Part 86
BREAKING THE SEALS
(continued)
“And when He had opened the second seal, I heard the
second living creature say, Come! And there went out another horse that was
red…” (Rev. 6:3-4).
As these seals are opened, as the clatter of the hoofs of
the horses is heard, as we experience these wonderful unveilings of Christ
charging into our land to accomplish their purpose in us, let it be said, these
are not haphazard, unplanned, or hit-and-miss dealings, these are processes and
experiences, instruments and forces that have been prepared, working
progressively, steadily, and meticulously to accomplish the plan and will of God
in our lives. The white horse is Christ riding forth out of the inner realm of
Spirit, invading the outer realms of soul and body, initiating His march of
conquest to subdue our whole being to God. He enters our domain first in the
dazzling whiteness of light and illumination, sending the arrows
of Truth into our heart, quickening our spirit by His Spirit, giving the
understanding that comes from the light of His countenance.
The horse is the embodiment of speed and strength. He who
is mounted can get over a greater distance, do quicker work, than on foot. Thus
with Jesus Christ. By the strength of omnipotence He carries on His conquests
with great rapidity and power! With great vigor and velocity He moves down upon
the enemy; and wheeling His forces into line, charges upon the opposing ranks of
flesh and carnality, overcoming them by the impetuous energy of His movements,
before they have recovered themselves from the surprise of His sudden and swift
attack. And no sooner does He attack upon His white horse of illumination and
quickening, than He appears upon His red horse, pressing the battle ever
forward.
Words utterly fail me to describe the scene of the Rider
upon the red horse! It is so heavenly, so divine and wonderful, so terrible and
awesome, that it completely defies all human description. The Christ pursues
His battle upon a magnificent red horse — not the color red, as paint or dye —
for the Greek word is purrhos meaning “flame-like” or “flame-colored.”
It denotes no color at all, but an appearance, a condition, a manifestation of
fire or flame. Purrhos is from the root pur — the Greek word for
fire. It is interesting to note that a derivative of this Greek word for fire (pur)
is the Latin word pyra meaning “pure” and the English word “pyre” — the
place for the burning of a corpse. “Pyrex” also comes from the same root,
pyr or pur, meaning a fire, and rex, meaning a king — that
which is king, thus ruling over the fire, hence a “heat-resistant” glassware.
All our English words having to do with that which is pure are
related to the Greek word pur, indicating clearly that that which is pure
is so because it has been cleansed BY FIRE! Consider: PURe, PURify,
PURification, PURitan.
OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE, the scriptures affirm. I
understand not why fire has been represented to us as something so terrible, so
frightening, so hideous that we should try to avoid it. If our approach back to
God is through fire, as revealed by the flaming sword placed at
Eden’s gate, why do we always try to evade or get out of the fire? Why expend
such energy and effort to try and pray ourselves out of the fire? Fire,
in the scriptures, symbolizes two primary things: judgment and cleansing. But
God is not schizophrenic in His nature — one side of His character disposed to
forgive, redeem, deliver, save, heal, and restore, while the other side of His
character is bent on vengeful destruction and sadistic torture of His enemies.
His action in fire, like His action in grace, is pure, harmonious, purposeful,
and balanced, directed towards the purification that leads to restoration. The
fire of God cleanses the believer that he may qualify for God’s highest! His
activity by fire towards the unbeliever is to the same end, conditioning and
preparing that one for good results, when, having been broken and purged from
pride and rebellion, he bows low before the Saviour, penitently receiving the
gracious gift of life. The fire does not save him, but it removes the
hindrance that separates him from appreciating the kind mercy and goodness
of the Lord!
It is the Lamb of God Himself that rides forth on the
fiery horse! The Lamb nature is not a weak, trifling, spineless little nature.
Oh, no! If the Lamb nature were weak the Lamb would not dare to open the
seals of the book and unleash all the portentous activities of the horses and
their Riders! The nature of the Lamb is the nature of an overcomer, one who
cannot be offended, one that can look upon the sin and evil in the world and not
become religiously self-righteous but can love the creation to correctively,
effectively, and redemptively deal with it. The Lamb is the Lion of the tribe
of
Judah
who has prevailed! Divine judgment is not unto destruction, but unto
redemption. Fire appears terrible only to the man who is unprepared to pass
through it!
When of old God came down on mount Sinai, its upper peaks
were veiled with impenetrable billows of smoke, like the smoke of a furnace.
