May 2000

A prepared people with a holy purpose in God are growing spiritually to become fully manifest sons of God. They are enduring the tests and trials of this life, which are causing them to grow and mature in Christ. They are not focused on the trials alone, but with each trial they experience, the elect are beholding more of the glory of the Lord. The Christ within is the hope of glory. He who is within us now is the Source of all our spiritual nourishment. He is the Provider of our truth and life, and the Sustainer and the Keeper of our trust, confidence and hope. When He is fully matured within us, that is, when His work within us is complete, Christ shall then be the glory! (Jo. 1:14, 17:5.) For the present, the Christ within is the hope of glory! By this, we can see that there is a depth in Christ that may be beyond our present experience. The more we grow in Him, the larger, more expansive and complete He becomes to us and within us!

During this new Day, we shall come to know the Lord as we have never known Him before. The prophet Joel prophesied of the present time, which is a Day of the Lord, when he said, "The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel." The prophet is telling us that when the Lord roars and speaks from Zion and Jerusalem, which are now realms in the Spirit, the heavens and the earth shall shake. We are seeing this take place now, if only in a small measure. And when everything is being shaken within us and around us, the Lord then becomes our truth, our life, our hope and our strength to a greater degree. We get to know Him a little better as a result of the shakings. We see a side of Him we have not seen before, and Christ the Lord becomes much more to us than we ever thought possible.

This truth is confirmed in the next verse, "So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more" (Joel 3:16-17). To know the Lord in a greater measure and as we have never known Him before should be the spiritual goal of all who hope to be transformed into the image and likeness of Christ. We must know Him more as the Lord our God. This means we are to know Him in a personal way as our God and our Father, including His nature and all His attributes and characteristics. We must know Him and be able to commune with Him as in a one-on-one relationship. And when we know Him and know more about Him, the spiritual realms of Zion and Jerusalem shall then become holy realms where only those who are holy as He is holy shall abide. No strangers are there, for all who are in those realms of glory are just like Him.

The Sovereignty of God and of His Kingdom

David knew the Lord and was able to commune with Him. He said of the Lord, "O LORD (Jehovah) our Lord (the sovereign controller), how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens" (Ps. 8:1). In this verse, David is telling what he knows about the LORD. The first "LORD" mentioned in this verse is all in capital letters in my Bible, while the second "Lord" has only the first letter capitalized, and it may be that way in your Bible also. The reason for this is to distinguish between the Name of God and a description of Him. The first "LORD" comes from the Hebrew, "Yehovah," which is Jehovah, the self-Existent or Eternal One. It is one of the names of God. The second "Lord" is from the Hebrew word "adown," and describes Him as being sovereign or controller. In some scriptures the word "adown," which is the second Lord in the above passage, is a reference to Christ. The Hebrew word "adown" is also translated "lord" and "master." Thus, the second "Lord" in that verse tells us that God is the sovereign controller of all things. The first "LORD" is His name; the second "Lord" tells us what He is!

Another scriptural example of this is found in Isaiah 10:33, "Behold, the Lord (He who is the sovereign controller), the LORD (Jehovah) of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature (old Adam) shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled." In this case, the first Lord is what He is, the second LORD is His Name.

The first great truth we should fully learn and understand about our Father God is that HE IS SOVEREIGN! In all that our Father does, whether in our individual lives or in the world around us, He does it with the sovereign might and power of His dominion. It is impossible to separate the LORD Jehovah from the Lord "adown," Who is the sovereign controller of all things. It is also impossible to separate the LORD, Who is the sovereign Lord, from His kingdom dominion. God is sovereign! That is what He is! Therefore, all that our LORD has done and will yet do in all the earth and in our lives is done in the sovereign might and power of His kingdom. The sovereignty of God cannot and must not ever be separated from His kingdom power and authority. God is sovereign! He always was sovereign and He always will be sovereign! Just as God is sovereign, so also is His throne and kingdom sovereign! When we have grown spiritually to know the Lord as David did, we will join him in exclaiming, "O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" (Ps. 8:9)

Jude declared of Him, "To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." By the Spirit, Jude affirmed that the only wise God our Savior "is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory WITH EXCEEDING JOY" (see Jude 24-25). Let there be no doubt as to Christ's intention for all of us! He will present us faultless, perfect, and holy before His Father with exceeding joy, or with the abundant and transcendent joy of the kingdom of God. And nothing can ever prevent Him from fulfilling that holy purpose!

