KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES
“Teaching the things concerning the Kingdom
of God. . . “
THE
HEAVENS DECLARE
Part 30
CAPRICORNUS—THE
GOAT
(continued)
Capricornus,
like all the Signs of the Zodiac, has three decans, or minor constellations,
which surround it. The Decans belong to
the Sign and their message is part of the Sign's message. The three Decans of Capricornus are” Sagitta, Aquila, and Delphinus. Sagitta means "The Arrow," but
this is not the arrow of Sagittarius, for that is an arrow intended for the
enemies of God, to conquer and subdue them unto Him. Here the arrow is pictured in mid-heaven as having been shot by
an invisible hand. It is seen in its
flight through the heavens. There is a
majesty and a mystery about it which startles and awes. The wonderful work which the arrow
accomplishes is seen in the dying goat and in the falling eagle. It is a part of the great revelation of the
life that comes out of death, or the death that issues forth into life. It is the arrow of God which wounds in order
to release life. The Psalmist spoke of
this in relation to the entrance of Jesus into this world of sin and death,
"Thine arrows stick fast in me, and Thy hand presseth me sore” (Ps.
38:2). Isaiah revealed the deep meaning
in this when he prophesied of Christ, “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and
carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem
Him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted. . . it pleased the Lord to
bruise Him; He hath put Him to
grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an
offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His Hand: (Isa. 53:4). Job the
patriarch spoke of a similar thing when he lamented, “The arrows of the
Almighty are within me” (Job 6:4).
There is a spiritual piercing and slaying in the case of those who come
to new life in Christ, akin to the piercing and slaying of the Christ
Himself. Isaiah received a revelation
of this arrow in the Lord’s quiver, a wounding arrow which enters men’s souls
and brings them down into death of the self-life, that Christ may be revealed
in His glory. The very arrow which
poured out the life of Jesus our Saviour passes through Him to pierce also
those who are joined in union with Him, also killing them to all that is
contrary to God’s purpose, that the life also of Jesus might be manifested in
them.
THE PIERCED EAGLE
One of the most prominent of the late summer constellations
is Aquila. Aquila is an eagle, but
always pictured in the old Zodiacs as a wounded and falling eagle. The eagle in this constellation is
consistent with what we have noted in the whole Sign of Capricornus. The slain goat of the sin-offering is
followed by the arrow of God’s judgment and the pierced and falling eagle. Under the Sign of Sagittarius the Harp was
seen held by an eagle, or a Harp placed over the eagle. The meaning was clear — praise shall ascend
up as an eagle toward heaven. And this
praise is associated with the splendor of the Christ who is the brightness of
God’s glory and the express image of His person, who also sings praises unto
God in the midst of the church. Praise
is heaven bound. It has a power and a
force that will bear you heavenward and carry you to the Throne. In the midst of praise one finds himself
lifted out of himself and beyond himself and above himself into the heavenlies,
into celestial places, into new dimensions of the spirit, into new heights of
reality and life. In this place of
ascension the praiser so becomes one with his praise that he BECOMES THE
PRAISE of God in the earth.
The eagle is the highest form of bird, the only creature
able to look as it were directly into the sun’s dazzling radiance. Aspiring to heights far beyond the physical
or grossly material, this great bird symbolizes the upward flight of our
journey into God. The Lord Himself is
referred to a number of times in the scripture as an eagle. “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians,
and how I bare you on eagle’s wings
and brought you to Myself” (Ex. 19:4),
and again, “As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young,
spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord
alone did lead him” (Deut. 32:11).
Christ is that royal eagle, flying high, the One who is at the right
hand of God; who thought it not robbery to be equal with God; that glorious
One, the Son of God from on high. Yet,
that One humbled Himself and was pierced by the arrow of God’s judgment, and is
seen here plummeting to the ground, the One who was so high becoming so low
that we might be raised up into His heights, praise His wonderful name!
THE SOARING EAGLE
In this message we shall meditate upon both the heights and
depths of Christ the eagle—Head and
body. It is one of the loftiest of
scriptural emblems. The eagle’s courage
and farsightedness is stated in Job 39:28-30.
Its swiftness is alluded to in Deut. 28:49. The remarkable phenomenon of the renewal of its youth is
mentioned by David in Ps. 103:5. The
likeness of one of the living creatures about the Throne was the likeness of an
eagle (Rev. 4:7). The eagle was the
standard of the camp of Dan, which included Asher, Dan and Naphtali. From the dawn of human history the challenge
of flight has captured the imagination of man.
The conquest of the air in the past century has embued men and women
with a sense of awe and romance unequaled in the annals of history. Somehow the ability to fly has epitomized
the longing of man to rise above the confines of the earthy and the mortal and
soar into the realm of the spiritual and the supernatural. God has made wonderful provision in His
Kingdom for man to have this spiritual need met, and yet few believers ever
discover the laws by which this escape is possible, few ever achieve the
perspective of the eagle, an ability to rise high enough to see things that
those on the ground can never see. How
can a man break into the high realm of the spiritual
and the eternal—to soar in the
heavenlies with Christ? In response let
us look at a beautiful illustration used by the prophet Isaiah. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength; they shall mount up with
wings as eagles; they shall run and
not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint” (Isa. 40:31).
Come with me now to a scene set in the West. Black, ominous thunderheads move swiftly
across a summer sky. Jagged streaks of
lightening pierce the darkness, followed by long peals of thunder. Below, in the barnlot on the edge of the
high sierra, two members of the feathered kingdom react in different ways. Appearing similar in some aspects, the birds
are actually as different as day and night.
The chicken, with her head down, scratches frantically in the barnyard
soil, her beak picking up an assortment of grub worms, insects and scraps. Her movements become more excited as the
storm moves closer. She knows that she must
hastily finish her meal because soon she will have to take refuge from the storm. Strange indeed and very different are the
actions of the other bird. The eagle
sits on the naked limb of a dead tree, his head turning this way and that
searching the scene, his sharp eyes piercing the clouds, scanning the
heavens. Suddenly he spreads his great
wings and waits—testing the winds. A
gust of wind blows across his perch and he lifts into the air with a royal
scream. He soars into the sky, circling
higher and higher above the storm. On
the barnlot below the storm breaks in all its fury. The chicken fearfully scurries about hunting for shelter. She
darts, with all the other chickens, into the safety of the barn were they
huddle together in their misery, fearing every lightning streak and thunder
bolt. As the storm rages below the eagle
rides calm and majestic in the bright world above.
True as this picture is in the natural realm, it is even
more true in the spiritual realm.
