THE KINGDOM OF GOD Part 53: THE INCREASE OF THE KINGDOM -- THE DAY OF THE LORD

KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES

"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God..."

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Part 53

THE INCREASE OF THE KINGDOM

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You won't find the English word "millennium" in your Bible. Our English word "millennium" is derived from the Latin word mille, meaning "thousand." The Greek equivalent for millennium comes from chilias, meaning "a thousand," and annus, meaning "year."

The only place in the entire Bible where the millennium is mentioned per se is in chapter twenty of the book of Revelation. Still, this lone passage has built a doctrine and expectation as firm in most minds as that of eternal torment or the rapture! We are inclined to lightly pass over the fact that the book of Revelation is written in symbolic language, using elaborate figures of speech to convey spiritual truths. I think this should be obvious to every spiritual mind, but some of our brothers and sisters in Christ try to use the "literal method" of interpretation (the letter rather than the spirit) -- even within this book of symbols. A statement like: "The Bible means just what it says and says just what it means!" sounds good, perhaps even spiritual, and often brings some hearty "amens," but this cannot apply when the Holy Spirit speaks and conveys truth through symbols. The very nature of a symbol is that it means something else. Otherwise it would not be a symbol!

In the opening verse of the book of Revelation the beloved John is told that the message of the book would be signified to him. This word means just what the syllables say: sign-i-fied, that is, communicated to him by means of signs and symbols, in parables, in the typology of numerology, figures of speech, and so forth. These signs and symbols were not to be taken literally! For instance, the "lamb" in the midst of the throne is not a four-legged lamb with wool. The "beast out of the sea" is not some weird pre-historic reptile from Jurassic Park. The "1260 days" are not twenty-four hour periods. The "woman" clothed with the sun and in pain to be delivered is not an ordinary female having a baby. Why should the Holy Spirit suddenly change His style once He nears the end of the book? Why should it seem strange that the "thousand years" should have a spiritual meaning beyond a literal age lasting for exactly a thousand earth years? Why should not the angel still be sign-i-fying when He shows John this millennial reign of Christ with His saints?

One brother has well written, "Principles of interpretation are very important. This is the only passage in the entire Bible which speaks of a 'thousand years' period of Christ and His saints reigning. A single passage such as this, sitting as it is in the midst of all the symbolism of the book of Revelation, should not be used to explain other passages of scripture in the Bible by taking it as having a natural fulfillment instead of being symbolical. Rather, this passage of scripture should be interpreted in the light and understanding of all the other teachings of the Bible. Many take this one passage of scripture and try to fit a hundred or more other passages into a supposed meaning of it, thereby distorting the meaning of the many other passages...in this, they do not properly handle nor rightly divide the word of God."

The chief difficulty is in a literal or carnal or letter of the word understanding of the nature, place, and time of the thousand years. Most teachers make it an earthly scene, with a physical Jesus reigning on a material throne in the old city of Jerusalem, for a thousand earth years. I do not expect men to love me for pointing out that the understanding of many who call themselves sons of God has not progressed one whit beyond that of the Baptists, Pentecostals, and other Fundamentalists in these things! The fact is, the Lord Jesus Christ did not preach even one sermon about the millennium publicly to the multitudes that followed Him, nor did He teach it privately to His disciples, either before or after His death and resurrection. Think about it -- He was completely silent on this now popular doctrine! The apostles, in their epistles, are likewise silent on the subject of a thousand year reign of Christ. The Holy Spirit did show them "things to come," but a thousand year kingdom was never proclaimed as one of those things.

Now, don't misunderstand me! I do not say that the next age of the Kingdom of God will not last for one thousand years. It may. Or, it may not. I will not debate the point with any man. What I am saying is just this: Of all the wealth of scripture truth nothing is more certain or clear than the great truth that the book of Revelation is a symbolic and spiritual book. Can we not see by this that the spiritual meaning of "a thousand years" is something higher and grander by far than a mere time period or number of years? There is no value whatever in the letter of the Word. It is when a man begins to see the spirit of the Word that truth and reality are quickened as life within. My spirit rejoices today in thankfulness to my Father in heaven for that divine, eternal, life-giving wisdom which is the secret of His own heart.

In Bible usage, one thousand is a round, indefinite number. Psalm 50:10 states, "Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills." Does that mean only a thousand? Or are all the cattle and all the hills His? In like manner, does the Kingdom of Christ last a thousand years, or does it stand forever? Do the sons of God reign with Christ for a thousand years, or do they reign throughout all ages until God is all in all? Is the Kingdom really an age of a thousand years? "God keeps covenant and mercy unto a thousand generations," says the prophet (Deut. 7:9). Does His mercy stop there? "He commanded His word to a thousand generations" (Ps. 105:8). The thousand is not literal in any of these. They speak figuratively of an abiding principle and the unchanging character of God throughout all generations and ages.

THE DAY OF THE LORD

In chapter twenty of the Revelation God has clearly revealed the scenario of the millennium by symbols -- an angel, a key, a bottomless pit, a great chain and a dragon. Are any of these literal? NO! Not one. Therefore, when we understand by the Spirit the great truth of the symbolic meaning of the thousand years, we find that it signifies something infinitely more meaningful and glorious than a mere period of time! The thousand years signifies a complete and total reign with Christ IN THE FULLNESS OF THE DAY OF THE LORD. The essence of the millennium is within us now because in measure the light, the illumination, and the glory of the Lord has risen within His elect and to that degree we are even now reigning with Christ.

