"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God..."

THE HEAVENS DECLARE

Part 41

GEMINI — THE TWINS

On leaving the island of Melita, the apostle Paul took a ship of Alexandria whose Sign, we are told, was Castor and Pollux. "And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux" (Acts 28:11). Perhaps you have wondered just what the name of this ship means. It is a reference to the tenth Sign that we come to in our study on the Zodiac — the Sign of GEMINI. Gemini is the picture of two youthful twins seated side by side and at rest, with their feet placed upon the Milky Way. Their heads lean against each other. The one on the left has a club in his hand, but even the club is at repose, leaning against his shoulder. The other twin, on the right, has a harp in one hand and a bow and arrow in the other. Both the bow and arrow are in repose, the same as the figure who holds them. The picture portrays a readiness for warlike action, but at the same time a peaceful repose in the knowledge of a great victory either already gained or ready to be gained. It speaks of absolute confidence of victory, certainty of triumph in warfare, the successful conclusion of purpose or battle.

Gemini is a perfect illustration of the pagan perversion of the Gospel God originally set in the stars. Dr. Kennedy has written, "Here is a picture of those who have been mighty hunters or warriors, who now are seated in joyful repose. Their names in Latin were Castor and Pollux. The Greek names for them were Apollo and Hercules. Castor and Pollux are also the names of the two bright stars found in the heads of each of these two figures. In Grecian mythology, Apollo and Hercules, the twin sons of Jupiter, were great heroes and had accomplished great exploits. They had supposedly cleared the seas of pirates. That is no doubt one of the reasons the name of the ship Paul referred to in the book of Acts was Castor and Pollux, the Latin equivalent of Apollo and Hercules. These two were very important to seamen. In fact, their names gave rise to the then vulgar form of cursing or swearing, a practice carried over today in the exclamation, ‘By Gemini,' or the more modern ‘By Jimminy.' That epithet came from this particular sign and from these two heroes who had supposedly cleared the seas of pirates.

The twins of Gemini introduce us to the great law of duality that exists first of all in God Himself, and also in all of His ways and dealings in creation. All nature is a revealing of the Creator as Paul explains in Rom. 1:20, "For ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity have been seen and made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made — His handiworks" (Amplified Bible). The universe unmistakably reveals the awesome fact that there is polarity in God. What exactly, is polarity? Webster defines it as "the condition of having magnetic poles, one positive and attracting, the other negative and repelling; the having of two contrary qualities, powers, etc., as both wrath and mercy." Polarity is something much more than simple duality or opposition. For to say that opposites are "polar" is to say much more than that they are far apart: it is to say that they are RELATED AND JOINED — that they are the terms, ends, or extremities of a SINGLE WHOLE. Polar opposites are therefore INSEPARABLE opposites, like the poles of the earth or of a magnet, or the ends of a stick or the faces of a coin. Though what lies between the poles is more substantial than the poles themselves — nevertheless the three are undivided, constituting a single whole.

One fundamental law of the universe is that all things have their opposites. There can be no consciousness without opposites, and no means by which anything can be manifested except by the interaction of opposites — the one "swallowing" the other in "rhythmic balanced interchange." Each positive has its negative as its necessary reverse. Light and dark, sweet and bitter, hard and soft, good and evil, right through to the ultimate negative of the material realm in the positive and negative of electricity, and the electron and proton of the atom. This law of opposites takes its conscious form in us as persons. Sooner or later it must occur to each of us that we are in fact polarizations of the same forces we have detected throughout the universe. This positive and negative magnetic polarization is an intimate property of electrical phenomena. All matter, organic and inorganic, participates in and depends upon the flow of these energies which, as Einstein pointed out, are actually matter in motion. A battery, in order to be effective, must have a negative and a positive pole. Both poles of the battery must be operative in order for the battery to function. The negative, in itself, can do nothing. The positive, in itself, can do nothing. Both must be interrelated in order for the power and purpose of that battery to come into fulfillment. Let us remember that pleasure and pain are polar forces. When we demand a world without pain, we may be asking for the removal of pleasure as we know it. The same faculties that are capable of pain are capable of pleasure, and the Bible speaks of both as being functions in the nature of God. God was "pained" in His heart because of the wickedness of man, and Paul speaks of "godly sorrow." Pleasure, in fact, can never be truly known or appreciated apart from pain. In the natural world many pains are automatic danger-signals, without which we would mutilate or kill ourselves without knowing it. The burnt child suffers, indeed, but for the pain it would probably burn its fingers off. Reason itself would be a poor substitute for this sharp reminder.

Thus, the twins of Gemini speak to us of a duality in God that carries the sense of "fullness" and "unity" rather than that of "division. The accomplishment of both twins is needed to bring completion and perfection; they do not represent partition, incompletion, or opposition. The ancient names associated with Gemini reveal this principle. The old Coptic name for this Sign was Pi-Mahi, which means THE UNITED, as unified in fellowship or brotherhood. The Hebrew name for this constellation is Thaumim, meaning THE UNITED or JOINED TOGETHER. A derivative of this Hebrew word is used in connection with the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, where boards were "coupled together" (Ex. 26:24). It is also connected with the Thummim stone which the high priest wore, meaning "perfections," and by which, with the Urim stone, the will of Yahweh was ascertained by the high priest.

