KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES

In previous articles we have amply demonstrated that the Greek word PAROUSIA, generally translated "coming," literally means "presence." This is without doubt the key to one of the most important truths in the whole New Testament. Nowhere does PAROUSIA mean "coming" or "coming again." The PAROUSIA OF JESUS CHRIST, the PRESENCE OF THE SON OF GOD is a past, present and future reality. His PAROUSIA is the ongoing, progressive unfolding of Himself. How often we have yearned for a deeper consciousness of His presence, and wondered where we could find His presence, that is, visible manifestations of His presence, that specific sense of being in the very presence of the Christ in a literal and conscious manner. The PAROUSIA is the ENVELOPING PRESENCE OF CHRIST and to stand before the Son of man is to awake to the wonder and glory and majesty and power of HIS PRESENCE. It is the fullness of all that one can conceive of as being the reality of His promise, "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, THERE AM I IN THE MIDST OF THEM," and again, "And, lo, I AM WITH YOU ALWAY, even unto the end of the age." The PAROUSIA is the PRESENCE OF HIS GLORY and the GLORY OF HIS PRESENCE.

The doctrines and creeds of most churches of our day have developed around and focused upon six events in the life of the Christ. These are known as the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the Ascension, Pentecost and the Second Coming of Christ. But because the fourth of these, the Ascension, has been so falsely interpreted and distorted by the unspiritual minds of tradition-bound theologians and teachers, the church world has come to the wrong conception of the last two - Pentecost and the Return of Christ.

If one did not search the scriptures, but listened only to church preaching, hymns and doctrines today he would surely gather the idea that the Christ has gone somewhere. No one seems to know where He is, but He is in some far-off heaven somewhere literally and permanently seated upon a majestic throne. At any rate, all are quite sure that He has left planet earth, for did not the disciples see Him go? And so the vast majority of Christians are convinced and firmly believe the New Testament affirms that Christ is no longer on earth. But let us SEE!

The longer I travel in my pilgrimage along the blessed pathways of the celestial kingdom the more I become aware of the mighty significance of every word breathed into the sacred pages of scripture, which our heavenly Father has graciously given for our understanding, training and guidance. How carelessly we peruse its pages! How casually we read its astounding and earth shaking statements! How lightly we pass them by and how thoughtlessly we contradict their plain and simple pronouncements, teaching instead for doctrine the traditions of men! What an infinite transformation would be wrought in our understanding and experience should we dare to believe A-L-L that the scriptures have spoken concerning Him!

When our wonderful Lord Jesus was holding precious communion with His beloved disciples in those heaven-blessed days following His resurrection, on one occasion when He appeared in their midst, we read, "And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him: but some doubted" (Mat. 28:17). What! Are they still doubting? Why, even Thomas has been convinced by now! Are they still doubting? Ah, it does not mean that. Let me briefly give you the scene, not so much from the English translation but from the finer reading of the Greek in which Matthew wrote the record.

It was like this. The eleven were gathered at the appointed place, but Jesus had not come. He was not late - He was never late - but according to their reckoning He was late, and He had not come. Peter goes down to the brow of the hill, which commands a view of the path winding up the hillside, to see if He is coming, but there is no sign of Him. Another disciple goes down to see if He is coming and returns, shaking his head. The Master has not arrived. Is He really coming? And suddenly, as before, He is there. He is there - not immediately in their midst, but just a little way from them. He is suddenly there! and no one had seen Him arrive. Of course, as before, it is probable that He had been there all the time and suddenly He made Himself visible to them and they all saw Him. As they looked upon Him suddenly appearing yonder before them, the majesty of His person compelled them to worship. It is the "prostrate" word for worship, the word which means that they were flat on their faces before Him. And in the very act of worshipping, some doubted.

Wavering worshippers! Do you know anything about that? This message seems to me to be always urgent upon those who follow on to know the Lord. It is so tragically possible still to worship Christ and yet, in the very act of worshipping Him, to waver. Now this word "doubted" is an unusual word: it only occurs twice in the New Testament and both times are in Matthew. When Peter walked on the water and was saved by his Master, Jesus said unto him, "O thou of little faith! Wherefore didst thou doubt?" It is the same word; and it is only on these two occasions, then and there, that this word is used in the New Testament. It means literally "to stand in two ways at once". I don't think I can illustrate it, but I think you will see what it means. Anyway, you will from Peter walking on the water. One moment he was looking at his Lord, and walking by faith: the next moment he was looking at the waves, and walking in fear. Then again looking at his Lord and receiving strength: but immediately a big wave makes him lower his victorious gaze and he is once more frightened and floundering. Wavering - standing in two ways at once - vacillating back and forth between the spirit and the flesh - one moment full of faith, the next moment full of fear. A very unsatisfactory way of walking and living! As James says, "He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed: let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord."