And in the heart of the smoke there was the appearance of devouring fire. There
is dread here! Bounds had been set to keep the people back; but a special
message was sent to warn them against breaking through to gaze, lest the fire
should break forth upon them. But there was no harm as long as they kept within
the barriers; and when Moses entered into the very heart of it, it did not singe
a hair of his head, and injured him no more than when it danced around the
fragile acacia bush, which burned with fire without being consumed — not a leaf
shriveled, not a twig scorched. Yes, our God is a consuming fire, and there is
comfort and hope and blessing in the thought! When we yield to God’s love, and
open our hearts to Him, He enters into us, and becomes within us a consuming
fire; not to ourselves, but to the flesh, carnality, and evil within us. So
that, in a very deep and blessed sense, we may be said to dwell with the
devouring fire, and to walk amid the age-lasting burnings!
Nothing is more certain than the fact that Jesus Christ
has already ridden, or shall yet ride, into the world of each of us in FLAMING
FIRE! Because of the gross misunderstanding of almost all people concerning the
fire of God, I would draw your reverent attention to the natural process of
fire. In the book of Revelation we have the horse of flaming fire; but later on
the Holy Spirit also describes the manifestation of God as fire under another
remarkable symbol. “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and
murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall
have their part in the LAKE WHICH BURNETH WITH FIRE AND BRIMSTONE…” (Rev.
21:8). The word “burn” means combustion, or to consume. To consume does not
mean to annihilate, for there is no such thing as annihilation. You can
annihilate a form, but not a substance.
When fire consumes a log in your fireplace it does not
destroy any of the elements within the log, it merely changes their form.
Combustion is the process by which chemicals combine to form new chemicals.
For example, a tree may be cut down, sawed into firewood, and burned. In the
first place, the tree was formed by drawing chemicals out of the earth and air
and rearranging them into the form of a tree. Now, when the wood burns the heat
causes those same chemicals to vaporize, mixing with the oxygen in the air to
form new chemicals, including water and the gas carbon dioxide. So what was
formerly a tree can no longer be identified as a tree, but the substance thereof
is now simply changed, transformed into a DIFFERENT FORM! Thus, to burn
means to change. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that fire
does not burn down; it always burns up! It seeks the highest level. And all
that it consumes (changes) truly “goes up in smoke” to exist in a new
form in a higher dimension. Even if you take a pot of water and place it over a
fire, before long the water will take on the property of the fire and will begin
to go up in steam. To burn means to change, and the change is
always upward in motion!
“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare
the way before me; and the Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His
temple…behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide
the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? For HE IS LIKE A
REFINER’S FIRE, and like fuller’s soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver: and he shall PURIFY THE SONS OF LEVI, and purge them as gold
and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness”
(Mal. 3:1-3).
One of God’s promises concerning the Lord who comes to His
temple to sit as a refiner’s fire is that He shall “purify the sons of Levi.”
The “sons of Levi” in the days when this prophecy was written, were the priests
and ministers of God. The “sons of Levi” in these days of the greater spiritual
temple of living stones are likewise the priests and ministers of God.
Prophetically speaking, the sons of Levi refer to all who have received the call
to the Royal Priesthood of Christ after the Order of Melchizedek, which is after
the power of an endless life. “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a
spiritual house (temple), an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. But ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that
ye should show forth the praises (virtues) of Him who hath called you out of
darkness into His marvelous light” (I Pet. 2:5,9).
The Lord comes to those elect sons of God who belong to
His Priesthood, not first with visible blessings and manifestations which
inflate the ego, but as a refiner’s fire to purify and refine them, even as gold
and silver are refined. In olden times, the refiner of gold and silver would
sit over the burning crucible until the dross and impurities in these metals
were completely separated and removed. Not until he could see his face mirrored
in the molten metals did he declare them to be pure. So too with us! The Holy
Spirit brings to light and deals with every aspect of our lives, separating and
removing all that is alien and opposed to God’s nature and character, until the
image of His Son Jesus is formed and mirrored in us. Only then will we be able
to offer Him those offerings and render Him that service which is pleasing and
acceptable in His sight, which will also bring deliverance to groaning
creation. The Lord never removes or destroys something without replacing it
with something greater and better! He sets us apart, like the sons of Levi, and
subjects us to an intense discipline and purification that we might become His
Royal Priesthood in the earth.
Every son of God has
to be cleansed and purified from the carnal mind which is contrary to the nature
of the Lord and is an enemy of His life, filled with all unrighteousness, and is
not subject to the will of God and never can be. As William Law wisely said,
“SELF is the whole root, branch, and tree of sin.” So for us to be His
Priesthood, demonstrating His virtues, expressing His wisdom, pouring forth His
love, and manifesting His power, this thing that stands in the way of the
priestly heart, nature, and ministry, must be dealt with and taken out of the
way. We must be emptied of self and everything that pertains to the
earthly-consciousness and Adamic identity, so that only the pure and loving and
powerful nature of the divine Christ within may reveal His glory in all its
beauty and majesty. All carnality must go through the fire! None can escape
it! There is no detour around this lake of fire if we are to arrive finally at
the safe harbor of perfection in God.