Eagles are symbolic of a certain class of Christians. The wise man said in the book of Proverbs
that among those mysteries in the universe that were too hard to understand,
one was the “mystery of the eagle in the air” (Prov. 30:18-19). The symbolism of this passage points to the
inexplicable potential of each and every son of God, which is like the eagle’s,
which can fly higher than any other bird without once flapping a wing. Did you notice that Isaiah said that eagles
and eagle saints “mount up” and not
“flap up”? Eagles were not made
to go flapping about in soulish exercises, unprofitable self-efforts, or wasted
fleshly energy—they were created to soar high and free. Eagles learn to fly without struggling because they instinctively
understand the air currents. When the
right wind is blowing he lifts effortlessly into the air with a shrill scream
of triumph and freedom. “But they that wait
upon the Lord. . . shall mount up
with wings as eagles.” Herein is
one of the eagle’s secrets in being able to mount up—waiting. Those who wait upon the Lord, it is
written, who trust in His moving, who respond to His promptings, who rest in His
timing, who move in His purpose, will be the ones to mount up.
The “mounting up” process in important and necessary to each son of God
who would take his place in the heavenlies, filled with the precious mind of
Christ, conformed to His wonderful image, and caught up to the Throne of God to
rule and reign with Christ over all things.
But it only comes to those who will wait in His presence until the glory
that shines from His face changes them from the image of the earthly into the
image of the heavenly. Should the eagle
fail to wait for the current that lifts, he would never get off the
ground. And the saint of God who does
not wait for the moving of the Holy Spirit in the purposes of God will never
get air borne or soar into the heavenlies.
Not everyone who receives Christ as Saviour and enjoys the blessings of
His grace will forsake the idols of the earth’s lowlands that stand in the
temple of the heart, to pay the price to follow on to know the Lord in the
heavenly places. But God has
predestined those whom He hath foreknown, and has placed this instinctive and
constant call within to rise to greater heights in the celestial
realms above.
But not so with the chicken. If you were to search the Bible through and through you would
discover that nowhere in the Word of God does the Holy Spirit applaud or honor
the chicken. Sometime ago I read the
following story. The writer said, “Five
years ago when I was negotiating to buy our home in Mapleton, Utah, the owner
gave me a tour of the property. Near
the house was a pen with a four-foot fence.
Inside the pen were some chickens.
There was nothing on top of the pen to keep the chickens from flying
out. I asked the owner if they ever
flew out. ‘No,’ he answered. ‘Did you clip their wings?’ ‘No.
Their wings are perfectly good.’
While I watched, one of the chickens fluttered a few feet straight up in
the air, then settled back into the pen.
‘Why don’t they fly out?’
‘Because they don’t think they can.
I once had a top on the pen, but after trying a few times to fly out,
they quit trying.’ ‘Do they ever get
out?’ ‘Yes, one of our kids left the
gate open and they walked out. But we
caught them easily. They didn’t know
they could fly”— end quote. Many people don’t believe they can fly
beyond the invisible fences they build around themselves. They snatch defeat from the jaws of
victory. Jesus said, “Consider the
birds of the air.” Don’t look at the birds that just eat on the
ground. The chicken doesn’t fly. The eagle soars. They can rise. So can you!
Ah, precious friend of mine, I do not hesitate to tell you that YOU CAN
MAKE IT INTO SONSHIP, INTO THE HEIGHTS OF GOD.
YOU CAN MAKE IT! I say. God is the God of eagle wings, and you are
the sons and daughters of the Most High.
Some of you know what I’m talking about. You are stuck in a rut. Your life, naturally and spiritually, just
isn’t going any place. Some of you are
trapped and stuck, mired down on your job, in your home, in your marital
relationship, in family situations, in circumstances, problems, pressures, and
limitations. These have all become a
restrictive fence around you, which like the chickens, you think you can’t
surmount. The cares of this world, the
deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of life grow rampant in the lives of
men and women today, choking the spiritual life of the Kingdom. The cares of this world have turned many
peoples lives into a pressure cooker.
The strain of everyday living is steadily growing worse because of
financial problems, higher taxes, inflation, government policies, the
disturbing world situation, added responsibilities, sickness, hospital bills,
rebellion in the home, unemployment, etc.
The pressures and problems of “this life” are too numerous to mention,
we are all faced with them every day.
There are those seemingly needful involvements of daily living which
which we cannot shirk, but when they so OVERWHELM us that we find ourselves so
fragmented and frustrated that we are not able to gather ourselves together to
walk in the peace, joy and victory of the Kingdom— then we need to be loosed from these things, escape from
them, soar high above them. Many of
God’s precious saints are so encumbered with the CARES OF THIS LIFE that prayer
and waiting upon the Lord have been shoved back into some remote corner of
their lives. They are utterly
distracted by the responsibilities, pressures and problems of living until they
are unable to serve the Lord with all their heart, mind and strength. Praise God!
We find in Him a realm of freedom from all “these things”, so that
whatever state we are in we can rejoice and not be bound by them or to
them. There is an escaping from the
cares of this life—if we remember that we are eagles, not chickens!
There is another area of limitation that is a restrictive
fence around the spiritual chickens also—and that is the religious realm which can cause one to be so caught up in its
programs and works that it literally is a bondage. Well do I remember former years of pastoring churches when every
weekend was crowded with a whirlwind of feverish activity, meetings,
visitations, etc., that come Monday morning I was completely exhausted mentally
and physically, needing another sabbath
to rest and recuperate from the one I had just been through! I suppose I will make some enemies, but I
must tell you the truth nonetheless.
How much eager-beaver religious work is done out of a carnal desire to
make good or appear successful! How
many hours of prayer are wasted beseeching God to bless and prosper projects
that are geared to the glorification of men!
How much hard-earned money is poured out upon men who, in spite of their
tear-in-the-voice appeals, nevertheless seek only to make a fair show in the
flesh, building bigger and bigger castles in the sand! I have no hesitation in saying that a
charismatic personality and a shrewd knowledge of human nature is ALL that any
man needs to be a success in the religious circles today, including the
“spirit-filled” ones. The church systems,
for the most part, have accepted the monstrous heresy that noise, size,
activity and bluster signify that something significant is being accomplished
for God. The simplicity which is in
Christ is rarely found. In its stead
are programs, methods, organizations, committees, board meetings, basketball
tournaments, religious splash parties followed by devotions, Sunday School
picnics, puppet shows, building fund drives, business men’s banquets, revival
meetings and a world more of feverish activities which occupy time, energy, and
attention, but can never satisfy the deepest longings of the heart. The shallowness of the average Christian’s
inner experience, the hollowness of his worship, the immaturity of his walk,
his incredible ignorance of God’s great plan and purpose, the emptiness of his
word, and the servile imitation of the
world which marks the religious system’s promotional methods all testify
that the whole program, instead of being the divine out-raying of the Christ
life, is naught but part and parcel of “the cares of this world.”
