Adam to Christ Part 2 - Des Walter

Part 2 of 3

ADAM TO CHRIST Part 2 - Des Walter

For most Christians the Bible has become simply a history book particularly in the reading of the Old Testament. The result is that very little that is recorded for us there has any relevance to our lives today. God is speaking to us today illuminating our hearts and minds by the Holy Spirit to discover truth that brings understanding of God’s workings in our lives today. The lives of the two boys Cain and Abel birthed by Adam remain distinct even to this day in all of us, and are manifested as the expression of our lives.
Cain has evolved into a “religion” that expresses a desire to improve the natural man, as he goes out from the presence of the Lord. The focus of these people is to make mankind happy without God, by building cities, and inventing harps and music, and producing artificers in brass and iron. Thus for them, the world becomes a better place through the arts and the development of culture which results in a natural human refinement, that has no effect upon the spirit of man. But some would argue that such an improvement in the creature is surely to be commended. If all we seek is an improvement in the natural, then we may indeed be satisfied with the results. There is quite a percentage of Christendom that preaches a social Gospel today that encourages external changes in man’s conduct, thus Christianising him but leaves the heart unchanged. However, man is more than flesh and blood, and more than intellect, for he is SPIRIT.
Abel represents a people that seek after God to touch reality in terms of true life, that can lift a man above the aspirations of that which is natural, in order to know God and become his companion. These people are happy to “die out to this world” so that they may embrace the Kingdom of God. The “Cain” people judge their brother and slay him, but the Seth people judge no man while they live as strangers and pilgrims in this world. Their quest is to search for a city that has foundations whose builder and maker is God. The religion of Cain names their cities after their sons, claiming possession of the earth for themselves. The Sethites, “Call themselves by the Name of the Lord,” indicating their origin and identity in him.
It is prophesied of the Cainites that the day is coming when, “The voice of harpers and musicians, and of pipers and trumpeters shall be heard no more in thee at all. No craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee nor the sound of the mill stone. And the light of the candle shall shine no more, and neither shall the voice of the bridegroom or the bride be heard in thee at all.” But as the Cain and Seth lines advance to their respective conclusions, we find that the differences between the two slowly diminish until they can hardly be discerned. The carnal and the spiritual seed although quite distinct in the beginning have suffered changes due to the slaying of the saints over the years, whose blood is found in those that are of the line of Cain.
As we contemplate the diverse genealogy of Cain and Seth, we arrive at a point where God intervenes in the affairs of men and we are introduced to a man called NOAH. He is a man who seeks after the righteousness of God and walks in his ways, but is living in a world that is set in opposition to him. In Noah we are confronted with regeneration, which is the way by which a man already quickened and possessing spiritual life, finds release by being borne through the waters of judgement to a new world. For many in Christendom today, their focus is directed toward the reform of the “Adam Man” seeking to make him righteous before God. In doing so they are feeding the very enemy that is determined to oppose their spiritual development at every turn.
The gambler suddenly realises the folly of his ways and stops gambling and starts going to Church, convinced he is a Christian. Or a drug user “sees the light” and stops using drugs because he says he now loves Jesus, and he also believes this is regeneration. We have all heard many similar testimonies, which on the surface sound great, and everybody gets excited, but unfortunately in many cases the “Change” has not gone far enough nor deep enough to bring them into the Promised Land. God never intended to reform Adam, but instead he was destined to die. Because of this Paul says, “In ADAM all die.” There is only one way to “get out” of Adam and that is to D-I-E. In Gen 5:5 we read the solemn words, “ And all the days that Adam lived were 969 years, AND HE DIED!!”
The death of Adam marks a turning point in the history of mankind, and a new experience of freedom and release from corruption is introduced. The word “Regeneration” so accurately describes this account of God’s dealings with Noah, but is only used twice in the New Testament. The Greek writers used this word to describe the effect Spring has upon nature, in the bursting forth of NEW LIFE after the cold of winter. It also means the same as the phrase, “The restitution of all things.” Acts 3:21, and expresses the same thought in Titus 3:5. “Not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”
Salvation only becomes effective in our lives when connected with regeneration. Salvation that does not include regeneration can only be a good theory that lacks reality. In the Old Testament the word “Salvation” is the translation of the Hebrew word YESHUWAH or JOSHUA or JESUS. The first time this word is used in the Bible is when Israel was delivered from Pharaoh and the land of Egypt at the Red Sea. Not only did the Lord bring Israel out of Egypt but also he cut off their enemies so that the Egyptians could never enslave them again. Noah represents the spiritual mind that comes to the point where he is convinced that there is nothing in the “Old Creation” that can benefit him. Noah sees the old Creation as a constant threat and an enemy to his walk in righteousness. Therefore he is convinced that it must be brought into death or it will continue to oppose every righteous step he will take.
The idea of “reformation” has crept into Christianity with people giving testimony to certain changes in their behaviour that they attributed to “Regeneration.” They say, I used to drink and smoke but Jesus Christ saved me and now I do not drink or smoke anymore. OR I was a drug addict but I have now found Christ and I do not take drugs anymore. Now on the surface these testimonies sound great, but let us be honest, because such a testimony does not necessarily indicate that the person concerned is FREE. Yes he may at that moment be free from taking drugs, but is he free from impure thoughts, or alcohol or wrong desires. Can such a person claim to really be FREE? I don’t think so! So while we rejoice that he no longer is a drug addict, this does not constitute him a NEW CREATION IN CHRIST?
In John 5:24 Jesus expresses the very basis of regeneration, “He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, HAS EVERLASTING LIFE (a new quality of life) and shall not come into condemnation, BUT IS PASSED FROM DEATH UNTO LIFE.”

THE ROAD AHEAD

Noah had his eyes opened to see the wickedness that was flooding the world. The state of humanity was such, that there was no possibility of salvaging anything from the “Old Creation.” Every man who seeks to experience true regeneration today must come to this conclusion, “IN ME dwells no good thing.” God said to Noah, “My spirit shall not always strive with man (Adam) for that he also is FLESH, yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” Gen 6:3 Man had descended to the point that God now speaks of M-A-N as being “flesh,” even though he began as “spirit” that was breathed into his nostrils by the Lord God. Flesh now dominated his being dictating his actions and the direction his life would take.
“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that the whole imagination, purposes and desires of his heart was only evil continually, and it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man from the face of the earth, both man and beast, the creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them.” Gen 6:5-7.
This would indicate that God the creator had made a mistake when he made man, but this is not the case. The word “GOD” in verse 5 is actually JEHOVAH or the Lord God who gave form to the man in the Garden of Eden and who breathed the breath of lives (plural) into him. The word “man” used in this verse actually refers to ADAM and his offspring, and indicates a consciousness that was transmitted down the line of Cain. This resulted in a behaviour that was grieving to the Lord. However, for man to be able of reflect the glory of God he had to be given the capacity to think and reason and make decisions. But of course the possibility was always present that if those decisions were driven by a source apart from God, i.e. the carnal or natural mind, they would lead to a proliferation of evil.

THE WOMAN IS JUDGED

The natural mind sees the word Judgement in a courtroom setting, with the Judge declaring the nature of an act and then issuing just punishment. However in the Bible, judgement is an activity of God, correcting that which is a deviation from the divine will, until he can declare that now it is GOOD. Our God comes to us as a loving FATHER and not in terms of a legal judge. Listen to the word God spoke to the “woman” who has functioned independently of her divine head by asserting her own authority, revealing to those who discern spiritual things, the state of affairs that exists in every life right up to this very day. Gen 3:16-17. “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception.” This has been interpreted to mean simply that women would have pain in natural childbirth, thus relating it only to the physical. But what God is saying here refers to a mental anguish out of the fact, that she no longer has power over the fruit of her own womb, to produce offspring according to her expectations. I do not think Eve experienced “sorrow” just in childbirth when Cain was born, but a pain that persisted throughout her life because of the kind of child she had produced. She had birthed a murderer! Just think about it!!
The scene is just as frightening in the spiritual concept, for like Paul we discover, we have lost control over the character we desire to express, because what I really desire to do I seem to be unable to do, and what I do not desire is what I find myself doing.” The natural man today considers this is simply, “how it is,” and there is nothing we can do about it. However we are beginning to realise that this is the result of eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The woman represents the WOMB in man with the power to bring into manifestation whatever is birthed in his heart. Jesus painted a most enlightening picture of the heart of man when he said, “Out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness and blasphemies.” Matt 15:19. Why then are we surprised when we discover our words and actions do not conform to what we inwardly know to be right, and actually desire to do?
Why should Eve be surprised that she had birthed a murderer when she planted the seed of rebellion in her own heart, that "killed" the Truth God had planted in her from the beginning. Why should it seem a strange thing to us that Israel “killed” the Messiah, when through idolatry they constantly murdered the “Truth” God revealed to them through Moses and the prophets. The divine ability incorporated into man in creation, allowing him to bring the invisible into manifestation, would continue to function, revealing whatever is being birthed in the heart of the man. Is it not true that, “By their FRUIT shall they be known,” and not just by what a man may say with his lips. This beloved is the judgement God passed upon the “woman” (soul) in every one of us. A man’s true heart will always expose the thoughts he has birthed within.
But we have not yet mentioned the second part of the word God spoke to the woman after the “fall” of man. God said, “Your desire shall be to you “husband” and he shall rule over thee.” Gen 3:16. Again the natural man has interpreted this statement to enhance the MALE SUPREMACY that is so often considered to be a divine principle. But let us look a little more closely at this statement and hear what the SPIRIT is saying to us today. Who was Eve’s “husband” (covering or authority) when she took the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?? Don’t tell me that ADAM was her husband at that time, because Paul tells us very plainly that it was not ADAM that sinned. So we cannot make him a party to this violation of the divine will. There were only two figures involved in this ungodly activity concerning the forbidden tree, the woman and the snake. The whole issue was conceived in collaboration between the woman and the snake without any other assistance. So at that moment her “Husband, Head or Covering,” was the S-N-A-K-E and not Adam.
Now we must identify these two figures to understand the truth being revealed in this situation. Eve is called “the mother of all living,” and represents the Mother or Female aspect of God, for God is both male and female, just as Adam was in creation!” If mankind is the offspring of God as Scripture declares, then the law of biogenetics must apply, so that they must also bear the characteristics of the parent, and carry the same attributes. In this sense Eve represents the WOMB in man which is the soul having the ability to bring into manifestation that which is invisible. No one has ever seen “anger,” to be able to identify what shape it is, or what colour it is, for it is invisible. But every one knows the effect of anger when it is birthed in the soul of man. Have you ever seen LOVE? I think not, for it is invisible and has no physical shape or colour, but its warmth can be felt and known by everyone when it is birthed in the soul of man and brought into manifestation. Eve represents the soul or womb of man in which the invisible becomes visible through manifestation.
But what does this snake represent to us? According to the imagination of the natural man it is the personification of a fallen angel that they call Satan or the devil. This “creature” is viewed as God’s opposition. It is said to be created by God and opposes every move God makes, thus frustrating his plans for mankind! Of course those who believe such things, obviously do not know God. Many would argue that the “fall” of man was orchestrated by this “Satan,” who assumed the guise of a snake considered to be a symbol of evil. But in ancient literature the snake is the symbol of wisdom and not evil. The medical profession uses the snake on the pole as a symbol of the wisdom and knowledge of their craft. The snake in the Garden of Eden represents for us the Carnal Mind from which natural man derives his knowledge and wisdom. However, the wisdom of the carnal or natural mind does not have its origin in God but in itself.
The Scriptures declare that there are two types of wisdom, each with its own source. In the epistle of James we are told, “But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and do not lie against the TRUTH. Because this WISDOM does not come down from heaven, but is EARTHLY, SOULISH and DEVILISH…… BUT the WISDOM THAT IS FROM ABOVE IS PURE, PEACEABLE, GENTLE, EASY TO BE ENTREATED, FULL OF MERCY AND GOOD FRUIT, WITHOUT PARTIALITY AND WITHOUT HYPOCRISY.” James 3:14-17.
The picture is drawn for us in the Garden of Eden, of a reality that exists in every man. The soul of man includes the Mind the Emotions and the Will, that now function independently from the MAN who represents the SPIRIT. This creates a situation in which the Soul is cut off from the input of the spirit, (heavenly wisdom) and therefore the only knowledge it has must be resident in itself. (Earthly wisdom) But the soul acting alone is totally dependant upon the FIVE Senses, as the source of its (sensual) knowledge. They are, sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell. However it is impossible to know or experience God through any of these five senses, so the soul is limited to only that which can be known on a natural or human level. The soul is now is separated from its true husband (spirit), and proceeds to prostitute itself by taking the flesh as its partner for procreation.
The Womb of man that was given divine direction to be fruitful and replenish the earth has now birthed a seed that is quite apart from God, and has begun an alien race of people. The sad commentary of this is recorded in the words of Gen 6:1, “ Men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them.” The word Men used here is Aw-dawm or Adam and refers to the natural man as distinct from the “children of God.” So we can see that Eve’s “husband “ in this escapade was not Adam but rather the “flesh.” In using the term an “alien race” the idea is not that there is another source of life in this universe apart from God, but that these differ in character because they have been birthed through another “seed” which is not the seed of God. The whole human race is now tainted because it is no longer pure; it has become a MIXED MULTIDUDE. These are the tares that are found growing among the wheat.
Now look again at what God said to the woman in the light of this understanding. He said, “You will bring forth “children” in sorrow, and your desire now will be diverted from your true husband (spirit) to the “husband” with whom you have now prostituted yourself (flesh). AND HE (FLESH) SHALL RULE OVER YOU. It this not a true picture of life for every one of us? It appears we have lost our sense of control over our thoughts and actions, as if we have become like some “puppet” with a “Frankenstein” manipulating the strings. However, the Apostle Paul warned us not to let “SIN” reign in our mortal bodies as king, otherwise we will be forced to obey him as a sovereign ruler who will use our lusts to destroy both body and soul.
In this context the soul or womb will now be subject to the carnal man instead of being governed by the spirit of God. In practical terms what does this really mean? Let me quote Paul again, “For I know that the law is spiritual, but I AM CARNAL, sold out to (controlled by) sin, for that which I do I know not, for what I desire to do I do not do it, but what I hate that is what I find myself doing. For I know that in ME, that is IN MY FLESH dwelleth no good thing, for to do God’s will is present with me, but how to manifest Christ I CANNOT DISCOVER.” (Des Walter version). Beloved if this is your problem, let me tell you, “You have the wrong Husband!” He has the wrong seed, and the manifestation of that seed will continue to bring you sorrow all the days of your life. Of course I am speaking spiritually and not literally. When the Spirit that is God within you, impregnates your soul with the Divine Seed, you will bring into manifestation a SON OF GOD and that is CHRIST.