The sons of Levi in this new Day of the Lord have felt the
intensity of that purifying fire! It is not just those “dirty old sinners” out
there that must pass through the lake of fire, but truly it is the fear in
us, the unbelief in us, the abominable thing in us, the
murderer in us, the whoremongering in us, the sorcery in us,
the idolatry in us, and the liar in us that must pass through the
fire! Oh, yes! Its burning has roused each called and chosen son of God from
his lethargic ease as he drifted along the stream of peace with the world; its
clear flame has lit up the dark recesses of the carnal mind and the
deceitfulness of the human heart, revealing the stark reality of the man of sin
sitting in the temple of God; and its blasting flame has separated us from the
fleshly follies of the carnal church systems of man. In all who follow the Lamb
the fire is effectually doing its purifying work! We have begun to fulfill the
prophecy and to “offer unto the Lord and offering in righteousness,” praise His
name!
How long will this process continue? I would like to
offer you some respite, but I dare not. By inspiration the Psalmist wrote, “The
words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth,
purified seven times” (Ps. 12:6). Seven is the number of completion and
perfection. It reveals the great truth that God’s own nature will be revealed
in the fire! He heats up the furnace until we have been perfectly
cleansed and purified, nothing remaining but HIMSELF. That which the Lord is
receiving unto Himself, and for His holy kingdom purpose in this hour, cannot be
of an inferior quality to Himself. The gold — ah, it is HIM! The silver —
truly, it is HIM! The life of sonship is pure spirit, divine nature.
How marvelous is the grace that birthed us out of His own spirit-substance, for
He is the Father of the spirits of all flesh. But there can be no mixture!
Only the dross must be removed. Thank God that the Christ comes to us not only
on the white horse, but also on the red horse to carry the issue onward to
victory! The question follows — Who may abide…endure…wait for…the day of HIS
COMING? For He is like a refiner’s fire! Ah, this is not just the blessing
realm, it is something beyond the gifts and benefits obtained by faith. This is
the purging, cleansing, purifying realm! It is the place of qualifying
for sonship, of preparation for immortality, of readiness to rule and reign in
the kingdom with Christ as a King-Priest after the Order of Melchizedek. And
who shall stand — or who can withstand — who can stand against it, who can stop
or prevent His appearing as the refiner’s fire? No one, may I answer, shall be
able to withstand or stand against His coming when He appeareth!
Charge on, O horse of fire!
TAKING PEACE FROM THE EARTH
“And there went out another horse that was red: and power
was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth…and there
was given unto him a great sword” (Rev. 6:4).
As we have seen, the red horse is a “flame-like” or
“flame-colored” horse. It bespeaks the work of Christ within us as a refining
fire! Refining is essentially a separating process by which the dross
and all impurities are separated from the metal so that the metal will be
pure or unmixed. This obviously leads us to the next stage described
by John in these words, “and power was given unto him that sat thereon to
take peace from the earth.” This denotes a separation! We
understand each of these horse riders to represent different aspects of our
Lord’s dealing in our lives. He comes to thoroughly purge His floor with His
consuming presence, yet in the process He comes in a working to expose and
separate the soulish and fleshly from the spiritual. There can be no removal
until first there is a separation! There are areas of our soul and body
realms that, once exposed by His glorious presence, we gladly lay down. Ah, but
there are also areas with which we are at peace, to which we cling, and do not
want to give up. Now we find this red horse Rider comes to rob us of our
peace! That is a necessary part of the process! No longer will we be able to
live at peace with these soulical and fleshly attributes. He comes with that
great sword of His quick and powerful word, dividing asunder between soul and
spirit. This disturbs the peace and contentment we had with the carnal mind and
the flesh, and there arises in us a dissatisfaction with anything that is not of
His Spirit. The deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt
and their eventual conquest of the promised land is without doubt one of the
most awe-inspiring, marvelous, and concerted revelations of God’s redemptive
program, His aim, intent, and objective; His purpose, processings, and dealings;
His design, out-workings, and goal that has ever been revealed to mankind. It
is not my intention to elaborate upon this, merely to point out in passing the
significance of
Egypt in scripture. Egypt represents the place of being separated from the
life, rule, and blessing of God, and of being oppressed under the dominion of
the flesh, the world, and the devil. There is a remarkable word of profound
significance which the Lord spoke to Israel regarding their relationship with
Egypt. “If ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of
the Lord your God, saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, WHERE WE
SHALL SEE NO WAR, nor hear the sound of the trumpet (calling to war), nor have
hunger of bread; and there will we dwell…” (Jer. 42:13-14).
