Mythology Buster

In the shadow of things to come, the Lord brought the children into a land of figurative inheritance. This land was divided up among the tribes and borders and boundaries were established. Strict admonition was given, to the end that the borders shall not be tampered with. Out of a land of cruel bondage were the children brought, and for forty years were they marched about in the wilderness, until them that murmured, complained, and would not believe, perished in the wilderness. Afterward, the Lord brought them into a land, dividing it among them.

Jesus is our inheritance. Everything He is in resurrection, is available to him that believes. Jesus came, overcame, gave Himself, and rose again. He said that where He was about to go (concerning the cross), we could not then go, but afterward we would go. He said He went to prepare a place for us in His Father’s house, and that He would come again and receive us to Himself. “To Himself” because He is the Father’s house. The fourteenth chapter of John’s gospel is clear. He comes to us by the Spirit. And as said the apostle, “Beloved , NOW are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be…”. Consider carefully Jesus, walking about in flesh, was filled with all the fullness of the godhead bodily. In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Spirit of God, which He had, not in a measure, but in entirety. To Thomas, having been asked to “show us the Father”, the only possible answer was given; “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father, and how do you ask me to show you the Father?”. After His resurrection, it is written again, “In Him DWELLS all the fullness of the godhead bodily AND you are complete in Him”. Christ in you, the hope of glory. We are added to Him.

   Jesus, about to be delivered into the hands of the religious and civil authorities, to do with them what THEY would, said , “The prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me”. This man, partaker of the divine nature, in no measure, but in fullness, is speaking of the place prepared. The place of which while still speaking to Thomas and company, Jesus said “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 him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you”.

Jesus said to us that He is the door of the sheep. In Him we go in (the door) and out, and find pasture. If we think of this and picture a revolving door to be passed in and out of repeatedly, we will have a picture of the on again-off again experience of religious observance. But if we comprehend that He, in resurrection, is the pasture, inasmuch as all the fullness of God, all the complete divine nature, is found in Him, and that He is no revolving door, but instead, the WAY into that kingdom which He told you is in you, He is the pasture. He is your inheritance. And the bounds are clearly set in this world. The world and it’s prince have nothing in Him. Your inheritance is the substance of His being made effectual in you. It is the hope and promise that we shall be like Him, seeing Him as He is. The resurrection is the true exodus. As the manna was not the true bread of heaven, neither was the trek from Egypt to Canaan the true exodus. He is the exodus. First that which is natural, afterwards that which is spiritual. To grow into Him in all things does not require locomotion on the planet. It requires that He dwell in you by the Spirit. And if you live in the Spirit…walk in the Spirit. Search out what you have received by faith.

The churches and assemblies, small and great, are facing unprecedented troubles and dilemma. The world and it’s prince are moving the borders. The leaders and rulers, sages and wise men are at a loss what to do about it. As the world and it’s “values” reset the borders and boundaries of what is acceptable behavior and what is not, the churches are finding themselves having to move their borders to keep pace, or lose their flocks. If one has a discerning mind and understanding of scripture, this will come as no surprise, painful though it is to watch. To the faithful of these flocks, I speak encouragement. Every child at some time must outgrow his crib. Christ in you, is your hope. And no one nor any thing in this world can define Him for you. He, by His Spirit will declare Himself to you. He will show you the borders of tent, garment and lands. And keeping these boundaries while in this vessel of flesh, you can do. But it may require letting go of things. Coming out of things. Coming out lest you participate in their judgments which they bring upon themselves.

In some parts of the world, monkeys are hunted for food. One means of catching them, is with something they want and need. A coconut shell is drained of liquid. A small hole is chipped into one end of the coconut. The hole is large enough for a monkey to reach through with pointed hand, but not with a fist. In the end of the coconut with eyes, a cord is secured and tied to a tree. A small portion of cooked rice is placed in the coconut. A monkey will reach in, and grab the rice in a fist. He can not get his hand out without releasing the rice. A person will walk up to the screaming monkey, club it to death, take it home, cook it and eat it. The monkey was taken by his needs and wants, but lacked the reasoning to get himself out of his situation. Everything I need and want, if so be that the kingdom of God is within me, is there. The prince of the world has nothing in Him, and has nothing to offer me.

“COME OUT OF HER MY PEOPLE”
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Mic 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Deu 19:14 Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.

Job 24:2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.

Pro 22:28 Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

Pro 23:10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.

Hos 5:10 The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.

Jhn 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

Jhn 14:28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

TO SEE OR NOT TO SEE

Dan 12:2
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Dan 12:10
Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

Mat 16:28
Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

Mar 9:1
And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

Luk 9:27
But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.
Speaking to a group of people, Jesus said of them who were then present, that some would not taste of death until they have seen the kingdom of God come with power. All of them then present, have tasted of death. This seeming conundrum can never be solved with observation…with the natural senses. Jesus spoke of these things in the same breath with another conundrum. “He that would save his life in this world will loose it. He who looses it for my sake, shall keep it for life eternal. For what does it advantage a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?”.

Daniel was similarly shown a people who would awake from the dust, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Daniel further was shown that some would have understanding…some would not.

The book of Revelation is not a chronology in any traditional sense. It depicts the way things are. It depicts the one who is raised eternal, and them who by faith are raised with him, and the revealing of him in turn, reveals a mockery of him, an earthy replica of the eternal things, rising up out of the sea. Everything which Christ is in resurrection, is available and attainable to us now. Every word of him in you, will stand eternally. Not one thing, not one bit of representation of himself in you, that came from him, will pass, or fail to fulfill itself. But every word of mockery, every representation in the individual, that comes not by him, but via any other thing, person, entity, spirit, what have you, that is false, will fail. It will fade, pass away, and not survive this age. It will go completely and utterly, unfulfilled. Christ in you, is the hope of glory. Christ in another is not my hope.

Paul spoke of two abodes which exist simultaneously. A treasure in an earthen vessel:

“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord…”

We HAVE a building , not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. The humble seed has been used in scripture in many places, to depict something. Namely, the life that it bears, when it comes up, no longer is limited to, contained within, nor bound by the chaff…the dry, scaly outer husk of the seed. In a place, the Lord spoke by the prophet, and asked a question:

“They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD…”

WHAT IS THE CHAFF TO THE WHEAT? Think about that question long and hard. Is there life in the chaff? It there hope of resurrection in the chaff? Can the chaff inherit and produce what is in the inner man? No amount of effort, no twisting of meanings, no words of sage, priest, preacher, politician and academic, can manipulate humanity into anything but an empty husks.