So now man WORKS... and WORKS... and WORKS... diligently
pursuing multiplied religious observances, external forms, activities of all
sorts, and for all his effort he is able only to produce a pitifully small harvest
of reality, eeking out but a meager spiritual existence! How incredibly busy he is scratching and
picking up the grub worms, insects and scraps out of the dirt of his little chicken yard! Oh! to escape religiosity
that we might learn to walk with God in the Spirit. And we rejoice to see how God is causing His elect to flee this
realm. And let me assure you, my
brother, my sister, I have no intention of assuming the burden of paying for
men’s programs, building men’s kingdoms, or joining in their efforts to save
the world, when God already has a plan for the salvation of all nations which
will work, while men’s efforts have failed.
To hear some preachers tell it you would think that they had almost
completed the job of world evangelization, and with only a few more millions of
dollars, another TV network, an expanded relief program and a few more crusades
the Kingdom will be here. The sad truth
is, however, that the tidal wave of sin, sorrow, sickness, pain, ignorance, and
death is greater in the earth in this hour than at any time since Noah entered
the ark. But to remain continually
bombarded by the appeal of all this activity and not become caught in its
snare, is an escape that only God can work in us and maintain for us. And only “the way of the eagle” can reveal
it! Consider the birds of the air. You can be like them—you can soar like an
eagle! Nothing is impossible to those
who mount up with wings as the eagle.
Whatever it is that is weighing you down, whatever it is keeping you
from soaring, it is possible to break away.
The ability to soar lies within—you
don’t have to go anywhere. You don’t
have to tear down the chicken fence or kill the chickens, or sit on the fence
and frantically flap away. What I am
saying is, YOU DON’T HAVE TO CHANGE ANY OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES ABOUT YOU. You
can rise above them. The eagle is in you. You are the
eagle. You can soar high above it all! There is a life within that transcends all
the lowlands of the flesh—it will carry you high if you give yourself to
it. It is the life of sonship, the power and glory and mind of
the Christ within.
Many years ago Bill Britton wrote, “Chickens are symbolic
of people. The only time chickens are
referred to in the Bible, Jesus used them as a type of those people in
Jerusalem who could not bear His message nor heed His call. They traveled in
crowds, in broods, and they were earthbound.
They kept their eyes upon the things of this world, scratching out a
bare existence, and never lifted their heads to see Him who is from above. They ate the handouts that were cast to
them, and searched greedily in the crowded barnlot for more to fill their
bellies, much of it unclean, unspeakable filth. They are bound to their experience on the right and on the left
by fences, and are satisfied. But not
the eagle. For he has inherited a
nature that cannot and will not survive in the confining capacity of the
barnyard fowl. To be happy and to
fulfill his purpose in life, he must be free to soar in the wide open spaces
among the clouds of heaven. It seems
lonely up there, for there are not many who will dare to rise to such heights,
but the eagle does not care, for it is not in his nature to mingle with the
multitudes or the majority. God is
delivering many today from their earthbound existence, lifting them by the Holy
Ghost into heavenly places in Christ.
Things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and
grace. They do not fear the storm. The same persecution and tribulation that
brings great travail upon a dead, backslidden church filled with earthly
efforts, causes the eagle saints to soar to heights never before attained by
man since the Pattern Son set the example.
‘Fear not the storm, My little ones, for thou art not children of the
storm. Look up. Lift up thy heads and rejoice, for thou art
children of redemption, and thou hast inherited that heavenly nature. I have loosed the prison doors. Be thou free from thy captivity! Be not ensnared with the evil ways of this
world’s systems, but learn thou the ways of thy God, and follow Him alone. Thus shalt thou rise above that which cometh
upon the earth, to try them which dwell therein. And thou shalt not fear, for I am with thee, saith the Lord’”—end
quote.
“The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is
the Lord from heaven. As is he earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear
the image of the heavenly” (I Cor.
15:47-49). “Now the Lord is that
Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open (unveiled) face
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed (transformed,
transfigured) into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of
the Lord” (II Cor. 3:17-18). “Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
Christ” (Eph. 1:3). “Which He
wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own
right hand in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:20). “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6).
“To the extent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of
God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord” (Eph. 3:10-11). “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. . . “ (Heb. 3:1)
“But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly (spiritual):
wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God” (Heb. 11:16). “But ye are come unto
Mount Zion, and unto the City of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:22).
From these pictures we can readily see that our calling is
a HEAVENLY CALLING. Let others tend the
things of the earth. Let the dead bury
the dead. Let the few who are called to
this High Calling be about their Father’s business. WHEREFORE! “WHEREFORE,
holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High
Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.”
As partakers in this heavenly
calling let us consider Jesus the Apostle and High Priest of our profession. As our APOSTLE Jesus Christ proclaims and
opens up the way before us that we may walk in the calling ordained for
us. And what is that calling? TO BE PARTAKERS WITH HIM IN HIS OWN
H-E-A-V-E-N-L-Y CALLING! Here are
indeed great words! “Calling” here, as
always in the epistles, has reference not to an invitation to go to some
far-off heaven somewhere, but to a present
heavenly state of being. For New
Creation men, according to Col. 1:12, have already
been made “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
light,” and our “citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20), and God hath “raised us up
together, made us sit together IN THE HEAVENLIES in Christ Jesus” (Eph.
2:6). “Having therefore brethren,
BOLDNESS TO ENTER INTO THE HOLIEST by the blood of Jesus. . . “ We, the Royal Priesthood, DO HAVE BOLDNESS
TO ENTER IN. We need not wait, and we
do not have to go to some heaven far beyond the Milky Way. This thing is taking place within us right at this time, blessed be
His wonderful name! For us it is a
glorious privilege to enter into this heavenly realm, into this holiest place,
because Jesus Christ, our High Priest and Forerunner, has opened the way and
bids us enter. Multitudes know Jesus as
their Savior, Baptizer, Healer, Sanctifier and Blesser, but do you know Jesus
as your Forerunner? Do you know Him as
the Forerunner of the MELCHIZEDEKIAN PRIESTHOOD, the eternal and heavenly
Priesthood? Now we hear the word to us
and it is that we are to come in with boldness. Come right in to the Holy of Holies. Come right in to that heavenly place where
Christ sits at the right hand of God.
Come right in to the presence of God.
Come right in to the glory of God.
Come right in to the authority and dominion of God. Come right in to that high and holy realm
where only HIGH PRIESTS enter! We need
not be afraid, for we have a High Priest who is now appearing in the presence
of God for us, not in
our place, but for us, ON OUR BEHALF, for
that is the true sense of the words “for us.”
This Apostle and High Priest of our
profession abides in this high and
exalted realm and we are to come right in.
You may stand without.
You may wait for Jesus to return.
You may wait for the “rapture.”
