The Lord is progressively moving onward and forward to fulfill His eternal purposes for His people and for the world. There is a deep, hidden moving of the Spirit taking place within us at this time. This hidden work of the Spirit within us is beginning to change us, as well as things in the world around us. The Lord is making us a new creation people! What God is doing with us and for us now as a first-fruits, He shall also do for the rest of His creation. If we truly want to see the rest of mankind changed, restored and blessed with the Life of Christ, we will grow in Christ and in the knowledge and wisdom of the Truth that He is. We will earnestly seek to grow to the fullness of Christ, for our spiritual growth in the kingdom of God is the only answer to the many problems facing the world.

We refer to this time as a period of transition. It is this transition time, this overlapping interim between the old age and the new, which is perplexing to us. In our process of spiritual growth and development the Lord is leading us out of the old way and into the new. Yet the new, kingdom way before us is filled with uncertainty. It is a way we have not taken before, so we hesitate to turn loose of the old and fully embrace the new. Only by faith - pure, naked, unadulterated, and intangible FAITH - can we possibly embrace the new thing and become partners with God in fully manifesting His kingdom in the earth. At this time, God must have a people of faith. And He shall have such a people who will gladly abandon the old way and lay hold of the new, in spite of the uncertainties involved. If we could look back through the history of ages past, we might see that all who were called of God to initiate a new age in the earth were confronted with fear, unbelief and doubt. And they were mercilessly persecuted!

When we hear about the new way, the old way may still appear to be very real and substantial, but its glory will fade because of the new. The Lord is taking away the old, or the previous order, that He might establish the new. But it is the very nature of man - that which is within all of us - to prefer the old to the new. In His parable about old wine versus new, Jesus revealed our inherent nature to desire the old. He said, "No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better." (Lu. 5:39) The old is always better as long as we continue to partake of it. Having drunk of the old wine for so long, we tend to prefer it to the new wine. But when we once get a taste of the new, heavenly wine, or the new wine of the Spirit, we will turn from the old to desire only the new.

The present work of the Spirit is to make of us a new creation. When we are made a new creation, we will turn from the old to embrace the new. We can talk of being a new creation already, but as long as we desire the old ways of the church order, and cling to them, we are still living in the past; we are still part of the old creation. Jesus explained this truth, when He said, "No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But the new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved." (Lu. 5:36-38) God must make of us new wine bottles, or new vessels, to contain His greater, kingdom glory, which is the new wine of the Spirit. He must make us a new creation people; otherwise, we will continue to prefer the old ways. As long as we continue to partake of the old wine, we will live and walk in the old, continuing to propagate the dead ways of the past, which God has already abandoned.

The elect of today must be a new creation people who are renewed in their minds, and who have a new vision of God's plan for this world. Yesterday's vision and yesterday's methods will get us no where in this new Day! We must have a renewed mind and the overcoming faith of the saints who preceded us. It is written of the heroes of faith, "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice... By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death... By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." (He. 11:4, 5, 7-8)

These examples are given in God's word of those heroes of faith that we are to emulate. In each case, these people heard the word of God and then obeyed that word without so much as a sign or other evidence to confirm God's word to them. They simply moved and functioned by the living faith of God - by the same faith we must have to serve the Lord and fully manifest the kingdom of God in the earth. Imagine the faith of Noah! The Lord told Noah He was going to destroy all flesh by a flood, except his family, and that he should build an ark to save his family and two of every kind of creature on earth (Ge. 6:13-22). When Noah heard God's word, he obeyed: "Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he."

Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord! He was a just man and perfect in his generations. He walked faithfully with God and was proven obedient. So the Lord appeared to Noah and gave him His word for the new Day. To obey God's word required that Noah build an ark on dry land, with no sign of a torrential, flooding rain in sight. Noah was five hundred years old when his children were born. It was also at that time that the Lord told him to build the ark (Ge. 5:32). About one hundred years later, when Noah was six hundred years old, the word of the Lord was literally fulfilled and the flood came on the earth. Thus, for one hundred years Noah lived, moved, and walked by simple faith in the word the Lord spoke to him.

