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

"And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Rev. 22:1).

"There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High" (Ps. 46:4).

"If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on (Greek: into) me, as the scripture hath said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water…this spake He of the Spirit which they that believe on (into) Him should receive" (Jn. 7:37-38).

"He brought me again unto the door of the house (temple); and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the

house eastward…and it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth…whithersoever the river shall come, shall live…" (Eze. 47:1,9).

THERE IS A RIVER! Jesus explained that this river comes out of the innermost being of those who have believed into Him. In Revelation it comes out of the throne. In Ezekiel it comes out of the temple. There is His Spirit within us that is sufficient. There is a fountain, there is a river of life within each saint of God. You don’t have to be dry, parched, and thirsty or have any lack. I want to tell you today what a powerful thing you have within you in this river!

The dispensationalist view tells us that this temple Ezekiel saw is a "Millennial Temple" that will be built over in the land of Israel during the thousand year reign of Christ. I do not hold that view. It is my conviction that under the new covenant God has only one temple, a spiritual temple, and that the temple Ezekiel saw is the same temple the New Testament speaks of when it says, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God (the abomination of desolation), him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple YE ARE" (I Cor. 3:16-17). "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you…" (I Cor. 6:19). "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I WILL DWELL IN THEM, AND WALK IN THEM…" (II Cor. 6:16). "Ye are built upon the foundation…Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord…habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2:20-22). "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God" (Rev. 3:12).

In the New Testament the Greek word for temple is naos meaning an "inner sanctuary," that is, the most holy place of the temple. God has never been too excited about temples made with hands. God has always been concerned with the temple of living stones, for He promised that under His new covenant, "I will dwell in them." In view of the fact that you are the temple I would remind you of the greatness of the river that flows out from within you! Oh, yes, there is a river in the temple! We need to know what it is, why it is, how it got there, and what its potential is. And when you understand the purpose behind the powerful truth that there is a river in the temple, you will comprehend as never before the deep mystery of our sonship to God.

The Holy Spirit of Life was shown to the prophet Ezekiel as a small stream issuing out of the temple of God, from under the threshold, which periodically increased until it became a mighty river. In this vision the prophet was conducted along the river by the messenger of the Lord — in the form of a man. This man held a measuring line in his hand, and with it he measured the greatness of the river. In another vision Ezekiel said, "In the five and twentieth year of our captivity…in the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was… a city…and he brought me thither, and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed…" In the opening chapter of the book of Ezekiel, in his first vision, Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord and it also had the appearance of a man (Eze. 1:1-5). When John the Revelator in vision beheld the glorified Lord he said that His feet looked like burnished brass. John saw a man of brass! Brass throughout scripture is a symbol of judgment. He saw the Judge who stood in the midst of the seven churches! So who is the man of brass — the judge? Christ! Who is the man of brass Ezekiel met? The same one he met in chapter one as the glory of God — Christ! Everything in the whole prophecy of Ezekiel is governed and measured according to the measure of the man that is in the throne! He is the governor. He is the one who measures the temple, the churches, the city (Rev. 22:15-17), and the river! There can be no river out of the sanctuary until there is a man in the throne. Nothing gets governed until HE governs it. Nothing gets measured to determine its spiritual stature until HE measures it. Everything must measure up to the "measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Everything in these scenes is governed and measured by the man in the throne — the glorified Christ!

There is a river flowing out of the sanctuary. The source of the river is the Man in the sanctuary. One of the New Testament writers calls Him "the hidden man of the heart." The writer to the Hebrews tells us that when this Man ministers in the ability of His priesthood He ministers after the power of an endless life. The Greek word indicates that this is the power of an indissoluble, indestructible, and inexhaustible life. Who is the source of the river that’s in you? The Man in the sanctuary! Know you not that YOU are the temple, the sanctuary of the living God? This is the Man within you who sits far above all that assails you or troubles you! The source of the river that’s in you is the Man in the sanctuary and that source is endless, inexhaustible, indestructible, and undefeatable! In every situation and circumstance He’s always bubbling up. He’s always flowing, invigorating, cleansing. He’s always sufficient. You don’t have to be upset, confused, fearful, tormented, oppressed, hindered, bound, overcome by anything within or without. The waters that flow out of the sanctuary of your spirit are living, life-giving waters! They are sent out to cleanse from all sin and conquer all death and cause the tree of life to grow up out of your reality. There is only one thing that can minister to lack, carnality, disease, and death — that’s the river! Thank God that in the midst of my fear and weakness and need there is a river in the midst of me — there is a river in the temple, which makes glad the city of our God.