Ah, then I think I see what this means. I think I can sympathize with them, methinks I have done it in my own soul again and again. As they looked at Him standing there suddenly before them, they were compelled to worship, so glorious was He, so commandingly majestic. As some of them lifted their gaze from their prostration on the ground, they looked into His eyes and they saw something that was so challenging there that they knew He had big things for them: they knew that He was calling them to something great: and as they looked at Him, worshipping Him, they shrank, some of them, from what they knew He was going to give to them and demand of them. I think He must have had His flint face on that day. They wavered! Wavering worshippers!

Do you not remember some great experience, some glorious meeting, some wonderful manifestation of God's presence, some mighty move of His Spirit, some awesome unveiling of His glory when the Lord Christ was so exalted before you in the power of the Holy Spirit that you were worshipping Him. There was nothing else to do - you had to worship Him. Did you waver as you worshipped? In the face of His glory, at the majesty of His presence you caught an enthralling glimpse of the glory set before - the glory of sonship to God, the holy expectancy of being made like Him, conformed to His image; the awesome wonder of sharing His mind and His wisdom, His authority and His power; the calling to be a joint-heir and co-ruler with the Christ in the marvelous work of redemption and restitution, to restore the creation into God again. This high and holy calling, known only by revelation of the Holy Spirit of Truth, is a jewel and a prize to be greatly cherished and revered by God's elect. What a vision! What a hope! But - did you waver as you worshipped? Is it not true that in the very face of the ecstasy of the moment of divine illumination and quickening we are at once distraught by the haunting voice of the carnal mind pressing its demands upon us: You will never make it to perfection! Our inherent weaknesses and persistent faults, our unconquered carnality and obvious mortality present themselves before us, magnified like weird mocking monsters dancing hideously in the twilight, taunting, jeering, scorning, sneering, condemning - just who do YOU think YOU are? A son of God? - indeed! You will never be a son of God! You wretched little pretender! You can't make it, such a high and holy calling is forever beyond your grasp, you will never be an overcomer, you claim too much, its not for real! Oh to worship Christ without wavering!

No wonder they wavered! For look what He had to say to them. "Jesus came," --you see, He came right up to where they were now, came close - "and spake unto them, saying" --and, Oh, what a word is this! You have noticed the four "alls"? "ALL power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Therefore go ye and disciple ALL nations, baptizing them into the Name, teaching them to observe ALL things whatsoever I have commanded you, and, lo, I am with you - literally - ALL the days, even to the consummation of the age." Consider His power. "All power is given unto Me..." All authority (exousia, not dunamis) hath been given to Me in heaven and on earth! His power! That position our ascended Lord occupies today. All authority in heaven and on earth is in the loving hands of our living Saviour. His power! Consider His plans. "Go ye therefore and disciple ALL nations..." Consider His principles. "Teaching them to observe ALL things whatsoever I have commanded you."

Consider His PRESENCE. "And, lo, I AM WITH YOU ALL THE DAYS - perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion - to the very close and consummation of the age" (Mat. 28:20, Amplified). "All the days" - Sundays and Mondays. All the days! Days of sunshine and blessing and glory - days of thundercloud and turmoil and trial. ALL the days! Days when everything goes right and days when everything goes wrong. Days when you have the victory and days when you suffer defeat. "All the days I am with you!" Throughout the march of the centuries an innumerable multitude of men and women have claimed these beautiful words as the unfailing promise of our lovely Lord Jesus. But, precious friend of mine, that is not a promise! I dare say you will find it in the Promise Box, but it is not a promise.. He did not say, "I WILL be with you all the days." it is better far than a promise; it is a FACT! "I AM with you always" - making no conditions - not saying: "If you do this, that and the other, I will be with you" - but stating as an accomplished, perpetual, unchanging fact the complete assurance of a constant and age-lasting PRESENCE OF THE CHRIST with us. How much plainer can any statement be? Yet the preachers today confidently affirm that HE IS GONE! "Christ is in heaven," say they, "but His Spirit is with us here," as though His Spirit were somehow not HE HIMSELF. Who is the Lord, anyhow? "Now the Lord I-S THAT SPIRIT" (II Cor. 3:17). Mark, in the last verse of His Gospel tells us, "And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the LORD WORKING W-I-T-H THEM and confirming the Word with signs following." After He ascended HE WAS RIGHT THERE WITH THEM STILL. Glory to God!