JUDGEMENT OF THE MAN

Now let us turn our attention to what God had to say to the MAN. Gen 3:17. “And to Adam he said, because you have harkened unto the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee saying, thou shalt not eat of it; CURSED IS THE GROUND (Adamah) for THY SAKE, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of your life.” The first issue that is judged is the fact that Adam took his direction from the female aspect of his being. In the beginning God had declared, “The heavens do rule in the affairs of men.” Adam represents spirit and as such contained all the wisdom and knowledge of God. In turning to the soul for direction Adam had robbed God of his place of authority in his life, investing it in the soul. (himself.)
By allowing the soul to usurp the authority of God, the whole animal kingdom within man was let loose, unleashing a catastrophe of epic proportions. After 6000 years of human history those animals have developed a cunning that is beyond description, and in most cases they are free to roam the world (of man) pillaging, destroying, raping, molesting, cheating and killing, using M-A-N as the vehicle of destruction. The Church has tried to build a fence around itself to keep the destructive hordes out by legislating “anti- animal” behaviour in their Kingdom. But the animals continue to cross the line with impunity, even to the point in some cases, of reversing their collar and taking their place right in the Pulpit!
What is the ground that is cursed for OUR SAKE? God is not speaking of the earth itself upon which we stand, but he is speaking of ADAMAH the “DUST MAN.” God has not cursed all MANKIND as we so often hear from our theologians, but he has cursed the EARTHLY ASPECT of man whose soul has polluted itself by forming a union with the FLESH instead of the spirit. This is called Adamah. It was the product of Adamah that Cain brought unto the Lord as an offering, and found that God rejected it, because it was cursed. Ishmael was also the product of Adamah so when Abraham presented him before the Lord he was told, “Cast out the bond woman and her son, for the son of this bond woman shall not be heir with Isaac.” God’s word is final, ADAMAH is cursed.
Because of the curse that is upon ADAMAH everything that is produced through the flesh will be a continual source of sorrow to us. How often do the thoughts of the carnal mind produce actions that bring much sorrow upon us? God said the Adamah could only produce thorns and thistles. The thorns cause pain through them piercing our flesh bringing great pain and irritation. The “thistles” in the Hebrew speaks of “madness expressing itself in rage” because of frustration. Remember all this is for our sake!! Because if living life apart from God had no “down side,” we would continue in it without constraint. BUT the way of sinners is hard, designed by the almighty to bring us back to him. God said to Adam, “In the sweat of thy face you will have to carry what you create through the flesh. To live out of the “FORM” is to live out of the DUST, but to live out of the spirit is to live out of GOD.

AN OVERVIEW OF REGENERATION

In order to get the divine perspective on the regeneration of man, we must return to Genesis 1. Although the natural man can only see this chapter from the natural and literal viewpoint, the spirit would lead us on holy ground through the many spiritual factors that a loving heavenly Father has provided to bring us through an even higher birthing process than that which Adam knew in the Garden of Eden. God’s purpose is not to restore us to the Edenic paradise enjoyed by Adam, with the possibility of the degeneration process again being repeated, but to lift us into the reality of our original state in him. We will then represent the very IMPRINT OF GOD, and not just his Image and Likeness, for we will be the brightness of his glory and the “express image” (identical replica, indistinguishable from the original) of his person. Jesus expressed this idea when he said, “I AND MY FATHER ARE O-N-E.”
We pick up the picture of man whose life and breath was imparted to him from God, allowing him to walk with him and sharing in the creative process. Genesis 1:1, “In the beginnings (plural) God created the heaven and the earth.” The complexity of man is expressed in this verse as a heaven complete with its galaxies, sun moon and stars and an earth. The heavenly and the earthly intricately woven into one, with the two interconnected producing a divine universe. Today most people only relate to the earth, seeing themselves as an earthbound human being. Our consciousness rarely reaches beyond the clouds in the sky, as if the “Heaven” aspect of life does not even exist. We stand upon the natural earth and look up at the stars and the sun and the moon with all its wonders, yet feel cut off from it, as if it has very little to do with us who live on planet earth.
In recent years man developed the ability to actually stand on the moon and to photograph some of the heavenly bodies, and we gasped in awe and amazement as we looked at the pictures of space on television. Since then man has basked in the glory of having “conquered space.” They thought they had now developed a connection between earth and the heavens, while MAN remained chained to the earth. The natural world of appearance is but a parable of a reality that has yet to dawn upon the darkened mind of man.
David said, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his workmanship.” What do we know of the glory of God as our finite minds seek to comprehend the distant galaxies of God’s spiritual habitation? No beloved, we are not looking up into the night sky above us trying to get a picture of God’s glory, but we might as well be, for we have been cut off from those celestial heights of divine glory just as surely as we are cut off from the infinite realm of space beyond this sphere we call earth. But although there is a reflection of God’s glory in the natural heavens above us, we are approaching the day when we shall break free from the gravitational prison of our humanity, and soar into the heavens of our own unexplored celestial realms.
We can never fully understand our “Earth” until we see God in his glory, enthroned in the heavens of our being. A true perspective of ourselves can only be seen from the vantage point of God’s dwelling place in the heavens. This revelation must precede the descending of the Christ from those high heavens, to become the WORD MADE FLESH and raise the earth of our being to the same glory of the heavens. For Jesus told us, “No man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven even the Son of man which IS IN HEAVEN.” Jn 3:13. So we understand that the only man who can ascend up into the “heavens” is the SON OF MAN who is already resident IN HEAVEN. Natural man will remain earthbound and not know the glory of his HEAVEN until the moment of revelation when the CHRIST of God descends into the lower parts of the (our) earth transforming it to conform to his image and reflecting the righteousness of God, then leading us back into the heights of glory from whence we have come. This is why it is said that, “When he ascended up on high, he led a multitudes of captives into Father’s house and made available to them ALL THAT HE HAS. But remember, he that ASCENDED is also the one who DESCENDED FIRST INTO THE LOWER REALMS OF OUR EARTH.” Our responsibility is to prepare for him a place in our heart so that he can bring forth in us that NEW CREATION MAN and lift us back into the HEAVENLIES from which we have come.
For many, the glories of our heavens seem so far removed from us, that the earth has become the extent of our habitation. All our pleasures are here, and the earth’s gravity has impressed its effect upon us so strongly that most of God’s people rarely dream of an existence exploring the infinite space that is filled with God’s glory. WE can hardly conceive that we are SPIRIT and as such are as free as the wind itself. Beloved it is time to “Set your affections and desires on things ABOVE,” and defy the gravitational hold the earth has exercised over us for so long. We have been the “caterpillar” for so long we can hardly believe there is a metamorphosis working within to transform us into a “butterfly” and release us from the gravitation of our earthliness.
We had better learn to fly beloved, if we are going to join the great CLOUD OF WITNESSES gathered around the Christ declaring the glory of God to the whole earth! We gather together in fellowship and at times we feel some excitement as a sweet zephyr of divine breath blows gently over us, and we rave about it for weeks. But we read in Hebrews 12:22,
“BUT we are come to MOUNT ZION, and unto the CITY OF THE LIVING GOD, the HEAVENLY JERUSALEM, AND TO AN INNUMERABLE COMPANY OF ANGELS, to the General assembly and Church of the First Born which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the Spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.”
Beloved my heart has cried out for that kind of Church meeting! There will be many who read this, who will consider such aspirations are totally beyond even their imagination, and so for them these ideas will remain outside the realm of possibility. We might as well be speaking of a holiday on mars. But beloved it is in this heavenly realm where all the glories of God are to be found and not on this earth level where we know IN PART and we prophesy IN PART, but when that which is perfect is come (CHRIST), then it will replace that which is IN PART. For so many precious saints, prophecy still dominates their ministry, which indicates that CHRIST HAS NOT COME TO THEM as a reality. They are still believing they have a divine ministry to tell people what God is saying, but their words carry little weight or power and do not have the ability to change lives.
Jesus said, “My words they are SPIRIT and they are LIFE.” So they will always have the power to transform lives. Most prophecies today lack that spiritual ability to generate LIFE. This is because CHRIST HAS COME just as he promised, on the day of Pentecost to dwell within a people. So Jesus said, “My sheep hear MY VOICE and they follow me.” That is the voice speaking out of his Holy Temple within us, and that voice will generate LIFE IN US.
The “gravity” of earth has affected our praying, our worship, and our spiritual growth and has limited our spiritual vision without which the people perish. Beloved we are the HEAVENS AND THE EARTH, a divine universe in which God dwells. Up until now we have tried to cram God into the context of our EARTH for that has been as far as many have yet explored in their universe. Just as it is in the natural so it is in the spiritual, for natural man keeps dreaming bigger and bigger dreams and then seeks to fulfil them. So man dreamed of walking on the moon and it came to pass.
Isaiah the Prophet of Israel testified to the people, “Arise shine, for thy LIGHT (Heb. OWR = the light of God’s substance Gen 1:3) has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee and the glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” Is it not interesting that the divine manifestation of God will be evidenced not so much in the “earth sphere” of our being but in the HEAVENS of our universe?
In the beginning of the last century some saints reached out to see a manifestation of God beyond what they had previously known and so a Pentecostal movement based upon miracle phenomena was born. However the vision of those men who would reach out into the infinite realm of God so often fades, and fails to expect more than they have received. But Paul encourages us, “As we have borne the image of the earthly so we shall bear the image of the heavenly.” Beloved do you know what the image of the heavenly is? IT IS CHRIST! My hearts desire is to live and to function not like Christ, BUT AS CHRIST. Paul touched this reality when he said, “ FOR ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST.”
We have become anaesthetised by the carnal atmosphere of earth to the point that we are no longer conscious of the fact that all our conflicts begin and are developed in the lower heavens of our being. If our conflicts were to develop first in the conscious “earth” realm of our being, then we would immediately sense some physical change in our body and be awakened to our changing condition. But this is not the case. The seeds of our unseen war develop in our lower heavens, in the realm of thought. But the unique connection and interaction between our “heavens” and “earth” is only realised AFTER the unlawful union is consummated between the “sons of God” and the “daughters of men.” The “Sons of God” are obviously thoughts that are BIRTHED IN GOD, that join in unholy matrimony with the “Daughters of men,” that are the thoughts birthed in the lower regions of the earth.
We read of the Apostle Paul who was caught up to the THIRD HEAVEN. This has caused much speculation about the “Number” of heavens that are there. I will not pursue this debate but simply say that there is a “Lower” heaven in which the spiritual part of us functions, but it is still bounded by the veil until the New Creation man is formed and we are able to break through all human limitation and stand in the pure light of the Glory of God. Of course, our own experience indicates that we do pass through various levels of glory, and each one beckons us on to higher ground. The tragedy for us is when we mistake emotional stimulation for the glory of God and so pursue a carnal experience instead of a true revelation of the divine Glory of God.
We need to be reminded that Israel’s problems during their wilderness journey came mainly from the MIXED MULTITUDE that left Egypt with them. Ex 12:38. Israel became a “mixed seed” and was no longer pure. This becomes a parable of our own lives today, when we allow an ungodly seed, i.e. thoughts that do not originate from God, to adulterate the manifestation of who we are in God. Very few people seem to understand that every thought you harbour in your mind will have a definite affect upon your body and produce its own manifestation. Thoughts of anger produce a destructive effect upon the body. Statistics have shown that if a person driving a vehicle has had an argument with someone and anger is aroused, the possibility of them having an accident is multiplied greatly. Why is this? Because their ability to make intelligent decisions has been thrown into confusion!
Negative thoughts and thoughts that are contrary to the mind of Christ cause destructive elements to be released into our physical bodies. Many people in the medical profession now agree that most if not all-physical problems are psychosomatic. This means that the origin of the problem is not to be found in the body itself, but in the “spiritual” part of their being. Now let me quote from the history of Israel to clarify the issue. Israel had recently been delivered from the house of Pharaoh and witnessed the destruction of their enemies in the Red Sea. God had brought tremendous changes into their lives and they are just three days out in this new walk, when they come to MARAH. The issue here is not simply water to drink, as our natural mind would suggest, but they are now just beginning to grasp the significance of their new “God directed” walk.
Now they have reached the place in this new journey called MARAH. It has just dawned on them that being free from Egypt and following the cloud of God’s presence was not to be the “fun life” they anticipated. God had now brought them into a situation where every “prop” that could be used to make them self-sufficient was torn away. Their personal choices no longer seemed to be considered. Even as slaves in Egypt they mostly controlled their private life, but here in this terrible wilderness they now had no say in where they went or what they did.
So there was established a fertile ground in the “heavens” of the people of Israel, for the “daughters of men” (carnal thoughts) to establish themselves and so possess the land of their own being. The divinely inspired thoughts of joy in their new freedom and release are now joined in an illicit union with carnal thoughts that are manifested as bitterness and anger. The echo of Israel’s praise to the Lord for their mighty deliverance and victory over their enemies had scarcely passed when these alien thoughts burst upon their mind clamouring for self recognition, and self preservation. This conflict is “The bitterness of Marah,” and every one of us has drunk of that “water.” In a mystical way Israel was introduced to the CROSS-, in the tree was cut down and cast into their bitterness, providing salvation from their inner conflict, if they were able to accept it.
Now the voice of God sets out the whole matter very clearly. “If you will diligently listen and respond to the voice of the Lord your God, and will do that which is right in his sight, and take notice of his commandments, and keep his statutes, I WILL PUT NONE OF THESE DISEASES upon you, which I have brought upon the Egyptians. For I am THE LORD THAT HEALETH THEE!” Ex 15:26. We also read, “And God said thou shalt be blessed above all people, and there shall not be a male or female barren among you or your cattle. And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt upon you, but will lay them upon those that hate thee. Deut 7:14-15.
What a sad commentary on man is expressed in that Scripture that says, “And the earth was without form and empty and darkness was on the face of the deep.” Even the earth part of our universe that we can inhabit is still said to be empty and shrouded in darkness. Having been created out of the radiance of his light, and being in himself the effulgence of glory, we have come forth to live in the darkness of our benighted mind. Instead of the sun shining in its fullness warming the earth of our being and lighting it to reveal the glory of our God, we travel on through the heavens in a mantle of darkness. Beloved, as people look up into our heavens are we manifesting a light and a warmth that can encourage the weary traveller? Or perhaps our earth is even preventing the SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS from being seen, as it blocks the healing rays.
Darkness is on the face of the deep! God is LIGHT and in him is no darkness at all, and yet the manifestation of that light is unable to shine through. Such is the helpless state into which man has come, although his origin in creation is out of the LIGHT. There is no power in man to lift the darkness, so we find God acting on our behalf, “And the spirit of God moved over the face of the waters.” The water is fluid and becomes the material out of which the body of our regeneration will be formed. The instrument of divine activity in all of God’s creating is always, “AND GOD SAID!” It matters not if it is the original creation or the New Creation there is only one instrument and that is THE WORD. “And God said, let there be light and there was light.”
Not only did God create the light but also he defined both the darkness and the light giving them a name. The light he called “Day” and the darkness he called “Night.” Both were bounded so that each night would be followed by a day. This will remain the sequence until we enter into God’s perfect day. That DAY is revealed to us in the book of Revelation concerning the time when we become the expression of the City of God, for it says, “And the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of the Lord did lighten it and the lamb is the light thereof.” Rev 21:23.
You will notice that there is nothing that man can do in the regeneration process. Man cannot begin anything or continue anything and nor can he perfect anything. Everything is achieved by Gods instrument, THE WORD! To understand this is to grasp the A B C of Christian experience. All the work of God has been hid in Christ who is the eternal WORD. Therefore all that is in Christ is ultimately to be reproduced and manifested in the creature. If we would understand the work of regeneration we must follow the various stages set for us here in the book of Genesis or beginnings.
To sum up this over view of regeneration here are the main points for us to consider:-

1. We notice first of all that the work is progressive and does not take place all at once. It is a six-day program covering every aspect of our being. We see in nature, first the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn, so it is in the work of God. We are not speaking about literal days not of any set period governed by time. The work continues from Evening to morning, from darkness to increasing light, always from night to day and never from day to night. It is the evening and the morning that form every successive day. Darkness is not totally removed but is left to challenge us to seek after more light is order to keep the darkness within bounds. But always working towards the day, when there is no longer any night to follow for we will have entered into that eternal day.

2. The work of regeneration is a correcting of those things that are not according to “the pattern” which is Christ, until God can pronounce them as very good. We must refrain from judging ourselves too harshly during the process simply because imperfection still remains. For we know that “ He that has begun a good work in you will perform it until Christ has been formed in you.” That is the glorious day, for which all creation is waiting, when these regenerated ones will bring release from the bondage of corruption. Then this corporate man “Christ” will take the Gospel of the Kingdom to the ends of the earth opening every prison door and binding up the broken hearted, until all creation is FREE..

