Part 181
THE SEVEN ANGELS WITH THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES
(Continued)
"And the second angel poured out his bowl upon
the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every
living soul died in the sea" (Rev. 16:3).
Here we
are given the picture of the second angel pouring out his bowl, not upon
the earth, but into the sea, the lowest realm of man’s life, the body
realm where lies the root and source of all evil. Something strange and
astonishing happens to the sea! Before we consider that, let us
reiterate that throughout the scriptures the sea is a type,
individually, of the inner storms and turbulent nature of the Adamic
man; and corporately, of the raging, restless, surging masses of
degenerate humanity, tossed to and fro by these inner storms and
turbulent motions of the natural mind and the flesh. The prophet Isaiah
penned these inspired words: "The wicked are like THE TROUBLED
SEA, which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no
peace, saith
my God,
to the wicked" (Isa. 57:20-21). Jude also described so-called
believers who walked as natural men when he said, "These are RAGING
WAVES OF THE SEA, foaming out their own shame" (Jude 13). John, in the
Revelation, had a vision of a great whore sitting on many waters. The
angel revealed the meaning of the "many waters," saying, "The waters
which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, ARE PEOPLES, AND MULTITUDES,
AND TONGUES" (Rev. 17:15).
No man
can dispute the fact that it is this restless, turbulent, raging carnal
heart of man that inspires every imaginable evil and devilish
perversion, religious, economic, or political, and has filled the world
with ever increasing confusion, immorality, faithlessness, falsehood,
fraud, hatred, violence, greed, cruelty, wars and rumors of wars,
bloodshed and oppression. Ah, the sea is the lowest
realm on earth, and this vast sea of fleshly-minded humanity
represents mankind at his lowest point — as bad off as man can be!
Here, however, God is not dealing with the outer world of wicked
mankind, but with His own people. The book of Revelation is sent to
the church! It reveals to His servants the things He intends
to do and unfold in their lives and experience! It begins in the first
three chapters with a carnal, imperfect church. Eventually there emerges
a firstfruit company of overcomers, a people out of the church, a people
qualified to be "caught up unto God and His throne" and to stand with
the Lamb "upon mount Zion." This is not the whole church, for these are
a "manchild" birthed out of the church-woman and a company of
144,000 overcomers who have been "redeemed from among men." Yet,
in the closing chapters of the Revelation, we behold the entire
community of God’s redeemed people purged, purified, and perfected — the
bride has "made herself ready" to whom it is granted to be
"arrayed in fine linen, clean and white" and she is joined in union at
"the marriage of the Lamb." All the various companies of God’s people
are revealed in the glorious CITY OF GOD, THE NEW JERUSALEM! And that,
my beloved, completes the journey from the CARNAL CHURCH to the GLORIOUS
CHURCH, NOT HAVING SPOT, OR WRINKLE, OR ANY SUCH THING, FOR IT IS HOLY
AND WITHOUT BLEMISH! That is the whole message of the Revelation — God’s
dealings with His people to bring them to perfection and
fullness in Himself!
This is
without doubt the "sea" within the Lord’s people, the flesh nature, with
all its agitating, surging emotions, powers, and propensities. One thing
is certain — God has complete power and full authority over even that
lowest realm within every saint of God! The word of the Lord declares,
"Thou rulest the RAGING OF THE SEA: when the waves thereof arise,
Thou stillest them" (Ps. 89:9). Many centuries ago the Spirit of
God inspired these beautiful words of promise, "The floods have lifted
up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice, the floods lift up
their waves. The Lord on high IS MIGHTIER THAN THE NOISE OF MANY WATERS,
yea, than the MIGHTY WAVES OF THE SEA" (Ps. 93:3-4). Praise God! He
rules the inner raging of the sea and He stills all its
tempests! The unstable nature within, so quickly moved by the storms
created by the carnal mind, the torrents of passion, the streams of vain
imaginations, the waves of frustration and fear, the winds of doubt and
unbelief, the turbulent emotions of fleshly zeal, anxiety, and
temptation — all are quieted by the Lord, the Spirit, who arises within
in peace, joy, righteousness, confidence, understanding, faith and
strength to rule the raging of the sea! And then follows the
calm, the state described by Paul — "that we be no more tossed to and
fro with every wind…but may grow up in all things into Him who is the
Head, even Christ" (Eph. 4:14-15). The Spirit of God within is great
peace, overflowing joy, unfailing love, unwavering righteousness, and
omnipotent power. It is only necessary then to gain the conscious
awareness of the presence and life of God as the true essence of our
being, to know that this life is the law of our reality. As we come to
know the spirit of our life in Christ all inner and outer tempests are
stilled, the sea is calmed, and the dragon in the sea vanishes over the
horizon. Oh, yes!