In what direction do the waters flow? They flow out of your belly, out of the temple, out of the throne. But which direction do they flow? Eastward. The east is the land of the rising sun. It bespeaks of a new day. God has a new day for everybody and everything. No matter what you have been through, or are passing through at this very moment, my beloved, there is a new day, a new beginning, because God makes all things new! When the river began to flow, the Man began to measure. How far did he measure? How many cubits? A thousand (Eze. 47:2-6). One thousand is the symbol for the day of the Lord. "But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (II Pet. 3:8). Day to day the Man measured, a thousand cubits to a thousand cubits. When you get to the final day of His measuring THERE ARE WATERS TO SWIM IN, WATERS THAT CANNOT BE CROSSED OVER! That is a dimension in God, a dimension in life of super abundance, of all sufficiency, so deep and so wide you cannot fathom it, an unlimited and inexhaustible supply. Unto the infinite! The unsearchable riches! The unspeakable gift! This is your new day.

Christ is a priest who finished the work and sat down in the throne. He once and for all gained the victory and sat down in the throne. Then He released the outflow of His triumph into all your limitation and sin and trouble and death! Now there’s a river in the temple. And the source of the river is the Man in the throne. How deep is the river? Well, its source is infinite, unfathomable, and He wants you to get past the ankle stage, the knee stage, and the loin stage. When the water reaches the ankles we find refreshment in the spirit. When the water reaches the knees we bow in reverence and submission to God. And you will discover, precious friend of mine, that the deeper the water becomes, the less control you have. If you don’t believe that, go wade out into the Mississippi or the Nile or the Euphrates. When the water reaches the loins we begin to reproduce life — divine life out of the new creation man within us. It is significant to note that these three areas — the ankles, the knees, and the loins — are the three areas to which the garments of the high priest reached. When he was fully dressed it represented the fullness of God invested in man.

There is a progressive unfoldment of the fullness of the Spirit of Life — from the ankles to the knees to the loins to total inundation and overflowing! "But," you say, "how can I attain to something so high and so deep?" Ah, when Ezekiel was shown the vision he said of the Man who conducted him, "And he brought me…" And when the water began to flow he said, "And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters…" (Eze. 47:3). As the waters became deeper and deeper, in each case the prophet repeated the same words, "And he brought me through the waters." How did you or I get to where we are in God today? How did we get this understanding of God’s great plan and purpose, and His call to sonship and the kingdom? How have we overcome so many things that seemed insurmountable in our lives? HE BROUGHT ME! Ah, it wasn’t your doing or my doing. IT IS THE LORD!

But note — rivers do not flow in a straight line, they constantly change directions and are full of bends. The Spirit of God does not lead us or carry us in a straight line; His anointings, dealings, unveilings, and His ministries in and through us change directions from time to time. Oh, how many turns we have been through in our lives! The ministry of yesterday is not the ministry of today. The word for yesterday is not the word for today. The way God moved in the past is not how He is moving now, either in general, or in our individual lives. The experiences of former times carried us in one direction, and today we walk a different path. God is not doing today the same thing He was doing in the centuries, decades, years, or even months in the past. One lesson we have learned quite well — we must turn when the river turns! And here is blessed hope and consolation: A river is victoriously persistent, overcoming all barriers. For a while it goes steadily on its course, but then comes to an obstacle and for a while it is blocked, yet in due time it makes a pathway either around or through the obstacle. The river of God overcomes all obstacles! Always! Never focus your eyes, beloved, on the obstacle or the difficulty. The obstacle will be a matter of total indifference and irrelevancy to the river that will flow steadily through you — keep your eyes upon the source, and not the obstacle!

In the new Jerusalem city of God there is the florescent river of life. Along this river grows the tree of life. The tree of life in Eden, on the one hand, signifies the partaking of divine life by man, the dispensing of God into man. The river of life, on the other hand, signifies the outflowing of life from man who has received life, the pouring forth of life out of the kingdom of heaven unto the barrenness of the earth realm. True, the river will also first do its work in us before it flows onward out from us. All life was to be found in Eden, just as it is in the new Jerusalem — the kingdom of heaven on earth. Eden was constituted debtor to the whole earth to send forth the life-giving streams. To the overcomer is given to enter into the paradise of God and take of the tree of life; but the river of life out of Eden is the profound expression of God’s purpose to not only enter into the lives of His elect, transforming them into the tree of life kind of people, but to also cause them to become a RIVER OF LIFE COMPANY, a people out of whom the life would flow! "Out of your innermost being shall flow rivers of living water." Ah, beloved, God is bringing forth His elect who live by the tree of life but shall also be a river of life, for the spirit of life within them is an ever-flowing wellspring of life and glory! Wherever God flows out by His Spirit, there He is found as life, victory, and eternal reality!

The manifestation of the sons of God shall utterly eclipse anything we have ever read in the Bible or in church history! The River of Life has been flowing in the city of God, for truly "there is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of our God." The river has sprung up within those elect saints who as a firstfruit have experienced within themselves the powers of the kingdom of heaven in the realms of the Spirit. It is accomplishing its mighty work within them, and today the city of God is being made glad! But soon it shall empty into the vast oceans of humanity, bringing life and blessing to a dry and parched wilderness where no water is. "Behold, I shall do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert" (Isa. 43:19). Therefore, let us even now, as the Holy Spirit makes this word real in our hearts, begin to rejoice in the NEW DAY that the Lord is making, as the first rays of hope arise on the eastern horizon; let us arise to plant our feet on the anointed mount and to drink in the intoxicating freshness of the morn!

