#215

Part 13

Oracles of God

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

Where do we suppose the throne of God might be from whence these foreboding lightnings, thunderings, and voices are coming? The above verses give us a sure clue; but clear as it may be, some will maintain that it is a literal throne floating somewhere in the far reaches of the heavens which will descend and hover just above the Earth. We've seen paintings that have Jesus seated on a literal throne of gold in the clouds with millions of angels all around Him. Beautiful paintings and beautiful imaginations, but not such beautiful reality.

Most Bible students and scholars agree that the mercy seat and the throne of God are one and the same, and one thing is clear; whether coming from the throne, Mount Sinai, or the mercy seat, when He speaks, it is not casual conversation by any means. It is much more! He imparts His thunderous power, with flashes of lightning comes revelation (an apocalypse), and He speaks personally to the corporate body of Christ who are the many voices that will then speak the same words to the world. They who speak are those who are related to and round about His throne. They have been caught up to the place of authority, to the God and His throne. They hear His voice with crystal clarity. It is in that place, the throne-room of God, that those in His image first see and receive the lightnings of revelation, hear the thunders of power, and also the voices of authority. Prior to Jesus, we see a figure of this in the Holy of holies:

"And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar: he even built them for it within, even for the ⁽¹⁾oracle, even for the most holy place." 1 Kings 6:16.

For reasons unknown to me, oracle has not been a word widely used in Christian circles today. What comes to many people's minds when this word is heard is what they remember from the movie, The Matrix, where the oracle was portrayed as a happy old lady who enjoyed smoking cigarettes and baking cookies. She was a mysterious woman possessing the ability of foresight, which she used to advise and guide the humans attempting to fight the Matrix's system.

Webster's Second International Dictionary defines an oracle as, "the medium by which a god reveals hidden knowledge or makes known the divine purpose." Words such as oration, orator, oratory come from oracle. They all find their root in the Latin orare: to pray, utter, or speak.

We note, then, what the Oracle of God has to do with us. And in this, let us see if we can expect an apocalypse of this often overlooked holy phenomenon.

The oracle in the Old Testament is the most holy place in the temple. It is also used in 2nd Samuel 16:23 as a verb. Therefore, the oracle is both the Speaker and that which He speaks, and it always originates over the mercy seat. Those spoken oracles are the living expressions of His thoughts, His desires, Himself. They are His substance spoken. This is what the Word of God is. And when those who stand in that Most Holy Place and hear those living oracles of God, they become as He is--oracles. Oracles start first with the Orator (God) over the Mercy Seat of the Oracle (Shrine) from where He speaks. The Words He speaks take form as a message, which is an oracle, the living Word of God.

The Greek form of oracle is ⁽²⁾logion which means utterance and is found in four places. Each time the word is in the plural (Acts 7:38, Romans 3:2, Hebrews 5:12, and 1 Peter 4:11). Such as: "...because that unto them were committed the oracles (logion) of God." Romans 3:2. "

"For the word (logos) of God is quick (za - alive), and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12. Logos is by no means a static, lifeless, printed word in the Bible called the letter that kills. It is a spoken word that carries the thought and intent of the speaker. It is especially the divine expression of the substance of God. The Logos/Oracle connects humanity with deity, it brings forth truth and reality. The Logos is a word that is energized by God and comes directly from Him. The Word of God is neither a history, a biography, nor an autobiography of Himself. The Bible is a wonderful book, the number one best book and best seller to have ever been written; but by definition, is not the word of God.

The word of God is living, it is alive, it is powerful, and when we are speaking, writing, or living the Word of God, we are doing so from what we heard from between the cherubim and above the Mercy Seat, the center of the Most Holy Place, that is, the Oracle. It was from there that the oracles of God were spoken to the high priest, and this was through the ⁽³⁾Urim and ⁽⁴⁾Thummim on his breastplate. Each word came out of the heart-center of God, from His throne, from within the holiness of heaven's Orator.

As mentioned above, oracles are two things, yet they are but one. The Most Holy Place from where God speaks is one oracle, and the other oracle is the word He speaks, and the third oracle is the messenger of that living, powerful word of God. The Oracle is the medium by which God extends himself to His oracles and then to the world via those anointed oracles which are members of His body, even those who are after the order of the Melchisedec priesthood.

