FROM THE CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE

Part 65

THE THRONE

“After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven…” (Rev. 4:1).

John the Revelator, as he entered upon the marvelous visions recorded in the book of Revelation, saw a door opened in heaven and heard a voice as of a trumpet speaking with him, saying, “Come up hither, and I will show thee things…” The door opened in heaven bespeaks of an entrance granted into a realm beyond the flesh, beyond the physical and psychical senses, into the realm of the Spirit. That is where John entered and that is the character of the things John saw. He beheld heavenly things — spiritual realities. He saw a throne set in heaven — he perceived the authority, power, and dominion of the Spirit. He saw living creatures in the throne, the principle of manifest life in the Spirit. He saw the four living creatures in the midst of the throne and twenty-four elders round about the throne, the King-Priest ministry of the Melchizedekian Order after the power of an endless life — the ministration of the redemptive power of the divine life unto creation. It is being seen by a vast company of people that hears the voice of the Lord in this hour that a door has opened in the heavenlies through which those who are obedient shall enter into a state of being and a ministry of unsurpassed and unimaginable glory — in the throne zone!

To the church in Philadelphia the Lord Jesus said, “These things saith He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth” (Rev. 3:7). And now a door is opened in heaven! Only one can open this door, even the one who openeth and no man shutteth. What kind of door would Christ open? It is the door of heaven, the entrance into the eternal realm of the Spirit where our mind, vision, and experience go beyond our human understanding. It is here that we enter into a heavenly understanding, into the divine perception of things, into the mind of God by the Spirit. Here we are raptured into a new glory, raised up into a higher dimension of life and reality.

What is this door? Jesus Himself has told us! Of all that Jesus said about the life of sonship and entrance into the glory and power of the kingdom of God, nothing is more significant than these words: “I am the door — by me if any man enter in…” And again, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” What a strange but wonderful figure of speech — Jesus, the door! Now what does a door signify? One can judge the interior of a house by its door. Is the door shabby, paint peeling off, hanging on a single hinge? Then it opens into a house of the same character — run down, in disorder, unkempt. If, on the other hand the door be spacious, costly, ornamental, distinctive, one has a right to expect that the building into which it leads is splendid, spacious, beautiful.

Surely this figure of Christ as the door is enchanting! If Jesus is the door to the life of sonship, to immortality, glory and power, what must that life be like? It cannot be less than Christ! It must be as much as Jesus was to His disciples and the multitudes who followed Him — that much and more! If He spake as never man spake, if He proclaimed the kingdom of God with power, if He forgave and transformed the sinner, if He healed the sick, raised the dead, cast out devils, overcame all laws of nature, radiated the glory of the Father, and conquered death within Himself — if He is the door into the life of sonship, then we have only to follow His leading, obey His voice, cling to Him and walk by faith in His presence until we are changed in the light of the glory of His unveiled face and pass through the door into all He is!

Divine things are a matter of revelation. Man in his natural state cannot see heavenly realities. The beloved apostle found himself in a prophetic state in which the wonders and glories of heavenly things were perceived by him. The words point to the blinding limitation of our natural minds and state of being, in which the heavens have no door open for us. For long millenniums man was debarred from a clear vision of the eternal, incapable of apprehending the spiritual and divine. At his first calling to the apostleship, Nathaniel received this promise from the Lord: “Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” (Jn. 1:51). To the Lord Jesus Himself the heavens were opened at His baptism, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him, and lo a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mat. 3:16-17). This opening of the heavens to Christ was His public introduction as the SON of God! The opened heavens declared His sonship! It marks the beginning of that full revelation through Him, of the mystery of God revealed in sons! It is in that capacity from the throne of His exaltation in the heavens of God’s Spirit that Christ now reveals to His many brethren the power and glory of their sonship in Him! Have you heard the voice saying to you, “Come up hither”? I have heard that voice! All who are called to sonship have heard that voice! IT IS IN CHRIST THAT WE HEAR THE VOICE BIDDING US TO COME UP HITHER. IT IS IN CHRIST THAT THE HEAVENS ARE OPENED. IT IS IN CHRIST THAT WE ASCEND THE THRONE OF POWER AND GLORY TO RULE AND REIGN OVER ALL THINGS. Oh, yes, HE is the door!

