KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES
"Teaching the things concerning the
kingdom of God..."
FROM THE
CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE
Part 57
THE CHURCH IN
LAODICEA
The seventh and final church is the church in Laodicea. It is the
most deplorable of the seven, representing the very worst spiritual condition a
church can come to. Therefore, it also presents the greatest challenges to the
overcoming elect, for the spiritual conditions within the churches are the very
things we are called upon to overcome! The promise to the overcomer in this
church is the greatest of all the promises! Therefore Laodicea
represents both the lowest and the highest realms of experience in the Lord’s
people. Both of these are in manifestation in the earth today! While the
church world in general exudes the very spirit of the Laodiceans, the called and
chosen elect of God is overcoming all these things and ascending to the throne
of Christ to rule and reign in the Kingdom of God.
It is interesting to note that the name Laodicea is composed of
lao and dika, meaning “the people’s judgment” or “consensus of
opinion as to what is right!” Other variations of rendering are: “power of the
laity,” “the voice of the people,” “the people’s rights,” or “justice of the
peoples.” Its name designates it as the democratic church, in which
everything is swayed and decided by popular opinion, clamor, and voting, either
within the church, or by adapting to the opinions, standards, and pressures of
society without. Hence, Laodicea is a carnal, compromising, pusillanimous,
self-righteous, and self-sufficient church!
The typical church in Laodicea was filled with carnal believers,
just as the church systems today in the LAODICEAN CONDITION are also filled with
carnal believers. Some people have trouble putting these two terms together —
carnal and believer. How can a believer in Christ be carnal?
Well, you’ve probably already met a great number of them, for I tell you the
truth when I say that the vast majority of churches in this day is overflowing
with them! You can have two extremes — sinners on one side, Christians on the
other, and Christians can often be worse than sinners. You haven’t been truly
“ripped off” until you have been ripped off by a Christian. Someone who says,
“Praise God, Hallelujah!” and then socks it to you and takes you for a ride,
lying, cheating, and confiscating your money is worse than an infidel. Don’t
trust every business with a fish on the front door! That doesn’t necessarily
mean this is a great company. It may be run by carnal Christians, and carnal
Christians are often more deceptive, devious, and unreliable than sinners who
are good business people. I do not hesitate to say that I do not seek to do
business with the Christians in the church systems. I try to stay away from
them! I have learned by years of experience that it is usually easier to deal
with men of the world who are good business men. Listen to me — the most
miserable people on earth are carnal Christians! Carnal Christians may be the
worst people on earth, but God’s new creation people who have been
processed and transformed into the image of Christ are the finest people on the
face of the earth!
We have seen that the Laodicean church is a democratic church,
controlled by the will of the people. We Americans have been told that
“government of the people, by the people, and for the people” is a divine form
of government, given by the mind of the Lord to our founding Fathers. Where do
you find that in the Word of God? Nowhere! The issue is one of authority: is
it from God, or from man? If God is the sovereign authority over all things,
and Christ is head over all things to the church, which is His body, then His
Spirit, mind, and will alone can govern all things. If the ultimate authority
is man, then all things must serve man and bow down to man. When the will of
the people rules man assumes the posture of sovereign — and that is humanism,
pure and simple. It is the rule of the flesh! There is even a church
organization called the “Congregationalist Church” which glories in the fact
that it is ruled by the people! It is a branch of the church in Laodicea.
I believe in the rule of God, by God, and for God! He is the
almighty Creator of all things, for out of Him, and for Him, and unto Him are
all things. His omniscient mind arranged the spheres and ordained the ages, and
His infinite wisdom and immutable purpose established the end from the
beginning. Nothing else has any potential beyond the dismal realm of sin,
death, and the grave. If it had not been that God ruled me I would have gone to
the devil long ago. I know just a little of my own heart, though it is
abundantly true that the Adamic heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked, and the wise man wisely asked, “Who can know it?” Yet I
know just a little of my own heart and I have seen enough of the little I know
to realize that I would have shipwrecked on some benighted shoals of sin, shame,
delusion, or death were it not for the rule of God in my life by the Spirit.
Thank God, He has taken His great power and has reigned! This is precisely why
the kingdom of God has to be e within.
It is true — you may have good government under democracy if you
have all good people. You may have saintly government under democracy if
you have all saintly people. If the people were all ruled by God and for
God, and the Voice was the voice of an awakened, renewed, and transformed spirit
within, then God would rule. But it is not so. It was not so in Laodicea, for
the people were carnal, and the vast majority of Christians today are no less
carnal! With carnal people you get carnal government, and all democracies in
the end are government of carnality, by carnality, and for carnality.