No doubt we all know the story of proud and arrogant King Nebuchadnezzar. He was reduced to the level of an animal, as an ox eating grass in the field, until he learned that the most High ruled in the affairs of men and nations. When he finally came to his senses and acknowledged that God was indeed the King of all, he made this astounding statement: "At the end of the days (of his animal-like existence) I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and HIS KINGDOM IS FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION" (Dan. 4:34).

Let us now understand that the kingdom of God rules and shall continue to rule from generation to generation, or from age to age. The kingdom of God began in Eden with Adam and Eve. There are four necessary elements for a kingdom to exist. The first necessary element for a kingdom to exist is the people. In Eden the people of the kingdom were Adam and Eve. The second element necessary for a kingdom to exist is the land. And the land of the Garden of Eden fulfilled that requirement. The third element necessary for a kingdom to exist is the law, the word, or the principles of that kingdom. And that law or word in Eden was God's command, declaring that Adam and Eve were not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil lest they die. The fourth element necessary for a kingdom to exist is of course the King. God was the King in Eden, the One whom Adam and Eve were to love, honor and obey.

From then on the kingdom of God existed throughout the history of Israel. The Lord has ruled and reigned in every generation and in every age, although in a different way, from the time of Adam and Eve to this great Day. King Nebuchadnezzar confirmed this wonderful truth when his spirit and soul were restored to him. Thus, the kingdom of God began in Eden, has existed ever since, and will continue to exist until all things are subdued and gathered into God, and He has become all in all (1 Co. 15:24, 28). The present reign of Christ on the throne of His kingdom is so far the most wonderful age in the history of the world. Christ reigns at this time in a greater way than He ever has in the past, for He reigns now over all the earth.

The Saints - Reigning with Christ Over the Nations

This is also the Day when "the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever" (or for a long and indefinite period of time, Da. 7:18). Daniel was given this wonderful prophetic word along with other revelations of "four great beasts,...which shall arise out of the earth." One of those beasts had "ten horns." Without a doubt, those "beasts" and "horns" were nothing else but evil manifestations of the old Adamic man of the flesh, inspired by Satan. There are evil rulers and empires; but it is much simpler to see all the world's unrighteous confusion as being part of the carnal and evil work of the man of sin in all mankind, induced by Satan, than to try to identify each individual ruler and empire. Of the "ten horns" mentioned in Daniel's prophecy, one of them "made war with the saints and prevailed against them; Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom" (Da. 7:19-22).

The important truth for us to understand now is "the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." There have been many evil attacks against the Lord and His people. But when the Lord called us out of the church system, and also out of the whole religious, church order of man, He began a process of complete and total restoration of His truth, His life, and the things of His Spirit. And He began that process of restoration with us! Then, after He called us out of the church system and totally delivered us of the church order of the past, our Father invited us to "come up hither" to a higher spiritual realm. When we came up to a higher place in the Spirit, He then said to us, "I will shew thee things which must be hereafter" (Rev. 4:1). Then, we were immediately in the Spirit and saw that "a throne was set in heaven (or in the Spirit), and one sat on the throne" (vs. 2).

When we ascended in the Spirit at our Father's invitation, we then saw the Lord seated on His throne of power and glory. And what a wonderful revelation that was! The wonder of it all is not just to see Christ seated on His throne, but to realize that He has invited us to sit there with Him. We need to understand that if we are truly over-comers, that is, if we have truly overcome evil and the flesh, and if the Lord has revealed these truths to us by His Spirit, He would also invite us to sit with Him and in Him on that throne. Contrary to what we may have been taught, our reign with Christ begins with a negative reign. That is, our reign as overcomers begins with us, in union with Christ, ruling the nations "with a rod of iron." As overcomers, we have been given "power over the nations," to break their power, "as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers" (read Rev. 2:26-27). And the power of the nations IS the power of the carnal, corrupt Adamic nature and mind, which we are overcoming and putting under our feet. By our overcoming process, the power of the Adamic nature and mind, which is the power of the nations, is being broken!

