KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES

KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES 

studies in end-time revelation 

THE HEAVENS DECLARE 

Part l0 

LIBRA--THE SCALES (continued)

The first of the Decans (minor constellations) in the house of Libra is THE CROSS (CRUX), known as "The Southern Cross." It is situated beneath the feet of the Centaur. This is one of the most beautiful of the Signs in the heavens. It consists of four bright stars placed in the form of a cross. At the time of the coming of Jesus Christ this Southern Cross was visible in the latitude of Jerusalem! Since the time when the real sacrifice was offered at Jerusalem, and through the gradual recession of the Polar Star, it has become invisible there. It is found in the very lowest part of the sphere and in the darkest part of the heavens. It may be seen by those dwelling near or south of the equator. But due to the precession of the equinoxes and the way the earth gives us at different times and centuries a distinct picture of the heavens from the various latitudes, the Southern Cross is sometimes visible and sometimes not. 

In Hebrew this Decan is called ADOM, which means "the cutting off." In Dan. 9:26, we read: "After threescore and two weeks shall MESSIAH BE CUT OFF..." Here we have the connection of the Messiah with the Crux or the Cross--the "cutting off" of the Messiah. Of our Lord it is written: "And after He had appeared in human form He abased and humbled Himself still further and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!" (Phil. 2:8, Amplified). 

Two thousand years ago, the CROSS didn't inspire religious awe or thoughts of the Messiah's redemption. Instead, the cross inspired sheer TERROR. A crucifixion was a gruesome, torturous, and shameful way of dying--the lowest form of execution, reserved for traitors and hardened criminals. It was undoubtedly one of the most barbarous and exquisitely cruel forms of torture known to man. The method used by the Romans in the time of our Lord was a refinement of this gruesome form of death devised by the ancient Assyrians. The sadistic form of crucifixion originally was IMPALEMENT of the enemy upon sharp stakes. Cutting the branches off a small but sturdy tree, these masters of torment would shape it into an upright post with a razor-sharp point. Hauling their victim to the crucifixion site they would rip the clothing off his body in the presence of his frightened associates. These strong soldiers would then lift him up in the air over the upright CROSS, poising his wildly twisting body momentarily over the sharp point in the rectal area. Suddenly, with precision timing, the powerful warriors who held him would drive his body downward with all their might. If they were especially skilled they would drive the sword-like stake through the intestines, and all the way to the diaphragm. Although strong enough to drive the cross into the heart they would stop short so that the screaming, jerking victim would gyrate long enough to burn the event into the souls of his watching countrymen. The Assyrians knew that such a memory would aid them in conquering other cities, tribes, and nations without so much as a battle. 

The Greek word used in the New Testament for "cross" is STAUROS. From the time of Alexander the Great, who also practiced the awful art of crucifixion, the term STAUROS meant "an upright stake." In respect to the Roman cross the word STAUROS referred to the upright post--the horizontal beam was called the PATIBULUM or cross-arm--for there was no word in the Greek language for "cross" as the Romans made it. The Persians who picked up the practice of crucifixion from the Assyrians were the first to change the form of execution by impalement through the bowels to impalement through the hands. Their purpose in this was not to be more humane but, rather, to cause a more lingering death to impress the vanquished with the foolishness of resisting their military might. The Persian version of crucifixion, using the crossbeam in addition to the upright post, was picked up by Alexander and his generals and carried back to the Mediterranean world. 

The Romans learned the art of torture by crucifixion and immediately set out to refine and improve it in many subtle ways. At the time of Christ the Romans made use of four cross forms. In addition to the upright STAUROS which was used alone for impalement through the bowels, there was what they called the CRUX IMISSA in which the cross-beam was located about one-third the way down the post. This is the traditional design which is usually associated with the cross upon which Jesus was slain. The third Roman cross form was called the CRUX COMMISSA in which the crossbeam was hauled to the very top of the pole, forming a T-shaped cross. The fourth Roman cross form was in the shape of the letter "X" and was called the CRUX DECUSSTA. Tradition maintains that Peter was crucified upside down on this shape of cross. The Latin word CRUX, which was the Roman term for these instruments of torture, comes into English as "cross" by way of the French CROIX. 

