FROM THE CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE

Part 67

THE THRONE

(continued)

“Immediately I was in the Spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne” (Rev. 4:2).

The exclamation, “Behold! A throne!” sets the mood and declares the scene which greets John’s gaze as he passes through the open door into the heavenly court. There is much more to be seen, but the glory of the throne and He who sits upon it is of such fabulous radiance that all else seems dim beside. In this and the next chapter the word “throne” occurs seventeen times.

The scriptures continually speak of thrones in connection with the sovereignty and power of God. The throne of God is a developing throne, just as every purpose of God is progressive and unfolding from age to age, the body of Christ is growing and being builded up a spiritual temple, the bride of Christ is being prepared and is making herself ready for the marriage union, and the kingdom of God is expanding so that “of the increase of His government… there shall be no end.” Let us then see that this is not the throne of God in its eternalness, but a new and fresh and more glorious revelation of the throne in an advanced manifestation and administration. John sees it, not as long since fixed and settled in this locality and form, but just as it was taking up its rest in this place. It was being set as He was looking! That is the sense of the Greek text. The expression is in a tense which denotes unfinished action, reaching its completion at the time of the seeing.

“I saw a throne as having just been set in heaven!” This is truly marvelous, for it shows that this vision refers to a new order of things, which first comes into being at the time to which the vision refers. The apostle’s language implies that the act of the placing of the throne where he saw it, was only being completed at the moment of his looking. That moment was the moment of him being called up out of the earthlies into the heavenlies! The prophet Daniel beheld this same scene and describes it thus, “I beheld till the thrones were set (not cast down as the King James Bible has it), and the Ancient of days did sit, whose throne was like the fiery flame” (Dan. 7:9). Daniel’s vision embraced the placing of the throne, as well as the throne itself.

When John, being in the Spirit, looked aloft into the heavens of God’s Spirit, he saw a throne which is the seat of universal authority and dominion. But he saw that throne in a new and more glorious administration, to bring into view a new order of things. It is the same throne — but in a new dimension! Up until the vision of the open door in heaven only one man out of all humanity had access to the throne realm to capture the power, the glory, and the majesty of the throne realm, and then come back into the earth realm and reveal it. But now a many-membered man will have access to the throne realm, thousands of in-Christed ones to step forth from the mercy seat in the Holiest of all to express the life, light, love, goodness, deliverance, salvation, and power of God before the face of all nations and unto all the ends of the earth. This is the manchild upon the throne! These are the overcomers who are called to sit with Christ in His throne! These are God’s called and chosen elect who rule the nations with a rod of iron! This is the new administration of the throne that John beholds, high above the limited ministry of the candlestick realm, bringing the new order of the kingdom of God through manifested sons!

In a little nursery rhyme that many who read these lines will remember from their childhood we have a picture of the pathetic shroud of darkness that hangs like a pall over the church’s understanding of these deep and wonderful truths of God:

Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?
I’ve been to London to see the Queen.
Pussy cat, pussy cat, what have you seen there?
I saw a mouse under her chair.

Pathetic as this picture is in the natural realm, it is even more sad in the spiritual realm. So many saints have visions of that bright glory world above, and instead of beholding the glory of sonship and the power of the throne, all they can see is golden streets, celestial streams, roses that never fade, mansions with gold bath tubs, harps, and fluttering angels. Like the pussy cat, they cannot see the queen in all her glory and dominion, they see only the mouse under her chair! The carnal mind simply cannot see the true realities and glorious significance of sonship to God. Instead it treasures the outer things of buildings, meetings, musicians, programs, rituals, ceremonies, ordinances, organization, efforts, and works. But God is calling a people to come up hither to the throne realm where all that God is many be touched, known, experienced, and manifested!

When one ascends high enough all he sees is the throne and One sitting upon it! That is all the high priest saw in the Most Holy Place, and that is what John the beloved beheld when the door was opened in heaven. The throne room is so grand and so flooded with reality and glory, yet the old order church has been chasing mice under the throne and perceives not the majesty of that realm. When Isaiah stood in the throne zone he cried out, “The whole earth is full of His glory!” The glory of God became ALL to him in the presence of the majesty on high. When we turn from the religious mice and behold the true wonders of the Spirit world we come to know Him as He is. It grieves me when people talk about heaven and miss the glory of God upon earth! My spirit is saddened when believers talk about heaven in terms of mansions over the hilltop or a cabin in the corner, while they live out their lives void of a true spiritual understanding of Christ raised up within His people in the glory of kingdom authority and power — the throne zone. Golden streets, gates of pearl, and walls of jasper are merely spiritual poetry expressing to us deep and profound spiritual realities. They are figures of speech employed by the Holy Spirit of truth to help us leap over the walls of our logic and capture that which is indescribable. Oh, that all men might see the awesome glory of God that dwells in these vessels of clay! The kingdom of God is within you, precious son and daughter of the heavenly Father!

