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Created: 20 July 2010

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As you have been living a lifestyle of seeking the Scriptures for His blood, His Cross, and as you have been taking up your cross and using the words of your testimony, you have overcome during this season, and are a conqueror.  You are living in God’s purposes for your life, your needs are being supplied, you have put away some demons resulting in the salvation of souls, and your character has been more conformed to the image of Jesus.  You have turned your junk into jewels.

 

What does it mean to be a conqueror?

The word “overcome” in Greek is nikao, which means “To subdue, to conquer, to prevail and get the victory.  The means of success.  To subdue the world system and all the adversaries of God’s Kingdom.” [1] This indicates a war with spiritual beings.  There is a time factor involved, and usually the pain of warfare.  Overcoming will look different for each person and for each circumstance.

I know a pastor whose son was killed in an auto accident by a drunk driver.  This pastor and his family overcame.  How?  He and his family lived a life of praise, thanksgiving, and victory in spite of their loss.  They did not turn on God, but drew closer to God.  The impact of their ministry has reached the world.  Many people have been healed spiritually, emotionally, and physically as a result.  The Kingdom of God has been expanded.  Other times, overcoming will manifest a prodigal child returning to the Lord, a financial situation improved, a relationship healed, or a physical healing.

 

Overcoming does something very powerful in the spiritual realm as well.  In Luke chapter 4:18-19 Jesus proclaimed His mission statement.  However He did not proclaim His entire mission as was prophesied in Isaiah 61.  In Luke, Jesus stopped with “The acceptable year of the Lord,” which is the Year of Jubilee.  However in Isaiah, right after “The acceptable year of the Lord,” it says, “And the day of vengeance of our God.”  The Bible constantly refers to the day of vengeance of our God.  “To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God…” (Isaiah 61:2a).  Jesus left out the day of vengeance in Luke 4 because He had not yet been to the Cross.  Now is the day for vengeance!

Many feel that that day of vengeance will only come when Jesus returns to earth for the final time.  I believe that we participate in that vengeance right now as we overcome.  I believe that we disengage demons that have been assigned to our family or nation when we overcome.  I believe that we send them into an early retirement.  In addition, read Isaiah 61, verses 3-11, and you will discover the benefits of overcoming and vengeance.  This is explained in greater detail in the un-abridged version of this book.

What does it mean to be more than a conqueror?

The word hupernikao means more than a conqueror, or “hyper-conqueror.”  It infers that it is excessively over and beyond being a conqueror.  Another way to say is would be “hyper-overcomer.”  The only place I can find hupernikao used in the Bible is in Romans chapter 8.  “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

A conqueror was described in Colossians 2:15, which says, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”  The word disarmed is translated from apekduomai, which means to strip of rank, to despoil and disarm.  It is likened to a Roman general being stripped of his metals by the enemy who conquered him.  It is like our USA General McArthur, when he met the Japanese general on the ship where the Japanese surrender took place.  The general was stripped of his rank and metals.  Jesus stripped Satan of his authority, now it is our privilege to carry out that surrender.

What more can there be besides conquering?

I continued to ask the Lord this question when I knew that He was directing me to name this last chapter Hupernikao, more than a conqueror.

In looking at Romans chapter 8 one can make the following observations of what Paul meant when he used the term “more than a conqueror.”

1.      In Romans chapter 6.  Paul laid out the facts, the finished work of what the death and resurrection of Jesus did for us.  This is a tremendous revelation!

2.      In Romans chapter 7.  Paul admitted to his weaknesses in actual living out this victorious life.

3.      In Romans chapter 8.  Paul reconciled the differences between the facts and his experience.

He said that we should walk, or live, according to the Spirit and to keep our minds focused on the Spirit and the true facts outlined in Romans chapter 6, rather than to walk or live in the flesh and be carnally minded.

He also stated in Romans chapter 8 that as we walked according to the Spirit, we would go from “suffering to glory.”  “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

One of the definitions of the word glory is “the glorious condition of blessedness into which is appointed and promised that true Christians shall enter after their Saviour's return from heaven.” [2] This is the very opposite of what we have been overcoming, that is curses.

In Romans chapter 8 he continues to describe this pathway to glory for us.  In 8:26-28 Paul talks of our infirmities, but that all these things will work together for good.  In 8:30 he talks about our pathway to being glorified, “Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Romans 8:30).  Then in 8:35-36 he talks about the kind of situations that potentially could harm us, but because of Christ they cannot.  “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter’” (Romans 8:35,36).

Then in Romans 8:37 he says, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”  All what things?  All of the sufferings and afflictions we have been through during the overcoming process.  The suffering and affliction together with your overcoming lifestyle in the face of them, has made you more than a conqueror!

To put it all together I could paraphrase it this way.  All of the sufferings and afflictions you have been through during your overcoming process have given you glory, which is a condition of blessedness that you did not enjoy previously.

What is my more?

Yes, my enemy has been overcome, but more than that, I have become closer to my King in a new level of intimacy, the status of a bride.  That is my more!  I have more of Jesus and He has more of me!

 

The following are the two things that I believe this new and deeper condition of blessedness includes:

1.  A greater manifestation of Christ in you.

2.  A greater manifestation of Christ upon you.

 

1.  A greater manifestation of Christ in you. As we discussed in a previous chapter, the Ark of the Covenant is in your heart.  Now that you are more than a conqueror, the benefits of the contents of the Ark will be enhanced.  That includes the Law of God is worked out in your character, the manna of God is providing for your needs, and Aaron’s Rod is bringing ministry fruit into your life.

You are now what Paul calls a “fragrance.”  “For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 2:15).  This closer union with Jesus together with your broken life that allows for the pouring forth of His life has caused you to spread His fragrance wherever you go.

As you have been overcoming, you have been wounded, broken, and hurt.  Often it has been all you could do to hang on.  You perhaps have been misjudged and misunderstood.  The result has been less of you and more of Christ.  Less of your old nature and more of His nature now prevails.  A clay vessel needs to be broken in order to allow the sweet oil to flow out.  You have been broken, and now His sweet anointing oil flows out to others.  You have wasted yourself on Jesus and He has honored you as he honored the woman when she broke her alabaster flask.

“And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard.  Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head.  But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, ‘Why was this fragrant oil wasted?  For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.’  And they criticized her sharply.  But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone.  Why do you trouble her?  She has done a good work for Me.  For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always.  She has done what she could.  She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial.  Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her’” (Mark 14:3-9).

There is a special anointing that comes along with being more than a conqueror.  Not only have you overcome the demons in your own realm of influence, but your conquering extends to spiritual beings with whom you previously had no connection.  You may or may not experience this special anointing, perhaps others will reap the harvest, but in my life I have experienced this on a regular basis.

This is difficult to explain, however I believe that Old Testament Joseph's experience is a type.  Joseph was not only persecuted by his brothers, but also in Egypt he was treated so unfairly.  It seems like trouble upon trouble keep following him.  If anyone in the Bible had a "right" to complain, it would have been Joseph.  But the Bible says in all that he went through, that "God was with him."  When Joseph overcame his own person suffering, not only did he receive a great reward in his life, overcomer, but he was a hyper-overcomer, more than a conqueror.  How?  It is because of Joseph's overcoming, that Israel survived as a people and eventually, through Moses, went back to the Promise Land.

2.  A greater manifestation of Christ upon you.

You will experience a more real and lasting abiding in deep communion with God in His presence.  Now that you are a conqueror, becoming more intimate and closer to Jesus is the “more.”

In Revelation chapter 19, when Jesus returns on His white horse to deliver us, we are also told of a very special love relationship that is consummated.  “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.  And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.  Then he said to me, ‘Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’’  And he said to me, ‘These are the true sayings of God’” (Revelation 19:7-9).

The “more than a conqueror” is being more intimate with Jesus.

The marriage supper speaks of a very deep level of intimacy and oneness.  I believe at this point in your life, your relationship with Jesus is deepened to new levels.  I believe that there are new levels of trust on both sides.  I believe that your access to God is different than it was previously.  A bride has the right to make demands on her husband that no other person can make.  A bride, who has consummated her marriage, has the right to depend upon security of many types, including financial security and emotional security.  She has access to her Husband that no one else has.  Esther is an example.

 

Visit this scene with me into Revelation chapter 19.

First visualize what Paul quoted from Psalm 68 when he was writing Ephesians 4:8 and said, “Therefore He says: ‘When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men’” (Ephesians 4:8).  Leading captivity captive was an old tradition exercised by conquering kings.  They would chain their defeated enemies and line them up behind the king and his soldiers to display the bounty.  The defeated foes would be on foot, chained to one another.  This is a picture of a past tense event.  We are to be one of the townspeople standing at the side of the road shouting and praising the king for his victory, perhaps victory over generational curses, failures, anger, addictions, poverty, etc.

Now if the rest of this picture stretches Scripture a little, please just take it as my imagination.  All of a sudden the King stops.  It is King Jesus riding on His white horse as in Revelation chapter 19.  He looks at you with an intense gaze of love, and He says, “Come, you have participated in this victory, you should not be down there with those people, here is your white horse, ride with Me.”  As you ride with Him into the royal courtyard, He looks at you once more and says, “Come, now you are more than a conqueror, you are my bride.  I have a feast prepared for you.”

Jesus’ final testimony to the churches in Revelation is about intimacy when He talks about the Tree of Life and says, “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.  Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:12-14).

 

The wise and foolish virgins.

An example for the positive and negative side of this blessedness is the parable of the wise and foolish virgins in Matthew 25.  All of the virgins were waiting upon the consummation of the wedding, which is another way of saying that all of them were in the overcoming process.  However, the five foolish were not prepared to stay for the long haul.  The foolish ones were half hearted.  The wise virgins were determined to stay until the bridegroom arrived, no matter how long it took and no matter how bad things looked.  They may have said, “I know the character of my Bride Groom, He will not stand me up, He can be trusted; therefore, I will sell everything I need to sell to purchase whatever I need to purchase to stay here until He comes for me.”

“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.  Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.  But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.  And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’  Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.  And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’  But the wise answered, saying,  ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’  And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.  Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’  Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming” (Matthew 25:1-13).

 

Is it real?

We have noticed that when this “more” takes place, it is manifested as an effortless blessing.  We also have experienced what Psalm 126 speaks about.  That is, we have been in a warfare-overcoming mode for so long, it is hard to imagine that we are actually experiencing a blessing now.

“When the LORD brought back the captivity of Zion, We were like those who dream [it seemed so unreal].  Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing.  Then they said among the nations, ‘The LORD has done great things for them.’  The LORD has done great things for us, And we are glad.  Bring back our captivity, O LORD, As the streams in the South [are restored by the torrents].  Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy.  He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalms 126:1-6 - bracketed comments from Amplified Bible).

Does this mean that we can now relax, that our overcoming days are over, and can just sit around and enjoy blessings?  I do not think so!  I submit that it means that now we are qualified to do greater works for the Kingdom of God and that we can be trusted with new overcoming assignments.  But the “more” it produces will be well worth the effort!

 

One final thought. Hang on brothers and sisters, He is coming!

I believe that as we overcome, as we turn our “junk” into “jewels,” that we touch the very heart of God by adorning His Son Jesus with jewels.

The last few chapters of Revelation describe the Kingdom of God and it is interesting to note that the foundations of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones.  “The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald” (Revelation 21:19).

The City described is made of gold, representing the good ordained works of man.  However the Foundation, who is Jesus, is adorned with jewels, representing the fruit of suffering.  Also the entire City has a luster resembling a rare and most precious jewel, like jasper, shining clear as crystal.  In addition the very wall of the City was made of jasper.

Jesus is the foundation Who is adorned with our jewels.  “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).

“Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.  If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.  If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

“He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more.  And I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God.  And I will write on him My new name” (Revelation 3:12).  Pillars stand on the underground and unseen foundation.  They are the manifested portion of the invisible foundation of any building.

“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’  Amen.  Even so, come, Lord Jesus!  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.  Amen” (Revelation 22:20,21).

 

 

 

 

Dear Reader:

 

Many people who have read this book as you have just done have experienced changed lives. This book was placed in your hands with the prayer and belief that the same blessing of a changed life will come to you. If this prayer has been answered in your life, we thank God.

 

It is our intent and practice to offer these books free of charge to the extent possible. If you have received your book in this way, we want to extend an invitation to you to participate in our mission and invest in this work of our Lord through a gift to cover the cost of printing your book plus another book for one other person. As God is blessing and moving in a mighty way through these books, we believe that He will also surely bless you for all the support you can give.

 

You may donate to  ISOB online:

 

http://www.isob-bible.org/ (look for donate link)

 

Your gift book will be placed in the hands of someone like you seeking to know the truth.

 

God bless you,

 

Larry Chkoreff and Team

 

Click here to Return to Front Page of Junk to Jewels Click here to Go to Appendix A

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[1] The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publisher, 1995.