Regardless of the cross form used it was a slow and agonizing death--reserved for traitors, slaves and in general the SCUM of the Roman world. But the process of crucifixion involved more than the shame of a brief public hanging. First, the victim was mercilessly scourged with spiked whips, sticks and all manner of physical and verbal abuse. Then the victim was forced to CARRY his own heavy cross to the site of the crucifixion. Afterwards came the painful process of nailing his hands and feet to the cross. Finally, this slow, agonizing death was aggravated by taunts, threats and buffeting from the crowd. The terror of the cross--like the anticipation of a public hanging--is heightened by the victim's fear of the event. Most criminals were crucified immediately after their trial because the forebodings of pain were more than most mortals could handle. The crucifixion of Jesus was typical in this respect--He was crucified on the same day He was convicted. But this death sentence was no sudden surprise to Jesus. He anticipated His death by the cross throughout His three-and-one-half year ministry. As a young man growing up in Galilee, He undoubtedly witnessed a number of Roman crucifixions. 

Of all the lives that have suddenly ended in what would seem to be defeat and tragedy, none would have appeared to be more defeated or more tragic than the life of Jesus, the teacher from Nazareth. He had claimed to have power over all things, even over life and death. In fact, He had proved His claim by bringing the dead back to life, yet, to all outward appearances, He seemed to be unable to forestall His own death. Not only did Jesus die, but the tragedy and defeat seemed even worse because He died under the most shattering circumstances. According to the custom of the times, to be hanged on a tree was to be forever accursed--to have the memory of your name blotted out both in earth and in heaven. The triumph of Christ over this kind of death only adds immeasurably to His ultimate victory, because He transformed His cross--the symbol of the curse-- into the symbol of His eternal triumph. Yes, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death--EVEN THE DEATH OF THE CROSS! Oh, the wonder of it! Oh, the mystery of it! 

When Jesus hung upon the cross the heavens robed themselves in midnight mourning and bowed to the earth and wept. The rocks in their dumb grief burst, because their Creator was put to death by those whom He came only to save and bless; and the earth it-self rocked with convulsive throes. As the Lord of glory hangs there--absolute silence takes the place of the noisy babble of the crowd. At length after three hours, the silence is broken, and a cry pierces the darkness, till it strikes a heaven not opened now, but closed even to Him, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" 

THE CROSS IN THE HEART OF GOD 

In spite of the awful fact of Calvary's dreadful scene I would be remiss if I failed to tell you that the CROSS OF CHRIST was not a cross of wood. The cross on Golgotha's hill was undoubtedly a wooden cross, but the cross of Christ which the apostles preached and in which they gloried and by which the world is reconciled to God was something more than a wooden beam. When in wisdom and holy expectation our Lord exhorted His disciples, saying, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up HIS CROSS, and follow Me," He was not making reference to a cross of wood, but to a cross that would bring death to one's own identity, will and ways, and identify his life henceforth with the life of Christ. The DEATH OF THE CROSS is in some mysterious and divine way the gateway to the LIFE OF THE CROSS. The wooden Roman cross on which Jesus was crucified was not actually HIS CROSS, for the cross of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe, all the handwriting of ordinances of the law were nailed to His cross, and He made peace and reconciled all things in heaven and earth unto Himself by the blood of HIS CROSS. No literal parchment was nailed to the cross of Calvary, nor does that cross even exist today. 

It is my deep conviction, and I say it with all reverence and respect to my blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, but the truth is that Jesus in the natural suffered no more on the cross than thousands of others who were nailed to a tree, or thousands of others who died on the rack during the Roman inquisition, or thousands of others who were burned at the stake, or fed to the lions, or made blazing human torches at the Circus in Rome. The physical suffering was no greater. The cross of Christ refers to a greater spiritual cross and a greater spiritual death. The cross of Christ had its beginning that day in heaven, when the Word of God, "being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of NO REPUTATION, and took upon Him the FORM OF A SERVANT, and was made IN THE LIKENESS OF MEN; and being found IN FASHION AS A MAN, He HUMBLED Himself, and BECAME OBEDIENT UNTO DEATH, EVEN THE DEATH OF THE CROSS." Fierce as was His suffering at Calvary, that fearful hour of agony and blood was but the final act of a life of the cross as step by step He descended from the majesty and glory of equality with God to the fearsome moment when in anguish He cried, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" 

Though I am sure it is impossible to plumb the shining depths and the inexhaustible riches of the meaning of the cross, I would like to endeavor to set before you the deeper meaning of the cross of Christ. We will never understand the mystery of the cross until by the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God our eyes perceive the eternal cross in the heart of God Himself. The only true and eternal life in the universe is the life of God. He alone is self-existent. He alone is reality. He alone is eternal substance. If we are to fully know and partake of that life, we must die to all that is contrary to that life. Everything that exists in the universe has its opposite--and as surely as God exists there is the opposite for all that He is. God is love--and the opposite of love is hate. God is light--and the opposite of light is darkness. God is truth--and the opposite of the truth is the lie. God is life--and the opposite of life is death. Every positive has its negative, and all the laws of the universe reveal this principle of opposites. Jesus enunciated the fundamental principle of life (spirit, God) when He said that except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone; but if it die it brings forth the increase of life. Every negative must be brought to death. Everything in the universe must die to all that is contrary to divine life and nature, being born again of the Spirit. This is the meaning of "Behold, I make ALL THINGS NEW" (Rev. 21:5). This has been the Father's plan for man--man in the image and glory of the incorruptible God. 

