KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES
"Teaching the things concerning
the kingdom of God..."
FROM THE CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE
Part
81
THE
UNIVERSAL SONG
(continued)
“And they sung a new song,
saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals
thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed
us to God by Thy blood…” (Rev.
5:9).
Redeemed
— what a glorious word! How
deep, how high, how broad! Oh
yes, it is true that we have been redeemed, but, like salvation,
redemption is no single act or experience; as one has stated, it
is “a crisis leading
to a process” as
we are progressively “loosed away” from one realm to another,
from one mind to another, from one nature to another, from one
state of being to another. Truly
we are being freed from the dominion of the carnal mind, from a
world of flesh-centered, self-assertive religious activities,
and from the power of sin and death, first in spirit, working
outward into the mind, will, emotions, and desires of the soul
life, and finally in body by the mighty working of His power
whereby He is able to change even our vile body, that it may be
fashioned like unto His body of glory (Phil. 3:21).
The
prefix “re” in “re-deem” means “again” (as in re-copy, re-wash,
re-write). The main
part of the word is from a root that means “to purchase, to
buy.” So an article that is left in a pawn shop can be redeemed
by paying the money that was borrowed, plus the interest
charges. The item is
thus re-bought or bought back. The
word is also used when a company finds it possible to call some
of its indebtedness, pay the borrower, and cancel the
obligation: this is the redemption of
bond issues. Spiritually,
it means a return to
that place, wisdom, knowledge, life, glory, and dominion which
we once had in God before the ages were framed, ere this present
cosmos or world-arrangement began.
The
English word “redeem” translates three Greek words, each of
which has a rich meaning in connection with our salvation and
transformation. One
Greek word, apolutro, means
“to loose, untie, deliver.” Another
Greek word used in the scriptures and translated by our word
“redemption” is agorazo, the
common Greek word for marketing. The
noun agora means
the market place, and the verb agorazo means
to buy. In the New
Testament the word is applied to souls. This
would be readily understood in the ancient world, since there
was a slave market that operated almost every day, and the
traffic in slaves was very great. That
Christ should have walked into the slave market and purchased,
or redeemed, men who were slaves to the realm of carnality, sin,
and death, would have been easily comprehended!
A
missionary was working on a Bible translation for the Bambara
people. Realizing
that the idea of “being redeemed” might not mean much to them,
he asked his Bambara translation helper, “How do you say ‘God
redeemed us’ so that your people can understand?” “Why,
we would say ‘God took our necks out,’” the helper replied. “But
how would your people understand that?” “Oh,
we remember that, long ago, raiders would come and take our
people into slavery. They would put heavy iron collars on our
people and chain one captive to the next in long lines to be
taken to the coast. Sometimes
a chief or friend would see a friend being led away and would
want to free him, or redeem him. He
could do this by paying the slave traders gold, silver, brass,
or ivory. In
redeeming his friend, he would ‘take his neck out of the iron
collar!’” What a
beautiful way to say that we are no longer slaves, unable to
free ourselves from slavery to self, sin, and death! Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God, has redeemed us by His own precious blood! He
has taken our neck out of the collar!
There
is another Greek word which gives additional light on the
thought of redemption. The
word is exagorazo (agorazo with
the prefix ex),
and carries the idea of buying something out of
the market. There is
a difference between a purchase that is for resale and a
purchase that is made in order to take an article out of
commerce. For
example, a dealer in rare books and works of art might purchase
an item at a London or New York sale, and hold it for resale to
a customer. Some
pictures, books, manuscripts, and other art objects are bought
and sold again and again. But
finally, when a great work of art is bought by a museum, it is
thus TAKEN OUT OF CIRCULATION PERMANENTLY.
In
consideration of these facts which I have briefly stated there
is another truth to which I would draw your reverent attention. The
song of God’s kings and priests proclaims, “Thou hast
redeemed us to
God…” Redeemed
— unto God! We
have been bought back to God as His own peculiar possession for
a special and wonderful purpose. “Thou
hast redeemed us unto God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and
tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made
us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the
earth.”
You
have read what the scripture says of Moses: “This Moses whom
they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? The
same did God send to be a ruler and A DELIVERER by the hand of
the angel which appeared to him in the bush” (Acts 7:35). We
find that this word “deliverer” is the same Greek word which in
its various forms is translated ransom, redemption, redeem, and
redeemed. The
question follows, How was Moses a deliverer, a redeemer, or a
redemption-price for Israel in Egypt? Did
Moses pay a price to Pharaoh for Israel’s redemption? Did
he promise Egypt anything in return for allowing Israel to
leave? Absolutely
not! Moses paid
Egypt exactly nothing. And
yet, he was a redeemer and redemption for Israel! How
can this be? It
was his own life which he poured out for Israel, it
was the freely giving of his life to Israel which led them up
out of the house of bondage.
This
is the most beautiful type of Christ’s redemption! When
Jesus Christ became our redemption He didn’t have to pay
redemption money to God. He
didn’t take His blood and say, “Here, God, is a price for the
people.” Nor did He
go to Satan and say, “Here, Satan, is a redemption-price, now
you let God’s people go.” NEVER! He,
like Moses, poured His life out and freely gave it to the
people! “I am the
living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this
bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is
my flesh, which I WILL GIVE FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of
man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. For
my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. As
the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he
that eateth me, even he shall live by me” (Jn. 6:51,53-57). We
are the ones who are receiving the redemption money, and
receiving of His life we are able to get up and leave the filth
of self, sin, and the world behind, and walk in the higher
realms with Him.
