THE KINGDOM OF GOD Part 49 - THE INCREASE OF THE KINGDOM: The Groaning Creation; The Ministry Of The Sons Of God

KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES
"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God..."

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Part 49

THE INCREASE OF THE KINGDOM

(continued)

The great characters of the past who have cut new channels, blazed new trails, opened new frontiers, opened up hidden secrets and led humanity onward to better days have been men of vision. Without a vision and the ability to soar on the wings of imagination there would be no progress of humanity. Back of every great development that thrusts man forward is the vision of someone who caught a glimpse of something higher and grander. What is it that discovered new worlds, opened new territories, built the great cities, tunneled the mountains, plowed the mighty deep, brought forth astounding inventions, developed technology, and conquered the air and space, but the power of vision? Society would be stagnant indeed without the vision of better and greater things to come!

The wise man said, "Where there is no vision the people perish." That is, where there are no new, fresh, vital thoughts there can be no progress into transcendental realms. The Old Testament prophets were called seers. They stood in the high places of the Spirit and looked down through the ages and caught visions of the coming purposes and glory of God's unfolding plan hundreds of years ahead of the reality. The scripture itself is a document of visions. It starts with Abraham. As someone has put it, "When God first called Abraham He inundated his soul with a sea of promises. He spoke to him from the starry heavens, from the soil of Canaan on which he walked, by the visit of angels, and by the Holy Ghost in his deep nature. Abraham saw great fields of light, great possibilities of things for himself and his posterity. His soul drank in these promises until his faith became wide and powerful, even before any of them were fulfilled. God deals with souls in a similar way. Yet when He calls anyone to a great degree of perfection or usefulness He begins by opening up to them the promises of His word and the possibilities which they may achieve even before there are any outward symptoms of their fulfillment. That heart anchors itself in the promises of God until those promises become as real as God Himself."

Joseph began as a mere wisp of a boy having visions of the distinguished life he was to lead. No man, except our Lord Himself, ever suffered such indignities against the hope of God he cherished in his soul as Joseph. Yet through it all he remained steady, calm, and resolute because of the word that burned within him. The secret of the great life of Moses, the deliverer of Israel, is that he lived "as seeing Him who is invisible." It was this that motivated him to forsake the throne of Egypt with its wealth, honor and glory and join an ignorant, despised, oppressed, destitute company of slaves. A vision of the supernal spoiled him for the fleeting things of earth. Later God called Moses up into the Holy Mount to commune with Him at the counsel-table of His divine government. While there God communicated to him a vision of the divine order of His redemptive purposes and gave him the plans for a model of it to be erected in the midst of His people on earth: its size and shape, where every curtain was to hang, its furnishings and order of ministry, its golden altar and the Holy of holies. Moses had a mental-spiritual picture of all this before it became a reality. He was commanded to build it according to the pattern that was shown him in the Holy Mount. He brought the pattern down from the Mount as a vision in his spirit of the glorious plan and purpose of God!

Ah, God has a wonderful plan and purpose for the life of every son of God. The Bible is full of this thought, that for each of us there is a course, a race, a work, a divine plan to be unfolded and fulfilled. To this end we have been birthed on this planet and for this purpose there is ample provision of grace, revelation, and power. Never forget, dear one, you were born to be victorious and to achieve something transcendental. Just as the scientist and poet can look down on the lower animals and say, "Poor things, if only you understood the glory of this world of mind and intellect, of wisdom and knowledge, of harmony, beauty and purpose," so the son filled with the inner spirit, with the mind of Christ and the nature of the heavenly Father, can look upon the poor worldlings, the rich and the famous, the great and the powerful, philosophers, scholars, politicians, and say, "Oh, poor things, if only you knew the purity, the peace, the joy, the interior brightness, the vastness, the sacred secret, the divine purpose, the sweetness and the divine personalities that I see and enjoy and respond to -- ah, if only you knew!" And of course they shall, in God's due time!