3. Each stage in the work of regeneration will always result in the divine declaration that “It is good.” Even though perfection is not yet in view, there is always something that God can declare good. God never majors on the negative, neither does he bring in condemnation concerning some lack in us, but he works in us until there is something of Christ that he can declare good. Of course the carnal man will always be able to see our imperfections, but the spiritual man will only see Christ. Paul admonishes us not to know anyone after the flesh anymore but to see Christ in every man. As the Christ is formed us he will illuminate the Christ in others. In the epistles to the seven Churches in Asia in Revelation we always find that which is good and commendable mentioned first before there is any mention of that which needs adjustment.
Now let us look at an incident in the life of Christ that has been a problem for many. Mark 11:12-14. It says Jesus was coming from Bethany and that he was hungry, as he came to a fig tree that had leaves. I do not believe it was hunger that drew him to the fig tree but something else. In the case of the fig tree, the fruit always precedes the leaves. So here was a tree that was indicating that it had produced fruit, because it was covered with leaves. However on inspection the tree proved to have no fruit on it at all, so it was presenting a lie to everyone who saw it.
In its first application the fig tree represented Israel who presented themselves as the people of God, but they failed to produce the fruit of Godliness. So the tree, like Israel was denying its God given purpose, which was to produce fruit. In fact Israel was plotting to kill Jesus, although he was their Messiah. So Jesus cursed the fig tree denying it the right to exist and the next day the disciples were amazed to see it dried up so quickly, and was dead. What a solemn reminder this is to man not to ignore the will and purpose of God in our lives, to be a manifestation of God’s glory. Jesus spoke to the scribes and Pharisees of his day saying, “Woe unto you hypocrites, for you are like whited sepulchres which indeed look beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones, and all uncleanness.”