My deepest prayer is that men may get their eyes off the mouse under the chair and behold the throne, the wisdom and glory and power of the kingdom of God within. You need not go anywhere to come up hither to the throne realm! It is closer to you than the air that you breathe. It’s closer to you even than the blood that courses through your veins. In the power of the kingdom of God within you there is no limitation at all. All things are possible! All the wealth of divinity, all the riches of the mind of the Father, all the abundance of joy, peace, love, faith, and power is in your spirit, the throne room within Christ in you! All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are hidden in Him are in you today, in the Spirit of the living God which is in your spirit, that spirit which you are upon this earth! Discover that throne within today, my friend, draw from its wealth, suck from its life, receive from its power and you will walk as a new creation, transformed into the image of God. In the surpassing glory of sonship to God golden streets will have no importance at all! You won’t even see the mouse under the chair! All the virtues and values of God, all the attributes of wisdom, righteousness, and power, are centered in the throne zone. All that God is and ever shall be and all that He does is in the throne zone. All of God’s mercy, grace, and goodness radiate out from the throne zone. In the throne zone you can see all things as they really are!

“When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy messengers with Him, THEN SHALL HE SIT UPON THE THRONE OF HIS GLORY” (Mat. 25:31). When the Lord comes into His temple, which temple we are, and we are raised up into His glory and power in the Spirit, then He sits upon the throne of His glory! Darkened minds picture our Lord soaring down out of the skies on a great cumbersome throne, all dazzling white (Rev. 20:11), like a king arrayed in all his trappings in the natural. But we should remember that “the words I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (Jn. 6:63); we should remember that prophecy is given in prophetical language, in highly figurative speech! A throne means dominion and power and authority. White denotes righteousness. So a white throne denotes righteous dominion. That is God’s throne! His dominion is righteous, that is, it is right. It is just. It destroys evil and redeems men unto God. It destroys sin and death and quickens men unto righteousness and life. It is a throne of mercy and judgment, even corrective judgment, that makes what is wrong, right. That is what is right or righteous! And that is the throne God is raising up within His sons! That is the spirit every son must have toward all men before we can reign upon the throne!

THE OMNIPRESENT THRONE

God is not a limited physical being that can sit on a tangible throne in one restricted locality somewhere out beyond the blue. God is spirit and God is everywhere and thus His throne is a spiritual throne and is everywhere. The one great truth that all theologians agree on is that God is omnipresent spirit who not only created, but upholds and fills the whole universe and all things! And our scientists tell us that in the universe there are more worlds than individual grains of sand on the beaches of all the earth. Astronomy informs us of the enormous distances that separate the stars of the physical universe. So remote are the nearest ones that four years are required for light traveling 186,000 miles a second to traverse the distance. Yet speaking astronomically, such stars are very near neighbors! Galaxies have been discovered which are billions of light years away.

You cannot put a God who is that great and everywhere present and bottle Him up on a physical throne in one limited spot. Oh, no! He is everywhere and His throne is everywhere. The throne of the God who is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent spirit is not a material one but bespeaks the REALM OF HIS SUPREME AND UNIVERSAL AUTHORITY AND RULERSHIP; and our Lord Jesus Christ has been exalted to the glory of that rulership. The throne of God is a sphere of power and authority, a position of eminence, a condition and a state of being. The reign of God’s Christ is the assumption of the almighty power and universal dominion of the Father. It is the dispensing of HIS POSITIVE ENERGY FORCE into His creation in specific ways. Exalted to that high realm Jesus no longer walks in a limited physical body, but He now indwells the church, which is His body, the FULLNESS OF HIM THAT FILLETH ALL IN ALL (Eph. 1:22-23).

If heaven were a “place” out beyond the galaxies somewhere, can you imagine how long it would take for God to hear a prayer, how long it would take to get to heaven were we to travel there, how long it would have taken Jesus to get from heaven to earth when He descended to dwell among us? Why, bless your heart, after two thousand years Jesus would still be on His way back to the throne even if He traveled at the speed of light! And He would need billions of more years to get there! The angel Gabriel was dispatched from heaven while Daniel was praying and was able to reach the prophet Daniel while he was yet in his prayer (Dan. 9:20-23). Real distance is measured not in miles or light years, but rather in time required to reach a destination. Heaven, therefore, is not far away!

