KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES
"Teaching the
things concerning the kingdom of God..."
FROM THE
CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE
Part 140
THE DRAGON, THE WOMAN, AND
THE MANCHILD
(continued)
“And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and, behold a
great red dragon…and his tail drew the third part of the stars of
heaven, and did cast them to the earth” (Rev. 12:3-4).
This isn’t some literal fire-breathing monster roaming the streets of
New York City! The dragon
is a spiritual reality — a negative, corrupted, spiritual dimension.
Now let us notice something very peculiar about this dragon.
His tail draws a third part of the stars of
heaven and casts them down to the earth.
What does the dragon-tail symbolize?
In the time of Isaiah the tail
was declared to be the false prophet and his teachings by which the Lord’s
people were led astray, and destroyed.
Isaiah said, “The prophet that
teaches lies, he is the
tail” (Isa.
9:14-16).
From the very beginning of history this tail has grown stronger, longer,
and larger, until today he can lash that tail backward and forward over the
whole face of the globe, and then even sweep the starry heavens above with it.
Yes, this vision says, that by his tail he sweeps the very heaven where
the sun-clad woman is in travail and where the manchild is birthed!
He drags down the shining stars there from, that they should cease to give
their light in the high places of God, but shine dimly in the polluted
atmosphere of earth. Stars are
heavenly bodies, and signify both divine truths and realities as well as those
heavenly ones who walk in the light of those truths and proclaim and express
them. Their being “dragged down”
signifies the perversion of the truth and apostasy of those who walked in that
truth. Satan by his tail of
spiritual distortion changes the truth of God into a lie and accomplishes the
downfall of those in whom that truth shone.
The dragon uses his tail, the false prophet, the tongue of the religious
spirit in man, to cast down a third part of the stars of heaven, the heavenly
spiritual truths, casting them down unto the earth causing the Lord’s people to
perceive them carnally and not spiritually!
The dragon always wants to drag down the high and holy truths of God into
a carnal form of man’s
wisdom, totally refusing to hear the word of God in the
spirit and by the spirit. The head
controls the tail, revealing the truth that the lies of the false prophets,
whether the outward false prophets in our midst or the false religious spirit
within each of us, are spoken by the authority of the dragon and carry and
impose the dragon’s authority over men.
Out of carnal understanding men proclaim as divine truth that which is
mere superstition, legend, myth, folklore, and fairy tales of a carnal
interpretation of the word of God.
Consider
what I now say with all diligence and prayer.
Any teaching that is on a lower level than the heaven where the manchild
dwells will rob you of your walk in sonship!
Even among the Lord’s elect some are watering down the revelation of
sonship, proclaiming that there will be no super-sonship ministry with mighty
signs and wonders that will empty the hospitals, raise the dead, bring down the
kingdoms of men, convert the masses, and restore all creation into God again.
Some are saying that “manifest sonship” is just Christ living out His
life through you day by day and we are not to look for a “super-duper” ministry
that will strike the world with such force that it will change everything.
Others try to make manifest sonship
function on the church level through mature saints with gifts of the Spirit and
through the five-fold ministry. I
have no hesitation in telling you that all such are representations of the tail
of the dragon and if you heed them they will sweep you down out of your
appointed destiny and cast you into a carnal religious earth-realm where you
will serve the Lord on a lower level but can never be the instrument to
deliver creation from the bondage of
corruption! Just because we are of
the manchild company doesn’t mean that we don’t have any conflict with the
dragon. Oh, yes!
It is here in the high places of the spirit we encounter the sweeping
power of the dragon’s tail! Will you
be swept away by his lies?
Heaven and
earth in the book of Revelation signify dimensions of nature, being, reality,
and activity. They are spiritual and
they are natural or soulical. Heaven
bespeaks the spiritual things and realm of God, whereas earth bespeaks the
natural and soulish things and realm of man.
Men are living souls dwelling on the earth, God is a spirit dwelling in
the heavens — the realm of the spirit.
Now we find that the dragon is in heaven and surprisingly enough the
woman and the dragon have been dwelling together in heaven!
There need be no doubt in the mind of any saint who is seated with Christ
in the heavenly places that we have had in our midst the dragon.
The dragon has been as close to us as the air we
breathe, as close to us as the blood coursing through our
veins. The dragon has shown up in
all our
gatherings and has appeared in every experience we have had
with God and every word we have received from God.
The dragon is that psychic, religious, soulish spirit that takes the
bright truths (stars) of God and casts them down from the true order of God into
a carnal realm. The doctrines of
men, the traditions of the elders, carnal, literalistic, and legalistic
interpretations of the spiritual truths of God, static creeds, lifeless rituals,
empty ceremonies, carnal means and methods, flesh-appealing programs — these and
a hundred more things are all the work of the great red dragon!
