In the previous two messages of this series we have noted that in the Scriptures we find the right hand of God mentioned a great many times, and the left hand of God is mentioned on a number of occasions. The word "right" as used with "hand" is generally the Hebrew word "yamiym" meaning STRONGER, MORE DEXTEROUS. The word for "left" is "smowl" meaning DARK. From the meaning of these two words it is very easy to understand that God's right hand is His strength and dexterity, or His wonderful ability to do all things. The implication is that the right hand of God is the GOOD HAND of God, doing GOOD things. But the left hand in the Old Testament means DARK And from this we can readily understand that it signifies the opposite - what we call bad or evil. The left hand represents the DARK SIDE OF GOD. This is the hand of God so little understood.

A key to this vital truth is found in the words of David in Ps. 111:7 wherein he states states, "The works of HIS HANDS are verity and judgment." We have already mentioned that God is not a man, He possesses no body such as we have, for He is omnipresent Spirit; but God has ordained the visible realm to serve as an allegory to convey the realities which pertain to the higher realm of the invisible. So for just a moment, consider God with two hands, one of verity, and one of judgment. The word "verity" is actually in the Hebrew the word for TRUTH. Thus we see with one hand He is bringing forth truth, and with the other hand of His judgment He is moving to bring us into harmony with truth. What beautiful co-ordination in all the works of His hands! Every time God initiates a new phase of His purpose, He then brings forth the measures needed to bring us into alignment with that purpose. If He can do this through POSITIVE forces He will, in the dealing of His right hand, but if corrective measures are needed He will stretch forth even His left hand and bring NEGATIVE forces into action to teach us the necessary lesson. How often we pray for God to stretch forth His right hand of VERITY, we are hungry for blessing and truth, and He graciously imparts, but it has been my experience that He does not make it a one-sided working, always piling up blessing upon blessing and revelation upon revelation until we are out of balance. In HIS LOVE, yea, the DARK SIDE OF LOVE, He takes His OTHER HAND and graciously disciplines, corrects, forms, molds, and shapes, until we become one with that truth, to His glory and praise.

It is during this discipline process that we are so likely to forget the love of God and misunderstand His judgments toward us. We will be inclined to think that, because God allows many failures, pressures, and misfortunes to befall us, He has forgotten us or turned against us. Christian friends will be at pains to tell us that our suffering is a sure sign of God's displeasure with our life. Nothing could be further from the truth! He has forgotten nothing, but while we in our childishness want nothing but His blessings, at the same time trying to build up and establish our own desires, plans, and programs, which are fleshly, God's purpose is to LAY IT ALL WASTE, bring it to nought, and teach us HIS WAYS. The childish Christian wants to build up the natural, the visible, the audible, and just enjoy all the wonderful blessings of God forever. But God has purposed that we should become PRINCES WITH GOD, heirs of God and heirs with Christ. This requires the development of divine wisdom, character, and power. Therefore in love He lays waste the immature and undisciplined ambitions within us.

The right kind of parents do not allow their children the privilege of doing whatever they want to do. They are not permitted to be "free moral agents", to make their own decisions and have their own way, until they have reached an age of maturity. Until they can make their own way, the parents must do it for them. The children may fuss and cry and rebel a long time, but the proper parent holds them to their decision that is for their betterment. The parents know what is best for the children. Ah, we hear a lot about our being "free moral agents", but if you treasure the beautiful hope of sonship you will forget all about that for our heavenly Father makes the decisions for us, and although many of His children do a lot of fussing and crying, HE HOLDS US TO IT, and how, thankful we should be that He does! WHEN WE HAVE BEEN TRIED WE WILL COME, FORTH AS GOLD.

You see parents today who have, by work and sacrifice, put away a little money in order to send their boy away to school. After the boy is in school for a while, he writes back, "Dad, its hard here - the assignments are too heavy and the dormitory is too strict. I'm homesick, and I want to come home!" The father writes back a stern letter, "You stay on, study hard, and apply yourself." When that boy gets the letter from his dad, he says, "I don't think my dad loves me anymore. My dad couldn't love me or he wouldn't want me to go through this torture." At this point the son understands nothing of the divine principle, "And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto sons, My son, despise not   the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of Him; for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges EVERY SON whom He receives" (Heb. 12:5-6). The word "chastening" in these verses really carries no thought of punishment at all. Rather it means to child train. God is training you and me, beloved, not for an earthly career, but He is preparing us for rulership in the Kingdom of God. And it is His principle to always deal with HIS SONS like this.

