The Pathfinder, Elwin & Margit Roach, PO Box 4004, Alamogordo, NM 88311-4004

The Apocalypse

Part 14

Oracles of God

Publication #216
 

"...Out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices...." "And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee..." Revelation 4:5 & Exodus 25:22.

It is this majestic throne that symbolizes the highest form of dominion, power, rule, and authority, and it is from this royal station that the King of kings speaks and conducts His official business. That sovereign business is symbolized by the natural wonders to which we are so accustomed, and in symbolic terms they proceed from this high and most holy realm.

There was a time, quite some years ago, that we imagined these spectacular displays would hale from a place in the starry skies of outer-space. This, we thought, as did those who tutored us, would come from somewhere beyond the Milky Way, or perhaps from the Orion nebula which is one of the spiraling arms of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Somewhat closer, yet still a long way off.

Whichever scenario one would choose, the awesome powers of God’s wrath could be seen as streaming down from several light years away, breaking open our eastern skies like a shattered plate-glass window from a kids baseball that was intended for a home run. During those early months of our trek through the streets, avenues, highways, byways and sometimes alley-ways of our new-found religious life, very often we saw things on the natural plane. Everything was as physical as our ground-formed, fleshly bodies. What else could we have done? For this was a new thing for us, a new walk, a new life that we had never known. And most to which we could relate was that of the former life; but the new life was taking over, possessing us, and having dominion from the Throne. Thus the thunderings, lightnings, and voices! Hallelujah! What an apocalypse! The beginning of the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ in us! We were never the same, and, praise God, never will be!

It is within our inner-space, not out there somewhere, but in here that we saw the lightnings, thunderings, and voices, and likewise with the entire corporate body of Christ. The fact is, it takes place in the same heaven where Jesus was when His feet were planted firmly upon terra firma, the ground; and in spite of this, He said that He was in heaven. (rf. John 3:13 & 14:3).

Such resounding manifestations within the body of Christ are beyond natural comprehension. The mind of man cannot grasp that which is so high and can only be described in human terms of things he knows, such as lightnings, thunderings, and voices that are personified from the Throne of God! At first they are unveiled, seen, and heard by those who are one with Jesus Christ and His Throne, but when the time is right, those many voices will thunder the same to the world and open every soul to our Lord's rapturous glory to bring about godly sorrow that works repentance unto salvation.

That was the order of things in the Tabernacle of the Old Testament. The Spirit of God called the Oracle would deliver His words that were called oracles to the high priests who became oracles. The high priest would then go out and speak to the people those living oracles of judgment, power, and authority while being tempered with mercy.

It is quite easily seen why the lid of the Ark of the Covenant was called the Mercy Seat; for both the lid and the Ark pointed to Jesus in every way. The acacia wood symbolized His humanity that was overlaid with the gold of His deity. The Law inside the Ark represented His Father which would indicate that Jesus had Him in His heart. This, of course, enabled Him to live by nature in perfect harmony with every aspect of the Law. The pot of manna, of course, spoke of Jesus as the Bread of Life, and Aaron's rod that budded foretold His resurrection.

The Mercy Seat was the place of God's merciful judgment for Israel's sins, and everything that had to do with the law of Moses found its focal point therein. That Seat of Authority was in the center of everything. For instance, the tabernacle was located in the center of the camp of the twelve tribes. The Holy of holies was in the center of the curtains, which was the outer wall. And the Mercy Seat, or Throne, was centered in the Holy of holies. Therefore, the Seat for meeting with the invisible God was in the center of it all. And as the Holy Place was made for the Most Holy Place, the Most Holy Place was made for the purpose of housing the Throne of Mercy.

It would be good to note that the Mercy Seat was not a seat with which we are generally familiar. When the King James Version of the Bible was translated into English, the word to them meant the center or origin of a thing. Such as, in New Mexico, and as in most other states, there are County Seats (Louisiana has Parish Seats). Everyone knows that these Seats are not chairs in which to sit, but origins and centers of County governments. The Seats of the governors of those states are not chairs in any sense of the imagination, nor is the Seat of the President a plush, leather covered chair stationed behind his 1880 Resolute desk. The seat of any government is the central point of its origin. And likewise with the Mercy Seat! It was the central point of mercy, the place where mercy originated!