In my 35 plus years a believer (a drop in the bucket), I have been to many , many gatherings of believers, of every imaginable type and level of “formality”. From free and open, to priest and preacher dominated rigidity. In every form of gathering, there have been those who grasp the eternal, and those who do not. There is no hope that flesh and blood will inherit the kingdom of God, zero, zip, nada…any more than that the chaff can ever come remotely close to the potential written in the wheat. I have seen individual’s eyes light up with understanding. I have seen the bewildered faces of them who hear the word, and then reason within themselves, how to produce it, rather than by faith, lay hold on it. Two places of scripture come to mind to illustrate this. The wedding at Cana, and the parable of the Father, which some call the parable of the prodigal son, though the abiding nature of the Father is truly what is declared.

At Cana of Galilee the Lord first showed forth his glory. Galilee means “circuit”, or “district”. Cana means “a place of reeds”. It is called Galilee of the gentiles, because it was an undesirable circuit of cities given to Hiram, a foreigner, in payment for helping Solomon build his temple. So, Jesus first showed forth his glory in a place that the nation had ceded to a foreigner, a place deemed pretty much worthless. At a wedding, it was the custom to serve the best wine to the guests first, and after they have “well drunk”, to serve the lesser quality last, since they would likely not by then, know the difference. But their wine plays out before the guests are gone. The event is in danger of falling short of expectations. The wine served by the governor of the feast fails. Jesus orders six clay jars, not one, but six, the number of man, set forth. He commands that the servants fill them to the brim with water. He commands the servants to draw out the wine and serve. The governor and attendees were astounded. The quality of the wine was superior, and they had no clue where it came from, though the servants new. Out of six clay pots, the Vintner Par Excellence was revealed. Each clay jar produced the same superior wine. No two clay jars were involved with each other in the process. The last wine trumped everything that had gone before. To see this portrayed a little differently, read Revelation 19:9 and 22:9, and contemplate John’s confusion. In the middle of a failing feast that had exhausted its supply, Jesus reveals his glory in a select group of empty vessels, without setting foot from the place. No matter which of the six vessels a guest may have drunk from, he or she would have tasted the same excellent wine, and would not have known the vessel from the Vintner. But the vessels and the servants know.

In a great household, two brothers were heirs of all their Father’s substance. They did not need to do anything to become heirs…they already were, by reason of birth. One became impatient and demanded his share, which he was given. He promptly went out and squandered it foolishly untill all played out. Starving, he saw a group of servants feeding the swine of another with empty husks…chaff. He longed to fill his belly with at least some of the chaff that he was now employed to swill the swine with. But you see…while chaff makes fine fodder for livestock, it is indigestible to humans. Coming finally to his senses, he said “even my father’s servants have enough bread and to spare. I will go back, plead that I am no longer worth to be called a son, and beg to be taken on as a servant”. We know the rest of the story. He was not born a servant, nor could he be received again as a servant. He was restored to his place.

Serving up the worthless chaff of the preaching and teaching of human behavior modification, the doctrine of flesh emulating Jesus, expectations of a fallen nation returning to its former glory, etc. and etc., none of these things can translate what is in the wheat, into the chaff. The chaff, even manipulated into an image of the wheat, has but one end. That end is to be blown from the threshing floor.

If religion is failing you, if you are greatly troubled by the course of things, then perhaps it would be worth considering that hopes have been falsely placed in things incapable of inheriting everlasting life. The Lord fills all things now. He has all power and authority, in heaven and earth now. All things are unfolding, exactly as they should, now. The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, now. If so be He is in you, He is in you now. And while in this clay vessel, you will not see the unspeakable treasure in you, anywhere but in you…for now. But God willing…you will see it.

Jacob, which name means “deceiver”, was in a place, told his name would no more be called Jacob, but Israel, which means “Prince (and heir) with God. Yet if you continue reading, you will find the man alternately referred to as Jacob and Israel many times. The treasure in the clay jar. The nature of the clay is to deceive and be deceived. That is not the nature of the treasure. That is not the divine nature.
Col 3:1

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”

Luke 21:32 (KJV) 32

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and [so] that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. And in the day time he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called [the mount] of Olives. And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, for to hear him.

Revelation 3:10 (KJV)
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

Daniel was shown a thing. Casting the truth down to the ground.
To accomplish this, one must fabricate a mental image that is very complex. Such an image and system takes eternal truths, the things which pertain to Christ, all of which he has fulfilled in resurrection,and creates an earthy replica.

Regarding Nebuchadnezzar’s several images, one ” fell down” to worship. Conversely, in many places Christ is revealed to an individual, the tendency to fall down produces no teaching. The individual is made to stand.

Of course these things have nothing to do with body posture.

The Lord desires us to see him as, and where he is. The false requires one to find him in the earthy things. As examples, when Jesus said “destroy this temple and I will raise it in three days” , he was speaking and thinking of only one thing. What others around him were thinking, never entered his thoughts. When he asked a man sitting near a puddle of sometimes troubled water if the man wanted to be made whole, the pool , the things that sometime happened there, etc., never entered Jesus’ mind, though the man’s answer was unable to make a disconnect from the thing he was bound to, but never received any help from. Jesus was not to be found in the man’s thinking.

Regarding heaven and earth passing away, rolling up as a scroll, etc., Jesus warns that this can take you unawares, like a thief in the night. In other words, you wake one morning only to find something you have watched for, has come and gone without your knowing it. Religious doctrine and thinking produce this calamity. The very things spoken of in scripture, come and go unnoticed, because they are explained naturally, and watched for naturally. Jesus said “The words I speak are spirit and life”. Those so naturally lead, go to sleep convinced that they have everything and need nothing, only to wake from the dream, miserable, wretched, poor, blind and naked. There is more to a human being than the body. There is a realm of thought. There are levels of thought. The imaginary kingdom of heaven, the imagery presented to, and embraced by multitudes, is being tried. Every man made explanation of eternal things is failing them. To “try” sometimes comes from a word for a touchstone. A touchstone is a mineral that is used to rub against silver or gold to see if they are real or fake. The touchstone, rubbed on the subject metal, leaves a streak. The color tells you if it is real or fake silver or gold.

These things are going on now. Ezekiel 5 is not about geography. It is about spiritual Jerusalem beneath, which boundaries are not geographic, but in the realm of man’s thinking. It is coming down and we are seeing it.

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words will never pass away”.
Vain and false thinking, are passing away. One by one, they are not able to stand up under the touchstone of the Lord’s word and thinking.

Jacob, whose name means “deceiver”, had conspired with his mother, to dupe his father Isaac, and by deceit, obtain the blessing; the traditional passing on of the patriarchal authority of the family to the first born son. The brother who lost this birthright was Esau, the beloved first born son of his father Isaac. Because Isaac’s eyes had grown dim, Rebeccah and Jacob were able to pull this off. Jacob then having received this blessing, fled to the land of Haran for fear of his brother Esau, and also to find a wife who would please his parents, and not as the wives of Esau, daughters of the Hittites.