You may wait for your mansion over the hill-top or your cabin in the
corner of gloryland. Some dwell in the
Outer Court while others tarry in the Holy Place. The Outer Court is crowded with Evangelicals and Fundamentalists. The Holy place is flooded with Pentecostals
and Charismatics. But the Apostle and
High Priest of our heavenly calling abides in the Most Holy Place and continues
to invite us to come in. We have been
standing outside and we have said to one another, “Isn’t that wonderful and
glorious and mighty — that place within the veil! Multitudes do not dare because of fear to even look into the
place. They don’t know that the veil
was rent, that Jesus our Forerunner has entered in for us. And the word is to come right in, even into
the Holy of Holies which is in heaven
itself. Sit down in the presence of
the living God. Sit down with the
Christ as a Priest upon His throne. For
the great High Priest is there ministering, and we are to minister with Him,
the Royal Priesthood, those who are made PARTAKERS OF THE HEAVENLY
CALLING. If we can ever see this, if we
somehow by God’s grace and the quickenings of the Holy Ghost can get ahold of
it, we will not hesitate to yield ourselves unto the call of God to mount up
with wings as the eagle and soar high into the heavens until we reign with
Christ on high! Not in some future day,
or age, or world—but here and now.
Eagles prefer the heights when they soar, and when they
rest. His is a soaring spirit. The eagle is the jet plane of the bird
family. It soars the highest, goes the
fastest, and is superior to all other birds in this respect. You do not have to prompt the eagle to fly,
once he has learned how. No need to
sing a chorus twenty-five times, clap the hands, stomp the feet, in order to work
up the spirit of soaring. If he cannot
fly, he is in misery—he was made for altitude.
He is born for the heights. And
flying is just as natural as breathing.
EAGLE SAINTS have their citizenship in heaven. They live in the world, but their feelings, affections, desires,
aspirations, conversation and actions are above it. Their greatest impulses are upward, ever upward. They build
their nests in the heights of the Mountains of God, and prefer and long to be
where they are no more annoyed with the noises, mundaneness and dangers of this
world order. Actually, we do not move
in and out of heavenly realms at our whim.
Our citizenship is in heaven, we
exist constantly in the heavenlies.
This is a spiritual state of constant existence, but because we are
still in this flesh realm, we are not always conscious of the greater privileges
of our heavenly existence. In the
Kingdom of God the heavenly man is the only man—the man is Christ. “If I have told you earthly things, and ye believed not how shall you believe if I tell
you of heavenly things. And no man hath ascended up to heaven but He
that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which IS IN HEAVEN’ (Jn.
3:12-14). Jesus Christ while on earth
was still in the heavenlies. That is
not a strange statement to an eagle saint!
“He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” He had eagle’s
wings—the spirit of the heavenlies. His
body was on earth and His spirit joined to the heavenly Father far above
all. Those that have been swallowed up
by Christ gravitate around Him. His
life is their life, His joys, their joys, His peace, their peace. They have no other life. “For me to live is Christ, “ said Paul. Paul was an eagle saint. Paul’s life was heavenly. He was above. He would not come down.
Carl Schwing has written, “Sonship is not a message. Those who proclaim such know nothing as they
ought. Sonship is not something sought after, it does not come by a decision,
man did not design it, cannot offer it and cannot attain to it. Sonship is a birthright predetermined by the Father, within His Holy Courts,
before there was an age! However, there
is a path which leads those ‘predestined souls’ to sonship. It is a lonely path of rejection, suffering,
humiliation and complete abandonment.
It is the path of the eagle! It
leads beyond the natural realm, the religious realm, yea, even beyond the
spiritual realm, to a place of unity with Christ and His Father. In this celestial realm of unity, we begin
to learn and know Christ, beyond the scriptures. Too long, we, like the Jews of old, have sought the scriptures
for in them we thought we had life. But
now we are becoming one with Him whom the sacred page revealed. In the stillness of the Dawn our spirits
possess a freedom from all other influences... a freedom to soar into the high and holy places known
only to our Father. To enter into the storehouse of the Lord and learn the
secrets of His wonders, to see the mysteries of the ages, far beyond the
confusion of play-church, far above the strife of the land, and higher than the
yearnings of the flesh, yea, even into the light of the Most Holy Place . . .
the eagles soar!”—end quote.
In questioning Job the Lord said of the eagle, “Doth the
eagle mount up at thy command to make her nest on high? She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon
the crag of the rock, and the strong place.
From hence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off” (Job
39:27-29). The eagle saint has the
advantage, born of altitude. “Her eyes
behold afar off.” She looks out to the
regions beyond, to heights and depths in God.
The call of God is upon her. The
life of God is in her heart. There is
response. There are commitments, born
of heavenly life. Heaven is in
control.
The saint and the Savior share
the same life, fly the same heavens, have the same destiny. Heavenly bounty fills all. Earth’s splendors are fading. Earth’s treasures hold nothing for him any
more. Heavenly investments are
sure. Eternal values are in view. "Her eyes behold afar off.” Fear does not plague the eagle saint. "She dwelleth and abideth on the rock,
upon the crag of the rock."
The rock is Christ. Her security is in the rock. She draws her life from above. Earth's hopes must fade. They are made of poor stuff. The saints of all ages have known this. The Lord has taught them, in their
hearts. The Lord cuts His elect saints
off from the world, and the systems of
the flesh, but in the same stroke, He grafts them on to heaven. They are to live in their new found
life. The saints have found a new blood
stream that will not be affected by death.
This new life flows out of the very heart of God, like a river
forever. It courses through the veins
of the inner man, bringing life where ere it goes.
The heavenly life makes heaven. The life of God is heavenly life. The believer who says that should his body die, he will be dead
like a dog, unconscious and non-existent, knows not that he has been born from
above. The born again one has life
from above. The impact of this new
heavenly life determines everything. This life governs the universe, and nullifies the kingdom of darkness. Satan
is never in his stride, in the presence of
heavenly life. This is raptured
life, the life from above. Webster
defines rapture as: “Extreme pleasure or delight, ecstasy.” The eagle saint has raptured life, the
joyful life, the glorious life, the satisfying life—he is not waiting for
a "rapture" to come. Every step that the Lord Jesus took on earth
was a raptured step. Every word that He
used was a raptured word. Every work
that He did was a raptured work. The
life of Jesus Christ was a raptured
life. He was caught up all the
time. That's what gave Him the heavenly
touch, enabled Him to hear the heavenly voice of His heavenly Father within. That’s what made Him what He was—the heavenly
man. The eagle saint does not need death, or a miracle, or a meeting, to
get him on the wing. He is in the
heavenlies all the time. That's all
the life he knows. He shares with the raptured Christ, the
heavenly life. The eagle saint knows
extreme pleasure, ecstasy, heavenly delight.
Those that are born from above move in the orbit of above life. The problem is
that there is a temporary outer life, a physical life that confuses many—a make
believe, illusion, a mist that the wind bloweth away. The earth bound life is very strong for expression. This fallen life wants an outlet. It is very aggressive and demanding. The heavenly life is meek and lowly and
humble in spirit. The earthly life will
force its way and scheme to gain its point.