When any man, woman, or child hears His words and they speak them, those words are the living, holy, powerful, throne-sealed oracles of God. They are sent into the world with that great seal, and when they speak it is out of the throne and they proceed as lightnings and thunderings and voices. Such is a part of the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ!

Let me share with you about a time when it was clear that I had spoken from that most Holy place of God, straight from His throne room of authority and immutable power. I heard the oracles (logion) of God and for moments of time, I was an oracle of God. Without premeditation or forethought, I spoke into being part of the mighty, heavenly substance waiting for the proper time to be finished and manifested in the earth as it had already been finished in my heavens:

It was during the mid 1980s that an elderly couple, the late Ray and Hazel Duncan, moved to Alamogordo from Amarillo, Texas. One of their friends told them about us, so we were contacted once they were moved in. There was good fellowship between us the first couple of weeks, and they read some of our Bible studies we had given to them. After reading a couple of the articles, they asked if there was anyone else who had material on the Kingdom of God that we could recommend, which we did; namely, J. Preston Eby and his Kingdom Bible Studies, and we gave them several to read.

It was about a week later they walked into a shoe store where Margit and I were visiting our friends who managed it, Walter and Ella Arvizu. Hazel wasn't in good health, and was almost blind; but she did fairly well with her very thick glasses. Even so, she needed assistance to keep from falling when she walked, and Ray helped his almost feeble wife into the store. After an exchange of a few words, I asked how they like Brother Eby's studies. They both agreed that they were very good; however, Hazel surprised me when she said, "But is sounds like he believes everyone is going to be saved." I wasn't aware that she didn't know it.

Since it was now clear that they still held to the conventional view of the majority of God's creation burning in hell forever, I knew that our new-found friends may soon be new found ex-friends; for I responded with a firm, "Yes he does believe that all will be saved." I was hoping she would not ask what I believed, yet I was sure that would be her next question--and it was!

I said that I would tell them what I believed, but I first had them to sit down with Margit and I facing directly across from them, with Walter and Ella standing to our left at the counter. As I opened my mouth to speak, it was like a great thunder storm suddenly appeared with continuous lightning bolts striking in fury, and claps of thunder resounding without end. The word and scriptures came in torrents. The brother looked stunned, while his wife was shaking her head, and this was not in agreement. Just as the final lightning bolt struck its vital target, she cried out, "No! No! No! It's not that way! I can't take anymore of this, and I won't take anymore!"

Although being heavy and frail, she surprisingly bounded with ease from her chair, turned to her husband, grabbed him by the arm, and while pulling him out of his chair, said--"Let's get out of here!" As they bolted toward the door, I turned to Walter and Ella, and when I saw the look on their faces, my heart sank. I could hear them thinking, "How could you beat such a dear, elderly sister like that?" And then I wondered the same. With that having been said and done, it was time for my next appointment to arrive, so I went back to work across the street from the shoe store.

We didn't see our new ex-friends for two years, and I beat on myself all that time for being so brutal. The Eby's were in El Paso for a few days (this was when they lived in Crystal River, Florida), and the brethren set up a meeting for him to speak. We drove the 90 miles south to hear the rich word and see our friends. When we walked into the building my heart sank as it did two years before; but this time it was due to not wanting to face Ray and Hazel, especially Hazel. But of all the people at the meeting, I could never have imagined that they would be there; but there they were on the far side of the large hall. I didn't feel quite as bold as I did two years earlier, so I cowardly chose chairs to sit out of their line of vision. Hopefully, they hadn't seen us when we came in. Ha! Fat chance!

They saw us! For as soon as the meeting ended, Hazel was up like a bolt and headed straight for me. The many brothers and sisters was a sea of people; but Moses must have there somewhere; for a channel opened between her and me. I knew there was no stopping her, so I braced myself for the tongue lashing and upbraiding of my life, and I felt it would have been well deserved.

But praise God! It was to the contrary. As she approached, tears were streaming down her aging cheeks. And her first words were:

"Brother Roach, please forgive me for the way I acted up there in Alamogordo two years ago. But I need to explain why I was so overwrought and angered. You see, I had been an Assembly of God minister for over 50 years, and every word you spoke was shaking and destroying the foundation of every sermon I had ever preached along with everything I believed. It so disturbed me that we moved back to Amarillo before the week was over."