The Saints - Given The Morning Star

When we have completed the negative aspect of our reign with Christ, which is to break the power of the nations (as in Rev. 2:26-27), or the power of the old Adamic nature and mind, we shall be given "the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches" (vs. 28-29). "The morning star" is Christ, Who is the Light of this new Day of the kingdom of God. By Him, the Light of this new kingdom Day shall dawn over all the earth, initiating the dawn of the new morning, when we shall be transformed and the kingdom of God shall break forth over all the earth. Our reign with Christ shall then become a completely righteous and positive reign, bringing an end to everything negative, including all warfare whether literal or spiritual, as well as old Adam's carnal and unrighteous reign in all the earth. The more positive reign of Christ and His sons shall then overwhelm the whole world, bringing the peace, righteousness, justice and joy of Christ and His kingdom to the whole world and to all mankind in the new morning of this great kingdom Day.

A new Day has come to the earth! The past dark night of man, with its legalistic doctrines and in-part truths and ministries, has passed away for us. Our God is being revealed in a new light! He is the "I AM" of the sovereign purposes of His prophetic word. In the past, many thought of Him as the "I will, if you will." Today He is the "I AM" who has said "I WILL" with unconditional and absolute sovereignty. Thus, it is written, "THE LORD has established His throne in the heavens; AND HIS SOVEREIGNTY (or His kingdom) RULES OVER ALL. Bless the LORD, you His angels (or messengers of God, including us, His elect), Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word! Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, You (sons of God) who serve Him, DOING HIS WILL. Bless the LORD, all you works of His, In all places of His dominion; Bless the LORD, O my soul!" (Ps. 103:19-22, N.A.S.)

As we stand at this crucial hour of the beginning of the new kingdom Day we should be aware of the mighty, sovereign power of the Lord our God. Sooner or later all shall bow before Him, acknowledging the omnipotent power and sovereign dominion of His throne and kingdom. In the great shakings that are now taking place and that will continue to take place on a universal scale and with greater zeal and urgency, we will all be shaken down to the reality of Christ and His sovereign power alone (see Is. 2:10-17). All else but Christ will be shaken from us as chaff is shaken from the wheat. All who continue to trust in the arm of flesh will be shaken down to nothing. Then they also will understand that our LORD, Who is THE LORD Jehovah, rules and reigns over all. This is the Day when Father's elect will REST in the sovereign power of THE LORD, our God and Father of all! Then we will also know with full assurance that there is no alternative to the omnipotent and sovereign power and dominion of Christ and His kingdom! Without Him all would be chaos everywhere and in every situation! "The Lord He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else" (De. 4:39).

Because He is sovereign, the Lord takes the responsibility for all the evil in this world. Our God and our Father controls all good and evil, measuring it out according to His sovereign purposes. The evil and the wrath of man that He allows are for a wise purpose in praise to Him; that which does not redound to His praise, He restrains (Ps. 76:10). Some things we think are evil have a good purpose in them and therefore come forth from the tree of life. It is only as we cease partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and begin to partake instead of the tree of life that we shall see these truths.

Furthermore, the great God and LORD of heaven and earth, whom we lovingly serve and obey, is not merely the absolute Lord of SOME things in the universe; He is Lord of all! This means that our Father is the controlling Force of all things in the whole universe. He is the sovereign and supreme Power and Controller over all, the first Cause of all things. He also is the sovereign and supreme Ruler, Monarch, King, Chief and Potentate of the whole universe. He rules over all creatures, all mankind, and everything else on earth with absolute and indisputable power and authority. He is autonomous, self-sufficient, independent and free of all other power and authority. This is what God and His kingdom is! Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

It is written of Him, "I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things" (Is. 45:5-7, see also 1 Sam. 16:14-16, 2 Chr. 33:24, 28, & Job 42:11). In each verse of this passage we quoted, the Name LORD, which is all in capital letters here, means the LORD Jehovah, Who is the sovereign and omnipotent Lord of all. The descriptive word "Lord," meaning sovereign controller, is not needed in these verses, for the entire passage describes the sovereignty, supremacy, and omnipotence of the Lord Jehovah, whose almighty authority and power is affirmed throughout the entire text. When God says, " I am the LORD," His sovereignty is then confirmed!