I tell you today that I do not believe in democracy — I believe in
Theocracy. Theocracy is the rule of God. It is the DIVINE
GOVERNMENT OF THE SPIRIT. It is not the rule by votes or by any contribution of
the carnal mind. It is not even the rule of believers over other believers —
the rule of apostles, bishops, prophets, evangelists, pastors, or teachers. God
does not rule His sons through other people! This is not an independent
spirit — it is the rule of the SPIRIT! God must rule you, my
beloved, out of His throne in your spirit, or you can never know the
power of sonship to God. We praise God for all the precious ministries in the
body of Christ, and esteem them highly for their ministry to the Lord’s elect,
yet all ministries in the body of Christ, including ourselves, are servants,
not lords. I seek not to gather men around me or under me, but to point
all men to the omnipotent power of the Christ within! Democracy cannot be the
kingdom of God or even a simile of the kingdom of God, because those in the
kingdom of God are born of God, led by God, and controlled by God. “For as many
as are led by the Spirit of God,, they are the sons of God” (Rom.
8:14). I no longer fit in the church in Laodicea, I have nothing in common with
it, I cannot function there, it is an abhorrence to me. Furthermore, every one
of God’s apprehended sons has been brought out of the church in Laodicea,
for the conditions there have been part of the things we have been called to
overcome! Oh, yes! We were there once upon a time, for had we not been there,
we could not have overcome it.
“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation,
and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ” (Rev.
12:10). Read those words carefully and you will see that the kingdom of God is
the authority of His Christ. The God who sits upon the throne is
Christ! Christ is in our spirit! The Theocracy has become a Christocracy.
Christ Himself is reigning! I may have a Christocracy today right here within
my soul. I may acknowledge the Lordship of the Christ within that He may reign
in my life, in my heart, in my will, in my mind, in my nature, and then as He
reigns through me, a member of the Christ-body, I become a part of that
Christocracy. This is sonship! This is such a beautiful form of government:
God reigning in and through His chosen. His love, power, wisdom, righteousness,
peace, and judgments all flow through the priesthood that He has called and
ordained. As we experience this within ourselves in a greater way in this hour
we are forming the very government of God for the new age now dawning, and for
the ages to come! What makes this order so different from a democracy is that
the heads are not voted in, therefore they cannot be manipulated by the voters.
The government of God is raised up within every son by the POWER OF GOD WITHIN!
The business of the sons of God is to establish the Theocracy — the rule of God
in the midst of men. Only with the mind of the Spirit can we discern the rule
of God. Paul speaks of it in Philippians 3:20 wherein he says, “For our
conversation is in heaven.” The Greek word here translated “conversation”
is politeuma — POLITICS! Plainly he says, “Our politics are in
heaven.” Our politics are not out of the Democratic party, or the Republican
party, or out of church organization or the church board, or any other fleshly
system. Our politics are right out of the realm of the Spirit, out of the mind
of Christ, out of the power of God! Our politics are the RULE OF GOD BY THE
SPIRIT. In all our life and relationships the sons of God have no other agenda,
no other authority, no other source of blessing to humanity.
Since the church is a part of the kingdom of God it also was
intended to function in the Theocratic Order. We see this so powerfully in the
beginning, before man’s hand was put to it, in the book of Acts. Notice how
things were done by the Holy Ghost, by Theocratic principles. “As they
ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me
Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had
fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them…they…being sent forth by the
Holy Ghost, departed” (Acts 13:2-4). “And there was a certain disciple at
Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias.
And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go
into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for
one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, and hath seen in a vision a
man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand upon him, that he might
receive his sight. Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my
name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. And Ananias
went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him, said,
Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as
thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be
filled with the Holy Ghost. And when he had received meat, he was
strengthened. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is
the Son of God” (Acts 9:10-20).
All ministry in the house of God is by divine appointment, on
whatever level it may be. Only the Holy Ghost can do these things! The
ministers of the Church in Laodicea who are called and appointed by the votes of
the people are not the ministers of Christ! There is no such thing in the
kingdom of God as appointment to ministry by human authority or hierarchy.
Neither is there such a thing as a self-constituted ministry of a man’s
choosing. None but God can make or appoint a ministry of any sort or
description. Even in Old Testament times Yahweh called Moses and appointed
Aaron and his sons to the priesthood; and if a stranger presumed to meddle with
the functions of those so appointed, he was put to death. Such was the solemn
result — the awful consequence of moving outside of God’s theocratic order.
Spiritually it means that all who move in ministry apart from the appointment of
the Spirit are spiritually dead, for God does not anoint such ministry
with His life! “Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in
things pertaining to God…and no man taketh this honor unto himself, but
he that is called of God, as was Aaron” (Heb. 5:1-4). “But now hath God set
the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased Him.”
“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are
diversities of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are
diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all”
(I Cor. 12:4-6).
