Covenant Series P9 : Drink This Cup by Daniel Yordy

9. Drink This Cup

God is not finished with Gethsemane; God will never be finished with Gethsemane.
If I could but lift back the veil just a bit for us somehow to see that which is most holy inside the heart of God, revealed within a broken man upon His knees. I hardly know how to do that.
Some may think that I repeat myself, saying the same things over and over. I do that sometimes as a teacher, yes, but much of the time I am sharing something brand new, something I've never seen or heard before. Yet the human words I use seem to be almost the same as the words I used last time. However, when I look back at what I said before, I know I did not see then what God is showing me now.
Why has God not lifted the veil before now? That's easy. What kind of a mess would Christians make of the Holy if they believed that what God says is true? By relegating the fulfillment of the Covenant off to “heaven,” Christians have kept themselves from making the same mess out of the Holy of Holies as they have out of the Holy Place and the Outer Court.
Right now, God has many “David's” across the earth, many little, out-of-the-way sons and daughters with whom He has been dealing for years, teaching them of Himself, battering their hearts, proving Himself true.
They have fallen in love with Him. And He is coming upon them with a grace never before released upon this earth.
That grace does not bring something “new”; it releases what has always been true.
Let me work our way now to a glimpse of something so holy and profound.
Paul and the writer of Hebrews built the gospel of Jesus Christ on two or three phrases from the interactions between God and Abraham. Let me continue in the same vein with another such phrase.
“Because you have done this thing,” God, speaking to Abraham after he had willingly offered up Isaac.
In the ages to come there will continue forever a little clique of two individuals who have each done something that no other persons, created or divine, have ever done: God the Father and Father Abraham. Even Jesus is not included in this company.
Abraham offered up his only begotten son to God; God offered up His only begotten Son to Abraham and his seed.
The strength of the communion and Covenant between these two is forever. By the strength of that communion, God reached out and included Isaac and Jacob. By the strength of that communion, God reached out and included Jacob's natural descendants. And by the strength of that communion, God reached out and included you and me who are of Abraham's faith.
God is no respecter of persons, except one. God honors Abraham's flesh: “For the sake of the father's.” He honors no one else's natural man.
Because you have done this thing.
Let's look at another “clique” based upon these words.
Of all humans living upon this earth until now, only two have “done” something God not only recognizes, but honors above all. All other human “doing” is an abomination to God. We are received into Jesus only when we abandon our doing and live only in His.
Those two are Abraham and Jesus. Yet I say, “Up until now,” because I suspect that God's purposes call for a third man, a third “Because you have done this thing.” But how that works itself out in the manifestation of the sons of God and the ministry of the second witness of Christ, I will not explore here.
I want to look, now, at the second time God says those words. Here is how He phrases it in Philippians 2.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Yet Jesus did not “do” the cross. The cross was something done to Him from outside of Himself. All He did was not resist. Rather, the “Because You have done this thing” belongs at the close of Gethsemane.
“I will drink Your cup.”
To see what these words mean is to weep with all humility and with all joy.
We will never know the salvation of God until we accept the Lord Jesus through these words.
Here are Jesus' exact words as recorded by Luke.
 Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.
“I will drink Your cup.”
What did Jesus drink?
God did not honor Jesus because He was killed violently. Millions of people have been killed violently; thousands were crucified. Being crucified carries no special distinction.
God honored Jesus because He drank the Father's cup.
What did Jesus drink?
I would like to show you from the New Testament and by the Spirit of revelation the extent to which He drank you and me, your flesh and my flesh.
Let's get a good look at real human flesh (not the imagination of separation called “the carnal mind”).
Human flesh is first the physical body. Second, human flesh is all the characteristics and traits of each individual human person. Some of those characteristics come from our spirits, and thus the human spirit is part of “the flesh.” Inherent in the physical body is the weakness of the earth, the weakness of dirt. God made us that way.
Rebellion is to hate and reject our weakness.
Rebellion is to get our human weakness solidly under our feet.
You know your flesh. You have lived every moment with yourself lo these many years! You know every nuance of every voice and clamor of your body and your personality. You know exactly how your human weakness trips you up and brings you down. You know to the furthest extent possible how your human weakness “prevents” you from “doing” all the things you read in the Bible a good Christian is supposed to do.
Before rebellion and the hatred of human weakness took control of Christianity and created “Christian” theology, Paul said that every man loves and cherishes his flesh.
And you do; you know that you do.
Let's “decree” over ourselves. Let's grant ourselves two “gifts.” Let's give ourselves the strongest “Christian” discipline we could contemplate – with God's help, of course, and let's give ourselves 10,000 years of our present human life.