On his journey, Jacob came to a place called Luz, and it being late, and Jacob being weary, Jacob lay down and slept, having stones of the place for his pillows. In the night, Jacob experienced a dream of a vision. As he dreamed, a ladder was set up upon the earth, a means of climbing upward. As he beheld, the messengers of God ascended and descended (in that order) upon the ladder. Upon the ladder , the LORD stood, and was heard to say:

“I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of”.

Jacob, awaking from his dream, proclaimed , “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it”.

And he said further; “How dreadful is this place!This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven”.

Jacob set up the THE STONE that he had for his pillows, poured oil upon it, and called the place BETHEL (house of God). Afterward, the place was referred to as “Luz which is Bethel”. LUZ means “Almond Tree”.

Jacob went on to say:

“If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee”.

The LORD never answered Jacob a word. For the LORD had not been speaking to Jacob, but rather, to the anointed stone on which Jacob had laid his head. The LORD was speaking to the one seed and heir of all the promises of God , the singular seed of blessing and promise also spoken of to Abraham, the seed as of one, and not “many”, as the apostle Paul expounds in Galatians 3. Jacob, nor any other individual drawing breath, could be heir of those promises, only that one spoken of is heir. Yet Jacob and any other may be joint heir together with that one, in all that one is heir of. This indeed is the meaning of the proclamation, “In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed”. That seed is Christ. Jacob, by reason of where he had laid his head, was privy to the covenant between the Father and the Son, and as Jacob said, Jacob “knew it not”.

Jacob, in the course of time, had sons, among whom was Joseph. Joseph received dreams and vision from the Lord. These dreams and vision, and the telling of them, caused his brethren to hate him, and they could not even speak peaceably to him. And even Jacob was indignant upon hearing them. For in his dreams, Joseph saw his brother’s eleven sheafs bow to his sheaf. And also, Joseph had seen the sun, moon and eleven stars make obeisance to him. Jacob rebuked him and said, ” What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?” And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

What had Joseph been shown? Was there anything greater than the patriarchal vision and system delivered father to son, from Abraham to that time, concerning land and inheritance? Jacob had obtained “the blessing”, and had suffered much for it. Yet he did well to “observe the saying” coming from his young son’s mouth. The entire patriarchal vision of Jacob’s household was symbolic. It was symbolic of things that could never be attained through possessing and living out the symbols of things to come. What Joseph had seen, was in reality, the same things Jacob had seen in Luz, though Jacob did not understand them then. What both had seen, was THE RESURRECTION, the ladder to heaven. Only one can be called “The resurrection”, though many can be partakers of it.

Joseph went on to endure attempted murder, servitude, false imprisonment, and more. Nothing in his life reflected in any way, that his dreams and vision were likely to be true. For thirteen long years, until the word of the LORD came to him, the word of the LORD tried him, as read in Psalm 105. But Joseph abode in patience and faith, and eventually became Lord of Egypt and the giver of bread. In Egypt, Joseph prospered and forgot all his troubles and his former house (Genesis 41).

Jacob, now old, dwelt with his remaining sons and household, in a land stricken with great famine. In desperation, Jacob sent his sons, all but the youngest, into Egypt to buy grain. Jacob, convinced that his son Joseph was dead, could have no way of knowing that he was sending to buy grain from his own son, Joseph, grain which we see Joseph gave them, and would accept no payment for. Upon sending to Egypt the second time, Jacob sent his sons with money, the best fruit of the land, and among the gift to “Pharaoh” went some Almonds. Joseph made himself known to his brethren this second time they came, and sent them with great gifts, to fetch to him in Egypt, Jacob and all his household, where Joseph would sustain them. Jacob learned that his son, which was presumed dead, was alive, and lord of all Egypt. Jacob, on his death bed, speaking prophetically as Israel, blessed his sons. In blessing Joseph, it is revealed that Jacob had done well to “observe the saying” of his son. Jacob, speaking as Israel, which means “Prince (and heir) with God”, was speaking as the anointed stone of his vision of “Luz-which-is-BethEl”. Coming to Joseph, he blessed him as the one separated from his brethren, strengthened by God, and as the prevailer. But careful reading (Genesis 49) will reveal that Jacob comprehended the resurrection. Jacob said to Joseph, “The blessings of YOUR father exceed the blessings of my fathers”.

What could possibly make the God of Jacob, become the Father of Joseph? Joseph, in being cast into a pit by his brethren, raised, sold into bondage, and eventually rising to the highest natural position in the known world, was a figure of resurrection. The key of understanding that Jacob arrived at, was that the star and sheaf of Joseph’s dreams were not his own. They were the resurrection and the life of another, that were Joseph’s by faith. The one seed and heir of all promises Jacob experienced in the way to Haran, was Christ, and the ladder and only way, HIS resurrection. Remember the words of Jesus to us before He went to the cross. “I go to My Father and YOUR Father, to My God and YOUR God”. Only his resurrection makes this so. He is the resurrection.

Many generations later, in Egypt, the descendants of Jacob labored under cruel task masters and a Pharaoh that had long forgotten Joseph. The Lord remembered Abraham, and sent to deliver the children from Egypt by Moses. To aid Moses, his own brother Aaron was sent to meet Moses in the wilderness as Moses returned to Egypt to do as the LORD commanded him. As the brothers Moses and Aaron lead the children out, the two rods of Moses and Aaron figured prominently in the deliverance and exodus. Simple reading and counting will reveal that Aaron’s rod actually was used more times in the deliverance than Moses’, up until the crossing of the sea. After that Moses had caused a tabernacle, with furnishings, and rituals to be established (the sons of Aaron being priests of the highest things ), there arose a dissimulation and dispute among many of the prominent people, as to the place of Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons, claiming that they, Moses and Aaron were taking too much authority, seeing “all the congregation are holy, every one of them”. These disputers  perished. In a sign to the children of Israel, they were told to bring twelve rods, one for the head of each tribe. Upon Levi’s rod was written the name of Aaron. The twelve rods were laid up in the tabernacle before the LORD, and in the morning, the rods were examined:

“And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds. And Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD unto all the children of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod.”

The journey of an almond, a seed sent from Jacob into Egypt is a spectacular one. This man whose vision of the resurrection, the ladder to heaven, took place in a place called “Almond Tree”, would eventually send some almonds into Egypt. Many generations later a branch was severed from an almond tree, and become a rod in the hand of a man named Aaron. Aaron means “Light Bringer”. The rod , died, inscribed with the name “Light Bringer” and raised to life again, was not raised alone. It was raised with a crop, a generation of almonds, each almond a viable seed produced in one raised from the dead, each seed an heir of that resurrection. This is the only one to arise out of Jacob, to enter in to the holiest, passing before the man made lamp stand resembling a fruiting almond tree.