We live in a day when almost everyone, saint and sinner, recognizes that this is a crazy, mixed-up world we live in. But most preachers and multitudes of Christians are constantly talking about how bad it is and how dark it is getting. Hogwash! It might be getting dark in the world you live in, but in the Kingdom I've been translated into "...the path of the JUST is as a SHINING LIGHT, that shineth MORE and MORE unto the perfect Day" (Prov. 4:18). Rotherham translates, "But the path of the righteous is as the light of dawn, going on and brightening, unto meridian day." The Revised Standard Version reads, "...which shines brighter and brighter unto full day." The Moffatt translation says, "... like a ray of dawn, shines on and on unto the full light of Day." Young's Literal Translation renders, "...going on and brightening till the Day is established." The Amplified Bible is so clear and expressive, "But the path of the uncompromisingly just and righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines more and more -- brighter and clearer -- until it reaches its full strength and glory in the perfect (to-be-prepared) Day."

Many think Christ will reign for a thousand years -- and He will, for one thousand years is as a day, and a day is as a thousand years, and that day is the Day of the Lord in your life. I know no words, be they many or few, that could more adequately establish that the term "thousand years" is the New Testament code-word for THE DAY OF THE LORD. The thousand years is the symbol of a time in the life of a son of God where he experiences the power and glory of ruling and reigning with Christ. It is not a literal thousand years, it is the symbol of an attainment of reality and ministry whereby the authority and power of God's Christ is revealed and expressed through us as the elect of God. It is not a date on the calendar -- it is reality in the spirit.

We know that the Kingdom of God does not last for a thousand years. The Kingdom came with Jesus and it shall stand and increase throughout all the ages of time and Christ is the King eternal. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end. So there is a deep mystery here. The mystery is in God's word, and if we search out the scriptures with the spirit of wisdom and revelation we will be able to see the mystery. The mystery is just this: "A day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (II Pet. 3:8). This lofty thought should assure us beyond doubt that the "thousand years" ARE THE DAY OF THE LORD! Understanding the Word spiritually I believe that this interpretation is the correct one. The "one thousand year day" is the Day of the Lord in your life. The Day of the Lord in your life is when, by the illumination and work of the Holy Spirit, Christ is fully revealed to you, in you, through you, and as you. When Christ rules in you one hundred per cent, the brightness of the Day of the Lord has reached its zenith within your life.

The Biblical imagery for the Day of the Lord begins in the very first verses of the Bible, in the opening chapter of Genesis. Right at the beginning of the creation account we are told that God created light and named it Day (Gen. 1:2-5). May God give us eyes to see just what happened at that moment! The Spirit of God was hovering, brooding, vibrating over the face of the deep, and God said, God spoke creatively by His Word, "Let there be light!" This means that when God created light, it sprang from His Logos-Word, which is Christ the light of the world. "God has spoken to us in the person of His Son...who being the brightness of His glory, the out-raying, effulgence, and emanation of the divine..." (Heb. 1:3). What the sun's rays are to the sun, Christ is to God. From the start, therefore, we are taught to associate Day and Light with Christ and God. And now we have been made the (light) body of Christ!

The firstborn sons of God are the Day of the Lord, for upon them is risen the glory of the Lord and they are the light of the world. I know what the church system has taught, but they taught a lie. They teach that the Day of the Lord is the seven-year tribulation at the end of the age. They have no scriptural foundation. I am making known a DAY unto you, beloved, and the day I am proclaiming is the Day of the Lord, and it is upon us now. We must not be established upon the traditions of the elders nor the doctrines of men. We must allow the Holy Spirit to unfold Christ, that we may know Him when He appears, in whatever form or manner He appears, that we miss not the Day of visitation as did the Jews of old. A great light shined in the darkness, the greatest light that has ever been upon this earth and yet, to this day, they are living and walking in darkness. The very glory of the Father was revealed to them as the scripture said it would be. All God ever could be or ever shall be was manifested in Jesus Christ, the firstborn son of God. No greater light could have shone unto them than that light, because the Light of lights was there to see. Most of them did not recognize Him, neither did they suspect that the Lord of glory was right there in the midst of them. If they had entered into Him, He would not have declared that another day yet remained for the children of God. Let us not fall short of what He is now speaking into our hearts! God is in this Day raising up a people that is hearing His words of instruction and is beginning to walk in the light of the glory of God's Christ.

I admonish all who read these lines -- be established in YOUR DAY. It is a new day, the Day of the Lord! It is not the great tribulation, nor is it the literal millennium. It is the Day of the unveiling of the glory of Christ and this Day comes in like a thief. Christ's presence is beginning to fill the whole earth and the glory of the Lord is risen upon a people. This is not a fallacy, this is the sovereign work of God in the lives of those who have been called to this Day. This is the very truth, the very understanding as the Spirit has made it known unto His chosen people, that we might know the counsel of God for this very Day. Though multitudes continue to walk in darkness, the darkness of the world of the carnal mind and of the carnal religious systems of men, you shall walk in the Light! Many stubbornly cling to those things which are passing, to the former orders and moves of God that have ended, the relics of a former day of glory, but those whose hearts have responded to the call to sonship are taking hold of those things that are new. The former heavens are being rolled up like a scroll and set aside. There is a new order, a new heaven and a new earth for you today, saints of God!

The Day of the Lord is the Light that Christ is. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (Jn. 8:12). John, in the first chapter of his Gospel, gives additional revelation on this great truth, when he speaks of the Word being with the Father in the beginning, and how all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. Then he goes on to make this significant statement, "In Him was life; and the LIFE WAS THE LIGHT OF MEN" (Jn. 1:4). From this verse we see that life and light are essentially the same thing. "The life was the light!" So when the Christ came as a light into the cosmos, He was also the life that was injected into the creation, to give life to all mankind. John goes on to say, "That was the TRUE LIGHT, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (Jn. 1:9). All other lights are artificial, imitation, be they sun, moon, stars, sages, teachers, or holy men. Only the Word of God, the Logos, the Christ is the TRUE LIGHT, and He came a light into the cosmos.