Hear me now and believe me later — if you cannot believe me now — soon there will come the manifestation of the sons of God, for which all creation has groaned for long millenniums and ages. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed from the living, completed temple of His body. His glory shall flow out and fill the earth. His power shall shake the nations and all nations shall come and worship before Him. The harvest of this age shall be gathered. Everything shall live whithersoever the River cometh. The Spirit of God, the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, has sovereignly witnessed to many thousands of saints around the world in this hour that a NEW DAY is upon the horizon. This holy vision is not the result of the preaching of any man, nor is it a movement spearheaded or organized by any man or group of men; it has come by the sovereign moving of the Holy Spirit. The next great move of God is even now at hand! There will not be another revival. There will not be another visitation. It is not the hour for the restoration of the New Testament Church. All that has already been accomplished! A new day dawns. God is marching on. He shall do an entirely new thing in the earth. And it is the only hope for the world! A new age lies directly before us. The manifestation of God’s sons is nigh at hand. That has never happened before! Revivals, stirrings, visitations, reformations, movings of God have happened again and again through the centuries. But now a new and unspeakably wonderful stage of the unfolding kingdom of God is upon us! In this New Day the ministry of the fullness of the Spirit of God shall be released through many sons in the power of reconciliation, blessing, and transformation unto all the ends of the earth! It shall bring a deliverance and change beyond any the world has ever witnessed.

Without doubt the apostle Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, perceived the all-surpassing wonder of this great truth when he penned these words to the Ephesian believers: "Now He that ascended, what is it but He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, THAT HE MIGHT FILL ALL THINGS" (Eph. 4:9-10). We know that He is "high and lifted up," and that even the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. He is above all, and yet ever appearing to us right where we are and drawing us upward into Himself. It must also be remembered that this highly exalted One also descended into the lower parts of the earth, and then ascended up far above all heavens, THAT HIS LIFE MIGHT FILL ALL THINGS. His descent into "the lower parts of the earth" does not suggest that He lived in the valleys and plains, nor does it speak of Him going to some dark realm of "hell" somewhere down in the heart of the earth, as many teach. Oh, that men would see that first and foremost He descended into the world of "our earth," that is, into that earth which we are, for "dust thou art" the scripture declares and we are assured that the first man Adam is of the earth, earthy, and we have all borne the image of the earthy. Ah, yes, He descended into the lowest realms of the human condition, made partaker of flesh and blood, taking upon Him not the nature of angels, but the nature of man, being made in the likeness of sinful flesh, made of no reputation, compassed with infirmity, tempted in all points like as we are, and suffering death, even the death of the cross. Into all that He descended!

Now He has ascended up far above all heavens THAT HE MIGHT FILL ALL THINGS. Filling the heavens only with His glory is not filling all things. He has purposed to fill the lowest regions with His glory as well! Sweeter than the dews of Hermon descending upon the mountains of Zion and more blessed than good news from a far country is the wonderful revelation with which He now fills our enlightened hearts, showing that as flowing water always finds the lowest level, so the Christ BECOMES THE RIVER OF LIFE FOR THE LOWEST HELL! He both descended and ascended that He might fill all things in the heights and all things in the depths with Himself! If we would be that channel, that river of life people through whom He must flow, then we, too, must be willing to flow even unto the lowest parts of the earth and unto the lowest hell.

I must confess that I am deeply grieved in my spirit when I meet these would-be sons of God who look with disdain upon those who still have a passion for souls and desire to see men delivered from the power of sin, sickness, darkness, and death. I am aware that the hour has not arrived when God shall deal with the nations, to bring forth His salvation in them, but it is my deepest conviction that one of the sure marks of sonship is the spirit of reconciliation. Why exult in our great hope of what God shall do in the age and the ages to come if the spirit of that hope is not alive in our hearts? It is not the doctrine of reconciliation that shall transform the world, but the ministry of reconciliation. The ministry of reconciliation springs and emanates from the spirit of reconciliation. I mean what I have said, that if ever I am permitted in the good grace of God, there is not a hell in the universe to which I would not ask to be sent as a revelation of the Christ, that He might fill even that part of the "all things."