In the light of this principle of duality in unity let us consider a grand statement of infinite truth which fell from the lips of God's spokesman, Moses, more than thirty-five centuries ago: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is ONE LORD" (Deut. 6:4). For long centuries men have read this amazing declaration about God and have supposed it to be nothing more than a doctrinal statement of the fact that in all the universe there is only one Lord or one true and living God. 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 means unity and unity comes from the word "unit," meaning a whole.

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. There is a great difference. 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, confused or set at variance in any way. The character of God is eternal, changeless, 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 or devils say or do, the love of God, the purpose of God, the power of God are steadfast, unmoved, unquenched, unaffected, without fluctuation. He is Yahweh — the SELF-EXISTENT ONE. He is ONE. No power in the universe can cause any deviation whatsoever in God's nature, will or action.

There can be no doubt that each aspect of God's being moves in perfect harmony and accord with every other part of His being. Here in the physical world there are contradictions in our value system because there are contradictions in moral philosophy, limited by finite and faltering human nature and reason. What is the ultimate contradiction in moral philosophy? In moral philosophy the ultimate contradiction is between justice and mercy. The judge, if he is a good judge, will be just. He will not let somebody get off, without paying their dues. Moral justice demands that evil be punished. Because if evil goes unpunished, then the judge is a participant in the crime, by letting it go unchecked. Justice is one side of the coin. The other side, the other value is mercy. Mercy says, "I want to forgive you, when you don't deserve it. And the more undeserving you are, the deeper my mercy runs. This is a contradiction. How can you possibly combine these two creatively? We speak of law and love, of truth and grace, of justice and mercy, and so long as sin does not exist there is no controversy between any of these. If there be no sin, law and love are never out of harmony with grace or each other; truth and grace go ever hand in hand; justice and mercy sing a common anthem. If the law be broken, what is love to do? If truth be violated, how can grace operate? In the presence of crime, how can justice and mercy meet? This is the problem of problems. It is not a problem as between God and man. It is not a problem as between God and angels. It is a problem between GOD AND HIMSELF.

Justice and mercy can only be harmonized by making them ONE. And this can be done only in the realm of the God who IS ONE. Every facet of God's nature is unified, so that His justice is not warring against His mercy, neither is His judgment set against His grace. Herein lies the mystery and the wonder of it all — there is no conflict in God, no contradiction! In God, and in God alone, we see the contradictions combined, and justice and mercy kiss each other. Christendom has spoken of God's justice being satisfied, as if He were an incorrigible tyrant that must somehow be appeased. They speak of eternal punishment as a self- evident result of God's eternal, unchanging nature of infinite justice. Apparently, according to this crude theory, one is to think of two parallel lines, divine mercy and divine justice, two divine properties, running close beside each other but diametrically opposed to one another, each in its own right, continuing on into infinity. Not only love, but also justice must run its full course, and thus justice and mercy are isolated from each other endlessly. In this view God is both INFINITELY JUST and INFINITELY MERCIFUL at the same time — but never the twain shall meet! This crude theory is responsible for the ridiculous doctrine of eternal life for some and eternal torture for others.

I am constrained by the Holy Spirit of God to cry out against such a blasphemous absurdity! Our God is not schizophrenic. He does not have a split personality. He is not both INFINITELY MERCIFUL and INFINITELY VINDICTIVE! The Lord our God is ONE, all attributes and powers of His Being are working together in perfect accord, each harmoniously synchronized in the same purpose and toward the same end, without any contradiction. In the scriptural view, HIS JUSTICE is linked inherently to HIS SALVATION. "There is no God else beside Me; a JUST God and a SAVIOUR; there is none beside Me" (Isa. 45:21). He is a SAVIOUR because He is also JUST. His righteous nature requires that He be our Saviour. He "knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust," and He knows right well that "the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope" (Rom. 8:20).

Yes, HE WILL CORRECT US, and by this very correction make the necessary changes in us, and then He will bring us into the fullness of salvation. IN HIM "mercy and truth are met together; righteousness (justice) and peace have kissed each other" (Ps. 85:10). These are never to be viewed as OPPONENTS to each other, they are gloriously WORKING TOGETHER to fulfill God's redemption in us. Where mercy alone cannot produce the needed change, God applies His judgment. And when judgment has accomplished its full work, "in wrath He remembers mercy" (Hab. 3:2). His wrath and His mercy COOPERATE one with the other, both designed to play their role in bringing man to one expected end: reconciliation to God and deliverance from sin and death. There is no conflict between the two — the objective of each is redemptive, not vindictive or destructive. If we have a concept where the judgment of God is pitted against His mercy, or where the justice of God becomes greater than His love, or where wrath triumphs over grace, then we have a distorted and wicked concept of God. We have not yet learned this one simple but sublime truth: The Lord our God is O- N- E!