NOAH AND REGENERATION

We follow the line of Seth until we witness the death of ADAM, for man’s true liberation or regeneration cannot become reality until the Old Creation has passed away. It is a total state of confusion even in the natural, for two personalities to exist in the same person. It is doubly so in the spiritual realm. God’s purpose in regeneration is to restore to us the glory that covered us in the beginning; therefore our old identity in Adam must be removed before we can express our true identity in Christ. But we are speaking of spiritual realities that cannot be accessed by any natural means. We must first be delivered from this present evil world through the travail and pain of death, before the LIFE of the NEW CREATION can be planted within us.
The principles behind regeneration were set in motion in creation and function effectively in all nature. When we plant a seed the first part of the process is that the SEED that contains LIFE must die. If it does not die but seeks to preserve its own life, then the life that is resident within that seed which holds the power to produce a whole harvest will have no purpose. So the divine principle of regeneration is that the seed must die, BUT OUT OF THAT DEATH will come not just life but ABUNDANT LIFE. The next truth revealed to us here is that the LIFE that develops out of the death of that seed is NOT THE OLD LIFE THAT WAS PLANTED, but a N-E-W LIFE.
One day the disciples came and told Jesus that some Greeks wanted to see him. Now listen to his strange reply to their request. “The hour is coming when the Son of man shall be glorified. I am telling you that except a corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies it will abide alone or as ONE. BUT if it dies it will bring forth MUCH FRUIT. If any man loves his own life, (the seed planted by God) HE WILL LOSE IT. And he that understands the principle of LIFE OUT OF DEATH and is willing to die, shall keep it and experience the transformation of the OLD SEED into the NEW CREATION.” (D.W. free translation)
What was Jesus telling us here in answer to the question, “Sir, we would see Jesus!” He was saying that if you come and see me now as I am, you will simply see A MAN, and the true seed that I am will be hidden from you. However, if you wait until I am planted in the EARTH OF MEN, (through death burial and resurrection) typified by the Cross of Christ, you will see a multitude that no man can number who will be the NEW CREATION OF GOD. That is the HARVEST that is in the SEED, which will include you in the expression of that reality. So gentlemen have patience and you will see the corporate SON OF GOD, for that is really the thing you want to see and not just Jesus of Nazareth. Can you grasp this beloved?
Paul reveals this divine principle of regeneration to us in 1 Cor 15. He poses a hypothetical question that many would ask. “How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come?” Then he answers the question, “Thou fool, that which is sown does not reproduce life UNTIL IT DIES.” The divine principle is not LIFE OUT OF LIFE, but LIFE OUT OF DEATH. Many would question the wisdom of God that is being expressed in the “Fall of man.” But we will discover in all of God’s dealings with man that the failure of one thing through Grace brings in a better thing, for where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. Each advancing form of life, which God takes up, springs out of the failure of that which preceded it. The seed becomes rotten and dies yet the result is new life on a higher plain. Thus the “Life out of Death” principle will continue until that life that is produced has been purified to the point of incorruptibility and that manifestation is CHRIST.
The Apostle Paul breaths hope into us in the changes that must come ere we become the reality expressed in the beginning of Creation. He breathes confidence into us saying, “As we have borne the image of the earthly so shall we bear the image of the heavenly.” So Flesh and Blood must pass away as we move from corruption to incorruption until we stand in the perfection of Christ.
Noah is the man divinely appointed by God to present to us the entire course of regeneration. The secret of this mystery unfolds to us in a human setting, but within the natural picture is hidden the treasures of a life that is truly divine. In this divine process it is not necessary for us to know and understand every small detail, for the purposes of God accomplish themselves in us as we simply yield to the dealings of God. I really have little knowledge of the medical mysteries of childbirth but I had no problem being conceived and finally being born. So it is in God, we have been apprehended by God that we should be holy and without blame before him is love. Must I have conscious knowledge of all the spiritual mysteries involved in order to bring it to pass? No, for it is GOD that is working in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
We find this man NOAH already a righteous man, fearing God and perfect in his generations. So you may ask what more does God want to achieve through this man? He comes from the line of Seth so is a part of the divine seed, and has been divinely preserved until this point in time when God makes his next great move to restore us to our original glory. Noah was close enough to the ancient men like Adam and Methuselah who would have communicate to him the conditions that existed during their lifetime of nearly 1000 years. But now the new millennium is actually being ushered in through this man Noah. The millennium is referred to in Scripture as the Most Holy Place the dwelling place of God, for it was 10cubits by 10 x 10, which is 1000. So through Noah God is going to restore the manifestation of his Glory.
Notice with me the conditions that existed at this crucial time in God’s program. Both the line of Cain and also the godly line of Seth had become overcome by the flood of evil that had filled the earth. But in the midst of all the ungodliness that existed there was a man who was found righteous, and his name was Noah. “And God saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that the whole imagination, purpose and desires of man’s heart was only evil continually.” What a picture of degradation for God put a man whose heart was to walk in righteousness before God. I am sure he would not be invited to the social club. In fact he must have lived through hell in that environment. Our world is not any better today with all our scientific advancement, as every form of evil flourishes in the fertile soil of modern society. In the midst of all this God issues and edict saying, “My spirit shall not always strive with Man (Adam) for that he also is FLESH, yet his days shall be 120 years.” Man has become F-L-E-S-H even though he was created SPIRIT. So God is saying, I am not going to always “strive” with man, but I will allow him to become imprisoned by his own wickedness, and allow the evil he has chosen to bring upon himself, to bring correction into his life.
So although Noah was righteous yet his life was constantly being affected by the evil that filled the earth. We may live righteously but some drunk driver could rob you of your family, or some thief could take your possessions and cause you much grief. I have had to do with so many Christians who have suffered tragedy not because of their own actions, but because the evil of this world had touched them. However we are seeking here to know the process of regeneration through which God wants us to pass, and in the process to lift us ABOVE this present evil world to live on a higher plain where evil has no power to intrude.
From my experience over many years I know that the vast majority of God’s people know little or nothing of the truth of Regeneration, and so I feel a deep sense of responsibility towards the Body of Christ as I share the glimpse I have of what Noah represents to us today. Look with me at 2 Peter 1:3-4. “According as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to LIFE and GODLINESS, through the knowledge of him that has called us to GLORY AND VIRTUE. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, having ESCAPED the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
Please read that Scripture again and again and ponder every word until you see that we have been living in the paupers house instead of Father’s house, and have suffered from every evil in this present wicked world even though we are not a part of that world. BUT now, Father is saying I have made provision for you to live apart from this present evil world and untouched by it. Noah represents for us the spiritual man that has come to know the exceeding sinfulness of sin and the utter corruption of the old creation. He is not involved in trying to convert the sinners of his day. As far as he is concerned there is absolutely nothing of that old creation that is worth saving. Noah agrees with God totally and follows his instructions without any vain thoughts of reforming the old creation.
Would to God that preachers today had the same viewpoint as Noah. Just think about it, Noah was a preacher of righteousness yet he only saved his own family. Regeneration is never known until we have discovered the deep fountain of evil that is in the heart of the man who belongs to the old creation of Adam. When Noah comes on the scene, there seems to be little or no difference between the Godly line of Seth and those who issue out of Cain. Noah stands in his day alone clothed in the righteousness of God. He looks in vain to see if perchance there is something of that old creation with which he can enjoy fellowship. But the corruption is total and there is nothing there that can be salvaged for God.
God began to issue instructions to Noah that would lift him up beyond the reach of the flood of evil that had covered the earth. “The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of Gopher wood. Rooms shall you make in the ark and shall pitch it within and without with pitch.” Noah by his righteous life and now by his construction of the vessel of deliverance is witnessing to the coming judgement, and is testifying that there is nothing of the old creation that can be salvaged. Jesus declared that the axe is laid to the root of the trees. For the ark by which he goes through the judgement, is formed by cutting down and stripping the pride and strength of that soil in which the curse works. This speaks to us of the Cross-by, which the world is crucified unto us and we unto the world.
Its dimensions are divinely appointed and cannot be shortened or changed. Three hundred cubits long speaks to us of complete deliverance, just as the 300 men in Gideon’s army was all that was needed to gain complete victory over the enemy. In it there is a “Light” or Window facing Godward and a Door giving access to its safety. It is complete with all the food necessary to complete the journey to safety as nothing from the old creation can now sustain us. Within the Ark there are heights and there are depths having a lower, second and third level, to cover the totality of man that must be delivered from corruption.
Into this ark there is brought a selection of the animals both clean and unclean which present to us a great mystery within the work of regeneration. Many have assumed that after we are transported by the Ark on to the ground of resurrection, evil has been totally eradicated. But we find that even in regenerate souls, evil has filtered through. It would seem that a remnant of the unclean animals, which speak to us of lusts and desires that originate in the lower parts (lower level of the Ark) of man are brought through, although by grace their activity is greatly curtailed so that they are restrained. So in regeneration man is given back authority over the animals, but they are not destroyed. The reason being that in there creation there were no “unclean animals,” for all that was created was GOOD. It is because of the baser instincts in man that there came a change in the animals that are represented by the emotions, desires and will in us. However, the total subjection of all that would oppose Christ in us is clearly in view, for we are told that ALL THINGS have been put under our feet.
In the Ark the process of regeneration allows the development of the mind of Christ, through the limitation provided by the Ark. The light is received only from above bringing spiritual knowledge and revelation, while the “door” to the turbulent waters and flood of evil all around, is divinely closed. We have now become a prisoner of Christ. We are conscious of the convulsions of the earth within us that is under judgement, yet we are separated from it, for the Ark is “Pitched” within and without. The word Pitch is the same used for a “ransom” or a covering that is applied both within, providing a separation inwardly UNTO GOD, and also without, separating us “FROM THE WORLD.” This is the dual aspect of the cross, for the world is crucified unto me, and I am crucified unto the world. This work of the cross must continue in our lives until it has totally separated me from the world or “KOSMOS.”
The Greek word used her for “cross,” indicates a single wooden pole or stake upon which the basest of criminals were fixed to die a most excruciating death. The use of this word at that time involved the concept of fixing a person in a certain position, not just physically but in relation to acceptable standards or ideas of society. At that time the religious people of Israel sided with the “world” in fostering the notion that Christianity was anti social, anti God and associated with the lowest form of life. BUT in the picture the Spirit is painting before us of Noah and the Ark, it is GOD and not MAN that is drawing the line of demarcation between those who are regenerated and the rest of the world. By a divine security both within and without, the world will convulse with the judgement of its own evil planting without one drop from that flood ever touching the redeemed of the Lord.
We need to understand it was M-A-N who orchestrated the cross and not God. Christianity has glorified the “Cross” turning it into a symbol of divine love, when it really expresses the degradation and wickedness of the human heart, declaring, “We will not have this man to rule over us.” It has become a Christian symbol to be put on books and buildings and worn by people, thinking it gives them some sort of divine status. However in ignorance, Christianity has glorified the carnal mind and exalted the flesh. Beloved, GOD DID NOT KILL HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON! Listen to Peter in Acts 2:22, “You men of Israel, Jesus a man approved of God among you by miracles wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you as you know very well; he being delivered (handed over or made available) by the determinate counsel (Gk. “Horizo,” a predetermined knowledge) of God, YOU have taken and by wicked hands YOU have crucified and slain.”
The prophet Isaiah prophesied, “He is despised and rejected OF MEN and not OF GOD, a man of sorrows and aquainted with grief, and WE (not GOD) hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and WE esteemed him not. Surely be has borne our griefs (sicknesses) and carried our sorrows, (Mental pain and anguish) and WE (MANKIND) did esteem (considered and imagined in our darkened hearts, that he was struck and smitten BY GOD, INSTEAD OF BY MAN, and beaten and scourged, and also depressed by his heavenly Father who humiliated him.” Beloved, listen to the Spirit within you and quieten the voice of religion that speaks out of Babylon, completely destroying the true character of our heavenly Father who is our God. If our God had to do all that and a whole lot more to his beloved son, before he would forgive mankind of their sin and redeem us, then I see no semblance of LOVE in that God at all. BUT I am happy to expose such a lie for what it is, and set the record straight.
Paul tells us, “By M-A-N came death, and by M-A-N came also the resurrection of the dead!” 1 Cor 15: 21. Now the Strong’s Concordance will show us that the Greek word for MAN in both cases is exactly the same. It is “anthropos” a human being. We have no problem identifying the MAN or “anthropos” that brought DEATH into the world, as ADAM. Then why do people want to argue over the identity of the one who DIED on the Cross and was buried in the tomb and rose again on the third day in glorious resurrection? How can we say that the one who brought resurrection was anything but anthropos, who also brought death into this world?
We are told that God made him (Jesus) TO BE SIN for us. Religion has made Jesus to be the SIN OFFERING but this is not true. He was made to be the MAN OF SIN and that is ADAM or “anthropos,” who is the natural identity of every man. It is Adam that is the power behind sin and produces death in all of us. In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus sweat as it were great drops of blood, as he contemplated his final act to release all mankind from the law of sin and death. He was made to be the LAST ADAM taking with him all mankind into death as ANTHROPOS.
“God made him Jesus TO BE SIN FOR US, who knew no sin, that WE might be made the righeousness of God in him.” 2 Cor 5:21. Remember when Peter looked into the eyes of Jesus and said, “Thou art the CHRIST the SON OF THE LIVING GOD.” This was a revelation from God of his true identity, but all that people saw with their natural eyes was a human being, “anthropos.” So that by death, burial and resurrection he could return all mankind to their original state, which is, SPIRIT. Sickness and sorrow and pain were all part of that ADAM that was finally and forever brought into death by anthropos, to be released into the New Creation Man who is CHRIST THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.
Now you will ask, but what about the problem of S-I-N? Does there not need to be a Sacrifice for sin? Jesus did not seem to think so, for he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you did not require.” Heb 10:5. Then he repeated it again saying, ”Father you did not want sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and offering for sin, neither did you have any pleasure therein which are offered by the law. Then he said, “I come to do thy will O God.” What was the will of God? That he might offer the BODY ( Gk. SOMA = the flesh and blood body of anthropos), ONCE FOR EVERYONE! God declared at the time of the Flood in Noah’s day, that MAN had also become F-L-E-S-H, (Anthropos) despite the fact that man’s origin IS S-P-I-R-I-T. So on the “Cross” he tore aside the VAIL of our humanity (our flesh) through death, to reveal our true reality through resurrection as “CHRIST THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.”
To return to Noah and the process of regeneration, we are facing the total failure of the Old creation now manifesting itself as flesh, even though in the beginning mankind began as SPIRIT. Now God sees all flesh as having corrupted its way, filling the earth with violence. There can be no reform movement here for God now declares that the END OF ALL FLESH is come before me, so I will destroy them with the earth. This is the flood of annihilation, not just for all flesh, but for the earth also they have polluted. Beloved let us be clear on these issues for Babylon has never recognised regeneration as the pathway into resurrection life. Hence it has devised many reform programs, which the Church in the world today has adopted as the process of “man’s restoration to God.”
The “Gospel” that is presented to the world as the means of “Salvation,” says, “Repent and be sorry for your sins believing Christ died instead of you on the cross. Then ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart, and you will be saved, born again and have eternal life, and you will be a Son of God, and go to heaven in the sky when you die. I am sure Noah could have built a very big “Church” if he had preached that message to the people of his day. BUT Noah’s Gospel was, “If you want to LIVE then be prepared to DIE, for your only salvation is in a resurrection into a NEW LIFE. But like today, most people are having such a good time in this wicked world, who wants to think about dying? Anyway, Jesus Christ DIED INSTEAD OF ME on the cross, so God has forgiven my sins because he loves the whole world and I am a child of God!
“Church” in the New Testament is the CALLED OUT ones. Called out of life lived as Flesh (anthropos) through a mystical death, burial, and resurrection, that only becomes reality for us when we identify with the death burial and resurrection of “ANTHROPOS,” (MANKIND) on the cross at the “place of a skull,” where the D-E-A-D flesh of men crucified the Lord of life and glory. But in that death we will not see corruption, for we are destined to be raised far above principalities and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this world but in the world to come.
The ARK that Noah built out of trees cut down was a symbol of Christ. Just the same as the Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place was also a type of Christ manifest as the presence of God. We must be clear on this, and understand what is the reality of this “Christ.” In the New Testament, the Greek word is CHRISTOS and means, “ANOINTING.” The Anointing is the manifestation of the invisible God, made available to us to allow us to make that invisible God known to mankind. The anointing is the “WORD” that was created in the beginning that was with God and was God, and has the power to assume the form of flesh, and so manifest the image and likeness of God on the earth.
The simple statement of Scripture is, “And the WORD became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, which appeared to us as the glory of the “ONLY BEGOTTEN” of the Father, who totally expressed Grace and Truth.” Of course there was no need for the WORD to be “born” for he always existed in the Father and still exists today and will do so forever. But the manifestation of God revealed in Christ the anointing, had to be made visible to all mankind and so a BODY was formed for him in Mary. She represents the female part of man, and since the days of Adam in the Garden of Eden, all of mankind have waited for the “Seed of the woman” to be born, that would bruise the head of the serpent. But there is a mystery in the birth of that seed that we must understand.
Jesus said, “Father you did not desire sacrifice and offerings and offerings for sin, BUT you prepared me a BODY.” Now the body that Father prepared for Jesus, was born of a woman and was flesh and blood. Heb 2:14. However, beyond his birth as a son to Mary, he was said to be, “Great, and shall be called the Son of the HIGHEST (Most High God), and the Lord God shall give unto him the Throne of his Father David, and he shall rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there shall be no end. And he shall be called A SON OF GOD.” Paul also says, “HE IS THE FIRSTBORN OF ALL CREATION.” So here is a great mystery, that one just born to Mary should be at the same time the SON of EL ELYON, and successor to the Throne of David, that would never cease to increase.
This is a mystery birth far beyond that which is natural, for the angel told Mary, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the Power (dunamis) of the Most High God shall envelop you in his light, and therefore that Most Holy Thing that shall be birthed in thee shall be designated, A SON OF GOD.” This is the same BIRTH that Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about in Jn 3. He said, “The wind (spirit) blows wherever it chooses and you can hear its sound but you do not know where it came from and you do not know where it is going, SO IS EVERONE THAT IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT.”
We have been speaking here of the MYSTERY OF CHRIST that was revealed to the Apostle Paul, having been hid from the ages past, and is now made known to us by the Spirit, CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY. That which is natural becomes the vessel to express that which is spiritual, for in a mystery both are united in one body, GOD AND MAN. The prophet Isaiah said, “For the Lord himself shall give you a sign, BEHOLD A VIRGIN SHALL CONCEIVE AND BEAR A SON AND CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL…..GOD WITH US…..to function in glorious harmony. Christ is not the name of any person but signifies the mystic union of God and man that allows God to communicate himself to all mankind, becoming one with them without diminishing himself in any way. But through that union in the people of God, his whole will and purpose will be accomplished in all the earth.
Now it is necessary that we understand this mystery of “CHRIST in you” and also of “YOU in Christ.” Jn 14:20. For the ARK that Noah built represents this mystical union, and presents it to us as the only divine vehicle that can transport us out of the corruption of this wicked world into the paradise of God. All of the “short cut formulas” of Christendom will leave man exposed to the flood of evil that is rising fast on this earth. The day came when Noah and his wife and family went into the Ark, but there were still six days in which to adjust to the change. Six is the number of man and it was the 600th year of Noah’s life when they stepped into God’s rescue vessel with the animals, birds and other creatures associated with man. “And they went in unto Noah into the Ark, two and two of all flesh wherein is the breath of life, male and female, AND GOD SHUT THEM IN.
The most important phrase in the Bible is IN CHRIST. If we are not “In Christ” we are, “Without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having NO HOPE and without God in the world.” To be in Christ is to be bonded in a mystical holy union with the Almighty God. In that union there is no “God and I,” or “Christ and I,” but “I AND MY FATHER ARE ONE.” Nothing can happen to me that does not involve Christ. HE is the very source of my life that flows in a constant stream out of him who is the fountain of all life. He is also Lord so the animals, like that wind and the waves obey his voice, and the lion lies down with the lamb. The Christ Life is an emanation of divine life expressed through an earthly vessel.
Now the fountains of the deep are released. These are the springs of mental and spiritual faculties deep within man that can rise like a flood bringing devastation and destruction from a man’s inner being. Then the windows of heaven are opened. The Hebrew word here refers to, “Liars in wait” as in an ambush. This brings the thoughts in a torrent into man’s mind overloading his ability to cope with the strain. We often speak of a flood of ideas but now it is a deluge rising from the deep, and at the same time the flood is coming from above.
Just recently the medical profession stated depression was now the most common problem man has to deal with. Men are committing terrible and even unbelievable crimes against little defenceless children, and so are women. Children have now become murderers before they reach the age of 10. Women live in fear of being assaulted even in their own homes. We must lock up our homes like a fortress for fear of being robbed. Our ability to cope with these tremendous pressures is under threat. The flood is rising and the end of all flesh is come, but so few are heeding God’s message to Noah, to build an ARK. In many cases the Church is so busy with its programs that building an ark is not considered important, just like the people of Noah’s day. Beloved this is a wake up call, for this is the seventh day of preparation to enter into the Ark that is Christ.
The Ark is the only means of transcending the flood for there is no other. It is also figured as a type of Baptism, not as some ordinance to be kept literally, but in its expression of the DEATH, BURIAL AND RESURRECTION of Christ. To enter into the Ark is to bring the Old Creation (Adam) into death thus ending its ability to express itself through us. Now Adam IS DEAD. Then we bring him into burial so that he is put out of sight to become but a fading memory. Finally to discover in the process of death and burial a NEW LIFE has now sprung forth out of the Christ Seed that possesses our body as its expression. The New Life rises out of the ashes of the old.
Noah’s family who entered the Ark with him were not all spiritual, for their subsequent lives indicated the “animals” within them, returned to their former state releasing further evil and wickedness in their lives. So the Ark also stands as a beautiful symbol of God’s GRACE, extended to the whosoever will, may come. However this time in the Ark shut in with Christ is a time of deep dealings as the spirit allows a manifestation of every evil that is in the heart of man. Whether it is expressed or not is not the issue here, for we must discover that, “IN ME DWELLETH NO GOOD THING.” We must be under no illusions concerning the unregenerate heart of man and what it is capable of. Do not consider, Beloved, that those in the Ark were somehow exempt from such revelation of the evil within them. It rained for 40 days, but also for 40 nights when the darkness added to the insidious evil that manifested itself during that awesome time of self-revelation.
It would seem that the forty days was like an eternity, but there was to be no glossing over the ugly expressions of that Old Creation. The heights and also the depths must be plumbed, until cry like the Psalmist, “Deep calleth unto DEEP at the noise of thy waterspouts. All thy waves and billows are gone over me.” Yet probably the best testimony to this experience is that of Jonah speaking out of the belly of the whale. “Thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the waters, and the floods compassed me about, all thy waves and billows passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again unto thy holy Temple. The waters compassed me about even to the soul, the depths closed me round about, and the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the very base of the mountains, the earth with her bars were about me forever. YET HAST THOU BROUGHT UP MY LIFE FROM THE PIT O LORD MY GOD.” Jonah 2:3-6.
It is recorded that “The flood was upon the EARTH, and the waters increased, and BARE UP THE ARK, and it was lifted up above the EARTH.” The flood is released to crush and destroy the old Adamic nature. The judgement would be intolerable were it not for the fact that we see in that death of self the emergence of a New and glorious life free from the power of sin and death. Our salvation is in the ARK that lifts us up above the earthliness of the old creation, into resurrection life, over which death has no power.
However, do not think that this is the end of the divine process for more is yet to come. Peter tells us that many are ignorant of God’s plan. “By the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the WORLD THAT THEN WAS (the old creation) being overflowed with water perished. BUT THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH WHICH ARE NOW, by the SAME WORD are kept in store, reserved unto FIRE against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men. 2Pet 3:4-7.
Water is a cleansing agent and so the washing of regeneration brings great changes into our lives. However if we desire the changes to be permanent we need to experience the “FIRE OF GOD.” Fire changes the structure of everything so that it cannot revert to its original state. So Peter goes on to say, “But the DAY OF THE LORD will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt (be loosed as it would be by heat releasing the atoms) the earth also and the works that are within shall be burned up. Seeing then that our heavens and earth shall be dissolved or loosed, we now become displaced persons from the earth of our habitation, so what identity must we now assume seeing as we have been released into the very atmosphere of God. Surely we must now walk in holiness and Godliness so as to fully express GOD.”
The Baptism of water is passed, bringing certain changes into our lives, which simply prepares us for a greater Baptism by FIRE that will complete the work. We are not saved, as is so often taught FROM Death and Judgment, BUT THROUGH Death and Judgment. It is therefore THROUGH DEATH that the power of death is broken. Regeneration must continue until we have NO CONFIDENCE IN THE FLESH at all. Phil 3:3.
Then after the buffeting of the waters, God “Remembers” Noah and sends the SPIRIT again to brood over the waters, even as it was in the beginning, bringing the breath of God to the weary travellers. No, God never forgets us beloved, but in our affliction we often feel we are abandoned, only to repent for having entertained such a thought. As the Spirit breathes, the waters recede allowing the Ark to rest again upon the earth, even though nothing of that realm is at first sighted. The “waters” still conceal the land of Promise that we are to possess. “But the God of all Grace who has called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, establish, settle and strengthen you.”
As the Ark settles the window is opened, and we view the “Tops of the mountains.” Yes it is the new earth, but our vision has been elevated no longer looking at the valleys, but at the “Hills from whence cometh our help.” But we have no way of knowing if the New Heavens and Earth are yet a suitable habitation for us, so the Raven speaking of our natural thoughts (an unclean bird) is released. We are reminded that both the pure and the impure still remain with us and are able to affect the powers of our emotions and understanding. The ark has not changed the Raven, whose appetite remains centred in that which is DEAD, for the cross may restrain impure desires but does not alter them. So the Raven provides us with no understanding of this New Resurrection Ground, for it never returns having found that which satisfies its own desires.
But the DOVE which speaks of the spirit of gentleness and peace is released now appearing more bold than before the flood. It brings the bud of the Olive as a token of the new earth that is appearing. In resurrection the pain of the cross is forgotten as the joy of NEW LIFE bursts forth. However the whole process of regeneration is divinely controlled and the door is not opened bringing release, until we are fully prepared and the work of the Ark has accomplished its purpose in us.
Seven days are now completed then God opens the door and Noah and his family step out on to an earth that has been cleansed by the flood. What a depth of meaning in incorporated in those simple words, “AND THEY WENT FORTH.” Here is a liberty that many Christians have never yet experienced, for most people remain prisoners of “HOPE,” but still prisoners. What a transition this was for Noah and his offspring, so the first thing that he does in this new found freedom is to build an altar to the Lord, and to offer burnt offerings. These offerings speak not of sin but rather of obedience and acceptance, causing God to open his heart to them expressing thoughts of love Adam’s world could not know. The hour of darkness that descended on the earth when Adam sinned now was lifting.
It is GRACE that now is expressed from the heart of God as he says, ”I will not again curse the ground anymore for man’s sake, even though the imagination of his heart is evil from his youth, neither will I smite everything living as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter and day and night shall not cease.”
All these things are now revealed here at the Altar of burnt offering. We can relax in the Lord knowing that “Thy way O Lord is in the sanctuary, who is so great a God as our God.” A further blessing now follows as the Lord tells Noah exactly what MAN was told in the beginning, “BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY.” The truth that Jesus taught was that “Unless a corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies it abides alone, but if it dies it will bring forth much fruit.’ Now having passed through DEATH, fruitfulness can now be expected.
But this is not the limit of Grace, for now God gives them power over the beasts. “The fear and dread of you shall be upon every beast, and upon every fowl, and upon all the fish in the sea, and into thy hand they are delivered.” What marvellous grace is made available to us, but it is still possible to live in self will and discover the animals will not submit unto us for it is Christ in us who remains L-O-R-D, and not the carnal self. If the animals in us are not subject to us it is because the mind of man is not subject to the Lord.
Here we stand on resurrection ground elevated to heavenly places in Christ, having been regenerated through death, burial and resurrection. Now we reckon ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God. But in many cases, how short is our heavenly bliss before we begin to descend from such glorious heights and realms of glory. As in the natural, Life must develop in its expression, from that of the faltering child to maturity, until we fully express the Christ that dwells within. Such is the unfolding of this journey of life revealed to us in these pages of Holy Writ.
May the Lord give you understanding of these things.

