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The Overcomers – Part VI
On the first day of the
seventh month the Feast of Tabernacles begins. There has been a copious amount
of writing on the meaning of Passover and Pentecost, but ask any child of the
King what they know about the Feast of Tabernacles and a blank look crosses
their faces. Why? Because traditional Christianity has never experienced the
feast. Fortunately, traditional Christianity does teach what it has experienced,
but it would be difficult to teach something that the majority of ministers have
not experienced in their lives.
It is not ours to discuss this particular feast in detail, but you may
write us and ask for the booklet Manifesting
the Feast of Tabernacles which
deals with the Feast going on within you, and we will send it to you. About 35
years ago George Warnock of Canada wrote a booklet called the Feast
of Tabernacles which dealt with the Feast from historical and spiritual
interpretations. His spiritual interpretation shows Tabernacles being fulfilled
outside of a person rather than a spiritual experience within the individual. It
is a very good book, and can be purchased at: George Warnock Ministries, P.O.Box
652 Cranbrook, B.C. Canada V1C4J2. It may be best to read those booklets before
you proceed, unless you know about the Feast of Tabernacles.
Tabernacles begins with a day of rest (Leviticus 23:24)!
It is a cessation of all self-effort. Hebrews 4:10 states that some have
entered into their rest. Rest here does not mean death. Have you entered
into a place, a realm of the spirit, where you no longer struggle with
"things"? Such a place exists and some have entered into that place.
The whole Feast is devoted to a time of spirit-led activity. Perhaps, explaining what spirit-led activity is would be good. In the beginning of my walk with the Lord Jesus, I was anxious to do those things which would be pleasing and fruitful for the kingdom. Since I had read the Bible, I knew what things should be done. I went about doing those things – helping widows, orphans, etc. But as I sought to be ‘more spiritual’ I began to pray about every activity and see if it was God’s will that I do this or that. Slowly, I was bound by religiousness. But thanks be to God that Grace more abounds! Grace came in and freed me from that deception! I had become religious which is the opposite of spiritual. True spirituality is natural in that it is to be second nature to you, effortless. The hardest truth to come to live in is the truth of rest. In order for you to come into rest you must know that Jesus has defeated all flesh and self-effort on the cross. The first step of this understanding is mental. The reality of living it follows. That is why in this Feast of Tabernacles, we find in Leviticus 23:27-30 that some who have entered into the Feast still have to learn the truth of the experience, the life of it, rather than the knowledge of it. In Proverbs it states that we should get knowledge but in getting, get understanding (Proverbs 4:7). There can be no fleshly works, no self-effort, no self-promotion, no self-kingdom building, etc. All this is cut off during this feast. The trumpets declare it at the beginning of the feast with a day of rest. By the end of the feast there is no flesh because it is removed. Each
man (Nehemiah 8:15-17) is to build his own booth (that is what the word
"Tabernacles" means). As we stated in a previous section, Succoth,
where the Israelites first celebrated Passover out of Egypt, means booths. So
within Passover, we can see Tabernacles if we look for it. The feasts are not
juxapositioned against one another but part of a completion, a circle. You are
to build your own walk of faith – work out your salvation (Philippians 2:12).
This does not mean work it out by your own effort, but to do so effortlessly by
abiding in Him who will complete what He has started (Philippians 1:6). So when
these Israelites were building their own booth it was a type and shadow of us
building our faith within our vessel, ourselves. Now,
the Israelites took the following woods: olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and
willow (Leviticus 23:39-40 and Nehemiah 8:15). The olive speaks of Israel, the
people God first loved but divorced (Jeremiah 3:8). The wild olive speaks of the
Christians who were grafted in (Romans 11:17). Myrtle speaks of the suffering
one must experience as well as throwing off the old nature in the processing of
God. The Palm was used on the roof of the booth that was built because it speaks
of praise, and that is the sealing (ceiling) of the Lord. Judah, the tribe that
the Lord Jesus came from, means praise. In Genesis 29:35, we find his mother
stopped childbearing when Judah was birthed. Jesus is the praise of the Father
and no other child is needed. Peter 2:9 states we are a chosen priesthood that
shows His praises. We are a praise to God and He is the glory of our head. The
willow was used because it draws its strength from the waters of life. It seeks
out life and grows by the water. So should we. The
Israelites were to remain 7 days in the booth, which was built on top of their
literal house. Almost every roof in the Mid-East at that time was flat. Many
people slept on the roof for it was cooler there. The booth was built on the top
of the house. The type and shadow truth is that we are to ascend out of our
house (the fallen adamic nature, that sinful nature) and allow Him who is within
to appear on the outside! The
assumption is that you know in Whom your life is hid. These
people (Nehemiah 8:17) had come from captivity back to Jerusalem. The King had
set them free. Our King Jesus who ransomed us from our sinful nature has set us
free. They built their booths as a testimony, a reminder of their freedom.
