10camels

Please come closer to me

2009-03-27T04:10:00.000-07:00

Please come closer to me (Genesis 45 :4)

We may take this request from the mouth of Joseph speaking to his brothers and receive it for ourselves as a word from our loving heavenly Father. Sometimes we are not close enough to the Father to understand that the experiences he puts us through are engendered out of his intense love for us and not because he is our enemy. Indeed the trials of our lives are God´s true intentions disguised, in the same way as Joseph was disguised so that his brothers would not recognise him.

Their trials would not have had the same effect on them if they had known throughout the true identity of their author. Joseph knew them well, and loved them, but disguised himself and spoke harshly to them. We can imagine their dismay at being falsely accused of being spies before this powerful Prime Minister, and being put into prison for three days. This terrifying trial immediately uncovered the guilt they had been carrying for more than two decades, and they confessed aloud their belief that this was a reckoning for the blood of their brother who they had cast into a pit and then sold into slavery. How quickly trials cause us to search our hearts and discover any guilt that we carry!

However, despite this confession their trials were far from over, Joseph was not yet ready to reveal his love. The lessons he had learned through his own captivity were now to be applied to them, so that they also may overcome as he had overcame. The man they now saw before them seated on a throne was not the same young man who they had thrown into a pit more than twenty years previously. Thirteen years of affliction as a slave and a prisoner had purged his heart, and he had come to the place where he recognized the loving hand of God as the true author of his affliction, and as the first cause of all that he had been through. He was now not only the master of all Egypt, but more importantly he was the ruler over his own house, the house of his own being, his passions and his will. “Only in the throne will I be greater than you” Pharoah had said, and in effect this was just as if God himself saying that he was ready to rule.

At the age of seventeen, when his brothers disposed of him, he had known that he would rule, for God had shown him this in a vision. However it was his very eagerness to boast in that to which he had not yet attained , that sparked the jealousy of his brothers. This led to all his affliction. How inscrutable are the ways of God! The unjust treatment that he recieved consequently must have often caused him to question God’s love for him. Nevertheless, he determined to continue believing in God’s unfailing love despite years of agonising waiting and disappointment . The presence of God remained with him , comforting him in all his affliction and teaching him to die to his self love and master the impulsiveness of his natural make up. The old man had to die, and this could only take place through the fires of suffering.

Only once having attained the throne could he look back in retrospect and trace the hand of God that had brought him to his current position. Never would he have chosen that route to get there! Like Jesus, who for the joy set before him endured the cross and sat down on the throne, he also knew the path that could bring his brothers to the place of overcoming. The jealousy that ruled their hearts would for ever rule their passions unless it could be excised from them. Joseph formed his plan and executed it expertly.
After first giving them all a taste of prison for three days, having them believe that only one of them would be released to fetch Benjamin, he now releases them all and keeps only Simeon. We can only imagine those three days shut up with each other, each man considering in his heart what would be his plan of action if he were to be the one released. Could any of them trust each other after having been joint conspirators in Joseph’s abduction? How did their conversations progress during those dark three days in the dungeon? The depths of their depravity must have been rudely uncovered during that time. Finally after three days which seemed an eternity, Joseph releases all of them save one. He recreates the exact circumstances of the situation twenty years previously. We are reading here a manual on the operation of the Holy Spirit in our lives. There is not a circumstance in your life in which the Lord is not at work. He will bring you back full circle to face the sins of your youth.

Joseph also restores all their money to them in their sacks of grain, causing their hearts to sink with fear and ask:

“What is this that God has done to us?”

The test they now face is whether they will agree amongst themselves to abandon their brother Simeon with the same callousness that they had treated Joseph. The money in their sacks is not going to make it easier to return. How will they prove their innocence? Would they agree to lie to their Father about Simeon the way that they had lied to their father about Joseph? We may also wonder what Simeon is thinking they will do, and considering that he may be receiving his just recompense for his part in the conspiracy.

After a long journey back to Canaan, undoubtedly arguing all the way, they meet their Father Jacob and tell him the truth, and in so doing overcome their previous disposition which was to lie their way out of a predicament. They pass the test of honesty. By so doing they face the anguish of their old father’s blaming them for the loss of Simeon, which reminds him of the loss of Joseph, and the prospect of losing Benjamin also. The painful dynamics of acknowledging their past sins in their hearts, coupled with a restitutionary willingness to return to Egypt and face the consequences, must have torn deep into their souls. Yet Jacob still does not know what really happened to Joseph all those years ago. The brothers now discover that the self love which had caused them to be jealous of Joseph is pitted against the love they have for their father, and must be ruthlessly torn out if they are to find reconciliation. What anguish must have gripped them!

Jacob also is tested, like Abraham was, in his old age. He must be willing to relinquish his dearest young son if the Patriarchal clan is to survive. The partiality which caused so much bitterness amongst the brothers must be laid on the altar. The food is running out. Once the grain runs out, as Joseph knew it would, they must set out again for Egypt with the cherished son of their Father. They cannot come before the presence without the beloved son. As Joseph was loved more than all his brothers, now Benjamin is the preferred one, and the brothers themselves must put to death the nagging discontent which has ruled their hearts for so many years. They must love Benjamin in the way they ought to have loved Joseph. Their self love which demanded to be loved by their Father must be replaced by their love for their Father, and Jacob himself must relinquish the partiality which was the cause of so much jealousy . The circumstances of God work in uncountable ways in all directions , every person’s part being tailor made for him .The God of the Universe is beyond our understanding. Man in his pride considers himself to be the supreme being yet he is but a speck of dust in the grand design of things.

Judah now offers his life as surety for the boy, and as the seed through whom Christ would be born he typifies the substitutionary work of Jesus who died in our place for his Fathers sake. Judah identifies more with the sorrow of his Father than with his own interest in being loved. Twenty years before this same man had sought to profit from his brothers disappearance with no thought of his Fathers sorrow, and received twenty shekels of silver for the crime. Now he gives his own life in forfeit . He has learned the value of a soul.

On returning to Egypt they are ushered into the presence of Joseph and expect to be fell upon and converted into slaves because of the money which had been returned to their sacks. The greed which motivated them to sell their brother into captivity is now being addressed, and they are expecting to receive the same recompense for their actions. On the contrary, they receive now an unmerited demonstration of benificence which only highlights the crude greed of their shameful deed. It is the kindness of God that brings us to repentence. Most of their suffering up to now has consisted in nothing more than the anguish of the guilt which they are coming to terms with. They are now feasted and rested by Joseph, and sent on their way with full sacks and full coffers of money. We can imagine their relief and elation at the unexpected blessings which have come from this ruler whom they have not yet known. Joseph orders his silver cup to be put into the sack of the youngest.

“And put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest”

Josephs cup is about to be passed on to his youngest brother. When it was inquired of Jesus if it were possible that the sons of Zebedee could rule with him, he asked them whether they were able to drink of the cup that he was about to drink. “We are able” they said, and he replied that they would. The other ten disciples were jealous about this , just as the ten brothers were jealous of Joseph and Benjamin. The cup that Joseph had drunk from is now going to be passed on to Benjamin, and then let us see to who it will be passed next! Do you want to rule with Him?

Joseph had already drunk his cup to the dregs, and through the drinking of it was elevated to being the ruler of his house. In this respect he is a type of Christ who endured the cross and sat down on the right hand of his Father’s throne. As the first amongst his brethren he was exposed to tribulation, distress, nakedness and the sword but he overcame all through the knowledge God´s inseparable love. The cup must pass to the other brethren now if they would reign with him.

As the brothers ride away, cheerfully thinking that the bitterness of death is past, the climax of their testing falls upon them like a bombshell. Joseph sends his steward in pursuit of them with the charge that they have abused his kindness by stealing the very cup with which he divines. This cup of divination is about to break open the secrets of their hearts and expose all the jealousy, hatred, and murder which has been residing there and ruling their lives.The steward searches their sacks and finds it with Benjamin. Benjamin must have been terrified , but this was nothing compared to the horror of his elder brothers whose iniquity has been found out.

“God has found out the iniquity of your servants” , they declare, and surrender their lives as slaves to Joseph. But their trial is not yet over. Joseph probes even deeper by refusing to punish them, insisting that only Benjamin shall bear the guilt; for by this strategy he uncovers the very root that has made them a dysfunctional family. The future of Israel as a nation hangs in the balance. The jealousy which consumed them and which led to Joseph’s imprisonment is still to be exposed, and this very jealousy is rooted in their lack of understanding of their fathers love.A death of the old nature must take place so that they may be transformed.

Judah, as their representative, explains the love of their Father for the littlest one, saying that his life is bound up in the lad’s life, and that if he does not return, then their Father will die of sorrow. Their hearts are cut to the quick as they realize for the first time the consequences of all their actions, and Judah resolves to bear the blame forever.

At this point Joseph send out all the Egyptians and reveals himself to his brothers.

“Please come closer to me” he says to them, so that they can recognize the author of all their anguish. At first they cannot recognize him, and are dismayed at his presence, but gradually they understand who he is and come into the full blessing that has been prepared for them.

“You shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me” he says to them.

That really isnt the end of the whole affair, because until Jacob dies the brothers are not quite sure if they have really been forgiven or if it is only out of respect for their Father that he has not punished them. After Jacob’s death and burial, they again submit to him and beg for his forgiveness.

The final word of Joseph cements the entire affair into one theme.

“Do not be afraid,” he says “for am I in God’s place?”

This rhetorical question can be answered with a resounding “No!”
No man nor any circumstance or trials are in God’s place. God is ruler in all things, although we must come closer to him to recognize his love for us in these things. To the brothers Joseph seemed an enemy, but Joseph was working under God’s rule in all his dealings with his brothers. Are your circumstances making you feel that God is your enemy? If so , then the Lord would say to you:

Please come closer to me.

Joseph’s dealings with his brothers reflect the dealings of God with us, and what’s more Joseph accepted the dealings of his brothers with him as the dealings of God. Here is what he says in conclusion:

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result”

“So therefore do not be afraid, I will provide for you and your little ones”

So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Be careful how you build.

2009-03-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

Be careful how you build.

2Co 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

1Co 3:10 According to the grace of God which is given to me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let every man be careful how he builds on it.

The Lord has been speaking to me from the books of Corinthians and the above two scriptures provide a fascinating juxtaposition. In the first scripture from 2 Corinthians, Paul is speaking of the building which is our heavenly body, and in the second scripture from 1 Corinthians he is speaking also of building, but in this case most christians interpret it as referring to building churches. I would like to enter into the thought of Paul and show how both of these scriptures can be tied together in the broader theology of Paul.

As with much of scripture, there are here layers of meaning, and by the genius of the Holy Spirit scripture can often be opened up like an onion, revealing layer upon layer of divine truth. A scripture which one reads when one is a new christian, can have a deeper significance twenty years later into your walk with God, but that does not mean that the early interpretation is not relevant, it is just that God speaks in his word in different ways according to our capacity to receive it. To him that has, more is given.Our perception differs according to our receptivity.

Now, on the surface, at first glance, I Corinthians is speaking about building churches, and Paul says that as a wise master builder he lays the foundation of Christ in his missionary efforts, and in other parts of scripture we hear of him appointing elders, teaching and organizing so as to build a solid structure which will endure and not be found to be wood , hay and stubble. This interpretation is correct, and has been an inspiration to generations of church builders who have strived to imitate Paul ,the result being the plethora of organizations which we see around us today.

Looking a little deeper, however, we hear Paul referring in this passage to the Temple of God, and tells us that we are part of the Temple that God is building.The context of the passage deals with the carnal way in which christians are understanding the church. Some are saying they are of Apollos, others are saying they are of Paul. Paul is saying that whoever the builders are, whether Paul or Apollos, it is God who is actually doing the building and we are all just stones. There is one heavenly building which is being built by God, in pace with the many earthly structures being built by men,but only the Heavenly building is eternal. And at the moment we do not yet know what it will look like.

The visible stuctures of the church as we see them down here have little relation to the eternal structure which is being constructed in heaven. For one, the heavenly structure is a unity, whereas the earthly stuctures we see around us in the natural world have multiple divisions. Is Christ divided? Says Paul. No of course not.Is the church divided? Yes, and it always will be despite all the attempts at ecumenism.The reason for this is that as long as there is carnality, there will be divisions, and as long as we have people becoming new born christians,there will be many who are still carnal.Why are there divisions?, says Paul, it is “because you are still carnal”. We should not be seeking unity so much as maturity, because maturity is the only way in which unity can be brought about.

Secondly, the structures we see around us now are most often in accordance with the natural world, which has little relation to the eternal. Men build churches as they build businesses, or armies. The talent of a salesman is put to work with great effectivenes in the earthly church structure.The accountant takes care of the books, the natural born leader takes the helm. Who can say that this is not so?Business leaders become elders, not because they are men of God, but because they pay for the buildings. You just have to take an honest look around and the evidence is overwhelming.However, the structure which is being built in Heaven has little resemblence to the organizations that we are part of here. For example,Jesus says: The first will be last and the last will be first. There is going to be a great shake up!

Dont think that the charismatic leader you have now is going to lead worship in Heaven the way it is done now. It is more probable that one of your church who is the least of all now, will be exalted beyond measure , and the ones who are exalted now, will suffer loss. At this point let us return to the subject of this teaching, “Be careful how you build.”

Paul goes on to say in the next chapter, that despite people regarding him and Apollos as something great, he says that he does not judge himself and would prefer if they would just regard him and the other leaders like Apollos as servants, because the reality of what they are has not yet been revealed. No matter how powerful Paul may be in earthly influence, he does not deem himself eternally worthy of a position of eminence. He has no idea where he really stands according to God´s measure. He says “Lets wait to see how God judges, when he reveals the secrets of men´s hearts”. He says that he does not even try to judge himself. The motives of men´s hearts are deep waters.

Now this is key to understanding the configuration of our ranking in the Eternal house which is being constructed in Heaven. There are many things which we can do on earth which are successful, but the motives for why we are doing it have not yet been revealed. Therefore let us be careful how we build. Let us consider our motives,
because He who knows the hearts of men will bring to light the hidden things of
darkness and reveal the motives of hearts, then each will receive recognition from God.

To recap, the first superficial reading of Paul embarks us on a task of busy ministry building, utilizing all our talents and resources to grow our churches and organizations as quickly as possible and give them credibility. The size and the prosperity of a church or organization is mostly what determines its status.

A deeper scrutiny of Paul´s teaching shows us that no matter what we build, the real test of fire will be when God judges the motives of our hearts. This fire will burn up much of the apparent success and leave only the eternal reality.And the eternal reality is not at all about how much we have achieved, but about what we are. The trimmings of what we have done are all too visible here on earth and much jostling goes on to achieve positions which carry esteem. Even just the Title of Pastor carries a lot of weight , never mind the higher categories of Bishop and Apostle. Paul derides these apellations with scathing sarcasm.

“You have become kings without us!” The words bishop and apostle were never
intended to be Titles, they were to describe functions.

He then says, “I wish you had become kings so that we could reign with you.Paul himself will have none of this, he considers himself as a servant.(By the way , this word servant is minister, which is a lowly function,but in some churches the word minister itself has become a title, Minister. As in “I am the Minister of this church”!The strange tortured twists of mans heart are amazing to behold.

So, to get back to the point, it is what we are in Godly character which is of eternal value and not the reputation ascribed to us by carnal minds, whether our own or others. ”Be careful how you build” has more to do with your character than with how much you achieve by earthly standards. I know from experience the pressure that we are under to to perform and achieve according to wordly expectations but not according to God´s purposes.

How much christian work today is inspired not by godly motives but by the same motives as men have in the world. When we become christians we often bring with us our vain aspirations and the church becomes a setting for many to pursue selfish ambitions in the guise of noble ideals. The Lord is not mocked, however, and all will be brought to light. These endeavours may even be useful in the ultimate purposes of God, even though the perpetrators are rejected after having preached to others. (1Co 9:27)

If we can understand this and be freed from the pressing demands of the flesh we will be more fit for God’s service in the true ministry of his word. How many more servants of God who understand this will now rather choose the obscurity of ministry
in some back of beyond place instead of vying for position in the glare of the spotlights! Unfortunately this is not the case at present, when 95 % of ministry is being done in the 5% of the world which is already Christianized and where the pickings are easy. If on the other hand, we want our characters to be transformed, we will choose a path where our lives will be subjected to many tribulations, including rejection and obscurity. This path is diametrically opposed to the path that our flesh would choose.

Paul understood this, and instead of setting himself up as a super apostle over a chain of churches, he moved on into areas where he continued to be considered as the offscouring of the world. Super apostles quickly moved into the power vacuum to elevate themselves over the churches that Paul had founded. Paul had his eyes fixed on the eternal church and therefore did not squabble with them but continued to embrace the sufferings of Christ and declare the eternal truths which would save
his hearers. He knew that the church will always be as a field with wheat and tares, and God will only separate the harvest at the end.

The building we have that God is building, the house not made with hands that Paul refers to in 2 Cor. 5, is the resurrection body which is being constructed for us, the mansion we will dwell in eternally in heaven. This body itself is to be our reward, since not all bodies will be alike.Each in his own rank.(Darby 1Co. 15.23) Some will shine as the moon and others will shine as the distant stars. The shining of our bodies will be directly in proportion to the degree in which our characters have been transformed into the likeness of Christ. No matter how big your church is here on earth, or how many people you have won to Christ, your eternal standing will only be measured by your godliness. An ambitious pastor may have a great reputation on earth because of his excessive labours in ministry, but if the motives have been self-ambition, then the character of Christ is deficient and the resurrection body will shine like a distant star.

A housewife who is not “in the ministry” at all, or a simple worker at a factory whose life has been sown in dishonor, working humbly all his life for his boss, may shine as the sun in its glory. Therefore, be careful how you build. Many may consider the slave or housewife not to have much of an inheritance at all, but on the contrary Paul exhorts slaves to submit to their masters and work for them as if working for the Lord, “knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ” (Eph:3)

John says in his epistle that we are children of God, but what we shall be has not yet been manifested. Jesus has not yet been manifested as he really is, but when he is revealed, then we will be revealed with him as we really are. In this world Jesus was mocked and despised, he was “like a root that comes up out of dry ground, he had no form or comeliness that we should be attracted to him”. His divinity was hidden. In the same way it also behooves us to shun the glamour of the world and that which wins worldly admiration, but pursue rather the hidden qualities of the heart that only God can see.

Everyone who has this hope purifies himself. No amount of ministerial success is of any worth if we do not purify ourselves. It is only purity which is of any eternal value, and the one who understands this will be seeking a path that will purify rather than a path that will gratify. “You receive glory one from another, but you do not seek the glory that comes from God alone.(John 5:44)

The glory which is from God, the glory of our glorified bodies, will be according to our purity and not our prosperity or success. Prosperity and success earn the praise of men, but if we seek for and receive the praise of men then we have received our reward. The body which is raised in glory is the one that has been sown in weakness and dishonour. To the degree we experience the sufferings of Christ we will receive his glory, because it is through suffering that we are purified.

These principles are so clear in the Bible that it is astonishing that they are not understood. There is such a gross misunderstanding of scripture today that people are striving for the very things that rob them of future glory. Riches, fame honor and success have become the primary objective of many Christians as if these are what the Lord promises to those who follow him. On the contrary, the Lord Jesus said that through many tribulations we inherit his Kingdom. It is nothing else but a complete deception that is blinding Christians all over the world and leading them away from following in the way of the cross.

I watched a man a few days ago saying on God TV that the only way the world will listen to us is if we become richer than they are, because no one listens to a poor man. Well, I pray that those who have ears will listen to this message.

“This poor man cried out and the Lord heard him” Psalm 34:6

At least the Lord will listen.

Too proud to beg and too old to dig

2008-09-23T06:45:00.000-07:00

I watched the news last night with trepidation, as the stock markets fell and clean up begins after Hurricane Ike. Men are fainting with fear and the expectation of things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens are being shaken. There is perplexity upon the earth and dismay amongst the nations at the roaring of the sea and the waves, at the collapse of financial institutions and looming wars between nuclear super powers.

I ask myself, are we are living in the times preceding the coming of the Son of Man, times of great testing, when men’s faith will fail in the darkness of events, making us doubt whether we have a Father in heaven who cares for us? Will the Lord find faith on earth when he returns? How many believers will be swept away by storms that batter our house and home, storms which Jesus promised would test the quality of the work, test the soundness of the faith which has been delivered up to the saints?

Will we be measured and found wanting? Have we acted upon the words of Jesus and made them our own, or have we been merely hearers of the word of God and so built our house on sand? The coming storms will test the house and our foundations will be exposed as having been built either on sand or on rock. There will be a great falling away of those whose foundation has been built on the sand of personal gain, of those who never counted the cost of suffering loss.

