The Overcomers – Part VII

There are many who believe that we live in the “letters” of the Bible, meaning the New Testament in general and in particular the letters written to the churches. Some, therefore, denigrate the Old Testament and even the Gospels. However, we must realize that the writers of the letters, as well as the writers of the Gospels, constantly refer to the Old Testament as a source and interpret the Old Testament with Christian thought, rather than Hebrew thought. Studying the atonement in the Old Testament with the understanding of Jesus’ work and life, brings alive even in more detail the depth of truth and life in Christ. The things in the Old Testament were written for our edification and were in type and shadow (Romans 15:4, 1 Corinthians 10:6-11). We cannot truly see the Old Testament correctly unless we see it through Jesus, and as we get ‘into the minds’ of the New Testament writers. If we were to study the Old Testament without our personal experience of Christ as our Savior, we would not study it correctly. This was evident with Saul before he became Paul. So let us rejoice in the grace bestowed upon us by Christ Jesus who interprets the Old Testament for us, as He leads us by His Spirit.

The ‘Day of Atonement’ has been commonly interpreted: at – one – ment with God. This is not what the Scripture means at all. Many are the ministers that have mutilated such a precious truth by failing to grasp the depth of the Atonement of Christ. It has never meant at – one – ment with God. It is far more powerful than that. God is not bringing us to a joint harmony with Him in the Atonement, like two long lost friends embracing each other. No, He is offering Himself for us, in place of us. We deserve to die, but He died for us. This is the true Atonement. It is His death, His sacrifice, that brings us into the presence of the Lord.

            The first place that atonement occurs in the Scriptures as atonement is Exodus 29:1. Here we find the Hebrew word kaphar {kaw-far'}. It has been translated as: atonement, purge, make atonement, make reconciliation, cover over with pitch, propitiate. This same word is found in Genesis 6:14 where it states that the ark of Noah was covered over with pitch. Atonement covers both the inside and the outside.

The work of Jesus on the cross covers both the inside and the outside of the believer – your past and the future. He forgives your past and makes your previous sins as though they never were and covers all future sins by the shedding of His blood and the redemption that He is. He appeased, that is pacified, the requirement of sin. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Death is the result of sin. He destroyed the wages of sin by being obedient to God – God desired obedience rather than sacrifice. Thus, we receives the wages of eternal life (John 4:36) because of His propitiation of our sins.

The reconciliation of mankind is founded upon the need for cleansing from sin. He has given us the ministry of reconciliation, Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:18 “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” The belief is that the saint is reconciled because of placing trust and faith in the work of Jesus Christ who died on the cross for the individual, as well as the world. The atonement then is the personal work of the Savior giving His life for each of us, but in even a greater sense, that we through our identification with Him have been given a ministry to reconcile the world as emissaries, ambassadors of a spiritual kingdom. Christianity is the only religion in the world that seeks to free and elevate man from the fallen nature. Every country where Christianity has grown, the exploitation of the masses is alleviated, but this is not true with other religions.

Daniel 9:24, which speaks of the end of transgressions, is bringing to light the truth of the cross and the work of Christ. Note as you read this verse the items mentioned there: end of transgression, end of sins, reconciliation for iniquity, which results in the establishment of righteousness, seals the vision and anoints the most holy. Our audio tape on the subject “It’s finished” is based upon this verse. The depth of the cleansing is total. When Jesus cried “It is finished” while on the cross, He was declaring the end of sin and the victory of eternal life regardless of the current situation. His death removed sin; what we see is an aberration of the truth. His atonement was not futile but fertile.

“Be of good cheer for I have overcome the world” Jesus declared to the disciples in John 16:33. It is because of His effort that we can just walk in the result of what He delivered once and for all to us. We are overcomers not because of some self-effort but because of His effort. He is the reason we can live in the life of God while in this body of flesh.  Paul writes in Romans 7:24: “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Christ Jesus, the living Lord, the ascended one, delivers us not the man Jesus. This reconciliation is total – full deliverance from the body of death – not just the physical body, but the soul that sins dies too (Ezekiel 18:4). Jesus has delivered us from both the carnal mind, that soulish realm and the flesh, the body.