Will we bring our flesh in submission to God? Is our problem that we don't have enough time or that God did not grant us a sufficient gift of discipline?
And out of this dilemma, Christianity has concocted one of the most evil, anti-Christ concepts there is: “Not on this earth! It's all only for heaven AFTER we die!” And I say “evil” because this is the argument that puts God to death when He shows up in the earth.
Here's what you will find if you come across a person who has been given an iron will and 10000 years to “subdue the earth.” You will find a person that has so wrapped himself with layers of pretending that it would likely take Jesus another thousand years just to break through all the facades and lead that person out into being simply and joyfully real inside of love.
Let's bring in some things God says in the gospel. First from Luke, just before Gethsemane.
Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” Luke 22:15-20
Then Paul's version.
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. 1 Corinthians 11:23-29
Then three critical words that tie this incredible truth all together.
Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. John 6:53-56
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed — always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 2 Corinthians 4:7-11
For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:29-32
I have included a lot of Scripture here because we must be grounded in what God actually says. Those of us who teach the revelation of Jesus Christ are accused of bringing in a “new” gospel, things God never said. The problem, of course, is that we teach contrary to Augustine, not that we teach contrary to the New Testament.
God says these things. Few have ever believed Him.
In Gethsemane God the Father and Jesus the Son entered into a Covenant with one another. That Covenant is the New Covenant in His blood. That Covenant is the Covenant we enter when we agree to the terms hammered out between the Father and the Son.
Most Christians, and ourselves until now, reject those terms.
What did Jesus drink?
God sent Jesus into the likeness of sinful flesh for thirty-three-and-a-half years.  Jesus had walked that time faithfully and had proven Himself faithful and true in all things.
In Gethsemane, the Father asked Jesus to do it again, only this time for 2000 years and for millions of individuals.
It was the will of the Father that Jesus drink you and that Jesus drink me.
Every seven years, the physical body completely exchanges atoms for atoms. All of the atoms in your body that make up your physical expression right now will be gone in seven years – every last one of  them. And they will be replaced by a whole new set of atoms. The new atoms that will be the makeup of your physical body seven years from now are mostly in the ground right now. Some of those atoms are deep under the earth in petroleum deposits right now. Some are inside soil nematodes and worms. Some of those atoms are blowing around in the atmosphere right now; some are caught deep in ocean currents. Maybe some atoms that will be your body seven years from now are right now being blasted against Mt. Everest. Maybe some atoms of your future body are part of the flesh of one of those funny-looking creatures in the depths of the Mariana trench.
All the atoms of your future body are scattered across the entire earth at the present moment, mostly separated from one another, though some are bound together in molecules that will not break. Do you know where you are?
And how do all those atoms that will be your body seven years from now make their way to find their place inside of you? Every single one of them will come into you either through the food you eat or the liquids you drink or the air you breath or the chemical drugs you allow some doctor to inject into your flesh or into your blood.
You become what you eat – literally.
The Father's Cup contained you and me. The Father's Cup contained the flesh of every individual person who would believe in Jesus.
And thus we speak these words:
“Jesus, this shame is Your shame. This flesh is Your flesh. This weakness is Your weakness. This inability is Your inability. This darkness is Your darkness. This sin is Your sin. You have become me. I am Your flesh. I am the cup and the dregs which You have drunk.”

I am Your flesh.

I am the cup and the dregs which You have drunk.

It was the Father's will that Jesus drink ALL of me. It was the Father's will that Jesus drink ALL of you.
Jesus agreed to drink the Father's cup and thus entered into a binding Covenant with God.
By drinking you and me, Jesus became us.
If Jesus had not become us, then His death on the cross would have meant nothing more than any other innocent death down through history.
Now, the intention of God for us on this earth is found in 2 Corinthians 4:11. This verse is so very important, yet many have made the context to mean the very opposite of what it says. That the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
This word is absolute. Does anyone dare to make it partial, sort of, maybe, maybe? Listen, when we take a word like this and attempt to make it anything less than Absolute and Today, then we are doing the same thing to Jesus that the Pharisees and the Roman soldiers did.
This is the same commission God gave man in the beginning, “Subdue the earth.” Yet, as you can see, it goes way beyond that original word.
Let's start with the subject – the life of Jesus. The life is  in the blood – except you drink My blood. This is the cup of the New Covenant in My blood – drink of it.
Then, what is the verb, the action?
Apocalypsed – unveiled – manifested. The apocalypse of Jesus Christ.
Finally, what is the object? Our MORTAL FLESH!
