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Overcoming
- Part VIII
It is this duality, individual and corporate, that causes consternation
among many saints. For some the work of the cross isn't quite finished yet when
they cry out, "Why do I have to wait on others?" We are interdependent
because we are all of the same body - Christ's. Each of us must fulfill our own
personal role within the Body of Christ. If we fail, it affects the whole Body.
But Jesus is preserving us blameless (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Each of us will
fulfill the call of our life and thereby bless every other participant in the
Body of Christ.
Nehemiah 8:15-18 declares how each individual is to build his own booth
during the feast of Tabernacles. This last feast is the culmination and
summation of all the feasts. We have a house, eternal in the heavens, that is
the spiritual realm, which God has fashioned for us (2 Corinthians 5). He has
built the house for us. He is working in us to perform the counsel of His will
(Philippians 1:6). All individuals will complete their own house by the leading
of the Spirit (Romans 8:14).
So on the day of the feast, the saint builds a house made of parts from
different trees. The saint builds it under the direction of the Holy Spirit, not
leaning to his own understanding. It is not hidden within either. For the
individual booth was built on the housetop. Yes, we must arise and shake the
dust (Adam) off our feet (Isaiah 52:2) for we are Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22), the
city of the Living God (Revelation 21:9-11). This new creation man in Christ
Jesus comes forth out of the old house. The person had to leave his own house
literally and build a small individual room on the flat roof of the house as his
personal “tabernacle.” We must leave the adamic fallen nature and find our
identity with Christ.
The tabernacle was built with palm branches, signifying the praises of
God, which were used as the roof of the structure. Olive and wild olive branches
were used inside for support. This speaks of the Hebrews (olive) and Gentiles
(the wild olive) (Romans 11:17). The
willow and other hard branches were used also. The importance is that it takes
all kinds to make up the Body of Christ. All are pure, as God told Peter when
Cornelius came to him.
Tabernacles in Numbers 29 is a time of decreasing offerings. If one reads
carefully, there are 199 offerings used during the last seven days of the feast.
Each day of the feast requires less of an offering. As one reads, it can be
noted that it is the bull offering that is decreased each day. The bull offering
is not a sin offering. Jesus Christ was the sin offering. The bull offering is a
trespass offering. This is slightly different. Sin is forgiven since we are
found in Christ Jesus, and the sin nature has been removed. The trespass
offering is for sin committed unknowingly. Every day this offering declines
because there is less need. This means that the person is growing in the nature
of Christ, and the victory of Christ is progressing in one's life. By the time
of the end of the feast, there is now no need for a trespass offering. The final
day’s offering is one of completion or finality, which is represented by the
number seven for the bullocks used.
The life of God is completely victorious in the overcomer, and the
overcomer has arrived at a spiritual place in God where sacrifices are no longer
needed. Genesis 33:17 states: "And
Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his
cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth."
“Succoth” in Hebrew means tabernacle. When the Israelites left Egypt they
traveled three days’ (Today and tomorrow I do cures, but
on the third day I shall be perfected, Jesus said in Luke 13:32,
speaking of being perfected in the Body of Christ) journey and stopped at
Succoth to celebrate the Passover. Passover is found completed in tabernacles,
Succoth. Salvation through Jesus Christ is the most important event in a person's life when the cleansing flood is experienced. The gifts of the Spirit cannot be denied in their importance in edifying the saint and building up his faith in God with the experience of Pentecost. But the experience of Tabernacles for the overcomer is perhaps the ultimate experience. It is coming into identification experientially with God, a union if you will.
A wedding begins the union of two people. Having children and
experiencing many of life’s events bring the couple closer together because
they participated in common things. But union in a marriage in one sense is when
the couple begin to know what the other thinks before it is spoken, or they both
have the same understanding of a situation without a word said. Union,
Tabernacles with God is similar but obviously much better because there is no
misunderstanding or confusion.