Can
you not see the mystery? In
the natural the redemption price was paid to the slave owner or
creditor; and it will clearly be seen that God operates by the
same principle once we understand that that which had us bound
was in very fact something
inherent within ourselves. Paul
goes into a penetrating discussion of this in chapter seven of
the book of Romans. He
talks about each of our experiences in which the good thing we
want to do, we don’t do, and the evil that we don’t want to do,
we do. He says that
in me, that is, in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. He
goes on to say, “For I delight in the law of God after the
inward man: but I see another law in
my members, warring
against the law of my mind, and bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin and deathwhich is in my members. O
wretched man that I am! Who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom.
7:13-25).
Ah,
the law of sin and death works within, the
carnal mind operates within, and
the devil himself is but a figure for the bestial spirit of this
world which sits enthroned within the
very nature and heart of man. People
have painted Satan as a huge, ugly, impish personage with horns,
bedecked with a red suit, having a long pointed tail and
carrying a pitchfork. In
our minds he belongs in dark pagan jungles where frenzied
worshippers hysterically practice devil worship. He
belongs in ancient voodoo ceremonies where primitive peoples
offer human sacrifices to appease his anger. He
belongs to the garden of Eden, spoiling life for Adam and Eve;
to the Judean wilderness, tempting Jesus; to Berlin during the
1930’s and 1940’s , possessing and using Adolph Hitler,
masterminding history’s great atrocities. Certainly
Satan is present in the above listed activities. But
may I hastily add that he is not present there one whit more
than he has been in your life and mine! The
pen of inspiration truthfully records the fact that “You hath
He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: wherein in
time past ye walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the
children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:1-2).
That
ancient serpent slithers about in the lowest realms of man’s
earthiness, in the crooked thoughts, perverted desires, and
unbridled emotions of the carnal nature, in all the corrupt
motions of the flesh. Within
man lies the seat
of satan. We
have been the captives of a power within us, slaves to our own
bestial nature. So
Christ did not pay a ransom to God in heaven, nor to the devil
in hell, in order to redeem us and gain our release. Rather,
He gave His life and poured it into us that the transcendent
power of His Spirit within might break asunder the bands that
bind us! Victory
over the carnal mind is gained only by putting on the precious
mind that was in Christ Jesus. Victory
over the flesh is wrought alone by the mighty power of the
Christ-life within. HE
GIVES HIS LIFE TO US WHO ARE IN BONDAGE, AND THEN WE HAVE THE
VITALITY AND STRENGTH TO ARISE AND RETURN TO FATHER’S HOUSE TO
CLAIM OUR INHERITANCE. We
cannot do it on our own, by any self-effort of our weak and
helpless flesh, fettered by the shackles of our human
consciousness and the power of sin and shame, but when He gives
His life, and fills us with His strength, then through
Him we are able
to rise up out of our slave house and return to Father’s house. Praise
God, His life is given as
redemption TO US, so
that, as the apostle says, “Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who
of God is made
unto us…REDEMPTION” (I
Cor. 1:30). Hallelujah!
REDEEMED
BY BLOOD
“And
they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book,
and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by
Thy blood…” (Rev.
5:9).
I
am indebted to the writings of the saintly Andrew Murray for
some of the thoughts shared in this portion.
What is this stream of life from
the Lamb upon the throne with the power to redeem us? The
wonderful answer comes, “Thou art worthy…for Thou wast slain,
and hast redeemed us unto God by
Thy blood.” It
is the blood of
the Lamb that bestows this worth upon Him. The
blood of Jesus is the greatest mystery of the ages, the deepest
mystery of divine wisdom. Let
us not imagine that we can easily grasp its meaning! God
thought four thousand years necessary to prepare men for it, and
we must take time in His presence, if we are to gain a knowledge
of the awesome and marvelous power of the blood. I
know of no word in the Bible or in human speech that contains
such glories! This
great and eternal truth shines with ever increasing brilliance
from Eden’s fragrant garden of long ago to the jasper walls of
the New Jerusalem descending from God out of heaven; from Adam’s
covering of skins and Abel’s humble sacrifice of the firstfruits
of his flock to the very throne of God Himself where, glorious
in power and might, the Lamb reigns and the seven spirits of His
divine life are sent forth into all the earth.
The
blood of Jesus is of such vast importance to God the Father that
He has decreed that there shall be (1)
no remission (2) no
salvation (3) no
atonement (4) no
redemption (5) no
propitiation (6) no
cleansing (7) no
justification (8) no
peace (9) no new
covenant (10) no
sanctification (11)
no reconciliation (12)
no entrance into the Holiest of all (13)
no sonship, without the blood of Jesus Christ whose blood is
called by Paul THE BLOOD OF GOD (Acts 20:28; Heb. 10:19-20).
Never
forget, my beloved, that Jesus came as THE PRICE WHICH COVERS,
the substance in the scale that replenishes all deficiency. He
shed His blood — His divine life — pouring it out for us. Life
and blood are synonymous. Spirit
and blood are synonymous. Spirit,
blood, and life are all different names for the same element. Jesus
performed His mighty works by the shores of Galilee, but then He
died, resurrected, ascended, was glorified, and then returned in
mighty spirit
power to
indwell His body and to be the miracle
worker within. Nothing
less must become ours, than His
Life — the
divine life He lived in human flesh. “As
I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live
by me,” Jesus said. The
truth is so simple — He poured out His blood-life to us to
quicken us again to the glory of God that belongs to man. When
our spirit is quickened by His spirit we are brought to union
with God! Christ
gave Himself for
us and to
us. Our
spirit must be quickened by His Spirit. THAT
IS THE POWER OF HIS REDEEMING BLOOD, OF HIS LIFE THAT RESTORES
US TO OUR TRUE IDENTITY AS SONS OF GOD. Oh,
the mystery of it! That
He might liberally pour His dear-bought treasures into benighted
human storehouses, was the inspiration of Jesus’ intense human
sacrifice.