The Spirit-led, spiritual-minded saints of the Lord are beholding in the Spirit the door that has been opened in the heavens! These are listening only to the Voice and the Word of their Father. They have been weaned from the mixture and weakness of the old order church ways of the past (the candlestick realm), and are hearing only His pure word from His pure mind. They obviously have those necessary hearing ears of the spirit, which have been given to them of their Father, and which enable them to hear His Word! They also have the necessary eyes of understanding that have been enlightened by their Father, which enable them to see into the heavenly realms of the Spirit! As they ascend the throne in the realm of the Spirit the new kingdom order expressed through them will begin to change things in this old world of man’s corruption, iniquity, and decay. These sons shall indeed reign with Christ in the power and authority of the Spirit, by which this new spiritual order shall be established in the earth.

When we read these meaningful words of a door opened in heaven, with our mind’s eye we can visualize a huge door creaking on its hinges, opening up in the sky. But that is not at all what John saw! The Greek word for door is thura meaning a portal or an entrance. A portal or an entrance is opened unto us! The word can also mean a vestibule and denotes the first awareness of entrance into something. It is the place of transition from the earthly to the heavenly. The Greek text indicates that the door is there and it’s standing open. This door is the invitation of the Father by the Spirit, for upon seeing the door John immediately “became in the Spirit” or passed through the door and found Himself standing in the throne room. A portal is a passage into another realm. The door is the spirit of Christ, and the spirit of His sonship is the “star gate” into the throne room of the heavens!

THE FORERUNNER

While Christ our Elder Brother and High Priest ministers this great calling to us we are possessed of a hope — “which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 6:19-20). While manifested on this earth plane, Jesus Christ left us His personal example that we might follow in His footsteps. It is a way that leads beyond the veil into the glories of the Father. It was necessary that He tread all the course that we might be able to follow all the way into His divine fullness. He is the way unto the Father, and by our union in Him we find it is first a way of humiliation before it becomes a way of exaltation. There is both Patmos and the candlestick realm before we access the throne! Thus we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, assured that in due time He will lift us up, and we shall live in His sight.

A forerunner is one who goes ahead of others. He goes ahead as a sample of those who are to follow. The forerunner is one who gives us hope of entering in! And the writer to the Hebrews says that it is this hope which we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and it enters into that which is within the veil whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus. What wonderful words are these! The anchor is sure and the anchor is steadfast! Do you know what that means? Have you ever done some boating? When we were doing missionary work on an island off the coast of Honduras many years ago we became very familiar with boats, anchors, and dinghies. Sometimes you throw out an anchor and it slips. The writer knows that so he says, “Which hope we have as an anchor, both sure (strong) and steadfast (unslippable).” We have a hope that is sure because it is God who has called us, and we have a hope that is steadfast because Jesus is leading the way!

Who is the anchor of the soul? What is our hope of entering in to the Holiest of all, the throne room of God? Christ Jesus the Lord! “Who entereth into that within the veil.” The veil separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. The high priest would go into the throne room of Yahwey through the veil. The wonderful firstborn Son of God is the anchor of our soul! He is sure! He is steadfast! He is strong and cannot slip! He has overcome all things, conquered death, hell, and the grave, resurrected and ascended — He is the strong and mighty One who has blazed the trail for us! He is our forerunner!

There are many things to learn from types and anti-types, and nowhere more than in this meaningful term “forerunner”. The forerunner, in Bible times, was a little row boat, a forerunner went before the big ship. The forerunner was a little dinghy. The apostle already mentioned an anchor that is sure, an anchor that is steadfast, and an anchor that goes beyond the veil. All the typology here is marine. The imagery is of the Mediterranean where in the ancient world they had a lot of harbors, but many of the harbors were shallow water harbors. When the tide was low you often had a problem in that the larger ships could not get across the sand bar or the rocks, so they couldn’t make the entrance into the harbor. This was a problem for these ships, they were out in the main channel but were unable to get into the protective covering of the harbor because the tide was out or the sand bar was in the way or the rocks obstructed their path and they couldn’t pass over.