Yet,
here under the second plague, something different is set before us. The
"plague" falls into the sea of men’s lives and the sea becomes as the
blood of a dead man. What word is this! The whole sea is turned to
blood, and that, not pure, fresh, flowing, living blood, but blood like
that of a dead person, putrid, foul, repulsive, and vile in the extreme,
spreading its deadly odor, as it were, over the whole world. The
outpouring of the first bowl produced virulent ulcers on the followers
of the beast — outward eruptions of internal uncleanness — revealing to
all the corruption of the human heart even in those who name the name of
the Lord. It outwardly revealed even the uncleanness of the religious
systems of man. Have you not seen it? Now, however, wonder of wonders!
the dealing hand of God probes even deeper, He pours out the judgment
upon that inner corruption to begin to deal with the
inward condition which is the cause and source
of the boils. Think of it! The pouring out of the second bowl
reveals more than the outward manifestation of inward corruption — God
so overwhelms His people with the death within, so enveloping them with
the stench of rotting, coagulated blood so terrible that it can only be
adequately described by the picture of the whole ocean reeking with
rotten blood. As horrible and offensive as this seems, it is indeed
wonderful!
At last
the Lord’s people see that lower nature for exactly what it is —
unmitigated DEATH! The whole realm of "this present evil world" is but a
dead man, a world of dead men with no life
at all in them. There is no life in anything of the world system! This
comes as a great and wonderful revelation to anyone who bears the mark
of the beast and pays homage to his image, for all who esteem the
bestial system of this world with its politics, its military, its
charities, its science, its education, its economic institutions, and
its religious systems, views it all with pride and wonder. Such people
join its lodges, support its military machine, engage themselves in its
politics, congratulate themselves for being "committed" and "involved"
in its various institutions, and pride themselves in being "patriotic"
citizens. This is where millions of believers walk today in the church
systems. How tragically have the Lord’s people walked as natural men in
a natural world as they fill their lives with natural aspirations,
neither knowing nor caring to know that they could walk as sons of
God in heavenly realms far above the earth and the sea!
The
natural man belongs completely to this earthly order of things. He is
endowed in his human consciousness simply with a high quality of the
natural animal type of life. He has flesh as the animals have flesh. He
has blood as the animals have blood. He has a heart and circulatory
system as the animals have hearts and circulatory systems. He has a
digestive system as do the animals, feet for walking, hands for working,
a brain, nervous systems, etc. The natural man lives and dies as do the
animals. Paul pointed out the contrast between the natural man and the
spiritual man in Romans chapters six through eight. In Romans 8:5 he
exposed the yawning gulf between those who live after the body realm
(which is the flesh) and those who live after the spirit (the
offspring of God). He taught that "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." It all depends on
what we are AFTER! When I was a young man I met a beautiful
young lady by the name of Lorain Walker. I quickly decided that I wanted
her to be my wife. For a year and a half I dated her, pursued her, spent
every moment I could with her, proposed to her — and I got her! At that
point in my life she was what I was AFTER! This is the idea Paul
has in mind when he speaks of being "after" the flesh or "after" the
spirit. He also refers to it as "minding" the things of the flesh, or
"minding" the things of the spirit. I think that anyone can see that
whatever a person is "minding" is what they are really AFTER! When you
see Christians all caught up and expending their time, efforts, and
energies in the programs of carnal church systems, in worldly human
institutions, in political parties, and all the other natural pursuits
of "this world," you can know that they are worshippers of the beast. We
manifest whether we are a natural man or a spiritual man by what we are
after, what we are actively pursuing in our lives.
The man
who is forever worrying about the physical man will always have
in mind ways and means of catering to him — how he can provide a better
old age pension, how he can get a better home, newer car, fancier
clothes, how he can provide more to see and hear and taste and feel and
smell. He expends all his energies to try to make sure the physical man
will never be in need. He is always mindful of the physical flesh and
all that he does is for the physical flesh. He does nothing more than
the animals do. He lives his life out on the same plane as does the
animal kingdom. He pursues the corruptible things of earth, the things
that make for bodily comfort and pleasure, and does not mind the things
of the spirit. A man or woman who cares much about the pleasures
of the body, eating and drinking and sexual passion, holding in high
esteem such corruptible things as houses and lands, fine clothes,
bodily adornments, bank accounts, and luxuries of all kinds, will never,
as long as their lives are wrapped up in the pursuing of those things,
attain to the glory of sonship to God.
It is
not that such things are wicked or abominable before God, for He has
promised to "add all these things" unto us as we seek first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness. But I declare to you that to the
natural man who is pursuing all these things they are enemies of
the spirit because they never give you leave to seek God without
distraction. Carnally minded men, whether they be people of the world or
professing Christians, are filled with the delusion that those who hold
in low esteem the corruptible things of earth, turning instead to the
eternal values of the spirit, are living lives that are not worth
living. But such persons do not know that just the opposite is true, for
"she who liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth" (I Tim. 5:6).