Luk 16:1 And He also said to His disciples, There was a certain rich man who had a steward. And he was accused to him, that he had wasted his goods.

I saw a man on the news who had lost his position at Lehmann brothers investment bank..He reminded me of the steward in Luke chapter 16 that had squandered his master’s possessions and was found to be wanting.These investment banks have lost all the money that they were stewards of.The steward in the Bible lost his position and he was too proud to beg and too old to dig.

Luk 16:3 And the steward said within himself, What shall I do? For my lord is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg.

So he used his master’s resources to make friends for himself. There are many who are about to lose all their investments in the coming financial collapse. When Mammon fails we should not be found wanting in heavenly investments. Woe to those who have set their minds on earthly things and failed to store up treasure in heaven!

Luk 16:9 And *I* say to you, Make to yourselves friends with the mammon of unrighteousness, that when it fails ye may be received into the eternal tabernacles.

The Gospel of Grace is a wide door that accepts all. Jesus will in no wise turn away any that come to him. But will we remain faithful to him? Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that you may be tested. Are you ready for the purging fires of persecution? Will you curse the Lord in the day of famine, when Mammon fails, or will your faith be proven to be as real as gold?

We are living in an age where the Gospel has been so compromised that it has become merely a means toward personal gain,in an age when premium is given to the acquisition of earthly goods. But our citizenship is actually in heaven, and we should be learning to place our hope in heavenly things where Christ is. The loss of all things on earth should not terrify us or make us faint, but should cause our hearts to look to the eternal dwelling which is our true home. Do you have friends in the eternal dwellings that are eager to receive you? Have you been a shrewd steward of what is not yours? This is your time to make friends for yourselves by means of the Mammon of unrighteousness, that when it fails, you have friends to receive you!

Luk 16:9 "I'm telling you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous riches, so that when they're gone you'll be welcomed into eternal homes.

Sell your possessions and give to the poor! Make for yourself a purse that does not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, nor moth destroys. Don’t be like the rich man who could have made friends with the beggar who used to lie at his gate, and missed his chance once the beggar had died. When he subsequently died and was buried he could have met up with his friend, the beggar, in Abraham’s bosom. Instead he ended up in Hades.

Luk 16:19 There was a certain rich man who was customarily clothed in purple and fine linen and making merry in luxury every day.

Luk 16:20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, who was laid at his gate, full of sores

Luk 16:21 and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. But even the dogs came and licked his sores.

Luk 16:22 And it happened that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich one also died and was buried.

Luk 16:23 And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

He died, and thus the mammon of unrighteousness failed him. His money was unable to save him; and he could not take it with him. That man’s treasure was left behind to five brothers, and now he found himself on the wrong side of a great chasm that could not be crossed. Lazarus, who used to lie at his gate, could have been his friend, a heavenly friend who would have received him into the eternal dwellings! How many poor Christian widows lie dying at the gates of Johannesburg and Cape Town, in Zambia and Zimbabwe, how many opportunities are being missed for you to make friends by using unrighteous mammon!This unrighteous mammon which does not really belong to you, but of which you are a steward. You have the opportunity of making friends with your master’s money, friends who will receive you with joy into paradise, saying:

“Welcome, friend , here is the place I have been preparing for you!”.And you may say:

“Who are you? I don’t know you!”

And it will be some unknown Chinese or Indian person, or some Zambian widow ,or orphan , or Muslim who has been helped , or someone brought to Christ with the use of unrighteous mammon!

Instead of this, the rich man of Luke 16 found himself being tormented by having lost all that was dear to him, all his earthly treasure, and was now tormented by the realization that he had used none of it to make friends for himself in the eternal dwellings! All was spent on purple robes and fine linen; all was wasted on gaily living in splendour every day!

I am sure that those who have lost all their investments in Lehman brothers are wishing now that they could have made some friends while they had the opportunity. Now it’s all gone.

The rich man, realizing this, begs Abraham to send someone to tell his brothers to rather give away their money to the poor so that they, also, do not end up in that place of torment with him!

Luk 16:27 And he said, I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house,

Luk 16:28 for I have five brothers, so that he may testify to them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

Abraham says , No, but they have got Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them.(The law says a lot about giving to the poor.) The rich man, knowing that in his life he had ignored Moses, replies,

“No, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!”

No, says Abraham, if they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead! Quite right Abraham!

Abraham is right because today we have Moses and the prophets, and besides that we even have some one who has risen from the dead, namely Jesus, who told us clearly to give our wealth to the poor, and most of us are still not persuaded! Jesus was right in this parable he was teaching, we would rather pass on money to family members and risk that they also follow us into torment. Even the crumbs falling from our tables are being thrown away, crumbs that are looked at with longing by those who are in need. What heartlessness! What a crime against humanity and God! All that we own is His, we are merely stewards, do we have a right to do as we please with what belongs to Him?

Dogs were coming and licking the sores of Lazarus while the squandering was in progress, which shows that even dogs are more compassionate! How many unbelieving NGO’s are out there in Africa, like dogs, licking the sores of the poor, while the mammon of unrighteousness is being squandered by Christians on fine living and gaiety, on fancy new cars and homes?

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to Jesus as he spoke these things, and they scoffed at him. Are you scoffing at these words?

Luk 16:15 And He said to them, You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

Money is detestable in the sight of God. The honour that it accords is abominable. It is unrighteous mammon, and it is useful, yes, it is useful for making friends in the eternal dwellings, but not for gaily living in splendour! Under the Law and the Prophets wealth was seen by the Jews to be the proof of God’s blessing, but from the time of John the Kingdom of God is being preached and everyone is forcing their way into it.

Luk 16:16 The law and the prophets were until John: from that time the glad tidings of the kingdom of God are announced, and every one forces his way into it.

This is the Kingdom that John preached, and Jesus also preached:

Luk 3:7 Then he said to the crowd that came forth to be baptized by him, O generation of vipers! Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Luk 3:8 Therefore bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

Luk 3:9 And now also the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bring forth good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire.

Luk 3:10 And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?

Luk 3:11 He answered and said to them, He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. And he who has food, let him do likewise.

The Pharisees lived within the dispensation of the Law and and had an entirely natural and earthly understanding of what God’s blessing was. Obedience meant prosperity, and disobedience meant poverty. How could God’s Mosiach be this Nazarene, this uneducated upstart from Galilee! What kind of Kingdom was this where the King was a pauper over a rabble of fishermen and tax collectors?The proof to them that Jesus was a impostor was that he ended up on a cross.!

If you want to live under the Law and enjoy the fruit of your labour, if you want to live in the dispensation of building Temples and living like Solomon, then you must also live under all of the Law. The Law is made for the natural man, the Law is made for sinners. We Christians however, are called to live in heavenly places, we are called not to live with our home in this natural realm, we are forcing our way into the eternal dwelling places! Let the man who has two tunics share with him who has none, and let him who has food do likewise, said John the Baptist. This is not what the Law taught. The Law was just a temporary provisional package, a plan which filled in because natural man could not hope to attain to what God has got in mind for a people called out of this world.

The Gospel of the Kingdom is of a far higher order of life than that which is according to the Law. The natural man can by self effort attain to a degree of righteousness which is according to Law, like Paul,but can never attain to the righteousness of Christ. If we are only looking to create a natural Christian world within the boundaries of this world, a kind of alternative Christian world with Christian laws and activities, then we are doomed to become a second rate imitation of the world system. If you want to live under the natural dispensation, raise up armies to protect your blessings! If your inheritance is earthly, you better fight for it!

The Kingdom of God, on the other hand, can only be inherited by a peculiar kind of people who love not their lives unto death! Only through loss can it be won. The greatest fault of the modern church is the desperate avoidance of the Cross of Christ. To the Pharisee the cross is the disfavour of God.It was proof to them that Jesus was not the messiah. To a real Christian it is the path to glory. The early church accepted joyfully the seizure of their property, knowing that they had a better possession and an abiding one.

I recently heard about a man in Africa who was driven from his home by war and famine, suffering the loss of home, family, and all his goods. He was sitting on the ground in the only clothes he had, and he was asked how he could endure such terrible loss. He replied that Christ became all to him when Christ became all he had.

We are called to attain to the righteousness of Christ, something that cannot be done in the flesh but can be done in the Spirit. The church is called to be a supernatural body of people who are living out the laws of a Kingdom which is not of this earth, higher laws of a heavenly order that are unattainable to mere humanity. We are called to be heavenly beings that demonstrate the existence of a realm that is unearthly, an existence which astonishes the world and turns it on its head. The response of the world to the church should be hatred, not yawns! The Kingdom of God is to be taken by violence, and violent men lay hold of it!

Luk 16:16 The law and the prophets were until John: from that time the glad tidings of the kingdom of God are announced, and every one forces his way into it.

What we need is a violent revolution that will change the Church from being a flimsy imitation of the world into a force that undermines the entire world system, including the ecclesiastical systems and the economic system.

As we hasten to the day of God, to a time of universal judgement when the earth and its works will be burned up, let us fix our eyes on the heavenly inheritance and despise all that is highly esteemed by men, every work of men that is built on the love of this world . What is esteemed by God is that which is eternal, that which has been built by him and not by man: The eternal church of God made up of individuals from every tribe, kin and nation! Make for yourselves friends who will receive you into the eternal dwellings!

a spirit from the Lord

2008-06-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

There was a great king in Judah who followed in the steps of his Father David, establishing the Kingdom by military might and teaching the Law of the Lord throughout the cities of Judah. He grew greater and greater in riches and honor, and at the height of his popularity he allied himself with Ahab, King of Israel by marrying his daughter.

Now Ahab was a wicked King, a King who walked in the way of his father Jeroboam who had rebelled against Solomon and divided the land. Ahab did great evil in the sight of the Lord, and his worst sin was to marry Jezebel the daughter of the King of Sidonia. King Ahab loved his wife and erected an altar of Baal for her in the royal city of Samaria.

Jehoshaphat, the great King of Judah, went down to visit his father in law in Samaria, and after a great feast in his honour was induced by Ahab to go and fight against their common enemy in Ramoth Gilead. He first committed himself to help his wife’s evil Father, and then once having made the commitment he thought it would also be nice to enquire of the Lord and get some back up.

All the Prophets came out and created a big spectacle, four hundred of them, all promising blessings and success to the satisfaction of all who were present. Except Jehoshaphat, who felt uneasy about the display and asked if there was not a prophet of the Lord. Yes, said Ahab, there is one, Micaiah, but I hate him because he always prophesies evil.

Nevertheless Jehoshaphat felt that wanted to be right with the Lord and insisted on having Micaiah come and address them. When the Lord’s prophet arrived he found the false prophets giving a theatrical display before the two Kings who were arrayed in their robes and sitting on their thrones. One of the false prophets, Zedekiah, had made horns of iron for himself and was sweeping up and down demonstrating how the victory would be won! One can imagine the fever pitch excitement at the prospect of all the success which was being held up to their foolish imaginations.

The Kings messenger tried to convince Micaiah to endorse all the blessing prophecies, but Micaiah replied that he would only speak what the Lord God gave him to say. The party was over.

“ Micaiah, shall we go up to Ramoth Gilead in battle, or shall I refrain?”

“ Go up and succeed, for they will be given into your hand” said Micaiah.

In fact it was the Lord actually saying this, since Micaiah would only speak what God told him to say. Have you also been hearing the Lord saying this to you?

Somehow they knew this was not the right answer. This is the profile of deception. Deep in their hearts they knew the truth of what God really wanted, but actually, they did not want to hear it. Come on; tell us the truth, Micaiah!

The Lord has promised your business will be successful! You are going to have an international ministry! Thus says the Lord, you will be the head and not the tail! You will be blessed as you go out and as you come in! Blessed will be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your stalls!

Therefore hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right and on his left. And the Lord said, Who will entice Ahab King of Israel to go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?

Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, I will entice him. And the Lord said to him, How?

And he said, I will go and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. Then God said, Go and do so.

Now therefore the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of these your prophets, for the Lord has proclaimed disaster against you.

Nevertheless, the Kings of Israel and Judah did not heed the warning of this unpopular prophet, and chose rather to listen to the sweet words of the four hundred. They went up into battle. Ahab tried to deceive God by disguising himself in the clothes of a common soldier, but a stray arrow from the Lord struck him in the joint of his armour and he died.

When Jehoshaphat returned to safety in Judah after this humiliating defeat, a prophet of the Lord asked him, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord and so bring wrath on yourself from the Lord?

And this is what the Lord is still saying today, in an age when the prophets of Baal and the prophets of the Lord have become so mixed up that we find both represented before the people of God, in stark contrast to each other. To which are we to pay heed, to the prophets of wealth, health and success or to the few voices that only ever prophesy evil? Jehoshaphat was a man of God, yet the clear testimony of God’s word through Micaiah was not enough to turn him from the disastrous path that he had chosen to heed. The Lord God himself sent forth lying spirits to deceive those hearts that were not wholly for him.

Paul writes in the New Testament that divisions are necessary so that those who are the approved might become evident. We should not be astonished when the Lord himself raises up lying spirits to parade arrogantly through the church drawing after themselves every covetous heart and ambitious spirit from our ranks, for when the separation is complete those who remain and are approved will shine forth like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. The tares will be gathered up and burned with fire, so it shall be at the end of the Age.

Let us allow the Lord to complete his work and not be distressed at what is taking place because we think that he has lost control. A massive falling away must take place for the Church to be purified. Lovers of self, lovers of money, lovers of this world will be drawn after those whom God has raised up to purify his church. I am reminded of the Pied Piper of Hamlin leading all the rats to destruction with his pleasant tune.

Habakkuk was astonished that God could raise up Babylon, a fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth seizing dwelling places that are not theirs. Their justice and their authority originate with themselves. However, God brought these scoundrels to purify his people. We are living today in the last days of the church age, a time that corresponds to the time of Jeremiah and Zedekiah.

Jerusalem is in a terrible condition; the nation has become apostate and the leaders corrupted. Jeremiah is pointing out their many sins, but they refuse to acknowledge them. God raises up Babylon and draws it to Jerusalem as a judgment on Israel.

God is bringing against us today a Spiritual Babylon in the same way that he brought a physical Babylon against the Jerusalem of Jeremiah’s time. A sorceress, a Jezebel spirit that induces to covetousness, a harlot that seduces us to love the world and all that is in the world. This Babylon, Mother of Harlots takes captive the many, breaking down the walls of Jerusalem and destroying the Temple. The church is laid waste by the Babylonians, the Chaldeans, the sorcerers. This Spiritual Babylon comes in the form of false teaching, false prophecy and false miracles. Would God do that?

Did God put lying words in the mouth of Micaiah’s opponents? Yes, and he is doing it again. This judgment of God is self-induced by those who do not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. They harden their hearts to the truth and choose to listen to doctrines that pamper their self-esteem and greediness. God has sent a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false.

We must allow this movement to take its course so that those who count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime may forsake the right way and follow the way of Balaam. Balaam was a prophet who knew the Lord but chose rather to be enticed by his own lust.

In closing let us read the words of the prophet Jude, the brother of Jesus.

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, eagerly awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to everlasting life.

But pity some, making distinction. But save others with fear, snatching them out of the fire; hating even the garment having been stained from the flesh.

Now to Him being able to keep you without stumbling, and to set you before His glory without blemish, with unspeakable joy; to the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty and might and authority, even now and forever. Amen.

Our Heavenly Garments

2008-03-31T03:11:00.000-07:00

Genesis 2:25 “ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed”

Many great Bible teachers (See notes at end) share the belief that Adam and Eve were clothed in a robe of light that covered their nakedness with the Glory of God.They were not aware of their nakedness because it was eclipsed by an incomparable weight of glory. This Glory they lost when they sinned, finding themselves shamefully reduced to a mere animal condition, which they attempted to cover with fig leaves sewn together.

The Majestic Glory of God so inhabited the frail body of Adam that it filled and covered him with the same glory that Jesus had on the mount of transfiguration.

To continue reading click here: http://10camels.blogspot.com/2007/06/on-globalization-of-american-christian.html

A Brief History of the Twelve Apostles

2007-07-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

………The characteristic of the apostolic life is one of pilgrimage.An apostle is one who is sent.Being sent implies going somewhere, which implies leaving something behind. All the New Testament apostles left all to preach the gospel in foreign lands.It is this characteristic that set them apart from the multitude.Not all are called to be apostles, but the apostles are called to be the foundation stones of the church and the very pattern to which the church is called to conform .The standard that was set by the apostles is not one that we have to attain to for the purpose of salvation,God forbid, or none of us could be saved.Salvation is a free gift of God . But the fullest expression of the eternal life which lies within us is shown forth in the lives of Christ and his apostles.And in the lives of more recent apostles like James Hudson Taylor and C.T. Studd,or the apostles in the present day church in China.

To read the whole article click:http://10camels.blogspot.com/2007/06/brief-history-of-twelve_28.html

The Weapons of our Warfare

2007-07-12T10:12:00.000-07:00

………………Paul urges them by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.This is a weapon that his competition does not have! Anybody can threaten and be severe but only the presence of Christ is meek. Meekness is one of our powerful weapons; it is Gods power perfected in weakness. Jesus was crucified because of weakness. If he had been strong he would not have been crucified, he would have defended himself. Thank God he didn’t. On the contrary, he went like a lamb to the slaughter; he did not open his mouth. This was his mighty weapon and it is the same principal that Paul is determined to use.

To read the whole article click on:http://10camels.blogspot.com/2007/06/weapons-of-our-warfare.html

An Age of Crass Materialism

2007-07-12T10:06:00.000-07:00

…………Satan has engineered a society that chews up Christians and reduces them to limp and cowering slaves of the system. If the salt has lost its saltiness it is not even fit for the dung heap. If our doctrine of “Being in the world”, was accompanied by;” Take up your cross, deny yourself, and follow Me”, then we might have changed society and social structures. As it is however, the church is doing precious little to reverse the downward spiral of decadence.We must call the church of God back to the teachings of Christ and the practice of the early church. We need to boldly preach a gospel that deeply changes the way we live our lives. There should be a difference between the Christian church and the world. Obedience to Christ’s teachings would render the church salt in a rotten society. It would not take much saltiness to savour the whole pot.

Our role model should be Jesus Himself and not a clone of what the world perceives to be success. Why should we attract the world by imitating the scions of Hollywood or the corporate business world? The very success of this kind of motivation is the death knell of the church, as the pews fill up with those who seek after the glory that is below. This strategy is natural, carnal, and demonic. It is the wisdom of the world. The truly wise would better follow the Man of Nazareth.

To read the whole article click:http://10camels.blogspot.com/2007/06/age-of-crass-materialism.html

A Heavenly Building

2007-07-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

…………the formulas which we see today for planting and building churches seem successful to the natural mind.Buildings are built, organizational structures are set up, and members are made.The church is built, but is this the same church that Jesus was speaking about?

God does not dwell in structures erected by men, he lives in tents. That is, he dwells in us, it is our bodies which are his temples and at this point our bodies are tents. We have a building in heaven which is being made, but at the present time God is not interested in anything else but living in tents, that is good enough for him.

Let the Muslims turn our buildings into Mosques ! So what if our cathedrals become shopping centres and museums!Our organizations are destined to become dusty institutions in the next generation, but Christ will build his house and the gates of hell will not prevail against it!

To read all click here:http://10camels.blogspot.com/2007/06/heavenly-building.html

On Divisions

2007-07-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

……….The Unity that Jesus wants is not in Ecumenism. It is not a political unity based on compromise, it is something deeper and more costly than that. Secondly, it is not a Unity that embraces only part of the church, but the whole. Unity within a denomination or a network of ministries is not true unity because it still excludes much of the Body. A group of churches that associates with each another because they have similar doctrinal views is not unity but sectarianism because by their doctrines they exclude parts of the body of Christ. This kind of sectarianism is reprehensible and is severely rebuked in the scriptures.

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Autobiographical

2007-07-12T09:58:00.000-07:00

…………when my father passed away my mother joined us as a missionary in India. Our sails were up and we had begun our life of faith that was to take us eventually to the burning ghats of Varanasi, the foothills of the Himalayas and the dusty bush of central Africa.” ……

……….“I thought to myself, would I go out like that, just trusting God to go and preach the gospel, or do I want to first see everything planned out and secure before I make a move? The next morning I was busy with my Oswald Chambers devotional again, and I happened to just open it at a random place and this is what I read:

“May 30th
Jesus Christ demands of the man who trusts Him the same reckless sporting spirit that the natural man exhibits”

God spoke to me about myself and the debility of our present Christian culture where we hardly see at all the kind of courage and enterprise that is so evident in the world among those who care nothing for Christ or his commands. Hundreds of Doctors with Medicin sans Frontiers risk their lives on edges of civilization without the least hope of an eternal reward, men walk across the Antarctic for nothing else but earthly glory, and we Christians huddle in our churches while most of humanity slides into the Abyss because we are scared of trusting in the promises of God! In the flush of this realization I told God that we would get to India to preach the Gospel even if we had to walk there!

