“And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will
tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which
hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and
is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into
perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names
were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they
behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is” (Rev. 17:7-8).
The vision was no mystery to the messenger showing John these
things. The “angel” or “messenger” signifies the living word of God unto
John! The messenger assured John that he would explain and make known to him
the meaning of the woman and the beast that was carrying her. This was one
mystery, not two. It is designated as “the mystery” of the woman and the beast
— one mystery. The beast and the woman are inseparably related. One cannot be
understood apart from the other. One does not even exist apart from the other!
The messenger also said he would explain the meaning of the seven heads and ten
horns. Special attention is drawn to them because of their importance to the
understanding of the sentence of judgment on the great harlot.
The implication of the Greek word used is of a wild beast —
untamed, unruly, and violent-natured. Now we know that we are not
speaking of a literal animal — for what does a wild animal have to do with the
great mysteries of God? Internally, this wild beast is the bestial nature of
the natural man, the carnal mind and the fleshly nature of the unregenerate
self. Externally, this wild beast is the world — the institutions, systems, and
authorities created in human society by the fleshly wisdom and soulical power of
natural-minded men. Thus, this woman, the false church, is carried —
underwritten, supported, maintained, and sustained internally by the flesh, and
externally by the world! It reminds me of something I once read. In a
newspaper survey asking what is wrong with the world, G. K. Chesterton sent back
the shortest letter of response the editor had ever received:
Dear Sir:
Regarding your article “What’s wrong with
the world?” — I AM.
Yours truly, G. K. Chesterton
As we consider these things we come to a strange and astonishing
statement regarding this beast. The messenger showing these things to John
clearly says to him, “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not;
and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition.” How
can we understand the beast that was, and is not; and yet shall
ascend out of the pit, and go into perdition, that is, into
destruction — for destruction is the meaning of the word perdition.
To those who can receive it the following word penned by John
earlier in the Revelation will give help and light as they contrast the
nature of our Lord Jesus Christ with the nature of the Adamic man and the nature
of the world systems of man. “Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him which
is, and which was, and which is to come” (Rev. 1:4).
In the realm of the spirit the past, present, and future co-exist. It is high
and lifted up in the throne realm that we are given the ability to see the past,
the present, and the future all at once. Again and again in the book of
Revelation, where our Lord is mentioned, He is spoken of as He who is, He who
was, and He who is to come — meaning that when we leave the earth realm we
transcend time as we know it.
“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord,
which is, and which was, and which is to come, the
Almighty” (Rev. 1:8). That is awesome! You see, every time Jesus is mentioned
in this book He is never mentioned in the past, or just the present, or in the
future. Every time we meet Jesus in the book of Revelation it is the Jesus who
is, and who was, and who is to come. The reason is that
the book of Revelation gives us a view of the kingdom of God from the divine
perspective — as God views it — and the past, the present, and the future
encompass the outworking of God’s purpose in the earth through His wonderful
plan of the ages. That is what is so powerful — in the spirit you can see
the whole plan of God from beginning to end! The purposes of God in the earth
embrace past history, present awareness, and future consummation.
Everything in the universe, and everything in your life, precious friend of
mine, exists in the past, the present, and the future. Jesus was doing
something before the foundation of the world, Jesus was doing something at the
dawn of creation, Jesus was doing something two thousand years ago, Jesus was
doing something five hundred years ago, Jesus was doing something fifty years
ago, Jesus was doing something yesterday, Jesus is doing something right now,
and He will be working His great work in all of our tomorrows!
Age after age, generation after generation, through the rise and
fall of empires, and the shifting sands of history, God remains. He works all
His purposes in all things, but HE changes not! Yet — God in Christ became a
man! God as man has tenses to His being, the yesterday of the past, the today
of the present, the tomorrow of the future. This is not the eternal God,
but the God who has dispensed His eternity into time. “Jesus Christ the same —
yesterday, today, and for the ages” (Heb. 13:8, Literal). He is
eternal, that is, unchangeable or “the same,” but His eternity is manifested in
time, “yesterday, today, and for the ages.” “And the four beasts had each of
them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not
day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was,
and is, and is to come” (Rev. 4:8). Day and night do not
exist in eternity nor in the heavenly realm of God’s Spirit! Is it not clear
that this scene is not set in some far-off heaven somewhere. In the heaven the
preachers preach about there is no day and night! There is no sun or
moon or stars, and there is no night there! This scene is set in
time! HE is praised and extolled both DAY AND NIGHT, this God who WAS, and
IS, and IS TO COME! HE is worshipped and adored both DAY AND NIGHT, this God of
the ages, this Architect of history, this Lord of time, this King of the
universe, this Most High who “liveth for the ages, whose dominion is an
age-during dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation: and all
the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and He doeth according to
His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none
can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?” (Dan. 4:34-35, Literal &
KJV).
Oh, take me not back through the long ages to a Christ that walked
the shores of Galilee, to a Christ that was! He is! He lives!
He is here! In my today! I can never be alone, never grope in the dark
for a hand, never be forsaken, never lack in the hour of need, never fail in His
on-going purposes in me, never need a Saviour, a Guide, a Brother, a Head, a
Leader, a Captain, a Father. I have Him, He who was everything in the yesterday
of the past, and who will be everything in the tomorrow of the future, is mine
today; and in each conscious moment of my existence here, and throughout all the
ages, He is my life, my all! He is not a far-off, untouchable God, “inhabiting
eternity,” as the King James Bible erroneously states, but a God made nigh,
INHABITING THE AGES, involved in His creation, working tirelessly and
unceasingly and unfailingly until His wonderful plan is brought to a successful
conclusion and HE becomes gloriously ALL IN ALL!
