KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES

“In the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind.  And the first living creature was like a lion, and the second living creature was like an ox, and the third living creature had a face as a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle” (Rev. 4:6-7).

 These four living creatures are in the “midst of the throne” denoting kingship.  The four living creatures had four faces in the likeness of different creatures, representing the four aspects of kingship which are true in our Lord Jesus Christ and are also wrought out in the life of every son of God apprehended to share His throne.  Each of the four faces reveals an aspect of the attributes, characteristics, and qualities which qualify one to rule and reign with Christ in His kingdom.  They are, furthermore, the four-fold manifestation of Himself to all mankind!  The face of the lion speaks of strength — power, authority, and dominion.  The face of the ox is symbolic of servanthood, revealing Christ, Head and body, as the compassionate servant of all.  The face of a man indicates intelligence — divine understanding, knowledge, and wisdom.  We can never reign apart from these! 

THE FLYING EAGLE

 The fourth face or quality of kingship is that of a flying eagle.  The eagle speaks to us of exaltation — that which is high and lifted up.  The eagle is noted for its swiftness in flight (Deut. 28:49); it hastens to its prey (Job 9:26); its courage and farsightedness (Job 39:28-30); rises to the heavens (Prov. 23:5); and has great strength in flight (Isa. 40.31).  Although the eagle is a bird of prey, it is highly regarded as a sign of power, courage, freedom, and exaltation.  In the land of Israel there are two kinds of eagles, the Golden and the Imperial.  Gold bespeaks of the divine nature, and the Imperial of kingship.  The eagle is the king of birds, just as the lion is the king of beasts.  The characteristics of the eagle find a beautiful application in the realm of the spirit, and are spiritual characteristics of those appointed to the high places in God.  The “eagle saints” dwell in the high places and soar to the highest heights in the heavens of God’s Spirit!  They continually follow on to attain to new heights in the purposes of God!  They will forsake the old paths and low places of dead religion, static creeds, empty ceremonies, and flesh-oriented programs and promotions to soar into the highest of the heavens to know and experience God in the heights of life, truth, and reality.

 The eagle is the highest form of bird, the only creature able to look as it were directly into the sun’s dazzling radiance.  Aspiring to heights far beyond the physical or grossly material, this great bird symbolizes the upward flight of our journey into God.  The Lord Himself is referred to a number of times in scripture as an eagle.  “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself” (Ex. 19:4), and again, “As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him (Deut. 32:11).  Christ is that royal eagle, flying high; the one who is at the right hand of God; who thought it not  robbery to be equal with God; that glorious One, the Son of God exalted on high!

 I invite you now to meditate upon both the heights and depths of Christ the eagle — Head and body.   It is one of the loftiest of spiritual emblems!  From the dawn of human history the challenge of flight has captured the imagination of man.  The conquest of the air in the past century has embued men and women with a sense of awe and romance unequaled in the annals of history.  Somehow the ability to fly has epitomized the longing of man to rise above the confines of the earthy and the mortal and soar into the realm of the spiritual and the supernatural.  God has made wonderful provision in His kingdom for man to have this spiritual need met, yet few believers ever discover the laws by which this escape is possible, few ever achieve the perspective of the eagle, an ability to rise high enough to see things that those on the ground can never see, and to truly see all things as they really are.  How can a man break into the high realm of the spiritual and the eternal — to soar in the heavenlies with Christ?  In response let us look at the beautiful illustration used by the prophet Isaiah.  “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint” (Isa. 40:31).

 The wise man said in the book of Proverbs that among those mysteries in the universe that were too hard to understand, one was the “mystery of the eagle in the air” (Prov. 30:18-19).  The symbolism of this passage points to the inexplicable potential of each and every son of God, which is like the eagle’s, which can fly higher than any bird without once flapping a wing.  Did you notice that Isaiah said that eagles and eagle saints “mount up” and not “flap up”?  Eagles were not made to go flapping about in soulish exercises, unprofitable self-efforts, or wasted fleshly energy — they were created to soar high and free!  Eagles learn to fly without struggling because they instinctively understand the air currents.  The eagle has about 7,000 feathers and weighs only about 14 pounds.  When the right wind is blowing he lifts effortlessly into the air with a shrill scream of triumph and freedom.  “They that wait upon the Lord…shall mount up with wings as eagles.”  Herein is one of the eagle’s secrets in being able to mount up — waiting.  Those who wait upon the Lord, it is written, who trust in His moving, who respond only to His promptings, who rest in His timing, who move in His purpose, will be the ones to mount up! 