Jesus has promised “To him that overcomes, will I give the bright and morning star”. Jesus IS the resurrection, the bright and morning star. “He that looses his life for my sake, will keep it for life eternal”. Anyone, absolutely anyone, through faith, can obtain this. Little did Joseph’s household realize, that the star and sheaf of Joseph’s dreams that was superior to the patriarchal vision, were not the star and sheaf Joseph was born into Jacob’s household with. They were the Star and Sheaf he obtained by faith and patience, in the one who promised them to him.

PERSPECTIVE

Luk 17:20   “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, HE ANSWERED THEM and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

And HE SAID UNTO HIS DISCIPLES, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”

Noah’s ark was a unique vehicle of redemption. One man in all the earth, had the Lord found righteous, and so that one and his wife, children, and all else that were bound up in the ark with him, were saved. Within that ark, as a flood of waters worked its work, scouring the world that then was, was bound up all that would thereafter emerge and constitute the living beings of the world and age that now is. Therefore, during that time from the moment God sealed all into the ark, until the waters abated and the ark was opened, everything that would populate the age to come, was in the world, bound up in the ark (and that which was to come, could be found by examining that which was within the ark). For when the ark rested on Ararat, a name that means “Curse Reversed”, and as Noah set foot again upon dry ground in a new age, the Lord said to him, “And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth”. The coming of the kingdom, and it’s manner of appearing, is not a new topic of conversation. The religious leaders and the disciples alike were desirous of answers. To them who are dead and their life hid with Christ in God, a present condition of them in the world but no longer of it, a condition reflected in the days of Noah ,the ark, and the world that then was,the answers to such questions now, as then, lie within. Either one is in the ark (in Christ) or in the world. The topic of the Lord’s day of revealing, is seen from one perspective or the other. If we believe Jesus,then we comprehend that what is to be revealed, is within you now, just as in every Almond seed, is an Almond tree waiting to be revealed.
Again, to them seeking insight, the Lord compared His day of revealing to Lot’s days (and in both the cases of Noah’s days and Lot’s days, “days” is plural…it takes in all that their lives experiences reveal to us). Lot’s days also coincide with Abraham’s days. Indeed , Lot and Abraham’s days had the same beginnings, when Abraham answered the Lord’s call to leave all that was known to him, and go to a land not yet identified, but a land which the Lord said “I will show you”. Lot and Abraham journeyed together until a time came when the land could not bear them both. Abraham proposed that Lot remove himself and his household, to any place he chose. Lot saw the plane of Sodom, a desirable land ,well watered and appealing. Abraham then chose a place not so outwardly desirous, a place and life of peace, but difficulty, as opposed to a lush place of opulence, shared with every manner of humanity drawn to such a place. Lot was constantly locked in an effort to change the behavior of the wicked inhabitants, whose behavior offended Lot’s sensibilities. All of Lot’s efforts were, however, wasted, as the end of the place was to be burned. Abraham,on the other hand, sought a city and a place whose builder and maker was God, and all he saw and embraced, he new was not of this world. Lot’s perspective of the “day of the Lord” was very much different from Abraham’s. In the day of wrath, everything near and dear to Lot, along with all his wasted time and effort, went up in ashes. It was devastating. Abraham, on the other hand, witnessed this from afar, it happened and was over with, and had no bearing on Abraham’s hopes whatsoever. For Abraham had seen, revealed from within, Christ’s day, and rejoiced in it. To him it had been revealed, that his hope, and the hope of every thing that would draw breath, was in one who would come out of his body. That one would be the heir of all the promises of God, and faith in that one, made Abraham ( and all who are of like faith) joint heirs with that one.

Perspective is something that is always important. Even the theory of relativity teaches you that an object’s state can only be described from the perspective of a point of reference. Christ in you, is the chief corner-stone, and the stone which the builders reject. But rejected of them or not, everything is measured from Him, without regard to the “builders” perspective.

When the topic of the “end of the world” and the “Lord’s appearing” come up, it is good to remember the unique perspectives to be found by studying the examples the Lord used to help us…the days of Noah, and the days of Lot (and Abraham). For in both cases, everything to “come” was in the ark in Noah’s days, or in Abraham’s heart by faith in Lot’s days. What was at work in the world outside of these things, did not turn out to be reliable perspectives. The Lord’s day will be revealed  from within  a people. It will not be a subtle thing. And it will not be the Lot-like rearranging of human behavior…a vexing, fruitless, short lived exercise in futility.

Christ in you, the hope of glory.

In the words of the apostle Paul, “Other foundation can no man lay, than that is already laid, which is Christ”. The knowledge within you, that Christ is the Son of God, was not revealed by any man, was not revealed by “the church”, and was not a conclusion that your former powers of reasoning arrived at.

The knowledge in you, which is Christ, the hope of glory, was delivered to you of the Father. The same of whom Jesus spake, en route to the Father, by the route prescribed for Him on our behalf…the crucible of the cross. “I go to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God”.

Careful reading of certain passages of scripture define the laying of the foundation in Peter. For when Peter was asked who HE believed Jesus was, he said “You are the Christ (anointed), the Son of the living God”. Jesus described what He found in Peter:

“Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.”

Jesus did not call Peter “the foundation”. He called the revelation from the Father, in Peter, of who He… Christ, is: the foundation. Flesh and blood can reveal it to no man. No man can convince another man of it. Hence Jesus charged them, “tell no man”. No man, apostle or otherwise, can lay the foundation. I may find it in another, as Jesus did in Peter, I may expound it, but I can not lay that which only the Father lays. Paul repeatedly declared that he (and we) receive grace and apostleship from the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul later stated, with an oath, that he received nothing by way of understanding, from those who were apostles before him. This was not said to belittle them, or magnify Paul. It was said to keep the correct and proper perspective intact, that everything we receive, every one of us, we receive directly and expressly from the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. The fall of that built upon a false foundation, with a false father of flesh, will be very great. Peter is not responsible for what has been created with his name. Jesus told Peter that Satan desired to sift him like wheat. Wheat is bread…it is one’s word. Satan did not succeed with Peter, but has succeeded in perverting Peter’s word and baking a poisonous loaf.

Now, if that foundation be found in any individual, that foundation will be tried by fire. The main intent of this writing is to convey that fact. That Jesus is a refiner’s fire, a fuller’s soap. The refiner’s fire and fuller’s soap are in you. And as the apostle wrote, care is required in what one builds upon that foundation. Wood, hay and stubble will ignite upon contact and consume away. Gold, silver and precious gems will not. They were forged in fire, tested and brought forth in the crucible. Paul’s warning is not of a trial by fire to be accomplished off in the future. It is immediate and on going. Where the foundation is, there is a purging fire. Our God is a consuming fire. Judgment must begin at the house of God.