Think of it —
Egypt
is the place where there is no war! All is peace and tranquillity in
Egypt. There is security and provision in Egypt. Spiritually this is not
speaking of a country in the
Middle East, nor about
any natural war! It is a reference to people who are experiencing no spiritual
warfare in their walk. They do what comes naturally, and there is no opposition
to the way they think, act, or live. This is the normal state of the natural
man before Christ rides into his life upon His war-steed! Those who have not
been quickened (awakened) by the Spirit from above do not hear the sound of the
trumpet — the sound of God’s voice mustering to battle across the land. Vast
multitudes of these lifeless ones fill the pews of the world’s churches Sunday
after Sunday, but there is no thirsting after God, no hunger for spiritual
things, no comprehension of His purpose, no vision of the power and glory of His
kingdom, no discernment between the precious and the vile, and no glint of sword
to circumcise mind and heart. Ah, but when God’s hour arrives for such an one
to be apprehended of God, suddenly into his or her peaceful world charges Jesus
Christ the conqueror — and He enters with great swiftness and power. He has a
bow, and the bow is bent, and immediately the arrows of divine conviction and
revelation pierce the heart, and He presses the battle to make conquest of the
soul. He fights His way into the human heart until He possesses that which He
has purchased, until the fortresses of mind, will, emotion, and desire have been
taken and brought under the dominion of Truth. He first shoots the arrow of
light and illumination, quickening unto God. Then quickly He wields the sword
which “takes peace from the earth” — the very earth which He has illuminated,
for the battle must be pursued until man is fully conquered and all enemies
concealed within have been routed, exposed, and vanquished.
It is the almighty Lord Himself who declares war and fires
the first shot. HE it is that initiates the battle! “I am come,” said He, “not
to send peace on earth, but a sword.” Or, stronger still in the original,
“Think not that I come to cast peace on the earth; I come not to cast peace, but
a sword” (Mat.
10:34). Who holds the sword? Who is to wield the sword? Who is to stir up the
fight? Who is to “take peace from the earth?” The Lord Jesus Himself, and the
sword is the sword of the Lord! Sometimes people speak about “sweet Jesus.”
This Jesus offers sugar, not a sword. He tastes good but hurts no one. When
life tastes bad, sprinkle on a bit of His sweetness. The Rider on the red horse
is not so sweet! Jesus Christ is a warrior, fierce and frightening.
F. B. Meyer once wrote, “When Christ is born, there is
always trial. What trouble the New-born brought into this world! There was
trouble for Mary! She was living a happy, peaceful life in
Nazareth, when the sword began to penetrate her soul, and she was called to
endure an agony of misunderstanding from those who loved her best. There was
trouble for Joseph, who was afflicted by startling fears, roused suddenly from
sleep, and bidden to leave all and flee. There was trouble for Herod and the
Jews. ‘He was troubled and all Jerusalem with him,’ at the story of the
new-born King. There was trouble also in a multitude of Jewish homes, entered
by brutal soldiery, who tore the babes from their mothers’ breasts and tossed
them on their sword-points. Wherever Jesus comes, trial follows. He comes to
send, not peace, but a sword; and one who knew well of what he affirmed said: ‘I
am crucified with Christ — I die daily — I am delivered unto death for
Jesus’ sake.’ These inward trials often spring from the unwillingness of our
nature to yield to the will and way of God. A man’s foes are they of his own
household. Sometimes, also, when we have begun to live the new life it seems as
if the box of Pandora were opened, and all the winds had escaped, each eager to
outdo all the rest. But out of the trouble will rise the fairest,
strongest life! By and by some watcher on the battlements of heaven,
beholding our approach, will cry, ‘Who are these arrayed in white robes, and
whence came they?’ and this will be the reply: ‘These are they that came out of
great tribulation’ — for tribulation is education misspelt” — end
quote.
There can be no warfare as long as our will is
uncontested. There is no war while our desires remain unopposed. There is no
conflict when our ways are unchallenged. There is no battle as long as the Adam
nature and its activities are not crossed, confronted, or assailed. Our carnal
life is at peace within itself until the red horse rides in and TAKES PEACE
FROM OUR EARTH! The red horse never enters our land until we have been
quickened to higher and holier things, brought into living fellowship in the
Spirit. The world is at peace with itself, unconvicted of its course of
carnality, ignorance, and shame, content in the frivolous activities of the
earth-life. There is a war which rages within me and every saint of God which
causes far more trouble than any conflict I face without. My number one problem
is neither men nor demons, but myself — my own limited, self-centered,
deceiving, delusional, conniving, mortal mind!. My flesh nature is the
greatest enemy, for it is the enemy of Christ!