The heavenly life is not so, but will take a back seat and wait the
Lord's appointed time. "They that
wait upon the Lord shall mount up with wings as the eagle.” Saints are laboring with a double life—the
old life and the new in the same vessel.
The low grade life must be given over to the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The milk and honey of Canaan is
the heavenly life of the Lord in the saints.
The newest cars, the finest homes, the most expensive clothing, the most
beautiful furniture, the best paying jobs, and the largest bank accounts do not
add up to heavenly life. "For
after all these things do the Gentiles seek.
But seek ye first the Kingdom (realm) of God, and His righteousness, and
all these things shall be added unto you" (Mat. 6:32-33). 'Things are not
life. Life is not things. Heavenly life has a monopoly on the needs of
the human heart and spirit. Abundant life has nothing to do with physical health or longevity or with
financial prosperity, material blessing, or any other earthly thing. There is
much religious activity that does not spring from heavenly life. The counterfeit life is also very
religious. The eagle saint lives in the
heavenlies in "the sweet here and now"; he is not waiting for
something better in "the sweet bye and bye. The heavenlies is no higher than the floor beneath your
feet. Life in the spirit is life in the
heavenlies. Jesus carried the heavenlies
all the way to Calvary. Before Pilot
and Herod, Christ was never fearful or upset.
The heavenly life was in control, the life that stood up against Calvary
and the stone-sealed tomb, and overflowed.
Heavenly life was governing Him from within, and because He had heavenly
life within He could say, "I have power to lay My life down, and I have
power to take it up again."
The heart of man is on a quest for a place where his heart
is at rest and where there is life, peace, and contentment—the place called heaven.
The best word to describe heaven is "glory," and glory has
been defined by one as: "Like it
ought to be.” Those that know glory
are in glory. They are in a state,
"Like it ought to be." They
are in Christ and fashioned in His likeness.
They have tasted of heaven, for they have tasted of the heavenly One,
and their hearts, have been ravished.
Christ is heaven, and heaven is Christ known and experienced in a living
way. Our measure of Christ is our
measure of heaven. The heart filled
with God is full of heaven. The more of
Jesus Christ that is wrought in the saints by the Holy Ghost, the more heaven
is come to earth. Heaven is as large as
the universe and as small as the human heart.
Heaven is both macrocosm and microcosm.
There is room enough in man to contain the universe (black holes are
proof of that), and it takes the universe to contain man—the man Christ Jesus and His body the church, the One New
Man.
Once heaven seemed a far-off place,
Till Jesus showed His smiling face;
Now it is here within my soul,
‘Twill be while endless ages roll!
O hallelujah, yes ‘tis heaven,
“Tis heaven to know the Son that’s given;
O’er land or sea, what matter where,
Where Jesus is, ‘tis heaven there!
Learn to breathe the ozone of heaven—the rare, crisp, pure
air of the heavenlies, that is sweet to the nostrils and life to the lungs and
body. Mountain air is good. There is too much grime and smog in this low
altitude. There are so many respiratory
problems. There is so much low living
and difficult breathing. The
environment is wrong. It is good
medicine to meet a saint that is above—a saint with eagle wings. They quicken and refresh. Spend time with those that live above. You, too, will learn how to stay above. Remember that the young eagles have to be
taught to fly. If they refuse to learn
they are destroyed. Learn to live the
heavenly life if you would save your life.
You may not be able to stand the strong winds of the upper altitude,but
go as high as you can and stay as long as you can. Get away from the depressing order of the valleys. Learn to live in your habitat—your
elements. Refuse to be embroiled in
confusion and strife. There is nothing
to gain. You may win the argument and
lose the victory. Gossip—no
profit! Tidbits of cheap news—no
profit! We should not be glorying in
other’s shame. If the other fellow falls
out of the heavenlies, just do not follow him down to chew on his flesh. If you stay in the heavenlies, you will help
draw him back. The wings of the spirit
are eagle wings. The Holy Spirit of God
gives you these wings. Learn how to use
them. “Walk in the spirit, and ye shall
not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.”
Abide in your true element.
Choose to abide. You need, rich,
healthy blood if you are going to fly.
Heavenly vitamins and minerals—the Word of God, spiritual conversation,
prayer, praise, pure thoughts and holy living.
From what table are you eating?
From what well do you drink?
Where do you get your food supplements?
Jesus said, “He that eateth not My flesh and drinketh not My blood, hath
no life in him.” Feed upon Him. He is food to thy hungry heart, drink to
thirsty spirit, and strength for flight in the heavens. This king of the air
(the eagle) eats only live meat. You
and I can scan the heights too, if we eat only live meat, the living word. We are what the life in us makes us. When the heavenly flesh of Christ becomes
our life, life is no longer just an existence, or a religious exercise, it is
heaven in manifestation, God in operation.
As the peace of God settles down within man, man BECOMES THE
MILLENNIUM—the day of the Lord!
A TIME TO SOLO
The sons of God must ascend to their heavenly
environment. Here is the place for
which they were made, the place that was made for them. They must be drawn above—forced above—driven
above. Drastic means must be used if
necessary. How can we get young saints
out of Egypt into Canaan—the heavenlies?
They still long for the flesh pots of Egypt. They still love the comfort of the nest—the church realm with all
its meetings, activities, ministries, established creeds, security and mothering.
Picture with me a little eaglet snuggled cozily in a
down-filled nest high in the mountain upon the crag of a rock. Everything is just beautiful; the parents
sally forth daily and bring back choice tidbits for that ravenous young
appetite. During the cold mountain
nights the mother eagle settles over the nest and the eaglet snuggles securely
under those warm, soft wings. In its
spiritual application, this little fellow is newly born again and baptized in
the Holy Spirit. He has learned about
blessing, forgiveness, joy, gifts, healing, provision, and all the benefits of being a child of God. Hallelujah!
Here life is wonderful and being a Christian sure makes life easy—no
more problems or lack! Should any
problem arise the pastor or the church will promptly take care of
it. What provision! What security! What a wonderful arrangement!
The problem is just this—the young eaglet grows too fond of its nest and
everything being done for it. This must
not be. He must be roused up and
trained to face the rough world. He
must learn to fly. He must grow
up. He must become strong and
mature. He must learn to soar and
discover His identity and being in the heights. He must fulfill his destiny.
How can we teach the young eagle saints to take their
position in the heavenlies? How can we
force them up if necessary? If they
will not ascend, then what? Will the
Lord use drastic means? He built that
trait into mother eagle. That is the
way eagles meet the situation. If the
young will not fly, they are destroyed.
And yet—this rarely happens. One
remarkable characteristic of the eagle is its tenderness toward its young. No member of the bird family is more gentle
and attentive in watching over its young.
