"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God..."
FROM THE CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE
Part 247
THE HOLY CITY (Continued)
"And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof" (Rev. 21:23). These words of illumination and power do not infer that when God displays His holy city in all her glory there is no longer the literal sun nor the moon in the starry heavens above. For the reference here is to spiritual realities, not to the natural order of things. The holy city is not a literal city of material gold and precious stones, therefore its light is not a natural light of the physical creation. The text does not state that there will be no sun or moon, but that the glorified elect of the Lord will have no need of it. In other words, the sun and moon have nothing to contribute to this realm of light and glory where God’s people dwell, for their light is the spiritual light of understanding, revelation, truth, and glory — the light of Life. For that kind of illumination any kind of natural light is unnecessary and irrelevant. In the light that the Spirit brings we see God face to face. The glory of God, that is, the radiation of all His perfections, lightens the city, that is, the minds and hearts and lives of the saints who constitute the city. And this is through Christ, the Lamb, who Himself is the light of Life and the Shekinah radiating and illuminating the entire city, His Holy of holies for the ages to come. In the long ago beginning God said, "Let there be light." Nothing happens on any level in any creation without light. Darkness covered the face of the deep, the record states, therefore light was the first prerequisite for God’s great plan to be set in motion. If we think of that darkness that covered the earth only as natural darkness, that is, the absence of physical light, we miss the point altogether. There may be reference here to natural darkness, but if so it is only in the form of a type or shadow. The real reference is to another kind of darkness. Isaiah tells us that just before the unveiling of God’s Holy City darkness will cover the earth, and gross darkness the people (Isa. 60:1-3). Now, the prophet is not speaking of natural darkness here, but of spiritual darkness. So in the beginning there was something more than natural darkness that covered the earth. In the Hebrew text of Genesis 1:2 we find the inference that sometime after the "beginning" in which God had created the heavens and the earth, the earth suffered some tremendous judgment or cataclysmic catastrophe, falling into chaos, formlessness, and dense darkness, both natural and spiritual. Then it was that the divine fiat came, "Let there be light!" What was this light that God introduced into the world or the kosmos? If the Spirit of God will help us we will put this in words that will clearly help us to understand the great truth that God would teach us. Let us then take heed to the words of our faithful Lord when He spoke, saying, "I am the light of the kosmos," and "I am come a light into the kosmos, that whosoever believeth into me should not abide in darkness." Jesus claimed that He Himself was the light of the world, the kosmos, and if His claim was true, when did He become the light of the kosmos? Speaking of our Lord Jesus, who from the beginning was the Word, or the Logos, John by inspiration wrote, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness is not able to put it out. There was a man sent from God whose name was John (the Baptist). The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through Him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was THE TRUE LIGHT, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. HE WAS IN THE KOSMOS, AND THE KOSMOS WAS MADE BY HIM, AND THE KOSMOS KNEW HIM NOT" (Jn. 1:1-10). Here we have Christ Jesus presented as the Light, the true Light, who was the Light from the very beginning of the kosmos, and the Light today. Jesus was the Light of the kosmos, and Jesus is the light of the kosmos. There is no other Light but our Christ! As all types and patterns, the things material and physical, the things seen, are only figures of the true, so all light, no matter from what source it comes, is only a type of the Light which is the true Light, and that Light is Christ the Lord. Christ Jesus is the true Light! All other light is only a shadow of this which is the true Light. So there is the figure, the type, and there is the true. So whatever natural light may have shed its rays into the thick and dreadful darkness of the earth realm in that primordial beginning when God said, "Let there be light," the great and eternal truth is that "In Him WAS life, and the life WAS the light of men!" The light of the world has always been Jesus! HE was the light that shined out of darkness, and it is just as true today as John tells us, "Again a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing, and the TRUE LIGHT now shineth" (I Jn. 2:8). Let us return now to the thought about the holy city having no need of the sun, neither of the moon. It is here that a great secret is revealed. Let your spiritual mind grasp this truth: In the tabernacle of Moses in the wilderness, as well as in the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, there were three different kinds of light. And by this light there were three different kinds of orders. The Outer Court had no covering, so in the Outer Court the sun was the light, but there was night in that realm too, for when the sun set in the western sky the Outer Court was veiled in darkness, except for the light of the moon. Then in the Holy Place there was the candlestick, and there was a glimmering light in that compartment, not a very bright light, but a light ever burning and sufficient to illuminate that realm by day and by night. That light was produced out of an indwelling, out of the oil that was in the candlestick producing light. It was not a perfect