KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES
"Teaching the things concerning
the kingdom of God..."
FROM THE CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE
Part
90
BREAKING THE SEALS
(continued)
“And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the
altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God,
and for the testimony which they held…” (Rev. 6:9).
The end of the first four seals has now been
reached, and at this point there is an obvious break in the hitherto harmonious
order of the visions. No fifth horse and no fifth rider appears when the fifth
seal is broken, and we pass from the process of conquering the carnal
mind, the flesh nature, and the Adamic life, on to the full accomplishment
of that work within us — one hundred percent death to self! Total death to our
soulical selfhood and everything within us that is contrary to the life of the
spirit is the conclusion, consummation, and termination of the process.
Therefore the horses of conquest cease to gallop through our life! This is
confirmed when the fifth seal is opened, for there we see the finished
product of this conquest! “And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw
under the altar the souls of them that had been slain…” The
“souls” of them that had been slain — the soulical life done away, symbolically
“under the altar” where the blood and ashes of the burnt offering are found!
How beautiful is this scene! How expressive! When the soul is destroyed by a
complete, continual and total sacrifice, the “souls” of those who had been
“slain” appear under the altar! We are being “killed” as to our earth-life as
these horses run through our mind, heart, and experience, but we are also being
made alive unto God as the Lamb breaks the seals off of the Christ in our
spirit so that the life of the Lamb be revealed out of this book which we are.
Though shrouded in symbols hard to be understood by the natural mind, these are
all beautiful spiritual realities fulfilled in the life of each and every
son of God!
In reading the book of Revelation we must
bear in mind that everything recorded there describes scenes and events that
transpire as the work of the Spirit within us. “I was in the Spirit” is John’s
clear affirmation in his opening remarks (Rev. 1:10). All that the apostle saw
and heard was with his spiritual senses, for the realities of the Spirit can
only be apprehended by our spirit. Thus, the expression “under the altar”
indicates a condition in spirit rather than a place. It describes those who are
under the absolute dominion of Jesus Christ! They are slain not for any
personal wrongdoing, but that there might be a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Moreover, they are not slain in body but in soul. All the keys to the
mystery are right there in every line of every page of this wonderful book once
we are able to see by the Spirit!
Without the understanding of the spiritual
nature of this book, and that the whole is symbolical and visionary, men ask
foolish questions when reading scenes like the one in our present passage.
Based on this scene of the souls John saw under the altar some have asked
whether it is really possible to see souls without bodies. But the question is
absurd. John was in the Spirit, and in the Spirit he was in the heavenly
realm. All that he beholds he sees in and by the Spirit and in a vision, so
that the question whether in our present state we would be able to see souls
may indeed be considered absurd. Then too, many carnal-minded people have used
this passage in order to picture the abode of the dead after this life and
before the resurrection. That thought is equally ridiculous for the same
reason, namely, that the whole is visionary, symbolical, and spiritual!
That these slain ones are found “under the
altar” shows how far removed we are from literal meanings. We are not to think
that John had a vision of a physical altar with souls peeping out from
underneath! There is a heavenly temple, and everything represented in
the earthly temple was patterned after the celestial one. There is a “true
tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man,” of which the tabernacle that
Moses built was the material picture copy. As the writer to the Hebrews
explained, “Who serve unto the example and shadow of
heavenly (spiritual) things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was
about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith He, that thou make all things
according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount” (Heb. 8:5). The
altar we see here under the fifth seal pertains to that heavenly sanctuary
whence the “pattern” of the earthly was taken. The earthly was the altar of
burnt-offerings where all bloody sacrifices were made. That does not mean that
there is a “literal, material” altar up in some far-off heaven somewhere where
celestial animals are offered up. Oh, no! There is no actual altar in heaven!
These are not literal but spiritual realities in the heavens of God’s
Spirit! Nor are the righteous departed stored up there under an actual altar,
nor do they cry for vengeance upon them who have persecuted them on earth, as we
read in verse ten! Again, throughout this book of visions we are in the region
of hieroglyph. The slain are so represented as “under the altar” because the
altar represents sacrifice unto death!
