THE PATHFINDER

THE VOICE OF

THE SON OF GOD

(Part II)

Contents:

INAUGURATION OF THE SON 
THROUGH DEATH -- DEATH DESTROYED 

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25).  

For endless ages, and with precise rhythm, the mystical drums of Adam have beat. The misguided and sore feet of man continue marching on, never missing a step, perpetually, to the carnal cadence of his own logic and human reasoning -- believing he can live by some other means than "...every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God". This statement from the author of Life Himself was enhanced and personified when He said, "And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have Life" (Jn. 5:40).  

Evidence dictates that there are few who believe those immortal words. They obviously do not believe He is the Lord of Life; or else, in their carnality they simply don't want any part of Him, and they would rather die trying any other way than even being remotely touched by Him, much less to be consumed by Him. What a horrid thought to the adamic mind; nevertheless, it prevails, and not just in the world, but also in the church.

It is ironic, isn't it? For thousands of years humanity has struggled without ceasing to possess the abundant and abiding life of the ages. In this quest for eternal life, their speculated views have turned them in every direction but the right one. They have searched and tried every way known to man, but to no avail; and when the answer to their dilemma finally came -- Jesus Christ -- they said, "Thanks, but no thanks. We'll try something else. There's got to be something better than an ass-riding carpenter's son." So with persistent resolve their pursuit of happiness continued on, but always failing, failing miserably and falling far short of the mark of that great prize.  

Such a track record of never coming to their goal of Life should suggest that man's ways might not be the best. Long before our day, another who sought to Live must have been a little suspicious of man's ability to save himself when he penned these perceptive words: "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,

but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Prov. 14:12). We are thankful that it is not left to man to find the way, for there would be little hope for humanity; but there is a way which is right, and the end thereof are the ways of Life! Jesus unveiled this not so often traveled pathway when He said "...I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (John 14:6). JESUS CHRIST is THE WAY, THE REALITY, THE SOURCE, THE STREET, from which comes the power to Live, i.e. the force and motion of LIFE itself that raises the dead. This power comes in the form of HIS ANOINTED WORD! It is THE WATER OF LIFE! In a word, it is HIS VOICE! It is the Voice never before heard by human ears, not until that day when the Dove rested upon Him while standing in the midst of the muddy waters of the Jordan.  

Before then the anointing of the Spirit and the Word had not been established to constitute this Voice. It is a clear fact, as our Lord declared : "YOU HAVE NEVER HEARD MY WORD, UNTIL YOU HEAR MY SPIRIT SPEAK." The Spirit spoke these riveting words in 1956 to a very dear friend of ours, Charles Roby, and they hold as much truth and power today as they did then: Before Jordan men had never heard the Word of God, only the letter, and most still fail to hear its piercing sound; but from that time -- the dawn of His inauguration -- to now, it has been heard by some.  

INAUGURATION OF THE SON 

The inauguration of the Son of God is not so different than the inauguration of a natural king or the president of a nation, but it is higher; and please, let us know that such an event is more than an impressive ceremony with a lot of fanfare. It is a ceremony that sets a man in the seat of the highest office, of which, every subject of the kingdom is alerted. It is a function which confers not only recognition upon a man of who he is, but authority is also passed to him. With a king, the supreme authority, power, and responsibility of a nation is laid upon him. In the case of Jesus, the Son of God, the King of kings -- the supreme authority, power, and responsibility of His Father's Kingdom (the entirety of creation) was laid upon His shoulders.  

Although Jesus was born of God, He had to wait for His placement as a Son. Until then He had no more authority than the servants. The fact is, like the family principle stipulates concerning children, for a season He was subjected to having less authority than the servants: "Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors UNTIL THE TIME APPOINTED OF THE FATHER" (Gal. 4:1-2).  

From birth to the age of twelve years, Jesus, like all the male children of Israel, was under the tutorship of Momma and the servants, learning all about His Father. At the age of twelve He was inducted into the training of Sonship -- not learning more about His Father -- but coming to know His Father. After eighteen years of training, and becoming well acquainted with Him and His ways, at the age of thirty, His Father appointed Him SON -- THE LORD OF ALL. He was inaugurated!