The
moment we grasp the meaning of the scripture, "They that are after
the flesh do mind the things of the flesh," at
that moment we can understand what the carnal mind is. The carnal mind
is the fleshly mind and the fleshly mind minds
fleshly things. And the great revelation out of the sea turned
into the blood of a dead man is that NONE OF THE FLESHLY THINGS OF EARTH
HAVE ONE IOTA OF LIFE IN THEM! "To be carnally (fleshly) minded
is DEATH" (Rom. 8:6). Not only in his relation to the
spiritual man, but to the whole spiritual world, the natural man is
regarded as dead. He is as a stone compared to an organism. The
natural world is to the spiritual world as the inorganic to the organic.
"Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead" (Rev. 3:1). "To
you hath He given life who were dead in trespasses and sins"
(Eph. 2:1). It is not possible to know God or experience God through any
of the physical senses of the body, or through any earthly thing, or any
earthly institution, be it called a church, a sacrament, or something
else. This reveals the folly of all "sacramental" religion! It is just
as impossible for a man to enter into Christ by having his
physical body dipped in a tank of water, as it is to have Christ
enter into him by putting a wafer in his mouth and swallowing
it. The natural is a sea full of death, and life is found only in
the spirit!
In the world today there is a small minority who spend their lives
minding the things of the spirit. The welfare of the inner
spiritual man is foremost in their thoughts, for they seek to partake of
THE MIND OF CHRIST. They esteem the realm of the flesh as less than
nothing, as common dung, seeking always to be one mind with the Father.
These, being after the spirit, mind the things of the
spirit. The spiritual man has partaken of a life that transcends the
physical — a new and distinct and supernatural endowment. He is no
longer of this world. He is of the timeless state, Eternity. He is, even
now, a son of God and it doth not yet appear what he shall be. The
difference then between the spiritual man and the natural man is not a
difference of development, but of generation. It is a distinction of the
quality of life. The life of the natural man is of so poor a quality
that it is not even life at all, for it is filled with the corruptible
mind of the flesh and the power of death. And it is only when you stand
upon the shore of that sea that John saw, the sea that has become as the
blood of a dead man, and view the men and the whole bestial system of
the world that lives and thinks and functions at that level — it is
there and then that you will truly comprehend the horribleness of that
realm of death that the masses of God’s people never see or understand
until the second angel pours out his bowl, uncovering it to them,
revealing it within them, causing them to see it as it really is, to
be repulsed by it, and cry out mightily to God for a great deliverance!
We are
living in an hour when God is moving powerfully in the hearts of the
people He has called to live in the heavenlies of the spirit. While the
rest of his people go on more or less happy and unconcerned, content
with their empty carnal lives and worldly religious pursuits, sinking
deeper and deeper into the world’s morass of immorality, confusion, and
corruption. But I have good news for you my friend — there is coming a
mighty change! When the second angel pours out his bowl into the "sea,"
into the midst of the Lord’s people, they will awaken and
smell — not the coffee, not the roses — they will smell
the putrid stench arising from the sea which has become to them as the
blood of a dead man! This plague will fall suddenly into their natural
life and phenomenally disturb their comfort zone! It is a quickening, a
revelation! Once they are quickened by the Spirit of God
there is a revelation of corruption — the knowledge of
just what is in the natural man, the carnal mind, the flesh nature, and
the whole spirit and system of the world — the clear and
perfect understanding of what these are, how they work, their utter
futility and worthlessness in light of the Truth and Reality that the
Spirit brings. Christians in general will never let go of the valueless
things of the world until once they see them for what they really are —
an abhorrent cesspool of the blood of DEAD MEN!
Oh, what
a wonder this is! Do you suppose the millions of believers living out
carnal lives in the political, economic, and religious systems of man,
will ever come out of Babylon apart from the divine intervention of the
Holy Ghost? Such a thing will not be. But God has promised — God has
revealed — in John’s wonderful vision on Patmos — He will
send His plagues, His stripes, His woundings, His dealings, into the
strongholds of Babylon and the slaves will not be comfortable with the
things they were comfortable with before! In the old order of things
believers have been at home with the worldly atmospheres, carnal
understandings, and fleshly activities; but now the Lord will stir them,
arouse them, awaken them, draw nigh and speak into them His living word
and all the peace, pleasure, joy, and security of the earthly, natural,
carnal life will flee away as dew before the rising sun. Once wooed by
the Spirit, once awakened to the beauty and glory of life in the spirit,
the earthly state of being will be perceived as a base and vile
abomination compared to it. As the second plague falls, all contentment
with the vast sea of natural life is taken away so that the carnal mind
is bereft of all satisfaction in the worldly pursuits it formerly
enjoyed and trusted in with unrestrained abandonment.
EVERY LIVING SOUL IN THE SEA DIES
"And the
second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the
blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea" (Rev.
16:3).
It is
time to consider with prayer and meditation the great truth the Holy
Spirit conveys in these marvelous symbols. Today when I read this phrase
— "every living soul" —I heard something in the spirit that I had not
heard before I took up my pen to write. These are beautiful symbols
of spiritual truth — not literal events in the outer world.