The big ship would then throw out an anchor and let it down into a forerunner — a dinghy or row boat — and a man in the row boat would row the row boat which could get across the sand bar and the rocks even at low tide. When the forerunner would get into the safety and serenity of the harbor, the man would then drop the anchor off the side of the row boat into the waters within the harbor. The ship would be out in the water, buffeted by the winds and the seas and the storm; but the anchor was inside the haven, sure and steadfast. Even so, we who have received the call to sonship have an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast, Jesus Christ our forerunner! He is gone within the veil, He has ascended to the throne. He is not entered into the tabernacle made with hands which was the shadow, the type, the illustration, the object lesson. Our forerunner is gone into heaven itself — into the highest realms of the Spirit — seated on the throne of the majesty on high! We, in this present walk in the weakness and limitation of the flesh, in our outward life, are still out in the storms of life where the winds of adversity blow, the rains of trouble fall in torrents, where the fearful lightning flashes, the thunder roars, where the billows of trials and testings angrily toss our vessel; and we feel engulfed in a storm where everything seems to be closing in upon us. But we are connected to Christ in our spirit, one in Him, called and chosen and ordained by Him, and the anchor holds, praise His name, and we are secure until the storm abates and the tide comes in so that we may enter on in to the same harbor whither our forerunner has for us entered. Oh, yes! When all carnality, limitation and death have been swallowed up in body, soul, and spirit, we shall know the full power and glory of the throne zone. And today we have a strong consolation because of the hope that is set before us!

Jesus is our forerunner, which clearly indicates that others are expected to follow on into the same realms of glory. Christ entered in first, and where He went in the power of His resurrection and ascension, every son of God is destined to go. The forerunner blazed the trail all the way, and we rejoice in this fact, but then He also came back, by His Spirit, to escort us all the way into the glory beyond the veil. Full well He knows the route, for He has traveled it all the way through to victory, and now is able to guide us down the same path into the glorious victory which He obtained. It is His daily enabling that gives us strength to carry on until the consummation is reached. THE FORERUNNER IS THE DOOR!

THE DOOR STANDING OPEN

“After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven!” (Rev. 4:1, Amplified Bible). The door is standing open — now! Heaven is accessible — now! Sonship is attainable — now! Immortality and glory are obtainable — now! The throne is reachable — now! The Voice is calling — now! The door is standing open! Aren’t you glad!

What is lacking is a people that are in consciousness so in the heavenly dimension now; so alive to the things that are eternal, the things that are spirit, that even without them speaking this explicitly, their very presence exudes the atmosphere of life and the fragrance of the heavenly. God is preparing a people, a heavenly and celestial race, set in time. “…and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come He might show…” (Eph. 2:6-7). This is meaningless prattle unless the Spirit opens our understanding! We have been warned by the carnal minded of this age about the danger of being so “heavenly minded” until we are “no earthly good.” That is what the world says, and what should you expect from the world but to controvert and take the wisdom of God and so distort and pervert it until it appears ridiculous and absurd to have mankind believe exactly the reverse! But these words are being written to show that we have no choice, no option as to whether we will be heavenly minded or not, for we have heard the Voice calling, “Come up hither,” and we stand in the blazing glory of the door opened in the heavens. The truth is, my beloved, IF WE ARE NOT HEAVENLY MINDED IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BE OF ANY EARTHLY GOOD!

It is only as a power reaches down and touches earth that it can be raised and quickened, transformed from the image of the earthly into the image of the heavenly. And Paul, the apostle of apostles, through whom the sacred secrets of God were revealed by the grace of God, defying the empty and inane cavilings of men and their fruitless doctrines and hollow traditions, admonished those who would be the sons and daughters of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the HEAVENLY CALLING…if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which ARE ABOVE, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things ABOVE, NOT ON THINGS ON THE EARTH. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Heb. 3:1; Col. 3:1-3).