Many saints have walked in union with God over the centuries with each
expressing it in their own words or ways. Madame Guyon, Jacob Boheme, Clement,
Joel Goldsmith, etc., have all written of this experience. The Lord did not
place the three experiences in the Bible without the desire that we would
individually participate in all of them. Some settle for Passover, a personal
salvation, and that is all right. Others seek more of God and desire the
experience of Pentecost, and that is good. But there is more beyond Pentecost,
and it is the feast of Tabernacles. This third experience is worth the trials
for the life that is thereby obtained. Jesus came out of the Holy of Holies to establish our salvation, Passover. The Holy Spirit came out of the Holy of Holies to establish the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost. God is coming out of the Holy of Holies to establish Tabernacles.
Adam was the tent, a shadow of
the true Tabernacle. Adam was a man who was created out of the earth, the dust
realm, and to the dust must return. But our Lord was from heaven. As we
have borne the image of the earthly, so we shall bear the image of
the heavenly (1 Corinthians 15:49). We know that if this earthly
house is dissolved, we will be clothed upon with the heavenly
house (2 Corinthians 5:1-14). Adam had a spiritual house until sin
entered in. He was cast down to a lower realm, where God gave him a coat of skin
(Genesis 3:20). The residual effect is evident to us who live in this shadow, a
tent, which must pass away because death works in it.
But praise be to God that He has given us the true tabernacle. The
manifestation of Jesus removes the old (Hebrews 10:9). Adam reigned until Jesus
came. Jesus revealed the kingdom of God ruling and reigning in His life, for the
Holy of Holies ruled. The adamic tabernacle was religious, educated and
knowledgeable in goodly things, but had set itself up as godly. Darkness always
sets itself up as ruling until the light comes. Adam reigned until Christ came.
The tent, the shadow of the true tabernacle, that tent which had no life in it
but looked good, was visible but void and incapable of producing life. Christ,
the true tabernacle, came revealing life because He lived in the Holy of Holies.
God is coming forth out of the Holy of Holies to be manifested in the new
heavens and the new earth. The new heavens is the mind of Christ, for Adam was a
living soul (mind) until he sinned and thereby dying died. The new heavens, the
mind of Christ, is filled with life and cannot die, for Jesus offered His soul
(Isaiah 53:10) for our soul which had perished. God is also coming forth out of
the earth. Not the adamic earth which returns to dust but rather God is causing
the new creation man, which we are, not fashioned with hands but a piece of the
mountain Himself, to come forth. The inner man is being renewed daily (Col.3:10,
2 Cor.4:16) as the outer man perishes. As the old falls away the new is
revealed, for it is being quickened, vivified, made alive by the life of God out
of the Holy of Holies.
The first tabernacle was a man,
Adam. The second tabernacle was God, Jesus. The third tabernacle is God
manifested in man, the new creation man. The difference between the
truth of who a saint is and what he thinks he is, is the perspective from which
he looks. The church system teaches an adamic approach - Passover, Pentecost,
Tabernacles in that order with Adam always coming closer to God. God teaches a
life approach - Tabernacles, Pentecost, Passover with all realms emanating from
the Holy of Holies of God Himself, and God stretching out to mankind. The church
teaches we get “saved” or we get life at Passover. The truth is that
Tabernacles gives life to the Passover experience, but Passover of itself is not
life. Salvation is not life but an experience that can lead us to the
understanding that we are alive.
Jesus removed the old tabernacle - Adam. Adam has been dead for over
2,000 years. We have been delivered by the cross and the resurrection of Christ
Jesus, our ascended Lord. Where are you in the plan of God? Adam is dead; long
live the king! You are living because of the life that Christ revealed, but are
you living in the life of Christ?
Tabernacles provides the means to state as Paul does that it is no
longer I that live but Christ that lives in me (Gal.2:20).
The Lord of us all can quite quickly quench our desires for the ways of
the flesh and establish us fully in the realm of life. Living by the
faith of the Son of God is far different than "having
faith." The old nature, that flesh nature, that adamic nature,
tries very hard to "have faith" for many things, to believe for many
things, and it cannot. The adamic nature cannot please God. It did not in Cain
nor could it. If one "has faith" for something then who receives the
credit when that something is given? Adam does and not God. Paul lived in a
realm of Tabernacles as he states: the life which I now live in the flesh,
I live by the faith of the Son of God.