What Christians for centuries have called “eternal life” is in the
Greek “life aionios” — the life of the ages! How I thank God that my
present state of being is not eternal! There is more! The new
man within me is changing, growing, increasing, maturing unto the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ! Some entertain the notion that once they
have received Christ within them they have the whole Christ in all His fullness
and that’s all there is. They only need to get to heaven to spend eternity.
But in the scriptures there is the growth and the formation of
Christ in us, and the increase of God! To those in whom the Christ life
is but a babe within them, Peter writes, “As newborn babes, desire the
sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (I Pet. 2:2). To
those pressing on to maturity Paul wrote, “But speaking the truth in love, may
grow up into Him in all things which is the head, even Christ” (Eph.
4:15). Some would rather ignore this growing, changing, increasing life of
the ages, somehow projecting themselves into that life which is eternal,
claiming “by faith” the finished product, while by-passing the tedious
processing that develops and matures that life. Ah, dear ones, it doesn’t work
that way! Christ is being formed in us and it will take “the ages,” my
friend, to unfold it all. As long as there is need for growth, change, and
advancement, there is need for time. Until redemption is complete its
work will proceed in time, but the finished work of redemption stands at time’s
end. Thank God! There is an end — then eternity, God all-in-all! “I am
the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which
was, and which is to come.”
The Lord which was is also the Lord which is! The
present tense of God’s manifestation in Christ is expressed by the apostle Paul
when he said, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20). Jesus Himself prophesied of this
manifestation of God in His people, saying, “If a man love me, he will keep my
words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our
abode with (in) him” (Jn. 14:23). “God is in you.” “God dwelleth in you.”
When we think of God manifest in the flesh we at once think of the Man walking
by the shores of blue Galilee, walking among humanity, in His humanity,
demonstrating what humanity was intended to be. But God has raised our vision
beyond He who was and is causing us to see He who is! Two
thousand years ago God walked this earth in Jesus of Nazareth — but “NOW
ye are the body of Christ.” Christ is no longer walking in that
body that tread the sands of Galilee! He is walking in another body today, in
your body, in my body, in all those blessed sons whom He is bringing to glory!
In the realm of He who is we find a glory beyond the was which
enables us to press into and participate in the is. While many still
look for the coming of the was in the clouds, we have now experienced the
One who IS COMING TO BE GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS!
Beloved, if He that was is now He that is within you,
what, under all God’s heavens, could be added to you from without? Let
us bow in holy reverence to worship and adore, and to live and walk in the
blessed reality of such an high and holy calling! Stop seeking anything at all
from or through the myriad substitutes pawned by the countless modern day
antichrists of the church systems of man. These external religious observances
will not suffice for those destined for the throne! CHRIST HIMSELF IS
SUFFICIENT! In the name of Jesus Christ, divorce yourself completely and
forever from all the substitutes, the realm of the instead of. You will
find absolutely nothing in any of it that will satisfy the deepest cravings of
your heart after God. CHRIST WITHIN IS ALL YOU NEED! This is the Lord who
was Jesus of Nazareth, but who now is the many sons of
God in the earth, the many-membered Christ! God is bringing many sons to glory
and we are being conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son. The eternal God
never changes, but this Lord who was, and is, and is to come does change from
glory to glory!
What, then, does it mean when it says, “…and the Lord which is to
come”? The expression “which is to come” is from the Greek erchomai,
meaning “the coming one.” Now, how is the Lord which was, and the Lord which
is, also the coming One? What does it mean? It means that in our
consciousness, in our experience, He is yet coming to be all that He is! That’s
what the processing is all about! “And to you who are troubled rest with us,
when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven…when He shall come to
be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them
that believe in that Day” (II Thes. 1:7,10). There is no way that I
could say it better!
God will not allow us to refuse to see Christ in each other and then
look upon Him in some other form. Look not for the Christ who was, and
do not cling to the Christ who is, yet know of a surety that the Christ
in us is HIM all the way! We will have to recognize Him in our brethren. God
will not satisfy our carnal nature by allowing us to see Jesus descending from
heaven in clouds of glory, alone in that glory. We shall be glorified
together, the scripture affirms. Why would I look for Jesus in clouds of
glory in the sky while I pass by His body on earth and refuse to see Him
glorified in them! It is this message that is coming to us today! If I
want to see Christ I look at you, because that is where He is forming Himself,
manifesting Himself, and glorifying Himself! The body of Christ is not
something apart from Christ, not something that Christ has formed as a separate
entity to use. Oh, no! The body of Christ IS CHRIST in the earth!
“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one
body, being many, are one body: SO
ALSO IS CHRIST” (I Cor. 12:12). Until I see, recognize, love, and honor Christ in
you, my brother, my sister, I would not see, recognize, love, or honor One I
would see riding upon a cloud! When this precious knowledge becomes sweet to
our soul, we begin to look at one another and BEHOLD HIM! I now see Him who
is and I shall look, and look, and look until in His temple which we are I
see Him who is to come!
