|
The
Burnt Offering In twenty-eight years of ministry, I have not sent out one of these separate
special messages, but I am deeply impressed to do so now. Let me first state
that it has nothing to do with this being 1999 (by Scripture we are 2,003 or
5,760 by Jewish Calendar) or any Y2K issue. This is truly a spiritual concern
and announcement. We
all know that the Feast of Passover is representative of our salvation
experience, that 'born-again' event in our life. By the same token we know that
the Feast of Pentecost is comparable to the Baptism of the Spirit and the gifts
of the Spirit of 1 Corinthians 12. For many the Feast of Tabernacles is a new
word, but for others it is the understanding that we are "engathered"
to Christ, which is what Tabernacles means. In other words, we are in union in
our identity with Christ. Latter
Rain, as it was known in 1948, brought forth a 'new' word of sonship, five-fold
ministry and reconciliation. In 1979 another word was declared, a word of going
behind the veil and union with Him, and now there is another change. A serious
change. A new dispensation dawns at this time - if that is the correct word. It
is no longer sufficient to relax and rejoice in the knowledge of who you are in
Christ, but it is the time to come forth as the burnt offering, one offered up
for the sake of the world. It is one thing to know your place in Christ, but now
is the time to take action as Christ and manifest His Life in you as a pleasing
praise offering, which the burnt offering is. It follows the sin offering as an
aroma of fragrance and life unto God. Let
it be known that today is the day, not tomorrow, for tomorrow will never come
unless today prepares its way. God has called us to be the burnt offering even
as His Son was, even as we walk in His steps (1 Peter 2:21). This is the next
step in the progression of Life passed the three feasts. We
are offered up for the sake of brethren; death in us so that they might have
life, Paul declares (2 Corinthians 4:10f). Some, who have a hope of a redeemed
physical body shortly, may be disappointed. For our body is a carcass, chaff to
be sown for the manifestation of God. God's glory is more important than a
redeemed body at this time. Walking in Christ is more important than being in
union with Him. One precedes the other, but walking in Christ in the
midst of trials and afflictions reveals Him (Hebrews 2:14 - going through
death). It is a new day, a new word, a time for being the burnt sacrifice, a
sacrifice of praise to God because of the deliverance that is brought by being
such a sacrifice. Consider: While
conversing with the Beloved, the conversation turned and a few new thoughts
crossed my mind. Every time in the Bible that a dove appeared there was a new
order, a change. Noah brought a new day and Jesus coming forth at the Jordan
brought a new day. The dove was a symbol of that change in each case. Rarely is
the dove used in Scripture because of the importance placed on the fowl. The
Lord took me to the burnt offering and showed me the dove. But what did it mean? As
we know, Jesus fulfilled all these offerings of Leviticus and more including the
Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. We must remember that the Passover was done
the first time before they left
Egypt and was established before the Law of Leviticus. The sacrifices for sin
(Sin or Trespass offering) had to be first and occur before this burnt offering
could be done. In Latin the burnt offering was known as sacrificium
latreuticum, which basically means the sacrifice of devotion and service.
For this offering is beyond the sacrifice for sin, and this offering is for
laying ones' life down for service. This
offering was an offering of a life (animal, fowl) - the meat offering was a grain of
the field, and in fact none of the other offerings gave a life. The things that
transpire in your life - situations, sickness, etc. are there for the service of
others. Even as Jesus bore our sicknesses to the cross for us, we too, for the
sake of others bear about in our body afflictions for the sake of others
(Galatians 6:2-3) as a witness and testimony of the sustaining power of God.
These are giving your life for others, a pleasing aroma to God. In
the Burnt offering, the Peace offering and the Meat offering the offerer came as
a worshipper to God. In the other offerings, Sin and Trespass, the
person came as a sinner to pay a penalty for sin and trespass. In either
situation the offering was to be without spot or blemish, but there was a
significant difference between the Burnt, Meal and Peace offering and the others
- Sin and Trespass.