When we pause to think of the terrifying vastness of the universe, our human tendency is to think that God could never pay close attention to the tiny details of our lives. Our walk to the store, the streets we cross, the entrance we use, the groceries we select, the people we meet, the mood of the cashier, the price we pay at the checkout, the thousand and one little decisions we must make and challenges we face — does God care about these trivial details? The McDonald’s restaurant chain says, “We do it all for you.” But they don’t. They can’t. Larger crowds make for less personal attention. So how can God direct the whole vast universe and give us personal attention at the same time? Well, says Jesus, amazingly God does! “Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Mat. 10:30). To God both small and big are beautiful and worthy of His loving attention. And I will tell you how He does this!

The scriptures use many terms that are suited to our understanding. When God speaks to us He uses terminology that is comprehensible to us, in order to convey concepts that are beyond us. These are called “terms or accommodation” or “anthropomorphic terms” if I might use that $10.00 word. It means simply this — there are certain attributes that belong to us as human beings that are attributed to God and they are used of God in order that you and I might understand God better. For instance, the scripture says, “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth.” Now God doesn’t have physical eyes! And frankly, I don’t understand how you can see without eyes, and therefore the only way I can understand it is for God to say to us, “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth.” And now I understand that God sees!

Not only do I understand that God sees, but I also understand that God sees everything, everywhere. Nothing is hid from His sight! The “eyes” of God are spirit eyes. God is omnipresent, that is, present everywhere at the same time. The spirit eyes of God, or His ability to see by Spirit, are as omnipresent as God is omnipresent! That is, the eyes of Spirit are not localized — God doesn’t have two remarkable eyes somewhere in His head with wonderful X-ray vision that can pierce the vast distances of the universe and see everything, everywhere at will. Oh, no! His eyes are omnipresent — He sees everything, everywhere at the same time and He sees it from right there where He is, not from some distant vantage point. His Spirit is right there present with you as you read these lines and He sees you there by His Spirit that is there. Because He “fills all things” His Spirit is at the same time in Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, Washington, Caracas, Johannesburg, and Paris and He sees everything there by His Spirit there. Omnipresent eyes! It is indeed wonderful! And yet they are not eyes as we know eyes, but just His universal ability to see by His Spirit. The One who made the eye can see without an eye! I don’t understand it — therefore the term “eye” is given to us as a symbol standing for the reality in God the Spirit.

Again the scriptures say that the heavens are the “handiwork” or “fingerwork” of God. God doesn’t have fingers like we have, but He can do the work of fingers, therefore the Holy Spirit speaks of the creation as the work of His fingers. So the One who made the fingers, the hand, and the arm can do the work of the fingers, the hand, and the arm, by His Spirit. The hand of the Lord is not localized, it does not exist in some specific spot somewhere in the universe from whence it moves out through time and space to perform some action. Oh, no! God is omnipresent Spirit — therefore the hand of God is as omnipresent as God Himself. His hand is a spirit hand and speaks of His great ability to act, perform, do, make, and create. God acts by His Spirit in every place at the same time. Therefore “His arm is not short that it cannot save.” God’s hand is right there in the room where you sit this very moment. And His hand is everywhere else in all the unbounded heavens at the same time!

Furthermore, Christ is now seated on the right hand of God — He is seated there on that right hand right there where you are, yea, even in the deepest depth of your being, so that the throne of God is nearer to you than the air that you breathe! Christ is seated at the right hand of power, that is, in the position where God acts, does, works, and creates, so that all God does He does in and by and through the Son of God. And He does it right there where you are! Can we not see by this how simple yet profound is the knowledge that we have been raised up and made to sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus! The spiritual dimension of God’s abilities in Christ have been awakened and quickened within us, our spirit joined to His Spirit, so that we sit in that spiritual dimension by spiritual consciousness, and we haven’t moved one inch to get there! Somehow I understand that today and it makes the reality clear to my own dull human way of thinking.

The “ears” of the Lord are not huge elephant-like ears possessing such super-sensitivity that they can hear sounds from billions of light years away. Oh, no! The ears of the Lord are spirit ears, equally present in every place His Spirit is; He hears you not from a distance but from right where you stand in His presence. The ears of the Lord permeate all places and all things by His Spirit and they are all about you and within you. He hears every thought of your mind, every desire of your heart, every cry of your soul! And His wonderful omnipresent spirit mind is able to instantly and efficiently assimilate, process, compute, utilize and respond to all these untold trillions of bits of information with the same ease that you and I can drive our car while talking on the phone and be conscious of the weather all at the same time! God is all He is everywhere, and He can do all that He does everywhere. The mouth of the Lord is an omnipresent spirit mouth, His ability to speak in every place at the same time. Out of His Spirit He can speak within your own heart or ears, while at the same instant He is speaking to millions of other people around the world and to holy angels and creatures of all kinds in far distant worlds. He speaks to each by His Spirit present within them, not from some distant “place” where His “mouth” is! In like manner the creative power of God is an omnipresent power and God creates, not in one locale, but out of the infinity of Himself.