In the book of Hebrews it is called the Throne of Grace: "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrew 4:16. The Throne of Grace, the Mercy Seat, was made of pure gold which is typical of God, and Jesus was the express image of God. He manifested His nature in word and deed. With this, it is easily seen that this throne, the Mercy Seat, is a perfect type of Jesus Christ.

Mercy Seat is used one time in the New Testament: "And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly." Hebrews 9:5. It comes from the Greek word hilastrion. It is only found three other times, and translated propitiation. It had to do with the propitiation of our sins as well as the whole world (rf. 1 John 2:2, 4:10). The other instance is Romans 3:25, "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past..."

Jesus Christ is "the propitiation" for our sins, and the writer of Hebrews called it "the mercyseat." What we have then, is that Jesus Christ was, is, and will be the Mercy Seat for us and all of humanity as long as there is any sin anywhere in the universe! Praise God that there is a time when there will be no more sin; for when the root of all sorrow, tears, pain, and death, which is sin, has been destroyed by the fire of God, all those horrid things vanish to be no more as we read in Revelation 21:4.

Our gracious Lord became the center of God's mercy toward us and the world. It is from there that He is Alpha and Omega of mercy. It originates in Him, and as with all things, it ends in Him. So let us praise God that we have "... a merciful and faithful high priest...to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Hebrews 2:17.

I remember reading or hearing someone say, "God's age of grace is about to end. He will be evacuating His body from the planet, and after He snatches them away there will be no more mercy for those left behind." Such as men's wishful dreams are, this will never happen! It is not scriptural! It is not remotely part of God's plan! And it is totally contrary to His character and nature. Should God ever abandon His Mercy, He would have to abandon His Throne of Mercy as well, which is Jesus Christ and who is the Merciful High Priest.

This, you can take to the bank: God is not removing His Holy Spirit from the earth and leaving everything to the devil, as it is commonly preached. The day of grace is not on the threshold of ending. The door of mercy is not about close. The fact is, we have only seen a fraction of grace and mercy in comparison to what will be coming. Just wait and take note of what the sons of God will be raining upon creation that eagerly awaits their glorious manifestation. This great company of kings and priests who are after the order of Melchisedec will truly be an apocalypse of Jesus Christ's mercy, grace, and power to creation. Moreover, it will not end with this or the coming age, but will continue throughout the ages to come. Due to the very purpose and nature of our God's love, grace, and mercy, the Son of His express image, and those of His body, this love, grace, and mercy will be shed abroad to all until all things are made new.

Truly, we have only had a fore-taste of God's mercy and grace which are centered in Jesus Christ; yet there is more, much more. Through the vast ages to come, He will continue to unfold these unfathomable treasures, manifesting them through His vessels of mercy. This is a sure thing that will be freighted by the power of unmerited love. It will pour down from the Throne until the fullness of God and His Christ is revealed to all and in all, even until God becomes All in all! And the oracles of God have a major role in bringing it to pass as they interface with Him. In chemistry an interface is something that forms a common ground between two things, two objects, or liquids.

Therefore, the Oracle is the interface between God and man, Eternity and time, Heaven and earth, Spirit and man. It is here that they all meet and become one. The Oracle is that common ground for opposite entities and realms to have communion. On a very simple plane, soap is an oracle; for its influence on oil and water enables them to mix and become one solution.

Regardless of the realm, oracles are the means by which interaction is experienced, and it is herein where divine expression is first known. It is by this Oracle, the Word, that God projects Himself into another dimension, into a dimension where He can be seen, touched, and heard. It is from here, the Mercy Throne of God, that lightnings, thunderings, and voices proceed in order to set the sons of God in order and then the world.