This is the spiritual vision where our spiritual nature, with its inner senses, unfolds to the heavenly world. The Holy Spirit, quickening our spirit, opens our inner eyes and ears and reveals to us the vision of our high calling. This is the meaning of Paul's wonderful prayer where he prays that the saints might have "the spirit of wisdom and revelation," through "the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye might know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe..." (Eph. 1:17-19). Another translation says, "the eyes of your heart being enlightened," which is the very core of our being and the fountain of our thoughts and conception of divine realities. It is not through the intellect of the natural mind that God reveals Himself to us, but it is through our inner spirit, the seat of our spiritual consciousness.

Let us not rest contented with present attainments. There is a higher, larger, deeper, fuller experience that awaits each one of us, where we can have all the mind that was in Christ Jesus, all the nature of our heavenly Father, and all the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the substance of the heavenly vision! Many years ago the sainted A. B. Simpson wrote, "If you could see all the fullness of His grace and love, all the rich provision of His great redemption, and all the possibilities of His indwelling life; if you could but get a glimpse of what it means to be a son of God, a temple of the Holy Ghost...if you could but fully realize what it means to have the peace of God which passeth all understanding, to have your sun no more go down in sorrow, but have the Lord for your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning forever ended; if you could for one moment taste the exquisite delight of the life of Jesus in your mortal flesh, as an antidote for disease and death, and the very mind of Christ to quicken your weak and erring brain; in a word, if you could see, as Moses saw, the good land which the Lord hath given thee, you would quickly arise and, casting all else behind, you would go over this Jordan and let nothing hinder your entering into your full inheritance." What a word!

The Spirit is saying today that He is preparing a people, He is preparing a body, He is preparing sons who shall be conformed to the image of His Son, who shall be partakers of the divine nature, who shall have the mind of Christ, who shall be brought to glory and who then shall become the very image of the Father. These shall become the very brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of the Father's person. Even as the first Son, who went into the ground and died as a grain of wheat to produce other sons in His likeness, bearing His image -- He was the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of the Father's person -- and God sent Him to be the Saviour of the world. God is now preparing sons, God is now preparing a body for that first Son, we are the body of the first Son, the body of Christ. We are the body of the Christ and in and through these sons, when all have grown up into His fullness, His salvation shall be manifested unto the ends of the earth. The Lord is saying unto His people in this Day, "For this cause have I raised thee up and sent thee to be a light unto the nations, and thou shalt be my salvation unto the ends of the earth" (Isa. 49:6; Acts 13:47).

God is not talking to babies today. God is not talking to spiritual children today. Spiritual children get all sentimental and starry-eyed over the provision of the Father in prosperity, healing, miracles and blessings. Little children cannot do much, but oh, how they love to receive things! Gifts mean everything to them! How excited a child gets over a shiny bike, a new doll, the latest toy, or a little spending money. Children know their parents will supply all of their needs and often ask, even beg, for things they want. There is nothing wrong with that, that is just how children are! And this, my friend, is a perfect picture of the spiritual level of most Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians today! Spiritual children have a little knowledge that puffs them up. Spiritual children fight among each other. "I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas." Spiritual children pride themselves -- who shall be the greatest. Spiritual children want to know which side of the throne they will be sitting on, "What am I going to get out of all this." Spiritual children like to play adult, imagining that they possess much more than they actually have, and that they have attained a stature far beyond their experience. Ah, now I've stopped "teaching" and started "meddling" in the attitudes of some in this Kingdom message! But God is not sending children today, He is sending sons, whose only desire is that the Father may be glorified, that the pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand, that the will of the Father may be done. What happens to us has no bearing on the situation.

Christ says, "As my Father has sent me -- in this total commitment to His will, so that I desire only to reveal the Father -- so I am sending you, in a total commitment to the Father's plan and purpose, that the Father may be revealed in the multitude of sons." And let me assure you, precious friend of mine, if through one son in Eden's fair Garden who disobeyed, the whole creation came into bondage and death because of disobedience; and if through one Son in the Garden of Gethsemane who obeyed, God was able to provide a salvation for all humanity because of obedience -- if God could bring such a revelation of Himself through one Son, a Son who was crucified and rejected, whom God raised again and set at His own right hand -- what will happen in these days, when through a multitude of sons who have been identified with Him, buried with Him in His death, raised again in the likeness of His resurrection, ascended with Him, seated with Him in the heavenly places, anointed with His Spirit, glorified with His glory, invested with His wisdom, nature, and power -- what is going to happen in all creation when many sons are revealed in the glory of God?