No doubt the strangest feature of this vision
is the position of the souls “under the altar.” For the people of
Israel in Bible days the life or the soul of a person was in the blood. The
Lord was very specific when He instructed Moses, “For the life of the flesh is
in the blood” (Lev. 17:11). The Hebrew word for life in this passage is
nephesh, which is also the word used for soul. Life, blood, and soul are
inseparably related throughout the scriptures. In sacrificing the daily
burnt-offering, the priest had to perform several actions with the blood of the
sacrificial animal. When he had done so, “the rest of the blood he shall pour
out at the base of the altar of burnt-offering which is at the door of
the tent of meeting” (Lev. 4:7). This was to show that the life was wholly and
forever given to God, for the smoke from the altar on which the animal was
sacrificed ascended to God. The base of the altar was therefore always red with
the blood (i.e. with the souls) of the sacrifices that had been offered
upon it.
SLAIN BY THE WORD OF GOD
“I saw under the altar the souls of them that
were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held”
(Rev. 6:9).
These souls have often been referred to as
“martyrs” and indeed they are, but not in the outward, physical way men think of
martyrs. The first physical martyr for Christ was Stephen who was stoned to
death. Most of Jesus’ original twelve disciples were so martyred for the
gospel’s sake. Tradition says that Peter, when he was about to be executed,
requested to be crucified up-side-down, not feeling worthy to die in the same
manner as his Lord. In the early days of the church untold thousands of people
gave their lives rather than renounce their faith in Jesus Christ. Some were
beheaded, some were crucified, others were burned at the stake, while others
were fed to lions in the arena in
Rome. In our day Russia and China,
especially, have much blood on their hands from the many thousands of believers
they martyred under the communist regimes. We would not for one moment
depreciate or make light of any of these sacrifices offered up to the Lord in
this way. I’m sure that their reward is great!
The vision that John saw, however, was
symbolic. Notice that those of this royal company “were slain for the word
of God, and for the testimony which they held.” On the surface, this may
sound as though these were physically martyred for their faith in Jesus and
their testimony of Him. But the spirit of the word points us to a truth much
deeper and more spiritual! Keep in mind also that those who were already
“slain” were told to rest for a little season, “until their fellowservants
also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be
fulfilled” (Rev. 6:11). Next, we need to understand HOW these elect ones
are “slain” or “killed,” for the scripture clearly declares that they are all to
be slain in the same manner. To be “slain for the word of God, and for the
testimony which they held” bears a very special meaning in regard to their
slaying. It indicates a special process of “death” that is different and
unique.
The Greek word translated “for” in our text is
dia, meaning “because of, as a result of, by.” In reading
this superficially we might think it to mean that these souls were slain or
martyred by enemies because they believed the word of God, but that
interpretation misses the point! The truth is that they are slain either
because of, or as a result of, or by the word of God Consider the scene! The
white horse had approached, and the Rider on that horse had touched them. The
result was that their inner being had been awakened and turned about. They had
been regenerated by the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ, and given a new and
living hope. They had been called by His Word! They had been dealt with
through the dealings of God under the ministry of each of the four horses, and
given a vision of the kingdom
of God
coming with power. Thus the word of God had become their subjective
possession. More and more they were motivated by that word, governed by that
word, dominated by that word, subjected by that word, and subdued by that
word. The word of God was working mightily in them to bring to the death their
human consciousness, their soulical life, and to bring forth the new man
in the image of the Son of God!
Never forget, my beloved, that the word of God
is a sharp two-edged sword that cuts deeply and powerfully, that divides
asunder, severs, separates between soul and spirit (Heb. 4:12).