When God separated the light from the darkness in that long ago beginning, He called the light DAY, and the darkness He called NIGHT. We are also told that He made two great lights, one to rule the Day and the other to rule the Night. Man with his limited carnal understanding and dead letter-of-the-word interpretations has restricted this to our solar day and lunar night, and the sun and moon in the sky. But our almighty Father has something infinitely higher than this in mind! These are mere shadows and types of reality. There is a great spiritual meaning to all this. There is a REALM OF LIGHT and a REALM OF DARKNESS in creation which have nothing to do with our solar day and lunar night. They are realms in the spirit, and we can be inhabitants of either. The realm of light is ruled over by the Son of God, the Sun of Righteousness, who is THE LIGHT in our spirit; and the realm of darkness is ruled over by satan, the prince of darkness enthroned in the ignorance of the carnal mind. Paul, when writing to the saints at Thessalonica, stated, "Ye are all the children of the Light, and the children of the Day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness" (I Thes. 5:5). There are many other passages where we read of the children of Light, the children of the Day; and the children of the night or of darkness. So we can be either children of the Day, or children of the night. We can either walk in Light, or walk in darkness; it all depends on whom we are following -- Adam or Christ. Jesus spoke this beautiful truth: "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the LIGHT OF LIFE" (Jn. 8:12).

As we consider this world in which we live, we see that all the physical light we have springs from the sun in our sky. Take away that orb and darkness would soon cover the earth. All vegetation would droop and die as it turned yellow, then brown and black and crumbled into the earth. Soon after that all animal and human life would have the same fate. The verdant creatures which grace the surface of the earth have been created to live in light and by light. No one who has ever seen the sickly color of some plant that has struggled for life in semi-darkness can fail to miss the contrast between the green thing which grew in the sunshine, and the pale travesty which grew in the shade. In total darkness every man would become blind within three days, and death would follow shortly after. The life that we know comes from the sun, for the light is the life. In the same way, Christ Jesus our Lord is the Sun of Righteousness! He is the illumination of our Day, and the light of our Life! The sun's rays are the vital life in the environment of earth; the light of God in the face of Jesus Christ raised up within us is the vital life of the heavenly realm of the Kingdom of God where the sons of God live and move and have their being.

The sweet singer of Israel penned these meaningful words: "The entrance of Thy words GIVETH LIGHT; it giveth UNDERSTANDING to the simple" (Ps. 119:130). The prophet Hosea, speaking of the Lord, said, "Thy judgments are as LIGHT that goeth forth" (Hos. 6:5). "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a LIGHT unto my path" (Ps. 119:105). Also in II Corinthians 4:6, Paul declares, "For God, who commanded the LIGHT to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the LIGHT of the KNOWLEDGE of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Can we not clearly see by this that TRUTH is LIGHT, UNDERSTANDING is LIGHT, KNOWLEDGE is LIGHT, and LIFE is LIGHT. We often hear someone say, "I got some light on that." They are declaring the reception of understanding. In like manner, DARKNESS is ignorance and error. "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath BLINDED THE MINDS of them which believe not, lest the LIGHT of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them" (II Cor. 4:3-4). The Day of the Lord speaks of the illumination and enlightenment that come by the Spirit. The inner revelation and transformation which bring the Day of the Lord into our lives begin the very moment that we turn from the dead letter of the word and seek for its spirit. We have turned from religion and the old static order of the church systems unto the living reality of the Christ within. The elect of God who are being spiritually enlightened and quickened in the full reality of Christ in this hour are now experientially entering into the DAY OF THE LORD!

If we have considered the matter as we ought, we have surely discerned that there are two kingdoms in the world: the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of man, the Kingdom of Light and the kingdom of darkness, the Kingdom of Life and the kingdom of death, the Kingdom of Truth and the kingdom of error. Praise God, He "hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son" (Col. 1:13). In this world darkness and light, day and night co-exist. Here in El Paso, Texas it is a bright, sunlit day. On the other side of the world people slumber upon their beds in the darkness of night. Therefore I learn in the natural a principle that teaches me a spiritual truth: It is day and night at the same time! These lines are being read by many thousands of people around the world. Some of you walk in light and some of you walk in darkness. Some of you walk in spiritual light in different dimensions, while some of you walk in spiritual darkness in different dimensions. Some of you walk in the unveiling of the unbounded wisdom, understanding, power and glory of Christ within you, while some of you still walk in the bondage and limitation of the dead doctrines, traditions, and orders of the carnal church systems. It's a matter of your UNDERSTANDING! It's not a matter of whether you speak in tongues, how you were baptized, how many meetings you attend, or rules, regulations, methods, programs, or externals of any kind. It is a thing of the spirit, a condition, a state of being, a spiritual mentality, a KNOWING OF THE LORD IN TRUTH AND UNDERSTANDING that brings transformation unto maturity.