I have never believed that by teaching the ultimate salvation of all men we were pitting one group of scriptures against another, or one aspect of God's nature against another, for it is my conviction that the solution can only be found in the HARMONIZATION of all the scriptures and all the characteristics within God Himself, not ignoring one while advancing the other. God's justice and His mercy, God's judgment and His salvation, must MEET TOGETHER AS CO-AGENTS IN GOD'S REDEMPTIVE PURPOSES, else there is eternal warfare and irreconcilable conflict between the two. I find all the judgments of God to be disciplinary and correctional rather than vindictive and final. Therein lies the harmonization of which I speak. According to the Word of God, God is at the same time the JUDGE OF ALL and the SAVIOUR OF ALL. He is not the Judge of some and the Saviour of some, but both Judge and Saviour of ALL! "Judge of all" must mean that He judges all; none escape. "Saviour of all" must mean that He saves all; none are left out. Within that one wonderful fact can be see the beautiful HARMONIZATION of the justice and the love of God — His judgment leading to repentance and a knowledge of His mercy. Praise His wonderful name! The judgments of God can never be rightly understood apart from His nature of love. If God's judgments spring not from His love then they come not from God at all, for God IS LOVE. What ought this to teach us about His judgments! The pen of inspiration wrote, "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord LOVETH He chasteneth, and scourageth every son whom He receiveth...for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness" (Heb. 12:5-10). God doesn't go ground purposely punishing or vindictively torturing any of His creatures. But He does go about precise paths of bringing forth correction UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS, as the prophet says, "When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will LEARN RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Isa. 26:9). Thus God's judgments, whether upon saints, nations, or the wicked in general are all corrective in nature, accomplished by the motivation of His nature which is LOVE. Truly, the Lord our God is ONE!

Do you recall the story about the wind and the sun arguing over who was the stronger? They decided that whoever could take the coat off a man walking down the street was stronger. The wind tried first. It blew and howled furiously. Twice it knocked the man off his feet, but the coat did not come off. In fact, the harder the wind blew, the more the man buttoned up. Finally the wind gave up. Next was the sun's turn. It started to shine, and the man, glad with the change in weather, unbuttoned his coat. But the sun grew warmer still, till finally the man took off his coat. The sun won. One of the hidden morals of this story is that both the wind and the sun had the same objective — to take the coat off the man! While, in this case, warmth won out over violence, there was no conflict between the two. And so it is with God's judgments and His mercy. He will send what is needful to work the necessary changes in our lives and in all creation — but ALL THINGS are of God, and all things WORK TOGETHER for our good. The Lord our God is ONE!

The understanding of this great principle gives the answer to the all-important question, "Is God this, or is He that? Is God a God of wrath, or is He a God of mercy? Is He absolute love, or is He absolutely just?" The answer to such questions is simply that He is BOTH! God is not one OR the other. He is the perfect harmonization and balance of POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE. God has TWO HANDS! "The works of HIS HANDS are truth AND judgment" (Ps. 111:7). We will never understand God or His dealings aright until we grasp the truth that many experiences, values, qualities and powers which we have believed to be contrary and distinct are, after all, TWO ASPECTS OF THE SAME THING. God does not pit His judgment against His mercy, neither does He show ONLY MERCY to some and ONLY JUDGMENT to others. The sweet singer of Israel intoned these enlightening words: "I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto Thee, O Lord, will I sing!" (Ps. 101:1). The prophet Isaiah, speaking of the ministry of the Christ, declared of Him, "A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto TRUTH" (Isa. 42:3). Judgment unto truth — how unspeakably blessed! This kind of judgment can never be characterized as unrestrained, unappeasable, implacable, sadistic rage inflicting purposeless, merciless, unending vengeance upon mankind — but corrective, redemptive judgment to break the rebellion of men, and BRING THEM ALL INTO TRUTH AGAIN. As the apostle beautifully confirms, "I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for ALL MEN...for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who W-I-L-L HAVE ALL MEN TO BE SAVED, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (I Tim. 2:1-4). We do not minimize the workings of wrath, but we do rejoice in the beautiful balance and purpose between the work of God's LEFT HAND and that of His RIGHT HAND — both leading to righteousness. "For the Word of the Lord is right; and ALL His works are done in TRUTH. He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the GOODNESS of the Lord!" (Ps. 33:45).

The two hands of God are not the only example of the unified duality in God and His dealings. The same principle is clearly seen in Christ's divinity and humanity, in Christ the Head and Christ the body, in the image of God as male and female, in the sons of God and the bride of Christ, in the Spirit and the Word, in the sons and daughters of God, etc. Beside these, there are many others! The Bible is full of these unified opposites. And all are represented in the heavens by Gemini, The Twins — who in unity and confidence secure the victory.

THE SPIRIT AND THE WORD

There is not a man on earth who is qualified to teach or speak God's Word until that Word has been quickened to him by the Spirit. And no word uttered by man will ever be effectual in the lives of the hearers until that word is energized to go forth as a Living Word. There is a tremendous value in words even in the natural realm. All words are either creative or destructive. All that happens everyday in the world is accomplished through the power invested in words. All the business and transactions of men and nations are carried on by the power of words. All the political and economic ideologies that have shaped movements and determined the course of history and the destiny of billions of people and races and empires have first issued as words which form their consciousness within the minds and wills of men, who then actively create out of them the external form and substance of them. The whole Communist empire, for instance, with all its legislative, judicial and military institutions and powers was inspired and produced by the power and out of the energy of words spoken or penned by a man by the name of Karl Marx. Words printed or written on paper are powerful enough to imprison or put to death a man or to release him. Words on paper are powerful enough to join a man and woman in marriage, or separate them by divorce. Mere words on paper are sufficient to make one exceedingly wealthy or to make one penniless, to start a war or to bring peace, to establish a kingdom or dissolve an empire. Everything works and moves by and through the power of words. All words spoken form some level of consciousness within man which in turn forms the world you live in. But none of these words produces life unless they are energized by the spirit of life from God. Many words gender death.