Some hold not to this truth,
choosing rather to believe that they are a self-sufficient god
within themselves, needing no Redeemer beyond the development of
their own inherent divinity. Thus
they bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought
them (II Pet.
2:1). Do
away with this wonderful stream of the precious blood of Christ
as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot, and every room
within the towering temple of spiritual
reality comes
crashing down to earth! The
love of God became a man, the love of God became human flesh,
the love of God in Jesus Christ has flowed into our spirits and
souls and bodies as the precious blood of Christ to wash away
the veil of carnal consciousness and quicken us again to our
true heritage in God. “Forasmuch
as ye know that ye were not redeemed by such corruptible things
as silver and gold from your vain manner of life received by
tradition from your fathers; but with the precious
blood of Christ,as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot.” Hallelujah
for the blood!
Multiplied
millions of believers in all lands hold the blood of Christ to
be precious. The
word precious means
of great price or value, costly, of great desirability, honored,
esteemed, or beloved. But
there must be a reason why the blood is precious! Through
many years of my Christian walk I never learned ofany reason why
it is esteemed except that God counts it to be the most valuable
and precious of all blood to Him. I
was never told whether it was intrinsically valuable or if it
was valuable because of what it could and did accomplish. To
be intrinsically valuable or precious means that it is of itself
precious and does not necessarily need to accomplish any work to
get its value. For
example, the value of precious gems is determined not so much
from their usefulness but from what they are within themselves —
their intrinsic value — and that is why people desire to own
them even though they can really do nothing. On
the other hand, there are certain medicines, extracted from
plants, which cost a thousand or thousands of dollars for one
pill or injection. These
actually have little intrinsic value, but their value is derived
entirely from what they can do! My
sincere prayer is that the spirit of wisdom and revelation may
enlighten the eyes of our understanding so that we clearly see
that the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ was and is precious both
in respect to its intrinsic
value (for
it is the life of God!) and because
of what it
could and did and does now do!
In
the blood of Jesus the power of the divine life dwelt and worked
— hence its intrinsic value. He
was a specially prepared body to contain a specially
prepared blood that
was to be the
life of all
humanity. This blood
was precious from the fact that it was a unique blood which
would do something for all humanity that no other blood could
ever do. It was the
Word that became flesh, who was made man. It
was the life of God that dwelt in Him in
a measure that
no other man had known! God
gave not the Spirit by measure unto Him! If the spirit in Jesus,
which is the life and the blood of Jesus, was in no way
different from the spirit or life of every other human being,
then why is it that He was able to walk through this realm of
sin and death and both remain sinless and manifest the very
fullness of divine life on the human plane, while each and every
other son of Adam has sinned and come short of the glory of God including
you, my precious brother, sister, and including me! The
fullness of divine life gave His blood, every drop of it, an
intrinsic value. The
blood of a man is of more worth than that of a sheep. The blood
of a king is counted of more value than hundreds of common men. The
blood of the firstborn son of God! It
is in vain the mind seeks for some expression of its value; all
we can say is, it is His own blood, the blood of the Son of God!
Oh,
the wonder of it! Jesus
Christ was the
Word made flesh; He
was not old Adam’s flesh imbued with God’s life. He
was the second Man, the Man from heaven, the God-man, head of a
new species of Men, a new creation of God in the earth, each
member of which is a SON OR DAUGHTER OF THE MOST HIGH! The
life is in the blood. As
the value of this life, so the value of the blood. In
Christ there was the life of God; infinite as God is the worth
and the power of that blood! In
Christ there was the life of man in its perfection; in His
humility, and obedience to the Father, and self-sacrifice, that
which made Him unspeakably well-pleasing to the Father. The
blood of Jesus, God and man, poured out in death, was the
perfect fulfillment of God’s will, and a perfect victory over
self and sin and death. Therefore
it was, that in the blood of the everlasting covenant Jesus was
raised from the dead; that in the power of that blood He entered
the highest heaven; and that
precious blood is now and forever available to us with all its
incorruptible power. His
blood is His divine spirit of life which has come into us, and
he that is joined to the Lord is
one spirit. The
precious blood of Christ is just Christ Himself, Christ in us —
our hope of glory!
THOU HAST
MADE US KINGS AND PRIESTS
“And
they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book,
and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us unto God…and hast made
us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the
earth” (Rev.
5:9-10).
Many
translations use the word “them,” as
this is the song of the four living creatures and the
twenty-four elders. A
number of Bible scholars disagree with that and confirm that “us” is
the better and correct translation. Dr.
Seiss in his “Lectures on the Apocalypse” gives the following
explanation: “Some of the best manuscripts read ‘them’ in
place of ‘us’; but
the sense is not altered by it…for the subject is settled by the
preceding declaration to be the persons singing the song,
namely, by the phrase ‘redeemed US’; the
genuineness of which must be considered established since the
discovery of the Codex Sinaiticus.” It
is therefore the four living creatures (kingship) and the
twenty-four elders (priesthood) who are both redeemed unto
God and made
kings and priests unto God!