The future the Father has planned for His sons is away beyond our ability to comprehend or even imagine. I am overwhelmed with awe when I think of what is ahead for us! In Romans 8:18 the apostle says, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." Phillip's beautiful rendering of this reads, "In my opinion whatever we may have to go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us." Oh, the glory of it! Oh, the wonder of it! Who can express it! On another occasion Paul said, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered the heart of man, the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him" (I Cor. 2:9). I have heard preachers attempting to describe the future glory with the most eloquent language, but it didn't come anywhere near the truth. Even my feeble attempt in these pages will prove no more fruitful! The human mind is incapable of conjuring up a picture of what the omniscient Father has prepared for His sons. We can let our imagination run as wild as the wind and it will not come anywhere near comprehending the grandeur of what the Father has in mind! Yet we cherish, as did Joseph, the vision Father has given us.

THE GROANING CREATION

The jubilation, gladness, and joy that will take place at the manifestation of the sons of God is beyond our wildest expectations. The Christ body, the sons of God, will experience great transport at their change from mortal to immortal. And the creation will also express the ecstasy that will be theirs' when they are released from six millenniums of bondage and servitude to sin, sorrow, and death The songs of victory and glad tidings will be greater far than on that first glad occasion when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy (Job 38:7). "For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now" (Rom. 8:20-22).

"The whole creation groaneth..." The word "groaneth" signifies to sigh, to pray, to be moved with inward feeling. Creation is depicted as a slave in bondage, groaning in its captivity, crying out to be free. Today the world is full of broken hearts, men suffer lack, pain, and indignities, the hospitals are crowded, the cemeteries are being filled, and all nature is groaning under its bondage to corruption and death. You go down to the seaside and you can hear the sob of the waves, you go to the mountains and you can hear the low sigh of the wind in the tree tops. Can we not hear the sigh and groan of nature in the hiss of the cat, in the yelp of the dog, in the lowing of the cattle, in the roar of the lion, in the tremor of the earthquake, in the howling of the storm, in the shriek of the captive, in the weeping at the graveside, and in the universal cries of disillusionment, sorrow, and pain?

"The bondage of corruption." The word "bondage" means more than being bound, it means servitude, slavery; and "corruption" signifies ruin, decay, death, to perish. The servitude to decay resulting in death conveys the meaning. Creation is said to be longing for deliverance from this "servitude of decay resulting in death" with "earnest expectation." Those longings which are implanted by God in all of nature will surely be met by Him! It is a fact in nature that God never puts an intuition within, without meeting it without. Therefore while creation is in bondage, it is not in despair, for an earnest expectation throbs through it and makes it to be like one who is looking out with intense longing for someone who is expected. The Greek word rendered "expectation" is made up from apo-kara-dokia. Apo signifies from, or from afar. Kara means the head, and dokia means to wait for, or to look with intense expectation. This compound word at once suggests a striking figure, namely, one whose head is raised, and who is looking out on the distant horizon with intensity on the countenance, and longing in the eyes, as one expecting to receive something from another, or the arrival of a loved one from afar.

The whole creation is joining us in unutterable groans and birth pangs, earnestly looking forward to its release with ours, out into full and free eternal inheritance. EVERY CREATED THING is waiting, looking anxiously and with a kind of universal travail -- waiting for what? A greater manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit? More missionaries? More Bibles and gospel tracts? Greater evangelistic crusades? Another televangelist? Or are they waiting for the combined efforts of all the churches to get together in an all-out assault against sin, sickness, and evil? Are they travailing for another preacher, another movement, another revival, or a restored New Testament Church? NO, NO, A THOUSAND TIMES NO! Creation is not standing on the seashore of history gazing expectantly across the ocean of time, looking with anticipation for any of these things. The whole creation, without exception, is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God which is nothing less than our FULL SONSHIP, THE TRANSFORMATION OF OUR BODIES. It is full and complete and eternal victory over sin, sorrow, limitation, sickness, and death. It is the life and glory of the Father fully revealed upon earth in a people! That, my beloved, is the hope of creation!

