Divine View Of The Body No. 1 - Des Walter

As the Psalmist says, "We are fearfully and wonderfully made and that we know right well," which basically means that we are totally UNIQUE in our physiology and make up, like no other creature on this earth. We have abilities and attributes that no other creatures on the earth have. It is also true that we were created spirit in the beginning, being in the likeness and image of God. It is the mystery of this spiritual life that allows us to function to all other creatures on the planet. Our bodies are tuned like a musical instrument, that when it functions as the creator intended, our whole body operates in perfect harmony.

For this to become realized, the Spirit representing the heavens must rule over the Body (The Earth). We need to remember that this is a divinely appointed principle.
Genesis 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven(1) to give light upon the earth, and (2) to rule over the day and over the night, and (3) to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
MOON LIGHT REPRESENTS THE REFLECTED LIGHT OF THE CARNAL MIND THAT FORMS THE BASIS OF ALL RELIGION.
In effect we discover that the creator has assigned the SPIRIT to be Lord to rule over our earth, otherwise called our Body. But most people have never understood this principle, or that God is in any way involved in the function of our body. However, we are reminded by the Apostle Paul in 1Cor 6:19 that your Body is the TEMPLE OF GOD and IT DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU. The word “Temple” is a translation of the Greek word “NAOS” referring to THE MOST HOLY PLACE, which is the dwelling place of God.
God made a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15:18, “In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.” In this covenant the “Promised Land” is a spiritual reference to our body that has been functioning under an alien authority known as the natural or carnal mind. This has caused our body to be a BODY OF SIN, because the carnal mind is an enemy of God, and is not subject to the law of God. Further more, this mind encourages us to do whatever we desire to do, so that we fulfil all our desires and lusts, causing our body to become the expression of the carnal mind, instead of expressing Christ. The promise to Israel through Abraham was that they would possess the literal land of Canaan for God told them that it is yours so go in and take it and everywhere you put your foot that will be yours. Now in the same way it represents God’s promise to us that we are to possess our Land, which represents our body. We need to remember that we are the Heavens and the Earth from the spiritual point of view.
In the case of Israel there were seven nations already living in that land and God told them to drive those people out and take over the land. Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 10:6 that everything that happened to Israel was recorded as examples for us so that we might not make the same mistakes that they did. For we have a similar situation in our body, for there are seven nations already settled in our body which represent the different aspects of our carnal nature. But we also are told that we are to take control of our body and drive out those nations that represent the flesh, because God says “I have given it to you.” We have never really possessed our body, for it has been under the control of an alien power. The carnal mind convinced us that we are simply a mortal human being, assuming control over our body. But when we, actually possess this body it will become the BODY OF CHRIST
All of “Nature” is under the direction of the creator, in whom God has personally written his laws governing their function the earth. So a newborn horse begins to walk not long after being birthed. The birds fly without lessons in flying, and the dog’s bark and act like dogs without instructions. Man is the only creature that spends several years of life, just trying to learn how to walk and talk and function on this earth. Man is born as a helpless baby into this world needing parents in order to survive. For some, they need 20 years and more just to become equipped to function intelligently in this world.
Does this not tell us much about our life here on planet earth? Could we not conclude that God created MAN to live in another world for which we were specifically created, the world of SPIRIT? But we were born into the human race so we immediately began to adapt to our environment by being programmed for this physical material world, believing that this world is indeed the world of our true reality. But listen to the voice of the Apostle Paul in Rom 12: 1-2,
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your spiritual worship. And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God, concerning your body, and the purpose for which I made it available to you.
God is the major partner in the enterprise of our life, “For we are laborers together with God.” Just consider for a moment, how God joins with a mother to bring forth a new life within the womb, bringing the parts of that little body together when there was nothing there. Every time God desires to bring forth another one of his children into this world he simply uses a woman’s body, forming a partnership with her as “Laborers together” to bring it to pass. The woman is not expected to produce the child but simply to allow Father to use her womb, in which he will bring forth another of his children. The woman only has to do her part while Father does his part.
How few women are conscious of being a LABORER TOGETHER WITH GOD, in one of the greatest miracles on the earth today, giving birth to a new life? So many women only have memories of morning sickness, pain and suffering, instead of remembering what should have been the greatest experience of joining with God to produce the miracle of life itself. How many young people consider they are, “Laborers together with God” in their studies to fit themselves for the vocation he has planned for their life. The great majority of people on this planet live without any thought that God may have a personal interest in every one he has put on this earth. The saddest thing that we can face in life as we get old, is to think about what perhaps we could have been, or we could have done, but we never consulted our heavenly Father.
We are by our culture and ethics, together with the already developed nature of parents and siblings, who’s “Learned Responses” were quickly transferred to us. If our parents never truly learned LOVE from their parents, then usually the children will be brought up having a similar deficiency. Anger is a “Learned Response,” the same cheating and lying, so as we witnessed those who to succeed using those attributes, we decided to include them in our own path of life. Out of all we see and observe during our formative years, we chart the course of our own life, based upon the choices WE have made.
Life on this earth for us rests upon a series of decisions that we make voluntarily. In creation we were given a mind, an image, and a likeness all of which we received from God our FATHER. This was established in that first MAN created in Gen 1:26 who was the only son God ever created. However, he was a corporate man out of whom all of mankind has come, being created IN CHRIST JESUS, God’s only son. Eph 2:10. The Image and Likeness related to the nature and character of God, that he incorporated in all of mankind through creation. In that mind that we received in creation, was all the knowledge of God, but for so many, such knowledge has never been accessed. It is as if some curtain has been drawn across the life we had in God from creation, preventing us from remembering what we once knew. As a result of our ignorance of spiritual intelligence, mankind decided to gather their wisdom and knowledge from the TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL, that God warned would produce DEATH the day you access it.
Let us consider where sickness and death have their origin. In the Garden of Eden there was NO SICKNESS OR DEATH for nothing ever died there. This Garden is not Literal but is Spiritual, representing a consciousness of God’s presence within every one. In our inner “Garden” there is no lack of any kind, for in his presence there is fullness of Joy, and nothing that defiles can enter in to bring discord to the atmosphere of Father’s Love, Joy and Peace. We are not told how long Adam enjoyed that perfect communion and fellowship he shared with God in the Garden. However, we know that a time came when Adam’s relationship with God was broken, and Death cast its ugly shadow over the Garden. Let us look at the issues that brought about such a tragedy.
We go back to Genesis 1:26 to be reminded that MAN is the product of a Word God spoke. This indicates that the MAN fulfilled the total expression of what was in the Mind and the Heart of God, when he SPOKE that creative Word, “Let us make MAN.” This man was in the Likeness and Image of God, which means that God established his nature and character within the Man. This would also cause a sense of guilt in the man if he violated the nature or character of God, and would result in a break in relationship. So we read that the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and while he slept the female part of his being was separated from him. This experience opens for us the Adamic Dream World, for this chapter in Genesis cannot be considered to be LITERAL for it is an Allegory.
The reason for this is the fact that it is impossible to divide spirit. There is no such thing as “Half a spirit,” and neither is there such a thing, as a Male Spirit or a Female Spirit, for spirit has no gender. God is spirit, which is both male and female, and so he could bring forth out of himself a son, without having to find a woman to assist him in producing children. James 1:18 States, “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures, or of the God kind of people.” In Acts 17:28 Paul says, “In God we LIVE, and MOVE, and have our BEING, as certain of your own poets have said, for we also are his OFFSPRING.” Man is the product of whatever God is, just think about this! So God told Adam in Gen 1:28, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” This was not said to Adam and Eve, for she had not appeared as a separate entity at that point in time.
We may well ask the question, why was this female part of Adam taken from him to become a separate entity. My understanding was that first of all God wanted to reveal to us what is the role that the Soul or the female part of spirit would play, and how it would function. The removing of the female part of spirit did not take place in creation but later, for in Gen 2:7 the Lord God, who was the MAN created in Gen 1:26 brought forth a manifestation of himself giving him a FORM or a body made from the dust of the earth. However the form (Body) had no life in itself, but the Lord God breathed into the nostrils of that man the breath of life that he received from God. This is the Man who was put in the Garden of Eden with the charge to take care of it and to guard it, who also walked with God every day in the Garden of Eden in intimate fellowship and communion. The body that Adam had at that time was the same as the man who walked out of the tomb on the day of resurrection. That body was spirit in manifestation, for the spirit was in control of the body, and every cell was energized by the spirit and functioned accordingly.
In the world today our body is under the control of the Carnal or Natural mind. The original mind given to man in creation was the Mind of Christ who is spirit. That mind contains all the knowledge of God and all the wisdom of God and is programmed for righteousness. But the woman taken out of Adam in the allegory of Gen 2, was separated from Adam having become a LIVING SOUL. This soul consists of the MIND the EMOTIONS and the WILL, but due to the separation from Adam who is Christ, this Mind has no input from the spirit so it became Natural or Carnal. Such a mind can never know God, for it functions through five natural senses, through which we establish the realities of our life. None of these senses can reveal God to us. Under the control of that mind we wander in the darkness of ignorance for we are unable to know God who is spirit. Also our body that was spirit in manifestation originally (Gen 2:7), now became flesh and blood and became subject to every sickness, disease and death that is in the world.
The reason for this is because we do not hear the energizing voice of the Living God, which has the power to recreate the cells of our body.
However, the Mind of the Living soul now took over control of our body, causing it to become a BODY OF SIN according to Rom.6:6. This Natural Mind assumed control allowing us to do whatever WE wanted to do, to satisfy the desires and lusts of the flesh. Our body became the vessel, to fulfil our personal desires, because we believed that our body belongs to us to do whatever we wanted to do. Then our emotions also played a part in affecting our body, for when they do not function in harmony with the Spirit of God they cause all manner of problems in the body. If we allow emotions such as hatred, anger, fear, jealousy or unforgiveness amongst others, to rise up in us, it will upset the balance of the body causing problems that will affect our health. Then there are the problems caused by psychological issues that affect our mind. These can stem from words spoken to us even in childhood that put us down. If we were not encouraged through our growing years by parents or teachers, we would develop a bad self-image that can put a restriction on our lives as an adult. Many people have an inferiority complex that robs us of our self-esteem and causes us to walk in the shadows throughout life. It is usually these things that are an underlying cause in a life of continuing illness.
In Psalm 139:1 the Psalmist says, “O LORD, you have searched me, and known me. You know what puts me down and what lifts me up; you even understand my thought afar off. You are fully acquainted with my path and my lying down, and are familiar with all my ways.”
