Seek For It, Pray For It, Believe For It.

(Excerpt)

 

We are still studying what we have in Christ. We must [not] forget that the Lord has raised us up and set us in Christ at His own right in the heavenly existence. And thank the Lord that that is where we abide, in His glorious kingdom. We are still studying what we have in Him where He is and what the privileges and the riches are that belong to us in Him.

 

We will begin this lesson this evening with Eph. 2:11, 12, 19:

 

Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God.

Eph 2:11  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; 

Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world

Eph 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God

 

Well, I am glad of that. Our place is altogether changed, our condition is changed. And all this is accomplished in Christ; this change is wrought in us in Him, for "he is our peace."

 

But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometime were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace,  who hath made both one [God and us, one], and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;  having abolished in his flesh the enmity...for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace....For through him we both [those that are far off and those that are nigh] have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 

 

Now therefore [for this reason, because we have access unto the Father in him--for this reason] we are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints.

 

Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 

Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 

Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 

Eph 2:16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 

Eph 2:17  And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 

Eph 2:18  For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 

Eph 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 

 

 

The German gives another turn to the words in the nineteenth verse, thus, "So are ye now no more guests and strangers, but citizens." The force of that will be seen more clearly when I mention that in Leviticus where our Bible reads "strangers and sojourners with thee," the German gives it, "The guest and the stranger that is with thee." So in Christ we are no more strangers and foreigners; we are not even guests. We are closer than that.

 

Eph. 2:19 again:

 

Ye are no more guests and strangers but fellow-citizens and of the household of God.

 

A guest is not one of the household; he is one who is welcome but he merely comes and goes. But the one who belongs to the household comes and stays. The German word where our word "household" is used will help us to see the real relationship signified. The word is Hausgenossen and is a derivation of essen, which means, "to eat." Housgenossen is one that eats in the house and lives there. He is at home, and when he comes in, he does not come in as a guest. He comes in because he belongs there.

 

That text shows the contrast thus far between what we were and what we are, but there are other texts that bring us still nearer than that. Turn to the fourth chapter of Galatians, beginning with the first verse and get the full contrast:

 

Now I say, That the heir [one who is in prospect of the inheritance], as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.  Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world; but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant.

 

We are not in the house as a servant--no more a servant. We are servants of the Lord, that is true, and our service is due to the Lord, but what we are studying now is our relationship to the Lord and the place He gives us in the family.

 

This shows that the Lord gives us a closer relationship to Himself than that of a servant in the household. We are not in that heavenly family as servants but as children.

 

"Wherefore thou art no more servant but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." The view given us here is of the child, who may be the only child; all the property of the parents will fall to him in the regular course of heirship, but he is a child yet, and he is under tutors and governors and is trained and guided in the way that the father wishes until he becomes of such an age that the father will call him into closer relationship to himself in the family affairs and in the business and all the affairs of the estate. While the boy is a child, he does not know anything about the business affairs of the estate. He has something else to learn before he is taken into that closer relationship, even to his father, but when he has received the training that his father intended him to have and has reached the proper age, then the father takes him into a closer relationship with himself. He will tell him all about his business affairs. He may give him a partnership in the business and let him have an oversight of it equally with himself.

 

Now turn to John 15:13-15. It is Christ who is speaking. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants." "The servant abideth not in the house forever: but the Son abideth ever." There is a good reason why Jesus does not call us servants any more. We are to abide in the house forever. We belong there; our home is there. "I call you not servants," I call you sons, because the son abideth in the house forever. We were strangers and foreigners before; he brought us closer than even a guest, much less a stranger. And he brought us closer than even a servant who would think of living in the house as long as he lives. He brought us closer than the child who has not yet reached the state of manhood. He brings us beyond all that, into the estate of friends and sons in possession, to be taken into the councils of Him who is head and owner of all the property.

 

Read the rest of this verse. "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth:  but I have called you friends." He does not call us servants, because the servant does not know what his lord does. He calls us friends, because he is not going to keep anything back from us. Jesus says, "I call you not servants; for the servant does not know what his lord is doing." I take you closer than that. I call you friends.  Why? "I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you."

 

You see, then, that He proposes to take us right into His home councils. He has no secrets to keep back from us.  He does not propose to keep anything back. This is not to say that He is going to tell it all in a day. He cannot do that, because we are not large enough to grasp it all, if He were to try, but the fact is He says to us, All things I have heard of my Father I make known to you. You are welcome to a knowledge of it. But He gives us time so that we can get His truth. How much time does He give us? Eternal life, eternity. So we say, "Lord, go ahead;  take your time. Tell it. Tell us your own will. We will wait to learn."

 

Now look at Ephesians again. There is a word which, taken with the German, illustrates this yet more fully. Eph.  1:3-7:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. [The German reads, "Heavenly possession," heavenly goods.]: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without blame before him in love:  having predestinated us into the adoption of children [we are coming to the same point we had a moment ago]  by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glory of his grace,  wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved: in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.

 

"Made known unto us the mystery of his will"; the German word for "mystery" here is geheimnis. Geheimnis, in German, is, of course, the same as our word here "mystery." It is secret. But we want to go back to the root of that word and then we will see the secret that we are after here. Now it is true that geheimnis is a secret thing or something that is mysterious, concealed, or covered. Now secretly, in the German is heimlich. Joseph of Arimathaea was a disciple of the Lord, but heimlich--for fear of the Jews; that is, secretly for fear of the Jews. But what does that heimlich signify? Heim is home. Geheimnis is the private home affairs, or more literally, home secrets. In every family there are what are known as family secrets. They belong of right only to the family. A stranger cannot come into these. A guest may come and go, but he has no right ever to become acquainted with any of these family secrets. They are not made known to him. Now that word "secrecy,"--the sacred secrecy of the family affairs, between husband and wife and children--those things that pertain particularly to the family, to the home interests, and the secret counsels of the family--that is the idea of the German word for "secret" or "mystery." So now Jesus has taken us into his home and makes known to us the geheimnis of his will--the home secrets of the heavenly family. The Lord takes us into such intimate relationship to himself that the secret things of the family--even the very home family secrets-- are not kept from us. He says so.

 

There is another verse that we can read. Now note: there are affairs of this divine family, there are secrets of this family, that date from away back yonder, long before the time when we ever entered the family. We were strangers to the family. We had no connection with the family at all. But the Lord called and we came, and now He has adopted us into the family and brings us into that close relationship to Himself in which He proposes to make known to us all the family secrets. In order to do that, as we found awhile ago, we need a long time in which to be there, and He needs a long time to do it, any way, because our capacity is so small in comparison with the great wealth of this, that it will take a great while for Him to do it.

 

More than that: we need one to tell us this who is thoroughly acquainted with all the family affairs from the beginning. Is there any one in the family that is acquainted with all the family affairs from the beginning and who will undertake to show us around and tell to us what we are to know? Turn to Proverbs 8, beginning with verse 22:

 

The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth; while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he had prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: when he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by him,  as one brought up with him.