When the holy Christ of God uttered His wonderful proclamation, "And, lo, I AM with you always," that proclamation forever established that in truth the Christ NEVER WOULD DEPART. There is a wonderful difference between ascending and departing. Jesus said, "I ascend unto My Father, and your Father" (Jn. 20:17), but never, once did He say that He would depart from them. For hath He not said, "I will NEVER L-E-A-V-E THEE, nor forsake thee" (Heb. 13:5). That which the church today regards as the departure of Jesus, was never so regarded by His disciples. Rather it meant to them a CONDITION OF POWER, for He told them that He must "go away" that the Comforter might "come." None of the Gospel writers felt that the "taking up" involved any departure of the Christ. It never did mean AN END of His presence to any of them. But on the other hand, it really meant a far greater realization of His presence than they had ever experienced. Their statements that He continued to work with them, that He said He would be with them to the end of the age, and their fullness of joy all testify to the fact that they believed He was still with them and had not gone anywhere else. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but CHRIST LIVETH I-N ME" (Gal. 2:20). In the last chapter of Luke's Gospel and the first chapters of its sequel which we call "The Acts of the Apostles," the pen of inspiration has faithfully recorded the facts surrounding the ascension of our Lord and His coming to us as the Spirit. Jesus led His faithful little band of followers out of Jerusalem as far as the village of Bethany and while speaking to them He stretched out His hands in blessing upon them. As He blesses, His feet lift from the grass and, still blessing them He rises upwards. They follow Him with their gaze, until a cloud intervenes and receives Him out of their sight. Only out of their sight. Not out of their company. Only His BODILY PRESENCE was denied to them. Had He not said,"Lo, I am with you always"? In a sense He did not really go away: HE ONLY WENT OUT OF SIGHT. And in ten days' time, He was to come to them in a closer way than ever by His indwelling Spirit.

That cloud intrigues me. "And a CLOUD received Him out of their sight." "Received Him out of" is one word in the Greek meaning "to take under". It signifies to take up by placing one's self underneath, in the style of a hiker carrying a backpack, or as a waiter holds a tray. It is one of Luke's medical terms. Weymouth in his translation puts it thus: the cloud "closing beneath Him, hid Him from sight." Don't tell me that was the sort of cloud which spills the rain and from which the lightning flashes. No! No! That Cloud is the Cloud of the Glory of God, the Shekinah, described in Eze. 1:4 as "a great cloud ... and brightness."

A cloud is perhaps the best known Eastern symbol for the swirling, lustrous radiance which hides "the face of His throne" (Job 26:9). The Hebrew term translated "cloud" in Ezekiel is AWNAUN, a word which is occasionally used of a nimbus or thundercloud, but which is repeatedly used for THE GLORY CLOUD OF JEHOVAH. The first appearance of AWNAWN, "cloud," as a technical term for the Shekinah is found in Ex. 13:21 wherein we read, "And the Lord went before (the Israelites) by day in a pillar of a CLOUD, to lead them the way." It was this "cloud" which Ezekiel saw while he was with the exiles in Babylon by the Chebar Canal. The Glory Cloud is the "chariot" of Jehovah, composed of myriads of celestial beings, the spirits of just men made perfect, the armies which are in heaven, the heavenly hosts of the spiritual world. "Behold," declares the prophet, "the Lord rideth upon THE CLOUD, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it (the cloud)" (Isa. 19:1).

Just as the CLOUD "covered the mount" at the giving of the Law (Ex. 24:15-18), so, also, it "covered the tabernacle" when it was completed. "And the Glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, and Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the Cloud abode thereon, and the Glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle" (Ex. 40:34-35). Many years later, when Solomon had finished the work of the temple, "The Cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the Cloud; for the Glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord" (I Kings 8:10-11). It will be observed that "The Cloud" and "The Glory" are equated as synonymous, for The Cloud "filled the house" and The Glory "filled the house" are stated in parallel fashion.

This is the Cloud of HIS GLORY into which the triumphant saints of God are to be licaught up." "And the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the CLOUDS" (I Thes. 4:16-17). There is no definite article in the Greek text before the word "clouds," to make it THE CLOUDS, which would thus identify them as the clouds of the lower atmosphere surrounding our earth. Where the identifying article is missing, it speaks of quality, or is used as a descriptive term. The Greek word "cloud" it often used of a large body of individuals in the Greek Classics, and it is also so used in Heb.12:1 speaking of that great "cloud of witnesses" which surround us. Thus our "catching up" is being brought into that higher spiritual sphere, where we shall become one with that whole great cloud of witnesses, that "general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect" (Heb. 12:23). What a glorious UNION of forces when those of our generation upon the earth, and all those overcoming saints of all former ages who have gone on before us, are joined together, becoming an indestructible force in the full, total and complete manifestation of His majesty, power and glory at the manifestation of the sons of God!

The Resident within the shimmering Cloud of Glory is just the Lord Himself, the source of the dazzling light, for it is HE who causes the celestial host to shine forth, thus forming the "cloud" and manifesting His glory thereby. Yes, He shall be revealed TO US, shall complete all of His work and purpose in us, lifting us up into higher realms of the Spirit, and completing that UNION WITH THE WHOLE BODY OF THE FIRSTBORN. Then shall He be revealed IN US in fullness as Paul explains, "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty messengers, in flaming fire ... when He shall come to be GLORIFIED I-N HIS SAINTS, and to be ADMIRED I-N ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE in that day" (II Thes. 1:7-10).