Your body is affected by so many things bringing limitation and sickness, because the natural or carnal mind has asserted authority over your body. But remember the carnal mind has no input from the spirit, also it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it receive or know the things of the spirit for such things are foolishness to it and concludes by saying, IT IS DEATH. This mind functions to encourage us to fulfil the desires of our heart, including that which we lust after. To follow this natural “Mind” therefore will lead us into death, destroying our body. For so many Christians the reason why God gave us a body has never been understood. Paul says in 1 Cor 6:19 Don’t you know that your body is the Temple of God and it does not belong to you. When man was created in Gen 1:26, he was spirit and God intended that he would be his dwelling place on the earth. For many years God dwelt in the Tabernacle of Moses, which allowed him to lead Israel in their journey across the wilderness. God was always there in the midst of his people, which was the desire of his heart.
The fact that Christ dwells in every man is most important to us. It is CHRIST IN YOU that is the hope of the glory of God being manifest in these bodies of ours. Remember that sickness itself has no true reality at all, because it has no law of God to support its existence. Sickness was not a part of God’s creative work; therefore it is not a part of reality. Anything that is a reality must have no beginning and therefore it also will have no end. Anything that belongs to the spirit world is eternal and these things we call REALITIES. Sickness had a beginning and also will have an end, so it does not qualify as a REALITY. Jesus Christ the King said: -
Matthew 5:39 But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
It seems that this direction given by the King has been ignored as the natural mind considers it to be wrong. Part of the reason for this is that the word “Evil” has not been understood correctly. Good and Evil only represents our natural human ability to determine what we think is “OF GOD,” and what is “NOT OF GOD.”
We have assumed the role of God considering that we have the ability and the wisdom to determine what is good and what is evil. We have usurped the role of God who alone has the wisdom and knowledge to judge. We are told that the carnal mind cannot receive from God nor can it understand the things of the spirit. Sickness did not originate in God for he was the one who formed your body in your mother’s womb and his work is perfect. However, the human factor has so often become an issue in children being born deformed or with physical problems. If a woman abuses her body with drugs or alcohol, or functions in life apart from God, this can have an affect on the birth of the child. Beyond this we have been convinced because of what our carnal mind has told us, that we inherit from our forefathers through our genes certain traits that are passed on to future generations. This represent some of the physical issues that may affect the generations in today’s world, but there are also spiritual issues that we often are not aware of.
Our children were intended to be birthed in LOVE, but so often today the man considers that it is his right to gratify himself when and how he sees fit. How many children are conceived in lust and not LOVE, but because it is in marriage it is considered to be all right. We are not simply mortal beings, but spirit beings in a mortal body. As an integral unit, our body is finely tuned between that which is natural and that which is spiritual. The function of the soul as a part of the spirit remains vulnerable to our experiences that we encounter in life. A lack of love in our childhood years can deeply affect our personality and inhibit our potential for the rest of our life. Even more than this, it can also create an imbalance in our emotional system causing a problem with anger and resentment that produces other issues like sickness. For many people, anxiety and bitterness amongst other things also provide the conditions for sickness to affect our body.
Some Christians believe strongly that sickness is a punishment for sin, but if that were so, everyone would be sick and no one could be healed. Jesus Christ healed many people during his time on this earth, which he would never have done if God were the author of sickness. To heal the sick was a part of the Gospel of the Kingdom that was given to the disciples when Jesus sent them out to preach. Matt 10:7-8. As a spiritual creature we need to understand that the power of LIFE and DEATH are in the tongue. As Paul tells us, “With the heart man believes, and with the mouth CONFESSION is made of what we believe.” Our confession seals what we believe causing it to become our reality, for what a man thinks or believes in his heart, becomes what he is. So when we say, “I am sick” or “I have cancer,” we are making a declaration that becomes the reality of what we believe in our heart
Sickness has no true reality, for it has no law of God to allow it to exist on this earth. However, if we believe that it has reality and you “HAVE IT,” then you have given it substance and power to affect you, and you will have to fight it. Please do not go to someone who is suffering from Cancer or some other sickness and tell them, “You do not really have any sickness,” for this is not the way to help people. They have the doctor’s report or an X-ray that is their proof that they do have a problem and it is not just in their mind. This is a spiritual issue and must be seen from that perspective. It is perfectly obvious that Jesus Christ did not see people as being sick, or he would never have told the man at the pool of Bethesda, who was crippled and could not move, to get up and go home.
So now let us dig a little deeper into this subject. Jesus never actually healed anyone in the sense that we understand healing today, which involves some medical intervention. This can be in the form of medication or some form of medical procedure to correct a physical problem that we may have. But Jesus healed people by simply speaking a WORD to them. Notice in John 4:46 we have an account of a man whose son was dying in Capernaum, and he asks Jesus to heal him. After a little discussion Jesus did what the man asked, and we need to see clearly how the healing took place. In verse 50 it says,
“Jesus said unto HIM, Go your way for your son is alive (Healed). That was all Jesus did, he simply spoke a WORD, and that is all. But now see what response the man made to this “Word” Jesus spoke to HIM. The man BELIEVED the WORD that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.”
First of all the man BELIEVED THE WORD Jesus spoke TO HIM, and not to someone else. Having believed that his son was healed his sadness was gone and in good spirits he heads off home knowing that his son was no longer sick. On the way home he met his servants coming to meet him who tell him that his son is all right. The man said, “I KNOW!” They say to him how did you know? He replied, “Because Jesus TOLD ME HE WAS HEALED.” When he asked them what time he recovered they told him and he said, ”YES, that was the time when Jesus told me he was healed.”
There is much that we need to know about the WORD God speaks to us. In Isaiah 55:11 “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Every word that God speaks must ultimately return to him, for nothing concerning God is ever lost. But every WORD must first accomplish what God sent it to do. Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
God is spirit and so when he needs to do something, all he has to do is SPEAK and it IS. In creation when he wanted to create the MAN all he did was to speak and say, “LET US MAKE MAN,” and there was the man. So if we hear a word from the Lord we can be assured that what ever he says will be reality for us. But there is another side to this that is most important for us to know. In Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. Most Christians have never understood this and so cause themselves many problems. Paul explains in Rom 10:9 That a man believes in his heart, then with the mouth be makes a confession based upon what ever he believes. So if we say, “I have cancer,” we are making a confession based upon a belief that we have cancer. Having confessed this we confirm it is our belief that cancer is now established in our body.
The truth is that sickness regardless of what form it takes, does not have any true reality. However, if we believe that sickness does exist in our body, then WE GIVE IT a sense of reality and then we must fight it. Most Christians do not realize that the power of death and life is in the tongue, so when we say, “I have cancer,” we are making a confession of what we believe in our heart. This may shock many people but it is the Truth. But if I can hear a word from the Lord releasing someone who says they have cancer, and I speak that word to them and the cancer disappears so that the doctors can find no trace of it that proves to me that cancer has no true reality. How sad it is that so few Christians ever hear the inner voice of the Christ within, for his words are SPIRIT AND LIFE. To be set free only requires a WORD FROM THE LORD, for in that word is the power to accomplish what he has sent it to do.
We put our faith and trust in doctors who can only speak from the physical natural aspect of life, but never enquire what our Heavenly father has to say about our body. Remember that Adam in the Garden of Eden told God that he was NAKED, and his response to Adam is most instructive. He asked him a question, “WHO TOLD YOU?” How important it is that the sons of God should base their faith on the highest authority available, instead of the words of mortal man. My mind goes back to the words of a very well known hymn; “O what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.” When a Christian suffers from sickness we accept the prognosis of the doctor without question, but never check to see what our loving heavenly Father has to say on the subject of our health.
All of the incidents of healings in the ministry of Jesus Christ on the earth were simply the result of a WORD that he spoke. There was never any medical intervention at all. To the man with the withered arm he simply said, “Stretch forth your arm,” and the man obeyed. Why could the man not do that before Jesus spoke to him? This is a very interesting question and the answer is important for all of us today. The Female part of Adam’s spiritual being was separated from him in the Garden of Eden, during the deep sleep that fell upon Adam, the Lord God brought her to Adam who identified her as a “WOMAN”. God never recognized her as being a separate entity from Adam. Gen 5:2. Remember that this whole episode is an allegory and cannot be taken literally for it is impossible for spirit to be divided, as spirit has no gender. There is no such thing as a MALE SPIRIT or a FEMALE SPIRIT, there is only SPIRIT, which is GOD, and in every case is MALE and FEMALE functioning together as one.
In this separation the female part or the SOUL now begins to function as a LIVING SOUL being apart from Adam who represents the Spirit. So the focus is now on this “Living Soul” who now has no direct connection with Adam. She functions quite differently from Adam who walked with God and talked with him every day in the Garden. Eve as a SEPARATE ENTITY never ever walked with God for she has no input from Adam who is SPIRIT. Adam’s mind was the mind of CHRIST who could never have been tempted to do what EVE did, for being separated from Adam her mind became simply the MIND OF THE SOUL, what Paul calls the NATURAL or CARNAL MIND. This mind has no input from the Spirit and so can never know God, for it has no capacity to do so. It was through this natural mind that MANKIND was brought down from its high estate in the realm of spirit, into the dust realm.
In this process the natural mind of the woman, which was neither good nor evil, became the target through which an enemy was able to infiltrate and ultimately control her. The carnal or natural mind has assumed authority over the man because of his sense of separation from God, whose voice cannot be heard.
The first man was created out of God, but since then every person born in this world has come out of a woman.
Because that woman became a LIVING SOUL, all her offspring became exactly the same. Mankind discovered that an alien authority had invaded our humanity, producing rebellion, pain, sickness, suffering and ultimately death. This authority functioned as the Carnal Mind that took control of what we would think, what we would believe, and what we would do. However, there are some things that we need to understand about the carnal mind. First of all Paul tells us that it is an enemy of God, so it will never help us to please God, for it is set in opposition to all that God stands for. It will encourage us to please ourselves in all that we do, like spoilt undisciplined children. Then it deceives us into believing that knowledge is power and is the most important thing for us to have. So we foolishly feed upon the Tree of KNOWLEDGE even though God told Adam not to eat of it’s fruit, because in the day you eat of it YOU WILL DIE.
This is not speaking simply about physical death but spiritual death, which isolates us from God and then causes us to live out of our mortality. We have also discovered that the Carnal Mind has no capacity to hear from God or to receive truth from him. This further isolates us from the very source of our being and prevents us from experiencing his life. Under these conditions our body becomes vulnerable to every sickness disease and finally physical death itself. Just as Eve was deceived by the serpent that represents the carnal mind being more subtle than all the beasts of the field, so is mankind today living under the same alien control? Paul makes a blunt statement in Rom 8 saying, “The Carnal Mind IS DEATH.” So in truth it is not the cancer that kills you but the CARNAL MIND. We have been so created that what we think in our Heart or Mind IS WHAT WE ARE. The health of our body then requires that we live in constant fellowship with God so that his life flows through our body in an uninterrupted stream.