Whether they felt free or not, they were. Whether you feel free of the fallen
nature or not, you are. They celebrated for seven days reading from the
Pentateuch. Seven is the number of completion, a number of rest, for the Lord
rested on the seventh day. Do you rejoice in your freedom in Christ? Are you
victorious in your walk? If not, you might need this third experience. As
one studies the ministry of Jesus we find that He did many things during the
Feast of Tabernacles, In these
passages are a number of different types of Sabbaths. The regular Sabbath
occurred from Friday at 6 p.m. to Saturday at 6 p.m. But there were special holy
days, such as Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. These special times also had
Sabbaths. As an example, Christ was not crucified on Friday during the day
(before 3 p.m.). It was a Sabbath, a special Sabbath. From Thursday 6 p.m. to
Friday 6 p.m. was the special Sabbath for Passover. Then it was immediately
followed by the regular Sabbath from Friday 6 p.m. to Saturday 6 p.m. Remember Christ was in the tomb three days.
Tradition teaches only two days – Friday night and Saturday night
coming forth in resurrection on Sunday morning. Church tradition is wrong. Hear
and understand. So Jesus was in the tomb Thursday night, Friday night and
Saturday night. In
Matthew 12 we find the disciples going through the fields at harvest time
(harvest time is when the feast of Tabernacles occurs). Jesus does not mention
to the disciples that they cannot eat because it is a Sabbath. But the Pharisees
are quite irate, those religious vipers, as Jesus called them. Jesus mentions that compassion (ASV) or grace is needed and
not the Law to the Pharisees. They could not comprehend that for their religion
was based on do’s and don’ts. What is your faith based on? Hopefully grace
and not legalism. Jesus
went on to the synagogue and found a man there with a withered hand. The hand
speaks of Ephesians 4:11-13). The man, in type and shadow, speaks of the Body of
Christ, the church. The body of Christ is not whole if the ministry is sickly.
The hand ministry – thumb is the apostle, index finger is the prophet, middle
finger is the evangelist, ring finger is the pastor and the little finger is the
teacher (ask for our tape on the Five Fold Ministry), is what is found in
Ephesians. When Jesus healed this man, He was trying to teach a spiritual truth
about Tabernacles. A little leaven, sin, which the withered hand speaks of,
keeps the vessel in death and out of wholeness. When
Jesus healed this man, the Pharisees spoke against Him (12:14). They preferred
the man be sickly in order to maintain order and religion rather than life.
Jesus came to heal, bring church order into life and grace rather than let it
stay in legalism. Are you manifesting Jesus, who you are in this world?
Or do you tell people that they need to change? Jesus was never critical
of anyone, but rather gave the opportunity to chose life. Another
time during the Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in the synagogue (Luke 13:10). Here
again He made a woman well and the Pharisees spoke against it. For eighteen
years this woman suffered; it was caused by a spirit and Jesus made her well. In
Luke 14 we find Jesus heals a man of dropsy on the Sabbath. How did He do it?
Jesus went into the very house of a Pharisee to eat, and healed the man in the
Pharisee’s house. They could make no reply (vs.6). He asked if it was Lawful
to heal on the Sabbath? The answer is YES. For the Law represents the flesh, and
in the day of the feast of Tabernacles all flesh is removed (Leviticus
23:25-30). There is no work, because everything is led by the Spirit. In
John 5:9 we find that Jesus heals a man who could not walk. In John 9:14 we find
Jesus heals a man’s eyes so that he can see. In all these cases Jesus heals on
the Sabbath: a hand, eyes, feet, total cripple and a woman. The type and shadow
here is so important. The hand, to do the work of God, is a symbol of having the
mark of the beast nature removed and replaced with the nature of Christ. The
feet healed is a type and shadow of the change of walk or lifestyle from the
fallen sinful nature to the way of Christ. The eyes were healed so that the man
could see spiritually rather than interpret Scriptures carnally or naturally.