The treasures which we store up in heaven are not stuff and junk. They are Spirit and life. They last and endure. They are substance in truth, but ethereal in this life. Everything which the scriptures describe as having great value with God, have no means of exchange here. What is the price of wisdom? How do you purchase understanding? Where is the place I buy knowledge? In the world, it is said that when I die, I can’t take anything with me. Not so. Everything revealed in my by the Father, everything learned supping with the Father and Son in the abode they have made with me, all things whatsoever I have of God, brought forth in the secret place, tried in the crucible of flesh, and proved…all will survive, and all will I take with me.

This life is a crucible…if the Refiner’s Fire dwells with you. Knowing this makes this life a little easier to endure. Do not think it a strange thing if you are enduring it. Patience and Faith.

Malachi compares the Lord’s people as being made up (formed) jewels. I would highly recommend reading and studying a bit about how gems and precious metals are formed, refined, and processed…going all the way back to the death of stars, where the elements are rendered. A little studying of the subject will tell you that it is a long , difficult process , involving tremendous extremes of heat, pressure and time. And the refined materials are not found lying about casually upon the face of the earth. They must be sought for and brought out. The great “houses’ of religion are a flash in the pan. They will not endure this age. The Lord’s workmanship will. His workmanship we are.

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1Pe 4:12

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.”

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(Job 28:12) “…But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.”

(Job 28:20) “Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?

(Job 28:28) “And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”

(Pro 4:5) “Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.”

(Pro 4:7) “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”

(Pro 16:16) “How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!”

(Pro 17:16) “Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?”

(1Pe 3:3) “…Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”

(Mal 3:16) “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up (form) my jewels (treasures); and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.”

(1Co 3:11) “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 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 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.Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”

(Heb 12:18) “For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:For our God is a consuming fire.”

THE OLIVE, THE FIG, THE VINE (or) THE BRAMBLE

(from Matthew 20)
“But Jesus called them [unto him], and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Gideon was raised up in ancient Israel, to deliver them from their oppressors, the Midianites. Midian means “strife/contention”, and is a condition which is rampant today. It seems all flesh is in opposition to something…involved in some cause to stamp out or to impose upon others. The ancient Israelites were serving Baal, the “God” of the Midian (strife). It is impossible to view any form of media news, or peruse a social media site, without seeing a healthy dose of strife…the spirit now at work in the children of disobedience. When Gideon destroyed the altar of Baal (which simply means “Lord”) , and the people sought to kill Gideon, Joash his father reasoned, “Let Baal plead against Gideon”, in other words, if Baal is God, let him do his own contending….why are all of you set on contending for a “god”? Joash therefore called Gideon, “Jerubbaal”…”Let Baal contend”.

Gideon would have many wives and sons. He also had a concubine…a woman slave. It is worth recalling the principal set forth in the scripture, that a son of a slave can not be heir together with a son of a wife, as set forth in the case of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael and Isaac. This is a spiritual truth. Eventually a son of the concubine would rise up and ask the people whether it were better for seventy sons of Jerubbaal to rule over them, or one son? He, claiming common blood via Jerubbaal, this son of a bondwoman convinced them of his cause. They gave him money, with which he surrounded himself with hirelings, and they went and slew the sons of Jerubbaal, born of wives. Only one survived, named Jotham.

Jotham went and stood upon Mount Gerizim and spoke his parable. Gerizim is the Mount upon which blessings were spoken as Israel entered the land for the first time. Curses were spoken from Mount Ebal. The parable was spoken to the people in Shechem, a valley between Gerizim and Ebal…blessing and cursing. Obviously , a choice was being presented. Shechem means “Back/shoulder”…symbolically calling the multitude “followers”. The choice was of governance…leadership. Choose this day, as it is written, whom you will serve.

Jotham’s parable:
And when they told [it] to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you. The trees went forth [on a time] to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, [and] reign over us. But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, [and] reign over us. And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, [and] reign over us. And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, [then] come [and] put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon. Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands; (For my father fought for you, and adventured his life far, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian: And ye are risen up against my father’s house this day, and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he [is] your brother;) If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, [then] rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you: But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech. (Judges 9)

The parable speaks of how I may be governed. The Olive is the Spirit. The Fig is the Father. The vine is the Son. The these being three, are one. The resurrected, glorified Son of man, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and people complete in Him (Added in His resurrection ). All the promise of the Father, in Christ fulfilled, and in you, revealed and shared. But all are within. On the vine, while still on the vine…many branches…many Sons.

The bramble is thorny. It is the imposition of rule, externally applied, by punishing flesh. In this case, the bramble claimed the right of rule, by reason of the fact that Jerubbaal was his progenitor. But no such son of bondage may be an heir with Christ. In the book of the Revelation, it is said that the great whore, and all that are produced by them in bed with her, will be judged with fire (as said Jerubbaal)

The choice to the followers between the blessing and the curse…The Tree of Life or the Bramble.

The Lord within each, or the bramble over all.
From Jeremiah 30:

And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them. And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who [is] this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the LORD. And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

The book of James is highly recommended as addressing the burning words of strife and contention at work in the world.

Ezekiel 7: The defiled secret place.

Rev. 2 and 3: The secret place defiled with all the abominations in the midst.

Amos 3:3 : Can two walk together except they be agreed?

1 Cor 15: First that which is natural, then that which is spiritual, the true secret place within.

PSALM 91 …PARADISE FOUND

EZELIEL 7…PARADISE LOST

JESUS: “He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;

The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked [one]; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

Psa 91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Deu 27:15 Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.

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Jesus, asked about the “last days” and the time of the end, prefaced such answer as He gave, with an admonition: “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these [are] the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.”

NATION AGAINST NATION, AND KINGDOM AGAINST KINGDOM

To help comprehend the coming of the Kingdom, and the fallacious kingdom in the earth, showing itself as the kingdom, but is in fact in direct opposition to it, consider the seed parables which Jesus used to describe His Kingdom. Christ Himself, the firstborn among many brethren, that first sown seed of the Kingdom, which fell to the earth and died, that it might not dwell alone.

Jesus said in a parable:

“And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.”

One sowing, one reaping. First that which is natural, then that which is Spiritual. What was sown a natural body is raised a spiritual body.

Psalm 22 begins with words that can leave no doubt regarding to whom they apply: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

Reading Psalm 22 will reveal to you, the first and great seed, falling to the earth and dying. Regardless of all obstacles, this seed will be raised, and not alone. This seed will inherit all, and will dispossess every false thing set up in it’s mockery and imitation. In it’s concluding lines, speaking by the Spirit of Christ, David prophesies,

“For the kingdom [is] the LORD’S: and he [is] the governor among the nations. All [they that be] fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done [this].”

A SEED SHALL SERVE HIM

The Gospel of Matthew is an ink and paper book, which describes a book of an altogether different sort, a book of that which is sown a natural body, and raised a spiritual. A solitary house is sown, and is raised a house of many houses. It is the Father’s House. It is the living book of Psalm 139: “Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them”.