 

Now He is the one who has said to you and me, I call you not servants, but friends, for the servant does not know what the Lord doeth, but all things that the Father has made known to me, I make known to you. And He is there as one brought up with Him from the days of eternity He was there. Now He says, I call you friends,  because all that the Father hath told me, I tell you. He not only gives us time in which to have Him tell it, but He is one who is qualified to tell it, because He has been there from the beginning. He knows all these affairs and He says that nothing does He propose to keep back from you. Well, brethren, that shows that He has a great deal of confidence in us. I will read a word that came in the last mail from Australia and you will recognize the voice:

 

Not only is man forgiven through the atoning sacrifice, but through faith he is accepted through the Beloved.  Returning to his loyalty to God, whose law he has transgressed, he is not merely tolerated but he is honored as a son of God, a member of the heavenly family. He is an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ.

 

But it is so natural to think of ourselves that He does only tolerate us when we believe in Jesus; to think that by forcing Himself to do so He can bear our ways a little longer, if by any means we can make ourselves good enough so that He can like us well enough to have confidence in us. I say, It is so natural to put ourselves in that position. And Satan is so ready to talk to us like that and to get us to put ourselves in that position.

 

But the Lord does not want us to stand hesitating and doubting as to our standing before Him. No, sir. He says,  "When you have believed in me, when you have accepted me, you are accepted in me, and I do not propose to tolerate you merely to try to get along with you. I propose to put confidence in you as in a friend and take you into the councils of my will and give you a part in all the affairs of the inheritance. There is nothing that I propose to keep back from you. That is confidence.

 

I have heard people say that they were thankful for the confidence they had in the Lord. I have no objection to that, but I do not think it is a very great accomplishment or a thing worthy of any very great commendation that I should have confidence in such a being as the Lord, considering who I am and who He is. I do not think it a very great draft upon me to have confidence in the Lord. But it is an astonishment that He should have confidence in me. That is where the wonder comes. Seeing who He is and what I was, then that He should take me up and tell me in plain words what He proposes to do with me and how close He takes me to Himself and what confidence He puts in me--that is wonderful. Looking at it in any way whatever, I say, it is an astonishing thing to me all the time and something that draws upon my thanksgiving that God has confidence in me. That He should have any confidence at all in us, that is a great thing, but the truth is that there is no limit to His confidence in us.

 

From the texts that we have read you can see that there is no limit to His confidence in us. Is there any limit to a man's confidence in a friend whom he takes into his household, makes one of the family, and takes right into his own family and home secrets? You know that it is the very last point that a human being can reach in confidence and friendship among human beings, that the family secrets should be laid open to him and he should be welcomed to them. When a man takes another into his own home affairs and his own family secrets, that demonstrates that that man has no limit at all to his confidence in the other man. Yet that is precisely the way the Lord treats the believer in Jesus.

 

That other man may betray the sacred confidences that this man has placed in him, but that does not alter the fact that this confidence was put upon him. So we may fail in our appreciation of the confidence which God has put in us and men may indeed betray the sacred trust, but the point is that God does not ask whether we are going to do that or not. He does not take us upon suspicion nor does He merely tolerate us. He says, "Come unto me." You are accepted in the Beloved. I put confidence in you. Come, let us be friends. Come into the house, you belong here. Sit down at the table and eat there. You are henceforth one of the family, equally with those who have always been here. He is not going to treat you as a servant, but he will treat you as a king and make known to you all there is to know.

 

Brethren, shall not that draw on our gratitude and friendliness to the Lord? Shall we not treat Him more as He treats us? Shall we not let that confidence draw upon us and cause us to yield to Him and prove ourselves worthy of that confidence? As a matter of fact, there is nothing which so draws upon a man's manliness anyway,  as to show confidence in Him. Suspicion never helps Him.

 

Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

 

Joh 15:14  Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. 

Joh 15:15  Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 

 

Now the sixteenth chapter and the twelfth verse: "I have yet many things to say unto you." To whom? Let us not put this away back there to those disciples. It is to you and me, here and now. Has He not raised us up from the dead? Has He not given us life with Jesus Christ? And "along with him" has He not raised us up and seated us "along with him" at His own right hand in heaven? "I have yet many things to say unto you." Who has?  Jesus. "But ye cannot bear them now." Very good. Eternity will give me room to grow in knowledge and understanding, so that I can bear them. We need not be in a hurry.

 

"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for [that is, because] he shall not speak of himself." That is, He shall not speak from Himself. It is not that He shall not talk about Himself; that is not the thought. It is true He will not talk about Himself; but the thought here is that He will not speak as from Himself. He does not set Himself forth and propose to tell something as from Himself, just as He, when He came to the world, did not speak from Himself. For He said, "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself."  "The Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak." John 12:49.  And just as Jesus set not himself forth to tell something as from Himself, but what He heard from the Father, that He spoke; so the Holy Spirit speaks not from Himself; but what the Spirit of God hears, that He speaks.

He shall not speak of himself: but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will show you things to come.

 

Very good. Here we are of the heavenly family. Jesus is the one who has been in the family from the beginning and to Him is given charge of us and He is the one who is to tell us all these things. And it is written, you know,  that "they follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." Good! He has something to tell us, He has something to show us and he gives the Holy Spirit as His personal representative, bringing His personal presence to us, that by this means He can reveal these things to us, that by Him He can speak to us what He has to tell.

 

He will show you things to come. He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.

 

Now why did Jesus say that the Holy Spirit shall take of mine and show it unto you? Because "all things that the Father hath are mine: therefore, said I, that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you." How many things are there that the Holy Spirit is to show to us? All things. All things of whom? All things that the Father hath.  There is nothing to be kept back.

 

Now turn to 1 Cor. 2:9-12:

 

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 

1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 

1Co 2:11  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 

1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 

 

As it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

 

We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and God has appointed Him "Heir of all thing." "All things," then, that the universe contains He has prepared for them that love Him. All things that the Father hath,  he has prepared for them that love Him. That, of itself, should draw us to love Him. But as eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor have ever entered into the heart of man, these great things, how, then, can we know them? Ah!  "God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."

 

Why does He search the deep things of God? to bring them forth to us. They are too deep for us. If the Lord should open them up to us and say, Enter there and find out all you can, we could not find them out. They are too deep, but He does not leave us thus. He proposes to reveal them to us, therefore He puts all into the hands of Jesus, who has been brought up with Him and who is one of us and Jesus Christ reveals them unto us by His Spirit.

 

For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God.

 

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God.

 

What does he say? We have received it. Let us thank Him that we have received it. Why, I saw the other day a line from the Testimony of Jesus, that some are looking for the time to come when the Holy Spirit is to be poured out. It says that the time is "now," and that we are to ask and receive now.