These, one and all, take the high and heavenly and life-giving realities
of God in the spirit and cast them down into an outward form of religiosity.
Some years ago Bob Torango shared the following word in one of his
messages which is just as fresh and relative today as it was the day he
delivered it.
“We are in the midst of a
religious age and a message of ‘kingdom’ that has become
religious. Now don’t
mistake me when I say religious — people look at the dragon and say, ‘That’s the
Catholic Church, that’s
Rome.’
Our country right now is fighting a war that my son and my grandson have
been involved in. They have been
sent over to
Iraq to do a job for this country, to protect the freedom of
this nation. I know we have high
moral motives behind this war. But
if you want to know where the real dragon sits you can look at the
Middle East and see it. This is a
religious war that will not be won by bombs or planes or bullets.
It will not be won by the changing of a government.
It is the very seat of religion!
So when I say ‘religion’ I am talking about
Rome, yes; but I’m also talking about
Baghdad, I’m talking about Teheran, and I’m talking about
Jerusalem. I’ll go
beyond that. I’m talking about
Salt Lake City, and I’m talking about
Springfield,
Missouri. I’m talking
about
Cleveland,
Tennessee and
Nashville,
Tennessee. I’m talking
about every seat of religious minds that try to portray God as a man, according
to the thinking of a religious mind, bringing Him down out of His holiness,
lowering Him to a realm where flesh can relate to Him.
Every major religion, and every religious-minded person, has a concept of
God and truth that has been imparted to them out of the mind of the great red
dragon. The manchild is destined to
come forth to
set things right!”
— end quote.
The Spirit of the Lord is calling upon every member of God’s called and
chosen elect to search this out within ourselves so that the dragon in us may
himself be cast down to the earth where he can no more distort, twist, pervert,
corrupt, misinterpret, carnalize, embellish, or tamper with the pure word,
revelation, purpose, and working of God in our lives.
Elwin Roach once shared this word of
wisdom: “I
wish I could tell everyone to listen to us and others who
might be able to reveal who the tail of the dragon is, so we all could be safe
from deception; but truthfully speaking, no one can take the place of what each
individual is responsible for.
The only way any of us can escape that sweeping tail is to have an
authentic attitude of wanting to know the truth, and to continually walk in
those ways of truth when they come, regardless of what it is or what it does to
our personal life and theological ideas.
Jesus said, ‘If a man will (is determined
to) do His will, he shall know of the
doctrine, whether it be of God…’ (Jn. 8:31-32).
We will then come to the place of having discernment of spirits and
proving them to see if they are of God.”
Stars speak of messengers and the message they bear.
The dragon takes a third of the messengers and the truth they proclaim
and casts them down to the earth.
Out of the earth-realm I am always hearing the voices of these cast-down
messengers! There are multitudes of
messengers involved with a message that is carnal, soulish, sentimental,
natural, and literalistic. Their
message is always woe, woe, woe!
It’s always about sin, how the nation and the world is going to hell,
legislating righteousness, judgments, the Jews, rebuilt temples in
Jerusalem, a superman antichrist, tribulation, wars, world events
and world leaders, plagues, sorrow, trouble, pain, death, hell, and eternal
damnation. It’s always the bad news!
Do you understand, my brother, my sister, that bad news is not the
gospel?
Gospel means good news! There is no
good news from the messengers who speak out of the earth-realm!
They are of the earth, earthy, for they mind
earthly things.
They read Newsweek magazine on Saturday night and now they have a message
for you on Sunday morning. They are
just full and running over with bad news.
Every world crisis is the big one,
we’re coming down to the wire, and the doom and gloom of the end-times is upon
us. Every tyrant thrust into
international prominence is the great antichrist getting ready to inflict
unspeakable horrors on mankind. It
is always woe, woe, woe!
The spirit of
wisdom and revelation from the Lord is moving us from that
earth-bound mentality of woe, woe, woe, to a heavenly consciousness of Holy,
Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts:
the whole earth is full of His glory!
There are a lot of messengers that have been drawn by the tail of the
dragon. They are the prophets that
teach lies. But as stars that abide
in the heavens let us understand what is going on in the heavens!
Let us be crowned with the twelve stars of a divine kingdom revelation!
We’ve been preached to all our lives by the tail of the dragon, telling
us what is going on in the earth, and whether it was a message of sin, you’re
just human, you’re a sinner saved by grace, nobody can be perfect in this world,
everybody has to be sick and die, God is angry at the world and getting ready to
zap it with the seven last plagues, God (or the devil) is out to get you, one
little sin and you’ll miss the “rapture,” judgment day, wrath and vengeance soon
to be poured out, eternal damnation and torture in hell-fire awaits every
sinner, and a thousand other heresies that deny the truth of God, impugn the
wisdom of God, defame the character of God, slander the love of God, and
discredit the purpose and power of God
— it has all been woe, woe, woe!