 The “mounting up” process is important and necessary to each son of God who would take his place in the heavenlies, filled with the precious mind of Christ, conformed to His wonderful image, and caught up to the throne of God to reign with Christ over all things.  But it only comes to those who will wait in His presence until the glory that shines from His face changes them from the image of the earthly into the image of the heavenly.  Should the eagle fail to wait for the current that lifts, he would never get off the ground.  And the saint of God who does not wait for the moving of the Holy Spirit in the purposes of God will never get air borne or soar into the heavenlies!  We are soaring into the heavenly places of God’s Spirit!  But some think they have already soared as high as they can go.  I know precious brethren who are impatient to wait for God’s timing and God’s moving to manifest His sons, and have reduced sonship to something less than what God has sovereignly revealed by His Spirit.  They claim to be already walking in the power of the third day, in the glory of the most holy place, in the blessings of the feast of tabernacles, and even now are, they say, putting on immortality and ruling and reigning with Christ over the nations and bringing the kingdom of God to pass in the earth.  Yet I see no fruit of this in their lives, or in their aging bodies, or in their ministries,  or in this cursed earth, or in the agitated, confused, warring, sin-blighted nations they supposedly are ruling over!  It is a delusion, they are still sitting on the naked limb of a dead tree, imagining that they have lifted into the air and circled high into the crags of the mountain.  Not everyone who professes Christ and enjoys the blessings of His grace and embraces the word of sonship and the kingdom will pay the price to follow on to know the Lord in the heavenly places.  But God has predestined those whom He has foreknown, and has placed this instinctive and constant call within to rise to greater heights in the celestial realms above.  And those who are willing to wait for the current of His mighty moving shall in due time mount up with wings as an eagle!

 We are mounting up from realm to realm!  We are learning to recognize the currents of God’s moving and how to be lifted effortlessly into the heights of God!  Eagles prefer the heights when they soar, and when they rest.  His is a soaring spirit!  The eagle is the jet plane of the bird family.  One of the most awesome sights I ever witnessed happened several years ago when Lorain and I were on Resurrection Bay in Alaska.  There was a duck swimming placidly on the water.  Suddenly we saw this mighty eagle flying across the bay at an incredible speed.  Some eagles have been clocked at 200 miles per hour, as he swoops down upon his prey.  This eagle flew right into that bird, catching it in his powerful talons, without even a shudder from the impact, and flew away at the same speed to a place where he could safely feed upon it.  The eagle soars the highest, goes the fastest, and is superior to all other birds in this respect.  I began to understand why they represent the heavenly thrust of man: power, beauty, freedom, the lord of their environment through their ability to master the air.  They move in regal splendor, for they are born as kings!  As the eagle is born with the divine right of kingship, so every son of God born from above possesses the inherent potential of soaring into the very highest heights in the kingdom of the Spirit. 

 You do not have to prompt the eagle to fly, once he has learned how.  No need to sing a chorus twenty-five times, clap the hands, stomp the feet, and get loud and all emotional in order to work up the spirit of soaring.  Oh, no!  If he cannot fly, he is in misery — he was made for altitude.  He is born for the heights.  And flying is just as natural as breathing.  Eagle saints have their citizenship in heaven, in the heavens of God’s Spirit.  They live in the world, but their feelings, affections, desires, aspirations, conversation, and actions are above it.  Their greatest impulses are upward, ever upward!  They build their nests in the heights of the Mountain of God, and prefer and long to be where they are no more annoyed with the noises, mundaneness, and dangers of this world system.

 John Wright Follette has shared in one of his writings some beautiful observations about the eagle.  He says, “I believe the Lord purposely uses the eagle as a type here because of special peculiarities of that bird.  One summer while in Yellowstone National Park, I had occasion to study or observe some eagles in their natural habitat — and thereby learned some helpful lessons.  I think He speaks of an eagle because it is the only bird which goes high enough and sustains its position.  They have been known to fly at an height of 6,000 feet.  The lark also may reach the upper heights and pour out its songs, but it does not stay so long in the heavens.  God seats us ‘together with Christ in heavenly places.’  We are heaven-born and now our affections are on things above.  The Holy Spirit will hold us in our lofty place! 