The Cross - Des Walter

THE CROSS Des Walter

I want to share with you today on the subject of the "Cross," because I think it is probably the most misunderstood aspect of the Christian faith. So I want to by-pass the traditional concepts that are the product of the natural mind and present to you the TRUTH as seen from God’s point of view.
We will begin in Hebrews, chapter 2, because we need to lay a clear foundation and discover how God thinks about things because the Prophet Isaiah said, "As far as the heavens are above the earth, so far are my thoughts above your thoughts." Have you ever thought about that? Here we have been living with our thoughts for so long, or thoughts we have received from others, that have formed the basis of our understanding about God. But you see, His thoughts are way above our thoughts. So today let’s put away our thoughts about the cross, and let God start to insert some of His thinking and then we may come up with an answer quite different to that which we have believed over the years.
Hebrews 2:6, "One in a certain place testified saying, what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the Son of Man that thou visitest him? You have made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor and you set him over the works of Thy hands." That is what God did when He created man. So it sounds like God had great confidence in the creation he called MAN. I do not see God making some alternative plan just "in case" it didn’t work out. No, it says here, "You crowned him with glory and honor. You have set him over the works of Your hands." - vs 8 - "You have put all things in subjection under his feet and You left nothing that is not put under him, but now, we see not yet all things put under his feet."
That is the sad note that comes in here. But then we rise back on to the plain of glory because the next verse says, "But we see Jesus". So what is God saying to us? Why does the Lord tell us not to dwell on what we consider to be our failures and shortcomings but to focus our eyes on JESUS? In order to answer this most important question we need to understand how we were created and what we were created to be. In Genesis 1:26 we read, "And God said, "Let us make MAN in OUR IMAGE and after OUR LIKENESS." The very first thing I want to impress upon you is that THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE! This MAN is not from outer space or some super creature different from every other man on the earth. There is no other MAN that God created and he represents all mankind on the earth in every generation. This is the reason why we need to look closely at what is recorded concerning the man (MANKIND) that GOD CREATED.
You will notice that in creation man did not have any physical material body, for he was created as spirit. However very few people today realize that the reality of their being is spirit. Even among Christians, most would deny this fact and declare they are mortal human beings. After 6000 years of living as flesh and blood in a material physical world, mankind has become convinced that they are mortal human beings. However the whole picture of man from God’s point of view changes when we realize that the FORM is not the REALITY.
Christendom is convinced that mankind has descended from Adam the man of dust and so teaches that everyone is born a sinner and under the curse of death. This puts SIN at the centre of all theology, which majors on how to deal with this issue, to satisfy God and "Go to heaven when we die." It is this focus that has distorted our understanding of the CROSS.
Because of our origin out of God we all have the capacity to create. From a child we begin to create the kind of person we believe we are. If we are convinced we are not very clever and cannot succeed in life that is exactly the kind of person we create and become. If I feel I am not loved we will create a very insecure person. If I believe the world is filled with evil and that I am subject to every problem and difficulty, I will be filled with fear and live in the hostile world I have created. So by ignoring the TRUTH concerning the Creation of man, and majoring on our physical birth, we have created an entity we call a "SELF." This "Self" is the source of all our problems, and locks us into this physical material world that is governed by the law of sin and death. However I want you to know that this "Self" is just an illusion and has no reality attached to it.
We need to get our eyes off the "self" that we created and consider the reality of what we are. Only then will we recognize the unreality of our assumed identity, which did not come from God, but which we believed ourselves to be. Some people say to me, "Well, I’m an alcoholic". And I say, "Well, you are very fortunate, because you know exactly how to live your life successfully. You are going to drink to excess and get drunk, and you are going to abuse people including your wife and family, generally cause a mess, because that is what alcoholics do. So if you declare you are an alcoholic, you have predetermined how you will act and what you will do, and nobody is going to blame you, because you are an "alcoholic", doing what an alcoholic does.
But, of course if we are Sons of God then we are going to live as Sons of God, are we not? Sons of God don’t sin do they? Sons of God cannot sin, can they? Whoa! Is that really true? Let us look in the First epistle of John, chapter 3. Now if I say something today and you can’t grab it, please don’t get angry, but do what Mary did and hide it in your heart. Just put it aside and say, "Lord, if this is you speaking to me then you will teach me in your time and it will be okay".
1 John 3:2, "Now are we the Sons of God, but it doth not yet appear what we shall be". In other words, John is telling us what is our true identity, for we are "Sons of God." This is not because of anything we may have done, but because WE CAME OUT OF GOD. But there is more to come, I mean, Sons don’t have children do they? Isn’t it Father’s that have children? Well, we’ve got to go beyond son ship, so that we can have children, then we become Fathers.
"Beloved we are even here and now God’s children. And it is not yet made clear what we shall be in the future, but we know that when he comes and is manifested we shall resemble and be like him, for we shall see him just as he really is." Notice whenever God thinks about man it is always connected to CHRIST.
And every one that has this hope resting on him Cleanses and purifies himself, because that is how he sees himself. Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. And we know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin". Verse 6, "Whosoever abideth in Him (in Christ), sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth has not seen Him, neither do they know Him". If you sin you haven’t seen CHRIST, and you don’t know Him. He has never become your identity; therefore, you will keep on sinning.
Now, verse 9, "Whosoever is born of God" (Are you born of God today? Come on, are you born of God? Amen? Not too loud now, just a little amen will do as someone may hear you. Are you born of God? Hallelujah! Then what does John say? "WHOSOEVER IS BORN or begotten OF GOD DOTH NOT COMMIT SIN, for God’s nature abides in him. The principle of God’s life, the divine sperm, remains permanently within him, and he cannot practice sinning because he is born or begotten of God".
What is the SEED of God? Well, Christ is the SEED out of whom all mankind has come. Paul tells us in Eph 2:10 "You were created in CHRIST JESUS." Is He not also the SEED of Abraham, "and not seeds, as of many, but one …which is CHRIST!" Gal 3:16. The "Seed" speaks about generation, and in Psalm 90:1 Moses says, "Lord, YOU have been our dwelling place and our refuge in all generations." So we conclude that every generation of mankind has come out of God.
If Christ is your identity, if you are born or begotten of God and Christ dwells in you, then John says, YOU CANNOT SIN BECAUSE CHRIST CANNOT SIN! Well, you believe that, don’t you? Christ cannot sin and He is your identity. That is who you are, therefore I cannot sin. But remember, the "I" that I am talking about is not simply what the government recognizes me to be. They say this is Des Walter, born 70-odd years ago, and they know my address, where I live, who is my mother and father, and they recognize me by my photograph.
But the truth is that they do not know my true identity, because that is not listed on my passport. My identity is Christ. And if that is my identity then "I," that is the Christ "I", cannot sin. Are you hearing this? Does that explain what John is telling us? You never hear preachers preach on these verses. They always leave them out. NO, you can’t preach that, or we’ll have everybody think they are "going to heaven". Of course I mean NOW, and not after they die, because heaven is not a geographical location but a state of being.
Okay, we will go back to Hebrews now, having cleared up that little problem. "But we see Jesus." We have not yet seen everything under our feet. Why? Because we seem to be very slow to believe these things. To believe who we are, and to understand our true identity is very difficult, mainly because the Church has brain washed us into believing that we did not originate out of God, but out of the man of dust in the Garden of Eden.
Then in some cases, our parents added to our confusion, by telling us how far short of perfection we came in our actions, instead of helping us understand why we acted as we did. So all of these things began to produce a false identity in us, developing an attitude that we were sinners and God was angry with us. This in turn made us afraid of God so like Adam we have hidden ourselves behind our religious thinking, (trees).
To quell our fear of God and bring at least some measure of peace to our hearts, religion taught us to believe, that God recognized our hopeless situation and has come to our aid by killing his son on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins, allowing him to be able to forgive us if we repent. Millions have grasped at this straw, but never found in it a release from their mortality.
But you see, it means that we have never truly discovered the seat of our problem, which is our false sense of identity, because we listened to all those voices. The hymn writer summed up our disillusionment in these words, "I’ve tried the broken cisterns Lord, but ah the waters failed, even as I stooped to drink they fled and mocked me as I wailed." Then after all this negative and misleading input I found that I had actually reproduced a "self," an identity which was nothing like Christ, but I called myself a Christian.
So, it says here, BUT WE SEE JESUS! Let us take a closer look at Him, "Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, THAT HE BY THE GRACE OF GOD SHOULD TASTE DEATH FOR EVERYMAN". Tell me, when did He taste death for everyman? Ah, you will say, "On the cross when he died as our sin offering," for that is what has been taught. But was not the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world? Rev 13:8. The word "foundation" is a translation of the Greek word "Katabole" which means "The casting down." The casting down was when Adam sinned. That’s when the Lamb was slain.
Now, let’s go back to Genesis 2. Isn’t it amazing how we have to go back to the book of beginnings, because we have got things so screwed up because we have never allowed the spirit to lay a true foundation for our Faith? We came in from the Matthew, Mark and Luke Gospels, because we thought that this is where the Good News was established, and that screwed us up again.
It was from these Gospels that we embraced the idea, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel, baptizing them, and teaching them, and make disciples out of them", and we said, "That’s our task". NO IT IS NOT! That was for Israel, because that is what Israel did. Israel did not evangelize the world, they proselytized the world. They went out to make disciples of Moses, because everybody they brought into any kind of relationship with God had to be circumcised, and keep the law. That is what Israel did. That is why they kept having an argument with Paul, because he wasn’t doing that.
Okay, so in Genesis, chapter 3, it says, "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made, and he said to the woman, Hath God said ye shall not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?’" Now, I’m not going to read it all because you know the story very, very well. Eve was out there talking to a snake and I mean, how crazy can you get?
Never talk to a snake because they are going to lie to you every time. They will tell you, "I’m your friend," and then they strike – and you are gone! So, this snake is not literal as Christendom has suggested, and neither is it "out there" but, IT IS IN US. It represents the CARNAL MIND. Eve was speaking out of her carnal mind. This was a conversation with her "SELF". You know that God never made a "SELF" don’t you? Eve discovered she had the ability to create her own world and so explored the knowledge that would allow her to succeed, the "Knowledge of good and evil." As she embraced that knowledge she produced a fantasy world, which would be dominated by the duality of Good and Evil, and man became A LIVING SOUL.
And, here in the parable, because this is a parable, and by saying it is a parable, I do not mean that it has no reality. I do not mean that it is a fable, but I am telling you this is TRUTH, but it is presented in parabolic form in order to teach us what we need to know, regarding the function of Spirit and the Soul.
So here we are seeing how man functions as a LIVING SOUL. The soul (Eve) has gone out alone seeking to develop its OWN LIFE apart from the spirit that is God. The life she now seeks was not created in the beginning, but is formed by her own choices to satisfy the desires of her own heart and mind.
The "Soul" being the feminine aspect of man contains the "WOMB," giving her the ability to BIRTH what ever she desires. But now she has abandoned her "husband" the SPIRIT and has become a prostitute, seeking "someone" or something with whom to unite in order to produce the desires of her soulish senses. Did you know that is where all prostitution begins? It begins with the soul expressing its own will and desires, while being driven by its own emotions. Beloved, once we forsake Christ (spirit) as the Lord and authority of our life, we will find the "snake" poised to complete the soul’s decent into the illusion of physical life.
The "Snake" represents the carnal or natural mind that has chosen to function apart from the authority of spirit. How accurate is the Scripture that declares it to be, "More subtle than any beast of the field?" The word "Subtle" is almost the same word translated "Naked," and is used in the Old Testament with that spiritual sense. Scripture says, Adam and Eve were naked but they were not ashamed. What did that mean? It means that while the union of soul and spirit governs mankind, as Adam was originally created, nakedness has no evil connotation.
So we understand that the subtlety of the "Snake" is expressed as a perversion of reality. By this I mean that nakedness in a child has no sense of evil connected with it, until they are instructed by the carnal mind or THE SNAKE, usually by the parents. From that time they spend the rest of their lives associating their body with evil in the form of sexuality. Have you ever-wondered how whole tribes of people lived for thousand of years without clothes, until a missionary told them it were wrong?
It is interesting to recognize in this regard that the soul represents the female part of man, and it is this gender that is the focus of sexuality. Hence the carnal mind now has excited something in man that is like a wild animal out of its cage and refuses to be tamed. Where did this all begin? In the Garden of Eden when Eve listened to the "snake," and lost what we call today her innocence.
The TRUTH is, she stepped out of REALITY and entered into an illusion generated by the carnal mind. This illusion revolves around the belief that our great need is to satisfy every desire that we generate in the realm of our soul. Here is the way it is expressed for us in the parable of the "Garden of Eden." After the mind was separated from the spirit, the lusts and desires within man lost all their restraint and now were able to take control and fulfill their own destiny.
"When the woman SAW that the tree was GOOD FOR FOOD, and that it was PLEASANT to the EYES, and a tree to be DESIRED TO MAKE ONE WISE, she took the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also to her husband."
What was it that motivated her to disobey God? Was it some literal snake hanging out of a tree? I think not. First of all her EYES saw something that captivated her attention, then desire began to arise in her that she must have that which now caught her attention. She reasoned in herself that it was good for food even though she had never tasted it before, so this was a "Mind activity."
She convinced herself that this tree would give her a wisdom she did not have, and so her will was energized and her actions now fulfilled her desire. She based her decision to disobey God on the function of her five natural SENSES, sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing, none of which are capable of discerning God, who is Omniscient, having all wisdom and knowing all things.
Thus Adam and Eve found themselves to be NAKED! No this is not a simple reference to having no clothing as the natural mind would have us believe. The PERCEPTION of man had changed. His ability to see into the reality of things was lost, and in its place they had created an illusion that today we call physical mortal life. MAN was not created as a physical being, for the man in Genesis 1:26 was not flesh and blood, for he was a pure spirit man. This should not appear strange to us because GOD IS SPIRIT and man came out of God.
Gone was the intimate fellowship man had with God in the Spiritual Garden of his heart, and instead man had created a whole new physical material world that was no longer a Garden, but a wilderness. When God had completed creation, Scripture says, "And God saw everything that he had made and behold IT WAS VERY GOOD!" But in the world man has created there is both GOOD and EVIL and the earth brings forth thorns and thistles. In this "world" man has to earn his bread "by the sweat of his brow" unlike the provision God made for man in a Garden that provided everything he needed.
You may wonder what all this about the Garden of Eden has to do with the CROSS. But in theology it is the concept of S-I-N in the Garden with all its spiritual consequences that is the focus of most theology. Christendom has provided its followers with FORGIVNESS through a sacrifice in which God kills his son, and sheds his blood without which he cannot forgive sins. Every religion has provided some way in which man can find absolution, be it by a trip to Mecca, or an abundance of good works to out weigh the evil we have done. Even in some cases by the offering of their children’s lives to some heathen God.
If we fail to understand the Truth revealed in the Garden of Eden by trying to put a literal interpretation on it, we will end up with a totally distorted view of the CROSS-of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When God created man, he was a "God-man". He was to be the dwelling place of God, so that whatever God is, that would be the expression of His life. So man was created as spirit until he explored a "world" that was outside God, who is spirit. The knowledge of good and evil is not a part of God for these opposites do not exist in the realm of spirit, only in the physical world.
As we saw recorded in Gen 1:31, everything that God made was VERY GOOD! Well may we ask, where did the devil and evil come from, if God did not create them?? Did God not plant the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? I don’t think so!! Gen 1:9 tells us, "Out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food. The tree of LIFE ALSO in the midst of the Garden, and the tree of the Knowledge of good and evil."