For years I blamed everything on the devil and his
demons. Then to my astonishment I discovered that all my spiritual battles were
right within myself! I didn’t have to look far to find my greatest foe. I
found that I face him in the mirror every morning. But I had never experienced
a spiritual battle until I met Jesus! When He came into my life He at once
declared war! Immediately the flesh rose up in hostile opposition to the divine
Invader and the flesh and the spirit were at war, one with the other. Whether
or not our “old man is dead” the incontrovertible truth still remains that “the
flesh warreth against the spirit, and the spirit against the
flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other” (Gal.
5:17).
Again Paul says, “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the
flesh; but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit. For to be
carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:5-8). J. B. Phillips
graphically translates these verses: “The carnal attitude sees no further than
natural things; but the spiritual attitude reaches out after the things of the
spirit. The former attitude means, bluntly, death; but the latter means life
and inward peace. And this is only to be expected for the carnal attitude is
inevitably opposed to the purpose of God, and neither can or will follow His
laws. Men who hold this attitude cannot possibly please God.” If they are
doing the fighting, what is the fighting over? When two people or two nations
fight, they are contending over something. They fight to possess something, to
hold on to something, to have ownership of something, to have legal access.
They fight for territory or control. There is an object of their affections
that they are fighting for. In like manner, the spirit seeks control over our
soul and body, and the flesh wants to control them — soul and body are the
object of their affection! Soul and body are the “land” being fought over!
Each, the spirit and the flesh, seeks to rule! Whoever controls our soul
and our body controls us — the land! The conflict is on and the judgment
is in humanity.
When Christ enters into our land upon the red horse, He
disturbs our comfort zone. Once we are quickened by the Spirit of God, once
we are awakened to our true identity, once we stand up as a new creation, we are
no longer comfortable with the things of the old creation. Within us have been
awakened new longings, new potentialities, new hopes, new ways of thinking, new
perceptions of reality, new understanding — a new nature, a new mind,
a new heart. Now we are not comfortable with the things we were
comfortable with before. In the old creation we were at home with worldly
atmospheres, carnal understandings, and fleshly activities; but now that the
mind of Christ has been awakened in us peace has fled from our earth, from our
soul.
Oh, what a wonder this is! What it means is that all the
peace, pleasure, and joy of the earthly, natural, carnal life is taken away.
The more we are awakened to the beauty and glory of life in the spirit, the more
our earthly state of being is perceived as a vile abomination compared to
it. We rejoice in the burning, purging fire of the red horse which comes to
cleanse our land from every contemptible, fleshly thing. As the hoofbeats of
the red horse echo through our earth all peace is taken away from the earthly
life so that the carnal mind is bereft of all content and satisfaction in the
things it formerly enjoyed with unrestrained abandonment.
Gary Sigler’s testimony is so very enlightening and
instructive on this point. He says, “All across the country people have said to
me, ‘How do I know if I’m really saved?’ You know, I didn’t know that myself.
I went to pastor after pastor, I answered altar call after altar call, because I
didn’t change all that much after I accepted Christ. I didn’t think I was
saved! The preachers would tell me, ‘You know, after you’ve come to God you
can’t live like you’re living any more. You have to stop that!’ So, if
I saw Billy Graham on the television, I would kneel down in front of the
television — I’d do anything, because I just didn’t know if I was saved.
“I’ll tell you how you can know whether you’re saved. I
will tell you how you will know if you’re regenerated. The moment the spark of
His life is regenerated within you, there begins a conflict in
your life. If there is no conflict there is no knowing of God in reality. Now,
you may have heard a message that stirred you, you may have gone to an altar,
you may have tried to accept Jesus out of fear — but if there is no conflict,
there is no regeneration. I’ll tell you why! When you are regenerated, the
spiritual person that you are begins to awaken. That is God in the
flesh! That is God once again being birthed in humanity! That is once again an
incarnation of the most holy One! And He is very holy, high, and lifted up.
That new life, that new person has never known sin, has never been touched by
the fall. That person only knows the hunger that he has for God. And that
creates a great conflict within you — in your flesh. Have you experienced that
conflict? Then you’re regenerated!