The dwelling place of God cannot be any smaller or more limited than He is! The whole vast realm of the heavens is His throne. The Lord spoke through His anointed prophet, declaring, “Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool” (Isa. 66:1). He fills the entire immense extent of the heavens, which is the realm of the Spirit. The heavens are His throne, which means that He rules and reigns in the realm of the Spirit and by His Spirit. If we could measure the extent of the Spirit, from one end of the heavens to the other, we would then be able to estimate the extent or bounds of His throne. Just as scientists cannot discover the extremities of the physical universe, so is it impossible to know the expanse of the Spirit. Neither the heavens, nor the earth, nor the whole universe can contain Him. Solomon said that the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. Our Father is greater than all! He and His throne are limitless and boundless! And He shall reign until all principalities and powers, all creatures and men, and all things of all orders everywhere throughout the unbounded heavens have acknowledged Him, and being reconciled in their hearts come to love, adore, honor, and obey Him with willing hearts. He shall reign until all things everywhere both perceive and resonate with the glory that He is!

Truly the throne of God is a spiritual throne and is as omnipresent as God is! God is everywhere, and His throne is everywhere, for His throne is naught but THE REALM OF HIS ALMIGHTY AUTHORITY AND OMNIPOTENT POWER. There is no need to go anywhere physically to relate to God’s throne. The journey is a spiritual one! The throne is all around you, within you, and present equally everywhere within the realm of Spirit in which God exists and dwells. You can either experience or ascend that throne within yourself through union with Christ and the release of His power. “All authority in heaven and in earth is given unto me,” Jesus said. The ascension of Jesus was the supreme event of world history. He ascended not to a place, but to an office in and by the Spirit. He departed from the arena of humiliation and limitation to enter into His glory. He, in one instant, vaulted from the status of despised Galilean teacher to the cosmic King of the universe, rising over the heads of Pilate, Herod, and Caesar Augustus. The ascension catapulted Jesus to the right hand of God where He was enthroned as King of kings and Lord of lords. The implication of this event for every son of God and for the world is staggering. He has invited us to share that throne! He has beckoned all who have received the call to sonship to ascend in Him to that place in the Spirit where all authority and power is accessed. That is the destiny of every manifest son of God. That authority is present everywhere by His Spirit! But it must become appropriated, embodied, and expressed through a people who attain to the FULLNESS OF CHRIST. “Come up hither!” That is the reality of His throne in and by the Spirit!

The following words by brother Paul Mueller speak profoundly to our hearts. “Seeing that the throne of God is in the heavenlies, or in the realm of Spirit, there is no power anywhere that can withstand the power and authority of the throne of our Father. As His sons, we must ascend in the Spirit to the heavenlies, worship the Lord, and give Him all honor and praise. As we do this, we are establishing a vital link between heaven and earth by which the kingdom of God more fully comes to earth, thus unseating the powers of man. Each time we rise in the Spirit to worship our Father at His spiritual altar, the fire from His altar is cast into the earth to change the world (Rev. 8:1-5). That fire, which God is, also burns away the dross from our lives, and delivers us of this sinful, Adamic nature. This is the direct result of the reign of Christ, which shall continue to increase until all is changed!

“The Lord’s greatest dominion at this time is in the lives of His elect and chosen ones. We are now being ruled and governed by the Lord totally and absolutely. He has extended the dominion of His kingdom to our hearts and lives, and now the Lord will rule us with complete and undisputed dominion. And He will continue to rule and reign in our lives until every enemy within us is made subject to Him. This is the present truth of the kingdom of God!” — end quote.