Darkness is but the absence of light, or the lack of understanding. Christ Himself IS THE LIGHT OF LIFE. Life comes from light, therefore, if we want to know the condition of life in a man, we must see the state of enlightenment within him. I don't mean his knowledge about doctrinal facts, but the inward revelation of spiritual truth, purpose and reality. We often think that if a man becomes a little more zealous, his life has grown; or if he is a little more pious, his life has increased. Such concepts are totally erroneous. Life is not in the zeal of man; neither is it in the piety of man. There is only one realm and one source of life, and that is LIGHT. Life rests with light; life comes from light. Show me a man who has only a carnal understanding of the things of God and I will show you a man who has a very low level of spiritual life. The churches are full of them! And the pulpits, too! To determine whether a person has grown in life, we must discern the condition of his INNER ENLIGHTENMENT. Furthermore, if we want to help others grow in life, we must help them to be enlightened, to experience the truth of God as reality. If they can receive enlightenment from us, they can obtain life and develop that life. In this the sons of God are made manifest.

It is in this spiritual enlightenment that we step into GOD'S DAY. It is in this Day that Christ is and that Christ brings, in which those who shall rule and reign with Christ now walk. The "Day" of the Lord is not a date on the calendar, not a period of twenty-four hours or a number of years. THE LIGHT OF CHRIST IS THE DAY! This is our Day! We are children of this Day! The Day of the Lord is not a thousand years -- but the symbol of one thousand years stands for the Day of the Lord. The sons of God reign with Christ for a thousand years -- that is, they reign with Christ IN THE DAY OF THE LORD! That is the only place one can reign with Christ! No man who walks in the darkness of sin, or in the darkness of carnal religion, will ever share the throne of the Lord. No man devoid of spiritual understanding, illumination, and enlightenment can experience the power of God to rule. And no man who abides in death is able to reign in life by Christ Jesus.

"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years" (Rev. 20:4). One great cause of error among the Lord's people is their failure to understand this single precious passage of scripture. If we can lay aside the traditions of the theologians and sects and listen instead to the voice of the Spirit, we will clearly see that it is those who live that also reign, and those who live and reign do so in the Day of the Lord. "And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." We speak the truth in saying that only by life can we reign! Paul speaks of our reigning in life by one, Jesus Christ.

Those who reign in life with Christ are also those who have been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and have gotten the victory over the beast of the Adam nature. Unfortunately the Greek word rendered "beheaded" in our King James Bibles is not fully understood. It appears nowhere else in the scriptures except here. But one fact stands out plainly: It cannot allude to only those who died as martyrs. This, too, is a symbol! The beloved John who penned these words of inspiration did not die a martyr's death. However John intimately knew Christ in the fellowship of His sufferings and the fact is, he suffered more by living than if he had actually been beheaded. Legend tells us that he was once boiled in oil in an effort to kill him. He was exiled to the isle of Patmos there to starve, where he was given the Revelation. When you read church history you find that a martyr's grave was very often but a release from persecution, an easy way out. So martyrdom does not necessarily mean an untimely death. Those who take up their cross daily and follow Jesus, who lay down all claims to their own lives, to know Him in the power of His resurrection and in the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death, always bearing about in their bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus, are those who are "beheaded" for the witness of Jesus. These blessed ones lose their own heads that they might put on the mind of Christ, thus making the Lord Jesus Christ their head. If we have not died to self, my friend, we cannot reign in life by Christ Jesus! And when you begin to live and reign with Him, you live and reign with Christ IN THE SURPASSING GLORY OF THE DAY OF THE LORD. This is not the "letter" of the Word that I now share with you, but this is the spiritual meaning of the MILLENNIUM!

A day is the result of sunlight, and night is the absence of sunlight. Just as the natural sun rises to bring an earthly day, so the rising of Christ in the hearts and lives of His elect also denotes the beginning of a new spiritual "day" in God's purposes. When Jesus said, "I am the light of the world," He was not referring to natural light. He is the enlightenment that comes spiritually, enabling us to see things in the spiritual world. Christ is now rising in fresh, new, and higher dimensions in the hearts of His elect! And this spiritual action within us heralds the arrival of the Day of the Lord in a new intensity of God's unfolding plan of the ages. It is not a day as man reckons time; it is a spiritual reality determined only by the moving of the Spirit. The "millennium" is not a span of time from one point to another -- spiritual reality is incalculable! It is not a quantity of time, rather it is a quality of experience. We must be careful to both read and interpret the scriptures in the Spirit or we will think that everything will be fulfilled some day IN TIME, instead of seeing that the fulfillment is IN CHRIST. All the sacrifices, offerings, sabbaths, feast days, temples, vestments, rituals and laws find their fulfillment in Christ. HE is the reality of every type, the substance of every shadow, and the fulfillment of every prophecy!

Carl Schwing spoke of this beautiful truth when he wrote, "Our God is Spirit; and we, as His sons, are led by His Spirit. He is the dawning Spirit, or the Spirit of New Beginnings, that has been sent forth to give us Kingdom Light, Kingdom Life, and Kingdom Knowledge. He is the Spirit that is dividing the time. As we leave time and times past, we move into the time that is to come. This, my brethren, is the 'dividing of time' of which our brother Daniel was told. In the time that is behind us men look for signs; while in the realm of Kingdom Time, we are laying hold of the reality. As men struggle at the foot of the mountain with their end-time events, methods, and means, we are the 'handful' on the top of the mountain beholding only Jesus, our Elder Brother and Crowned King; into whose image and likeness we are being born.

"The glory that is transpiring will change the course of time. It is bringing to pass the merging of the two realms. Shall deep call unto deep and there be no answer? Shall spirit cry unto spirit and there be no reunion? Shall the old pass away and the new not appear? Ah, it is appearing, my brothers...we are seeing it, we are touching it, tasting it, handling it and becoming it. We are the NEW CREATION of which Paul spoke. We do not belong to time as the world knows it...our kingdom is not of this world...nor do we belong to the times for they are lifeless and belong to vultures. Time that is to come belongs to us. Hallelujah! Eventually, every eye shall see this glory and all shall know that He is God.