There will never be an ocean turned into a grave of death, nor will
there ever be the horrible scene of billions and trillions of shoals of
dead, bloated, and stinking sea creatures floating on the surface of
bloody waters.
It came
to me so powerfully — the precise terminology of the Holy Spirit of
inspiration. He did not say, "every living creature," nor did he say,
"every sea creature," nor did he make mention of "all the fish" in the
sea. Rather, the Holy Spirit specifies "every living soul." This
is so very expressive and full of meaning! "Living" is in the Greek text
zao. This word is used of various living things, but is most
often used in reference to divine life. Jesus is called
"the Son of the living (zao) God." Our blessed Lord
informed the sinful woman of Samaria of the "living (zao)
water" that He would give to her. Jesus said that He Himself is the
"living (zao) bread" that has come down from heaven, and that
if a man eats of this bread he shall live (zao) for ever.
"The just shall live (zao) by faith," Paul wrote.
Throughout the book of Revelation the word is used several times of the
God who liveth for ever and ever; of Jesus who was dead,
and now liveth; the seal of the living God;
living fountains of waters; and of those who live
and reign with Christ a thousand years.
There is
clearly the quality of SPIRITUAL LIFE embedded in the word, yet in our
text it is used in conjunction with the word "soul" — psuche —
the soulical life of man. Can we not see by this that the phrase
signifies a spiritual work of God which is joined with the soulical life
of man — the deposit of divine life into the carnal state of nominal
Christians! And who among us can deny that this is just what we see
working in the lives of believers and in all the carnal church systems
of earth! Walk into any church service on a Sunday morning. In spite of
the liturgy, the vestments, the crucifixes, the ritual and ceremony, and
all the rest, who can deny that the Lord is present. Can we deny
that they have been truly saved by grace, have a love for the Lord, have
experienced something of His goodness and power, and are possessed of a
zeal to work for God, bless and help people, and bring men to Him? Yet —
in spite of their experience, love, faith, and commitment, is it not
also true that the religious world is walking after fleshly wisdom which
seems so logical to the carnal mind as they seek to serve God and do His
works? The whole program can be seen to be that of the living soul
— God’s life joined with the soulical activities of men!
The
entire religious world is today walking in fleshly wisdom which seems so
logical to the carnal mind. Fleshly wisdom always seems to "make more
sense" than does the wisdom of God! The adversary causes carnal wisdom
to prosper because it is the denial of the life of the spirit, so that
many times Christians and churches operate contrary to the Spirit with
the argument, "It works!" Their method of evangelism is contrary to the
ways of the Spirit, but since it "gets results" they continue on in it.
The "program" of the church is contrary to true spirituality, and is
built generally around flesh-appeal activities of ceremonies, rituals,
concerts, social activities, contests, sports, puppet shows, movies,
dramas, special speakers, sensationalism, and other carnal tactics and
techniques, but the churches continue in it because it draws a crowd and
causes the church to prosper in numbers and in finances, while their
spirits remain dwarfed and hideously shriveled and stunted.
I would
draw your attention to the wise admonition of the apostle Paul. "Are ye
so foolish? Having begun in the spirit, are ye now made perfect
by the flesh?" (Gal. 3:3). "We are the circumcision, who worship
God in the spirit…and have no confidence in the flesh"
(Phil. 3:3-4). The flesh is the name by which the Holy Spirit designates
the natural man, human reasoning, the carnal mind. Well did William Law
pen these words of keen insight: "In this antagonism of the flesh to the
spirit the flesh has two distinct strategies. On the one
hand the flesh wars against the spirit in its committing sin and
transgressing God’s commands. This is the evil of the flesh. On
the other hand, its hostility to the spirit is no less manifested in its
seeking to serve God and to do His work! This is the good of the
flesh. These two together are the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil. In yielding to the flesh, the soul sought itself
instead of the God into whom the spirit could have raised it.
Self-effort and self-development prevailed over God’s life. And now, so
subtle and mighty is this spirit of self, that the flesh, not only in
sinning against God, but even when the soul learns to serve God, still
asserts its power, refuses to let the spirit alone lead,
and in its effort to be religious, wants to serve God independent of the
spirit and is still the great enemy that ever hinders and quenches the
spirit. It is because of this cunning deceitfulness of the flesh that
there often takes place what Paul speaks of to the Galatians: ‘Having
begun in the spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?’ Unless the
soul is brought into absolute surrender to the spirit, the surrender to
the spirit being very entire, and the holy waiting on Him be kept up in
great dependence and humility, what has begun in the spirit, very early
and very speedily passes over into confidence in the flesh."
It is
right there where the flesh seeks to serve God, that the "living soul"
is formed. The quickened spirit is alive in every child of God, but when
the soul, inspired by the spirit, turns and usurps the work of
the spirit, the hybrid is formed — a mixture of soul and spirit!