The Greek word thronos means “the place and seat of authority” and refers to all executive authority that is committed into the hands of God’s Christ, Head and body. Understand that the throne is here now; here is infinity; here is eternity; here is omnipotence, waiting for you to enter into your heritage in God! Again and again in the Psalms and in the Prophets David and others make this beautiful and significant assertion: ‘The Lord reigneth…” The Lord reigneth over the heathen, the Lord reigneth over the nations, the Lord reigneth in Zion, the Lord reigneth in the midst of His people! It is always present tense. The Lord reigns now! That doesn’t mean that He has purposed to deal with every thing and everybody now, but He has assumed the dominion of the world and all things, and all is safe in His care and all will experience His sovereign purpose in His timing and according to His program and will. It brings joy and victory to know that the Lord reigneth! His throne is established forever. The scepter of His kingdom is a right scepter. He is clothed with strength that is unperceived by the world.

The Hebrew word translated “reigneth” is malak and means to reign, to ascend the throne, to induct into royalty. Thus, when we are called to “Come up hither” to share His throne, we are called to ascend the throne and to be inducted into the royal power of that throne! Therefore, as the elect hear His voice and hasten to His call, we are ascending the very throne of Christ in a greater relationship with Him and in Him. We are being inducted into the royalty of the throne of Christ — into His reigning realm! Through the experiences we encounter in this earthly life, with all their testings, trials, and provings, we are becoming overcomers and thereby learning to reign over all things by His royal mind, will, and life!

What does it mean when the door is opened in heaven and John sees a throne having just been set in a heavenly place? What is the divine message we should understand when the Voice as a trumpet invites John to come up to the throne room? When the Father shows us in the heavenly realm of the Spirit His throne of glory established in a fresh and more glorious revelation, it thus indicates an expanded manifestation and administration of His dominion. God is ready to deal in a brand new way with things not dealt with before! It indicates an increase in spiritual activity in the earth. It indicates a time of the greater dominion of the Lord as King in the earth. He calls His chosen ones to see His throne in the heavens, with Christ seated on that throne, to reveal His truth that He will now rule in them in a greater way, yea, completely, fully, so that He may then reign through them over the New Day He is birthing in the earth. It thus marks the beginning of a period of the revelation of divine truth and the dealings of the Father in His sons to bring them to the hour of manifestation.

Oh, how blessed the prospect! Truly we have come to that time! May the Holy Spirit reveal to all His elect the power and authority of His kingdom that is now to be revealed through the sons of God! May all God’s called ones understand that God now determines to change things in the earth! As He allows His chosen ones to see the open heavens, with Christ seated on His throne, and to hear the Voice bidding us to arise and come on up into that place with Him, we know that He is coming to reign in our lives to redeem us fully and completely in spirit, soul, and body. And He shall reign in us until His throne is fully established in us, even that fresh, new, advanced manifestation and administration of His throne that shall subdue all things until the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea! Hallelujah!

THE ONE WHO SITS UPON THE THRONE

“Immediately I was in the Spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat upon the throne. And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald” (Rev. 4:2-3).

Let us notice — THE ONE ON THE THRONE DID NOT HAVE AN IMAGE! All John saw on the throne was colors, beautiful colors. And yet, John saw One sitting there. What about this One that sat on the throne, that could be seen, and yet, was not visible to the natural eye? He had no form, only radiance! John was not looking into the natural elements when he saw the One on the throne. The scripture says he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day! John stood in the very reality of heaven as he was caught up in the highest realm of the Spirit. The One he saw was spirit. Do not look, my beloved, at the throne of God as a natural seat sitting there for someone to sit on. Don’t imagine a throne-like chair! Here seated in the splendor of the omnipresent heavenly-spiritual realm John beheld One of many colors. Even though He did not have a figure, John could see Him in and by the Spirit.

The One John saw is spirit. In the tenderest of words Jesus explained to the woman of Samaria this great and eternal truth: “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (Jn. 4:23-24). God is Spirit, and we will understand a great mystery when we see that spirit is light. “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (I Jn. 1:5). We cannot see God with natural eyes. No man hath seen God at any time! Pure light is invisible. That is why in outer space there is nothing but darkness, although the light rays from every star are passing through. It is only when light is reflected that it becomes visible. The rays of the sun strike the earth and are reflected off of it, creating the light of day on the planet. God is light, and no man hath seen God at any time! Only as we see the light reflected in God’s Christ do we see Him! “The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath led Him forth into view” (Jn. 1:18).

As I have mentioned, pure light is invisible. One writer has pointed out that a scientific analysis of sunlight reveals that it consists of three kinds of rays. (1) Chemical rays or actinic. These rays are invisible and can neither be seen or felt. (2) Light rays. These rays can be seen but never felt. (3) Heat rays. These rays are felt but are never seen. GOD IS LIGHT, and in Him there is no darkness at all. Therefore God, in a spiritual way, has His being, function, and expression on those three levels. We know that God has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father corresponds to the chemical rays of sunlight. No man hath seen God at any time. The Son, who is the light of the world, corresponds to the light rays which are reflected, the One whom we can see but not feel. The Holy Spirit corresponds to the heat rays, since He is felt in the lives of believers but is never seen. Now, these are not three kinds of light, but three dimensions of the one reality of light. In like manner, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three individual Gods, but three dimensions, three expressions, or three operations of the one and only God!