It only
proves where these folks are living.
The message of woe is the devil’s message
to carnal, earth-bound Christians!
John heard a loud voice from heaven declaring this very plainly:
“Woe to the inhabiters of the
earth and sea! for the
devil has come down unto you, having
great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time” (Rev.
12:12).
The message of wrath is the devil’s message and he keeps the
earth-dwellers occupied with that message because he knows his days are numbered
and THE TRUTH IS GOING TO COME OUT!
Oh, yes! If you are dwelling in the
earth that’s the message you will hear and proclaim today —
woe, woe, woe!
Turn on your radio or
television and listen to those preachers and they will tell you how bad it is on
earth, how pathetic and hopeless everything is, how imminent and ominous is the
“one world government” conspiracy, what a low-life you are, how big the devil
is, the names of all the demons that are roaming the earth and possessing the
people, even the saints of God are full of them; they know all about
principalities and powers of darkness, yet
they have not a clue as to what GOD IS DOING IN THE HEAVENS OF HIS SPIRIT IN
THIS HOUR OR ABOUT WHAT GOD IS DOING BY HIS SPIRIT IN THOSE WHO DWELL IN THE
HEAVENS IN THIS DAY OF THE LORD!
But, my, can they tell you about sin, darkness, and devils!
They have a real relationship with the devil and all his little imps —
woe, woe, woe, the devil is everywhere tempting, tormenting, and trying to
derail the will and purpose of God in your life — these earth-bound ministers of
the devil’s message talk more about the devil and his works than they do about
the Lord Jesus Christ!
Indeed, they are devil
worshippers, whether they realize it or not.
Have you considered the truth that lies hidden in these inspired words:
“Neither
give place to the devil.”
All the woe in the Revelation is pronounced upon the earth-dwellers
and it is the devil who pronounces it!
I refuse to give a place to the devil, therefore I do not preach doom and
gloom. I preach the
gospel, the
GOOD NEWS!
And my soul is raptured as I hear the loud voice out of heaven
saying, “Therefore rejoice,
ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them!”
What a day of unspeakable glory this is, this is the day that the Lord hath
made, and we
will rejoice in it and be glad!
THE
DRAGON STANDING
BEFORE THE WOMAN
“And the dragon stood before the
woman which was ready to be delivered, for to
devour her child as soon as it was born”
(Rev. 12:4).
In this scene we see that the birth of the manchild is resisted by the
great red dragon. The dragon-spirit,
or the resisting agent, appears throughout the Bible under various names.
The prophets of the Old Testament called it crocodile, Behemoth,
Leviathan, and always pictured these horrible animals as coming up out of the
sea, or out of the fleshly mind and passions of men.
The dragon-spirit stands for resistance to the apprehension of truth,
life, and the fullness of God under whatever guise it rears its head, for the
dragon-spirit knows that if the manchild gains sovereignty, his own regime is
ended! Ah, yes, the dragon, the
religious spirit of the carnal mind, the spirit of the world and all negative
forces, knows what will happen if the manchild is birthed and allowed to live!
The Old Testament type is the fear that motivated the Pharaoh of Egypt at
the time of the birth of the child
Moses. Beholding the growth of the
children of
Israel in the midst of the land, and moved by the fear of their
increasing numbers and strength, he ordered the Hebrew midwives,
“When ye do the office of a midwife to the
Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a
son, then ye shall kill him:
but if it be a daughter, then she shall live” (Ex. 1:16).
The Pharaoh’s consuming fear was that if these sons were permitted to
come to maturity they would become a threat against the dominion of the
Egyptian spirit and kingdom and would rise up in force to
overthrow it and seize power. But
God in His wisdom ruled and
over-ruled in
Egypt,
Israel multiplied greatly, and the chosen deliverer was born,
matured, trained, and fully prepared to birth
Israel out of
Egypt!
This is the same fear that motivated king Herod at Jesus’ birth to seek
to destroy the firstborn Son of God!
When Jesus was born in the city of
David the old dragon was there crouching at the gate, ready to
spring and destroy the Christ child.
You remember the story of the wise men who came from the east, following the
star, and seeking him who was to be the king of
Israel. As soon as
they were in
Judea , they supposed that everyone would know all about the
king. But no one of whom they asked
had ever seen this king or had heard of him!
The news of their coming was sent to Herod, the king, who was now a very
old man. When he heard of someone
born to be the king, he feared that he might lose his own dynasty.
He called the priests and scribes and inquired of them about this Christ
for whom the people were looking. He
said, “Can you tell me where Christ, the King of Israel, is to be born?”
They showed him the scripture which stated that He would be born in
Bethlehem of Judea.
Then Herod sent for the wise men from the east, and met them alone, and
he found out from them at what time the star was first seen.