Essentially then, we are not only slain because of, or as a result of, but truly
by the word of God! Anytime we take the word of God and
assimilate it into our life, all our old soulical thoughts, concepts, emotions,
desires, and will are going to die! The living, energetic word of God working
in each of God’s called and chosen elect, puts all our selfhood to death. Our
old human identity is slain because of, as a result of, yea, by the
entrance of the word of truth by the spirit! Oh, the wonder of it!
That is the death or slaying that all of us have been
going through. Like Paul, we are dying daily, not literally or physically, but
mentally and spiritually. A unique process of death is working in us to bring
an end to the Adamic nature within us and raise us to the fullness of the Life
of Christ. And when the work is finished we join the souls “under the altar” as
the slain ones of the Lord! There will not be a further activity for us until
the rest of our brethren, who are to be killed as we are, has been fulfilled.
Therefore it is my deep conviction that the Spirit of God in this very hour is
completing this work in the entire son company, and shall complete it,
before the glorious manifestation of the sons of God! It must be thus in order
for God to be able to entrust into our hands THE OMNIPOTENT POWER OF MANIFEST
SONSHIP AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD!
We are slain by the word of God, and for the
testimony of Jesus Christ. We may have read that beautiful passage ten thousand
times, but today it holds new meaning. The black-covered book called the Bible
is not the word of God. Now don’t misunderstand what I say! The Bible is most
assuredly the inspired and inerrant record of the words, plans, purposes, acts,
and dealings of God in relation to His people. I don’t think there is a person
who reads these lines who could imagine that I have any disrespect of the holy
scriptures. When you read my writings you get the scriptures over and over and
over again. The very title of our message is KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES! We
have quoted thousands of scripture passages in confirmation of the truth we
speak in God. But our text is not speaking of the scroll; it is not
referring to that which is written upon parchment or paper. It’s
talking about the Living Word of the Spirit of the Christ within! Every man and
woman who has received the call to sonship is learning to tune in to that higher
frequency where we hear His voice. Our very sonship depends upon
it. Our destiny in God depends not on our ability to understand the outward
letter of the word, but upon our being able to hear the voice of the Son of God
within! The testimony of Jesus and the word of God is that voice which speaks
on the inside of us out of the mind of Christ when the old head of Adam has been
chopped off!
In the outer court, and even in the holy
place, men take the Bible and declare, “This is the word of God!” But when we
come to the most holy place there is a vital change that takes place. In the
outer court and in the holy place we say that what is written in the external
book is the word of God. But in the most holy place God speaks audible words
from between the cherubim, over the mercy seat, and we hear the voice of God
from out of that temple which we are — He speaks from within our
innermost being, out of the inner sanctum of our spirit, the most holy place of
our being. What He speaks to us is the word of God on a higher level than what
is written. Jesus used the written words of God, and He used them quite
effectively! But He didn’t live by the written word. Oh, no!
In the hour of His temptation in the
wilderness Jesus said, in effect, “Devil, I am not living by bread (the written
word) alone; I am living by the latest word my Father has spoken to me. I live
by that word that is proceeding and continues to proceed out of His
mouth! The last thing my Father spoke to me was when I came up out of the
waters of the
Jordan and the dove lighted upon me. My Father spoke and said, ‘You are my
beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.’” Jesus was saying, “Devil, don’t you
get it? I don’t have to take stones (the dead letter of the word) and turn them
into bread to prove to either you or myself that God is my Father. He spoke it
to me! I live by every word I hear my Father speak!” And later, during His
ministry, as He taught the kingdom
of God,
He said, referring to the scriptures, “It was said by them of old time…but
now I say unto you!” In this day of our walk as sons of God it is what the
Father is speaking out of His dwelling within us that causes us to live!
Before moving on from this thought I would
speak concerning “the testimony which they held.” After only a casual reading
we might also suppose that when John says that these were slain “for the
testimony which they held” that they were martyred because they spoke of Jesus
Christ, or because they passed out tracts, went door to door witnessing, or
somehow shared with others their faith in Jesus. However, testimony means
“evidence given.” The evidence we give is not by standing up in church and
giving a verbal testimony, but the evidence is seen by the fact that our soulish
life has died, that is, it has ceased to express itself apart from the spirit.