The Burnt, Meal and Peace offerings were given as a man stood perfect
before the Lord and the offering was tested by fire for the holiness of the
individual. The individual was accepted before God as holy, then it was a
pleasing sacrifice. The man in the Sin and Trespass offering appears as a sinner
and bears the penalty of his own offenses. Christ has called us to the Burnt
offering since we have experienced the Passover event in our life, that
born-again experience as some call it. In
one sense God finds the flesh given as food for Himself not food in the literal
sense, but spiritual satisfaction. It is joy and life to Himself because we have
come into His Image and bring glory to His name (2 Thessalonians 1:10). He can
partake of us because we are accepted in His Beloved. We are bone of His bone,
flesh of His flesh, His very own body are we. The
fire that consumes the sacrifice comes from heaven, in the case of Elijah, but
also our God is a consuming fire. He consumes the burnt offering because it is
acceptable to His nature, even of His nature. He can only have unity with that
which is of His nature. The greatest praise our heavenly Father can receive is
that of us being a people in His Image. There
were three types of burnt offerings: ox, lamb and the dove. Each had vital
importance in the burnt offering, which was a pleasing offering, a savor, and an
aroma of praise to God.
Each offering represents a different facet to the Lord. The burnt
offering or Olah, also known as the Chalil,
really means the "whole burnt offering."
The term Olah means
“ascending to the Lord,” as in surrendering totally to God. This offering
followed the sin offering. The burnt offering was unto
the Lord and was identification with the purpose of God. Jesus offered
Himself up as a burnt offering, the Only begotten of God, the one in whom God
was well pleased (Matthew 3:17). He sacrificed His will for God’s. The Burnt
Offering - the Ox The
ox is the one who treads out the grain, the one who lives out his life in the
common necessary tasks of life all the while breaking the grain down so others
can eat. Where would we be without the effort it takes to do the mundane? The
burnt offering was a praise offering which means the ox ministry is a praise to
God even though it is hidden from normal sight by its commonality. The common
thing is just as important to God as the exquisite thing, and the same is true
for the small as well as the great. The
ox was one of the four faces of the Cherubim in Ezekiel and Revelation. The
Gospel of Mark is symbolized by the ox ministry.
Andrew Jukes brings out in his book, The
Four Views of Christ, that Mark reveals Christ as a "patient Servant
and Sacrifice for others, spending and being spent to serve the sons of
men." As an example in Mark's gospel the Sermon on the Mount is not in it
because it is a "law" of the kingdom. The servant ministry, that ox
ministry, is not concerned with that aspect but with being spent for others.
Mark reveals the view of "doing and
toiling and serving the needy…far humbler work than teaching. (pg.56)"
The
book of Mark shows in detail the way Jesus ministered while the other gospels
focused in different ways. Even in the same scriptures, Mark takes his own
focus. Let me quote a few: Speaking of the little children…"He took them
up in His arms and blessed them." Speaking of Peter's wife's
mother…"He took her by the hand" or the blind man "He took the
blind man by the hand." (pg. 56) These acts written in detail differently
than the other gospels, reveal a personal touch, tenderness, a physical
expression, time taken, intimate interest, and this can only be done by the
ministry of service. In many church services people are healed by the minister
of the Lord as that minister goes down the line of people, but that type of
ministry is not personal or intimate. It is more assembly line in its approach,
but the ministry of the ox takes time to be personal. Toiling in personal
relationships is the ministry of the ox. Note
as you read Leviticus 1 that the legs and the inward parts were washed with
water. The water speaks of the Holy Spirit cleansing the walk, not that the walk
is poor or in the flesh, or that the walk is carnal. This animal has been
selected because it is pure and holy before God. It was without spot or blemish, which means it was not tainted
meat. In type and shadow it is a symbol, as are the other offerings, of the
church without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27). Cleansed by the blood of the
sin offering, the sacrificial offering of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, that
Passover sacrifice, the ox (you and I) is cleansed in its walk by the washing of
the word of God (Ephesians 5:26). The ox, like us, is cleansed because we come
into contact with that which is unholy and thereby we must be cleansed. Our
legs are washed to remove the "dust" of that fallen adamic nature from
us. But even more so, the inward parts were washed which includes all the
intestines, liver, etc. Each of these parts is important for the removing of
toxins from the body. In one sense these parts needed to be cleansed by the
Spirit because lower levels of understanding are no longer tolerated for those
predestined (Ephesians 1:5,11) to His nature. On the other hand, these parts
represent the will, desires, emotions that must be cleansed until they are holy
and acceptable unto the Lord. The inward parts which represent the soul, mind,
will and emotions, are cleansed from any possibility of carnal thinking. Thus,
we can walk the walk. Knowing the truth and walking it are two different things.