All the trees of the garden provided food and nourishment, but the Tree of LIFE and the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil, were not in the same category. They represent a kind of probation for Adam by whom they would reveal the "thoughts and intent of the heart." Is not "Knowledge" the key to success in this life today? What about the quality of LIFE, where does it fit in our list of priorities today. Why to men push themselves almost to breaking point, risking a heart attack or nervous breakdown, so they can be rich. All this when we have access to the tree of LIFE, which is Christ. But alas that tree has little attraction for most people just as it was for Eve in the garden
Both of these trees are said to be "In the midst of the Garden!" Could these two trees be the same, depending upon the kind of mind we use to interpret them?? With a spiritual mind the TREE is to us, a tree of LIFE. But with the natural or carnal mind, that same tree becomes to us a tree of the knowledge of GOOD and EVIL, or a tree of duality. Seeing God as a BLESSER and a PUNISHER, as a Savior and a destroyer, as a Redeemer and a Condemner, as a Father and a Judge.
Remember in the Garden of Eden there are not two people there, for God called THEM ADAM. God did not call them Adam and Eve. It was Adam that called his wife Eve, who represents the soul. So the soul now takes the fruit to the Spirit and says to Adam, "Here you are, I want to share this "fruit" with you, because it can make us wise, and can even make us as gods". Now the Spirit has a dilemma.
Adam has a problem. What is he going to do? He can do one of two things. He can tell Eve, "You’ve blown it now, because remember God said, "The day you eat of that tree you will die." Now I am sorry for you Eve. I mean I love you very much, but listen, I’m not going to touch that fruit, because I know God. I am very sorry Eve, but you have blown it now, and you will just have to bear the consequences. I’m not having a thing to do with you or with the fruit."
Now he could have said that, but if he had, you wouldn’t be here today. I wouldn’t be here today. Why not? Because the soul would have been eternally separated from the Spirit, and there would have been no redemption. Can you hear this? Can you hear what the spirit is trying to teach us? Because the soul having sinned would have been separated from God and would have had to die, while the Spirit remained true to God and lived.
Can you hear this? So what did Adam do? Adam said, "Okay", and he took the fruit and ate it. He did not eat that fruit in rebellion. He did not eat that fruit because he was deceived by the snake! Are you hearing this? ADAM ATE THAT FRUIT BECAUSE HE WAS PREPARED TO DIE, SO THAT THE SOUL COULD LIVE.
Can you hear this? Of course, you know who Adam is, don’t you? THAT IS CHRIST for he is the ALPHA and OMEGA the BEGINNING and the END, the author and the finisher of our faith. That’s Christ. The MAN in Genesis 1:26, who was CHRIST, the WORD, that dwelt with God and was God. He breathed into the nostrils of this MAN, the breath of the same life that he had. That was the breath of God. That was the life of God. And, Adam said, "Okay, I am prepared to forfeit my life, in order that the SOUL might be redeemed."
Since that time man has lived as a living soul. That is not how man was created in the beginning, but he BECAME, a living soul. And we have lived out of our soul ever since being subject to the passions, emotions and desires within us, that have risen up to take control of our lives. How often have we cried out like Paul, "Who shall deliver me from this body of death?"
Now, look back to Hebrews 2:9 "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for everyman". He tasted death for everyman. For remember that Adam was not a single person. Don’t think of that man created in Genesis 1:26 just as a single man. That was mankind. Adam represents ALL OF MANKIND. And what is the identity of MANKIND? CHRIST.
Luke 3:38. This is the genealogy of Jesus Christ, "Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of ADAM, WHICH WAS THE SON OF GOD". Adam the MAN, is the SON OF GOD. That is who MAN is. That is Christ. Can you see it? Isn’t it amazing? When somebody shows you these things, you say, "Why didn’t I see that before"?
We see what we want to see, and because our theology has been messed up we haven’t seen the truth, because we have not been looking for it. Jesus Christ came into the world and Paul said He is the last Adam, BUT HE IS STILL ADAM. God had vested Himself in His creation. There is no God outside of His creation, for God now has become the resident within all of His creation.
Wherever there is LIFE that is GOD - IN ALL CREATION. That’s why all men can be saved. Come on, it’s not because all men are voluntarily going to say, "Oh yes, I love God", because they really do not know who God is. So when we look at Jesus Christ, this babe that was born in Bethlehem’s manger, what do we think? Oh, he is not one of US. This is some strange creature from the heavenly realm somewhere. We don’t quite know exactly who He is, but they gave him a name and called Him Jesus, but most people are convinced he is not one of US."
Are you hearing this? Didn’t you consider Him to be something quite different from us ordinary people? And then the theologians came along and said, "Of course you know that God is a trinity?" We have God the Father, and now we have God the Son, whose name is Jesus, and we have God the Holy Spirit, so in fact we have three Gods.
Christians therefore conclude that if Jesus was God, then God must be a man also, but we can never be like him even though we try. This TRINITY Teaching is not Biblical but was given to us by the Roman Catholic Church and Constantine the Emperor of Rome in AD. 322 and became Church Doctrine enshrined in the Nicene Creed two years later.
I want to tell you the babe in Bethlehem was no different from YOU WHEN YOU WERE BORN!!! He was no different from me when I was born. He was born of a woman and I am born of a woman. He was flesh and blood and I am flesh and blood. I don’t know any God that is flesh and blood and who is born of a woman. God is Spirit and is eternal.
Now let us go back to Hebrews 2:10, "For it was an act worthy of God and fitting to the divine nature that he, for whose sake and by whom all things have their existence, in bringing many sons into glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect, i.e. bring to maturity the human experience necessary for his perfect equipment for his office as high priest, through suffering." That was CHRIST. He was made perfect through sufferings. Where was the suffering? Not simply at the Cross but they began when Adam took the fruit of the tree of good and evil. Now the earth was cursed but not the man. Oh, by the way, we had better look over here at Timothy 2:11 first, because people say to me, "Adam sinned so how can he be CHRIST who never sinned?"
Let the Apostle answer the question for us. Paul is speaking to Timothy his son in the faith, "Let the women learn in silence with all subjection". Hasn’t the church hammered that one? "But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." So, what is Paul talking about here. Is it true that he has a dislike for women, saying they are not to teach in the church? NO NO, that is not what he is saying.
He is saying, "Don’t let the SOUL preach!" Of course, that is different all together. In some Churches you have a man standing in the pulpit, who wants to be called "father" but he is dressed like your mother, and He is just a LIVING "SOUL" ( the female aspect of mankind,) expressing itself. And God said, "Get Him out of there! HE’S NOT SUPPOSED TO TEACH."
And how many preachers do we have in the pulpit that still minister out of the soulish realm? And the soul is still teaching and preaching. That’s what Paul is talking about, not that you women can’t teach or preach, not that you have to be silent, and can’t say anything in church, no, no, but it better not be out of the soul, because God says look at the problems "Eve" caused.
"For Adam was first formed, then Eve, and ADAM WAS NOT DECEIVED". ADAM WAS NOT DECEIVED. Underline it if you want to. He WAS NOT DECEIVED! "but the woman being deceived was in the transgression". So you can see that I am not attributing sin to Christ! Can you hear that? Paul tells me, Adam was not in the transgression. It was not the Spirit that sinned, it was the soul, and that is why you always read in the New Testament concerning, "the salvation of the soul", "save our souls" - SOS. Why? Because your SOUL NEEDS SAVING AND NOT YOUR SPIRIT. So Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
You see this is a foundation that needs to be laid in your understanding, before you will understand the cross, so we need to hear the VOICE OF GOD and not the words of man. You need to understand these things, how man functions, how sin came into the world. Sin came into the world through the soul and not through the spirit. And you see, when God created man, He created Him SPIRIT in his own likeness and image, MALE AND FEMALE, or SPIRIT and SOUL united as one.
And if God is Spirit, we must also be Spirit, having come out of God, but after six thousand years of human history we have become convinced that what we see in the mirror is "I," and this is not true. You cannot see me for I am Spirit. You see the body that I live in, and that is what the government identifies as being me. They identify your "body" by your birth date, parents and photograph. But they can’t identify your Spirit because they cannot see it. But we need to develop our spiritual identity in this life, because that is what cannot die but will continue on. If you have a spiritual identity in this life, you will have a spiritual identity in the next life. For we are part of a "Melchizedek order" and therefore there is no beginning and there is no end. Hallelujah!
Heb 2:14, "For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also Himself likewise took part of the same." He was flesh and blood. Jesus was as much a man as I am a man. He could not be any more M-A-N than what he was, because he was flesh and blood. So we need to understand this because otherwise, Christianity is totally confusing. The Gospel that has been preached by Christendom all over the world says, "Give your heart to Jesus and confess your sins, then believe He died for your sins on the cross, and ask Jesus into your heart and you are born again and a son of God." These are the doctrines of men. How can a mortal man suddenly become a Son of God just by giving assent to certain facts?
God never did create a "Mortal Man." God only ever created ONE SON and that was in the beginning. Gen 1:26. That is the only Son God created and he was neither mortal nor was he physical. Here is our problem; we think that MAN IS A BODY and simply "Flesh and Blood." Eph 2:10, says "You are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus". When were we created? In the beginning when God created his only Son, for every other man was IN HIM. This means that the identity of every man must be the same as the one from which we have come, and that is Christ, for you were created in Him.
Who or what is Christ? The word Christ is translated from the Greek word "CHRISTOS" and means "Anointing." The anointing is the likeness and the image of God, giving us the ability to manifest God in this world. It allows us the ability to bring the invisible God down into the visible world and to make Him known to men. Christ is not the "Name" of any person, because it belongs to the spiritual realm from which all men have come, and not the physical material realm.
So, it says here, Heb 10, "Wherefore, when He (Jesus Christ) cometh into the world he says, "Sacrifice and offerings you did not require, but a body hast Thou prepared me". God never required that men should offer sacrifices at all. Jer 7:22. But, you gave me a body! Why did God give him a BODY? The answer is, because GOD IS SPIRIT and so if he wants to express himself in THIS PHYSICAL WORLD, it is essential that he have a BODY. From creation MAN was always intended to be the DWELLING PLACE and the expression of God.
Man expresses what "he" is through his body, but most people have never yielded their BODY to be an expression of God. When Jesus Christ came into the world he said, "I come to do thy will O God." The only sacrifice God is interested in today is a LIVING SACRIFICE, and not one that is DEAD. Paul says we should, "Present our BODIES as a living sacrifice unto God which is our spiritual worship." Otherwise we can never fulfil the purpose for which our body has been given to us.
So, if I believe I am an alcoholic I will get drunk, because I will express what an alcoholic is. If I believe I am a sinner then that is what I will express through my body. Isn’t that right? You keep telling a child, "You’re bad, and you will never be any good," and what will they do? They will be bad because to them it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. So now we understand, GOD WANTS YOUR BODY, through which to express Himself, and not for you to express what you think YOU are!
This is a truth Israel never understood, for thy offered the BLOOD and bodies of animals to God, but never made their own bodies available to him, through which to express himself. But when Jesus came he made his body available saying, "In the volume of the Book it is written of me, I come to express thy will O God." God did not desire BLOOD SACRIFICE at all, but wanted a BODY that would be a "living sacrifice," and not a sacrifice that was DEAD.
Okay, turn back to Ezekiel, chapter 16. I haven’t got time to go through this chapter. However I would like to, because it is a very interesting chapter revealing the Jewish or Hebrew concept as a superior nation that enjoyed a very special relationship with God. All the other nations were considered to be heathen. One day two heavenly visitors called on Abraham telling him they were going to destroy Sodom and Gomorra. Abraham pleaded with them but in the end he was content to trust God.
We tend to read the Bible as if it were just a history book instead of bringing a spiritual message to us today. Fire in the Bible speaks to us of the cleansing power of God, which is not destructive. So religious people like to dwell on God destroying these evil cities. We read of their destruction by fire, but the preachers never tell you the end of the story, because they believe it is dangerous to preach GRACE.
In Ezek 16:47 the Prophet tells this chapter He tells Jerusalem that they were WORSE than Sodom and Gomorrah. He said one day you will see that I am restoring them to their former glory. Hallelujah! The Grace of God hath appeared. Okay, Chapter 16, verse 1. "The word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man cause Jerusalem to know her abominations and say, Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother was a Hittite". Listen to this. This is not a history book. But Israel thought they were the chosen of God because Abraham was their Father. But God reminds them concerning their natural ancestry.
In Matt 23:9 Jesus tells us, "Call no man your Father upon the earth, for ONE is your Father (God) which is in heaven." Our natural generation has little to do with our true origin, for this reason people in every land pray saying, OUR FATHER which art in heaven!
He said to Israel: Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite, and that is why you have the problems you have, because of what you believe about your origin. And yet, when Jesus came they kept saying, "We are of our father Abraham". And what did Jesus say? "You could have fooled me. Abraham loved me, but you want to kill me, so how can you be his children?" All right. So you see, Israel came out of a heathen father and a heathen mother, but where did we come from? Can you keep your finger there again?
Turn to Galatians. Like I say, if we put these verses together where they belong, they always mean far more than if we just read them independently. We are talking about our origin. We are talking about our mother here. Do you know who your mother is? Well, I'm going to tell you.
This is Gal 4:25, "For this Hagar" (which was the Egyptian slave woman that Abraham took to bear what he thought was going to be his heir), "is Mt. Sinai in Arabia and answers to Jerusalem, which is now, and is in bondage with her children". This is true even today! "But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all". Come on, you need to underline that one. That is your mother, JERUSALEM, WHICH IS ABOVE.
The "Jerusalem, which is above" was the city that Abraham looked for. It says here he was a pilgrim and he was looking for a city. What kind of a city was Abraham looking for? "A city that has foundations and whose builder and maker is God". What does a "City" speak to us of? In the natural it speaks to us of the center of commerce and commercial activity.
So Jerusalem, which is "above," must be the centre of GOD’S ACTIVITY. And where is the center of all divine activity? Christendom will tell you that it is in a beautiful place up in the sky called "heaven." But this is not true, for the divine activity is centered IN YOU! YOU ARE GOD'S CITY! And all divine activity is centered in you. Whatever God is doing in this world, even in terms of bringing all the nations unto Himself, will be done through a PEOPLE! WE ARE THAT PEOPLE! YOU ARE THAT CITY! YOU ARE THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM!
The "Heavenly Jerusalem" is the feminine side of God through which he births his sons. Just as Sarah was the vehicle through which the promised seed was to come. Isaac was the natural seed but Christ was the SPIRITUAL SEED.
This is where God's center is. This is where His temple is. This is where His throne is, and from that throne he is functioning today. YOU ARE THE PEOPLE OF GOD! Do you hear that?
Go back to Ezek 16:4. "And as for thy nativity, in the day that thou wast born, your navel was not cut". What's he talking about? See, we have got to get beyond the ink on the paper. We read that and say, "Ah, poor kid". But what is the spirit trying to say to us? We cannot be connected to any earthly origin or it must of necessity pollute the pure stream of LIFE that flows from God.
It means he was tied to his mother, that is, the umbilical cord, if that is not cut, you will continue to be fed from the natural realm, and remain a part of your mother and never be free. God was telling Israel, you and your mother are going to remain one, and she was a Hittite. You want to be a Son of God? Well, then you better let God cut the umbilical cord connecting you to any human origin. How can we be a part of the Melchisedek Priesthood if we are tied to any earthly origin? Melchisedek is without FATHER and MOTHER and without beginning or end.
Abraham is coming back from the battle of the kings and somebody meets him called Melchisedek, who was the King of PEACE, and not the king of war. Abraham had been out there fighting and he comes back and meets the King of PEACE. Do you realize that God has ways of doing things that we haven't dreamed about yet? When He wanted to deliver Israel from the land of Egypt, God didn't give them all an AK-47 rifle. God didn't train them in jungle warfare or whatever, but he released the nation of Israel from Egypt without firing a shot.
They walked free from their captors, and not even a dog could bark against them. That is the KING OF PEACE. The wars and all the fighting in the world are not our problem. Jesus told us not to resist evil, the reason being that evil has no reality and there is only ONE POWER in the universe, and that is GOD. Man is functioning out of a false sense of identity that says, "I want, I need, I'll have to get".