I would draw your reverent attention to the following two scripture passages. "Behold! He cometh WITH CLOUDS" (Rev. 1:7). "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, The Lord cometh WITH TEN THOUSANDS OF HIS SAINTS" (Jude 14). Or, "Lo, the Lord comes in holy myriads of Himself" (Literal translation). If you will take a few minutes to meditate upon these two verses you will begin to realize that the Lord coming WITH CLOUDS and the Lord coming WITH SAINTS is not two separate events, but just the same thing. The "cloud" that received our Lord Jesus out of their sight on the day of His ascension, was the same "cloud" which revealed the majestic Person of Jehovah on Mount Sinai and in the Tabernacle and Temple of old, and the very same "cloud" with which He comes again and into which His elect is gloriously caught up. It was the Cloud of celestial spirits swooping down from realms of glory to bear Him up in triumph to the sphere of authority, power and blessing which should thenceforth flow forth as a mighty river of life through the channel of His body upon earth. They came, say the Greek, and they wrapped Him round, some of them underneath Him, and into their presence He passed, and the eyes on earth beheld Him no longer. From the eternal and omnipresent realm of the spirit He occupies the omnipotence of the throne of the universe; from that throne He gives the Holy Spirit of HIS PRESENCE to all who believe.

May the blessed Holy Spirit open the eyes of our understanding that we may see that beyond the veil of the flesh is the realm of God, the realm of the Spirit, and it is there the Christ of God dwells, and it is there He must be touched, seen, known and experienced. He did not "leave us" for He promised He never would; His "disappearance" from the sight of men was not a lessening of His PRESENCE with us in any way. Rather it was an intensification of that PRESENCE. For the Christ was transferring that PRESENCE from one body to many bodies. He was expanding and enlarging His power and influence and character greatly among men. That expansion and enlargement has continued throughout the centuries, and the body of Christ has continued to grow and develop in preparation for the full and total and complete manifestation of His life when every elect son of God has come forth finally from Father's hand full grown in the mind, nature, will, power and dominion of Almighty God.

Our testimony joins in harmonious accord with that of the beloved disciple John when he declared, "WE KNOW THAT THE SON OF GOD IS COME." He is here now in the world, IN US, and it will have to be through us that the world will come to the knowledge and experience of this PRESENT CHRIST. The enveloping and overwhelming of HIS PRESENCE - this is the PAROUSIA of Jesus Christ! With this precious truth in mind let us now reverently consider a couple more texts touching on the PAROUSIA of our Lord.

II THES. 2:1. "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming (parousia, presence) of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto Him..." This scripture has been much used to substantiate the rapture teaching by assuming that the PAROUSIA of the Lord was a future event and likewise "our gathering together unto Him." When we endeavor to receive the revelation of spiritual truth, we are at once brought into conflict with the pre-conceived ideas of time-honored tradition. I exhort the saints therefore to lay aside every concept that they have received from man which they have not thoroughly investigated upon their knees with an open Bible and in holy brokenness before God. The mists and darkness of carnal minds and lifeless creeds have obscured the meaning of this beautiful passage from all but a few, but those words - "by the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ" and "by our gathering together unto Him" - precious friend of mine, have reference to very present reality which was first spoken of by the Lord Himself when He said, "For where two or three are GATHERED TOGETHER in My name, there AM I IN THE MIDST of them" (Mat. 18:20). There you have the two ingredients: The presence of the Lord, and the gathering together unto Him.

The Concordant New Testament translates this passage thus: "Now we are asking you, brethren, for the sake of the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to Him..." Rotherham's translation reads, "But we request you, brethren, in behalf of the Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto Him..." The Diaglott makes a still clearer translation by the rendering, "We entreat you, brethren, concerning the presence of the Lord of us Jesus Anointed and of us assembling to Him," which portrays the Lord as then and there present and their gathering, or assembling, to Him to be then and there. In other words, the apostle was beseeching the saints at Thessalonica that AS THEY WERE GATHERED TOGETHER OR ASSEMBLED UNTO THE LORD IN HIS PRESENCE they should not be shaken in mind or be troubled by the fact that the Day of the Lord they awaited was not to immediately break in its fullness of glory upon them.

We read so much into the scriptures that simply isn't there! To suit our purpose of emphasizing what the scriptures REALLY say, in contrast with what most people THINK they say, we shall paraphrase seven well-known verses from the Gospel of John, chapter fourteen, in keeping with the popular teaching of our day. To hear the preachers expounding the things of God it should read something like this:

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in hell, believe also in heaven. In heaven there are many mansions: you know I have told you this and have described its beautiful golden streets many, many times. I am going to heaven to prepare a mansion just over the hilltop for you, and if I go and prepare a mansion for.you, I will come again and take you away to heaven, that where I will be you will be also. And you all know well that I am going to heaven, and you know the way to heaven. And Thomas saith unto Him, Lord, we didn't know you were going to heaven and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life: no man shall ever get to heaven but by Me. If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also: but when you get to heaven you shall know Him and you shall see Him" (in. 14:1-7, Paraphrase).