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http://10camels.blogspot.com/2007/06/autobiograhical.html

Solomon’s Glory or Christ’s Glory?

2007-07-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

………….Jesus had something far deeper in mind, far more lasting, far more glorious, than another attempt at regaining the throne of Solomon and his earthly Glory. He has it in mind for us also, but so many of us are chasing earthly shadows instead of reality. If Jesus had wanted to he could have entered, with his disciples, into an earthly Glory that would make our Solomon’s Glory, the present “Christian World”, look like the third world in comparison. But Jesus chose a different path, that of a spiritual inheritance. Jesus himself set this precedent purposefully, so that through the ages he might have followers who would seek true riches rather than the riches of this world. Despite this pattern that he set for us, many choose foolishly to still follow after the Glory of Solomon...........to read all click on the following..http://10camels.blogspot.com/2007/06/solomons-glory-or-christs-glory.html

A Brief History of the Twelve

2007-06-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

Jesus spent the whole night in prayer to God before he chose his apostles.The fact that he chose twelve, was not arbitrary,in fact he paid as much attention to detail as Moses did when he was instructed to build the Tabernacle according to the pattern which was shown to him on the mountain.The earthly was made according to what was seen in heaven, it was a mere shadow of the heavenly reality and not the very form of things.
Jesus came down the mountain as did Moses, and carefully chose the twelve foundation stones for the Heavenly City which had been revealed to him on the mount.Jesus had already seen the twelve foundation stones of the Heavenly Jerusalem.This City is the same as that was revealed to John in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, chapter 21.

"The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb"

The importance of these foundation stones cannot be underestimated as it is according to their positioning and alignment that the entire wall and edifice will be constructed.The cornerstone, of course, is Christ himself , and God is the builder of all things.Let us therefore observe the pattern of the lives of these apostles so that we may understand the alignment of the Heavenly City which is being constructed by God. Scholars have agreed that the following historical information has come from the most reliable sources and respected legends and traditions.

Andrew, the fisherman,brother of Peter,followed the Lord to Greece and was condemned to die on a cross after a number of prominent citizens were converted to the Christian faith.He felt unworthy to be crucified on a cross like that of his Master,and so begged that his might be different.So, he was crucified on an X shaped cross which is one of his apostolic symbols.

Bartholomew, the son of Talmai,who is believed to have been born of royal blood, preached the Gospel with Philip in the mountains of Asia Minor and Armenia, which is modern day Turkey and Iraq , before embarking on a mission to the ends of the earth.He died in North India, skinned alive with knives as a martyr for his Lord.

James,son of Zebedee and brother of John the apostle, was the first of the twelve to become a martyr.He was beheaded by Herod.

James, the lesser, son of Alphaeus and Mary, was the brother of the apostle Jude.James preached in Palestine and in Egypt and was crucified in Egypt and his body sawn in pieces.

John, the beloved disciple, was the only disciple to die of natural causes.It is said that he was boiled in oil but miraculously survived the ordeal in order to live to a great age. He was banished to the isle of Patmos during a time of great persecution where he wrote the book of Revelations.
Jude was an intense and violent nationalist with a dream of world power and domination by the chosen people.He chafed against the fact that Jesus was not going to disclose himself to the world, but remain a hidden saviour to his chosen ones.He succumbed to Christ's love, and led by the Holy Spirit preached the gospel in Iran where he was was shot through by arrows.

Matthew, or Levi, died as a martyr in Ethiopia.
Peter, who denied the Lord, was crucified upside down after preaching the gospel in Babylon.

Philip, a simple fisherman, died by hanging in Asia.

Simon, the Zealot, a man that would have killed others for the cause of Israel, gave his life as a martyr while preaching the gospel. He too was crucified.

Thomas, the doubter, trekked across Iran, Iraq, and Afganisthan, preaching the gospel, and reached Southern India where he was killed with a spear.

These twelve foundation stones of the Church, which is the City of God, did not love their lives unto death.They were loyal to their Lord who bid them, take up your cross and follow me.These are the ones who follow the Lamb where he goes.Thank God that we have such men as the base and support upon which the edifice of the church is built.Not all of us will be able or priviledged enough to emulate their example, but at least we have these heroes of the faith to set before us as the pattern that God has intended for his church.It is not an irrelevant detail that every one of Christs apostles were missionaries that gave their entire lives to reach those for whom Christ died.All of them, save John, were killed because they were obedient to Christ no matter what the cost.
"but you are fellow citizens with the saints,and are of God's household, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the corner stone"

There were other apostles, Apollos and Zenas the lawyer, Andronicus and Junias, who were not of the twelve but who conformed themselves to the pattern that was found in the twelve.Of these apostles, laid as stones upon the foundations of the twelve, we know little, except that their lives were in line with that of their predecessors.Pre-eminent amongst these was Paul, apostle to the Gentiles, who has left us with an intense description of both his outward manner of life and his inner struggles and attitudes.Since a large portion of the New Testament has been written by Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we are not left with much doubt that God intended his life and example to be a model of the life that we are to aspire to.In fact five times in the New Testament letters Paul exhorts his readers to imitate his manner of life.In Phillipians 3:17 he writes

"Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction,whose God is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things"

The "us" that Paul speaks of is the apostles.The characteristic of the apostolic life is one of pilgrimage.An apostle is one who is sent.Being sent implies going somewhere, which implies leaving something behind. All the New Testament apostles left all to preach the gospel in foreign lands.It is this characteristic that set them apart from the multitude.Not all are called to be apostles, but the apostles are called to be the foundation stones of the church and the very pattern to which the church is called to conform .The standard that was set by the apostles is not one that we have to attain to for the purpose of salvation,God forbid, or none of us could be saved.Salvation is a free gift of God . But the fullest _expression of that eternal life which lies within us is shown forth in the lives of Christ and his apostles.And in the lives of more recent apostles like James Hudson Taylor and C.T. Studd,or the apostles in the present day church in China.
The great mistake that is being made today, is that in stressing the Salvation of God by grace alone, we have lost sight of the fact that there is a standard to be reached after.The manner in which we reach after this standard is another matter which cannot be addressed here , suffice to say that it is not achieved through the works of the flesh.This standard is not the Law,it is the _expression of the life of Christ in those who have yielded more to Jesus.Having lost sight of this Standard , we have now become like boats without rudders adrift on the sea.Many christians have substituted the standard of the apostles with wordly ambitions and appetites, or are left with the example of those who are not apostles.

"God has appointed in the church, first apostles..."! Cor 12:28
The apostles had set their minds on their heavenly citizenship,and were content to suffer all kinds of hardships and indignities in their pursuit of the heavenly reward.Paul, in Thessalonians 2:8, writes

"We were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives"

Jesus Christ imparted his life; the apostles did the same.One of the most serious errors today is that sight has been lost of the most important reason for the power of the early church.So much stress has been laid on the power of miracles , healings, etc. that the greatest power of all has been forgotten,the power of love.When Paul speaks about laying his life down together with the preaching of the gospel, he is directing our attention to something very important.The gospel, as a message, has no power if it is not accompanied by a life that is demonstrating its efficacy. The gospel claims to not only save us by forgiving our sins, but also deliver us from sin's power itself.The kernel of sin's power is the life of the self, and one is not delivered from sin if one is still living a selfish life. As Paul and all the other apostles laid down their lives, literally, they were demonstating the saving power of the gospel and acting as a model for those who were their converts. Thus...

"our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction ; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake" 1 Thess. 1:5

Jesus said that no greater love has a man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.When we read the account of Pauls sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11, we cannot but say, what drives a man to these extremes?Beaten times without number, beaten to death almost nine times,imprisoned often,shipwrecked three times.It is hard to understand how Paul can be criticised of not having love, since his life is an embodiment of Christs love.He died every day to bring Christ's life to the world.This was his boast to his detractors and he would have no other, for it is proof of his great love for the Corinthian church.Others might boast in their riches, or in their talents, but Paul boasts of his sufferings for Christ in the defence of his apostleship.God would not have had it any other way. Paul himself confesses that three times he asked God to remove the cause of these sufferings, but God told him

"My grace is sufficient for you,for power is perfected in weakness"

You see God knew the power of suffering and death.He sent his own Son to suffer and die for mankind, and Jesus has told us to take up our crosses and follow him.Why does this message create such a fury of opposition and resistance?Simply because it is in direct opposition to the carnal desires of man.
The sufferings of Jesus Christ on his cross were not enough to save mankind.Out of Christ's death on the cross comes more suffering, that of his body. Paul writes in Colossians 1;24

"in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body, which is the church, in filling up that which is lacking in Christ's afflictions"

Jesus has not finished his sufferings, they are lacking.When Saul was afflicting the church Jesus asked him, 'Why are you persecuting me?When the church suffers it is Jesus himself who is suffering, and the purpose of it is to release his life to those who are in Death.The Love of God , expressed to the world through Christ's suffering, and the suffering and death of his saints,which is the present earthly _expression of Christ's Love, is the power of God for the salvation of the world.That is why the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
Consequently, and in closing,the seal of Pauls apostleship, and the apostleship of the Twelve,was that of a life which was being laid down daily in self denial and joyful acceptance of suffering and persecutions.To go to the ends of the earth at any cost they counted as their priviledge.Any suffering was embraced as a means of demonstating the power of the eternal life which they carried within them.All of them went so far as to even give their lives as martyrs.Whether they died as martyrs or not was irrelevent to them in that they were dying every day to their self life as bond slaves of Christ .Paul's literal life, and the literal way of life of the twelve exemplifies the pattern of an apostle, and is to be understood as the pattern to which all of us are to aspire. The wall of the City of God must be laid and aligned on the foundation of the apostles.We will certainly fall far short of this and in no wise will this interfere with our salvation, which is by grace alone.Paul himself admits to falling short of his goal, which is the imitation of Christ.Nevertheless, he presses on to attain to it.

Whether we are in the mission field, or running a business, housewives or leaders in the church,whether God has called us to be stewards of his wealth,or scholars of his word,the example of the apostles is the pattern to which we should all be aspiring.

"For God has appointed in the church,first apostles...."

Autobiograhical

2007-06-28T10:58:00.000-07:00

Pray ye therefore the Lord of the Harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his Harvest (Matthew 9:38)

Monday, October 16, 2006, Granada.

Greetings to all.

Reading and having meditated on the scripture at the head of this page, I felt I would like to share with you our experience on various occasions in being thrust out by the Lord into the mission field. We are aware right now of many who are called to missions and we would like to encourage your faith in relating the ways in which God has worked in our lives.

1983.

I walked out of the lecture room at the Assembly of God Bible College in Cape Town for the last time. We were all profoundly aware that this was the last day that we would be together sitting at the feet of Jesus seeking his will for our lives. As a final closing lecture we had watched a video by Floyd Mclung on reaching our cities for Christ, and I carried with me into the bright Atlantic sunlight the impact of this message. A message that was the culmination in a school of hundreds of like sermons, exhortations, and teachings concerning the mandate of mission to the church.

The glow of Christ’s love for the multitudes of sinners in the cities and nations of the world lay on my heart, and instead of returning directly for lunch to the student residence I took a deviation along the Sea Point esplanade and wrestled with the conviction that had gripped my heart. Despite all the training we had received, there was no opportunity for any of us to go and put into practice the things we had been taught in the classroom.

A few months earlier we had attended a missions conference and after a week of prayer, teaching and instruction every one of us stood up in response to an appeal for long term missionary service. I remember as I stood in that hall and looked around me at the awesome spectacle of hundreds of young people dedicating the rest of their lives to reaching the unreached. However, despite the good intentions of the speaker that day, securing a position in one of the multiple mission organizations proved to be impossible. Going from table to table in the missions hall I gathered glossy pamphlets inviting me to join up with many of the premier organizations, but upon investigating these possibilities I found myself to be disqualified from all of them, either from lack of education, lack of experience and in all cases, from lack of money!

Now, having completed all my studies I walked along the Atlantic coast and struggled to understand these seemingly complicated ways that God was leading me in. Is this the way that Jesus worked? I had thought that coming to Bible College was a response to the call of God; now that we had received training it was put in question whether we had indeed been called. (The thinking is that if God has called you then you will have lots of money to guarantee yourself to the mission organization. If you have no money you are not called) Since no opportunities in mission existed for any of us, we were counselled by the church to look for employment in the secular world. I had received an offer in the promising field of computers, and was due to start work in a few days. But what of the call of God that I had received some years before? The glow of the morning message died down in my heart and by the time I had returned to the Res. and consumed large amounts of toast and cheese it only remained as a disturbing question in my subconscious.

The next morning we prayed as usual, and this morning we were all intent on praying concerning our future plans, as we would soon have to vacate the premises and arrange new accommodation. As I prayed toward these mundane requirements suddenly a vision grew before my mind of Christ on his Cross, his eyes agonizing and his blood spilling to the ground. Before him lay a vast abyss, and on the other side of this abyss teemed vast multitudes of sinners, numberless crowds moving and swelling in confusion and without direction. That was all. Just Christ on the cross and the lost nations of the world, with an abyss between them. It broke my heart to see this sight, and the tears flowed freely down my face. I knew what I had to do, but didn’t have any idea of how to do it. The abyss had to be spanned, and only God could do it, but I was ready to do whatever might serve to bring the two sides together.

I left the prayers and ran upstairs three at a time to break the exciting news to my young wife who had recently fallen pregnant with our first child. With morning sickness and the maternal instincts of a soon to be mommy she also broke into tears as I phoned to cancel the promising job opportunity and shared with her the vision of Christ. We had no money at all, and no direction except an abandonment into the will of God. We sat on the bed and prayed that God would provide for us. I needed to pray more, so jumped onto my little motorbike and drove to my parent’s home where I could spend time alone. As I crested the hill passing from Sea Point the whole city lay before me and again the vision of Christ surged up in my heart and showed me the reality of the lost millions of humanity. I descended into the city with tears blowing back from my face by the oncoming rush of wind.

Some hours later at my parents place my Dad returned home from work and I shared with him the passion in my heart to work for God, and in his absolutely practical common sense way he advised me in what I should do. That very morning, at his workplace, an invited speaker came to speak at the daily prayer meeting about the work he was doing with prisoner rehabilitation. The work had recently started in Cape Town and they were working under Prison Fellowship ministries. Dad counselled me to go and see this man and ask him for an opportunity. Then Dorothea phoned and told me that Fifty Rand had been slipped under our door anonymously, a fortune! God was beginning to answer our prayers as we launched out trusting him. My old Dad always used to say that unless you put up your sails you’re not going to go anywhere, if we want to find God’s purposes we must get moving and once moving he will direct us. This has been a guiding principle for us over the years and is a gritty bit of wisdom that would serve well in this hour when the faith of many is flagging and more and more emphasis is being placed on the resources of man than on the power of God.

The doors opened for us to work with Prison Fellowship in a rehabilitation home in Cape Town, and it was there that our son was born. I gave bible studies to the ex prisoners from my Bible College notes, and my parents eventually moved into the rehab home as volunteers. When my father passed away my mother joined us as a missionary in India. Our sails were up and we had begun our life of faith that was to take us eventually to the burning ghats of Varanasi, the foothills of the Himalayas and the dusty bush of central Africa. I don’t think our lives have been what God would expect of every Christian, since the apostle Paul says himself that not all Christians are called to be missionaries ( 1 Cor. 12:29), but for those who are called to follow this calling I hope that some of our experiences may fortify your faith.

The Rehab home closed eventually and some time later after other local missions involvement we felt a call to go to the foreign field as South Africa seemed to be saturated with Christians and it was unjust that the rest of the world was lost without having anyone to point out the right way. We decided to go to Spain as I had lived there before and I speak Spanish. There was nothing very spiritual about this so I found it very difficult to decide to take the step in faith. Finally after much anguish and soul searching I decided that we would take the plunge in simple faith and obedience to what we believed to be God’s will. On the very day that we decided on the move and let everyone know that our minds were made up, I received a letter from a Spanish Christian who I had been in correspondence with some years previously. I had heard nothing from him for two years. Man, I have never opened a letter so fast in my life! In the letter he urged me to come and help in the work of preaching the gospel in Mallorca.We received confirmation after having taken a step in faith. This was to be the pattern always. In Mallorca many came to the Lord and I walked from village to village preaching the gospel with a South African brother who later was my companion in India for many years.

I began to understand a scripture in Isaiah that I knew dealt with guidance.

Isaiah 30:21 “And you will hear a word behind you saying “this is the way, walk in it” whenever you turn to the right or the left”.( N.A.S.)
Take note that the word you will hear which gives confirmation of the direction that you have taken will be given after have taken your step. This is the way of God, not man’s ways.

Some years later we found ourselves at a similar impasse when we felt that God was calling us to go and preach the gospel in India. I had been working in South Africa for a year doing various temporary jobs. We were out of the mission field (Spain for three years, various places in Africa and six months in India) as we needed time as a family together to strengthen our relationship without the stress of ministry and financial insecurity that we had been facing for many years. We had joined a little Anglican church within walking distance from our home and we grew into a good relationship with the small group of sincere Christians that made up the spiritual core of the church. As with many of these traditional churches most of the congregation were probably not Christians at all and were attending church as a religious duty, much to the distress of the precious pastor and his wife. At one point in this haphazard working phase of my life I was between one lapsed employment and another promised one, (not a very secure life despite my good intentions!); and reading Oswald Chambers’ devotional I was struck by the command of Christ “ to go into all the world to preach the Gospel” After more prayer and consultation with my wife I cancelled the job which I was due to start the next week, and began to seek the Lord urgently. Strangely enough, my faith that God could provide for us was at an all time low, this being the result of having received a salary for the past year. We had seen God provide for years, miraculously, on the mission field in foreign countries far from family and friends, but now to my shame I found myself trembling with fear at the thought of launching out again in faith!

Every morning I trekked up the mountain in Pretoria to cry out to the Lord. We could expect no support from the little Anglican Church that we were attending, not officially anyway. I went to visit the Pastor (Reverend Narraway) and poured out my heart to him. He was exuberant in his support of this mission undertaking in his private capacity, but naturally the Anglican Church was never going to show the slightest interest in us as I had no intention of becoming a priest. The small group of believers joined with us in prayer that God would give clear direction and I continued trekking up the hill every day to seek the Lords face. Why, I cried out, are things so complicated? In Jesus’ day he just called his disciples and off they went, walking with him, none of this nonsense of raising support, deputations and Ministerial qualifications from a reputable University. Besides that, they did not have to purchase expensive air tickets because they didn’t have airplanes!

Some years previously when we were living in a caravan, moving from town to town preaching the gospel, a young couple cycled into the camping ground where we were staying. It was obvious that they had come from far, possibly they had cycled all the way down Africa to Cape Town, the state of their clothes and gear seemed to indicate that this was so. I didn’t get to speak to them, but I didn’t forget them as I reflected on their courage and determination in doing such a thing. This memory came back to me now, and I thought

“This is a fine thing, these people are probably not Christians at all and they are prepared to go out on an adventure like this trusting in Fate, but as a Christian I quiver in my boots at contemplating such a thing, despite the fact that I have a great God to trust in!”

I thought to myself, would I go out like that, just trusting God to go and preach the gospel, or do I want to first see everything planned out and secure before I make a move? The next morning I was busy with Oswald Chambers devotional again, and I happened to just open it at a random place and this is what I read:

“May 30th
Jesus Christ demands of the man who trusts Him the same reckless sporting spirit that the natural man exhibits”

God spoke to me about myself and the debility of our present Christian culture where we hardly see at all the kind of courage and enterprise that is so evident in the world among those who care nothing for Christ or his commands. Hundreds of Doctors with Medicin sans Frontiers risk their lives on edges of civilization without the least hope of an eternal reward, men walk across the Antarctic for nothing else but earthly glory, and we Christians huddle in our churches while most of humanity slides into the Abyss because we are scared of trusting in the promises of God! In the flush of this realization I told God that we would get to India to preach the Gospel even if we had to walk there!