Paul's choice of words is absolutely critical for the final showdown upon this earth.
We have no idea of the hatred of the serpent and of all mankind, including most Christians for God when He dares to show up on this planet.
God in the flesh cannot survive the hatred and violence of men. They put Him to death.
God up in heaven is fine for most. God yet to come is acceptable for many. But God in my MORTAL flesh is not tolerated. Christians have been putting God to death since AD 385, the year that the darkest darkness of the church age began.
WHATEVER you do to the least of these My brethren, you ARE doing it to Me.
Whatever you type into the comment box under the most aggravating and deceived Christian on Facebook, you are proclaiming those words upon the housetops AT Jesus Himself. How quick even we are to put Jesus in His place.
Yes, we wash His feet in utter awe and with tender love. But to wash the dirt off the feet of God is to engage in a daring of humble boldness that few possess. It scares the tar out of me.
Maybe my disability is the grace and goodness of God.
That brash thing that goes around “correcting” Jesus as He messes up once again – what a jerk He is – as one whom He drank in Gethsemane is not the ministry of Christ. It is a “ministry,” but it goes by a different name.
Now let's look at Communion.
Jesus said, Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has the life of the age to come – to know the Father and to know Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
This word is the center and the foundation of the Catholic church – they call it “trans-substantiation,” or “the mass.” The Catholics take these words of Jesus literally. The Protestants, in overthrowing Catholic “idolatry,” take these words symbolically. The Protestants believe that when we partake of the bread and the wine of communion, those elements are only symbols of Jesus' flesh and blood as it was back then. There is no place in Protestant, evangelical thought for Jesus to be flesh today. I have never heard anyone else mention the plain truth of Ephesians 5. Everyone has the un-Biblical notion that Jesus and flesh are forever divorced when God says they are forever married.
Although both Catholics and Protestants understand the communion elements wrongly, they each got one small part of the equation right.

The Catholics are correct that Jesus becomes literal flesh and blood today, and the Protestants are correct that the communion elements are symbolic of Jesus' flesh.
And both groups will have nothing to do with us when they discover that we believe what God actually says.
Let's look a bit more closely at Catholic transubstantiation. First the short version, then a longer version from Matt Slick at http://carm.org/transubstantiation.
Transubstantiation: The doctrine that the (metaphysical) substance of the bread and wine changes into the substance of the body and blood of Christ when consecrated in the Eucharist.

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Transubstantiation is the teaching that during the Mass, at the consecration in the Lord's Supper (Communion), the elements of the Eucharist, bread and wine, are transformed into the actual body and blood of Jesus and that they are no longer bread and wine, but only retain their appearance of bread and wine.
The "Real Presence" is the term referring to Christ's actual presence in the elements of the bread and the wine that have been transubstantiated.
Paragraph 1376 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states,
    The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: "Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation (CCC, 1376).

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Thus the Catholic priest administering communion dares not allow the recipient to touch the “holy” blood and body of “God the Son” and must carefully, with consecrated hands, place that blood and body only upon the recipient's tongue.
They miss the whole point. They don't understand that the recipient is the one who becomes what he or she eats.
I believe absolutely in transubstantiation just as it is laid out here by the Catholics. ONLY, it is not the elements of the communion that are transformed into the literal blood and body of Jesus, but the very flesh of the one receiving those elements.
The elements are symbolic of the flesh and blood of Jesus, as the Protestants teach, yes, but I am the one who is transubstantiated into the elements of Jesus' flesh.
Jesus now appears as me and He now appears as you.
We are His flesh, His blood, His bones.
Yes, that is what God actually says.
It is an amazing thing that the Catholic priest can transubstantiate Jesus' Flesh into present reality, and then treat that flesh with such disrespect. It is an amazing thing that the Protestant minister can honor the Flesh that the elements are only symbols of and then treat that flesh with such disrespect.
The way I treat you IS the way I am treating God.
In Gethsemane, Jesus did this thing.
Because You have done this thing.
By drinking the Cup of the Father, Jesus initiated the Covenant between the Father and Himself. By drinking the Cup of the Father, Jesus drank you and me. He became our present flesh.
I have no right to call Jesus' flesh “my own.” I have no right to prate some sort of “authority” by which I am to bring Jesus' flesh under my control. I have no right to stake some sort of claim that I am responsible for Jesus' body. When I “sin,” when I “disobey,” I have no right to tear those actions away from Jesus dead upon the cross and claim them as “my own.”
I have no right to break the Covenant.
Someone shared with me recently, “The flesh is evil. I will never believe that I can just 'let the flesh' go.”
Here are the brass tacks.