Our soulical life is slain so that the evidence of the living Christ in our
spirit may be fully revealed! Aren’t you glad!
Most believers do not realize that a martyr is
one who is faithful in life, as well as in death — indeed he may never be killed
and still be a martyr. This beautiful truth has often been missed because we
have not understood that the New Testament word “witness” is from the Greek
martus which is translated “martyr” in Revelation 2:13 and 17:6. When we
think of “witnesses” we do not think of people who are being killed! At a trial
the witnesses are those who testify for or against the defendant, and it is the
defendant who is sometimes put to death — not the witnesses! But neither can we
think of them according to the old religious idea of someone who goes door to
door passing out tracts or one who makes it a point to speak about the Lord to
everyone he meets. Such are often guided more by carnal religious zeal than by
the leading and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. Scripturally and spiritually a
witness is one who gives his life for the testimony he bears! And I dare say it
requires an enduement of the Holy Spirit to enable us to so lay down our life
for the message we declare that WE BECOME THE MESSAGE, OUR WHOLE LIFE SWALLOWED
UP IN THE MANIFESTATION OF THAT MESSAGE. A state of being that proclaims the
truth regardless of whether we speak it or explain it or not. To witness to the
truth is to give your life to that truth, to thus become the truth!
It is instructive to note that a number of people are
referred to in scripture as martyrs (Greek martus, martureo, a true and
faithful witness), though there is no record of them being killed. It must be
remembered that the word martyr has changed its meaning. It was not necessary
in Bible days that a man should actually suffer in order to be a martyr.
Sometimes he did suffer, sometimes he did not. Indeed, strictly speaking, it is
not necessary today to suffer in order to be a martyr. Suffering never made a
saint a martyr. Death never made a child of God a martyr. If a follower of
Jesus is not a martyr before his death he is not likely to be after his death.
A martyr in those early times was one who went before kings and councils with a
willingness to endure affliction if need be. Oftentimes he did not suffer at
all, but he bore witness, that’s the point. A martyr is one who bears witness
to the truth! And often it was their very countenance, actions, and state of
being that witnessed louder than any word they could speak!
The question follows — in what manner
are these souls slain for the word of God, and for their testimony? The answer
is clearly given in Revelation 20:4 wherein we read, “And I saw thrones, and
they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls
of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of
God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had
received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and
reigned with Christ a thousand years.” Some of the older translations say that
these are the ones who were beheaded, who had their heads cut off. In
some of the newer translations, one says they were executed for their testimony,
another says they were cut with the ax; another, that they were executed with
the ax. What does this mean?
As I searched the mind of the Spirit about
this, it came to me so powerfully. You remember that Jesus said that he who
would lose his life for His sake and the gospel’s, would keep it unto life
age-enduring. The head of every man, to begin with, is that old self, the mind
of Adam, the man of flesh. When I was in school I was taught that
self-preservation is the first law of nature. And how we do try to take care
of, and preserve, this outer flesh man! We live for him, for his needs, his
wants. These are the things most men, and even most believers, are concerned
about — what self thinks, wishes, and desires. If we are to truly become
manifest sons of God, this old head must be chopped off and a new head
take his place! That is the mystery. This old self must be put to
death, with his will, desires, concepts, and values, and the mind of Christ have
complete Lordship over our beings.
Merely believing on Him does not produce this,
it requires complete and absolute surrender and consecration to Jesus Christ,
the putting off of the old man, and the putting on of the new; forsaking the old
mind and image of the flesh, and putting on the new mind and nature which, in
the image of God, is created in righteousness and true holiness. The Lord Jesus
must become the new head. That is what it means to be “beheaded” for our
testimony and the word of God! But notice, these are beheaded in soul.