Bildad, one of Job's "friends," said of the Lord, "Dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in his high places" (Job 25:2). The word "dominion" refers to the Lord's sovereign rule. True dominion belongs to the Lord Jehovah. As sovereign ruler, the LORD Jehovah makes peace in the high places of His Spirit. And if we want that peace, which is His highest quality "shalom" peace, we must ascend to the high places in the Spirit, for that is where His real, true, peace, prosperity and blessings innumerable are to be found! You will not find "shalom" in the meetings, fellowships and churches of man, and certainly not out in the world. Our Lord Jehovah makes "shalom" peace only in the heavenlies of His Spirit!

This tells us that if we would be kingdom peacemakers, who would bring His peace and prosperity to this troubled world, we must do so in the Spirit and by the Spirit. Similarly, if we would bring any of the other kingdom benefits and blessings to this world, such as righteousness, justice, love and joy, we can only do so by ascending in the Spirit and ministering those kingdom blessings to the creation, by the Spirit. This is indeed the way of the kingdom of our Father, for His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom!

In His answer to Job, the Lord asked, "Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?" (Job 38:33) The answer of course is no to both these questions. Neither Job nor any of us could possibly know the ordinances (something appointed, a decree or set time) of heaven, or of the realm of Spirit; nor could he or anyone else set the dominion (the jurisdiction of a ruler) of the heavenlies in the earth. Only Father knows the ordinances of the heavenlies, and He alone is able to bring the dominion of the kingdom of God to the earth. Some have thought they could establish the fullness of the kingdom of God on earth with their church-order, Pentecostal works, but they were unable to do so. The work of the kingdom of God is a work that only our sovereign Father and Lord of all can do; it is a wonderful spiritual work that He has already begun to do in all the earth, by His Spirit!

By that same sovereign and omnipotent power and authority, the LORD made man to be all that we are. He made him/us a little lower than the angels, and then "crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet" (Ps. 8:5-6). The "HIM" of this scripture is the completed and perfected body of Christ, or the Christ Man, which includes Christ the Head and Christ the body. That "him" is the Manchild who is crowned with glory and honor, and who is made to have dominion over all the works of Father's hands. Our Father has also put all things under his/our feet! All things are not yet under "him" in fullness, but we see Jesus Christ bringing His many sons to glory to fulfill this prophetic word of promise (He. 2:6-10). When we fully grasp the wonderful truth of these scriptural promises, we will again exclaim as David did, "O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!"

It was David who also prophesied, "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee." Were it not for the hope we have in God and the power and ability we know He has, this prophetic promise could be perceived as being an impossibility. But it is in the realm of possibility; it may even be seen as already fulfilled, when we know our LORD and the power of His might. Nothing is impossible with God! Then David gives us further assurance of the fulfillment of this prophetic truth, when he declares, "For the kingdom is the LORD'S (Jehovah's): and he is the governor (or He has the dominion and the power to rule) among the nations." And this is the beginning of that wonderful Day of His dominion and power!

The Saints, or A Seed, Becoming A Generation

Then David, by the anointing of the Spirit, tells us how all the ends of the world shall turn to the Lord. He thus declared, "A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this" (Ps. 22:27-28, 30-31). Just a small remnant of sons of God is all the LORD needs to turn the world around and lead all the kindreds of the nations to worship Him. Our Father's one, supreme, sovereign purpose during the last two thousand years of outpourings, refreshings and visitations of His Spirit among the nations of the world has been "to take out of them a people (or a remnant) for His name" (Acts 15:14).