If God is real, then He can really fill my weakness and make my flesh pure and holy. And if God, filling me full, cannot take responsibility for all of my human weakness, then is there really a God, is there really any salvation?
Christian doctrine wants to require of us to pretend with all our might now and wait for some future day that is not Today before we will ever know God for real.
They simply do not believe that God is real today.
The other day the lusts of my flesh rose up inside my body. I said something to God I have never before put into words. I said, “This flesh is Your flesh, God. You are fully responsible for it.”
Not for want of trying, but my mind could not find that lust. I could not connect with it to do it. It simply danced into oblivion beyond my reach and I no longer knew it.
Is God real? We are His proof.
A dear sister wrote these words, “He opened my hears to hear Him, to know His Voice, exhorted me to be obedient, and never once was I misled, shamed, at a loss for counsel, came short of any good thing (healing, provision, wisdom, power) or any such thing for myself and my immediate family and friends and those the Lord wanted me to minister to. Quite the opposite are true of the times when I disregarded His voice and word!”
I gently shared with her – because God put me into a corner and I had to, that, while she is most definitely speaking Christ, sometimes separation comes through “Christian” phrases. God must change our very talk. The last statement carries just a hint of the rebellion of Adam. “I obey; I disobey; God You must now curse me.”
When we “obey” His voice, we imagine that the things that come to us are blessings because of that obedience. And when we “disobey,” we imagine that the difficulties that come to us are because of that disobedience.
No. We are His flesh. All things that come our way are part of God reconciling the world to Himself. He with us bends all things to unfathomable blessing.
So – having “defended the truth,” where did I immediately find myself? In a double “disobedience,” and suffering in both body and spirit because of my foolishness. The temptation to believe that calling everything inside of me “Christ” is just a pack of lies and that I am, in fact, in trouble because of my “disobedience,” and that maybe I am, after all, a teacher of deception, came upon me overwhelmingly.
I did not yield to that temptation. This morning, He arose in me brand new, as He always does, an ever bubbling spring of living water, and I understood how I was to share this incredible truth.
Our weakness belongs utterly to Him; we dare not ever take it back upon “ourselves.”
We were never meant to “subdue the earth.” When God said, “Subdue the earth,” He was speaking to man completed. Man completed, by definition, is God in Person in the flesh of our humanity. God was speaking to Himself; God in Person is the largest part of Man, His Person inside of our person.
Our surrender to the Covenant of Gethsemane is the greatest surrender we could ever know. We must allow Jesus to BE our flesh. We must allow God to be real in us.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is not, then, a free-for-all, to do whatever the “flesh” desires. And yet ALL things are lawful for me. I can do anything I want. Yet God Himself is real; and He Himself really takes responsibility for all of my weakness. Those who “keep their flesh under their own control,” act like Christ should look like, yes. But they are so fake. Their flesh cannot belong to both Christ and themselves; it's all of one or all of the other.
If I take responsibility for my own flesh, then God is prevented from being what He asked Jesus to drink.
Why don't I pursue the “pleasures” of this world? That's easy. They do not interest me. I am set on pursuing pleasure that my neighbors don't even know exists. Take all the pleasures of this life in this world, roll it all together in one big package, and it doesn't even come close to the pleasures I pursue – at the right hand of the God who fills me full.
I pursue glory.
And if we really want something of this world other than God, who are we kidding when we “pretend” to act against that desire. We do not pretend for God; we pretend for our own face in the face of other humans. Is Christ our life real?
Probably the favorite and most recurring theme in Christian mythology is the pursuit of the “Holy Grail.” The holy grail is the cup from which Jesus drank the last supper – the Cup of the Covenant. The myth claims that whoever finds that cup will then have in hand the power to command and to transform the world.
I have found the Holy Grail. I, really and truly, have found the very cup that contains the Blood of Jesus, the Son of the Living God.
Indeed, I have possessed the Holy Grail, now, for 56 years. That Cup, the Holy Grail, is my body, my mortal flesh, the dwelling place of Almighty God.
Because Jesus drank of me, I became an essential part of Him. Because Jesus drank of me, the Father is now free to come Home, the Father fills me with Himself in Person.
Because I drink of Him, I am become Him, literally, substantially, and forever. I become what I eat; I become what I drink.
This is the entrance into the  Holy of Holies. The gospel has never been anything else.
We boldly enter in.
Because You have done this thing – That the life of Jesus also may be apocalypsed in our mortal flesh.