And so, let's go on in Ezekiel, "Thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee, and you were not swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee, to do any of these things unto thee, to have compassion upon thee, but you were cast out into the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou was born." Beloved, if you can't identify with that you are not honest. Haven't we all groaned and been discouraged by our natural heritage and what we believed ourselves to be. I can tell you I was. When I was at school I felt like I wasn't going to make it. It was all too hard for me. And, as I grew up beyond that and went to work, I believed everybody else out there was bigger than me, better than me, and I believed I was inferior to everybody else.
This is what the Prophet is talking about. It was like you were in an open field when you were born. But I want to tell you something. Psalm 139 tells me that when you were in your mother's womb, Father molded your being. He brought the parts of your being together when there was nothing there, and He formed you for Himself.
And when you were born, you did not come out into some cold, sterile ward with a smell of disinfectant around you - Father was there with His loving open arms and said, "Come on, you are my Son. You're my Daughter. I made you for myself, and I have a tremendous plan for your life"! Ah, but we forgot that didn't we, and went out like the prodigal son to make a life for ourselves. Let's go on a bit further; otherwise we are not going to get through this. I want you to look now at Ezekiel, chapter 36.
GOD’S RESCUE PROGRAM
Ezekiel 36:22, "Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen wherever you went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified IN YOU before their eyes".
Please ponder the words for they express so much. But you may say, "This was for Israel and not us today". We are certainly not natural Israel, but WE ARE THE ISRAEL OF GOD and ABRAHAM’S SEED. (Gal 3:16,19) We are those that God has called unto Himself to be what natural Israel could never be. We are that HOLY NATION. We are a KINGDOM OF PRIESTS. We are those things NOW. So, He says, "I am going to sanctify Myself in you before the eyes of the heathen". Now, how is He going to do that? I mean, haven't we all sinned? Haven't we all done all sorts of things that have violated the Law of God putting us under the curse of God?? Well now listen, and I will show you how He is doing it.
Verse 24, "I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you to your own land". The first thing he needs to do is to separate us from the "heathen" in the world. What's your own land? This does not involve some "rapture" lifting us physically on to "cloud nine," leaving the sinners to endure awful punishment here on earth! NO, Paul tells us, "He has raised us up and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus N-O-W." Our feet do not leave the earth, but our consciousness functions in the spiritual world. So what is this land into which God is gathering us.
You are the heavens and the earth. That is what you are. God says, "I will bring you into your OWN LAND, which I have given you. At the moment your "land" or body is controlled by the natural mind, unless it has been renewed in the Holy Ghost. Did you know that? You get a little pain, "Ooo, I think I've got cancer". You blow your nose three times, "I think I've got hay-fever". And you get it, because your mind controls your body. But God says, I am going to give you back your own land, and you can get rid of the enemies within, that have oppressed you. But the question is HOW is God going to accomplish such a thing.
Verse 25, listen to this, "Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you". I thought He was going to get a lamb and kill it or a bullock or something. Surely He must want blood to be shed, because He is going to sanctify Himself IN YOU! He says, "I will tell you what I am going to do. I am going to sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean". Can you hear this? He says here that "you SHALL be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you". God is not saying, "I want you to quit being an idolater, and stop sinning and be good". NO! He says, "I am going to sprinkle the clean water on you".
What do you think He is doing today? He is sprinkling the CLEAN WATER OF THE PURE RIVER OF LIFE on you. It is the clean and pure water of the WORD, beloved! This is not "water" that man has contaminated with his carnal thinking that has no power to cleanse us from all our filthiness. This involves no list of Do’s and Don’ts but just a simply statement, "I'm going to sprinkle clean water on you and that CLEAN WATER will make you clean from all your filthiness"! Come on, this is truth, and God is cleansing you right now as you hear his voice speaking the pure Word. It is taking away from you that sense of "Woe is me for I am undone". That sense of "Oh God, I'm a dirty rotten sinner and please, forgive me?" He is taking all that from you, so you can stand up in the presence of God and say, "My Father, my Lord, and my God"!
Verse 26, He says, "I will put a new heart in you. I'll give you a new heart, and a new Spirit will I put in you. And I will take away the stony heart". You get a transplant out of this! You think man was the first to think of that? God was the first one to transplant hearts! Of course he is not speaking of the pump that circulates blood to your body! He said, "I will give you a new heart", because the heart is the centre of man. The heart is that out of which we function. It is the soul of man. That is what the heart is, and the heart determines how you live. If you have a hard, stony heart, then you will be angry and you will be a destructive person in your life.
The NEW heart God has for us is a heart of LOVE, that will allow you to love your enemies, and to LOVE GOD. It will extend Grace to all and condemn none. That is the kind of heart God will give you. I will give you a heart of love that will bind you together like you have never been bound together before. I will give you a heart that won't leave any gaps in the seats when you fellowship, because you will want to be together. Then you will understand, "That there is a bit of me in you, and there is a bit of you in me". The Spirit that is in you, is the same Spirit in me, and your Father is my Father. Come on, WE ARE ONE!
He says in verse 27, "And I will put my Spirit in you and cause you to walk in my statues and keep my judgements and do them". This is the Spirit of the Living God. No longer will we be LIVING SOULS as ADAM became, but we will be LIFE GIVING SPIRITS able to quicken the dead. And He said, "YOU WILL LIVE OUT OF THAT SPIRIT, because I will put that Spirit IN YOU"! The Spirit that activates God, THAT IS GOD, I will put in you. That will make you "Gods," under the Most High God. We won't replace God. Don't run away with that crazy notion. That is what people out there try and tell us, because they think this is blasphemy, just like the Jews in Jesus day, who tried to kill him for the same reason. Jesus upset them when he said, "I and my Father are one". Jn 10:30.
you to wal"I will put my Spirit in you and cause k in my statutes and you will keep my judgements and do them". This is not writing Ten Commandments on a piece of stone. This is not God writing them on the wall and saying, "this is the law I want you to keep". God is not saying that here. He says, "I will put my Spirit in you and you WILL walk in my ways." You will not have to try to walk in my ways, because my Spirit will function in you and you WILL WALK in the ways of God. Can you hear this? For this is the gospel, and we have not even mentioned S-I-N nor have we spoken about sacrifice at all. Now, you can begin to understand why I am telling you all this before I talk about the cross. Beloved we need to understand this.
And He says here in verse 28, "And you will dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers and ye shall be my people and I will be your God". Isn't this good stuff? Is it doing you good? Ah, the struggle that I had in my life to get rid of all that stuff we call sin. I struggled against my bad habits and failures because I did not want to continue to do them. I was like Paul who said," The things I want to do, I am unable to do, but the things that I do not want to do, these are the things that I find myself doing." God help me! "How can I be delivered from this body of death?" Then Paul says, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord".
Here is the answer to our entire struggle; it is through the INDWELLING CHRIST, the NEW HEART and the NEW SPIRIT that the change will take place. This is the Gospel. "I'll save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen". I am going to leave it there, but you can read the rest of the chapter.
Can you understand what the spirit is saying to us today through the Prophet Ezekiel? God says I will replace the "control" within you by rising up the CHRIST. This is your true IDENTITY and with that new heart and spirit, your will walk in my ways and you will be clean. In Christ you will discover the inexhaustible supply capable of meeting every need.
I want you to understand that God does not need the shedding of LITERAL blood to set you free. Christendom has tried to convince us that God has always demanded BLOOD Sacrifices. But remember what Jesus said when he came into the world. "Sacrifice and offerings and offering for sins you did not desire and neither did you have pleasure in them." Heb 10:5 & 8. (See also Jer 7:22)
But there are some who will quote Heb 9:22 to support the necessity of BLOOD SACRIFICE. " And almost all things are BY THE LAW purged with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission." Now if you are still UNDER THE LAW then, YES, you will need a blood sacrifice. But we are under a NEW COVENANT of GRACE and physical BLOOD has no place there. The idea of blood sacrifice came from the Hebrew concept of God under the Old Covenant. Christendom has just continued the Hebrew concept, thinking that God still demands PHYSICAL blood before he can forgive us.
What would you say if I asked you, "What is the blood that cleanses you from sin?" Most Christians would say, "Well, it would be the physical literal blood of Jesus when he died on the cross". Do you mean the blood that was in the veins of that man called Jesus'"? "Yes". But he was a mortal man and the blood of a mortal man cannot save you from sin. Anyway that blood fell to the ground, so I don't know how he would pick it up and take it into the Most Holy Place, according to the analogy of the tabernacle. It had to be something else.
In John 6:53 Jesus said, "Except you eat the FLESH of the Son of man and DRINK HIS BLOOD you have no life in you." Do you think Jesus was asking us to be cannibals? I don’t think so and therefore he was not speaking about LITERAL BLOOD or LITERAL FLESH. The "Flesh" of Christ is the SUBSTANCE OF WHAT HE IS and the "Blood" of Christ is his LIFE. Whatever I eat in the natural is assimilated into my body and becomes "ME." So in the spiritual sense, as I eat the substance of what he is, that is what I become.
Jesus says finally regarding eating his flesh and drinking his blood, "He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood, dwelleth IN ME and I in HIM. As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that EATETH ME EVEN HE SHALL LIVE BY ME."
TO SUM UP WHAT HAS BEEN SAID
We began this study by discovering man’s origin. WE found that man was created SPIRIT with no physical body, for that was to come later in Gen 2.
Now, I want you to turn to John's gospel, chapter 3, and verse 14. And this is Jesus speaking now about the cross. And he said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up". As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, in exactly the same way, the Son of man had to be lifted up. So, I want to know now, what is this serpent that was lifted up in the wilderness and what was it all about?
Let's go back and see. Numbers 21:5 says, "And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light bread'. They were saying to God that they had enough of eating this bread they had to scrape off the leaves of the tree every morning. I mean we would like to get back to normality with a choice of some kind. Surely Lord, you can give us something better than this, and while we are at it, we would like to mention that we are getting tired of banging on this rock to get a drink of water. They really were arguing with God.
In verse 6 it says, "The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much of the people of Israel died". This is not a history book. Can you hear this? This is not recorded here just to tell us that Israel did this and Israel said that, and you know, a bunch of snakes came in amongst them. See, we consider the things we read in the Bible are like children's stories, because this is what we tell the children in Sunday School. We tell them the story about the serpents in the wilderness, and we tell them about the baby Jesus born in Bethlehem. We tell them about Noah and the ark, but we never tell them what the truth is behind all of these things, because we don't know ourselves. So, let's have a look at this.
Now this is heavy stuff, I mean, here are these people arguing against God, and God sends a bunch of deadly snakes that bite them and kill them. Wow! What a God we've got. I thought my Father loved me. I thought God IS LOVE. Well then, surely there must be something more behind the words we read. First of all, if you want to do a little study, you will find that the word for snakes there, or fiery serpents, is the word "seraph" and more than one is "seraphim", the "im" is the plural suffix in the Hebrew language.
Now what is the function of the seraphs? Well, in Isaiah 6, you can read for yourself, that when the prophet went into the temple he saw the Lord high and lifted up with his train filling the temple. The sight so overcame him that he cried out, "Lord, I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips, and Lord have mercy on me". At that very moment a seraphim flew across to the altar and they picked up a live coal and brought it over to Isaiah and touched his lips and said, "Your iniquity is cleansed and you are purged from your sin." Your lips are now clean and you are clean, and there wasn't any sacrifice there, because the seraphim are the guardians of God's holiness, and they also take care of the fire of God. They were in charge, if you like, of the fire department, not putting it out, but keeping it burning. You see, it was the fire that cleansed him. Again, please notice there was no blood sacrifice. He was cleansed by fire, not by blood sacrifice.
So, the Lord released these seraphs, and they began to bite the people and as a result something in them began to die, because they represent the fire of God. However, the fire of God is not destructive. The fire is God's means of transforming you. So, these people needed a little clean up, so what better way of doing it than by God's sending his fire. It was not to destroy them, BUT TO CLEANSE THEM, and to make them to be what God intended them to be. In answer to the cry of the people, Moses turns to the Lord, asking for direction.
The Lord said to Moses, this is what I want you to do. You see those things, whatever they are that are biting the people, causing them to die, well I want you to make one of those out of brass. Now brass in the Bible always speaks of the judgement of God. What does the word "Judgement" mean? Well, it comes from a Greek word "KRISIS." If you put a "C" in place of the "K" you are very close to the meaning, "CRISIS."
A crisis is something that happens in your life causing you to pause for a moment. You are going along in a certain direction at about 100 miles an hour and suddenly something happens in your life, and God pulls you up. That is a CRISIS. And in that crisis, you are given time to assess the situation and say, "Hey, where am I really going." Is this the direction I want my life to take? It's a CRISIS. It allows you to reconsider your direction, and to think about where this pathway that you are on is leading you. From the spiritual point of view it means a "setting right" of that which is wrong, or a correction if you like. Again let me say, God’s judgement is not destructive but is positive in its purpose.
So, you see, these people needed to find an answer to their problem. Not just the problem of the snakes, but the problem of why do we keep griping against God. Why do we keep getting angry with Moses for bringing us out here? Is there an answer? Yes sir, there is an answer. God said, "Moses make one of those things out of brass, and then put it on the top of a pole. Then erect the pole right in the middle of Israel, and anybody that has been bitten by those serpents, all they have to do is LOOK at the brazen serpent on the pole and they will live."
SALVATION, beloved, is LOOK and LIVE. That's what Jesus is telling us in John 3. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, in the same way must the Son of mn be lifted up.”? Oh, well then who does the serpent on the pole represent? The answer must be, "The one who died upon the CROSS who was lifted up just like the serpent in the wilderness." This is Adam from the Garden of Eden. What in the world is it that makes you sin? What is it that every time I want to do good I can't do it, but I find that I am doing the thing that I don't want to do. What is causing me to live like that?
NO, it is not some external entity called the devil, but it is the Adamic consciousness that functions out of the NATURAL or CARNAL MIND. It is that Adamic nature that has come to us through our natural generation, because we look back at our parents and say, "Well, that's where we came from." But when we say that, we are denying our true identity that we came out of God. Remember God did not create a MAN OF FLESH AND BLOOD. We were created as SPIRIT and even today we are still spirit in the reality of our being. So, this Adamic consciousness remains in us. That is what is killing us, the Adamic consciousness or the carnal mind, that Paul tells us IS DEATH.
1 Cor 15:45, "And so it is written. The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a life giving Spirit". They are both Adam, but one is a LIVING SOUL and the other has the ability to GIVE LIFE or is a LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT. So, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up? What has been killing us? ADAM or the Adamic consciousness that tells us we have come from Adam and so we believe we are sinners and under the curse of God. That's what has been killing us? Now we need to know what provision has God made to remedy our situation?
2 Cor 5:21. "For he (that is God), hath made him (that is Christ), to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." He made him, TO BE SIN, or the MAN OF SIN. NO, God did not make him TO SIN, because remember Paul said, "It was not Adam that sinned, it was Eve". She was deceived and she took that fruit in rebellion against God, but Adam had his eyes wide open when he ate that fruit, and he did it deliberately, because he knew the consequences of his eating and HE had in mind YOUR SALVATION AND MINE. So now God has made Jesus Christ, to be that LAST ADAM. The MAN OF SIN, who is the cause of all our problems, ultimately bringing us into DEATH, now willingly embraces the CROSS.
So now, let's go back then, to Luke 22:37, which says, "For I say unto you, this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, and he was reckoned among the transgressors". So this is what still had to be accomplished in him. He was reckoned among the transgressors for the things concerning me have an end, or have a predetermined expectation, if you like, probably would be a better translation. And they said, Lord, behold here are two swords. And he said to them, that is enough. And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the Mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said to them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast and kneeled down and prayed, saying, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done". What is the cup that he is drinking? Well, back in the Garden of Eden he took the fruit from Eve, and he ate it, not in rebellion nor in deception, but with his eyes wide open. He knew the consequences both of eating that fruit of good and evil, and also he knew what would be the result of abstaining from eating the fruit. Do you realise what would have been the result if Adam had not shared the fruit with Eve? Let me tell you. If Adam had refused to join Eve in eating of the tree of good and evil the soul would have been eternally separated from the Spirit and there would have been no salvation for any man!! Think about it!