THE OVER- COMMERS
To sum up all that has been said on this subject we understand that to live in the Spirit, which is the Christ of our true identity, is the way to avoid the problem of sickness and other issues concerning our body. It is a divine principle that the Spirit is given to rule over the Body, which must come under its control. In spiritual terms, this means the heavens must rule over the earth, which is our body. All the problems we face affecting our body stem from the carnal mind, which is set in opposition to God and to his, will and purpose on this earth. Man was created first of all to become the dwelling place of God on the earth in order to live among his people. Exodus 25:8 “And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” For this purpose it was necessary that the Man should have a body, so in Gen 2:7 the Lord God brought forth a manifestation of himself clothed in a BODY made from the dust of the earth.
The reason why God needed man to have a body was so that the spirit that is man’s true identity from creation would have a vessel through which he could manifest himself to the world. Paul declares that our body is the Temple of God, so it does not belong to us for it was purchased by Jesus Christ at Calvary. But we have violated the purposes of God regarding our body, by not allowing the Christ to possess it, so that he could express himself to the world. Instead we have used our body to fulfil the desires of our own heart. These are vital issues that we need to address if we are to conform to the will of God on this earth. Man generally gives little thought to the fact that our body does not belong to him, (1Cor.6:19) or that God has a high calling to be fulfilled concerning our body.
God never intended the Carnal Mind, which is a part of the SOUL LIFE to have control over the body, but Eve was deceived by the “Serpent” into following its direction to eat of the forbidden fruit assuring her that she would not die, but that they would become “AS GODS” in their own right. As a result of her being deceived she gave the serpent or Carnal Mind control over her body causing it to become a “BODY OF SIN.” In Rom 6:6 the apostle Paul uses this expression, because of our corrupt behaviour resulting from the carnal mind and expressed through the body that was designed to be, “THE BODY OF THE CHRIST,” and energized by the spirit of the Lord. Our Carnal Mind expresses the Adamic consciousness in contrast to the MIND OF CHRIST, who was given the right to rule over the earth of our body. However, this one who is declared to be “Lord” is denied the right to possess the Body provided for him to become an expression of the Christ. Instead it becomes an expression of the Adamic mind and subject to sickness pain and suffering, and finally death.
To correct this situation and restore our body to its former glory as the Body of CHRIST requires a death that will destroy the Carnal Mind that holds the power of Death. This issue was settled in the Garden of Gethsemane while the disciples were sleeping. Jesus was discussing with his Father the plan of redemption that would free our body from its alien authority, allowing the Christ to bring the body under his divine control. It was the Father’s will that his son Jesus Christ would take his own humanity into death, and by so doing he would “Taste death for every man,” releasing all mankind from the destructive influence of the Carnal Mind and freeing the body from its bondage to sin.
He signed the contract with God as the only one who had never been deceived by the serpent, and so had the power to take back on our behalf spiritual sovereignty over our body, releasing us from the power of the serpent or the carnal mind. Our release and freedom was purchased at Calvary, when Jesus Christ God’s original man of Gen 1:26, submitted himself to death in the place of all mankind, laying down HIS HUMANITY, even though he knew no sin, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. This is the only way that our humanity or our mortal life could be brought to an end and the Carnal mind put out of action. Only then can the CHRIST MIND assume control and bring our body into subjection, to function out of the ETERNAL LIFE we received in creation. This life is the Life of the Christ, which is eternal, filling our body with Light. In this release we will witness MORTALITY being swallowed up in IMMORTALITY.
Did not Paul teach the saints at Corinth that our redemption was not simply the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross, but it involved a burial and a resurrection as well? This is what Jesus spoke about in John 2:19 when he said, “Destroy THIS TEMPLE (Body of my mortality) and in THREE DAYS I WILL RAISE IT UP IMMORTAL. Jesus was speaking here about the Temple of his Body, which is God’s true Temple. He was setting the pattern for us to follow, for Paul told us that our Body is the Temple of God. I Cor. 6:19. But our mortal body cannot be the true Temple of God for it is subject to death and finishes up in a hole in the ground, and God’s temple is no longer available to him. God’s Temple must be IMMORTAL, which for most Christians means that we must wait until we all get our new bodies and go to heaven. BUT what use is that to God who needs his body NOW on this earth? So Paul is telling us how this will take place.
“As we have borne the image of the earthly so shall we bear the image of the Heavenly.” Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep (die), but we shall all be changed, in a “moment” (the Atoms of our body), in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, (heralding the end of an era in which man lived under the authority of the Carnal Mind) for the trumpet (Voice of God) shall sound, and (those who died in Christ and who were buried in Christ shall be raised in Christ incorruptible), and shall be changed, for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.”
How sad it is that these scriptures are relegated to the distant future and what is called by the religious world the “Great Resurrection.” They believe that God will dig up the graves of the Christians and put the bones together again, fitting them with a new eternal body and take them to heaven. Such is the power of the carnal mind. Paul makes it clear in 2Cor.5:17 “If any man be IN CHRIST HE IS A NEW CREATION MAN, the OLD things of the Adamic creation are passed away, behold all things are become new.” Paul also teaches us that we were ALL CREATED IN CHRIST JESUS, Eph.2:10, so we have never been out of Christ Jesus. Therefore when he died we died in him and we were also buried in him and we must also have risen IN HIM. This is indeed a fact, but for it to be our reality we must appropriate that death, and burial (which is the planting of the divine seed in the soil of our humanity) and the resurrection which is the conception of the seed which is CHRIST, releasing all the potential of God that is in the seed to become the Christ of our true identity. This is God’s wonderful plan for this our day and not some future time in the “Sweet Bye and bye.”