We would go by bicycle! I bounded down to tell my wife who was working at the Tand en Mond Hospital in Arcadia. She came out the surgery she was assisting with those little green cloths on her feet and a mask, and I shared with her how we would get bicycles and cycle to India! She thought it was a great idea and before long gave in her resignation at work and we began to plan our journey. The Anglican pastor and his little flock were very supportive (other charismatic churches were very critical) and according to their limited ability helped us with some finances. It was enough to make a start, to buy visas, a bicycle for me and Eliel my eight-year-old son. Dorothea had her bike, which she used to cycle to work every day. We moved out of our flat, which we could no longer afford. Friends who went on holiday offered their flat for the meantime. Everything was falling in place. Tanzania opened their borders for the first time to South Africans. God was confirming our decision and answering our prayers!

We started out on the seventh of January 1994.A friend dropped us at the top of the mountain pass in Louis Trichardt a couple of hundred kilometres north of Jo’berg. Would we make it to India? I really had no idea, but we would give it our best shot. In the Camping place at Louis Trichardt there was a Japanese girl just out of her teens that had driven her motorbike all the way down from Kenya. She looked fine, and she wasn’t even a Christian! As we journeyed up Africa for the next few months we met many such travellers, young and old, on bicycles, hitchhiking, and walking across Africa. We shared the gospel with all that we could, and arrived after about three months in Nairobi where our bicycles were stolen. (By the way, Eliel who was eight had a wonderful time cycling up to eighty kilometres a day and camping every night in a different place, being surrounded by Masai warriors, sailing up Lake Malawi in a riverboat and sleeping at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro)
I phoned home and found out that we had received a little more money, which added together with what we had was just enough to buy three very cheap plane tickets to Bombay. I bought some mielie( Maize) bags to put our stuff in, because that was all we could afford, and we arrived Bombay praising God for his faithfulness in bringing us thus far.

We lived in India for almost ten years, in the South at first and then in Varanasi and the Himalayas. Space and time does not permit me to tell you all the things that happened in these places, and they are not part of this story, which is about going out in faith in obedience to the call of Christ. The Lord was faithful in looking after us during all the years we lived in India. Through our efforts a few Hindus came to put their faith in Jesus, and we worked together with others in establishing works that continue now in the places where we lived. Our hearts are still joined to the work in India although it is now some years since we have been there. In India itself we made three major moves that were in essence similar to the call to India. Every time we moved it was in faith, in weakness and fear, with very little resources and no supporting church to back up our decisions. Nevertheless we do have the Church supporting us in terms of committed individuals and church leaders who have visited us and to whom we make ourselves accountable.
Four years ago we had to leave India permanently because we could not get our visa renewed. We didn’t have a clue where we would go to from there, but one day Dorothea was watching the news and they showed clips of orphan children in Rwanda that had no one to take care of them. We felt the indignation of God in our hearts that despite all the millions that profess to be Christians in the world today there are so many children in the world who suffer because there is no one to take care of them. That is how God feels about it, and every person who calls himself a Christian is going to be accountable to God if they have done nothing for these little ones. We took out our Africa map and looked for Rwanda and how to get there.

Now you need to know that we didn’t have any money (as usual!) and did not even know how we were going to leave India. Our visa was going to expire in a matter of months and we had no organization or sending Church to ask for help. I prayed to the Lord, and he said to me that he would “go before us three days” !! I knew that God sometimes provides at the last minute, and here he was telling me that he would go before us three days! The time went by and we continued to pray. We hardly ever tell anyone our needs except the Lord, and some close friends. God knows our needs; we don’t need to broadcast them. I began looking at Maps, working out a route that we could travel overland through Pakistan and Iraq, where there was a war going on. I phoned the Iranian Embassy to find out how much for the visas, but we didn’t even have enough for that! I had absolute peace by Gods grace, and so did Dorothea, the Lord had said he would go before us three days!

About a week before our visas were to expire one of our co missionaries phoned us from Varanasi to find out if we had purchased our tickets. I said no, and he asked permission to try and help. A day or two later someone we didn’t know phoned us and asked if she could help us. We were very grateful. She is with the Lord now. Three days before our visa was to expire an amount was transferred to our account to pay for our tickets. We flew the day before our visas expired. If you get caught in India with an expired visa you can go to jail for three months! Nevertheless the Lord gave us peace, as we trusted him. I have not always had this experience of grace to trust him, on other occasions I can remember getting very anxious and angry which was disgraceful because in the end the Lord never abandoned us at all, and I was left feeling very silly for panicking. Has not the Lord said, “ I will never leave you or abandon you” Hebrews 13:5

A few months before our departure from India the Principal of A.S.M. missions college was visiting with us and gave us a contact which would help in opening a way to do something for the Orphans. We arrived back in South Africa and within two months we were on our way up to Zambia to see what God had for us to do. For the purpose of this story we want you to know that we had no money to even pay for our bus tickets from Pretoria and we had no idea where we were going or what we were going to do. My mother, who is a missionary herself and lived with us in India, helped us to buy our bus tickets! You can imagine how strange this was since we were living amongst the wealthiest people in South Africa and it never occurred to anyone that we might need some financial help and it was through a poor person that we were helped in the end. I love God’s way of working because he has such a great sense of humour and through his dealing we learn how weak man is with all his resources and how rich we are when we trust God.

Many wonderful things took place in Zambia over the next two years, which is not part of this story as I have mentioned before. This story is about going out in Faith and the Faithfulness of God. We started schools for orphans, as we realized that it was the best way to take care of them. We started with one school, which before long became five schools and by the time we left Zambia there were seventeen schools with over a thousand children. Dorothea trained the teachers; there were fifty of them. The day we started the first school we had no money at all but we were determined to feed the children and they continued eating every day at school for as long as we were there. When we left all the schools had a feeding program and it was costing a lot of money that God provided for them. You can support these schools through Handsatwork in White River as they now have over two thousand orphans. We left the work in capable hands.

Remember also that every time we arrive at a new place we have left everything behind and have to start at scratch with knives, plates, spoons and bedding etc. We are now in Granada, Spain and thank God all the rented flats are fully furnished. When we left Zambia we had no idea where we were going next and it was after a lot of prayer and fasting that we decided to step out in faith and come to back to Spain. (We were here before for three years, that is another story on its own of Gods amazing faithfulness) When Dorothea left for Spain this time with the children I did not have money for my ticket or the journey, I received it a few days after she left) I would like to emphasize the fact that we have heard no voices from heaven in all these twenty years of serving God in the mission field, and in the majority of cases we have just searched our hearts to make sure that our hearts have been right before God, and stepped out onto the water, and found by Gods grace to be walking in a way that the natural mind considers impossible. God has commanded us to go into all the world to preach the Gospel and we cannot be out of his will if we obey that call. When you obey him in this way I can assure you, you will scrutinize your motives under a microscope and if your heart is not right you wont go through with it. I am writing this for those of you who have heard the call of God but get tangled up in the processes and never get to go. If God has called you, just GO.

Love Craig and Dorothea.

P.S. Over the years we have helped many people into finding their calling in missions. They are all still in the mission field and are with various different ministries, some are independent. Missionary Bible College is in some ways good for those who are called to missions, but unfortunately is of an academic emphasis and does not apprentice people into the apostolic life. If you are reading this and experiencing the frustration of not finding a door to get out and work I would like you to contact me to see where you can be placed. There are many opportunities for mission if you are prepared to go in faith as the Lord commanded us to. A lot of missionary organizations today want you to prove that you have money before they will accept you, I say that Jesus’ way is better. He commanded his disciples to give everything away first so that they had nothing, and then to come and follow him.

Please share this letter with whomever you please.

Josiah’s revival

2007-06-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

Rebuilding The Ancient Ruins

“I will rebuild the Tabernacle of David, which has fallen, and I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, in order that the rest of Mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name” (Acts 15:16)

“ Moses was warned by God, when he was about to erect the Tabernacle, for, ‘ See, he says, that you make all things according to the Pattern that was shown you on the Mountain’.” (Hebrews 8:5)

And when he saw the multitudes, he went up on the Mountain…. and he began to teach them (Matthew 5:1)

“And it came about when the King heard the words of the book of the Law that he tore his clothes.” (2 Kings 22:11)

When King Josiah discovered the lost book of the Law and read it, he tore his clothes in terror of God’s judgement; which he expected to fall on Israel because they had fallen so far away from the pattern which had been shown to Moses on the Mount. King Josiah, as an heir of David, had a responsibility to keep the pattern which had been passed down to him from Moses. The meticulous requirement of the Law, which was symbolized in the detailed pattern for the construction of the Tabernacle, was the pattern that was supposed to have been kept by the Kings of Israel. This pattern already began to fall into disrepair during the reign of Solomon. Solomon, in contradiction to the pattern, began to take for himself many wives and to accumulate riches and many chariots. The pattern that God gave Moses said this:

Deu 17:16 Only he(the King) shall not multiply horses to himself,

Deu 17:17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

The pattern also forbade sacrifice in the high places( Deut 12: 1-14), sacrifices were only to be offered at the temple in Jerusalem. Already in the reign of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, High places were erected on the mountains of Israel in contradiction of the pattern. At their very inception a prophet of the Lord came to the Altar of the High places and prophesied against them, saying that in the distant future a King would arise, by the name of Josiah, and this King would destroy these high places and burn upon the altar the bones of the priests who had sacrificed there.

From the time of Solomon up to the time of the birth of King Josiah the nation of Israel was in constant decline, both Judah and Israel sacrificing on the high places and succumbing to idolatry, priest craft, sorcery and even male cult prostitution. Josiah was justified in tearing his garments when he compared the pattern that he saw in the lost book with the ruins of the tabernacle of David laying around him. In the book of Acts we see the apostles referring to the fallen ruins of the tabernacle of David and they realize that it is now their responsibility to raise again the fallen tabernacle according to the pattern that was given on the mount. This “Tabernacle of David” now refers not to a Tent constructed in the wilderness but to the habitation of God amongst his people. The Apostle John writes that Jesus was tabernacled amongst us, which refers to his taking on human flesh. When the life of Jesus Christ is manifested in his body we are able to say that he is Tabernacled amongst us. God lives not in Temples made by human hands but in his people the church.

Joh 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and did tabernacle among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of an only begotten of a father, full of grace and truth. (YLT)

Now every house is built according to a pattern or a plan, and Moses was faithful in building the nation of Israel according to the pattern that was given to him on the mountain. He was given precise instructions and was accountable to God to build according to these instructions. Of course, there is a difference between that time and the dispensation of the new covenant in which we now live. He was building up a nation of people into an earthly State and the Laws that were received by Moses were Laws that dealt with the construction of a Nation/State. Since Moses’ day every nation and government on earth has benefited from this Judaic Law, this Law has become part of the Laws of every nation on earth. Even the dietary laws that were given to Israel are still practiced by many nations of the world.

However, we are not concerned with the Nation building pattern of Moses but with another pattern that is not of an earthly order but of a heavenly one.

“Every house is built by some one, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in his house as a servant,…….. but Christ was faithful as a Son over his house whose house we are.” ( Hebrews )

In the same manner that the house of David began to fall into ruins from its very beginning during the time of Solomon, so the house of Christ began to depart from their pattern soon after the Apostolic age. We departed as quickly from the pattern given to us, as Israel did from their pattern. The whole history of Israel is repeated in the church. The Old Testament scriptures have been given to us as examples so that we might learn from God’s dealing with the house of Israel.We understand this on a personal level. On a personal level we can see how God deals with us in the way he dealt with the children of Israel. We leave Egypt, which is the world, we go through the waters of baptism, which is the parting of the Red Sea, and we wander through the wilderness in our journey to the Promised Land. On a personal level we as individuals can all identify with these biblical examples or types.

On a corporate level we as the church may also identify with the nation of Israel in their wanderings.The birth of the Church of God at Pentecost by the Holy Spirit marks the beginning of two thousand years of church history. This compares with the birth of Israel as a nation. At the end of the Church’s dispensation, where we find ourselves now, the Church has fallen into the same disarray as the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah immediately before their final judgement. We have disunity, we have our high places upon which we offer sacrifices that are not acceptable to God, we have idolatry equal to if not worse than the idolatry of that age. We even have a cult of male prostitution in the form of homosexual evangelical churches springing up all over the world today. We have a vast array of error spreading on one hand from pompous church traditionalism and on the other extreme we have corrupt television evangelists. The word of God is being prostituted as a means of selfish gain. Dead doctrinal orthodoxy maintains the middle ground. The Tabernacle of David has fallen; and the Holy presence of God amongst his people is no longer witnessed.

If we read the book of Kings carefully it can be seen that many of the Kings were reasonably good men, but again and again we read the condemnation that “they did not do away with the high places”. There are many good leaders in the Church today, but God is not being served in the way he requires. Over the ages many good men in the church have brought in reforms that have eliminated the more gross errors in the church but if we take note we will see that often the general errors of preceding movements and denominations are carried through into the next generation. King Josiah was not like these leaders, he not only eliminated the gross errors such as male cult prostitution, but he also pulled down the high places.God is calling us today to rediscover the lost pattern from which we have fallen.King Josiah broke down the High Places.

“the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, he broke down” ( 2 Kings 23:15)

He sought to serve God in God’s way and not his own. At the culmination of Israel’s history a King got really serious about restoration to the pattern that had been shown on the mountain. When Martin Luther reformed the church he took with him into Protestantism many of the errors of the Roman system. He did away with gross error like the celibacy of the clergy, but he kept the clergy. He kept high places.The people were accustomed to having a professional elite of ministers, they preferred the religious model of the catholic system where the Priest was exalted above the people and was paid to serve in ministry. This is one of the high places that is still exists in almost every church today, be it catholic, protestant or Pentecostal.

Luther did away with the popish system of the Sacrifice of the Mass, but kept the Mass. If one has to visit a Lutheran church today it is obvious to the casual observer that much of the system bears a close resemblance to the Catholic Church. Most protestant churches today also have their clergy and their Sunday “Mass” This is because man is naturally religious and delights in ritualism and pomp. The fallen human heart always perpetuates hierarchy and pharisaic pride.To eat the body of the Lord and to drink his blood is not a “breaking of bread” ceremony on Sunday morning but the incarnation of the life of Jesus in his body the church. We can say we have eaten of his flesh and drunk his blood when there is no more problem in the church with divorce, and when there are no more orphans on the street because they have been absorbed into the Church. We can say that the ruined Tabernacle of David is restored when it is counted but a small thing to give up ones life to become a missionary and go to the ends of the earth. The Church glorious will be revealed when we do not love our lives unto death.

The Church today and the Church of every age is influenced by its environment. In the mediaeval days of Kings and Nobles the way in which the church strayed from the pattern of the apostles was in a lavish hierarchy of Bishops, Cardinals and Popes. Jesus’ pattern, his way of life, was ignored. The Universities of the middle ages produced learned prelates who were adept in the politics of the Court. In the high-powered business world of today the lack of spiritual maturity expresses itself in Churches that are run like corporations, “Pastors” take on the form of executives and teaching is done in the form of business seminars. We are taking our example from Microsoft, Harvard University and Politics. Christ’s pattern shown on the mount is ignored. Instead, the pattern is copied from the culture of the world in which the church is immersed. A world culture of consumerism that is saturated in worldly pleasure produces churches that tickle the senses with professional spectacles to attract and keep the patronage of their “customers”.

The true pattern that we are called to imitate is not the pattern of the world nor that which was shown to Moses on Mt. Sinai. We are not called to build a state, an empire or a corporation. Nor should we imitate the church pattern of previous generations. Just as Moses initiated the birth of a Nation by the giving of the Law on a Mountain, Jesus initiated a new Kingdom through the giving of the Sermon on the Mount. This new pattern made the old Law obsolete, and the new order is of a completely different kind and nature to the previous one. The pattern of Christ’s life as described in the Sermon on the Mount is the pattern that we have fallen from.In fact most Christians are not even aware that we are called to literally pattern our lives on Christ and the Apostles.

As we rediscover the Pattern of Christ as Josiah rediscovered the Law of Moses, we will also tear our garments as he rent his garments, in expectation of God’s righteous judgement. How do we say that we love our enemies if instead of taking the gospel to the Muslims we are delivering to them cruise missiles in Iraq? This is the perception that Muslims have of the “Christian” nations. Do we take care of widows and orphans in Africa or are we taking care of ourselves? Are we seeking God’s Kingdom first or Mammon? We cannot serve both at the same time. Are we laying up for ourselves treasures on earth in contradiction to the pattern of Christ? Are we offering our other cheek to those who slap us? If someone wants to sue you, and take your shirt, do you let him have your coat also? The early church lived these simple rules and in this way Christ was tabernacled amongst them.

Jesus called his apostles to be servants and least of all and today an Apostle is considered to be someone who insists on flying only first class. Many missionaries today have it as their ambition to become “mission executives.”

If then we have allowed the Tabernacle of God to fall into ruins we should be tearing our garments upon perceiving it. Nehemiah wept when he saw the ruins of the Temple. What should God’s habitation look like today? The Apostles of the early church walked as Christ did on the earth. God dwelt among them, he aims at nothing less today. The Tabernacle of God is God’s manifest dwelling among his people, not lavish church buildings. We should not be pouring our efforts into buildings; they will be the first thing to be confiscated when persecution begins. The Apostle Paul exhorts us to imitate the pattern of his life. Follow me as I follow Christ he said. Christ was manifest in his mortal flesh. Paul is a fit pattern to follow. Let us not be deceived by a shallow teaching that promises salvation without repentance, and apostleship without walking in the way Christ walked.

God is looking for men and woman in this day that will be as zealous in the work of restoration as was the young King Josiah. The tabernacle of David, which has fallen, must be rebuilt; the ruins must be restored in order that the rest of Mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles that are called by his name. (Acts 15:17)

Act 15:16 After these things I will return, And I will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen; And I will build again the ruins thereof, And I will set it up:

Act 15:17 That the residue of men may seek after the Lord, And all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called,

The restoration of the Church to its first pattern is crucial to the winning of the Gentiles to Christ. The church as it is today with its high places and idolatry (covetousness) can never command the awe of the unbelievers as it did in the first century church. The holy lives of the apostles and their Christ likeness provoked the jealousy of the Jews and the awe of the gentiles. Extravagant church buildings and professional Hollywood style meetings do not command the awe of the unbelievers but their derision. If we are to stir up the envy and sincere interest of those are without God in this world we must return to the pattern of the apostles. The way things stand today; the Church is subject to nothing else but ridicule. What can we expect when what we see in church is a weak imitation of what is offered by the World. The salt has lost its savour.

The Spirit of prophecy is stirring many in this age to speak against the materialism/idolatry, false prophets and high places that abound in the church. Nevertheless, if we are to examine the Scriptures we will see that a shallow lukewarm church is to be expected in the last days before the coming of Christ. King Josiah’s reforms were a brief respite in the continuing degeneration of the Kingdom of Judah. Within another generation after Josiah Israel was completely conquered by Babylon and led into exile. Josiah was commended by the Lord for his wholehearted repentance and his attempts at restoration, but the nation of Israel was not restrained for long from a downward spiral into utter destruction. Josiah’s son did evil in the sight of the Lord and so did his grandson, and Jerusalem was soon after burned to the ground.

God’s grace will be on the few that repent and seek to serve him in the way of the fathers, but the scriptures indicate that in these last days there will be a massive falling away into apostasy, and finally a domination of the church by Babylon, the false church, before the coming of the Day of the Lord. How can this be, you may ask. How could God allow the Church to fall under the power of Babylon?

This was the same question that Habakkuk asked when God told him that he was going to bring the Babylonians to bring judgement on Israel. We now see Babylonian religion conquering the church in the form of idolatry, which is covetousness. We see false prophets prophesying peace and safety to a generation of christians who have never repented from sin, and a priesthood of professional church executives seek to be first. This false religion, whose protagonists suppose that godliness is means of gain, is going to increase, and the love of many will grow cold before the coming of the Lord.

Unless we have the courage to stand up against the accepted practice of our day as Josiah did, we run the risk of growing cold with the many and falling under the judgement of God. God’s judgement is in being deceived along with the majority as happened in the last days of Judah.

2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie,
2Th 2:12 so that all those who do not believe the truth, but delight in unrighteousness, might be condemned.

Jeremiah the prophet repeatedly warned Judah of the judgement that was coming on them but they refused to believe him and accused him of being a traitor. Their obstinacy culminated in King Zedekiah having all his sons slaughtered and having his eyes put out by Nebuchadnezzar.He refused to acknowledge what he knew to be the truth and paid for it by being led blinded and chained into prison.

If the Old Testament example in the book of Kings has anything to teach us today it is that the visible Church can expect to have a parallel evolution into apostasy as was experienced by the Kingdom of Israel. Israel started in Glory and ended in disgrace. However, there was always a hidden remnant that loved God and was loved by him. Josiah was one of these. If we want to be part of that hidden remnant, let us return as Josiah did to the pattern that was shown on the Mount, and rebuild the Tabernacle of David. Even if the “church” falls into the inevitable apostasy that will take place in these last days, at least a standard will be raised for those who love the truth.