There is no hell that could be more vile than the hell I see around me right here in El Paso, Texas, the hell of sin, sorrow, violence, fraud, fear, torment, demon possession, hatred, murder, strife, rebellion, disease, cursing, godlessness, and wretchedness. We have a great deal of hell here in El Paso, and across the river in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and there are no hells that could be worse than Hollywood, San Francisco, Calcutta, Port au Prince,, Mogadishu, Amsterdam, Baghdad, and ten thousand other cities of the nations. "Oh, but there is a hell that is full of murderers!" you say. Well, these cities today are full of murderers. "But there is a hell that is full of fornicators, whoremongers, adulterers, and sex perverts!" you say. Well, these cities today are full of fornicators, whoremongers, adulterers, and sex perverts. "But there is a hell that is full of devils!" you contend. Well, these cities today are full of devils. "But there is another hell that is full of liars, idolaters, thieves, and blasphemers!" you assert. Well, these cities today are filled with liars, idolaters, thieves, and blasphemers. We have lots of hell around us and lots of hell beyond us, but out work is to follow Christ, to be willing, as sons of God, not only to ascend the throne, far above all heavens, but to be poured out as the River of Life INTO THE LOWEST PARTS OF THE EARTH, into all the hells, and clean them out, cleansing, purifying, quickening, and transforming them by His all-conquering life, until there is no hell anywhere. Oh, the wonder of it!

What father would not go to any of the hells of this world, what father would not trudge through the saloons of the Bowery or the sex-filth of Amsterdam in the hope that he might run across his son or his daughter who is captive to the devil there and bring them back to God and to the kingdom? This is the spirit of the Father who "so loved the world" and it is the spirit of the Son who "descended into the lower parts of the earth" and it is the spirit of every son of God, born of the incorruptible seed of a Divine Hope, a Divine Faith, and a Divine Love. Oh, yes! If you would not walk across the street to see some poor soul delivered and converted by the redeeming power of Christ, don’t waste your time relating to me how you have been chosen by God to play a part in the delivering of the whole creation from the bondage of corruption. The Spirit of Reconciliation, the Spirit of Redemption must reign within our hearts. Rivers of Living Water must, even now, pour forth out of our innermost being!

Let it be thoroughly known that God flows as life only through those who walk in conscious union with Him in the spirit. Except the river bed be joined and connected to the source of the water there can be no flowing of the river. Our heavenly Father has never throughout the centuries since Christ died, rose, and ascended left Himself without a channel through which to pour forth His life into humanity. He always has a people of His own, even if it is but one man. The stream of the river of life has in every age poured out through those who were walking in the Spirit. God has always accomplished His work through those who walked in the stream of His purposes. Where the stream flows, there is the work of God! This is clear in the book of Acts, a book which speaks to us of the work of God through the Spirit. What is that kind of work which is the work of God? Is it toiling to build larger and larger church buildings, temples, and cathedrals, bigger Sunday Schools, more attractive programs and outreaches, and more dynamic television ministries? God’s work is always in the stream of LIVING WATER. It has nothing whatever to do with well orchestrated programs, entertainment, or charismatic personalities. Where the stream of Living Water flows, there is the work of God! God works by the flowing of the stream of His DIVINE LIFE. If you consider the whole record of the book of Acts, you will see the picture quite clearly. On the day of Pentecost this stream of divine life flowed out of God Himself in Christ through the channel of those apprehended ones of God with ruling power from the throne. It began to flow in Jerusalem. From there it flowed to Antioch, and then from Antioch it turned to the west; it flowed to Asia, and through Asia it flowed to Macedonia, and onward to Europe. From Europe it flowed to the New World, and it has flowed to practically every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people on the face of the whole earth! What a river!

Nothing can stand before, over, or against one who dwells in union with God the Almighty. Oh, praise God, He is knitting His own called and chosen elect together in Himself in the united life of His Spirit — and not merely a unity of spirit with our brethren in the flesh, but unity with CHRIST and a unity with all who are IN HIM — that great company of Elohim on both this side of the veil and the other — for it is written, "Ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of messengers, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant…" (Heb. 12:22-24).

This mount Zion, this city of the living God, this heavenly Jerusalem, this innumerable company of messengers, this church of the first-born, the spirits of just men made perfect, this Jesus…this is the voice of the many-membered son, the voice that has the sound of many waters, many spirits, merged into ONE GIGANTIC WATERFALL — ONE GREAT RIVER OF LIFE! Take the shoes from off your feet, O saint of God, for the ground on which we stand is holy ground. With heads bowed down and hearts lifted up in worship to Him who sits upon the throne, may the blessed Spirit of Truth make crystal clear to every consecrated heart how the life of God flowing in Christ and the life of Christ flowing through His body is ONE STREAM OF THE WATER OF LIFE. This is the river in Eden, this is the river Ezekiel saw issuing from the temple, this is the river Jesus said would flow from our innermost being, this is the river proceeding out from the throne of God and of the Lamb in the holy city, New Jerusalem — ONE RIVER, the flowing out of God Himself as reality and life from within those consecrated sons of God who are UNITED IN HIM.