Now, against this backdrop of how terms such as was, is, is not,
and is to come are used in the Revelation, let us return to our
text. “And the beast which thou sawest was, and is not;
and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition
(destruction)…and they shall wonder…when they behold the beast that
was, and is not, and yet is” (Rev.
17:8). Once we clear away all the speculations, imaginations, and absurdities
that men add to this scene the meaning becomes very simple and wonderfully
clear. Christ is the One who was, and is, and is to come! The beast
is the one who was, is not, yet is, and shall go into destruction! What an
amazing contrast! Christ and the beast are opposites — the one is eternal, the
other is passing away no matter how diligently he seeks to survive! Christ is
our spirit, the beast is our flesh! Christ was, is, and is ever
coming — always shall be! The flesh was, is not, yet is, and shall finally be
destroyed! What a message that is!
It is very necessary that we be able to see this great truth that
the beast bears a title which is in contrast to the title of Christ. Christ
was, and is, and is coming, whereas the beast was, is not, is yet to be, and
goes to destruction. The beast, on the other hand, was, is not, yet is, ascends
out of the abyss, and goes into destruction. In chapter eleven John uses the
same expression in connection with the beast, calling him “the beast that
ascendeth out of the bottomless pit” (Rev. 11:7). “Ascendeth” denotes a
continued action, giving the impression that ascending or arising from the abyss
is a permanent attribute of the beast’s character rather than a single episode
in its career. This impression John confirms here by immediately employing the
present tense, “…and it goes into perdition (destruction).” It is a
second permanent attribute of the beast that no matter how many times it arises
from the abyss it is constantly heading for destruction. It
cannot escape destruction! Its end is determined, its doom is sealed!
Wherever in our experience this beast of the carnal mind, of the human nature,
of the flesh-life has appeared, has risen up within us, and sought to overcome
us, it has also been headed straight to destruction! The message is just this
—You will not defeat this beast in your life by one great effort or by one
wonderful victory. Oh, no! But every time he arises out of the abyss of your
fleshly heart, and you face him in the power of the spirit, he will grow weaker
and weaker with each encounter, and the determined counsel of the Lord is that
HE IS GOING INTO PERDITION! What a word that is! Isn’t it wonderful!
I cannot emphasize too strongly how the Holy Spirit draws this
contrast between Christ and the beast — the bestial nature of man and the
bestial kingdoms of the world. The beast appears and disappears, it is and then
it isn’t, and then emerges once more. It descends out of view, lurking in the
deepest recesses of being, and then returns. Speaking of the external form of
this beast, the worldly kingdoms of man, Ray Prinzing once put it this way: “If
in some manner it seems to no longer exist, yet, in fact, it is still there
under another name and form. The same old immorality under a new name.” But no
matter how many forms the beast takes, within or without, how many lives it
seems to have, how terrible its appearance, how intimidating its power, or how
indestructible it appears to be — its end is destruction! “The soul that
sinneth, it shall die.” “The world passeth away and the lust
thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” “And I saw
a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were
passed away; and there was no more sea.” “Therefore if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new.” Hallelujah!
You will understand a great mystery when you see that the world is
always passing away. The great truth is that from the dawn of history
until now there have been many “worlds.” The apostle Peter speaks of three
of these worlds when he writes, “Knowing this first, that there shall come
in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is
the promise of His coming (parousia, manifest presence)? for since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the
creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the
heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the
water: whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water,
perished: but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are
kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition
(destruction) of ungodly men…nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for
new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (II Pet.
3:3-7,13).
There are important time divisions in the plan of God which
scripture refers to as “worlds” or “ages.” The word “world” does not generally
refer to this physical planet with its mountains, oceans, plains, rivers,
vegetation, etc. The word is often translated from the Greek word kosmos
which means “an order, system, or arrangement of things.” The present order,
system, or arrangement of things upon this earth involves all the people,
institutions, organizations, cultures, laws, traditions, etc. which have been
developed to either control or give motivation to the lives and actions of men
and nations. This includes all governmental systems, educational institutions,
religious organizations, economic orders, the cultures and every other thing
that gives form and substance to our present societies. All of these, together
with the time period during which mankind functions within their framework,
constitute a biblical “world.”
In the scripture passage quoted above the apostle Peter tells us of
three such “worlds.” Let us take a closer look at a portion of the
passage. “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the
heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
whereby THE WORLD THAT THEN WAS, being overflowed with water, perished.”
Now let us read this from the New English Bible: “In taking this view they lose
sight of the fact that there were heavens and earth long ago, created by God’s
word out of water and with water: and by water THAT FIRST WORLD WAS
DESTROYED, the water of the deluge. And THE PRESENT HEAVENS AND EARTH,
again by God’s word, have been kept in store for burning.” That first
world, then, existed from the time of the creation unto the great flood. Thus,
the entire period of time from Adam to the great deluge is called a “world” —
the world that then was.
What kind of world was that ancient world? The Bible says of it:
“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply upon the face of the earth…God
saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it
repented the Lord that He had made man upon the earth, and it grieved Him at His
heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from
the face of the earth. And the earth also was corrupt before God,
and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth,
and behold it was corrupt, for ALL FLESH HAD CORRUPTED HIS WAY UPON THE
EARTH. And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me;
for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will
destroy them with the earth” (Gen. 6:1-13).