The “church voting” is all nonsense. I should just as soon ask a
flock of sheep to vote where the shepherd should lead them! I should just as
soon expect an army to vote as to what general should lead them, or whether they
should go into battle or not. I should have no fear of an army that was
controlled by the vote of the soldiers! The devil does not give a snap for the
man-made and man-run church systems of this world where the ministers have to
preach to please the people, or else have the people butt them out of the
pasture. Nice kind of thing, that, is it not? Treating ministers as if they
were cooks! If they do not happen to season the doctrinal soup to the people’s
satisfaction, they say, “Go!” And they have to go. Nonsense!
In that harlot system which calls itself the church, they
have been applying democratic principles to what is supposed to be a
theocratic institution! Every honest man must admit that the so-called church
cannot be the church of God if it is the church of the people. That would be
the people’s church, not God’s. And that is exactly what it is! It cannot be
the church of God, because those in the church of God are born of God,
called of God, led by God, positioned by God, nurtured by God, empowered by God,
and controlled by God. That is why God has called His elect out of
the church systems of man! He has called us out that we may truly come to know
Him, that we may hear His voice, be taught of Him, learn His ways, be processed
by Him and brought to maturity by the power of Christ in us. Only those who
truly know the Lord for themselves and have learned to be led by His
Spirit alone are equipped to reign with Christ in His kingdom!
I have been there — I have lived and walked and ministered in the
church in Laodicea. Not the one in Asia, but the one in America! I know, and
you know, that self-pleasing, pride, fleshly zeal, political manipulations,
financial interests, clout of those who have money and control the purse-strings
of the church, and a great number of other carnal considerations are always
involved where the people call the preachers and the carnal-minded control the
ministry. The ministers of Babylon are hirelings, one and all, and the
people and hierarchies the usurpers of the Holy Ghost. I have found that the
rule of man in church affairs is a curse unutterable; that the minister loses
his ability to walk in the Spirit, loses his sense of being the messenger of
God, loses his capacity to function in the government of God, and becomes the
mere mouthpiece of some wretched committee or faction representing some
miserable party that has attained supremacy in the church. Democracy and
man-made hierarchies will always produce, sooner or later, “man’s man” and
“man’s plan” rather than “God’s man” and “God’s plan.”
All who have received the call to sonship and the kingdom have
been taught of God by the Spirit and have now exchanged the rule of themselves,
by themselves, and for themselves, with the rule of themselves by God and for
God. This is the route of sonship pure and simple! All who shall rule and
reign with Christ as kings and priests sooner or later become thoroughly
undeceived by the carnal church system and flee from it as a plague, for it
has the horns of a lamb, appearing harmless and good, but it has the
voice of a dragon (Rev. 13:1). It is the mind of Christ that will govern
the world in the kingdom of God! Every son is being imbued with the mind of
Christ and from those holy omniscient minds the life and light and love and
authority and glory of the Lord will flow forth with a power that will encompass
the earth with transforming grace and fill it to overflowing with the knowledge
of the glory of the Lord. Thus it is that the Lord says to the overcomer out of
the church in Laodicea, “To him that overcometh (the Laodicean condition) will I
grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame (the religion
of the scribes and Pharisees), and am set down with my Father in His throne.”
With great earnestness I pray that God will open the understanding of all who
read these lines, for it is of perfect truth that I tell you that no man
can ever hope to reign in the kingdom of Christ until his will has become
one with the will of the Father. Were it possible for one man to reign
in the kingdom while still possessing his own will in opposition to the will of
the Father, it would mean the destruction of the kingdom with confusion, strife,
and rebellion.
The mark
of the sons of God is that they are led by the Spirit (Rom. 8:14). Those
who overcome the LAODICEAN CONDITION by the power and leadership of the Holy
Spirit shall reign with Christ in His kingdom! One night a group of men were
sitting around the fireside of a Swiss hotel, discussing the difficulties of
climbing a nearby Alpine mountain. After listening for a while, one man said,
“I am not afraid of that mountain. Tomorrow morning I am going to climb it
alone.” The other men said, “No, it’s too dangerous. You must employ a
guide.” But the man said, “No, I am going to climb it without a guide.” The
next morning, when the other men arose, they learned that this man had gone out
alone. All day they watched for him and he didn’t return. The night came on
and still he didn’t return. The next morning a party started out to look for
him. Halfway up the mountainside they came to a post to which every successful
climber attached his card. They found this man’s card there with the notation
on it, “Without a guide.” He had come that far in safety, but where was he
now? The men climbed a little farther and came to a deep crevice. There they
found the body of the stranger. He had decided to climb without a guide and had
lost his life. You and I, beloved, are climbing the heights of mount Zion! We
are scaling the heights in God! This can only be accomplished — we can only
reach the top where is situated the throne zone — as we are lead by the
one and only great and glorious guide, the Spirit of Truth. He knows the
way! He led the firstborn Son of God to the pinnacle of power and glory, to the
heavenly throne of the universe! And now He is leading all the holy sons of God
to sit with Christ in His throne. It is indeed wonderful!