 

The descent of the Holy Spirit upon the church is looked forward to as being in the future; but it is the privilege of the church to have it now. Seek for it, pray for it, believe for it.

 

He says, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." "Now we have received...the spirit which is of God." Have we not surrendered to Him? Have we not given ourselves completely to Him? Have we not opened our hearts to receive the mind of Jesus Christ, that we may know Him that is true and be in Him that which is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ? And this is the true God and eternal life. That being so, then "because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts." He hath sent it forth; He says so. Therefore thank Him that He has and "receive ye the Holy Ghost." Receive Him with thanksgiving and let the Spirit use us, instead of waiting and longing to receive some wonderful outward demonstration that will give us such a feeling that we think, Now I have the Spirit of God. O, now I can do great things. It will never come to you in that way. If the Holy Spirit were to be poured out upon us tonight as it was on Pentecost, the man that had that idea of it would not receive any of it.

 

But I say, We must revolutionize our thoughts concerning this and get them off from any outward demonstration that we can see with our eyes or that will give us a tangible feeling by which we shall know that we have the Spirit of God and that we shall be able to do great things.

 

God has spoken the word; He has made the promise. He has raised us up and seated us at His own right hand in Jesus Christ and now He says, Everything is open to you and the Spirit is there to show you everything and tell you everything that there is to know. What more can we ask then? What more can we ask of Him, to show His mind and His willingness that we shall have the Spirit of God now?

 

Heaven is waiting to bestow it; what is required to receive it? Seek for it, pray for it, believe for it.

 

When that is done there is nothing that keeps Him back; when that is done, then all that He asks us to do is to "receive the Holy Spirit." He tells us how to receive it; it is to seek for it, pray for it, believe for it. And he that believeth has received. If we ask according to His will, He hears us, and if we know He hears us, we know we have the petition that we desired of Him.

 

The Spirit of God is leading us. The Lord has led us into His truth thus. He has raised us up unto heights by His truth that we have never known before. What has He raised us up there for? He has shown us what is essential.  It is to give up the world and everything but God only, to all eternity. Surrender all plans, all prospects,  everything you ever had your mind upon. Drop out self and the world and everything and receive God and be bound to nothing but God. Then we are in Jesus Christ at the right hand of God and all the universe to all eternity is open to us and the Spirit of God is given to us to teach us all these things and to make known the mysteries of God to all who believe.

 

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

 

Therefore, let us all now take this text as our text of thanksgiving, our prayer, to which we shall say, Amen.

 

Eph.  3:14-21.

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ [What do you say?], of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named....That Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height.

 

What is all this for? So that we may know what that is which He has given us, that we may comprehend and hold and grasp and enjoy forever all that He has so freely given us in Christ.

 

And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

 

And let all the people, forever, say, Amen and Amen.

 

1895 G.C. Sermon #21   by A.T. Jones

No More Tears.

John, given a vision by Jesus, given a revelation for all mankind to take heed. Those who read, understand, and live will be blessed. Keeping- is living. Keeping- is making what we learn a part of us. Keeping- is holding dear what we know. Keeping is- a part of the blessing.

 

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. 

 

This isn't some fanciful story meant to entertain us. We aren't supposed to read this and let it go in one ear and out the other. We are not told to read and hear, read and understand, read and keep for no reason. God WANTS us to READ, God WANTS us to HEAR, God WANTS us to KEEP the knowledge all this wonderful knowledge. Is it confusing? In a lot of ways it is confusing, but God will enlighten us as we need to be enlightened, we have to believe this, we have to.

 

Continuing our study- We've just read about the opening of six seals, and after the sixth was opened we were given more insight into things and here again we are given still MORE insight.  After this.. After what he was just shown he was shown more…  After 144,000 people of God are SEALED by an angel of God so they are not hurt by the wrath of God to come, John is shown….

 

Rev 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 

Rev 7:10  And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. 

Rev 7:11  And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, 

Rev 7:12  Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. 

Rev 7:13  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 

Rev 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 

Rev 7:15  Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. 

Rev 7:16  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 

Rev 7:17  For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. 

 

A great multitude, a multitude that is not capable of being numbered by man. In this multitude there are people from all nations, all kinds, all languages no exemption to this- these people are from everywhere on the entire planet. They all are standing before the throne of God, before the Lamb. All of them are clothed with white robes and all have palms fronds in their hands. They ALL cry out with a loud voice and say-

 

Salvation to our God which sits on the throne and unto the Lamb!

 

All the ANGELS are standing around the throne- also around the elders, and four beasts (all of which are mentioned earlier in vision). These all fall before the throne of God and the Lamb, they fall on their faces and they WORSHIP God. These say- Amen. Blessing, Glory, Wisdom, Thanksgiving, Honor, Power, Might -  be unto OUR GOD forever and ever.

 

Now John hears one of the elders.... What are these in the white robes? Where'd they come from? 

 

John answers... Sir, you know.

 

The elder replies... These are they which came out of great tribulations, they've washed their robes, they've made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. Because of this they are before the Throne of God, serving Him day and night in his temple. He that sits on that throne will live with them. They will no longer be hungry or thirsty. The sun, heat none of it will hurt them.  The Lamb will feed them, and lead them to living fountains of waters. God will wipe away all tears.

 

What is quite obvious here is these are OVERCOMERS, these are VICTORIOUS, these are SAVED, these are SEALED, these are GOD'S forever and ever and ever! God will be with them forever! These are the REDEEMED! These are the true CHRIST FOLLOWERS! These are YOU AND ME IF WE ARE CHRIST'S!

 

I want to touch on one point here- God wiping away ALL TEARS from our eyes.

 

I cry. My heart breaks for the horrors committed by humankind upon others- man, woman, child, animals. My heart breaks for the pain- given, received, warranted, unwarranted. So much heart break, so much pain, this world is filled and overflowing with pain of all kinds. I cry. I cry so much sometimes I fear I might never stop. The agony of this world is overwhleming. We need God to wipe away our tears, because the tears are pain suffered in so many ways by so many for so long. God wiping away ALL tears. The pain will be over, the heart breaking agonies no more... no more. Such a glorious day that will be! No more tears.

 

Sealed or Marked.

Sealed.

 

We will be sealed. We will not know when we are sealed. We will be sealed BEFORE the plagues are loosed.

 

The plagues are real. And the plagues will not be something people will be healed from. The world will not recover from the plagues. If you are touched by the plagues then you are not sealed. What are the plagues? We will study them soon. Let's back up to Revelation 7.

 

Rev 7:1  And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. 

Rev 7:2  And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, 

Rev 7:3  Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. 

Rev 7:4  And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. 

 

Don't hurt the earth!

Don't hurt the sea!

Don't hurt the trees!

Wait!

Don't hurt them until the SERVANTS of GOD are sealed in their foreheads.