"The 'time' of which I write, goes beyond the prophet's voice, beyond the hope of the patriarchs, beyond the wind of doctrine, and far beyond the teachings of a pseudo Christianity. I write of God's time and of the sons' time. It is the time when the still small voice is like the sound of many waters. It is the time when the storehouse of the Lord is being opened to the sons of God. It is the time for the meeting of the Bride. Can you not see, are you not aware, that we are in the Spirit on the dawning of the Lord's Day? He who was behind John is now before us...all that remains is to become Him. He is sending forth the seven Spirits which are before His throne. Within the dimension of Kingdom Time dwells the fullness of all that the prophets foretold, all that Jesus taught, and all the early church died for; and it is in that dimension we have our true citizenship. It is the City of our former birth, the City our fathers sought for, the City of His abode, and it is the City John saw coming down.

"The sons are hearing the call of the Spirit. They know it is daybreak; the transforming rays of the Morning Son, shine upon their yearning souls. This is the beginning of the Rule of the ages, and it is given to the sons to have dominion. Be not deceived, the day of this glory is not far off; already it appears in the eastern sky of the Son's Realm. The light of day pierces the darkness of man's rule, it crumbles into dust the stronghold of Babylon's vain religions, it is the substance of all creation hoped for. The Spirit of the many-membered Lamb goes before us to lead us into the knowledge of the Holy One, that we might know, even as we are known. He is leading us unto the Day where the sun never sets; yea, even the darkness shall be light around us...the day when they that toil not shall blossom as the lilies of the harvest, the Day when the wolf nature of our flesh shall lie down with the Lamb of God...the Day when the vipers and hypocrites shall not be able to hurt the children of God in all His Holy Mount...the Day when a thousand shall fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand; but it shall not come nigh us, for we have made the most High our habitation...the Day when the Feet shall stand on Zion...the Day of speaking with a pure tongue, yea, even the language of our Everlasting Father.

"If you should hear the voice of orthodoxy saying, 'But there are many things that first must be,' let it not dishearten you, rather let it strengthen your vision and press you onward toward the Perfect Day. There are, indeed, many things that shall occur upon the earth within earth's range of time. We do not belong to time as such; we belong to the Father's Time, to that invisible dimension, to that City whose builder and maker is God. Our vision goes beyond today and tomorrow, it reaches out to the Day of the Lord. Though battles rage and beasts appear, though death and darkness fill the air, and kingdoms fall and nations fail, and kings of earth are no more; yet, there is a plane where sons do dwell...at the right hand of the Glory Lamb. Where He goes, they too must go, and when He shall appear, they too shall appear, and when He reigns, they too shall reign...for they were faithful and passed, with boldness, into the Father's Time; they heard what mortal ears could not, or perhaps would not hear; they answered and were taken there..." -- end quote.

Those who are spiritual, having eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand, know that God is now beginning to do a new thing in the earth. God is now moving by His Spirit to restore all things beyond any work He has ever done in the past. The new order of the Kingdom of God over the nations is now replacing the old church order of the past, bringing to pass in the earth a new Day in the purposes of God for this world. This new order has begun within God's elect by the establishment of the Present Truth in their minds, hearts, and natures. This Day begins in those who are called to establish the new order in the earth.

The Day of the Lord is one continuous Day known only to the Lord, but it dawns upon different territories as it moves along in God's purposes. The natural earth-day is one continuous day, for it is always day somewhere in the world. The day is not only arriving each morning, it has always been in existence since God spoke the command, "Let there be light!" The day never really begins or ends, it simply moves across the earth bringing its light and warmth to different areas throughout a twenty-four hour period. Likewise, the Day of the Lord is an eternal, never-ending Day, nor did it ever have a beginning. The Day of the Lord has no darkness in it. It shines and illuminates continuously. The Day of the Lord is the light that He is, for God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. The beginning of a day means the ending of night, but in a realm where there is not, nor ever has been, darkness, day has no beginning and no ending -- it is Eternal Day. This Day of the Lord had its beginning for us when it arrived in our experience, to shine upon the territory of our lives. No man knows when this Day begins apart from a revelation from the Lord, for it is the brilliance which He is. He reveals this Day to those who are given eyes to see. It is now time for the NATIONS to come to our light, and KINGS to the brightness of our rising (Isa. 60:1-3). That is the next step in the Day of the Lord.

Some time ago I read a book titled "Einstein's God." It is a book that delves deeply into Albert Einstein's concept of the Theory of Relativity. One thing that stood out to me was that Einstein believed that there is no future and there is no past. He claimed that the distinction between past, present, and future is only an illusion, however persistent. Time, said Einstein, is not at all what it seems. It does not flow in only one direction, and the future enters simultaneously with the past. He concluded that within time, there is only NOW. Everything that ever will be exists only in the now.

Let me explain how this works. Let's imagine that they are having a great parade through your city. So you go downtown early and put up your little chair on the sidewalk in front of the hardware store. You have the perfect vantage point from which to view the parade as it passes by. The hour arrives and you begin to hear the beating of the drums, the tramping of the feet, and the noise of the wheels and you know that the parade is approaching. Soon the floats begin to pass before your vision. But you see, there are people all around, thousands of people standing and sitting on the sidewalk and curb. There you are in your little seat and the only thing you can see is the one float, or perhaps two, that are right there in front of you. So one by one, by one, you watch the floats pass by. Soon there are a number of floats that are in the past -- they have already rounded the corner and passed out of sight. There are some floats that are in the future because they are still far down the street, and you can't see them yet. You are like a horse with blinders. All you see is that little portion right there in front of you. That is your present, your now. Those out of sight are in your past, and those still on their way are in your future.