DETAILS CONCERNING THE CHANGE
Paul declares that our flesh and blood or mortality will not allow us to inherit “The Kingdom of God.” Therefore there must come a change in this body of ours, which agrees with what Paul says in Philippians 3:20-21.
For our spiritual authority and direction comes from heaven; and from that same realm we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, the body of our humiliation, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, when he walked out of the tomb on the third day, according to the working whereby he is able even to bring everything into subjection unto himself.
We understand that the change must be accomplished by Jesus Christ who must come from the realm called HEAVEN. Most Christians seem to be convinced that “Heaven” is up in the sky, however, the Truth is that we are the HEAVENS AND THE EARTH that God is interested in. There is a part of us that was CREATED, which came out of God who dwells in Heaven, and that is our SPIRIT, which is Christ, and there is a part of us that is from the earth, which is our BODY. It was always God’s will and purpose that the HEAVENS should rule over the earth, which means that the SPIRIT is to be LORD and to rule over our BODY. The truth is, that the only God we can know dwells within us, for God is spirit and therefore is invisible to our natural eyes.
Paul continues saying that this change that must take place in us is a MYSTERY, so it cannot be known or understood intellectually, but only by the spirit. Let us therefore not try and use our own intellect to find the answer to this mystery. Paul says that we shall not all die (sleep) but we all shall be changed. Our natural mind considers that this flesh and blood body will be changed into something else but the Greek word used here means to EXCHANGE something for something else. According to Philippines 3, Paul suggests that Jesus Christ is willing to exchange HIS GLORIOUS BODY for our mortal body, if we are willing to lay down the LIFE of our mortality first. This can only take place at Calvary as we become fully identified with Jesus Christ IN HIS DEATH, in order to be fully identified with him in his RESURRECTION. He first destroyed the one that has the power of death, which is not some devil, but the CARNAL MIND that Paul tells us IS DEATH. It was the Carnal Mind that robbed Adam of his immortality and finally put his body in the grave. Since then only a few have managed to experience the MYSTERY. But the possibility has always been there, waiting for those who desire to be clothed with IMMORALITY.
Very few Christians truly desire immortality, but rather choose to embrace physical death to escape the burden of sickness pain, suffering and adverse circumstances in their life. How many Christians give loved ones over to “DEATH” to save them from further suffering, asking “GOD” to “Take” them? Since when has DEATH been our FRIEND? Moses told Israel to CHOOSE LIFE and NOT DEATH, but they did not listen. Perhaps we need to rethink our choice to embrace DEATH and consider that God has given us a choice to LIVE eternally or to die in our mortality. While ever the Carnal or Natural Mind controls our body it will be a Body of SIN because it will fulfil the personal desires of our heart, and also its lusts. This is because the carnal mind is an enemy of God and is not subject to the will of God. It is the Carnal mind that produces the Adamic consciousness, causing us to believe that we are separated from God and we are sinners in his sight. This in turn reinforces our sense of mortality believing we are born and we will die. In this we are speaking of the “LIFE” that we are living which is MORTAL. It is a fact that we can only live ONE LIFE at a time. In other words we cannot live out of our mortality and the eternal CHRIST LIFE at that same time. One must be surrendered for the other to be embraced, and it was his own mortality that Jesus Christ lay down at Calvary, having tasted death for every man.
When the death of Jesus Christ on the cross becomes the reality of our death, then we are freed from our mortality and can now embrace his burial and RESURRECTION. We are raised up out of his death, which is now our death, immortal and invincible, and our body becomes spirit in manifestation, the BODY OF CHRIST.
We shall not ALL SLEEP, but we shall ALL BE CHANGED using the same term Jesus used, regarding what we call DEATH. Let us examine the process more closely for Paul tells us that it will be, “In a MOMENT.” This word “MOMENT” is not a time word but is a translation of the Greek word “Atomos,” referring to the change involving the ATOMS of our body. These are the building blocks of everything in this physical world. They consist of Protons and Neutrons revolving around a Nucleus. In the Garden of Eden after Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the atoms of his body slowed down from the speed of LIGHT, to a lower vibration turning his Heavenly LIGHT BODY in which he walked and talked with God every day, INTO FLESH AND BLOOD. The transformation is in fact a RE-STORATION simply causing it to become what it was before. All that it requires is for those atoms to recover the vibration of heaven which is LIGHT, to bring forth the “Change’ Paul is speaking about here.
The next statement Paul makes in this restoration of our body is, “In the twinkling of an eye.” I pondered this thought seeking for illumination at to what this referred to, and it was made clear through a search in the Greek language. The root word here is used in many passages in the Old Testament helping us to grasp its true meaning. The word is used in Gen 21:15 when Hagar ‘CAST THE CHILD (Ishmael) under the shrubs,” because he could never be the true son of Abraham.” Another place where it is used is in Gen 37:20 when Joseph’s brothers saw him coming they said, “Come let us slay him, and CAST him into some pit” because his dreams challenged them. So the meaning behind this phrase, “The twinkling of an eye,” has to do with casting something away to get rid of it. It is obvious therefore that here, Paul is referring to the casting aside of our mortal life in exchange for his IMMORTAL LIFE.

The CROSS must become the reality, of the casting aside of my MORTAL LIFE, having CHOSEN IMMORTALITY.

The Time or season determined by God is said to be at the “Last Trump,” for the trumpet shall sound. The Trumpet in scripture is associated with the voice of God because of its clear sound. Remember that every sound causes a vibration, which is interpreted through the ear and the brain into music or speech etc. Every note on a piano has a certain vibration, which is set so that every note relates to every other note according to its vibration to produce music. The VOICE of God is a sound from the spirit realm and carries the vibration of that spirit world, causing something in us to recognize its vibration. Saul of Tarsus who was on a mission to kill all the Christians he could find, heard a VOICE from the spirit world that transformed him in a moment, causing him to respond in submission to Christ, calling him “LORD.”
Having heard so many sounds in our life, suddenly there comes a sound that grabs our attention causing the very Atoms in the cells of our body to be energized, but cannot quite reach that vibration at that moment. But the response is sufficient to cause the cells in my body to “Remember” when they did vibrate in unison with that sound from heaven, and now desired to do so again. But God is not finished yet for Paul continues saying, “For the LORD SHALL DESCEND from Heaven.” Every word here is important so let us follow. Jesus Christ is said to come DOWN, not out of the sky as Babylon has taught us, but from the realm of “Our Heavens,” which is where Christ is resident IN US. Is not our body the TEMPLE OF GOD, and is he not in his HOLY TEMPLE? So the Christ who is ONE WITH GOD will descend from our HEAVENS into the earth realm of our body to rescue us from our mortality.
Beloved, this requires us to take off our shoes for we are indeed walking on HOLY GROUND. In John 3:13 Jesus says to us, “No man has gone up into heaven, save he who came down out of heaven, even the Son of man who is in heaven.” Is it not strange that most Christians are waiting to GO TO HEAVEN to get a new body, but Christ’s plan is to come down into our earth now, to liberate us from our mortality. In Creation, God created the MAN to be his dwelling place, for we were all created in Christ Jesus, but most Christians believe they have to die physically to “GO and BE WITH THE LORD.” Eph 2:10. So his coming to this earth 2000 years ago was simply a visible manifestation of the spiritual reality of what man has been on this earth since creation. His visible entry into this world was simply to say, “THIS IS WHO YOU ARE and WHAT YOU ARE, and I am here to demonstrate what is the true expression of MAN. I have come so that YOU might have LIFE and have it more abundantly. Religion perceives Jesus Christ to be someone totally different to what we are, so that we cannot make him to be a model or use his life as a pattern for us today.
The “Sound” of that voice from the heavens has the power to raise those who are dead in trespasses and sins, and also those like Lazarus who have died physically. For when this Corruptible shall have put on Incorruption and this Mortal shall have put of Immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY. This is the fulfilment of the promise in the Old Testament, in Isa 25:7-9.
“He will destroy in this mountain of the House of the Lord, the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up DEATH in Victory and the Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall be taken away from off all the earth, for the Lord has spoken it.”

It is my prayer that what father has given me to write here may become truth to you, as you allow the Christ within to confirm it to you establishing it in your heart as your reality.
Be blessed and encouraged in the Lord, Written August 2008
Des Walter

The Kingdom of God Part 3 - Les Walter

Kingdom of God Part 3


Introduction

The subject of the Kingdom of God is most important for us to understand, because it provides the very basis upon which we are to live life today. Jesus told us to "seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you."

In this study we are going to look at the Kingdom in more detail and discover the practical aspects of the pathway by which we enter. Much of the teaching concerning the Kingdom is based upon traditional theology, most of which is simply the product of the minds of men. It is commonly accepted that the Kingdom of God is something that will be established after what is termed the "second coming of Christ." The concept is, that Christ will then set up His Kingdom in the city of Jerusalem and from there will ultimately rule the world with a "rod of iron."

To understand God’s Kingdom we must first realize that it is not literal! Jesus Himself declared that it would not come by observation or in other words it is not visible to the natural eye. So anyone who is looking for a literal kingdom on the earth with a man enthroned as king, will be disappointed. The natural mind of man cannot conceive anything that is not literal or visible, and for this reason Jesus told the disciples that the world would not be able to receive the Holy Spirit because they could not see Him.