It is the book of the generation of Jesus Christ.

The account states that from Abraham until David, are fourteen generations. From David until the captivity in Babylon, are fourteen generations. From the captivity in Babylon until Christ, are fourteen generations. The names, from Abraham till Christ are carefully recorded and categorized into three groupings of fourteen. But there is a little observed thing. If you count every name, when you get to the man Jesus, you are on the sum of 41, not 42. You are on the thirteenth from captivity, not the fourteenth. Thirteen is a number in scripture that often depicts confusion. But there is no confusion here. The fourteenth and final generation is the body of Christ…not that solitary body that was sown…but the glorified body that was raised. It is all who are added to Christ in His resurrection, from the time it began, to this present moment, and until , according to the Father’s pleasure, the last to be added are added, and it will conclude. And at it’s conclusion, all will be revealed together in glory. The resurrection is not passed already (2 Tim 2:18). I will not overthrow the faith of any by so proclaiming. Jesus is the resurrection, and it is yet happening. For by faith am I apprehended, and added to Him. By faith do I sit with Him in the Highest place. By faith know I, that at His appearing, I will also appear and be revealed together with Him in glory. The fourteenth and final generation of Matthew 1, is a spiritual generation. It is the generation of His resurrection. It is the generation of Psalm 139, written in secret, raised, and revealed in glory. If any be seated with Him in faith…keep your seat. That which is named the finished generation of Jesus Christ, is not comparable to carnal, chronological genealogy. It is not marching along a time line. The eternal is not off in the future. Time is stretched out in the eternal, as a string stretched in a body of water. The string has a beginning and it has an end. It’s beginning and it’s end are every bit enveloped in the water. At any point the water enters into the string, you have a unique situation. A way into the example of eternity has been made, which does not require one to travel the length of the string. Jesus, about to spend three calender days in the grave, completely dead, told a repentant criminal, “You will be with me today in paradise”. The “today” of which Jesus spoke, is not a day of the week. The topic of the “end times” is one of fascination, bordering on obsession, and the danger of complete distraction. As the apostle wrote, to be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord. The same apostle wrote that if this instant, this tent of flesh were dissolved, we HAVE (present tense) a house eternal in the heavens. The Father’s house of many houses is not real estate. It is an eternally glorified body of resurrection. It is in you now, as the orchard is in the apple seed now. Otherwise, if a seed is planted with nothing written in it, nothing comes up. As a further point regarding the one generation begotten in resurrection, not time, consider again Jesus answering questions about the last times:

“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn”.

Take note that “bundles” is plural, “garner” is singular. Jesus said to disciples over two thousand years ago, “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and [then] cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest”. Tare are also known as false wheat. It is an interesting study. When sown together, they are tangled in the root…they share common ground, read from the same book, you would say. But what they grow into at harvest, is two different things, as different as night and day. Tares gathered by men into bundles to be burned (tried by fire) is temporal. It has a history reckoned among the nations. It can be plotted along the line of time past, as can all other human affairs. Wheat gathered into the garner, which is Christ, is eternal. It has no record among the nations. Balaam, a man gifted of God, though he abused his gift, nevertheless saw the Garner truly:

“How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, [whom] the LORD hath not defied? For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations”.

As kingdom rises against kingdom, knowing truth will make free. The apostle Paul warned carefully with tears, everyplace he spoke for the space of three years, of “another Jesus, another spirit, another gospel”…in other words, “another Christ”. That is, in fact, the meaning of the word “antichrist”. It is the offer of a substitute, as a means of coming against the true. What Paul warned about in it’s infancy, is now become accepted without question, as the true.

Zec 9:13 “When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man”.

Greece is synonymous with Western civilization and religion. It, along with every other civilization and religion, are gathered together against the Lord and His Christ. The nations , and all reckoned among them, as one , despise Christ, and them that are His. This is nothing new. As you see the “churches” give in and give place to corruption, in order to preserve their material wealth and their very existence, give all the more diligence to the treasure stored up in heaven. Every living soul of man will be brought to the place of forced decision. The kingdom of heaven is within , or it is beckoning from without. It is in resurrection, or it is in behavior modification and the pursuit of creature comforts. It is in the seed, or it is in the chaff. This truth is depicted in the life of Hezekiah, a king of Judah, of whom it was said , “And he did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did. He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor [any] that were before him. For he clave to the LORD, [and] departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses.”

“Nehushtan” means “that copper thing”. The cross is not a thing to be worshiped, nor any other icon or imagery. Hezekiah was like no king in Judah, before or after him, in his walk with the Lord, to include David. He was a figure of a king to come. In his reign, Israel and Samaria, with it’s false religion and priesthood fell. Then their assailant, the hosts of the king of Assyria, having absorbed all other kingdoms, set his eye on the kingdom of Judah. Hezekiah did not hesitate to give him silver , gold, the precious things of the temple, nor any other form of material wealth. Hezekiah did not worship these things. When the cities of Judah fell one by one, and at last, Hezekiah was left in the fortress of Jerusalem with his remnant, the messengers of the king of Assyria began to reproach the Living God, and boast of all they would do to the city, and Hezekiah, and his remnant. They enticed the people, in their own language, to sit “every one under his own vine and fig, and drink of his own well”… “Until I come and take you away to a land LIKE your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The LORD will deliver us”.

This created a crisis of choice. Affliction and trial in holding to the true, or peace and safety in accepting the imitation. At this reproach, did Hezekiah pray, not asking on the basis of anything he lost, but because the Assyrian did reproach the Lord. Hezekiah’s true treasure (and ours) is the Lord. And for Jesus’ name sake, are His people hated of all men. When night passed and morning came, in the camp of the Assyrians, 185,000 men of war lay dead…”behold, they were all dead corpses” (2Ki19:35). Hezekiah did not pass the test with the sword. He passed it with faith. The individual is tested as an individual. If I do not accept that the kingdom of heaven is in me now, just as the tree is in the seed now, I may well be encouraged to look for it in some other place…like the “future” for example. What is in me now by faith, may be fully and differently expressed and seen in the “future” , but it is nevertheless, in me now, or I have no “future”. My hope is not to see Him at His appearing. It is to be seen WITH Him in glory at His appearing.

JOHN 3:16

I doubt if any among us have not seen this phrase on shirts, signs, billboards, etc:”For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have ever lasting life”. The phrase depends upon the intent conveyed in one little word, the word “so”, from the Greek, οὗτος, (hü’-tos), which means “In this manner” or “Thus”: “For God (IN THIS MANNER) loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”.