The principle was set in motion with the first man, Adam. Adam had to fall into darkness, sin and death, not because he was inherently evil or rebellious, but because all that is contradictory to God must be stirred up, experienced, faced, understood, repented of, overcome and eternally put to rest in man's will before the image of God can shine safely and eternally through him. In recent months my whole understanding of why the cross is the gateway to LIFE has been clarified and crystallized within my spirit. I have come to see that God Himself dies to everything but His self-giving self, which is love. God Himself dies to every dark principle that would sow selfishness, pride, strife, bitterness, trouble, pain, sorrow, chaos, disappointment, weakness, limitation or evil of any kind. The cross is the very heart of God, and the basis of why He is the ETERNAL GOD. He is eternally God just because He IS ETERNALLY all that makes Him God. 

In the increasing light with which God is filling the hearts of His elect, this scripture, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is ONE Lord," bears a depth of meaning greater far and deeper than the surface truth we have understood with natural minds. That this passage may become clearer to our minds, scintillating in heaven's light like the ray which is broken into many prismatic hues, consider now the glorious things concealed in this mighty word of the Lord. The Lord our God is ONE. One, in the numerology of scripture, means UNITY, UNITED, UNDIVIDED, UNFRAGMENTED. One is the primary number, denoting beginning or source. Unity being indivisible, and not made up of other numbers, is therefore independent of all others, and is the source of all others. "One" excludes all difference, for there is no second with which it can either harmonize or conflict. One means unity and unity comes from the word "unit". 

In reference to His substance, God is SPIRIT. In reference to His state of being, God is ONE. That which is ONE is that which is UNITED, UNDIVIDED, UNFRAGMENTED. Oneness speaks of unity, harmony, singleness, concord, solidarity. God is ONE! The fact that there is ONE GOD must not be confused with the truth that GOD IS ONE. Perhaps, as someone has said, this is only another aspect of viewing the same truth, for God is truly one, undivided in Himself, or in His will and purpose. And surely HE alone is God! But this One God IS ONE. It is a great and blessed fact that God is ONE. He who is united, undivided and unfragmented in every aspect of His nature and state of being cannot be influenced, affected, moved, upset, frustrated, changed, altered, damaged, destroyed, made discordant or set at variance in any way. The character of God is eternal, change-less, unaffected. The love, joy, peace, righteousness, wisdom, justice, power and will of God do not rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall. Matters not what happens nor what men devise or devils say or do, the love of God, the purpose of God, the holiness of God, the power of God are steadfast, unmoved, unquenched, unaffected, without fluctuation. He is Jehovah, the SELF-EXISTENT ONE. He is ONE. No power in the universe can cause any deviation whatsoever in God's nature, will or action. 

But how is it that God is UNCHANGEABLE in His nature--is it because He CANNOT change or because He CHOOSES not to change? Truly God "cannot lie" and God cannot be anything other than life, light and love. But why CANNOT He be? The answer that the blessed Spirit of Truth has revealed in my heart is because HE HAS ETERNALLY DIED TO THE POSSIBILITY THAT DARKNESS CAN ARISE IN HIS LIFE! The entire principle of darkness has its foundation in the life of God, for was it not God Himself who "divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called night" (Gen. 1:5). "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil. I the Lord do all these things" (Isa. 45:7). This mystery of darkness in God's nature remains unrevealed because He has eternally WILLED to be Life, Light and Love. All the negative potential is there--the law of opposites--but there is a cross in God's heart--by which He eternally dies to all that would make Him anything less than GOD. This is ALWAYS happening in God's life, because the cross is an eternal fact. "Eternity" doesn't mean unbeginning time in the long ago or unending time in the inscrutable future. Eternity means NO TIME. Eternity is TIME-LESS. This means that the decision to die to the negative principle is not subject to review or change--it is forever settled and determined in the heart of God. That's why He says over and over, "I change not." It is not that He is intrinsically set so that He cannot change. Rather, it is that He has ETERNALLY CHOSEN not to change. It is an eternal, accomplished, irrevocable choice, born of wisdom and understanding. It is the eternal cross in His heart. Therefore He cannot change. He is forever love. He is forever pure. He is forever righteous. He is forever wisdom. He is forever Light and Life. He is forever SAFE! 