The story is told of a little boy who couldn't play outside because it was raining. His father, who was trying to take an afternoon nap on the sofa, became annoyed. "Go to the other room, son; Daddy wants to sleep. Find something in there to play with." "Like what?" "Anything," snapped the father. "There isn't anything," replied the lad. Grabbing the newspaper, the man tore out a page with a large map of the world printed on it. He knew the boy knew nothing about geography. With the scissors he cut it into hundreds of odd-shaped pieces like a puzzle. "There, see if you can put it together, and don't bother me till you're done." The father settled down on the sofa thinking his problem was solved, but ten minutes later there was a tug on his shirt. "You can't be done yet!" But there on the floor was the neatly constructed world. "How did you do it?" he asked. "Easy," said his son. "A man's picture was on the back, and when I got the man together right, the world was right." Ah, yes -- when God gets HIS MAN put together in the fullness of Christ all the problems of the world will simply fall into place! Let us not expend our energies trying to get the world straightened out and ordered aright in this hour. Rather, let us give ourselves to apprehending that for which Jesus Christ has apprehended us -- to grow up unto a PERFECT MAN, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Then the whole creation will fall into place!

If Alexander the Great could march his armies across the earth and conquer the whole civilized world before he was thirty-three years old; if Hitler could change the world for evil; if the communists could march forth to enslave one-third of the world's population, weaving a hundred million into the vortex of communism each year -- it is not presumptuous to believe that the sons of God, armed with the immortal life and glory of Christ, can turn all nations to God, deliver the whole creation from the tyranny of sin and death, and bring the Kingdom of God to pass under the whole heaven, from pole to pole, and sea to sea, in power and great glory. As Ray Prinzing has written, "What glory, what wonder awaits the revelation of that true character and quality which HE is producing in His new creation species. Resurrection life shall burst forth, Babylon's shame and corruption shall be ended. Holiness is to be personified in a people. Religious racketeers will come to nought. Light will dissipate the darkness. No more will there be wells without water, and falling stars that fade into the darkness. HIS SONS will be a revelation of such character and quality as to satisfy all that men have waited for."

THE MINISTRY OF THE SONS OF GOD

I have shared this before, but am deeply impressed to relate the following vision again, received by an old prophet of God (Bill Britton's cousin) many years ago, one of the Lord's pioneers of this gospel of the Kingdom of God. He wrote of his experience: "In that vision which lasted all night, the most wonderful vision I ever had, in which I saw the sons of God in action all over the world, ministering to the multitudes in every tongue and nation, to all people, I saw both men and women ministering. I saw them standing, suspended in mid-air, in the midst of a busy intersection of a large city, with all traffic stopped, and thousands of people seeing them with their eyes, and hearing them with their ears, regardless of distance, and without the aid of mechanical devices. I saw them speaking to a people of one language, and in a moment's time I saw them transported to another people of another language, speaking to them in their own language, having power over all mechanical devices and natural laws, so that they could cause every activity to cease, and every eye to be fixed upon them, until their message had been delivered.

"I saw them walk upon the water; I saw the terror in the faces of the wicked, at the sound of their voices. I saw the professing Christians fall upon their faces in true repentance, crying out for mercy, and I saw them being genuinely converted. I saw the skeptics being convinced, and the blasphemy of the wicked, as they would rail and mock, only to be struck dumb or blind at just a word from the manifested sons and daughters of God.

"The vision lasted all night, as in my spirit I was living in that future time, when God will be manifested in fullness in His sons and daughters, while my body was back there in bed alongside my wife. Sometimes the scenes would make me weep and I would sob, my body shaking violently with pain and agony, whereas another scene would cause me to laugh with holy laughter, as I witnessed the genuine repentance of the shallow church members. I"ll never forget the vision of the young girl (the daughters of God) who spoke with the voice of many waters. Human language could never describe the quality of her voice. All I can say is, it was so filled with love and compassion, it would break the hardest stone, and at her command, every infirmity, every sickness, every blindness, every lameness was healed; every one was made perfectly whole, even those who had been lunatic from birth.