The woman represents the soul, the mind, the will and emotions that were healed.
The Feast of Tabernacles brings everyone into the nature of Christ through
deliverance. We
find that the last day of the feast is called the great day of the feast (John
7:37). Consider therefore what Jesus said. There were 199 sacrifices during the
feast of Tabernacles. This number in Scripture represents it is finished. On the last day,
the great day, it is a time of rejoicing for there are no more sin offerings or
trespass offerings needed! This is why Jesus proclaims to the people:
“…from your innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.”
Note that it states rivers and not river. Now there is only one person but many
rivers. The one is the body of Christ. The rivers are the individuals who make
up the body of Christ! What a precious truth Jesus is stating when we all
realize we are in His nature. But even a deeper truth is that other rivers can
flow through you! Tabernacles
is a time of rejoicing at what God has removed. Numbers 29 shows that the
offerings required are decreased each day. Why? The need for offerings is sin.
The offerings lessened each day until there was no need for any more!
Tabernacles brings the full release. Is
it no wonder then that the Trumpets blew so loudly on the first day of
Tabernacles? We find in Numbers 10 that the trumpets blew for particular
reasons: (1) if two trumpets are blown, gather the people at the Tabernacle, (2)
if one is blown, the leaders are to gather at the Tabernacle (3) an alarm is
blown to tell the people to move out, (4) trumpets are blown to call an assembly
(5) trumpets are blown to call the people to war, (6) trumpets are blown for the
feasts, (7) trumpets are blown on days of gladness, (8) and on the first day of
every month, and lastly the trumpets are blown over (9) burnt offerings (10)
sacrifices and (11) peace offerings. Trumpets
were made of a single piece of silver. Silver speaks as a type and shadow in the
Bible of redemption. The trumpets were declaring a message of redemption. The
joy of being released from the flesh of the fallen nature requires a sound of
great joy. Such was a blast of the trumpet. These trumpets were made of beaten
silver, out of one piece of silver. It takes the workings of a master craftsman
to bring about a creative work. Just as the Pieta
of Michaelangelo was beautifully hidden in stone until he revealed it, so in the
lump of silver was the beauty of a trumpet hid. With God’s direction, the
craftsman hammered the silver into a smooth, long, beautiful trumpet. The
sound would be exquisite because of the work in creating the trumpet. We cannot
have indistinct sounds (1 Corinthians 14:7) because the hearers will not know
what to do. God is fashioning a people, a firstfruit people, a remnant, the sons
of God who will be the sound that the world hears. For God is making a manchild
(Revelation 12) into the glorious image of His Son. This will not be a sound
that is muffled. No, this sound will be seen in creation and heard throughout
the cosmos. It is a sound blown first in Mount Zion, the highest realm in God,
for it is declared out of the Holy of Holies, out of the fullness of God Himself
(Joel 2:1). A people called of God redeemed (Isaiah 43:1, Isaiah 62:12) by the
blood of the Lamb. The
first sound then heard of the Feast of Tabernacles is heard within you. It is a
spiritual sound that calls you to higher ground, a higher righteousness, a
higher holiness. The sound of the trumpet is not exclusive. It is a sound that
goes on for all to hear, but not all choose to follow a road less traveled than
others. For the requirement to be like Jesus is not an easy call, but an
exhausting one. To be like Him? To be like Him! What a vision and goal He has
called to us to when we enter Tabernacles. The aroma of Christ draws us,
envelopes us, and propels us on regardless of the cost which is total. For none
of the Adamic nature can remain if we are to be like Him. Our identity in
Tabernacles is totally hidden in Him. The trumpets proclaim liberty to the
captives. Liberation from Adam into the glorious liberty of the sons of God
(Romans 8:21). The Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant, corresponds to the Blowing of Trumpets. The ark
is found within the Holy of Holies. It is not part of the Holy Place. The Holy
of Holies represents the very life of God. To reach this level, one has to be
dead to the carnal nature (altar of incense removes it and this vessel sits in
the Holy Place right before the entrance into the Holy of Holies). There is no
darkness in the Holy of Holies for the glory cloud of light fills the room. The
Holy Place is lit only by the candlestick (menorah) and the lampstands that
Zechariah mentions. Thus, we have the fullness of Light in one place, the Holy
of Holies, and some light in another, the Holy Place. The Holy of Holies
represents the Spirit of God, and the Holy Place is a type and shadow of the
soul. The outer court is a type of the body. The room is actually 10 x 10. Ten
is the number in Scripture for personal testing. The number is squared speaking
of a perfect work.