In scripture water is a symbol for both the Word and the Spirit (Eph. 5:26; Jn. 7:37-39). The mystery of God is not far-off in heaven somewhere. GOD IS THE WORD AND THE WORD IS GOD. Furthermore, THE WORD IS THE SPIRIT AND THE SPIRIT IS THE WORD. "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (Jn. 6:63). Words are the most powerful things in creation. All things, visible and invisible, were created by God's Word. "And God said, Let there be..." (Gen. 1:3). "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made" (Jn. 1:1.3). Let all men know that creation was not brought forth merely by the spoken word. The power of God's Word lies not in the act of speaking, but in the fact that it is a LIVING WORD. "For the Word of God is living and powerful" (Heb. 4:12). The Word is living because it is energized by the Spirit. "It is the spirit that quickeneth (makes alive), the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." The Spirit was not created by the Word, rather, the Spirit quickens or gives life to the Word causing it to be a Living Word. Not all words are living words. The Spirit and the Word united are the Living Word. We are not born again by the spoken word — we are born again by the Word which is energized by the Spirit, the Spirit and the Word in union - the LIVING WORD. "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever" (I Pet. 1:23). The spoken word is not Christ, and the scriptures are not the Living Word. The people of Israel had the scriptures from the very mouth of God and thought that in that written word, in the mystery and magic of the word communicated in the Hebrew characters, they had life. They were wrong. Dead wrong. The word received at Sinai and through Moses (Torah) was THE MINISTRATION OF DEATH! There was no life in it. "Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious...how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious" (II Cor. 3:6-8). Consider how plainly and powerfully Jesus rebuked the Jews who trusted in the mystery and magic within the written word communicated to them in Hebrew characters. "And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay Him...but Jesus answered them...search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life" (Jn. 5:15-6, 39-40). The scriptures if taken mechanically or magically can lead us astray, for they are interpreted as a "system" rather than in the illumination that the Spirit brings. Systems are carnal; revelation is spiritual. Systematic interpretation of scriptures genders a dead word; the quickening of the Spirit brings life. The Living Word is the LIVING CHRIST!

Christ is the perfect speech of God. When the invisible and unknowable God desired to reveal Himself and communicate Himself to mankind, He placed the substance of Himself in His Word, and made that Word flesh, and caused that Word made flesh to dwell among men and speak as God to men. Christ the Word contains the pure essence and power of Life. The words of Christ will form the consciousness and sense of HIS BEING WITHIN and His world so that you may live in it forever. The presence of Christ places us in a position to hear the voice of God. This is the voice we want to hear, not just any voice, but the voice of the Living Spirit. I have witnessed many men speak and preach the word with great persuasion and nothing happened. There is no magic" or "mystical power" in the words of the scriptures. The only power they have is that they testify of CHRIST THE LIVING WORD, they point to HIM WHO IS THE LIFE. One can preach great sermons and die! But when men are ministered the DYNAMIC REALITY OF THE LIVING WORD transformation takes place. The same Living Word that by its almighty power brought creation into existence was made flesh and dwelt among us. The Word was not made an alphabet. The Word was not made a book. The Word was not made a teaching or a doctrine. The Word was made flesh, divine substance in human form, the Son of God. And that same Word is being made flesh — divine substance in human form — within us today! The same Word that conquered sin and death in the person of Jesus Christ is being raised up in you and me in these days. Hallelujah!

He in whom the Word is made flesh becomes the Word. He who becomes the Word speaks the words of God. He speaks both by what he is and by what he says. Words are not mere sounds or symbols, but are the sheaths or cases of spiritual life, and on this ground we at once see the force of the Lord's declaration, "the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (Jn. 3:63). "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin: for HIS SEED (the Word) remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God" (I Jn. 3:9). The inherent nature of the life expressed is that which is contained in the SEED. While we know that THE WORD is the seed, the word "seed" here is the Greek word SPERMA, that LIFE-GERM that is sown into us by His Spirit. HIS "WORD" is that life-force that brings forth after His own kind. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it" (Isa. 55:8-1). Now, to what is God comparing His Word? To the rain and snow that fall upon the earth to water it, to give life and increase. God is saying that is just exactly what HIS WORD is sent to do. God's Word will come down in power from the high realm of His Spirit, falling upon this lower realm of the flesh. God's Word, or the Lord Jesus Christ, the Logos, the Living Word of God, will came as the former and the latter rain unto His earth, or His people. He will come upon our earth, and He will cause to spring up in our earth the seed of life that He has planted there. Just as the rain and snow accomplish their purpose in the earth with unfailing certainty, so shall God's Word, His emanation, His anointing, His Christ not return unto Him void, but it SHALL ACCOMPLISH HIS PURPOSE. There is a people in the earth in this hour that is letting that LIVING WORD rain down from above, and the seed of the New Creation is being raised up in them.