During that interim period of one hundred years, Noah faithfully labored to build an ark, which he believed would one day save him, his family, and the creation. With every stroke of the tools of his day, Noah was judging that generation. Most certainly the scoffers mocked Noah and ridiculed him for building an ark on dry land, without a sign or a wonder to confirm God's word, while he maintained that he was obeying God. With no rain in sight, the mockers had a hundred years to laugh at Noah and criticize his efforts. But when the flood came and the waters overflowed the earth, their scoffing and mocking ended when the flood waters overwhelmed them and they were denied access to the ark. For a hundred years Noah faithfully clung to God's word! And that is what we shall do also! We shall cling to our Father's unchanging word, believing that He who spoke it is well able to bring it to pass. Everything that now exists began with the Word of God (Jo. 1:1-3). God's word to Noah judged the whole world of mankind and was the beginning of a new age. When the flood was over, Noah and his family stepped out of the ark to see a new earth that was cleansed of the evil of previous times. So it shall be at this time!

We live in a unique period in the history of the world, as Noah and others did. For this reason, we are to be a people conformed to a higher standard - a people made in His image and likeness. The Apostle Paul also lived in a unique period. He was called to bridge the gap between the old age and the new. Paul was called to declare and establish a new order in the earth, just as we are. He was a religious Jew, trained in the old religious ways of the past. Yet he was uniquely called and chosen of the Father to represent the new Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to declare the power of that Gospel to the Jews and to all others who would hear him. Many thousands of Jews believed Paul's new Gospel, or the Gospel of Jesus Christ (see Acts 21:20). But, because of the radical difference between Paul's Gospel and the religion of the past, some rejected the new Gospel, which revealed the Lord's plan for the new age of the church that was just beginning.

New Spiritual Truth and Life Vs. Tradition and the Ways of the Past

So radical and new was Paul's Gospel, or the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that some Jews doubted his message and reacted in fear and hatred. Some of them said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live." (Acts 22:22) They hated and feared Paul so much that more than forty of them entered into a conspiracy. They "banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul" (Acts 23:12-13). The only thing that saved Paul from those angry, unspiritual, tradition-bound, religious Jews was that he was a Roman citizen and, as such, he was protected from their violence until he received a fair trial. Although we live in a less radical and primitive society, there will still be those today, both in and out of the church system, who will reject the new thing the Lord is doing now. They have been drinking of the old wine so long that they think it is still the best wine. They may think that God cannot improve on the old. Because of their unspiritual, carnal-minded and tradition-bound, religious stand, they will also reject both the new kingdom message and the messengers of the Lord. Experience has taught us that it is generally those who are the closest in their spiritual walk to the new thing the Lord is doing who will reject Him.

For example, during the wonderful appearing of Christ as the Latter Rain in 1948-1953, some so-called Spirit-filled Christians, especially Full Gospel, denominational leaders, rejected that appearing of Christ. And that glorious appearing of Christ had a profound impact on His people around the world! Instead of allowing the holy Spirit to guide them, those so-called, Spirit-filled Christians allowed the carnal mind of old Adam to dictate what they would believe and accept from God. Because His appearing and His new message then upset their religious traditions, the denominational leaders rejected Christ. That is the way of all religious leaders; it is the way of the flesh. It is the way and attitude of the old rebellious, unbelieving, carnal man, Adam.

Those who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God. (Ro. 8:14) All others will go the way of the flesh, receiving their instructions and guidance, not from the Spirit, but from carnal-minded preachers of today. Jesus said of them, "But if thine eye be evil (that is, hurtful, morally diseased, derelict), thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness" (Mt. 6:23). Unless we are enlightened by the Spirit and given eyes to see as God sees, our minds will be filled with the spiritual darkness of these times. An evil eye, or an unenlightened and morally diseased eye, will continue to see only darkness everywhere. But the Christ within will open our eyes and cause us to see new things in the Spirit and by the Spirit. Then we will see this great Day and Father's kingdom purposes being fulfilled all around us.