It builds its nest high up on a
mountain crag. Both parents bring food to the little eaglets (the spirit and the word), and when they teach them to fly, both parents are involved
in the training program (the right
and the left hand of God). Deuteronomy 32:11 tells us how the young
eagle gets his introduction to the practice of soaring in the heavens. Let the eagle saints listen carefully. It says that the mother eagle “stirreth up her nest,” “fluttereth over her
young,” “spreadeth abroad her wings,” and “beareth them on her wings.” The time has come for the young eagle to
learn to fly and strike out on his own—but he does not want to fly, he is
having it too easy up there in that nest.
He is given breakfast each morning in bed! He is nurtured and protected by others! All he has to do is warm the pew and watch the show! Why should he want to leave? The mother eagle knows that it is time to
start flying. But looking down from the
dizzy heights of the mountain peak, he is not ready to begin such a new and
dangerous enterprise. He has “not
passed this way before” and is reluctant to make a move. So the mother eagle
begins to “stir up the nest.” She grabs
a piece of the nest and drops it over the side of the cliff. Then she returns for another chunk, and
another, and another. Finally all the
down that made Junior feel so secure is at the bottom of the canyon. He is forced to sit on nothing but rough
sticks with jagged ends. This is rough
treatment, completely unexpected, and not understood by the eaglet. But there is a job to be done. It may seem blunt and cruel, but the lesson
must be learned. She then takes the
little one in her powerful beak and nudges him toward the edge of the ledge. The little fellow wonders what is happening
now. The actions of his mother
completely mystify him. His little
heart is beating faster and faster, and as he is pushed closer to the edge he
thinks, No, it can’t be! Mother wouldn’t do this to me! But she does. She takes him to the edge of the cliff. It is a long, long way down.
Suddenly she pushes him over!
Bill Britton eloquently wrote about this amazing phenomenon
in his book EAGLE SAINTS ARISE: “Oh,
saints of God, does it seem that God is dealing harshly with you? Is he tearing up your soft, comfortable
nest? Does the place in God that once
met such need in your life now seem rough, tight, and uncomfortable? What is happening? The Lord is getting ready to push you off into heights you never
dreamed of. Do the jagged edges of that
which once was such comfort to you now stab you with grief and pain? Have you been wondering what the trouble
was, and perhaps doubt that you were ever in the will of God? Doubt no longer, but expect in faith for the
next great work of God to come forth in your life. It is not the wrath of God trying to destroy you. It is the love and wisdom of our God making
you willing to take another big step in the plan and purpose of God for His
church. We, by nature, love security. So the Lord has to make us utterly sick of
our ‘nest’ in order to make us willing to launch out into pioneer spiritual
journeys in the heavenlies”—end quote.
The mother does not push the young eagle over the cliff to destroy
him. He screams with terror as he tumbles
through the air—but instinctively his wings stretch out in an effort to catch
the air. Down, down, down he falls as
untried wings fail to function sufficiently to hold him up. But mother watches that little fellow as he
falls and clumsily flaps his wings.
When it appears that all hope is lost and he is about to be dashed on
the canyon floor, she swoops underneath him and her might wings bear him up to
the safety of the ledge from which he fell.
“Praise God,” he shouts within, “what a relief!” Just as he is getting over his dizziness and
decides that all is well, the bottom drops out again. The process starts all over and continues until eventually the
little fellow begins to fly as she has shown him. Each time she flies a little farther and each experience brings a
little more mastery of his wings. He
becomes stronger and stronger, until one day he spreads those wings and rather
than flapping discovers how to catch the currents of air and finds himself
rising up and up, riding the might winds far above his ledge home and the nest
that confined him. No longer a
fledgling begging for tidbits, he is now one of the eagles—he is become a king!
Again I would share from the keen insight of Bill Britton
on this beautiful theme of the eagle.
“Those who rule with Christ must rule from the heavens. For that is where the throne is. Many sing ‘I’ll fly away. . .’, and dream of
a rapture by and by that will carry them from this sin cursed earth, past the
moon and into the wild blue heavens to some geographical spot in this physical
universe to a big supper all set and loaded with goodies for them to eat. And they know nothing of the purposes of God
for His eagle saints who will actually be caught up to the throne to rule and
reign. But the time is at hand. And the Spirit is unveiling and revealing
hidden secrets from His Word to those who are called to the High Calling of God
in Christ Jesus. So He is teaching us
to move in heavenly places. And
sometimes it is terrifying. But His
glorious Presence is there, comforting, directing and reassuring. Praise God!
“The chicken yard is very confining. You can go so far, and no farther. The Plymouth Rocks stay in the Plymouth
Rocks pens, and the Rhode Island Reds remain in their alloted place. It would be scandalous if Farmer Brown’s
hens slipped over to Farmer Jones and ate his corn, or laid their eggs in the
wrong place. It doesn’t matter if you
are in the Methodist pen, or Baptist, or Pentecostal, or whatever. You may cackle and crow about the advantages
in your particular chicken yard over the others, but just be sure and remain
within your confines. Not so the
eagles! No chicken yard could hold
him. He can only live and find
happiness in the freedom of the uncovered and uncharted heavens. There is lots of room where the eagles
gather. Unlimited revelation. Truth flows like a mighty River. No creeds, bylaws, or static statement of
beliefs to separate the body of Christ.
Sweet fellowship with all who dwell in this place, and no divisive
man-made boundaries exist. The dull
monotonous routine of a ‘chicken yard’ religious system is forever a thing of
the past for those who rise on wings of eagles into this place in God. What a variety of glorious treasures in the
Holy Ghost there is for those who dare to believe and who ‘are called according
to His purposes’”—end quote.
Israel was noted for two kinds of eagles in the Bible
days—the golden eagle and the imperial eagle.
The golden eagle bespeaks of us as partakers of the divine nature and
the imperial eagle bespeaks of us as kings.
The two go hand in hand, for none is qualified to move in the power
of the Kingdom of God until he has first been possessed of the righteousness of the Kingdom. Many ministries have fallen because they
sought Kingdom power apart from Kingdom righteousness. But no son
will ascend the throne until he has been perfected in the character of
God. The golden eagle and the imperial
eagle will fly together or they will not fly at all. Our divine right as sons of God is to reign as Monarchs—and this
heavenly dominion begins right within our own lives. The development of faith, rest, and triumph which lifts us above
earth’s raging storms, is very precious.
The circumstances that frustrate, perplex and defeat the world become
launching pads to new heights in God.
All that would come against us to discourage, defeat, or destroy,
becomes the snake which an eagle rips open with one slash of his mighty talons
or drops from dizzy heights to be crushed on the rocks below. This is our inheritance!