LUKEWARM
“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I
would that thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and
neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth” (Rev. 3:15-16).
What does it mean to be lukewarm? The word described the water
supply of Laodicea. Because the city lacked an adequate supply of good water,
it had to be piped through a system of aqueducts from the cool springs of
Colosse and the hot springs of Hierapolis. By the time the water reached
Laodicea it was lukewarm, tepid to the taste, and unfit to drink.
What does that mean? We know that John received this revelation in
figurative or symbolic language, so this imagery represents something
spiritual! To understand this, we go back to the Old Testament, to the time of
Moses and Israel in the wilderness. Aaron was anointed high priest and upon the
breastplate of his priestly vestments was the Urim and the Thummim. When the
high priest sought an answer from the Lord, he would consult the Urim and the
Thummim. The scripture record is not explicit about what they were, what they
looked like, or how they were used. It is believed that they were special
stones, and that when Aaron went into the presence of the Lord to ascertain the
will of God in a matter one of the stones would light up, typifying that the
will of God is revealed to His holy kingdom of priests by the Holy Spirit
through inner illumination.
Urim and Thummim mean “lights and perfections.” These signified the
light and perfection of understanding and judgment. When Aaron appeared before
the Lord with a question there were only two possible answers, namely, “Yes” or
“No.” There wasn’t anything between; there was no maybe. In the counsels of
God there is only truth and error, life or death! Humanity wants gray areas, a
compromise, something that is not clearly defined. This enables them to stand
on the fence, accommodate, mix and mingle, prostitute, vacillating in their
judgment according to what is convenient in a particular situation. Today this
is called “situation ethics.” There is no right or wrong, no good or bad, no
truth or error — it just depends on the situation! However there are no
half-truths! Anything that has a lie concealed in a garment of truth is still a
lie! Some people are afraid to declare what God has given them, afraid to
commit to the word of the kingdom, afraid to proclaim the truth of the
reconciliation of all men to God, afraid to leave the church system to follow
Christ in His sonship, because it may not agree with popular belief or friends
or family members. If we have heard the testimony of Christ it is imperative
that we embrace it fully and unreservedly! More will be given to him who has;
and he who has not, that which he thinks he has will be taken away. We must be
either cold or hot!
The Lord offered no praise for the church in Laodicea. His
evaluation resulted in total rebuke. Christ’s language indicates that being
lukewarm is worse than being totally cold! On the surface, this contrast seems
strange. Certainly being lukewarm in relationship to Christ is worse than being
totally hot, but wouldn’t a mixture of at least some hot and cold be better than
being totally cold? That is how the natural mind judges! But spiritual insight
into what our Lord meant by hot, cold, and lukewarm indicates that this is not
the case.
Three spiritual conditions are brought to view in this message — the
cold, the lukewarm, and the hot. It is important to discern by the spirit what
condition they each denote, in order not to reach a wrong conclusion. Three
spiritual conditions which pertain to the people of God, not to the world, are
indicated. This is important! What the term “hot” means is not difficult to
conceive. The mind at once calls up a state of intense fervor, when all the
affections, raised to the highest pitch, are drawn out for God and His purposes,
and manifest themselves in corresponding works. The word “lukewarm” has
traditionally meant a Christian that held one foot in the world and one foot in
Christ. To be lukewarm, however, is to lack this fervor, to be in a state in
which love, commitment, and obedience are lacking, in which there is no
self-denial that costs anything, no valiant pursual of Christ, His will, and His
kingdom. Worst of all, it implies entire satisfaction with that
condition!
But to be “cold” — what is that? Does it denote a state of
corruption, wickedness, sin, such as characterizes the world of unbelievers? We
cannot so regard it! It would be absurd and repulsive to represent the Lord as
wishing under any circumstances that persons should be in such a condition,
preferable to at least some knowledge and experience of Christ. Yet He
says, “I would thou wert cold or hot.” No state can be more
offensive to the Spirit of holiness than that of the sinner in open rebellion,
unbelief, and a heart filled with every evil. David said of the Lord, “For thou
art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell
with thee.” What David was declaring is that sinners will never be “tasty” to
the Lord! Nor will they ever be in His mouth to be cold, lukewarm, or hot, for
evil will not dwell with Him in any way. What about believers who have had
experiences with the Lord but left Him for the pleasures of sin? Can this be
the cold that could be a tasty drink to the Lord? The writer to the Hebrews
stated that “the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul
shall have no pleasure in him.” It is therefore incorrect to represent
the Lord as preferring that condition to any position which His people can
occupy while they are still counted as His. Furthermore, the threat of
rejection is because they are neither cold nor hot! It is as much
as to say that if they were either cold or hot, they would be accepted of
Him in a place of blessing and honor. But if by cold is meant a state of
open worldly unbelief or wickedness, they certainly would not be welcomed into
the highest purposes of the kingdom! Hence such cannot be its meaning.