The Christ within should always be our guide. We should always seek His counsel and His wisdom, especially regarding spiritual matters of truth and life. To those who are walking in the Spirit, who are hearing His voice and obeying His word, Christ is our Teacher. He also is our Head, our King, our Way, our Counsellor, our Prince of Peace, and our Truth! If we listen to Him and not to the carnal-minded religious traditionalists all around us, we will receive all truth by which we shall be changed into His full image and likeness.

Jesus warned us of the spiritual strife between flesh and Spirit. He said, "These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They (the carnal-minded traditionalists) shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them." (Jo. 16:1-4) Then Jesus went on to explain the work of the holy Spirit, which would be given when He ascended back to the Father. He said, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you." (Jo. 16:12-15) The Lord has many things yet to say to us, especially concerning His plans and purposes for this new Day. And may we have ears to hear all He would say to us!

Some may not receive the new thing the Lord is doing now. Jesus said of them, "they have not known the Father, nor me." To know the Father and Christ is to know that the kingdom of God within us is increasing. Each aspect of Christ is increasing within us, changing us into His image and likeness. He who is within us is the Truth and the Life, and that Truth and Life in us must increase. If we are growing and maturing spiritually, we shall then know the Father and Christ, for He is the God of constant increase. We grow and mature spiritually by receiving each appearing of Christ, for His appearings are necessary to change us into His image and likeness. When he reached the end of his appointed time in this life, Paul said, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." (2 Tim. 4:8) If we love all the appearings of Christ, including His appearing in 1948-1953, and the benefits of each, receiving Him in each of His appearings that was available to us, we shall obtain that "crown of righteousness" reserved for us.

Paul began this chapter with this solemn charge: "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick (or, the living) and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (2 Tim. 4:1-4). It is at the time of His appearing in His kingdom that Christ shall show Himself to judge the living and the dead, as in 1 Tim. 6:14-15. And that time may be here now! We may not be fully aware of it, but the Lord may now be judging His people, by His Spirit. During His appearing to judge the living and the dead, He will separate the sheep from the goats and the wheat from the tares. He will reward the more mature ones who can hear His voice and see His kingdom (see Mt. 13:16-17), and will judge those who do not have ears to hear and eyes to see.

Jesus said, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." In that day, believers did not have the spiritual maturity we have today. The holy Spirit had not yet been given to them to bring them to maturity and lead them into all truth. But we have the holy Spirit in a greater measure within us now. He is within us now to guide us into all truth and show us things to come. Do not look to any person to guide you into all truth and show you things to come. The average person lacking the anointing of the Spirit is a stranger and a foreigner to the truth of God. Only the blessed holy Spirit can lead us into all truth and enable us to hear all the Lord would say to us. We are now in a most wonderful Day and time when there is much spirit-ual activity in the heavenly realm of Spirit. And much more shall yet take place, by the Spirit. Ask the Lord to open the eyes and ears of your spiritual understanding so you may know the precious things of God. Seek earnestly to understand the appearings of Christ in the past so you may be open to receive of Him today. Christ is coming or appearing to His own today just as He has several times in the past. He appeared then in the same manner as He left this earth and ascended on high forty days after His resurrection. (Acts 1:2-3)

The Appearing of Christ: not of Flesh and Blood

When Jesus left this earth and ascended to heaven, His disciples stood by and watched. Of that wonderful event we read "while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight." (Acts 1:9) What did the disciples see when Jesus ascended back to His Father in the heavenly realm of Spirit? They did not see His bodily form ascend to heaven. Rather, they saw a cloud receive Him until He was out of their sight. And since a cloud received Jesus, covering and concealing Him from the disciples' view, it is very likely that He ascended in His transformed, spiritual state. He left His bodily form of this earth to ascend the heavenly realm of Spirit in His glorified state, to be seated at the right hand of His Father in the heavenlies. When Jesus ascended, His body was not seen by the disciples, for He was surrounded by a cloud as He ascended.