The only theologian who is qualified to teach us, concerning the things that be of God, is the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Truth. Jesus declared that when the holy spirit is come He will "lead you into all truth." So both the writer and the reader must bow to the divine teacher who alone knows the deep things of God.

Now we recognize that everyone who seeks to teach the word of God needs the anointing of the Holy Spirit to do so, but, how many of us understand that the hearer also needs the anointing of the Spirit before they can know those things that be of God? Apart from the Spirit of God we will never understand spiritual things. It matters not whether one has a university degree or is illiterate, because apart from the Holy Spirit we will remain ignorant of truth. So to hear what the Lord would say to us let us all bow before Him.

Because the Kingdom of God is not a literal kingdom, does not mean that there is no physical evidence of its function in this world. Paul said the Kingdom is not "meat and drink," both of which are physical, "but righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost," which are non-tangible, and yet their effect can be seen. We will first go back to the "beginning" in our search to discover the truth about the Kingdom of God.


The Beginning

The Bible begins with the words, "In the beginning." Our natural minds can go no further for eternity is not a "human" concept since we are locked into the limitation we call time, where everything has a beginning and an end. However, we know that at this point in which God created the heavens and the earth, He already existed. There is no other power or authority for He is the "subjector" of all. I believe it would be reasonable to say that the Kingdom of God was not a created thing as such, but is the function of God in His capacity as God.

It was "in the beginning" that the question of authority arose, because God decided to declare Himself through creation, all of which existed within Himself. To this the scriptures agree when Paul says God has manifested the "invisible things of Himself" through the creation of the world, so that He would be known by mankind who is also a part of that creation. Among those "invisible things of Himself" that He wanted to make known was His power and divinity.

It was in man, the highest form of creation, that God placed the "invisible things of Himself" on display. First of all man was created in the "likeness and image" of God so that something of the divine representation was incorporated into his being. Also, dominion was given to man over all the works of God’s hands. I do not believe that we have given sufficient thought to these facts and their effect upon us today. So let us look at the divine intention concerning man in Genesis chapter one.

The word "dominion" has to do with rule as it would apply to any king, and this first man was given expressly, dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, over the cattle or four-footed beasts, over every creeping thing, and over all the earth. This comprehensive mandate was the charge given to the man, who was created in the likeness and image of God.

However this was not the total responsibility given to man, for we read God also said to him be "fruitful and multiply and replenish or fill the earth and subdue it." After this his dominion is extended to include "every living thing that moveth on the earth." Finally a direction is given concerning the provision of food for all living souls on the earth, which was to be the green herb of the field.

In all of this discussion about the man created in the likeness and image of God, we must conclude that the dominion or "rule" given to him is in some way connected to the Kingdom of God spoken about in the scriptures. It is not surprising therefore that when Jesus Christ came into the world He said that the Kingdom is within you, since He was the Word that was in the beginning, now made flesh. Jesus Christ Himself was the true expression of that Kingdom, because it is through Him that God would manifest His power and divinity, so that it could be known throughout all the earth.

We must ask the question, why the divine rule or Kingdom of God is not evident in society today, if man was given this dominion in the beginning? We have chaos among the animal kingdom as the strong kill the weak, and the same with the birds and the fish. Death and suffering abound on every hand. Then within the world of humanity we have sickness, suffering and death, besides the evil that man inflicts on his fellow man in war, murder, rape and other evils too numerous to mention. What has happened to this "intention" of the Creator that man should have dominion over all the works of His hands, controlling all of creation out of the "divinity," that was expressed in him as God’s likeness and image? If we are honest we would have to admit that today man is probably more of the problem than any part of the answer.

To really understand the situation we need to allow the scriptures to provide us with the answer, rather than asking some theologian to give us his views on the matter. We will begin the search by looking into the scriptures themselves and allowing the Holy Spirit to enlighten us as to what they have to say.

The Disruption

There are three verses we may consider in the New Testament in order to begin our search, and I will quote them for you so you will be familiar with the scriptures concerned:

"That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying, I will open my mouth in parables, and utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world," Matt 13:35.

"According as he hath chosen us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world," Ephesians 1:4.

"And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, (the beast) whose names are not written in the book of the life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world," Revelation 13:8.


The word "foundation" occurs in each of these verses and the casual reader would assume that this refers to the time when God laid the foundation of the heavens and the earth. We must always bear in mind that the natural man does not understand the things of the Spirit because they can only be spiritually discerned. However the Greek word used here for foundation, is the word "katabole" and means "the casting down." For this reason some translations use the word "disruption" to better express the true meaning.

The next question is, to what does this "casting down" or "disruption," refer to? Because it is the focal point of the three scriptures quoted, it becomes obvious that it has reference to the time when Adam rebelled against the rule of God and partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. At that moment the rule or authority of God was cast down and disrupted, and in its place another rule or authority based upon the knowledge of good and evil took its place. Adam rejected the fact that the dominion given to man in Genesis 1:26, only operated through a divine union between God and the man He created.

John in his gospel correctly identifies the man created in God’s likeness and image as "the Word." He was in the beginning with God and was God. In the Greek language he is called the "Logos" which is not simply a word, but also contains the whole thought and intention that was in the mind of the one who spoke the word. So we can see that as the Logos, man was the total expression of what God is. In this sense we can say He was God.

However when the Word became flesh, He could declare God to be His Father from whence He came, which made Him the Son of God. The religious leaders of that day could not comprehend what Jesus was saying when He said, "I and my Father are one." They considered the statement to be blasphemy so tried to kill Him, because to them He was making Himself God.

Now I have said all that to let you see that God the Creator, and the man He created were in fact one. So when the man was given dominion over all the works of God’s hands, it was in the context of the union which existed between the two. However in the Garden of Eden, Adam obviously believed the lie of the enemy that there was a place and position beyond that which was invested in man through creation. All he had to do to achieve it was to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and he would be God in his own right.

The man Adam considered the knowledge he gained from the forbidden tree gave him sovereignty over his own life, separate from His Creator. In his rebellion man adopted a separate identity from God. Instead of being the "express image of His person," he saw himself as something formed from the dust of the ground, and would one day return to that same dust.

This is what disrupted the dominion or authority of God, which is called the Kingdom of God. This dominion was now replaced by a spurious authority, which was based upon good and evil. From that moment there was a disruption concerning God’s authority over the man He created. This is the disruption that cast the world into spiritual chaos. From that moment the Kingdom of God no longer functioned in man’s world until God’s only begotten Son became flesh, and declared to the groaning creation that the Kingdom of God had come!

Let us go another step in the pursuit of truth and say that because this "new" knowledge of good and evil, which governs the life of every man in Adam, was not placed there by the true God. There was created in his own mind another "God," which was simply a figment of his imagination. This "God" became responsible to dispense the "new authority" in everything that involved the life of man, especially in relation to good and evil. This is the one referred to as the God of this world, about which we will have more to say later. This now results in a total reversal of reality, because the man now becomes "God," and so has the power to create someone in his likeness and image, and to this one he gives dominion over mankind.

Here is the birth of the kingdom of darkness, which is set in opposition to the Kingdom of God. Now we need to understand that in spiritual terms darkness refers to "ignorance of God," and so everyone who lives in that kingdom "created" in the mind or consciousness of fallen Adam, does not know God. Light, which has the power to dispel the darkness is the knowledge of God, referred to in John 17:3 as eternal life.

So when Jesus Christ the Word came into the world, it was said of him, "He was in the world and the world was made by him, but the world knew him not." He had been replaced by another consciousness, and was not recognized as representing the authority controlling the circumstances of humanity. The reason being that He did not represent the "God" they were conscious of, because they were dominated by an "alien power."

The transition to this complete domination was achieved as soon as Adam believed he was a separate entity from God. Up to that point nothing could have dominated man, because his consciousness declared from within "I and My Father are One." No external proof of this fact was possible or necessary, but to contradict this truth, Adam had to abandon his consciousness as the Word or Logos established in him at creation, and function out of a new consciousness established by natural sight, in the world of appearance. Therefore, he now lived out of the knowledge of good and evil, which is based upon a comparison system. Adam decided now he was something different to, and separate from God. His "new" knowledge declared what he now believed to be truth, and that he was naked! The question God asked of him is full of meaning, "Who told you?" To put it bluntly, the question really asked, "what is your authority for making such a declaration because it is not authorized by God your Creator?"

From the time of the disruption mankind has not lived in the real world, but has suffered under a delusion, and the tyranny of the "god" of good and evil known as the "god of this world."

This "god" blesses those who do good and punishes those who do evil. He functions according to an external law, without mercy, declaring, "The soul that sinneth it shall die." He also is responsible for everything that happens on the planet. He controls the weather, including the cyclones, tornadoes and earthquakes, which kill thousands. He holds the power of life and death over all mankind, and is responsible for the starving millions in the world. He sanctions war, even though the law states "thou shalt not kill," and takes sides in the conflict by assisting those he considers are more righteous.