In a message recently received from Bro. Carl Armstrong he shares the following penetrating insight into the mystery of this truth of which I now write. "There is a story about a sea port that had very treacherous, rocky reefs at various places in the entrance to the harbor. It seemed that just when commerce would begin to flourish, there would be a terrible shipwreck and the harbor trade would drastically fall. The seamen and merchants of the harbor knew that something had to be done. So, they erected two lighthouses, one at the very mouth of the harbor, and the other further back on the land. These lighthouses were very strategically placed, so that when a ship at sea saw one light, rather than two lights, they knew that they were lined up to come into the harbor in the channel of safe passage. If they saw two lights, they were not lined up correctly. In like manner — if we are weighing a decision in the balance and the word (our understanding) seems to be saying one thing and the spirit (the still small voice) another, then we know to continue to look until our perceptions of the Spirit and the Word agree. Because the Spirit and the Word agree and are given to us by the Father that we might have guidance in our decisions. It was through the interaction of the Word and Spirit that the worlds were created. The worlds were framed by that alphabet of the spoken word...filled in by the Spirit. 'And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left' (Isa. 30:21). Thus, our seeing and hearing shall be increased and we shall be balanced to walk in that perfect balance of word and spirit. If we turn too much to the right or toward the left, we will be corrected by our just balance which becomes a delight to the Lord" — end quote. The Spirit and the Word are not antagonists — they work together in perfect harmony as the twins of Gemini to secure the victory in our lives!

THE TWO SIDES OF LOVE

There is a theme about which every son must have a clear understanding if he is to walk in the Father's dealings with full assurance. It is the fact of the dual aspect of God's nature and His workings — the two sides of love — God's love. And in order to make this clear, perhaps we should share an illustration we heard some years ago from the lips of another, in which he described a most terrifying scene. "It was late at night in a suburban area of one of our great cities in America. A child lay restless in her bed. A man, with a very severe and stern countenance, stealthily entered her bedroom and softly approached her bed. The moment the little girl saw him, a terrified expression came over her face, and she began to scream. Her mother rushed into the room and went over to her. And the trembling child threw her arms about her. The man withdrew to the telephone, called someone, who was evidently an accomplice, and in whispers made some sort of arrangement. Hastily the man re-entered the room, tore the child from the mother's arms, and rushed out to a waiting car. The child was sobbing, and he attempted to stifle her cries. He drove madly down street after street until he finally pulled up before a large, sinister and foreboding building. All was quiet, the building was partially dark, but there was one room upstairs ablaze with light. The child was hurriedly taken inside, up to the lighted room, and put into the hands of the man with whom the conversation had been held over the telephone in the hallway. In turn, the child was handed over to another accomplice — this time a woman — and these two took her into an inner room. The man who had brought her was left outside in the hallway. Inside the room the man suddenly plunged a sharp knife into the vitals of that little child, and

"Your reaction at this point may be, ‘I certainly hope they will catch the criminal who abducted the little girl and is responsible for such a hideous crime.’ However, I have not described to you the depraved and degraded action of a sick mind. I have not taken a chapter out of the life of a man in cell 2455, death row. I have not related to you the sordid and sadistic crime of a psychopathic criminal. On the contrary, I have described to you a tender act of love. In fact, I can think of no more sincere demonstration of love! You see, that little girl had awakened in the night with severe abdominal pain. She had been subject to such attacks. It was her father who rushed into the room. He had talked to the specialist about it, and when he saw the suffering of his little daughter, he went to the telephone, called the family physician, and arranged to meet him at the hospital. He had rushed his little girl down to the hospital and had handed her over to the family physician. The doctor had taken her to the operating room and performed emergency surgery. Through it all, every move and every act of that father was of tender love, anxious care, and wise deliberation. I have described to you the dark side of love — but love, nevertheless.

"The father loved the child just as much on that dark night when he took her to the hospital and delivered her to the surgeon's knife as he did the next week when he brought her flowers and candy. It was just as much a demonstration of deep affection when he delivered her into the hands of the surgeon as it was the next week when he brought her home and delivered her into the arms of her mother. My friend, love places the eternal security and permanent welfare of the object of love above any transitory or temporary comfort, or present pleasure. Love seeks the best interests of the beloved — at any cost!" — end quote.

We have met some brethren in this message of sonship who have exaggerated the bright side of the love of God out of all proportion to its other aspects. They have conceived of the idea that the God of this universe is a Person of all love and mercy. They do not want to think of Him as One who would punish individuals or nations. They do not want to think of Him as a God of judgment. They do not want to think of Him as One who is capable of administering a fiery retribution on those who trample under foot His holy laws and abuse His spirit of grace. To these people God is a one-sided Being — a God of pure love and goodness, and not a God of wrath. Now, just think of this for a moment: If He were such a Person, He would be a God without character. Our God is a God of holiness who hates sin. He is a God of justice, whose very nature demands that He must punish (correct) sin. It must be quite convenient, and soothing to one's conscience, to have a God who will always overlook sin, and who will never punish the sinner. But such a God could only exist in the figment of the imagination of a deluded soul. Such a God could never be a reality, because we all know that sin is a reality; and a God who is righteous and just would never eternally condone that which is so totally antagonistic to His nature. In order for God's love and God's Kingdom to be fully manifest there must be corrective judgment and remedial retribution against all that is evil in God's universe.