The word "received," in verse nine, actually means to take from below and carry upward. Thus, a spiritual glory-cloud enveloped Jesus, took Him from this lower realm of earth and carried Him away to the heavenly realm of Spirit. And all the called and chosen sons of God shall take that same spiritual route! (1 Thess. 4:17) When the people continued gazing up into heaven as Jesus ascended, the angels said, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." (Vs. 11) Christ shall return again and again, not in a bodily form, but "in like manner" as He left this earth then: covered or clothed in a spiritual cloud of glory.

Christ has appeared and shall yet appear the same way He left this earth that day. At that time a cloud, even a heavenly, spiritual cloud, took Him from earth to the heavenly realm, keeping Him out of their sight. He has appeared in the past and He shall yet appear or come again and again in CLOUDS of great glory. (Mk. 13:26, see also He. 12:1.) Christ, Who is Spirit, also comes or appears now as the Truth (Jo. 14:6). Whenever we receive a new truth by the anointing of the Spirit, that is Christ coming to "guide you into all truth," and "shew you things to come." Christ also is appearing now as Light to His elect. He appears now as Light within us to dispel all the darkness, not only within us, but also in the world around us.

Then the sure word for us will be, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." When we are enlightened with the glory of the Light of Christ, we will no longer look to the darkness of the world. Instead of seeing gloom, despair, darkness, and the negative things of this world everywhere we look, we will see that the throne of the kingdom of God is coming to the earth (Rev. 3:12, 21:2). We will see that the power of the kingdom of God is changing us and everything in the world around us. May God grant that all who read these lines shall be fully prepared to see Him, hear Him, and receive Him, as He appears now in the Spirit and by the Spirit.

Our New Relationship with our Father

Great masses of people followed Jesus wherever He went (Mt. 4:25). But because He really "saw" those multitudes and their many needs, Jesus left them and went up into a mountain with His disciples. And when we really see the multitudes of the world and their many burdens and needs as He did, we will also go up to a mountain. It is not that we desire only to separate ourselves from other people. But we are ascending the holy hill of the Lord, which is the realm in the Spirit far from the fleshly, carnal multitudes. Then we will commune with our Father and hear His word of Life that will continue to change us and bless the world. We will ascend the spiritual heights of the glorious mount Zion, which is the spiritual realm of the Lord's presence, light and rest, to hear His fresh, new word of kingdom life. While at the heights of that mount, Jesus taught His disciples the principles of the kingdom of God. Even so shall we hear the word of our Father and the kingdom principles specifically for this new Day while we are with Him in the holy, spiritual mount, the mount Zion.

We grow spiritually by ascending the spiritual mount of the Lord, and by partaking of Him Who is our Bread of Life. By feasting among the lilies all this night until the break of day (Song 2:1-3, 16-17, 4:5-6), we thus come into a new relationship with our God. The most important thing in our walk with God now is not doctrine, or ideas, or philosophy; it is our relationship with our God and our Father. We are sons of God who are coming to know our Father in a new and living way, to establish a new and more vital relationship with Him. Perhaps many of us are familiar with real estate ads that emphasized the three most important aspects of a piece of property: location, location, location. But to us who are growing spiritually into the image and likeness of Christ, the most important aspect of our growth in Him is relationship, relationship, relationship! According to Webster, relationship is "the state of being related by kindred, affinity, or other alliance; kinship." There are different kinds of relationships that we establish with the Lord as we progress from babes in Christ to full-grown sons of God. And each is important in our walk with God.

We grow from babes in Christ, from little children, or "teknion" sons, to adolescent children, or "teknon" sons, and finally to "huios" sons; who are fully matured sons, given all the rights, privileges, characteristics, and the full authority of our Father's Name. There are also other ways to illustrate our spiritual growth. For example, we grow from the "Christ in you" state, to being fully "in Christ." When we were saved, the seed of Christ was planted within us. This is the "Christ in you" state of our being in Him. As we follow on to know the Lord, the Christ within grows through various stages, from the seed, to the blade, to the ear, and then to the full corn in the ear stage (Mk. 4:28). So also do we grow from seeing Jesus only in the flesh, to beholding the more excellent glory of the Christ, Who is Spirit.