Strange as it may seem, the subject of the fourteenth chapter of John is NOT HEAVEN! Jesus rarely spoke of heaven in the traditional sense during His teaching ministry. For Jesus came, not as a revelation of some geographical or astral location, but as the expression of a glorious PERSON. And that Person is the FATHER. It may come as a shock to some who read these lines, but the word heaven, or any synonym thereof, does not appear even once in this entire chapter! But the term FATHER is used some TWENTY-THREE times! It should be obvious to any thinking mind that the thrust of Christ's words was to bring His disciples into a living relationship with the almighty and infinite Father. Said Christ, "All things are delivered unto Me of My Father: and no man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and HE TO WHOMSOEVER THE SON WILL REVEAL HIM" (Mat. 11:27). Armed with the understanding that the key word in John, charter fourteen, is FATHER and not HEAVEN, we might examine the profound truth here uttered by the lips of the Son of God.

"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto MYSELF; that where I AM, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto Him, Lord, we know not whither Thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man COMETH UNTO THE FATHER, but by Me."

It would be of utmost profit for any of us to diligently consider this important question: Where does Jesus say He will receive us to? "I will come again, and receive you UNTO M-Y-S-E-L-F." To understand the deep meaning of this significant statement we must see by the spirit of wisdom and revelation just WHERE CHRIST IS. The Lord has never anywhere promised to carry us off to a beautiful Isle of Somewhere, but in the tenderest tones He assures us that He is Himself the WAY TO THE FATHER. "I am the WAY ... no man COMETH UNTO THE F-A-T-H-E-R, but by Me." Jesus is the WAY! The way to where? Why, bless your heart, He is the way to the Father! The WAY is not a route through the Milky Way the WAY is a PERSON! And the DESTINATION is likewise a PERSON. "No man cometh unto the FATHER, but by ME." It is IN CHRIST that we are enabled to enter into intimate relationship and vital union with the Father.

Before either the firstfruit company or the rest of creation can be brought to the Father it is vitally necessary that there be a GATHERING UNTO THE CHRIST. It is my deep conviction that this is the grand truth the Holy Spirit is pointing to in I Cor. 15:24-28. "Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. And when all things shall be subdued UNTO HIM, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all."

From the earliest times of antiquity the Lord has spoken through the mouths of His anointed prophets foretelling this wonderful GATHERING TOGETHER UNTO CHRIST. The patriarch Jacob, at the time of his death, acting under the direction of the Holy Spirit, and with the spirit of prophecy upon him, called all his sons together to tell them what their posterity should become in the purposes of God. Laying his bony, trembling hand upon the head of his son Judah he prophesied, saying, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh (Christ) come; and UNTO HIM SHALL THE GATHERING OF THE PEOPLE BE" (Gen. 49:10). Paul asserts, as we have shown, "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming (presence) of out Lord Jesus Christ, and by OUR GATHERING TOGETHER UNTO HIM..." (II Thes. 2:1). It seems to me that these two passages compliment and explain each other, and that both clearly point to the oft repeated term "in Christ" or "in Him." Again and again, the Holy Spirit of God sets forth that privileged position IN CHRIST. "Therefore if any man be IN CHRIST, he is a new creature ... and all things are of God who hath reconciled (harmonized, gathered together) us TO HIMSELF by (in) Jesus Christ" (II Cor. 5:17-18). Again, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places IN CHRIST: that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might GATHER TOGETHER IN ONE all things IN CHRIST, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even IN HIM: and you hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins; and hath RAISED US UP TOGETHER, and made us SIT TOGETHER in heavenly places IN CHRIST JESUS."

God was in Christ. And it is there, in Christ, that God reconciles and gathers together the world and all things unto Himself. When a man or a woman becomes a member of Christ's body he or she commences to be rooted and grounded IN HIM. From Him we draw our life as roots draw their food and sustenance from the earth, and it is by the life of Him that we are built up and grow to be a holy temple (the many mansions) in the Lord, an habitation for God through the Spirit. The wondrous parable of the Vine and the branches, with the accompanying command, "Abide in Me, and I in you," has been to us a source of rich instruction and edification. And though we feel as if we had but very imperfectly learned the lesson of abiding in Him, yet we have tasted something of the joy that comes when the soul can say, "Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I do abide in Thee."

Many years ago the saintly Andrew Murray penned these inspiring and challenging words: "You know what abiding in Him is. It is to consent with our whole soul to His being our life, to reckon upon Him to inspire us in all that goes to make up life, and then to give up everything most Absolutely for Him to rule and work in us. It is the rest of the full assurance that He does, each moment, work in us what we are to be, and so Himself enables us to maintain that perfect surrender, in which He is free to do all His will. Let all who do indeed long to walk like Christ take courage at the thought of what He is and will prove Himself to be if they trust Him. He is the TRUE VINE; no vine ever did so fully for its branches what He will do for us. Honor Him by a joyful trust that He is, beyond all conception, supplying you with His infinite fullness, the TRUE VINE, holding you by His almighty strength. And as your faith thus looks to Him, instead of sighing and failure, the voice of praise will be heard repeating the language of faith: Thanks be to God! he that abideth in Him does walk even as He walked. Thanks be to God! I abide in Him, and I walk as He walked" -end quote.