“…the world that then was, being overflowed with water,
perished.” Does the fact that the world of that day “perished” and was
“destroyed” mean that we are not living on the same earth that saw the flood in
Noah’s day? Does it mean that this planet was abolished so that it no
longer existed? Does it mean that Noah was “raptured” off to some other planet
or to some far-off heaven somewhere while God “created” a “new heaven and a new
earth” for him to live upon? Of course not! Then what “world” or “earth” was
destroyed by the flood? The scripture shows plainly that it was a world
of people and a way of life — a kosmos, an order, a
system and arrangement of things! So we see that the world that was destroyed
in Noah’s day was not this physical earth of mountains, oceans, plains, rivers,
and vegetation, for of that earth the scripture states, “One generation passeth
away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth forever”
(Eccle. 1:4). And again, “For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens;
God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it,
He created it not in vain, He FORMED IT TO BE INHABITED” (Isa.
45:18). It is clear that while God did not destroy this planet, He did bring an
era of wickedness and depravity to an utter and total end, thus destroying, not
only the fleshly mankind, but a WHOLE WAY OF LIFE including all the
institutions, organizations, governments, religions, cultures, etc. that were
characteristic of that civilization.
Yet — who can deny that the “world” that perished soon reinvented
itself right out of the carnal nature of man? It was not so long before the
wickedness of the antediluvians had become repeated in all its grotesque
corruption in Sodom and Gomorrah and throughout the seven nations inhabiting the
land of Canaan. God inspected the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and determined
that the sin of the inhabitants was very heavy; He judged that the cities must
be brought to ruin. Later Jude wrote that those cities underwent the
“vengeance” (Greek: judgment) of “fire” which brought total destruction. So
these cities experienced a day of judgment — and their “world” passed away! In
like manner the Lord condemned the seven nations dwelling in the land of Canaan
in the days of Joshua, declaring that their iniquity “was full.” In other
words, they were as wicked as it was possible to be, and at that time their
wickedness was irreversible. Therefore God sent Joshua and the children of
Israel to destroy those seven nations with orders to not spare anyone, but to
completely obliterate them root and branch. Israel never did totally destroy
them, but they slew hundreds of thousands and conquered and subjugated those few
that remained. Thus those seven nations experienced their day of judgment — and
their “world” passed away!
Likewise, when Judah and Jerusalem became unfaithful and merited the
Lord’s sore displeasure, He promised to “execute judgment in the midst of
her.” This destructive and corrective judgment befell them when Nebuchadnezzar
came and plundered the land, destroyed the city and tore down the temple,
carrying the people away slaves to Babylon — and their “world” passed away!
God conducted a legal case against ancient Babylon, the longtime
enemy of God and His people. Because of being unnecessarily cruel to the house
of Judah, not intending to release them after the seventy-year captivity and
crediting the god Marduk with the victory over Yahweh’s people, Babylon was in
line for a destructive judgment. That came to Babylon in the year 539 B.C. when
the kingdom was violently overthrown by the Medes and Persians — and their
“world” passed away! Similarly, Jeremiah prophesied that God would “put
Himself in judgment” with Edom, among others, hence that nation which had shown
repeated hatred for Yahweh and His people experienced destructive judgment and
was forever obliterated from the earth — thus their “world” passed away!
Because of their repeated sins of idolatry and self-righteousness,
another and more severe day of judgment upon Jerusalem and the Jews was
prophesied. Joel foretold an outpouring of the Spirit of God which would begin
“before that great and terrible day of the Lord.” Under the anointing of
the Spirit Peter, upon the day of Pentecost, explained that they were then
experiencing the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. Jesus also prophesied of that
same judgment: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and
stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy
children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye
would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate…there shall not be
left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” That
particular day of destructive judgment came in A.D. 70 when the Roman armies
executed judgment upon the Jewish nation, destroying their city and temple,
pillaging their land, murdering more than a million of its inhabitants,
dispersing the survivors and catapulting them into a “judgment day” that lasted
for nineteen long and tortuous centuries — their “world” passed away!
Peter identifies the second world and the second heaven for us.
“But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word
are kept in store, reserved unto fire…” Peter here refers to “the heavens and
the earth which are now.” And what kind of world is this
second world — the one in which mankind has been living from the day of
Peter until now — the one in which we live? Paul, in writing to the Galatians,
says, “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from THIS PRESENT
EVIL WORLD” (Gal. 1:4). Paul calls this world “this present evil
world,” and who can deny it? Paul then declares that God’s elect are being
delivered or saved out of it through Jesus who gave Himself for us. To be
delivered from this present evil world does not mean being “raptured” off to
some golden shore in the heavens any more than Noah was raptured away to some
other planet when he was “saved” from the world that then was. Of Noah’s
deliverance the record states: “For Christ hath also once suffered for sins, the
just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the
flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: by which also He went and preached unto the
spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering
of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing,
wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water” (I Pet.
3:18-20). Ah, yes, Noah was saved by water — the very same water
that destroyed the world! He was saved FROM A WORLD, but the
wonderful truth is that he had been “saved” from that “world” a long time before
the waters of the flood arrived! For just as the scripture declares of Jesus,
that He was “harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,” so the scripture
testifies of Noah that he was “a just man and perfect in his generations,
and Noah walked with God” (Gen. 6:9). Noah was saved. He was saved from
the evil world of his day. He was no part of it, though it was all around him.