It should not be difficult to understand that this great river is the answer to all the world’s need. For this purpose the elect of the Lord have been going through all the dealings and workings of God, particularly during the last several years, in order that Christ might be fully formed in them AS LIFE. The river must first flow into us in all its fullness and power! We learn to know the fullness of His power within by the crucible of experience in order that God may have a people through whom He can manifest Himself WITHOUT INHIBITION, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WITHOUT ANY HINDRANCE TO THE FULL FLOW OF HIMSELF, SO THAT IT WILL BE THE FULL MANIFESTATION OF HIS LOVE, GRACE, POWER, LIFE, SALVATION, AND DELIVERANCE TO ALL HUMANITY. A people no longer conscious of any self-effort or even of God’s works — wonderful though His works are — but conscious of GOD HIMSELF. A RIVER OF LIFE PEOPLE not proclaiming doctrines, creeds, methods, experiences, ordinances, or works of any kind, but just the Lord Himself as Life and Light and Love — GOD manifest in the flesh!

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Rev. 22:1).

"And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne" (Rev. 4:2).

"And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne…stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth" (Rev. 5:6).

The relation of the Lamb to the throne of God in this drama of the Revelation is unique in all the writings of scripture. There is not the slightest intimation elsewhere in the Bible of one who might share the throne with God. Christ Himself is the first to suggest such a conception. The first indication appears early in the visions of John when the Lord Jesus pledges that all His disciples who overcome will share His throne with Him, just as He, having overcome, now sits upon the throne with His Father. As the Lamb He appears in two later episodes "in the midst" of the throne of God. In chapter twelve the "overcomers" are presented under the figure of a "manchild," Christ’s "many brethren," the manifest sons of God, "caught up to God and to His throne" from whence they rule all nations with a rod of iron. Near the close of the drama there are two further references to a shared throne — the "throne of God and of the Lamb." The great wonder is that He sits upon the throne not as Master or Lord, not as Christ or Jesus, not as King or the Son of God, but He sits upon the throne as the Slain Lamb, pouring out the stream of His precious blood, His very own divine life.

The One upon the throne is "the Lamb" — and He rules not by brute force but by the power of His poured out life! John saw by the spirit of revelation that the only way to power is the way of sacrificial love — that is ultimately the only power in the universe. We would have thought that in calling our Lord "the Lamb" this name would have been used only in respect to His humiliation and death in His earthly walk. However in scripture it is most often used in reference to His eternal glory in the heavenlies! Peter saw Him as the Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world. John saw Him as a Lamb that had been slain from the foundation of the world, highly exalted, standing in the midst of the throne, and yet — in some mystical and mysterious way — still slain! This slain Lamb is in the midst of everything: in the midst of the throne, in the midst of the four living creatures, in the midst of the twenty-four elders. The Lamb is peculiarly the One who is in the midst, just as the tree of life was in the midst of the Garden of God. As the Lamb stands in the midst of each one of God’s called and separated elect we are enabled to express and manifest, out of our innermost being, the life, nature, and power of the God of the throne!

The term "Lamb" is used of Christ no less than twenty-eight times in the Revelation, and has two vital characteristics. Christ is the sacrificial Lamb and He is the conquering Lamb. He is seen as slain yet standing in the midst of the throne. He does not reserve the power of His divine life unto Himself, but His life is forever, continuously, being laid down and poured out in a never-ending stream of love and redeeming grace. This principle of the laid down, poured out life, is the reality of all who share His Lamb nature. And throughout the book of Revelation it is the Lamb who overcomes and conquers all! It is the Lamb who gets the victory over the beast, and the false prophet, and the whore, and the dragon, and the kings of the earth; over the world, the flesh, the devil, death, hell, and the grave! So glory to God and the Lamb forevermore! The Lamb shall have the victory! Christ is Lord over them all, for He was slain before they were, and will be reigning when they are gone! The wonder of it all is that THIS LAMB IS WITHIN US! The worthy One is within! Oh, that our eyes might be opened to behold HIM! HE is the most powerful, courageous, majestic, and yet kind, gentle, gracious, loving, and life-giving Lamb of all! In absolute power and strength He reigns with love, mercy, grace, and goodness until every enemy in us is destroyed and the Christ is fully and forever formed in us, formed from the inner to the outer — the image and glory of God in human flesh! And when His work in us is finished and by the spirit we look in God’s great mirror and behold the image of what He has formed us, we see nothing but a slain Lamb! We will rule as He rules, by the cleansing, transforming power of that life-blood that flows from Immanuel’s veins, proceeding out from the throne of God and of the Lamb!

The message is just this. Not brute power, crushing and compelling, even were it the power of God Himself, can bring to pass the purpose of God in redemption for all creation. But the slain Lamb, and all that the Lamb stands for, and all who possess the spirit of the Lamb, are lifting up man from the depths, and bringing to fruition all God’s gracious purpose concerning him. The slain Lamb, by His poured-out life, melts the stubborn hearts of men, and takes them willing captives. The highest power of the Godhead is manifested in the Lamb that was and is slain!