Many a sermon has been preached about the throne of God in heaven, and I think most of them have missed the mark because they see only the Father on the throne. The greatest mystery of the ages is that seated on the throne of God today is a MAN. God Himself came down from heaven and invaded humanity, He took upon Himself the nature and the body of a man, so that when He went back to the throne (His omnipotent power in the Spirit) He would take humanity back to the throne. There is no mystery to it that God sits on the throne, He belongs there; but to think now that MAN is sitting on the throne! “Jesus of Nazareth, a MAN approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs…THIS JESUS hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore BEING BY THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD EXALTED…” (Acts 2:22,32-33). Our Lord Jesus Christ has been exalted to the glory of supreme and universal rulership! The right hand of God is the realm of power and authority, a position of eminence, a condition and a state of being. It is the assumption of the almighty power and dominion of the Father! It is the dispensing of His positive energy force into creation. Exalted to that high realm Jesus no longer walks in a physical body, for He now indwells the spirits of His many brethren, who are the fullness of Him who filleth all in all (Eph. 1:22-23).

John has given us a description of the radiant glory of this One who sits on the throne. It is interesting to note that the identity of this One is given us further on in the book of Revelation. “And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” (Rev. 21:5-6). Oh, yes! The One sitting on the throne identifies Himself as “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.” Then in chapter twenty-two this One whose name is Alpha and Omega says, “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things” (Rev. 22:13-16). There can be no mistake about who Alpha and Omega is! Throughout the book of Revelation He is the Lord, Jesus Christ!

Yet — I show unto you a mystery. In chapter five John beholds a Lamb as it had been slain. The Lamb is standing in the midst of the throne! But then the Lamb comes and takes the seven-sealed book out of the right hand of Him who sits upon the throne. It looks like an impossibility! If Jesus is the One sitting on the throne, how could Jesus come and take the book out of the hand of Him who sits on the throne? Throughout the New Testament only Jesus is the Lamb! Only He has redeemed us by His blood! Only He is Alpha and Omega, the Creator of all things! We can only conclude that both of these are Jesus! But how can this be? The answer is very simple. We do not see here two separate persons but two manifestations, operations, or ministrations of the same person. Do we not have these “parts” within ourselves? Each of us are composed of spirit, soul, and body. Are we then three different persons? Not at all! We are but one person in three dimensions of being. My spirit can speak to my soul and say, “Bless the Lord, O my soul!” And my soul will bless the Lord, prompted by my spirit. Then my soul may say to my body, “I am joyful — laugh!” And my body — facial expression, vocal cords, breath — will produce visible, audible laughter. Can you not see the mystery? People talk about the three “persons” of the Godhead — there is no such thing! Just as man is a tri-partite being, yet only one person, so is God a tri-partite Being, yet only one person of God!

In chapter four of Revelation, every description of Christ there is Christ in His deity, Christ as God, sitting on the throne, the eternal Lord, God Almighty. But then when we look at chapter five we find that every description of Jesus is Jesus in His humanity — the Lamb slain, the crucified One, the lion of the tribe of Judah. It was the humanity of Christ that was of the tribe of Judah. It was the humanity of Christ that was crucified. It was the humanity of Christ that died — the Lamb of God. The things seen by John are symbols, pictures, terms of accommodation to help us understand the mystery. You see, my beloved, the true and full revelation of God could not come to man until it came in the man Jesus. Through His sinless life, through His sonship walk, through His death, burial, and resurrection God in man overcame sin, limitation, death, hell, and the grave. Through this wonderful work God took everything that was in deity and transferred it into humanity! Therefore the Lamb is worthy! He is worthy to take the book! He is worthy to open the seals! He is worthy to bring to mankind the full revelation of God! Jesus the Lamb, Jesus the man, taking the book out of the hand of the Father, is just a picture of this transferal of divine, incorruptible life and glory from the realm of deity into the world of humanity! It is in and through Jesus the Lamb that this has been accomplished! Isn’t it wonderful!