The article "the" does not appear in the Greek. We do find it
in the King James Version as English requires articles to make the
sentence more comprehensible. Therefore it may seem that I am trying to make a
point with something that is not there in the original text. However, the Greek
implies that "the" faith of the Son of God is different from
"your" faith in the Son of God. Other translations do bring the
thought out clearly: Wuest:
"It is no longer I who lives but there lives in me Christ. And that life
which I now live in the sphere of the
flesh, by faith I
live it, which faith is in the Son of God." Concordant
Literal:
"…Now which I am living in the flesh, I am living in faith of the Son of
God." Young's:
"..and which I now live in the flesh - in the
faith of the Son of God." Bible
in Basic English:
"...which I am now living in the flesh I am living by faith, the
faith of the Son of God." Panin:
"...Live by faith which is in the Son of God."
Each of these translations clearly express that there is a difference
between the faith of a person, when he hopes in or hopes for something and the
faith of the Son of God. Many people have "faith" in something; as an
example let us say that "something" would be their children. If their
children fall into sin or fail them, they are crushed. Personal faith has no
substance because its roots are in Adam. God is constantly testing us to see if
our faith is in Adam or Christ Jesus. Substance comes only from life, and
that comes from the Lord's essence. The faith of the Son of God is a person.
Jesus, by laying down His life He expressed the faith of God. As God's only
begotten Son, Jesus revealed God's faith toward us in His ministry and atoning
expression. The invisible God became visibly expressed through His Son, and the
Son revealed faith, for He did only what He saw or heard His Father say. He
never walked in the flesh, but in the faith of the Father's words, which are
life.
The Greek brings out that Galatians 2:20 "en pistei" can be
translated as: "(from, with, of, by) faith.” The Greek phrase indicates
(particular to Paul's writings) the indwelling of Christ, which thereby implies
that "the faith of the Son of God" is in actuality Christ, Himself,
and His own faith. The Greek
preposition "en" can be
translated variously but basically: “with, from, by, of.” Yet, in Galatians
2:20 "en" has a more difficult use. The Diaglott indicates it
is "from" meaning rooted in, based out of, and then the Diaglott
states "en" which is translated "towards" the Son of God.
This indicates the faith comes out of
the Son of God and moves even towards the Son of God. In other words, the faith
causes one to move closer to God while even being in God. How true! The
adamic faith, rooted in Adam, cannot draw us closer to God because it sets
itself up as God.
Paul had come to the place in his life that God had removed from his
being any attachment to a personal faith. Paul's personal faith was in the laws
of the Old Testament. But on the road to Damascus (Acts 9), something happened
that removed any possible connection between his personal beliefs on religion
and true religion. Paul was very religious. He was highly educated. His place
was such in the religious system of the day that the leaders ascribed to him
great respect, especially his zeal for the religion. But his whole life was
consumed by his own faith in something. That is the way of adamic flesh. We see
many sold out to the corporate structure, or their religious denomination, their
family, etc. Their life is consumed by the direction or goal of their
"faith." Unfortunately, even many Christians are also the same. Living
in the adamic nature, while being a saved or even a Spirit-filled person, is
being at enmity with God.
When God appeared to Paul that day on the road to Damascus, Paul fell to
the earth. His eyes were blinded, and for three days he did not see. Adam was
made of the earth. Today and tomorrow Jesus said He did cures but on the third
day, He would resurrect. When God raised Paul up, God resurrected Paul out of
the earth and redeemed him from the earth realm (Revelation 14:3). The scales
fell from his eyes, and he was free to see in a new way - without the adamic
religious trappings. Paul changed from the adamic nature, which is legalistic,
to the ministry of grace which is mercy - unmerited favor.
The truth of the feast of Tabernacles is found in Paul. For years I have
studied the man and his writings. It is my belief that the ultimate move of God
is in a people who have experienced life in the way Paul did. Tabernacles is not
a feast for oneself, but it is a feast in which the Christ life is laid down
(perhaps I should say offered up) so that others might enter in. Your life hid
in God becomes the means by which you are the bridge (laying down) that others
might enter. In order for you to lay your life down or use your life in Christ
as a sacrifice, an atonement for others, you would have to be dead to the adamic
a long time ago! Hear and understand. Paul was dead to his old nature, and that
is why he could state in Romans 9:3:
For I could wish that myself were accursed for Christ for my brethren, my
kinsman according to the flesh.. He expressed a belief that if the life
of Christ in him could be laid down as a benefit for others, he would have done
so. This is a true tabernacles understanding.