 “The eagle is not often seen — he is the most solitary of any bird.  Many birds are common to sight and even afford amusement.  Parrots can talk and entertain, causing remarks and comment. The eagle stays alone.  Did you ever hear of a flock of eagles!  The noisy geese go in flocks.  But who wants to be a goose?  God seeks eaglemen!  No man ever comes into realization of the best things of God, who does not, upon the Godward side of his life, learn to walk alone with God.  Had we time we could trace through the Word the lives of many of God’s eaglemen.  We find Abraham alone upon the heights, but Lot (a just man and saved) dwelling in Sodom.  Moses, skilled in all the wisdom of Egypt, must go forty years into the wilderness alone with God.  Paul, who was filled with Greek learning, and had also sat at the feet of Gamaliel, must go into Arabia and learn the desert life alone with God.  Let God isolate us!  In this isolation experience He develops an interdependence of faith and life so that the soul needs no longer the constant help, prayer, faith, or attention of his neighbor.  Such assistance and inspiration from the other members are necessary and have their place in our development, but there comes a time when they act as a direct hindrance to the individual’s faith and welfare.  God knows how to shape the circumstances to give us an isolation experience!  This isolation produces another characteristic mark — quietness.  No other bird can keep quiet so long as an eagle.  The soul acquires a new grip on his life and is now moved by God rather than by things seen.  He can trust God to control his spirit in the most vexing circumstances.   We see this majestic calm and quietness so marked in the life of Christ.  When we mount up with wings as eagles…we can keep quiet”   — end quote.

 Many of the Lord’s people have not discovered the way of the eagle.  Some who now read these lines know what I’m talking about.  You are stuck in a rut!  Your life, naturally and spiritually, just isn’t going any place.  Some of you are trapped and stuck, mired down on your job, in your home, in your marital relationship, in family situations, in difficult circumstances, frustrating problems, and binding limitations.  These are all holding you down in an earth-bound consciousness, hedging you in and shutting you up to a state you think  you can’t surmount.  The cares of this world have turned many people’s lives into a pressure cooker, choking the spiritual life of the kingdom of God.  The strain of everyday living is steadily growing worse because of financial problems, pressures at work, responsibilities, sickness, doctor and hospital bills, rebellious children,  and a thousand other things. 

 The pressures of “this life” are too numerous to mention, we are all faced with them every day.  There are those involvements of daily living which we cannot shirk, but when they so overwhelm us that we find ourselves so fragmented and distressed that we are not able to gather ourselves together to walk in the peace, joy, and victory of the kingdom — then we need to be loosed from these things, escape from them,  and soar above them!  Praise God, we find in Him a realm of freedom from all “these things,” so that whatever state we are in we can rejoice and not be bound by any of them.  There is an escaping from the pressures of this world, and only “the way of the eagle” can reveal it!  You can be like the eagle, my beloved, you can soar like an eagle!  Nothing is impossible to those who mount up with wings as the eagle.  Whatever it is that is weighing you down, whatever it is keeping you from soaring, it is possible to break away.  The ability to soar lies within — you don’t have to go anywhere.  You don’t have to change any of the circumstances about you, or sit on the fence and frantically flap away.  You can rise above them.  The eagle is in you.  You are the eagle.  You can soar high above it all!  Oh yes, you can! 

There is a life within you that transcends all the lowlands of the flesh — it will carry you high as you give yourself to it.  It is the life of sonship, the power and glory of the Christ within.  He is greater than all!  I speak to you today by the word of the Lord, God is delivering you in this very hour from your earthbound existence, lifting you up by the Holy Ghost into heavenly places in Christ!  Fear not, for you are not a child of the earth.  Look up, lift up your head and rejoice, for you have come to this planet from the bosom of your Father in the heavenlies, and you are a child of redemption — you have inherited that heavenly nature!  Today God looses the prison doors.  Be free from your captivity!  Let your tears of joy wash away all the marks of the cords which have so cruelly bound you!  Be not imprisoned any more by the circumstances about you, but learn the ways of your God which are in your spirit, and follow Him alone.  You shall rise above all things and shall not fear nor be dismayed, for I am with thee, saith the Lord!

Oh, to catch the winds of flightAnd soar where eagles go,

To leave the woes of troubled souls

Behind me far below.

I’d listen to the song of birds

 And sail in endless flight,

 Then chase the sun through cloudy paths

 And play with stars at night.