The cross is the secret of God's gift of love. It means that God does not live for HIMSELF. All the selfhood of God is forever crucified upon the cross in God's heart. Selfhood must be a vital characteristic in any life. The selfish desire that would cause God to live for Himself--to this God eternally dies. He has willed to be a self for others instead of a self for self, by eternally dying to the dark, selfish principle. Andrew Murray said that the spirit of love in AN ETERNAL WILL TO ALL GOODNESS. The best and most wonderful word in the universe is Love. For God is love. What is love? The deep desire to give itself for the beloved. Love finds its joy in imparting all that it has, all that it is, to make the loved one happy and fulfilled. This is THE ONE ETERNAL, IMMUTABLE GOD that, from eternity to eternity, changeth not, that can be neither more nor less, but an ETERNAL WILL TO ALL THE GOODNESS that is in Himself and come from Him. The creation of ever so many worlds adds nothing to, nor takes anything from, this immutable God: He always was, and always will be the same immutable WILL TO ALL GOODNESS. So that as certainly as He is the Creator, so certainly He is the Blesser of every created thing, and can give nothing but Blessing, Goodness and Happiness from Himself, because He has in Himself nothing else to give. 

The spirit of love does not want to be rewarded or honored; its only desire is to become the blessing and happiness of everything that needs it. The wrath of an enemy, the treachery of a friend, only gives the spirit of love opportunity to be more triumphant. The rebellion (selfhood) of Adam but opened up avenues for mankind to experience and now the incredible depths of the love of God! God IS LOVE! And His sons are of His own nature. The Sons of Love! What a blessed title! Little wonder, then, that the whole vast creation, sold under slavery and bondage to sin, sorrow, and death GROANS for the manifestation of THE SONS OF LOVE! 

From this flash-point, Life sheds forth Light and Love. The whole creation sprang out from this unselfish love, for God said, "Let there be..." and "God SO LOVED THE WORLD that He gave..." Life begins after the cross, even in the life of God. The cross is more than Calvary- it is the fulcrum or point of power in which the entire infinite might of the forces of divine desire issue in love, creation, and self-abnegation for others. This is why Jesus said, "Take up YOUR CROSS and follow Me." We carry our cross with us in our walk IN SPIRIT- the cross that God has in His heart --not to suffer physically necessarily, but to die to all negatives and all selfhood and selfishness and spring forth as rivers of living waters in life anew. So we become life and light for others. As Adam Parker wrote, "How does the sun in the sky give light? It is continually dying to produce light. We don't see the death, or the dark contracting forces in this great star. We only see the light. But death is the key to the light. And that light is the life of our world in the physical dimension. So also the Son, with the cross in His heart, is the Daystar risen in our lives. We share in His eternal death and new life, for He is our very life --and He in us is the light of the world that brings life to all men. 

All the books in the world, though written with pens of silver and ink of gold, could never fully describe the glories of His cross, nor could all the learned tongues of men or the heavenly voices of angels explain to the mind of man how He, who was rich, for our sakes became poor that we through His poverty might be made rich. Eternity itself will not be too long to sing the praises of such a One, who came from the cross in the bosom of God to shed His life blood that all creation might find eternal life in Him. 

BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD 

We have been told many times, by the Spirit, that life can only come through death. This is one of the fundamental laws of creation. Jesus said, "Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (Jn. |2:24). In other words, it brings forth an abundance of life--but it is necessary that it die before a new life can be brought about. If it doesn't die, it remains alone, and nothing is brought forth. It was essential for Jesus to be made a man, of the earth earthy, with a body made of the dust of the earth, for the life of God to fall into this ground and die that He might bring forth much fruit, after His own kind.

If Jesus Christ bad not died, He would have remained the ONLY begotten Son of God. God would have had no more sons like Him, but because He did come in the likeness of men, with a body of the dust of the earth, encased in the darkness of mortal mind, to die in that body, He can now bring forth many more begotten sons like Himself; and not only that, He came to make it possible for an entirely new creation to come into being. 