For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil . . . Hebrews 6:13-19

Covenant Series P4: Gethsemane by Daniel Yordy

The PDF and Audio can be downloaded here

 
The whole book can be ordered here

Gethsemane is a complete surrender into Jesus AS our will, having already, Himself, chosen God and thus, WE ALSO. When Jesus said, three times, "Not My will, but Thine be done," I said three times, "Not my will, but Thine be done." His agony is my agony; His choice is my choice; His words are my words. My surrender is to accept my place inside of Him and the place of that surrendered One inside of me.

4. Gethsemane

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane . . . and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me." He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done." And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. So He left them, went away again - And He knelt down and prayed - the third time - saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Matthew 26:36-43 and Luke 22:41-44 combined
In that day you shall know that I am in the Father and you in Me and I in you. Jesus' words - one hour earlier.
When Jesus said, "In that day," He did not mean that someday we would be in Him and He in us; He meant that at a certain DAY in our lives, we would discover and thus know something that is true. "That day," in the gospel, is always today. "Today is THE day of salvation." "Today, if you will hear His voice."
Look back at the words of Gethsemane. When Jesus says, "You in Me," I believe what He says. Should we do anything else with what He says? I was not in Him, as He traversed this dark passage, figuratively, but literally. I was not in Jesus in a metaphorical sense, but actually. Notice that He said "You IN Me and I IN you."
I sit here groaning over this word, IN, as Jesus used it here, in great perplexity and agony of spirit. Do we dare to limit God; does anyone in Christendom dare to say, "Well, it certainly does NOT mean A, B, or C; it means only what my limited box-knowledge of God allows it to mean"?
I am inside of every word, every moment, every action of Jesus in Gethsemane, and every word, moment and action of Gethsemane is inside of me. The words God uses to define "IN" is "FILLED with ALL the FULLNESS."
Gethsemane is the beginning of the Covenant. We begin the Blood Covenant with God inside of Jesus in Gethsemane. Gethsemane inside of Jesus inside of us is the beginning of full Covenant Union between us and God. We "begin" full Covenant union with God by discovering - in that day you shall KNOW - that our union with Him in Gethsemane is already true.
I want to insert this understanding here. I am using the tabernacle of Moses in the wilderness as a metaphor of our entering into full covenant relationship with God. God gave us that picture because it helps us to speak meaningfully about the various aspects of God's work in our lives. This metaphor, however, we apply at two different levels, always both at the same time. We see all things as finished and complete; we see that by faith. By faith I know that I already sit upon the Mercy Seat at the right hand of the Father inside of Jesus. As I see anything that crosses my path, I know that I am looking out from the throne of God; I see all things from that throne.
At the same time, God applies this same metaphor to our walk into the fullness of God made visible and complete - the manifestation of the sons of God in full glory upon this earth. We will know without question when that walk is complete - our bodies will be transformed into immortality, visibly and openly. There's no faking that, nor any doubt when it happens.
Thus the tabernacle shows us what we already are, and it shows us how we become what we already are.
In my last letter, I stated that I do not understand why those who dwell in all the experience of the Holy Spirit will not enter into the Holy of Holies. I now understand. Outwardly, I have been saying why all along, but I understand it now for the first time. Most Christians, including those with much experience and knowledge of God, looking at the things God says about life in the Holy of Holies, are absolutely convinced that those things are speaking of "heaven." And so they have reduced grace and the gospel down to the non-Biblical idea that God has promised us that we will experience Holy-of-Holies life, that is, third-level life, in heaven. They don't mean heaven right now, as God means, they mean "go to" heaven at some future time. And that "grace" means only that we don't "earn" this "going to" heaven. So right now we are just happy and later, someday, "going to heaven" is entering the Holiest of All.
Now, this much I understood. What I did not fully see is this. Paul says that we are in heaven right now - seated with Christ in the "epouranios." He says that, since we live in the Spirit, that is, in heaven, let's walk in the Spirit, that is walk in heaven, as well. What does that mean?
It takes tremendous faith to walk in heaven right now, a bold and daring heart of faith and absolute confidence in our union with the Lord Jesus Christ - that what He says, all that He says, is actually true. The reason it takes tremendous faith is that we are blind; God has not yet opened our spirit-eyes to see the obvious. Therefore, every step is a step in darkness, trusting absolutely that what our Guide, the Lord Jesus, speaks, is absolutely true and trustworthy.
And so again, the reason most Christians who live in the light and experience of the Holy Place, refuse to walk in the Holy of Holies right now, is that they simply do not trust Jesus. They are convinced He is speaking nonsense, and that they will know what He means and can then TRUST Him ONLY after their eyes see and they can confidently maneuver heaven on their own.