Then he said to them, “Go to
Bethlehem, and there search carefully for the little child; and
when you have found him, bring me word again, so that I also may come and
worship him.” Then the
wise men went on their way and the star appeared again and
led them to the very house where the little child was.
That night God sent a dream to the wise men, telling them not to go back
to Herod, but to go home at once to their own land by an alternate route.
They obeyed the word of the Lord and departed at once.
When Herod received the news he was exceedingly angry!
He dispatched his soldiers to
Bethlehem. They came,
and by the cruel king’s command, seized all the little children of
Bethlehem who were two years old or younger, and killed them all.
What a cry went up to God from the mothers of
Bethlehem as their children were torn from their arms and slain
before their eyes! But all this time
the child Jesus, whom they were seeking, was safe with His mother in the
land
of
Egypt where they had fled at the warning of the Lord.
Oh, yes, the dragon stood before the woman to devour her child as soon as
he was born. The dragon knew what
would happen if the manchild were permitted to live!
Four thousand years ago it was Pharaoh after Moses.
Two thousand years (two days) ago it was Herod after Jesus.
And now it’s time again in the earth for a son to be born.
And the great red dragon, that ferocious religious spirit that motivates
and empowers all religious systems, is after that seed!
This dragon hates the very possibility of a people birthed in the earth
in all the maturity, glory,
wisdom, power, and majesty of the firstborn Son of God!
They know in their heart of hearts that it will mean their eternal ruin.
That’s what Pharaoh was afraid of!
That’s what Herod was afraid of!
And that’s what the great red dragon of religion fears today!
They fear a usurper of their throne, a contender for their influence and
power over the lives of men and nations.
So the dragon stands before the woman defiling the atmosphere with fiery
breath.
The dragon, among other things, bespeaks a religious order — the
religious spirit within each of us and the religious order formed in the earth
as the outward expression of that religious spirit.
Herod was king of the Jews — he represented a religious order, the order
of the house of
Judah. He occupied a realm of
authority and dominion that ultimately would be
usurped by our Lord Jesus Christ, the firstborn of the manchild company.
Herod sat upon the throne of the Lord’s people and Jesus has now been
caught up, exalted to the throne of the
Lord! Herod and his forces were the
personification of the dragon in that day, and Jesus is the prototype of the
birth of the manchild company!
John’s vision reveals that this manchild, the completed body of the firstborn
Son, also shall come to full term and be birthed, rising up to prevail over all
the religious and fleshly spirits and kingdoms of this world.
What the dragon fears shall surely come to pass!
Isn’t it wonderful!
I have been blessed by the following testimony of brother Bill Cook.
“My first encounter with the
dragon’s breath took place in the early 1950’s.
I was attending a regular
Pentecostal
Church. A couple of
the elders took it upon themselves to warn me against a certain group in the
city who had a special teaching regarding ‘manchild,’ and their very
articulation of the word was a phenomena in itself.
It was evident that the dragon had corrupted that expression ‘manchild’
in their mind so that it was no longer a true Bible term, but was somewhat of a
swear word. And they were quick to
try to give me the impression that many terrible, obscene things were taking
place among the members of this group.
Furthermore, they informed me that the manchild teaching of this group
had to be way-off, for Revelation 12 simply deals with the birth of Jesus!
Ahem-m-m, I had been fully warned!
If I were to get into any strange doctrine or go over the deep end, well,
they had done their part to keep me out of such a dire predicament.
(In truth, the book of Revelation was given forth by the resurrected,
ascended Christ in regard to future
events; in no way does it deal with events of His birth or childhood).
“Many of the books written in the various denominations take sides with
the dragon, attempting to harm the manchild.
One Constance Cumbey has researched the occultic ‘New Age Movement’ in
some detail and has written several books on the subject.
She formerly had a law practice in
New York
State. In one of
her books she stated that a certain one must be in the New Age Movement, as he
kept speaking of a new age forthcoming.
(This kind of reasoning from one who is a lawyer!)
She made
further derogatory remarks about other kingdom ministries,
making a play on their words to accuse them.
But the point is that the dragon is using all the smear tactics that he
can dig up for those of us who see the New Day.
He is drumming up these things in a most frenzied manner, for he knows
his time is short! A sister we met
on our recent trip had read some of these accusations, and a fear rose in her
heart, ‘What if this is true, and I am walking in deception and error?’
After the initial fear subsided, she spoke to her soul and comforted
herself with the thought that the Spirit of the Lord had led her this way.
It was not something that man had persuaded; it was that which the living
Christ had taught her, and she had to believe that it was true, no matter what
was said about the men who taught kingdom truths.
Then she had peace again, but she had felt the dragon’s
breath blow hard upon her, and it was a very uncomfortable
feeling!