Do we not know how the Pharisees, with their self-righteousness and
carnal religion, fell into pride and selfishness, and became the
servants of sin and the children of the Devil? Satan has no more crafty
device for keeping men out of life than inciting them to a religion,
even a serving of God, in the flesh. He knows that the power of
the flesh can never conquer sin nor please God, that in the flesh and
the serving of the flesh no one will ever become a son of God,
for those who become sons not only defeat the Devil in the
wilderness of temptation, but also deny their own souls — their own
minds, wills, emotions, desires, plans, talents, abilities, hopes,
dreams, and ambitions, to declare with the firstborn Son of God, "I do
nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these
things. And He that sent me is with me; for I do always those things
that please Him. The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what he seeth
the Father do: for what things so ever He doeth, these also doeth the
Son. The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the
Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works" (Jn. 8:28-29; 5:19;
14:10).
If there
is one lesson a son of God needs to learn it is this: If I am to deny
self in my relationships with others, to conquer selfishness, anger,
and lack of love, I MUST FIRST LEARN TO DENY SELF IN MY RELATIONSHIP
WITH GOD! There the soul, the seat of Self, must learn to bow to
the spirit, where God dwells. Listen, my brother, my sister, to the
voice of the blessed Spirit of God: It is confidence in the flesh that
motivates men to busily and craftily work for God rather than
seeking the Lord until He works! It is self doing what the spirit
alone can do; it is the soul taking the lead, in the hopes that the
spirit will second its efforts, instead of trusting the spirit to lead
and to do all, and then waiting on Him. Oh, brethren! How we need to
watch this! All that is not of Life, of the Spirit, is merely the good
of man — soulish. The deep mystery is that God does in some
manner honor what the soul does, when it speaks His word or inspires men
to seek after the Lord. God honors both His word and the faith evoked in
men’s hearts! And it is this working of God through man’s efforts in
spite of their soulical energy which shows us what the living
soul truly is — the mixture of soul and spirit, the spirit
working, honoring the spiritual content of the soul’s self-effort! Think
of a man with a zeal to preach, not truly called of God, but out of
soulish zeal he goes out proclaiming what he perceives to be the gospel.
He mixes even his truth with error, preaching hell-fire and eternal
damnation, warning men to turn to Jesus for salvation. Men do cry out to
the Lord, and He honors their cry, and their faith, moving in their
hearts, and they find forgiveness, peace, and deliverance from sin. This
is the living soul — the life of God working through the soulical
zeal of man! We all know it happens! If it didn’t happen, there
would be no born-again people in any of the church systems of man! This
is not the pathway of sonship to God, but it is the way of
Babylon!
How much
of our religious exercises have been soulish! I can tell you of a truth
that most of the "power" in the modern "revival meeting" is nothing at
all but soul power. Have you not noticed yourself that in many church
services, revival meetings, and crusades a kind of atmosphere is first
created psychologically to make the people feel warm and excited? A
chorus is repeated again and again to warm up the audience. The people
are feverishly urged to "get into the spirit" of the meeting. Some
stirring stories are told. Special music is sung. The people are
instructed to stand up, sit down, say "Amen!" and "Praise the Lord!"
When the atmosphere is thoroughly heated up, the preacher will then
stand up and preach. If he does his job skillfully he can anticipate a
large "altar call." These are methods and tactics, but they are not the
energy of the Holy Spirit! Many preachers today think they have power
(including some who call themselves sons of God), but they are merely
employing psychological soul power to influence people and manipulate
congregations. Many have become experts at manipulating people and
audiences. One dead give-away: If the preacher has to have organ music
playing softly in the background while he makes an appeal — he is
working in soul power!
The
Bible Schools of Babylon’s religions offer a course for ministerial
students called homiletics. Homiletics is the art of
preparing, writing, and delivering sermons. The sad truth is that the
vast majority of religious activities is just that — an art. You
can go to school and learn how to do it! How to prepare
sermons. How to speak persuasively. How to use gestures. How to tell
jokes. How to preach. How to counsel. How to stir people with
sentimental stories about death, repentance, hell, heaven, needs,
miracles, etc. This all seems so desirable, so good! But I say to
you that you can learn these very same psychological techniques, apply
them in the business world, and go out and sell vacuum cleaners! The
fact is, all really successful salesmen use these same proven
procedures of presentation, sentimentalism, and pressure to sell
insurance, security alarms, automobiles, real estate, and thousands of
other items daily! They don’t need any Holy Spirit to do that! All that
is necessary is some good human personality coupled with some good
proven techniques and one can persuade people to buy almost anything!
These are means and methods, but they are not the power nor work of the
Holy Spirit. They are no more spiritual when used religiously than they
are when employed commercially. Yet God does meet men in their lives
right where they are even when they turn to Him as a result of such
soulish methods! That is the mystery of the "living soul."