It is my deep conviction that by this language our Lord has no
reference whatever to those outside His body, but that He refers to three
spiritual planes or conditions, two of which are more acceptable to
Him than the third. Heat and cold are preferable to lukewarmness! But
what kind of spiritual state is denoted by the term “cold”? The Lord points
out that cold and hot drinks have a tastiness to them. Cold and hot drinks are
something we prefer much more than something lukewarm! Cold and hot, to be true
to the Spirit’s analogy, must both be something “tasty” to the Lord and
something to be desired. Obviously a saint cannot be both at the same time!
But, as a drink of tea may be cold in summer time and hot in winter, so can a
child of God be cold or hot at different points in their walk in Christ! A
person can be hungry or full, but not at the same time; yet, he can be both, and
both are commended by the Lord! A tree may be covered with leaves and loaded
with fruit in the summer season, and then be barren, stark, and cold in the
winter; but in either season the tree has life in it and is faithfully
fulfilling its necessary role in the cycles of its purpose. The owner of the
orchard is just as pleased with the barren tree in winter as he is with the
fruitful tree in summer!
Let us meditate further on the tree at winter time. The cold tree
does not have much value or outward fruitfulness in this season. It cannot
serve even as a break against the cold north winds! It offers no shade from the
sun, nor any fruit to the hungry. It is the very picture of bleakness,
leanness, and desolation as it faces the tribulations of winter. Its life has
sunk very deep within as it is buffeted by the cold winds, rain, ice, and snow.
And yet, this state is necessary to the survival of the tree! It is like sleep
for a human, a time of rest, recuperation, strengthening, and preparation for
the season of fruit bearing when it shall become bread to the hungry, shade to
the distressed, moisture to the atmosphere, and the joy of the whole earth!
Thus, the cold relates to those seasons of testing, trial,
tribulation, stripping, purging, pruning, and chastening under the hand of our
Father. Just as the tree stands enduring the winter, so we stand enduring our
winter times. In these cold or winter experiences we feel sometimes as though
God has forsaken us, the heavens become brass, and joy and blessing flee the
soul. This is what the mystics have referred to as “the dark night of the
soul.” It is a time of dryness, leanness, testing, and darkness in
which we learn what it means to walk by faith and not by sight. Eventually
we discover that there is great purpose in these distressing seasons, and great and
wonderful lessons are learned there that can be learned in no other way! The
very hand of God leads us through this valley of the shadow of death until there
is raised up in us the understanding, wisdom, faith, power, and nature of the
Lord. Then we are able to appreciate all the more the greatness of our God and
His faithfulness, power, and purpose in all things! THIS, MY BELOVED, IS THE
COLD IN WHICH OUR FATHER REJOICES! Either cold or hot, stripped and tested
or blessed and fruitful, He delights in our way. It is only the tepid
lukewarm that He loathes!
God led Israel through a great and terrible wilderness on their journey to the
land flowing with milk and honey. He brought them into the wilderness to test
them and prove them in preparation for their entrance into the fruitful land.
The drier and more barren the wilderness, the hotter the testings and harder the
path over which one goes, the deeper the work of God to bring forth His glory!
Thus did the Spirit “drive” the firstborn Son forth into the wilderness to be
tested by the devil. For forty days He ate not and drank not, amidst the
desolation, the howling winds and blowing dust; the vipers and scorpions were
His only companions as He endured the inner struggles and wrestlings with the
adversary sent to try Him, to prove the life of sonship within Him. When the
temptations were finished, Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into
Galilee; and a fame went out concerning Him throughout all the region around.
Every son will be so tried! God brings us to a desert place where
everybody and everything fails us; where we must stand upon the air, as it were,
with nothing under our feet. We can look nowhere but up to God, and He leaves
us hanging there upon the thread of faith, clinging and looking to Him,
believing Him. He moves upon the clouds of the carnal mind, He moves upon all
that hides the truth from our vision, He moves upon the fog of man’s theories
and self-righteousness, He comes with conviction and purging power, showing us
our shortage and the vanity of all things of the flesh; He blasts all our
self-esteem and self-confidence, and sweeps away every carnal ambition, all our
own plans and desires, our religious activities and multiplied works, our
religious pride and fleshly motives, and every secret sin. As all of this falls
off, we are left apparently stripped and bare, like the cold, bleak tree of
winter; but, in reality, we are in a better condition to bring forth blossoms
and fruit to His glory than ever before! He brings us low in the dust of
humiliation and brokenness, that He may then clear the spiritual atmosphere
about us, shining the splendor of the light of God into our lives, wooing us
onward and revealing our destiny in Christ, raising up His life within us and
bringing us out of the wilderness in the power of the Spirit as manifest sons of
God that we may bear much fruit of His kingdom.