True, John the Baptist and others were beheaded physically, but here the
beheading takes place in the soul. Strictly speaking, the soul does not have a
head, but as the seat of man’s personality it embraces our will, intellect,
emotions, and desires. To be beheaded in soul is to experience death to the
self-life. Death to self is imperative upon all who shall have the revelation
of Jesus Christ out of their lives!
In his letter to the Philippians the apostle
Paul writes, “If any other man thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh,
I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the
tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law a Pharisee, as to zeal a
persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law blameless. But
whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I
count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things
and count them as dung in order that I might gain Christ and be found in
Him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is
through the faith of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:4-9).
This is also one of the greatest proofs that those who are
slain, whose souls are under the altar, are not literal, physical martyrs.
You see, beloved, ALL OF THESE SOULS ARE BEHEADED! The actual physical
martyrs, from the time of Christ unto the present, have been killed in a variety
of ways — they were not all, nor even were most of them, beheaded! Furthermore,
if only those who have been physically decapitated shall reign with Christ in
His kingdom, as stated in Revelation 20:4, then indeed very few shall reign! So
this cannot possibly be talking about those who have laid down their physical
lives for the sake of Jesus. Can we not see by this that to be beheaded means
to have ones head cut off. One fact stands out plainly in this symbolic
language — it cannot allude only to those who actually died physically as
martyrs, for should that be the case even the beloved John would have no hope of
reigning with Christ! However, John suffered more by living the Christ-life
than if he had been actually beheaded. Legend tells us that he was once boiled
in oil, but emerged like the three Hebrew children, unharmed. He was exiled to
the isle of
Patmos under the most harsh and primitive conditions, where he was given the
Revelation.
When the blessed spirit of wisdom and
revelation from God opens our eyes to comprehend the great truth of our
spiritual beheading, we will have found the key to the very life of Christ. It
refers to those who live as martyrs! A martyr’s grave was very often but
a release from persecution, an easy way out. Martyrdom in the spiritual sense
does not mean a violent, untimely death. The way into glory is through death;
death to self, death to the flesh, death to the world, death to the carnal mind,
death to the Adamic consciousness, death to the ego, death to our own way and
will, death to the religious spirit — living the crucified life!
It is the death process within us that removes from us all that is not of God.
What a wonder that is!
You will understand a great truth when you
understand that all death is not the same death. Many think that when the
scriptures speak of death they always refer to the death of the body. The truth
is, in the New Testament death only occasionally speaks of the death of the
physical body. When Jesus says that we must take up our cross and follow Him He
does not mean that we must construct a wooden cross, take it up as Jesus did,
and have someone nail us to it. Jesus did physically die on the cross, the
symbol and pattern of the death of old Adam. But Adam in us is not crucified by
hanging on an outward, wooden cross. And in case you think you don’t have any
Adam in you, let me ask you — do you have a physical body that was born of flesh
parents who are biologically descended from Adam? And does that flesh part of
your life even today have any desires, inclinations, urges, temptations, or
propensities to express something other than the mind, wisdom, purity and power
of Christ? Don’t raise your hand, I’ll let you answer that for yourself! Paul
says, “Mortify (kill, deaden, deprive of power) therefore your
members which are upon the earth; sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites,
unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Col. 3:5).
Paul said, “I die daily.” He said, “For me to live is Christ, and to
die is gain.” In none of these passages is he talking about leaving this
body and flying away to some far-off heaven somewhere. He’s talking about dying
to that outward, that external, that carnal, that fleshly, that natural, that
realm of corruption, that human consciousness and identity. For you see, my
beloved, that’s not who you really are! You are really a
spiritual being, born of God, the offspring of God, who is the Father of your
spirit. The spirit of sonship is in your spirit! Christ in you is the value of
your life and your true destiny. That is who you really are! Death
to self is simply the renouncing of our carnal mind and fleshly
life, choosing rather to yield to the mind and life of the spirit, to live out
of that divine, incorruptible sphere of being.