Let us not be complacent and accept the present state of affairs as being all that God expects for his Church. As scandals continue and the general behaviour of Christians slides into conformity with a wicked generation, let us return to the Pattern as Josiah did and lift up again the standard that was Christ’s intention for the Church.

Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong, and let the one who is filthy, still be filthy, and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness, and let the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.

Behold I am coming quickly….

A Heavenly Building

2007-06-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

1Ch 17:1 And it happened as David sat in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in a house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of Jehovah is under curtains.
1Ch 17:2 And Nathan said to David, Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.
1Ch 17:3 And it happened the same night the Word of God came to Nathan, saying,
1Ch 17:4 Go and tell David My servant, So says Jehovah, You shall not build Me a house to dwell in.
1Ch 17:5 For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel until today, but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.

……………….1Ch 17:11 And it will be, when your days have ended so that you must go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, who shall be from your sons. And I will make his kingdom sure.
1Ch 17:12 He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

David built houses for himself in the city of David.He took wives for himself. His heart was full of gratitude to the Lord for all that God had done for him and he wished to do the best for God that he was capable of.

“Let me build a house for the Lord!” he cried out.This reminds us of Peter when with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration. “Let us build a Tabernacle for you Lord!” he said.
Nathan the prophet gave his consent to this well-meaning desire, saying : “Do all that is in your heart!” This kind of counsel is often given to a well meaning heart.

Yet God spoke to Nathan in the night, and said to him, “Not so, David. I will build a house for you. I will raise up one of your descendants after you and he will build for me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. Likewise, Peter, who wanted to build a tent for the Lord, was himself dug up and exposed to be the foundational rock for a house with foundations that Jesus is building.

Mat 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

What is the scripture teaching us about church building? It is this. The ideas that Men have about how to build are very different to God’s ideas. Why?

Because Men apply their natural understanding to how things ought to be done. David reasoned that if he dwelt in a house of Cedar than why should God not also have a house like his ?

Here in Spain where I live a “Church” is considered to be the building at the center of every village next to the Plaza. The quickest and easiest way to express ones gratitude to God in every age is to build a building, but God has never once told us in his word to do that.

1Ch 17:6 Wherever I have walked with all Israel, did I speak a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed My people, saying, Why have you not built Me a house of cedars?

Jesus told us to go out and make disciples, and teach them to be over comers. When these disciples come together, that is his church, for Christ said that where two or more are gathered in his name he is in their midst.

Moreover, Jesus never once told us to go out and plant churches. The modern concept of “Church planting” is foreign to the New Testament.Nowhere in scripture are we told to plant or build churches. The early Christians were scattered and wherever they went they made disciples, and those disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. Even Paul made disciples; he did not “Plant churches” or build churches. When disciples are together, that is the church.

The formulas which we see today for planting and building churches seem successful to the natural mind.Buildings are built, organizational structures are set up, and members are made.The church is built, but is this the same church that Jesus was speaking about?Despite what God had said to David about his different perspective, David still went ahead with his earthly building plan.His son Solomon built a splendid temple.

……….I will raise up your seed after you, who shall be from your sons. And I will make his kingdom sure.
1Ch 17:12 He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

Solomon, however, was and wasn’t the “seed” that God was talking about.He was a son of David, but not the Son that the prophecy was referring to.This prophecy, as many biblcal prophecies, had a double fulfillment.Solomon’s Temple was to be built, but the everlasting temple in the prophecy was not the temple that Solomon constructed. Solomon’s temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, it was not everlesting.We build outwardly that which is impressive to men but what is temporal. God builds inwardly that which is hidden to men but is eternal.

Christ’s church and churches men plant are two different things.Christ’s church is eternal, and what men build is temporal like Solomon’s temple.What man builds will be burned up by fire and only what is of a hidden and eternal character, God’s work, will remain.

When Moses wanted to put into action God’s plan of deliverance he killed an Egyptian and hid him in the sand. This action led to him being exiled into the wilderness for forty years to be a shepherd and to learn the ways of God. The nation of Israel were sent back into the wilderness for forty years after they attempted to enter into the promised land their way, without God. After that failed attempt they went in circles for forty years until the entire older generation died. During that time God was building for himself a people.

These examples show us that God has to take us through a process of delivering us of our good ideas and natural reasoning before he can build into us a dwelling place for him. We cannot build a church as much as David couldn’t build a temple; God builds his church into us. In you, he says to David, is my seed, and I will raise him up. Christ in us is the seed of God and it is God who raises up Christ in us to become his dwelling place .God is building his church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it .

When Jesus went into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan he was only there for forty days, not for forty years like the Israelites, and he was found to be perfect. Satan could find nothing in him to rule.He was a perfect cornerstone. Satan could not get Jesus to reason with him concerning the scriptures.Jesus lived only by God’s words, not by an interpretation of scripture. He did nothing apart from God.

Every lust that Adam’s race had fallen under , the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of pride, had no hold over Jesus. He was tested and found pure in the wilderness and Satan left him for a more opportune time .Jesus came out of the wilderness in the power of the Spirit preaching repentance and the rulership of God. He was the cornerstone of God’s temple.To Christ the church would be aligned. He chose twelve disciples and trained them to be overcomers as he was, they were conformed to him. Beginning first with their attachment to possessions and gradually exposing the rulership of Satan in their lives and destroying Satan’s hold on them so that they might come to a place of true overcoming. No one of them could be Christ’s disciple without having Satans rule destroyed in his life.

It is not possible to be a disciple of Christ if there is any part of us that is not yielded to Christ.God raises up his seed in us, which is Christ, and by so doing he builds his church. Any part of a Christian that is not yielded to Christ is ground for Satan to exercise control over that Christian.It is not so much only possessions that must be yielded to God but the heart which covets possesions. There are possessions that are not material that must be yielded up. A good reputation is a possession that can be fertile ground for Satan to work in unless it is yielded up to Christ. Only God can deliver us of the rule of self through the way of the cross. We become the dwelling place of God as self is crucified.We become his temple.We are the church that God is building. Paul was able to say that his old life was crucified and that it is no longer he that lives but Christ that was lives in him. Only God can do this work.This is how he builds. We grow with a growth which is from God.As we are building what we think is the church, God is actually building his eternal church.His works will remain, our works will be burnt up.

We should not make the mistake that both Peter and David made, thinking that the church is some kind of structure that we can erect using our natural reasoning and talents.Our advertising campaigns and seeker friendly meetings can draw crowds into our buildings but is that the Church? Men must be conformed to the cornerstone, Jesus, if they are to fit into the Temple that God is erecting.

You shall not build Me a house to dwell in.
1Ch 17:5 For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel until today, but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.

God does not dwell in structures erected by men, he lives in tents. That is, he dwells in us, it is our bodies which are his temples and at this point our bodies are tents. We have a building in heaven which is being made, but at the present time God is not interested in anything else but living in tents, that is good enough for him.

These tents in which he dwells are joined together, and that is the church. It has nothing whatever to do with the millions of people all over the world that attend meetings on Sunday mornings. Many of these are part of his church but are not part of it because they attend Sunday meetings. Many who are part of God’s Church never go into “church” at all. Many are in prison.

We,and you, the true church, are all living stones being built up by God into a dwelling place for him. Let us not think that we can make administrative structures for him or buildings and call them “ our church”. Many “church” members are not and never will be part of God’s dwelling place.

Having understood all of that, it now seems ludicrous that we build church buildings at all. Church buildings did not exist for the first couple of hundred years of the existence of the church. Much more money , time and effort go into buildings than into what Jesus commanded us to do, i.e. making disciples and preaching to the nations.What a waste.

God is building his church into us, which is Christ within. Our worldly attempts at building the church results in multitudes of religious people who are not even converted, not even disciples at all. Church structures with all variety of names will be burned up by fire with multitudes of false Christians or Tares. All that will remain is what God himself has built. There is only one church.Many of us in ‘born again’ church circles look with disdain at the sumptious buildings and worldy politics of Holy Roman Catholic Church and fail to see that we are following the same path.In a few hundred years of following this path we will put them to shame, our temples and structures will outshine the great Cathedrals of Europe.

To some christian leaders greater numbers and bigger churches seem to promise change in society because of having more political clout. Large membership is also capable of bringing in huge amounts of money, which to the natural mind is an indication of power. However most of this financial power is spent on programmes, buildings and comforts for Christians to enjoy. “Lets, face it, says a prominent Christian church leader in America- we tithe to ourselves.” The jews were very proud of their fabulous temple. Let us be reminded that Solomon’s and Herod’s temples were razed to the ground. The same will happen with all our carnal attempts to build the church. All our building is hay and stubble.

Our reasoning leads us to build buildings, establish organizations, collect funds, start bible colleges and all kinds of well intentioned activity. We want to build God’s house. Jesus never told us to do any of that. He told us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him. Now how can that possibly be the way to building the church, we wonder? We are so used to building buildings and running businesses that once given an opportunity to serve God we come up with a hundred good plans to advance the Kindom. When Peter foolishly suggested a building program, God spoke from Heaven and said:

“ This is my beloved Son, listen to him.”

I suspect that what Jesus will say to us will be very different from what we are accustomed to do in the world.God doesn’t need our money, he doesn’t need our methods. Indeed he told his disciples to give away all their money before following him. He told them to take up their cross, deny themselves and to follow him. He was going to the cross, and that is where he commands us to follow. Peter was full of good ideas about church building, but he would never have thought of the path that the Lord had for him:

Joh 21:18 Truly, truly, I say to you, When you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you wished. But when you grow old, you shall stretch forth your hands and another shall gird you and carry you where you do not wish.

God is building his church into us, and only as we diminish can his presence increase among his people. Despite all the beautiful buildings , efficient organization and professional worship that we have in the church today, there is a distinct lack of the presence of God in the everyday lives of Christians. God’s presence is manifested in holiness, patience, humility and long-suffering. But it is not evident. This holiness, which is Christ indwelling his people, can only be imparted to us through suffering. Later on in his life, Peter was able to explain in his book the path that Christ had chosen for him, the path that he did not wish.

You also, as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house…..
You have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example to follow in his steps…..
Since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm youselves also with the same purpose..
To the degree you share the sufferings of Christ,keep rejoicing…
Judgement begins with the household of God…
Let those who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right…
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.. …( all from 1 Peter)

Had Peter lost his mind when he wrote these verses, or had he gained the mind of Christ?This is a very different Peter to the one who wanted to build a tabernacle for the Lord. He was now a stone that knew from experience how it is that God conforms us to his cornerstone so that we may be fitted into the Temple that He is building.

Tribulation and suffering, trials and self denial are the only way that God can conform us to Christ.The very thing that most Christians today are doing their best to avoid, is the means by which God builds his church. This is what Spurgeon has to say about it:

“We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”
- Act_14:22
God’s people have their trials. It was never designed by God, when he chose his people, that they should be an untried people. They were chosen in the furnace of affliction; they were never chosen to worldly peace and earthly joy. Freedom from sickness and the pains of mortality was never promised them; but when their Lord drew up the charter of privileges, he included chastisements amongst the things to which they should inevitably be heirs. Trials are a part of our lot; they were predestinated for us in Christ’s last legacy. So surely as the stars are fashioned by his hands, and their orbits fixed by him, so surely are our trials allotted to us: he has ordained their season and their place, their intensity and the effect they shall have upon us. Good men must never expect to escape troubles; if they do, they will be disappointed, for none of their predecessors have been without them. Mark the patience of Job; remember Abraham, for he had his trials, and by his faith under them, he became the “Father of the faithful.” Note well the biographies of all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and you shall discover none of those whom God made vessels of mercy, who were not made to pass through the fire of affliction. It is ordained of old that the cross of trouble should be engraved on every vessel of mercy, as the royal mark whereby the King’s vessels of honour are distinguished. But although tribulation is thus the path of God’s children, they have the comfort of knowing that their Master has traversed it before them; they have his presence and sympathy to cheer them, his grace to support them, and his example to teach them how to endure; and when they reach “the kingdom,” it will more than make amends for the “much tribulation” through which they passed to enter it.

Moses tried to do God’s will his way, and he had to go into the wilderness for forty years to be changed. The fact that he was by this trial changed into the most humble man on the face of the earth did not automatically secure salvation for the whole nation of Israel. They, in their turn, had to suffer their own trials for forty years in the wilderness to be delivered of their rebellion and unbelief. Jesus was in the wilderness being tested for forty days, and demonstrated that the evil one had nothing in him. His perfection does not automatically secure our deliverance from rebellion towards God and unbelief. We need to delivered from our old nature through sufferings in the wilderness. This is the way God builds his church.He wants to take us into the promised land, but the old man must die in the wilderness first. It is very different from our way of doing things.

When Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow him our minds rebel and we try to think of a hundred more reasonable and succesful ways of building the church.Like Peter and David we rush ahead to build something more in keeping with our idea of religion.We try to avoid at any cost the way that God has marked out for us, the way of the cross of Christ.We are busy building splendid edifices that are destined for destruction, but as we do that God is building into us something hidden which is eternal and will remain.

What a relief it is to know that despite all the wordly building efforts that we see, God is building his church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.Let the Muslims turn our buildings into Mosques ! So what if our cathedrals become shopping centres and museums!Our organizations are destined to become dusty institutions in the next generation, but Christ will build his house and the gates of hell will not prevail against it!

Rev 3:12 He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, ………and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and mine own new name.
Rev 3:13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.

Solomon’s Glory or Christ’s Glory?

2007-06-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

The Glory of Solomon and the Glory of Christ

Obedience to the Law brought prosperity to the Israelites, meditating on the Law night and day made them to be like “trees planted by the riverside”. And so it will be with us. There is a prosperity that comes as a result of obedience to the Law. There is an earthly reward for diligence, discipline, honesty and compassion.

But the rewards of obedience to the new covenant are far greater than those of obeying the old. The demands of the new covenant are greater and so are the rewards.

Obedience to the natural Law is accompanied by natural rewards; obedience to the higher spiritual Law that Christ preached will be accompanied by rewards of a higher nature.
Jesus in the New Testament comes to impart something of a far higher order than that which was given by Moses to the Israelites. His demands are also higher. Jesus’ disciples were often dumbfounded by the expectations placed upon them. Up to that time it would have been enough to love their homes and families, love their nation, work hard, be honest, and reap the rewards of their labour. Now this man was calling them to something heavenly, which was beyond their natural understanding. Something beyond their homes, their families, their nation and their culture. Something that included all the nations, something that was beyond time. The standard was raised from an earthly possibility to a heavenly impossibility. The reward was also raised from the earthly to the heavenly.

It was already barely possible for them to be obedient to Moses’ Law, now they were being called to behave like divine beings! Who could walk in that realm to which they were being called? Who could love their enemies but God alone? Who could forsake family friends and nation and store up riches in heaven? The rich young ruler delighted in all of the Laws of Moses, but to give away all his possessions…. How could this be expected of him? It was beyond the realm of the natural.

Jesus came to usher in the spiritual, a heavenly Kingdom. Today, as Christians, we have the option to merely recover the blessings we never had, because we were gentiles, who were far from the promises, the Law, and the Fathers. Every person who now becomes a Christian has the option to obey the natural law and benefit from the consequences. The consequence of turning from dishonesty to honesty, from laziness to diligence, from licentiousness to discipline, is a more prosperous life. Being now restored to the knowledge of the true God and his Law we can settle for the natural best, the blessings that were apportioned to the Israelites under the Old covenant. Obedience to the Law will bring to us all the blessings of Deuteronomy chapter 28. In the natural we can repossess earthly blessings that were promised to the Law abiding Israelite. But to transcend from the natural inheritance into a Spiritual inheritance we must follow in the way of Christ and not in the way of Solomon. King David received the full inheritance that was promised to the Israelites. His son Solomon epitomized the fullness of earthly blessing as promised by the Law. We see in the Christian nations of the world some of this natural blessing. We see a measure of it also in Islam when men obey what they know of God’s Law. But it is only a shadow of Gods final intention.

Israel was only for the Israelites and for a season. The Kingdom of Christ encompasses all nations, and is eternal. If we, like the Israelites, choose merely the natural we will find in the end that it is something to be enjoyed by a privileged few for a short time. This is the mistake Christians have made today. The earthly blessings of Christian nations are only enjoyed by a tiny elite, and can be lost quickly.

Israel had an earthly King. God’s kingdom has a heavenly King. Israel had earthly power, the heavenly Kingdom spiritual authority. The comparisons are endless.

Jesus, being the Son of David, could have entered into an earthly glory but he didn’t. This had already been accomplished by Solomon during his reign, and was found to fall short of Gods purposes. Solomon received everything that this world could offer him, and came to the conclusion that all of it is vanity. Solomon was delivered from all the natural enemies of mankind, but he was not delivered from himself.

Do we want to be delivered merely from our natural enemies i.e. sickness, financial need, persecution, disorder, ugliness etc.? Obedience to the Mosaic covenant lifted Israel to an earthly Glory under Solomon that was unprecedented and unsurpassed by any Kingdom since. Nonetheless, within one generation all of it collapsed in shame. Perpetual civil war and immorality characterized the entire dispensation of that earthly Kingdom. If we pursue, as the Israelites did, earthly glory, the results will be the same. Vanity…

Jesus was pressurized to receive a crown. His disciples argued over who was to be the prime minister of this earthly Kingdom that they sought after. They were mortified to discover that their King was taking a very different path to the one that they had hoped for. They tried to discourage him from this path and were rebuked.

Jesus had something far deeper in mind, far more lasting, far more glorious, than another attempt at regaining the throne of Solomon and his earthly Glory. He has it in mind for us also, but so many of us are chasing earthly shadows instead of reality. If Jesus had wanted to he could have entered into, with his disciples, an earthly Glory that would make our Solomon’s Glory, the present “Christian World”, look like the third world in comparison. But Jesus chose a different path, that of a spiritual inheritance. Jesus himself set this precedent purposefully, so that through the ages he might have followers who would seek true riches rather than the riches of this world. Despite this pattern that he set for us, many choose foolishly to still follow after the Glory of Solomon.

The path that Jesus chose is the path that we must choose if we are to share in his heavenly glory. It is on this path only that the riches of his divine nature are accumulated. To be like Christ, is our inheritance, is our glory. Solomon sought for and achieved all that the world perceives as precious. Honour, riches and fame. Property, beauty and pleasure. Knowledge, eloquence and power. The way of Christ seeks riches in poverty and selflessness in humility. In losing our reputation we earn a name immortal in heaven. By being humiliated we become humble. By patiently enduring opposition we become patient. By having nothing we become grateful for our true riches. In giving our lives we receive true life. We learn how to love and hope for heaven.

God wants to impart his divine nature to us. That, and that only is his eternal riches. It is through the fire of earthly tribulations that this nature is perfected. We are called to follow Christ in his sufferings. We are called to deny self. The divine nature dwells within us Christians, but this nature is eclipsed by the presence of the greatest of God’s enemies, the self. In always granting self its desires it only becomes more and more dominant. The Christian whose self is unopposed may seem to be reigning like King Solomon by worldly considerations, but Paul the Apostle says, “I wish you really were a King, so that I may reign with you”

When Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey he was illustrating a divine principle that was lost to the cheering crowds. He could have entered Jerusalem on a white charger that would have suited a conquering King who was about to take up an earthly rule. On the contrary, the humble colt of a donkey signified his ruler ship over self. Self, which would have delighted in a white charger. Jesus, tempted in all things like we are, would also have been tempted to pursue the glory of Solomon. The self is just as impossible to rule over as the colt of a donkey, but Christ showed his mastery in riding it. This is a greater glory than riding any white or black charger, but hidden from the eyes of the crowd.

Our citizenship is in heaven from which we eagerly wait for a saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory. (Philippians 3:20) The degree to which our characters have been changed into Christ’s likeness might not be evident to all now, but will be revealed on that day when we receive our heavenly likeness. The glory of Solomon will vanish with all that is natural, and we will be revealed as we really are. And we will shine with different degrees of glory. And to some he will say, “ I never knew you”

Let us not be like those who are “enemies of the Cross of Christ, whose god is their appetite and whose glory is their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.”(Philippians 3:18.) The “Cross of Christ” signifies a life of self-denial and a willingness to suffer for Christ’s sake. We should love the Cross of Christ and not be its enemies, and in this way we will store up glory in heaven. In that day when we lose our earthly glory, leaving it behind in this world, that glory will become shameful to us. How much effort have we put into achieving it? We will wish we could have just used it up to feed orphans and contribute to the expansion of God’s kingdom. How many barns are filled with goods and the Lord says, “You fool, you will die tonight and who will enjoy your inheritance?”