It should not seem strange that God, who made man in His image, should have both a bright side and a dark side, manifested through the works of His two hands, in blessing and glory on the one hand, and in discipline and judgment on the other. The right hand of God, as we have seen, bespeaks God moving and acting through POSITIVE FORCES, while the left hand of God signifies God moving and acting through NEGATIVE FORCES. This reveals the beautiful balance in God's nature, as in all His works, and the whole creation is a revelation of this balance that exists first in the Creator Himself. There must be a balance. There must be the negative as well as the positive. That is but a natural law and we see it all around us. Without the negative and the positive we would have no electricity. Without the evil we would not know the beauty of the good. Without the sorrow we would not know about the wonder of joy. Without failure we would not know the wonderful feeling of success. Without the darkness we would not appreciate the light. The dawn is all the more beautiful because of the darkness of the night. We learn by contrast and we find that God is working by contrast. Specially in His work of preparing His Sons for the great work of His Kingdom in the ages to come, we do learn by contrast and we see this principle exemplified in all the wonderful stories, experiences, and prophecies of the Bible.

In Prov. 25:16 we read, "Have you found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for you, lest you be filled therewith and vomit it." In other words, for us to eat nothing but honey will make us sick. There must be other things also. And as in the natural, so in the spiritual. And so it is with the TWO HANDS of God! Have we found the pleasures at the RIGHT HAND of God? Have we received His blessings, so lavishly bestowed? If so, eat just enough and let it be balanced with something from the LEFT HAND of God. Even if you THINK it is not good for you, accept it as from God, for we must not become sick from too much goodness from God. How can too much goodness sicken us? If God gave us only GOOD things, we would never become strong. If Job had never known anything but God's blessing unto him, he would have continued to be so weak that God would always have had to enclose him in a hedge. But after God's LEFT HAND was through dealing with Job he was an entirely different man, a man who not only was perfect, but tried, tested, and proven; a man who had been in a great deal of adversity, sorrow, and loss, but now he knew STRENGTH as well as God's blessing. Now God could bless him with twice as much as before - and with NO HEDGE!

There is a wonderful lesson in nature observable by the biophysical scientist. When one adjusts the lenses of his microscope to watch the individual cells of an organism he sees tremendous struggles going on within those cells with only particular successes and failures, victories and defeats in what appears to be a ruthless "dog-eat-dog" battle. But when he changes the level of magnification to observe the organism as a whole, he sees that what was conflict at the lower level is harmony at the higher: that the very health and wellbeing, the ongoing life of the organism is precisely the OUTCOME of this microscopic turmoil. Ah, my brother, my sister, when our consciousness is raised high enough in the Spirit to see the WHOLE PICTURE, to SEE AS GOD SEES about all the circumstances and events that touch our lives, rather than dwelling upon the particular events themselves with their apparent negativeness, becoming irritated, worried, and upset by what is happening, we will see and know by the understanding HE GIVES that indeed, all these things ARE WORKING TOGETHER FOR OUR GOOD and the ongoing development of our spiritual life is precisely the OUTCOME of all the conflict. Praise His name!

In the New Testament the Greek word for "right" as used with "hand" means THAT WHICH USUALLY TAKES. That is, it is the one that reaches out to take and we can also know that it is the one that usually reaches out to give. It is the far more active hand of the two in the vast majority of people. The left hand seems to be the subordinate member, helping the right hand. There is a wonderful and meaningful statement made by Jesus in Mat. 6:3, often passed over unnoticed. Jesus said, "But when you do alms, don't let your LEFT hand know what your RIGHT hand does." In other words, keep your left hand in the dark as to what your RIGHT HAND is doing! And remember, the right hand is the one that REACHES OUT either to take or to give. Jesus said hypocrites gave their alms openly to BE SEEN OF MEN, and the joy of being seen WAS THEIR REWARD. Such people had their reward already and no further reward would be given them. Their left hand, as it were, had full knowledge as to what their right hand had done and their ego and self-righteousness were fully rewarded in the praise of men received.

But Jesus cautioned His disciples to not let their left hand have knowledge of what the right hand was doing. Their reward would come FROM GOD and not from men. Therefore their left hand, or their ego, self-nature with its self-interests and self-love, would be kept in the dark, left unsatisfied and unfulfilled in the good that was being done. Thus the left hand could in no way deprive them of the far greater reward THE FATHER HAD FOR THEM for their deeds of compassion and love.