The ark was a symbol of God’s covenant with the people. It was made of
wood, which speaks of humanity in the scriptures. The wood was overlaid with
gold, inside and outside of the ark. The wood was ‘crucified’ wood. By that
we mean that the person’s old nature was gone, removed. The visible life was
godly (outside gold) and the inside was godly – not a whited sepulchre as the
Lord called some! It had to be cleansed in order to be overlaid with gold, which
speaks of the divinity of God, the pure unadulterated holiness of God.
The ark had rings on the corner of it because it was moveable. The rings
were placed at the bottom of the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:10). It was the
only vessel that was lifted above the shoulders of men. This typifies the
headship of Christ over the body of Christ (Luke 9:58). The rings were made of
gold which speak of the divinity of God and the necessity of purity in the realm
of the Holy of Holies.
God is not bound by any method, theology, tradition, history, etc. Thus,
the vessel is a type and shadow of a person who begins as a babe, becomes an
adolescent and matures into a senior adult. The ark is moveable because every
day in the life of each of us is a new day to face with its situations. God
looks to lead the ark and the people of God in every new day. While we learn
principles from our parents, each generation is different and walks a different
path. Thus, as we enter the Holy of Holies, we are to learn how to walk after
the Spirit, far different from walking after the Lord in the mind or mental
realm. As Watchman Nee states in the Ministry
of the Word, “if there should be
any defect in your emotion, thought, understanding, heart or spirit, the word of
God will be damaged by you” pg. 30. To enter this realm means that God has
done a work within you to such a degree that you are able to flow with the
Spirit unencumbered by the flesh nature.
Exodus 25:11 states that there was a golden crown or molding around the
top of the Ark of the Covenant. This molding was found on the Altar of Incense
as well as the Brazen Altar. There is a sealing that goes on with your salvation
at Passover when you experience Christ as your Savior, Pentecost (Ephesians
1:14-5) when you experience Him at the Altar of Incense as the one who consumes
the flesh and offers the Christ in you as a sacrifice, and in Tabernacles on the
Ark of the Covenant when you are sealed with the glory of God’s cloud.
When Moses was born, it was a unique time in the history of the Lord’s
people. They were in the bondage of the flesh, which is what Egypt speaks of.
They were bound by the Pharaoh of the time to build his many buildings out of
mud and straw bricks. Day in day out they labored in the heat of the desert
making mud bricks. They were free when they went there, but now they could not
leave. They were strong in physical strength when they went there but now they
were weak in the flesh and had not the strength to work. Such is the bondage of
pleasantness of the flesh. It looks great and is attractive but is void of life.
All the newborn males were to be killed Pharaoh had ordered, because even
in bondage the women were producing more children and the Israelites were going
to out number the Egyptians. So Moses’ mother after a period of time had to
get rid of him or be caught which would mean sure death for both. As Exodus 2:3
states: “…she
took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and
put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.”
She hid him openly in the ark.
Moses was in a small ark, a boat-like vessel, floating down the river.
Openly seen by many and eventually picked up by the queen to be raised. His
mother was selected to be his nursemaid. Isn’t God good? The realm of the ark
is a special realm, a special spiritual place. Called of God, Moses would be
used and all his life protected because of the calling, the realm of the Spirit
that he resided or dwelled in. The ark speaks of a called life, a life filled
with divine purpose, fraught with the dangers of the world but protected in the
canopy of God’s love.