Everything that God is--whether it is His thoughts, His intent, His will, His power, His authority, His love--it is contained in His Word which is His Oracle that expressly speaks. Paul certainly knew something of this: "For of (Grk ek, out of) Him, and through Him, and to (Grk. eis, into) Him are all things." Romans 11:36. The apostle summed up very well in this short verse what Ray Prinzing termed as the law of circularity, and I know of no simpler way it could have been said. For truly, out of Him, through Him, and back into Him are all things. The ALL that came out of Him by the sound of His word will proceed through Him, and this is by His word which is fire, and the ALL will return back into Him from where it came. Nothing lost, nothing wasted, but ALL made new and drawn back into Him through Jesus Christ!

It is in and by the Oracle alone that time and eternity meet, that God and man become one. It is from this union that man acquires divinity and God robes Himself with flesh. Man becomes God and God becomes man, and this God/man amalgamation takes place in and around the Throne of Grace. The lightnings and thunderings and voices that proceed from that most Holy Oracle are seen, experienced, and heard by those who have overcome and are caught up to that throne and their Father. This is a revelation, an apocalypse to the Sons of God, those who are made after the order of Melchisedec the great king of Peace and priest of the Most High. One might think that time should stand still once we enter this heavenly bliss; for who wouldn't desire to bask in such a glory filled place for ever? But it is not to be, dear sojourners and God's firstfruits of all His creation. Not by any means! Although you will go no more out from that place within your spirit, you must be those lightnings, thunderings, and voices to those of the earth. You must be as the high priests of old. You must become those oracles and then descend to the earth from the Holy of holies. You must go into the midst of those who await you and those who hate you. If not, you will be of no value to them as the firstfruits of what they are to become. To be of any spiritual worth whatsoever, you must descend. You must keep looking down. "Down," you say! Yes indeed--down; for if you are looking up, you are the one in dire need; but if you are looking down, you are upon the Throne of Grace and can help those in their day of sorrow and of human affliction. For instance, where would we be today if Jesus had never descended to our lowly state of death? Most miserable!

"And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven...the Son of man which is in heaven." John 3:13.

We hear much today about ascending into heaven, going to heaven, caught up to heaven, raptured into the clouds of heaven, and living forever in heaven. Not much is said, however, about descending from those Elysian fields of heaven, and we can see why. With the final goal being the everlasting paradise of heaven for practically every believer, most would not embrace the idea of ever leaving it regardless of what their belief might be about that long-sought-after place.

The first time the Hebrew word, yarad, is used, from which comes the word descend or come down, is in Genesis 11:5. This was after men were building the tower to heaven, and the Lord came down (descended) to see the city and tower the children of men were building. He descended, confused their tongues, and scattered them upon the face of the earth (Genesis 11:6-9).

Yarad is used throughout the scriptures, and generally speaks of moving from a higher position to a lower one, such as when water descends downward in a river, a person descends a stairway, or makes his descent from a mountain. There is no great significance in most of the verses where the word is used in a generalized manner. It merely indicates a move from a higher place to a lower one. However, when it is used in reference to God, His messengers, or other things from heaven's embrace, the descent always affects the earth in some way or another. The effects can be profoundly severe, leaving individuals and nations shaken to the core, or they can come as unbridled blessings, ushering them into wonders unknown. It can be as refreshing as spring showers descending upon thirsty gardens or as hail that destroys autumn fields ripe for harvest. Each of these heavenly descenders affects and brings change to the earth upon which it falls, and so do those things that descend from the Throne.

God's descent can come as a voice. Very often it will announce marvelous promises which affect the hearer by building faith that will stand against all odds. For instance, a promise was given to Jacob when "...he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the *angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the LORD stood beside him and said, I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring." Genesis 28:12-13.

[*angels: 4397. mal'ak...to dispatch as a deputy; a messenger; spec. of God, i.e. an angel (also a prophet, priest or teacher). (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance).]

Joseph, a type of Jesus, descended into Egypt, and his going down blessed the whole world. "And Joseph was brought down (yarad) to Egypt..." Genesis 39:1. We need not recount his many trying years as a slave and a prisoner; we know the story well. However, due to his descent--the whole world was saved, even those who crucified him, as it were.