light because the wick had to be trimmed daily, and the oil must be continually replenished. There was a necessary service rendered to that candlestick by the priests to maintain the light, just as we have needed the ministry of the word, the function of the gifts, the dealings of the Spirit, and seasons of refreshing and times of revival in order to rid our lives of recurring carnality, keep a supply of oil, and maintain the light of God burning in our lives. That is the Holy Place! But you know, when you enter in to the Most Holy Place, the Holiest of all, the light of that realm is the Shekinah, the blazing, penetrating fullness of the glory of God, and there are no shadows and there is no night there! It is eternal light! The Shekinah is not dependent upon anything! It waits upon no dawn for its sun to rise, and no dusk for its moon to shine. It is not drawn or derived from any earthly substance. It doesn’t have to be serviced. There is no wick to trim, no oil to pour, no priestly ministration of any kind to maintain it. It simply is, because God is! As the bride of the Lamb and the sons of God come to perfection and the fullness of Christ, the lights and luminaries of the old spiritual heavens truly become darkened, so that the word of the seer of Patmos becomes wondrously fulfilled in us — "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." The sun that shone upon the Outer Court was a figure of the word of God that came to Israel through Moses, the word of the Old Covenant. It was indeed a word from God Himself, who is often in scripture spoken of as a "sun." And yet, in the fullest sense, it was not the pure and full revelation of the Lord Himself, for it was "a" word from God, but not "the" word of God in its fullness. It was "light," but not the full light, not the pure light, nor the true light which Christ Himself is. Therefore the sun of the Outer Court signifies a partial revelation of God when contrasted with the Shekinah of the Most Holy Place. The sun can never compare in either its brilliance or its glory with the light of the Most Holy Place! The sun of the Outer Court signifies a partial revelation, whereas the Shekinah of the Most Holy Place represents the TRUE LIGHT of the Lord Himself in all His glorious and eternal reality! The new Jerusalem does not need the light of the sun, nor of the moon, because in this eternal Holy of holies dwells the fullest presence of the almighty Father and the Lamb who are the light of it. It certainly doesn’t need the light of the moon! Through the summer months Lorain and I enjoy sitting on the front porch of our house in the late evenings listening to the night sounds and watching the stars, moon, satellites, airplanes, and occasionally a meteorite in the heavens above. We especially like to be out there at the full moon and see it rise up over the Hueco mountains in all its brilliance. What do we know when we see that beautiful moon shining so brightly? We know the sun is in the heavens; we can’t see it, but we know it’s there because the moon is shining, reflecting the light of the sun! May God open the eyes of every reader of these lines to clearly see and understand the great mystery that we now unfold. Israel of old with her outward law, outward sacrifices, outward temple, outward priesthood, outward feasts, outward rituals and ceremonies — all these external ministrations were merely a sign that Yahweh was in the heavens! Like the moon, all these things merely reflected the light of God, the Spirit, but they were not the light and not one of them had any light within itself. The moon shines so that we know the sun is there, and it helps to guide us through our night of darkness. The great truth that the Holy Spirit would make known to us is that external religious ordinances of every kind are typified by the moon — they are not the true light of Christ, they have no light within themselves, they merely reflect light. As the writings of the New Testament progress, we see a theme unfold before our wondering eyes which eventually bursts forth in all the splendor of an opening flower of truth. The writer to the Hebrews exudes the fragrance of this truth when he writes, "Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect…which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings (Greek: baptismos — baptisms), and carnal ordinances, IMPOSED ON THEM UNTIL THE TIME OF REFORMATION (CHANGE)" (Heb. 9:9-10). These externals were needed when men could neither see nor know God and needed to be assured that God was there. But now, praise His name, He has sent the spirit of His son and we are putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, we are being immersed in and clothed upon with the light of the glory of God that radiates from the face of Jesus Christ! Therefore we no longer have need for the reflected light of the moon of external forms, rituals, ceremonies, creeds, ordinances, baptisms, programs, or any other work of man FOR THE DARKNESS IS PAST AND THE TRUE LIGHT NOW SHINES! Isn’t it wonderful! In nearly every religious church system today we have a lot of reflected light of outward rituals, ceremonies, sacraments, and ordinances. The people who walk in this light are living in the Outer Court of spiritual experience. Water baptism, for example, is merely an outward symbol of reflected light, for it is an external exercise which stands for and represents and portrays the spiritual reality of that true baptism into the depths of Christ whereby our sins and our old Adamic nature and flesh life are washed away by the washing of regeneration, and our new creation life is raised up in the power of His resurrection! Earlier we quoted a passage where the apostle John tells us that John the Baptist, who baptized with water, was not the true light; he came only to bear witness to that true light, which is Christ. John the Baptist himself said of Christ, "He must increase, I must decrease." And again, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worth to unloose: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" (Mat. 3:11). Can we not see by this that water baptism is John’s baptism, whereas Holy Spirit baptism is Christ’s baptism! The former is the light of the moon, it merely bears witness to Him who is the light, but is not the true light; those who walk in the city of God, and in the light of the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb, have no need of the light of the sun, neither of the moon, for THE TRUE LIGHT NOW SHINES! Someone says, "But brother Eby, the Lord Jesus Himself told His disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, baptizing them…" But, I ask, baptizing them into what? Oh, how God’s people need to cast away from themselves the vain traditions of men and pay careful attention to what the Spirit is saying! What the Lord said was just this, "Baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Mat. 28:19). Is baptizing them into the name the same as baptizing them into water? Certainly not! Nothing is said about water in this wonderful passage! In scripture "name" signifies "nature." "Preach the gospel and baptize them into the nature of the Lord." Ah, that is not something that happens in a tank of water, my beloved, it can only be wrought by the inworking of the mighty power of God’s Word and God’s Spirit! It is a spiritual work, not a sacramental one. Another aspect of spiritual baptism is found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians wherein he says, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body…and have been all made to drink of that one Spirit" (I Cor. 12:13). Is "the Spirit" baptizing us into the "body" of Christ the same as "the preacher" baptizing us into "water"? I think not! This baptism places us in our position and function in the body of Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can do this! Therefore Paul says later to the Galatians, "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ HAVE PUT ON CHRIST" (Gal. 3:27). Has everyone who has been "baptized into water" put on Christ? Absolutely not! In fact, the admonition to "put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ" is made to believers — not to sinners just coming to be saved! Truly it is the work of the Spirit and has nothing whatever to do with any kind of water baptism! The Lord’s supper or communion is but an outward symbol or reflected light of that deep spiritual experience whereby we truly eat the flesh (word) of Christ and drink His blood (spirit) in reality. The whole Christian world, including some who profess to be sons of God, continue to walk on in the semi-darkness of the reflected light of the moon, practicing superstitious external rituals which they suppose have some magical, mystical, spiritual power. But those elect saints of the Lord who become the holy city of God LIVE AND WALK IN THE REALM ABOVE ALL TYPES AND SHADOWS AND SYMBOLS, ABOVE ALL THE REFLECTED LIGHT AND THE EXTERNAL REALMS, WALKING IN THE UNDIMINISHED GLORY OF THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY AND THE LAMB, WHO ARE THE LIGHT OF IT! That is the mystery. The new Jerusalem has no need for the light of the sun nor the light of the moon, nor yet for the light of the seven-branched candlestick, for this holy city has no Outer Court and no Holy Place! Those holy sons and daughters of God who dwell there have no need for the outward light of the Outer Court, the light of creeds, ceremonies, rituals, sacraments, or any other work of man, for the very presence, mind, life, and nature of God Himself as their very state of being is their illumination! Nor do they need the dim light of the Holy Place, the light of gifts or any other ministry of the "in part" realm. The Holy Place experience in God is entered through the baptism in the Holy Spirit. When we stepped into this Holy Place of the indwelling Spirit the light of His presence released in our lives permeated the whole room! How we thank God for the light produced by the candlestick in the Holy Place, though it is limited in its power and range of illumination, for it is not "the Spirit without measure," as Jesus received, but merely the "firstfruits of the Spirit," that is, the first installment or the down payment. There is more to come! We’re grateful for the "in part" realm, for only by passing through the dim light of the Holy Place can we enter on in to the blazing Shekinah glory of the Holiest of all! This blessed truth that the Holy City has no need of either the light of the Outer Court or the light of the Holy Place is confirmed absolutely in verse five of chapter twenty-two wherein we read, "And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun…" The word "candle" is the Greek word for lamp; tallow and wax candles as we know them were not invented until long after John wrote. With a slight variation it is essentially the same word used in the Revelation for the seven golden candlesticks. Thus, this city has no need of the light of the sun of the Outer Court, nor yet for the light of the candlestick in the Holy Place! The revelation of the Lord in this Holy Place (Pentecostal realm) is always calling us onward. The revelation of the Lord within ourselves will never leave us in the same position where we receive it. This should let us know, that as wonderful and glorious as this Holy Place is, it is not the ultimate in God! He is ever calling us onward towards the Most Holy Place, unto Himself, in that dimension of fullness where it is His glory alone that fills the room. In the Most Holy Place there are no common priests, no in-part ministries of gifts and graces, no distractions of sacrifice slayings, of laver washings, of wick trimming, and making sure there is adequate oil in the lamps — that is, no re-consecrations, re-fillings, or revivings. There is only the High Priest ministry, and the constant, unchanging, undiminished, brilliantly