Now let's suppose that you make your way up to the top of a three-story building. You perch yourself there on the edge of the roof and you have another view of the parade. In that instant past and future pass away, because now you see the whole thing at once! You see the float that is down in front of the chair you were sitting in. But you also see all the floats that already passed by and all of those still coming up the street. You see the whole parade at the same time, and there is no past or present -- the entire parade is in YOUR NOW! If you get high enough you see it all at once and the whole parade, from beginning to end, and before the beginning, and after the end -- is all NOW! This is where we touch God. This is where we meet eternity. This is where we discover the mystery of immortality. This is the great mystery of life and reality. This is where we converge with the Eternal Day of God. The past and the future are the present for the Lord. In the high realm of the Spirit there is only now. When you get high enough there is no past or future, everything that ever happened or ever shall happen is in God's Eternal Now. If you are sitting on your little chair in front of the hardware store, that will blow your mind. But the LORD SAYS, "I AM that I AM." God IS, and He changes not. God dwells in that light that no (carnal) man can approach unto. He lives in His Eternal Day, the Day of the Lord.

The Light shines in the darkness of this world at this very moment, and it shall yet shine to dispel all darkness from all realms, bringing Eternal Day. There shall be no more night! Speaking of the light of Christ John wrote, "The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not" (Jn. 1:5). That word "comprehend" is an unfortunate translation. And a wiseacre did not help it by rendering it, "and the darkness was not able to put it out." That is no translation at all. The word in the Greek is katelaben, meaning actually "to take down." It is the picture of a secretary to whom the boss is giving dictation, and she stops and says, "I can't take that down, I am not able to take it down." The light shines in darkness and the darkness is not able to take it in. That is it exactly! Someone said to me, "Man, was I in darkness before I met Christ! And I don't know why I didn't see." And after we met Christ, held captive in the blindness of the carnal church systems, there was still so much we didn't see! Well, that is it, we were in darkness and we did not see. Just as walls keep out the sunlight, so the denseness of the carnal mind evades the penetrating light of the Spirit. The darkness just cannot take it in!

Thank God, there is a time for the darkness to be chased away. You go into a room and the minute you switch on the light, the darkness leaves, it disappears. Darkness and light cannot exist together, although they do exist side by side. Darkness and light, night and day, co-exist side by side on planet earth. While it is day time here in the United States of America it is night time in China. We are working in the day while the Chinese are sleeping in the night. The astronauts see both day and night at the same time as they circle in their orbit high above the earth. There you have light and darkness side by side and the darkness just cannot take it in. But the sunlight moves across the earth and the darkness is swallowed up. In like manner, when God's time comes for a man, a woman, a people, or a nation to be brought into the light, He has only to bring the light to shine upon them, and the darkness flees away. The hour is wonderfully nigh at hand when the sons of God shall shine their light upon the nations of earth! The darkness of all people shall be dispelled and billions shall come to the full light of God's Christ. Only the sovereign revelation of the Lord by His Spirit can accomplish this, and it shall be done.

It was when the prophet Joel beheld this Day in Spirit that he exclaimed, "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible (awesome) Day of the Lord come" (Joel 2:31). This doesn't mean that the literal, physical sun up in the heavens, ninety-three million miles from earth, is going to nova and go dark. If it does, we're all dead! There won't be even a cinder of earth left floating through space. And if the sun could somehow go dark without exploding, we would be plunged into an instant ice age the likes of which planet earth has never seen. Nor does it mean that the moon which graces the night sky with its beauty is going to turn into literal, physical blood. This is symbolic language! What does it mean when it says the sun shall be turned into darkness? The sun is our natural light. It is the natural source of all life. Without the sun we would be in total darkness and instant death. Should the sun of our solar system go out an icy coldness would grip us and we would all be dead before we could get to the door -- that's how terrible and catastrophic the event would be.

The figure speaks of light turning to darkness. Natural light, figuratively and metaphorically, bespeaks of human understanding, intellect, reasoning. The moon speaks of reflected light, that which has no light of its own, turning to blood. Blood is a symbol of life -- "the life is in the blood" (Lev. 17:11). Spiritually we have a lot of reflected light in signs, symbols, rituals, ceremonies, ordinances, rules, commandments, creeds, doctrines and programs. None of these have any light of themselves, they merely reflect the light of God and truth and reality. Water baptism, for example, is merely an outward symbol or reflected light of that true baptism into the death of Christ whereby our sins are carried away into the sea of forgetfulness. The Lord's supper or communion is but an outward symbol or reflected light of the deep spiritual experience whereby we eat the flesh (word) of Christ and drink His blood (spirit) in truth and reality. We read of the woman in chapter twelve of the Revelation who has the moon under her feet. SHE IS LIVING IN THE REALM ABOVE ALL TYPES AND SHADOWS AND SYMBOLS, ABOVE ALL REFLECTED LIGHT, CLOTHED WITH THE SPLENDOR OF THE NOONDAY SUN, THE MAJESTY AND GLORY OF THE LIVING CHRIST. She has risen above the outward shadows! Few Christians or churches in this world have touched that realm! This woman, the virgin bride of Christ, dwells in a heavenly place in the dazzling glory of spiritual understanding, reality and power. Only the woman thus clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, is able to birth the manchild, the manifested sons of God. The sons of God are not birthed out of the carnal, earth-bound religious systems of men who are ruled by the reflected light of the moon. Coming out of Babylon was not our birth into sonship. Oh, no! It is only in the high place of pure spiritual experience that the life of sonship is conceived and brought to birth.