His inauguration, as it is with those on the natural plane, raised Him from a lower level and set Him on the higher one. It raised Him from the confinements of the first Adam's death and set Him in the second One's Life. Before this He was enshrouded with the death to which all men are appointed (Heb 9:27). For thirty years He was subjected to a world of the beasts of toil and burden, He was wrapped in the death-clothes of humanity, the darkness of Egypt was all about Him until He was twelve, and then He lived in the very midst of Israel's lifeless religion. During all those years He was trained while being engulfed by every facet of death known to humanity, except that of the body. He was first schooled for twelve years by His tutors (Mary and others), and finally by His Father. This was until the appointed time.  

Once the season of His training had expired, He ascended from that realm of the death He had been subjected to. His physical location didn't change, but His spiritual position did. He remained in the earth where death was all around Him, but He ascended in the Spirit back into the heavens from whence He came, back to the place where death had to loosen its grip. As quickly as the Dove descended upon Him in the watery grave of the Jordan, Jesus stepped up from Adam's all consuming death. He was freed from the religion of Israel and liberated from the darkness of Egypt. He left the stables of the beasts and removed the swaddling clothes of death. He was delivered from every speck of death; and when Satan came to Him he could find nothing. Jesus had no dust for the serpent to eat. He had overcome the death of Adam. There was nothing Satan could touch, so he left Him. No wonder He was inaugurated that day while He STOOD in the river of death. He had overcome it and was ready to commence in the office of His inauguration -- that of the Son. To prove this He was immediately driven into the wilderness, and after forty days of fasting, He was tested in every point of temptation (lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and the pride of life). This was not to see if He would fail, but it was to prove He wouldn't.  

After the forty days this Word of Life began to work the works of His Father. Before then Jesus alone could not raise the dead, nor could the Anointing without the Word. They both had to come together to be effective, and before His anointing that day in the Jordan river, the Voice of the Son of God had never been heard. But from that eventful day until now, His Voice has not ceased its trumpeting from the celestial heavens of the Son, quickening all who have an ear to hear.  

Prior to the day of His inauguration, Jesus performed no miracles whatsoever; for even in His flesh, like all flesh, there was no profit. He said this in the sixth chapter of John:  

Until the Holy Spirit rested upon the Word made flesh, the Voice of the Son of God was non-existent. One can memorize and recite eloquent sayings, i.e. echo the commanding words of a king or God Himself, but without the authority accompanying those words, that is all they are -- WORDS, the LETTER, the EPITAPH upon a tombstone, if you please. In order for words to carry the power they speak, they must be laced with authority. Jesus, although being born of God and possessing the power and Spirit, could not turn water into wine, heal the sick, or raise the dead, not until the inaugural day came, when He was commissioned to use the power of the Spirit He was born with. Jesus always possessed the capability to do anything, but until He was thirty years of age He did not have the authority to use it. Once the seal of God was placed upon Him (the anointing of Holy Spirit), and His Father's words resounded from the height of the heavens, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased..." Jesus could then speak with the infallible, Life-giving Voice of an approved Son. From that day to now, and into the ages to come, Life, the Life of the ages, will come in no other way except from hearing His Voice. Jesus understood this principle when He said: "...Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Mt. 4:4).  

More people than we can imagine wonder why the "Word of God" seems to be so ineffectual. Declaration upon declaration, sermon upon sermon, line upon line, word upon word pours from the chattering lips of men, flooding across the globe with nothing ever changing. It matters not how sincere, how convincing the preaching, or how well the scriptures are put together for proof of what God will do -- until the Anointing of the Spirit becomes one with those words, the LETTER will continue returning void and accomplishing nothing but death. Words without the Anointing have no authority to accomplish anything. They are not like the Words Jesus Lived by. They were Words of Living waters raining from the heavens that Isaiah wrote about many centuries ago:  