How
prone we are to consider a person possessing unusual talent, dynamic
personality, and great natural ability, reasoning with the carnal mind
that with such talent and qualities, why, if God could just get hold of
him and USE ALL THIS ABILITY in the service of the Lord, what mighty
things he could accomplish for the kingdom of God! Oh, yes, we can
always locate some good flesh for God to anoint! And in our haste to
pour God’s Holy Anointing Oil upon man’s flesh, we forget that "not many
wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the
things that are mighty; and base things of the world, and things that
are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring
to nought things that are: that NO FLESH SHOULD GLORY IN HIS PRESENCE"
(I Cor. 1:26-28).
A
brother shared the following experience which is so familiar to many who
read these lines. "I remember visiting a church which allowed the
visiting ministries to take up their own offerings. On this particular
occasion a servant of God and his wife were conducting the special
meetings. There was no denying that the hand of God was resting upon the
brother. He was quiet, deep, and had a heavily anointed prophetic
ministry. However, his wife’s anointing was somewhat different. Very
different. She was loud-voiced and boisterous. The worship, praise,
singing, prayers, and prophecy seemed to be anointed, during her
ministry. Then suddenly she announced, ‘Now we are going to take up the
offering.’ Apparently she noticed the look on the faces of the people.
Perhaps they resented this intrusion into the worship of the Lord. She
then said, ‘You say, Why are we doing this in the midst of the
anointing? Well, we can turn that on any time we want to.’ Need I say
more? This is a favorite trick. Get the people ‘high’ on the Lord, or
all worked up with the leader’s self-anointing, and then while the tide
is high make a plea for money. God in the past has allowed man to go on
in his own way, and moved and blessed in spite of it. The days are
coming, however, when He will no longer tolerate those who try to
manipulate His Spirit for their own profit. Sooner for some, and later
for others, but they will be judged severely" — end quote.
And may
I add — when God withholds His blessing from all the soulical religious
activities of man, when He no longer honors anything about it, when His
presence and His working and His moving flees from the midst of
all the administrations of religious Babylon — that is when EVERY LIVING
SOUL DIES IN THE SEA! None of man’s craftiness will work any more —
there will be no more "life" active in anything that is soulical! That,
above all else, will be the judgment!
There is
no life in methods, techniques, or formulas. How much better it
would be if the Lord’s servants would expend their energies, like Mary
of old, at HIS feet, learning to know Him and to know His
ways. How much better it would be were the time spent on our knees,
low and humbled before God, that He might place within a deep
distrust of the flesh. How I pray that God would truly reveal to all
those apprehended to sonship that the one great hindrance to the life of
sonship is the power of the flesh and the efforts of the self-life! Open
our eyes, we pray Thee, to this snare of the adversary! May we all
discern how secret and how subtle is the temptation to have confidence
in the flesh, and how easily we are led to try and perfect in the flesh
what has been begun in the spirit! May we learn to trust Thee, our
Father, to work in us by Thy Holy Spirit both to will and to do only
those things which THOU ART DOING!
In this
day, after receiving the Father’s call to sonship, after partaking of
deep and vital dealings of the Spirit of God, I have had to totally
repudiate all soulish wisdom of the carnal mind, all fleshly tactics
of Babylon’s kingdom, to bend low beneath the disciplines of the Father
of sons, to travail mightily that God would bend me, break me, bind my
soul power, bridle my Self, and block all that would proceed from my
carnal mind. If I have learned anything of the ways of the Father I have
learned this one thing: He who would be a son of God must be able to
clearly distinguish what is done from his soul power and what is done
from the indwelling spirit; further, he must confess and utterly forsake
all that pertains to his own soul power, nailing it to the cross of
Christ, that ultimately his own faith, as well as that of his hearers,
may be found to stand solely in the power of God and not in the wisdom
of the flesh. This is the only route, my dear brother, my precious
sister, into the glorious and eternal reality of sonship to God!
All the good works of the soulish realm can never, in a billion years,
deliver creation from its bondage to the tyranny of corruption. Only the
omnipotent working of THE LIFE OF THE SON OF GOD can accomplish this!
"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth
nothing." Think on that!
It is a
dangerous day to be involved in organized religion! I’m not trying to be
rude, crude, or vindictive in any way, but there are a lot of things
going on right now in the midst of God’s people that are highly esteemed
and getting the attention of the whole world, but it’s just the drunken
harlot riding her scarlet-colored beast through the wilderness of this
world. It’s almost a circus atmosphere in the Charismatic and
Pentecostal scene, drawing the crowds, catering to soulish excitement,
with all kinds of theatrics and showmanship, and men look at the lying
signs and wonders going on about them, and pay no attention to the deep
and eternal work of God to be wrought within. The subtleness and
power of the individual soul is the root and source of the
wanton harlot riding her beastly system — it is all the
domain of the LIVING SOUL. The first man Adam was made a living
soul. The last man Adam was made a quickening spirit.
If a man is not walking in his religious life in the power of the
quickening spirit, then without doubt he is walking in the
energy of the living soul! That is the mystery.