In the light of the truth we are now considering many things take on new meaning. I would draw your reverent attention to the fact that in the Greek text the diminutive form for "lamb" is used, indicating that it is a "little lamb." Truly this is Mary’s Little Lamb! The use of the Greek diminutive arnion, the "little lamb" or the "lambkin," is the only word used in the Revelation for the Lamb. He reigns as a Lambkin-King, and God is raising up in the earth His body, the body of the Lambkin, and it is the work of the Holy Spirit to establish in each member of the body of the Lambkin the nature, and the character, as well as the authority of the Lambkin in the throne. John did not see many lambs in the throne, only one — for the Lambkin is a corporate Lambkin, for every lamb must have both a head and a body, and those who share the Lambkin’s throne are the body of the Lambkin. Can we not see by this that any man or any ministry which does not speak and act out of the nature of the Lamb is not reigning upon God’s throne but on his own little throne. God’s throne is only the throne of God AND THE LAMB! It is the work of the Holy Spirit to so inwork in each son of God all that pertains to the exalted Lambkin, that He might be here in the earth to be to you and me, yea, to be through you and me everything that Jesus is upon the throne!

The first Little Lamb was none other than our Lord Jesus, the Christ. The Spirit of the Lambkin was poured out upon a little company of people on the day of Pentecost, the first of a new spiritual race of men destined to fill the earth to redeem and restore creation into God again. The Lambkin has developed in the saints of God from that small and unimposing beginning to become a vast company of lambs upon the pinnacle of mount Zion! Ray Prinzing expressed the spirit of this beautiful truth when he wrote, "Freely, gladly, joyfully Jesus Christ faced the hour of sacrifice, pouring out His life, that it might be diffused and spread over the whole earth. Now God’s elect are being brought to the same consecration, so that they give everything, for the joy of beholding His life quicken those around them. Willing to spend and be spent, until HIS LOVE THROUGH THEM has conquered all, and creation is restored into perfect harmony with its Creator. He gave His life for the world! Now, this lambkin company, can freely share it with creation."

All who understand the deep things of God know that God doesn’t exist in a physical form, neither does He sit on a physical throne. God is not a limited physical being that can sit on a tangible throne in one restricted locality somewhere out beyond the blue. Many carnal-minded Christians question the idea of the throne of God and the throne of the Lamb not being a literal, physical throne somewhere in God’s great universe. I don’t know how many believers will be true overcomers, but I suppose there could be thousands or even hundreds of thousands or millions. The question follows — will all those thousands or millions of overcomers be able to sit with Jesus in His throne? If so, that is going to have to be a mighty big throne, or else Jesus is going to have a very big lap for all those overcomers to be able to sit with Him on some literal, physical, material throne!

The one great truth that nearly all theologians agree on is that God is omnipresent spirit who not only created, but upholds and fills the whole universe and all things! You cannot put a God who is that great and everywhere present and bottle Him up on a physical throne in one confined spot. Oh, no! He is everywhere and His throne is everywhere, for He rules wherever He is. And since the river of life flows from the throne of God, which is everywhere, it cannot be a literal river. The river of life is the Spirit of God, which is also the blood of the Lamb, and He flows everywhere from the throne of God. The throne bespeaks the REALM OF HIS SUPREME AND UNIVERSAL AUTHORITY AND DOMINION; and our Lord Jesus Christ, the firstborn son of God, has been exalted to the glory of that rulership. The throne of God is a sphere of authority and power, a position of eminence, a condition and state of being. The reign of God’s Christ is the assumption of the almighty power and universal dominion of the Father. It is the dispensing of HIS POSITIVE ENERGY FORCE into His creation in specific ways.

"All authority in heaven and in earth is given unto me," Jesus said. The ascension and enthronement of Jesus was the supreme event of world history. He ascended not to a place, but to a condition, disappearing into the spirit realm that is all about us and was raised up into an office in and by the Spirit. He departed from the arena of humiliation and limitation to enter into His glory. He has invited us to share that throne! He has beckoned all who have received the call to sonship to ascend in Him in the Spirit and by the Spirit to that place where all authority and power are accessed. That is the destiny of every manifest son of God! The authority is present everywhere by His Spirit. It is not a matter of going anywhere! But it must be accessed, appropriated, embodied, and expressed through a people who attain to the FULLNESS OF GOD!

The Greek word thronos means "the place and seat of authority" and refers not to an actual physical seat, but to all executive authority that is committed into the hands of God’s Christ, Head and body. Understand that the throne is here now; here is infinity; here is eternity; here is omnipotence, waiting for you to enter into your heritage in God! Again and again in the Psalms and in the Prophets David and others make this beautiful and significant assertion: "The Lord reigneth…" The Lord reigneth over the heathen, the Lord reigneth over the nations, the Lord reigneth in Zion, the Lord reigneth in the midst of His people! It is always present tense. The Lord reigns now! That doesn’t mean that He has purposed to deal with everything and everybody now, but He has assumed the dominion of the world and all things, and all is safe in His care and all will experience His sovereign purpose in His timing and according to His program and will. And His program and will is just this — HE WILL DEAL WITH EVERYTHING AND EVERYBODY THROUGH HIS MANY SONS BROUGHT TO GLORY!