But this is not all. You find in I Pet. 3:18, "Christ, also, hath suffered f or sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." There we have the great object of Christ's work. "That He might BRING US TO GOD." Christ came and died and rose again to bring us to God. Listen to what we read in the book of Hebrews, about the better hope of the New Testament "by which WE DRAW NIGH UNTO GOD." Listen to what we read in the same chapter, "He is able to save completely them that COME TO GOD BY HIM."

You know there is a great difference between the way to a house and the house itself. I may be traveling through the most beautiful scenery, on a lovely, pleasant day, with delightful company, and enjoying every step of the way, and yet, I am not content to stay there always. I have gone into that way to bring me to the end, the object of my journey. Christ is the way; what is the end of the way? The end is God - the Father. Christ wants to bring us to God. You often find Christians so occupied with Christ they never get time for God. You ask me, is there any difference between going to Christ and going to God? A very great difference! In Christ I have the gracious and merciful side of God's character. But that is not all of God's character I need to know. In Christ I have the condescension of God coming near to me, but the object of that condescension is to bring me to that place where I can come unto Him - to be one with the Father and like the Father in every way. You can never have all that God has provided unless you learn the lesson that Christ is going to win your heart that He may bring you back to God. Just think, Christ was not, in Himself, self-sufficient when He was on earth. He lived every day with the thought within Him: There is One greater than I, and My blessedness is to live in dependence upon Him, with a will given up to His will and in a trust that counts upon His working. And if I am to be in Christ and Christ in me, what was His life must become my life; fellowship with the Father and dependence upon the Father.

Christ came to bring me to God. I not only need faith to realize that He is in me and I in Him, but by faith I need to give myself up to His working, that as a living Person He shall reveal the will of God perfectly in me, and so breathe into me His own disposition and His Qwn life. Christ is to dwell and live in me. I am not to count Christ as a separate being, dwelling in my heart as a locality, but Christ is to be in my heart, in my life, in MY thinking, living and willing, as the very life of all I do, so that He lives Himself out through me. So Christ is formed in me, and God sees the very figure, the very form of Christ within me. And as Christ is thus manifested within me in His disposition and Spirit, the nearness of God becomes more intimate and the fellowship with God becomes more close. Oh! beloved, God wants us to come nigh to Him in Christ.

Christ suffered, that He might bring us to God. What did He suffer? Nothing was too great. He endured All, that He might bring us to God. Are you willing, my brother, my sister, to take the time and trouble that you may be brought nigh to God? If that has become the object of our desires we will understand the work of Christ far better, and our understanding and knowledge of that work will bring far more abundant fruit. Jesus came to reveal the Father, and to bring us back to the Father, by degrees. He came to save the world, this is true, but beyond that He came to reveal the Father. He is the way to the Father. By Him we can return to the Father. As one has said, He did not fence everybody in to a "Jesus realm." Jesus knew the limitations of our human realm; He also knew the source of fullness, and so He said, "I go to My Father, for My Father is greater than I" (Jn. 14:28). Know this, my friend, and you will understand a great truth: THE FATHER IS GREATER THAN ALL REALMS OF SONSHIP. Fatherhood is the position of being part of the life-giving force.

From the pen of another ready writer let me quote the following words of truth and wisdom. "There is a ONENESS WITH THE FATHER, a relationship which He would have us enjoy, where we receive directly from Him all that we need. Jesus also spoke of that dimension when He said, 'In that day ye shall ask Me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, HE will give it you' (Jn. 16:23). This surely bespeaks of a deeper relationship with our God. The evidences of our salvation being clearly revealed, the mediatorial work of the Son being complete in our personal behalf, we shall have DIRECT ACCESS TO THE FATHER. This does no despite or injury to our Saviour, rather it redounds to His glory, for it reveals that His workings in us have been successful, and that we are now prepared to enter into a deeper relationship with Him, able to approach the Father in His name, or, might we say, having received His name, we stand in the character and nature of all that His name implies.

"While we praise God for all that HE DOES, and IS DOING in the hearts of men, and for whatever is being wrought in groups, churches, etc. still we hear the cry over and over again, 'Where can we go to find the answers we need?' For NO MAN has been found worthy to open and to read the book' (Rev. 5:4). Indeed, we find that the more we progress towards spiritual maturity, the less anyone else has an answer for us. Paul once wrote, 'He that is spiritual judgeth (discerneth) all things, yet he himself is judged (discerned) of no man' (I Cor. 2:15).