 The boundless heavens for my home,

 The breeze to lift me high

 To rise above my mortal bonds

 And never have to die.

Knowing I had found the way

To trails where angels trod,

And when my wings could fly no more —

 I’d take the hand of God!

  C. David Hay 

 Actually, we do not move in and out of heavenly realms at our whim.  Our citizenship is in heaven, we exist constantly in the heavenlies.  This is a spiritual state of constant existence, but because we are still in this flesh realm, we are not always conscious of the greater privileges of our heavenly state of being.  In the kingdom of God the heavenly man is the only man — the man is Christ.  “If I have told you earthly things, and ye believed not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things.  And no man hath ascended up to heaven but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which IS IN HEAVEN” (Jn. 3:12-14).  Jesus Christ while on earth was still in the heavenlies!  That is not a strange statement to an eagle saint!  “He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.”  He had eagle’s wings — the spirit of the heavenlies.  His body was on earth and His spirit joined to the heavenly Father far above all.  Those who have been swallowed up by Christ gravitate around Him.  His life is their life, His thoughts their thoughts, His will their will, His joys their joys, His peace their peace.  They have no other life.  “For me to live is Christ,” said Paul.  Paul was an eagle saint.  Paul’s life was heavenly.  He was above.  He would not come down!

 Let us look at the scriptural portrait of an eagle saint.  “The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they that are heavenly” (I Cor. 15:47-49).  “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed (transformed, transfigured) into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (II Cor. 3:17-18).  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3).  “Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:20).  “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6).  “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling…” (Heb. 3:1).  “But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly (spiritual)” (Heb. 11:16).  “But ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:22).

 In questioning Job the Lord said of the eagle, “Doth the eagle mount up at thy command to make her nest on high?  She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.  From hence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off” (Job 39:27-29).  The eagle sons have the advantage, born of altitude.  “Her eyes behold afar off.”  The eagle son looks out to regions beyond, to heights and depths in God.  The call of God is upon him.  The life of God is in his heart.  There is response.  There are commitments, born of heavenly life.  Heaven is in control!  The son and the Saviour share the same life, fly the same heavens, have the same destiny.  Heavenly bounty fills all!  Earth’s splendors are fading for he who soars.  Earth’s treasures and recognition hold nothing for him anymore.  Heavenly investments are sure.  Eternal values are in view.  Fear does not plague the eagle son.  “The eagle dwelleth and abideth upon the rock.”  The rock is the Christ life.  The security of every son is in the solid rock of the Christ within.  He draws his life from above.  Earth’s pleasures and hopes fade.  They are made of poor stuff.  The saints of all ages have known this.  The Lord has taught them, in their hearts!  The Lord cuts His elect saints off from the world, from the systems of the flesh, from the old-order religious activities of the church world, but in the same stroke, He grafts them on to heaven.  Far beyond the confusion of play-church…far above the strife of the land, higher than the yearnings of the flesh and the aspirations of the soul...yea, even into the light of the Most Holy Place…the eagles soar!  Those who thus soar live in and by their heavenly life!  This heavenly life flows out of the very heart of God, like a river forever.  It courses through the veins of the inner man, bringing life where ere it goes.

 The heavenly life makes heaven.  Heaven has come to earth in the life of every son of God!  The life of God is heavenly life.  The believer who says that should his body die, he will be dead like a dog, unconscious and non-existent, knows not that he has been born from above!  The impact of this new heavenly life determines everything.  This life governs the universe, and nullifies the kingdom of darkness.  Satan is never in his stride, in the presence of heavenly life.  This is raptured life, the life from above.  The old Adamic man of the flesh, of human consciousness, is truly “left behind” in those who live in the heavenly, raptured, life!  The eagle son is not waiting for a hole in the sky to escape this world, for he has raptured life, the joyful life, the peaceful life, the righteous life, the abundant life, the satisfying life, the all-powerful life, the glorious life.  Every step that the firstborn Son of God took on earth was a raptured step.  Every word that He uttered was a raptured word.  Every work that He did was a raptured work.  The life of Jesus was a raptured life.  He was caught up all the time!  That is what gave Him the heavenly touch, enabled Him to hear the heavenly voice of His heavenly Father within.  That’s what made Him what He was — the heavenly man!  The eagle son does not need death, or a miracle, or a meeting, to get him on the wing.  He is in the heavenlies all the time!  That’s all the life he knows.  He shares with the raptured Christ, the heavenly life!