"Sister Britain got no sleep that night, and finally when the dawn was ready to break, she asked me why I didn't get up and write the vision. I did try, but could not hold my hands on the keyboard of the typewriter. Some unseen force held them aloft over my head. I walked the floor and wept, and begged the Lord to permit me to write some of the visions I had seen, to preserve them in black and white. At last He did, and I wrote just a very few of the visions I had seen, for a large book could not contain them all."

And now, many years afterward, the old prophet has passed from the scene. But today, not only the small number who were touched by his word, but multiplied tens of thousands of saints in every nation under heaven have been quickened to these wonderful truths. It has not been the work of any man or group of men, nor of any movement or organization, nor of any organized effort or theological promotion. It has been the sovereign work of God by the Holy Spirit! A vast army of saints is now in preparation for the greatest day in earth's long history -- the manifestation of the sons of God!

Some time ago brother Paul Mueller admonished the saints, "This age has been the time when the Lord's purpose was to bring people into His kingdom by 'the foolishness of preaching' (I Cor. 1:21). We rejoiced to see many gather together to hear the anointed messages of preaching and to be saved by that means. But God has a more perfect way! The old order of meetings, of the manifestation of the gifts, and of the foolishness of preaching is ending. We once preached, prophesied, and ministered in part. That which is in part is being removed, and that which is perfect is coming! The new, perfect order will function by perfect love. It is now time for us to put away the childish, foolish things of the past (I Cor. 13:8-13). The Lord is replacing the old order with a new order of greater Spirit Life and manifestation. And we are highly privileged to be the firstfruits of that new order in God.

"Imagine the wonders of the mighty moving of the Spirit as the new highway to God is revealed. Instead of church meetings, the Spirit of the Lord will move on an entire body of people wherever they may be gathered, and the whole group will be converted without a preacher, a choir, or an altar call. Instead of one man preaching to a group of people, the transformed saints will stand amidst many on the streets, on the highways or byways, or in a shopping mall. When they see the glory of Christ on us, they will gladly accept the Lord and their lives will be immediately transformed. Instead of one man preaching or ministering healing to a group of people, and seeing many turn to the Lord, the transformed body of Christ will point the way to the new highway to God, and many more multitudes will be brought into the kingdom. It may be difficult for us to envision entirely, but that new highway to God will be far more glorious than anything we have seen in the past! The Lord will do more in one minute by His Spirit than a man has been able to do in his entire lifetime. Yesterday the Lord worked and moved in the 30 and 60-fold degree, tomorrow He will move mightily in a l00-fold manifestation of His power and glory. And all of this will be the result of our spiritual growth unto sonship. Multitudes shall then find the peace and joy of Christ, and will embrace the fullness of His kingdom and dominion."

Another brother has added his testimony of how the Spirit has opened to his understanding events that will herald the unveiling of God's sons. "Many believers today are ready in spirit, as they await this great wave with excitement and expectancy. Some have already been given a glimpse of this great Light that will move upon the waters. God's remnant will involve individuals who are humble, word-filled, trustworthy, meek: those who have died to self and have kept their eyes on things above. Many, like yourself, are they who are usually unnoticed or lost in a crowd. Let us look at a few examples of this coming anointing. We may hear of an elderly lady, one whom the world has never given so much as a second glance. She is walking to a nearby store, but the Holy Spirit speaks and directs her to enter a theater enroute. She enters, as if invisible, and standing at the rear of the great audience the Holy Spirit begins to sing through this lady and instantly everyone becomes quiet; even the picture on the screen and the sound in the theater stop. Every individual in that audience feels the notes rising in their soul and all that are in need are made free, and all those sick are made whole and well. Much weeping and praising and giving glory to God is heard from that theater, but during this time the song ends and the little lady simply leaves unnoticed. Indeed the audience is stunned, but 'The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the glory of God thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is full of majesty' (Ps. 29:3-4).