[2] The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publisher, 1995.

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Written by Administrator

Created: 20 July 2010

Last Updated: 30 July 2010

Hits: 5059

Taking up your cross

Two deaths, Jesus’ and yours, activate the blood covenant!

 

 

 

 

 

You cannot expect God’s richest presence and blessings without your part of the blood covenant, without sacrifice.  Jeremiah 34:18-20 states that we are in the hands of our enemies if we transgress the covenant.

You may have been focusing on the blood of Jesus and what the Cross accomplished for you, and you may have been using the word of your testimony to speak the Word of God into your affliction, but without taking up your cross, everything else will be of no avail.  We will see how taking up your cross is simply cooperating with the Word of God to allow the character of Jesus to replace your old character.  It means totally abandoning the things that you have relied upon for your love, security, and significance.  God does not want us to change, He wants us to “die” and allow Jesus to live His life through us.

We cannot have true fellowship with God without a good conscience, which cannot exist without holiness, and true holiness is nothing more and nothing less than Jesus living His life in our vessels (1 Timothy 1:5, Hebrews 12:14).

Can we really take up our cross without help?  We can only take up our cross to a point, but not all the way.  We don’t have enough hands to crucify all of ourselves; the last nail must be inserted by the world.  We must experience some sort of pain and breaking to really get the job done.  God does not do this, the world does.  We can offer to God those things that we control, those things that we are aware of.  However, God sees with vision we do not have.  He knows those things in your soul that are keeping you from complete healing and connection with Him.  The more of you that can die, the more of Him can live in you.  His plan is not to clean up your old life, but to have you experience the crucifixion with Him.

 

We will be focusing on two major consequences or rewards that are a result of living a life of taking up your cross.

1.   As you continually take up your cross you will be conformed to the image of Jesus.  You will be conformed to love like He loves, give like He gives, and forgive like He forgives, and be holy as He is holy.  As you live this life of love, all of your spiritual enemies will be rendered harmless, and you will overcome.  Remember, faith works by love! (Galatians 5:6).

2.   As you continually take up you cross, the second major reward and consequence will be that you will experience the presence of God.

You need the presence of God to free and cleanse you in order to overcome.  You cannot overcome difficulties in life with plans and formulas, with the pastor’s sermon or the Sunday school class.  You must be in touch with the Living God!  In Revelation chapter 2, the church at Ephesus was into great works, but God said to them, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4).

 

I stay hungry for His presence!

Staying in God’s presence magnifies Him and makes Him larger than your afflictions.  “Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together” (Psalms 34:3).

“Blessed is the man You choose, And cause to approach You, That he may dwell in Your courts.  We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Of Your holy temple” (Psalms 65:4).  Our greatest blessing in life is to be honored by God’s presence.  There is nothing like being in real time touch with Him.  However, we need a pure conscience otherwise we will be deceived.

Often we hear the expression, “Feeling the presence of God.”  While we do not trust in our feelings, and certainly we need faith in the presence of God without feelings, often we can and do sense and feel the presence of God.  The Tabernacle pattern makes this “feeling” dependable.  God wants our emotions involved.  As you will learn in this process our emotions are not relied upon until after we consecrate our mind and will.  If we use this pattern, our emotions are safer.  There are a lot of “spirits” out there that can and do affect man’s emotions, but God has made a safe way to know that it is Him.

When we are in affliction, the only remedy is to push into the presence of God for relief.  When we find His presence, it seems like everything will be all right.  We discover a different perspective on our life and on our afflictions, which only His presence can uncover.  We begin to look at things from the heavenly viewpoint.

We need to know that there are enemies that want to stop God from being real to us.  Our enemies come at us three main ways, our flesh, the world, and Satan.

God has already provided for all victory over our enemies!  The way into His presence was provided at the Cross when the veil of the Temple was torn from top to bottom.  Mark 15:38 says, “Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.”  Now it is our job to cooperate.  We must take up our cross - which will give us the victory!

However, we need to understand that we may be cooperating with some of these enemies which will prevent us from entering into God’s presence and even from overcoming.  In this chapter we will deal with those issues by using the example of the Tabernacle.  Some hindrances which may be blocking the presence of God in your life may be:

a. Not accepting God’s forgiveness, and not offering forgiveness.

b. Not making the Word of God first place in your life.

c. Keeping an unthankful attitude towards God.

d. Hanging on to your independence and your strong will and not allowing God to work out His will in your life.

e. Not allowing God to renew your mind and remove strongholds in your life.

f. Not maintaining an attitude of praise, which leads to worship.

g. Not loving and giving as Jesus does.  In other words, being selfish and self-centered.

h. Trying to live by legalism and the law, rather than by grace.

i. Trying to live an unholy life by being presumptuous on God’s grace.

 

The Tabernacle is a picture of the three parts of our soul, which are the will, intellect (mind), and emotions.  The Tabernacle will serve as a foundation for our part of the blood covenant, our sacrifice.

Quote from God’s Plan and the Overcomers [1]- Watchman Nee.

“The Old Testament tells us how the chosen people of God lived on earth.  At first, the tabernacle served as the center of the 12 tribes; later it was the temple which became their center.  The center of the temple was the ark.  The tabernacle, the temple and the ark are all types of Christ.  As long as the children of Israel maintained their proper relationship with the tabernacle or the temple they were victorious, and no nation could overcome them.  Even though their enemies learned how to fight while they themselves were not familiar with fighting, the children of Israel overcame all their enemies nonetheless.  But the moment they had problems with the tabernacle or the temple, they were taken into captivity.  Nothing else, whether they had powerful kings or great wisdom in themselves mattered at all; the only concern which mattered was whether or not they had offended the ark of the tabernacle or temple.  If the Lord had the preeminence, then theirs was the victory.  So too with us today.  In minding the victory of Christ, we also have the victory.”

 

One part of overcoming is  “…and they did not love their lives to the death” (Revelation 12:11c).  The word “lives” is psuche in Greek, which means the soul.  It does not mean our physical life, it means our will, intellect and emotions.  It means that unregenerated part of our being that needs to become like Jesus.  “Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).

God is actually accomplishing many things during our overcoming affliction.

1.   We are overcoming the actual curse or affliction we are dealing with.

2.   We are closer to God, in intimate fellowship, than we have ever been before.

3.   Our soul is going through a healing and is being renewed.

4.   We are being conformed into His image.

5.   We receive the rhema, God’s personal Word, to us.

Paul wonderfully expresses taking up your cross in the Book of Romans.  Paul takes the first eight to eleven chapters of Romans to explain the desperate need of mankind and the wonderful provision God has made for that need.  Then he says in effect that in view of these wonderful mercies, take up your cross.  “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1,2).  Then in the next few chapters he gives some very good practical advice on how to take up your cross and present your members as a living sacrifice.  I urge everyone reading this to read Romans Chapters 12-15 prayerfully, asking God to convict you in your ways of selfishness.

Our mind needs to be transformed and renewed, to change into another form, to transform, to transfigure.  Christ’s appearance was changed and was resplendent with divine brightness on the mount of transfiguration.  God does a supernatural work of changing us as we submit our old will, intellect, and emotions.

Transformation is kind of like the displacement method.  When clean water is poured into a glass of dirty water, the displacement theory transforms the water.  The dirty water did not become clean, but was displaced by the clean water.  As we go through this process the character of Jesus displaces our old will, mind, and emotions.  That is called grace!

 

As you journey into fellowship with God, picture taking a walk through the Tabernacle as the priests of the Old Testament did.

“In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me” (Ps 27:5b).

We begin here.         We walk through here        We end up here                                                  and take up our cross.            in God’s presence.

 

 

 

 

Walking through the Tabernacle

 

When Jesus said that we must deny ourselves, lose our life for His sake, etc., He was using a word that refers to our soul.  So we must deny, or say no to, our soul.

Our soul is three parts: the will, mind (intellect), and emotions.  The Holy Place represents that part of our being, the soul.  It has three pieces of furniture that represent our will, mind and emotions (see above picture).  Allowing God to replace our old will, mind, and emotions with His, is the taking up of our cross.

Now we will take a journey to each of these items in our prayer time and journey right past our enemies into the very presence of God!

 

A Journey into the Presence of God

First stop, His Cross.  Receiving forgiveness and forgiving others.

 

The first stop within the Tabernacle pattern towards the presence of God is the Bronze Altar.  Bronze stands for judgment.  Our sins have been judged as transferred to Jesus on the Cross.  I believe that this altar is a pivot point, kind of a watershed, not only for coming into God’s presence and overcoming, but also for our entire relationship with God.  I make this statement based upon the fact that in the Book of Revelation, as God is looking for overcomers, He continually makes the statement, “He who overcomes….”  Then he makes overcomers some promise, a different one for each of the seven churches.  He is referring, in each case, to overcoming their faults, sins and fleshly attitudes.

The Brazen or Brass Altar represents the Cross of Jesus and His sacrifice there for our sins and our sin nature.  However we must appropriate this sacrifice by being honest with Him.

Many people have never been comfortable enough with another person to be totally transparent and honest.  If you have never encountered the person of Jesus, in the Holy Spirit or in another human, it may be difficult for you to bare your heart before God.

Look at it this way.  Imagine that you are preparing to go into a courtroom where you were the defendant.  Imagine further that you were sitting in a restaurant in the building just downstairs from the courtroom, thinking about your trial, and suddenly the judge walks in.  He sits next to you and begins to tell you how you can win the trial for sure.  He gives you advance information on what he will be looking for.  He gives you inside information.  This is how I see Revelation chapters 2-3.  They are not put there to make us feel condemned, but rather to prepare us for victory.  There may be many hidden and deceitful attitudes in our lives that the enemy can use against us.  You can trust the judge who does this.  He is looking out for your best interest.

We need to be and can safely be very straight up with ourselves and with God about our attitudes and sinful actions.  I am not promoting some kind of striving after sinless perfection that could drive us to despair, but rather am encouraging you to be totally gut level honest with the One who loves you more than you love yourself.  He will not condemn you nor make you feel dirty.  The devil does that.  The devil never gives you a way out.  However when we allow God to convict us, He always does it in love, and always gives us a way out.  It is called repentance, to turn from our attitudes and actions with the power given to us in and through the Holy Spirit living within.

I have seen a lot of people study the Bible and become very grounded in who they are in Christ and what the Cross did for them, and they even continually confess those Scriptures, but they experience defeat.  Why?  I submit that it is because they do not want to be honest with their real condition, and they do not want to be real with themselves and with God.

Repentance is a gift from God.  Being able to repent brings revival; it brings the presence of the Lord.  “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).

We can be honest with Jesus, we can trust Him.  1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

A big part of taking up your cross is being gut level honest with God.  You need to be totally transparent and tell Him everything.  Take time to pour out your heart to him as you would your best friend!  Often we do not even know our sin.  The safest thing to do is what I have learned from my wife, just tell Him everything!  Pour out your heart to Him telling Him how you feel about everything.  You can be sure that as you do that, some of what comes out of your mouth will be the confession of sin, and Jesus loves it!

1 John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”  Jesus said in John 3:19 that sin had no power as long as people came out into the light with the truth, and did not attempt to hide in darkness.  Jesus did not die for our excuses; He died for our sin!

Here are some of the areas in which the Holy Spirit will work in your life.

a.   Sin against men. The greatest issue is that you need to walk in love, and when you fail, run to God to be cleansed.  If we stay turned toward God and stay honest with Him, He will see us through even in our mistakes and stumbling.  Read 1 Corinthians 13, the “love chapter.”

b.   Sin against God. The greatest issue with God is that many Christians still go to “other gods” for their needs rather than to the Word.  The Old Testament is overflowing with this issue and Jesus spent a lot of time teaching about “You cannot serve God and Mammon.”  Mammon is not simply money, it is increase (outside of God’s Word) of any kind, including love security and significance.  Your safety lies in repenting from all other idols in your life.  Then Jesus can supply your needs.

c.   Let us look at Revelation again. Jesus wanted to prepare the Churches of that day, as well as you and me, for the trial.  His way of doing that is expressed in Revelation chapters 2-3.

God is looking for overcomers in Revelation.  Overcoming is the bottom line message to each of these seven churches.  Jesus was showing each one of the churches back then, and each one of us right now, that there are certain things in our lives that we need to line up with God’s plan, so that we may become overcomers.  We need to clean up our ways because before we overcome, we will be in intense war.  As soldiers, we need “clean rifles, shinny boots,” and obedient spirits.  The message continues and shows us that things will get bad, then they will get worse, and then they will seem intolerable.  It will look like evil is winning.  We don’t know if we can hang on any longer, then suddenly, Jesus comes on the scene on delivers us.  We overcome!  The rewards of overcoming include a closer relationship with God, more of His character in our lives, more of His provisions for temporal needs, and spiritual authority to go rescue others who need to overcome.