Noah was different. He walked with God while all the rest of mankind wallowed
in the filth of the lusts of their flesh. And now, in this day, God has sent
forth His Son to raise up His life within us, His called and separated elect,
and save us from THIS PRESENT EVIL WORLD!
It is difficult for many of the Lord’s people to understand the
truth that “THE WHOLE WORLD LIETH IN WICKEDNESS” (I Jn. 5:19). The
Amplified Bible correctly translates the latter part of this verse: “The whole
world around us is under the power of THE WICKED ONE.” This whole world system
not only lies in wickedness, but it lies in, it is under the power and control
of, THE WICKED ONE — a personality, a spirit, a mind. How few truly comprehend
this! Many entertain the notion that there is at least something of God
in the politics of this world, or in the educational programs of this
world, or in the religions of this world, or in the fashions, philosophies, or
economics of this present world system. Do not its leaders acknowledge God? Do
they not have prayer in the congress? Does it not say “in God we trust” on our
currency? Are not our laws and culture rooted in so-called “Judeo-Christian
ethics”? Are not our state funerals conducted in the cathedral? Do not our
leaders take their oath of office with their hand on the Bible? Was not our
nation founded by godly men who sought justice and religious freedom?
Somehow it does not sink in that the whole world system is, in its
totality, A PRODUCT OF THE CARNAL MINDS OF MEN. Our culture, our politics, our
economy, our military, our educational system, our entertainment, our social
programs are one and all under the power and control of carnal-minded men, sold
under sin, dominated by the spirit that controls this age, influenced and
governed by the god of this world. We have tried to believe that
our present constitutional and political systems are somehow an expression of
the kingdom of God simply because they were given to us by pious men. So we
have been busy trying to preserve and perpetuate a flawed system, a passing
carnal order which is even now steadily disintegrating before our very eyes, as
our omnipotent Father demonstrates for all to see that even our government and
institutions are truly of this world; and again He shall prove the
truth of that word which unerringly proclaims, “The world passeth away,
and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth
forever” (I Jn. 2:17). Many still hope that out of our present
political system will come the integrity and wisdom to solve the immense
problems facing our increasingly weak and depraved society and the explosive
world situation. Surely, think we, God will raise up someone with the answer!
If only we could elect enough Conservatives, or enough Liberals, or enough
Christians! What a multitude of Christians have swarmed to the polls to vote
for some candidate they were led to believe by propaganda and shrewdly managed
image-building techniques was a Christian, or Conservative, or possessed of
great intelligence and superior wisdom, only to awaken later to the stark and
unvarnished reality that in fact he was just another carnal-minded man, just
another politician, dominated by the god of this world system which
spawned him, controlled by the spirit of the age of this present evil world
which is “under the power of THE WICKED ONE.” Let God be true,
and every man a liar!
Now we can understand in fuller measure the import of the message
delivered by John in his epistle: “And we know that we are of God, and
the whole world is under the power of the evil one” (I Jn. 5:19).
This world is not for us. Its ways are not for us. Its methods are not for
us. Its fashions are not for us. Its standards are not for us. Its politics
are not for us. Its spirit is not for us. We are different. We are of God!
The called and separated elect of the Lord are sons of God, led by the Spirit of
God. God is now in the process of SAVING US OUT OF THIS WORLD! Those
apprehended to be the manifest sons of God are overcoming this world
just as the firstborn Son of God testified, “I have overcome the
world” (Jn. 16:33). Again the apostle John wrote, “For whatsoever
is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith” (I Jn. 5:4). Yes, the elect of God
must overcome the flesh. Yes, the chosen of the Lord must overcome their own
will. Yes, the sons of God must overcome the wicked one. But from many
statements of holy scripture we may confidently affirm that the primary thrust
of our overcoming is that we must OVERCOME THE WORLD!
The apostle James likewise warns against walking after the spirit of
this world and being entangled therein: “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know
ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever
therefore will be a friend of the world IS THE ENEMY OF GOD!” (James
4:4). The great whore is a fornicator, an adulteress. Haughtily she rides
astraddle this beast of the world! But thank God! this world shall pass away!
Not the planet earth that we live on, but the world — this whole present,
carnal, corrupt, abominable system of things. And with it, all the chaos, sin,
warfare, crime, uncleanness, poverty, pain, pride, haughtiness, deceit,
sickness, death, yea, all the sorrows and ways of man shall be brought to an
end. By the word of our omniscient Father and by the quickening eye of faith
and hope we look for a NEW HEAVEN and a NEW EARTH wherein dwelleth
righteousness! And the time for this change is at hand! Blessed be the
name of the Lord, we have arrived at the hour, at a consummation of the ages,
for the NEW WORLD to begin! Even now, as God’s overcoming company learns to
rise up in the spirit, to hear God’s voice, to learn God’s ways, to be led by
His Spirit, to be partakers of His divine nature, to be conformed to His image,
the substance and glory and authority and power of that NEW WORLD is taking on
form within us! Oh, yes! In this new world the carnal mind of man will not
rule. In this new world the satanic powers of darkness will have no authority
or dominion. In this new world the politics, the economic system, and the
religious orders of this present dark age will hold no sway. Every enemy shall
be put under foot, and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death! Aren’t
you glad!
The next point I wish to consider is the process by which the world
shall pass away. Of that first world we read, “The world that then was, being
overflowed with water, perished: but the heavens and the earth which are now,
by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire” (II Pet.