All that is of the natural glory, that is, the glory of Solomon, will fall off like a flower of the grass. All that we glory in, that is, not what we are, but what we have. Knowledge, possessions, wealth and beauty are all like the flower of grass, beautiful for a day but destined to dry out and fall off. Only that which we are will remain, and what we are is what we are in our natures, eternally, as the sons and daughters of God. The nature of Christ has become ours through the cross, and through the cross we become partakers in Christ’s glory. This is the divine nature of Christ which is Gods glory in us, and only what we share of this nature will remain, all else which looks so appealing in this world is destined to fall off like a dried flower.

Patience, kindness, humility,
Gentleness, longsuffering, and joy,
Faith, hope and love,

is all that is worth concerning ourselves with for these are the glory of Christ.

We would love to hear from you, Craig .

On Divisions

2007-06-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

One of the least understood areas in the Church today is that of Church government. It is on this rocky point that much unity founders, and despite much activity to achieve the unity that we all know is indispensable for a credible witness in the world, all attempts at unity in the church fail because of a failure to understand the Government of God.

This subject must need fully be approached very carefully, and the first point that must be understood is that there is a dimension to this unity that must be spiritually discerned before it can be carried into practice. Paul says:

1Co 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him; and he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned;

Paul tells us in the next chapter of Corinthians that divisions exist among them because they are yet carnal. One says he is of Paul, and another that he is of Apollos. That sounds very much like the denominationalism that is rampant in the church today. The church is not functioning, as a body should because it is immature. Paul ties up unity and maturity into one issue through this teaching. Without maturity there can be no unity. The division that existed in the early church, described by Paul, has plagued the Christian community for the last two thousand years, and always will, because there will always be immaturity. Even if by some miracle unity were achieved in this generation, in the next generation of Christians divisions would come again because of all the new Christians who are immature.

How do we find our way out of this enigma? What is the unity that Christ speaks of when he asks his Father that we may be one as he is one with his Father? Well, first let us accept that the Unity that Jesus wants is not in Ecumenism. It is not a political unity based on compromise, it is something deeper and more costly than that. Secondly, it is not a Unity that embraces only part of the church, but the whole. Unity within a denomination or a network of ministries is not true unity because it still excludes much of the Body. A group of churches that associates with each another because they have similar doctrinal views is not unity but sectarianism because by their doctrines they exclude parts of the body of Christ. This kind of sectarianism is reprehensible and is severely rebuked in the scriptures.

1Co 1:11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brothers, by those of Chloe, that there are divisions among you.
1Co 1:12 But I say this, that every one of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.
1Co 1:13 Is Christ divided?

Jud 1:19 These are the people who cause divisions, who are controlled by their natural desires, who do not have the Spirit.

Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are …….. strifes, jealousies, angers, contentions, disputes, schools of opinion,

The first step towards unity would be maturity. Many of the reasons cited for church divisions are merely a cover for a deeper spiritual disunity based on fleshly ambition. Arriving at the place where we can say with Paul “ I am crucified with Christ, it is no longer “I” that live, but Christ that lives in me”, is the first step toward unity. It is this “I” that is at the root of all the disunity. Since only some in the church will reach this place of maturity church unity will only ever exist for those that can see from God’s perspective.

Unity is something that exists already for the spiritually discerning. When Jesus rose up from the dead the whole church rose up with him and is seated in heavenly places. The one who perceives the church seated in heavenly places perceives the unity of the body, it is spiritually discerned. The flesh is a veil that prevents many of us from seeing this unity. Those who are fleshly still see “me” and “mine”, whereas the spiritual man sees all things as Christ’s and all servants of the Lord as belonging to the Body.

Now in practical church government this is how this unity would be worked out by those who are mature.

All local churches would be recognized, as being part of the church, which they are, be they Baptist, Roman Catholic, Vineyard or Pentecostal. (It is not that simple, there are also Coptic, Armenian, Russian orthodox, and MarThoma churches to cite but a few.) The name of a church needs to be given no recognition at all as all denominational unity is based on the flesh. When the apostle Paul went from city to city preaching he did not call the churches that he started “ Apostle Paul ministries” or anything distinctive, each local church stood on its own and was governed by elders. The denominational names that have been given to churches have been given by men as a means of claiming their ownership and rule over those churches. Paul said some preach Christ out of selfish ambition yet he rejoices that Christ is being preached because people still get saved despite the personal ambition of some preachers. Consequently there are many believers within denominations that are under the control of ambitious men, but these believers are as much part of the body of Christ as you and I. We must discern that we are joined to these members. If we do not judge the body rightly we bring judgment on ourselves and:

“For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep” ( 1 Cor.11:29,30)

It is obvious that some churches are closer to a biblical pattern than others, and it is obvious that in each local church there are wheat and tares. There are good fish and bad fish. Not all will be saved; many Roman Catholics, Baptists and Pentecostals will be bound hand and foot and cast into the outer darkness. We should all do all that is in our power to convince, persuade and rebuke all Christians to grow to maturity and be conformed to the perfect will of God. We are joined to other Christians by virtue of our being born of the same Father and not because we believe or practice our belief in the same way.

This does not mean that we should compromise at all in declaring the whole counsel of God.

Act 20:27 For I did not keep back from declaring to you all the counsel of God.

In China of the pre communist era the church movement that was started by Watchman Nee (the little flock) had an excellent opportunity to model their movement on the primitive church since they were building on a new foundation in places where Christ was not previously preached. One of the clearest revelations that they had of the government of the church was in recognition of the local assembly. This revelation consisted in recognizing the autonomy of the local church and rule by elders. This was a measure that contradicted the denominationalism of the foreign missions in China and aimed at indigenously ruled local assemblies. Unfortunately this led to exclusivism as they went on to claim that the only true local church cannot be based on anything except locality and by this doctrine excluded all the other churches from fellowship with them. This exclusivism was short lived, as it was not long before the communists took over and put all the Christians together into prison no matter what their doctrines. God knows best.

Another revelation of church government that was retrieved by this revolutionary movement was that of the separation between the church and the work. In the New Testament the Church was all the combined local assemblies scattered throughout Judea, Asia Minor and Europe. The local assemblies are referred to as the church of Corinth, the church of Ephesus, of Colossae, etc. Their distinctiveness was based on locality and nothing else. The rulership rested in the hands of the local elders, each local church ruled its own affairs. Even such a mighty Apostle as Paul did not presume authority over the churches that he started; if he had done so then this would have given rise to denominationalism since all the apostles would have done likewise. The churches started by Paul would have been ruled by Paul from his prison cell in Rome, the churches started by Apollos would have been ruled by Apollos from wherever he was. God forbid, this is exactly what Paul taught against. When Paul preached the gospel and men responded, he handed over the church to local rulership or left an apostle with them, like Titus or Timothy, and he went on his way. When he returned, or wrote a letter to these churches he appeals to them as a father, and must prove to them through argument a spiritual authority based on his relationship to them.

Spiritual authority must always be based in relationship. In the world of that time it would take months for an apostle to travel through a region, and those Apostles that went further afield like Thomas or Bartholomew , who went to India, would have taken years to complete this journey and could have been out of touch with Jerusalem fro years at a time. Today with our modern communications we feel that we can control from home base a mission on the other side of a planet, but that would not have been possible in the early days of the church, and nor was it ever Gods intention for this to be the case.

When Paul was called by God to mission, he was separated of necessity from the church in Antioch and commended to the Lord.

Act 13:3 Then, having fasted and prayed, and having laid their hands on them, they let them go.

Act 13:4 They therefore, having been sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, and thence sailed away to Cyprus.

If Paul had continued to work under the supervision of the church at Antioch, the churches that he started in Asia would have been called something like

“The church of Antioch in Greece” or something equally absurd. One should not laugh at this but weep, because there are many examples of this today. It causes havoc in the mission field, and much confusion among those who we are trying to reach. When apostles, or missionaries, for that is the same thing, go out sent by the Lord, they should be leaving behind the nationality and authority of the church they are departing from or they just end up perpetuating division in the mission field.

They cannot be directed by a church or a committee sitting thousands of miles away in a different culture with no understanding of the issues that are being confronted. This is unscriptural and impracticable. I have seen countless disasters in the mission field as a result of this misapplication of God’s government. If it is recognized by a church that the Holy Spirit has set apart men for the work of apostleship (Mission), then it behooves those elders to “let them go” as we see in the above scripture. If the sent ones are not ready to follow the Lord’s guidance then let them be joined to men with experience as Timothy was joined to Paul.

In the same way, let the churches which are started by these missionaries also be under the direct authority of the Lord and not ruled by an absent apostle or by a committee in another town or country.

Getting back to the initial subject of this teaching, that of Unity, it can now be seen how unity can be achieved in a practical way. Having dispensed with personal ambition we now see local groups of Christians joined directly to the head and ruling under the headship of Christ. Unthreatened, they feel free to relate to all other groups and are not restricted in this activity by the “Home Office”, be it in Rome or Texas. They do not have doctrinal blinkers that prevent them from seeing their unity with other local churches. They are not controlled by a jealous leader or group of leaders who want to build an organization that can be governed from elsewhere. This is the New Testament pattern.

The groups of apostles are also autonomous as long as they are starting new works. If ever they return to home base they will submit to the local leadership, they will even submit to the local leadership of the churches they themselves have planted. The local leadership cannot rule over their activity once they go out and are commended to the Lord. This is the New Testament pattern for church government and can be seen clearly in the scriptures once brought into the light. In the book of Acts we see teams of apostolic workers moving around starting new works and serving the local churches with teaching. With Paul there was a team of workers, now traveling with him, at other times in a fixed abode working with a local assembly. With Apollos and Zeus there were other teams of apostolic workers. The workers sometimes would change teams. The apostles of Jesus, the Twelve, are hardly mentioned in the book of acts because they were working as apostles in different spheres to Paul and his companions. These groups of apostles were the agents that bound together the different parts of the body, the local assemblies, not as heads, but as joints of supply.

Eph 4:16 from whom the whole body, fitted together, and connected by every joint of supply, according to the working in its measure of each one part, works for itself the increase of the body to its self-building up in love.

The appeal to Elders in Jerusalem to make judgments regarding the inclusion of the Gentiles into the church, which we read about in Acts chapter 15, is not a precedent which centralizes the rule of the church in Jerusalem. Rather, it is more a doctrinal issue as we find later in church history at the council of Nicea.The reporting back of Paul to the churches in Judea after his missionary journeys is more in the line of mutual respect and accountability than submitting to a Hierarchy. The centralization of authority in Church government only took place once Christianity became the state religion under Constantine and was for political reasons.

With the current state of affairs in the church it seems impossible to achieve the kind of unity that Jesus prayed for. Individuals have too many vested interests. Nevertheless, we are able to prevent further disunity by putting into practice the principles set out above. The Lord is not pleased by our further perpetuating disunity by associating ourselves only with those who approximate our own views. Nor is he pleased with those who try and have authority beyond their own sphere. The immaturity of claiming the work of God as our own must be dispensed with. And above all, spiritual sight is necessary to see and love the Church of God in all its multiple forms and expressions in the world.

Thank you, Craig

The Weapons of our Warfare

2007-06-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

This study from 2 Corinthians is an attempt to expose a deadly deception that we are witnessing today in the church. The eternal word of God is as relevant today as it was in the time of Paul. Paul in his day arrayed his forces against the false teachers that had crept into the church. The strategy of the enemy never changes and this is why a study of the book of 2 Corinthians is just as effective to expose the false apostles today who have such prominent ministries. I have discovered today in the Church a gross ignorance of the basic themes of this book of 2 Corinthians without which it cannot be correctly understood. Please read the whole essay carefully and understand that it is not directed at any individuals but at the forces of wickedness that are arrayed behind them. Our fight is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and forces of Darkness in Heavenly places .The greatest attack on the church today is on the doctrine of our co- suffering with Christ. The emphasis on this in the following essay is not because I do not see the enjoyment of Gods good gifts and blessings as legitimate.

“For everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected” 1 Tim. 4:4
“ God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” 1 Tim 6:17 ff

God wants Holiness of Character and not legalism. Nevertheless, denial of the place of suffering in the Christian life is a serious omission from our understanding of the Christian life, and the following essay is an attempt to restore that balance. The original purpose of this message was to describe the Weapons that Paul uses against the false teachers and to bring the Church of Corinth back under his influence. As the teaching progressed it became apparent that to effectively expose these false apostles it was necessary to explain more adequately the purpose of God in Paul’s sufferings. These revelations from scripture are completely unknown to many in the Church today, and this produces a severe imbalance in their lives and ministries. Please forgive a very imperfect attempt to describe these glorious truths from the Word of God.

The Weapons of Righteousness

To discover what the weapons of our warfare are we need to discuss first what they are not.

“The Weapons of our Warfare are not of the Flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” 2 Corinthians 10:4. We destroy speculations and every loft thing raised up against the knowledge of God (vs.4)

What are these weapons? Well they are not carnal. They are not of the flesh. They are spiritual qualities, surely, not outward things but inward. Paul says to the Corinthians
“ You are looking at things outwardly” (vs. 7) talking about himself. He is saying, “don’t look at me outwardly”

In verse10 he quotes them as saying “ His personal presence is unimpressive, and his speech contemptible” This is what they said about Paul. These are the outward things that they were looking at. They were impressed by the apostles who exalted themselves (2 Cor.11: 20) These apostles obviously had “presence” and could speak eloquently. These are carnal qualities and Paul will not use them although he could have used them if he had wanted to because of his education and his background. (Philip. 3:4).

Letters of commendation were other carnal weapons used by the apostles to whom Paul is referring.

2Co 3:1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, like some, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?

These letters can go before you to open doors, or they can be put behind your name at the end of your C.V. These letters Paul would have none of, and preferred the letter of Christ written on his heart, which made him adequate to be a servant of God. This is the manifestation of Christ in Paul to be read by all men.

You are our letter, written in our hearts, (2 Cor, 3:2)

The love of God, which gripped his heart for the Corinthians, could be plainly observed in his disposition and his conduct. These are the weapons that conquer fortresses.

Would he use severity with them, devouring, slaps in the face? The other apostles in competition to him employed these means

He exalts himself, he slaps you in the face( 2 Corinthians 11:20)

“Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?”) 1 Cor 4:21)

No, none of it! Paul urges them by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, this is a weapon that his competition does not have! Any body can threaten and be severe but only the presence of Christ is meek. Meekness is one of our powerful weapons; it is Gods power perfected in weakness. Jesus was crucified because of weakness. If he had been strong he would not have been crucified, he would have defended himself. Thank God he didn’t. On the contrary, he went like a lamb to the slaughter; he did not open his mouth. This was his mighty weapon and it is the same principal that Paul is determined to use.

Paul also goes to the slaughter, as do all true Disciples of Christ. And these afflictions become his weapons. In them he becomes strong. God’s power becomes perfect in affliction because there is no competition from the flesh, the flesh is crucified and all that remains is a sweet smelling fragrance. When our flesh is arrested in Christ’s triumph the glory is all his. We are his spoil.

Paul refuses to use carnal methods. He will not “peddle” the word of God

For we are not like many, peddling the Word of God (2:17),

He did not sell the Gospel cheap to make it more attractive because he has something to gain from its sale. He will not water it down (adulteration) to make it more attractive.

We have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the Word of God (2 cor.4: 2)

He was not crafty to win support or a following, but by the Manifestation of Truth they commend themselves. (4; 2)

This manifestation is nothing less than a manifestation of Christ himself. Paul did not just preach the gospel; he manifested Christ in his life as proof of the truth of the Gospel.

“For our Gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction, just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.”(1Thess. 1:5)

The living Christ had to be visible in their lives as proof of the Gospel that Paul was preaching. The Gospel that Paul preached was about a salvation in which Jesus Christ himself manifests his life in us. We are not just “Saved by Grace” and continue just as we were, but we are walking in the “same manner as he walked” and only for this reason we may allow ourselves to be called Christians because we are as “little Christs”

Test yourselves, says Paul in 13:5 to see if you are in the faith, or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail the test?

The real Weapon of our Warfare is the manifestation of Christ likeness in our actual lives, and not for example standing in a circle and shouting out scriptures that will hopefully bind demons. Unless the reality of these scriptures are worked out into our lives the demons will laugh at us because we have not believed any more than they have. (James 2:19) The manifestation of Christ himself in us will have them running for their lives, shouting, “These indeed are the sons of God”

Paul commends himself in 2 Corinthians 6:3-7 as a servant of God. This passage proves him to be a true servant of God. This is his great weapon against spiritual foes. It seems as if he is saying these things against his detractors, but in fact he is battling with unseen forces.

” For our struggle is not against Flesh and Blood” Eph.6: 12.

Behind the ambition of the so-called apostles of Corinth and the waywardness of the ignorant members of that church there were spiritual forces at work, forces of wickedness in heavenly places. It is the object of these forces to keep the church on a carnal level of operation because it is in this realm that these forces dominate. To keep them using carnal methods is to keep them under their own control, because all methods in the realm of the flesh are demonically controlled. So using craftiness is demonically controlled, adulterating the word of God is demonic, impressing with personal presence is demonic, as with threatening, using severity, manipulation, and appealing to a man’s selfishness by telling him how much he can gain by becoming a Christian. These are all carnal methods and are subject to demons. These methods can all be appealed to by common sense, and may even be understood as wisdom because they seemingly achieve results in terms of numbers, but

“ This is not the Wisdom which is from above but the wisdom from below, which is earthly, natural and Demonic” according to James 3:15
“For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist there is disorder and every evil thing “. vs. 16

Everything that comes out of the flesh is based upon selfishness and this is not of Gods Kingdom.

Now Paul uses weapons that are spiritual, mighty to the pulling down of fortresses. These spiritual weapons are as unselfish as the carnal methods are selfish. Paul’s commendations of his life and ministry and the lives of his co-labourers are saturated with self-denial. This is their Power, it is a manifestation of Gods love that natural men do not have: but when they catch sight of it they are broken, undone, sorrowful and repentant.

Is it not our purpose to bring men to a place of Godly sorrow, and thus repentance? To a place of great yearning not to be selfish; to be like God and the apostles through whom he has manifested to us his character? We should be moved to jealousy when we read of Paul’s life, we should consider as a treasure that Spiritual quality in this man that made him like Christ. We have also been promised that treasure that Paul has, because in Peter we are promised that by the promises of God we may share in Christ’s divine nature.

2Pe 1:4 through which He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, so that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Paul is trying to move them to jealousy when he recounts the trials of his life and his responses to those trials. These are mighty weapons to conquer their hearts for the gospel.

In beatings, in imprisonments, sleeplessness, hunger, he continues to shine with the presence of God. In fact, Gods presence increases to the degree that these afflictions increase. Surely that is a demonstration of God in this world as nothing else could be? Was not God manifested in Jesus Christ on the cross when he said,” Father forgive them for they know not what they do,” and with this he died and the veil in the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom.
This signifies that it was God that tore Christ’s flesh in two to open up for us a way into the Holy Of holies, which is Christ.

Heb 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
Heb 10:20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.

The veil of Christ’s flesh was what prevented men from seeing who he really was. He was the carpenter’s son, the Nazarene, a prophet without honour.

Mat 27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
Mat 27:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

When the centurion who was standing by saw how Jesus died, he said, “Truly this was the Son of God” (who else could die that death with a word of forgiveness on his lips for those that were torturing him?) The veil of his humanity was torn apart and his divine nature revealed.

All who say they are Christs should also be willing to have their flesh torn aside in a similar manner. When we accept this tearing of our flesh like lambs in resignation to the will of God the veil of our flesh is removed and we reveal Gods Agape love to the ones who are causing the affliction, and the sons of God are revealed to the world.

What other spiritual weapons does Paul say we are given? In verse 7 of 2 Corinthians chapter six we read:

“ By the weapons of Righteousness for the right hand and left.”

Like the Benjamites we can be those who:

“ Use both the right hand and the left to sling stones and to shoot arrows from the bow” (1 Chron.12: 2)

What are these weapons? They are listed in the next verse.

In the Left Hand, and in the Right Hand!

Dishonour Glory!
Evil report Good Report
Regarded as deceivers yet true!
Unknown yet well known
Dying yet behold we live
Punished yet not put to Death
As sorrowful yet always rejoicing
As poor yet making many rich!
As having nothing yet possessing all things.