The burnt offering has walked the walk, the lifestyle and its emotions, will and
desires are conformed to the desires of the Lord's purposes. This
animal is a type of the saints of God who offer their life as a pleasing aroma
to Christ. The saints now identified with the Lord through the three feasts
(Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles) are now to be the burnt offering, following
in the footsteps of their Lord (1 Peter 2:21). Since our identity is hid with
Christ in God, now is the time for us to begin the dispensation of the burnt
offering. It
is a new time, a new understanding of what we are to manifest. It is not
sufficient to rejoice that the Lord has called us to be in His Image, nor is it
glorious to God that we are called to be sons of God (Romans 8:19-20) but it is
glorious to God as we begin the walk of the mundane as a praise to Him, as a
burnt offering, cleansed from the dust that tries to adhere to us but cannot
because of the water of the Spirit washing our legs clean. This
ox was cut up into pieces in order to be served. How glorious is this burnt
offering because it can be served for the benefit of others. The actual word is
"flaying" of the animal. Only a trained person can do this correctly.
Only our loving Lord can flay us because He has been flayed for us and knows
what to do to bring us into His image. The animal sacrificed had to be done in a
certain manner, certain way. This speaks to us of what Paul states in 2 Timothy
2:15 concerning "rightly dividing the word of God." The word must be
discerned correctly. In
Solomon's temple the Laver, called the great sea, was set upon twelve oxen. Each
was symbolic of the twelve tribes but had even more significance. Each of the
twelve was, according to some research, castrated. That is to say there were
neither male nor female natures. We can only rightly divide the word of truth
when we fulfill Galatians 3:28. The ox speaks of ministry that is not biased in
any manner but seeks to give life at all times. Oxen
were used as a pair to thresh the grain. We are not to be unequally yoked
because if we are, then there is a tendency that the stronger will cause the
other to follow its lead and the result will be a circle. God has called us
through Christ to be yoked with Him - equally yoked, since we are in His nature
(Matthew 11:29-30), that servant (ox) ministry. But you and Christ joined at the
neck by the yoke are to thresh the grain. You are to serve the body of Christ,
the saints, by the breaking of the word to them. No
longer is it acceptable to see and understand the ministry of salvation
(Passover), the gifts of the Spirit (Pentecost) or the third experience of union
with God (Tabernacles). No longer is it acceptable to know and understand the
truths of Hebrew 6:1. For knowledge of no rapture, reconciliation and
restitution of all things, is not sufficient. Personal understanding of God in
your own life is not the end result desired by God. While all these are
important in your life because of your relationship with God, the Lord would
have you be like Him. He
wants you to follow His example and be the ox ministry in the world today. He
wants you to manifest His life in such a manner that you take the time to help
others in a world that is bereft of time and seemingly pressed for time. God has
plenty of time. The vanity of man is that man thinks time is money, profit and
even more. Man, setting himself up as god, has determined that time governs your
life in all aspects. But God seeks out the ox ministry that values relationships
over time management. It
is only when we can rejoice in the common every day of life experiences -
brushing our teeth, washing, sleeping, working, helping the spouse, raising the
children, etc. - that we can truly be the ox ministry to the world. The
manifestation of Christ will not be a cloud splitting, radiant descent of a
literal man, Jesus, appearing in the Middle East. No, He is appearing as an ox
ministry descending out of where He has made His throne (John 14:23, Rev.3:21)
and appearing as you, as you realize that everyday things are your presentation
of the burnt offering. There
is a people called by His name who are obediently following the Lord and live
each day realizing that it is Christ and only Christ in their life. Yoked
together with Him, sitting in heavenly places, reigning over their nations
(within), these people like Sister Theresa toil in the mundane things of
everyday life. Treading out the grain, these saints rejoice at the opportunity
to give life and manifest it in every-day things. These are those called to the
ox ministry. The Burnt Offering - the Lamb The
second offering was the lamb. As 2 Corinthians 5:7 states Jesus was our Passover
Lamb. Surely, this chapter in Leviticus is a type and shadow of Christ. But
this is a Lamb not for Passover, which has occurred, but a Lamb given for a
praise offering, which is what the burnt offering is. As Jukes has stated: "In
a word, instead of seeing Christ as redeeming, we here see His work for the
redeemed; His work, not in bringing them out of Egypt, but in bringing them into
a place of worship " (The Law of
Offerings pg. 42). Jesus
was the praise of the Father. He glorified the Father by the works that He did
(John 17:4). He caused the people to worship God by the things that He did. He
walked a "slain" life in that all that He did He did for the people,
and He did nothing unless He saw His Father do it or say it (John 5:19, 30). His
ministry for three and one-half years was a ministry of a Lamb slain for the
benefit of the people and culminated on the literal manifestation of His Lamb
nature when He died on the cross. The
Lamb that is found in the book of Leviticus chapter one is the corporate
expression of the Lamb of God.