The word overcome is used eleven times in Revelation.  The first seven times it is for the churches, and you and me.  The next two times, Chapter 11:7 and 13:7, the bad guys overcome the good guys.  The next time, Chapter 17:14, Jesus, The Lamb, overcomes the bad guys.  The last time is in Chapter 21:7 when Jesus tells us, “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son” (Revelation 21:7).

I admit that I do not understand all of the beautiful pictures and language portraits in Revelation.  In an effort to summarize some practical points gleaned from Jesus’ message to each of the seven churches in Revelation, I offer the following practical, yet probably incomplete summary.  I believe that included here are areas that each one of us may apply to our own lives.  Remember Jesus was not condemning these believers and churches, He wanted them to overcome.  He knew that Satan would prevent their overcoming unless they repented.

 

The Church of Ephesus (Revelation 2:1).  They were working hard for the Gospel, undergoing trouble and were patient.  They would not endure wicked people.  Their heart was in the right place for God and His work.  But they left their first love.  Jesus said, “You deserted ME!  Get back into real time, vital living contact with Me, or you will not survive and overcome what is about to happen to you.”  We need to be in “real time” contact with God through the Holy Spirit and the Word.  The analogy is, we can write letters to one another, we can send email to one another, we can even “chat” with one another on the internet, but unless we get face to face, our relationship will be limited.  We need face to face contact with God.

 

The Church of Smyrna (Revelation 2:8).  This was, and represents the persecuted church.  Jesus knew of their great distress, affliction and poverty, but He told them to hang on and be faithful, even if to death.  Jesus had nothing against this church.  I submit that this includes people who are destined to be physical martyrs.  Their reward is the Crown of Life.  Crown stands for authority, and life represents the spiritual life given by God.  Historically, the death of martyrs has brought about a great harvest of souls.  In the year 2000, there was a tragic incident in an American High School in Colorado, where two demonized boys killed thirteen people.  Some of the ones who died did so as true martyrs.  Since that time there have been thousands of souls come into the Kingdom of God through this event.  I believe that the “Smyrna believer” can also be those who are in terrible suffering which may not be unto death.  Notice in verse 2:9 the Lord calls those who are afflicted and in poverty rich.  “I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich)…”(Revelation 2:9).  The next verse says that these people “will have tribulation ten days.”

 

The Church of Pergamos (Revelation 2:12).  These people lived among an evil people who had the spirit of anti-Christ, yet they did not deny Jesus.  But Jesus saw that some of them had a money problem, serving two gods at the same time and they welcomed some false teaching about needing a mediator between themselves and God (Nicolaitans).  Some believers and some entire denominations feel that there needs to be a human priest to mediate between God and man.  “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).

They also were prone to sexual vice. Perhaps they had a love of the “world” and its “gods.”  Revelation 2:14 states that these people held to the doctrine of Balaam who taught Balak, the King of Moab to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel.  Balaam was hired by Balak to curse the Israelites prior to waging war with them.  Balaam, a prophet, tried to curse Israel, but he could only bless.  Later, as recorded in Numbers 31, in a war with the Midianites, the Israelites, at the prompting of Balaam, mingled with the Midianite women.  This sin caused Israel to fail, and a plague came upon the entire congregation of the Lord.

“And Moses said to them, “Have you kept all the women alive?  ‘Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD’” (Numbers 31:15,16).

Satan knows that sin and disobedience is the quickest way to overcome God’s people.  The curse could not be effective because God had blessed them, but their own choice to sin defeated them.  Obedience is a very big issue with God, and many Christians are deceived, even self-deceived, by their own works; and even deceived by their own sacrifices.  Obedience is better than sacrifice.

Jesus said that if they did not turn from these sins, that He would fight against them.  He also promised them a major blessing of close fellowship with Him if they overcame these problems.

 

The Church of Thyatira (Revelation 2:18).  Jesus recognized their love and service, but He saw the spirit of Jezebel (which is being out of line when it comes to authority).  This often leads to sexual immorality and being led astray in many other ways.  Jesus promised authority to those who overcame.  There are many manifestations of the spirit of Jezebel, some within the church and some outside the church.  It is not primarily a sexual demon, although it uses sex as one of its tools to control.  It counterfeits the Holy Spirit and often acts as a false prophet.  Often when found in the church, Jezebel’s goals are to destroy the congregation.  Often she is successful.  Pastors must remain vigilant to people who disguise themselves as super-spiritual.  Pastors, and all men, must remain in proper relationship with their God-given spouse; otherwise they are prime targets.  A woman very often traps young men, who do not submit to the authority of Jesus, with a Jezebel spirit.  Young women who find themselves without an authority figure are often trapped by a male with a Jezebel or an Ahab (Jezebel’s husband) spirit.  This is why the church is commissioned to minister to widows and orphans.  They make up a large groups of those who are not under a male authority (divorced women as well).

 

The Church of Sardis (Revelation 3:1).  Jesus called them dead!  He said that they thought that they were alive. That is a very dangerous position to be in; dead but convinced they are alive!  This could describe many main line denominations that go through the motions without real life.  He stated that their garments were dirty but that there were a few who had on white, representing His righteousness.  The remedy prescribed for them, and for those who are tending to be like them, is to back up and remember the lessons they have heard in the past, and to be a doer of the Word this time.  In other words, be obedient to the Word of God.  He said that if they repented and turned that He would not blot their names out of the Book of Life.  It is a fearful thought that some people may have been scheduled for salvation but had their name blotted out!

 

The Church of Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7).  These people are overcomers!  This was the church that was doing its best to live and minister properly, but they were constantly under attack from the enemy.  He found nothing against them, but warned them to hang on to the end, or they would lose.  I believe that these are the people who are positioned to turn their troubles and curses into triumph and blessings!  I believe that these are the people who will win if they hang on long enough.  Revelation 3:10 indicates that God will keep them safe during the “trial.”  These are the people who will have spiritual authority and will be able to help others overcome.

 

The Church of Laodicea (Revelation 3:14).  This was the lukewarm church; they were neither hot nor cold.  They said they were rich, but Jesus called them poor.  I believe there is an indication that they were very religious and self-righteous.  They were blinded to their condition.  Jesus warned them to be overcomers, not losers.  The reason I feel that “lukewarm” indicates self righteousness, is because He told them, “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ --and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17).  That is spiritual pride.  In verse 18 He tells them that they cannot even see their condition.  I believe that all of us can take a warning from this admonition.

Let us not forget how grace reached down and saved us.  Let us not judge others too quickly.  The only effective way of dealing with a brother or sister who is not acting right is to bring them into the presence of God. It will not remedy their situation if we hit them over the head with the Bible!  I am not saying that there won’t be times of firm dealings with some people, but for the most part love and grace are the needed ingredients.  Criticism and gossip will not help people.  Criticism and gossip is what comes out of the mouth of the self-righteous, and those are the people who Jesus will “spue out of His mouth” (Revelation 3:16b).

The wonderful promise for repentance from a self-righteous attitude is that the person may be intimate with Jesus.  “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).  There is no intimacy with God for the self-righteous, critical and legalist.

I have known “cold” believers who have been precious.  Remember cold tastes good to Jesus.  I have known many believers who do not know very much about the Bible, but they have a great love for Jesus and for people in general.  They walk and live in love, but may not be very evangelistic.

The lost world does not need religion they need love.  Our brothers and sisters in the Lord need to be loved and encouraged.

Simple honesty with God is powerful. When you confess your sin without excuse, and determine to turn around and go in a different direction, you are positioning yourself to enjoy God’s presence.

Now that you have been offered such free and undeserved forgiveness, you must also forgive those who have offended and hurt you.  You must forgive whether you feel like it or not and whether or not the other party has apologized.

 

Second stop in the Tabernacle: The Laver: The Word of God.

 

The word laver means, bowl or to wash.  Here it is a symbol for the Word of God.  The first object was the brass altar that stood for the Cross and the blood of Jesus.  Now that our conscience is clear, we can make contact with God through the Word.  Sometimes the Word will not be powerful to us if our conscience is tainted.

The Word says that the priest would die if he tried to get into the Holy Place without stopping at the laver.  We cannot proceed into God’s presence without being cleansed by the Word of God (Ephesians 5:26-27).

The laver will cleanse us from the filth of the world.  It will also be a mirror to judge us; it will bring things to our mind that we need to get right with God.  The Word will renew our mind so that we can think spiritually and stand against the words that demons speak into our minds.

The Word is a mirror.  The Word is cleansing water.  The Word judges.  The Word is a seed.  The Word is a sword.  The Word is Jesus and Jesus is the Word.  You need to soak yourself in the Word of God on a daily basis.  It will change you and change your circumstances. The Word of God is a vital stepping stone into the presence of God!  The Word will not return void.  It will produce what it is intended for.

The third stop is thanksgiving.

We must enter in the Holy Place with thanksgiving.  Now it is time to go through the first of two veils from the outer court into the tent itself and that portion called the Holy Place.  However, before we study the Holy Place we must see what gets us into the Holy Place and how we get through the first door or veil.

The Word of God commands us to give thanks at all times and under all circumstances whether we feel like it or not.

“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise.  Be thankful to Him, and bless His name” (Psalms 100:4).

I Thessalonians 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”

A sacrifice of thanksgiving is the key! The will is the key.  The time to thank the Lord is when we do not feel like it, when our emotions tell us not to be thankful.  That is the time that our will must take over.  Like David said in Psalm 104:1, “Bless the Lord O my soul...”  He spoke to his soul and commanded it to praise God, especially when he felt bad.  Thanksgiving is a function of the will.  “And when you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the LORD, offer it of your own free will” (Leviticus 22:29).

When we enter into thanksgiving and praise to God during the bad times, something in us “dies.”  When we “die,” we see God.  In Psalm 50, God is saying that He does not really give much value to all of the Hebrew sacrifices compared to the sacrifice of thanksgiving.  He told them that He was not hungry for food.  He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.  He said that He was hungry for three things: thanksgiving, paying one’s vows and calling upon Him in the day of trouble.  That is what satisfies God’s hunger.

a.  We need to give thanks for what we see. Do we have a “Gimmee, Gimmee” attitude, or one of thankfulness?  The boy was complaining about having no shoes until he met the man who had no legs.  Sometimes we don’t know how well off we really have it.  God is not into giving us more things and solving our problems when we are not thankful for what He has already done; no matter what bad thing we are facing.  I know I am that way with my children.  I can’t help it, I just am, and so is God!

b.  We need to give thanks for unseen. How can we give thanksgiving and praise without being phony?  The answer is the Cross!  What God has already done?  The Cross is an accomplished fact, we just need to see the truth behind it, and we will not see the truth unless we “die,” or take up our cross.  The Cross has the power to change the seen via the unseen through the Word, praise, and thanksgiving.  The Cross is invisible to us today, but it is still a fact in history and believing in it and acting on it through the Word of God will change your condition.  Thank God for the things that do not look good because God has entrusted them to you to utilize as raw materials for blessings.  Overcoming is about turning junk into jewels for the Kingdom of God.  No junk, no jewels!

Now you enter the Holy Place.

The fourth stop is the Table of Shewbread.  This represents the will.

When Jesus said that we must deny ourselves, lose our life for His sake, etc., He was using a word that refers to our soul.  So we must deny, or say no to, our soul.  Our will, mind and emotions are where we actually take up our cross and make the connection to His Cross, and the blood covenant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are using the Holy Place to represent our mind, will and emotions.

Inside the Holy Place there are three pieces of furniture: the Table of Shewbread, the Golden Lampstand and the Altar of Incense.  One symbolic meaning for these (there are many) is that the Table of Shewbread stands for our will, the Lampstand for our intellect and the Altar of Incense for our emotions.

Showbread (the King James Bible calls it Shewbread) literally means the Presence of His Face, or that God is staring at it.  In our Tabernacle journey, this piece of furniture represents our will, or giving up our own will for God’s will.

Something that I want to impress upon your thinking even before you study this section is that God will allow you to have your own will.  He will not violate your free choice.  You must give your will to Him.  If you do not, He is ready to allow you to suffer the consequences, even to the point of pain and destruction, and yes, even to the point of spending eternity in Hell.  He will move Heaven and earth to give you the options, but you must choose life or death, blessing or curse, His will or your will.  Often God will lovingly guide a strong willed person by allowing them to feel the pain of their self will.

Romans 12:1-2 says that we should offer our lives as “a living sacrifice” to God so that we may “prove” the perfect will of God for our lives.  In other words, we need to give God our will.  When we do that, we are promised that we will prove, or walk out through trials, the perfect will of God for our lives.

Your will is your decision maker. Man is the only animal that has the freedom to choose.  This choice is what gives us the potential for real love; it is also what gives us the potential for evil.  This is when the word “will” is used as a participle, kind of like a verb; “I will give...”

 

Why would God want you to give Him your will?