Never
under the Old Testament Aaronic order of priesthood, apart from
one example, do we find where a king exercised the office or
ministry of a priest. In the Levitical order the offices of king
and priest were separated, there were those who reigned as
kings, and there were those who were the Lord’s priests. Kings
could not intrude into the priest’s office, and priests could
not sit on the throne. Judah
produced the kings, and Levi produced the priests. On
one occasion Uzziah, king of Judah, tried to assume the role of
priest and “went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense
upon the altar of incense” and was smitten with leprosy in his
forehead (II Chron. 27:16-20). God
had separated the two offices for that time, and the one was not
to intrude into the other.
Melchizedek
is the sign, the symbol, the first example of a priest
designated in the word of God. He
was called a priest of God long centuries before the Old
Covenant order was established for the Levites to be the priests
of Israel. Thus, the
first or beginning example represents the pattern or true design
of God for what He considers a priesthood. Melchizedek
had royal blood in his veins, he claimed the title of kingship. The
very meaning of the name Melchizedek is “KING of righteousness”
and this righteous King was also the Priest of the Most High
God. What was always
kept asunder under the Law Covenant, by divine wisdom and
purpose was united in Him who was “made like unto the Son of
God.” Melchizedek
was “made like” the Son of God, and we find in the book of
Hebrews that the Son of God is made a high priest “after the Order
of Melchizedek.” It
is the glory of Christ and His many brethren as KING-PRIESTS
that Melchizedek so wondrously prefigures! A
new order has arisen in Jesus Christ. He
is a King-Priest! And
He has made us to be Kings and Priests, a Kingdom of Priests, a
Royal Priesthood unto God! “They
shall be priests of
God and of Christ, and shall reign with
Him…” (Rev. 20:6).
The
principle idea attached to the title “king” is that of authority
and rule; to the title “priest” that of mediation, mercy,
ministry, and reconciliation, drawing men nigh unto God, and God
nigh unto men. Why
is Jesus seated as a priest upon the throne of the heavens? It
is that man may be blessed, and that God may be glorified in
man! As priest He
lives only for others, to bring them near to God. He
lives as king only that He might reveal the kingdom — the power,
authority, dominion, and glory — of God in and through us!
Deep
down in the heart of men there is a strong and instinctive
demand for a priest, to be a mediator, to lay one hand on man,
and the other on God, and going between both to bring the two
together into unification. This
instinctive consciousness of the need for someone to help us to
enter into oneness with God is the reason why all the ancient
pagan religions had a priesthood. A
priest or priesthood infers that there is a reason why such has
been called into play. It
denotes that there is an estrangement between
God and His creatures and the priest ministers to bridge that
gulf and bring about peace or at-one-ment. Many
today proclaim that there is no estrangement, no separation
between God and man, that it is only a false sense of duality in
man’s mind,
that he has only to see that he himself is
God, and as soon
as his true identity is recognized, he can proceed to manifest
out of his divine self. If
that is the truth then man did not truly fall, there was no sin
in Eden, and no penalty for that sin; God did not Himself drive man
out of paradise, Adam just sort of stumbled out while
sleep-walking, there was no need for Jesus to come to ransom us
with His precious blood, and there certainly would be no need
for the Melchizedek Priesthood! Nor
would there be any purpose in any scriptural teaching of
forgiveness by God, atonement, justification, regeneration, new
birth, or the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Jesus
should have just come and told us who we really are, and
explained to us that none of these things can add anything
whatsoever to our inherent divinity, and gone back to heaven.
Webster’s
dictionary defines priest as: a mediatory agent between God and
man. In the Old
Testament the word priest is translated from the Hebrew wordcohen, the
root meaning of which is “one who stands up and draws nigh for
another.” The Greek
word, in its root, means “to minister.” Thus,
a priest is one who “draws near and ministers on behalf of
another.” And the
priest always draws nigh and ministers in two
directions —
drawing nigh to God on behalf of the people and drawing nigh to
the people on behalf of God. The
priest stands and ministers to the Lord on behalf of the people
while, on the other hand, he ministers unto the people on behalf
of the Lord. The
ministry of the priest is an intermediary or go-between
ministry. He reaches
out with one hand and takes hold of God; he reaches out with the
other hand and takes hold of humanity; and he brings the two
together by virtue of his priestly administration.
“Thou
hast made us kings
and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” “Made
us” are words pregnant with meaning. Let
me give you an illustration. The
name of the Son of God is Jesus. That
is His correct name. That
is His full name. The
name of the eternal Word of God who stepped across the stars to
the planet earth to be born in a stable in the village of
Bethlehem, is Jesus. That
is His complete, proper, full name. His
name is Jesus! The
angelic messenger appeared to the virgin girl Mary and
announced, “Thou shalt call His name JESUS, for He shall save
His people from their sins” (Mat. 1:21). Someone
says, “But the angel didn’t say His name was to be Jesus because
that’s English — His name was given as Yahshua.” Incorrect. The
common people of Galilee did not speak Hebrew in the time of
Jesus. They spoke
Aramaic. Undoubtedly
the name was given to Mary in the language she understood. We
know it in English as Jesus. And
whatever language it is spoken in it still means the same thing,
“the salvation of Yahweh.” So
when the mighty Gabriel appeared, he said, “Call the child that
which will be descriptive or characteristic of what He is going
to be and do. Call
His name that which will describe His accomplishment.” The
messenger said, “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, or thou shalt
call His name Saviour, FOR He shall save His people…call Him
God’s Salvation because He is the Son of God MIGHTY TO SAVE.”