“A writer from the evangelical churches in
Calgary,
Alberta, has written a booklet warning people against associating
with any who speak of the
kingdom of
God, kingdom principles, the New Day, etc.
They gave a formidable list of terms and warned people to avoid those who
use any of them, for they were ‘in a cult.’
Even the ‘Feast of Tabernacles’ was a ‘bad word’.
But there is no use hassling with them; they are merely regurgitating the
words of the dragon! For those who
are bound under such teachings (against the truth), the future looks bleak.
Yet, God is God! As He drew a
great throng out of the denominations in 1906 — 1908, and again in 1948 — 1951,
and again in the 1970’s, so at this late hour He will ‘winnow’ many more”
— end quote.
Now let us consider further the attitude of the dragon towards the woman
and his intention to devour her child as soon as it is born.
The woman stands in her glory, but also in her helplessness, and the
dragon stands before her. The dragon
doesn’t just appear on the scene — he is already there standing in his place.
“And the dragon stood before
the woman…” He is watching her and
barring her way of escape. Intently
the dragon observes the woman and studies her every movement.
It is not really the woman he is after, but the child she is about to
bring forth. If only that woman did
not expect to bring forth that manchild, he would pay little attention to her
and her glory! Well he knows that in
two thousand years the church has
never overcome him or broken his power in the earth!
The church of our day is little threat to him, including the little
virgin church which is pregnant with the manchild, so for the most part he
leaves them alone. Oh, yes, they do blame a lot of things on him, they are
always railing against him and fighting him and suppose that he is always “on
their case.” But the truth is that
he is actually in charge of most of
the organizations and activities which they suppose he is opposing!
It is my conviction that our thoughts and comments about Satan should
always be tempered with the wonderful truth that he has absolutely
no power over a saint of God who dwells in the heavenlies in Christ
Jesus! Therefore, as we discuss
Satan, we recognize this truth above any other regarding Satan.
Furthermore, although we use the pronouns “him” or “he” when referring to
Satan, we know “he” is not a singular person running around the universe, but is
the evil spirit that works in and through the carnal minds of the children of
Adam. It is not our purpose to
magnify Satan or to give him undue recognition.
Yet, we who are pregnant with the manchild are not unaware of that
monster standing before the woman with the intent to devour her child as soon as
it is born! And we who are in Christ
should know that we are engaged in spiritual warfare!
The birth of the manchild does not bring a Sunday School picnic — it
brings war in heaven!
It is our Father’s purpose, through the mighty, conquering power of
Christ in His body, to defeat every enemy, entity, and power in all realms of
man, the earth, and the unbounded heavens.
Christ is bruising Satan under our
feet! (Rom.
16:20).
Satan is one of the enemies, along with sin and death, that is being
defeated, first in the lives of God’s elect, and ultimately in all of creation.
To the church in Pergamos the Lord Jesus said,
“I know thy works, and where thou
dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is…” (Rev. 2:13).
The typical and
symbolic church at Pergamos was
dwelling where Satan’s throne was located.
The Greek word is clearly “throne,” but the translators of the King James
Bible softened it down to “seat.”
Let us not be afraid of the phrase.
It is Satan’s throne!
A throne in the book of Revelation occurs frequently as the symbol of
dominion, as the center whence the authority of a king emanates throughout his
entire kingdom. In the
typical and symbolic
church of
Pergamos, Satan’s throne was situated in the city of
Pergamos which means “strongly united, elevated, height, citadel.”
Spiritually, Satan’s throne is in the
high places of the carnal mind — even
the religious mind!
“I know where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is.”
I know where you dwell, where you are comfortable in your religious
system, where you are satisfied to settle down and comfortably remain on your
present level of experience in God.
I know that you love the pageantry, the beauty, the forms, the sacraments, the
rituals, the programs, the activities, the meetings, the praise, the preaching,
the gifts, and the glory where you are.
But that place where you dwell
is Satan’s throne!
The firstborn Son of God understood this very clearly by the mind of the
Father! He
never condemned the prostitute, the fornicator, the
tax-gatherer, the thieves or murderers.
He
never demonstrated holy anger against the Romans, the world,
or the wicked. It was the
religious leaders that He scathingly
denounced! His anger was focused on
the hypocrisy of the so-called carriers of God’s word!
He condemned those who prided themselves on their outward cleanliness,
but inside were full of greed and wickedness!
Those who paid tithes and fasted and prayed and loved the seats on the
platform — I mean the best seats in the synagogue — to be seen of men, He
rebuked! Those who distorted the
word of God, who turned the truth of God into a lie, who misrepresented the
nature of His Father, and loaded people down with religious burdens and
obligations, He called a generation of vipers — a brood of snakes!