Of the eagle the Lord said, “Her eyes behold afar off” (Job 39:29). The eagle is noted for great vision. They are great watchers, with far-sighted vision. And so are eagle saints. The eye is the figure of light and
illumination and it is as we know the truth and walk in it that we are purified
to see God; for only the pure in heart see
God. They see the plan and purpose
of God beyond the traditions and superstitions of religion. To them the treasure house of wisdom and
knowledge and spiritual understanding is opened. The deep mysteries, the sacred secrets of divine wisdom are
unlocked within as the Lord reveals His will, teaches them His ways, and show
unto them His glory. They can believe
for things in God that others, whose eyes are riveted to the things of earth, cannot
see or even conceive of. There is keen
vision—knowledge and understanding of the true nature of all things—with the
eagle saints. They are the pioneers of
faith that break through into new realms in God. And because of their sharp vision, it is difficult to surprise or
deceive them. The enemy cannot
penetrate their defenses. Jesus is the
perfect example and pattern. No one
ever deceived Him with smooth words or flattery. No pious hypocrite ever survived under the piercing gaze of the
Christ of God. Jesus knew what was in
man. Even one of His own apostles was
filled with the devil and moved to betray Him, but Jesus was not deceived or
taken by surprise. No matter that he
was one of the leaders, and cast out devils in Jesus’ name! His innermost thoughts and the secret
intents of his heart were laid bare in the sight of that great Captain of the
Eagle Saints. One of the marks of true
sonship is the ability to see the true nature of all things and to discern the
hidden spiritual source of all outward manifestations.
ASCENDING AND DESCENDING
There is still much that could be said about the eagle
saints, but I will close this message with one more word. Aquila—The Eagle—in the Sign of Capricornus
is pictured as a wounded or falling eagle.
The eagle in this constellation is consistent with what we have noted in
the whole Sign of Capricornus. The
slain goat of the sin-offering is followed by the arrow of God’s judgment and
the pierced or falling eagle. First and
foremost, our Lord Jesus Christ is that royal eagle, flying high; the One who
is at the right hand of God; who thought it not robbery to be equal with God;
that glorious One, the Son of God from on high. Yet, that One humbled Himself and was pierced by the arrow of
God’s judgment, and is seen here plummeting to the ground, the One who was so
high descending so low that we might be
raised up into His heights.
If we could only begin to fathom what this meant! Being in the form of God and existing in the
glory of His Father, He could have stayed there, He was the Word of God, He was
Divine; but to leave the glory above to come down to this sin-cursed earth,
this death-ridden planet, with all its sin, suffering and evil, was taking a
giant step down. He was not spared the
lowliest kind of birth. Jesus was not
born to wealth, comfort or fame. Into
the arms of a gentle peasant girl He came, in a smelly stable with oxen and
donkeys, yonder in a little land despised by the world, whose people were the
helpless subjects of a foreign power.
If one has walked in Bethlehem and walked in Rome, he surely must be
impressed by the contrast. And for
reasons good enough. He came to found
an Empire of which Rome, with her pride, and tyranny, could never be the
symbol. He came to win an allegiance
that no legions in shining armor could ever compel. That Empire is the Empire of Love and that allegiance the
response that men can make to that which they know to be Love and which,
because it is Love, commands their bodies by winning their hearts. So down this costly route of unsparing Love
Jesus came. His birth-chamber a barn,
His cradle a feeding-trough, and His lot in life cast among the poor. Two thousand years ago God wrapped a human
form around His dear heart and appeared among the sons of men that He might get
a closer look at this tragic thing that was making havoc of man and earth. He looked into the face of sin’s dark
mystery, He gazed without any veil into the awful abyss of sin, sorrow, and
death. It was the cry of the wounded
eagle, outraged yet outreaching, as He fell down, down, down from the heights
of glory to get beneath the lowest depth to which any soul can sink.
The first thirty years of His life we know little about,
but it was through these years that He suffered, being tempted and tested. He had to learn obedience and be perfect as
a man before He could start His ministry, and go to the cross. The Bible tells us little of those thirty
years; only about His birth and when He talked with the leaders when He was
twelve years old, in the Temple. But as
a man, a human being, He lived through His childhood years, with all its
problems and frustrations. He lived
through the teen years, and had all the problems of growing up, and all the
temptations any teenager has to face.
He knows all about them. He went
through His twenties the same way, and I am sure that during these years also
He suffered through temptations. He was
tempted in all points like we are, so He is able to succor those being tempted. “For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are
tempted” (Heb. 2:18). He knows all
about it, for He suffered through it.
He came down into this evil world unknown and unheralded, the masses of
earth knew not that He had come during the years of His earthly walk. And those to whom He came did not want Him,
“He came to His own, and His own received Him not” (Jn. 1:11). It is bad enough when strangers refuse to
have anything to do with you; but when your own people turn you down and reject
and cast you out, the pain runs deep.
To be made in the likeness of sinful flesh, to be found in fashion as a
man, to empty Himself, to strip Himself of all His former glory, must have been
a dreadful experience. I doubt that we
can begin to comprehend even minutely, the price He paid when He humbled
Himself to fall into this dark world as the pierced eagle. Now He shares a common humanity with
us. He became a man, not only to die on
the cross for our sins, but after having redeemed us, to become the Captain of
our salvation and lead man into the fullness of the divine glory. He became the falling eagle to lift us up
high into His glorious realm, praise His name!
Consider the deaths to which He fell! At the last the deepest of all sorrows
crushed on Jesus. “My God, My God, why
hast Thou forsaken Me!” Jesus then
drank the cup He had asked to have removed.
He then sounded the depths of death.
The Father’s face was hidden from Him; He had gone as far as human
suffering could go. Sin and death had
veiled the Father’s love from Him. Sin
could go no farther in its brutal demands than just that. Yet none of this was unexpected. The Bible tells of One who was to
suffer. In the book of Psalms, you see
the cross casting its shadow down the ages.
There Jesus’ death in amazing outline is vividly pictured. Read in the light of prophecy, who can ever
forget the twenty-second Psalm? “My
God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”
“A worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people. All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn; they
shoot out the lip, they shake the head saying, He trusted on the Lord that He
would deliver Him; let Him deliver Him seeing that He delighted in Him.” “They gazed upon Me with their mouths.” “Thou hast brought Me into the dust of
death.” “They pierced My hands and My
feet.” “They part My garments among
them and cast lots for My vesture.” The
strangest thing of all is that Christ’s death by crucifixion is pictured here
and, yet, in David’s time, death by the cross was an unknown way of sending a
soul out of this world. It was left to
the Romans, not the Jews, to invent that horrid method of capital
punishment. The cross, the gambling,
the cries, the insolence of the crowd, the physical and soul suffering of
Jesus, are all pictured in the twenty-second Psalm. With gentle hands and sympathetic heart, we turn to the
fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. If the
twenty-second Psalm tells us of the cross, Isaiah fifty-three gives the reason
for it. Seven long centuries before
Jesus was born, in this fruitful chapter of Isaiah, we have Jesus’ suffering,
death, burial, and resurrection foretold and the why of it all. “He hath borne our griefs and carried our
sorrows.” “He was bruised for our
iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we
are healed.” “He made His grave with
the wicked and with the rich in His death.”