Take note that the outward reality of Paul’s life was all the items on the left. This is how the Corinthians saw him as they looked at him outwardly. But it was his faith in God that made him not look at these outward realities but to see what is unseen except to the one who walks not by sight but by faith. These left handed things were turned into weapons; these would certainly surprise the enemy! We are always caught off guard with a left-hander. These are powerful spiritual weapons that he was wielding. Would that we would learn how to use these left handed weapons. These are the weapons that the world does not even know about! We in the Church are so busy trying to be well known, to be rich, to be applauded, we have yet to discover the left handed weapons that Paul used to such great advantage.He boasts about being punished, about being shown ingratitude , about being homeless, about being poor.He says in the next chapter

2Co 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

Jesus was poor so that they could become rich. How many Christians are rich today because of Christ’s sufferings? Many. But let us not forget that it is Paul who is writing this chapter and he also claims, like Christ, to have chosen to be poor so that he can make others rich.

“As poor, yet making many rich.”

Many missionaries today are poor so that they can make others rich. We can also choose this path if we want to. If we count others interests more than our own we will choose this path. Paul gladly embraced the sufferings of Christ so he could share in the same life that Christ had. He allowed his flesh to be torn asunder to reveal the divine nature of God in his visible life. Dying, yet behold we live. Paul was glad of the opportunity to be thrown to wild beasts in Ephesus so that he could witness to the resurrection. If there were no resurrection he would have been wallowing in a pity pit about all the things that he suffered for Christ but his sight of eternity caused him to rejoice in these tribulations as they were storing up for him a weight of glory. If you cant see the living God and don’t believe in the resurrection all you have to do is take a good hard look at the life of Paul and you will be convinced of eternity and of God himself. What pure, holy love it was with which he loved his persecutors. What passionate zeal it was which influenced his followers in Macedonia.

“Who in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality”

The Macedonians gave their money because they had seen that Christ and Paul had become poor so that they might be rich. Paul urges the Corinthians to do likewise. He motivates them by his poverty, not by his wealth. This is the manifestation of truth, which commends him to every man in the sight of God. This is the sword of truth, the weapon of Righteousness which pierces consciences and convinces men “surely these are the sons of God” The creation is longing for the revealing of the Sons of God but until we learn to walk in the same manner that Christ and his Apostles walked they will see nothing but Man’s Flesh.

Rom.8: 18, 19 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed,

For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.

The Sons of God are revealed as we manifest the agape love of God, which is Christ in us. This Christ love, which is the very life of Christ, which is in us, is revealed in adversity. That is why Paul tells us further on in this Chapter that,

“For thy sake we are being put to death all day long’
We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” (Rom.8:36)

Who is putting us to death all day long? Why, God of course, the one who put Jesus to death on a cross as a Lamb to be slaughtered. And in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer because these things cannot separate us from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. God gives us over to tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness peril and the sword amidst countless other afflictions so that the Sons of God may be manifest. This is the true and only possible interpretation of Romans 8.

So when someone says “ we are more than conquerors “ inferring that God will save us from having to suffer any of these afflictions, that person is deceived about the true meaning of the verse in question.

As Christ had to suffer and enter into glory so we who desire to share his glory must be willing to suffer with him so that he will be manifested in us. To the degree that we share in his sufferings we will share in his glory. We have been called for this purpose. Christ is our example, and as he suffered and uttered no threats, as he was reviled and did not revile in return, we also are called to be like Lambs before the slaughter in the face of famine, nakedness, peril and the sword.

“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth, and while being reviled he did not revile in return, while suffering he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously” 1 Peter 2:21

Paul followed Christ’s example, and the testimony of having done this was his greatest weapon of warfare against the lies of the enemy. The enemy says” You cant be Christ like on this earth; you must just accept you are saved by faith through Grace and you will always be just a human being. This is a lie; the potential is in each of us to be manifestly sons of God here on earth as Paul was. Paul had no advantage over any of us; Christ is in the lowliest believer as much as he was in Paul. The only difference is that Paul embraced the sufferings of Christ while most Christians do everything possible to escape from suffering. We have inherited a Gospel that makes us believe that Gods sole purpose in our lives is to make us more comfortable and enjoy to the full all that the world has to offer. God actually has a far higher Agenda in mind, and that is the revealing of a people who are of a heavenly substance.

The Corinthian church was torn between two loyalties. On the one hand they had the Apostles that Paul talks about in 2 Cor.11: 13, that exalt themselves, impress with eloquence and human personality, riches and Letters.
On the other hand we have Paul and the true apostles who are “fools for Christ sake, hungry and thirsty, poorly clothed and homeless. Yet it is the last band of apostles who reveal the manifest presence of God in their lives. Paul spends chapters boasting about his sufferings to show up the shallowness of these other apostles. This is the primary theme of the whole book of 2 Corinthians and it cannot be understood at all except in this light. He accentuates constantly the difference between his ministry and the ministry of these other men. He is fighting a vicious battle in this letter for the very church that he had planted with Timothy and Silas.What are his Weapons? The meekness and gentleness of Christ. He shames the Corinthian church into a Godly sorrow, piercing them with the testimony of his own life, a life conformed to Christ, his sufferings for their sake, which are actually Christs sufferings. Christ is filling up in Paul what was lacking in his earthly sufferings (Colloss. 1:24) Paul’s tears and his Christ like love breaks their hearts and he wins against his adversaries.

Jesus sufferings on the Cross were not sufficient. They were sufficient for the sake of redemption, and we cannot add anything to Christ’s redemption, but if the Church is to be in this world what God intended it to be, then Christ must suffer more in the Body of Christ so that his life might be imparted (see 2 Corinthians 10 – 12)
. This is what Matthew Henry’s commentary says about this:

Both the sufferings of the Head and of the members are called the sufferings of Christ, and make up, as it were, one body of sufferings. But He suffered for the redemption of the church; we suffer on other accounts; for we do but slightly taste that cup of afflictions of which Christ first drank deeply. A Christian may be said to fill up that which remains of the sufferings of Christ, when he takes up his cross, and after the pattern of Christ, bears patiently the afflictions God allots to him.

Paul understood this principle and used it to its full extent; there is a connection between his sufferings and his great power. He says that at one time he asked God to take away these sufferings but God said to him that they should remain because Gods power is perfected in the weakness that comes through suffering. So Paul accepted this as Gods way, which is higher than mans ways, and continued to submit to affliction so that Gods power might flow through him.

Let us put away childish things and take up the spiritual weapons that God has given to us.

Now these are the weapons of righteousness, which are being wielded by Paul. These weapons are the power of God and are intrinsically connected to a Holy character. There is no power for those that are lacking in Holiness. Power is not signs and wonders, signs and wonders do not bring men to repentance. It is catching sight of the Righteousness of God that brings men to repentance. This is what commends Paul and his fellow apostles and makes them distinct from the false apostles.

2Co 6:3 We are in nothing giving cause of stumbling, in no way, so that the ministry may not be blamed,
2Co 6:4 but in everything commending ourselves as God's servants, in much patience, in troubles, in emergencies, in distresses,
2Co 6:5 in stripes, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings;
2Co 6:6 in pureness, in knowledge, in long-suffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in love unfeigned

In love unfeigned. What does this mean? It means real love, Agape love, not a fake acted out love. It is the same love that Christ had. It is revealed only as they lay their lives down for the Corinthians as Christ laid his life down for us. It is revealed in suffering. It is the Righteousness of God revealed through Paul’s life to the Corinthians. This is what brings them to repentance.
In this second book of Corinthians we hear Paul constantly commending himself

Are we beginning to commend ourselves 3:1
We are not again commending ourselves 5:12
In everything commending ourselves 6:4
By the manifestation of truth commending ourselves 4:2
Those who commend themselves 10:12
I should have been commended by you 12:11

For not he who commends himself is approved but whom the Lord commends 10:18

These verses are a key to understanding the book of Two Corinthians. Paul is in the midst of a conflict concerning his authority to speak to the Corinthians versus the authority of those whom he calls false apostles. This is the theme of the book.
In the course of defending his credentials he accomplishes an even greater purpose, he reveals to them what the true Christian life is really all about. Now he claims to be crafty, although previously in chapter 4 he says they refuse to be crafty. This is the craftiness of God and not fleshly craftiness.

2Co 12:16 But let it be so, I did not burden you. But being crafty, I caught you with bait.

All this time you have been thinking that we are defending ourselves to you. Actually it is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your up building, beloved (2 Cor.12:19)

This is a key verse for the book. Paul, in defending himself, accomplishes two things.
One.) He exposes his opposition, and puts them to shame. They would never lay down their lives the way he has for the flock.
Two). He demonstrates irrefutably what is the essence of the Christian life, for the up building of the saints.

Paul wants the saints to be built up. What kind of building ought this to be? Paul knows how to build as a wise master builder and he exposes the false building practices of his opponents.

2 Cor.5: 1 We have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heaven.

This is the building that Paul is interested in. It is unseen. It is eternal. And it is not made by human hands. It has no relation to what is seen on earth. It is a house that will only be revealed when Jesus returns.

The false apostles are more concerned about appearances. They are concerned with earthly things. In the same chapter:

We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us so that you have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart (.5:12)

Paul reveals his heart to them; he reveals to them a building, which has been made without human hands, a building which will be revealed to physical sight only when Christ returns. He compares this building, for any that have eyes to see, with the buildings of the false apostles. A few verses later he says, “from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh. The false apostles are judging Paul’s building according to the flesh, what they can see.

Please stay with me, it will all become apparent to you in due time.
You are looking at things outwardly (10:7) Paul says. You think my personal presence is unimpressive and my speech contemptible. (10:10) You commend yourselves when you compare yourselves with each other, but you are commending yourselves for the wrong reasons. Eloquence, personal appearance, elegance of dress, strength of personality, all these have to do with the earthly tent that is going to be torn down. Don’t invest in it. Don’t use these outward qualities as an incentive to others in the work of God. There are some false apostles who use these qualities to impress the ignorant but I want you to realize that these qualities are short lived, they belong to the earthly tent which is about to be torn down.

Look at my heart says Paul. Do you not see Christ in me? On the outside I may be poor and unattractive. I may be poorly clothed, roughly treated and homeless, but be careful, don’t judge me according to the flesh; have you not caught sight of my heart? This is my only true qualification, and it might not seem very important to you who put such stock in the value of these earthly qualities of dress, appearance and personality but this is the only thing that is solid and lasting for eternity. This is Christ within me, can you see him?

Examine yourselves, is Christ in you? Paul says. Strip off all the outward things of personality, appearance and possessions. Does the love of God burn in your heart as it does in mine? Are you able to manifest the Righteousness of Christ in the midst of hardships, labours, beatings, imprisonments, accusations of being a deceiver, ingratitude, and homelessness? Can you love those who hurt you? Is Christ in you? - Unless indeed you fail the test. I trust that you realize we ourselves do not fail the test. (13:6)

This Christ within us has a potential of growing. It is this very environment of hostility that is the perfect hothouse for the growth of this indwelling Christ. Why do you try to avoid these hardships of which I speak? Is it because you are following as examples these apostles who commend themselves by outward fleshly qualities and not those of the heart? Don’t follow them because that outward building is going to be torn down, it pertains to this creation. Follow me as I follow Christ.

Paul knew that only holiness had any value for eternity .The righteousness which is Christ within each believer is hidden to the worldly eye, but is visible to God, and is the only reward of Christ’s sufferings on the cross. This is our inheritance, and we have no other. Our inheritance is Christ himself, and what else should we desire but this? We will gladly give all things to grow in this holiness.

At this time this righteousness is hidden. It is the new creation and not part of this world at all. But the time will come when it will be revealed what we are.

The world does not know us, Paul shows us how the false apostles walk according to the flesh cant see Christ in him because they are looking at outward things. John tells us in 1 John 3:1,2

We are children of God. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know him.

Jesus came outwardly as “ a root out of parched ground, he had no stately appearance about him or majesty, (his personal appearance was unimpressive) that we should be drawn to him, he was like one from whom men hide their face. (Isaiah 53) The world did not recognize him as the Son of God and neither did they recognize Paul. Paul followed in the footsteps of Christ. So did John, and the world didn’t see the hidden Christ in him either. Righteousness is not a visible quality on this earth so we don’t put too much effort into it because men can’t see it and we don’t get applauded for it.

The false apostles compare themselves with each other and glory in their fabulous buildings, their state of the art sound systems and sharp clothes. Some glory in letters and degrees, organizational ability and charismatic personality. Paul refuses to boast in anything but his sufferings for Christ and how even in those sufferings he never becomes angry, impatient or vindictive. The more he suffers, the more his Christ likeness shines through, like treasure in a broken vessel. Those who are not looking at outward things see this manifestation of Christ.

Now John says that we are now children of God, we who practice righteousness. Righteousness is the evidence of Christ within us, and righteousness is not visible in this creation. But just as Jesus who was once hidden to men will appear in his true form to judge the world we too will appear with him, and we shall be like him. (1 John 3:2)

The building which is Christ within us is the building that Paul is concerned with, the inner man, the new creation,” the new self which in the likeness of God is created in righteousness and Holiness of the truth” (Eph. 4:24)

This new self does not yet have a resurrection body, we are still living in our old bodies, we are living in tents according to 2 Corinthians 5:1.

For we know that if the earthly tent, which is our house, is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Tents are temporary; our heavenly building is forever. The new building which is being constructed for us in heaven is being constructed according to the parameters of our transformation into the likeness of Christ. This means that when Christ appears in his glory, and we appear with him we shall be like him in the sense that as his eternal righteousness and Holiness will be visible qualities so our righteousness and holiness will be visible qualities and we will shine as he does. He will shine as the sun at midday and we will shine in different degrees according to the degree that we have been changed into his likeness. (1 Cor. 15:41)

1Co 15:40 There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the glory of the heavenly is truly different, and that of the earthly different;
1Co 15:41 one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.
1Co 15:42 So also the resurrection of the dead.

Our resurrection bodies will be a visible manifestation of Holiness. If we have spent our whole lives trying to be noticed by men by concentrating on the outer appearance of our tent in looks, dress, personality, education etc. then the praise we have received will be our reward and in the resurrection we will receive bodies that are like faint twinkling stars. If, like Paul, we have been hidden from men and have concentrated all our energy on the inner transformation into the likeness of Christ, then we will shine like the sun, because it will be he himself that is being revealed in us.

Phi 3:20 We, however, are citizens of heaven, and we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven.
Phi 3:21 He will change our weak mortal bodies and make them like his own glorious body, using that power by which he is able to bring all things under his rule.

John says that he who has this hope purifies himself. The purity of Christ will be revealed on that day in our physical bodies. If we don’t know about this resurrection body we might just spend too much time and effort and money on this earthly body and earthly things because that is what is visible to men on earth and pleasing to their senses. Our Charisma and personality is also that which appeals to men here and now, and this will likewise have no bearing on the degree of Glory of our resurrection bodies. Nor will how much wealth we have accumulated, like the rich man who built many barns; this too we will leave behind. Our reputations and titles in the world and in the church will be left behind. The fire will burn up all these things, so be careful how you build. (1 Cor.3: 13) All of our works will be burned up, our efforts in ministry and our charitable deeds. Many shall suffer loss but will be saved as by fire. (1 Cor. 3: 15) All that will remain is the degree to which we have practically been changed into the likeness of Christ.
If we understand this we will purify ourselves.

What weeping and Lament there will be on that Day! What remorse and sadness. What opportunities we have lost to be changed into Christ’s likeness! We have avoided obedience to Christ because obedience to Christ always leads to suffering. All of Christ’s commands crucify our selfishness. We would rather just be” saved by faith” and enjoy all the pleasures and comforts of the world than to take up the Cross of Christ which is the instrument that God use to purify us.

Don’t be fooled, we cannot be changed into Christ’s likeness except through suffering. Tribulation is the very hothouse within which Christ grows. The false apostles who are enemies of the cross of Christ, who set their mind on earthly things, and whose glory is their shame, are robbing you of the riches that you may have in Christ if they say that you need not suffer.

Phi 3:17 Brothers, be imitators together of me, and mark those who walk this way, for you have us for a pattern.
Phi 3:18 (For many are walking, of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping, as the enemies of the cross of Christ;
Phi 3:19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, those who mind earthly things.)

Paul says that we should follow the pattern of his life if we want to be transformed into the image of Christ. The pattern of his life was the Cross of Christ; he wanted to be conformed to the death of Christ so that he may attain to the resurrection of the dead. He shared in the sufferings of Christ so that he might share in his glory. The next few verse in Philippians deal with this.

Phi 3:20 for our citizenship is in Heaven, from which also we are looking for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Phi 3:21 who shall change our body of humiliation so that it may be fashioned like His glorious body, according to the working of His power, even to subdue all things to Himself.

In Corinthians 4, just before Paul talks about our earthly body and our heavenly body, he says this:
2Co 3:18 But we all, with our face having been unveiled, having beheld the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord Spirit.

We are being changed into the image of Christ, we are partaking of the divine nature, and this is our inheritance.

2Co 4:16 For this cause we do not faint; but though our outward man perishes, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
2Co 4:17 For the lightness of our present affliction works out for us a far more excellent eternal weight of glory,
2Co 4:18 we not considering the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are not lasting, but the things which are not seen are everlasting.

The outward man may be perishing through the afflictions that we go through but through these afflictions the inner man, the new self is being created in righteousness. We become Holy as we go through the fires of suffering. It is the only way that Christ is perfected in us. We should not be running away from the Way of the Cross-, we should be embracing it as Paul did. Those who are enemies of the Way of the Cross glory in earthly things like impressive appearance and titles and look with derision at Paul and the apostles who are poorly clothed and homeless, suffering all that Christ suffered.

Peter tells us in his book that to the degree that we share in the sufferings of Christ we should rejoice because at the revelation of his glory we may rejoice with exaltation. Why on earth should we rejoice when we are homeless, as Christ was, when we are poor, as Christ was, regarded as deceivers as Christ was, shown ingratitude, as Christ was, persecuted for doing the right thing, as Christ was? Why should we rejoice when we suffer? Well, simply because it is suffering that makes Christ grow more in us and one day when Christ is revealed in his Glory the Christ in us will also be revealed in Glory.

Now if we refuse to take up our Cross and follow Christ in the path of suffering that comes when we obey his commandment that does not mean we will escape suffering. In this world you will have tribulation, Christ promised, and there is not a man or woman alive who will not experience suffering, suffering is the nature of this world. All of those sufferings will help in our transformation into the likeness of Christ, depending upon our reaction to them. But the degree of suffering we can expect will be in proportion to the degree we choose to be obedient to Christ. Paul, who points to himself as a perfect representative of obedience to Christ suffered more than any other man. This Christ likeness in him was targeted by all the Hordes of Hell, he even had a personal tormentor assigned to him, an Angel of Satan who was given the task of making Paul suffer as much as any living man could suffer. How else can we explain a man who was shipwrecked four times in one lifetime? The description in Acts of his fourth shipwreck comes after he wrote 2 Corinthians when he mentions three shipwrecks that he had suffered. Three times he was beaten with rods, five times received the thirty-nine lashes that Jesus received once, imprisoned on many occasions and often without food.

Paul asked God three times to remove this demonic angel that buffeted him continuously, but God refused to take it away, he said

2Co 12:9 My grace suffices thee; for my power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather boast in my weaknesses, that the power of the Christ may dwell upon me.
2Co 12:10 Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, in straits, for Christ: for when I am weak, then I am powerful.

Paul calls these afflictions light because he is comparing them to the eternal weight of glory that they are producing for him. They are growing within him Christ who is our hope of glory.

In this study we have gained some insight into Paul’s methods in building up the Corinthian Church. We have seen that the weapons that he used were not the kind of weapons that are used by the world. We have seen that in revealing his heart to the Corinthian Church he does more than defend himself, he shows to them the ultimate purpose that God has for his Church, and he shows them the path that they have been called to follow. May God richly bless you all in the true knowledge of him.

An Age of Crass Materialism

2007-06-28T10:42:00.000-07:00

Prophetic warning to the church

We are living in an age of crass materialism and ungodliness. The church, as the Corinthian church of New Testament times, has embraced worldliness and greed and has justified this with a whole new brand of teachings, which bear little resemblance to the teachings of Jesus or the apostle Paul.

Christians have emphasized “Being in the world but not of the world”, not for the purpose of being a fragrant of Christ to those who are perishing, but rather so that the pleasures of the world may be indulged in with the sanction of the church.

Fear of being accused of legalism has caused teachers to compromise the Gospel teaching. The call of Jesus Christ to self-denial has been eliminated from the teaching agenda. The consequences of this error are to be observed all around us in shallowness of spirituality, greediness, immorality, and lack of love.