shining glory of His all-consuming presence and power! In the Most Holy Place there is no more labor of baking and replenishing the bread on the table. There is now the eternal, incorruptible manna within the ark of the covenant, that is, eternal, incorruptible life! In the Most Holy Place there are no more efforts of periods of burning incense — times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord — seasons of God’s movings as we labor in the travail of prayers and intercessions and the ministry of praise and worship. There is only the abiding law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the state of being His nature by which we are all that He is! The Holy Place of Moses’ tabernacle was oblong in shape, being twenty cubits in length, ten cubits in width, and ten in height. The Holy of holies, on the other hand, was ten cubits in length, width, and height, or a perfect cube. The only other cube described in the scriptures is the holy city, New Jerusalem! The perfect cube of the Holy of holies now finds its ultimate fulfillment in the city of God! "And the city lieth foursquare…the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal" (Rev. 21:16). Now a cube is the most perfect figure, being equal on every side — finite perfection. It is what you call finality, it is the most comprehensive, and it holds the most — nothing contains as much as a cube — and therefore it is given here as the expression of perfection and fullness. It is divinely inwrought perfection and fullness — the very glory of God — and therefore it is spoken of as a cube. The message is clear — one can never know the glory, illumination, and power of this city in the Outer Court of popular religion, nor yet in the Holy Place of a Pentecostal economy. Only those who by faith enter in beyond the veil into the glorious and eternal reality of the "Most Holy Place" can ever begin to touch and know the surpassing glory, perfection, and fullness, of this realm of God’s life! Turn to see the fading of the old orders, and your back is to the dawning of the new. Turn to see that new light arising, and your back is to the diminishing former lights. Pass through, experience these former realms we must, but when the high priest went beyond the veil into the Holiest of all his back was to the vanishing glories of both the Holy Place and the Outer Court. If he was only one step in to the Holiest, he was every step out of the Outer Court and the Holy Place. O, to behold Him, and with a single eye to follow on, for "the path of the just is as a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (Prov. 4:18).
THE NATIONS SHALL WALK IN THE LIGHT OF IT "And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it…and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it" (Rev. 21:24,26). Nothing is more evident in the word of God than the fact that God has a great and wonderful plan which He is working out among the nations of earth. Many saints recognize that God has a predestined purpose for each of His called and chosen elect, an appointed end for the multitude of Israel nations, a glorious purpose for the church, the bride of Christ, and a foreordained plan for the manifest sons of God. We must also understand that the Lord has a determined plan and purpose for ALL NATIONS of mankind! God is actively dealing with NATIONS! Many wonderful prophecies reveal God’s ultimate purpose for the nations of earth, when "ALL the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and ALL KINDREDS OF THE NATIONS shall worship before Thee, for the kingdom is the Lord’s and HE is the governor among the nations. Yea, ALL KINGS shall fall down before Him: ALL NATIONS SHALL SERVE HIM" (Ps. 22:27-28; 72:11). It is obvious that all nations do not today serve the Lord, neither do all kings (rulers) fall down before Him. China does not serve the Lord, neither do its rulers acknowledge Him. Turkey does not serve the Lord. Egypt does not serve the Lord. Vast numbers of nations in Europe, Africa, Asia, and even in the Americas do not today serve the Lord, and few of their rulers fall down before Him. But the day is surely coming when all nations shall be joined to the Lord and fulfill their obligations to Him as their Maker and Redeemer! From the first dawn of human history God has had the formation, development, and destiny of nations in mind and purpose. The present nations of earth had their origins in the early days following the Great Flood. In Genesis chapter ten is found a most remarkable and comprehensive list of the descendants of Noah who became the heads of the families and tribes which subsequently developed into nations. Even so-called higher critics have often admitted that the tenth chapter of Genesis is a remarkably accurate historical document. There is no comparable catalog of ancient nations available from any other source. It is unparalleled in its antiquity and comprehensiveness. You would do well to read the entire chapter. The descendants of Noah migrated over the whole face of the earth, which possibly was one great land mass before the separation of the continents, forming tribe after tribe, city after city, and nation after nation. Let all men know that it is the Almighty God who is the designer and architect of all the nations in the world! The time periods and localities in which nations flourish have all been pre-arranged by the will of Him who "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Eph. 1:11). The truth of this cannot be made any plainer than it is by Moses when he declares, "When the most High divided the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel" (Deut. 32:8). Paul refers to this very passage when he says, "And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of all the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord" (Acts 17:26-27). How plain it is that it was GOD who, from that long-ago beginning, set the bounds of habitation or the national boundaries of