The situation with Noah was similar. He was a righteous man living in a
perverse world that was continually concerned with fleshly carnal desires. He
was a man called to build an ark (same word used with Moses) and it never had
rained before. He told the people there would be rain. Right. What is rain? Hid
in the middle of all the people was an ark that would save Noah, his family, and
many animals. Each time in Scripture the ark is used as means to declare a new dispensation, a new time or a new event to unfold. Each time the ark is used with a man, a spiritual man, who will deliver the creation in some manner. Well, in this day God is building an ark and a corporate man, composed of men and women, the body of Christ. The headship company of this body is the sons of God who are called according to His purpose and plan, lest they should boast. This body is to reveal Him to creation which groans for deliverance (Roman 8:19).
The Ark of the Covenant is different from Moses’ and Noah’s but not
in purpose. This Ark of the Covenant is of a ‘covenant.’ It is a unilateral
covenant. God declares. It is not contingent on man, but on God that the
covenant is fulfilled, because He swears by Himself, an oath that cannot be
broken (Hebrews 6:17). The counsel of His will will accomplish it. Everything
that was ever created was created out of God (John 1:1-3). He is Holy and none
can come before Him without holiness. He created out of the Holy of Holies, the
very heart of His nature. The Tabernacle was an earthly type of Himself, for out
of the heart, the spirit, one speaks.
God declared in Genesis 6:18 to Noah that His covenant was with Noah, the
one called, and that Noah was to come into the ark. Yes, we are to come into the
Ark of the Covenant also. Enter in until the indignation is overpast (Isaiah
26:20). Enter in until all carnality is removed. For we are alive in Him, and
that removes the old.
What
was in the ark?
Now, within the Ark of the Covenant were three items: the rod of Aaron,
the jar with the hidden manna and the tablets of stone. All of these are
important types and shadows to us. But when the writer of Hebrews mentions the
ark, he mentions that these items are no longer there except for the tablets of
stone. This is very significant to us. Why were the other two items missing?
Aaron’s rod was in the Ark of the Covenant. You remember the story of
the Old Testament when all the elders, the leaders of the twelve tribes,
questioned the choice of Moses concerning Aaron. In fact, these leaders were not
questioning Moses really but God. So, God gave a sign to them. Each was to take
his rod/staff and place it with the others. God would select. God had already
selected. He was just going to select the same again in a dramatic way that the
leaders would easily understand, since they did not accept Moses’ statements.
The almond rod of Aaron budded, that is, it grew leaves and fruit.
The leaders accepted this dramatic action by God as proof of Aaron’s
choice. However, this rod is omitted in the Ark of the Covenant. Why? The reason
is that the rod represents man’s ability to rule and be in control. The rod
represents judgment and selection one above another. But in the Holy of Holies
this is not allowed. For there will be no man in control, no carnal nature, etc.
The one in control is the Spirit (as many as are led by the Spirit they are the
sons of God – Romans 8:14). Every man shall know Him from the least to the
greatest and have no need for any man (Adamic, fallen nature man) to teach them
(Hebrews 8:11).
God removed Aaron’s rod because his was a passing order. The new order
was after Melchizedek (see our message on Melchizedek). In the way of the
Kingdom, the Spirit reigns in the individual and others recognize it because of
its authority and humility worked in the individual. The truly spiritual person
has no desire to rule, and that is one quality that qualifies him to rule!
The second piece missing from the Ark of the Covenant is the earthen jar
overlaid with gold inside and outside, filled with the hidden manna which came
from the time in the Wilderness when God fed the millions of people directly
from the sky with something akin to coriander seed. Why was the manna removed?
First, the jar was made of clay. Clay, from the earth, represents the
earth nature of man. The jar overlaid with gold inside and outside represents
the redemptive work God has done for us through Christ Jesus. The old nature,
that fallen nature is removed by the blood of Christ. There can be no fallen
nature in the Holy of Holies. It must be spirit-led and walking in the inner
man, the new creature in Christ, not the old nature.
The one thing that remained in the Ark of the Covenant was the Decalogue,
the Ten Commandments. For a complete explanation, write for our audio cassette
tape on the Ten Commandments. As we know from our traditional church upbringing,
the Ten Commandments were something we were supposed to keep. An effort that was
impossible, was it not? Somewhere along the way you did not or could not keep
all ten for very long. Yet, try as we might we failed.