Just as the Lord Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame, for
the joy that was set before Him, we endure the individual cross set before each
of us. The tree endures the winter and flourishes in summer. We endure the
cold times, for they are appointed of the Lord, that we may flourish in the hot
seasons that God sets to give fruit. The tree, Jesus, and all the trees — His
many brethren, the manifest sons of God — who are, or have been, in the cold
times stand in faith trusting and waiting. Each of us must trust that summer
will come, and wait for it! We must trust that the Lord will take us through
the winter and also wait for it. How precious and dear to the heart of God is
the cold of our lives as well as the hot! He wishes us to be
either cold or hot. Those are the two conditions that are acceptable to Him!
A. W. Tozer penned an article titled THE MINISTRY OF THE NIGHT. How skillfully
he describes the condition of the COLD of our experience in Christ! He says,
“If God has singled you out to be a ‘special object’ of His grace, you
may expect Him to honor you with stricter discipline and greater suffering than
less favored ones are called upon to endure…and right here, let me anticipate
the objection someone is sure to raise, viz, that God has no ‘specials’ among
His children. The holy scriptures and church history agree to show that He
has! Star differs from star in glory among the saints on earth as well as the
glorified in heaven. If God sets out to make you an unusual saint, He is
not likely to be so gentle as He is usually pictured to be by the popular
teachers. A sculptor does not use a manicure set to reduce the rude, unshapely
marble to a thing of beauty. The saw, the hammer, and the chisel are crude
tools, but without them the rough stone must remain forever formless and
un-beautified.
“To do His supreme work of grace within you He will take from your heart
everything you love most. Everything you trust in will go from you. Piles of
ashes will lie where your most precious treasures used to be. This is not to
teach the sanctifying power of poverty. If to be poor made men holy, every
tramp on a park bench would be a saint! But God knows the secret of
removing ‘things’ from our hearts while they still remain to us. What He does
is to restrain us from enjoying them. He may let us have them, but makes us
psychologically unable to let our hearts go out to them. Thus they are useful
without being harmful. All this God will accomplish at the expense of the
common pleasures that have, up to that time, supported your life and made it
zestful. Now, under the careful treatment of the Holy Spirit, your life may
become dry, tasteless, and to some degree a burden to you.
“While in this state, you will exist by a kind of blind will to live; you will
find none of the inward sweetness you enjoyed before. The smile of God will for
the time be withdrawn, or at least hidden from your eyes. Then you will learn
what faith is; you will find out the hard way, but the only way open to you,
that true faith lies in the will, that the joy unspeakable of which the apostle
spoke is not itself faith, but a slow-ripening fruit of faith; and you will
learn that present spiritual joys may come and go as they will without altering
your spiritual status or in any way affecting your position as a true son of the
heavenly Father. And you will learn also, probably to your astonishment, that
it is possible to live in all good conscience before God and men and still feel
nothing of the ‘peace and joy’ you hear talked about so much by immature
Christians.
“How long you may continue in this night of the soul will depend upon a
number of factors, some of which you may be later able to identify, while others
will remain with God, completely hidden from you. The words ‘the day is
Thine, the night also is Thine’ will now be interpreted for you by the best
of all teachers, the Holy Spirit; and you will know by personal experience what
a blessed thing is the ministry of the night! But there is a limit to a
man’s ability to live without joy. Even Christ could endure the cross only
because of the joy set before Him! The strongest steel breaks if kept
too long under unrelieved tension. God knows exactly how much pressure a life
can stand! He knows how long we can endure the night, so He gives the soul
relief, first by welcome glimpses of the morning star and then by the fuller
light that harbingers the morning.
“Slowly you will discover God’s love in your suffering! Your heart will
begin to approve the whole thing! You will learn for yourself what all the
schools in the world cannot teach you — the healing action of faith without
supporting pleasure. You will feel and understand the ministry of the night;
its power to purify, to detach, to humble, to destroy the fear of death and,
what is more important to you at the moment, the fear of life! And you will
learn that sometimes rain can do what even joy cannot, such as exposing
the vanity of earth’s trifles and filling your heart with the peace of heaven”
— end quote.
There is yet another application of the three spiritual conditions
of cold, hot, and lukewarm. It could be read this way: “Because thou art
neither cold (Outer Court, feast of Passover) nor hot (Most Holy Place, feast of
Tabernacles) you are stuck in the middle (Holy Place, feast of Pentecost),
you’ve got enough of both realms to make you comfortable — lukewarm!”