Of the stages of our spiritual growth, George Hawtin has written: "An aura of mystery surrounds our being begotten of God, and because it is divine, it is totally beyond human expression. Wonderful as is this regenerating power of the Spirit of Christ within, we must ever remember that this blessed experience is only the hope of glory. When Jesus Christ comes into our hearts, this is not the end of the matter or the fullness of the in Christ experience. It is really only the beginning, as it is written, `As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.' John 1:12. Our justification before God, our knowledge of sins forgiven, is little more than a blessed hope of glory to come. The sons of God are the body of Christ, the sonship company which is the body of Christ. Christ the head and Christ the body together compose the fullness of Christ. Therefore `Christ in you,' the repentant sinner's experience, is the hope of a greater glory which will be ours if we are refined by much chastening and scourging which every mature son must receive that we may be included in the Christ body. That, to me, is the true meaning of the phrase `in Christ.' Christ in us is the hope of glory, but we in Christ IS the glory, that the excellency of the power may be of Christ and not of us.

"I do not wish to appear to be `splitting hairs' nor do I wish to invent doctrines; but to me it is increasingly significant that our Lord began His ministry as Jesus of Nazareth, then He is known to many as Jesus Christ or Jesus, the Christ, but Paul often favors the title, Christ Jesus. `Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins,' but to see Him as the Christ is to see Him as God's anointed, the One tested and prepared to take the government of the kingdom and to reign. There appears to be a progression, does there not, from Jesus to Jesus Christ to Christ Jesus? And I think the same progression is ordained to take place in the life of every believer from `Christ in you,' the hope of glory, to that perfect state of `you in Christ,' WHICH IS THE GLORY. My thought is that we should never use the term `in Christ' with lightness as though it were some simple means of salutation, but we should understand rather that to be in Christ is the ultimate goal of every Christian. It is the true glory for which we hoped. To be included in Christ, to be a true member of His body, the Christ body, is without doubt the great mystery." (End of quotation.)

There is a place reserved for us "in Christ!" There are many "mansions" in Father's house (Jo. 14:1-3). One of those "mansions" belongs to me and another belongs to you, so that we each become a living "mansion" in Father's house. The word "mansion" literally means a place, or an abode. And when we become a "mansion" in Christ, we are then fully in-Christed! The original Greek word for "mansion" comes from another, meaning a state, including relationship. And since our habitation in God is in the Spirit, we understand that the word "mansion" expresses our new state of being, or our relationship with our Father as His sons. We become one with Christ and in Christ our Head, to make up this vast and glorious temple or habitation of God, by the Spirit.

The Word of Promise Becoming Reality

I am well aware that some of this may be old truth for many of us. But what I am seeing is that God is now bringing us to greater maturity that we might be fully joined to Him in the Spirit. As I see it, the Lord is now bringing to completion the work He began within us when He saved us. We see signs of this in our own lives and also in the lives of others. He is completing the glorious mystery of His body, by finishing His work within us. He is doing this by bringing the distress and anguish as of a woman who is travailing with child upon us. When we consider the new Day in which we are living and the power of the greater reign of Christ that is now evident, not only in our own lives, but also in the world around us, we should be extremely joyful and happy. But we are not! Instead of rejoicing in the present kingdom work of our Father in the earth, we are burdened, sad and mournful, as if we were travailing with child. And indeed we are!

Sometime ago, Emily looked at me and said, "I feel as if I am weeping on the inside." As soon as she said that, I realized that was my feeling also. In the days that followed, the Lord opened the scriptures to us regarding the travail as of a woman with child. The prophet Jeremiah was given this word from the Lord: "For thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether A MAN doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?" (Jer. 30:5-6.) No doubt, many of us can relate to this prophecy. At a time when we should be joyful because Christ now reigns in a greater way, our faces are turned into paleness, as if we were burdened and with child. Instead of joy and gladness, we are travailing, trembling, and expressing some fear.