Since
He would be the salvation of Yahweh unto His people, call Him
Saviour. Some who
read these lines are now saying, “Hold the fort, Eby; isn’t His
first name Lord and His last name Christ?” NO! Neither
Lord nor Christ is a name. It
is important that we understand that. Christ
is not a name. Christ
is a position. Christ
is an office. Christ
is a title, as also is Lord. Christ
is a description of an individual who holds a particular
office. If I were to
say to you, “What is the name of the first man to hold the
highest office in the United States of America,” you would say,
“His name was George Washington.” And
if I said to you, “What was his office?” you would say,
“President.” He was
called “President George Washington.” You
understand immediately that his name is distinct from the title
which designates his office. Now
we might call him “Mr. President,” but that’s not his name,
we’re calling him by his office. His
name is George Washington; his office is President. When
I speak to you about King, that is an office. When
I speak to you about Prime Minister, that’s an office. Christ
is an office — it’s not a name. Christ
comes from the Greek Christos and
means “anointed,” or better, “The anointed One.” When
we’re talking about the Son of God, we’re saying that His name
is Jesus — Saviour. His
office is Christ — the Anointed One. Jesus is the
Christ, the anointed One of God. And
God has made this
same Jesus to be both LORD and CHRIST. Made! Jesus
was made Lord,
and Jesus was made Christ. It
is something He became after
He was named Jesus. And
now the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders
proclaim, “For Thou hast made
us unto our
God kings and
priests: and
we shall reign on the earth!”
This
passage is one of rare beauty. It
is like a precious diamond, the effulgence of whose radiance
dazzles the mind. It
is a drop of pure distilled essence, whose fragrance fills the
rooms of the heart of every man and woman who has been
apprehended of the Father for His high and holy purpose. It
is a joy forevermore and a challenge to all who comprehend its
message. It must be
engraved deeply upon every heart of God’s Royal Priesthood. It
exalts and glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. “THOU
HAST MADE US!” THOU! There
is so much depth to that word that I am afraid we often do not
perceive it. It is
like a beautiful star-studded sky on a bright clear night and
one cannot even begin to grasp the vast depth that lies above
us. So it is with
these marvelous words: “Thou hast MADE US TO BE KINGS AND
PRIESTS!”
Hear
now the testimony of the prophet Isaiah. “But
ye shall be named the
priests of the Lord: men shall call you the ministers of our
God…for as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden
causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the
Lord will cause righteousness to spring forth before all
nations” (Isa. 61:6,11). The
inspired prophet summed up in one bold statement what it means
to be a priest of God. “Ye
shall be named the
priests of the Lord: men shall call you the ministers of our
God.” There is a
marvelous significance in that word “named.” Named! You
shall be NAMED the
priests of the Lord. This
passage forcefully reveals the great truth that all who would be
priests of God must be re-named, they MUST UNDERGO A CHANGE OF
NATURE, to become priests by name, that is, by nature, so that
priesthood is not merely a title given to them but a nature
lived out through them. Oh,
yes! If our
spiritual minds can grasp the fact, to be named the
priests of the Lord means to be natured the
priests of the Lord, to be so imbued with the priestly nature
until we become a
priest in our
very state of being. We
think like a priest. We
speak like a priest. We
act like a priest. We
love like a priest. We
minister like a priest. We
reconcile like a priest. We represent men to God, and God to men
as a priest. This is
what the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders are
declaring, “Thou hast made
us unto our
God kings and
priests!”
Kings
and Priests! Can you
see the parallel between those two? It
is the king who reigns and the priest who serves. All
the holy sons of God shall reignas
kings, and they shall serve as
priests! These kings
and priests “reign over the earth.” It
is evident that our reigning as kings and priests over
the earth is
directly related to the fact that the seven spirits of God are
from the throne of God sent
forth into all the earth. These
two statements are made in the same chapter, only four verses
apart. Can we not
see by this that the seven spirits of God are sent forth into
all the earth through the agency of those kings and priests who
are given authority over the earth and are made ministers of God
unto the earth realm.
He
makes us kings and priests! That
is the present work of God in the life of each member of God’s
elect who has received the call to sonship. Though
in our natural constitution we may have had a very different
disposition, God is breaking, purging, changing, and
transforming us, working into us the character of a king and the
heart of a priest! We
may once have been vain, but God is making us solid, serviceable
and useful! We may
have been proud, but God is making us humble! We
may have felt empty and useless, but God is filling us up and
making us valuable! Some
of us have been very weak, but the Spirit is now making us
exceedingly strong in the Lord and in the power of His might! We
may have once been ignorant and unlearned among men, but today
the Lord is filling our minds and spirits with divine wisdom and
spiritual understanding! Our
nature may previously have been shy, cold, distant, and
indifferent, but the fire of the Holy Spirit is making us bold,
warm, concerned, caring, and out-going! Perhaps
we were once critical, angry, hateful, or spiteful, but our
Father is transforming us to be loving, kind, gentle, sweet, long-suffering, merciful,
forgiving, and reconciling! It
is indeed wonderful! Our
mighty God is in this hour dealing with all His sons and truly
He is making
us to BE KINGS AND PRIESTS!
Jesus,
the High Priest of our profession, and the King over all the
kings, does His wonderful work within
us. He imparts
His own life, power, and ministry. We
cannot have the kingship and the priesthood in full power except
as the power of His
Life is fully
inworked in us. As
we truly come to understand this, we then see what is meant by
the fact that we are called to be kings and priests, because we
have the very life of the King and the High Priest in us — not
merely imputed, but the King of glory and the High Priest of the
heavens Himself dwelling powerfully within us and working
effectually through us, praise His wonderful name! This
is something far greater and higher than my own “Higher Self.” This
is His Spirit joined to my spirit — one spirit in the union of
life.