There is no doubt that the Christ played a very important role in this present creation, for all things were made IN Him, THROUGH Him and FOR Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. Without Him the present creation could not have come into existence. I hope, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to enable you to see and understand His relationship to this present kosmos. If life can only come out of death, then there was a death connected with the bringing in of this present creation. If this law is true, there had to be a death associated with the birth of creation. 

I would draw your reverent attention to a few significant passages of scripture. Most Christians seem to think that the time the Christ of God left the glory above was when He was conceived in the womb of the virgin of Nazareth and born a babe in Bethlehem's stable, laying down that life that He had with the Father, birthed into our life which is a life of death, separated from the eternal glory of the Father for a mere 33 years, then laying aside that robe which was of flesh to return to the Father and take again that glory which He had with the Father until that wonderful day when the angel Gabriel was dispatched by God to Mary in Nazareth. But a close inspection of the scriptures will give us a different idea. 

In that wonderful prayer Jesus prayed on the night before His crucifixion, He said, "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." Then He went on to ask, "And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glory I had with Thee before the world (kosmos) was" (Jn. 17:4-5). These words certainly indicate that Christ had been away from the Father's glory for a lot longer than 33~ years. He is actually saying that He left the glory BEFORE THE KOSMOS CAME INTO BEING. How long ago that was I don't have the foggiest notion--but it was certainly centuries, milleniums, yea, vast and innumerable ages before our blessed Christ walked among us. Now He was asking the Father to restore to Him the glory He had forsaken before ever the kosmos came into being. In the 24th verse we read: "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: FOR THOU LOVEDST ME BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD." 

Why these references to the beginning, yea, before the beginning, before the founding of the kosmos? What happened away back there that He should appeal to it? Why did He speak of the Father's love for Him in that distant point of time? Did not the Father always love Him? I feel deeply within that something tremendously important happened at that time that invoked a special love from God, His Father, causing Him to love His Son in a very special way. One thing is certain--that was the time when the Christ left His pre-existent glory. Otherwise, why should He say, "Father, glorify Thou Me, with Thine own self, with the glory I had with Thee B-E-F-O-R-E THE KOSMOS WAS." If He had left the glory of the Father only when He came to earth as a man, why not say, "...the glory which I had with Thee before I came to earth"? Ah--it was not in Mary's womb that He descended from the glory of the Father, it was much farther back--BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD! 

Notice now these wonderfully meaningful words penned by John the Revelator. "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him (the beast), whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb SLAIN FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD" (Rev. 13:8). Let us notice just what truth is stated here. A better rendering would be, "The Lamb that was PUT TO DEATH from the founding of the kosmos." Weymouth's translation reads, "All the inhabitants of the earth will be found worshipping him; every one whose name is not recorded in the book of Life--the book of the Lamb offered in sacrifice FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD." The sacrifice and death of the Christ did not start with the events surrounding Calvary; it began away back there at the beginning, and culminated on Calvary. He was the Lamb who was put to death from the beginning. Just as the cross did not begin at Calvary, so the crucifixion of Christ did not begin at Calvary. Peter expressed the fact that the cross existed as a work of God before .the foundation of the world in this manner: "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was FOREORDAINED B-E-F-O-R-E THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, but was manifest in these last times for you" (I Pet. ]:18-20). The Lamb whose offering was already a glorious and eternal reality in the heavens, remained only to cast its shadow upon the earth, on Calvary's hill. We would have thought that in calling our Lord "the Lamb" this name would have been used only in respect to His humiliation in His earthly life. However, in scripture it is most used in reference to His glory in the heavenlies. Peter saw Him as a Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world. John saw Him as a Lamb that had been put to death from the founding of the kosmos, highly exalted, standing in the midst of the throne. Actually John saw the Lamb SLAIN IN THE MIDST OF THE THRONE! What a wonder! 

What does it mean that Christ was the Lamb slain "before the foundation of the world"? The word "world" in these passages translates the Greek word KOSMOS meaning "order, arrangement, system of things." The "world" is a negative thing in relation to God. James declares, "...the friendship of the world is enmity with God, whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4). The apostle John adds his testimony, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world" (I Jn. 2:15-16). The world is the present system of things upon this earth conceived by the carnal mind and generated by the natural man. 

The world consists of all that man has instituted that replaces God (the Spirit) in his life. The present political systems, economic systems, educational systems and religious systems are not of God, but of the world. When people, activities, or things--whether good or bad, beautiful or ugly--enslave man, they comprise the world. Anything that causes man to disregard the SPIRIT, be removed from the anointing, trust in the outer world of flesh, or be independent of God is the world. All that does not come from the Father, all that originates outside of SPIRIT, all that man institutes by his own carnal wisdom and fleshly ability is of the world, and is contrary to the life and nature of God. 