So He can give you His!  In a covenant relationship there is always a swap.  Yours for mine and mine for yours!  Now who do you think gets the better deal, you or Jesus?  All we do is give up “junk” in order to receive “jewels.”  In spite of this, so many people think it is such a sacrifice to give up their wills and accept God’s will.  The only person who ever received anything bad by giving up their own will to God’s will was Jesus, and He did it with joy, the joy of seeing you and me saved.

Many people agonize over God’s will for their lives, feeling that if they give into His will that He will call them to some sort of torture, suffering, or ask them to move to another country.  The truth is, if God ever did ask a person for such a task, that person would have a burning desire to accomplish it.  God’s will for every life is “abundant life.”  “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.  I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

What is God’s will for you?  God’s Word is His will for you and me.  We need to see God’s Word as a friend who died and left His riches to us.  In addition, God has a customized plan or will for your own individual life.  However you may be hindering Him from working that into your life by hanging on to your old fleshly will.  Ephesians 2:10 indicates that God has a predestined path for each of us, and He calls it the good life, the abundant life.

How do you give God your will?  One way is when you submit to the Word, you are giving your will to God.  When you read in the Word to be kind, not to criticize, to give and not be selfish, then you are giving your will to God so that He can give you His.

Other ways are to put your thoughts, plans, and desires “on the altar” and allow God to either burn them away or perfect them.  This can be difficult for some people who are strong willed and very talented.  They are capable of feeling that their desires are always God’s desires because they perform them out of their own power and abilities.  However, if we give our plans and desires to God and then back off and see if He performs them, that is the faith life, and it is truly trusting God’s will for your life.

Breaking is needed! The bread on this table is laid out in the shape of a cross.  We can only take up our cross to a point,  but not all the way.  We don’t have enough hands to crucify all of ourselves; the last nail must be inserted by the world.  We must experience some sort of pain and breaking to really get the job done.  God does not do this, the world does.

God will give you His will through His Word.

God wants to paint His will on the tablet of your heart.  God is a visionary, and He created us as visionaries.  Yes, He wants us to be practical in the everyday affairs of life, but He wants to transfer His will to us by painting pictures on our heart by the media of His Word.  Look at Genesis chapters 30 and 31 to see how God transferred His will for Jacob into reality by speaking a word to Jacob and allowing him to see a dream about spotted and speckled cattle.  We need to trust God more and open up to Him.  We can tend to get too cautious and be too “Western-minded” and too much into linear thinking.  We should take some lessons from the Eastern, African and Asian mindsets that understand that the supernatural works through pictures on the heart.  Pictures on the heart is the language of the Holy Spirit.  We just need to make sure that it is God who is painting the pictures and not some other god, and not ourselves.

Not my will but yours!

Oftentimes Christians, even well meaning Christians, can get into the trap of using their own will without God involved.  “Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails” (Proverbs 19:21).

The Bible story that best illustrates this is centered on Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac.  God came to Abram in Genesis 12 to call him out from his own family, his business and financial security, his idols and his method of worship, in order to create a family to be called the “family of God.”  This would be the Israelites, the Jews, and eventually the Christians, the Body of Christ, who were grafted into God’s spiritual family.

In Genesis 15 God, appeared to Abram again and they discussed having a child.  “But Abram said, ‘O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?’  And Abram said, ‘You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.’  Then the word of the LORD came to him: ‘This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.’  He took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them.’  Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’  Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:2-6).

Abram could not figure out how God was going to give him a child since he was so old and his wife Sarah was barren and could not have children.  He knew God’s will, and he figured that it was time to just do it.  So he made his own plans for having a child.  The story continues and Sarai, Abram's wife, suggests that her maidservant Hagar become the mother of Abram’s child.  The child was named Ishmael.  Although God loved Ishmael, he was not God’s choice for creating His family of Israel from whom the Messiah was to come.

As it turned out, all of the Arab nations came from Ishmael, who was a result of Abram’s plan.  Israel, Jesus, and Christianity all came from the supernatural birth of Isaac, which were all part of God’s plan and His own doing.  God is interested in saving the Arabs now through Jesus Christ.  God wants to graft them in just like He grafted in you and me.

God was not finished with Abram now called Abraham.  God had other plans, His plans!  He came again to Abraham some years later and told him about His plans.  Genesis 17 records how the Lord appeared to Abraham again at a time in life when both he and his wife were beyond child bearing, and promised them the supernatural birth of Isaac.

“Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.  Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.  Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him” (Genesis 21:1-3).

The lesson we are to learn from this is that we need to allow God to perform those things for us that He wants.  Sure we are supposed to work, study and try hard.  But so far as our will is concerned, we are to offer that up to Him.  Abraham should have had this attitude.  He should have said, “Oh God, I know your promise to me, I understand You want me to have a child, and I don’t see how that can possibly happen.  Perhaps I misunderstood you; perhaps You have something else for me.  I lay this desire of mine, and promise from You on the altar and ask You to perform it for me if you want this for my life.  I dare not touch this to help You.  If this is from You, then I will wait until You perform it.”  We need to refuse to manipulate people and circumstances to get our way.  God never does that, and we should be afraid to do it.  This will ensure that we do not create an “Ishmael” in our life that we will be sorry for, perhaps forever.

One of the rules I have adapted for sifting out God’s will from my will is a method I learned when I used to sail in the Virgin Islands and other parts of the Caribbean.  We would begin to enter a harbour and would be warned that there were coral reefs all over the harbour entrance.  However we had a map, or a chart, that would give landmarks on the land from which we could line up our entry course.  For instance, there would be a church, a water tower, and the city hall.  If we would line up those three objects so that we could only see them in a straight line, then the chart would tell us, we could enter the harbour on that course and would be safe.  In the spiritual world I like to line up three or four items to find out if a certain course is God’s will.  I want to hear from Him in the Word, I want to hear from the Holy Spirit, I want to see circumstances begin to line up, and I want to see the Body of Christ affirming my decision.

The fifth stop is the Golden Lampstand.  This represents the mind.

At this stop in our walk through the Tabernacle towards the presence of God, we have the need to exchange our old thoughts for the mind of Christ.  2 Corinthians 10:4-6 tells us that the spiritual warfare is our mind.  It tells us that strongholds, reasonings, and imaginations hold our thoughts captive, and that these things keep us from the true knowledge of God.  These thoughts lie to us about the goodness and grace of God and His saving love and power.  Demons constantly accuse us and bombard our minds with half-truths.  They perpetrate guilt, unworthiness, and fear.  They preach that we must perform to please a harsh God.  Isaiah 11 tells us that God replaces our natural intellect with that of the Holy Spirit: i.e., Spirit of The Lord, knowledge, counsel, wisdom, understanding, might and fear of the Lord.  There is much to be said here because our thoughts are the very core of our being.

We must set our thoughts free!  How?  When we were slaves to sin, we used the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which is our independent reasoning.  Now we should be using the Tree of Life, which is the Word of God.  I no longer think and decide, but I use my mind for it’s God given purpose, and that is to listen and obey!  When we truly see the glory of God as Paul did on the road to Damascus, we no longer reason, we simply say, “Lord what do you desire for me to do.”  You may ask, “Am I supposed to forfeit my creativity and become a robot for God?”  No!  God wants you be creative just like He is, however He wants to author your creative thoughts.

The mind, why is it represented by the Golden Lampstand? The Lampstand traditionally represents testimony.  We should utilize our intellectual powers to speak God’s Word as a testimony to the enemy.  The Lampstand is also symbolic of the Holy Spirit, with its symbols of oil and fire.  When God made Adam and Eve, He told them that they could touch any tree in the Garden, but could not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  I believe that the Tree of Life is the Word of God and that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is our own mind that is not taking instructions from the Spirit of God.  Adam did not need to have knowledge to decide what was good and evil.  If he had lived in oneness with God he would have intuitively known.  But Adam wanted to be independent of God, so he began to make his own decisions of what he should do and not do.  He did not want to be bad, just independent.

What was the original intended function for the mind?

We are supposed to use our mind, but God’s guidance transcends human reasoning.  When God saves you He does not remove your mind, He renews it.  The mind is the organ of thought.  It is the hidden force of human destiny because your thoughts turn into actions, which turn into habits, which turn into character.

God made us in such a way that we are supposed to use our mind to pick up information for navigating life on earth from our five senses, but to obtain information on spiritual reality from our spirit.

The Helmet of Salvation.  Our brain needs salvation from cleverness, from allowing our mind and intellect to take God's place in our lives.  Without this, we will never walk in God's perfect will for our lives (Romans 12:1-2).  More often than not, this is not something that we can or will voluntarily give up.  Usually it takes a "breaking," a set of circumstances that take us beyond what our brain can negotiate and/or solve.  Only then can we quietly wait on God for Him to speak and be silent while He works out our lives.

We need to work on holy concentration.

Our imagination can lead to blindness if we do not totally consecrate it to God and His Word.  The imagination is a powerful God-given function designed to be submitted to Him so that He may write His pictures on it.  If we allow Satan or the world to write on our imagination, we become blind as the following Scriptures testify.

“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

If we habitually concentrate on the negative past we will stay bound to it, and eventually “go back to it.”  Hebrews 11:15-16a (AMP) says, “If they had been thinking with [homesick] remembrance of that country from which they were emigrants, they would have found constant opportunity to return to it; But the truth is that they were yearning for and aspiring to a better and more desirable country, that is, a heavenly [one].…”  We need to focus on the better things God has for us, not our past failures.

If we do not concentrate on the positive, our mind will default to the negative.  If your mind is passive, the imagination is passive.  It is waiting for an outside stimulus.

Positive concentration, especially on the Word of God, is important for the overcoming process.  “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.  For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8).  According to Strong's Concordance, the word meditate in this Scripture means to speak, utter, imagine and study.  I have heard it said that meditate is like a cow chewing a cud.  She regurgitates it, then chews it again, then the process continues over and over.  We should do the same with the Word of God.  Soon we will be thinking God’s thoughts and we will be so close to Him it will surprise us!

Strongholds of the mind.

A stronghold is a fortress of false knowledge that is believed on as truth.

Satan is capable of building strongholds in our minds, which are designed to protect his property that he may have gained in our lives.  That property may simply be a carnal worldly mindset, or the stronghold could progress to influence by a demon.  I believe that what starts out as fleshly thought in our mind and is allowed to become a habit may ultimately be latched onto by a demon.  Jesus is our protector, and He will protect us, provided we cooperate (2 Corinthians 10:4,5).

One primary evidence of a stronghold is a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness.  It causes the person to act ungodly without being able to even choose the godly behavior.  Strongholds can nullify one’s will.

Strongholds can include, but are not limited to:

Fear, guilt, shame dishonesty, poverty, temper, cheap grace, legalism, judgment, and others.

How strongholds can get a foothold in your life:

a.   Your sin.

b.   Generational sin

c.   Sin in the world

d.   Weights, or oppression

e.   Through an idol in your life

f.    A “soul tie” type of relationship can bring powerful strongholds!

g.   Rebellion against authority

h.   We can be responsible for becoming slaves to various things and people (excepting of course those issues that have to do with our childhood).

We become slaves to whomever or to whatever we yield (Romans 6:16).

What is the solution?

Here is what Jesus said about getting free.  “Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed on Him, If you continue in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31,32).

First you must continue in His Word.  The word “continue” is a strong word.  It means to settle down, abide, and make our home in His Word.  It does not mean to look at His Word once a week or even five minutes a day, it means to sustain your very life by His Word.  “But He answered and said, It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4).  The word used in this Scripture for “word” is “rhema.”  Rhema means a personal Word spoken from Jesus to you.  You must invest time with God to receive His rhema.

Next you must be committed to being Jesus’ disciple.  That means to be so united to Him that He is your teacher in everything.  It means that you drop your pride and allow God, who knows you better than you know yourself, to have His way with you.  When you are going through discipline with the Lord, remember He is doing it because He loves you.

The result will be that you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.  “Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me” (John 14:6).  Knowing Jesus is knowing the Truth.  Having a personal, close, intimate relationship with Him is the only thing that will really make you free.

God may use many methods of delivering this freedom to you.  He may cause demons to be cast out of you, or out of the influence of your life.  Or He may take you through a long process of getting free through pouring the Word into your life.

My own personal experience has been one of displacement.  I continually pour the Word into my vessel, and everything that is not of God comes out, including demons.  Matthew 8:16 is an example of Jesus casting out demons with His Word.  It says, “And evening coming on, they brought to Him many who had been possessed with demons.  And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick.”  The basic idea is to starve the mind of the flesh and replace it with the mind of the Holy Spirit.

 

Prayer for deliverance.

 

1.   Personally affirm your faith in Christ. “Lord Jesus Christ, I confess that you are my Lord.  Lord, I believe that You are the Son of God and the only way to God - that you died on the Cross for my sins and rose again so that I might be forgiven and receive eternal life.”