In applying this principle to the actions of God's two hands, we find that Satan, wicked men, and all the forces of the negative realm have absolutely NO UNDERSTANDING of what the right hand of God is doing. Those of the left hand cannot perceive or know the PURPOSES AND INTENTIONS of the right hand in doing what it does. With this in mind, what a world of truth opens to our understanding from these inspired words of the apostle Paul, "Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: which NONE OF THE PRINCES OF THIS WORLD KNEW: FOR HAD THEY KNOWN IT, THEY WOULD NOT HAVE CRUCIFIED THE LORD OF GLORY" (I Cor. 2:6-8). None of the princes of this world KNEW! They were the negative force in God's left hand moving against the Christ, that the purpose of God in giving His beloved Son for the redemption of the world might be fulfilled.

"Him, being delivered BY THE DETERMINATE COUNSEL AND FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD, YOU have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain" (Acts 2:23). Pilate said to Jesus, "Don't speak to me? Don't You know that I have power to release You?" Hear the answer of Jesus! "You could not have any power at all against Me except it were GIVEN TO YOU FROM ABOVE" (Jn. 19:10-11). For God to bring His redemptive plan into effect, there must be a balance, there must be a negative force opposing the positive power and force of God in Christ Jesus. There must be a Judas, CHOSEN to bring all things to a head in the fulness of time when Jesus must be crucified. There must be a Pilate, GIVEN POWER FROM ABOVE, to take care of the legal side of all that happened on that dreadful night. There must be the soldiers selected to nail Jesus to the cross. There must be those who ridiculed Jesus, who scorned and mocked and cursed Him. Without a Satan, without a Judas, without a Pilate, without a rebellious, hateful nation of Israel, there would never have been a blessed Redeemer DYING FOR US!

Yes, GOD was doing this thing, GOD was in control of each and every action, it was all the work of HIS HAND! But those He moved upon at His left hand moved in darkness and did not know anything of what the right hand was doing, they knew not who the Christ was, why He was here, or what He was doing or would do. Never did they dream, in their wildest imaginations, that He really was the Son of God, that He actually would rise from the dead, that He would pour out the Holy Spirit in mighty wonder-working power and spread His Kingdom from pole to pole! They were doing what God had raised them up to do but they walked in darkness, they didn't KNOW! The left hand was at a great disadvantage. Today, as then, these evil forces do not even realize that it is the hand of God that is directing all of their actions. The forces of evil and the people under their control, have the false idea that they are directing their own steps and doing all things of themselves, and God allows them to think so! So we see them going their way boasting of all they are doing and believing themselves to be masters of their own destiny, marking out their own pathway!

The right hand of God is the ANOINTED HAND of God, for Christ (the Anointed) sits AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. It is this hand of God, the Christ, Head and body, that reaches forth to all mankind bringing redemption, restoration, and blessing. How we praise God for HIS RIGHT HAND, HIS POSITIVE FORCE, and that it is the more active and the stronger of the two! While the left hand is kept in ignorance of what the right hand is doing, the right hand is not always ignorant of what the left hand is doing "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices" (II Cor. 2:11). "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You are all the children (sons) of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness" (I Thes. 5:4-5). When we realize we are in the light of God and know at least a little something of what is going on, then it is amusing, at times, to be able to watch the foolish moves being made by those used by the left hand of God. Foolish, perhaps, but so necessary to God's plan! How we rejoice to be able to stand by in assurance and confidence, watching GOD work, knowing that God is the One who is the author and finisher of all that happens in between. It is wonderful to be able to walk in at least a measure of light during all those times of testing, trial, proving, and judgment.

There is a further and enlightening application of this truth which we would share  briefly. In the Song of Solomon 2:6 the Shulamite maiden says of her beloved King, "His LEFT HAND is under my head, and His RIGHT HAND embraces me." The meaning is clear - the left hand of God is under our head, it is hidden, unseen, the less visible working of God upon our lives, upholding and undertaking for us in all the ways and circumstances in which we do not see the hand of God. God has manifested Himself in history in the figure of the "left hand" - unseen and invisible, when men did not recognize Him. Elisha's servant (II Kings 6:13-17), as well as the prophet Habakkuk (Hab. 1:1-4), and many others, did not see the hidden hand of God, behind the head, away from the front of the eyes, working His plan and will. However, there are other times when the "right hand" of God works in an obvious fashion, before the eyes, in front of the face, performing the supernatural and the miracle right there for all to see. But keep in mind that if we had eyes in the back of our heads, so to speak, we could see both the right and left hand manifestations. We would see that God is there working ALL THE TIME. And all those blessed ones who have the "eyes of their understanding ENLIGHTENED" do see HIM IN ALL THINGS!