The word "foundation" (foundation of the world) translates the Greek word KATABOLE which is a compound word made up of BALLO meaning "to cast, to throw" and KATA meaning "down." When man fell from his high and holy relationship with God and was cast down into the carnal realm of consciousness, the "foundation" of the world was laid in his heart and actions. But--blessed be God! The apostle Paul informs us that God the Father elected some SONS in Christ BEFORE the foundation of the world! "According as He hath chosen us in Him BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD...unto the adoption of sons..." (Eph. 1:4-5). The word "before" translates the Greek word PRO meaning "to go before, to precede." Hence, the Father's act of choosing us in Christ preceded the fall of man and the establishment of the world system. 

These blessed ones chosen by the Father are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb "slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8), and they are the heirs of the Kingdom of God "prepared for them from the foundation of the world" (Mat. 25:34). Praise God, our sonship is assured, our victory over the world is certain, the outcome of God's plan is sure--therefore all creation is standing on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of God's sons coming into their own! The world, as a result, shall pass away and "the kingdoms of THIS WORLD shall BECOME the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ!" 

It is my earnest prayer that the Lord will give understanding to all who read these lines. Christ was lowered from the bright glory of the Father BEFORE THE WORLD WAS and He was the Lamb that was put to death from the FOUNDING OF THE WORLD. Meditate deeply upon this, my beloved, for we are looking at two different events in these two statements. He was lowered from the Father's glory before the world was. This was how this present creation was made possible. He had to make a sacrifice of Himself in order for the creation to be brought into being as He has to continue to sacrifice Himself to bring the new creation into existence. 

Life can only come out of death. The life you and I have in the natural had to be given us by the Son of God, and it has to be sustained by other things giving their lives so we can keep ours. All of the beef, fish and foul we eats the fruits and vegetables we consume, were at one time living things; living creatures that gave up their right to live so we could live. There are some things that are written about Jesus that are an enigma to the natural mind. One is, that He is the beginning of the creation of God. "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION OF GOD" (Rev. 3:14). Now we know that it has been said of Jesus that He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. This really means that He is everything, the beginning and the end, and everything in between; the center and the circumference, and the whole area of the sphere. And here we find that He is the beginning of the creation of God. What can this mean? Clearly it means that He was the first of the creation to be brought into being. He had to be brought forth before anything else was, if He was "with God in the beginning." This is verified in Prov. 8:23-31 where we read of wisdom personified (Christ). "I was set up from agelasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was, when there were no depths I WAS BROUGHT FORTH, when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I BROUGHT FORTH." 

If Christ was the beginning of the creation of God, what was He in the beginning? What place did He occupy in the grand and glorious scheme of creation? Let us consider the very first thing God brought forth from His creative hand. The picture we get is of a universe and an earth that was without form and void, and darkness covered the face of the deep (Gen. 1:2). Dense darkness covered the whole kosmos. The earth was dark and the heavens also, for there was no light anywhere. The first necessity was to bring the illuminating, life-giving LIGHT into a cold and darkened kosmos. So LIGHT was the first thing God brought about. "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light" (Gen. 1:3). Now what was this light? Was it the sun, the moon, or the stars as some Bible teachers are wont to tell us? It couldn't have been, for the light of the sun, moon, and stars shone not upon earth until the fourth day. This must have been some other light. If Christ was the beginning of the creation of God, He must have somehow been connected with this first light. And if He is the beginning and the end, the first and the last, was He not the light that God brought forth at this time? Let us look at the last light, in the next to the last chapter of the Bible. "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and THE LAMB IS THE LIGHT THEREOF" (Rev. 21:23). So in the end there is no need for the sun nor the moon, for the glory of God and the Lamb is the light. If He is the light in the end, can we not see that He was also the light in the beginning--for He is the beginning and the end! 