The kind of God we have revealed in the holy scriptures is a God of both mercy and judgment — the two sides of love. He is not a nebulous nonentity of sentimentalism. He is a God of character. We thank God today that He is a God of love and mercy — and there would not be one of us alive today to breathe His fresh air, if it were not for His amazing love toward us. But there is a purpose in judgment, and it is always a purpose of love. There is a deep, clear purpose in everything God does. And His love for us, deep and tender, is the fire burning under that purpose. The character of God must be kept ever in mind. The leading trait of His character is expressed, not by the word "purity," nor "righteousness," nor "justice," but by the word "love. Though if we knew the real meaning of "love" we would find it includes these others, and more. The purpose in judgment is two-fold. It is a purpose toward sin, to get rid of it. And God's attitude here is uncompromising. No exceptions are ever noted. And there is a purpose toward men. Now regarding the purpose toward men — it is disciplinary. The whole thought is to change the man. It is love working, love for the man. As we have already pointed out, the purpose is the same as the surgeon's. He thrusts in his keen-edged blade, not to destroy life, but to save it. He is driving hard against the disease. The knife that cuts and hurts is held steady by the kindly purpose in the heart.

Let each and every man and woman who treasures the beautiful hope of sonship to God know that there is the DARK SIDE OF GOD'S LOVE! Ah, the Great Physician will put His child on the operating table. He will use the surgeon's knife when He sees a tumor of self-will or a deadly virus of carnality sapping our spiritual lives, or when He sees the cancerous growth of sin. He does not hesitate to deal with us severely. We must learn this fact early: He loves us just as much when He is subjecting us to surgery, as when He sends His blessings and gifts and brings us into the sunshine of His glory. Precious friend of mine, He loves us most when He is dealing severely with us, "for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth" (Heb. 12:6). "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth (prunes) it, that it may bring forth more fruit" (Jn. 15:1-2). We must remember that the Father reaches into your life and mine and prunes out that which is not fruitbearing — and it hurts! But, as some Puritan divine said years ago, "The husbandman is never so close to the branch as when he is trimming it." The Father is never more close to you, beloved, than when He is reaching in and taking out of your heart and life those things that hinder the development of HIS LIFE and the manifestation of HIS NATURE.

Consider now these profound words from the pen of one who has expressed some illuminating thoughts concerning love: "Know you not that hate sprang out of love? If there is no love, then neither can there be hatred, for hatred is the balance of power in a scheme where sin and death are manifest. It is said of God that He hates but it is also said that He is love. How can these two opposing statements be true? It is because HE IS LOVE that He can hate! It is not said that God IS HATRED. Nay! For if that be true, then hatred would be His nature, in which case He would not be Yahweh Elohim, but a fiendish despot. Nevertheless, because God is love He can manifest this love in a righteous hatred against all evil, that it might result again in pure love. And, let me add, this righteous hatred IS the DARK SIDE OF LOVE! Another has said, "In one sense, love is the highest vibration, hatred is the lowest vibration. God, being all righteous, can move on the lower vibration without perversion, using His righteous hatred to turn evil once again into good. But man, being unrighteous, receives love, and by absorbing it into ‘self’, in turn manifests a perverted love. How we need to be ‘partakers of His holiness’, being made ALL RIGHTEOUS, then we will not pervert that which is pure, but we will be able to take that which has been perverted and restore it to purity once again." Love and hatred are but the two sides of love — the Gemini twins — that unified duality within God that works to bring redemption, restoration, completion and perfection. Oh, the wonder of it! Oh, the mystery of it!

THE TWO HANDS OF GOD

Almost all churches and most Christians are not aware of it, but for the most part we have made God to be a one-armed or one-handed Being. Of course we realize that God is spirit and has no body of material substance and consequently no arms or hands such as we have. But spirit is real, God is real, and the eyes of God are omnipresent spirit eyes, His universal ability to see by the Spirit, and the arms and hands of God are omnipresent spirit arms and hands, His universal ability to act, touch, and perform by the power of His Spirit. The thought of God having a right hand and a left hand should not be strange to us, although the preachers have so often presented God as a one-handed Being. 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. A great deal has been said as to the meaning of the right hand, but few have seemed to have any understanding or revelation of the significance of the left hand.

First, let us look at the meaning of these two words, right and left. 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. The Psalmist confirms this when he says, "In Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand are pleasures for evermore" (Ps. 16:11). Again, "The voice of rejoicing and salvation in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted" (Ps. 118:15-8). To which the prophet Isaiah adds his inspired testimony, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness" (Isa. 41:10). In the Old Testament, whenever God is pictured as manifesting His power, it is done so with His right hand or arm. "Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power" (Ex. 15:6). "O sing unto the Lord a new song; for He hath done marvelous things: His right hand, and His holy arm, hath gotten Him the victory" (Ps. 98:1). "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive me; Thou shalt stretch forth Thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and Thy right hand shall save me" (Ps. 138:7). Numerous other Psalms express the same thought. In the New Testament, after His resurrection, Jesus was by the right hand of God exalted, and made to sit at His right hand (Acts 2:33-34; Heb. 1:3,13).