Jesus, likewise, descended from His Father's house and into a hostile environment. And the whole world will be saved because of Him descending into that world of death. He then descended in the grave, ministered to those in hell, and led captivity captive. Joseph descended into Egypt, a type of Jesus descending into the world, and he saved their world. Joseph and Jesus are only two examples of how the descent of the Holy affects everything and everyone. If those things relative to the holy heavens of God never descend, there will never be a change in the world. It will never get better but will only get worse due to the law of sin and death. Therefore, our thoughts should not be so much on going to heaven, but descending from there.

It is not wrong, of course, to desire the paradise of heaven and all it has to offer. That has been every man's quest since the day of Adam's downward fall, and it has been God's ultimate will for all as well; but once the Kingdom of heaven is embraced, we may have to leave the comfort of that blissful place. Yet, the assurance is, when we do leave, we take it with us. That is what Adam failed to do. Rather than taking the Kingdom of the Garden into the world with him and subduing it thereby, he left it and was subdued by the world.

Nevertheless, once we know where we sit, and the time of lightnings, thunderings, and voices come, it is then that the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ will be known, and the world will be changed. Those who are one with the Throne of Mercy and Grace will manifest heaven on earth and turn it once again upside down.

When heaven's hosts descend to the earth, it can be traumatic to those upon whom it descends as well as the descenders. It can be as it was with Joseph when he descended into the pit and then to Egypt. He suffered greatly, and during the time Jesus graced this earth and shook the world to its core, He also suffered greatly (Hebrews 2:18, 5:8, 13:12). Yes, indeed, the sons of God shall know what it is to descend and to suffer; for you see, the world, especially the religious world, does not want such regal beings coming down. They already have trees cut, crosses hewn, spikes forged, and all are made ready for any man from heaven who might invade their dark kingdoms of religion, commerce, and politics.

I can tell you with all assurance, my friends, the more you descend into the earth, the more you will suffer reproach and bleed. Even right now there are some who would kill you if they could. And that should be no great surprise; for you have threatened their welfare by descending into their world. You have shaken and set on fire their high mountains, and they don't like it. Moreover, once you descend into the depth of their very being, into to the core and caverns of their base minds and dark souls--they will rise with all the fury of hell against you.

There will be no just cause for their waves of hatred, threats, and lies; but your presence alone will be enough, and the more you love them, the more they will hate and try to kill you. Some of you already know this, and you are left bewildered at the madness of it all. Your every attempt to reason with them has failed, and nothing you can say or do will calm their storm. Where a soft word once turned away wrath, it only enrages it until it is ultimately broken and consumed in the flames of God's presence.

It must be clear by now that this is a spiritual war, one on one and also corporately, and such an enemy will not relent. It is not yet opened in full force, yet I believe the day is swiftly approaching when there will be a mass assault upon the sons of God, and please be assured--if you cannot run today with the footmen, how then can you contend with the horses? Jeremiah 12:5.

If, however, we are not wearied with the individual footmen, and we rise to the occasion and cast the serpent out of those self-exalted heavens and rout out the demons of their dogmas and political correctness, we shall do well in that great day when the dragon and all his marauding messengers are cast out. Yet, we must know that the greatest victory comes first in casting them out of our own heavens, especially the dragon of religion and all its damnable doctrines of spiritual bondage. It is then that salvation, and power, and the authority of Christ in His Kingdom will forever be known. It is then that we can descend into the earth and move and dissolve those tremendous mountains of oppression.

Once our heavens are made secure, once the dragon and his hoards have no longer a seat of power, we who ascended to that Throne of Grace can then descend and shake the earth, rattle men's powers, and roll over their carnal kingdoms. Our presence will ignite everything that can be kindled. The mountains of men--flesh, carnality, humanism, legalism, left-wing right-wing politics, and religion from beneath--shall burn and tremble in the presence of heaven's descenders, the mighty oracles of God. We can see it as being akin to mount Sinai when the LORD descended upon it:

"And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly....and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness." Exodus 19:18, Deuteronomy 4:11.