2.   Humble yourself. “I renounce all pride and religious self-righteousness and any dignity that does not come from You.  I have no claim on Your mercy except that You died in my place.”

3.   Confess any known sin. “I confess all my sins before You and hold nothing back.”  Now list and confess them.

4.   Repent of all sins. “I repent of all my sins.  I turn away from them and I turn to You, Lord, for mercy and forgiveness.”

5.   Forgive all other people. “By a decision of my will, I freely forgive all who have ever harmed or wronged me.  I lay down all bitterness, all resentment and all hatred.”  Now list and confess them.

6.   Break with the occult and all false religion. “I sever all contact I have ever had with the occult or with all false religion.  I renounce all the works of the devil, Satan, and other evil spirits in my life.  I confess and renounce all my occult practices and sins as abominations before You, a Holy and righteous God.  I renounce any occult influence from my forefathers.”  Now list and confess them.

7.   Prepare to be released from every curse over your life. “Lord Jesus, I thank You that on the Cross You were made a curse, that I might be redeemed from every curse and inherit God’s blessing.  I renounce every curse from my forefathers.  On that basis I ask You to release me and set me free to receive the deliverance I need.”

8.   Take your stand with God. “I take my stand with You, Lord, against all Satan’s demons.  I submit to You, Lord, and I resist the devil.  Amen!”

9.   Expel. “Now I speak to any demons that have control over me.”  Speak directly to them.  “I command you to go from me now.  In the name of Jesus, I expel you!  I pray that any evil power or ability I may possess, or which have oppressed or possessed me, be completely destroyed or removed from me.  I commit myself, my body, my mind, my personality, my emotions, my whole being to the Lord Jesus Christ to be my Lord and savior.  I pray this in the mighty Name of Jesus, believing I am delivered.”

 

The sixth stop is the Altar of Incense - Emotions.

The Golden Altar in the Holy Place is the last piece of furniture that one comes to prior to going through the final veil into the Holy of Holies and into the very presence of God.  It is symbolic for several things.  We are going to look at it primarily from the standpoint that it symbolizes our emotions as we make our way into the Holy of Holies and God’s manifest presence.  It also symbolizes our prayer, praise, and worship.

In front of this altar is the thick veil that hides the Holy of Holies and the presence of God.  God wants you to come through the veil more than you desire to.  He will pull you through.  No natural man could go here without dying.

This veil was torn from top to bottom when Jesus died on the Cross, giving us entry into God’s presence by His blood and indicating that His death removed the obstacle that sin created for coming into the very presence of God.

The Holy of Holies is the place where there is no light except for God.  The High Priest could only go here once a year, and only under certain conditions.  The incense censor from this altar actually went into the Holy of Holies with the High Priest once a year.  This symbolizes that your praise and worship do not stop here but that they are the very entry into His presence.  They actually accompany us into His presence.

The table of Shewbread symbolized the will, and the Lampstand the mind and the Holy Spirit.  The final attribute in man’s soul is his emotions.  God wants us to be “whole people” with emotions that are in their proper place.  He does not want us to be robots unable to express ourselves.  We are in God’s image and God has intense emotions that He expresses.  Mankind has either perverted his emotions to go wild or to be held in and not expressed; both are wrong and are out of order.  This altar gives us an opportunity for exchanging your old emotions induced by your flesh and the world, for God’s emotions which have their roots in the fruit of the Spirit, love joy, peace, kindness, etc. (Galatians 5:22-23a).  Altars are where things die.

The emotions feel like the real you, but they can be unreliable.  Experiences in life and your generational makeup often damage emotions.  Some of your emotions are in prison, other emotions keep you in prisons.  Perhaps emotions are primarily the windows which express or sometimes fail to express the inner prisons like rejection, loneliness, depression, guilt, low self-esteem, confusion, broken hearts, etc.

Jesus has emotions.  He cried, grieved, mourned, groaned.  Not only did He feel and experience emotions, but He also expressed them.

Our emotions can cause us to act contrary to God’s desires if we allow them to rule us.  In God’s order, our emotions cannot really be trusted until He has dealt with our minds and our wills, then our emotions can be freely expressed; and indeed should be.  Unregenerated man has put his emotions on the throne, and allowed them to control his mind, will, and body.  This is outworking of God’s divine created order.  Emotions should be the result of a will and mind laid down and consecrated to God.  Only then could man’s God given emotions be whole and well.

God is a heart God.

He enjoys your presence.  Your presence is not real if you bury your emotions.  You need to allow them free reign with Jesus while you are with Him.  You need to give Him the good, the bad, and the ugly.  You cannot really be with someone whose emotions are not allowed to come out.  You feel like you have been with a machine.  Your spouse’s will and mind may be consecrated to you and that is important.  But how would you feel if your spouse told you, “My will is to love you, my mind is to love you:” Then that person just shuts their mouth, has a glassy stare in their eyes, and they totally bury their emotions?  You have not really been with that person, or in that person’s presence.

God, where are You?

Every human being has the latent need to experience God in His fullness including His emotions.  However I believe in most cases God cannot trust you with His emotions until you are totally consecrated to Him.  It is like a marriage engagement, or like dating.  A girl should not become emotionally intimate with a boy until that boy has made a commitment.  God wants you to go through the act (continuously) of consecrating your will and mind, represented by the Table of Shewbread and the Golden Lampstand, then He can trust His emotions to you.

The baptism in the Holy Spirit allows you to experience God with His emotions.

I believe that this Altar in the Tabernacle can also represent the baptism in the Holy Spirit.  Perhaps the outer court represents the Holy Spirit being with you.  We may think of the Holy Place symbolic of the Holy Spirit being in us.  Jesus told His disciples in John 14:16-17 that there would be these two relationships, with and in.  In John 20:22 Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit in them.  However there was one more relationship spoken of by Jesus about the Holy Spirit.  He said in Acts 1:8 that the Holy Spirit would come upon them.  Finally in Acts 2:4 when the Holy Spirit did come upon them, they were filled.

There is an experience or a filling of the Holy Spirit that will cause God to be more real to you then ever before.  God desires that His emotions and your emotions meet.  I believe that as God pulls you through the next veil for the first time, that you will experience this upon and filled experience.  I also know that as you go through this veil into the Holy of Holies on a regular basis, that you will touch God and God will touch you in a way that is powerful and meaningful.  These experiences are not “simply emotional highs” but are truly an encounter with the God who created the Universe.  They are a connection that pleases both you and God.  When you go through this veil into the Holy of Holies, your afflictions, and even your worldly pleasures, will become pale and meaningless in the light of His glory and grace.  The hotter His presence becomes, the colder your suffering becomes.

It is like a bridegroom and a bride who have only met through letters and long distance telephone calls.  They have perhaps experienced each other’s will and mind, but without an actual face to face experience, they cannot really experience each other’s emotions.  When they finally do meet face to face, they actually discover each other’s emotions and truly experience the fullness of the other person.  I believe that is the way God feels about the baptism in the Holy Spirit.  He reveals Himself to you as the glorified Christ, you are deeply moved and filled with His presence, and you allow your emotions to go out to Him.

The love of God is the only thing that can heal your damaged emotions.

You can truly trust God with your real emotions.  There are very few people who you can truly trust to peer into your inner heart via your emotions.  That is why so many people pay a lot of money to go to psychiatrists, lay on their couches and pour out their hearts.  God wants your real emotions for several reasons.  First He wants to heal them, and second, He enjoys being in your presence.

This altar is the place of a sacrifice of praise.

Altars are for death.  You cannot go into the Holy of Holies without something dying at this altar, and that something is your emotions.  If you do not feel like praising Him, do it as a sacrifice.  A sacrifice infers death, just as altars are for death.

Praise heals emotions.

I interviewed an anointed psalmist and worship leader about this subject.  He confirmed that when one praises God, it has a healing effect on one’s emotions.  Entering into praise heals fractured and wounded emotions.  He said that even secular people know that singing can dispel depression.  Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”  As we live a life of praise, he told me, the up and down emotions become smoothed out.

You can praise God even in bad times if your praise is based upon the Word of God, not your emotions.  For instance, in 2 Chronicles chapter 20, a strong enemy was attacking the Israelites.  A prophet came and spoke the Word of God to Israel, stating that the battle was the Lord’s and not to worry.  Based upon the Word of God, Israel’s strategy was to send for the choir and praise God.

“And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: ‘Praise the LORD, For His mercy endures forever.’  Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated” (2 Chronicles 20:20,22).

Demons flee when you praise God!

“Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand, To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishments on the peoples; To bind their kings with chains, And their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute on them the written judgment--This honor have all His saints.  Praise the LORD!” (Psalms 149:6-9).

If you cannot articulate praise because of your damaged emotions, or because you are hurting too bad, then read Psalms 145-150 out loud as a sacrifice of praise.  Use some of the other great Psalms, like 23 and 91.  Praying them out loud has always been powerful in our lives.

Worship.

The Altar of Incense starts out as a place of praise but ends up as a place of worship.  Praise brings on God’s presence, which causes us to worship Him.  God inhabits praise.  Therefore His presence will manifest as we praise Him.  His presence will give us a true picture of who He is, and that will result in true worship.  First we give thanksgiving for what He has done for us.  Then we praise Him for what the Word says even if we cannot see the evidence yet, and the result is worship.

 

Click here to Return to Front Page of Junk to Jewels Click here to Go to Chapter 11

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[1] Nee, Watchman.  God’s Plan and the Overcomers. NY: Christian Fellowship Publishers, 1977.

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If you have walked through the Tabernacle, you will find yourself in the Holy of Holies, in the very presence of the Almighty God!

Coming into God’s presence in the manner we have described is the result of the working of His Cross and of your taking up your cross.  You can go to church and revival meetings and certainly experience the presence of God.  That is good.  However, it is not God’s permanent goal for your relationship with Him.  You cannot live on someone else’s relationship.  If your minister or the revival evangelist came into God’s presence prior to the meeting, he is most likely transferring that glory to you.  That is wonderful, however it is his/her experience with God that you are experiencing.  Your neighbor may tell you about his/her relationship with his/her spouse.  Although that may encourage you, it is not a replacement for your relationship with your spouse.  Going to church and meetings to experience the glory of God is good, but if you are not experiencing Him on your own, you are missing what God wants you to have.  You are trying to have a relationship with God by using someone else’s experience.

The veil to the Holy of Holies is one veil that we do not “kick down.”  Of course, as we stated in the previous chapter, this veil was indeed torn from top to bottom when Jesus died on the Cross, indicating that God made the way for sinful mankind to come into His presence.  “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh” (Hebrews 10:19,20).

 

The Tabernacle is symbolic of Christ and of the invisible world.

The Holy of Holies represents His presence, and the fresh air of Heaven, a different world from the one you can see with your eyes.  “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation” (Hebrews 9:11).  “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another--” (Hebrews 9:24,25).

 

Richard Wurmbrand, the founder of the ministry Voice of the Martyrs, who spent much time in prison and solitary confinement for his faith, wrote some similar statements in his book, If Prison Walls Could Speak.[1]

Wurmbrand writes:

Christ said to His first disciples, "Come and see’ (John 1:39).  We have passed from hearing to seeing.  To Martha, the Lord said, ‘Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"  (John 11:40).  The Book of Revelation too, is a book about things that John actually saw.  In the conditions of solitary confinement, which are similar to those of a hermit in the desert deprived of material things, the seeing becomes so real that you have difficulty convincing yourself that what you see is an event in the spirit and not in the material world.”

Then Wurbrand speaks about a Chinese legend.  “It is said that a great painter once painted on a wall a beautiful landscape with a cave.  When he had finished, he walked into the cave and disappeared, and was never heard of again.”  He went on,  “Whatever you create or evoke in the spirit can become a reality into which you can enter, and live, and disappear.”  Wurbrand concludes, “Therefore we have been given the power to ascend in the spirit.  Poverty, sickness, inner and outer tragedies, prisons, or chains cannot hinder this ascent.  On the contrary, they assist it.  Oh my brothers and sisters, why remain in ugly places?  Evoke heaven and enter forever into what you have evoked.  What will death matter then?

 

One of the first steps in God’s plan for our afflictions is for us to “Come up here,”  as Jesus told John in Revelation chapter 4.  He wants us to experience spiritual reality, His presence, to such a degree that the things of this world grow strangely dim.

If you do not feel like the things in this chapter relate to you, if you feel like you are out of fellowship with God and are not close to him, then I suggest that you peek inside the Holy of Holies with me in this chapter.  Then return to the previous chapter on the Tabernacle and walk through it again.  Align your life with the disciplines you have been reading about and you will find yourself in His presence.  Faith will become more real than your feelings.

 

Through the veil is intimacy.

One can experience certain levels of God’s presence at various times.  For instance, His presence can be experienced during corporate worship.  But making contact with God in this setting of the Holy of Holies is pure intimacy.