Observe,
then, how our text clearly states that "every living soul in the
sea (of humanity) died." What can it mean? The "dying" of
the living souls reveals the cessation of the spiritual
work of God through the instrumentality of the systems of religious
Babylon! While in former times God honored His word no matter what
unclean vessel it passed through, HE WILL NO LONGER DO SO! Whereas God
formerly permitted the flesh of man to be anointed, HE
WILL NO LONGER ALLOW IT! God will no longer bless, honor,
or in any measure anoint man’s fleshly efforts to serve
Him and build His kingdom! God will no longer respond to
the prayers for the moving of His Spirit within and through the carnal
methods and promotions of man. There will not in that day be any more
"living soul," for God will withdraw the zao
from the psuche — its end comes, and every living soul
in the sea of humanity dies! In all the world there will not
be any manifestation of divine life within the precincts of Babylon’s
works! The "plague" will be poured out into the sea of humanity and all
religion and all religious systems will be full of death, emptiness, and
corruption!
This is
not a judgment to kill people, or literal flesh. These are word-pictures
of spiritual realities! God is going to bring to death the hybrid
manifestation of His Spirit accommodating man’s folly and foolishness.
He will withdraw His presence and forever write "ICHABAD" upon the
systems of man — "the glory has departed!" Every union bears fruit, and
the fruit of Babylon will be destroyed. It is of utmost importance that
all of God’s elect see this great truth, for once we grasp it, we
understand the severity of the Father’s dealings with the spirit and
works of religion in the lives of His people, and we will be
neither surprised nor shocked when we see the anointing and moving of
His Spirit depart once and for all and completely from the courts of
Babylon! The power of Christ comes as a plague to kill each and every
"living soul" in the sea until God is not seen moving from any realm
anywhere except from the heights of mount Zion and from the high places
of the heavens of His Spirit! The move, manifestation, and power of God
will flow only from God’s firstfruits company! As it was in Cana
of Galilee in that day when Jesus attended the wedding, when the wine
made by the hand of man has run out and come to its end, then
Jesus Himself will arise and bring to the scene the REAL WINE OF HEAVEN!
I now
prophesy to you by the word of the Lord that this is precisely
why, in that day, "Many nations shall come, and say, Come, let
us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the
God of Jacob; and He will teach us His ways, and we will walk
in His paths: for the law shall go forth out of Zion, and
the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem. And He shall judge among
many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat
their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation
shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
any more" (Mic. 4:2-3). The nations will come to the mountain (kingdom)
of the house (the elect) of the Lord that has been established
(elevated) in the tops of the mountains (kingdoms), exalted above all
other kingdoms and above all churches and movements of man; they will
come, I say, because there will be NO OTHER SOURCE of help or hope or
life or light anywhere! The "living souls" will all be dead, there will
be no more visitations of God, no more expressions of His life, no more
exhibitions of His authority, no more movings of His Spirit, no more
manifestations of His power, no more revivals, no more answers to prayer
— no life in evidence anywhere in the lowlands of the religious world of
man. What an awesome thought! No recourse, no blessing, no remedy from
any source — the glory has departed.
"Come
up hither" is the message now being heard from Zion’s holy hill!
This message of truth and life is a proclamation of a new and greater
manifestation of the rule and government of God in the earth. "Of the
increase of His government and peace there shall be no
end," the inspired prophet assures us. That increase of the kingdom
is from purpose to purpose, from dealing to dealing, from one stage of
growth, development, and manifestation to another, and from one age to
another. I declare to you today that we are now standing at the end of
an age, and the Lord is introducing A GREATER MANIFESTATION OF HIS
KINGDOM by separating His elect unto Himself. The old "church order" is
fastly drawing to a close, and the day for the manifestation of the sons
of God is rapidly approaching. The next step in the unfolding of God’s
kingdom plan for the world is even now dawning.
We have
progressed from the age when God has been meticulously forming His body
of sons by establishing His rule in their minds and hearts, to the age
when that body shall begin to fulfill the great and grand purpose
for which God has prepared them. We have come to the time when the
kingdom shall accelerate into a further and greater manifestation of the
rule and dominion of the kingdom over all nations and over all mankind,
answering the cry of the groaning creation to be delivered from the
bondage of corruption. The Lord is inaugurating a new age, and is
setting forth a new order with a new understanding, new wisdom, new
methods, new power, and new requirements for this new day of greater
light and glory. As wonderful as the workings of the Spirit were in the
past, they are not good enough for this new order of manifest sonship!
Even though we have made some progress, with outpourings of His Spirit
and glorious manifestations of the gifts, we must have something
more from God to be able to rule the nations and deliver
creation from the bondage of corruption!