all nations. These boundaries were established in relation to the vast multitude of Israel peoples and with a view to their being able, when the time is ripe, to seek after the Lord. Yes, God set the bounds of habitation for all nations and planted Israel of old at the crossroads, to the end that ALL NATIONS should seek after the Lord. Out of Israel came the Christ; out of Christ has come the church, the bride of the Lamb (Eph. 5:21-33; Rev. 19:7-8); out of the church comes the manchild, the overcoming sons of God destined to reign with Christ and deliver the whole creation that it might be fulfilled which God promised father Abraham: "And in thy seed shall ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED" (Gen. 22:18). ALL NATIONS shall be blessed! What a prospect! From the very beginning God not only designed the nations of men that dwell upon the earth; He also planned and purposed to bless them — each and every one of them! To "bless" means to put something there that wasn’t there before — resulting in a sacred usage. This signifies not merely the blessing of Israel, or the church, nor the blessing of the saints of God within the nations; it is THE NATIONS THEMSELVES that must come under the gracious hand of God in blessing and quickening. Oh, the wonder of it! The sweet singer of Israel sang of this blessed hope in the spirit of prophecy: "God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause His face to shine upon us; that Thy way may be known upon earth, Thy saving health among ALL NATIONS. Let the people praise Thee, O God; let ALL the people praise Thee! O let THE NATIONS be glad and sing for joy: for Thou shalt JUDGE THE PEOPLE RIGHTEOUSLY, and GOVERN THE NATIONS UPON EARTH" (Ps. 67:1-4). What a word! Many precious "fragments" reveal God’s ultimate purpose for mankind, as when the heavenly Father addresses His Son and His sons, saying, "Ask of me, and I WILL GIVE THEE THE NATIONS FOR THINE INHERITANCE, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession" (Ps. 2:8). Surely the will and plan of God are revealed in this most gracious request, and certainly this was the purpose for which Jesus was sent and came. "The Father sent His Son to be the Saviour of THE WORLD" (I Jn. 4:14). With this divine plan in view, well may David triumphantly sing, "ALL NATIONS shall call Him blessed…and blessed be His glorious name for ever, and let THE WHOLE EARTH be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen" (Ps. 72:17-19). We now come to the most important part of this truth. The ways of the kingdom of God are not at all like the ways of the church. The ministry of sonship is not in any way like the church age ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Sonship and the Holy City are the new administration for the new age when the elect of the Lord have reached their perfection and fullness in Christ. The order of the new age will be altogether different from the order of the passing age, just as the order of the church age has been altogether different from the order of the age of the law which it eclipsed. George Hawtin graphically articulated this wonderful truth when he wrote in one of his papers, The Page, "Some years ago it was revealed to me that the evangelization of the nations during the coming age would be accomplished in exactly the opposite way to the method used in this age. In the church age the commission has been, ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.’ In the next age entire nations will come to Jerusalem and to Zion to seek and find the Lord. What could be more certain than the words spoken by Micah the prophet when he said, ‘But in the last days it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains (Zion) and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow into it and many nations shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord (Zion)…and (there) He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem’ (Mic. 4:1-2)." During this church age, by the ministries of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers the Lord has sent His messengers out and sought the people. The Lord has sought the people in this way because the members of His body must be gathered out of the world and out of the nations. But in the new age, when the kingdom of God comes upon the nations, He will pour upon them the spirit of grace and supplication and the billions of earth will come, as families, and tribes, and nations, to seek the wisdom, goodness, salvation, deliverance, life, and glory revealed in His holy city people — the bride of Christ and the sons of God. What an indescribable wonder! You see, when the Lord removes the veil, the covering that has been cast over the minds of all people (Isa. 25:7), then all men will see in a clear light and will come to God’s holy nation to seek His face and His ways. Centuries ago the prophet Isaiah wrote with great clarity of this same wonder, saying, "Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations which knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He hath glorified thee" (Isa. 55:5-6). This is a glorious promise revealing that entire nations will run to seek the Lord, because He has glorified His sons upon the spiritual and heavenly mount Zion! What a marvel that will be when the "Great Commission" of the church age has fully come to an end! No longer will the Lord say, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel." It is an historical fact that each of the first apostles to whom that word was spoken, left Judea and carried the word of Christ to different parts of the world. According to histories I have read Peter went to Babylon, Thomas to India, James to Spain, Andrew to Scythia, John to Asia, Philip to France, Thaddeus and Bartholomew to Armenia and Persia, Matthew to Ethiopia and Parthia and Macedonia, James the less to Syria, Jude to Armenia, Syria, and northern Persia, and Simon the Zealot to Armenia. The dispensing of