There is something about the voice of God in these conditions that can only be experienced.  I am not in any way suggesting that this position of intimacy is only for special people.  I think that it is more about our positioning ourselves and making ourselves available for Him, and then making room for Him to have His way with us.  He may show up in different ways to each individual and different ways at different times.  You may sense His presence hours after you have walked through the Tabernacle, perhaps even after many hours or days of disappointment that you did not make contact.  Just keep coming by faith.  “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).  The goal is to live your life continually entering into the Holy of Holies as you naturally walk through the disciplines of the Tabernacle.

The Lampstand stands for our testimony, and the Ark stands for God’s testimony.  The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10).  When you hear God speaking while you are in His presence, it is different and unique, and is usually something prophetic.  I do not mean that His voice is telling you of coming events in history (which He may do), but it is prophetic in that it tells of things that you do not yet see, but nevertheless are facts.  For instance, if He tells you, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19), and you are still experiencing lack in your life, that is prophetic.

How did you enter?

The Old Testament gives many examples of how dangerous it would be for a mere man to encounter the presence of God.  The man would be destroyed.  That is why God hid Himself in the Tabernacle, so that the people He loved would not die from His presence.  Sin cannot stand in the presence of God.  That is why it took Jesus removing your sin in order to rip the veil and make the connection between God and man possible.  That is an historic fact.  It is all by grace, not by any of your works.  However, there is a protocol that you walked through.  If you walked through the Tabernacle pattern, that pleases God and puts you into closer friendship with Him.  If I have one child that is obedient and one that is rebellious, I still love the rebellious one, but I enjoy being with the obedient one.

I am not saying that you must walk the Tabernacle path that I have laid out here.  There are many believers that dwell in His presence, in the Holy of Holies, that may have never heard of the Tabernacle.  However, I suspect that they practice many of the disciplines we discussed in the Tabernacle path.  We often sense His presence in corporate worship.  God can also break through to you when He pleases.  But the Tabernacle walk is our positioning ourselves for His presence; preparing ourselves as a bride adorns herself for her husband.

You prepared yourself for His presence by taking up your cross as we have described.

 

 

 

A lesson from Esther.

Esther prepared herself for an entire year before she entered the “new queen competition.”  In Esther chapter two, it tells of many young women who were chosen to prepare themselves for an entire year.  Queen Vashti had angered King Ahasuerus so he set up a competition to replace her.  For one year the women who were in the competition for queen used oil of myrrh, perfumes and other preparations used for beautifying women.  Esther 2:14 states that Esther would not go in to the king again unless the king delighted in her and called her by name.  This should be our attitude when we approach King Jesus!  When it was Esther’s turn to see the king, she did something interesting.  She took the advice of one of the king’s main servants, Hegai, a eunuch and the custodian of the women.  She took nothing in with her that Hegai did not advise.  She figured that Hegai knew the king and what would please him.

“Now when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go in to the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised.  And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her.  So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.  The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti” (Esther 2:15-17).

In the same way, we should take the advice of the Holy Spirit, and take only what He advises when we approach the Father.

One more thing about your entry.

All of the steps through the Tabernacle were part of taking up your cross.  In doing that, you made yourself invulnerable to Satan.  When you take up your cross, the only thing left is Jesus, and He defeated Satan.  This is expressed in Psalm 91 and all of the benefits of being in the “Secret Place of the Most High.”

What is in the Holy of Holies?

I have heard the teaching that the first gate into the outer court is called “The way,” the veil into the Holy Place is called “The truth,” and the veil into the Holy of Holies is “The life.”  “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).  If this is true, then it is appropriate.  The entire Tabernacle symbolizes a picture of Jesus, and the Holy of Holies is where God’s presence abides.

The Ark is the centerpiece of the Holy of Holies.

The Ark symbolizes the very presence of God, and as the Scriptures tell us, is the very place where the presence of God dwelt on Earth.  Sometimes, as believers, we take for granted the presence of God in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, but in the Old Testament days, the Holy Spirit dared not expose Himself to mere man.  Only the blood of Jesus made this possible.  Nevertheless, God wanted to be near His people, and the Ark was the way He expressed that.

The Ark is covered by the Mercy Seat, which is sprinkled with blood.  We needed mercy at the Bronze Altar, the Cross, in the very beginning.  However, now in His presence there is a new dimension of realizing His mercy and the blood of Jesus in a way that only the Holy Spirit can show you.  His mercy endures forever.  It is almost impossible to write about, it must be experienced.

On both sides and hovering over the Ark are huge angels protecting everything.  There is no light in the Holy of Holies, except for the Light of God.  It is called the Glory of God, kabowd (Hebrew); sometimes called Shekinah.  The glory of God gave the only light.  This is the light under which men would normally die.  In this light there can be no hidden sin.  Can you imagine that some people are still afraid of this light?  Yes, if they do not know about or accept the wonderful work of Jesus on the Cross, and how He became sin for us.  Today, people still hide from the light of God because they love their own sin (John 3:16-21).  The light of God will destroy sin and will destroy your flesh, your old nature, as you dwell in it.

Also present inside the Holy of Holies was the Golden Censor carried by the High Priest from the Golden Altar, representing worship, praise and prayer.

In the wilderness, the Tabernacle was small and the floor was of desert sand.  The Temple Solomon built was very large.  It was fixed and not portable, and was made of very luxurious materials.  The only thing that was the same in both temples was the Ark of the Covenant, sometimes called the Ark of Testimony.  The Ark cannot be improved nor enlarged, it is the same.  It is the testimony of God’s Son.  He is the same forever.

These are the items found inside the Holy of Holies:

The Ark

The Mercy Seat

The Blood on the Mercy Seat

Cherubim angels

The Golden Censor from the Altar of Incense with your worship and the prayers of the saints

The Glory of God.

The three items in the Ark.

Inside of the Ark are the Tablets of Law, the Manna, and Aaron’s rod.  Rather than look at these from the Old Testament point of view, I would like to make a transition here.

The Ark of God now resides in your heart!

It is important to see this picture and to understand the significance of it.  God promised Israel, through the prophet Jeremiah, that He would make a new covenant with them.  The main feature of this new covenant was that the Law of God would be put inside of the hearts of the people.

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD.  For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

We know from Hebrews 10:16 and related verses, that God was speaking of the days when the blood of Jesus would cleanse our sins so that the Holy Spirit could dwell in mere man again.  It is no longer an external thing.  We are God’s Temple.  Meditate on that.  “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).  There will also be a day when natural Israel will experience this New Covenant.

The Law is in the Ark - Fruit for character.

If the law is in your heart, then that does away with any form of performance and legalism.  When you are attempting to live according to the fruit of the Spirit and are finding it difficult, remember, God’s law is written in your heart.  When you allow your true nature to express itself, it will express God’s character, which is the Law.

Manna is in the Ark- Fruit for the provisions for your natural life.

Manna literally means, “What is it?”  Recall the idea of manna in the Book of Exodus chapter 16, and in Numbers chapter 11.  The Israelites had just left more than 400 years of slavery in Egypt, they crossed the Red Sea, and now they were in the hot desert without food and water.  God fed them supernaturally by allowing manna to fall out of Heaven six days a week.  On the seventh day they were to use what was stored up on day six.  However if they attempted to store the manna in any other way, it would become rotten and unusable.

The manna was called “The Bread of Heaven.”  Somehow it supplied all of their nourishment in the desert for forty years.  Jesus is called the Bread of Heaven in John chapter 6.  He now lives in you through the Holy Spirit, and one of those benefits is that you have the principle of manna living inside of you.  What is that principle?  It is the precept that all of your needs are supplied through the indwelling Christ!  You have something that people in the world without Jesus do not have.  You have supernatural provisions.  Not only that, you have the very principle of supernatural provisions dwelling in your heart.  That manna will work for you provided you keep your relationship to the Tabernacle, to Jesus, proper.

The manna represents the Word of God, it is Jesus Himself.

The Kingdom of God operates by the Word of God planted in a human heart as a seed (Mark 4:11).  In John chapter 6, Jesus said that He is the real manna from Heaven, and that if a person ate of that manna, he would never be hungry.  More than that, He also stated that if anyone would eat of Him, as manna, as the Bread of Life, that person would live forever and never die (John 6:48-58)!  John chapter 1 tells us that Jesus is the Word.  Jesus is the Word, Jesus is the Bread of Life, Jesus is our manna, and Jesus is our provider through the Word in our heart.

One of the biggest fears that God has delivered me from is the fear of not having natural provisions for my family.  I can tell you from the Scriptures and from experience (since 1979) that the Word of God planted in my heart has always provided for me supernaturally!  Normally, great trials and persecution accompanied that provision.  The very source of your provisions dwells inside of you, in your personal Holy of Holies.  It is not an outside source, nor is it subject to the whim of Satan or people in the world.  It is only subject to you keeping a right relationship with that source.  That source cannot fail.  Jesus eagerly wants to be your provider.  One of the definitions of Lord is “bread provider.”  Step out on His Word and allow Him to be your Lord.

Aaron’s rod is in the Ark - fruit for ministry in your life.

Numbers 17 tells of a time when the Israelites were in the desert after leaving Egypt.  Many in the congregation had complained against the authority and ministry and the anointing of Moses and Aaron.  The Lord first sent a plague that was stopped when Aaron took a censor of fire from the Tabernacle Altar and ran through the congregation with an atonement-making act.  The plague stopped; however, God wanted to make a point to the Israelites and show who truly represented Him, and on whom His anointing rested.

The Lord then commanded that one almond rod, broken and independent from any roots, should be taken by each of the twelve tribes.  The name of the tribe would be written on the respective rods and then placed into the Holy of Holies.  Whichever rod budded, and that had to be supernaturally, would indicate on which tribe God’s anointing would rest for ministry.

“Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses went into the tabernacle of witness, and behold, the rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds.  Then Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD to all the children of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his rod.  And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Bring Aaron’s rod back before the Testimony, to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put their complaints away from Me, lest they die.’  Thus did Moses; just as the LORD had commanded him, so he did.  So the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Surely we die, we perish, we all perish!’”  (Numbers 17:8-12).

While we have just described the "new rod of Aaron," there was also an "old rod."  In Exodus chapters 7 and 8, God commanded Moses to tell Aaron to stretch out his rod to cause the plagues that came upon Egypt, Pharaoh and Egypt's gods.  I believe that this judgment was more on Egypt's gods, or in other words the gods of this world, than it was on the people.  People just receive judgments because they will not separate from the gods of this world.  I believe we have both anointings the new and the old.  If, as it says in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that the gods of this world has blinded the eyes of the unbelievers, than we have the "rod" to use on those gods so that those people can have their eyes opened, see God, and be saved.  The rod here is our prayer, our praying the Word of God, our taking authority over these gods who blind!

We are all ministers. In the Old Testament only the Levites answered the call for service in the Tabernacle.  Not so with us.  We are all priests unto the Lord, and to all people.  A priest is a bridge between God and man, and visa versa.  The problem is, too many people today misunderstand this idea.  Too many ordinary people, business people, and housewives do not consider themselves priests and ministers, and too many professional paid workers in church feel that they are in some special and exclusive service for the Lord.  Your pastor should be preparing you for the ministry, rather than just trying to do everything himself and becoming burned out and ineffective.

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

When you come into the Holy of Holies, you are equipped to be a real intercessor.  You are sharing in the High Priestly ministry of Jesus and praying for others effectively.  Jesus said in John 15:7, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you.”

Towards the end of the Book of Revelation, after all the overcoming takes place, chapter 20 shows your spiritual authority when you have overcome.

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.  He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.  But after these things he must be released for a little while” (Revelation 20:1-3).

Perhaps you know some people who have been deceived by Satan but who could be released with your overcoming!

Sweat or fruit? Too many believers, both full-time pastors and others, feel that they need to perform and grab hold of some ministry.  They feel that they need to work hard to fulfill God’s call and to even compete with others, make a name for themselves, and use church politics for promotion.  While hard work is admirable, and sometimes ordained, you need to understand that the only ministry that really counts is that which comes as fruit.  Aaron could not do anything to cause his rod to bear buds and almonds.  That fruit came out of the darkness of the Holy of Holies and out of resurrection life.  It speaks of resurrection.  It speaks of God’s sovereign selection and His work, not our sweat and blood. The idea of the almond tree budding is seen in Jeremiah chapter one as a sign of God being ready to perform His Word, even when circumstances seem impossible.

Only God has our ministry for us, and we only realize what it is when we are in right relationship to the Tabernacle, or in other words, to Jesus.  It does not matter how lowly you feel, how insignificant you feel, if you continue to maintain your relationship to Jesus, He will put you into a fruit bearing ministry that can be accomplished best only by you.  It will fulfill you and your desires more than you can imagine.  While it may include hard work, or even sacrifice, perhaps even personal danger, it will totally satisfy you.  Your need for significance is God given, and He is the only one who can satisfy it.