Two
thousand years ago the firstborn Son of God declared, "For all the
prophets and the law prophesied until John" (Mat. 11:13). God
spoke to an age through the law and the prophets who gave the word of
God to Israel until John the Baptist came on the scene preaching
repentance and the kingdom of God. This means that the prophets and the
law revealed God’s will for that age and were in effect until John
showed up in the wilderness and began his ministry. The Lord ended the
previous age by removing His blessing, presence, and authority
from the previous order, and then spoke a new order into existence
purely by His word. And by a similar unrecognized word of authority,
Father shall conclude this age of the formation of His
body of sons and inaugurate the new age of the manifestation of
the sons of God on earth. When the Lord changed the order two thousand
years ago, did He send a mighty cataclysmic upheaval and judgment to at
once eliminate all the Old Covenant priesthood, laws, rituals,
sacrifices, feast days, synagogues, and religious forms? Did He move to
completely wipe them out and abolish it all from the face of the earth?
No — not at all! Remnants of the old Jewish order remain in the earth to
this day as an abiding and unimpeachable testimony to the blindness of
unanointed, uninspired, unspiritual religion! God removed every vestige
and particle of His presence, unction, power, and glory from that
passing order and there is no spiritual or religious death
more stark, barren, grim, empty, and desolate in any religious
system of earth today than in Judaism!
When
Father changes the order in this day, replacing the old church order
with His manifest sons, kings and priests after the Order of
Melchizedek, will He then eliminate and obliterate off the face of the
earth the Catholic order, the Baptist order, the Methodist order, the
Lutheran order, the Episcopalian order, the Presbyterian order, the
Mennonite order, the Pentecostal order, the Charismatic order, the Word
of Faith order, and all the other church orders of man? Not by any
means! They will perish in due time, but first He will simply
remove what is left of His blessing, presence, and anointing from that
order! It will be just as the heavenly messenger announced to
John: "Rejoice over her (Babylon), ye heaven, and ye holy apostles and
prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a
stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus
with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down…and the voice
of harpers and musicians (spiritual praise and worship), and of pipers
(prophets), and trumpeters (announcers of new things in God), SHALL BE
HEARD NO MORE AT ALL IN THEE; and no craftsman (spiritual ministry), of
whatever craft he be, SHALL BE FOUND ANY MORE IN THEE; and the sound of
a millstone (grinding flour for bread — the word of God) SHALL BE HEARD
NO MORE AT ALL IN THEE; and the light of a candle (the little light left
in Babylon) SHALL SHINE NO MORE AT ALL IN THEE; and the voice of the
Bridegroom (Christ the Head) and of the Bride (the true church) SHALL BE
HEARD NO MORE AT ALL IN THEE…" (Rev. 18:20-23).
For a
season they will continue on with their fellowships, activities,
programs, ceremonies, rituals, crusades, and religious works. For a
season, until the time appointed of the Father, all will continue to
function without Father’s authority or the precious anointing and
working of His Spirit. Thank God! There is a remnant, a chosen company,
a firstfruit, a people with a purpose, called to be the sons of
God, who have now been awakened to this new day and enter into
its purposes by the Spirit of God. These have already received the call
to come out of the Babylon system, because a new and greater
manifestation of the kingdom of God is at hand. This call has come from
the SPIRIT HIMSELF, confirmed by many thousands of saints in all parts
of the earth, in practically every nation under heaven. It is not a
matter of the interpretation of scripture, to prove from holy writ that
this is the time for God’s sons to be manifested and for
the kingdom of God to come in great power and glory. It is a matter of
HEARING FROM GOD! Those who reject this vision reject the voice of the
Lord from the heavens.
Now God
has called us to "come out of her," to depart from all our religious
backgrounds, to repent of our doctrines, creeds, and beliefs; to repent
of our denominationalism and our non-denominational denominationalism;
to repent of our carnal religious methods, our dead works, and all the
baggage we have brought with us into this kingdom walk, from the systems
of man. Only as we repent, and follow the Lamb up Zion’s mount, becoming
invested with a new mind, a new vision, and a new reality, can we
enter into this new and higher and more glorious dimension of the
kingdom of God revealed through sons.
This
should aid us greatly in understanding the fact that the next three
chapters of the Revelation set forth in detail the fall of Babylon.
The whole system of Babylon will collapse and go up in flames! The
work of the seven last plagues is designed to prepare God’s people for
that collapse. Do you think for one moment, dear one, that if God does
not completely remove His blessing from Babylon, the people of God will
ever leave her? No way! But every blessing and moving of God in her will
die. In that blessed day God will have His man, His
corporate man, His new creation man, His man in the image of God, His
many-membered son, His man in the measure of the statue of the FULLNESS
OF CHRIST, full of faith and the Holy Ghost, full of incorruptible life,
full of heavenly light, full of infinite love, and full of divine,
omnipotent power — and upon HIM shall the glory be seen!
"Arise, shine; for thy
light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For,
behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the
people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be
SEEN UPON THEE. And the nations shall come to thy light,
and kings to the brightness of thy rising" (Isa.
60:1-3).
To be continued… J. PRESTON EBY