How often, in the midst of testing and trouble, we, like Peter, look at the billowing waves and behold not the Lord! When the blessings come pouring in and the glory waves sweep through our souls, we know it is the Lord and we acknowledge and bless Him. But when trouble surrounds us, when adversity comes, calamity strikes, and all hell breaks loose, we fail to see where God's hand can be in THAT! But without that, we could not receive all He would give and do for us with His right hand. The right hand is the hand of His manifest grace and power, His inward love and joy, the smile of His approval with which He encourages and equips us. The left hand, under our head, holds us fast and secretly deals and works upon the clay of the earthen vessel in ways we understand not. The embracing of His right hand is so precious, as He lets His love fall upon us like dew, as He leads us into deeper revelations of Himself and of that which He has prepared for us. As we behold the King in His beauty He perfects that which concerns us and gets us ready to shine forth in His image.

While we rejoice in the embrace of God's right hand of love, let us not despise His left hand; let us yield to Him though He would use the knife upon us and pour the wine into the wound; for He will then pour in the oil and soothe us; He may wound, but He will heal us. Let us not forget, however, that He not only holds us fast and comforts us in trial, but He holds us fast in the fiery furnace, and on the swiftly moving wheel of His purifying and molding processes. How many times we would get out of His hands if He did not hold us fast when He puts us into the purifying furnace, out of which we would take ourselves if it were possible. It is His precious unseen left hand that holds us still as the dross is being consumed.

The Scripture tells us that "there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the MAN Christ Jesus" (I Tim. 2:5). Seated at the right hand of God today is a MAN. God came down from heaven and invaded humanity, He took upon Himself the nature and the body of a man, so that when He went back to the throne, He would take humanity back to the throne. There is no mystery to it that God sits on the throne, He belongs there; but to think now that MAN is sitting on the throne! "Jesus of Nazareth, a MAN approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs ... THIS JESUS has God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore BEING BY THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD EXALTED..." (Acts 2:22, 32-33).

Some people have the impression that the New Testament Church was in a constant expectation to meet Jesus around every corner or to see Him appear during their gatherings, but that is not true. That happened only for forty days after His resurrection. Then one day He wanted them to know that they must not look for Him around corners or the next time they went fishing, so He took them up on a mountain, blessed them, and allowed them to see Him in that body one last time, not disappearing as He had done on many occasions, but ascending slowly up into heaven, caught up into a cloud, ascending into life on a higher plane, caught up into transcendent glory, so that they knew, as Paul later wrote, that we have one mediator between God and man, the MAN Christ Jesus, yet a man ASCENDED and EXALTED, SITTING ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. So we do not look for Him in any physical appearance for "henceforth know we NO MAN after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more" (II Cor. 5:16). But it is still a MAN at the right hand of God!

There is confirmation of this in Acts 7:55-56 where we read concerning Stephen, "But he being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God and JESUS STANDING ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. And said, Behold I see the heavens opened and the SON OF MAN standing on the right hand of God." The right hand of God, as we have previously pointed out, is the realm of ALL AUTHORITY, POWER, DOMINION, WISDOM, AND KNOWLEDGE. It is the realm of God's OMNIPOTENCE. It was rankest blasphemy in the minds of the persecutors of Stephen for him to say that he saw JESUS, the SON OF MAN, standing at the RIGHT HAND of God. Such words were for him to seal his doom at the hands of the high priest and all the council. If Stephen had said he saw the SON OF GOD there, it would not have been so grievous, perhaps, but when we realize that it is the SON OF MAN seated in such a place, then it assumes proportions that we never before have thought about.