the Word in Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome by Paul is a well-documented fact and there is some evidence that he went as far as Britain in his spreading of the gospel. Thus, the Great Commission was fulfilled in the days of the early church and continued to be carried out to farther frontiers throughout the age of the formation of the body of Christ. That was a wise and wonderful plan for this age when God was "calling out a people" from among the nations for His name. Those who were sent were never able to reach all the people, and it was only "whosoever believeth" that responded to their word. That is how Christ built His church! No one could improve on that method for doing the job the Lord required for that age! But now in this new day of the Lord the residue of men, earth’s teeming masses, and all the nations of the world are being called upon to COME TO THE LORD. Then, God spoke to His disciples, "Go ye!" Now, the Lord will speak to the nations, "Come ye!" Billions of the world’s darkened, dejected, deceived, weary, and oppressed souls shall come streaming up to the city of God seeking an entrance into the kingdom of the Lord. The elect of the Lord are the Light that shall shine upon them (Isa. 60:1-22; Rev. 21:24) and the voice that shall bid them come. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come!" (Rev. 22:17). We are also the "gates" through which the multitudes of earth’s needy shall enter the new Jerusalem city of God (Rev. 21:25). It is significant to note that nowhere in the description of New Jerusalem is anyone seen going out of the city to minister to the nations or anyone else. Nowhere! Rather, the testimony of the Spirit is this: "And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all…and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth…and the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come…let him take of the water of life freely." There can be no doubt that the New Jerusalem Order reveals to us the new and different order of the kingdom of God for the coming age, and not the order for this age of the Great Commission. That glorious order shall so overshadow and eclipse all previous spiritual visitations, outpourings, missionary efforts, evangelistic crusades, healing and miracle campaigns, and revivals of every sort, that none of our old church age terminology will be adequate to describe it. God will indeed need to give us a new vocabulary! In this new age of the kingdom all our former ideas, opinions, and methods of evangelism will have to be discarded. The emphasis of the past age has been upon GO and DO. Constantly we are going places and doing things for God! But, thank God, the order is changing! God is doing a new thing! He is establishing a new order in the earth! And we will have to change with God! And we will change, because we will be changed! All the old religious methods of the past age are passing away! The time of raising money and sending missionaries and establishing churches is even now entering its twilight time. I do not say that it has ended; it is a good plan as long as God is calling out a people for His name. But the new age demands an intensified program of God to harvest all the nations into the kingdom of God! And even now He is calling some aside to wait in holy submission and expectation before Him, to be thoroughly processed, purged, prepared, and strengthened for that new and glorious unveiling of Himself. Only a while back the Lord spoke to me in a dream and told me clearly and powerfully that there will be a sudden, sovereign, world-wide, universal outpouring of His Spirit, the spirit of grace, supplication, and revelation as the veil is washed away off the minds and hearts of literally billions of people. As it were overnight they will behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! The masses will awaken as from a dream and the Lord Himself shall appear to them in His glory. In that instant they will know the truth and abandon all their false philosophies and religious delusions. THEN, the Lord spoke to me, the sons of God will be manifested and these peoples will flow to them to be taught and instructed, and the sons of God will establish the new order, life, and power of the kingdom among the people of the whole earth. Until the Lord spoke this word to me I had supposed it would be the other way around, that the sons would go forth in incorruptible life and power throughout the earth and then there would be a mighty moving of the Spirit of God upon all people. But the Lord said, "No — I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and then the sons will be manifested to establish the kingdom in their midst." We may think we have witnessed mighty manifestations of God’s power and glory in the past, but we haven’t seen anything yet! Even with the light of divine revelation it is difficult to imagine the wonderful sight of entire nations coming to the Lord! Think of what it will be like! One day a nation is communist, filled with people spouting by rote the godless line of Lenin or Mao. The lives of the people are tightly controlled by that totalitarian system, with all its oppression and tyranny. But then, the Lord God Almighty speaks a word from His throne in the heavens of His Spirit and there is released a mighty flood, a deluge of the Spirit of the Lord over that nation; the glory of the Lord appears to every man in power as He did to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, and the whole nation is set free by the power of God. All the people of that nation turn to the Lord to love, worship, and serve Him. Then the indestructible, incorruptible sons of God will appear in the earth and the people will seek God in the person of His sons, and there will be a dispensation of life, light, and power unto them. In the sons of God they will see and learn and know the ways of the Lord, the will of the Lord, and all aspects of their national