“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
Him; HE hath put Him to grief; when Thou shalt make His soul an offering
for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days.” What a description of what actually
happened, told in detail hundreds of years before it ever happened. Surely it bears divine evidence in the very
fulfillment of the validity and truth that the suffering One was the Son of
God, the mighty One dwelling here on earth to save and restore, to bear us up
on eagle’s wings into the glory of God.
The following words from the pen of the late George Wylie
graphically express the deep and precious meaning of Aquila—the Sign of the
wounded and falling eagle. He
wrote: “But this is not all, this is
not the end of the story, not by any means—there is something more wonderful to
come. A few years ago I was reading
from John chapter twenty, and I read something that thrilled my heart, making
me shout for joy as the significance of it dawned on my understanding. I could hardly believe it, but oh how it
thrilled me through and through. It is
the account of the time when Mary Magdalene went to the tomb where the body of
Jesus had been laid, and discovered it was not there, and she wept. When she looked into the tomb where His body
had been, and saw two messengers sitting there, one of them said to her,
‘Woman, why weepest thou?’ She said
unto them, ‘Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they
have laid Him.’ Poor Mary, the One she
loves so much, she wanted to be close to Him, even if it was only His dead
body. So she turned away from the tomb
with her eyes full of tears, and saw someone standing outside, and he spoke to
her and said, “Woman, why weepest thou?
Whom seekest thou?’ She thinking
he was the gardener, said, ‘Sir, if you have borne Him hence, tell me where
thou has laid Him, and I will take Him away.’
Then Jesus spoke her name. He
was just a blur to her as she looked at Him through her tear filled eyes, but
when she heard that Voice speaking her name—she had heard it many times before,
and it was the Voice of the One she loved, and when she heard it she turned to
Him and said, Rabboni, which meant, My Master.
“I don’t know what she was about to do, whether she was
going to run to Him and throw her arms around Him, or just kneel down and kiss
His feet; but I imagine she was filled with joy and beside herself. But Jesus said, ‘Don’t touch Me; for I have
not yet ascended to My Father, but go to My
brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My God and your
God’ (Jn. 20:11-17). How my heart
thrilled when I read these words. I
pray the Holy Spirit will make them as real to you as He did to me. He didn’t say, ‘Go to My disciples,’ nor did
He say, ‘Go to My servants.’ Nor, ‘Go
to My friends.’ No! This time it was something altogether
different, something far more intimate; a new relationship with Him. He said, ‘Go to My brothers.’ He was no longer their Teacher; He was no longer their
Master; no longer just a Friend; He was something more than that. Yes, He was still their Master and Lord, but
He was something more—He was their brother. He said, ‘I ascend to My Father, and to YOUR
FATHER, and to My God, and YOUR GOD.’
He was one of them. He is one of
us. He wasn’t going to ascend just to
His Father, but to their Father, and to our
Father, and to our God as well as His God.
I pray you can see this in the true sense of its meaning, and that it
will thrill your heart as it did mine.
He wasn’t going to ascend to God to present Himself as merely our Lord
and Saviour, which He is, but He ascended as our BROTHER, as human being; the firstfruits of the human
race. He represents us there at the
right hand of the Majesty on High. He
is one of us, one who has gone all the way through to the throne of God, the
first man to do so. It is wonderful to think of Him ascending to
the throne of God as our Lord and Saviour, one who is so far above and beyond
us; but when we realize that it is our brother who is up there, and He has gone
before to open up the way, how much greater is our assurance that we will get
there also. There is a wonderful
scripture found in Rom. 8:28-29. ‘Now
we know that for those that love God He makes all things work together for
good, for those who are called according to the Divine purpose. Those He has foreknown He has also
predestined to share the likeness of His Son, that He might be the eldest in a
vast family of brothers’ (Weymouth translation). Oh yes, we all belong to one family of many brothers, we are all
brothers, and He is one of us, our elder brother.
“Before the eternal Logos left the glory above He was
God. When He became man He stripped
Himself of His Deity, to become a human being.
After His resurrection and He had returned to His Father above, He did
not put off His humanity that He had put on, He remained still a human being,
still a man. But I want you to notice
something that He prayed for before He left this earthly scene. In John 17, when He was praying to the
Father, He asked to have the glory restored to Him that He had with the Father
before the kosmos was. I draw your
attention to His words, and want you to meditate on them. ‘And now O Father, glorify Thou Me, with
Thine own self, with the glory I had with Thee before the kosmos was.’ He was asking to be glorified with the glory
He had stripped Himself of, when He became a man. I want you to notice these words, ‘Glorify Thou Me WITH THINE OWN
SELF.’ He was asking to be clothed with
God, to be enveloped with Deity again, to be completely swallowed up and filled
with all fullness of God. He didn’t
shed His humanity, but He was going to put on the human being clothed with God,
with the fullness of the glory of DIVINE BEING. He is no longer God’s Divine Son, nor is He still God’s human
Son; He is now God’s DIVINE HUMAN SON, truly a GOD-MAN. This is the New Creation, not God and not man, but GOD-MAN. This is God’s man. This is God’s kind of man.
This is the kind of man God purposed from the beginning when He said,
‘Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness.’ And what our elder brother is now, we are
destined to become. We too are to
become just like Him. WE too are to be
filled with all the fullness of God.
‘That you may know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that YE
MIGHT BE FILLED WITH ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD’ (Eph. 3:18). We are partakers of the divine nature, the
personality of the eternal, to be clothed and swallowed up into the divine, to
be glorified with the divine personality as Jesus, our brother, has been”—end
quote.
Truly it is IN HIM, in His ascension, that we have power to
ascend into the Mountain of the Lord.
The victorious life of sonship is a matter of ascendancy. It has to do with getting above, and staying
above. It is a matter of altitude. The sons have eagle wings. Man was made for that. He was made for altitude. He was made for ascendancy. He was made to be above and not
beneath. This is why humanity in the
lowlands is continually wretched and miserable, always searching and seeking
for some reality beyond and above. If
you want to stay out of trouble, rise up into the holy heights of God and don’t
come down. If you find yourself in
trouble, then you know you have come down.
You can be beset on every hand by problems and pressures and still not
be in trouble. No problem is a problems
unless it is a problems to you.. No pressure has any power until you allow it
to press you. Christ is above it all. The saints are in Him. The saints are above. Stay were you are. Stay with your life.
Stay with the real you. Stay with that inner man who is risen with Christ at the right hand
of God (Col. 3:1). Stay above.
Defeat is to come down. You must
not come down. Your position is in
Christ far above all. Christ came down so that you and I can go
up. Hallelujah! He is the Eagle of eagles, and we are the
body of the Eagle. He descended to us
that we might ascend in Him.
To be continued. . .
J. PRESTON EBY