"Others, who are just beginning their walk with Christ, come to you, or to some group, and receive help. Prophecies are given, words of exhortation, edification, and comfort come forth, and they receive the answers they need. Yet you find for yourself there are none who can discern for you - in fact, far too often they do not even understand your question, let alone get an answer for it. We look for a Seer, a Prophet, one who can draw out of the deep the water of life to satisfy, and 'there is no man able.' Why? Because God now purposes to bring us, yes, if necessary, TO PRESS US into a new relationship with Himself, until we learn to go directly to our Father and receive from Him all that is needed for the occasion. While we appreciate our spiritual brethren, their love, their fellowship, their counsel, yet we are being brought to the place where we have to say, 'I'll go to the Father, for MY FATHER IS GREATER THAN ALL.' Thus we find ourselves being brought to the threshold of a new dimension, a deeper relationship than we have experienced heretofore. While others run from meeting to meeting, from preacher to preacher, from brother to brother, God places within your heart that deep yearning to GO TO THE FATHER. If He can give my brother a word of prophecy for me, why can't He speak it directly into my own heart? He can, and He does! When we learn to go to Him, and not just lean upon others for our 'group therapy.'

"'For this cause I bow my knees unto THE FATHER of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named' (Eph. 3:14-15). 'From whom every FATHERHOOD in heaven and upon earth is named...' (Rotherham Translation). 'From whom every family in heaven and earth is named - THAT FATHER from whom ALL FATHERHOOD takes its title and derives its name' (Amplified Bible). While much can be said for sonship, and what it means to become a mature son of God, led by the Spirit, and always doing the will of the Father, yet we find that there is a purpose for this fully qualified state of sonship, a purpose on which there has been very little teaching. Obviously the time was not ready for such instruction, the sons are yet in the throes of their travail and preparation. But the more the grace of God inworks His divine purpose for this coming into maturity and being received of God as a true son, the more also He begins to unveil that GLORY to which we are called, and of which we shall be partakers, and this includes the glory of fatherhood.

'All of the training and discipline of bringing a child to maturity, to where God can invest in them the fullness of His Spirit, to where they will AT ALL TIMES be motivated and controlled by the Spirit, all of this is now leading into a deeper dimension - where the crowning glory of sonship is manifested in fatherhood. If all the ways of natural life are normal, no young man is content to just stay at the age of recognized maturity, strong, qualified to be on his own. But soon there awakens within him that desire to be able to produce out of himself, be it in the field of creative activity, birthing a business of his own, developing an established practice in his chosen profession, or raising a family and establishing and providing for his own home. But regardless of how his energy is expended, he desires to accomplish something, to make a name for himself, to raise up out of his own efforts that which testifies to his ability. In the realm of our spiritual application, we find this holds a tremendous word of truth. God is doing more than just bringing His chosen remnant to maturity so that they can stand in full strength, but He is also leading them on in to fatherhood. And while it is true, we are already projecting our vision beyond experience in these spiritual realms, yet God is placing a vision before His own, a goal set before, and then HE will bring them into the fulfillment thereof.

"Jesus, the very man Christ Jesus, knew His position as a SON, but He also knew of His position as Father, and that it was expedient for Him to return to that realm from which He would be able to impart, pour out of Himself, that flow of the Spirit which we now need to bring us to maturity. He had condescended to men of low estate, manifest in the flesh, becoming an offering for our sins, but when the sacrifice was complete, He was ready to ascend far above all principalities and powers, that He might again be the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. 'He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. AND HE GAVE...' (Eph. 4:10-11). Yes, returning into His fatherhood position He began to give, imparting out of Himself, sending forth the Spirit into our hearts, whereby now we are able to cry, 'Abba, Father.' HE IS OUR FATHER, for from Him we have received grace for grace. And when He shall have finished imparting of this superabundance of His grace to us-ward, we shall have that same sufficiency which He possesses, and be able to impart to others. Therefore, we repeat, the challenge is not just to become a 'son', but to go on, and being filled with His fullness, so that we become LIFE-GIVERS, even as HE became a life-giving Spirit. IT IS FROM HIM THAT WE SHALL DERIVE OUR FATHERHOOD.

"THERE IS A FATHERHOOD REALM! A position in God where we shall be able to impart life. How we have wept in days gone by, and how there still yearns within us that deep desire for His fullness, when we see someone in need, and find that we do not have that 'substance' to be able to meet that need. If there be any love and compassion within us, of course we can pray, encourage, share the burden, but we still cannot impart life. We take them to an altar and pray with them, but we cannot save them, it is a soverign act of God. We hold up their hands in praise, tell them to hang on - to let go - and highly confuse them as to how to receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit, but we could not, and cannot impart the Spirit to them. We are not yet fathers! But God is going to bring His remnant to that place where He can receive them INTO HIMSELF, and by reason of this union they will have something to impart. Now it is self-evident that inasmuch as from our Father God all fatherhood takes its title and derives its name, and inasmuch as those who enter into this realm in God are filled with His fullness, and are partakers of His divine nature, so that they might beget the same, then it follows that the attributes of our own Father are to be found in these 'fathers' " -Ray Prinzing (end Quote).