The atonement of Christ works because He was a sacrifice offered to God and the value of His sacrifice had value for God. If God had not placed value, trust, worth, in Christ, then the atonement would not work. Now, that we have been called and conformed to the image of His Son, we have value, not because of who we are but because of His Son. This value, the Christ in You, is well able to perform the ministry of reconciliation to your neighbor as well as to the world because of Him who has done a finished work in you. The holiness of the atonement of Christ cannot come in contact with corruption or evil without prevailing and conquering it. The atonement not only delivers and liberates the person but creates a new person in Christ. Of course, that assumes the saint (no longer a sinner) yields to the Holy Spirit and allows the Holy Spirit to conform the saint into the image of Christ.

Another word used for atonement that is found in the Scriptures is propitiation. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”(1 John 4:10) In order that God might be true to Himself and reveal the answer to sin in a moral world, not only must there be forgiveness of sin but sin must be borne away. God provided His Son as the means to expiate sin and bear it away. This is revealed clearly in the feast of Passover, but this third feast, Tabernacles, brings an end of sin, the omega manifestation, since Jesus was the Alpha manifestation. Christ has called His body, the sons initially and the church as a whole, to reveal Him. This revelation of Christ in the church shows forth a personal reconciliation for each individual corporate member, as well as corporate expression for the world to see. The sins of the world were borne away by Christ, and now the body of Christ which we are, is to manifest the victory that He wrought thus enabling the world to receive true repentance. He bore our sins on the tree. That is propitiation. It has value for us experientially but it also has value for God because all creation shall return to the Lord (Psalm 22:25-29).

The person who really believes in the propitiation of Christ, that is accepts it in his heart and not just his mind, who truly stakes his life on it, is actually right with God without any strings or conditions attached. Growing in the propitiation of Christ and walking in the freedom of Christ, without guilt, enables you to become the very manifestation of Him and thereby reveal the propitiation within you. Romans 8:1 states that there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. If you truly, absolutely believe it, it is reality.

Within the idea of atonement is the concept of a ransom. A ransom is a fee paid to another in order to set someone free. The ransom is not paid to us, rather we are the people being set free – the fruit of the ransom. The ransom is paid by Jesus. He offers Himself for us. The ransom is a tremendous price. Consider. He lowered Himself from the heavenly realm to the earthly. He paid a price for that in that it limited the manifestation of God because of the flesh body. Then He, Jesus, offered up the very incarnation which He had lowered Himself into. His visible expression of the divine was laid down as a sacrifice – not seeking to save Himself, who being divine He could have. That is why the atonement has meaning for us individually, corporately and experientially in our lives. His was a voluntary sacrifice who lowered Himself to the ultimate indignity – death on a cross.

Now, John expresses some of the same thoughts about our spiritual walk as overcomers. Consider 1 John 3:16 “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” True reconciliation or atonement is not just something that Jesus did for you and that you can relax and rejoice in but rather is a constraining influence that propels you to manifest the same atonement within your life for the sake of the brethren!  If the atoning work of Christ does not drive you to be conformed to His Image, then you are not an overcomer because you have failed to realize the call of God. In 1 Corinthians 4, Paul writes of bearing reproach while the brethren reap life. He did this for them. This is true reconciliation. The atonement of Christ for us is so that we might manifest His atonement in us for the salvation of the world.

Jesus took on Himself the punishment of sin. He who knew no sin became sin for us. As 1 Peter 2:22 states: “…Who committed no sin nor was any deceit found in His mouth.” Jesus was pure, holy, undefiled and had none of the fallen nature. He had no part of Mary nor Joseph. He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3, Philippians 2:7) Scripture declares. Now, then read verse 23 and 24. Let me quote the Amplified Version: “He personally bore our sins in His [own] body to the tree [as to an altar and offered Himself on it], that we might die (cease to exist) to sin  and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.”  Note the past tense here – “have been healed.” The purity of Himself does the atoning. Now, then read 1 Peter 2:21. It states we are to walk in the same footsteps He walked and explains it to us – 22-24. We are to be a similar example of the atonement. Have you considered yourself as a pattern of the atonement to others? Why not? We are to identify ourselves with Jesus, walk in the same footsteps, be conformable to His image, and do greater works than He did. All the previous were commandments for us to do. The fruit of fulfilling those is the manifestation of the atonement in us.