The Spirit of God is speaking to us today that in order to enter into this new Day of the Lord the natural light, the natural source of life, all of our carnal, letter-of-the-word, religious understanding which we have put upon the word of God and the things of God, must be turned into darkness. There is no hope for it! It has no spiritual illumination in it, nor can it quicken us or produce within us any spiritual seed of life. That natural light must be turned off! We must be clothed upon with the glory of the Living Christ! And the moon -- all those reflective ordinances, rituals, creeds, religious works, programs, and activities -- must be turned to blood, brought to life within us, so that we are made partakers of the reality, having no need any more for the shadow. Instead of the cold, reflective light that only rules over us in the night time darkness of our walk as carnal Christians, the Lord is now bringing His elect into the hot, throbbing, pulsating, radiating, penetrating LIGHT OF LIFE. Ah, our sun shall be fully turned into darkness, and our moon into blood, before that great and notable Day of the Lord comes in our lives! The natural light of the carnal understanding must pass away, while the typical and symbolic must be spiritually fulfilled within each of us. This is how the Day of the Lord is now dawning in our hearts! This is the process by which the Day of God arises upon us in our experience!

The Day of the Lord is the Light of Christ illuminating the earth realm. Christ is both the light and the life. Sweet mystery of life, at last we have found Thee! And we have found that Thou, O Christ, art the light of life, not life like the life of men, but everlasting life, the life of the ages. "For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:17). Much more shall we reign! When? Where? How? How long? A day? A thousand years? During the millennium? In heaven? In Jerusalem? In the sweet by and by? No -- IN LIFE! "...shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." To reign in life is to reign in light; to reign in light is to reign in the Day of the Lord; to reign in the Day of the Lord is to reign for a thousand years in the symbology of scripture. God has given us authority by the life of Christ raised up within us, and in and by that life we are destined to reign in the Kingdom.

"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the NATIONS shall come to thy light, and KINGS to the brightness of thy rising. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The City of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel" (Isa. 60:1-3,14).

God is raising up Christ in a people as the Light of Life. The elect of the Lord is the illumination of the Day of the Lord. Just as Jesus stood on the mount of Transfiguration and went through that chrysalis metamorphosis and His astonished disciples saw His face shine as the sun, and His raiment as white as the light, and His whole being radiating the glory of God, so God is bringing many sons to that same glory, and this time the whole world will see the light, and all nations will come to your light. That's how the Kingdom of God is coming upon the nations in this hour of transition into the next age. God is coming in a light that cannot be hid, and kings shall see that brightness and that rising upon all the holy sons of God. They will want that light, hunger for that truth, yearn for that reality, and thirst for that life, and they will come to it and the NATIONS of them that shall be saved will walk in the light radiating from the City of God.

You, my beloved, will be called upon by presidents, kings, prime ministers, lawyers, educators, doctors, business leaders, and great men of the nations for the Lord shall bring heaven to earth and stand it up in a people. The word that flows out of this people will be channeled out of the throne room of heaven, it will be the mind of God, it will be the mind of Christ, it will be a more sure word of prophecy, it will be a creative word that changes and transforms all things. There shall be a wonderful, glorious, equitable outpouring of the Spirit of God on men and women, boys and girls, and little children -- the fire, the glory, and the power -- and the whole world is going to see this thing. It will no longer be necessary to go out there in the energy of the flesh, knock on every door, mobilize, organize, and by carnal methods and religious techniques try to get the world saved. A brother of perception once said to a large church crusade, "There are hundreds of people here tonight who have pulled your loved ones by the ears into the Kingdom of God. And all you have accomplished is lop-eared loved ones!" Ah, when God arises, when God does His strange act, your loved ones, your friends, your neighbors, your associates, your enemies will fall all over you getting to God. All they need is the divine revelation of the love and glory and majesty of God and they will come to your rising and run to your glory!

The natural light of the world is the sun, and the sun brings the day. THOSE WHO ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD ARE THE DAY OF THE LORD! Nothing could be plainer than that. We who are of the Day, and are not lovers or sleepers of the night, have a high heritage. "For ye were one time darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as sons of light" (Eph. 5:8). "While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the sons of light" (Jn. 12:36). "Ye are all the sons of the light, and the sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of the darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others..." (I Thes. 5:5-6). We who have received the love of the truth and have been made the light of the world have a higher calling. We have privileges, and duties to perform. We must be about our Father's business! There must be a parting of the ways with all who walk in the night of sin, negativism, religious bondage and spiritual drunkenness. It is time to forsake the shame and error of former carnal and religious realms, and time to look up, time to arise and shine.

The Day is at hand! The night is far spent. We must go forth and lead the way for all who will follow. The Day of the Lord begins with those who are enlightened, cleansed of all error, bondage, and carnality, and clothed upon with the glory of Christ's presence, mind, and nature. The Day of the Lord begins with those who have eyes to see the true purposes of God for this hour, and commit themselves to walk therein. There is glory and power and rejoicing and praise ahead for those who walk in the light of this new Day. This is the Day of deliverance, not bondage. The bands are broken. Christ is conqueror. He reigns! We are not expecting the Antichrist nor the Great Tribulation, for we have met the Christ, we have heard His heart, we have beheld His glory, and have been made one with His purposes. His hosts are invincible, and we are those hosts. Our coronation draws nigh. We are the City foursquare, the heavenly Jerusalem, and mount Zion where the King reigns gloriously. The Kingdom of God is within us! Its glory overshadows us! Its light emanates from us! Those who are born of this Word of the Kingdom are now standing on new Kingdom ground.