He tells us to pray but seems very arbitrary in his response to our cries for help, for sometimes he seems to say yes and delivers us and other times allows us to be destroyed. It appears that he makes us sick, so that we can become better Christians through suffering.

He uses our negative circumstances as punishment for our disobedience, in order to bring us back into line. If we tithe to the church he will grant us prosperity but if we don’t, he brings poverty upon us. If we love him we will go to heaven when we die, but if not he banishes us to hell. He blesses those who are Christians, but has no regard for the heathen, or those who do not trust in him. Finally, if we do not respond correctly to him, he has the power to throw us into an eternal, burning hell, where we will suffer forever and ever.

This is the "God" which has evolved through the Adamic consciousness, under whose authority we have chosen to live. However the fact is that this "God" is not part of reality at all, and actually does not even exist. But you say, he does exist, because he exercises his authority over my life. So what is the answer? The answer is, this "God" is not reality, but exists only in the carnal mind of man! Now you can have a god, but you cannot make a god, however you can make an idol. Now do not be fooled by thinking an idol must have some form and shape, because you can make an idol in your mind and then call it "God." Then where is its source of power? The answer is the same as in all cases of idolatry, you give it the power.

The Adam consciousness has formed its own God, which is really an idol because it has no reality. This "God" in contrast to the true God, forms man out of the dust of the earth, which had already been created, because he had no power to do otherwise.

The result is that now this man formed of the dust of the earth becomes a living soul, and so are all his offspring. They are born in his (Adam’s) likeness and image and are subject to the law of sin and death. From this scenario it can be seen that Adam, through disobedience did not live under the authority of the Kingdom of God, but under the dominion of darkness, which is death.

Instead of God being his Father, He had now become Adam’s enemy from whom he must hide. Adam’s disobedience had cost him his union with a loving God and Father, and the abundance of Father’s House. His life consisted of "tilling the ground" from which his needs must now be met. But being cursed, it yielded a bountiful harvest of thorns and thistles, but with little produce, and the price of his existence is now reckoned in sweat and tears.

So to sum up this section, we have discovered the rule or Kingdom of God was disrupted by Adam when he sought for equality with God on his own terms through the knowledge of good and evil. As a result Adam cut himself off from the benefits of divine supply and divine authority, and accepted responsibility for himself. Now Adam served the creation (earth) as the source of his supply and life, becoming a "tiller of the ground." Instead of living as a Son of God with dominion over everything God made, he became a slave to that which was created, including the serpent. This is a picture of the disruption of the Kingdom of God.

The whole concept of the Kingdom of God was now so totally outside the understanding of man, that to introduce it required much more than some literal statement. For this reason God sent his original, only begotten Son into the world to demonstrate the Kingdom in all its glorious reality. This One was no "tiller of the ground" nor did He look to the earth for His life or supply. He declared His origin was out of God in heaven from whence He came.

He fed five thousand people without tilling the ground, through the inexhaustible supply from heaven. He brought water out of a rock for Israel in the wilderness, and supplied "manna" to sustain them for forty years in a desert where nothing would grow. He walked on water and stilled the storm, showing His power over creation. Thus the Kingdom of God functioned before the eyes of the people.

Finally when on trial for his very life, instead of fear He declared, "No man takes my life, for I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again." He demonstrated no fear of death at all when He raised Lazarus who had been dead four days.

Behold the King

After thirty years living in relative obscurity, Jesus came to the river Jordan and is baptized of John to fulfill all righteousness. The heavens opened and a voice said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." What is the purpose for such a declaration, are not all men the offspring of God? (Acts 17:28-29)

You may be surprised to know God only had one son, and for that reason He is called the only begotten Son. Since the disruption, man considers he came from the dust and is going back to the dust. He has a beginning and therefore he has an end. To correct this false sense of identity, God sent His only begotten Son, created out of Himself, the proto-type and original man, into this world.

John’s statement is simply "the Word was made flesh." In this, Father was refuting the lie that man’s was created out of the earth, thus locking him into the kingdom of darkness. He was saying to the whole universe, that man today is ignorant of his true origin and identity, declaring this One standing before them to be God’s original man and prototype created in His likeness and image.

Jesus Himself confounded the anthropologists by declaring that He came from heaven or realm of the Spirit, and not from Adam or the dust, and that He would return back from whence He came. He claimed God as His Father when He said, "if you have seen me, you have seen the Father." He stated that His life was not limited by any physical birth, and that He existed before Abraham. He claimed a union of complete oneness with the Father. He referred to Himself as the Son of Man, by which he meant that He was the son of that man created in the beginning in the "likeness and image of God."

When questioning the disciples concerning who they thought He was, Peter declared, "Thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God." Jesus confirmed the truth of that statement saying it came as a revelation from His Father. This meant that He was also Messiah of the Old Testament, as well as Christ of the New. The testimony of John recorded in his gospel, chapter 1: "In the beginning was the Word (or Logos), and the word was with God, and the Word was God, the same was in the beginning with God." Here the apostle identifies Him as the one created in the "likeness and image of God" in the beginning.

Thus the declaration of the gospel, which came by Jesus Christ, was: "The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the Gospel."

The Greek word for "time" used here has nothing to do with the clock or calendar, but a time set by God, a time of divine appointment. This particular time is related to the establishing of the Kingdom of God in the man Jesus. You will notice that the announcement of the Kingdom was not given until he was thirty years old, and after the declaration of His Sonship at the river Jordan, which was followed by the temptation in the wilderness. All this was required before the "time" could be fulfilled for the Kingdom to find its expression.

Many Christians have been taught that Jesus was Himself God and not a man, because it is written in the Nicene Creed. If this were to be so, then tell me what was the point of the temptation in the wilderness, because if He was God He could not have failed? No beloved, Jesus was a man otherwise the gospel has no relevance to mortal man today. So let’s look for a moment at the two issues that brought about the time being fulfilled.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam lost sight of his true identity as a Son of God, believing the lie that he had come from the dust. Since that time man has had no sense of his spiritual origin in God, but considers he was born and that he will die. Jesus was born of a virgin whose name was Mary, conceived by the Holy Ghost. So as a man there was no reason for him to believe anything different about his identity other than that he was born. Of course I am sure Mary told him about the visit of the angels and the problem she had with Joseph wanting to put her away.

How then did Jesus discover his real identity? We are told in Luke 4:16 that it was his custom to go into the synagogue where he had access to the Old Testament scrolls. On one occasion after he had qualified to enter the Kingdom of God, he chose a scripture to read to the people as a personal testimony. This is what it says:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, and hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty them that are bruised, and preach the acceptable year of the Lord." Isaiah 61:11-2, and Luke 4:18.

Jesus then announced, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." In other words he understood that those scriptures spoke of Himself. After His death, burial and resurrection, we find him walking with two of the discouraged and disillusioned disciples who had believed that Jesus was the promised one who should redeem Israel, but now were full of doubts because they had just witnessed his death. They were still grieving three days later when Jesus caught up with them and said,

"O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets had spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?" Luke 24:25-26.

Beloved, Jesus did not have the New Testament as we have, yet he discovered his identity through the voice of the prophets. The truth is that the Messiah of the Old Testament is the Christ of the New. So whatever is spoken of Him in the Old, is applicable to all who are in Christ. Jesus understood these things which formed the basis of His own identity.

But now comes the testing just as it came to Adam. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness immediately after His anointing as Messiah, the second man and the last Adam, who is the Christ. The stage is not of His choosing, but is set for Him. There is no physical food and nothing grows in the wilderness. So a great strain is put upon his physical being to prove if His origin is God or the dust. The body now raises its voice to be satisfied, fearing death, but no effort is made to satisfy its craving.

The word "tempted" means tried or put to the test, and the Greek actually means, "to pierce through, so as to test." The testing covered the same three areas in which Adam was tested. The Apostle John speaks of these three areas as being, the things that are "in the world" and "not of the Father," 1 John 2:16.

· The lust of the flesh
· The lust of the eyes
· The pride of life

Tradition has declared that there were three temptations, but nowhere is this affirmed in scripture, for it appears that the tests were repeated in another order, as we compare the different accounts.

"If Thou art the Son of God" or more exactly, "If thou art Son of God," for there is no article with "Son." The devil is alluding to the words the Father spoke to Jesus at his baptism, "This is my Son, the Beloved." He challenges this statement just as did the "serpent" in the Garden when he said, "Hath God said?" The test is to see if these words were simply knowledge, or had become his established consciousness. In other words did Jesus just assume the condition of Sonship to be true with the natural mind? The tempter deftly called on Jesus to exercise his power as Son of God to appease his hunger, and thus prove to himself that he really was what the Father called him.

"Command that these stones become loaves," (each stone a loaf). It was all so simple, obvious and easy. It would satisfy the hunger of Christ and was quite within his power. But herein lies the test, for to do so would place the truth on trial making it dependent upon his ability to demonstrate its reality. Beloved here is where most of us have failed the test. To each one of us comes the voice of the tempter, as truth is revealed to us saying, "prove it to me and I will believe you," but if you cannot prove it, then you must admit that it is not true.