Where are the Christians that manifest the atonement? Where are the overcomers? All I see in the USA are saints who claim to be deep in the Lord and are self-centered in their faith and what is going on in themselves! Many are the saints that know the Bible and understand doctrine, terminology, truths but have failed to appropriate the life of God. Reconciliation and Restitution of All Things is not a doctrine but a lifestyle. Jesus lived it. We as overcomers are to also.The Kingdom of God reaches out to others from the nature of the atonement within the vessel by identification with Christ Jesus. The atonement was done by Christ Jesus, the Living Lord, the ascended, because it is His Life that conquered death. Now the atonement is being worked in the overcomers to manifest Christ, even as Paul did.

Now, the true atonement of Christ Jesus is found, of course, in His love. He died for us. What other religion offers a substitutionary act? NONE. Only Jesus has done this. As overcomers, we are the repairer of the breach for the brethren. We are to stand in the gap for them, as we identify ourselves with Him. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4:10: “we are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished but we are without honor…” and it goes on for three more verses like that. As a leader of the saints Paul identified Himself with Christ and thereby even Christ’s humility. Even more important in some ways than His love for us is His humility. He humbled Himself for us. The true overcomer partakes of this humility. The false overcomer proclaims his/her sonship. The true overcomer lives the life of the Son. The root of sin is pride. There was none in Christ. He humbled Himself. Overcoming is humbling – it may sound contradictory but it is not. Pride cannot reside where humility thrives. True atonement has within it the destruction of pride through the humbling process – trials and tribulations. The ministry of reconciliation, that Paul states the Christian has been called to, is to provide every opportunity to humble us and exalt the Lord. As Paul states we ‘abase that you may abound‘ (Philippians 4:12, 2 Corinthians 9:8). The atonement of Christ not only frees us from the sin nature but raises us up in the Spirit to conquer victoriously every time that the serpent nature raises its defeated head.

We must not lose the life of the atonement or let it become a doctrine. If the atonement becomes a work done for us, then we make our Savior a function of God rather than a person. The atonement is a person, Christ Jesus, who lives and moves and has His being in us. He is a vibrant, vivacious, vicarious life He lives in us. If we relegate the work of atonement to a historical event of time and the man Jesus, we deny that He has come in the flesh and made His abode in us (John 14:23, 1 John 4:3). The atonement is to be made manifest to the world through a people called a royal priesthood, who should show the praises of Him (1 Peter 2:9). The work of a cross is no longer on a tree but revealed in a people who have chopped down the tree of knowledge of good and evil in themselves by revealing the tree of life through the crucified life.  It is only as we remain on the cross, spiritually, that the life of God is made manifest.

 If the New Testament could be summed up in one thought, a person would have to find the common thread throughout all the books. That one common thought which is hammered out in each book is: the revelation of Jesus Christ as the Redeemer and Reconciler of mankind. Whether you start reading from the end to the beginning, or vice versa, the one constant revelation is the manifestation of salvation revealed through Jesus Christ. It is the embodiment of Christ as the Reconciler that is so revolutionary. A man, the Son of God, revealed reconciliation in every aspect of His life, in every detail. He constantly showed to all the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:19) which means the state of enmity between persons (God and man) has been changed to one of friendship. We are to follow Him in every aspect of our life relationships.

The atonement and reconciliation have many things in common, but there is one of serious importance. The covenant that the Father established is unilateral, that is it is one-sided. He determined the solution to the problem of sin. He alone is the answer. Now then, the sinner, the one who creates the offense cannot provide the solution to the problem of sin. The sinner needs the forgiveness. It is only the one who is wronged (Jesus or you) who can provide the forgiveness. Do you understand the depth of that? That is why Christ states in Matthew 6:14 that we should forgive. But forgiveness must be in your nature as a character asset in order to forgive. Something has to be worked out in you by the Spirit of God because people do not normally forgive. Christ was wronged but He still provided forgiveness and then bore away the sins. When you are wronged, you may forgive, but do you bear away the sin of the person? You can and should since you are a new creation in Christ.