 

There is a number of those sealed. Is it figurative or literal- there are many suppositions. What we do know is the number is 144,000. We also know that the 144,000 are made up from all the tribes of the children of Israel, an equal number from each of the 12 tribes. Again, are the tribe figurative or literal? Are they spiritual Israel or Israel of old?  Let's go to a Biblical scholar for some thoughts on this.

 

******* (D&R)

 

VERSE 4. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. 5. Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. 6. Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. 7. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. 8. Of the tribe of Zebulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.

 

The number sealed is here stated to be one hundred and forty-four thousand; and from the fact that twelve thousand are sealed from each of the twelve tribes, many suppose that this work must have been accomplished as far back at least as about the beginning of the Christian era, when these tribes were literally in existence. They do not see how it can apply to our own time, when every trace of distinction between these tribes has been so long and so completely obliterated. We refer such persons to the opening language of the Epistle of James: "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations," etc. Those whom James here addresses are

(1) Christians; for they are his brethren;

(2) They are not the converts to Christianity from the Jews, the twelve tribes of his own day; for he addresses them in view of the coming of the Lord.

He is thus addressing the last generation of Christians, the Christians of our own day,

p 470 -- and he calls them the twelve tribes scattered abroad.

How can this be? Paul explains in Rom. 11:17-24. In the striking figure of grafting which he there introduces, the tame olive tree represents Israel. Some of the branches, the natural descendants of Abraham, were broken off because of unbelief (in Christ). Through faith in Christ the wild olive scions, the Gentiles, are grafted into the tame olive stock, and thus the twelve tribes are perpetuated.

And here we find an explanation of the language of the same apostle: "They are not all Israel which are of Israel," and "he is not a Jew which is one outwardly,... but he is a Jew which is one inwardly." Rom. 9:6-8; 2:28, 29.

 

So we find on the gates of the New Jerusalem - which is a New Testament or Christian, not a Jewish, city - the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. On the foundations of this city are inscribed the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Rev. 21:12-14. If the twelve tribes belong exclusively to the former dispensation, the more natural order would have been to have their names on the foundations, and those of the twelve apostles on the gates; but no, the names of the twelve tribes are on the gates. And as through these gates, so inscribed, all the redeemed hosts will go in and out, so, as belonging to these twelve tribes, will all the redeemed be reckoned, whether on earth they were Jews or Gentiles.

 

Of course we look in vain for any marks of distinction between the tribes here on earth; and since Christ has appeared in the flesh, the preservation of the genealogy of the tribes is not necessary.

 

But in heaven, where the names of the church of the firstborn are being enrolled, we may be sure there is order, and that each name is enrolled in its own tribe. Heb. 12:23.

 

It will be observed that the enumeration of the tribes here differs from that given in other places. The twelve sons of Jacob, who became the heads of great families, called tribes, were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, and Joseph. But Jacob, on his dying bed, adopted the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh to constitute two of the tribes of Israel. Gen. 48:5.

 

p 471 -- This divided the tribe of Joseph, making thirteen tribes in all. Yet in the distribution of the land of Canaan by lot, they numbered but twelve tribes, and made but twelve lots; for the tribe of Levi was left out, being appointed to the service of the tabernacle, and having no inheritance. But in the passage before us, Ephraim and Dan are omitted, and Levi and Joseph put in their places. The omission of Dan is accounted for by commentators on the ground that that tribe was the one chiefly addicted to idolatry. (See Judges 18, etc.)

 

The tribe of Levi here takes its place with the rest, as in the heavenly Canaan the reasons for their not having an inheritance will not exist, as in the earthly; and Joseph is probably put for Ephraim, it being a name which appears to have been applied to either the tribe of Ephraim or Manasseh. Num. 13:11.

 

Twelve thousand were sealed "out of " each of the twelve tribes, showing that not all who in the records of heaven had a place among these tribes when this sealing work commenced, stood the test, and were overcomers at last; for the names of those already in the book of life will be blotted out, unless they overcome. Rev. 3:5.

 

VERSE 9. After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10. And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. 11. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshiped God,12. Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen.

 

The sealing having been accomplished, John beholds a countless multitude worshiping God in rapture before his throne. This vast throng are undoubtedly the saved out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue, raised from the dead at the second coming of Christ, showing that the sealing is the last work accomplished for the people of God prior to translation.

*******

 

Those who are God's, and are going to be alive when Jesus Christ returns when that last trumpet sounds - MUST be sealed by an angel of God prior to Christ returning.

 

Two options for all those alive when Christ returns- the sealed and the marked.

 

Sealed by angels, or marked with the mark of the beast, his name, his number. No one sealed by God will receive the mark.  No one who has the mark will be sealed.  Neither mark nor seal are visible to us in such a way we know beyond doubt what is what.

 

Our lives will dictate which we receive, our choices, our beliefs.

 

We know from the old testament times there was much written about the worshiping of God or the worshiping of idols/false gods. You were one or the other- no in between. You worshiped - it was just a matter of what you worshiped.

 

It is no different for any of us today. We all either worship God in truth, or a false god. Even if you say you worship nothing, then truthfully you are worshiping self- a false god.

 

Who do you worship. 

 

Do you worship God in truth?

 

I pray I am God's now and always, God's in truth, sealed as God's and ready for Christ when He returns.

 

 

 

 

Seal Us.

Sealed by God.

 

(Continuation from a previous study a few days ago--)

From the foregoing reasoning, facts, and declarations of Scripture, two conclusions inevitably follow: -

 

1. The seal of God is found in connection with the law of God.

2. The seal of God is that part of his law which contains his name, or descriptive title, showing who he is, the extent of his dominion, and his right to rule." (D&R)

 

Rev 7:3  Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. 

 

The seal of God and His law.

 

I have a seal on my birth certificate-- that seal is an official seal, it proves my birth has been recorded in the city and state I was born in. The certificate it is affixed to has recorded on it the date and time I was born, as well as the names of my parents, and the name they gave me at birth. The doctor's name is there too. What makes it official is the seal- and it's a raised seal, they say that's a must or it's not considered official.

 

We know that God's law is of the greatest importance, so much so that God had it put inside the ark of the covenant that was a part of His tabernacle, a part of His temple. The ark of the covenant was considered the seat of God. There was a mercy seat as a part of the ark of the covenant.  In the Bible we are told that only authorized people could touch the ark, and in fact at least one person was struck dead when they touched it and they weren't authorized to do so. There was power in the ark as God allowed. Those who had it in one instance were given great fortune in all their doings, they prospered. Solomon had it put into the great temple he built. The importance of the ark is not something anyone could deny. Inside that ark God told them to put the tables of stone upon which He wrote the ten commandments- the royal law.  To say that the law of God was important is an understatement really.

 

Here we have a law of ten commandments and you can read each one and in one of those ten you'll find something rather amazing and unique.