Let us UNDERSTAND! We blame
war, drunkenness, pornography, geed, crime, immorality, drugs, and a thousand
other evils on Satan — yet the clear testimony of scripture is these are all the
“lusts of the flesh” and the “works of the flesh.”
They are flesh!
On the other hand, Satan’s activity is primarily in a
religious realm, in a
spiritual dimension!
What a cunning deception has been foisted upon mankind as Satan has
concealed his true identity in the dark shroud of
religion!
Oh, yes, Satan is religious!
He spends far more time in church than he does at the bar.
The ultimate test for God’s sons will be right there!
There is a realm, a realm high in the spirit, a realm reserved for the
sons of God — and before any of us step out from under the open heaven where the
voice of the Father witnesses to our sonship:
“These are my beloved sons, in whom I am
well pleased,” to appear as a manifest son in the earth, we will meet Satan
there in that high realm of the spirit.
It is in the heavens of God’s Spirit that the manchild encounters the
great dragon!
That is what the temptation of Jesus was all about in His wilderness
experience. He wasn’t being tempted
to lie, cheat, steal, cuss, chew tobacco, or run around with women.
Oh, no! “If Thou be the Son
of God” do thus and thus. To Eve he
said, “Hath God said? Why, God doth
know…your eyes will be opened, and you will be as God!”
It wasn’t about sex or drinking or smoking, it was all about A HIGH
REVELATION IN A HIGH REALM OF THE SPIRIT.
That is what Adam’s fall was about!
Adam did not fall from grace, he fell from SONSHIP!
And it was a supposed HIGH
REVELATION IN A HIGH REALM OF THE SPIRIT that caused the fall.
Eve was deceived!
There is a very fine line between the highest truth and the darkest error, between
divine sonship to God and our own self-godhood as presented by the serpent to
Eve and by the devil to Jesus in the wilderness of temptation!
The firstborn Son of God met Satan, not the Satan wearing a red suit,
with horns and a pitchfork, but the Satan that spoke out of His innermost
thoughts and aspirations concerning His sonship, “If I am the Son of God why
don’t I just turn these stones into bread!
I’m hungry, I’m needy, and I’ve got the power!
I can do anything I want, any time I want!
I’m the Son of God!” There
was only one thing wrong with that thought.
The purpose of a son is not to do anything he wants, but to do always and
only the will of the Father. That
is where Jesus was tested in His sonship before ever His ministry of power and
glory began! The question was just
this — what would He do with the power?
Would He use it for His own gratification, His own purposes and designs,
His own aggrandizement and glory, or would He do only those things that
glorified His Father?
Thank God,
where Adam flunked this same test in the
garden, Jesus passed the test in the wilderness!
“It is written, Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word that is proceeding out of the
mouth of God!” Ah, there was the
secret. A son comes only to speak
what he hears from his Father and to do only what he sees His Father do.
The voice Jesus was hearing was the
wrong voice — He could not turn the stones into bread just to satisfy His
hunger. Only if He heard the voice
of His Father commanding Him to do so, would He turn the stones into
bread!
He recognized that as the Son of God He could live only by every word
that was proceeding out of the mouth of His Father!
Then came the suggestion, “If I am the Son of God I can get the attention
of all the people of
Jerusalem by casting myself from the pinnacle of the temple.
They will see my power and will have to acknowledge who I am when God
sends His angels to escort me to a soft landing on the ground!
What a witness that will be!”
Jesus overcame that wily devil in
that high realm of the spirit within Himself as He
answered, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God!”
Sons don’t do things just to prove their sonship.
When people requested a “sign” from Jesus as proof of His sonship He
refused every time. Only then could
He come up out of the wilderness
in the power of the Spirit.
He had passed the test, He had regained the sonship Adam forfeited, He
was qualified to be a manifest Son of God!
When finally He came to the cross He was able to say, “The prince
of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.”
That, my beloved, is sonship!
That is THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST!
It is here before the church-woman that the dragon stands because another
son of God, a corporate son, a manchild is about to be
delivered into the world.
This woman is a beautiful and glorious woman, not the deformed image of
the church systems of man. She is
the true church, the overcoming church, clothed with the sun, with the moon
under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars upon her head.
In spite of the woman’s glory he still has no fear of
her.
In spite of her gifts and apostles and prophets and prayers and
worship and miracles and witnessing and revelation she stands before the dragon
helpless, but his concern is not with her for he knows perfectly that gifts and
graces and anointings alone cannot overcome him.
But that manchild that is ready to be born is of extreme concern
to him! And therefore he watches the
woman, in order that as soon as the child sees the light of day he may
devour him — not
destroy him, mind you, but take him
into himself and assimilate him into his own being, into the very dragon-spirit
of religion, thus to “dragonize” him,
making him just another movement, another organization, another system and
denomination like all the others the dragon controls!
Can you not see the mystery?
The dragon isn’t trying to do anything to the woman.