When you and I enter into the Holy of Holies, this third room, this third feast, you have already passed through many trials and dealings of God. In fact, you have gone through six levels of overcoming. You are no longer identified with your fallen nature when you experience the sixth level of overcoming because your mind has been changed and you entered into the ark realm. There is no struggle with accepting the fact that you are in Christ. The newness of the victory over the flesh is evident and there is joy and peace in this level. The realization that nothing can separate you from the love of God is overwhelming. Basking in this life and light enables you to be transformed into the atonement for others. It is your full identity with Him that empowers you and vivifies you lifting you out of the realm of mortality into immortality, even though the time of the redemption of your flesh has not yet come. Living in the Holy of Holies creates immortality. Only life is in this realm. There is no death. The atonement appears to be death to those who do not live in this place, but in reality the atonement experience is life giving. 

            The Day of Atonement is a day when the whole nation of Israel, a type and shadow of the body of Christ, would humble themselves before the Lord (Leviticus 23:27). It began on the tenth day (represents personal testing in Scripture) of the seventh (number of completeness) month. The people were to have a holy convocation. Holy meaning a time of separation UNTO God, not a separation FROM the world. They were to afflict their souls, that is to study and show themselves approved, a workman (2 Timothy 2:15) trained in rightly dividing the Word of God. Their ‘souls’ refers to their minds. They were to see whether or not that they grew in stature and wisdom of God, even as Christ did (Luke 2:52).

            God not only wants a people trained in His ways, but He wants a people who know His ways. A servant can be trained in the manner the Lord of the house wants, but that does not mean the servant understands the reasonings of Lord of the house. God wants us to understand and do His ways because we do understand and love Him. The Day of Atonement is a time of checking yourself out to make sure that you measure up. Even Jesus came to the place where He said: “Not my will but thine be done.” Jesus was already in the nature of God when He said that. It was a trial, a test, for Him to see if He was willing to be the atonement for others. Are you?

            Verse 28 goes on and states that there was to be no “servile work” (KJV). This means that the individual was no longer working as a servant but as Christ. The person knew the ways and reasonings of God rather than just being an employee. But the meaning goes further than this too. It means there is no flesh nature there, no carnality. There is to be a sacrifice by fire. Our God is a consuming fire. He will consume us for His purposes and plans. God consumed Jesus in His eternal plan for the salvation of mankind. His three and one-half year ministry was the fire of the Lord. What a trial.  Now, we are called to walk the same steps offering up the Christ formed in us for the sake of mankind.

            The verse goes on to state there is to be no work. This implies personal effort. As an example, wool speaks of effort and sweat, but the priest’s garments were made of linen – a finished work, cool and comfortable. There is to be no self-effort in this place because person’s life has been swallowed up in God. That is why verse 29 reiterates that humbleness is a virtue. Pride goes before a fall, but these are crucified saints – they have had every opportunity (trials and tribulations) to be conformed to His Image. Anyone not found in the nature of the Lord in this realm is removed, cutoff. Right identity, walking in the nature of God, is a requirement. God again states the same in verses 30-31. It is not to be lightly construed.           

The Mercy Seat 

             The second similitude of the seventh level of overcoming is that of the Mercy Seat. As we look at the Scripture, we find that it was made of pure gold. Gold is representative of divinity in the Scriptures which includes the idea of holiness, purity, fidelity, trustworthiness, love etc. The Mercy Seat is believed to be made with the Cherubim (vs. 19) of one piece of gold. Consider the delicacy of creation from one piece of gold. It took a master craftsman to create such a piece of art.