It is when we are quickened to the realm of spirit, to the heavenly and celestial, to that bright glory world where alone can be perceived eternal truth and reality, that we hear our heavenly Father speaking from the throne of eternity. Long before the ages were framed and before the cosmos appeared out of the wastes of chaos, there in the glory and wonder of His presence, from out of the depths of His omniscient mind, His purpose for the ages and the world and every creature was laid down upon the infinite blue-print, plan by plan, purpose by purpose, age by age, person by person, so that each eonian purpose and every divine decree shall be guided and controlled by His omnipotent hand to grow and mature from glory to glory until His vast family of beloved sons shall deliver up to Him all things in perfection that God Himself might be All-in-all.

The notion that one could in some way become so “heavenly minded” that he would be “no earthly good” reveals the incredible darkness and deluded stupidity of the carnal mind and its pitiful inability to comprehend things that belong to heavenly realms. Oh, that the wisdom of man which is foolishness with God might be torn from our hearts that we might see beyond the mists and theories of time and tradition right into the very heart of the eternal where is found the infinite wisdom that teaches us how it is that until one becomes truly HEAVENLY MINDED he CANNOT be of any EARTHLY GOOD! The fact is, the only reality in the universe is SPIRIT! The things which are seen are temporal, says the Lord, and the things which are not seen are eternal. There is the wisdom of God in a mystery! Until one learns how to live and have his being out of spirit, out of the invisible realm, out of his very innermost being, he will continue to be held captive by the corruption of the flesh and dwell in the shadow of death.

That wonderful prayer Jesus taught His disciples, which we call The Lord’s Prayer, begins with the words, “Our Father which art in heaven.” Until men recognize by the illumination of the Spirit who their Father is they remain lost and dying in the dense darkness of the carnal mind. Spiritually, they are no different than the adopted child who has never been told he is adopted and has no concept of who his biological parents truly are or from where he came. Our Father in heaven is not the one who gave us our physical life in the womb of our earthly mother. The only reason Jesus could tell the vast throng gathered around Him, “Call no man your father upon the earth, for ONE IS YOUR FATHER, which is in heaven,” is that we all must recognize that our life did not begin with our physical birth. Our true Father is not a man upon earth, but our true Father is a spirit and He is in heaven! Can we not see by this that our life did not begin on earth — it began in heaven! Nothing could be plainer than this! Over and over again Jesus taught the multitudes about their “heavenly Father.” Just look up the word “father” in Strong’s Concordance and see how many times in the four Gospels Jesus told the people that God was their Father!

And these were not born again men under the New Covenant, they were natural men under the servitude of the law. Once we know who and where our Father is it is easy to understand where our life began and from whence we came. Our birth, our beginnings, were with God! God is our Father! Aren’t you glad!

There is a passage in the book of Hebrews that speaks of those great heroes of faith under the Old Covenant, and it says, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He hath prepared for them a city” (Heb. 11:13-16). These men of God were strangers on the earth. They were seeking a country — Abraham knew that the ground he walked on in the land of Canaan was not the true land of God, for “he looked for a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” He was searching for the City of God and knew that he was only a pilgrim and stranger in the land of Canaan, though God had led him thither. “If they had been mindful” — that is, if they had remembered that country from whence they came, that celestial realm, that heavenly kingdom, that spiritual reality from whence they were lowered into this earth-realm; if somehow the veil could have been removed from off their minds, from the limitations of their earthiness so that they could have remembered that country from whence they came — they might have had opportunity to have returned. But instead they died in faith — still looking for the city of God, the kingdom of God — spiritual reality!