He has called us to be a peculiar people that we should show the praises of God
(1 Peter 2:9). One shows forth praise by his life - the way the person lives,
not by an activity in a church service. This offering in Leviticus was a worship
offering, a praise offering. When the church, the bride, the body of Christ,
comes into His nature, it is a praise or worship offering unto God. There are
some called the sons of God mentioned in Romans 8:19-20 who will lead the way.
For they will be a kind of firstfruits (James 1:18) of this new creation man. Since
you found Christ as your Savior have you found Christ within the Tabernacle as
the Lamb? Have you found Him Who is within you? Have you found Him as You? For a
praise offering is one identified with the Only Begotten. We are called to be a
praise offering, which is what the burnt offering is. Consider
Romans 12:1 which reads in the NASV:
"I urge you therefore brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies
a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service
of worship."
The Amplified Bible reads as follows: "I
appeal to you therefore brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of
God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies - presenting all your members
and faculties - as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well
pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and
spiritual worship." One
of the key points of the sacrifice is that it is
"spiritual worship" not a literal song service or
a mental exercise of worship. The whole life represented by the words "presenting
all your members and faculties"
is required to be a worship to the Lord. The Lamb nature of God is to be seen in
all that you do - natural, mental or spiritual. It is not some religious
exercise done in church services. It is a lifestyle that is manifested in daily
living. Before
we discuss Isaac, the offering, we must remember that Isaac was produced from
Abraham. Abraham was a crucified
life. Isaac was produced from a man who had his name changed (nature change) and
his life was one seeking a spiritual city. The adamic nature was slain in
Abraham, and that enabled God to cause him to produce Isaac. In
Genesis 22:5, it mentions that Abraham and Isaac were going up to the mountain
to worship. This is the first time that the word "worship" is used in
Scripture. Worship is a burnt offering (verse 3). We know the story. Isaac is
going to be the sacrifice. The life that Isaac lived was a 'worship' unto God
that would culminate in his giving his life unto God, unless God intervened. Can
you worship God so much that you would give up your nature of Christ that you
have built into yourself over a lifetime? Paul did. He was willing to be a
castaway if it could bring in the natural brethren, the Jews. He was willing to
lose his salvation in order to bring them in. Would you? As to the Christians,
in 1Corinthians 9:22 Paul states that
"to the weak I became weak; I have become all things to all men, that I may
by all means save some." Whatever it took working in him, he was willing.
So too was Isaac. This is true worship - far different than singing songs in a
building during a service. In
Genesis 22:3 it states that Abraham is to offer Isaac as a burnt offering.
Placed in the child Isaac is all of the promise given to Abraham. God tests
Abraham to see if Abraham will offer up all unto God. It is pleasing to God if
we offer all that He is back to Him and try not to keep the nature of Him who is
within us and is us! Only Christ can please God. Only Christ can be acceptable
to God. He is the only one who is in His nature. When we have died to the
self-nature of Adam and are fully identified with Christ, then that is a burnt
offering. Studying Isaac will reveal that he is a type and shadow of Christ. We
need to not selfishly hold on to the Christ in us, the one we love and adore.