That’s why Paul is telling us that “to die is
gain.” There is no gain in going to the cemetery, but to die to the
carnal mind is to gain the mind of Christ! To die to the natural is to
gain the spiritual! To die to the earthly is to gain the
heavenly! To die to the flesh nature is to gain the divine nature! Oh,
yes! God gives us the opportunity every day to die. Are we taking up our cross
daily and following Him to mount
Calvary? “He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross.”
The death of the cross was the death that was
reserved for criminals and for the vilest of men. What would you think of a
person who had a gold chain about his or her neck with a pendant of an electric
chair on it? Or a hang-man’s gallows? Or a guillotine? Or a gas chamber? Or
a hypodermic needle? “How gross, how repugnant, how macabre, how gruesome, how
insensitive!” you say. “How terrible to think that anyone’s mind is that death
oriented!” Let me tell you something, my beloved — in the day of Christ the
cross was an instrument of execution, not one bit different than the gas
chamber, electric chair, or lethal injection of today. It was the place where
criminals were put to death! And Jesus said we are to take up our cross
— our gas chamber, our hang-man’s noose, our electric chair, our hypodermic
needle — and follow Him! It is a place of execution. It is the place where we
are brought to our extremity. And once we understand what the cross really
means it becomes crystal clear why Jesus has prescribed it. ADAM IS A
CRIMINAL! The carnal mind is the deceiving mind of a con man, deceiving the
whole world with perverted logic, worldly philosophy, intellectual fiction,
false values, and man-made religious ideologies, robbing men of Life!
The flesh nature is responsible for all the bigotry, hatred, strife, wars,
murders, sexual immorality, drug abuse, child abuse, spouse abuse, tyranny,
slander, selfishness, greed, lies, misrepresentations, thefts, scams, and a
thousand other ills that afflict mankind, including the people of God! Oh, yes,
Adam is a criminal!
As we follow on to know the Father in sonship,
the Lord is taking greater control of our lives. He who shall rule and reign
over the earth and all the universe, must first rule and reign in the lives of
His elect. Christ is indeed reigning in our lives, for we are aware that we are
no longer in control of our lives! Another one, Christ, the inner son, now
controls our lives according to His eternal purpose, and it is the Lord!
You will know that Christ reigns in your life when you truly realize that you no
longer control your own life. Your destiny and mine are fixed in God! Christ
is now reigning in us in greater and greater measures as we grow up into the
Headship of Christ.
Larry Hodges struck a deep chord of truth when
he wrote, “Remember! The soul is the seat and place of the emotions, the
intellect (rational mind) and the will. We must lose our head-life so
that the sun of reason is no longer the light by which we walk. The
moon of the sense-life (emotions, how we feel) must be clothed as
sackcloth and every starry imagination must be cast down and every
thought brought into captivity to Christ. It is during this present time that
we must learn to walk in that realm to which we have been raised!”
Some time ago I read the following news
release. “Just when you thought you had heard it all…doctors have now
taken the living head of one monkey, and transplanted it onto the body of
another. Six hours after the surgery the monkey could hear, see, and taste, and
had feelings around the face. One thing they have not been able to do yet is to
re-attach the spinal cord, therefore the monkeys could not move their new
bodies. Scientists feel they will overcome this problem possibly within a
year. Doctors believe this operation could be successfully performed on humans
by placing the head of a person who is dying on the body of a person who is
brain dead. Dr. Robert White of
Case Western University says, ‘I’m talking about a procedure that could actually
be done with appropriate practice and safeguards. I don’t want to say tomorrow,
but certainly within the year.’”
Ray Prinzing expressed it so well when several
years ago he penned these words, “Even now they are contemplating the problems
that might arise, and what would be involved if they tried to implant another’s
brain, another’s mind. This totally staggers me, and I cannot begin to delve
into such things, they are beyond me — but there are some aspects here that make
for interesting allegories, parables, for being renewed into the mind of
Christ. We cannot begin to speculate what it would mean to have a mind that
is fully programmed in certain ways, to be placed onto our body, which would
then have to respond to signals and thought patterns which are utterly foreign
to us. The frustration, revolutionary changes, seeking to adapt to a whole new
program, and the conflicts that this would create are unimaginable.