Blessed be the name of the Lord! God has provided some better thing for us and now we can return — the way has been opened into the presence of God, into the life of God, into the glory of God, into the kingdom of God, into the Holiest of all, into the throne of God. That’s what this journey into God is all about — a return to the Lord! It is our return to the heavenly; our return to the spiritual; our return to the image of God; our return to Eden; our return to the kingdom; our return to the incorruptible; our return to the throne! In the words of the little chorus:

There’s a call within us, and deep calleth unto deep. I tell you, my beloved, there is something within me, an inner compulsion, and I know that I have passed the point of no return. There is no turning back from this quest for God’s fullness. I can’t go back to the world — the world has nothing to offer me; it is all vanity and vexation of spirit. I can’t go back to religion — religion holds nothing for me anymore; it is an abomination. I can’t even go back to Pentecost, back to the Holy Place — for the veil has been rent, the heavens have been opened, I have heard the Voice bidding me to “Come up hither,” and I stand in the glory of the door opened in heaven and have tasted the powers of the world to come. There is no turning back because my heart has been awakened by the Father of glory! For some in this hour the veil has been rent, the door stands open, and we pause in the vestibule beholding the transcendent glories of that land from whence we came. By the blood of Jesus we have been granted the opportunity to return. We no longer feel strangers to our heavenly homeland! God has redeemed us, awakened us, renewed us, and in His Son made us to be again who we truly are! Christ the door is standing open in the heavens!

One of my many moments of being spiritually thrilled was upon examining the second statement of the Lord’s prayer: “Our Father which art in heaven.” But to be correctly translated it should read, “Which art in the heavens,” for it is plural, not singular. So, contrary to popular thought, God dwells in more than one heaven. The great king Solomon cried out, “Behold, I build a house to the name of the Lord my God, and the house which I build is great: for great is our God above all gods. But who is able to build Him an house, seeing the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him? who am I that I should build Him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before Him?” (II Chron. 2:4-6).

Paul spoke of a man who was caught up into the third heaven, and God, our Father, is the God of all the heavens! God dwells in the heavens! He fills every heaven! He rules in every heaven! He is above every heaven, beyond every heaven, higher than all heavens and greater than the reality of each heaven! In our journey into God we pass through all these heavens! Jesus passed through all the heavens on His way into the glory of the Father. How do we know this? “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things” (Eph. 4:10). In His ascension to the throne of His Father He passed through — experienced — all the heavens. Not only did He pass through them, He has also filled them all so that God in Christ is the essence of every heaven. You will find Him on a different plane, in a different dimension, in a unique aspect of His life and purpose, in each heaven.

Heaven is not a place, not a planet somewhere out in the vastnesses of infinity — it is a sphere or a realm of spiritual, divine reality. It is a dimension of life. It is a level of God-consciousness. It is the invisible realm of Spirit that transcends this gross material realm. It is as omnipresent as God is omnipresent. It is an absurdity to say that heaven is a place somewhere beyond the blue where God dwells, and then say that God is omnipresent. The omnipresent spiritual dimension is co-existent and co-extensive with the physical universe, but on a different plane of reality and level of consciousness, on a different “frequency,” if I may use the term in an illustrative sense. It is the dimension of spirit reality, of spiritual being, where God is all that He is. God dwells in the heaven that is beyond the time-space continuum, and therefore undetectable by the natural senses of man or the probings of technology. Heaven can only be discerned, contacted, seen, entered, or experienced by spirit!

Heaven is also the realm where God is revealed by the Spirit. Heaven is the realm where God is known in the Spirit. Heaven is the realm where God may be touched in the Spirit. Heaven is the realm in which God can be experienced in the Spirit. God is the God of the heavens, and if ever you will see Him, if ever you will know Him, if ever you will touch Him, if ever you will experience Him — it will be in the heavens of His Spirit where He dwells, in the realms of His Being. Heaven means “height, eminence, elevation.” Heaven is the high and holy realm of the Spirit in which God exists. To be in heaven is to be in the Spirit! To experience God spiritually is to experience heaven! To be “caught up” in spirit is to be “raptured” to heaven. The heavens are the various realms or levels of spiritual experience where we meet and know God. When God and His realities are revealed to you by the Spirit, heaven is opened and you behold heavenly (spiritual) things! In the lower heavens, where most believers dwell, you know God in a more elementary way.