Most sadly, fellowship languishes due to the missing presence of Christ who has been elbowed out by the presence of so much self-life

This “Being in the world” teaching, for all its right intentions, has failed miserably because of the low spirituality of those being taught to be in the world. Instead of influencing the world, Christians have been consumed by the world. Of course we should be in the world, but not of the nature of the world. The disciple who is right in the midst of the world and lives a life of humility, sainthood, and self-denial will be to the world a fragrance of Christ and a source of hope to those caught up in the mad rush of selfishness and pleasure seeking. But those who are to weak to resist this worldly miasma would be better advised to flee from temptation.

Satan has engineered a society that chews up Christians and reduces them to limp and cowering slaves of the system. If the salt has lost its saltiness it is not even fit for the dung heap. If our doctrine of “Being in the world”, was accompanied by;” Take up your cross, deny yourself, and follow Me”, then we might have changed society and social structures. As it is however, the church is doing precious little to reverse the downward spiral of decadence.

We must call the church of God back to the teachings of Christ and the practice of the early church. We need to boldly preach a gospel that deeply changes the way we live our lives. There should be a difference between the Christian church and the world. Obedience to Christ’s teachings would render the church salt in a rotten society. It would not take much saltiness to savour the whole pot. Our missionary movements are insipid and ineffective because the sent are merely a reflection of the senders.

The body of Christ has lost its iron in its haste to enjoy the passing pleasures of this life. Whatever happened to eternity? Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 that he is more to be pitied than all men if there is no resurrection. How many of us can say that with him? He said: “I die daily”, and he did die daily, because his eyes were fixed on the hope of an eternal weight of glory which was weighty by virtue of his contempt for earthly gain. If today’s Christians make it into eternity by the grace of God, they will weep and lament at the opportunities they have lost.

Let us not loose any more opportunities. Let us face up to Christ’s commands as a cancer patient submits to the knife of the surgeon.
The very commands that we fear are those that have the power to resurrect us from the corruption that is among us and by God’s power will transport us into heavenly places.

What price will we pay for the fellowship of the saints?

Let the man who has two tunics share with him who has none, and let him who has food do likewise.
This is John’s teaching on what repentance is. Repentance from a life of self-indulgence and covetousness.
“Weep and howl”, says James, “for the miseries which are coming upon you…You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure, you have fattened your heart in a day of slaughter”.

This is the word of the Lord to the church in this age. We would be well to heed it. It breaks the heart of Jesus to see Christians rushing to squander their hard earned money on trifles while those whom they call their brothers are living a short distance away in poverty and deprivation

“Those who are rich in this present world”(1 Tim.6: 17) would do well to live simply, be frugal, despise fashion without forsaking beauty, and use their excess of wealth for the extension of God’s kingdom, laying up their wealth where no rust can destroy”. It is shameful to see those who are called to be saints, playing with expensive toys, and to see this squandering amongst the leaders of the church is inexcusable.

If the teachings of Christ are not allowed to enter these shrines of covetousness, then it is no wonder that it is not Christ but mammon that is ruling Christians lives.

Let us make friends for our selves by means of the mammon of unrighteousness. Let us act wisely as the sons of light.

“Sell your possessions and give to charity…” Do it. Be freed from the tyranny of the world. It is obedience to Christ’s commands that frees us from the tyranny of self.

No wonder “Christianity didn’t work” if you never practiced it. No wonder you never received the pearl of great price, because you never paid the price.

“No one of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions”. If these words have become an offence, then they serve their purpose in showing where the offended one is standing. No true disciple of Christ can be offended by these words. If they are new to your ears, then the Christ that you serve is not the one that Paul preached of. Let us return to the Christ of scripture whose words hurt but heal.

“Blessed are you who are poor. Woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.” Why are Christians running away from the very thing that is their deliverance? Jesus commanded us to embrace a life of suffering, knowing that this was the door into the kingdom of God. “Through tribulation you must enter the Kingdom.”

No one in their sane mind searches for suffering, but if it comes as a consequence of obedience to Christ’s commands, then it is a privilege and a means to glory. Unfortunately most of us have not caught sight of that eternal glory and any of Christ’s commands that compromise the enjoyment of earthly glory is dispensed with.

If you had to become poor for Christ’s sake what is that? Did you not know that God has chosen the poor of this world to become rich in faith and inheritors of His Kingdom? (James 2:5)

How many do you know who can boast of having become poor for Christ’s sake? The great in faith you wouldn’t know because of the social barriers that have been erected to protect those who have, from those that have not. Invisible barriers not to be mentioned divide the church. The ones who erect the barriers deprive themselves of fellowship with the saints of God. It is not poverty itself that enriches these saints but it is the spirit of Christ in those who are suffering that becomes abundant life indeed.

Our role model should be Christ Himself and not a clone of what the world perceives to be success. Why should we attract the world by imitating the scions of Hollywood or the corporate business world? The very success of this kind of motivation is the death knell of the church, as the pews fill up with those who seek after the glory that is below. This strategy is natural, carnal, and demonic. It is the wisdom of the world. The truly wise would better follow the Man of Nazareth.

“He who is wise among you let him glory in his humiliation.”

If this kind of teaching is foreign to your ears then it is because the church has drifted so far from Christ and substituted His teachings with modern quick fix business strategies designed to give easy returns.

Our Heavenly Garments

2007-06-28T10:40:00.000-07:00

Genesis 2:25 “ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed”

Many great Bible teachers (See notes at end) share the belief that Adam and Eve were clothed in a robe of light that covered their nakedness with the Glory of God.They were not aware of their nakedness because it was eclipsed by an incomparable weight of glory. This Glory they lost when they sinned, finding themselves shamefully reduced to a mere animal condition, which they attempted to cover with fig leaves sewn together.

The Majestic Glory of God so inhabited the frail body of Adam that it filled and covered him with the same glory that Jesus had on the mount of transfiguration. This indwelling of God departed upon eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In this way, Adam died unto God and became alive to the world around him. He discovered that he was naked, something he was not aware of before because of the overwhelming awareness of God’s indwelling presence. He became self aware and self centered. The robe of God’s presence was lost to him, and he found himself to be shameful, fearful and distressed. His Spirit man died, but he survived as a man of flesh, his soul continuing to live in a body, craving satisfaction from the world around him. This soul, without the glorious robe of the indwelling Spirit man made in the image of God, became a weak ruler over a lustful body and found itself incessantly giving in to the fleshly demands of his body even when those demands were evil.

Adam was ashamed at his condition. His principal lust was that of his sexual desire for his wife, and the covering up of his sexual organs became a symbolic attempt to cover the shamefulness of his insatiable desire for all that is in the world. He sought to cover up this lustfulness with fig leaves. As you can imagine, this superficial treatment of his problem did nothing to change his condition. He continued to be lustful because nothing in his environment could fill the dreadful craving, the void he had in his inner man as a result of his spiritual death and separation from God. God had mercy on Adam’s pitiful attempt to cover up, providing Adam and Eve with a more appropriate covering, a garment of skin from an animal sacrificed for this purpose. The entire account from Genesis is heavy with symbolism, and as an account inspired by God has infinite layers of truth which even eternity will not be sufficient to reveal.

In my teaching I would like to focus specifically on the nakedness of Adam and his wife and God’s plan for their re-covering. The animal skin with which God clothed them was only a provisional measure, it was a symbolic covering or atonement for the sin which they had committed, the blood of the animal sacrificed to make this clothing atoned for their sin. The animal had paid the price; it had suffered death in their place and was a prefiguring of the substitutionary death that Jesus was to die at the cross for the sins of the world.

However, no matter how efficacious the death of the animal was for the atonement of their guilt before God, this cover of animal skin fell far short of restoration to their Paradisal state, the bloody animal skin was only the pledge of a promise to have his original covering restored, that inner robe of God’s indwelling presence which transcended the animal body of Adam and covered him with Glory. The Robe that had been removed because of his sin. Everything that happens during the time of this provisional covering up of man’s loins up to the receiving of his new clothing is an intermediate and preparatory period looking towards the new beginning. Full redemption has not taken place until the robe is restored.

Indeed many thousands of years later we find Elijah the Tishbite still covered with a leather girdle about his loins, an ongoing symbolic man covering up the shame of his natural lust with the skin of an animal. A man with a nature like ours, says James in the New Testament. Even today we continue to cover up our loins, not necessarily with a skin, but certainly with enough nylon or cotton to hide the shame of our natural body which is still lustful because it has not had it’s covering of paradisal glory restored. This proves that we are still in the preparatory stages of redemption; we are not yet fully saved. We are being saved.

But when Elijah appeared with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration he was no longer wearing his leather girdle but together with Moses was clothed in blinding glory, such that Peter, James and John were terrified. In a sense they were looking into the future, which in God’s timeless eternity is always present. They had a glimpse of what their future state would also be, a revelation of the Glory that is going to be restored, something which Peter wrote more about many years later in his epistle.

The true appearance of Christ, what he really looks like, had been hidden to everyone up till then, and now, during one brief moment, he revealed himself to his three closest disciples. Isaiah had prophesied that the Christ would grow up before men “as a root out of dry ground, with no majesty or form that anyone should be drawn towards him.” Jesus walked as a man of dust, as naked as Adam was after he had lost his Robe of Heavenly splendour, the indwelling glory of God. Jesus, having left his glory in heaven, was naked. This appearance was deceptive and resulted in the Lord of Glory being spat upon and finally crucified as a common criminal.

After Jesus was received back into glory he appeared to John in the revelation and John fell at his feet as though dead. His face was like the sun shining in its strength, his eyes were like a flame of fire, and his voice like the sound of a thundering waterfall! We wonder sometimes why Jesus does not reveal himself to the world like this. If we had it our way, we would have him revealed, as his own brothers wanted him revealed. They said to Jesus, “No-one does anything in secret when he seeks to be known publicly. Show yourself to the world!”

However, Jesus continued in his hidden state and remains hidden even today. If he did reveal himself in his terrible majesty the whole world would fall at his feet, but for the wrong reasons. He still walks as naked today as ever he was upon the earth. None but the willing eye can see his glory. He is like the King who dresses like a beggar and goes wandering throughout his Kingdom asking for alms at the doorways of his citizens. When did we see you a stranger, Lord, and invite you in, or naked and clothe you?

In Philippians 2 we read that Christ Jesus “emptied himself, taking the form of a bond servant, and being made in the likeness of men”. He was not only naked of his heavenly glory, but also naked of the things that make men weighty in this world. Paul, who wrote Philippians, also chose to walk in the nakedness of his master.

Like Jesus, Paul wanted men to be drawn not by something that appealed to their fleshly appetites, or their fear, but by the power of God. Jesus emptied himself and became a servant. Paul also empties himself to become a servant. He uses none of the tricks of rank, education and caste to intimidate or attract those to whom he preaches. No religious collar, scarlet robe or fancy headgear. No impressive title or entourage. No leonine appearance, commanding presence, rich voice or piercing eyes. No flamboyant gestures or raised platform. No seducing gifts or rod of correction. In fact he becomes one as to whom men hide their faces, poorly clothed, homeless and roughly treated. He walked as a beggar like Jesus and became a stone of stumbling to all but those whose eyes had been opened by the grace of God. The Galatians received Paul as an angel of God despite a fleshly infirmity that he had, a condition that would have made him repulsive to men. “That which was a trial to you in my condition you did not despise or loathe, but you received me as an angel of God”

Paul did ask God to remove this infirmity, but God chose not to. Like his Son, God wished for Paul to walk in nakedness. Paul writes a lot in the epistles about his infirmities. (The word infirmity means weakness.) He wrote that Jesus Christ was crucified because of weakness. (2Cor.13: 4) Jesus was naked of the power of this world. Born the son of a poor carpenter in a cave used for animals, raised in an inconsequential village of Galilee, it was no wonder that he was despised, mocked and finally crucified. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” was Nathaniel’s question, and obviously a common opinion of the day.

In fact, all that Paul had to commend himself before men, he forsook, counting it as dung. He knew that his rhetorical abilities acquired under Gamaliel, the qualifications of his birth, his natural zeal, and his wealth, (being the son of a rich merchant), were all disadvantages in the service of a Master who had called most of his disciples from the lowest and most uneducated classes. What would have been advantageous to Paul he despised because he knew how easy it would be to put his confidence in these things instead of putting his confidence in God. Why is it that when Jesus called his disciples he told them to give away all their money? The reason is because money is probably the greatest deceiver among men and that which men want most. We have this false notion that with more money we can be more effective in God’s work. The opposite is true, according to the Wisdom of God, which is foolishness to the natural mind. The ideal way to start a missionary life is not to go around collecting money but to give away all your money. Jesus sent his disciples out without a purse to teach them where their provision really came from, and once they had learned that he then allowed them to take a purse. The same applied to the staff, which was an instrument of self defense. (Math.10:10) God can trust us with a purse or a sword once we have learned that he is our provider and our protector. Jesus sent his disciples out naked of worldly power to teach them to trust in God.

Naked, let us follow the naked Christ.

We can sow to the natural life and grow in an earthly covering which is visible or we can sow to the spirit man and grow in a heavenly covering that is hidden. It would be nice if we could grow in both ways at the same time, but unfortunately the truth is that sowing to the flesh reaps corruption. Jesus could have tried to fulfill his ministry and at the same time enjoy all the security and pleasure the world has to offer, but he didn’t; and neither did any of his disciples. They chose to despise what is highly esteemed amongst men and set up for themselves the goal of seeking the hidden treasure of the divine nature, which is precious in the sight of God. Indeed, all the tribulations that they faced because of their refusal to clothe themselves in worldly power and influence, they received with joy, because without tribulation the gold of the Divine nature cannot be refined. Thus we hear Paul speaking of participating in the sufferings of Christ as a privilege and not a burden.

The secure natural covering with which we seek to cover ourselves is anyway going to be stripped from us when we die. Our money, our education, our sophistication, our good taste, our possessions, our reputation, our physical looks are all only a superficial covering which we cultivate to earn the esteem of one another. Even in our churches we say to a rich men, “ you sit here in a good place” and to poor men “you stand over there” Have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil motives? , Says James in his letter. We should be careful not to judge superficially because that poor man we have despised may, in the resurrection, be like one “whose appearance is like lightning”!

Our natural covering makes us feel secure and important in this world. A nice body, a nice car, a nice title, a nice wife, a nice house, a nice job, all of these things are what we primarily seek to adorn ourselves with when we go out into the world. Kindness, gentleness, patience and humility don’t quite get the same attention. However, it will be the hidden riches of the heart that are eternal, and all of these other trappings we will lose. “Come now you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming on you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth eaten!”

“Clothe yourselves with humility” Peter says. The heavenly garment of a humble and quiet spirit is not visible in this world, and those who choose to despise titles, property and honors in this world feel themselves to be naked. The garments of purity, holiness, love, kindness and patience are invisible and do not commend us before men, and so they who prefer to clothe themselves with these, giving only a little attention to worldly garments, suffer much mocking and abuse, because they appear naked to men. They do not seek to make themselves attractive in the world’s eyes, preferring to be commended by God who observes the heart. They become a “spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men”

“Beloved, we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when he appears, we shall be like him, just as he is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”(1John3:2,the italics are mine)

Purity is not a visible thing in this world, and thus gets little attention. The purity of Jesus was not visible; his Divine nature was hidden because he came in the likeness of sinful flesh. He came in a body like Adam had after the fall, the blinding glory of his real nature was left in Heaven, and he was naked in this world in the likeness of Adam. Unlike Adam, Jesus did not run to clothe himself to cover his shame. The sense of shame that we are all born with drives us to seek honors, distinction, wealth and possessions to cover our shame. Jesus had no shame to cover, and thus he could be born in a stable of undistinguished parenthood without wanting to cover up his origin. When he spoke disparagingly of money the Pharisees laughed at him “for they were lovers of money” “ What is highly esteemed amongst men,” he said, “ is abominable in the sight of God” God is not impressed with our clothes or titles, he looks at our hearts.

See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God, writes John. As Christians we have nothing to be ashamed of, we are the children of God! What need do we have of the coverings with which men cover themselves; we have a heavenly garment which is being made for us in Heaven!

“Who is this that grows like the Dawn, as beautiful as the full moon, as pure as the sun, as awesome as an army with banners?” This is a description of how we shall appear when Jesus appears as He really is. The hidden qualities of the heart, the Divine nature which is our real inheritance, is growing, and will become visible to all of creation on that day when Jesus, like the sun, appears in his Glory. When he appears on that new day in Glory, we also will appear in glory, and we shall be like him, just as he is. If we have this hope, we will strive to become pure, because although purity is unnoticed now it will be a visible quality when Jesus returns in his new body and we have restored to us the heavenly robe that Adam lost when he sinned. We will be adorned with the divine nature.

Unfortunately many Christians do not understand this, or do not want to understand this, and spend more time seeking for garments which are esteemed in this world at the expense of the heavenly garment that is currently being made in Heaven for us. “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in Glory.” Our garment in heaven is being perfected, embroidered, having precious pearls sewn into it and growing in light and magnificence according to the degree that our natures are being conformed to the nature of Jesus.

“To the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of his glory, you may rejoice with exultation.” Every patient enduring of trials, every quiet forgiveness of wrongs received sews a new jewel or pearl onto our heavenly bridal gown. “And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints”

“Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, those who did good deeds to a resurrection of life, and those who committed evil deeds to a resurrection of judgement.”(John 5:28)

The mortal resurrection body made of dust that comes from the ground will put on the garment of the glorious spiritual body that is at this very moment being prepared for us in Heaven. “This mortal must put on immortality” The resurrection body will be a physical body but will be clothed with God as Adam had been before he sinned. No corruption will be possible within the covering of this glorious divine presence; we will be clothed in divine immortality. At the last trumpet the dead will be raised and will become clothed in different degrees of glory and will shine in a visible manifestation of the divine nature that has been increasing according to our trials on earth. Those of us who remain alive will in the twinkling of an eye be changed, receiving the physical resurrection body and the heavenly garment which covers it. Like Adam before the fall, the divine presence of God will shine with such power that our physical bodies will not be visible, we will be clothed with the light of God’s glory in different measures, some like the sun, some like the moon, and another like the glory of the stars, for star differs from star in glory. This perishable will put on the imperishable; this mortal will put on immortality! (1Cor 15)

Therefore, Paul says in the last verse, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Cor. 15:58) Nothing on earth is our reward, nor successful ministry, nor riches, nor pleasure. Our reward is the heavenly garment of the divine nature with which we will be clothed when Christ appears in his glory.

Paul writes earlier in this same chapter of Corinthians: “if we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.” The incentive to embrace the hardships of the apostolic life is this promise of a glorious reward. If there is no resurrection, he says, we might as well just eat and drink. Elsewhere he writes: “indeed, while we are in this tent (body), we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life”(2 Cor 5:4)

Paul’s nakedness was compensated by the knowledge that though his outer man was decaying because of his suffering, his inner man was being transformed into the image of the Lord from glory to glory. This light affliction was producing for him an eternal weight of glory. The earthly tent of his body would soon be torn down and he would receive an eternal building from God.

Every bride looks forward to the day when she can put on a magnificent bridal gown and present herself before her groom. The book of Revelations tells us “ and it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. When Christ appears for his wedding in his glorious garments, we also will be robed in robes of righteousness, the robe that Adam lost at the fall, the indwelling visible, divine holiness of God. And we “will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven,….and like the stars forever and ever” says Daniel.

Some will come to that feast without that robe, without wedding clothes, and will be bound hand and foot, and cast into the outer darkness. Many are called, but if we want to be the chosen we must make our calling and election sure. ( Matt.22:12-14)

“Brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you, for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble, in this way the entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.”

What are “these things” that Peter is speaking about? Well, if we read the previous verses (2 Peter 1:1-11) we see that he is speaking about the attributes of the divine nature, moral excellence, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. The promises of God have been given to us so that we may become clothed with the divine nature.

All men will be resurrected according to John 5:29.The physical resurrection body will then be clothed with the divine nature for some, and others will be found naked and cast into the outer darkness. We should not deceive ourselves by thinking that we can claim entrance into the eternal Kingdom without our heavenly garment.

Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace, spotless and blameless.

Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Thank you for reading this article, and please feel free to reply with your comments, objections or questions. Yours, Craig Wallace.

Notes:
See commentary Gill Math.13: 43,
"God in time to come, will beautify the body of "the righteous", as the beauty of the first man, when he entered into paradise, according to Isa_58:11 and that the soul, whilst in its dignity, shall be sustained with the superior light, and be clothed with it; and when it shall enter into the body hereafter, it shall enter with that light; and then shall the body shine, "as the brightness of the firmament": as is said in Dan_12:3

See also Barnes, Henry, W.Law, C.S. Lewis etc.