life will become transformed by the wisdom and nature of God. With one mighty sweep of His Spirit, God has changed a communist nation into a nation that loves and serves the true and living God! The kingdom of God has then come to that people and nation! Throughout church history the Lord has given us little "previews" of just how such a wonderful work can be accomplished. I know of several, but will share this one. I do not have the name of the person who first reported this incident, but it was shared by responsible brethren, therefore I pass it on to my readers. In 1983, a remarkable incident took place in a North African village located some 125 miles east of the city of Algiers. On one unforgettable night — with no prior warning and for no immediately discernible reason — God sovereignly descended upon this township in a divine visitation. Moving from house to house, and communicating through a combination of dreams, visions, and angelic visitations, He did not rest until every member of this Muslim community was properly introduced to Jesus. Come daybreak, nearly every villager had a story to tell! As the Holy Spirit lingered and these simple citizens managed to piece together the magnitude of what had happened to them, a sense of spiritual awe settled over the entire village. In the weeks that followed, their conclusion led to a dramatic wholesale conversion of some 400 to 450 Muslim villagers. There were only about 25 believers in the whole nation before this incident. In the area thousands more Muslims have now been converted to faith in Christ, and nearly all reported some type of supernatural intervention! We have come to a period of history, and to a condition, for which there are no precedents. There are no instructions left for guidance in the details of the restoration of all things, beginning with the deliverance of all the Lord’s own people from the tyranny and folly of religious Babylon, followed by the deliverance of the nations from every kind of sin and delusion and their entrance into the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit has given no exact direction concerning the manner in which His holy priesthood for the nations is to minister or its work be effected. We have, in the scriptures, abundant instructions for the "in part" realm of church age ministry. It is not difficult to learn how to function in the body of Christ as an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher, deacon, bishop, elder, or to move in the supernatural gifts of the Spirit. But I defy any teacher or theologian to find anything that will give direct help, even in the words of Jesus Himself, concerning how to reign as a King-Priest over the nations! He left that for the Holy Spirit to teach to the elect company of overcomers who should be the heirs of the kingdom of God. We have come to that hour. Ah, we can only learn these sacred and secret things by being TAUGHT OF HIM! "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you into all truth…and He will SHOW YOU THINGS TO COME" (Jn. 16:12-13). We think we have seen some wonderful moves of God, and we have, but we haven’t even scratched the surface, we haven’t seen anything yet that faintly resembles the glorious things God will do in the days that lie before us. With all its multiplied missionary programs and evangelistic efforts the church has not yet even started on world evangelism. God is laying a groundwork and teaching, processing, qualifying, equipping, and empowering His people for this coming invasion of all the world. He must do something unprecedented for us first, so that we will be ready. Today if a country refuses to accept missionaries, such as all the communist and Muslim nations, we simply can’t send any. These countries are closed. So we need a power and a life greater than any of us have seen or experienced before in order to walk in those lands without being either promptly expelled or martyred. Indestructible, incorruptible, glorified bodies would certainly be the answer! And that’s what manifest sonship is all about, as Paul so clearly said, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption (placement as mature, fully empowered sons), to wit, THE REDEMPTION OF OUR BODY" (Rom. 8:18-23). Obviously, we don’t have all that we need for this great work, but God is quickening us for it. He is stripping away our dependence upon money, methods, materials, and all the conventional ways of the old church order and the traditions of religious Babylon, drawing us to move out of that and into HIS REALM. The realm of God is the realm of spirit and of life. It is the realm of being. God is teaching us the ways of sonship to God. What wonders shall be wrought when our Father has glorified His sons with the glory of Christ! All the nations of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, bowing before the feet of this glorious Christ, confessing Him as their Saviour, Redeemer, Lord, and King, to worship Him in spirit and in truth. And since it is nations, and not individuals, that shall come to the Lord, it is obvious that they shall not come to a geographical location. There will be no literal, physical throne nor any literal, earthly city. The government of God is a glorified people reigning in the Spirit and by the Spirit from heavenly places in Christ Jesus! But they shall COME to the mountain of the Lord’s power, to the beautiful and spiritual temple of living stones, to a kingdom of priests and an holy nation, glorified in the midst of the earth. It is an absurd impossibility to imagine whole nations coming to a literal mount Zion, or to great crusades in stadiums or buildings, which are all so limited. Such carnal thinking is a remnant from the old age now passing, and has no place in the new order of the kingdom of God upon the nations. God will not repeat the limited methods of the past, for they cannot prevail to do the work that must be done in this new Day. The world-wide outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the manifestation of the sons of God is the next significant event on the agenda of God’s kingdom program. What a marvelous plan, revealed and confirmed now by the Spirit of the living God within our hearts! We know God’s purpose because He has called us and chosen us to be a vital part in the redemption and restoration of all things. And we will be there — whether by transformation while we yet stand upon our two feet, or whether by resurrection — we wait in holy expectation! NOTHING THAT DEFILES SHALL ENTER "And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life" (Rev. 21:27). That scripture passage need not scare us. It’s not a message of fear and condemnation as the church systems often teach! It signifies our calling as overcomers — called to obtain the victory over all the works of the flesh, the world, and the devil. It is my conviction that the reference is not to those hungry, thirsty, and needy souls who come to the city to enter in through its gates in order to be blessed, delivered, and to drink of its living waters of salvation. Rather, it speaks to those who are called, chosen, and apprehended to be a part of this city and its holiness and its glory. The inwrought victories of the overcomer is what qualifies one to be a part of this glorious city of gold! Neither is John trying to tell us in this passage that if we haven’t overcome everything we will miss heaven and wind up in hell. That interpretation is just another example of the shallow thinking and mis-guided understanding of religious minds! The Holy Spirit is pointing out to every child of God that we can reveal the nature, glory, and majesty of our God in the fullest measure only when we have completely put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man which is created in righteousness and true holiness. The nations of them that are saved walk in the light of the city, signifying that they are not the city, but they are healed, saved, and enlightened by it. Multitudes of believers, because they have no vision to overcome all things or to grow up unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, settle for a lesser calling in God. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life, that is, those in whose lives the nature of the Lamb has been inscribed by the power of His indwelling life — these are truly they who radiate the glory of the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb! No one whose nature has not been thoroughly changed shall be a part of this city. Since this city is the body of Christ in its perfection and fullness, only those who have been redeemed by God, and are walking in the Spirit of God until He has transformed completely their nature, so that they have come to perfect purity, perfect knowledge, perfect wisdom, perfect love, and perfect power, shall arrive at this STATE OF PERFECTON which IS the holy city! This is the wonderful plan that God has devised whereby nothing that defiles can enter into this city. For all who have come to this state have arrived at perfection and there will be no sin, sickness, or death left within them. Aren’t you glad! My heart has been greatly stirred and fortified by these words from one of brother Bob Torango’s writings. "This Day is going to challenge us like no other word from God ever has. Put your seat belts on, put all loose objects under the seat in front of you, and get ready for the ride of your life! We are leaving the earth realm, and we are soaring into the heavens of God. It is here that angels fear to tread. No flesh can survive in this place, nothing that loves a lie, nothing that hurts or destroys, nothing that seeks its own glory, nothing that is prideful or arrogant, nothing that is despiteful or jealous, nothing that draws its existence from darkness or death can abide here. This is reserved territory, by invitation only, kept back from former ages until now, set aside for a people that God has ordained from the foundation of the world. It is for the dead in Christ, those that have been sown in weakness, sown in death, that have borne the image of the earthly, these are the same ones that know the plan, that whatsoever is sown in death, will be quickened by life, that life comes from death, that out of weakness comes strength…our loss is His gain, our death is His life, our surrender is His victory!" We cannot be too emphatic now in saying that the new Jerusalem is the HOLY CITY. There is a lot of uncleanness in religious circles, not the uncleanness of drunkenness, or nicotine, or adultery, but the uncleanness of jealousy, criticism, pride, self-exaltation, worry, fear, and unrighteous judgment. No wonder the prophet said, "The sinners in Zion are afraid" (Isa. 33:14). Not the sinners in China, not the sinners in the night clubs, not the sinners in the prisons, but the sinners in Zion! And then the prophet adds, "…fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites." Not the hypocrites in politics, not the hypocrites in business, not the hypocrites in religious Babylon, but the hypocrites in Zion! What is a hypocrite? A play-actor, a pretender, a faker — playing at spirituality, acting as though he were something that he is not, pretending that he is everything in God’s sight, committed completely unto God, spirit, soul, and body, the select of the elect, ready for entrance into the kingdom and the city — but playing at it. Then, in the same passage, the prophet asks the burning question, "Who among us (in Zion) shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, that speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions…that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down: not one of the stakes thereof shall be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams…for the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king: He will save us" J. PRESTON EBY
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