Now God is saying, to the LAST ADAM I want you to carry this through now to its final conclusion and take that LIVING SOUL into death. That is the "cup". Now, I want you to lay down your NATURAL SOULISH LIFE, because if you do you will release all humanity from its power. You will release humanity by destroying the power of death. So Father says, "My Son, are you willing to lay down your physical soul life now?" Are you willing to become at this moment a LIVING SACRIFICE? NO, not a dead sacrifice as they all were in Israel’s history.
And in the agony of that moment it says he sweat as it were, great drops of blood, falling down to the ground. The agony - for the salvation of all men is here at stake. Because God said the day in which you eat that fruit, you will die. Well, Adam's physical death didn't accomplish anything for us 930 years after he left the Garden, except in type form, so we read, AND ADAM DIED.
But NOW we are looking at the reality of what we read concerning the FIRST ADAM in the Garden of Eden. Adam’s death is not a punishment as religion suggests, but MANKIND’S release from the POWER OF DEATH. Adam had to die before Christ could arise in us constituting us LIFE GIVING SPIRITS. But here he is now, as the LAST ADAM.
So, of course, when Christendom preaches the cross they say, "Now this is God's lamb, the Lamb of God, which is the sin offering for all mankind". But we already read that Jesus said, "Father, you didn't want sacrifice and offerings and offerings for sin." You didn't want that. That wasn't what you wanted at all. How can we then make him a sin offering? HE IS NOT A SIN OFFERING. He doesn't have to be a sin offering. I have already showed you how God can make you perfect, and it has nothing to do with literal physical blood. Because the blood that will make you perfect, had already been shed. When Adam took the fruit of that tree, he slew the Lamb of God.
The LAMB OF GOD is not a woolly creature with four legs and wool on its back. The LAMB OF GOD is the NATURE OF GOD, because a lamb is a defenceless creature. It says, "What do you want to do to me? You want to hurt me, you go right ahead. You want to shear me and take the wool off my back, you go right ahead, I can't stop you. You want to kill me, go right ahead". That is what the "Lamb Nature" of God says. There are many people in this world today, maybe thousands, who have mocked God and defied him to destroy them. But God did not destroy any of them. Could he have done so? Of course he could!.
Those people bring retribution on themselves, because whatever a man sows, that is what he reaps. Sow to the flesh and you will reap corruption. Sin and its consequences have nothing to do with God. But Christendom considers that SIN has outraged God, demanding that he give his only begotten son as a sin offering, instead of destroying mankind. It's like God says, "I'll tell you what I am going to do. I can't forgive you unless I have a BLOOD SACRIFICE so here is the deal. This time an animal sacrifice is not sufficient, so I will kill my only SON on the Cross of Calvary. Then when he is dead and his blood has been poured out then I will be satisfied, and forgive only those who repent.
This is what the Church has taught for centuries and Christians have believed it, even though in so doing they have defamed the character of God. But this cannot be our God of LOVE! Would you kill your son to provide salvation for somebody else? I don't think so. But let us just think about what we are saying for a moment.
Jesus taught us in Mark 11:25-26 that when we pray we must forgive all those who have wronged us. In fact he goes further and says that if we do not forgive others then our Heavenly Father will not forgive us. But now we are saying that this same "Heavenly Father" will not forgive mankind unless there is a "BLOOD SACRIFICE," and that sacrifice is his only SON. In Matt 18:24-27 Jesus spoke about a man who owed his master much more than he could every pay back but his master FREELY FORGAVE HIM THE DEBT.
These parables all display the character of God and are very instructive, but we have taken little notice of them choosing to believe the distorted character of our God presented to us by preachers and teachers, rather than the Truth Jesus revealed. Notice in this passage of Scripture it was the UNFORGIVING MAN who had himself been freely forgiven that was cast into prison, not because of any debt but because he failed to reflect the same grace that had been shown to him. In this he defamed his Heavenly Father before others. How many times in the New Testament did Jesus tell people that their sins were forgiven? It was not on the basis of the Cross, for that was still in the future. The woman taken in adultery was condemned to die under the LAW but Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you."
Christendom has presented such a harsh demanding God to the world who demands Blood Sacrifice before he can extend forgiveness to anyone, and even then only if certain conditions are met. Failure to comply with these conditions results in this God burning you forever and ever in "hell." This God is presented to mankind as "YOUR LOVING HEAVENLY FATHER." Who in the world could LOVE such a Father, and be proud to be his children?? No wonder the heathen are multiplying far more than Christians.
WHAT IS THE TRUTH
JESUS CHRIST WAS NOT THE SIN OFFERING. He was made to BE THE MAN OF SIN or the LAST ADAM, which is responsible for our mistaken identity, and the illusion of our physical mortality in and this physical material world. The Adamic consciousness has locked us up through the carnal mind to believe we are just mortal human beings born in sin, cast out of the Garden of God, and living under the law of SIN AND DEATH.
And so, you will notice a change after Jesus was arrested by the soldiers in the Garden. He has accepted the will of the Father to take "mortality" into death thus releasing the SPIRIT (CHRIST) to be manifest in all mankind. So now men were able to subdue him, which they were not able to do before this. Now they mocked him by putting a robe on him and a reed in his hand and a crown of thorns on his head, and announcing this one to be the KING of the Jews. But notice there was no retaliation.
He was made to carry his cross up the hill to Golgotha and there they nailed his hands and feet to the cross, and he did not resist. He was led as a LAMB to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Just as he took the fruit from Eve, so now he willingly yields his will to God
NO NO beloved, this is not the SON OF GOD for it is impossible for a SON OF GOD TO DIE. This is the Last Adam, tasting death FOR EVERY MAN, and in so doing he is destroying that which has the POWER OF DEATH, the CARNAL MIND, setting us free. There is no substitution involved here; Jesus Christ is not dying on this cross INSTEAD of you and me. NO, he is dying their AS ME, and as every member of the human race, for that is what he represents in the Garden of Eden. This is where ADAM the "LIVING SOUL MAN" dies, and the LIFE GIVING SPIRIT which is C-H-R-I-S-T comes forth out of that death.
Many times I have surveyed that scene on Golgotha’s Hill as the Spirit brings the truth into clear focus for me. My whole life and destiny are to be found here so I watch every movement with great intent. And, I am watching this one on the cross, because you see, this is so very important to me personally. Jesus told us clearly, "If the SON shall make you free, then you are absolutely free!"
So I am determined to walk free from the enslaving influences that are in my life. So I am looking at that cross, and there he, but even in his hour of suffering he takes care of his mother, and says to John, "See this is your mother, and Mother, I want you to see John, who is going to look after you". I mean, that is how much grace he displayed even at the time of death.
Then I see him speak so graciously to one of the thieves who were crucified with him. But the time of his departure was at hand, and I hear that victorious cry come from his lips, IT IS FINISHED! Then he surrendered his spirit unto the Father as he died. I stood there trying to contemplate what it was that was FINISHED. Like a soft vesper blowing across the meadows, I heard a voice within saying, "The power of sin is broken, and also the power of death, for here DEATH is swallowed up in victory, and you are free indeed."
The spirit can never be released without death, for it is death that releases the spirit. As in the natural, so in the spiritual. Can you hear this? The "Alabaster Box" of precious ointment must be broken to release its perfume. The BREAD (Body) must be broken so that others may eat and live. ADAM the man of dust must be brought into death before the LIFE GIVING SPIRIT WITHIN, CAN BE RELEASED. The TRUTH begins to unfold before my eyes not from the lips of some preacher, but as the Spirit of God lights up the scene before me to reveal all its sacred treasures.
So, I'm watching and looking at this man dying on that cross and I say to myself, "There is something familiar about him. I don't know what it is, but I think I know that man that is dying on that cross". So I step a little bit closer and I'm looking, and suddenly I say to myself, "I know who it is…. that's ME." That's why I could recognize him. THAT IS ME DYING ON THAT CROSS"! I do not just see Jesus Christ dying on that cross, but I saw myself identified IN HIM. Of course, now CHRIST the ANNOINTING has been released through death, because that is SPIRIT.
Now Jesus bows his head and all movement stops, he is dead! BUT THAT IS ME! HE DIED AS ME!!! So if YOU died in him YOU must also be dead. ADAM IS DEAD! The one who prevented me from being free, by enslaving me to sin IS NOW DEAD.
But this is not the end of the story. I am very interested to see what is going to happen now? His voice remains etched in my memory as he cries, "IT IS FINISHED". But the depth of meaning in these words has yet to fully dawn on me, but I believe it. Loving hands come and take that body down from the cross and they wrap it in the grave clothes, and they take it away. They go down the hill and I follow them, because remember that is me, and I want to know what will happen to me.
Over the years I have been asked many times about, "what happens after we die?" Well, if you will follow with me we will find out together the answer. The people carrying the body come to a burial cave on a rich man’s property, and they lay it gently on the rock shelf inside. Then in deep reverence, they walked out. And I am still looking because, that is ME! That's ME lying there in that cave.
Now I am outside, because the soldiers are rolling that big stone over the mouth of the cave and they are sealing it with the Roman seal! I remembered Jesus spoke about the THIRD day being the day of resurrection so I settled down to wait because I must know what happens to me. So as it dawns toward that third day I am watching. Suddenly I notice the stone has been rolled away already. And I look inside, and there is two angelic beings sitting there. These are like the "cherubim," one at each end where the body of Jesus had laid, the same as the MERCY SEAT ON THE ARK. And they say to me, "Who are you looking for"? Without hesitation I reply, "I'm looking for Des Walter". They reply, "Why seek ye the living among the dead"? I stand there trying to grasp what I am hearing, so they repeat it. "Why seek the living among the dead? This is the place for the dead and not the living".
So I go outside with my head is spinning and I am confused. I don't know what's happened now, because there is nothing there. I know I saw that body lay there on the rock shelf, and the cave sealed with a great Rock, but now, there is nothing there except the grave clothes. I mean, I thought there would at least be a little heap of dust there, but there is not dust! If there had been it would have been in Rome by now, and they would be charging you for a look! I want to tell you, I've looked in that tomb, and THERE WAS NOTHING THERE! Jesus and Des Walter have gone FOREVER, NEVER TO RETURN.
But my search is not finished yet, because I must know what's happened to me. I'm still looking, and I hear voices. Here comes Mary and she is talking with the gardener, and says, "Listen, I know we buried Jesus of Nazareth in there, but his body is gone. Did you take his body away, or do you know who took it? And do you know where it is now, because I want to know?" And this man looks at her and he says, "Mary", and she knew who it was immediately. She knew that it was the Lord. I heard that conversation so I know he is alive but I still do not understand. By this time others have come and the whole town is talking about the empty tomb.
The questions are still in my mind about what happened to ME. Notice that it was the women who first discovered Jesus Christ was ALIVE. Eve (the soul) had been searching for her beloved down through the ages, and now she has found him! Of course they told the disciples who were not convinced so Peter and John decided to run to the tomb and see for themselves. They also found the empty tomb!
A little later I am walking along the road to Emmaus with a few of the disciples and I am listening to them talk as they journey. Along that road a man joins the group and they walk together. He begins to talk to us and we get to talking to him, and all the time he is talking I am looking at him, and I am thinking to myself, "I know him from somewhere. I am certain I have met him before. But I can't remember who he really is. Finally we come to our destination and we ask him to come in with us and have a meal. The stranger was given the honour of breaking the bread.
At that very moment It was like a light was turned on within me and to my amazement I discovered who that person is. THAT'S ME! THAT IS ME! FOR I had RISEN IN CHRIST! And, CHRIST HAD RISEN IN ME. Des Walter, that character that was born 70 odd years ago in Atherton, in North Queensland, that had failed so many times along the road of life, no longer existed.
My life up to that point now seemed like a DREAM from which I had been suddenly awakened. There was a real sense of unreality about my past life just as if it had been some ILLUSION.NOW the whole experience of the Cross-burst upon my consciousness in stunning reality. The person I thought I was that was a mortal, physical human being expressing soulish life, had made me a prisoner of a false identity.
I believed I was born and that I would die. I believed I came from Adam and so was a sinner and God was angry with me. My Sunday School teacher told me one day to kneel down and repent of my sins and ask Jesus to come into my life, which I did. But life was a constant battle with me wanting to do good but evil was always with me. I believed what the preachers told me, that I was born again and a Son of God, but I had little evidence to convince me. But now I have found my true identity and that is CHRIST.
What about Jesus, what happened to him? Well, he died because he was flesh and blood also just like me. There was NO physical JESUS that rose from the dead. How glad I am for that, because otherwise I would also have gone through the cross and remained the same mortal human being I was before.
Flesh and blood do not exist beyond death, for they are a part of the illusion of life in the world of good and evil. Beyond the grave the only reality is SPIRIT. That spirit is eternal and is God that fills the universe. The "Grave" strips away the illusion so that all that fills the universe. The "Grave" strips away the illusion so that all we have left after that is R-E-A-L-I-T-Y. Heaven has nothing that is physical or material attached to it, for it has no physical location and is not a place to which we can go. The "City Foursquare," and the "streets of gold," is simply parabolic language, just as are the 12 gates of Pearl.
We have been deceived into believing that the FORM is the reality. Our body beloved is not the reality of what you are, for you were created as SPIRIT in the image of God. This is where the concept of "God being a MAN" comes from, bringing many Christians into IDOLATRY. For the Commandments tell us that we are not to make any GRAVEN IMAGE or any likeness of anything that is in heaven or on earth or even in the water under the earth. Jesus tells us that "GOD IS SPIRIT and those who worship him MUST WORSHIP HIM IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH."
Beloved, the truth is that we do not have to CONTINUE IN SIN ANY LONGER. Can you hear this? The MAN OF SIN, Adam was crucified on the cross? The L-A-S-T ADAM died 2000 years ago. We were created in Christ Jesus in the beginning as SPIRIT and that is the reality of our being. Christ is the Seed of God in every man but for so many the illusion of reality remains centered in the body of dust, and so they continue to live as sinners and under the law of sin and death, instead of the "Law of the spirit of Life in Christ Jesus."
Thus for many the CROSS-brings no release from the bondage of our mortality. The best Christendom can offer is that in the cross there is forgiveness for sins, but no power to keep you from sinning. Beloved this is not the Gospel that is the POWER OF GOD unto Salvation, for Sin continues to reign denying the Lordship of Christ and allowing death to exert its authority over us. Religion’s focus on S-I-N has distorted the message of GRACE, keeping us in bondage.
Do you still have problems trying to do the things you want to do? And saying, " I can't do the things that I want to do, but the things that I don't want to do they are the things I am doing". Do you still have that problem? You can't blame Adam anymore - HE'S DEAD. But, he's fooled so many people in the world that he is still here. I want to tell you, you have been listening to Christ today, not because it’s Des Walter writing this, but because Christ dwells in me expressing him through me. HE LIVES IN ME. And you see, He has redeemed me with his precious blood, HIS PRECIOUS BLOOD! What is the blood that has saved me? IT IS HIS LIFE! FOR THE LIFE IS IN THAT BLOOD! That's the blood that saved me - IT IS HIS LIFE.
Beloved, I do not want you to worship the cross today. I want you to worship the Christ that has risen from the dead. And, as you worship that Christ, I want you to understand whom you will be worshipping? You will be lifting up the saints, which would include yourself for CHRIST is you identity. It is Christ in you, which is the HOPE OF GLORY. This is God dwelling IN YOU, having removed that false identity that you thought you were, which is Adam.
Having cut the umbilical cord that linked you to humanity and mortality. Believing that you were born and would one day die, that you came from the dust, and you are going back to the dust. He cut that cord for me, and showed me that my ORIGIN and identity was IN HIM. He will do the same for you as you open your heart to the truth we have shared together.
Paul’s testimony is now my testimony and the testimony of all those who have been raised from the "dead."
"I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I LIVE, yet it is not I that live, but CHRIST THAT LIVES IN ME, and the life that I now live I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." Gal 2:20.
And, I lift up my hands now, to the Everlasting Father, full of grace and truth, which now dwells within me, expressing Himself as Des Walter. THAT'S THE GOSPEL!
May God bless you, and help you understand in your spirit, that which God is saying to you today.
Be encouraged and be blessed, Des Walter Jan. 2001