Why
is Jesus seated as a priest upon
the throne of
the heavens? He
reigns as King to bring the dominion of His kingdom into our
lives, and as Priest He lives only for others, to bless and lift
us with His life, to bring us near to God. He
makes us kings to give power and efficacy to the priesthood. He
reigns as a priest! It
is because of this that the idea of authority stands out so
prominently. Jesus
fills us with a kingly disposition; He enables us to rule over
sin, over the flesh, over the devil, over the world, over MEN. In
the midst of all circumstances and difficulties, of all
opposition or cruelty, of all powers of the flesh, the world,
and the devil, the son who yields himself to be made king by
Christ lives in the joyous certainty that he is one with Him who
has won the victory, and that He that is in
himis more than conqueror!
He
makes us priests that we might serve; that we might bring men
near unto Him; that we might be filled with the fullness of the
seven-fold intensified spirit of the Lord so as to be a channel
for the outflowing of His glorious life unto creation. How
else shall the creation be delivered from its bondage to
corruption and find its identity in the glorious liberty that
belongs to the sons of God? As
priests through the blood of Jesus we live for others, to pray
for them; to work among them; to love and bless them; to
reconcile and redeem them; to bring them to God! To
be a king is marvelous beyond words, but to be a priest is no
idle self-seeking blessedness. It
is a compelling power to enter into God’s presence on behalf of
mankind; the power to receive from the Lamb all the blessings,
benefits, and provisions of His wonderful life, and to receive
and carry and distribute them! “And
I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne… stood a Lamb as
it had been slain, having seven horns (power, kingship) and
seven eyes (vision, discernment, communication, priesthood),
which are the
seven spirits of God sent
forth into all the earth…and hast made
us… kings and priests: and
we shall reign
over the earth.”
However
clearly we see by the eye of revelation and faith the truth of
this realm of kingship and priesthood, however earnestly we
desire it, however firmly we think we grasp it by faith, all
will not avail — GOD HIMSELF MUST DO IT! God
Himself must admit us into His presence, and make His face to
shine upon us. And
as the path to kingship and priesthood, God Himself must write
His law in our hearts, unfold in us the new divine nature in
such power of the Holy Spirit, that it is HE that works within
us both to will and to do. God
Himself must by the Holy Ghost so shed abroad His love in our
hearts, that to love becomes as natural to us as it is for a
dove to be gentle. God
Himself must by the Holy Ghost so fill us with the nature of
righteousness that to be righteous becomes as natural to us as
breathing. God
Himself must by the Holy Ghost so clothe us with the mind of
Christ, that to think the thoughts of God becomes as natural to
us as are the self-serving thoughts and desires of the
unregenerated man. God
Himself must by the Holy Ghost so make us vessels of mercy that
to be merciful becomes as natural to us as the emotions of anger
and retaliation are to the carnal nature. And
God Himself must through the Holy Ghost give us His power!
Consider,
dear brother, sister, is it not God Himself who has faithfully
directed all your steps, who has initiated each circumstance of
your life, who has given sight to your poor blind eyes and
caused you to behold the majesty of His
purpose? Is it
not God Himself who has led you out of the blinding traditions
and enslaving bondage of Babylonian religion, and nurtured you
and brought you to the place in which you stand in Christ
today? I do not
hesitate to say that no more than you can save
yourself can you make
yourself an
overcomer, bring
yourself to
perfection and maturity, or of
yourself apprehend
the beautiful ministry of kingship and priesthood to God! Those
who apprehend in this hour are those who rest in His love, trust
in His power, embrace His promise, and have no confidence in the
flesh.
THE
SHAPE-SHIFTERS
There
is a teaching about “shape-shifters” that is prominent among
certain occult, new age, and UFO cult movements. The
belief is that there are certain “aliens” or “space creatures,”
namely those specified as reptilians, who
possess the ability to shape-shift or change their forms to
appear as humans or other entities. One
writer (David Icke) who is deep into this explains,
“Shape-shifting is the ability to change physical form, in this
case between a human and reptilian appearance. The
ancient Danaan brotherhood of initiates and magicians called
Telchines on the island of Rhodes could shape-shift into any
form, according to the Greek historian, Diodorus. Shape-shifting
is a common theme in tales of esoteric ‘magicians’ and high
initiates. I have
been told by hundreds of people all over the world, from every
walk of life you can imagine, about their experiences of seeing
well known and less well known people transform into a reptilian
form before their eyes and then go back again. There
have been reports of shape-shifting reptilians for thousands of
years. In the Indus
Valley and Hindu culture their serpent gods called the Nagas
were one example. The
serpent ‘sea’ or ‘fish’ gods of Sumer and Babylon were said to
be able to change shape and look human whenever they chose. Another
version of shape-shifting are the so-called ‘Men in Black’ who
appear and disappear according to witnesses. The
story of Jekyl and Hyde is also symbolic of shape-shifting” —
end quote.
Personally,
I take such theories and claims with a very
big grain of
salt! Yet — there is a
true realm and reality of shape-shifting! We
see it in the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus during the
forty days prior to His ascension. Most
of those who saw Jesus did not immediately recognize Him — only
after some subtle familiar action were their eyes opened and it
dawned upon them who this person was! In
the garden of the tomb Mary had seen a “gardener.” Two
of the disciples had seen and conversed with a “stranger.” The
eleven in the upper room saw the Master as He formerly
appeared. Later, a
group of them saw Him on the lakeshore, and thought it was a
“fisherman.” He was
with them forty days after His resurrection, but they saw Him
only on a few brief occasions.