All that God has done during the last two full days of the Church age was done to gather out of the nations a small remnant for His kingdom purposes. It was not Father's plan and purpose in the past to save the world or to bring the multitudes into the kingdom of God, as He poured out His Spirit upon the earth. His only purpose has been to call forth that holy remnant who would do only and always the perfect will of their Father. Every one of those elect sons have been called out of the church system, and the entire church order has been removed from them, by the will of God and the work of the Spirit within them.

The Lord now has that small remnant, and He considers that "seed" or small remnant to be an entire generation. Although a "seed" or a small remnant, our Father brought this prepared people to greater, spiritual maturity. He also is endowing them with the fullness of His kingdom power and authority, as well as its principles, and is granting them the first dominion of the kingdom of God (Micah 4:8). According to the sovereign purposes of our Father for His kingdom that small seed is equal to an entire generation! It matters not how insignificant or unimportant we may feel or think we are, our sovereign Father and Lord of all declares that all of us together, a small seed or remnant that we are, are equal to an entire generation. And what God says about us is more important than the false opinions of the carnal mind!

That "seed," which has now become an entire generation, has grown in the Spirit and shall come forth to "blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit" (Is. 27:6). And their/our coming forth shall be the manifestation of the sons of God. They "shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this." Their declaration will not be by word of mouth from these lips of clay and tongues of flesh; it will be a demonstration and a manifestation of the righteousness of Christ, as those transformed and manifested sons of God are displayed before the nations, by the Spirit (Is. 52:10).

As they show forth the righteousness of Christ by that manifestation to the multitudes of this world, those multitudes will believe and will receive the Christ of glory, by whose Life and righteousness that "seed" or "generation" was transformed. The manifestation of the sons of God to the nations of the world will speak louder and clearer than all the combined words and messages of man possibly could under the previous orders of all the former ages. That grand display will be a manifestation of Christ, not of us! And His appearing in transformed and resurrected saints will release the whole creation from its long and painful bondage to sin and death!

Psalm ninety-seven is a psalm of the majesty, might and power of the kingdom of God. That psalm begins by saying, "The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about" (Ps. 97:1-3). The LORD, whose reign is mentioned here, is the LORD Jehovah, the Almighty One, Who is sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He is LORD of all! And we should all rejoice, along with the earth, because He reigns!

Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne. For the first time ever, a King shall reign with His co-kings over all the earth, in true righteousness, justice, peace and joy. "A fire goeth before him," which is the fiery presence of the Lord (He. 12:29), "and burneth up his enemies round about." The two enemies the Lord burns up and destroys are the devil and that old man within us all, which is the sinful, Adamic nature. These two are the chief enemies of all mankind! And when our chief enemies are destroyed by the fiery presence of the Lord, all other enemies will have lost their access to mankind, and also their former source of strength, power and ability, thus putting an end to every other enemy, including death.

The kingdom prophecy of Psalm ninety-seven continues by saying, "His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth" (Ps. 97:4-5). The word, "hills" as well as "mountains" prophetically refers to the governments of man whether major governments (mountains) or minor governments (hills). Thus, by "the presence of the Lord," which is a reference to the sovereign and omnipotent, Lord Jehovah, at the time when He is "the Lord of the whole earth," all the governments of man shall melt like wax, losing their power and authority. Man's governments, whether large or small, will then lose their control over the people of the world, for He who has all power will have replaced all that is of man and his corrupt and sinful order in the earth. But first, God must completely strip His elect of their trust and confidence in man's order!

Another prophecy of the ultimate and complete dominion of the kingdom of God is found in Psalm 110. In that Psalm, David prophesied, saying, "The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people (that is us) shall be willing (to do His will, and willing also to see His will done everywhere) in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth." Here again, the first "LORD" is a reference to the Father, the Lord Jehovah. The second "Lord" tells of Father's sovereign authority, power and control, and also refers to Christ, the Son of God, Who is the great King of the kingdom of God, "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Who only hath immortality,... to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen" (1 Tim. 6:15-16).