"We shall now witness another move, or event. We see a large church in service and during the service the Holy Spirit directs a man to enter the church and he walks directly to the organ that rests at the side of the platform. Having never played an instrument in his life, the Holy Spirit causes his fingers to play heavenly chords of music that immediately paralyze the entire congregation. Tears flow and hearts beat unto that higher sound, and again all are made whole, set free from earthly bondages. The entire body is now giving glory to the Most High, and our little man simply turns and walks out of the service without notice, receiving no personal glory. Whatever the situation, whatever the conditions, THERE WILL BE NO STRONGHOLDS THAT GOD'S LIGHT WILL NOT PENETRATE. The land will shine here and there as God causes His vessels of light to move forth. 'They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble...and the Lord shall utter His voice before HIS ARMY: for His camp is very great: for He is strong that executeth His word: for the day of the Lord is great, and very terrible; and who can abide it?' (Joel 2:9-11).

"Truly we see that the Lord shall have an army of Light-bearers. Words cannot describe the acts and supernatural wonders that God will yet perform. It is your opportunity among that called remnant to stand among the number of this great army. Your life may have had many trials, testings, and hardships, you may be old and sickly, but if you believe that God has prepared you with all these exercises in order that you may stand in this hour, then nothing is impossible unto you. You have undergone a life training for such a time as this, so spend your time wisely now until that moment..."

A dear sister in the Lord, Rita Kahr, wrote a letter to a friend of ours a few years ago. I quote a portion of her letter. "About ten years ago I was in bed late at night reading a paper by Preston on the "Greater Works" ministry of the manifested sons of God that are to come forth. My spirit was leaping then, but I was also overwhelmed by my lack -- lack of anything and of everything to help in any way in the ministry. I felt absolutely drained, and so I cried out to the Lord then and there, 'Father, I don't think I can attain to this ministry. It's too precious and wonderful and I have nothing to offer. I can't prophesy, I can't write like Preston Eby and others, I can't teach and I can't even sing to offer some praise. About the only thing I can do is speak in tongues, and that only a little. I feel I am failing in my very lack.'

"I then fell asleep and had a dream. I never dream, or at least very seldom do I remember them. Here I was in this dream in front of a large group of people. I opened my mouth to speak and out came words of great wisdom and profound teaching. The people cried out, 'It's the Lord! It's the Lord!' I then stretched forth my hand and people cried out, 'I'm healed -- it's the Lord! It's the Lord!' I awoke and was confused because I was doing these 'Greater Works' and more, and then the Spirit spoke to me: 'Rita, do you believe the message you just read in Preston's paper?' I answered, 'Yes, but it seems so far beyond my reach.' The Lord answered, 'You couldn't even believe it if the seed wasn't in you with all the potential for its growth. I'll water and bring the sunshine and it shall prosper in my time.' Oh, what joy and comfort that word brought me! I ceased all my fears and that word has kept me to this day -- I still haven't any ministry, most of God's people don't even recognize me as a brother (sister), my body confesses to a 'Job experience,' and I can say the time has been long and dry. Nevertheless, the seed has grown greatly in these last years, but there is yet to be a demonstration of that which I believe -- I can hardly wait, though, for it shall surely come to pass."

Earth has not yet witnessed the magnitude of ministry that shall be revealed through the manifest sons of God. In this hour at the transition of the ages, God is preparing His perfected and matured body, anointed with the seven-fold intensified fullness of the Spirit of God, and this enChristed company shall appear on the cosmic stage of history with ten thousand times more power than any of the revival showers of the past centuries. God has moved deeply upon my heart to proclaim to God's elect that there is soon coming a great and glorious MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST before the face of all nations and the whole earth. There will be a full and complete revelation of Jesus Christ in His many brethren -- and it shall usher in the next stage of the Kingdom of God on earth -- the dominion of the Kingdom over all the living nations on earth. I know God is on the move, and my deepest desire is to be a part of this manifestation that will usher in a new day for this sin-cursed planet. The Lord wants to reveal Himself in our midst in a new, dramatic, and powerful way, and through us to creation.