 Learn to breathe the ozone of heaven — the rare, crisp, pure air of the heavenlies, that is sweet to the nostrils and life to the lungs and body.  Our mortal bodies shall be quickened by this heavenly life! (Rom. 8:11).  Mountain air is good, and in ancient times man found it, along with plenty of sunshine, to be the cure for many diseases.  There is too much grime and smog in earth’s low atmosphere.  There are so many respiratory problems.  There is so much low living and difficult breathing.  The environment is wrong!  Living in the lowlands of the fleshly mind will weaken and kill you.  It is good medicine to meet a saint that is above — a saint with eagle’s wings!  They quicken and refresh.  Spend time with those that live above.  You, too, will learn how to stay above.  Remember that the young eagles have to be taught to fly.  If they refuse to learn they are destroyed.  Learn to live the heavenly life if you would save your life.  Go as high as you can and stay as long as you can.  Get away from the depressing order of the valleys.  Learn to live in your habitat — your element.  Refuse to be embroiled in confusion and strife.  There is nothing to gain.  Soar and soar until you master all the strong currents of the upper atmosphere, for they will lift you into the heights of God.  If the other fellow falls out of the heavenlies, just do not follow him down to chew on his flesh.  As you stay in the heavenlies, you will help draw him back.  The wings of the spirit are eagle wings. 

 THE WINGS OF THE LIVING CREATURES

 “And the four living creatures had each of them six wings about him…” (Rev. 4:8).

 Six is the number of man, and having six wings speaks of man.  But this is not the earth-man, this is the exalted man in the throne!  Long centuries ago the prophet Ezekiel saw visions of the glory of the Lord in the temple of God and in that glory he saw the cherubim with their wings.  He described the scene thus: “Then…the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord’s glory.  And the sound of the cherubim’s wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when He speaketh.  And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight” (Eze. 10:5,19).

 These words teach us the great truth that the wings of the living creatures represent THE VOICE OF GOD WHEN HE SPEAKS!  The wings are the living word of God, or His voice by the Spirit.  This wonderful scene also teaches us the great truth that it is by lifting up His voice, that is, by magnifying and exercising His word within our lives, that we are lifted up from the earth!  The wings speak of flight, and they represent a  people who are empowered by the living word and the voice of God within.  God is speaking to us a pure word in this hour, the present truth, His word from the very throne-room on high!  It is not a word that the carnal-minded believers in  the old-order church systems can hear.  Religious minds have no idea what God is doing in this Day, nor can they hear even when they are told.  God is always speaking!  In the perfumed magnificence of Eden He walked and talked with man face to face  in the spirit of that day.  At sundry times and in divers manners God spoke unto the fathers by the prophets.  Two thousand years ago the voice of the Galilean rang out over the hills and through the streets and the hallways of God’s people, Israel.  All through the centuries of the church age God has been speaking by His Spirit! 

 And today God is speaking, not the same word He spoke to any other people in past generations of His unfolding purpose, but He is speaking a fresh word, raining down fresh manna, and His elect are prayerfully and joyfully receiving of His mind and His will for this hour of the manifestation of the sons of God.  We are now receiving our daily bread, the bread for this day, this new day that the Lord hath made.  When this new, fresh, present word of the Lord becomes a mighty power and the inward motivation of our forward walk in God, we are transported from the earth into the heavens of God’s Spirit!  God is teaching us to live by every word that is proceeding out of His mouth, and as we do we are lifted up out of our fleshly, earthly, human consciousness into the glorious mind of Christ.  These wings of His word will carry us to heights unknown, to the place of their origin — the throne of God!  Yet — it is impossible to soar into the heights of God by wings alone.  Wings without wind are absolutely useless!  In like manner, without the winds of God’s Spirit the wings of His Word are as good as dead.  Without the wind the wings have no power by which they can rise!  It has been well stated that the Word without the Spirit leads  to legalism; and the Spirit apart from the Word leads to fanaticism.  God is bringing that beautiful balance between the Spirit and the Word in those who follow on to know Him in this new Day of the Lord!  God is moving powerfully by His Spirit within His elect in this hour, and the Word of God by the Spirit of God is lifting us up into a higher place than we have ever known before.  It is indeed wonderful!