“So — when you experience conflict, when sin gets the best
of you, when habits sometimes pull you down and you fall, you should
rejoice that that bothers you! You shouldn’t fall under condemnation;
you should say, ‘Thank God, there’s something in me, there’s another force
within me, there’s a life within me that does not want to do that!’ But at the
moment of regeneration that life is so weak. And your natural man is
so strong! That’s why Peter said, ‘As newborn babes, desire the sincere
milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby’ (I Pet. 2:2). Babies aren’t
strong. But, you see, your pastors and teachers (in the church systems) will
tell a new baby that’s just been regenerated, ‘You can’t do that any more! God
won’t love you if you do that!’ I heard a famous preacher on the radio one
night as I sat reading the Bible and smoking a cigarette. This famous preacher
said, ‘You can’t blow smoke in Jesus’ face and make it into heaven!’ Because I
had a lot of faith in that preacher, that destroyed me for a long time. That’s
what religion does — it aborts the baby! It kills the baby. It doesn’t
give it time, it doesn’t give it life — it gives it rules and regulations.
Would you take a natural baby at its birth and begin to teach it to live like
that? That’s ridiculous! Yet, that’s what our spiritual leaders have done to
us. They’ve given us no time to grow up and become powerful, spiritual men” —
end quote.
Let us examine how a war between two nations comes to an
end. A French statesman once pointed out that there were only two types of
peace that ever followed a war: A peace imposed upon the defeated by a
conqueror; or a peace accepted by the defeated through surrender. There is a
vast difference between the peace which is imposed or the peace which one
accepts. It should be evident that if there is to be peace between a man and
God, the terms must be imposed by God Himself. God, the eternal God, omniscient
and omnipotent, must have His way — it is the only right way in the universe!
Every other way is the self-will of the creature, the way of earth, the way of
empty, vain delusion, the way of limitation, blindness, finiteness. Every soul
has been at war with God; in order for reconciliation to take place, there must
be a cessation of the warfare, the hostilities, which exist between Adam in the
flesh and Christ in the spirit. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto Himself…now then we are ambassadors for Christ…we pray you in Christ’s
stead, be ye reconciled to God!” (II Cor. 5:19-20).
The battle is between two natures, two minds, two wills,
two kings, and two kingdoms. The flesh nature we took upon us when we were born
into this world. The spiritual nature came alive in us when we were born again
of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God. “That which is born of the flesh
is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I
said unto thee, Ye must be born again” (Jn. 3:6-7). Regeneration, new
birth, sons of God — these are all terms with which most Christians are
familiar. The beautiful analogy is accepted by everyone. But all this
means to the average Christian is that he conjures up the nice religious feeling
of thinking of himself “as if” he were an “actual” divine son of God, as Jesus
is. The average Christian has absolutely no idea of the transcendental
implications of birth into the family of God, the God-family, or the family
which is God! Most think of being a child of God as sort of an “honorary”
title conferred on them by an indulgent God who accepts them as “little adopted
children” to whom He plans to give as their reward or inheritance for accepting
His gift of eternal life, a beautiful park, a celestial playground called
“heaven.” This heaven is designed for them to enjoy for eternity, playing,
loafing, running, shouting, fellowshipping, rejoicing, singing, strumming harps,
waving palm branches, and doing whatever other sinless thing their hearts may
desire.
But let us understand what it really means to
actually be born into the very family of GOD! I like to turn the phrase
“family of God” around, in order to better grasp its significance. Instead of
saying that we are born into the family of God, it is just as correct to say
that we are born into the GOD FAMILY! I may say, by way of illustration, that I
was born by natural birth into the family of Eby. But this also means that I
was born into the EBY FAMILY. I am the EBY KIND. I AM EBY. Not only
are men born into the family of God, but they are born into the GOD FAMILY, the
family which IS GOD. We are the GOD KIND. And startling as it may be, this GOD
FAMILY is the ELOHIM of the scriptures! And to be born into this Family
means that we have the awesome potential to become all that He is! “For
this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the
whole family in heaven and earth is named” (Eph.
3:14-14). The new
birth is nothing less than the quickening of our spirit which is the offspring
of God, the quickening of a God-being, the awakening of a Christ-creature, the
arousing of a God-kind, of a God-species, an actual heavenly being, a son of the
heavenly Father, who is as ageless and deathless as is his immortal Parent, a
brother by birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, destined to grow up into the fullness
of His own divine Being, to be like Him in all the majesty that He is!