Listen — there’s nothing wrong with being in the Holy Place and the feast of
Pentecost, but when you’ve been there for twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty years
and never move on, the Lord says, “I’m about ready to spit you out!” Pentecost
is the feast of transition. The candlestick realm (Holy Place) is the
compartment of transition. Each is a temporary stopping point on the way
from one realm to another realm. Neither is designed to be a
permanent arrangement or an ultimate experience!
There is a great lukewarmness in that Pentecostal realm
today. Oh, how rich people think they are as, like little children, they
“play” with the “gifts” of the Spirit and imagine that they have the full
gospel and that they are full grown and accomplishing mighty things in the
kingdom of God! At present among the crowd in the candlestick realm
there is much information coming forth in the way of books, tapes, and seminars
concerning the gifts of the Spirit, healing, miracles, prophecy, casting out
devils, deliverance, dancing in the Spirit, and many other things. By reading
these books, listening to the tapes, or attending a training school one can pick
up the “HOW TO’S” and quickly learn the techniques employed by those who are
experienced in such sensational ministries. From such sources one can
supposedly learn in a relatively short period of time how to move in a
dynamic prophetic ministry with signs, wonders, and miracles!
Though some may disbelieve it, I would be remiss if I failed to
exhort you that if, by reading a series of lessons, or sitting through a
seminar, a man can “learn” to prophesy, “learn” to perform miracles, “learn” to
dance in the Spirit, or be “taught” how to perform any other spiritual feat,
then he is indeed THE DECEIVED who will be among the astonished of whom Jesus
spoke when He said, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy
name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never
knew you (intimately, as a husband knows his wife): depart from me, ye that
work iniquity (lawlessness, that which was not at my word)” (Mat. 7:22-23). Who
can dispute that the land is filled today with lying signs and wonders
that are done in the name of Christ!
The mighty acts and manifestations of the Spirit of God are not
learned in seven easy lessons — they are supernaturally bestowed by the
lovely and wonderful Christ as a result of intimacy of fellowship, personal
association, and vital union with HIM. How to do the works of God is not
contained in a formula or in any set of methods or techniques understood by the
carnal mind. The understanding of such high and holy things comes by revelation
born of an inner work, in earnest seeking and holy brokenness and a deep
relationship with the Lord Himself. The wonderful works of God are the result,
not of repeating certain phrases, or stepping out in faith on mental impressions
or imaginations, or the employment of certain techniques, but of the SOVEREIGN
POWER OF ALMIGHTY GOD.
After years of a ministry of transcending greatness our beloved
brother Paul wrote of the true source of all spiritual ministry, saying, “For I
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the
revelation of Jesus Christ. But when it pleased God…to reveal His Son in
me…immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: neither went I up to
Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia (a
desert place), and returned again to Damascus. Then, after three years I
went up to Jerusalem to see Peter…” (Gal. 1:12-24). Three years in Arabia
waiting on God! Three years alone in the desert receiving the revelation
of Jesus Christ! Ah, that was Paul’s cold experience! He came out
from Arabia in the power of the Spirit, just as Jesus came out of the wilderness
in the power of the Spirit. That was Paul’s hot experience! Let me
tell you something. Paul read no books on “Soul winning made easy” or “How to
prophesy” or “How to heal the sick and cast out devils.” Oh, no! If, like
Paul, we will take the time to bow low in humility and holy waiting upon the
presence of God, and listen intently for His voice, we will become
strangely acquainted with the secret of His will, not only for the ages to come,
but for the present age and the high purposes of God for those called to sonship
in this new Day of the Lord! When we live in the Spirit we will walk in the
Spirit. When we walk in the Spirit we will be led by the Spirit. And when we
are led by the Spirit we are THE SONS OF GOD.
I WILL SPEW YOU OUT OF MY MOUTH
“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will
spew you out of my mouth” (Rev. 3:16).
When the Lord warns those in the lukewarm state that He is going to
spew them out of His mouth it doesn’t mean they are lost and He is going to send
them to hell. It is not a word to unbelievers or unconverted, but to the people
of God! God says that this is His attitude toward a carnal church! Just like
lukewarm water, tea, or coffee, a carnal Christian is not good for anything.
God cannot stand the taste. Lukewarm is a sickening combination of hot and cold
water. He just wants to get it out of His mouth! Oft times I feel the same way
myself. The Greek brings out the idea of ad nauseam more realistically,
for it says, “I will vomit you out of my mouth.” This sense of
loathsomeness on the part of the Lord of the church is undoubtedly the saddest
and most lamentable appraisal of God’s professed people in all of the
scriptures.