The Psalmist described the people who walk in the ways of the Lord and do His perfect will in the earth "in the day of thy power." He described their born again experience when he saw them coming forth "in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth." Therefore, the sons of God shall be born again, which is to say, they shall all be transformed in their bodies to come forth as manifest sons of God at the end of this long night of spiritual darkness, and at the dawning of the morning of this new kingdom Day. When they/we do come forth to be born again in that glorious new morning, they/we shall all show forth "the beauties of holiness"; to also manifest "the dew of thy youth."

One of Job's "friends" tried to encourage Job by telling him what he would be like after he had been corrected by God and all iniquity was removed from him. That "friend" no doubt spoke the word of the Lord for Job and for all of us, when he said to him, "For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear: Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away: And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday (sun); thou shalt shine forth (with the Light of Christ), thou shalt be as the morning (when it dawns)" (Job 11:13-17). Those transformed sons of God shall then be like the example given of them in the beginning. They shall then be full grown and matured sons of their Father. They shall become "the morning stars" (Rev. 2:28), or the stars of the new kingdom morning, who shall initiate or awaken the morning dawn (see Ps. 57:8, Amplified). Those "morning stars," who shined forth and sang together in that primordial era, illustrated then that which we are now becoming in the kingdom of our Father (see Job 38:7).

That first example of our imminent perfection and transformation given in Job 38:7 shows all the sons of God singing a new song TOGETHER in harmony and in unison. It shows us in our perfected state, when we are finally brought forth in the image and likeness of Christ. And I believe that "song" is a prophetic decree that will call the creation to come forth out of its bondage to sin and death. It will be a song of the triumph of Christ and the glory of the kingdom of God. This verse also shows that they all sang the same song in unison and in one accord, with no division or discord among them. What a wonderful work God must yet do among us to make us one! And He surely will do that sovereign work in each of us in the purity of the righteousness, peace, joy and harmony of His Spirit!

The Saints Perfected - In The Morning

To confirm the truth that many kingdom promises await the morning dawn, the words of David come to mind. The sweet singer of Israel said, "O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, BUT JOY COMETH IN THE MORNING" (Ps. 30:3-5). The Psalmist also told us when death and the grave would be conquered. He said, "the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning" (Ps. 49:14). The result of that glorious deliverance will be, "I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning" (Ps. 59:16).

Although the deliverance we desire will come in the morning of this new Day, we are not to wait for the morning to come. We have written on this several times, but it is worth repeating now. The Psalmist also said, "I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities" (Ps. 130:5-8).

At this time, when there are many voices of confusion in the land, the Spirit of the Lord should be the most important Person in our lives. God, by the Spirit, should be actively moving and working in our lives, for His glory, to bring us to the spiritual goal He has set forth for us. And His word should also take a predominant place in our lives as well. The Psalmist said, "I wait for the Lord, and in his word do I hope." The word of the Lord that we are to cherish is not merely the word on the pages of the Bible; His word also includes the word He speaks to us in those rare moments when His presence is very real, rich and profound. And the fresh word He speaks to us during those times of refreshing will always be confirmed by the holy Spirit in some part of the written scriptures.

Of course, God's word is progressive and goes beyond the church order messages as expressed in some parts of the New Testament. But all present truth, when revealed by the Spirit, can be confirmed by the words of Jesus, in the messages of the prophets, and in other scriptures as well. Read the messages of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and all the so-called, minor prophets. And if the Spirit quickens those scriptures to you, your soul will be stretched to learn more, your spirit will soar to new heights in God, and your mind will be challenged to receive more of His mind. We may never receive revelation that replaces the written, prophetic word of God as long as we are still in this body of flesh and blood. Truth to change us is in the written word, waiting for the Spirit of Truth to reveal it and make it known to us. His truth is also in our spirit, which is one with His Spirit, waiting to be revealed to our souls or minds, by that same Spirit of Truth. By the tests and trials we go through, our souls are prepared to receive new truth, truth we have never heard before. And that new truth will change us more and more into the image and likeness of Christ.