A dear brother was caught up in the Spirit. I know not whether he was in the body or out of the body, but he was caught up in the Spirit and he saw, in spirit, the throne of God. There was One that sat upon the throne! He did not see three thrones: God the Father sitting on one, God the Son sitting on another, and God the Holy Ghost sitting on a third. Nor did he see one throne with three persons of God sitting side by side upon it. He saw One on the throne and the One that he saw was Jesus. He saw Jesus sitting on the throne! But emanating and radiating, in an unending, all encompassing, out-raying of glory, majesty, wisdom, dominion, power, love, mercy and goodness was the Father! God was in Christ and Christ was in the Father and they were one. Shining out of Jesus was the glory of the Father so that Jesus could say, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself (of my humanity): but the Father (deity) that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works sake” (Jn. 14:9-11).

Blessed be God! It may stagger your imagination to hear what I now say, but, once you see the truth of it, the mystery of God will be complete. All those blessed ones who now hear the call to “Come up hither” are apprehended “in Christ Jesus” to share the honor and glory of His throne. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne” (Rev. 3:21). This shows that as we come to know the overcoming power in the resurrection life of Christ, we are also made to experience the ascension of Christ. We are chosen of God not only to be made alive from the dead and have God’s life, but also to sit in the heavenly places as ASCENDED MEN! And furthermore we are called and chosen not only to be ascended men, dwelling in the heavenlies, but also to sit upon the throne of Christ, which is the Father’s throne, as ENTHRONED MEN! Therefore ascension and enthronement truly are the position of those who know Christ in His fullness.

The position of ascension rests not only on the fact of Christ’s ascension, but on THE LIFE OF ASCENSION WE HAVE OBTAINED WITHIN US. Likewise the position of enthronement rests not only on the fact of Christ’s enthronement, but on THE AUTHORITY AND POWER OF HIS KINGDOM DOMINION THAT HAS BEEN RAISED UP WITHIN US. The Christ who indwells our hearts and is being formed in our lives is the ascended and enthroned Christ, and His life is ascended and powerful and heavenly, and is given from heaven, out of the realm of the Spirit. Although in the conditions of our outer man we still live on earth, yet according to the inner man we are already in heaven. The situation is just like our Lord’s during His time on earth. He said that though He “descended from heaven” He was still “in heaven” (Jn. 3:13). This was due to the fact that His life and consciousness were heavenly and one with heaven — the realm of the Spirit.

It is true therefore that as we ascend into the high places of God in the Spirit, we are reigning with Christ in His heavenly, spiritual throne. As we truly become overcomers by the ascended life of Christ, we are also given power over the nations to rule them with a rod of iron, and as the vessels of a potter they shall be broken to shivers (Rev. 2:26-27). This rule is given to the overcomers in Christ! As the life of ascension within us raises up kingdom dominion in our lives we reign with Christ in the Spirit, and the worldly powers of man shall be displaced by the power of the Spirit and replaced by the spiritual power of the kingdom of God. We are a spiritual people. And the throne of God is the spiritual realm of our Father’s dominion. Therefore our reign in Christ is a spiritual reign, which is accomplished as we move in and by His Spirit in relation to things in the earth realm. Through that spiritual dominion God’s will is brought to pass on earth as it is in heaven.

The implication of such a marvelous truth is staggering to the imagination. I want you to see yourself in Christ. I want you to know that we have a great and eternal King upon the universal throne in the heavens! But He is not only in heaven, for God’s elect is the body of Christ — the body of the One sitting on the throne! “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ” (I Cor. 12:12). If you can see that one throne where the Father of glory and the Son of man are seated together as one, and then see yourself and all God’s sons seated in them as one, you will understand that even if there should be 144,000 sons in Christ in the Father sitting on the throne, there would still be ONLY ONE UPON THE THRONE!

This is the mystery. “That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us…and the glory which Thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and Thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one…Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory…and I have declared unto them Thy name (nature), and will declare it (through them): that the love wherewith Thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them” (Jn. 17:21-24,26).

Such high and mighty purpose is certainly beyond the comprehension of the natural man or the natural mind. The truth and fullness of the wonder of it all only begins to seep into our quickened spirits when the spirit of revelation gives us a view of what it means for our life to be hid with Christ in God. Beholding in and by the Spirit the scenes of the wonderful heavenly scheme we see that in our union with Christ in God we are the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. GOD is upon the throne of the universe in the heavens! In the Father CHRIST sits upon the throne of the universe in the heavens! And seated in Christ WE are raised up and made to sit together with Christ in His throne, just as He sits in His Father’s throne. There is only one throne and there is only One upon the throne!