Ministry just takes place supernaturally.  Things take place that you could have not planned nor even thought of.  It is a God thing!  You have spiritual authority in your appointed realm of influence.  Fruit is appearing.

The two churches in Revelation that successfully overcame both received authority symbolized by a crown.  “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write… (Revelation 3:7a).

“Behold, I am coming quickly!  Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown” (Revelation 3:11).

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write”  “…Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:8a &10b).  Remember that Smyrna represents the martyrs or those who continue in their sufferings.  Their fruit is powerful but the hands of others will experience it.

Spiritual Capital.

If you have capital in this world, in the natural, that capital will earn interest or dividends for you without a lot of work.  You must tend to your capital, but it does not require a lot of “sweat.”  Real estate will produce rent or agricultural crops, cash will produce interest from the bank, and stocks will produce dividends.

There is also spiritual capital.  The fruit of character, fruit for provisions and fruit for ministry work is like spiritual capital.  Our capital account or fruit account may be increased in several ways.  Overcoming is the most powerful way.  Spiritual fruit, or spiritual capital, is one of the primary objectives of overcoming.  This is one of the primary ways that God gives us the anointing, the authority, and the power to accomplish His will on earth.  I believe that God uses the gifts of the Spirit to accomplish His purposes, but I also believe that ministry as the result of overcoming is powerful and has a permanent effect that the gifts of the Spirit may not, in some cases, have.

As we overcome afflictions and enter into worship, we find ourselves in His presence more and more.  Worship brings us into His glory so that He is blessed and so that He may bless us with His presence.  We have always had the capital in our hearts, but we only realize it when His light shines on it in these conditions.

Is God a capitalist?

Before Adam rebelled, he had the capitalist principle in his heart.  You might say that Adam contained “spiritual capital.”  He was in charge of a garden that worked for him in much the same way that stocks and money in the bank work for you as capital.  However after he rebelled, God told Adam that he lost that capital.  “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19).  I am not proposing that Adam was lazy, nor that God wants us to cease to work and expect others to feed us.  No to that!  However, you do contain manna in your heart, and that manna, when prepared properly, will supply your needs.  God warned them to not store up the manna.  Why?  I believe it was because God counted it as “spiritual capital” and it was not to be abused as natural capital, kind of like a saving account.  Also, God wanted them, and us, to trust Him daily for our provisions.  If you are from a culture that does not understand the term capital, then follow the explanation that Jesus gave in Matthew chapter 6.

Jesus spoke of two opposites to explain spiritual capital.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19).

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).  “Added” is like a dividend being paid on a stock that you own.  Dividends come from capital.  The manna in your heart, if properly cared for will be your capital.  Jesus is your Manna!

Seeking the Kingdom of God is seeking to live on the Word.  It is taking care of the poor, and sending or taking the Gospel where God leads you.  It is overcoming curses in your life by the blood of the Lamb, the word of your testimony, and not loving your life (soul) to the death.

 

Our contentment.  His presence will be enough for anything!

Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians from a Roman jail.  I want to briefly use his example of how God can give us contentment while we are in the process of overcoming.  In Philippians 2:8, Paul spoke of Jesus’ blood and His Cross.  In Philippians 3:8, Paul speaks of his cross, or not loving his life to the death.  In Philippians 4:12, he spoke the word of his testimony and said, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

During the overcoming process, God may take you through times of being in need (abased) and times of having plenty (abound).  But He will teach you to be content with each set of circumstances, as long as you are in right relationship to the Tabernacle, to Jesus.

Finally.

Determine that you will practice the presence of God on a daily basis.  It is the main ingredient for victory in this life and the next.  Now go ahead and walk through all of the points we have covered in the Tabernacle, starting in the outer court, going into the Holy Place, and finally into the Holy of Holies.  Most likely you are in His presence.  You may or may not actually feel the manifest presence of God.  You must rely on faith in His Word; feelings will follow.

 

Click here to Return to Front Page of Junk to Jewels Click here to Go to Chapter 12

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[1] If Prison Walls Could Speak - Richard Wurmbrand - Living Sacrifice Book Company, Bartlesville, OK - 1972- quotes from pages 28-33.

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The Cosmic Courtroom

 

The last few chapters had to do with "The blood of the Lamb."  Now we move to "The word of our testimony," as we use Revelation 12:11 for our overcoming Scripture.  The word testimony has to do with what happens in a courtroom.  Also, a courtroom is where one is proven either innocent or in other words is justified, or proven guilty.

Justification is a major aspect of the Cross. “[He] who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.  Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 4:25,5:1).

Romans Chapter 5 says that the blood of Jesus has justified us.  Justify is a word that is used in courts of law.  It means the establishment of a person as just by acquittal from guilt.  If you knew you were guilty of a crime, and then for some strange reason the judge acquitted you, you would be very happy.  Acquitted is better than a pardon.  A pardon means you are set free even though you are guilty, but to be acquitted means that you are not guilty.

One of the great works of the Cross of Jesus Christ was to justify us.  However we cannot fully enjoy that justification without going through the process of a trial.  In a previous chapter about the reconciliation of evil, Jesus was making a point in the parable of the minas about the time factor for deliverance.  The point was that we should expect a delay in experiencing His deliverance.  It takes time for us to occupy, do business, and convert our junk into jewels.  I submit that the time period represents a spiritual courtroom.

 

Here is where the word of your testimony becomes important.

The word of your testimony is one of the three major aspects of overcoming.  You will not enjoy the benefits of being justified without it.

Life is a courtroom.

I submit that if we could pull back the curtain of this material world, we would see behind this "veil" not only the spiritual world, but also the "cosmic courtroom."  I believe that one would see frantic activity; perhaps even more intense that one would see in a U.S. District court.

I am convinced that the Scriptures show us that overcoming difficulties in life is a series of courtroom experiences for each and every one of us.  I believe that these courtrooms are key when it comes to overcoming, especially overcoming curses in our lives.  Actually there is so much in the Bible about this subject that there is not room in the chapter to cover it all.  However, if life is a courtroom, then justification is the greatest gift we can receive.  I believe that so many believers have failed to overcome afflictions because they do not understand this Biblical principle.

I submit that Job was in this courtroom, and that he was finally justified (in a very different way than he anticipated) and was a classic overcomer.  While he was spending time justifying himself, God was just waiting.  Going through this "trial" was Job's door into the very presence of God in a way he could have not experienced without his suffering.

So many people do not pay attention to the idea of God’s judgment. Others misunderstand it and feel that it is only an event that will take place after they die.  This world and the people in it are constantly experiencing judgment.  Judgment from God is a two sided coin.  For the believer who has been following the Lord to the best of his/her ability, judgment brings reward, however for others it brings condemnation and penalties.  The same judgment can work both reward and condemnation at the same time.

What is the purpose of this courtroom?

This courtroom is about Satan attempting to perpetuate curses in our lives and in the lives or those in our realm of influence.  He is attempting to perpetuate our junk as junk and suffering, while God wants to convert our junk into jewels.

 

I submit that the Book of Revelation is a picture of the courtroom.

When Jesus is reviewing each of the seven churches in Asia during John’s vision recorded in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, the only two churches that did not need rebuke were Philadelphia and Smyrna (Philadelphia representing the overcomers, and Smyrna representing the overcomers who were martyrs).

To each of these churches He used the word “try” or “tried.”  The word in Greek is peirazo.  This word has several implications.  One meaning implies “assayed” which means, “Qualitative or quantitative analysis of a substance, especially of an ore or drug, to determine its components.”  Another is to prove, or to be refined by fire.  Yet another means to “try” as in a court trial.  A judge determines a person’s guilt or innocence in a court trial.  The truth of that person must be made manifest.  Sometimes the truth is brought out by “fire.”  Gold when refined by fire manifests its true quality.  People when refined by the fire of a court trial are shown to be not only who they are, but also what they believe.

The lesson here is that God has done wonderful things for us, however often we must stand trial and live the overcoming lifestyle in order to receive those things He wants us to have.  Jesus told both of these churches, or types of believers, that they would overcome after they were “tried.”

Often trials take a long time, Satan tries to wears us out.  Many believers never finish this courtroom process because Satan wears them out.  One is worn out by taking small punishments over a long period of time.  I have read accounts of prisoners of war experiencing this.  When we don’t see our trials ending quickly, we begin to testify for Satan.  That is just what he wants!  Actually, we should be wearing him out.  “Therefore submit to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

The parable of the unjust judge in Luke 18 also gives us insight into this idea.

“Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: ‘There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.  Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’  And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’  Then the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unjust judge said.  And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?  I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.  Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?’” (Luke 18:1-8).

Jesus is using the unjust judge here as a contrast.  If the unjust judge will avenge the widow, then how much more will God, the just judge, speedily avenge His children?  Also notice that the object here is the widow, which represents our helpless position.  The last statement has to do with Jesus wanting to find us waiting for vengeance in faith.  Notice, it says “Faith on the earth.”

Notice in verse one, it says that we are to pray continually.  Our witness should be the Word of God anointed by the Holy Spirit, spoken against our accuser, Satan.  Our job is to continue to speak the Word of testimony until the trial is over.  It really is not our business how long this trial lasts, or exactly how the results will play out in our lives.  That is not our business.  God has a sovereign plan!

 

Here is the cast of characters in this courtroom.

In this courtroom we will see that Satan is the accuser, we or those we are standing for are the accused, the Father is the judge and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are our advocates or lawyers.  We play another role in this courtroom in that we are also witnesses.

What is a witness? “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Too many believers just look at their “trials” in life as a difficult time that they are going through.  They are going through a difficult time.  Court trials are not fun.

Jesus said this to His disciples when they were asking Him about coming back to set up His Kingdom.  He made it clear the job of His disciples was and is to be witnesses, and in being witnesses, His Kingdom would come.  He also emphasized that we need the power of the Holy Spirit to do this job.  I believe that Jesus was referring to the type of witness we are talking about.

The word witness in Greek is defined as Martur, meaning  “One who bears witness by his death, in a legal sense, one who is a spectator of anything, e.g. of a contest.”  I do not think that this is limited to our traditional definition of martyr.  Jesus said that we must, in a spiritual sense, take up our cross.  We die daily when we live for Jesus.  We are killed continually when we testify to the truth.  We need to be prepared to give up our physical life if needed, but often it is more difficult to stay alive then it is to die.  This is called a living sacrifice.

What are we to witness to? We should only witness to the truth of God’s Word.  Actually, we are not the real witnesses.  We are only mouthpieces for the real and true witness, the Holy Spirit.  He is the only one who was an eye witness to the resurrection of Jesus.  He is the only one who can prove that Jesus was raised from the dead and that we are justified.  The Holy Spirit empowers us to speak the truth of the Word of God, and we become the witnesses.  The Holy Spirit is the only one who can help you obtain a not guilty verdict.  When going through a trial, it is vitally important to press into God’s presence until such time as you hear Him speak a Word directly to you.  It is called a rhema or revelation knowledge.

Then it is up to you to prove that you really believe.  You are called upon to believe.  How?  By speaking the Word that God has given to you about your situation as a witness.  This is usually difficult and takes discipline.

Usually the trial you are in will be difficult on your emotions.  Circumstances may not line up with God’s promise.  You will be tempted to say the wrong thing.  You will be tempted to give up and feel that God does not care.  Here is where you can prove what you really believe.  Stand on the Word!

The word of our testimony as used in Revelation 12:11, I believe, represents testifying what the Word says that the blood of Jesus and did for us.  It is testifying to Satan’s defeat and the finished work of the Cross.  It is speaking God’s promises and reading your Bible aloud!

A very powerful way to pray as a witness is to pray in tongues for long periods of time.  If you do not pray this way, ask God to give you this gift and to baptize you into the Holy Spirit.  I can testify that many strong deliverances have come into my life by praying in tongues.

Satan cannot employ witnesses who are not human. God cannot employ witnesses who are not human.  We are the only people authorized to speak words of testimony on this earth.  Satan attempts to get us to speak as his witness.  We are tempted to say, “My children are rebellious.  I am poor.  I wish I could just die.  This old car of mine will never make it another mile.”  Or others may become witnesses for us like Job’s friends did.  They may tell us how bad we look.  They may tell us that so and so was trusting God but their house was foreclosed.  They may tell us, “You never know what God will do, sometimes He helps and sometimes He does not.”

While it is true that we do not know how God will orchestrate our trial, and while we do not deny the facts of difficult circumstances, what we do is exalt His Word as the witness, establishing the truth, standing on the truth until such time as God judges the case in His timing and in His wisdom.  God is a fair judge inasmuch as He allows both sides to make their case.  Often that takes time.

Jesus said, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.  For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36,37).

You must speak the word of your testimony, the Word of God, out of your mouth consistently.  You must speak the Word against Satan and his demons until you overcome.  Meditate in and repeatedly speak the Word that God has given you to stand on.  Angels hearken to the Word, demons flee at the Word.  The Word applies the blood of Jesus over your “doorpost.”