It is wonderful to know God in His heavens! Each heaven speaks of a plane of relationship with God by the Spirit. When the Lord reveals Himself to us on a higher plane, in deeper measures, in richer and fuller dimensions of His life, riches, wisdom, knowledge, glory, and power, and we experience Him in it, we ascend in Him to a higher heaven. As we pass through the heavens we come to know and experience God in greater and grander measures! It is indeed wonderful! The spiritual world is a world with which we have become familiar as we have walked in the Spirit of God and experienced more and more of our union with the Father; a world so wonderfully real that all who once have their eyes opened to it beg to remain in its celestial precincts, never more to return to the lowly estate and level of the natural man. And now I declare that not only the heavenly hosts, myriads of spirits, but heaven itself is all around you even as you read these lines, and, should the Lord but take away the veil of flesh from your sight, your spiritual eyes would behold the celestial realm and you would see that beings, incredible in glory and power, are all about us; for the Lord and the heavens in which He dwells are not far from any one of us. They are indeed closer to us than the air that we breathe, closer even than the blood coursing through our veins!

Those holy sons of God who sit with Christ upon His throne in the heaven of His throneship shall restore all creation into the love and glory of God. The one man Jesus, when on earth as a manifest Son of God, taught, saved, delivered, healed, and raised up His thousands; His many brethren raised up into the power of His resurrection and throneship shall teach, save, deliver, heal, and raise up their billions. Thus shall their ministry and their years roll on from age to age until that wonderful age of all ages, the dispensation of the fullness of times wherein everything in all heavens, and in the earth, and throughout all realms of the universe is gathered together into one in Christ and God becomes All-in-all. What glories lie beyond this, we cannot yet know. Of this we may be sure: we who are redeemed have entered a progressive institution, a kingdom in which stagnation shall never enter. We will ever go on “from glory to glory” for “of the increase of His government…there shall be no end” (Isa. 9:7).

We will never come to the place where we can sit down with folded hands and say, “This is the end.” We, who are being raised up into the heavenly realm, have entered a stage of action, we have become active agents in the greatest development program ever conceived! A whole universe with planets, worlds, heavens, and hells awaits our touch and guiding hand. “What is man that Thou art mindful of him? Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left N-O-T-H-I-N-G that is not put under him! But we see not yet all things put under him (man). But we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor…” (Heb. 2:6-9). Surely these words can mean nothing less than UNIVERSAL DOMINION! That belongs to “the man” in Christ!

Away out there in the blue is a kingdom of life and light and love for every son of God to explore and develop and perfect. And if ever, in all the countless ages to come, that kingdom should become too small or over-crowded for its citizens, let us remember that we, being as He is, are therefore, one and all, the very same kind of Beings as He who simply spoke the word, and lo! the present worlds appeared. Being like Him, sons of God upon the very throne of His glory, we will also be creators, one and all, and not destroyers, as in our Adamic state. WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM! Sonship to God does not entitle one to mere residence in God’s limitless and eternal domain, but to the ownership and rule of that domain, in proportion to our growth and stature in Christ. Being heavenly beings, we can inherit, by our obedience to the heavenly Father, heavenly riches which will not only be a place, but royal pomp and splendor and majesty and dominion beyond compare. Oh, that it were possible to lift men above the shadows, and give them just a glimpse of something higher! Mortal minds are so entirely inadequate; human eyes so dim; human ears so dull!

John saw a door opened in heaven. When he passed through the door he beheld a throne. God gives definitions in His Word. He tells us exactly what certain things are — if we have ears to hear. One of the definitions is found in Acts 7:49. “Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool.” HEAVEN IS MY THRONE! The Greek word for heaven is ouranos. It is a word appearing in the New Testament 275 times. And the meaning of the word is “elevation, height, exaltation, eminence.” Therefore we have exactly the same thought if we say, “My throne is elevation, height, exaltation, and eminence.” That, my beloved, is the central idea of heaven in the New Testament! “Ouranos” is not a place. It is the height, the very pinnacle of glory and eminence and exaltation and majesty and authority and power over all God’s limitless domain! This authority is in and by the Spirit, for God is Spirit, and does not sit upon a physical throne!