One cannot keep the Ten Commandments. It is impossible for the fallen
nature to keep the Commandments. The
Adamic nature cannot do it. Some would question what the “Law” is doing in
the Holy of Holies. But the real truth of the matter is that the Ten
Commandments are not a “law” in the truest sense. Let me explain. One needs
to keep the flesh, the carnal nature, controlled if one is not in Christ. The
“eye for an eye” concept is one way of doing that. But the Ten Commandments
were spiritual and not carnal commandments like “an eye for an eye.”
Take the first commandment for an example. “Thou shall have no other gods before me.” The Hebrew people
took that to mean icons, grove worship, temples to gods, etc. They destroyed all
these so that there would only be one temple to the Holy One of Israel. But that
was on a natural plane. People could sneak and worship these idols, which is
what Jacob’s wife did by bringing her father’s icons with her when she left
home.
When one spiritualizes the Ten Commandments, a whole new depth of meaning
comes to light. Having no other gods before you means not worshipping self. For
the Adamic nature always places itself above God. In fact, the Adamic nature is
very religious! It goes to church, tries to live a Christian life, doesn’t
smoke, drink, lie etc. and feels it is Christian. That is a false god! But it
gets worse. Many born again Christians still serve the same god of self by
trying to act like what a Christian should act like (whatever that means!) and
not walking in growing grace. Many are the saints that still fail trying to keep
the Ten Commandments just as much as they did before they experienced salvation.
Why? Because they do not know that the old nature was removed at salvation and
that they are a new creation growing in Christ, and because they are a new
creation they should focus on growing in Him and not doing of things. But the
church system as a whole keeps the saint bound to the doing of things.
Here is another example of the Ten Commandments to make clear what we are
trying to say. "Thou shall not commit adultery." This is another
commandment. Many think that this means having a sexual relation with someone
other than your spouse. (Fornication, by the way, is having sexual relations
outside of marriage). So, they remain pure in the natural although their desire
is burning within their mind. Whether committed in the natural or done in the
mind, it is the same. But the Ten Commandments are not just written about
physical adultery. The Ten Commandments are also about spiritual adultery.
Spiritual adultery is having a relationship with a false god – perhaps self.
How so?
Have you ever questioned whether you need to get together with the
brethren? Then because there is a movie
on, you decide to stay home. Shortly thereafter you feel guilty. False religion
makes you feel guilty. When you are in Christ you are free to stay home or go. If
you go because you should, that is false religion. If you go because you
have the liberty and want to, that is true Christianity.
Spiritual adultery is not easily spotted by the individual because it is
so subtle. If your children are the center of your life, that is spiritual
adultery and failure to walk in the Ten Commandments. Notice I said walk. For if
you are in Christ you can keep all the commandments without a struggle, with
ease, but if you are identifying yourself with Adam, that fallen nature, then
the Ten Commandments are a seemingly insurmountable mountain to keep.
Persons who have truly entered the Holy of Holies walk the Ten Commandments out
in their life because they are in Him.
Adultery, literal/physical or spiritual is not possible because the
person recognizes his life is in God. Some have in the past walked in that
victorious place. Some do now and all will in the future.
Thus, the Ten Commandments remain not as a sign of the Old Testament
“Law” but rather as a way of life, a lifestyle manifested and lived
out by some.
One could look at each of the other eight commandments and draw spiritual
parallels. But the key is that the Commandments are found in the Holy of Holies,
and that one can live in that realm and manifest the fulfillment of those
Commandments in their Life. Christ did. Therefore since we are in Him, we can
also through Him and not in ourselves. My Name
Can you imagine that? Receiving the name of the Lord? What does it mean?
The whole verse reads as follows: “He
who overcomes, I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will no more
go out from it anymore; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the
name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven
from My God and My new name.” The
verse is filled with delightful dainties of God.
Foremost of importance is that when one enters this realm you do not
leave it. Well GLORY! For in Pentecost you have great days in God and then
plummet to the pits of despair. That realm is like a yo-yo sometimes. But in
this realm there is no more death working. You are in a realm of life. This
realm will not be done away with nor can anything pull you down out of that
realm. It seems that 1 John 5:18 is fulfilled as the Amplified Bible states it
this way: “…the
One Who was begotten of God carefully watches over and protects him –
Christ’s divine presence within him preserves him against the evil – and the
wicked one does not lay hold (get a grip) on him or touch [him].”