For He is to be offered back to the Father. This is a living sacrifice. Note
that you are the sacrifice of Romans 12:1. Note that Paul considers you a
"living" sacrifice. This means that you are no longer in trespasses
and sin or those offerings for penalties, but rather that your life is hid with
God in Christ and thereby a worship offering - the burnt offering. You have
entered into the Lamb nature of God through identification with Christ Jesus. In
the Scriptures, sometimes it is very important to look at the first occurrence
or location of a word used in the Bible. Sometimes it presents a very good
picture of what the word is to mean. The very first time that the word
"lamb" is used in the Bible is in Genesis 22:17. Isaac asked the
question of his father Abraham, "Where is the Lamb?"
A more pertinent question might have been, "Who is the Lamb?"
God had told Abraham to offer his son, his only begotten son that was God
ordained. Isaac was the Lamb. In
this type and shadow of a real situation, God is trying to teach us that we can
be the offering. Isaac was enough in the nature of God that he was acceptable to
be a pleasing sacrifice. Isaac knew his place in God (see our message: Who is
Isaac?). Do you know your place in God? In
the following verse (22:8) Abraham responds to Isaac that God will provide the
Lamb for Himself. Abraham was assured that if God required his son he either
would be raised from the dead since posterity was called in the child, or God
would provide a lamb. But his son could be the lamb. Isaac was a type of Christ
and even a type of you and me, the church, who are to be a lamb for the world to
see. We are to be offered for the world in order that the world might see Him. Again,
similar to the ox, the lamb is without spot or blemish. Again its inward parts
and legs are washed. But there is a difference. Where the ox speaks of the
mundane, the lamb speaks of the visible. It is the time when you are offered
openly for the sake of others. It is the time when you, as the one in the image
of the Lamb, are attacked because you reveal His nature openly. It is this
offering that the Lord is seeking and longing for. The Burnt Offering - the Dove Besides
the ox or the lamb that could be used there was the dove. The dove is
significant. Noah released a dove at the dawning of a new time, a new
dispensation. A dove descended on Jesus as He came forth out of the Jordan and
began the kingdom of God by removing the Kingdom of the Jews. The dove played a
major role in declaring a new event in biblical chronology. The
first time Abram offered to God was with a heifer, lamb (kid) and a turtledove
(Genesis 15:9). It was an offering, not a sacrifice. A sacrifice is required,
but a burnt offering is freely given out of devotion to God.
His offering was reckoned unto him as righteousness. The
dove was a symbol of heaven in that it could fly, while the other animals were
identified with the earth. The heavens speak of the spirit, and the earth speaks
of the emotions, will, desires. Whereas the other two offerings had their
internal organs cleansed, this was not the case with the dove. It was clean in
the will, desires and emotions. But
different from the other offerings, it had its head removed (1:15) and its wings
were crippled (1:16). Jesus states that He looked for a place to lay His head
(Matthew 8:20). The removal of the head of the dove speaks to me of the laying
down of our spiritual life which has been acceptable to God, a pleasing praise
offering, in order that He might have pre-eminence in our life through His
headship. The
actual NAS version states: "He
shall take away its crop…" In other words, the crown,
the glory, of the bird is removed. For there is a crown laid in heaven for us (2
Timothy 4:8) and it is available to us only if we lay aside our crown. It is
only as we set aside the glory of what we know about the Lord that we can ascend
into the heavens from whence He came. As He left heaven to appear for us, we
must leave the earthly character in order to ascend into His realm.
We must set aside every weight that besets us. General
Lee once stated: "To be a good commander you must be willing to put to
death that which you love." As much as we cherish our love of God and His
speaking and dealing with us, we must offer up our life, which is His life in
this flesh. As much as I cherish the Lord working within me, through me, and
speaking to me, it is a personal and somewhat selfish thing. We must lay down
this life, set aside the cherished for the sake of the manifestation of the Lord
for the benefit of others. This is true love. The
crippled wings speak of us laying down our flying in the heavenly realms, that
is, our ability to hear from God on subjects, words of the Lord, etc.