The sign that marks this experience as that which Jeremiah prophesied about is that "A MAN doth travail with child." This is no ordinary birth experience, for the word clearly states that a man, or a male person, is travailing with child. That "MAN" is the body of Christ, which consists solely of sons of God. In scripture, the terms male and female only designate spiritual maturity, not gender, as we think of it. Whether we are male or female, as to our gender, matters not, if we are called to become sons of God, we are of the spiritual, masculine, son company, who alone make up the true church, or the "ekklesia," or the called-out ones, which is the body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23). This is that "MAN," the spiritually maturing sons of God, who are now seen spiritually travailing as a woman with child, to bring forth the Christ-man, the Lord of glory. Do you feel that spiritual travail, as we do? Is the Christ within stirring in you and causing you to travail, but you do not know why? These are the identifying characteristics of that "MAN" of Jeremiah's prophecy!

That prophecy continues, "Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it" (Jer. 30:7). This is indeed a great Day! There has never been a day quite like this great Day! This is the Day of "Jacob's trouble," but he shall be saved out of it. "Jacob's trouble" is a unique kind of "trouble," as we shall see. The word "trouble" as used here, means tightness, as being in a narrow, tight place. It could refer to Jacob being in his mother's womb with Esau, or from being crowded by an opponent, or an affliction. Jacob's "trouble" began with his grand-mother, Sarah, and continued to his own birth. Jacob and Esau were twins, but Esau was born first. While he was being born, Jacob caught hold of his brother Esau's heel, who was being born ahead of him. This literally means that Jacob seized Esau's heel with the idea of holding the birthright in his possession. It was the birthright Jacob was after, not Esau. When his parents saw that Jacob clung to Esau's heel, they named him Jacob, meaning "heel catcher," or "supplanter."

In later years, Esau worked in the fields. On one particular day, he returned home because he was very tired. He asked Jacob to give him some of the "red pottage" he had prepared. (Esau was also called "Edom," meaning "red," from that time on.) Since he was the first-born, Esau had the birthright. But Jacob wanted the birthright, so he agreed to feed Esau if he would give it to him. Feeling as if he were at the point of death, Esau "despised his birthright" (Ge. 25:29-34), and sold it to Jacob for that "one morsel of meat" (He. 12:16). The writer to the Hebrews used Esau's example of a "profane person," as he was, lest any man fail of the grace of God and lest any root of bitterness spring up within us trouble us and defile many others. As sons of God, our Father gave us the birthright with all its many benefits and blessings, which shall be fulfilled in due time. We value our birthright more than anything else this world has to offer. We will not "sell" our birthright, as Esau did, for a lifetime of tests and trials have associated us with the birthright; and it is our inheritance.

Now that Jacob had the birthright, his father, Isaac, blessed him and warned him not to marry a Canaanite woman. So Isaac sent Jacob to Padanaram to take a wife of the daughters of Laban, his mother's brother. Approaching the land of Laban, Jacob came to a well where he met Rachel, who would be his wife. Finding Rachel to be very beautiful and desirable, Jacob agreed with Laban to work for seven years to marry Rachel. But after the time was fulfilled, Laban deceived Jacob and gave his eldest daughter, Leah, to Jacob for his wife instead of Rachel. Leah was the eldest, and it was not customary to give the youngest daughter in marriage before the eldest. So Jacob agreed to work another seven years for Rachel.

When Jacob finally married Rachel, he discovered that she was barren (Ge. 30:1). Because of the distress and anguish of her barren condition, Rachel gave her maid, Bilhah, to Jacob that she might bring forth a child for Rachel. When the second child was born to Bilhah, Rachel said, "With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed, and she called his name Naphtali" (Ge. 30:8). Obviously, there was some competition between Rachel and Leah to see who would give birth to the most sons for Jacob. Then Leah became barren, so she gave her maid, Zilpah, to Jacob to bring forth children for her (Ge. 30:9-13). Therefore, beginning with Sarah's barrenness, including Rebekah's barrenness, and through many events in Jacob's life, from his birth to the barren state of his wives, we can see that "Jacob's trouble" is a unique kind of trouble.