To accept this premise is to doubt the word of God, and so cannot be classed as faith. You see the Father’s statement of Jesus’ true identity as Son of God remains forever truth, without any physical or mental proof. As soon as we try to prove what God says to be true, we enter into doubt, which chains us to the kingdom of darkness. The reply to the request of the tempter was simply another statement of truth, without entering into any argument.

The "proof" of your real identity in Christ is not your ability to heal the sick, or raise the dead, but that inner voice of the Spirit within you crying ABBA Father. From the moment you see the heaven’s opened (the realm of Spirit) and hear Father’s voice declaring your sonship, you can do whatever you see your Father doing, and you can say whatever you hear your Father saying, but nothing more, regardless of the circumstances involved. This is the limitation of true sonship that so many refuse to accept.

Because this is such an important issue I feel that we must pursue the question of sonship further. The Apostle Paul covers the basis of sonship in his epistle to the Galatians, and I will quote the verses for you.

"If you be Christ’s then are you Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Now I say the heir as long as he is a child does not differ from a servant, though he be lord of all. For he is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the Father. So we also when we were children were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that are under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons God has sent forth the spirit of His Son into our hearts crying ABBA, Father."


Now let us define the words Paul used in order to better understand their implications for us today. The word heir refers to being Abraham’s seed, and if you are in Christ then you qualify as an heir of God

This is a most wonderful truth and many rejoice in it. However Paul now proceeds to qualify this truth by saying, if that heir is but a child then he is not entitled to the inheritance. What does he mean by a child? This word in the Greek refers to an infant who has not yet learned to communicate.

Paul is saying the child is one who is too young to speak, which means in the spiritual metaphor, one who is unlearned and immature. These are reckoned in the same category as a common slave in regard to the inheritance, even though in a legal sense he may be Lord of that inheritance.

Because this "heir" is a child, he is subject to tutors and governors, so who are these educators? In the Spiritual realm these "tutors" represent primarily the Holy Spirit, who is the divine teacher appointed by the Father, but also includes those who are led by the Spirit in preaching and teaching. The training was not for a specific time, but was at the discretion of the Father, or to relate it to the scripture, until the time appointed of the Father.

During this time of tutoring,, the child is said to be in bondage, under the elements of the cosmos. This involves the natural laws of the universe, as well as the laws of governments and the standards of society, etc. We are subject to pain and suffering, sickness and death, besides fear and deprivation, amongst other things.

However in the Jewish home, the children were not sent out to school, for their education but their "tutors" were arranged by their father. They were responsible for instilling into the children not just their general education, but also the very character of their father, because the boys were expected to be able to represent him in any given situation by the time they graduated. This is a beautiful picture of our "training" under the Holy Spirit’s tuition, building into us not just Bible knowledge, but the very character and nature of our heavenly Father.

The "graduation" is called in our English Bible an adoption, however this term is confusing. No one can be "adopted" into God’s "family" as we would understand the term today. One must be born into the family of God to qualify as a son.

So what does the apostle mean concerning this adoption? In the Jewish family, this graduation was a time of great celebration. The child now trained in the ways of his father, is placed in the family and declared to be a responsible son with all the rights and privileges of family, and he is able to act on his father’s behalf. For Jesus this took place after he came out of the waters of baptism in the Jordan River. It was then the heavens opened and the Father spoke and said, "This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased!"

The tutor had done an excellent job, but His work was to be put to the ultimate test. Jesus was at that moment declared to be Son of God, and from that moment He represented the Father, and His ministry began. Later Peter declared of this event, "God anointed Jesus with the Holy Ghost and with power," (dunimus), the divine power of God. Let it be known beloved that no one receives what Jesus was given that day, until they have been also placed or declared to be a Son of God.

What then shall be the evidence that such a declaration has been made by the "voice" of the Spirit within? God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying ABBA….Father. This is the cry that arises out of the very consciousness of our being…. Father. This name declares the most intimate relationship man can have with God. But this cry does not emanate from the natural mind, nor is it simply a term memorized from a verse in the Bible, but is generated by the Spirit of God out of the "depths" of a man’s consciousness, declaring "I and My Father are One!"

Then note the result, "Wherefore you are no more a servant or slave but a son, and if a son then an heir of God through Christ," Gal 4:7. Hallelujah! Just think about it for a moment, for here we see some of the issues concerning the reality of the Kingdom of God which apply equally to us today.

In contrast to the testing of Jesus, we have all witnessed how charismatic preachers to establish their credibility in the eyes of the people have used the "gifts" of the spirit. Their "charisma" that put them among the stars did not come from true sonship, but from proving their ability before the people. To be able to lay people out on the floor, called "being slain in the spirit," is high on the priority list of those seeking notoriety. If the technique is failing, a gentle push is perfectly admissible.

The miracles Jesus did were not exhibitions before crowds of people, and in many cases he told those who were blessed not to tell anyone. Jesus saw many in his day who were sick, but he never healed them! Why, because his sonship demanded absolute obedience to the Father’s will, just as it will in your life and mine. The King in the Kingdom of God has all authority, and the sons only live to do the will of the Father.

He did not have to prove anything to anyone. In other words, He was not Son of God because He healed the sick or raised the dead, but He healed the sick and raised the dead because He heard the voice of God, and believed what the voice said in declaring His true identity.

When asked to prove His sonship Jesus simply replied, "It is written" i.e. it stands written and is still in force. Each time, Jesus did not quote the "voice of God" which only applies to those who have ears to hear, but appealed to that which was "written," to repel the subtle temptation of the devil. Here it is in Deut. 8:3 from the Septuagint. "Bread is a mere detail in man’s dependence upon God." Our life depends upon "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," which is established in us as truth requiring no other proof than that God said it.

In the "temptation" our Lord endured, we can see a parallel to the history of Israel. Before the children of Israel could enter the Promised Land, they had to endure the journey through the wilderness. In Deut. 8, Moses is speaking about that "journey" from Egypt, which represented the land of bondage and suffering, to the land of Canaan which was known as the Promised Land.

Moses states "they were led by the Lord God for forty years in the wilderness, to prove them and to know what was in their heart," and whether they would submit to the authority or dominion of God. So the forty years represent a time of testing with these three things in view. The land of Canaan represents for us the Kingdom of God, with Israel a type of the believer who seeks release from domination by a "Pharaoh" who has enslaved us. So we can view the story as a parable representing our struggle to enter into the rest of God.

One of the greatest tragedies of our time is that man’s theology has removed the struggle and testing from this reality and presented to humanity a "quick fix" gospel. It says, "Give your heart to Jesus and believe He died for your sins, and you will be born again, and then you will go to heaven when you die." Such thinking has nothing to do with the reality of entering into the Kingdom of God. Many can testify that as they face defeat and despair in their life, "their gospel" proved to be more like quicksand than a rock bringing safety and deliverance.

After 6000 years of human history living in the world of darkness, the eyes of man will obviously take some time to adjust to the light of God. The search for God as reality will consume your entire life, and the struggle involved will demand all your energy, because when you have found Him, your mortal life will be consumed, thus releasing the spirit that recognizes God as Father.

Now having seen the importance of this time of testing let us continue, for the scripture says, "They that search for Me with their whole heart shall find Me."

The wilderness "testing" was primarily to see if Israel could really trust God implicitly. After leaving Egypt by a miracle, they came to the Red Sea and could see no way of escape from the pursuing enemy, so they murmered and complained to Moses, who represented God to them. Even Moses lacked confidence at that moment despite having had personal contact with the "I AM that I AM." But this is a lesson which is designed to build Israel’s confidence in I AM. So Moses is told to hold out his rod over the sea which became dry land, and the people were able to cross over on the path provided. Finally, when the Egyptians tried to follow, God returned the waters and the might of Egypt was broken so as not to trouble Israel again on their journey.

This should have satisfied every heart that God would take care of them, however they are soon crying out for bread, not in confidence that "I AM" was the source of all supply, but in frustration. However God remains faithful and will not allow us to be tested above that we are able, for that would simply destroy us and prove nothing. So God ends this test by supplying manna sufficient for their needs, having proved to them that they do not trust Him.

The story goes from one issue to the next, the people now complain they have no water, and the fear of death that stalked them in Egypt continues to manifest even now. No water to them means death, and the presence of the I AM in the cloud did not influence their thinking at all. Yes beloved, God was in the cloud by day and in the fire by night, but the knowledge of God was not in their consciousness, so they lived as those who knew not God!

Again the test is not prolonged, but only long enough for them to be aware of their thoughts and actions. God provides water out of a rock, which is a type of Christ. It is so easy for us to consider Israel and their gross failure, but consider this for a moment. Today we have a revelation of Christ far beyond what was revealed to Israel, and know that He dwells within us, yet beloved how do we fare in the circumstances of our life when in need, or faced with seemingly impossible situations? Can we trust the "I AM" any more than did Israel?

Let us also note that after many miracles and divine interventions, there was a whole generation that perished in that wilderness. They failed the test and so disqualified themselves from entering the "Kingdom of God." Make sure you understand what we are saying here, it was a whole generation!! Who are these who fail the test? Can they be identified? Paul tells us that all "these things are recorded as examples," which we need to consider as how they relate to us today.