The church order and ministry of the past two thousand years has been good and appropriate for saving a remnant and bringing the elect into the beginnings of their life in Christ. Let no man say that we are opposed to it! I still rejoice when I see hundreds of people walking down the isles in a Billy Graham Crusade to give their hearts to the Lord. And I still praise God when I see people testifying to the healing, miracle working power of God upon the stage of a Benny Hinn Crusade here or abroad. But it is not sonship ministry! Therefore, it can contribute but a little to the Kingdom of God in the earth. To deliver the creation from the bondage of corruption GOD HAS A MORE PERFECT WAY! He has given us a sneak preview of this way in the life and ministry of the firstborn Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Pattern Son was never "meeting oriented." Meetings "happened" but they were not called, announced, planned or organized. Jesus never advertised that He would be speaking or ministering in the temple, or at any other place. No date was set for a meeting to commence on a certain day at a particular hour. There was no place and no time. All was entirely spontaneous! Jesus ministered at all times and in all places. He taught and healed in the streets. He ministered in the homes. He ministered in the places of business. He taught by the sea. He ministered in the fields. He spoke to the multitudes in the mountains. He proclaimed the word of the Kingdom in the courts of the temple. He ministered to one person alone. He ministered to ten people. He ministered to crowds of many thousands. It made no difference! Buildings, dates, praise services, campaign managers, music directors, choirs, announcements, and offering plates were all completely irrelevant to His sonship ministry. He ministered the same wherever He was, day or night. There was no need to sing hymns and choruses to "create an atmosphere" to "bring God's presence" or stir up His gift so it would work. HE W-A-S GOD'S PRESENCE! JESUS WAS HIMSELF THE VERY ATMOSPHERE OF GOD'S GLORY! There was absolutely no "meeting" or "church" mentality in the life of the firstborn Son of God. God was God in Jesus at all times, in all places, to all people, in a perfectly natural expression of omnipotence. And, my beloved, JESUS IS THE PATTERN OF SONSHIP -- not Paul, or Peter, or the apostles, or the early Church, or the Church Fathers, or the revivals of past centuries.

When God roars out of His Zion Company in the fullness of His incorruptible life and divine glory and presence, the old drunk will rise up out of his drunken stupor and know that there is a God upon the throne. All will know, kings and presidents and prime ministers and members of congress and parliament, and rich men and mighty men everywhere will be made to know that there is ONE to whom they all owe their allegiance. Do not doubt for one moment, precious friend of mine, that when God wants any of His sons in any place, He will put them there. God need pay no attention to iron or bamboo curtains, vast oceans, boundaries between nations, immigration laws, passports or visas, airline schedules, or any form of transportation. I am talking about the miracle-working power of God to be manifested when the sons of God arise as King-Priests after the Order of Melchizedek, in the power of an endless life. Creation shall soon behold a pure, unadulterated move of the Holy Spirit through a people moving on the plane of incorruption, doing just what the Father wants them to do, without any limitations whatever. The Spirit will be poured out upon ALL FLESH. In the cities, on the plains, in the jungle paths, in the deserts, on the mountain heights, upon people of means and education and culture in the industrialized nations and upon the few savages remaining in earth's remote corners, in all the dwelling places of men the Spirit shall flow. In the time of which I speak there shall be a complete overthrow of every government, institution, religion and power on earth. God will not leave one place on earth where the adversary can rally his forces. If God did not cover the seas with His Spirit, and move upon all flesh upon the seas, the adversary would have a place to rally his forces. If God did not pour His Spirit out and flood the deserts, the adversary would have a place for recruiting his followers. But, thank God! The glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. God will have this time, this day to do His mysterious work in all the earth and all the kindreds of the earth shall turn unto the Lord. All nations and peoples will come and bow down before Him. The Lord alone shall be King over all the earth in and through His body. The saints of the Most High shall take the Kingdom (government) and possess the Kingdom and reign forever and ever. Hallelu-yah!

To be continued...

J. PRESTON EBY

PART 48

PART 50