She continued with such genuine sincerity, by saying:

"I was able to get away from you, my tormentor; but I wasn't able to get away from your word or God. I was in such anguish and overcome by what you had said that I was finally nearing death. I couldn't get out of bed for three months. I was dying! I was literally on my death bed and in agony every minute. It was then that I cried out, 'God, please, I know I am dying, but I don't want to, but I can't endure this suffering any longer. Therefore, if what I was told by Brother Roach is true, I want to know it, and I want you to reveal it to me. If you show me that it is true, I will embrace it.' "Instantly," she said, "the heavens opened in my spirit, and I saw this wonderful, wonderful truth of God's mercy and grace unveiling to my soul. I knew then that through our Lord Jesus Christ that ALL, EVERYONE would be saved and not suffer eternal torment! And having gone through those three months of hell on earth, in my earth, I was so thrilled!

"Such immeasurable love, joy, and peace flooded my entire being. His Spirit surged through my body with such force in His wings that I was raised up in Life. Praise God! It was like a resurrection. I got out of my death bed healed and rushed into the living room and shared it with Ray. And without any reservations, it was revealed as quickly to him, and he received it with open arms as well."

And then she ended it with:

"And, Brother, I want to thank you so much for being so bold, so powerful, and so straight forward that day in the shoe store. For you see, that was the only way I could be reached. A soft word would have never shaken those falsehoods that had become such strongholds. If you hadn't spoken as you did, those walls would still be standing. Thank you, thank you, thank you!" It was then time for more tears, mine too, and hugs.

What a revelation! What an unveiling! What an apocalypse! And this will be some of what to expect, and no less, at the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ and His manifested body--the unstoppable power bursting from the most Holy Oracle of God! If this can take place with individual vessels all over the world, as it did with me some years ago, do we think it will not and cannot be the same at the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, but on a much larger scale of the entire corporate body of Christ? If we say nay, then we be eating hay, and not the word of God that is heard between the two cherubim on the Mercy Seat.

There was another time that stands before me that merits mentioning when I spoke from and as the Oracle of God.

It was during a meeting in 1986. It was on that trip that our dear friend, the late Stacy R. Wood, Jr., who pastored a church in Omaha, Nebraska at the time said this to me: "The first time you came by, you spoke more like a college professor, and it seemed that you weren't sure that you believed what you were teaching. But this time, you blasted us out of the house." I realized, that this was not a compliment, but a needed adjustment.

Notwithstanding, there was a reason for me declaring my words with the force of a hurricane. Something happened in our previous meeting that caused such an outburst. While I was ministering in that meeting such an anointing came over me and in me that the words I was saying/declaring came as an avalanche over me and the people. I left my protective covering of the podium and was walking up and down the isles. Some had tears flooding their faces, others were spellbound, and others exuded sheer delight. I glanced over to Margit, and she was awestricken. The Spirit and Word were so intense, I knew that every word was penetrating deep within souls, and there would be awakening, life changing results. There was such an anointed power driving each thought and word.

This anointing increased by each word spoken, so much so that my human body could not contain it any longer. I felt that if it continued that I would literally explode, leaving body parts scattered all over the walls. To keep that from possibly happening, I ceased from speaking and I went back to the podium. I grasped the sides of it for stability, and closed the meeting; for I could no longer remain in that vein of power that was surging through me from on high. I could no longer endure that which had been finished in my heavens and was being finished in the earth of that congregation. It was too great for my immature untried, unprepared, unchanged vessel.

Afterwards, I thought to myself, "Wow! What a wonder! That was a tremendous word. That's what I'll minister tomorrow night in Omaha and with as much force as I did tonight." Silly me. As you already know, it didn't work. I learned quickly that it is not a specific word that brings the anointing, and the higher the volume made no difference either. It was clear that it is the anointing that brings the word.