“The Lord would implant of HIS MIND into us,
and our poor carnal minds are so programmed toward the flesh, so that we find
our responses to Him are somewhat mixed and confused at times. But the more HIS
MIND takes over, and we are renewed into Him, the less conflict there is in us,
and the more we possess His peace. It is worked into us by degrees! And I am
certain that He is doing it just as fast as we can bear the process. Only in
the measure it proceeds from the Lord can we be so changed, for it is to be HIS
MIND, not the product of our own thinking, reasoning, etc. We may groan and
weep because of the subjection to this bondage of vanity, but we are unable to
change ourselves out of us. The mind for that is HIS, and we must needs be
renewed into His mind, so that the directions are pure and true.
“Seems so easy to let our minds run through a
whole scheme of reasoning, until we think we have it all thought out and have
the right answers to a thing, and suddenly find that it is all contrary to what
the Spirit is doing and working in a situation. And He has to re-program us
into the mind of Christ! We have been so programmed into negativity, and it
takes a lot of warfare to cast down all those negative imaginations, and begin
to be CLOTHED WITH HIS POSITIVES. It is now an established fact that far more
programming than we realize has already begun while the baby is in the womb.
This mind of the flesh is so deeply rooted in us, that to be renewed into the
mind of Christ often takes some very strong action by the Spirit, and some
intensive processing with the tests and trials, to bring us to the end of man’s
thinking, and into HIS mind.
“The tragedy is not just that we are so given
over to the mind of the flesh, by all the natural programming that takes place
from infancy on, but that even in religious realms Christendom continues to
program men and women with negativity, sin-consciousness, devil-consciousness,
traditions of men, etc., so that it requires some deep inworkings of the Spirit,
and the illumination of HIS LIGHT in divine revelation, to burn out the old
mind, and renew us into His mind and truth, changing us from minding the flesh,
to minding the Spirit.
“In the natural medical realm of transplanting
organs, one of the great problems that they face is that of REJECTION — the body
rebels against the new organ, and in doing so would actually destroy itself, but
it needs that new organ to sustain its life. The body says, ‘I don’t
want it, it is foreign to me,’ and if they cannot end this rejection, death will
ensue. Jesus said, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save
it’ (Lk.
9:23-24).
“To reject Christ, that we might continue on
our own way, in our self-will, means certain death. It is a course of
self-destruction! Therefore it is most essential that this rejection be turned
the other way around, and we DENY SELF, and RECEIVE HIM, for in doing so, while
we have lost our own self-life, we have truly been brought into HIS LIFE which
abides. Just as the new organ accepted into the body means that person shall
live, so also, WE MUST RECEIVE HIS MIND if we are to be programmed into the
POSITIVE LIFE OF THE AGES. In the losing of the old diseased organ there is no
real loss if there is the receiving of the new healthy organ to take its place.
To lay down our own self-life is no loss when we are then brought into the
fullness of HIS LIFE, it is ALL GAIN, it is so much higher, that the old is not
worthy to be compared with the new. HIS MIND is complete, programmed for
victory, enduring through all ages. Lord, renew me into your mind! Then shall
we know what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God, and shall be
able to live pleasing to Him” — end quote.
That’s the key — we have to be beheaded!
John the Baptist came on the scene first proclaiming this message of the kingdom
and his very first word was “Repent!” The word repent means a whole lot more
than just changing our mind about a thing, or re-thinking things. The Greek
word means the taking of a new mind and in order to do this we
must be beheaded. Cut off the old head! The old head that contains Adam’s
thought processes. The thinking of the carnal mind is perverted, erroneous,
twisted, distorted, stupid, and insane, because that old head contains upon it
the mark of the beast. It is a bestial mind! The mark of the beast is not
something that comes to you, to Adam’s head — the carnal mind is already marked
with it! John the Baptist knew that. Jesus knew that. They said, “Change your
head…get a new head…repent! Lose the old head, cut it off, be
beheaded — repent!”