The Hebrew word translated "reigneth" is malak and means to reign, that is, to ascend the throne, to be inducted into royalty. Thus, when we are called to share His throne, we are called to spiritually ascend the throne and be inducted into the royal authority and power of that throne! Therefore, as the elect hear His voice and hasten to His call, we are ascending to the very throne of Christ in a greater relationship with Him and in Him. We have been inducted into the royalty of the throne of Christ — into His reigning realm! When this reality awakens within us we then understand that through the experiences we encounter in this earthly life, with all their testings, trials, learning, overcoming, and provings, thereby being made strong and wise in Him, we are becoming overcomers and are experientially learning to reign over all things by His royal mind, will, and life! When you are caught up in the spirit you behold a throne in you, and Self will no longer sit upon the throne, but He, the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb will sit upon that throne, and you are raised up and made to sit together with Him upon His throne. His nature and your nature are made one. His will and your will are made one. His mind and your mind are made one, and His authority becomes your authority. As we hear His call to come up into the throne zone, we know that He is rising up to reign in our lives to redeem us fully and completely in spirit, soul, and body. He shall reign more and more in us until His throne is fully established within us, and then we shall be empowered to restore all things unto Him until the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea! That is the mystery.

"For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee" (Isa. 62:5).

The passage above is one of great significance and deep meaning. In the natural this would never take place, sons would not marry their mother, and God would not rejoice over such a union. But we are dealing here with spiritual realities which are not bound by the laws of the natural world. In its spiritual sense, the Lord is speaking to the virgin church, the betrothed wife of the Lamb. This is the "woman" of Revelation 12 which bears a "manchild" who is caught up to the throne of God and rules all nations with a rod of iron. The woman, the corporate bride, is pregnant with the manchild, the manifest sons of God, in the same order of Mary when she was pregnant with the firstborn Son — Jesus. Do you not remember that it was while Mary was betrothed (engaged) to Joseph, before their wedding, before she moved in with Joseph as his wife, and before they came together, that she was found with child by the Holy Ghost? In like manner the virgin church becomes pregnant with the sons of God, being found with child by the Holy Ghost, before the marriage of the Lamb and His wife. Surely we can see that the manchild is birthed in chapter twelve of the Revelation, and the marriage of the Lamb does not take place until chapter nineteen!

So the spirit of revelation is telling us in this passage that even as the virgin church, the company of God’s people who bear the feminine aspects of God’s nature — tenderness, gentleness, caring, nourishment, love, succor, etc. — brings forth the manchild, the manifest sons of God, who bear within themselves the masculine aspects of God’s nature — strength, power, authority, dominion, etc. — and these sons are separated from their virgin mother at their birth to go forth and fulfill their unique destiny, and they are caught up to the rulership of God’s throne, THERE IS A TIME WHEN THE SONS WILL COME BACK TO THE VIRGIN CHURCH AND TOGETHER WITH JESUS THE HEAD OF THIS SONSHIP COMPANY WILL AGAIN BE JOINED IN UNION WITH THE CHURCH — FOR THEY ARE THE BODY OF THE BRIDEGROOM! At the marriage of the Bridegroom to His bride, the company of the sons of God who are one with the Bridegroom in His sonship, are with Him and in Him joined to the church in intimacy of fellowship and vital union. In Christ the sons marry the bride, their own mother! And in that day when the virgin church’s sons come and marry her, God will rejoice over the church as a bridegroom rejoices over the virgin he is to marry! That is the mystery.

At the time of this glorious reunion of the woman-church and the sons joined to Jesus, the woman-church will have passed through her wilderness experience (Rev. 12:6,13-17) and been processed and purified and made ready for the marriage of the Lamb. While the church is in the wilderness of trial and testing she will be prepared for her marriage and taught God’s ways and will be adorned in fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of saints. In verses eleven and twelve of the same prophecy of Isaiah, he says, "Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion (the church), Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken" — that, THE HOLY CITY! It is the New Jerusalem Bride.

Those who read these lines should meditate deeply upon this mystery of Christ and His bride. The deep mystery is rooted in the wonder of man’s primordial glory — male and female — set together in splendor over the works of God’s hands. It is impossible for me to explain the glory of such a thing as this because we are blinded to the impenetrable mystery of a realm that long ago passed away. Nevertheless, the moment we understand that man in the beginning was created in the image of God, male and female, and that male and female IS the image of God, then we can understand for the first time the awesome glory, power, and exaltation of the bride of Christ. The image of God is not a body with a torso, two legs with two feet and ten toes, two arms with two hands and ten fingers, and a head with two eyes, two ears, a nose and a mouth. The image of God is the emanation of the nature of God and that nature is expressed as male and female. All the feminine characteristics of the woman and all the masculine characteristics of the man are spiritually resident in God. We know this is so because everything in the whole vast universe came out of God, and if God had not been male and female within Himself in the beginning we could not have male and female in the earth today — IN HIS IMAGE AND AFTER HIS LIKENESS.