What is light? No one has ever seen pure light, or even sunlight, for light is invisible. Those things which we see are really only the objects that are revealed by light. You and I do not see light, we only see that which reflects the light. Remove the objects and we would see nothing. Even what we perceive in our atmosphere as sunlight, or in our houses as light, is not really light, but those things within our atmosphere and in the room where you now sit, which reflect the light. Light is invisible. Light cannot be seen! That is why 'outer space' consists of vast reaches of complete darkness, unless interrupted by some planetary body revealed by some source of light. Truly did the apostle write, "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." And just as truly it is written, "No man has seen God at any time." You don't see light, therefore you cannot see God, for God is light! That is why God has channeled Himself through Jesus Christ, for in Jesus is revealed all the essence of God in visible form. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus is to God what a light bulb is to electricity. Electricity is invisible, but channeled through the bulb the energy becomes revealed and expressed in a visible way, a way that we perceive as light. As members of the Christ body, the light that God is, is also channeled through us. God is invisible, but expressed through His people on earth He is perceived by the world in all the glory of His attributes and power.

The Father is now appearing within His chosen sons, imparting the light that He is within them. By His light within, we shall dispel the darkness of this dark world. He is awakening us to the new Day in which we now live. We are like light bulbs that have just been screwed into the light socket. God is now ready to appear in His saints in the greatest manifestation of His glory ever! He shall shine throughout the earth in a brilliance that will outshine a thousand noonday suns. By His glorious appearing in us, the Day of the Lord shall come in the full brilliance of the glory of Christ, to turn this long, dark night into endless Day. When the Day of the Lord has fully risen, all shall be awakened, illuminated, and quickened by His Light of Glory. In the Day of the Lord there is no night! There is no darkness! That means the light illuminates all things and all men, for only by the reflection of the light is the darkness dispelled. The realm of darkness no longer exists for those who walk in the light as He is in the light. The church and the world shall be transformed, and this old earth of ours shall become the Paradise of God. I tell you the truth, I lie not. The Day is at hand! Rejoice and arise, oh ye sons of the most High! The glorious dawn is now painting the eastern sky, and the river of God is full of water!

Some people have asked me, "Brother Eby, don't you believe in the devil?" No! I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. "Don't you believe in the power of the devil?" they persist. Some people do, and they are under that power. They believe in the power of the devil, they believe he exists everywhere, behind every bush, in every circumstance, at every church meeting, in every sickness and trouble, everywhere all the time the devil is fighting them, tempting them, opposing them, hindering them, trying to trip, ensnare, discourage, and defeat them. And no matter how many times they rebuke him, bind him, and cast him out, he always pops right back just like the roadrunner in the cartoons. For them the devil is a power to constantly be reckoned with.

"Do you believe in witchcraft?" people inquire. No! I'm not afraid of voodoo or any other kind of darkness. No one can cast a spell on me. That has nothing to do with me. "Oh, but Brother Eby, don't you stand in awe of the power of darkness?" No, I don't. I stand in awe of the greatness of THE LIGHT! Darkness is but the absence of the light. How can light fear darkness, or attribute to it any power? "Don't you believe that as the people of God we ought to stand against the darkness, fight the darkness, pray and plead the blood against the darkness?" NO!!! Turn on the Light. That is the only cure for darkness! For darkness to cast a spell on me, or do anything to me, would be like trying to get a duck wet with a water hose. Darkness has no power over light, but light has total power over darkness.

Darkness has no power except that which we give to it. When I was a child we had a pitcher pump from which we got all our water. The pump was down the hill just a little way from the house. At night my mother would often send me to get a bucket of water from the pump. I was always afraid of the dark. To my childish mind the darkness was full of unseen dangers, wicked men, monsters, ghosts, and dreadful creatures of all kinds. They were right there ready to snatch me. They were behind the trees and hanging from the branches. They were in front of me and behind me. I would turn around and around and around all the way to the pump and back to the house, trying to face all the spooks at the same time. None of them ever touched or harmed me and, of course, as soon as the sun rose in the morning they were all gone. The fact is -- they were never there! They existed only in my mind and possessed only the power my imagination gave them. And the light is the only power on earth that could chase them away!

My beloved brethren, know ye not that ye are the light of the world? Brother Bennie Skinner once gave the following illustration. What if I came into your house at night and it was totally dark, and I found you standing in the corner saying, "I curse this darkness, I rebuke this darkness, I command this darkness to go!" I come in and you say, "Brother Bennie, please join me in prayer. We're going to curse this darkness together. We're going to break the power of this darkness." I reply, "We're going to do what?" "We're going to curse this darkness that is in this room. This darkness has caused me to bump into things, I tripped and fell, I bruised and cut my face and nearly broke my arm. This darkness is so dreadful, depressing, and threatening!" Without a word I reach over, feel along the wall, find the light switch, and flip it on. Instantly the room is flooded with light. Every thing in it becomes visible. The danger, depression, and fear are all gone. What happened to the darkness? WE JUST TURNED ON THE LIGHT! That's all that is necessary to defeat the darkness. You are the light of the world! Turn on the light! Ah, as soon as we know this, when we truly understand that we are sons of The Light, then the darkness is past, and the true light NOW SHINES (I Jn.. 2:8). All creation is waiting for the manifestation of the SONS OF LIGHT! Know the reality and power of the Light within your own experience, my beloved brother, sister, and you will be ready to enlighten this darkened world.

To be continued...

J. PRESTON EBY

PART 52

PART 54