 

Exo 20:2  I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 

Exo 20:3  Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 

 

Exo 20:4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth

Exo 20:5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 

Exo 20:6  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 

 

Exo 20:7  Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 

 

Exo 20:8  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 

Exo 20:9  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 

Exo 20:10  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 

Exo 20:11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 

 

Exo 20:12  Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 

 

Exo 20:13  Thou shalt not kill. 

 

Exo 20:14  Thou shalt not commit adultery. 

 

Exo 20:15  Thou shalt not steal. 

 

Exo 20:16  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 

 

Exo 20:17  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. 

 

Did you notice it? One of the commandments had God's name as God, and His title as Creator, it also has His jurisdiction that He rules over- earth. 

 

Exo 20:8  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 

Exo 20:9  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 

Exo 20:10  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 

Exo 20:11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 

 

In six days the LORD MADE HEAVEN and EARTH  the SEA and ALL that is in them. 

 

Our Creator- the Creator of all- spoke specifically of creating all things and then after creating all things, He created a day for rest, a blessed, holy day, a day of remembrance of our Creator.

 

The Sabbath is specific to GOD. 

 

However, the seal of God not only is the Sabbath, but the entire law of God it is contain in. His seal is upon the entire law. So many believe it was done away with, but it was not. Not one jot or tittle has been done away with- Jesus' words.

 

Mat_5:18  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

 

We also know this--

 

Mat_19:17  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

 

Rev_12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

 

Rev_14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

 

The servants of God are going to be SEALED- their actions, their minds must be God's, uniquely God's in serving Him as He wills. Keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. We need to do this, we must not make light of any of God's commandments.

 

More on this tomorrow by the GRACE, by the WILL of our LORD, now and forever!  May we be among the SEALED of God. Please, Lord, please teach us, guide us, let the Holy Spirit live in us, Christ live in us, glorifying You God- always!

 

Reflecting the Glory of the Lord.

'Another thought: Take your prism and hold it up to the sun. The refracted rays of light fall on the wall of the house and behold in the reflection the beautiful rainbow!

 

But that plastered wall is only mud.

 

Can that mud manifest the glory of the sun? Can the sun be glorified by that mud?

 

Yes.

 

Certainly.

 

Can that mud reflect the bright rays of the sun so that it will be beautiful? How can mud do that?

 

O, it is not in the mud. It is in the glory.

 

You can hold the prism up to the sun and let the refracted rays fall upon the earth. You can hold it there and that earth can manifest the glory of the sun, not because the earth has any glory in itself, but because of the glory of the sun.

 

Is it too much, then, for us to think that sinful flesh, such as we, worthless dust and ashes, as are we--is it too much for us to think that such as we can manifest the glory of the Lord, which is refracted through Jesus Christ--the glory of the Lord shining from the face of Jesus Christ?

 

It may be that you are clay; it may be that you are the lowest of the earth; it may be that you are sinful as any man is, but simply put yourself there and let that glory shine upon you as God would have it and then you will glorify God.'

 

1895 G.C. Sermon #20  by A.T. Jones 

 

 

2Co_3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Glorify God.

The following is VERY lengthy, a lot to take in should you decide to take the time and read all of it. I do have to say I feel as if though I've been greatly blessed by what I've read. By the will, and by the grace of God, I will study this even more deeply, letting the truth and only the truth remain in me so that I may accept Christ in me fully, letting Him in me glorify God in the only way it is truly possible.

 

Christ died so I may glorify God the Father. Christ gave up the divinity in the form He held it- God with God- before He became the only begotten Son in human flesh- and He gave it up eternally never to reclaim that state again but forever more retain flesh immortal, incorruptible changed flesh. Christ gave up all that- for me, so I may be able to glorify God, through Him, through His sacrifice.

 

Such blessing, beyond comprehension.

 

Thank you, Lord Jesus, thank you.

 

Ecc 12:13  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 

 

Psa 22:23  Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. 

 

Joh_17:5  And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

 

1Co_6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

 

1Pe_4:16  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

 

Rev_15:4  Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

 

(Excerpt)

 

In John 17:4 the first clause of the verse is the words of Christ in that prayer for us all: "I have glorified thee on the earth." In the previous lesson we were brought to consider the purpose of God concerning man, even His eternal purpose and that that purpose is fulfilled before the whole universe in Jesus Christ in human flesh. The purpose of man's existence is to glorify God, and this has been shown before the universe in Jesus Christ, for God's eternal purpose concerning man was purposed in Christ and carried out in Christ for every man, since man sinned, and He says, "I have glorified thee on the earth." This shows that the purpose of God in man's creation is that man shall glorify Him. And what we shall study this evening is how we should glorify God, how God is glorified in man, and what it is to glorify God.

When we study Christ and see what He did and what God did in Him, we shall know what it is to glorify God.  And in Him we find what is the purpose of our creation, what is the purpose of our existence, and in fact, what is the purpose of the creation and the existence of every intelligent creature in the universe.

We have seen in preceding lessons that God alone was manifested in Christ in the world. Christ Himself was not manifested; He was kept back. He was emptied and became ourselves on the human side and then God, and God alone, was manifested in Him. Then what is it to glorify God? It is to be in the place where God and God alone shall be manifested in the individual. And that is the purpose of the creation and the existence of every angel and of every man.

 

To glorify God it is necessary for each one to be in the condition and in the position in which none but God shall be manifested, because that was the position of Jesus Christ. Therefore He said, "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself" (John 14:10). "I came....not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me" (John 6:38). "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works" (John 14:10). "I can of mine own self do nothing"  (John 5:30). "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (John 6:44). "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father, and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father" (John 14:9)? "He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory, but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true and no unrighteousness is in him" (John 7:18).

 

Therefore He said, "The words that I speak....I speak not of myself," because as in the other verse, he that speaks of himself, that is, from himself, seeks his own glory. But Christ was not seeking His own glory. He was seeking the glory of Him that sent Him; therefore He said, "The words that I speak....I speak not of myself." In so doing, He sought the glory of Him that sent Him, and there stands the record that "he is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him." He was so entirely emptied of Himself, so entirely was He from being manifested in any way, that no influence went forth from Him except the influence of the Father. This was so to such an extent that no man could come to Him except the Father drew that man to Him. That shows how completely He Himself was kept in the background, how completely He was emptied. It was done so thoroughly that no man could come to Him--that no man could feel any influence from Him or be drawn to Him, except from the Father Himself. The manifestation of the Father--that could draw any man to Christ.

That simply illustrates the one grand fact that we are studying just now--what it is to glorify God. It is to be so entirely emptied of self that nothing but God shall be manifested and no influence go forth from the individual but the influence of God--so emptied that everything, every word--all that is manifested--will be only of God and will tell only of the Father.