The right hand of God is not a geographical or astral PLACE. The throne of the God who is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent SPIRIT is not a material one, but bespeaks the REALM OF HIS SUPREME AND UNIVERSAL AUTHORITY AND RULERSHIP; and our Lord Jesus Christ has been exalted to the glory of that rulership. The RIGHT HAND of God is a realm of power and authority, a position of eminence, a condition and a state of being. It is the assumption of the almighty power and universal dominion of the Father. It is the dispensing of HIS POSITIVE ENERGY FORCE into His creation. Exalted to that high realm Jesus no longer walks in a limited physical body, for He now indwells the Church, which IS His body, the FULLNESS OF HIM THAT FILLS ALL IN ALL (Eph. 1:22-23).

And blessed be God! we now have a share in the REALM OF THE RIGHT HAND. "If you then be risen with Christ, SEEK those things which are above, WHERE CHRIST SITS AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. Set your affection on things above, and not on things on the earth. For you are dead, and your life is HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD" (Col. 3:1-3). Eph. 2:5-6 tells us that "when we were dead through our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ ... and raised us up with Him, and made us SIT TOGETHER WITH HIM in the heavenly places." This shows that as we come to know the resurrection life of Christ, we are also made to experience the ASCENSION of Christ. We are chosen of God not only to be made alive from the dead and have God's life, but also to sit in the heavenly places as ASCENDED MEN. He causes us to ascend with Him and sit with Him in the heavens - NOW! Therefore, ascension truly is the position of those who know Christ in His fullness. The position of ascension rests not only on the fact of Christ's ascension, but on the LIFE OF ASCENSION WE HAVE OBTAINED WITHIN US. The Christ who indwells our hearts IS THE ASCENDED CHRIST, and His life is ascended and heavenly, and is given from heaven. It is a life which reaches heaven. Therefore, once we obtain this life, we have fellowship with heaven and are joined to heaven and dwell in heaven. Although according to the conditions of the outer man we still live on earth, yet according to the INNER MAN we are already in heaven. The situation is just like our Lord's during His time on earth. He said then that though He "descended from heaven" He was still "in heaven" (Jn. 3:13). This was due to the fact that His life was heavenly and one with heaven.

Man in God's image, man in Christ at the right hand of God, is God's government in the Kingdom of God. Was not this magnificent purpose burning in the heart of our heavenly Father when on the sixth creative day He proclaimed the wonderful decree: "Let us make man in our image ... and LET THEM HAVE DOMINION over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth" (Gen.1:26). In this shadowy type we behold a vivid portrait of God's purpose for man, that when man comes fully into GOD'S IMAGE he shall be, first, the ruler of things beneath, the lowest realms of the bottomless, typified by the fish swarming in the depths of the seas, and the creeping things; next, the things upon the earth, typified by the cattle, and all the earth; and lastly, the things of the heavens also, typified by the fowl of the air. One may find it difficult to embrace so great a truth from so small and insignificant a type, but it was upon this very Edenic type, as reiterated by the prophet David in the eighth Psalm, that the writer of the book of Hebrews enlarged when by the Spirit he wrote, "For unto the angels has He not put into subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, what IS man, that You are mindful of him? You made him a little lower (Gr: for a little while lower) than the angels; You CROWN HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR, and set him OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS: You have put A-L-L  T-H-I-N-G-S in subjection under his feet. For in that He put ALL in subjection under him, He left N-O-T-H-I-N-G that is NOT put under him!" (Heb. 2:5-8).

You won't quite grasp that at first. Its too overwhelming! To be CROWNED means to be given KINGLY RULE. To be crowned with GLORY and HONOR is to be given such rule as Jesus Christ has NOW, and of that rule we read, "Wherefore God also has HIGHLY EXALTED Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus Christ every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:9-11). We have already stated that MAN in God's image, MAN IN CHRIST AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD is God's government in the Kingdom of God. Paul said it this way, "Who (Jesus) IS THE IMAGE of the invisible God ... by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers ... and you are complete IN HIM WHICH IS THE HEAD OF A-L-L PRINCIPALITY AND POWER" (Col. 1:15-17; 2:9-10).

All who in Christ come to God's image are destined to share that awesome dominion, seated together with Him, far above all principality and power. The reason so many people fail to attain to the great heights of the Spirit is because they are unable to see God's purposes, and therefore they have no particular incentive to seek the great heights that are IN HIM. So many Christians are far too taken up with carnal ideas and childish notions about mansions in the skies and harps and white night gowns and sitting on clouds eating pork chops with nothing to do and all eternity to do it in, to be able to see the true purposes of God at HIS RIGHT HAND. Simply speaking, the purpose of God is that we might reign with Him, and to reign is to exercise authority for God - to rule all things. Paul tells us that we are to SEEK those things which are ABOVE - WHERE CHRIST SITS at the RIGHT HAND of God. This means that we are to SEEK THE THINGS OF THE RIGHT HAND! Reigning with Christ must become one of the great goals in the life of every man or woman who has received the call to Sonship.