The carefully crafted Mercy Seat and Cherubim are hammered out of one piece of gold to a height unknown. Solomon's temple had Cherubim that were twenty cubits long (a cubit is equal to about 18 inches, a royal cubit 25 inches, but a 'rule of thumb' for a cubit is from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow). However, we are unable to determine the height of the Cherubim in the Tabernacle because the Scriptures do not state. Cherub is singular; Cherubim plural; the KJV Cherubims is poor English. This vessel is of a beaten work by a hammer - hand crafted by the master craftsman and perfectly formed for its own function. Everything that was in the one piece of gold, was revealed by the work of the master craftsman. Just as Michaelangelo saw the Pieta' in the stone before it was chiseled out, so too in this case. God knows what has to be brought out of us, as we are created in His Image and conformed to the Image of His Son.

The number seven is generally considered a number representing completeness in Scriptural studies. The Mercy Seat represents the completeness of the work of God, the totality of the atonement. The victory of the atonement - that every person will be saved, because Jesus did not leave one to the Devil/Satan. There are so many verses that reveal the reconciliation of all, although some would dispute it. See www.tentmaker.org on the Internet, a personal friend, who has compiled writings from the first century to the current on the truth of that or write us. But the real truth of the Mercy Seat is that God's love is filled with mercy and He sent His only begotten Son to extend mercy for us. Such a love. A total love. A sacrificial love. Nothing can separate us from the love of God - neither height nor depth, if we make our bed in hell, He is there with us (Psalm 139:8) let alone in this life and the hereafter.  Satan, evil, the carnal mind, none of these things can defeat the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross which restores our relationship with Him. What a love. The Mercy Seat is the symbol of the completeness of the work of the Cross. Mercy Extended, Grace Victorious, Love Unfailing, all seen in the cross brought alive by the resurrection and manifested in you and me by the salvation experience working in us.

Now then, we who are called to be conformed to His Image are to reveal the atonement, the Mercy Seat experience, to the world. Rather than condemn them to hell like the church system does, we offering a loving God who forgives and offers renewal to a new life. Jesus came not into the world to condemn the world but to give life  - John 3:17. So why does the church preach differently? They have been indoctrinated with brackish water, not the cleansing flood of the Holy Spirit. Let us manifest the Mercy Seat (Luke 3:6). It is our calling, our duty, but even more it is out of the love that has been bestowed on us that we act. For it is His love shed abroad in our heart that compels us onward to the dealings of God and the laying down of our lives to reveal Him.

Exodus 25:22 states: "And there I will meet you; and from above the Mercy Seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in a commandment for the sons of Israel." Exodus 29:43 states: "And I will meet there with the sons of Israel, and it shall be consecrated by My Glory." He meets with the priesthood there - NOT the Levitical priesthood which the Roman Catholic church says it is from nor from the daughters of the Harlot (denominations), but the order of Melchizedek, the one of  which Jesus is a pattern (Hebrews 6:20). For each individual of the body of Christ (for we are part of Him) is a royal priest, part of the corporate royal priesthood of 1 Peter 2:9.

Because God sees each of us in His Son, we commune with God through the one and only mediator - Jesus Christ, in whom our life is hid (1 Timothy 2:5, Colossians 3:3). It is in Mercy that we commune. There is no communion with God really unless you are in His nature. He may respond to your prayers, answer or not answer your prayers. You may command Him to do something for you because you think you can, and He may do it if it meets with His will for you, but true communion only comes with God at the Mercy Seat. You must be merciful as He is merciful to understand His will and ways, let alone have His nature. For the Mercy Seat is not a place of a servant but of a Son, one who understands his father.

The number one premise is He is Holy, and no man can see God unless he is holy (Hebrews 12:14). It is His Holiness that makes His Mercy so precious because it is righteous. It is at the Mercy Seat where we have sat down in Heavenly places with Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:3, 2:6). "Great is Thy faithfulness, there is no shadow of turning in Thee, morning by morning, new mercies I see, all that I have need of Thy hand has provided," the old hymn declares. His mercies I see because I understand His mercies. How does one understand the mercy of God? By experience and identification with Him. Some receive His mercy and never have a clue nor seek Him because of the mercy extended, but those that love Him seek out the reason for the extension of mercy. They seek His nature. Morning by morning, that is, daily we seek His mercy and His merciful ways in us. It is as we see a merciful God, we become like Him. Divinity begets divinity. As we behold Him Who is merciful, we become like Him. As one Cherub (you and I) behold the other Cherub (Christ) we become like Him Who is between us - the glory cloud, God.