"I have glorified thee on the earth." When He was upon the earth, He was in our human, sinful flesh, and when He emptied Himself and kept Himself back, the Father so dwelt in Him and manifested Himself there, that all the works of the flesh were quenched, and the overshadowing glory of God, the character of God, the goodness of God, were manifested instead of anything of the human.

This is the same as we had in a previous lesson, that God manifest in the flesh, God manifest in sinful flesh, is the mystery of God--not God manifested in sinless flesh. That is to say, God will so dwell in our sinful flesh today that although that flesh be sinful, its sinfulness will not be felt or realized, nor cast any influence upon others,  that God will so dwell yet in sinful flesh that in spite of all the sinfulness of sinful flesh, his influence, his glory,  his righteousness, his character, shall be manifested wherever that person goes.

 

This was precisely the case with Jesus in the flesh. And so God has demonstrated to us all how we should glorify God. He has demonstrated to the universe how the universe is to glorify God--that is, that God and God alone shall be manifested in every intelligence in the universe. That was the intent of God from the beginning.  That was His purpose, His eternal purpose, which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

We might read it now. We shall have occasion to refer to it afterward. We will read the text that tells it all in a word. Eph. 1:9, 10, "Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself." What is that will which He hath purposed in Himself? He, being the eternal God,  purposing this purpose in Himself, it being His own purpose--it is the same that is spoken of in another place as His "eternal purpose." What is God's eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus the Lord? Here it is:  "That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth."

 

Look that over now, and think that God "might gather together in one all things in Christ." Who is the "one" into whom God gathers all things in Christ? That "one" is God. Who was in Christ? "God was in Christ." Nobody was manifested there but God. God dwelt in Christ. Now in Christ He is gathering "together in one all things," "both which are in heaven and which are on earth." Therefore His purpose in the dispensation of the fullness of times is to gather together in Himself all things in Christ. Through Christ, by Christ, and in Christ, all things in heaven and earth are gathered together in the one God, so that God alone will be manifested throughout the whole universe, that when the dispensation of times is completed and God's eternal purpose stands before the universe completed, wherever you look, upon whomsoever you look, you will see God reflected. You will see the image of God reflected. And God will be "all in all." That is what we see in Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. 4:6:

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

We look into the face of Jesus Christ. What do we see? We see God. We see the Father. We do not see Christ reflected in the face of Jesus Christ. He emptied Himself, that God might be reflected, that God might shine forth to man, who could not bear His presence in His human flesh. Jesus Christ took man's flesh, which as a veil so modified the bright beams of the glory of God that we might look and live. We cannot look upon the unveiled face of God, not as much as the children of Israel might look upon the face of Moses. Therefore Jesus gathers in Himself man's flesh and veils the bright, consuming glory of the Father, so that we, looking into His face, can see God reflected and can see and love Him as He is and thus have the life that is in Him.

This thought is noticed in 2 Cor. 3:18. I will merely touch the verse for the present. We will have occasion to refer to it again before we are through with the lesson. "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord"--where do we behold the glory of the Lord? "In the face of Jesus Christ." But He says we behold it as in a mirror. What is a mirror for? A mirror gives no light of its own. A mirror reflects the light that shines upon it. We all, with open face, behold in the face of Jesus Christ, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord; therefore, Christ is the one through whom the Father is reflected to the whole universe.

 

He alone could reflect the Father in His fullness, because His goings forth have been from the days of eternity,  and as it says in the eighth of Proverbs, "I was with him, as one brought up with him." He was one of God, equal with God and His nature is the nature of God. Therefore one grand necessity that He alone should come to the world and save man was because the Father wanted to manifest Himself fully to the sons of men, and none in the universe could manifest the Father in His fullness except the only begotten Son, who is in the image of the Father. No creature could do it, because He is not great enough. Only He whose goings forth have been from the days of eternity could do it; consequently, He came and God dwelt in Him. How much? "All the fullness of the Godhead bodily" is reflected in Him. And this is not only to men on the earth, but it is that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one --in Christ--all things which are in heaven and which are on earth. In Christ God is manifested to the angels and reflected to men in the world in a way in which they cannot see God otherwise.

 

So, then, we have so much as to what it means to glorify God and as to how it is done. It is to be so emptied of self that God alone shall be manifested in His righteousness, His character, which is His glory. In Christ is shown the Father's purpose concerning us. All that was done in Christ was to show what will be done in us, for He was ourselves. Therefore it is for us constantly to have before our minds the one great thought that we are to glorify God upon the earth.

 

In Him and by Him we find that divine mind which in Christ emptied His righteous self. By this divine mind, our unrighteousness is emptied, in order that God may be glorified in us and it may be true of us, "I have glorified thee on the earth."

 

Let us read those two verses in Corinthians now for our own sakes. A while ago we read them as from His side,  "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. 4:6.

 

2Co 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 

 

Look at ourselves now. What, first, has God done? Shined into our hearts. What for? "To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

 

Don't you see, then, that God in Jesus Christ is manifesting, showing forth from the face of Christ His glory which, reflected in us, shines also to others? Therefore, "ye are the light of the world." We are the light of the world because the light of the glory of God, shining forth from Jesus Christ into our hearts, is reflected, shines forth, to others, that people seeing us, seeing our good works, may glorify God in the "day of visitation." "May glorify the Father, which is in heaven."

 

Mat_5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid

 

1Pe_2:12  Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

 

Study the process.

 

There is the Father, dwelling in light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see, of such transcendent glory, of such all-consuming brightness of holiness, that no man could look upon Him and live. But the Father wants us to look upon Him and live. Therefore the only begotten of the Father yielded Himself freely as the gift and became ourselves in human flesh that the Father in Him might so veil His consuming glory and the rays of His brightness, that we might look and live. And when we look there and live, that bright, shining glory from the face of Jesus Christ shines into our hearts and is reflected to the world.

 

Now the last verse of the third chapter again, "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image."

 

2Co_3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

 

The image of whom? The image of Jesus Christ. We are "changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." Jesus Christ reflected the image of God;  we, changed into the same image, shall reflect the image of God.

 

The German gives another reading, more emphatic, even, than ours here. I will read it in English. "But now is reflected in us all the glory of the Lord." Do you see it? "But now in us all is reflected the glory of the Lord." The idea in our English version and this idea in the German are both correct. We see in the face of Christ the glory and are changed into the same image from glory to glory and then there is also reflected in us the glory of the Lord.

 

Now I will read the rest of the verse of the German. "But now is reflected in us all the glory of the Lord with uncovered face and we are glorified in the same image from one glory to another as from the Lord, who the Spirit is." The Lord who is the Spirit; the previous verse said the Lord is that Spirit.

 

So you see that the whole sense is that God shall be glorified in us, that we shall be glorified by that glory, and that this may be reflected to all men everywhere in order that they may believe and glorify God.

 

Look now again at the seventeenth of John. He tells the same story there, in John 17:22. I will read again the fourth and fifth verses:

 

I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father,  glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

 

Now the twenty-second verse: "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them."