When we lay it down, even as He laid down His heavenly estate to be made
manifest on the earth, we, too, lay down our spirituality. We offer up that
which blesses us so much in order that He might be glorified by the offering
that we become, even as He was the offering unto God for us. We walk in the same
manner (Philippians 3:17, 1 Corinthians 9:23) as Paul followed Christ. This
is the offering of the dove,
"an offering by fire of a soothing aroma of the Lord."
Exodus 24:17 seems to indicate that the glory of the Lord is fire. Our God is a
fire (Hebrews 12:29). When we identify with the fire we become His glory. When
we identify with being burned, then we are still in Adam, that fallen nature.
But we, who are identified with Christ, are the burnt offering, the very fire of
God, and the glory of God because He has called us to Him. Whether
it is a dove, heifer, or a lamb, it reveals the nature of God in the individual
being manifested for the work of the ministry. There is no more glorious work
than the manifestation of Him in a people.
This is a pleasing aroma, a fragrance for Him that arises unto His
nostrils and says well done, faithful servants of the Most High. The Ninth Hour Offering As
the Lord began to deal with me about Jesus, who is the fulfilling of all the
offerings and sacrifices, I was shown the importance of the ninth hour in the
offerings. While the truth of the ninth hour can be proclaimed there is great
importance to it for us. Jesus is our pattern and as He was the offering of the
ninth hour, so we too must become the offering of the ninth hour. This time is
upon this generation at this time. Jesus
was (Matthew 27:45-47) crucified at the 6th hour but died about the
ninth hour (3 p.m.) at the time of the evening sacrifice, when a burnt offering
was often used, an offering of praise. The burnt offering was given in the
evening (3 p.m.) as a conclusion of the day of acceptable sacrifices. It was a
burnt offering that showed forth the glory of God and his acceptance of the
whole day. His
acceptance of the whole day - the day of His creation of a new creation in
Christ, so to speak. For the day of the Lord is a glorious
day as man is seen in His image. It is not a time, a chronological event,
as some would teach, but a person is the Day of the Lord as He comes forth in
you. In
Ezra 9:5, we find Ezra at the time
of evening sacrifice, arising (resurrecting if you will) from his humiliation
(the fallen Adamic nature), with his garment torn symbolic of the filthy rags
(Zechariah 3:3) and replaced with the garment that Jesus Christ was given to
wear (Revelation 1:1), He lays prostrate before God in the nature of acceptance
to God. He was a pleasing savor. In
Leviticus 25:22 it reads concerning the year of Jubilee:
"When sowing in the eighth year, you can still eat old things from the
crop, eating the old until the ninth year when the crops come in." The
year of Jubilee was the 50th year when all lands reverted back to the
original owners. It was a type and shadow of what God's plan is doing with
creation. For the fall of Adam was only the beginning unto the redemption of
mankind through Jesus Christ our Lord. The
year of Jubilee was a restoration from all that was stolen or lost by a person's
family. But there were spiritual interpretations to it. For we lost much if not
all, through sin. As
we read about Jubilee, we see that they were eating the food from the sixth
year, for the seventh year was to be a time of rest for the land. Thus, on the
eighth year they were still eating from food of the sixth year until the new
food of the ninth year was harvested. Of, the glory of the ninth year when there
is fresh food! A food of the new
day! So it is when the ninth year comes in. There
are nine gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12. Nine is a very important
number in type and shadow of the Scriptures. A number worth study itself. From
the 6th hour unto the 9th hour there was darkness at the
time of Christ on the cross Mark 15:33 states. The death of Jesus was a dark
time as He accepted all death and took it to the cross. All death from the past,
present and future was summed up in Him. He nailed it to the cross in Himself,
ending all darkness by the brightness of His life and resurrection. But
the ninth hour brought forth light again for it was the time of evening
sacrifice. A time of joy before the morning. In the ninth hour when darkness
seemed the greatest, it was the time of men standing in the Holy Place before
the Lord praising His name during the evening sacrifice (Psalm 134:1) for
deliverance comes in the morning. John
and Peter were making their way towards the Beautiful Gate of the Temple. While
this is a literally true story as found in Acts 3, there is great truth and life
as one studies the story. They were going up to the temple to pray about the
ninth hour. Do
we not know that we are the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16)? Do we not pray
in the temple too? They were going "up" to the temple. Do we not arise
out of ourselves into the nature of Christ, going "up" into Him? They
were going up for the evening offering for it was an hour of prayer. It was a
time of presenting petitions to God from an acceptable offering. These men were
acceptable because of who they were in Christ. In
fact, they knew who there were in Christ. Peter stated
"Look on us" (Acts 3:4). It was not a playful statement, but it
was a seriously truthful statement. Note that the lame man (speaks of the lame
walk of the Adamic, fallen nature) "began" to give them his attention.