But, as we have noted, 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 of God represents the DARK SIDE OF GOD. This is the hand of God so little understood. The distinctive work of these two hands is graphically portrayed in the wonderful parable Jesus told of the sheep and the goats. "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me in: naked, and ye clothed Me: I was sick, and ye visited Me: I was in prison, and ye came unto Me. Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, When saw we Thee an hungered, and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee? Or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me. Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an hungered, and ye gave Me no meat...then shall they also answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee? Then shall He answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not unto Me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal" (Mat. 25:31-46).

There are many precious and important truths contained in this parable, but we must restrain ourselves from pursuing them at this time in order to deal briefy with two points. First, it is important to note that this separation of the sheep from the goats was brought about, not on the basis of whether one had accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour, but solely on the basis of WORKS. Everything depended entirely upon what the sheep or goats had DONE or NOT DONE. There was nothing of faith or a spiritual experience connected with this separation. The sheep were set on God's RIGHT HAND because of the fact that they had done something — given meat and drink to the Lord's brethren, clothed them, visited them, and comforted them. And note — in the whole parable there are only three companies: the sheep, the goats, and the Lord 's brethren. The Lord's brethren are the body of Christ. This has nothing to do with winning souls, or visiting the people in the wards at the hospital, or giving food and clothing to the poor or to the derelicts on Skid Row. It is not a ministry to the lost or to humanity but a ministry unto the body of Christ, the Lord's brethren. It is not about what the saints do for others, but what the nations do in regard to the people of God. It is not individuals that are gathered at the right hand and the left hand of God, but all the nations. All these things the Lord said they had DONE TO HIM. But the sheep (good nations) confessed that they had never seen Him, so how could they have done these things to the Lord? He answered, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of one of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me. All of this is a kind of ministry unto the Lord Himself, and it brought these nations of people into a separation unto the RIGHT HAND of God!

This meant an entrance into a kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. This kingdom was not some far-off land of ivory palaces, golden streets, white night gowns, wings and harps, where there is nothing to do and all eternity to do it in. THIS IS A KINGDOM. And because it is a kingdom it denotes rulership and advancement of all kinds. It indicates the bringing of a great many people into a higher realm in the Spirit than they have ever known. It means the salvation of nations with a most favored status in relation to the kingdom of God; it means WORK and RESPONSIBILITY and a place of ministry and authority to bless.

But the people of the nations who had never done all these things mentioned by the Lord were separated unto the LEFT HAND of God! They received no kingdom, no status in the order of God for the age to come. There were no rewards for work done or attainments reached. Rather, they were set on the dark side of God, they were put under a kingdom and under authority and they were placed in a process of fiery judgment to receive correction. There is much subtle truth in these words of Jesus: "These shall go away into everlasting punishment." The word "punishment" is from the Greek KOLASIS which means simply that — punishment. But it comes from the root KOLAZO which sheds precious light upon the nature of the punishment. KOLAZO, according to Strong's Concordance, bears only two shades of meaning, namely, "to curtail" or "to chastise." To "curtail" means to restrain as a person is restrained in jail or a child is restrained when he is "grounded" for a week because of some disobedience. "Chastise" has one simple meaning according to Webster's New World Dictionary: "to punish in order to correct, usually by beating." It should be clear to any thoughtful mind that the subject here is not meaningless, sadistic, unending torture, but PURPOSEFUL CORRECTION. The Diaglott says, "Depart from Me, you cursed ones, into that aionian fire...and these shall go away into a cutting-off age lasting." The Bible in Modern English by Farrar Fenton reads, "And these He will dismiss into a long correction." Rotherham's New Testament says, "These shall go away into age-abiding correction." Young's Literal translation says, "And these shall go away to punishment age-during."

How sobering these meaningful words of truth: "And He shall set the sheep on the RIGHT HAND, but the goats on the LEFT. Then shall the King say unto them on His RIGHT HAND, Come, ye blessed of My Father...then shall He say also unto them on the LEFT HAND, Depart from Me, ye cursed!" But just what or who are these TWO HANDS OF GOD? The two hands of God represent two aspects of God's dealings, two ways in which He moves and acts to accomplish His purposes. We can readily see from the parable of the sheep and the goats that God deals through both POSITIVE and NEGATIVE forces. Beautiful truths come lighting like a covey of doves in my heart, begging to be expressed, but there is not room for them all in any message, so much truth will have to abide its time. In closing this article, however, I wish to point out that the right hand of God bespeaks of God moving and acting through POSITIVE FORCES, while the left hand of God denotes God moving and acting through NEGATIVE FORCES.

A key to this vital truth is found in the words of David in Ps. 111:7 wherein he states, "The works of HIS HANDS are verity and judgment." We have already mentioned that God is not a man, He possesses not 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 the Hebrew word for TRUTH. Thus we see with one hand He is bringing forth truth (living reality), 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 reality, 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. We will never understand God correctly until we see that His two hands are ONE — LOVE. Our language betrays the fact that the average person sees God as an antagonist. When high tides and strong winds shatter beach front homes, what do we call it? An act of GOD! True enough, but why don't we call a bumper crop or a surplus an act of God? The tendency to see (and fear) God in adversity as some kind of ogre is a symptom of the reasoning of the carnal mind and is as old as civilization. But the actual message of the Bible is just the opposite. Its main claim is that God utterly cherishes you. He is for you. God loves you. And if you look beyond your circumstances to God revealed in Christ, you will see solid evidence of just how deep and strong and true His love is and even now "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose" (Rom. 8:28).