In other words, they want the same self-reliance in heaven that they walk in upon the earth. Thus they have concocted the "go to" heaven fantasy, rejecting the idea that they are already there in fullness, as God says. And when they hear us speaking about the salvation of heaven revealed in all fullness through us right now in this earth, they imagine we are speaking something other than the gospel; their gospel being reduced to a full rejection of Hebrews 10:19, that we enter into the Holiest, all the life of heaven, right now in boldness and by the blood of Jesus.
They are convinced that if they do not see reality, then reality cannot be real. Thus they walk by sight, having reduced faith to silly talk about happiness "in heaven," all the while refusing a heaven they live in, but cannot see right now.
And so, I must say something about all the "union with Christ" teaching across the entire spectrum, and many are rejoicing in many different expressions of our discovery of union with Christ. I must say what I see, not because I want to elevate myself or put anyone down, but simply - how can I be found faithful if I do not share in the gentleness of the Lord Jesus what I see?
I see so many speaking union with Christ at the door, and then speaking separation, separation, separation regarding everything of Christ beyond the door. WHY? Because they are absolutely convinced that REAL union with Christ can be known only after we "go to" heaven. And thus they draw a line through everything God says in the gospel concerning the reality of the Holy of Holies fulfilled now in and through us into this earth, convinced that we CANNOT know such union with God, not until AFTER we die and "go to" heaven.
And that is why God has promised to shatter heaven. Because all of these precious dear ones can never know union with Christ in full reality as God says it in the New Testament until their white-knuckled grip on "go to" heaven fantasies is broken. And so, in the travail of the Holy Spirit in groanings inside of me, I give myself to the Lord Jesus as He shatters heaven through me, here, in Gethsemane.
Many may rejoice in their present knowledge of union with Christ, and that is wonderful, I in no way speak against their joy. But they cannot walk this path of the Atonement inside of Jesus because this is an unseen path. As long as they insist the heaven they live in right now is real only when they can SEE it, then they cannot know full union with God.
Why can't they know it? Unbelief, as the gospel says. Thus God must shatter our heaven fantasies before we can continue in the Atonement of Jesus revealed through us.
We must place Gethsemane into context.
Jesus spoke the Kingdom of God, the new creation, into existence in John chapter 17. From that moment until He sat down at the right hand of the Throne, He walked through every step of the birthing of that Kingdom. In John chapter 17, Jesus took you and me into Himself, thus establishing the gospel revealed through Paul, that Jesus did not do these things for us, as the earlier apostles had thought, but that we were in Him and He in us through every step of that path - literally and actually.
The Atonement begins in Gethsemane and is finished in the Throne. The revelation of God to all creation as who and what He really is begins in Gethsemane and is made complete in the Throne. The birthing of the Kingdom begins in Gethsemane and is revealed in the Throne. Our full union with God in a Blood Covenant relationship, complete and made manifest, begins in Gethsemane and finishes in the Throne.
Rebellion and the darkening of the present creation began in Adam's will. Obedience and the light of the new creation begins in Jesus' will.
Just as it was the will of the human that spoke the words that opened the Gate into the knowledge of Jesus as Savior, and just as it was the will of the human that spoke the words that opened the Door into the knowledge of Jesus as Baptizer, so it is the will of the human that speaks the words that opens the Veil into the knowledge of Jesus as our very and only Life.
Yet it is not our human will by which we spoke those words, but His. Jesus said, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you." Thus, for us, Gethsemane is NOT, "Obey God, loser, do His will and not your own." Gethsemane is not something we "copy" in an outward way, though God gives us the words to speak. In complete contrast, Gethsemane is a complete surrender into Jesus AS our will, having already, Himself, chosen God and thus, WE ALSO.
When Jesus said, three times, "Not My will, but Thine be done," I said three times, "Not my will, but Thine be done." His agony is my agony; His choice is my choice; His words are my words. My surrender is to accept my place inside of Him and the place of that surrendered One inside of me.
This point is the turning of the Covenant. Everything that comes after, the trial, the crucifixion, even the resurrection, all of it flows out of this moment.
We entered the Outer Court by faith, by asking, by receiving, and by believing that we have received. In so doing we entered into that level of the knowledge of God freely, and all that is found in Jesus the Savior - the Way - was found in us.
We entered the Holy Place by faith, by asking, by receiving, and by believing that we have received. In so doing we entered into that level of the knowledge of God freely, and all that is found in Jesus the Baptizer - the Truth - was found in us.
In just the same way, we enter the Holy of Holies by faith, by asking, by receiving, and by believing that we have received. In so doing we enter into that level of the knowledge of God freely, and all that is found in Jesus the Fulfiller - the Life - is found in us.