 

He has given it to us.  Therefore it belongs to us. This glory belongs to the believer in Jesus.

 

And when we yield ourselves to Him, He gives us that divine mind that empties ourselves and then God in Jesus Christ shines into our hearts from which is reflected His own glory, His own divine image.

 

And this will be so perfectly accomplished that when He comes in every believer upon whom He looks He will see Himself. "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." He sees Himself reflected in His people, so that all reflect the image and glory of God.

 

Let us use natural things that we may, if possible, see this a little clearer. There is the sun shining in the heavens.  You and I would like to look upon the sun and see Him as He is. But even a glance so dazzles our eyes that it takes a moment for them to recover their natural strength. Thus we cannot look upon the sun to behold the glories that are there. The sun has glories and beauties as He shines forth in the heavens. Now if you take a prism--a three-sided, three edged piece of glass--and hold it to the sun that the rays of the sun may shine through it, you see reflected on the wall, upon the ground, or wherever it may be that the reflection falls--in such reflection you see the sun as he is in himself. But what do you see? What is it called? A rainbow. And what is more beautiful than a rainbow? You cannot have a more wonderful blending of colors than are in the rainbow.  but that rainbow is simply the sun, with his glory so distributed that we can look upon it and see how beautiful he is. We look yonder. All this glory is there, but we cannot see it there. We cannot see it in the face of the sun.  The sun is too bright. Our eyes are not accustomed to the light. We cannot take it in. Therefore the prism takes that glory and causes it to shine forth in such rays that we can look upon it. And this enables us to see the sun as we could not otherwise. Yet when we look upon the rainbow, we are only looking at the sun. Looking at the rainbow, we see simply the glory that there is in the sun as he shines in the heavens. Looking though into the open face of the sun we cannot see him as he is. But looking at the reflection we see the glory of the sun in a way that it delights us to look upon it.

 

Now God is ever so much brighter than the sun. If the sun dazzles our eyes by a mere glance, what would the transcendent glory of the Lord do upon our mortal, sinful eyes? It would consume us. Therefore we cannot look upon Him as He is in His unveiled, unmodified glory. Our nature is not such as to bear it. But He wants us to see His glory. He wants the whole universe to see His glory. Therefore Jesus Christ puts Himself here between the Father and us and the Father causes all His glory to be manifest in Him, and as it shines forth from His face, the glory is so distributed, so modified, that we can look upon it, and it is made so beautiful that we delight in it.  Thus we are enabled to see God as He is. In Jesus Christ we see nothing that is not of God in the full brightness of His unveiled glory.

 

Now the sun shines in the natural heavens day by day and all these glories He makes known to the sons of men and places before the children of men. All that the sun needs in order to keep his glories ever before us in that beautiful way is a prism--a medium through which to shine for the refraction of His glory and something for these rays to fall upon for reflection, after they have passed through the prism. You could have a rainbow every day in the year, if you had a prism and something for the refracted rays to fall upon.

 

So also you can have the glory of God manifest every day of the year, if you will only hold Jesus Christ before your eyes as a blessed prism for refracting the bright beams of God's glory and your own self presented to God just as God would have you, for these refracted rays to fall upon for reflection. Then not only you but other people will constantly see the glory of God. All that God wants, all that He needs, in order that man shall see and know His glory is a prism through which to shine. In Jesus Christ that is furnished in completeness. Next He wants something upon which these refracted rays may fall and be reflected, that people can see it. Will you let yourself stand there, open to the refracted rays of the glory of God, as they shine through that blessed prism which is Christ Jesus? Let those rays of the glory of God fall upon you, that men looking there may see reflected the glory of God. That is what is wanted.

 

Another thought: Take your prism and hold it up to the sun. The refracted rays of light fall on the wall of the house and behold in the reflection the beautiful rainbow! But that plastered wall is only mud. Can that mud manifest the glory of the sun? Can the sun be glorified by that mud? Yes. Certainly. Can that mud reflect the bright rays of the sun so that it will be beautiful? How can mud do that? O, it is not in the mud. It is in the glory.  You can hold the prism up to the sun and let the refracted rays fall upon the earth. You can hold it there and that earth can manifest the glory of the sun, not because the earth has any glory in itself, but because of the glory of the sun.

 

Is it too much, then, for us to think that sinful flesh, such as we, worthless dust and ashes, as are we--is it too much for us to think that such as we can manifest the glory of the Lord, which is refracted through Jesus Christ--the glory of the Lord shining from the face of Jesus Christ? It may be that you are clay; it may be that you are the lowest of the earth; it may be that you are sinful as any man is, but simply put yourself there and let that glory shine upon you as God would have it and then you will glorify God.

 

O, how often the discouraged question is asked, "How can such a person as I am glorify God?" Why, dear brother or sister, it is not in you. It is in the glory. The virtue is not in you to make it shine any more than it is in the mud to make the rainbow shine.  It is our art to furnish a place for the glory to fall, that it may shine in the beautiful reflected rays of the glory of God. The virtue is not in us, it is in the glory. That is what it is to glorify God.

 

It requires the emptying of self that God in Christ may be glorified. The mind of Christ does that, and then God is glorified. Though we have been sinful all our lives and our flesh is sinful flesh, God is glorified, not by merit that is in us but by the merit that is in the glory. And that is the purpose for which God has created every being in the universe. It is that every being shall be a means of reflecting and making known the brightness of the glory of the character of God as revealed in Jesus Christ.

 

Away back yonder there was one who was so bright and glorious by the glory of the Lord that he began to give himself credit for that and he proposed to shine of himself. He proposed to glorify himself. He proposed to reflect light from himself. But he has not shined any since with any real light. All has been darkness since. That is the origin of darkness in the universe. And the results that have come from that, from the beginning until the last result that shall ever come from it, are simply the results of that one effort to manifest self, to let self shine, to glorify self. And the end of that is that it all perishes and comes to naught.

 

To glorify self is to come to naught, is to cease to be. To glorify God is to continue eternally. What He makes people for is to glorify Him. The one who glorifies Him cannot help but exist to all eternity. God wants such beings as that in the universe. The question for every man is indeed, "To be, or not to be; that is the question."  Shall we choose to be and to be a means of glorifying God to all eternity? or shall we choose to glorify self for a little season and that only in darkness and then go out in everlasting darkness? O, in view of what God has done, it is not hard to decide which way to chose, is it? It is not hard to decide. Then shall it not be our choice now and forever to choose only God's way? to choose to glorify Him and Him alone?

 

Now another word as to what that takes. Here is a passage in John 12:23:

Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

Then, again, twenty-seventh verse:

Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? but for this cause came I unto this hour.