In the light of the truth we are now considering, so many
things take on new meaning. Can we not see that when the red horse gallops into
our land, awakening within us the consciousness of who we are and to what
potential and destiny we are called, immediately a warfare begins for
identity. The Lord Jesus Himself explained the nature of this warfare when
He told Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that
which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” This is the fundamental
principle of the warfare that rages within us! The word flesh is
a comprehensive term that includes all that a person is through his or her
natural birth: intellect, emotions, consciousness, will, body, expression,
identity. The flesh is Adam! The flesh nature is dead to God,
but very much alive to the world. The spirit nature, once quickened, awakened,
aroused within is dead to the world, but very much alive unto God. This sets
into action two competitive forces within man: one born of the flesh, the other
born of the Spirit; one of the first man who is of the earth, earthy, the other
of the second man who is from heaven; one minding earthly things, the other
minding spiritual things.
It is precisely at this juncture that Christ, the Rider of
the red horse, bounds into our land with power to TAKE PEACE FROM OUR EARTH!
Since many saints do not understand what is going on within, they vacillate back
and forth between Adam and Christ, encountering “mountain-top experiences” and
then being plunged into “death-valley experiences.” The death-valley
experiences occur when the old nature greedy for personal gratification and fed
by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, dominates
the spiritual nature.
Here I would share some pertinent words from the pen of
Paul Mueller. “Two natures within us manifest the character and manner of each:
Adam within us is that mystery of iniquity that curses and brings forth
the iniquities of the carnal man. Likewise, Christ within us blesses the
Father, declares the truth and mysteries of God, makes known the manifold wisdom
of God, and lifts us up and causes us to walk in the high places in Him. As we
give the preeminence to the Christ within, Adam within shall be subdued and
conquered so that our spirit, soul, and body is ‘preserved complete and found
blameless at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls
you, and He will also perfect His work’ (I Thes.
5:23-24). When the
perfect man comes forth in the image and likeness of Christ, fully adorned
with the garments of His salvation, we shall no longer express the dual natures
within us. Then, the perfect man, the Christ-body, shall express only the
Truth, Love and Life of the Father! Our mind shall be the mind of Christ, a
single mind in a fully redeemed body. O the wonder of this so great salvation
reserved for those who love His appearing!” — end quote.
Yes, my beloved, there is a great warfare raging within,
and Christ has pressed this war upon us, His conquest is going on right now in
that inner world of our hearts, minds, and bodies. The battle of the ages, the
famed Battle of Armageddon, portrays no literal conflict with carnal weapons.
It is not on any battlefield on earthly ground that the glorified Redeemer
confronts the banded hosts of earth and hell. We cannot go to the pages of
Josephus or Tacitus or Wells, or any other historian, for the events which
correspond with these symbols. Nor shall we find the grim ride of the Four
Horses of the Apocalypse in the headlines of the Washington Post, USA Today, or
Newsweek magazine! The scene reveals one sublime and divine truth: CHRIST SHALL
CONQUER! The
kingdom of
Christ
is not of this world, its weapons are not carnal, He does not conquer by blowing
away millions of helpless souls with bullets and bombs and bloody savagery. Oh,
no! It is within the corridors of our own soul that we must hear the hoofbeats
of the Four Horses thundering! He must ride into your earth, my friend,
taking peace from your earth, then conquering all the strongholds of
your land. The end of the warfare brings peace and life fully and
forevermore!
The Bible is a book of war. “The Lord is a man of war”
(Ex. 15:3). Heaven is a realm of war, as well as the earth. “And there was war
in heaven” (Rev. 12:7). Jesus is a man of war. “Think not that I am come to
send peace of the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword” (Mat.
10:34).
“These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them” (Rev.
17:14). David was a man of war. “Thou (Absalom) knowest thy father (David) and
his men that they are mighty men, and thy father is a man of war” (I Sam.
17:8). David faced Goliath and took his sword. He was a man of war before he
met Goliath. David is a type of Christ. His followers were men of war. “And
there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David: but David
waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker” (II
Sam. 3:1). The sons of God follow a man of war! Thank God! as the battle rages
the Christ within is waxing stronger and stronger, and the kingdom of the flesh
is waxing weaker and weaker. So shall it be fulfilled — the natural man shall
be subjected to the spiritual, the flesh shall be ruled over by the spirit, and
then shall we see “all things in subjection under His feet” (Heb. 2:8).
A SWORD TO KILL ONE ANOTHER
“And there went out another horse that was red: and power
was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they
should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword”
(Rev. 6:4).
“Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth: I
came not to send peace, but a sword” (Mat.
10:34).
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of
soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb.
4:12).
“And take…the sword of the Spirit, which is the
word of God” (Eph.
6:17).