"Jacob's trouble" cannot possibly be the collapse of the world's systems. Nor can it be some great tribulation, wars and rumors of wars, or distress of nations, as we have been led to believe. "Jacob's trouble" has to do with his own birth and the barrenness of the mothers of Israel before him, beginning with Sarah, and including Isaac's wife, Rebekah (Ge. 25: 21), as well as the barrenness of his own wives. Elisabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, was also barren in her youth (Lu. 1:7, 36). This shows the miraculous nature of the birth of the sons of promise, but whose mothers were once barren. Therefore, "Jacob's trouble" is the barrenness of the mothers of Israel.

These mothers of Israel were to bring forth sons of promise. But they were barren! That is "Jacob's trouble!" And it is those given the promises who are the barren ones. Among the laws given to Israel for the new land, was this promise: "Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness." (De. 7:14-15) Other scriptures give promise of no barrenness among the Lord's people, but the best of them is found in Isaiah's prophecy. The prophet prophesied, "Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord." (Is. 54:1)

For the most part, the elect of the Lord have been desolate and barren, and without the joys and blessings of the marriage union, spiritually speaking. All during our spiritual growing and maturing process, we knew the Lord and walked with Him faithfully; but we have not yet known the travail of that "MAN" of Jeremiah's prophecy. Now there are signs which may indicate that we are experiencing the travail as of a woman about to give birth. A new and greater Life in the Spirit and in the kingdom of God is now coming forth. And that Spirit-Life shall come forth out of us! Although we have been spiritually barren and have shown no evidence of being "married," a spiritual travail is beginning within us to show that we are now "married" to the Lord, and that we shall bring forth that new Life of God's promise in His way and in His time.

The preachers of the church system have been bringing forth spiritual children according to the kind and degree of the spirit within them. They have been as "the married wife" of Isaiah's prophecy. Many of those preachers have been "married" to a denomination or a system of religion. Their messages were not the messages of the kingdom of God in fullness, but their word conformed to the creeds and doctrines of that particular system to which they were "married." And the children they brought forth became children of that particular denomination or system of religion. These are "the children of the married wife."

But Isaiah declared, by the inspiration of the Spirit, "more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife." We are as the desolate wife of Isaiah's prophecy! Those of us who have not brought forth, but who waited patiently for God's word and God's time, shall bring forth more children than those who were "married" to some religious system of man. We are "married" only to the Lord, and He shall make us to be fruitful in the kingdom of God.

We are "married" to the Lord, and have a special calling in Him. We have been faithful to the Lord and to our high calling in Him by enduring the sufferings of Christ. And we need not be ashamed of our high calling in Him. When we fully understand what it really means to be "married" to the Lord, we will become more humble and contrite. Now, we are seeing Him with an "open" or unveiled face, or without a religious mask of creeds and doctrines that might distort what we see. And in seeing Christ in a greater glory, we bow before Him in repentance and submission. We "have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." (2 Co. 4:2) As we continue to see Christ in all His glory with that "open face," we are being "changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Co. 3:18)

The writer to the Hebrews warned us of the "Esaus" who might be among us today (He. 12:14-17, 25, 1 Co. 15:34), who may not be faithful to the birthright. If there are those "Esaus" today, they are only doing what Father wants them to do! They are obediently ful-filling His purpose in the kingdom of God (Is. 54:15-17, Mt. 13:40-43). Paul described them, when he wrote: "the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." (2 Co. 4:4, 6-7) What a treasure our Father has placed within us! And what a responsibility we have in the kingdom of God!

Jeremiah's prophecy (30:5-6), was given for the time of Israel's restoration. The Lord promised that He would bring them into their own "land," and would also bring them/us out of captivity and would prosper us as He once did our forefathers (Jer. 30:3). This would all take place in those same "days" as when a "MAN" is seen travailing as a woman with child. The word of the Lord declares "for that day is great, so that none is like it." During this great day, the Lord said He would save Jacob from afar, bring his seed from captivity, so that they "shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make them afraid" (Jer. 30:10). The Lord then said He would be with Jacob-Israel to "correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished" (vs. 11). Thank God! He will not leave us unpunished and uncorrected! Our Father promised to correct us by judging and chastising us. Think of the multitudes who have never experienced the Lord's chastisements and corrections! They go on in their blindness and disobedience, lacking our Father's mighty hand of correction and blessing upon them at this time. In due time, all shall be judged and corrected of the Lord. But because we are as a firstfruits unto the Lord, we are being judged and corrected before all others.