The phrase does not quantify the love of God, it qualifies it. In other words, it does not say how much God loved the world, but HOW God loved the world. The question of how much, if one is asking it, is only answerable by knowing “how much” love the Father had for His only begotten Son, and has for all who receive Him. It is not a question I presume to be able to answer. In fact, reading on in John 3, you come to these concluding words which Jesus spoke, “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” The nature of the new testament, the new covenant, is that of an heir and joint heirs. Jesus Christ is the heir of all things, the heir in total, of all the fullness of God. All who receive Him, and believe on Him, are joint heirs together with Him. The new testament is not half of a book. It is between the Father and the Son. There is no other. No other arrangement exists for any to come to the Father. And there are no special arrangements with any flesh, outside of this.

Nicodemus, coming to Jesus under cover of darkness, did not come to Jesus alone. He came as an emissary of his sect, the Pharisees. This is revealed in his opening words, calling Jesus “Rabbi”, and saying “WE know you are a teacher sent of God”. This “outreach” was on the behalf of a group who had (so they thought) much in common with Jesus. The “fear” they had in choosing the cover of darkness, was of “the people” knowing they went to Jesus, and therefore did not have all the answers.  Among the perceived “common ground”, was a belief in a resurrection. They knew He was a teacher sent by God. They thought He would be a formidable addition to their ranks. What Nicodemus did not know, was that he was not hailing, as a peer, another teacher sent by God, but THE TEACHER sent by God. He was not talking to one who believed in a resurrection, he was talking to THE RESURRECTION. The very name “Nicodemus” means “Ruler of people”. The ensuing interchange between Jesus and Nicodemus, magnified these distinctions, and revealed that the only access to that which is in Christ, is by birth. To be a teacher, you must be born of THE TEACHER. The body of Christ is called to be, and is, a teaching body. Increase in the body, comes by “that which every joint supplies”. The current prolific arrangement of believers periodically assembled as a bundle of sticks, to hear nothing but the same individual , spoon feed the same “approved” franchised messages, over and over, can never, and will never produce increase. “Every joint” does not describe a pyramid scheme by which the body traces access to the head through some network that is funneled through a hierarchical structure. “Every joint” is defined as every member, every individual, holding expressly to the head. The supply, is the fruit of the union of each and every member with Christ, the head of every individual, via the indwelling Spirit. John 3 is an expose’ on the two conditions which are diametrically opposed, and that which is represented in Nicodemus, can never be part of that which is in the body of Christ. It is antichrist. And the apostles wrote that even in their day, there were many antichrists…many such arrangements. It is interesting to note that “Nicodemus” means essentially the same thing as “Nicolaitan”. Both names embody the idea of “divide and rule”, for both names are formed as a compound of two words. Nico (Nike) means to vanquish…to utterly conquer. Laity and demos both mean “people”. The clergy-laity division is antichrist. Jesus , finding it in the churches (Rev. 2 and 3), says He hates the deed and doctrine of it. Those assemblies afflicted with the malady, will never see increase. I am not admonished to examine myself whether I be in a church. I am admonished to examine myself whether I am in THE FAITH. There is one faith, one baptism, one body, one God and Father who is above all, through all, and IN YOU ALL. This describes the body of Christ, not an elitist cult of clergy. Jesus described to Nicodemus, the individuals, born of the Spirit. Nicodemus knows they exist, as we can hear the sound of the wind, but Nicodemus knows not whence they come, and whence they go. Who can bind the wind? No one need labor all their life as a son and heir, but experiencing nothing different than the life of a servant, not walking as the wind, where it “listeth”, but bottled and confined, hearing and doing what it is told. Who the Son makes free, is actually free. “Listeth” means “purposes”. Them born of the Spirit are lead of the Spirit. Jesus took every other entity out of the way. (Col 2:14 & 15). These systems of mediators still exist, and many choose to travel them. But they are not in the “way” Christ has made for you.

The prophet Samuel was dedicated to God as a child. Very early on, when the Lord would call to Samuel, Samuel would go to Eli, the priest, and say, “You called me?”. At least Eli had the integrity to encourage Samuel to know that the Lord was calling him, not Eli. It says that the word of the Lord was not yet revealed to Samuel. But the word of the Lord would later be revealed to Samuel in Shiloh (peace). The lamp would go out in the “house of the Lord” , the house of Eli ended, but all Israel knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet in Israel…the Word of the Lord was in him. This experience gives life and hope to them laboring under today’s “Elis”. Eli means “ascension”. This was ended in the “house of the Lord” , but came to abide in Samuel. There is “ascension” when one comes to realize that the bread of heaven is in you. The words to John on Patmos, in departing the assemblies, for the seat and throne of God, were “Come up here”. The lamp stands of Revelation 2 and 3 are removable, and the candle of them can go out, as was prophetically depicted in Samuel’s experience. But the hidden manna within you, opened up to them who go on in faith , as the Word of God revealed to Samuel in Shiloh, is inexhaustible. Jesus, alluding to the hidden manna, was referring to the meaning of Exodus 16. Christ in you.

The scriptures conclude with a lesson from the tabernacle. A people who have no need of light of sun or moon (outer courts), no need of candle ( holy place). But the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the light of them (holy of holies). I do not say there are not people who need the lesser things. But consider that “Manna” means “What is it?”. If Christ be in you, the manna, the bread of heaven is in you. Who do you want to answer for you, the question, “What is it?”. Do you want governors, tutors, theologians, politicians, social networks, etc., to give you their endless opinion about everything? or do you want to know the Mind of the Lord? Whosoever will, let him come and drink of the Waters of Life freely. The choice is there.

Consider that it is written, “No prophesy (message) of scripture is given for any private interpretation”. The author is alive. He will teach you. He will not authorize any to interpret scripture. He will open your understanding, to understand scripture…to know His thinking in them. This is the domain of the Teacher…the Spirit of Christ. These are the inspired words of Jeremiah:

“…And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

BORDERS

…Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also [shall be] all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time. (from Isaiah 60)

…And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb [is] the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither [whatsoever] worketh abomination, or [maketh] a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (from Revelation 21)

The days we live in are filled with portent. Not so much of conditions to come, but of prevailing conditions at hand and pervasive. Many unique phrases and wordings in scripture, are reflected in a mockery…a weak imitation…of the things pertaining to the Lord and His appearing. A few examples are words and phrases like “cloud” , “no boots on the ground”, “the precious blood”, etc., to name a few.