The old way of thinking has been removed from
the shoulders of every son of God who reigns with Christ in the kingdom! In the
scripture passage I quoted earlier from Revelation 20:4, those who have been
beheaded are the ones who sit upon the thrones! Those who sit upon the thrones
are the ones that have put on the new head of the mind of Christ! This is a
conscious action on our part — we can daily choose to cut off the old way of
Adamic thinking and put on the new way of thinking by the anointing of sonship.
Oh, yes, we can!
We have believed the error that the day of the
Lord is nothing but blessing, that there is naught but light and life and glory,
but the truth is this day will take your head, it will take your life. It comes
with a sword in its hand and it comes to deliver you from the mind of
Adam, from your human consciousness and carnal understanding. The word of the
Lord comes to separate us from all corruption and mortality until we are no
longer affected by the powers of this dark age. Paul was explaining why we must
be beheaded when he said, “To be carnally minded is death.” Just
as sure as I live and breathe, the sword of the Lord comes to each of us to
remove the power of death from off our shoulders. Aren’t you glad!
The sons of God are becoming kings and priests
and judges by the authority of the name of the Lord. The name of the Lord is
His nature! Through the deep dealings and intense preparations of the
Spirit, we are being delivered of the carnal nature and mind, and are receiving
the mind of Christ. We are being “beheaded by the witness of Jesus, and by the
word of God” (Rev. 20:4). Oh, yes! It is not just “for” the witness of Jesus,
and not merely “for” the word of God that we are losing our head, as the King
James Bible expresses it, but it is truly BY the witness of Jesus within us,
and BY the living power of His word within us that we are being changed!
This means that we are being delivered from the headship of man, and are now
coming under the true Headship of Christ. We have abandoned the judgment of our
own mind, our own opinion, our own will, and we are now receiving His mind, His
truth, and His Headship, to do only His perfect will.
Our
beheading is a process, but we have already been beheaded in areas of our
lives. We no longer worship the beast of man’s carnality and ego, or the image
of the beast of the Babylon systems of this world; nor do we any longer feed
upon the pronouncements of the false prophet, the erroneous and distorted
message flowing from the religious systems, nor do we have that “mark” upon our
foreheads (way of thinking) or in our hands (our service, actions). We are
giving up our head, or the carnal mind, to receive the mind of Christ in and by
the anointing within us.
As Jesus did the will of the Father by every word and deed, so shall
every son of God do His will with every word we speak and in every act we
perform. The works Jesus did and the words He spoke were never His. He saw the
Father’s works in and by the Spirit, and then He performed them. He heard the
Father’s words just as Samuel the prophet heard the audible voice of God, and He
spoke only what He heard His Father speak. All His works and words were of the
Father! Jesus said we would do greater works than He did, and we surely shall,
for we are becoming the will of God in the earth. We are learning to hear and
know His voice, and we are nigh the hour when He will begin to show us His works
in that greater realm of fully manifest sonship. By His righteous, holy, divine
mind, we shall also live and reign with Christ for a thousand years, that is,
throughout the new day of the Lord! This greater and more glorious day of
kingdom dominion is upon us! It is through the mighty dealings and
transformations God is working in our lives at this present moment that we are
now entering the kingdom in greater fullness. Jesus learned obedience to the
will of God by putting on the Father’s mind and being filled with the Father’s
life. And now God in Christ is in us! We are putting off the old man with his
deeds, stripping away the Adamic nature, cutting off Adam’s head with his
carnal, earthly way of thinking, understanding, and reasoning, and we are
putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, putting on the nature of Christ, and putting
on the new head of the mind of Christ. This is the day that the Lord hath made,
and truly it is marvelous in our eyes!
To be
continued…
J. PRESTON EBY
Directory
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Kingdom Bible Studies PO Box 371240 El Paso, TX 79937-1240
Mark Eby for Kingdom Bible Studies.
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