God's word also promised that those enemies who devoured and spoiled God's people would themselves go into captivity and would be spoiled. Then the Lord said of His people in Zion, "For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after" (Jer. 30:17). Never again shall these words be spoken of Zion! Zion shall not again be called "an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after." With the coming of the kingdom of God to the earth, the Lord shall restore all things, beginning with His people in Zion. The barren ones are those who shall be restored first, according to Isaiah's prophecy (54:1-10). And when Zion is restored, the multitudes of other peoples and nations "shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten." (Jer. 50:5)

While on His way to Calvary, Jesus spoke to a great company, including many mournful, weeping women. He said to them, "For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, `Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.' Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, `Fall on us;' and to the hills, `Cover us.' For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" (Lu. 23:29-31) As we already know, the barren ones are the elect who have not brought forth much in the kingdom of God. We devoted our lives to the Lord, yet He did very little with us through the years - that is, not until now. Mountains in scripture generally represent governments or the combined power of groups of people. A "green tree" represents that which is new, fresh, and unused, while "the dry" tree is that which lacks the vitality of youth. Also, the Hebrew word for "dry" is taken from another, meaning to be ashamed, confused or disappointed.

The "Day" is upon us when the barren shall be blessed with fruit-fulness. It is also the Day when the mountains, or the governments and social groupings of man, shall be brought low, the crooked places made straight, and the rough places plain. Then, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together (Is. 40:3-5). When the governmental mountains, or other groupings of people, are brought low, kings, great men, rich men, chief captains, mighty men, the bondmen, as well as the free men, will then say to the rocks and the mountains, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand." (Rev. 6:14-17)

All mankind shall cry for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them. The mighty men and the bondmen, or those bound in sin, will try to hide behind the rocks and mountains of man's governmental and social structures (Hos. 10:8). But the "free men," or those in Christ, will have found their refuge or hiding place in Him, Who is the great Rock in a weary land, and in His kingdom, which is the greatest and the highest of all the mountains of earth. (See Is. 32:2, & 26:20-21.) Eventually on this great "Day," when His judgments unto correction are finished, the Lord will gather all nations, tongues, and peoples; they shall all come to see His glory, and shall gather with Him to the holy mountain of His living and abiding presence (Is. 66:18-20).

Then Jesus said, "For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" The green tree may represent the era of Jesus' ministry, which was the beginning phase of the kingdom of God in the hearts of God's people, which then was fresh, new, and unused. On a personal level, the green tree may also represent carnal Christians, who do the Lord's work in their own strength and by the knowledge of the carnal mind. The dry tree represents the elect of this hour who have been stripped and "dried" of the Adamic nature. The life of old Adam has been removed from us by "drying" us, making us ashamed and disappointed at our barren state. But it is the dry tree and the barren ones to whom the promises of God are given. Thus, we read, "And all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the Lord have spoken and have done it" (Ez. 17:24).

All the trees of man in the field of the world shall know the mighty work of God in this wonderful kingdom Day. They shall know that He has exalted the low tree, dried up the carnality of the green tree, and then made that dry tree to flourish. He has also made the barren, or the desolate ones, to bring forth one-hundred-fold, much more than those who were married to the religious systems of man. Our Head, the King of kings and Lord of lords, has spoken it and has also completed it. By the anointing of the Christ with the seven Spirits of sonship, the Lord is proclaiming "the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." (Is. 61:1-3) Wonderful promises are given to the barren ones who mourn in Zion. By the Light that He is within us, the Lord is comforting us. He is turning our mourning into joy, and is making us fruitful trees of His righteousness. Blessed be His great and holy Name forever and ever!

Paul and Emily Mueller