CLOUDS
The scriptures often use the idea of a cloud, and clouds, to depict the Lord, and to depict a host, a company of individuals in whom the Lord abides. In fact, what crumb of bread can be remotely compared to the HOST of heaven, the Body of Truth? In Christ, before He was raised, dwelt all the fullness of God bodily. Now, in resurrection, it is written of Him, that in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, AND ye are complete in Him. “Ye” are added to Him in resurrection, according to what Jesus said , “Except a seed of wheat fall to the earth and die, it abides alone. But if it fall to the earth and die, it shall bring forth much fruit”. The resurrection is the raising of the Spiritual House. When it is said the Lord shall come with the clouds of heaven…it is not speaking about water vapor. It is speaking of everyone in whom His word has proliferated and had His way. In a few places, the Lord has given us the thought of His word being comparable to the natural processes of distillation:

“…Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. [He is] the Rock, his work [is] perfect: for all his ways [are] judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right [is] he.” ( Deuteronomy 32)

“…[There is] none like unto the God of Jeshurun, [who] rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal God [is thy] refuge, and underneath [are] the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy [them]. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob [shall be] upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew. Happy [art] thou, O Israel: who [is] like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who [is] the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.” (Deuteronomy 33) ( It is helpfull to know who the Israel of God is)

“…Behold, God exalteth by his power: who teacheth like him? Who hath enjoined him his way? or who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity? Remember that thou magnify his work, which men behold. Every man may see it; man may behold [it] afar off. Behold, God [is] great, and we know [him] not, neither can the number of his years be searched out. For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof: Which the clouds do drop [and] distil upon man abundantly. Also can [any] understand the spreadings of the clouds, the noise of his tabernacle? Behold, he spreadeth his light upon it, and covereth the bottom of the sea. For by them judgeth he the people; he giveth meat in abundance. With clouds he covereth the light; and commandeth it [not to shine] by [the cloud] that cometh betwixt. The noise thereof sheweth concerning it, the cattle also concerning the vapour.” (Job 36)

“…Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins [were] girded with fine gold of Uphaz: His body also [was] like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.”  ( Daniel 10)

“…And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” ( Revelation 19)

For this embodiment of the living WORD in a people to be remotely compared to a “host” of bread crumb , is an abominable, mind numbing delusion. For humanity to revel in it’s corporately manufactured “cloud” of computing, is a revealing mockery to be considered. Truth is not embodied it the electronic cloud, to which so many go nowadays to find it.

Distillation lifts and refines water, thus purifying it. It then falls from the “clouds” or distills as the “dew”. This is an analogy of the way the Lord teaches. The clouds of heaven are not water vapor. They are a people, a nation born in resurrection, raised a spiritual house. To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Who may choose the pure waters of life? Whosoever wishes to:

“…And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely”. ( Rev 22:17 )

NO BOOTS ON THE GROUND

Daniel, a man beloved of God, a man who sought to understand, was shown many things purtaining to the “time of the end”. Among these things, it was signified to him, how that a great conflict would play out between two kingdoms, the kingdom of Media and Persia, and the king of Grecia…the WEST. Daniel saw the WEST project great power over vast distances without touching the ground, he saw it wax great, and he saw it broken in the height of it’s power. In the account, you may read of some of the host of heaven, cast down to the earthy, and the “daily” sacrifice made to cease…replaced with a substitute. The DAILY sacrifice, is PERPETUAL. It is a once only sacrifice, received and held in faith, not the desolate-making , oft repeated gluten substitute, by which many have their thinking scrambled, crucifying Christ afresh daily in effigy, and revisiting again, the open shame of the cross, which Jesus despised, and endured, for our sakes. The bread of heaven does not go into one end of a person, and out the other. It is not base and carnal. It is high and eternal. It goes in the ear, and makes it’s way out of the mouth, unaltered. The bread of heaven abides in faith, is taken in faith. It has no substitute. Paul the apostle warned early on, everywhere he spoke, speaking with tears on a subject for the space of three years. He called it “Another Jesus, another spirit, another gospel, which is not another”.

BORDERS
The topic of “borders” has been in the forefront of national debate for decades. A nation with no secure bounds, is not a nation for long. It is a vassal state. For all nations and peoples to be gathered together, per the scriptures, against the Lord…boundaries and borders must be dissolved. They are, and are being dissolved. A nation that has sworn it’s elected leaders to guard it from all enemies, foreign and domestic, and ignores the advent of power arising in the domestic, set to destroy it’s collective right to choose it’s own affairs, will fail. Repairing the breaches in the hen house, once the fox lives inside, is futility. If one wishes to read the thinking of a great patriot, and noted scientist, who wrote in warning to his nation, of forces bent on it’s demise, I can recommend a book. It is availabe (as yet) online free, in .pdf format. The book was written by Prof. Samuel Morse, of telegraph fame, and was published in 1835. It’s predictions have proved 100% accurate. The book’s title is “Foreign Conspiracy Against The Liberties Of The United Sates, The Numbers Of Brutus”.

“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty.” [2Co 3:17 KJV]

“And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage” [Gal 2:4 KJV]

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” [Gal 5:1 KJV]

“While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.” [2Pe 2:19 KJV]

In our time, there is a place with borders. There is a secure nation, and secure house, a land wherein violence is not seen or heard, and who’s borders mark the end of wasting and destruction. This nation and house is destined to rule all nations with a rod of iron. This nation and house is a spiritual nation and house. Every individual of it, lives in freedom. Every individual of it, exercises his or her own mind. Every member of it chooses the good and refuses the evil. Every individual of it is an ambassador…the very kingdom in the earth, a forerunner until the fulness is unveiled. It has no physical boundaries. It is not presently of this world, though presently in it. From this nation, will the great fountains of the deep be broken open, and the clouds of heaven break forth in rain. The Kingdom of God is within you (if so be it is in you). Keep your heart with all dilligence, for out of it proceed the issues, the springing forth, of life.

When the Lord spoke, He stretched forth the heavens, hanging the earth upon nothing, holding back the face of His throne, stretching His cloud over it. All of the cosmos sprang by the word of His power, out of a space so small, that it had no measurable volume. Everything seen and known of man, all of it, was contained in it. All will go back to it. The heavens will depart, rolling together like a scroll…folded up like a used garment. That which can not be dissolved or folded up will remain…a house eternal in the heavens (2 Cor 5:1). Lest one think that the molecular is substantial, and spiritual is not…consider that of all the substance of your physical being were condensed into the smallest space it can occupy, it would be impossible to find. Indeed, all the substance of the known cosmos once occupied such a place. But that which is born of the Spirit…fades not away. It is eternal. It is substantial. The Temple of the Lord is Spiritual, and is present in the earth now. From it, shall all be revealed. It was sown a natural house. It was raised a Spiritual. If one reads the scriptures and considers the significations of the tabernacle, many things become evident. Not least among these, the fact that the farther into the core and seat of it one went, the smaller it’s footprint in the earth, and the greater it’s presence before God. Jesus, the firstborn among many brethren, was a man who you could walk around, and look Him up and down from head to toe, in a few seconds. In Him dwelt all the fulness of God bodily. The Tabernacle was a representation of Him. He was not raised up alone. The held-back throne of Job 26, one will find, is a shared throne. All the book of Revelation, a book bound to the significations of the Tabernacle, testifies to this, and to the quest of the overcomer. All who shall have found their way to this throne, will be revealed, being brough twith Him at His appearing.

Keep Your Borders