John goes on to say in 1 John 2:13 about the young men:
“…I am writing you young men because you have overcome the evil one….”
You see these saints remained in a realm, a place of victory where the enemy
cannot touch them. Even Jesus was a in a place where the enemy could not remove
Him. It is because of Jesus that these men in the early church walked the
victorious life – not waiting to get to heaven as the church teaches. They
walked it right then in the first century. So what about you and me? Can we walk
in a victorious realm all the time? Yes. Let us do it. Let us remain in
Tabernacles. There is no reason to leave. If anyone would tell you it is a place
for the future, tell them your future is now. For what we do today creates our
tomorrows.
The greatness of these words must not be missed. While the whole Bible
ought to be ‘red letter’ for it all is inspired of God and is His voice,
nevertheless, the ‘red-letters’ of this verse catch the eye because it is
the voice of the Lord speaking. He states that the overcomer will not
go out anymore. This is a place
of rest, even as the trumpets have declared. A place of no more struggles. A
place of peace.
He will make you a pillar in the temple of God, if you are an overcomer
of the sixth level. What does that mean to you and me? First, we must know
beyond a shadow of a doubt that each individual is the temple of God (1
Corinthians 3:17, 6:19). But each individual is a part of the corporate
expression, that spiritual family (no denominations here), the body of Christ.
God makes the overcomer the pillar of the temple. It is perhaps the most important
part in many ways.
In Solomon’s temple (2 Chronicles 3:17) there were two main pillars
which supported all the building, but especially the roof. These two pillars had
names – Jachin and Boaz. Jachin meaning that ‘God will establish’ and Boaz
meaning ‘strength.’ It is said that these two pillars were overlaid with
gold and that when the sun came up in the east and shined towards them that the
rays would bounce off the gold. Since these were on a high hill in Jerusalem, it
is said the light would be seen 100 miles outside of Jerusalem as it flashed.
Oh, what a glorious sight in the natural but a beautiful sight in the spirit.
For it is the overcomers who reflect the nature of the Son over the Land and
give hope to the world. The world cheers every time for the person who
overcomes.
In Isaiah 19:19 we find a pillar set in the middle of the land and on the
edge of it. Contradiction? No. For Egypt at one time was Egypt and the Sudan. It
was called upper and lower Egypt. Well at the dividing line between the two
areas a pyramid was built. A pillar, if you will. God has His pillars, those
conformed to His image who stand as the demarcation line between the flesh and
the Spirit.
To become a pillar in the temple, one must be like Jacob. He overcame
many obstacles in His life (see our booklet Who is Jacob?). He overcame his own
flesh nature, Esau his brother, the deceitfulness of His mother, the guilt of
lying to his father, etc. It was along this path of life that three times
he set a pillar. Each milestone a special place of remembrance for him in his
walk with God.
First, in Genesis 28:18, he laid down his head on a stone (the chief
corner stone?). When he awoke in the morning, he stated that he had met God
there. It became a sacred place to him, a remembrance. So he took the stone on
which his head laid and raised it up as a marker, a milepost in his life. He
renamed the place Bethel which
means: "house of God." Jesus looks for a place to lay His head
(Matthew 8:20). Jacob in reality gave up his headship that day deciding no
longer to be the captain of his soul -–giving the Lord (Christ) the headship.
Jacob became spiritual that day, but not completely. He went on with his
life and met the woman of his dreams but a father-in-law of his nightmares. The
man cheated him all the time, but God blessed Jacob in spite of his
father-in-law. When they separated Laban was quite upset with Jacob because he
was losing his daughters, his sheep etc. So a pillar was placed between them as
a division and a sign (Genesis 31:45, 52). This was the second pillar in
Jacob’s life. Now Jacob learned a lesson from Laban – shrewdness of mind is
not acceptable to God. The carnal mind although brilliant still comes from the
tree of knowledge of good and evil. Jacob now learned to depend on the mind of
Christ, or God.
But to be a pillar in the temple of God takes even more and so we come to
Jacob’s third pillar experience. In some sense he returns to the first pillar
location and has another experience. Just as Passover celebrated by the Hebrews
as they came out of Egypt was done at Succoth, which means booths (Tabernacles),
so we find the full circle with Jacob (Genesis 35:14). Here we find a drink
offering being poured out on the pillar. Was not Jesus poured out for us? Are we
not to be poured out for others? Here we find oil being placed on the pillar.