The Holy Spirit is called the Comforter, Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strength, Standby (John 14:26 Amplified Bible).  The word comforter in Greek means is translated paraklesis.  It means “advocate (in a courtroom sense), combining encouragement with alleviation of grief.  It suggests the capacity of giving aid.  It was used in a court of justice to denote a legal assistant, a counselor, and advocate, one who pleads the case of another.”  When looking up the definition of advocate, one is referred back to comforter.  An advocate is a courtroom lawyer.  Jesus is our advocate, however He did say that the Comforter would come and take His place.  So our witness is the combination of the Word and the Holy Spirit.

The judicial system in America is one of the best in the world, but it is not based upon justice, it is based upon who can win the case, even if the guilty one is set free, or the not guilty one is jailed.  Both sides are not vying for justice, they are competing to win at any cost.  This is the way Satan works.  As a matter of fact, our judicial systems are systems of the world, and Satan is the Prince of the World.  However God judges righteously.  “…He (Christ) left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.  He personally carried away our sins in his own body on the cross so we can be dead to sin and live for what is right.  You have been healed by his wounds” (1 Peter 2:23-24 New Living Bible).

Our acquittal and our justification are not based upon our good works. Notice in Romans chapter 5 that we are justified by faith.  This is also affirmed in verse 5:15-16, which says, “But the free gift is not like the offense.  For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.  And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.”

We need to face the truth while we are in our court trials.  We are most likely guilty of something.  We have not been perfect with our children, our businesses, our spouses, or in just living life.

This is where justification by faith comes in.  Because Jesus took our guilt, sin, and judgment, we are set free, not by what we have done or by how we have performed, but by faith in what He gave us as a free gift.

One of Satan’s greatest weapons is to falsely accuse us. Nobody likes to be falsely accused.  It is one of the most painful experiences.  During your time in the cosmic courtroom, you will be falsely accused.  However Jesus bore this for you as well.  He was falsely accused during His trials, and His response was remarkable.  Mark 14:60-61a says, “And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, ‘Do You answer nothing?  What is it these men testify against You?’  But He kept silent and answered nothing…” (Mark 14:60,61).

If you respond to defend yourself, you cannot accept being justified by faith! It is painful but powerful to remain silent when you are falsely accused.  This is an exercise in taking up your cross, and it will crucify your flesh.  Our redemption was based upon Jesus being falsely accused, perhaps someone else’s redemption is waiting for us to follow Jesus into this crucible.  You might save someone’s life!

When you humble yourself, God’s grace takes over. Looking further into Romans chapter 5, take a look at verse 5:20, which says, “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound.  But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (Romans 5:20).  The first word “abounded” is not the same Greek word as the second word “abounded.”  The second word is exceedingly stronger.  One way to paraphrase would be to say, “Where sin struck in a great way, much greater grace was waiting there in advance to give you the victory.”

 

God revealed to Daniel this idea about the Cosmic Courtroom in end times.

Beginning at Daniel 7:1 through 7:8 Daniel saw, in the form of various beasts, the historic and spiritual kingdoms which had and which would rule the earth.  First he saw the Babylonian Empire as the lion, which was toppled by the Media-Persian Empire represented as the bear.  Then he saw the Grecian Empire, Alexander the Great, represented by a leopard.  They were all actual historic empires, however they also had invisible spiritual foundations.

The fourth beast was very powerful and was quite different.  It had iron teeth and devoured ruthlessly.  In my opinion this represented two kingdoms, the actual Roman Empire and the spiritual empire of Satan in the last days, that is after the resurrection of Christ.

This final kingdom is interesting. Daniel had another dream about these kingdoms in chapter 2 wherein he described this fourth kingdom as having feet and toes made of both clay and iron, being partly strong and partly brittle.  He saw this kingdom as being divided.  Remember Jesus said that a kingdom divided couldn’t stand.

It started with the Roman Empire.  However the spiritual foundation of this fourth kingdom was destroyed at the Cross.  That is why it is depicted as both iron and clay.  It’s natural manifestation was and is like iron, but the truth about its spiritual foundation is that it is as clay.

In chapter 7 the Kingdom of God destroyed this fourth and final kingdom through the courtroom process which you and I are supposed to be a part of.  In Daniel chapter 2, Satan’s kingdom, the fourth and final one, is shown to be divided or weakened by clay mixed with iron.  It is destroyed by God’s Kingdom this time depicted as the Rock or the Stone that was cut out of the mountain not made with human hands.  It was divine; it is Jesus the Rock.

God ordained that these empires destroy one another.  Each time, each empire became weaker; each one being destroyed by another evil empire.  The final kingdom was historical Rome.  However there is a transition here.  The spiritual power holding up the final kingdom is destroyed by God’s Kingdom.  Jesus came during the Roman Empire.  His Kingdom was established during it, and we partake in its final destruction.  Jesus destroyed Satan’s kingdom, but we must take His victory and make it real in this world.  We are responsible for working with Him for the final destruction.

In Daniel chapter 2, Satan’s kingdom is shown as destroyed by the Kingdom of God.  In chapter Daniel chapter 7, the Scripture goes into more detail into how that destruction takes place.

What is so interesting is just as God describes all of these empires in Daniel 7:1-8, in verse 9 He showed Daniel a courtroom.  Why?  I believe because this is how the final kingdom is finally destroyed.  Jesus took them all down at the Cross, but our overcoming in the Cosmic Courtroom brings them down finally.

One thing to keep in mind on a personal level.  When our circumstances look like the iron toes, something we cannot handle, an enemy that is too strong for us, just remember the spiritual foundation of that kingdom is made from clay.  The Cross of Jesus and His resurrection did this.  If we stand, we will prevail, and the enemy with clay feet will fall!

Daniel saw this final kingdom, this horrible beast defeated in a courtroom! If you don’t remember anything in this chapter remember this; Satan’s work against you is finally brought to an end in a Cosmic Courtroom setting, and if you are ignorant of how this works, you may not overcome!  However, Job overcame, and all the time did not know what was going on.  But we have more revelation than Job did.

God showed Daniel about the final beast. “Then I wished to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze, which devoured, broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet;  and the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows.  I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them” (Daniel 7:19-21).  Notice the “pompous words.”  These are words from Satanically influenced people and/or spirits that accuse you falsely.

Daniel 7:23-25 says, “Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast shall be A fourth kingdom on earth, Which shall be different from all other kingdoms, And shall devour the whole earth, Trample it and break it in pieces.  The ten horns are ten kings Who shall arise from this kingdom.  And another shall rise after them; He shall be different from the first ones, And shall subdue three kings.  He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law.  Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time.”

 

 

Things always look bad at first. The prosecutor, Satan, accuses you.  The evidence comes in.  It does not look good.  He begins to wear you out.  You check out his record and discover that he has worn out many before he focused on you.  You feel fear!

You hear the verdict in the lower court, “guilty.”  Perhaps you did not handle things just right and you do have some guilt.  Maybe you were without guilt but the prosecutor was just skilled.  Maybe the doctor’s report acts like a conviction against you. Job has been in this courtroom and we have a first hand report on how it worked out for him.  He appealed to the Supreme Court.  You decide to try one more appeal, maybe, just maybe you can overcome the impending sentences and doom.

You walk into the Supreme Court and you glance over and see Satan at the prosecutor’s bench.  He is staring at you with evil so thick that you can feel it in your bones.  You see his intelligence and his stacks of papers of evidence.  He is smiling at you.  You try not to look at him, but you catch him smirking at you with one eyebrow raised in wicked self-confidence.

Then the participants in the courtroom all gasp at what they see. A being enters the Courtroom!  Just before you are getting ready to cave in, just before you feel that you cannot stand any longer, just when you have given up all hope in your fleshly resources for making a defense you decide to enter into praise.  You are praising the Lord for his character, His reputation, His reliability, and His faithfulness (this is called “The New Song”).  Just then the Father, the Supreme Court Judge, steps into the courtroom!

All of the sudden, a voice sweeps the room and says, “All rise for the judge.”

Daniel 7:9-10 says, “I kept looking until thrones were placed, for the assessors with the Judge, and the Ancient of Days, God the eternal Father, took His seat, Whose garment was white as snow and the hair of His head like pure wool.  His throne was like the fiery flame; its wheels were burning fire.  A stream of fire came forth from before Him; a thousand thousands ministered to Him and ten thousand times ten thousand (one hundred million) (some courtroom) rose up and stood before Him: the Judge was seated, the court was in session, and the books were opened.”

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.  He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence” (Daniel 7:13).

Imagine with me that something like this takes place.  The Holy Spirit comes over to you, puts His arm around your back and says, “My friend, leave this one to Me.  I have been here before, and I know the judge personally.”

The Holy Spirit comes before the Ancient of Days.  He asks Him to look out the window.  The Ancient of Days commands the curtain and the window to be thrown open.  He has a bittersweet look as His head turns and He sees outside the city.  He sees Golgotha.  Behold, He sees a Lamb slain on a Cross.  He turns to you and to me and He says,  “You are not guilty, you are acquitted and justified!"  He says to the demon, “You go to the pit!”

“But the court shall be seated, And they shall take away his dominion, To consume and destroy it forever.  Then the kingdom and dominion, And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High.  His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And all dominions shall serve and obey Him” (Daniel 7:26,27).

“Until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom” (Daniel 7:22).

This is a paradox because in order to be considered not guilty, you must plead guilty so that the judge may have mercy.  You are justified by faith not by works.  This, in my opinion, was Job's experience.

“Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect when it is God Who justifies, Who puts us in right relations to Himself?  Who shall come forward and accuse or impeach those whom God has chosen?  Will God, Who acquits us?”  (Romans 8:33 Amp. Bible).

The end of the matter in Daniel's dream in chapter 2 is similar and parallel.  “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.  Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold--the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this.  The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure” (Daniel 2:44,45).

Daniel’s prophetic dreams tell us that overcoming is painful and takes a long time to prevail against the workers of darkness.  They tell us that overcoming takes place in a Cosmic Courtroom.  The final chapters of Daniel confirm this.  The Book of Revelation is a parallel prophetic vision.

 

What is the end result?

Next time you find yourself in a trial, a suffering, know for sure that it is a trial, but the judge is God the Father, your Advocate is Jesus and your accuser is Satan himself.  Look behind the circumstances that always lie.  Look to the Word.

The curse is broken, and vengeance is taken.  Jesus’ mission statement in Isaiah 61, states that the many things that Jesus wishes to do for us come after the “Day of vengeance.”  I believe you will see a multitude of results after overcoming.

As bad as the trial has been, you will feel glad for having participated (in a bittersweet way).  Next, you have broken the curse (s) from your life, and your family line.  Also, because the curse is broken, the demon (s) who had attached themselves to the curse are heading for an early retirement in the pit.

In addition, you have entered new realms of operating in the Kingdom of God here on earth.  You life has been purified, and you have a much more intimate fellowship experience with the Lord.  Finally, you are now the minister of comfort, an advocate for others who are going through similar circumstances.  You are one of the saints riding with Jesus on white horses in Revelation Chapter 19 coming to the aid of others.

While we are on this earth, we are always in a courtroom. Be a witness for the Word, not for Satan.  Confess the Word constantly.

Use praise and the Word together. Praise Him for the victory the Word says that you have.  Psalm 8:2 says, "Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger."

Continually keep the Scriptures that God has given you regarding your situation.  Take time to seek Him for specific Scriptures.  ISOB (the publisher of this book) has a prayer book with many valuable Scriptures that you may use.[1] Keep the Word coming out of your mouth no matter how bad things look.  When your body is in a trial and your emotions are on the floor, when your children are going wild, when your marriage is breaking apart, when your finances look hopeless, speak what the Word says, in the same way Jesus did when the devil tried Him.

When you see your brother/sister making mistakes in life, don't condemn them with Satan's words, don't gossip, rather confess that they are the righteousness in God in Christ; that they have been crucified with Christ, etc.

Have the God kind, and the Abraham kind of faith. Romans 4:2 and 17 says,  "For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed--God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;

Always remember that when things look really bad, you are in a “trial” a real but invisible trial in the Cosmic Courtroom.  Your job is to live out the overcoming process and God’s plan for your life will prevail.

When all of the evidence comes in, you will see the Ancient of Days step into His courtroom and settle the matter based upon the evidence rendered.  Your trial will condemn the devils that have been in the realm of your influence and you will have placed an eternal jewel into the Kingdom of God.

 

How long do you need to stand on the Word and speak the word of your testimony?  Until you win!

“And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:10).  “And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed and therefore I spoke,’ we also believe and therefore speak” (2 Corinthians 4:13).

The evidence of your faith is not how you feel, but rather words; His Words and then your words!

 

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[1] http://www.isob-bible.org/abf/prayerbook.htm