfiguration with even their raiment shining as the brightness of the noon-day sun? Ah — therefore creation continues to groan, and we ourselves do groan within ourselves, waiting for the MANIFESTATION OF THE S-O-N-S OF GOD!

The Spirit of God has witnessed to many thousands of saints around the world in this hour that a New Day dawns upon the horizon. The next great move of God is even now at hand. There will not be another revival. There shall not come another visitation. It is not the hour for the restoration of the Church. A new day dawns. God is marching on. He shall do an entirely new thing in the earth. A new age lies directly before us. The manifestation of God’s sons is at hand. The Kingdom of God is at hand! In this New Day, in this glorious age of Aquarius, the Swan shall fly as the river flows — the ministry of the fullness of the Spirit of God shall be released through a people in reconciliation, blessing, and transformation unto all the ends of the earth! Praise His name!

To be continued.

J. PRESTON EBY      [HOME]   [KINGDOM RESOURCES]