The generation who are not qualified to enter into the Kingdom of God are the offspring of Adam, the man of rebellion who came from the dust, and is governed by good and evil. Not one of his offspring will ever enter into the Kingdom of God. You may ask concerning these, whether they will be saved or lost? My answer is, the Kingdom of God has little to do with some future destiny, but concerns a state of being which we can enter and enjoy today.

The Kingdom of God is a realm in which Christ reigns supreme without opposition, being the sole source of all supply and having all authority so that there is nothing that offends. There the lion sleeps peacefully beside the lamb. There will be no night, for the lamb the nature of God is the light thereof. Love, light and life control, and have dominion over everything.

Paul tells us that in Adam everyone dies because they are dust. But in Christ everyone lives, because God is their Father and He has no beginning and no end. So beloved check your origin, for those whose generation is traced back to Adam do not qualify to enter into the Kingdom of God. These will die in the struggles of life being overcome by death, having never been delivered from its power. Leaving Egypt is not a guarantee of entering the Kingdom.

The final miracle that took Israel into the Land of Promise was the crossing of Jordan. Jordan, which represents death, was the final barrier between Israel and Canaan, or the Kingdom of God. Remember beloved, flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, for it is from the earth, and so has an end and must be left behind.


Death Swallowed Up In Victory

Much of our theology is very confused concerning death, but the Holy Spirit is revealing the secrets of Life to us today. There is an existence, which the Bible calls death, and there is an existence, which it calls life. (See Rev 3:1, Matt 8:22, John 5:25.) From our human perspective we see life simply as the opposite of death, and death as the absence of life. You may be surprised to know that from God’s point of view death, and life are really two levels of existence.

This is easy to understand for in nature there are many levels of existence. Man has life and can move and think and reason and know God who is invisible. Animals have life and can move and express themselves being souls even as man, but are limited in intelligence, etc. Plants and trees have life but cannot move and their expression is limited even more. Then we could go on into even lower forms of microscopic life, all of which are alive nevertheless.

From God’s point of view man can "live" on only one of two levels. One is the earthly level where the realities are all within the realm of appearance, and is governed by the knowledge of good an evil. This earthly level of living is called death in the Bible. On this "level" our consciousness is devoid of a true knowledge of God, so that our life is the result of being born, i.e. we are flesh and blood. We look back to Adam as the one from whom we have come. We can be happy and kind and experience love, but also hate and be tormented by fears, sickness, suffering and death. On this level the only knowledge of God we have is through the natural mind, and is based upon verses in the Bible. As earth bound creatures the reality of God never touches our consciousness so we can never know Him!

This is the "flesh and blood" man whose level of consciousness functions and operates on an earth level, breathing the natural oxygen of this earth’s atmosphere in order to sustain life. This one lives life as a separate entity from God, believing they are responsible for their own life, and also for their own needs. This is the "flesh and blood" that cannot inherit the Kingdom of God for the "atmosphere" there, does not sustain such a life!

However, there is another higher level or realm in which we may live, and this is the realm of Spirit, which incorporates the invisible world. This realm is not discernible by the natural flesh and blood man, nor can it be seen with natural sight. For this very reason Jesus told Nicodemus, "You must be born from above, or you cannot see the Kingdom of God," because it cannot be seen with natural eyes.

To be born from above involves a new consciousness based upon a new origin and source of life. It is commonly referred to as being born again, but with little understanding of its true implications. The true experience is far more dynamic than asking Jesus into our heart and believing that He died for our sins! Nicodemus, representing the carnal mind tried to grasp the import of the words in terms of natural birth, but Jesus was speaking of spiritual things of which the natural is but a parable.


The Parable in Nature

To be born from above is not so strange a statement, for this same thing functions in nature everyday. The life in the soil is absorbed by the plant through its roots, and so is swallowed up into a higher form of life (from above), the life of the plant. Now the plant life is eaten by the cow lifting it up yet higher on the scale of life to become animal life. Finally, the cow produced by the life in the soil, plus the life of the plant, now becomes steak, which is eaten or "swallowed up" to become a still higher (from above) form of life as man. Now in the same way God is saying that this mortal life of flesh and blood must put on immortality. How can this bea? By being "swallowed up," or incorporated into God.

Jesus called it being born from above, which is God, the source and origin of all life in the universe. Only then has life reached its peak, having discovered the Father of all. Paul says, "As we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly."

It is most important to understand that the lifting of life from one level to the next must of necessity involve a death. The seed must die or it will abide alone! The plant must die as it is stripped from its source of life before it can be lifted into a higher realm in the animal kingdom. Likewise the animal must die before it can be incorporated into a higher life in man. In the same way man must die to his mortality and be severed from that which had been his source of life in the earth. The reason is clear, for God alone becomes the only source of that life which was given to man created in His own likeness and image.

I have shared these things to show you that we cannot enter the Kingdom without passing through death to that flesh and blood man, and severing the very life-line that perpetuates his mortality. Death must be allowed to complete its work in us by destroying our earth consciousness, our sense of separation from God, the concept of our nakedness, and our fear of impending doom. It is an established principle in God that life comes out of death and it is called resurrection.

Because our natural concept of death concerns being placed in a coffin and buried in the cemetery, the question is, how can we pass through death and not be totally destroyed? For this reason we have the history of Israel recorded for us, which to the natural mind is just that, history. However to those enlightened by the Holy Spirit the veil is removed to reveal spiritual truth for us today. Let us look at the details of Israel’s crossing over the Jordan River.

The Lord told Israel they were to keep their eyes on the Ark of God, which represented the presence of God. We have no such physical representation of God today, but the Messiah of the Old Testament, who is also the Christ of the New, He became flesh and tabernacled among us. So we must look unto Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith.

The priests were ordered to carry the ark down into the river Jordan, which represented death. But please notice that as soon as the feet of the priests touched the water, the river (death) stopped flowing. Just think about it! Now that was simply the type, but the reality is that when Christ (the Ark) died and was buried the power of death was interrupted and broken forever. Then on the third day Christ arose triumphant and the cry went up, "O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?"

Notice that for Israel the ark remained in the river until every last one had passed over into Canaan! That speaks volumes to us concerning the work of the cross of Christ. But what is the application for us today?

The river of death is a stream that flows through a generation of people, just as a particular "gene" is transferred from parent to child. The source of that river is Adam, who disobeyed the command of God by eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The result for Adam was that "in dying you will die," and so sin and death were passed upon all men. Death is in the "genes" of everyone born of Adam, so even a little innocent baby is subject to death.

How then can this "river" of death be stopped seeing it flows through a whole generation of people? The answer is simple, the whole generation of Adam must die.

How can this be done without destroying the whole of humanity? Paul tells us that the man Adam was "a figure of him that was to come," Romans 5:14. That one was Jesus Christ, the last Adam. We must be very clear as to who died upon the cross, because there has been much confusion over this matter. It is generally taught that it was the Son of God who died, but of course it would be an impossibilty for God’s Son to die, because he came out of God who is eternal.

The truth is that God made Him (Jesus Christ) to be "something," 2 Cor 5:21. What was it He was made to be? The answer is he was made to be the last Adam. For what reason did God make Him to be the last Adam? It should be very obvious that if man’s mortality results from a problem with our generation from Adam, that he (Adam) the source of our mortality should be put to death. As a direct result of his (Adam’s) death, mankind has now been freed from the power of that river of death.

I am speaking here to those who have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to His people. Remember Adam was a figure or a type of the One who was to come, who was Jesus, the Christ of God. Because Christ was the the reality of the "figure" represented in the garden as Adam, He must also contain within Himself all of humanity, so therefore His death as the last Adam was our death!

Paul understood these things for his testimony was, "I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me, and the life I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me."

Paul believed he was a direct participant in the cross of Christ (Ephesians 1:4), and that Christ’s death was his death, so Paul no longer had any connection with Adam. Paul’s identity is now established in Christ instead of Adam, so he can say, "It is Christ that lives in me and is my life, and death cannot touch that life." Paul’s testimony is now ours and we can say with Jesus, "I am He that liveth and was dead and now I am alive forever more and within me, are the keys of death and the grave."

Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life," so if He dwells in you, you have the resurrection and the life, which is eternal. Thus the "Jordan" (death) has ceased to flow for those who believe, and the presence of the living Christ will remain until every man has passed from death to life. Then of course death, the very river itself will be no more, being replaced by the River of Life, which will never run dry. The last vestige of the Adam man who was just a figure or shadow of Him who was to come, will then have been eliminated and replaced by Christ the reality.
Thus, the final test before entering into the Kingdom of God is to know as a spiritual reality your Adam identity is dead. Therefore the generation, or river of death is no more, and our true Father waits to welcome us home. Like the prodigal son we are greeted by Father, with a kiss, ring, shoes and a robe, saying-
"For this my son was dead, and is alive again, he was lost and is found," and another son has through much tribulation, entered the Kingdom of God!

Des Walter