He knows that the woman is no threat to his empire.
The woman and the dragon co-exist in a heavenly realm.
She is aware of the dragon, but she is not at war with the dragon.
The dragon is concerned about the child she is carrying.
He sees something in the woman that if it is permitted to come to
maturity and step forth into the world, will end his reign.
The dragon sees something in the woman that isn’t “woman”!
It is the Son of God being formed in the womb of the woman.
It is
man!
It’s not church — it’s
manchild!
Jesus has reproduced Himself!
The firstborn Son of God is raising up within the woman, the virgin church, His
many brethren! This manchild
ministry is not the five-fold ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists,
pastors, and teachers — it is a
king-priest ministry after the order of Melchizedek!
This manchild is not one that can be deceived, discouraged,
troubled, turned aside, influenced, used, manipulated, corrupted, or defiled
in any way.
Oh, yes! The dragon is
concerned about this manchild. This
is not a little baby. This is a
mature, fully developed, full grown manchild.
In the Greek it is huios — a
mature son. Now let us consider the
scene! This great big, bad,
fire-breathing dragon stands before this woman saying, “When this little baby is
born, I’m going to chew him up and swallow him down!”
The dragon is about to get the shock of his life, because this woman is
not going to have a little baby!
She will give birth to a mature son.
He thinks he is going to grab the little fellow and devour him.
No wonder this woman is in such travail to
deliver this child — it’s not an eight pound baby!
She brings forth a manchild who is to rule
all nations with a rod of iron, and
when he does come forth he is caught up
immediately unto God and to His throne.
He is born ready to rule!
It is
significant to note the progression — in chapter two of the Revelation the
overcomer was promised power over “the nations.”
I have been deeply impressed that “the nations” in that case indicated
the seven nations that occupied the
land
of
Canaan, for those were the nations that the Lord’s people were
given to “overcome” in order to possess
their promised inheritance.
These seven nations are found spiritually within each one of us and must be
overcome within ourselves as we possess the fullness of our “land” which is
CHRIST! But now in chapter twelve
the authority is expanded to the shepherding of
ALL NATIONS. The
same order may be observed in the Psalms and
Prophets,
Israel was first commissioned to conquer the seven nations, and
to inhabit and possess all the “land,” their very own promised land!
But later the prophets foresaw and prophesied of a day when God’s people
would rule over all the nations of the world.
“O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of
triumph. For the Lord most high is
terrible, He is a great King over all the
earth. He shall subdue the people
under us, and the nations under our feet”
(Ps. 47:1-3).
“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”
(Ps. 67:1-3).
“Behold, thou shalt call a nation that
thou knowest not, and nations that
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).
“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, and it shall be
exalted above the hills; and people shall
flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to
the
mountain of
the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will
teach us of 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.
And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into
pruninghooks: and nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more”
(Mic. 4:10-3).
“Sing and rejoice, O daughter of
Zion: for, lo,
I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.
And many nations shall be joined
to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the
midst of thee”
(Zech.
2:10-11).
True to the pattern of the
promises, can it not be clearly seen that first we must conquer the “nations”
within us and fully possess our own land before we can ascend the throne
of our Father with authority and power over all things
This manchild, first of all, brings a great change in the heavens.
He makes a swift and powerful preemptive strike against the dragon!
There is a great error in the doctrines of the church systems of man.
They harp on and on about some completely imaginary rebellion of the
archangel Lucifer against God and how Lucifer gathered an army of one-third of
the angels and tried to defeat the Almighty and take over heaven.
Yet there is not one verse of scripture in the whole Bible that even
infers that Lucifer is the devil, or that Lucifer was ever the name of an
archangel. Not one!
Furthermore, the scene of this great drama of the dragon and the manchild
depicts nothing about Satan rebelling against God or the dragon initiating any
attack against the throne of God. As
with so many of the doctrines of the church systems
the truth is just the opposite!
Satan is not leading a rebellion against the Almighty, but he
is standing before the woman to devour
her child as soon as it is born. His
intended action is against the manchild
before he reaches the throne. In
the story the preachers tell about Lucifer’s rebellion
there is no manchild in the picture.
Clearly, this scene John beholds in spirit has nothing whatever to do
with the Lucifer story!
Furthermore, Satan does not attack the throne of God, in fact, he doesn’t even
get to attack the manchild — Michael and His angels attack the dragon!
The wily old dragon, like a sly fox, is standing there in readiness to
devour the manchild when suddenly, without warning, war
breaks out in heaven!
The battle begins with God’s swift, powerful, preemptive strike.
“And there was war in heaven:
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon” (Rev. 12:7).
Only after the opening foray does the dragon respond to defend himself,
but his standing in the heavens is doomed from the first round.