Our reigning is rooted not only in the position of ascension, but also in the position of order arranged by God. Therefore, if we want to reign for God, not only do we need to live in the conscious awareness of ascension, but we must also keep the position of order given us by God - that is, to submit to the authority to which we should submit. Let me illustrate. In Lk. 10:19 the Lord says, "Behold, I have given you AUTHORITY to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the POWER of the enemy." It is true, the King James version states that Christ has given us "power" to tread on serpents and scorpions, but the Greek word is "exousia" meaning AUTHORITY or JURISDICTION. When Jesus speaks of the "power" of the enemy, however, He uses a different word, "dunamis", meaning POWER. Our English words dynamite and dynamo come from that Greek word. Ah! all our adversaries have is POWER, but what the Lord gives us is AUTHORITY. The Lord gives us authority in order to deal with all the power of the enemy. We may illustrate this by an automobile moving along the road. Although it is full of power, yet a traffic policeman has authority over it. When he blows his whistle the mighty engine must slow to a whisper and the car must stop. Again, it is like an army. Although it has great power with its men, guns, tanks, airplanes, and bombs, yet the general has the authority. When he gives an order, the army must obey. He has authority over the power. This reveals that authority is over power and can control power, therefore, authority is greater than power.

But authority depends entirely upon position. With the position, there is the authority; without the position, there is no authority. A policeman without his uniform and not standing in the assigned post has no authority to direct the traffic. A general taking leave from his duty has no authority to command an army. Likewise, our heavenly authority depends solely on the reality of our ascension and our position in the order of God. All the authority of the traffic policeman previously mentioned depends not only on his standing at the assigned post, but also on his submitting to his superior. If he leaves his assigned post, he will not be able to direct the cars. If he rebels against his superior, he will lose his official rights. Therefore, a policeman's executing of his authority depends on the keeping of his duty on the one hand, and on keeping the position of his rank on the other hand. The position of his duty is equivalent to our position of ascension, seated together WITH HIM in the heavenlies, and the position of his rank is equivalent to our position of order, submitted to HIS LORDSHIP.

Matthew 8:5-13 tells us of a centurion who came to ask the Lord to heal his servant's sickness. His faith was based on his knowledge of the position of order. He said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof; but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having under myself soldiers: and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it." Since he himself was under authority, he could command those under him. Therefore, he believed that the Lord needed only to exercise His authority and give a word of command, and the matter would be done. He really knew the relationship between order and authority. He knew that in order to reign, he had first to submit to the reigning. In order to be the authority, he had first to submit to authority.

When God created man in the beginning, God gave man authority to have dominion over all the creatures in the sea, in the air, and upon earth, representing all realms from the lowest of the bottomless, to the highest of the heavens. At that time, man was submitting to God's authority; hence, God's authority was in him, and all things were made to submit to man. But once man rebelled against God, unwilling as he was to submit to God's authority, he then lost the authority of God. As a result, all the creation under man was no longer in subjection to manes authority. Therefore, not only can sin, sickness, sorrow, pain, death, and the devil harm us today; even the snakes, wild beasts, mosquitoes, and fleas can bite and torment us! This indicates that the entire fallen universe is full of the creatures' rebelliousness and insubordination.

But in this rebellious and confused universe, whenever there is one who is still willing to accept and walk under God's authority, God's authority will be manifested upon him and he will be able to reign. Moses is an example. He was a man who submitted to God's authority and thereby reigned for God. When he was confronted with the rebellion and stubborness of the Israelites, he submitted himself to God's authority. Especially at the time Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and those with them rebelled and assembled themselves together against him, he submitted himself even more to the authority of God. They attacked Moses and Aaron, saying, "You take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and Jehovah is among them: wherefore then lift you up yourselves above the assembly of Jehovah?" (Num. 16:3). They said that Moses was taking too much authority over the people; their intention was to overthrow his authority. At that time, Moses did not look to his own authority and seek to solve the problem himself. On the contrary, he FELL UPON HIS FACE BEFORE THE LORD and let God vindicate him. His falling upon his face before God was his KEEPING THE POSITION OF ORDER. He knew that his authority was not based in himself, but in God. Only by his complete submission to God and dependence upon HIM would he be able to reign for God. In the end it was manifested even more clearly than before that the authority of God was upon him.