The old nature always wants life and seeks to be healed. But it is the saint who
is in Christ and knows it that causes the difference. John and Peter were in the
Lord. Peter
proclaims: "Silver and gold I do not possess but what I do have I give to
you: In the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene - walk" (Acts 3:6). Peter
said I do not have anything on the
natural plane; I have nothing on the soulish plane; I have nothing in myself of
will, desire or emotions. I come not from the carnal man. I come from my
position in Christ and who I am in Christ. Peter
was not speaking from the realm
of Pentecost. No, he was proclaiming a word of the Kingdom of God, even as
Christ came in the power of the kingdom (Matthew 4:23). Peter was not
ministering from a part realm such as Passover or Pentecost but speaking from
Tabernacles and union with God, being in the nature of the Son. Of course, these Scriptures are inspired. Would you have enough fortitude to proclaim "look on us" as Peter did? Do you believe that you are in Christ, an evening offering that is pleasing to God, even as Jesus was? Think
it not strange that fiery trials shall come upon you but it is for the benefit
of all. It was the fire that produced 'one like unto the son of man' in Daniel.
Who can stand the everlasting fires (Isaiah 33:14)? It is any saint who is found
righteous, and that is accomplished by being in Christ Jesus. Peter and John, in
the image of Christ, came forward and proclaimed the good news and gave life.
That is what it is all about. At
the ninth hour Cornelius saw an angel (Acts 10:3,30). What does it all mean?
Cornelius, a devout man, a Gentile, sought God and God heard. He was answered
about the ninth hour, the hour of the praise offering. Cornelius was a pleasant
aroma to God. The beginning of the end had started. First the Jews were offered
Christ as a Savior and now, the Gentiles. The beginning of the new creation man
was being formed. Conclusion
More could be written, and words would not suffice for what I have
experienced with this meeting with the Lord.
There is an unction, a power of this meeting that has forever changed my
life. May you catch that spirit of what we have written and may it be life unto
you that will vivify, quicken your nature. For our purpose is not to rejoice in
our calling as sons of God (Romans 8:19-20) but to rejoice at His appearing
within us and doing everything possible to enhance that appearing (2
Thessalonians 1:10). The force of this encounter with God has caused me to know
beyond a shadow of doubt, that there is joy, unspeakable joy, joy worth enduring
all things, because He is glorified in us as the burnt offering. Truly,
Joseph of old must have known for all he endured - left for dead, placed in a
pit, sold into slavery, dwelt in a prison and more not written.
But it was all for the joy of saving many. He was set up for the
salvation of a nation. We, the church, have been called corporately for the
salvation of the world. Let's not talk Jesus. Let's manifest Him as Peter and
John did. It
is time, high time, that the body of Christ everywhere in this whole world
begins to pull together. Let the dry bones come together today to be the evening
offering that is acceptable. Let us be the ones baptized for the dead
(1Corinthains 15:29). Let us be the offering that is acceptable to the Lord for
His service so that the dead, those in Adam, might have life through the praise
offering, the burnt offering.
There is a generation, a people, who will bring
this forth. Let us press on with all haste to be that generation. How do we
press on? We press on by yielding to the Spirit to have His good pleasure in us. We
have a taped message that we brought in a church on June 13, 1999. While the
message is tailored to the church and its local assembly there is much said that
could enhance this written word.
|
Send mail to ministry@notibutchrist.org with
questions or comments about this web site.
|