When our God in any form or fashion descends upon the mountain of man--there is a great change! It disrupts foundations and kingdoms fall. It ignites the weeds, the grass, the straw, as well as the wood, the hay, and the stubble, not to mention all the trees of the field. Every phase and facet of man burns. The whole lump goes up in smoke, leaving nothing but charred mountains of ashes and valleys laden over with rubble. The kingdoms of men become extinct when the Throne's holy oracles descend with lightning, thunder, and voices. None can stand in their presence and live as they had before!

"Wait ye upon Me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for My decision is to gather the nations, to draw together the kingdoms, to pour upon them My indignation, even all My fierce anger. For all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My zeal. Yea, then will I turn unto the people a pure language, that they may call upon the Lord, to serve Him with one consent." Zephaniah 3:8-9.

The descending (pouring forth) of indignation and fierce anger is by no means passive. It is not as the sons have been in the past, as a gentle rain, a chiding spark, or flickering flame; no, not by any stretch of the imagination! It is an inferno of power, of intense judgments! God who is merciful and full of grace who will go to any depth, height, or extreme to save and transform His creation. This has been the divine purpose from before the foundation of the world, and it is going according to that purpose.

The oracles He sends down are filled with the fiery blaze of lightning, the roar of thunder, and the terrible voices of God's zeal. They represent the intensity of God's dealings, His passion toward His creation, and severe redemptive judgment upon the whole world. These flashes of lightning and flaming words that set the heavens and the earth on fire are not literal fire, of course. This is obvious, since people remain after the firestorm, and they are blessed. You see, after the earth is devoured by the fire of God's zeal, "...Then will I turn unto the people a *pure language, that they may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent."

[*pure pure language: a living word of ever increasing revelation and uncontaminated by human touch or traditions.]

The prophet was relating how all the nations and kingdoms, those of the entire earth, will be drawn together and devoured (eaten, Heb.) with fire. One might think that to devour or consume something either by eating or burning would totally destroy it, leaving nothing, not even a molecule. However, even in the world of science, we learned that nothing can be absolutely destroyed. We know that the appearance can be altered, that its molecular structure can be changed, the electrons and protons of its atomic makeup can be separated (fission) or joined (fusion). Things coming in contact with the energy released by those two actions will be dissolved, vaporized, and perhaps disappear from sight; but their elements still remain. They merely took on a different state of existence. A less intense form of dissolving can be seen with a cube of sugar being dropped into a hot cup of water as it is being stirred. It won't be long until the sugar is dissolved. Its form is destroyed as it disappears totally from view, but not from taste, and this is because it still remains. It has not been annihilated, brought to nothing, taken out of existence. The sugar cube has simply been changed. It has been dissolved, that is, loosed from its former shape and texture to take on another shape and texture, sweet water, and by tasting that the water is sweet is testimony enough to know that the sugar was not utterly destroyed.

"Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be *dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 2 Peter 3:11-12.

[*dissolved: Grk. lu, to "loosen" (literally or figuratively). KJV translates the word as: break (up), destroy, dissolve, (un-) loose, melt, put off. (Strong's Exh. Conc.)]

Jesus used the same Greek word, lu, after He raised Lazarus from the dead. With His friend being bound in grave clothes from head to foot, He said, "Loose him, and let him go." John 11:34. Both words, dissolved and loose, come from lu. So what does this tell us? That Lazarus was to be dissolved? Of course not, but loosed, as the verse says, and so it is with the heavens. Namely, the heavens that rule over the world will be dissolved, loosed. The powers of the world kingdoms and the world itself will be loosed from their grave clothes. When the heavens, the world, and carnal thing in them are dissolved by lightnings, thunderings, and fiery voices, every vestige of sin and death will be loosed from every creature and authority. These powers descending from the Mercy Seat, that is, the Throne of Grace, will dissolve the clothing of death from creation and loose them from all things human: sorrow, suffering, worry, hatred, fear, ignorance, disease, perversion, poverty, all bondage, and especially death. Creation will be loosed and enter into the new and glorious state of being in Jesus Christ.