Let us consider David. In his entire life, David submitted not only to God's authority, but also, in an absolute way, to the authority of order. He recognized that Saul was God's anointed one, that Saul was in the position of king, and that Saul was placed by God to be His authority. He realized that he was only a subject of Saul. Therefore, no matter how Saul persecuted him as an enemy, he never dared to rebel against him. In this way, he kept the position of order, not grasping authority, but submitting to authority. Consequently, the day came when God also anointed him king, that he might reign for God in the nation of Israel.

But all those men who submitted to God and reigned for him were imperfect, tarnished by their own blemishes and weaknesses. It was not until the Lord Jesus came as the Word made flesh that there was in this rebellious universe A MAN who submitted absolutely to GOD'S AUTHORITY. "For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me" (Jn. 6:38). "I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father has taught Me, I speak these things. And He that sent Me is with Me: the Father has not left Me alone; for I do always those things that please Him" (Jn. 8:28-29). In the life of the firstborn Son, every word and action, every move and cessation, were in accordance with His Father's will and in subjection to the Father's authority. "He humbled Himself, becoming OBEDIENT EVEN UNTO DEATH, yea, the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:8). Therefore, God HIGHLY EXALTED HIM, seating Him at His own RIGHT HAND, far above all principality and power, and far above all heavens. Every knee shall bow to Him and every tongue in all God's great universe shall call Him Lord - all in submission to HIS AUTHORITY. Because the Lord Jesus SUBMITTED TO THE AUTHORITY OF THE FATHER and kept the position of order, He obtained authority and is able to reign for God!

Precious friend of mine, if ever you hope to reign with Christ YOU MUST BECOME SUBMITTED TO THE AUTHORITY OF GOD. And I'm not talking about coming to Crystal River (now El Paso) and submitting to my ministry, or to any other man or group of men. Certainly we must walk in all humility with our brethren, "submitting ourselves one to another in the fear of God" (Eph. 5:21). But true SONSHIP SUBMISSION is SUBMISSION TO THE FATHER THROUGH THE HEADSHIP AND LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST for God has "put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all" (Eph. 1:22-23). "And He is the Head of the body ... who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things HE might have the preeminence" (Col. 1:18). How tragic that there are so many in this hour who are "not holding the Head, from whom all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increases with the increase of God" (Col. 2:19).

There are multitudes across the land who loudly profess to have received the call to sonship who, rather than submitting themselves UNDER THE MIGHTY HAND OF GOD, submit their walk with God into the hands of others who persuade them that they are more capable than themselves to watch for their souls. The land is filled with men calling themselves apostles, elders, shepherds, etc., who desire to lord it over a flock or other men's lives, telling others what they can and cannot do, esteeming themselves spiritual enough to discern for everyone else what the will of the Lord is, though they bear no credentials other than their own word that they possess such authority. Certainly there are many precious under-shepherds, true ministries HE has set in the body, humble examples to the flock, with a flow of HIS LIFE, bearing the true word of the Lord for this hour, a source of encouragement, confirmation, and strength unto all unto whom they are sent, and we praise God for them. All such true ministries bear one signal mark of distinction: they do not draw followers after themselves, they POINT ALL MEN TO THE LORD; they do not ask you to blindly submit to them, but they present you unto HIM WHO IS THE HEAD OVER ALL THINGS TO THE CHURCH.

I speak the truth when I say that the greatest need in this hour is for the people of God to begin to KNOW THE LORD FOR THEMSELVES. Let all who treasure the beautiful hope of sonship begin to seek God, and walk with God, and know God, and hear from God, and submit to Him in all His ways, and to His will and to His word, and GOD HIMSELF will be YOUR FATHER and you will sup with HIM and He with you. Ask the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and before you realize it you will find yourself digging deep in the storehouse of God's treasures of wisdom and knowledge and sitting with Him at His banqueting table. He will spread a table before you in the presence of your enemies, He will lead you through green pastures; He will reveal to you fountains of living water flowing FROM WITHIN; He will cause you to rest beside cool, still streams; and HE, the Great Shepherd of the sheep will abide with you and your cup will overflow with the unspeakable riches of His grace and the wonder of His glorious and eternal reality.