We are called to bask in the beauty of Mercy. We are called to the divinity of Mercy (gold). We are called to manifest the mercy of God. Without going into detail (write us about who Lucifer is), we know that Lucifer was Adam. It states that Lucifer was the anointed Cherub. There are two Cherubs connected to the Mercy Seat, of the same beaten work. One is Christ, the Alpha, and the second is the Omega - His corporate expression, made up of the new creation man in Christ Jesus which is each individual who comprises the corporate expression! Well, Glory to God. What a work He is creating.

The Mercy Seat is a place of rest. It is a seat… a place where one resides and is comfortable in. Ah, when you sit down in your favorite chair, it surrounds you, encompasses you, envelopes you softly, tenderly and you melt into the chair. Such is the Mercy Seat. It is a place or relaxation and rest in God. You let go and fall into it knowing that it will support your weight, all of who you are. Resting in the nature of God without any struggle for you are identified with Him.

The Mercy Seat is a place of authority. For only one can sit there. It is not every man who can place himself there. It is from this realm of authority that the love and holiness of God comes forth. It is a place of government, kingdom government which is another way of stating that one person rules - the king, Christ Jesus alone. It is not a democracy, a republic, etc. but a kingdom ruled from this seat. He Who is all Wisdom reigns supreme. What peace there is knowing that there will be no mistakes. God is so good.

The Mercy Seat is the central figure in the Tabernacle. Everything leads to the Mercy Seat. It is the end result, the last piece of furniture in the Tabernacle. Why do all the other pieces point us toward the Mercy Seat? Why is the Mercy Seat the last piece of furniture? The vessels from the Outer Court up to the Mercy Seat are laid out in the shape of the cross with the Mercy Seat being the capstone, the last piece. Mercy is the capstone of the faith, the pinnacle of His Love made manifest. We, the sons of God, the firstfruits of the faith, are to be a token of that which all will participate in - mercy.

The Mercy Seat is the judgment seat of God. Not unto condemnation and death but unto Mercy! Unto Life! Unto Restoration and Restitution (Acts 3:21)! For what father condemns a child, even though the child has done wrong? No, the father corrects, metes out a righteous judgment for the restoration of the child. What mercy, what love our God bestows on us that we will be reconciled and restored to Him. He knows our need so He can supply. It is found in Daniel 7:22 which states: "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." For when we enter into the realm of the Mercy Seat, the very nature of Christ and His Father, then we are given the privilege of judgment but not until we have come to mercy. It is when our nature is a gracious one and one that is righteous, that we shall possess the kingdom. In fact, the hardest one to be gracious to is yourself. But the saints shall possess the kingdom - themselves. Then the natural kingdom shall be seen on the earth. 

The Throne 

             The Scripture declares in Revelation 3:21 "He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." The one who has conquered every obstacle of the flesh through the power of residing in the nature of Christ is the overcomer. It is to this person that the place of authority is given. It is not to the outward situation that we look but to the inward man and the ability to arise from every situation that we consider. For we see Christ, being formed by every trial and circumstance in the individual.

            It is the nature of Christ in the person that is going to sit down on the throne of Jesus. He has given up His position in you so that you can come forth - the new creation man, the man after His own image. Christ removes Himself from the place of authority in you as you, the new creation man, have passed from babe, adolescent, now into adulthood! You are now of age spiritually and He gives place to you who have been conformed to His nature. He knows that you will walk the walk, manifest the life without yielding to fleshly trials and temptations.

            For up to this point the work of His Cross in you has been for a personal salvation, a total salvation within you. He, Jesus, was working within you to lift you out of the miry clay nature. He was causing the nature of the Father to resurrect, to come forth out of you. He sat upon your throne until you came to the point of maturity that He could remove Himself. You taking the throne within yourself is not the Adamic nature ruling, but the direct opposite truth - the nature of Christ ruling. God of the house of God, as El-Bethel means, is when Jacob was changed to Israel. Israel ruled and Jacob was no longer to be seen - ever.