We are forced to the conclusion, then, that when Paul says, "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming (parousia, presence) of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him," he speaks of something higher far than;the childish notion of Jesus streaking across the heavens like a flaming meteorite while bodies arise from the cemeteries to be "gathered together" unto Him in the upper atmosphere. It is not a physical or limited thing at all, it bespeaks a realm of SPIRITUAL REALITY. It is not a gathering together of physical bodies unto a certain place, but a gathering on a spiritual plane of experience unto the person of HIMSELF. The Christ is gathering a people together IN HIS PAROUSIA, IN HIS PRESENCE that He may bring them to God. God is not one place, and Christ another place, and we another place. It is not even necessary that the Lord should return from some far-off heaven to this earth in order to raise the dead. All that He has undertaken to do He can do from anywhere, for He is the fullness of Him that filleth all in all! The power of the voice, or the touch, or the manifestation of the Son of God is not diminished by distance. He who at Cana could heal the son of the nobleman at Capernaum, twenty miles of hill and vale notwithstanding, could if He chose to do so, empty the graves of earth without moving a millimeter from His present position. But the glorious gathering together unto Christ has nothing whatever to do with either time or space. It is an event of spirit, and truth and reality.

And as the apostle shows in the verses which follow this grand statement in II Thessalonians, chapter two, there is a Day yet to come - O glorious Day! - the Day of Christ, the Day of many sons come to glory, the Day of perfection and maturity, the Day of fullness and triumph, the Day of power and dominion, the Day of creation's deliverance and restoration back into God. But the dawning of that Day is rooted in a FIRSTFRUIT COMPANY that LIVES IN HIS PRESENCE, being GATHERED TOGETHER UNTO HIM, and there IN HIM, brought by and through Him, unto the glory of THE FATHER - FATHERHOOD!

II PET. 3:3-4. "Then shall come in the last day scoffers ... saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."

The King James Version gives, "Where is the promise of His coming?" but again the word "coming" is the Greek word PAROUSIA meaning "presence". A free translation would be, "Where is the promise of the presence of Himself? for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." Or it may be phrased, "Where is His promised presence - seeing that all things continue on as from the beginning of creation?" That is, where is the FULFILLMENT of the promise? The scoffers imply that the promise has utterly failed; that the Christ is not present; that there is not the slightest evidence that His coming has ever been accomplished; that they who believe He is here now are certainly deluded! What is the reason scoffers say such things? Well, partly because Christians are saying just the same thing! That is, that the Lord is coming at some future time and they are not holding forth the truth of HIS PRESENCE.

The fact that all things continue to go on as they have always done is proof, to the carnal mind, that the Lord is still away. The sun rises and sets; the tides ebb and flow; the seasons follow each other in the usual order; men are born, live and die; one generation succeeds another, as has always been the case; nations rise and fall; there are wars and rumors of wars; sin abounds; and all external evidence points to the belief that these conditions will continue as they have always done. So - WHERE IS HIS PROMISED COMING? the scoffers demand.

The world lieth in the lap of the Wicked One and is dead in trespasses and sin and the natural man understandeth not the spiritual things of God, neither can he for they are spiritually discerned. Scoffers belong to the world, but how much more pitiful when we find that the great mass of Christians, who are supposed to be children of light and to have spiritual discernment, are failing to "receive Him because they see Him not" but continue to gate into the skies. While Christians century after century have eagerly scanned the heavens for signs of the appearing of the Lord, they have forgotten to live in the glory of THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST here and now. Now that the Lord is beginning to open our eyes to the message of life for this hour may He grant us grace to walk gladly in the brighter light of the enlarged vision. It is my earnest prayer that the believing heart of every saint separated unto God by His Holy Spirit may be gripped by this blessed truth: It is possible for saints here and now to live in the constant and continual presence of the Christ who walked the shores of Galilee; the Christ who healed the sick and raised the dead; the Christ at whose voice demons fled like darkness before piercing light; the Christ who spake as never man spake; the Christ who lived and died and rose again and ascended on high; the Christ who has been given all power in heaven and in earth; this mighty Christ walks with us still, yea, walks WITHIN US, closer to us even than the air we breathe or the blood that courses its way unceasingly through our veins. As the days have passed, especially in recent months, there has come to me the ever-increasing assurance that I am dwelling and walking in the PAROUSIA OF JESUS CHRIST - His PRESENCE. The Christ is no longer far away; He is here. No longer need saints say "Who shall ascend into heaven to bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the deep to bring Christ again from the dead? The WORD (Christ) is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart" (Rom. 10:6-7).

Let all God's elect rejoice in the truth I now present. Lay hold upon it as you would a precious jewel because its truth uncovers the secret key that will unlock the door to great spiritual experience and understanding. The moment the solemnizing fact of CHRIST'S PRESENCE grips your heart and fills your mind by the Holy Spirit, the REALITY OF HIS ABIDING PRESENCE will begin to transform your life. How wonderful the presence of Christ! Where is His promised presence? Ah, He who told us in words that cannot fail, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age," now abides with us forever, whom, "having not seen, we love; IN WHOM, though now we see Him not (with physical eyes), yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (I Pet. 1:8).

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