David Wilkerson wrote the following words a number of years ago,
which have stood the test of time, and with which I heartily concur. “Jesus
said of the Laodicean church, ‘It will say…I am rich, increasing with goods
(wealthy), and am in need of nothing…’ (Rev. 3:17). How sad that this
particular church, arrogant and boastful, is being heralded by so many
undiscerning Christians as the glorious last days church of power and dominion
which will subdue the world and bring King Jesus back. It is the Laodicean
lie! One dear soul wrote the following: ‘Don’t you realize, sir, that our next
president will be a tongues-speaking, Spirit-filled man? Don’t you know that
all these great building projects by evangelists are ordained of God? The Lord
is training leaders, raising up huge projects so they can move into government
positions — having learned all about high finances and building. The church is
going to take over the government — Spirit-filled leaders are going to make the
laws, doing away with abortion, pornography, and crime. God has raised up a
powerful church to take dominion now.’
“God is not at all impressed with this church’s bloated estimate of
itself! The Laodicean lukewarm church is not destined to dominion, power, and
authority of any kind. It is destined to judgment! It is the worst kind of
spiritual blindness to line up with those who boast that the modern American
church, Charismatic or otherwise, faces its finest hour. What an incredible
lack of spiritual discernment! Jesus rips off the façade and exposes the truth
about the Laodicean church. It is not what it thinks it is — it is not what it
says it is. It is not rich — it is poor! It is not on the increase — it is
wretched and is about to be cut off! It is not strong and in need of nothing —
but rather, it is naked, shameful! It is not a church with new revelation and
deep spiritual insights — Jesus said IT IS BLIND! It is not going to be the
vehicle of Christ’s dominion on earth, but rather the object of His wrath and
abhorrence.
“You can be sure God has a people for Himself in these days, but
they are a despised, holy, and separated remnant. This holy remnant people will
walk in the light and enjoy great discernment. They see the modern Laodicean
church through the eyes of Jesus and they will not be deceived by the pomp,
bigness, and outward grandeur of popular religion. The true church is
invisible; it is repentant; it yearns for Christ, the beloved One” — end quote.
There is still a deeper meaning to the words, “I will spew you out
of my mouth.” What is the Lord’s “mouth”? It is the vehicle speaking the
word of God! “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of
God” (I Pet. 4:11). “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of
man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost” (II Pet. 1:21). “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie,
promised before the world began; but hath in due times manifested His word
through preaching” (Tit. 1:2-3). The man who speaks the very words of God
is the Lord’s mouth upon earth! God also speaks mind to mind or
spirit to spirit and that is how we hear the voice of God within
ourselves. But when the Lord wishes to speak to men through men He chooses a
vessel as His mouth, His medium of conveying His word.
So — what happens to these saints in the LAODICEAN CONDITION? The
Lord says, “You will no longer be my mouthpiece, you will no longer speak my
word! I am going to speak, all right. Yes, I am speaking to those who have
ears to hear! But the living word I speak to men will not proceed from out of
you!” Such was, and is, the condition of Laodicea as discerned by Christ; these
are speaking words that the Lord has spoken, but they are not speaking
the living words He is now speaking!. That is the condition of all who
refuse to move forward in God! They continue to live in yesterday’s revelation,
in yesterday’s move of the Spirit, little realizing that God has moved on and is
doing a new thing in the earth. Sometimes they are not even speaking the old,
stale words of God, but just their own word out of the imaginations of their
hearts; and it is nauseous to Him; He abhors it, and therefore declares
irrevocably that He will spew them out of His mouth!
The meaning is, that He will totally reject these people as His prophetic
voice, His responsible light-bearer in the world. I do not hesitate to say
that the old order church systems today are no longer the mouthpiece of God!
They are their own mouthpiece, speaking their own carnal message. God has
already spewed them out of His mouth! That doesn’t mean they are no longer the
Lord’s people, or that they cannot fulfill some function in His purposes on
earth. It means, my beloved, that they are no longer SPEAKING FOR GOD! The
true message of the hour is not coming out of their mouths! Whatever you hear
from them is something other than the living word of God for this new kingdom
Day!
The Lord goes on to say, “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and
increased with goods, and have need of nothing…” Because thou sayest…”
See, they are speaking! They are talking as the mouthpiece of God. This
confirms what we just pointed out. But though they say it, that does not make
it the words of God! They say one thing, but the Spirit says
another!
“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit sayeth
unto the churches!” God is speaking to His elect in this hour, my beloved, and
those who hear His voice are living in His sight. Great and mighty things lie
before us. The sons of God are now arising to possess the kingdom. It will be
MORE than revival this time — IT WILL BE THE KINGDOM OF GOD WITH POWER! There
is a fresh move of the Spirit, a new feast of His fullness, a new ministry from
the Holiest of all, a new work of God in the earth that transcends by far
anything that has ever been seen or known. We are nearing the hour of the full
manifestation of the sons of God. The long awaited liberation of planet earh
is near at hand. The greater works that Jesus told us of are ready to
begin. We have not passed this way before. But God is speaking, and all that
He speaks shall come to pass. Isn’t it wonderful!
To be continued…
J. PRESTON EBY
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