All creation being set in order, one was needed to take the headship, to bring the authority and blessing of God’s kingdom dominion over all things. "And God said, Let us make man in our image and after our likeness; and let THEM have dominion…so God created man in His own image…male and female created He THEM. And God blessed THEM, and God said unto THEM, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and HAVE DOMINION over…every living thing that moveth upon the earth" (Gen. 1:26-28). My reader will observe the change from him to them. We are not presented with the actual process of the formation of the woman until the next chapter; though here we find God blessing them and giving them JOINTLY THE POSITION OF UNIVERSAL GOVERNMENT. All realms from the lowest of the bottomless to the highest of the heavens were set under their joint dominion, as typified by the fish of the sea, the beasts of the earth, and the fowl of the heavens. These three realms symbolically encompass all spheres of existence from the lowest depths of darkness unto the highest dimension of light and exaltation. Jesus confirmed the true scope of man’s dominion when, as the last Adam, He descended into the lowest parts of the earth and then ascended up far above all heavens. He descended also into the lowest habitations of the most wicked and vile of Adam’s race; He liberated the captives in the prison house of darkness, those who had been disobedient in the days of Noah (I Pet. 3:18-22; 4:6), and ascended up above all heavens to reign over all things. ALL POWER is given unto Him, both in the heavens and in earth. THIS, precious friend of mine, is the magnificence of that dominion given to Adam the first — male and female — in that long ago beginning.

Eve received all her blessings in Adam; in him, too, she got her dignity and position and power. Not yet called into separation out of Adam, she was, in the purpose of God, part of the man. Universal dominion was not given to Adam alone, it was not said, "Let him have dominion," but "Let them have dominion." There was no other creature so near to Adam as Eve, because no other creature was part of himself. What affection did not Eve owe to Adam! What nearness she enjoyed! What intimacy of communion! What full participation in all of his thoughts! In all his dignity, and in all his glory, wisdom, and power, she was entirely ONE. He did not rule over her, but with her. He was lord of the whole creation, and she was ONE WITH HIM! THEY were king and queen of the universe! All this will find its full antitype in the ages to come. Then shall the True Man — the Lord from heaven, the corporate man composed of "many sons brought to glory" — take His seat upon the throne, and in companionship with His bride — the New Eve, the cleansed and perfected church — rule over a restored creation. This church is quickened out of the grave of Christ, taken from His riven side, being thus "of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." He is the Bridegroom and she is the bride, making ONE NEW MAN, as we read in the fourth chapter of Ephesians, "Till we all come, in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13). And who is this "Perfect Man"? CHRIST AND HIS BRIDE, CHRIST MALE AND FEMALE — THE LAST MAN ADAM AND THE NEW EVE!

There is a wealth of revelation contained in the holy city, New Jerusalem. The bride of Christ is the city of God (Rev. 21:9-11). The sons of God are the throne of God (Rev. 12:5; 3:21; 21:7). The mystery is just this — the throne is in the city! The city and the throne are one! That city is the holy city, New Jerusalem. Every stone of that city is a living stone, a glorified CHRIST-BEING. Every stone is a living, ransomed soul just as every member of the body of Christ, which is the temple of God, is a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. We cannot fully explain nor understand a mystery so awesome as this, but the eye that sees by the spirit sees the temple as a living thing, composed of living saints. In that temple redeemed men, the sons of God, are the pillars and foundations, and Christ Himself is the chief cornerstone, from whom the whole body fitly framed together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom we also are builded to become the habitation of God through the Spirit.

In holy vision the apostle John was transported in spirit to a great and high mountain, the majestic heights of the kingdom of God, from which he was permitted to see the perfected bride of Christ in all her beauty and glory. From his lofty vantage point the eyes of John were ravished with the electrifying sight of the unequalled majesty, infinite splendor, and unsurpassable beauty of the bride adorned for her Husband. Not a city of dead stone as was the old Jerusalem, but a new Jerusalem, a living city, a bride beyond compare, a virgin pure and holy, composed of incorruptible saints, brought forth out of the living substance of Christ. Words utterly fail me to describe the wonder of such unexcelled glory, for ours are but the words of men, but that holy and beautiful city belongs to THE REALM OF THE SPIRIT.

Now at last the perfection, the image of God, male and female, bridegroom and bride, sons and daughters, throne and city, of which Adam and Eve were but a frail shadowy type, has come; the many-membered Bridegroom, the last Adam, with the many-membered Bride, the Holy City, Adam and Eve, the first and the last, in the image and the likeness of God, JOINTLY RULING ALL THINGS! The nations shall walk by the light of this city and the rulers and leaders of the earth shall bring into it their glory. The tree of life is in the midst of it and the water of life flows from the throne of God in the midst of it. This is GOD, male and female, united with the image of God in man, male and female, ruling over all the endless vastnesses of infinity unto ages of ages! May the Holy Ghost unfold these things more fully and powerfully to our hearts, that we may have a deeper sense of the conduct and character which are worthy of the high vocation wherewith we are called.