Like the Psalmist, our true hope is in the Lord and in His precious word of truth. We need not spend our days in this life waiting for the passing of time. We are not serving time, we are serving the Lord. Time is only a tool the Lord uses to test and try us. How many of us have cried, "how long, O Lord, how long?" We groan and travail as we wait for the fulfillment of God's word. Time is testing us like nothing else can. But we are not waiting for the new morning to dawn; we are waiting for the Lord. By His appearings to us and within us, we shall be changed into His full image and likeness. Then the new morning shall dawn in all the glory and splendor of our risen Savior, Lord and King. The morning will take care of itself; the dawn will come at the appointed hour. It is our responsibility to wait on the Lord and commune with Him regularly and constantly, by the Spirit of the Lord. As we do that, we will awaken the dawn, and will not miss out on anything our Father will yet do in all the earth!

There is another description given of this remnant people, the sons of God who make up the body of Christ, and it is found in the beautiful Song of Solomon. "Who is this that grows like the dawn, As beautiful as the full moon, As pure as the sun, As awesome as an army with banners?" (Song of Solomon 6:10, N.A.S.) What a wonderful illustration of this prepared people! They/we are seen awakening from this "life" of death to be born into the new and greater Life of the kingdom of God! This company of saints are growing like the dawn. As the dawn of a new day grows and increases from the low light of the first rays of the morning sun to the full splendor of the sun at high noon, so also are we growing in the Spirit from the darkness of this realm of the flesh to the bright light of the glory and the splendor of the resurrection Life of Christ in the kingdom of our Father. In our earlier stages of spiritual growth, we did shine forth and were as beautiful as the full moon. As we continue to grow spiritually, we shall become as bright and as brilliant as the sun at high noon and as pure and righteous as the Sun of righteousness (Mal. 4:2).

We are also seen "as awesome as an army with banners." This is not an army with swords, spears, rifles or any other weapons of warfare. This army of kingdom ambassadors are not fighters; they leave the fighting to their Lord and King. He alone knows the enemy, and how that enemy is to be defeated. This company of chosen, tested and tried saints of the Lord are equipped only with banners. Those banners point to, glorify and magnify their honorable Head, Lord, and King; it gives all the attention, praise, honor and glory to Christ, and to Him alone. Banners, from the Hebrew, indicates something to flaunt, such as the glory of their Lord and Savior, which He has given to them.

The original Hebrew word for "banners" also means to raise a flag, figuratively, to be conspicuous. And no one has been as conspicuous, as prominent, and as noticeable as this remnant company shall be when we are arrayed in His glory, and are shining forth as the Sun in the kingdom of our Father. The brilliance and radiance of Christ shining from us will show what we are! When we are fully changed into His image and likeness, an unseen, spiritual "flag" will be raised over us, declaring us to be transformed members of God's Christ, each of us just like Christ, our Head. Then, we will indeed have something to flaunt, not with pride or arrogance, but in the Lamb-like grace, mercy and humility of Him who died for us.

And what do those "banners" represent? The prophet Isaiah declared, "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward" (Is. 58:8). There is a time, or more properly, an event coming, that shall cause the Light of Christ to break forth from within us as the dawn of a new morning. That Light shall increase from the glory of the morning dawn to the greater glory of the noonday sun. It shall be the Light or the Glory of the Lord to be displayed as with "banners," which represent that Glory and that Light. Our "health" shall then "spring forth speedily." The word "health" in this passage means much more than we usually think it does. It literally means restoration to soundness or wholeness, to be perfected. And indeed, we shall be restored to wholeness and perfected as a result of the many changes God has wrought within us. Our perfection and springing forth to soundness and wholeness shall then be displayed as "banners" before us, behind us, and all around us.

The message of the prophet also declares that our "righteousness shall go before thee." This is a reference to our faces as the frontal part of us, which display the righteousness of Christ as "banners" that go before us. The world will then know that it is not our righteousness on display, but it is Christ and His righteousness. The multitudes will also know of the power of God by which we have attained to His righteousness and perfection. The Hebrew word translated "righteousness" in this passage also includes equity and prosperity. This shows that God always raises the standard above the normal and the expected. His righteousness is much more than mere goodness or rightness, for it includes equity, or justice and fairness, as well as prosperity.