3:6-7). The fact that the water which destroyed that first world was literal
leads some to believe that the fire which shall destroy this present world must
also be literal — but this by no means follows. The temple of God once was of
literal stones, but that does not set aside the fact that the body of Christ,
which is now the true temple, is built up a spiritual building, a holy temple,
not made with hands. Noah’s ark was literal too, but it typified Christ who is
now our hiding place and the mighty resurrection power of Him who will save the
sons of God from the loss of this perishing world and which, through them, shall
replenish and renew humanity. Almost all things under the old covenant were
outward, natural, and literal; almost all things under the new covenant are
inward, spiritual, and supernatural! Think of it!
One important fact which we want to take note of here is that in
Noah’s day not only was the world destroyed by water, but Noah was
saved by water. The very SAME WATER! The water of the flood brought
destruction to the world and salvation to Noah. And it is significant to note
that the scripture reveals the very same process at the end of this present evil
world! For the fire that shall bring total ruin to this present system
of things shall bring perfection and glory to the Lord’s anointed
people! The VERY SAME FIRE! Ah, without doubt this is the HOLY GHOST FIRE, for
“HE shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: whose fan
is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and will gather the
wheat (the inner life) into His garner; but the chaff (the outer flesh nature)
He will burn with unquenchable fire” (Lk. 3:16-17). “Our God
IS a consuming fire!” HE HIMSELF is both the Holy Ghost and the
fire! “Behold HE shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the
day of His coming? and who shall stand (the test) when HE appeareth? for
HE is AS A REFINER’S FIRE…and HE shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver:
and HE shall purify the sons of Levi (God’s Royal Priesthood) and
purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering
in righteousness” (Mal. 3:1-3).
“Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious
stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest: for
the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire;
and the (same) fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it
is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he
shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall
suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; YET SO AS BY FIRE” (I Cor.
3:12-15). Surely even the most questioning person will concede that the fire
which tries a spiritual work is not literal fire; fire is an appropriate symbol
to represent the utter destruction of conditions represented here by hay, wood,
and stubble. This fire will consume and sweep away all carnal works of flesh
but will be powerless to destroy the faith-and-character structure built with
gold, silver, and precious stones of divine nature and truth and spirit!
Literally scores of scripture passages speak of this mighty work of God’s
SPIRITUAL FIRE.
When righteous Noah stepped out of the ark that bright morning he
stepped onto the soil of the very same earth that existed before the flood, and
at night he gazed into the star-spangled splendor of the same heavens above.
Yet — it was changed! The old order of things was gone, and a
new order, or a new heavens and earth, would now be manifested. Was
it not a new heaven and a new earth by being purged through
the overflowing waters of the flood from the wicked and corrupt order that
previously polluted the earth? With what joy and satisfaction do we now
entertain the precious promise: “For behold I create new heavens and a new
earth, and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind” (Isa.
65:17). Hallelujah! What a wonderful thing that God shall so thoroughly
cleanse our own little world and the whole vast cosmos that even our minds will
be purged from the remembrance of it! God will make such a good job of His
work, that the past will be completely obliterated and never thought of any
more!
God shall not end this present evil world and call forth the new by
destroying either His creatures or His creation. When the scriptures speak of
our God as a consuming fire burning up the wicked, it bespeaks the great
truth that what God is destroying in this day is the old man, the old
humanity, the
Adamic nature, the outer man of flesh. It is that man who is the “enemy” of God! “Because the carnal mind is
enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom.
8:7-8). Oh, yes, the old flesh man will be dealt with by God’s Holy Ghost fire
— but not one precious person of God’s creation will be lost! He shall bring
this world to an end and establish new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness by MAKING ALL THINGS NEW — changed, purified, and
transformed by His Word! “And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I
make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are
true and faithful” (Rev. 21:5). Not all new things, but all things
— NEW! That is the wonder.
You see, my beloved, there have been many “worlds” and each and
every one of them has been destroyed. There was the exceeding wicked
Antediluvian world. Then there was the Patriarchal world. There was the
Babylonian world, the Medo-Persian world, the Grecian world, the Roman world,
the Medieval world, and many other worlds of lesser duration and glory. They
are all gone. They have each in turn “gone into perdition — destruction.” Even
their languages, for the most part, have perished from the earth. Their culture
has disappeared. Their gods and goddesses have no thrones today. Their temples
and their altars lie in ruins. Their religious ceremonies and sacrifices and
priestly ministrations have all been silenced. The scripture has come true
which long ago was spoken by Jeremiah. “The gods which have not made the
heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth and from under
the heavens” (Jer. 10:11). Where now are the gods worshipped by our
European ancestors? Where are Wodin and Thor and other Nordic deities who even
gave their names to the days of the week still observed by the Western world?
Where is the worship of the host of heaven — sun, moon, and stars?
And yet, what the apostle John calls “the world” still exists! One
world passes, another world emerges. That’s the way it is with the world! Our
society today, in whatever land you dwell, is “the world.” With utmost
solemnity the beloved John exhorts, “Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world; if any man love the world, the love
of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but
is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he
that doeth the will of God abideth forever” (I Jn. 2:15-17).