We will understand a great spiritual truth when clearly we see that the higher one goes in God’s heavens, the higher one ascends into the realms of the Spirit, the greater the intensity of the throne of power and glory! Those who dwell in the lower heavens of spiritual experience and union with God have a little spiritual authority and power. The higher the heaven, the more lofty and exalted the realm of the Spirit, the greater the power of God’s throne! Heaven is His throne! Heaven is height, elevation, exaltation, eminence. The higher the heavenly exaltation, the greater the power and authority of the throne. Can you not see the mystery? Christ has ascended to the highest heaven and therefore has been given all power and all authority in all the heavens and in all the earth! And this very Christ is now the door — the “star gate” into the throne zone! The door is standing open, dear one, and a mighty voice bids you to “come up hither” to the throne zone! Oh, the wonder of it!

Heaven is not a mansion over the hilltop, nor the gratifying of the needs and desires of this vessel of clay. It is not that which will bring creature comfort. It is not a state of carnal creature enjoyment and rest. Get the idea of golden streets, gold bathtubs, and gurgling streams of water out of your mind! There is no such thing materially in heaven! The celestial realm is something infinitely higher. It is eminence, power, majesty, glory, righteousness, peace that passes understanding and joy unspeakable and full of glory! It is becoming the same kind of a Being as the One who made the worlds (Jn. 10:34-36; I Jn. 3:2), and will bring, not inactive rest with fluttering wings and strumming harps, which in a few short hours even becomes exceedingly tiresome, but activity and accomplishments far surpassing that of earth’s limitation! As Jesus said, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (Jn. 5:17). It includes kingship and priesthood over God’s eternal and infinite domain. It is dominion and power and redemptive and creative influence far above that which earth can contemplate or even imagine!

A VOICE AS A TRUMPET

“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard (out of the heavenly realm) was as it were a trumpet talking with me…” (Rev. 4:1).

Everywhere in scripture the trumpet symbolizes the voice of the Lord. The beloved John had marched with Christ through all the blessed dealings of God in the candlestick realm, and now at the end of that wondrous experience he heard the voice of Christ in a new way and out of a higher realm. Who among us could deny that it was within himself that John heard the Voice? Every man hears the voice of the Son of God within himself! Only on the rarest of occasions have men heard the voice of God as an external voice falling upon the outer ear. God dwells within us by the Spirit and when we hear that divine Voice as John heard it, it is from within the holy temple of our spirit that the Lord almighty speaks. At times I have heard this voice of God so clearly that indeed I looked around to see the Voice that spoke to me, yet I knew in my deepest heart of hearts that the Voice came not from without, but from within. Each of us must hear that Voice that is within us which opens our ability to walk into the fullness of the Spirit of God.

John said, “I heard something — an unprecedented voice, a trumpet voice.” As you trace God’s voice throughout the ages from Abraham to the present, it’s getting louder and clearer. Whenever you hear the shofar, the ram’s horn, God is saying something to His creation. He intends for His voice to be heard by those in whose presence it sounds. God’s elect is hearing the voice of the Lord in this very hour and the trumpet sound is becoming louder and louder and clearer and clearer from day to day! The marvelous reality of it is seen in the famous words Jesus spoke to the adversary when He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” The word “proceedeth” is in the present, continuous tense in the Greek — “is proceeding and continues to proceed.” Man does not live by a word that has proceeded out of the mouth of God in some past era. Praise God for His word that He sent to Noah, but it is not our word for today. I am not buying up lumber to build an ark! We rejoice in that word that God sent to Jacob in the long ago, but it is not a living word for us today. Wonderful were the words of the prophets to Israel, but we cannot live in the national message they preached. The word of the Lord to Martin Luther and John Wesley were mighty words for their time, but they are not sufficient for us in this hour. There is a proceeding word, a right now word, a present truth, and that proceeding word is going back and gathering up every preceding word, swallowing it up, and summing it up, into the fuller revelation for God’s people in this great New Day of the Lord. God is saying something now, and His word for today is greater than any word He has ever sent to His people!