The
entire time that He was manifest to them, had it all been
crowded into one day instead of being at intervals during the
forty days, would probably have been less that twelve hours, or
one-eightieth of that entire time. This
being true, it is evident that He was present with them unseen about
seventy-nine eightieths of that period of forty days. And
even when they did have manifestations, they
were not (except once, on behalf of the doubting Thomas) in a
form exactly like the one they had known so intimately for three
and a half years, and had seen but a few days before. It
is not once intimated that they knew Him by the familiar
features of His face, nor even that He was recognized by the
same appearance as in other manifestations. Yes,
He was different, so different that they were puzzled to
understand Him, and to know just how they could still be His
disciples.
“After
that He appeared in another
form unto
two of them, as they walked, and went into the country” (Mk.
16:12). He appeared
unto them in another form — not another Person. It
was the same Christ and Lord! But
there was some difference of manifestation. That
is the plain truth coming to meet us out of the region of
mystery where for us the final truth of things dwells. After
His resurrection Jesus was still to His disciples Jesus — but
with a difference. He
was the same, yet not the same. There
was something about Him which differentiated Him from the Christ
of the garden, and the hillside, and the country road, and the
seashore. The
disciples never doubted that He was the same Jesus with whom
they had passed through the corn-fields, and walked the
highways, and sailed on the blue water of Galilee. But
the human form which was soon to pass from their midst already
seemed to be becoming less recognizable to their view. In
a little while they would see Him no more — that is, as we see
one another in the flesh. Soon
the vision of the living and ever-present Christ was to be
internalized, reserved wholly for the inward eye of every
quickened and transformed spirit. But
it seemed that already, in anticipation of this new order of
things, the old order was changing, and the outward form of the
Master was speedily becoming less and less the essential medium
for the revelation and recognition of His unchanging
personality.
The
record of the appearances of Christ during those forty days
before the ascension tells us that the spiritual senses were now
predominating over the physical, and the spirit played an ever
larger part in the realm of perception. It
is abundantly clear that the Christ they saw and recognized was
no mere apparition or illusion, but it is equally clear that
those who sought to recognize the Lord in the same way they
recognized one another now needed their physical senses to give
way to the spiritual faculties of the spirit of wisdom and
revelation from God, the eyes of their understanding being
enlightened that they might truly KNOW HIM!
Form
plays an important part in our physical and material reckonings,
outward appearance is so necessarily the basis of our judgments
in this gross material realm. But
all who have been called to sonship to God are now learning the
important lesson that, even as the same Christ came to Mary
Magdalene, to the disciples by the sea, and to the two who
journeyed to Emmaus in forms which they did not immediately
recognize as Him, so that spiritual life which Jesus revealed in
His resurrection, and which He revealed in even greater measure
by His ascension and return as the power of the Holy Spirit, may
express itself in more than one form of manifestation as it is
raised up in the hearts and lives of God’s elect. “He
appeared in another form.” He
is always doing that! Would that
we were always able to see and recognize Him! Would
that our faith were deep enough, would that our love were broad
enough, would that our insight were keen enough, to recognize
Him in all the forms and fashions of His coming unto the
children of men!
Some
find Christ as Mary Magdalene found Him in an instant when He
called her name. Some
find Him as they are led in the paths of His will, like the
disciples who cast their net in the sea of Galilee, and found it
was their Master and Lord they were obeying. Some
take the journey to Emmaus — they meditate upon Him, converse
with Him, and their hearts burn within them —then they discover
Him in the breaking of bread by His hand. At
the center of all spiritual experience there lies the same
eternal truth, for it is the same Christ who meets us all; but
many are the forms we encounter as we each experience Him in a
different way! Some
may find Him in blessings and experiences, while others find Him
with Job in the severity of testings and trials, being brought
very low upon the ash-heap of stripping and desolation, tested
to the uttermost until at last they break through the gloom and
shout with the voice of triumph, “I have heard of Thee by the
hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth
Thee!” (Job
42:5). Therefore let
not the man who has met the Christ in the form of a gardener
doubt that He was ever seen by the waters of Galilee; and let
not him who has encountered Him on that dawn-lit beach think it
improbable that He ever walked and talked with the travelers to
Emmaus.
“HE
APPEARED IN ANOTHER FORM.” That
is Christ the great shape-shifter! It
is the same Christ revealing Himself to men in another form. So,
my beloved, as we ponder the mysterious manifestations of the
risen Christ among the faithful and devout disciples, let us
remind ourselves that this same Jesus is in our midst, and we
must be ready to recognize Him as He becomes manifested to us
from day to day, from realm to realm, from glory to glory, by
the power of the Spirit. The
Lord Jesus comes to us in different ways. There
are many modes and forms of the appearing of the Lord Jesus
Christ! To those who
suppose that they have attained to all God has for them, whether
in the precincts of Babylon, in the deliverance of the feast of
Passover, in the glory of Pentecost, or some who think they have
already ascended into the highest heaven of their high calling
in the feast of Tabernacles, to each I now say by the word of
the Lord — we are going to have another manifestation! It
is dawning. It has
begun even now. It
is the same Lord Jesus, yet even now His many brethren are
beginning to behold Him in the glory of His Kingship and
Priesthood, the Lamb in the midst of the throne, sending forth
the seven-fold intensified spirit of God into all the earth, to
be manifested in a further unfoldment of Himself, in the glory
and power of manifest sonship!