I shall now endeavor to show you a mystery even more dreadful than
those of which we have spoken. Our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world in an
hour of incredible spiritual darkness, moral corruption, political oppression,
and human violence. The iron rule of the mighty pagan Roman empire was at its
zenith. We must try to imagine quite a different world from that in which you
and I live now. For one thing it was not so large. All civilization — or
nearly all — was comprised in the communities which lay around the shores of the
Mediterranean Sea. I suppose you know why this body of water was called the
Mediterranean; it was because it lay, as the name implies, in the middle
of the civilized world. Just at the time when the gospel of Christ began its
career all this vast territory had been brought under the dominion of the Roman
Caesars; it was one enormous empire held together by military strength. Many
different races, languages, and cultures lay within its mighty grip; Rome had no
rival, and her reigning emperor, whoever he might be, was therefore fittingly
called “LORD OF THE WORLD.” Political freedom had been crushed out, although in
other respects the Roman policy was to be tolerant of local and national customs
and religions.
But there was one religion of which Rome was not tolerant,
and that was the new faith which was becoming known as Christianity. To be a
follower of Christ was not respectable then; it was despised and dreaded in much
the same way as Communism or Nazism have been in our day, and for very similar
reasons. If the believers in Christ had not had such power — if only
they were preaching a new doctrine, creed, or ritual of religion, you may be
quite sure they would have had to suffer no persecution for their opinions; Rome
would only have laughed at them as crazy visionaries. But when we find that,
instead of laughing, even the strongest of the Roman emperors — such as Domitian
and Marcus Aurelius — regarded them as a danger, and adopted the most rigorous
methods in order to stamp out their teaching, we know at once that the power of
the gospel drew vast multitudes of men like magnets to acknowledge JESUS CHRIST
AS LORD OF THE WORLD, thus assailing the existing political, social, and
religious orders and threatening their overthrow.
What mighty power, light, and glory flooded the world through the
ministry of Jesus and His apostles! It was more than a teaching — there were
mighty signs and wonders, all manner of sick healed, lame men walked, deaf ears
were unstopped, blind men received sight, demons were cast out, and the power of
sin and pagan religion was broken in men’s lives and they stood as new creation
men transformed by the living presence of Jesus Christ the Lord. The word of
HIS LORDSHIP, in the power of the Holy Spirit, swept the world like a prairie
fire. It climbed the mountains and crossed the seas. It made kings to tremble
and tyrants to fear. Within the lifetime of those early apostles it was said
that they had turned the world upside down — so transforming was their word in
the power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost. In spite of imprisonment,
torture, and martyrdom it grew and multiplied, for God dwelt mightily in the
midst of His people. The knowledge of the glory of the Lord covered the earth
as the waters cover the sea. The day came when that word of the Lord and that
power of the risen, ascended, and glorified Christ conquered the mighty empire
of Rome! The corrupt and inhuman state of things in that pagan world was swept
away by the power of the gospel that broke forth upon the empire of the
Caesars. The mighty Roman empire shut up its idol temples, sheathed its
persecuting sword, and sat down as a disciple at the feet of CHRIST THE LORD.
It appeared for a season that the bestial empire of Rome with its
political, social, and religious orders had been forever deposed into the abyss,
never to rise again. But no sooner had Christianity prevailed in the world than
a strange and unexpected thing began to take place. Even before the apostles
had passed from the scene, a spirit and system had set in among the people of
God and the beast of man’s flesh began to rise up in the midst.
Leaders began instituting rules and regulations, laying down laws, formulating
creeds, observing days, establishing ordinances, sacraments, and rituals in
place of the living presence of Christ. Men began to set themselves up as
“lords” over God’s heritage and the authority of bishops was elevated to a place
equal to God Himself. Soon the glory and power of the anointing — the moving
of God within His saints — began to be eclipsed, and the power of carnal-minded
men took the place of the awesome presence and power of the Lord. Consequently,
man’s carnal understanding was put upon the scriptures and the truth, the living
word of God, fled from their midst as they established a vast and elaborate
system of theology, ritualistic religion, and human authority and rule.
As the blind led the blind the visions of the people were in error
and darkness, and the pure vision and experience of CHRIST LIVING AND REIGNING
IN HIS PEOPLE was lost to them. Instead of conquering by the power of the
Spirit and by Truth — as in the early days — the religion that had once suffered
under the sword of Rome began itself to propagate itself and maintain its
control purely by the power of the sword! An apostasy of a dark and
dreadful nature arose, and in the progress of the centuries assumed enormous
proportions, and a character so diabolical as to challenge all the idolatries of
paganism! The greater light granted was abused and perverted, until it became a
darkness exceeding any previous darkness — and the central period of its
duration and reign is, by common consent, called “THE DARK AGES.” Thus the very
gospel of Christ gradually became the religion of antichrist! As
the church of Rome consolidated both its temporal and spiritual power over the
nations the new Holy Roman Empire replaced the old Pagan Roman Empire — the
ancient Pagan Roman “world” passed away, giving way to the new Christian Roman
“world.” The old Roman beast was not — yet IT WAS! The
new form and face of the beast ascended out of the abyss and ashes of the old!
That is the mystery.