Now let us look at some of the things Jesus said about Himself. "I am THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD (kosmos); he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of Life" (Jn. 8:12). The whole kosmos was in darkness, the heavens as well as the earth, else the heavens would have shed their light upon the earth. The first and greatest need was light, and God brought that light into the dark universe, and that light was THE WORD, THE CHRIST. Jesus also said, "I am come a light into the kosmos, that whosoever believeth on Me should not walk in darkness" (Jn. 12:46). The truth He proclaimed was that HE WAS THE LIGHT THAT CAME INTO THE KOSMOS, to bring light into the darkened creation. He was indeed the light, but there was more in Him coming into the darkened universe than just to be a light. There was much more to it than that! John by inspiration of the Spirit sheds additional revelation on it when he speaks of the Word being with the Father in the beginning, and how all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. Then he goes on to say, "In HIM was life, and the life was the LIGHT OF MEN" (Jn. 1:4). From this verse we see that light and life are essentially one and the same. "The life was the light of men." So when He came a light into the kosmos, He also was the life that came into the creation, to give life unto all creatures. "The Spirit is Life," says the apostle Paul. Life and Spirit are synonymous even as Life, Light and Spirit are but three ways of saying the same thing. The Word was the Life, the Life was the Light, the Light was the Christ, the Spirit is the Life--GOD INFUSED INTO HIS CREATION--or, as we read in Job 32:8, "There is a SPIRIT IN MAN: and the INSPIRATION OF THE ALMIGHTY giveth them understanding." 

John continues, "That was THE TRUE LIGHT, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (Jn. ]:9). There never was any other light. All other lights are artificial, imitation. Only the Christ was the TRUE LIGHT, and He came a light into the kosmos. In these statements of the apostle John he speaks of the time of the beginning of the creation, when the Word was with God bringing in the creation. He is NOT speaking of the time of His birth in Bethlehem. In the beginning He was the light, and He has been the light ever since, and will be in the vast ages yet to come. And in the end there will be no need of the sun nor the moon to give light. "The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory" (Isa. 60:]9). 

Light is life, darkness is death. Whenever we read of light it always speaks to us of life; when we read of darkness it is referring to death. Light is that which dispels the darkness. When one brings a light into a dark place the darkness goes, because you see, darkness is really nonexistent; it has no substance, no reality; it is just the absence of light. Provide the light and the darkness is gone. It seems strange to our natural understanding that the Light in the beginning didn't do away with the darkness; the darkness still remained. Why didn't the darkness disappear when the Light came on the scene? When you turn on the light in a dark room the darkness flees. Where did it go? It didn't go out the door or through the window. It didn't go anywhere because it is a negative, a no-thing. So why didn't the Light in the beginning dispel the darkness? The answer is, of course, that God did not at that time shine His Light into every place. He "divided the light from the darkness." 

This gross material realm was created on a level of death, and death is still a part of the creation; and as long as darkness exists death will still be around. But, blessed be the Lord! darkness and death will ultimately be done away, for the Light shall shine brighter and brighter unto the perfect day and "there shall be NO NIGHT there." When this present creation came into being, death was in the universe, for everything has its opposite, and death is the opposite of life as darkness is the opposite of light. There is even the opposite in God, which is slain by the cross in His heart, so that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. Everything of this present creation, when it was formed, had the potential of death in it. It was a built-in factor in creation. But included in God's great and eternal purpose is the abolition of death and darkness; and God, in working out His plan, is doing just that. When He has finished there will be no darkness nor death anywhere in the universe. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." But destroyed it shall be, and His Son, who is the Light and the Life, is the One ordained to perform this great task. And He performs it IN US. Praise His name. 

When once we understand that this present creation was formed with the shadow of death upon it, it will become increasingly clear that the Son had to leave the eternal, incorruptible glory of the Father, and enter into a level of death, in order to bring the creation into being. It was the Word of God lowering Himself to bring forth and indwell on this lower level. Thus, He was the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. This was the beginning of God's great creative and redemptive process. So when this present creation came into existence the potential of death was in it; but thank God, the potential for life was also there, for there was both light and darkness in it from the beginning. 

The Light of Life is now being unveiled in a people into whose hearts GOD HATH SHINED. The pen of inspiration wrote, "YE are all the children of the Light, and the children of the Day, we are not of the night nor of darkness" (I Thes. 5:5). There are many other places where we read of the children of light, the sons of light, the children of the day; and the children of night or of darkness. We can be either children of the Day, or children of the Night. We can walk in light, or in darkness; it all depends on who we are following, and where our source is--flesh or spirit. The Spirit is life, and light is life. "If ye walk after the Spirit, ye shall live!" 

Christ is to God what the light-rays of the sun are to the sun. Compared to the great orb of fire blazing in the heavens the gentle sunlight which strikes planet earth seems pale and limited; yet it is the very substance of the sun and the dispensation of the sun to us. Ere it left the sun it was with the sun and was the sun, as the Christ was with God and was God. "He is the sole expression of the glory of God--the Light-being, the out-raying of the divine--and He is the perfect imprint and very image of Gods nature" (Heb. 1:3, Amplified). Light is energy, and the energy of the sun, for example, can change into other forms of energy. When light causes sugar to form in green leaves, some of the light energy is changed into chemical energy and stored in the sugar. When you look at those green leaves you see nothing that even slightly resembles the glory or brilliance of the sun. The lesson here is that the light of the sun has been LOWERED into another form, and when you eat those leaves you receive the strength of life from the energy in the sugar which is really the energy of the sun lowered into that existence. 