Gethsemane is the Gate, the Door, the Veil. Three times Jesus said, "Not My will, but Thine be done." Three times we said those words inside of Him. Three times we enter into a deeper place of knowing God.
Jesus said, "Take this cup away from Me."
What is that cup?
We dare not fall short of the glory of God in our answer to that question; we are speaking of the Becoming One.
Paul's gospel is radical and most Christians have never known it. Yes, many Christians can mouth the concepts of Paul's gospel - Jesus became our sin that we might be the righteousness of God. Dead in Christ, buried with Christ, risen with Christ, seated in heaven now in Christ. Yet these things are little more than theological talking points.
Why? Because Paul's gospel is too radical to actually believe, that is, to make it personal and here and now.
And so for most, the sacrifice of Jesus is something God did for us - that's how the other disciples understood it before Paul preached his revelation of Christ, and that's how most of the church sees it. Then, in the latter rain outpouring, came a vision of our place in that same Atonement, only it was seen in this way, that Jesus is our Pattern, and that we ourselves must follow the same path, we must choose God, we must enter full crucifixion ourselves, and so on, and that God will "help" us follow Jesus' pattern. Yet this view remained entirely inside the rebellion and separation of Adam.
Let me give a different view of the path of the Atonement beginning here in Gethsemane. Let me give a view of the cup Jesus drank, a view that comes out from the Holy of Holies, a third feast view, a third level view.
In the upper room, in Jesus' prayer in John 17, Jesus did something radical, something God. Jesus reached forward and back, He extended Himself out to all things, and He drew all things, that is, you and me, into Himself, literally and actually. It does no good for us to contemplate the "all things" part, what we must know is, the "you and me" part.
But including you and me into Himself was only one side of the equation. You see, Jesus said we would know three things. We would know that He is in the Father. We would know that we are in Him - that's the first side of the equation. But He said also that we would know that He is in us.
We became the Jesus who walked through the Atonement, and the Jesus who walked through the Atonement became us as we walk through our appointed times in this present age.
Jesus took His shattered creation into Himself, that He might carry it all the way to the Father, AND Jesus became His shattered creation that He might walk it all the way to the Father.
Jesus had already taken us into Himself before He entered Gethsemane and wept over the cup His Father asked Him to drink. It was His joy to take us into Himself. Yet the transition must be complete - God would complete it upon the cross. Jesus must become us.
Jesus must become all the darkness and difficulty of our path. He became our sin and took it into death upon the cross; He must become us that He might take us into life upon the throne.
Jesus was not drinking three twenty-four-hour days of difficulty; He drank three one-thousand-year days of difficulty.
Jesus agreed to become me.
And He asks me to accept Him as myself.
He asks me to stop "choosing" between "His way" and "my way" - that is the rebellion of Adam. He asks me to sink utterly into Him and to see Him alone in all things I find in me. He asks me for the most complete surrender I have ever known.
Let's do that here. Let's follow the pattern. We know how we passed through the Gate into the Outer Court. We know how we passed through the Door into the Holy Place. The Veil into the Holy of Holies is no different. Let's ask.
"Lord Jesus, I ask You to be my life, to be all that I am, all that I find myself to be in this world. I ask You to be the end of whatever "I" of me that once existed before I knew You. I will never look at or consider that former "I" again. Lord Jesus, I ask you to be me, the present me, walking through all the difficulties and ineptitude of my life in this world. I ask you to be all of my failures, all of my short-comings, all of my down-fallings. I cannot carry myself, Lord Jesus. I have tried and I have failed. Forgive me, Lord, for trying to be Christ-like. I give You my permission, Lord Jesus, to be me, to be all of me as myself.
"And, Lord Jesus, I ask You to be me as Yourself. I ask You to be me, to be my life as the King of Glory, as the Risen and Ascended Christ, as the Living and Ever-Coming Son of God.
"Lord Jesus, forgive me for ever saying, "Maybe someday, I'd like to be"; forgive me, Lord. From this moment on, I will say only, "I am." I am the firstfruits unto God. I am the manifestation of the sons of God. I am the manchild caught up to God's throne. I am the second witness of Christ. I am the Mercy-Seat. I am the throne of heaven. I am the revelation of God.
"Lord Jesus, I am just like You, for You and I are one. All that I am in this present world, You are, and all that You are, the Son of God, I am. You are my breath, You are my life, You are my every moment.