All
of us have this treasure in earthen vessels, and we are
continually being changed from
glory to glory! For
years the Lord had put me on His potter’s wheel and made me a
certain shape. For
years I was an evangelist and, whenever the Lord wanted to move
in the soul-saving, evangelistic realm, I was right there. No
problem at all! I
was in the evangelistic shape. My
whole mind and desire was conformed to that ministry, my whole
heart, everything. All
about me was conformed to that. But
if God wanted to move in any other way through me, He could
not. That was my
shape! If He came in
that shape I said, “Come, Lord Jesus.” If
He came in another shape I couldn’t handle that, so I said, “Go,
Lord Jesus.” I had
not yet learned about shape-shifting!
Most
of us have had a certain shape and we have been hardened to
that. The only way
the Lord could appear to us and appear in us and appear through
us, would be in that form. It
has been the Baptist form, the Pentecostal form, or the
Charismatic form. It
has been the evangelistic form, the apostolic form, the
prophetic form, the divine order form, the healing form, the
deliverance form, the miracles form, the tongues-speaking form,
the prophesying form, the worship form, the word of faith form,
or a hundred other forms. But
the highest glory of the ministry of Christ is embodied in those
two wonderful offices: KING and PRIEST. He
is indeed “the King eternal” and “a Priest forever” after the
order of Melchizedek! And
while we truly praise God for all the manifestations and
ministries of this present “in part” realm, so graciously
bestowed, yet our hearts cry out mightily for a greater
reality and
a higher
ministry that
proceeds from the throne of God and of the Lamb for the
deliverance and transformation of the entire creation. Our
deepest desire is that He may so thoroughly transform us into
HIS IMAGE, so completely CHANGE OUR SHAPE until we fully become all
that Kingship and Priesthood mean.
There
is a wonderful contrast drawn in Revelation 4:11 and 5:10,
wherein it is stated, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory
and honor and power: for Thou hast CREATED ALL THINGS, and for
Thy pleasure they are and were created…and Thou hast MADE US
unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the
earth.” Oh child of
God, consider how great and full of meaning these words are! “Thou
hast CREATED all
things…Thou hast MADE us.” There
is a world of difference between the terms “create” and “make.” Away
back yonder in the dim and distant ages that are gone it was
written, “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it:
because that in it He had rested from all His work which God
CREATED AND MADE” (Gen. 2:3). The
phrase “created and made”
is a faulty translation, and it is so indicated in the margin of
some Bibles. It
should read, “which God created to make.” Young’s
Literal Translation renders this verse, “And God blesseth the
seventh day, and sanctifieth it, for in it He hath ceased from
all His work which God had PREPARED FOR MAKING.” Another
translation says, “And God proceeded to bless the seventh day
and make it sacred, because on it He has been resting from all
His work that God has CREATED FOR THE PURPOSE OF MAKING.” In
other words, God created the whole vast universe for the purpose
of forming or making it into something He still had in mind!
And
now comes the word — “Thou hast redeemed us to God by Thy
blood…and hast MADE US unto our God kings and priests.” Ah,
“things” are created, but “kings” and “priests” are MADE! If
you are a king-priest, there is something about you that is not
ordinary; you have distinct and distinguishing characteristics. You
are no longer a part of the problem — you have been so
thoroughly transformed from the spirit of self and of this world
system until you have become in your very state of being the
solution to the problem. What
is a king? What is a
priest? Who are the
king-priests today? They
are those who are indwelt by the Christ and are living in the
Christ and by the Christ to manifest Christ! None
of us are the finished product, but, praise God, as this reality
is raised up in us more and more God is MAKING
US to be kings and priests unto Him!
“Make”
means to alter
the form or change thoroughly. There
can be no kingship or priesthood without first a thorough
change! Sin, self,
greed, hatred, criticism, retaliation, ego, unconcern,
immaturity, pettiness, unrighteousness, condemnation, all must
be dealt with by the cross. Thus,
we are not seeking just a salvation experience, the forgiveness
of our sins, covering over the past, and hoping for the best in
the future, but we desire that the Spirit of God, working
mightily within, shall bring a thorough change in us, until
every word, will, attitude, action, and reaction shall flow from His
heart unto
all about us. You
can be a believer and die and go to heaven without such a
thorough change, but you can NEVER
BE A KING OR PRIEST WITHOUT IT!
“It
is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good
pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). “GOD
working in you.” What
a marvelous expression! We
know how combustion works mightily in the cylinder, forcing up
and down the piston, giving power to the engine. We
know how sap works mightily in the branches, forcing itself out
in leaf, blossom, and bud. We
know of incidents where men were so possessed of devils that
they spoke and acted as the inward promptings compelled them. These
express but weakly the idea of the “inward working” of God,
which towers infinitely beyond. Have
we not all been conscious of some of these workings? We
have known them when the breath of holy resolution has swept
through our natures: every sigh for the will of God; every
strong and earnest desire to be like Him; every appetite for
spiritual things; every impulse to live and sacrifice and give
for others; every aspiration to love and lift and restore the
groaning creation; every prayer lifted heavenward in
intercession for weak, needy, suffering and sinful humanity;
every cry of the heart for the kingdom of God to come and His
will to be done in earth as it is in heaven — all these are the
result of His inworking and the promise of the Kingly and
Priestly Ministry!
To be
continued… J.
PRESTON EBY
Please send any inquiries or requests to:
Kingdom Bible Studies
PO Box 371240
El Paso, TX 79937-1240
Mark Eby for Kingdom Bible Studies.
All writings are
distributed on a free-will offering basis.
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