It seems to me that if those holy apostles who set in motion the
invincible power that toppled the pagan world could be brought back from the
unseen realm and placed in the midst of our so-called Christian “world” today,
they would immediately recognize the ancient beast which was, and is not, and
yet is! I have no doubt that they would be greatly surprised to behold the
gaudy harlot sitting upon her beast! They would realize that the Roman world
they knew was gone, but the kingdom of God had not come. They would miss the
Roman soldier, but would find the Christian nations an armed camp. They would
be confounded to behold Christianity enthroned and endowed while the very pagan
practices and moral evils against which the gospel was directed are flourishing
before our very eyes. They would wonder what new brand of Christianity this
was; they would be able to recognize little in it except the name. They would
see the amazing spectacle of earnest servants of the Lord everywhere preaching
false ideas about God, proclaiming hell-fire, damnation, and eternal doom upon
the masses of humanity, laying laws and commandments upon the people,
worshipping in cathedrals beneath the glow of stained glass, observing ancient
pagan customs and rituals renamed as Christmas and Easter, with myriad
denominations, organizations, hierarchies, and strange church names, along with
a thousand other things foreign to the primitive gospel. This would be a new
gospel to them, and to call it Christianity would puzzle them UNTIL THEY
RECOGNIZED THE BEAST!
I think this understanding will give greater meaning to the words
the messenger spoke into the anointed ears of the Seer of Patmos on that long
ago day. He spoke concerning the beast. And he imparted into the spiritual
mind of the apostle a divine understanding of certain characteristics of the
beast. The beast is not just one thing. The beast takes various forms. It
was, and is not. It vanishes, but then reemerges. It sinks to the lowest
depths of the unseen, the very abyss, the bottomless pit, only to clamber out
once more. And it does this again and again! Whether it appears as a
sinner or a saint, as a pagan beast or a Christian beast, as the flesh nature
within an individual or the carnal life of a church system — it is still the
same beast! It is an enigma. It is a seeming contradiction. But you can never
understand the beast until you grasp this one great truth: Just as the world
re-invents itself into new images, institutions, governments, and structures of
all kinds, just so your old man, your human nature, your carnal mind re-asserts
itself on new levels of expression and manifestation! It will tempt and try you
in one way today and just when you think you have the victory (and perhaps you
do, in that area) he will arise from the depths in another form and seek to
ensnare you in a way you have not met him before. Can you not see the mystery?
Paul tells us plainly, “Know ye not that so many of us as were
baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Knowing this,
that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of
sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he
that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead
with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him” (Rom. 6:3,6-8).
Sounds as though our “death” is an accomplished fact! Yet — in another place the
same apostle instructs, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God…let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body…” (Rom. 8:11-12). The instruction is surprising. To
“reckon” yourself to be dead means to “consider” yourself as dead or to “think”
of yourself as though you were dead! The question follows: Why
should that which “is dead” need to be “considered” or “thought of” as if it
were dead! But that is not all. Again the same apostle Paul tells us, “For
ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God…mortify
(kill, put to death) therefore your members which are
upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil
concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Col. 3:3,5). This is all
very strange!. First we are told that we are dead. Then we are
admonished to think of ourselves as though we were dead. And finally we
are instructed to kill our members, that is, kill, put to death our
outer man — KILL OURSELVES! KILL A DEAD MAN! How can it be that
that which “is dead” can now reappear with a vengeance to molest, torment, and
defeat me again? Why do I have to deal with and put to death that which is
supposed to already be dead? Ah, we can indeed understand the mystery only when
by the spirit we see “the beast that was, and is not,
and which shall ascend out of the bottomless pit,” yea, “the
beast that was, and is not, and YET IS!”
The beast appears to be forever gone — into the bottomless pit,
which in the Greek text is the abyss. We have seen that nearly
everything in the book of Revelation takes place in one of three realms: sea,
earth, and heaven. The abyss, however, is a realm deeper than the earth, deeper
even than the sea! It is the lowest realm, unseen and unknown by the
mind of man. Therefore the great mystery and the great truth that the Holy
Spirit is seeking to reveal to those who can receive and understand it is that
there is a dimension of man’s being which is not a result or manifestation of
anything else, but lies so deep within us that it is indeed the secret and
hidden root and cause of all that pertains to the natural man.
Individually, this signifies something deeper even than the body realm,
the darkest, most inscrutable, unknown depths of the human heart, deep within
the recesses of the inner nature. When we slay one of the heads of the beast he
immediately retreats into this abyss and is there suppressed, restrained,
confined, hidden, disguised, muted — one would be led to believe the victory
over him is complete and final — those negative, fleshly things within us having
once and for all been conquered, never to rise again!
The principle is given us again in chapter seventeen of the
Revelation, verse eleven. “And the beast that was, and is not,
even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into
perdition (destruction).” The beast is truly “going into perdition” as God
deals with this bestial nature within us again and again. Our deliverance is
found through battle after battle as we gain one victory after another. That’s
what the whole series of events in the Revelation is all about! There is no one
grand leap from old Adam into the full stature of Christ. There is no
instantaneous death with the full victory over sin and death accomplished with
one sweep of the executioner’s sword. You cannot cut off all seven heads of
this beast in one swift action. Would God it were that way! Yes, God is getting
rid of the old Adamic mind-set and the old corrupt Adamic nature, but never
forget, my beloved — this beast has seven heads and ten horns! And
when, after a marvelous victory another head (thought, idea, desire) or
another horn (strength and power of the fleshly nature), that is, another
form of the beast rises up out of our abyss, do we not cry out, “O my
God, I thought that was gone!” Fear not, dear one, for God has revealed
it to destroy it! “…he shall ascend out of the bottomless pit (of the
heart of man), and go into destruction.” That is the mystery!