Then the message of the prophet ends with the phrase, "the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward." The word "rereward" leaves the impression of a second reward, a reward that follows a previous reward. But the original Hebrew word "acaph," means to gather for any purpose, hence, to receive, take away, i.e. remove (destroy, leave behind, put up, restore, etc.). This word surely describes what the Lord has done with all of us in this walk. He has taken away, removed, destroyed, and left behind all in our lives that was not of His holy will and purpose for the new order of the kingdom of God.

Then, when He has properly stripped us of all that was of the past, our Father mercifully and graciously gathered the truths of this new Day, and revealed them to us by His Spirit. He lovingly gathered, put up, and restored to us the truths and the principles of His kingdom, and then prepared us to receive more of Him in the process. And no greater reward or rereward could be given to a people than the reward we have already received, and the rereward we shall yet receive. In the kingdom of God, we receive the first reward of His truth and His Spirit, with the assurance that we shall receive our final rereward, which is His abundant Life in glorious fullness.

The rereward also applies to the presence of the Lord that surrounds us as we do His will, such as leaving something the Lord reveals to us as being an "unclean thing." Thus, the prophet Isaiah declared, "For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward" (see Is. 52:11-12). How wonderful to know our Father as our LORD Jehovah, and as the sovereign and omnipotent LORD of all, as the One who goes before us and who also follows us as our rereward!

"There is One More Mountain to Climb"

The Lord spoke these words to me recently as I was contemplating my relationship with Him and my spiritual goal. When the Lord spoke these words to me, I then asked Him what that mountain was and what it was called. He gave me to understand that this mountain, which is the mountain all of us who hope to be transformed shall climb, was called "the mount of transfiguration." It is a spiritual mountain we shall climb on the way to our transformation. This mountain, or "the mount of transfiguration," shall be the most difficult of the spiritual heights we have yet ascended on this journey to our Father's fullness. Yet, we came this far by grace, and by His grace we shall continue!

No doubt, we are all familiar with the transformation or transfiguration of Jesus, which, according to most accounts, took place on Mount Hermon. That mountain has since been referred to as "the mount of transfiguration." Although Jesus appeared in His transformed glory then on a literal mountain before three of His disciples, the work of the Spirit to prepare Him for that glorious event took place throughout His earthly journey, just as ours has also. Jesus learned obedience by the things He suffered, and so also are we. Jesus learned the wiles of the devil while in the wilderness, just as we also have. Jesus learned to hear His Father's voice at all times, thus causing Him to do only and always His Father's will. We are also learning to hear our Father's voice, that we might do only and always His perfect will. These and many other examples in the earthly life of Jesus confirm to us the wonderful truth that we are also being prepared to ascend the glorious "mount of transfiguration," just as He did.

The Lord has His elect remnant in the earth today who are truly seeking the Lord and are believing for His highest and best. There are those who read these feeble words who are sincerely fed up with the constant parade of preachers. Many of those preachers have no other message than the tired and worn out cliches of the past, who offer the religious hype of the carnal-minded, or the mind-games of the new-agers, whose only purpose is to gather followers unto themselves. Our Father has His chosen ones who love the Lord with every fiber of their being, within whose spirit and soul the call to sonship rings loud and clear. They are the elect whose only purpose in this world and the next is to be conformed to the image and likeness of the first Son, who are willing to make any sacrifice, pay any price, and suffer the loss of all things, that they might enter into the fullness of Christ and be changed and transformed, just as Jesus the first Son was transfigured in that mountain-top experience.

Others may feel as we do, but we have had enough of the religious performances of man, of hearing and reading more sermons, and of the constant parade of "ministers" and "ministries." I long for the appearing of Christ, my Head, my Lord and my King, not merely to change me in part, but to fully transform me into His glorious image and likeness. I earnestly long to put on that heavenly, spiritual body, so this earthly body might be swallowed up by that more glorious, heavenly body of spiritual Light and Glory. And I know that, to attain to that heavenly, spiritual Glory and Light, I must see Him as He is. This is what I long for, and this alone is what I shall be satisfied with.

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