Living by the faith of the Son
of God creates an opportunity to sow your life rather than preserve your life.
Living by the faith of the Son of God establishes you in Tabernacles in that you
are engathered unto the Lord. You have ceased from the flesh and entered into
the rest experienced in the Mercy Seat realm. Mercy, pure unadulterated mercy,
flows from you. As Jesus came to give life, so also will you. Mercy is above the
earth realm of understanding. People may experience salvation through the mercy
of God but that does not mean they understand mercy. Experiencing mercy and
living in mercy are two different things.
When one enters into the Holy of Holies and the eighth step, there is
only but one life to give and that is His, because your identity is with Him.
God gave His Son. Now you give the Son formed in you for the sake of others.
The
Shekinah Glory
God gives His glory to no man, Scripture declares. In this realm there is
glory of none other than GOD Himself. No fallen nature takes His glory. No man
can usurp His glory. Only the pure and unadulterated person can receive His
glory. Pure in the sense that one must be holy as He is holy to see God.
Unadulterated in the sense that one has not gone a whoring after other gods like
Israel did (the god of self). God will give His glory only to one who is of Him,
His bride, the Body of Christ, the overcomers or those who have died to
identifying with the old nature and are alive unto God.
The glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire (Exodus 24:17). It
consumed all that is not of Him. When God appeared as the burning bush, the bush
was not destroyed. His glory (the fire) did not destroy the bush, because He
made the bush, and it was pure. His creation was good. His glory could be seen
in the bush, surrounding the bush, through the bush, etc. The fire was to remove
the ropes of bondage as it did for the pure men found in the furnace in Daniel.
While the fire consumed the soldiers that threw them in, it did not touch the
Hebrew children. Such is the glory of God. For those in His nature will not be
consumed nor even smell of smoke.
Now the word “Shekinah” is not found in the Scriptures, although it
is used with the glory cloud by many ministers. The Hebrew “Shekinah” means
“presence.” The glory of the
Lord was found in the Tabernacle. It was found within the Holy of Holies within
the Tabernacle. It is out of the Holy of Holies that God moves. All that He is
is Holy. From this holiness emanates His love, peace, judgment etc. All comes
out from His glory.
Revelation 14 states that the Lake of Fire is around the throne. Exodus
24:17 states the glory of the Lord is like a devouring fire. Hebrews quotes
Psalms and states our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). All
these verses are proclaiming the same truth. All death is swallowed up in God,
Who is life and fire. For the glory of God is self-sufficient, self-existent.
He will share His glory with no man, Scripture declares. What that also
states is that if any man wishes to partake of the glory of God, that man must
become like God, be a partaker of the nature of God. Those who desire to be
conformed to His Image (Romans 8:29) will manifest His glory. It is this group
of people, saints of like-minded faith (Romans 8:19-20), who will become sons of
God. Note the little “s” is not a capital “S.” These saints are willing
to lay everything down to know the Lord. Just as Christian in Pilgrim's Progress
followed the path, the narrowing path, which led to communion with God, so too
we must allow His glory to work in us.
2 Thessalonians 1:10 states: when
He comes to be glorified in His saints. The God of all glory has come
and made His abode in us (John 14:23), and now He is working His good pleasure
in us, transforming us by the renewing of our mind and translating us out of the
kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. He is creating within each
of us the glory that His Son had before the world began. He is hand-fashioning
us, kneading us like good dough in the hands of a great chef. He labors in love
to fill us with Himself, even His glory.