In like manner, the Christ was the Light and the Life of the creation, but in becoming that Light He Himself had to be limited--as the rays of sunlight are the glory of the sun by measure, so is Christ the measure of God to every man. When He left the glory of the Father to bring forth the creation and to shine upon it and live within it, He was lowered from the infinite realm of the Father, stripping from Himself some of that in order to fulfill the Father's great plan of creation and redemption. This He did BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, and this He did BY THE CROSS IN THE HEART OF GOD for only by the work of the cross could He lay aside the glory He had to shed it forth in love and blessing to creation. He was the Lamb slain from the founding of the kosmos, made subject to death with the rest of creation, that through death He might bring forth much fruit unto God. 

I hope you can see this. The glory which He had with the Father before creation was, was not the glory He brought with Him; He had left some of that behind. He had come down to a lower level, actually a level of death, in order to bring the creation into its present state. He had glory, yes, as John said, "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (Jn. 1:14). The glory they saw in Him was the glory of the only begotten Son of the Father, but it was not the Father's glory, just as the energy in a green leaf is not the glory of the sun. 

Before the Christ could bring the new creation into existence, with the fullness the Father had planned, He had to return to the glory with the Father He had left before the kosmos was. He Himself, as the token and forerunner of humanity, had to be clothed again with the fullness of the glory of God before He could lift the creation to that level. He could not lift the creation to a higher level than the one He Himself was on.  

When He became a man, born in Bethlehem as the Son of man, this was the beginning of His return to His Father. The Father was getting Him ready for a glorious, triumphant return to the glory He had left before the kosmos was. When the time was at hand for Him to go to the cross, and He was telling His disciples about it, this is what He said: "The hour is come that the Son of man should be GLORIFIED." What a paradox! What a mystery! Here He was, facing His dreadful ordeal of being captured, taken to the Judgment

Hall, falsely accused, ridiculed, spat upon, slapped, His beard plucked out, tied to a pillar and scourged until His back looked like a plowed .field, mocked by the Roman soldiers, and finally to suffer the agony of the cross; and all He said to His disciples was, "The hour is come for the Son of man to be GLORIFIED." He spoke not one word about the agony and sufferings He was about to endure; He talked only of the glory He was about to enter into. So in the seventeenth chapter of John, when He was praying to His Father, He said to Him, "Father, the hour is come; GLORIFY Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee" (Jn. 17:]). "And now, 0 Father, GLORIFY Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was" (Jn. ]7:5). The glory He was about to enter so surpassed the sufferings that He thought not of the sufferings; great as they were, they were not worth mentioning. He had waited for long milleniums and through vast ages for this hour, and now it had arrived. And "for the JOY that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:2). 

I would like you to notice these words: "Father, glorify Thou Me with THINE OWN SELF." He was asking now for the glory of the fullness of the Father; not the glory of the only begotten Son, but the glory of the fullness of God; and this fullness He received AFTER He was crucified and ascended to the realms above. He is no longer in a limited state; He now possesses the fullness of deity, the full extent of the glory of God. And He has done all for us--on our behalf. HE is the forerunner, opening up the way, that we may follow Him to the place into which He has entered. A new and living way is opened for us, beloved. All that He is and has there is FOR US; it is to be our possession. 

It was when the Christ hung upon the cross before the foundation of the world, and upon the cross of Calvary, that He became the one fruitful tree. He tasted death for every man and was made perfect through sufferings that He might lead many sons to glory. It was under the shadow of His cross, that we were found and were quickened by His Spirit. It is there He found us, and it is there that we found Him, the Man who is our hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest. It was there that streams of living water were poured out in the dry place; from that moment the Rock followed us, and out of it, living streams are flowing more abundantly. It is the cross in OUR LIVES which brings the release of these living streams to mankind, for the body of Christ is the channel of His life by the extension of His cross. While we praise God for the cross of Calvary, and while the soul of man will ever love to thank Him who gave His life for us, yet I believe the triumph of the Christ began at the cross in the heart of God before the foundation of the world and ends only when the race has received from God the Father, through the Christ, Head and body, the grace, power and glory of God that makes them sons of God like Himself. 

To Be Continued...

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