 THE EYES OF THE FOUR LIVING CREATURES

 “In the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind” (Rev. 4:6).  “And they were full of eyes within…” (Rev. 4:8).

 The “eyes” are of course symbolic, as is everything else in the visions John beheld in the Spirit.  The eyes which are described as “before” and “behind” and “within” denote the superior vision and perspective of God’s Christ, Head and body.  Each one in this called and chosen company of kings and priests possesses those wonderful “eyes” of the spirit of wisdom and revelation!  John saw seven eyes of the Lamb, which he identified as “the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth” (Rev. 5:6).  The elect of the Lord are being given the eyes of the Spirit, which is the fullness of the anointing of the Spirit.  That anointing enables them to see things that others cannot!  The superior vision of the eyes of the mind of Christ make it possible for us to see the deep things of the Spirit of God, and the eternal realities of the all-encompassing truth of God.  The mind of Christ includes the full spiritual potential to see things that are beyond the sight of the natural man.  When we have put on the mind of Christ in fullness, we shall indeed make up that “living creatures” expression of the kingship of Christ, which is “full of eyes before and behind and within.”

 The spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ is the result of having anointed and enlightened eyes.  The firstborn Son of God functioned solely by the “eyes” of the mind of Christ.  He did only those things He “saw” the Father do.  He said, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.  For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth: and He will show Him greater works than these, that ye may marvel” (Jn. 5:19-20). Jesus had a spiritual vision that was beyond the ability of mere mortal man to comprehend.  He did not see these spiritual realities by the eyes of the natural understanding.  The things He saw the Father do, He “saw” by the mind of Christ, by the anointed eyes of His sonship.  And regardless of how much men proclaim about the so-called “finished work” of Christ, I do not hesitate to tell you that there is much more to be done by the mind of Christ.  It is a great truth that Jesus has fully accomplished the sacrifice by which He reconciles all men to God and provides salvation for all the ends of the earth.  But beyond that, the Father’s works are not yet completed! 

Not until the closing chapters of the book of Revelation does the decree finally go forth, “Behold, I make ALL THINGS NEW! And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea.”  We all understand that sin and wickedness still abound everywhere, and sickness, pain, sorrow, and death stalk the whole human race.  The wonderful work of the Spirit to put every enemy under the Christ’s feet, to transform and restore all things back into God again, until God is All-in-all, still remains to be done!  The very One who is credited with the “finished work” still must reign UNTIL He has put all enemies under His feet, and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”  It shall be fully accomplished by the wisdom of the mind of Christ and not by man’s carnal mind and works.  Jesus said that the Father will show Him (Christ) “greater works than these, that ye may marvel.”  Those greater works are yet to be fulfilled by the many-membered Christ!  And we shall do those “greater works” when we fully possess the mind of Christ with eyes before, behind, and within, and can “see” as Jesus saw in the power of the Spirit!

 The four living creatures, God’s kings who reign with Christ, will express within themselves the totality of God Himself.  They will manifest the full wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and power of the Father.  They have eyes in the forehead, eyes in the back, and eyes within!  They have eyes to see in the future.  They have eyes to see in the past.  And they have eyes to go within to perceive the true identity of themselves in Christ.  This signifies that we are able to see all that is true in Jesus which is also true in us, as the apostle John wrote, “A new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in Him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth” (I Jn. 2:8).  This “new commandment” of which John speaks is not a rule, not a law, it is rather the law of an inward life, for he says that the commandment is that which is true in Him (Christ) and in us.  You see, my beloved, it is not sufficient to know what is true in Christ, for what is true in Him must also become substance within us.  It is not enough to know that Christ so loves the world, but that love must be shed abroad in our hearts until we love as He loves, yea, until we love with His love, and have eyes to see the reality of Christ raised up in us.  The eyes before see all things that God’s Christ shall perform and accomplish in the future.  The eyes behind have perfect revelation of all that has been accomplished in the past, even from the foundation of the world and from eternity.  But the eyes within are in tune with the Father and see all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are hidden in Christ within!  They have a complete awareness of the spiritual world, within and without.  They penetrate into the deep things of God in the Spirit!  And they reveal to us the identity of Christ within ourselves, the awesome potential within our spirit.