            The verse states: "…grant to sit down with Me on My throne…" Jesus does not have to grant this, but He does. When does He grant this, that is, let you sit with Him? When He knows that you are in His nature - not when you think you are! You are probably in His nature before you think you are because He looks upon the heart, and the normal person looks upon the flesh, not the inner man. It is one throne, and there is no duality here - there are not two people on one seat, as the mind would picture things.

Of course, we are not talking about a literal throne. For anyone who comes into His nature can sit on the throne and surely there has been more than one person in the nature of Christ over the last 2,000 years! No, this is a spiritual realm, a heavenly place, a place where the corporate body of Christ, made up of individuals, has entered into. Daniel 7:9 states: "I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire." All thrones are cast down. The throne of self that is found in every man must be removed. This is accomplished by the ascendancy of the new creation man, the one found in the nature of Christ. For when the Ancient of Days, the Father sits, His garment is white as snow, meaning that it is holy, pure and undefiled.

His throne is made like a fiery flame. Our God is a consuming fire Hebrews declares, quoting the Old Testament. His throne is the lake of fire (Revelation 15:10). It consumes all that is dross. All the false thrones are burnt and His rises from the ashes. He is in ascendancy. Every principality and power casts its crowns before Him. Even likewise do the righteous (Rev.4:10) for there can be only one throne - His.

Your action of taking your rightful spiritual place within yourself, in one sense, releases Him to ascend even higher than what you currently are aware. When you complete Him (He is the head, and we are the body, the completion of Him (Colossians 2:10)), then He is made whole and can ascend to sit with the Father. But He, Jesus, cannot do that until He grants that we sit with Him, which He will not do unless you are completely conformed to His Image.

It all fits together as one reads 1 Corinthians 15:28 which states: "And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all." You see Jesus is not subject to the Father in the broadest sense until everything is brought into subjection to Himself. When we individually finally come to the spiritual place within ourselves where we are all subject to Him, then we will be able to sit with Him. When our house is totally subjected to the 'higher power,' then He can be elevated to the throne of the Father. But it is contingent upon us to fulfill our place so that He might be released. Note that I said 'us.' It is a corporate body, the body of Christ, which needs to come into this place. Obviously such an expression can occur only if individuals possess their reins.

Then, when we have ascended and sat down with Him, He arises, resurrects from that realm to reveal a higher order than what we have seen before. God never gets smaller nor stagnant, but is ever expanding and growing. "And the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter…" Isaiah 30:26 declares. The moon's brightness increases by the exponential of one. But the sun is seven. 1 x 1 = 1. 7 x 7 = 49.  For every level of understanding we grow (1 x 1), God expands seven times (49).  What marvelous life is yet to unfold as we subject ourselves unto Him.

Now, we note that Christ 'overcame and sat down with the Father.' What did Jesus have to overcome? Hebrews 1:3 states that "when He had purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High…" So in order for Him to assume the throne, which we hoped to come to, He had to purge sin, our sin, from us. Is your sin purged from you? Do you know that experientially? It is already accomplished, but the mental assent of this truth is not sufficient for it must be a heart-felt experience in order to accomplish it.

Consider Hebrews 8:1-2 which reads: "…we have such a high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man…" This verse is proclaiming Jesus as an intermediary for us because of the sin nature. Yet it goes on mentioning the true tabernacle - which you are. The heavens are located within the vessel and they have been cleansed by Christ who makes His abode in us (John 14:23). The goal is that the Father's throne might also be made within us. He goes to the Father (John 14:12,28, 16:10,16,17,28) so that He can come to us.

When we come to the throne and make our place there on His throne, it is not for our self-growth, but that we might be a vessel, a way, a bridge for others to ascend because His grace has been given unto us to ascend. God is looking for a firstfruit company to present, declare the truth that God reigns in their life, that Adam is dead and others can also overcome.

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