God’s people are at various stages of hearing His voice. In John, chapter twelve, when Jesus declared that a grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die, and said, “Father, glorify Thy name,” suddenly heaven began to speak and the Father uttered His voice, saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again” (Jn. 12:28). The crowd of bystanders heard the sound and most of them thought it had thundered. How often people hear the word of the Lord and those who listen with spiritual ears get the message, while to those who hear only with carnal minds and natural understanding it sounds like so much thunder! They hear the message but are unable to decipher its significance. It is meaningless to them — just THUNDER! Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.” To them it sounded like an aggelos — a messenger. These are those who enamored by oratory, and moved by the charisma of personality, become fixed on man, on the vessel, on the messenger delivering the message, and when they hear the word of the Lord through one of His angel-messengers they respond to the messenger instead of to the Lord. These are man-followers and man-worshippers who fail to get past the vessel to hear the voice of the Father. But some who had their ears opened and could distinguish between the sounds, said, “No, that was the voice of the Father!” Jesus perceived the deepest intent of the Father, for He had said, “Father, glorify Thy name.” The Father answered, “I have glorified my name, my nature, in my firstborn Son, and once I get me a people to hear what my Son is saying, I will glorify it again in them!”

The voice as of a trumpet is a word, a message of the living Christ! The voice commanded John, “Come up hither, and I will show thee things.” Thoughts, words, pictures, concepts — wondrous truths beyond his understanding blasted with the piercing of a trumpet’s sound into the consciousness of John. Come up hither and I will show you — you can’t see these things where you are! You cannot understand from your present perspective in the candlestick realm! You must arise, you must come up, you must be translated in consciousness to a new level of communication, to a new plane of reality. If your thinking is on the earth, you will not hear the heavenly Voice! Every man must know within himself what he wants to hear — are you satisfied to feed upon the vain clamor of earthly voices, religious voices, or do you seek to hear the quickening sound of the heavenly Voice?

God is raising up a people in this hour that is seeing things which must be hereafter. They have no desire to just keep doing the religious things they have always done. It is all a weariness to the spirit. They are hearing the sound of a trumpet! Like the camp of Israel in the wilderness, these are hearing the blast of heaven’s ram’s horn, and they know the camp must be broken up, it is time to move on!

God has raised up a trumpet ministry in this hour! I am a small part of that trumpet ministry. I know this because the message God has put in my spirit and in my mouth and in my writing has raised even me up into a heavenly place! And those who hear are likewise lifted up into a new and higher realm and place in God! I am not alone, the trumpet is sounding all across the land and around the world! Something greater is about to take place. This is the word that shows us what must be hereafter! The next step in God — after the candlestick realm!

We want to hear the voice of God. I have heard the voice of God! I do not want to hear myself, I despise self, the self of me and the self of every man. God is always speaking, if only we have ears to hear. His sheep hear His voice. They also learn to know His voice! To know the voice is greater than to hear the voice. Every apprehended son of God is learning to both hear and know (recognize) the voice of the Lord! Mature sons are not fooled about what voice they are hearing! Sons know the voice of their Father and a strange voice they will not follow regardless of how smooth and appealing it may sound! And we care not one whit what channel the voice comes through. Sometimes we hear the voice of the Lord through a brother or sister in Christ, through a writing, through a circumstance, through experience, sometimes through our own thoughts and hearts. At times I have heard the voice of the Lord through things and people that I would never have expected to hear God’s voice from. However God speaks, only the one who truly knows the Father’s voice will recognize the voice and “get” the message! We also recognize the voice of the stranger. There have been occasions when I have heard that “stranger’s” voice through men reputed to be great men in God, sometimes through precious brethren I love and esteem, sometimes in sermons and writings and books that less discerning ones are charmed with and excited about as being great revelations of truth. There need be no question in the mind of any saint that only those who are able to hear the voice and know the voice are enabled to “come up hither” to the throne realm!

To be continued…

J. PRESTON EBY