Was not Jesus the Christ (Greek word means anointed) of God? Jacob renamed the
place El Bethel, meaning God of the House of God. He had surrendered all that he
was to the working of the Lord that the Lord would be all in all in him.
To be a pillar in the temple of God means that you have had the three
experiences of Jacob or experienced the three feasts we are writing about. When
Christ becomes your life, when you are able to keep the Ten Commandments because
you are living in Him and there is no desire to do anything else, then you will
be overlaid with gold as the pillars were in Solomon’s Temple, the very
divinity of Christ in this life. Then you will be given the place of honor
because you have identified with the crucifixion of Christ.
In Exodus 24:4 we find that Moses and not the elders built a pillar (some
translations say altar but the word in the Hebrew is pillar) to the Lord. Only
the Shepherd can do it! Only Christ in you can build you as an altar, as a
pillar for God. It is not something you can do for God. It is something God can
do for you because He loves you! He wants you to be an overcomer, so He makes it
possible in your life.
Now the overcomer receives Christ's new name. What is that? Some
interesting things about the New Testament. When the phrase "Jesus
Christ" is used by Paul it refers to the man, but when the phrase
"Christ Jesus" is used by Paul it refers to the ascended Lord. What is
the new name of Jesus? The key is the word ‘name’ which can be defined as
the ‘nature of.’ The name is not a specific name but refers to the character
of God – holy, righteous, loving, etc. When you put on the name of God you are
putting on His nature, character. So when John writes here he is speaking of the
overcomer revealing the very character of God.
What is the New Jerusalem? It is not a literal city. Revelation 21:9
says, "Come I’ll show you the bride," and in verse 10 the New
Jerusalem is shown. Scripture interprets itself. The New Jerusalem is the bride
of Christ – the church, that corporate body of believers. Here in Revelation
3:12 it states that the New Jerusalem is coming down out of heaven. In Hebrews
12:22-23, we find the New Jerusalem is the mother of us all (Galatians 4:26). It
is a spiritual realm of all the saints joined together, walking together, in one
purpose, one mind. That is why Paul was encompassed about by the cloud of
witnesses – he was one mind with them in the Lord. He saw the heavenly
Jerusalem.
Oh, to walk in the spirit, to have His name, to be in the spiritual city
of my God, to have the name of my God written on my forehead, a seal of His
nature. Let us enter this sixth level of overcoming. SUMMARY
God does nothing unless He reveals it first to His prophets (Amos 3:7).
It is His prophets that declare a new thing or the workings of God. The feast of
Tabernacles begins with a blast of the Trumpets. While in the time of the Old
Testament it was a literal trumpet, today it is a spiritual one. Do you hear the
sound? It is a word of life being proclaimed unto all levels of mankind. In the
1940’s it was “Come out of her my people” but now at the dawn of the
Millennial it is “Come unto Me.” There
is a sound coming forth from the vessels of God calling people to come home. The
call is to return unto Mt Zion, the place where Adam fell from – it is not
external but within. God has fashioned a people to be the trumpet, the
messenger, the declarer, for people to come home, to be engathered unto God
which is what the word Tabernacles means.
God has called a people, the overcomers, to be the revelation of the Ark
of the Covenant. To reveal to people how to live the Ten Commandments and
manifest the life of God found in the Holy of Holies. There are people who did
so in the past and are doing it today. They live in His presence, but the world
does not know it, even as the world did not know who Jesus was because He looked
like one of them. Have you seen the overcomers? Are you one of them living in
the realm of victory, above the enemy, secured by God (1 John 5:18)? Aspire to
it if you are not yet there because it is life indeed.
Many of Christendom are concerned about the mark of the beast. Ha! You
were born with the beast nature and it is Christ who removes it when you are
saved. Your life is hid with God in Christ. Believe it. Know it. It is true
regardless of the fear peddlers who call themselves Christians. How is your
sealing in the Lord coming along? Have you been sealed enough to receive His
name and the name of His God, the Father? If you're on that path, press harder
for the high prize in Christ Jesus! For you shall be like Him (1 John 3:2). |
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