 The Indian mystic, Sadhu Sundar Singh, said in one of his teachings, “Many there are that are like a hunter who, while wandering in the jungle, picked up some pretty stones on the bank of a stream.  Unaware of their value he used them one by one in his sling to shoot at the birds perched on the trees near the river, and so one by one they fell into the water and were lost.  With one still in his hand he returned to the city, and as he passed along the bazaar a jeweler caught sight of it, and told the silly fellow that it was a valuable diamond for which he could get thousands of rupees.  When the man heard this he began to bewail himself and say, ‘Woe is me!  I didn’t know their value, and have been using many of these diamonds to shoot at birds by the riverside, and they have fallen into the river and are lost, otherwise I should have been a millionaire!  Still I have saved this one, and that is something gained.’”

 The spirit of Christ in every man is like a precious diamond!  Ah, yes, there lies buried within you the greatest of all treasures — the fullness of God in Christ within you.  Discover the treasures of that Christ within today, my friend, draw from His wealth, suck from His life, receive from His power and you will be a son of God indeed!  The fullness of God is closer to you than the air that you breathe.  It’s closer to you even than the blood that courses through your veins.  All the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwells in Christ, and Christ is your life.  Oh, the wonder of it!  And this is why you are given eyes “within” — that you may see, perceive, understand, and appropriate the life of God that is within you.  You are a son of the Most High God.  The very life of God is within you today.  In that life there is no limitation at all.  All the wealth of divinity, all the riches of the mind of the Father, all the abundance of joy, peace, righteousness, love, and power that are in Jesus Christ, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are hidden in Him are in you today, and God has given you spiritual eyes within to behold all that is yours, all that is resident within your spirit, and all that can be raised up in power and glory in your life as your very own reality. 

 It is also said that the four living creatures are “full of eyes” before and behind and within.  FULL OF EYES!  The Lamb had seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, or the fullness of the Spirit.  So these living creatures are full of eyes which are the fullness of the Spirit of God!  The Spirit of God gives you the vision of God, for no man can truly see anything spiritual except by the Spirit of God.  The fullness of the Spirit brings fullness (perfect clarity) of vision!  As it is written, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.  But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (I Cor. 2:9-10).  The four living creatures are full of the vision of God!  All things are clear and open unto them by the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God.  They see all things as they really are, within and without.  Nothing in God is hidden from them.  This creature that we are becoming is empowered with knowledge!  It is truly wonderful!

 There is a scripture passage in which the prophet Isaiah speaks of the day when God brings forth His Zion company, and they shall see “eye to eye.”  “Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion” (Isa. 52:8).  Many have thought that in order  for Zion to see eye to eye we must come to the place where all our understandings of God’s plan, will, and purpose and all our interpretations of scripture are identical in every respect.  We thought it meant theological conformity or doctrinal purity.  We all need the Spirit of God to clarify our vision about many things found in the scriptures.  We are still learning the truths of God’s ways, His will, and His word.  We don’t have any stakes put down in what we believe about any number of things  in God’s great purposes.  We do not tell God that what we now know or think we know is sufficient, that we have learned all there is to learn. 

Well do I remember sitting in geography class in the fourth grade in the rural school house in south Alabama where I was raised.  I was about nine years old.  I sat there with my thoughts running to and fro throughout the world presented to me in my geography book.  I gazed out the window in deep contemplation, and suddenly it occurred to me that I understood just about everything there was to understand about life and the world!  My childish mind was quite certain that very little could be added to my vast knowledge about all things on earth.  Of course, the truth was that I knew nothing as I ought to know, and through many years of crucial experience, growth, and development unto maturity, I finally came to see just how much I didn’t know!   I personally am very aware that spiritually we still see through a glass darkly, we see men as trees walking, and still look at things as we perceive them to be, but often without the crystal clarity of absolute truth and full revelation.  We wait upon the Lord for the understanding that comes only from above and crystallizes within our spirits as He moves in our experience.  If we abide in the attributes of humility, teachableness, yieldedness, and remain in the atmosphere of His presence and glory we can’t go wrong in this Day of the Lord!

 The Spirit is not talking about doctrinal uniformity, as desirable as that may be.  It means that “eye to eye” all will be of the same stature, there will not be some little children and some tall men, or diverse degrees of spiritual development and maturity in God.  The Lord is growing us up together into a common maturity and stature in Christ — unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ!  Thus, in and by the Spirit, all God’s sons shall be elevated to the same place in the Lord, and then shall truly see “eye to eye”!  Aren’t you glad!

          To be continued…                                                                      J. PRESTON EBY