Every realm of the heavens and the earth, both spiritual and natural will be dissolved/loosed, but they won't be annihilated. For any of God's creatures to be annihilated is foreign to Him. For instance, how could and/or why would He take something of Himself, from where all things come, and annihilate it? Since nothing can be utterly destroyed, brought to extinction, it is absurd to think that God would annihilate any portion of His being. No, there will never be anything that God created totally obliterated and done away with completely and without leaving a trace.

However, He is very much in the business of changing things into new forms, conditions, and natures. He first changes things downward and then He changes them upward; such as, "Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men." Psalm 90:2. "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things." Isaiah 45:7. "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." "And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new." Revelation 20:15, 21:5.

All things! Again, ALL THINGS WILL BE MADE NEW! Such a bold statement by our Lord doesn't leave much wiggle room for debate. With that being said, do you know how all things will be made new? BY FIRE!

It may seem strange to some; but fire is the primary means by which all will be made new. However, some have difficulty in seeing the merits of fire. I have been asked a number of times by well-meaning people why do we need fire to bring about a new heavens and earth? They want to know why it can't be like they have heard and read from the ones who feel that all that is necessary to bring about a new world order of perfect love and harmony, a new age of heaven on earth, is to change the way we think?

Some terms for this change of thinking are known as: Christ-conscious, cosmic-conscious, self-conscious, unself-conscious, transformed-conscious, altered state conscious, paraconscious, paradigm shift conscious, aligned conscious, visualization conscious, transcendental meditation conscious, tuned into the collective consciousness of the universe, to name a few of the "change of thinking" concepts said to usher in the age or new world order. With those posing the questions and statements assume that any or all of these human thought processes are effective ways to carry everything into the golden age of the gods. Such avenues appear to them to be much better ways than judgment. They want to know why there has to be judgment, and fire, and cataclysms to bring about these divine changes, and those are good questions that should be answered.

From what I see, the answer is very simple. Sin and death cannot be destroyed by scientific or psychological processes such as the things we listed; and above all, sin and death cannot be destroyed by anything that is already dead, which is the whole of mankind! Every human being died in Adam when the woman said, "We will be as gods." And they both died that day from eating the forbidden fruit and the seed of every human being that was housed in the loins of that man died with him. Therefore, outside of Jesus Christ who is alive, no one can produce life, immortality, or establish the Kingdom of God regardless of the consciousness to which one ascends or ten thousands upon ten thousands ascend. Death has never been able to gender life and never will. So quit sweatin' it, my friends. Ok!

Only by the resurrection life of Jesus will His body be made alive, and only by the fire of God will it be transformed; for it takes the heat of His fiery trials, His ministers of fire, and His flaming words of fire to change the elements of our structure. This is what prepares the glorious family of the sons of God.

Moreover, there must be this divine process to end all the evil in the world. Jesus came as one man with His gospel of mercy and grace to build His church; but it will be Jesus with the sons of God who will come with His irrefutable rule, authority, and power to execute the judgment of fire and overcome and subdue all the nations of the earth inwardly and outwardly! The new heavens and earth will rise from the ashes on fire, as holy firebrands. Every aspect of sin, rebellion in every soul, and every morsel of corruption will be destroyed by God's fire. Every vestige of the primordial curse upon man and the world must be eradicated. There must be a loosening of the restrictions and limitations imposed upon the world by the curse of sin and death. The universal bands of man's rule by the carnal mind and nature must be forever broken. This godfire will prevent handicaps and shortcomings of man's fall from being carried with him into the foundation and structure of the new heaven and earth. Man's conscious ways cannot do this. The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ and His flaming body of fire certainly can and will! The world will pass away, and its lusts thereof; but he that does the will of God abides forever, as the apostle of love burned into the pages of his book! 1 John 2:17. Praise God!

To be continued...

Elwin R. Roach