There need be no question in the mind of any saint who is called to reign with Christ that the One on the throne is a CORPORATE ONE composed of many members. John described Him as having the appearance of a jasper and a sardine stone. That is only the radiance of the glory of the Father! Methinks that when all the sons of God have been perfected, changed, transformed, and caught up to the throne of God, one day another dear brother will be caught up in the Spirit and will see, in spirit, the throne of God. And he will not see many thrones: with God the Father sitting on one, God the Son sitting on another, God the Holy Ghost sitting on a third, and many sons brought to glory sitting on a vast array of thrones. Oh, no! He will see one throne and he will see One on the throne. He will see Christ, a Christ of many members, Head and body, sitting on the throne! And emanating and radiating, in an unending, all encompassing, out-raying of indescribable glory, majesty, wisdom, dominion, power, love, mercy, and goodness will be the Father. Shining out of this corporate Christ will be the glory of the Father, He in us and we in Him, so that we can say, “If you have seen us, you have seen the Father: for we and the Father are ONE!”

Jesus has promised us to sit down with Him in His throne. Not in another little throne beside His throne! Just as there are saints who are stones in the wall of the heavenly temple, or pillars in the temple, so there are those who become a throne people. These are the ruling sons of God, and it is from the throne of God and of the Lamb that the living river of life proceeds! The greatest manifestation of life the world has ever seen shall yet come forth in the earth through a people who become the throne of God in the earth! The glory of God fills the city, and the whole earth is full of His glory, and His glory is above the heavens — yet God sits upon His throne — there is a unique concentration of divine life, power, and dominion from those who make up the throne of God!

To be identified with His throne is the ultimate attainment of union with God. He is making us one with Him to such a degree that when He acts we act, when He moves we move, when He speaks we speak, and when He speaks all will speak the same thing because of the united life in the Spirit. It is a unity with Christ and with all who have grown up into the full measure of His stature. When God speaks from His throne, it is the voice of the many-membered Son, the voice that is as the sound of many waters, many spirits merged into one gigantic waterfall — ONE GREAT RIVER OF LIFE! Take the shoes from off your feet, oh saint of God, for the ground on which we stand is holy ground! Put away all lightness and foolishness that with heads bowed down, and hearts lifted up in worship, the Spirit of God may make plain how the life of God flowing in the exalted and enthroned Christ and the life of Christ flowing through His many brethren is ONE STREAM OF THE WATER OF LIFE! And these chosen ones who share His throne are included in the scene John saw as He gazed with holy wonder upon that glorious One who sat upon the throne!

Later John sees in the midst of the throne four living creatures, and also a Lamb standing as though it had been slain. And round about the throne, in the same position as the rainbow, which appeared as an emerald, were seated twenty-four elders. All of these are mere symbols of HIM who is seated upon the throne! I will write of this later, Lord willing, but let me say in passing that everything in and around the throne bespeaks of the different spiritual aspects, attributes, faculties, functions, powers, and ministrations of that many-membered One who occupies the throne. Oh, the wonder of it!

As we ascend in spirit to that heavenly realm of throneship we then realize this is where we really belong. The yearning deep within our hearts, wrought by the revelation and love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, to bless the world, right the wrongs, heal the wounds, assuage the suffering, abolish evil, and set creation free from its bondage to sin, sorrow, limitation, and death, is the divine indication that we are destined for throneship. Everything in the realm of the Spirit makes us feel at home with God and His Christ. As we consciously ascend higher and higher into the realm of Spirit, we see that a throne is set up in the heavens of His Spirit. We also see that One who is all glorious, arrayed in the Light that no Adamic man can approach unto, surrounded by a vast multitude of others who are arrayed as He is, and seated there upon the throne of the heavens. Truly it is a glorious scene of heavenly illumination and splendor to those who have been blessed of their Father to see as He sees!

A brother has shared the words of a prophetic song that was given by the Spirit at the time of a special moving of God some years ago. What a wonderful word it brings! The following are the words of that anointed song:

Don’t you hear the Spirit calling,
Rise up, my love, and come away?
Leave the things of earth behind you,
Come and walk in God’s new Day.

Enter now into His kingdom,
Bright the Light that points the way,
For the shadows now are fleeing,
Can’t you hear the Spirit say?

Cast your doubts and fears behind you,
All His leading now obey.
Man’s traditions will but blind you,
Jesus is the truth, the way.  
The New Age is just before us,
Ye sons of God come lead the way.
Tell all the earth God’s great salvation
To be revealed in this great Day.

Yes, I hear the Spirit calling,
Rise up, my love, and come away!
I’ve left the things of earth behind me,
And now I’ll walk in God’s new Day!

To be continued…                                                                                                      J. PRESTON EBY