What then did He say? "Father, glorify thy name." There He was, standing in the shadow of Gethsemane. He knew the hour was coming and He knew what it meant. Here was this trouble pressing upon His divine soul and drawing from Him, "What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? but for this cause came I unto this hour."  The only thing, then, there was to say, as He came to that hour for that purpose, the only thing He could say was, "Father, glorify thy name." After that came Gethsemane and the cross and death. But in this surrender,  "Father, glorify thy name," there was taken the step that gave Him victory in Gethsemane and on the cross and over death.

 

There was His victory and you and I shall come to that place many a time.

 

We have been in that place already--where there comes a time when upon me there may be this demand made. That experience has to be passed through and looking at it as it stands and as we see it, we shall be tempted to say, "Oh, is it necessary that that shall be borne? Is it not more than even God requires of man to bear?" "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour?" Who brought you to that hour? Who brought you face to face with that difficulty? How did you get there? The Father is dealing with us; He brought us there. Then when under His hand, we are brought to the point at which it seems as though it would take the very soul out of a man to bear it, what shall we say? Father save me from this hour? Why, for this cause I am come to this hour. He brought me there for a purpose. I may not know what the experience is that He has for me beyond that; I may not know what is the divine purpose in that trial, but one thing I know. I have chosen to glorify God. I have chosen that God, instead of myself, shall be glorified in me, that His way shall be found in me instead of my way.  Therefore we cannot say, Father, save me from this hour. The only thing to do is to bow in submission; the only word to say is Father, glorify thy name. Gethsemane may follow immediately. The cross will certainly follow, but it is victory in that Gethsemane. It is victory upon that cross and over all that may come.

 

This is certainly true, for God does not leave us without the word. Read right on now.

 

What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.

 

That word is for you and for me in every trial, because "the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them." It belongs to us. He will see that it is reflected upon us and through us that men shall know that God is still manifest in the flesh. What, then, shall be our choice? Let it be settled once and forever. It is, To be, or not to be?  Which shall we choose? To be? But to be, means to glorify God. The sole purpose of existence in the universe is to glorify God.

 

Therefore, the choice to be is the choice to glorify God and the choice to glorify God is the choice that self shall be emptied and lost and God alone shall appear and be seen.

 

Then when all is done the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians gives the grand consummation. Twenty-fourth to the twenty-eighth verses:

 

Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, All things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

 

All in how many? He will be all in me; He will be all in you; He will be all in everybody through Jesus Christ.  There we see the plan completed. It is that the whole universe and everything in it shall reflect God.

 

That is the privilege that God has set before every human being. It is the privilege which He has set before every creature in the universe. Lucifer and multitudes of them who went with him, refused it. Men refused it. What shall you and I do? Shall we accept the privilege?

 

Let us see if we can get some idea of the measure of that privilege. What did it cost to bring that privilege to you and me? What did it cost? It cost the infinite price of the Son of God.

 

Now a question: Was this gift a gift of only thirty-three years? In other words, having consisted in eternity until He came to this world, did Jesus then come to this world as He did for only thirty-three years and then go back as He was before, to consist in all respects as He was before throughout eternity to come? And thus His sacrifice be practically for only thirty-three years? Was this sacrifice a sacrifice of only thirty-three years? or was it an eternal sacrifice? When Jesus Christ left heaven, He emptied Himself and sank Himself in us--for how long a time was it? That is the question. And the answer is that it was for all eternity. The Father gave up His Son to us,  and Christ gave up Himself to us for all eternity. Never again will He be in all respects as He was before. He gave His life to us.

 

Now I do not undertake to define this. I shall simply read a word on this from the Spirit of Prophecy, that you may know that it is a fact, and that you will know that we are on safe ground, and then take it as the blessed truth and leave the explanation of it to God and eternity. Here is the word:

 

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son."

 

He gave him not only to live among men, to bear their sins and die their sacrifice; he gave him to the fallen race. Christ was to identify himself with the interests and needs of humanity. He who is one with God has linked himself with the children of men by ties that are never to be broken.

 

Wherein did He link Himself with us? In our flesh, in our nature. To what extent did He link Himself with us? "By ties that are never to be broken."

 

Thank the Lord! Then He sank the nature of God, which He had with God before the world was, and took our nature, and He bears our nature forevermore. That is the sacrifice that wins the hearts of men. Were it looked upon, as many do look upon it, that the sacrifice of Christ was for only thirty-three years and then He died the death on the cross and went back into eternity in all respects as He was before, men might argue that in view of eternity before and eternity after, thirty-three years is not such an infinite sacrifice after all. But when we consider that He sank His nature in our human nature to all eternity, that is a sacrifice. That is the love of God. And no heart can reason against it. There is no heart in this world that can reason against that fact. Whether the heart accepts it or not, whether the man believes it or not, there is a subduing power in it, and the heart must stand in silence in the presence of that awful fact.

 

That is the sacrifice which He made. And I read on:

 

He who is one with God has linked himself with the children of men by ties that are never to be broken. Jesus is "not ashamed to call them brethren"; our Sacrifice, our Advocate, our Brother, bearing our human form before the Father's throne and through eternal ages; one with the race he has redeemed--the Son of man.

That is what it cost: The eternal sacrifice of one who was one with God. This is what it cost to bring to men the privilege to glorify God.

 

Now another question: Was the privilege there worth the sacrifice? or was the price paid to create the privilege?  Please think carefully. What is the privilege? We have found that the privilege brought to every soul is to glorify God. What did it cost to bring that privilege to us? It cost the infinite sacrifice of the Son of God. Now did He make the sacrifice to create the privilege, or was the privilege there and worth the sacrifice.

 

I see that this is a new thought to many of you, but do not be afraid of it. It is all right. Please look at it carefully and think. That is all that is needed. I will say it over, even two or three times if necessary, for it is fully worth it.  Ever since that blessed fact came to me that the sacrifice of the Son of God is an eternal sacrifice and all for me,  the word has been upon my mind almost hourly, "I will go softly before the Lord all my days."

 

The question is, Did He create the privilege by making the sacrifice? or was the privilege there already and we had lost it and it was worth the sacrifice that He made to bring it to us again?

 

Then who can estimate the privilege that God gives us in the blessed privilege of glorifying him? No mind can comprehend it.

 

To be worth the sacrifice that was paid for it--an eternal sacrifice--O, did not David do well when he said, looking at these things, "O Lord...such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it"? and, "In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul"?

 

"Great is the mystery of godliness; for God was manifest in the flesh." The Son of man received up into glory,  that means ourselves. And in that He brought to us the infinite privilege of glorifying God. That was worth the price that He paid. We never could have dreamed that the privilege was so great. But God looked upon the privilege, Jesus Christ looked upon the privilege, of what it is to glorify God. And looking upon that and seeing where we had gone, it was said, It is worth the price. Christ said, "I will give the price." And "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son," and thus brought to us the privilege of glorifying God.

 

 

1895 G.C. Sermon #20  by A.T. Jones