How many are submitted to men but not to God! If you would keep the position of order in God's house of Sons you must remember that "Christ is a Son OVER HIS OWN HOUSE; whose house we are" (Heb. 3:6). He is the Head, He is the Great Shepherd, He is the Lord, He is the firstborn. I can assure you, dear ones, that to the degree that you KNOW HIM in intimate fellowship and vital union and SUBMIT TO HIM in all His will, ways, and dealings, you will know HIS AUTHORITY and be able to reign with Him and HE will be able to REIGN THROUGH YOU in all things! It is not enough to know how God would have us think, act, and be as Sons of God. There must be submission to Him, with daily inworkings of His nature, mind, and power. We must know our position in ascension and live continually in the consciousness of the heavenly life, but we must also keep the position of order and be in all things SUBMITTED UNTO GOD, joined unto the Head, obeying His will as He reveals it to us. When we obey men our authority comes from men. When we obey God the authority comes from God. And when we obey God - we REIGN!

"Your right hand, O Lord, is BECOME glorious in power. Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed in pieces the enemy" (Ex. 15:6). While it is difficult for us to conceive of God becoming something more than He already is, and as to His nature there can never be any change, yet the Spirit reveals that the RIGHT HAND of God had not previously been all that it was when the children of Israel triumphantly marched dryshod through the red sea, for the prophet speaks of a day wherein the right hand of the Lord "is BECOME glorious in power", denoting a process in the UNFOLDING of the power of His right hand in the midst of men. And, while the right hand of God is first and foremost the realm of God's almighty power and authority, His right hand BECAME glorious in power when it was revealed in mighty signs and wonders through the person of the man Moses. And now there has been a wonderful enlargement in the revelation of God's right hand, for Jesus Christ has been exalted to the realm of the right hand, and there shall be a further enlargement, the promise is sure, "To him that overcomes will I grant to SIT WITH ME IN MY THRONE, as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne" (Rev. 3:21). Thus Jesus was able to say, "ALL POWER is given unto Me in heaven and in earth" (Mat. 28:18), and again, "But YOU shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts 1:8). God's right hand is BECOMING A PEOPLE, the Christ, Head and body, a many-membered SON OF THE RIGHT HAND, and the manifestation of God in this RIGHT HAND COMPANY shall BECOME even more glorious in power as the appointed hour for the unveiling of the Sons of God arrives. These shall not only declare His Word, but have authority and ability to see it established in the earth. When the power of God arises in all fullness in His body of Sons, and He is exalted in the people He has prepared, how unspeakably glorious and honorable He will be in the eyes of His creation!

"O sing unto the Lord a new song; for He has done marvelous things: His RIGHT HAND and His holy arm, has gotten Him the victory. The Lord has made known His salvation: His righteousness has He openly showed in the sight of the heathen. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together before the Lord; for He comes to judge the earth: with righteousness shall He judge the world, and the people with equity" (Ps. 98:1-3, 7-9). Think of it - His enemies submit, the nations are ready to worship Him, and sing to His name, the ends of the earth all shall turn to Him, because His right hand shall do marvelous things, and He shall make known His salvation to all!

Truly, beloved, this RIGHT HAND COMPANY will get Him the victory! There is no doubt about it, no devil, no wicked men or nations or armies can stop this company from doing the things God has declared they will do, and because of their ministry, the nations will come to know the Lord and sing His praise. As the work of restoration progresses, what harmony, what glorious unity shall fill the universe, as this company of KING-PRIESTS flow together, by that which every joint supplies, to gather together into Christ all things, till all has been set in array, and God is indeed ALL IN ALL - everything to everybody. Hallelujah!

How sweet shall be the influence of this RIGHT HAND COMPANY, the POSITIVE FORCE of God's energy, ministering His life, His love, His joy, His peace unto creation. How thankful we are not to be numbered among those who are called to the LEFT HAND, to walk in darkness, and be vessels of wrath. There is no harshness in the ministry of the right hand, oh yes, even the right hand "dashes the enemy in pieces", but it is the destruction of the negative qualities that there might be LIFE. These bring correction MINISTERED IN LOVE, leading all mankind to the Fountain of Living Water, feeding them in green pastures, causing them to lie down and rest, and not be afraid. Ah - we would SEEK THE THINGS AT THE RIGHT HAND!

               Part 4

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