When the legionnaires of Caesar girded on their belts and
fastened their breastplates in position and took upon themselves their helmets
and picked up their shields and swords, they were going forth to conquer as a
conqueror, to travel across the face of
Europe for Imperial
Rome, and to conquer all that came before them. How does Christ conquer? By
His WORD! Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Word of God, the sharp two-edged sword,
even the great sword with which He takes peace from the earth, held in His
mighty hand as he rides astride the red horse. Multitudes cling to the
superstition that the Lord desires only to love us by showering wonderful
gifts, blessings, and benefits upon us, and never pierce our soul or slay us
with the great sword of His authoritative word. This sword is not made of fine
ground and polished steel, but the Living Word made flesh and manifested as the
Son of God within each of us.
The word “sword” is found in the Bible over 400 times.
That indicates the tremendous importance the Spirit of God attaches to it.
There are both positive and negative connotations. The Lord’s speech,
the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, is the expression and
influence of His indwelling life accomplishing His mighty work within us. It is
interesting to note, as someone has pointed out, that the sword in scripture is
continually used to divide as in the beginning. The first mention
of a sword was when Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden, and the Cherubim
were placed at the gate with the flaming sword dividing the garden of Eden from
Adam’s world. The Cherubim bespeaks a realm of authority and dominion by a
flaming word! Then we see the sword dividing the nation of
Israel from the heathen round about. Later the sword was used to divide one
kingdom from another beginning with Saul’s kingdom, and then that kingdom used
the sword against David. David used the sword to conquer all his enemies and
take the stronghold of Zion, keeping his nation high and lifted up in the name
of the Lord. David’s son, Solomon, used the sword as an instrument of
judgment, dividing truth from lies as in the case of the two women who both
claimed the same child.
Now we find a statement connected with the peace that is
taken from the earth, and the great sword in the hand of Christ, which is most
perplexing to the natural mind, and can only be understood by the quickening of
the mind of Christ. John says, “and power was given unto him that sat thereon
to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another.”
What words are these! How will they kill one another? Ah, with the “great
sword,” the “sword of the Spirit” which is “the word of God;” by speaking the
fiery word of the Lord that consumes the flesh, killing and
destroying all the essences of the Adamic life! It is Christ the Lord in His
rising life riding forth out of the inner sanctum of our spirit enabling us to
subdue, conquer, and kill the outer flesh nature, which is the beast in us.
Someone objects, contending that our “old man” is already crucified with Christ
and is dead. That is true, but it must be proven that the “old man” and the
“flesh” are one and the same! According to Paul and other New Testament writers
WE ALL HAVE FLESH AND THE POTENTIAL TO WALK AND LIVE AFTER THE FLESH. How could
the flesh war against the spirit if the flesh is dead and non-existent?
It is not my purpose to enter into a discussion of the old man at this time, but
every honest soul who reads these lines will be quick to admit that there is
definitely something in our lives that needs to be dealt with, killed,
and destroyed, and not just ignored by confessing that it doesn’t exist!
Henry Drummond tells a remarkable story in one of his
books. It is a true story. He was in
India for quite some time. He had a friend who lived in a little cottage on a
knoll in a valley. During one terrible flood, he got on the roof of his
cottage. In the darkness of night, he heard something climb onto the roof with
him. When daylight came, he was shocked to see, lying on the roof, only a few
feet from him, a Bengal tiger! He knew that it would be days before the water
would recede, so he carefully reached to his side and took out a gun that he
always carried. He put it to the head of the tiger and pulled the trigger,
killing it.
Sometimes the question is not, “Is it wrong to kill?” The
real question is, “Who will have the privilege of continuing to live?” “For if
ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through (the sword
of) the Spirit do mortify and put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall
live” (Rom.
8:13). There isn’t room for a tiger to live on the roof of a house with a man.
Many of the Lord’s people are trying to live with a tiger in their head! The
bestial nature of the flesh stalks about in their minds, emotions, desires, and
actions. It is flesh and it will kill you by taking away your freedom to LIVE
ABUNDANTLY AND VICTORIOUSLY! That’s what this battle is all about!
At first only our “peace,” because of our state of duality, was taken from us —
our comfort zone was disturbed! But now there is action — it is time to begin
to deal with the earthly life and to “mortify” the deeds of the body and to
“mortify” our members which are upon earth (Col. 3:5). God has brought
into our lives a great sword, the Living Word of God, that with it we may slay
the flesh in one another by the authority and power of the word of the Lord!
Even this message which I am writing at this very moment is as a great sword to
assist in slaying the beast in those into whose hearts it pierces by the power
of Truth. Isn’t it wonderful!
To be
continued…
J. PRESTON EBY