It is a simple matter for rain to give life when there is a seed to be watered, and there is an abundance. Do we not read that "Coming into the world Jesus Lights every man?" Yes indeed, that seed is everywhere in the earth waiting to be watered, but the word in the form of the letter (hydrogen without oxygen) is not sufficient. It doesn't matter if it is preached, teached, or screeched -- without the substance of Life, it's death. Sermons lacking Life are sweeping over the earth of men's souls today like a hot, drying wind. Rather than bringing life, they make men more desolate and continue killing the innocent and unsuspecting. Many today have taken the scriptures, and coupled with human reasoning they have tried to instill life, yet always failing. Like Dr. Frankenstein, they are assembling body parts (scriptures) and injecting their fabrications with electrical jolts of human reasoning and carnal zeal, hoping to see some sort of life springing forth. But rather than a Living Son of God, their efforts have only produced the walking dead. The scriptures are being stolen, looted, plundered and plagiarized. It would be one thing if the words preached contained the Anointing of the Life of Christ, but they seldom do. They are nothing but lifeless imitations with an outward form of Godliness; and these counterfeits are being peddled as the real thing. In the process of hoodwinking the church the charlatans of this age have gotten rich by black-marketing the Word of God. Such enterprises, however, will soon come to an end when the gold-plating of their imitation Rolex watches begin to wear off. People will begin to know something is amiss when the cheap inner parts grind out their groans, protesting the faulty workmanship they were crafted by. It is then, and in the midst of hell, that men's subtle ways will fail to deliver the world from the bondage of corruption with which it is already beginning to be flooded.  

THROUGH DEATH -- DEATH DESTROYED 

Life in any realm is wonderful. Whether that life is of the spirit, the soul, or the body, it is highly prized -- especially when it is the God-Life of the ages, the Life which overcomes death and forever destroys all forms of that dark realm. Overcoming and destroying death is like overcoming any thing. For death to be destroyed, its kingdom must be entered and the strong man bound and rendered helpless. Regardless of one's potential to overcome, victory will never be seen until they are right in the midst of the thing they wish to overcome. Battles are not won until the enemy is engaged, a kingdom is not conquered without storming its land, and Life will never win over death unless its evil realm is invaded.  

Jesus, our great Captain and destroyer of death, had to enter into its very heart before He could overcome it. Although before the world was He had absolute power and Life with the Father, He had yet to overcome death and destroy he who had power over it, the devil. Once He invaded the kingdom wherein death had its way, He never ceased driving onward in His mission, and He will continue until it is finished. It was first for Himself and then for the rest of the world. Jesus did not come to save a few from death -- but all -- and if He withdraws before He accomplishes what He was sent to do, what a colossal failure He would be.  

Until Jesus was lowered for a little while beneath the angels, the devil reigned in the same fashion as king Adonibezek (Judges 1:5-7). This Canaanite king had cut off the thumbs and great toes of the seventy kings who gathered their meat under his table. Without thumbs their ability to work or to hold a sword and fight a good fight was removed; and with their feet lacking the major toes they were not only hindered from walking a straight and narrow way, but also robbed of their balance while sitting astride a charging horse in battle. This is what the devil did to the seventy under his table -- he crippled the whole world of humanity. (The number 70 speaks of universality coupled with the power of spiritual perfection and divine order.) This enemy of life crippled everyone's power in spiritual perfection and divine order. Without thumbs they have no power to fight, they cannot work righteousness nor provide food for themselves, making it necessary to rely upon him for sustenance. They can't really aggress nor defend themselves against the devil, for they cannot adequately grip their weapons of war; and to mount their powerful steeds and revolt is next to impossible.  

Like king Adonibezek, whose name means "Lord of Lightning," the devil has also been able to transform himself into a "flash of light." It is a false light, of course, and ever-so-brief, but to the world of darkness it appears to be real light and ever-abiding.  

This infamous foe had the power of death, and from the day of Adam's demise he has ruled without much hindrance as an angel of light in the kingdom of darkness -- until Christ. What the king of Israel had done to Adonibezek, the true Light (Jesus) did likewise to the devil. The measure Satan measured to the world was measured back to him. He loosened Satan's grip, disabling him that he could not work the works of darkness. The serpent tried to use the "sword of the word" by quoting scriptures to tempt Jesus in the wilderness; but without thumbs he was unsuccessful. And every time he came at Him with the force of thundering horses (in the throngs of people), the toeless foe lost his balance and fell to the ground defeated. He simply could not mount up with power and trample Jesus under his foot.