Consider Isaiah 60:13 which reads: The
glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box
together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of
my feet glorious. Here
the Lord is speaking of His people. He mentions all the trees because these
trees help make up the individual tabernacles that each person builds during the
time of the engathering at the feast of Tabernacles. We are His habitation, His
sanctuary. The place of His feet shall be glorious. Many are the locations in
Scripture about the Body of Christ who are called His feet. Jesus' feet crushed the head of the serpent. He did this Himself, but we
who are part of His Body, crush the serpent under ours. At the Last Supper Jesus
washed the disciples’ feet. The custom was the person was clean except for the
dust collected on the feet by walking, so when the person entered the house the
feet were washed. Jesus washed their feet to prepare them for the new walk that
would occur after the Supper, when they would have a spiritual walk. We are His
feet, the place of His footstool in the earth. He reigns from the heavens, but
His feet company walk the earth revealing His life in their flesh. In the last part of Isaiah 60:7 it states: and I will glorify the house of my
glory. We, who are the
house of the Lord, were made by Him for Himself. He gives His glory to no man
(Exodus 33:20). But to any person who has received Christ as His Savior, the
Lord comes and begins to work His good pleasure in the person, because that one
has been bought with a price - His Son’s precious blood. You are His house and
He will glorify His house. Just as you glorify, that is, fix up the house the
way you like it when you purchase your residence, so He is doing with you. The
overcomer who arrives at the eighth level is at the point of new beginning. Adam
had a beginning that degenerated, but this new creation man has a beginning that
will have no ending. There is very little written about the Shekinah glory in
Scripture or otherwise, because little is known. Better yet - it is still to be
written! The glory of the Lord shall fill the earth (your flesh) and the heavens
(your mind) (Jeremiah 23:24, Ephesians 4:10). It has not entered into the minds
of men what the Lord will do. But it shall be glorious! If
one overcomes, one is a Son.
A son in the Greek is “Huios.” A child in the Greek is “Teknon.”
The KJV of the Bible does not clearly delineate between the two. The NAS
version of the Bible correctly does. Just what is a “son?” Who can be a “son?” An overcomer is what a son is. One
who has overcome all the desires of the adamic, fallen nature by remaining and
identifying oneself in Christ is a son.
Further elucidation is necessary lest some things be misconstrued. A son is not THE Son of God.
But A son is part of THE
Son. For THE Son seeks to be the HEAD of the Body of Christ, which we are. In
one sense then we are conformed to His Image that we might be part of the
corporate expression of Him, thus becoming A
son on the corporate level. But in order for that to occur, A
son must be dealt with by the precious grace of God to be A
son on the individual level to qualify for the corporate expression. Many
are called but few are chosen, like Gideon's group mentioned in the introduction
of this message. A Son is the person who has yielded his/her life to God for the
sole purpose of glorifying God. This deep desire drives the individual to such a
length that the person is willing to suffer all things for Christ. Because it is
an individual walk, what you might need to experience could be different from
the next person.
The best way to test to see if you are in the faith is to compare
yourself with THE Son. He is the pattern Son, Whom we are to follow. There is no
other to look to. Even then one must be careful. For are you looking at the man,
Jesus, or at the ascended Lord Jesus? For if you look at the man, the historical
man, then you are not following the pattern Son. If you look at Jesus as a
spiritual man, then one must be careful also for He was not. He grew in stature
and wisdom (Luke 2:52) and learned obedience by the things He suffered (Hebrews
5:8). The man Jesus had to learn to be spiritual since He was tried in all ways
like we. Now
at times He was called the Son of Man (82 times in New Testament) and at other
times He was called the Son of God (43 times in the New Testament). If one
studies these times in the Scriptures, you will see there is a difference in
meaning between the two. In some of the locations (like in the Gospels) one says
Son of Man and the other might say Son of God. This too has significance. For
the phrase “Son of Man” speaks of identification with the man, human nature
but not the fallen nature. He did not have any part of Mary or Joseph (if He
did, He would have been born with a sin nature and could not have saved the
world. See Philippians 2:7 and Romans 8;3. Mary carried a zygote. She did not
produce an egg, which it would have come from the sin nature and then was
fertilized by God.) The
Son of God reference is to His Godly nature. In fact the Son of God phrase is
properly associated with His resurrection and ascension. As one looks at the
prophet, priest and king presentation of Christ (Psalms 22, 23, 24) in the Old
Testament and the same in Hebrews 1:1-3, Jesus was seen as a Son of Man during
His prophetic ministry (3 1/2 years) and as a priest on the cross. He revealed
His kingship on the resurrection and ascension, no longer bound or hindered by
His body of flesh. He did not receive His glorified body until after His
ascension. He was incorruptible during His life of 33 1/2 years. We,
who are called to be sons of God (Romans 8:19, Revelation 21:7) must first
become Sons of Man, so to speak, since that is the pattern of THE Son. |
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