In speaking of the corrective judgment brought upon Israel by Babylon, the prophet cried, "Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand" (Jer. 51:7). God used Babylon as a NEGATIVE FORCE in HIS HAND and as HIS HAND to discipline His people. But the beloved John beheld quite another scene, "And He had in His RIGHT HAND seven stars...the seven stars are the messengers (ministries) of the seven churches" (Rev. 1:16-20). Again we see the working of His TWO HANDS. In the one hand is Babylon, a golden cup of fury and judgment, a vessel of wrath; and in the other hand we see seven stars, light bearers, positive ministries, vessels of mercy with a quickening word, through whom He shall reveal His truth and glory to all nations!

THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD

Those elect saints who press forward toward the mark for the prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus are becoming related to God in His right hand. "Therefore being by the RIGHT HAND of God exalted..." (Acts 2:33). This speaks of Jesus Christ, the firstborn Son, our Forerunner. He is exalted to the RIGHT HAND of God. He is the POSITIVE FORCE of God in the universe "who is gone into heaven (spiritual realm of government) and is on the RIGHT HAND of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him" (I Pet. 3:22). Contrary to popular theology, the right hand of God is NOT A PLACE. I know that many have an idea here of Christ, looking like the Jesus you see in pictures, sitting beside some kind of a throne, along side of another figure who is supposed to represent God. How unspeakably childish! The throne of the God who is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent spirit is not a material or localized one, but bespeaks the REALM OF HIS SUPREME 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 POSITlON OF EMINENCE, A CONDITION AND STATE OF BEING. It is the assumption of the almighty power and universal dominion of the Father. "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth" (Mat. 28:18). It is the dispensing of HIS POSITIVE ENERGY FORCE into His creation through Jesus Christ.

The Queen of England is on the throne of England, we say, yet we do not refer to the "royal bench", and as a matter of fact she seldom occupies it. When we say she is on the throne, we mean that she rules as the royal sovereign of England. The "right hand" signifies the chief place, position of excellence or favor, next to the chief ruler. Historically, Prince Bismarck was exalted or seated at the right hand of power, by the German Emperor; and Joseph was the right hand of Pharaoh in the kingdom of Egypt — not literally, but after the customary figure of speech.

There is no greater prize than oneness with Christ. The inspired apostle exhorted the saints in Colosse, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the RIGHT HAND of God" (Col. 3:1). The message is clear — the elect of God are to SEEK THE THINGS OF CHRIST AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. Seek the things of the right hand! What a word is that! Some of the greatest truths of the Word of God are the ones that lie hidden like pearls of great price, unnoticed by the careless but available to all who will search beneath the uninviting surface of the ground. What wonder and glory are to be discovered in these magnificent words of our Lord spoken so long ago in the hearing of John on Patmos' lonely isle: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with My Father in His throne" (Rev. 3:21). Those who share His throne are God's RIGHT HAND MINISTRY. Paul Mueller has written of this company: "This company of the sons of God are called to be priests after the order of Melchizedek and they are to offer the sacrifice of their lives, to intercede for all mankind, so that they may eventually join the Lord in that grand benediction, the final blessing of creation's deliverance. The Psalmist pictures the corporate Christ as a COMPANY OF MEDIATORS, standing between mankind and the divine resources, when he says, ‘I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers' (Ps. 89:25). In other words, the hands of the body of Christ are placed with the left hand in the great sea of mankind, and the right hand in the rich and abundant rivers of divine life (Eze. 47:1-9), ready to channel the abundant life of God from His river of life into the great sea of mankind, thereby bringing healing and restoration to all mankind. And when we realize that the corporate hands of the body of Christ link us to the multitudes of earth's needy as well as to the mighty and abundant RIVER OF DIVINE LIFE, we will then intercede for all mankind so that we might one day bless all creation in a glorious manifestation of the life of God" — end quote. What harmony, what glorious unity shall fill the universe as this company of kings and priests, a royal priesthood (the Gemini Twins!) flows together, to gather together into Christ all things, until God is indeed ALL- IN- ALL, everything in everyone everywhere!

How truly the whole creation waits and groans for the manifestation of the sons of God! How we ourselves do groan within ourselves! Does it seem that months turn into years and years pile up into decades and all things continue as they have been? Ah, my friends, I can tell you that our God shall move again! It is not another "revival" we seek, and it is not another revival that God shall give. He shall come, He shall move in and through His body, the enChristed ones, in the fullness of the power and glory and authority of which His coming at Pentecost was but the firstfruits! And then "the kingdom, the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heavens SHALL BE GIVEN TO THE PEOPLE OF THE SAINTS OF THE MOST HIGH; their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom and ALL DOMINIONS SHALL SERVE AND OBEY THEM. This was the end of the matter" (Dan. 7:27-28, Goodspeed). This company IS the manifestation of GOD'S RIGHT HAND OF BLESSING in the earth today, and this right hand shall do even much more valiantly as the sons of God press on in to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Those who dwell in this exalted realm of the right hand shall not only REIGN upon the earth, but they shall RAIN upon the dry, parched earth and all peoples and nations shall be watered and given life through the gracious and bountiful outpouring of the RIGHT HAND OF GOD! Praise His wonderful name forever!