The thumbs and great toes of Satan were certainly cut off when the true Light came, but that was not all. It was customary in those days to behead a king when he was dethroned -- and Jesus did just that. Satan's head was taken when the Lord of Life rose from the grave. Prior to this his ability to walk to and fro throughout the earth had been crippled. The works of his hands and effectiveness to fight were removed, and then the very controlling factor of death itself was bruised in Jerusalem on the day of the resurrection. Satan's head was removed from its place of power, and lost forever was his ability to tempt He who overcame all death.  

It was fitting for him to be defeated in Jerusalem, the City of Peace; for it was there where Adonibezek, a good antitype of Satan, met his final end: "And Adonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died" (Judges 1:7).  

Upon entering the gates of hell and death, Jesus began a journey unsurpassed by any living creature. He did not rain fire down from the heavens to destroy the devil, but leaving His glory behind and armed only with the Life of His Father, He entered hell's dark domain. The root of all evil was met on its own grounds and destroyed. Through death Jesus established once and for all the Way to the high calling of Life. Being made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, He blazed a path for all men to follow. What a PATHFINDER!  

Since He tasted and overcame death on behalf of all men, all men can now taste that Life He now possesses; for both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one (Heb. 2:11). What the One was victorious in, the rest can lay hold of. "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb 2:14).  

Jesus was subjected to death in order for Him to have the opportunity to destroy him that had the power of death, or as it is in the Greek, "...that through death He might render powerless him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Jesus accomplished His mission: After thirty years in the world of death, and then forty days in the wilderness, He rendered the dust eating serpent powerless. The enemy of Life was made helpless by the Enemy of death. In maturity Jesus feared nothing. Satan's thumbs and great toes were cut off, and before it was over, his serpentine head was also bruised. At the resurrection he was rendered entirely powerless. He was destroyed to no more touch the Lord of Life to any degree, forever. To Jesus he was and will always be D-E-A-D!  

What about you, dear friend? Is the devil dead? If not then listen for the voice of the Son of God, and when you hear it you will live, and when you live, what will death have to do with you? If you are alive with the Life that cannot die, how can he who has the power of death affect you? If he has been rendered powerless, with no thumbs or great toes in your life, how can he hinder you? And if his head has been bruised, how can he touch your body unto death? If he is still touching that part of your being, then his head must still be in tact. His ability to grip a sword may be gone, and his effectiveness to dominate your life may no longer be an issue, but as long as his head remains, the grave may see its victory for a season.  

Jesus was subjected to every conceivable realm of death and proved victorious over them all. He went through its every aspect, and He rendered powerless the one who had power in that realm -- the devil. He did not do it just for His sake alone. He had us all in mind, and He paved the way so we could partake with Him that more abundant Life. The devil may have impaired our hearing and polluted our minds with his traducing voice, he might have cut the thumbs from our own working hands, and even severed our toes of sure balance, He might have caused us to stumble and fall like the dead tree of Ecclesiastes 11:3 -- but this is not the end, brethren. In the same manner that at the scent of water a tree like Job will live again (Job 14:7-9). Our lives are forever made alive in Christ. Leviticus shows us this in type:  

Let us note that not only in Christ are humanity's thumbs (working & fighting ability) and toes (walking and riding skills) restored; but their ears (hearing) and heads (knowledge, understanding & wisdom) are cleansed and healed as well. Once the hearing is restored, rather than hearing the voice of the traducer (the devil), which is unto death, the Voice of the Son of God can be heard unto Life.  

Whether the majority realizes it or not, we are in a day that the Voice of the Son of God is being heard, and many are being awakened to Life. If it were not true, then we would not be consciously alive in Him at this present time. There had to have been an occasion when we heard His Voice, or we would still be dead in Adam. Praise God, that this is true, that we have been begotten of God, and we Live, but there is more -- much more. There is more than just being born of God and under the tutorship of our mother and the household servants -- there is the maturing unto Sonship. There is the training of our Father to learn how to overcome the world and he who has the power of death. There is a coming to Hermon, the mount of transfiguration, and from there to the sure resurrection out from among all death! Therefore, rejoice ye saints, lift up your ears to the heavens (within), and hear THE VOICE OF THE SON OF GOD -- AND LIVE!

To be continued...

Elwin R. Roach

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