Of the thrilling outcome we read,
“…and the dragon fought and his angels, and
prevailed not; neither was their place
found any more in heaven” (Rev. 12:7-8).
It is
indeed wonderful!
We must conclude, then, that all religious
mixture will be thoroughly purged from the heavens where the manchild
reigns! The manchild is not an
ecumenicist! The manchild does not
believe that truth is relative! The
manchild does not hold to the notion that all religious paths lead to God!
This order of the manchild comes to cleanse the heavens where we dwell
and establish absolute truth and the
divine order of the
kingdom of
God. It has
nothing to do with persuading us about anything, for it comes not in the
wisdom of man’s words, but in power and demonstration of the
Holy Ghost! This order is rising up
in the life of every man and woman called to sonship.
It will have its way! It’s
coming to us and will not ask us if
we like it, or don’t like it, or whether we agree, or disagree.
This order is rising up to do the Father’s business!
It’s all about causing the Father’s will to be done in us.
As soon as the manchild is caught up to the throne war
breaks out! The
manchild isn’t about peace — he’s about war!
I know we want to love everybody and just get along and forgive everyone
and be merciful, but the manchild is about
tough love! The weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, but are mighty through God to the
pulling down of strong holds, casting down imaginations, and every high
thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God!
This is spiritual warfare!
And it’s not about exorcising a hundred pesky little demons out
of some precious saint, but it is about wrestling with the very principalities
and powers that rule in the heavenly realms, the
religious spirits that dominate every
people everywhere and deceives all nations.
The battle begins in us, the elect of the Lord!
Our own heavens must be
cleansed, all things that offend, pollute, deceive, and destroy in God’s holy
mountain must be
gathered out of His kingdom, consumed by the fiery glory of
God’s holiness. All the hang-over
residual errors of religious
Babylon, all the perversions of the New Age delusion, all the
self-centeredness and ego of pride, all the spirit of judgment and condemnation,
all desire to make a name, to build a kingdom, to gain a following, to
manipulate and control men’s lives, all the money-raising gimmickry, all the
merchandizing in the temple — selling
of books, tapes, CD’s and DVD’s, all the fleshly means and methods that have
invaded even the ranks of the very elect — it is
there the battle commences!
That is the first battle field!
The war begins in the very midst of the sons of God!
The war will quickly spread to every “nation,” to every religious system
of man until there is a new heaven and a new earth in which dwelleth
righteousness. But don’t think, my
beloved brethren, that you are going out to set things straight in the kingdoms
of
Babylon until the heavens where the manchild reigns have been
thoroughly cleansed!
Individually this signifies the heavens of our own minds,
thoughts, attitudes, and intents.
Corporately it is the ways we function as the people of God.
What the manchild is all about is kicking the enemy out of God’s house!
It is delivering each of us from every vestige of a religious mind, and
bringing us fully into the mind of Christ!
When the ministry of the sons of God has finished its work every
religious mouth will have been stopped and all the ends of the earth will behold
the unveiled majesty of the Lord of glory!
All will understand and know that He is the only true and living God and
that Jesus Christ is His Son and the Saviour of the world!
All will know that God’s glorious Christ, Head and body, is the
government of God out of the heavens of the Spirit of the Lord!
Every knee will bow in humble adoration and every tongue shall confess
with joy and gladness that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father!
Oh, the miracle of what God is doing in this new kingdom day ravishes my
heart. I am enthralled beyond
measure at the prospect of what He has prepared for those that love Him
and walk in His purpose. In
spirit I can see the beauty of the peace, the harmony, the health, the
prosperity, the joy, the righteousness, and the blessedness that will cover the
earth and the faces of all men in that day when
Babylon has fallen to rise no more.
The religion of Islam will have disappeared from off the earth, not by
guns or bombs or nuclear warfare, nor yet by the effectual expertise of
missionary efforts, but by the surpassing glory and power of the revelation of
Christ in sons. The halls of the
Vatican will no longer echo the footsteps of
pope or cardinals or multiplied thousands of pilgrims and Catholicism
will no longer exert an influence on world events nor even exist as an
institution in any land on earth.
The Buddhist temples will every one be closed, their priesthood dissolved, nor
will there any longer be men on earth calling themselves Hindus, Shintoist, New
Age, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, or any other religion.
What a day!
Here is the scene. The
manchild will be born. The manchild
will ascend the throne. The manchild
will cleanse the heavens. The
manchild will rule all nations with a rod of iron.
NOTHING CAN OR WILL PREVENT THIS!
John beholds in spirit that the child is born and immediately caught
away, caught up unto God and to His throne.
The child, therefore, escapes the “devouring.”
The devil cannot reach his purpose of preventing the manchild from
reaching the throne. He fails.
And then he himself is completely and forever deposed from his place in
the heavens! Oh, the wonder of it!
To be
continued…
J. PRESTON EBY
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