The word in the previous meeting was with supreme authority and power that rushed from the throne like a river, and I imitated it in Omaha. I gave it my best shot; but it couldn't be regained by me forcing the letter of that word from my soul by the breath of my lungs. It was this imitation that Stacy saw the second time in Omaha, and his kind, but direct, words helped guide me back on the narrow path that leads to the oracle of God. When it is found by any of us, we can speak as oracles and not only speak as oracles, but be the oracles--the word of God!

It is in the oracle of God, in the Holy of holies and between the cherubim over the Mercy Seat that God meets us and from where He speaks to us. It is not in our theological reasoning nor in our special doctrines that He meets and speaks to us, but in that High and Holy place of the Shekinah Glory. It is this place where we have been meeting and hearing Him since being born of Him. It is from this place that we have been speaking and writing His anointed word. However, it has been only in a measure. It has been more at times than others; but at the time of the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, we can expect the river of life to flow from the throne with such intensity that it will cover the earth as the waters cover the seas.

We recall that Jesus only spoke those words He heard His Father speak, and from where do we suppose He heard His Father? From the Oracle of God, straight from His Holy of holies. Therefore, when we speak, let us speak as did Jesus, as the Holy from the Holiest of all, as oracles from the Oracle of God. We will be the Word of God spoken from the most Holy place of God. We will be the living expressions of who we are in Him and He in us.

But how do we do that? We know that flesh and sweat won't bring it to pass. We have all tried various things: fasting, praying, poring over the scriptures, shouting hallelujahs, lifting our hands and voices in praise and preaching, but so often to no avail. Sometimes one or all of these things may have manifested due to hearing the voice of the Holy Oracle thundering from the most Holy place of our own tabernacles. If that happened to be the case, those oracles/voices were expressions of our Lord from within our individual thrones. These were appearings, apocalypses if you please, yet in a measure, of the great King. But at the end of the age, it can no longer be in a measure, and they who hear the call to "Come up hither" are caught up to that throne of God, and they will be a part of the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ. It will come to pass that those things which were shown to John, and was told would be hereafter, will become an instant, living reality. As it was with Solomon when the Temple and his own house were finished together after twenty years with anxious expectation, so it will be with the sons of God. The Temple of the body of Christ and our individual houses will be finished and manifested together, at the same time. There'll be no more waiting, no more expectation in the Holy place, but expectation's reality in the most Holy place!

The throne will be firmly set in our heavens as surely as the Solomon's Temple was set in Jerusalem. It is there that we shall sit with power and authority over our charge, yet not with pride or arrogance but with humble austerity of those tried in the refining fires of the ages.

That which was revealed to John was the apocalypse of Jesus Christ and the sons of God. This should be clear if we understand scriptural types and signs. For instance, the one sitting on the throne appeared like the brilliant jasper and fiery sardius stones. They were the first (alpha) and the last (omega) precious stones in the breastplate of the high priest. The names of Judah and Benjamin were engraved upon them which helps us see more into the depths of these signs. Judah means praise, and it was by praise that battles and wars were won, which speaks of those who overcome and receive crowns, i.e. kingship, and Benjamin means the son of the right hand. Each stone then unmistakably is associated with the appearing of the sons of God as kings upon the throne in the heavens. When this takes place in each member of that body, the power and authority of the King of kings and His anointed corporate body will be seen and heard worldwide as lightning, thunder, and many voices--THE APOCALYPSE OF SONSHIP!

The splendor of the jasper and sardius stones stand in the forefront signifying the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ and His overcomers. The sons of God whose race is coming to maturity, and they are seen to have been invested with the authority, power, and dominion, and they shall reign unto the ages of the ages.

"And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices..." "And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat..." Revelation 4:5 & Exodus 25:22. Thus the manifestation, the unveiling, the apocalypse of Jesus Christ in us, through us, and from us!

To be continued...

Elwin R. Roach

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1. oracle: debir; From H1696, the shrine or innermost part of the sanctuary. [All Hebrew & Greek definitions are from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance unless otherwise stated.]

H1969 dâbar; to arrange, used figuratively (of words) to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue.

2. logion G3051; an utterance. It is from G3052, logios, fluent , orator, from G3056, logos; something said (including the thought)...the Divine Expression (that is, Christ).

3. Urim: Lights

4. Thummim: perfections, that is, (technically) one of the epithets of the objects in the high priest's breastplate as an emblem of complete Truth.