"And Lord Jesus, having asked You to be me, to be my very life, I believe that I receive all that I ask for. I walk forward expecting that I am filled with all the fullness of God. I walk forward expecting that rivers of living water flow out of my belly. I walk forward expecting that kingdoms of darkness are falling into ruin all around me. I walk forward KNOWING that in my weakness, in all of my glorious weakness, Your strength is proven, Your strength is MADE perfect. For You, Lord Jesus, are strong enough to drink the Cup, the precious Cup, Your Father gave You. You are strong enough to become me."
If you have prayed this prayer, not necessarily my words, but yours, in your own intimate knowing of Jesus inside of you, if you have prayed this prayer in sincerity of heart before God, in the Spirit who alone gives you power to believe what God says, then turn around. Your way into the Father is complete. You are now seated upon the Mercy Seat. You are the Ark, the carrier, the embodiment of the Covenant.
As you look out upon an entirely different-looking world, you see through the Veil you just passed. To your astonishment, it was always wide open. And now you are looking out, first you see your precious brethren in the Holy Place, then you see your precious brethren in the outer court, then you see all the people of this world, then you see all creation, heaven and earth.
God is in you reconciling the world to Himself.
And every moment of your life, all your joys and sorrows, all your triumphs and failures, all your doing well and doing badly, all of it is the Intercession of God, the Lord Jesus, inside of you, reconciling all creation to Himself.
From this moment on, not one moment of your life is your "redemption." It is finished. Every moment of your life now is mission, it is sending; it is Jesus Christ whom God has sent. Every moment of your life is now the revelation of God into this world. Every moment of your life is God Himself proving Himself through you to His creation.
But, in spite of our unlimited view of all things out from God's throne, what is it we see first? What part of God's reality is closest to our eyes?
The Altar of Incense, and all of our precious brethren, close to our hearts, who labor there.
And suddenly we know that, having passed through Gethsemane inside of Jesus, now, Gethsemane passes through us.
For there, right in front of us, is the precious Woman of God, caught in the jaws of the dragon.
And now we must KNOW this Atoning One, this Becoming One who is our very life. Let us look upon Him, this Revelation of the Person and Nature and Being of the Father as He walks the Path of Revelation.
The upper room is not far from the east side of the city of Jerusalem. It is a short walk from there down to the bottom of the sharp cleft below the eastern wall of the city in which runs the brook Kidron. It is April, so the brook is running water, though small. Jesus and the disciples cross over the brook and immediately begin climbing the steep slope of the Mount of Olives, higher than Jerusalem to the east. Gethsemane is a little garden in a flat and sheltered spot among the olive trees part way up that slope. By the time they reach the garden, Jesus is already laboring under unfathomable pain.
From the moment Jesus steps across the Brook Kidron, all demonic realms assault Him with all the fury of their madness. Remember, in the midst of the storm, Jesus slept. When they tried to stone Him to death, He just walked through their midst and they did not even notice. He is the unflappable One.
Yet here, He is unflappable no more. Sorrow deeper than anything known by man before or since grips His soul. Death mocks Him, and He stumbles under its terror. Two-and-a-half hours of praying, three times of surrendering Himself to God, and still, it gets worse. An angel shows himself, a cherub of the throne, putting his arm around this very broken Man. Yet the agony only increases until blood flows out of His pores.
Jesus did not do this "for us." We were there, utterly and actually, inside of Him.
Yet the darkest moment of internal torment, of unmitigated demonic assault inside of Jesus, comes shortly before it ends. After three hours, the internal assault simply ceases. Now the external assault begins, a demonic fury never manifested through men before or since as it shows itself through the next few hours.
As Jesus rises from prayer, the first thing He sees is His friend, his brother, this one who has walked with Him, laughed with Him, eaten with Him, now filled with Satan - possessed by the person of Satan, not by his demons. Jesus rises from Gethsemane into the jaws of the dragon.
Jesus' friend kisses Him on the cheek. And all of His other friends run in terror as far and as fast as they can in the darkness. Mark is there, following from a distance; he runs away stark naked.
Jesus is alone. And the beating begins.
At first it's just the soldiers of the High Priest. But all the demons of the Abyss are there as well, and so the men who mock Jesus, mock Him at the core and center of Christ, the revelation of God. "Prophesy! Who hit you? Aren't you the Christ?"
Why did they hate Him? They hate Him because He is weak. They hate Him because He is only a Man. They hate Him because there is no "Super-Christ." They hate Him because He is the opposite of everything they lust after.
He stands before Israel in the place of Moses, the priests of God inspecting the Passover Lamb. Again, the hard, cold fury centers on the issue of Christ. They reject utterly a Christ of flesh, a Lamb who lays down His life, who becomes them. They will not have a God of weakness. They inspect Him and find Him guilty of being one with a God whom they despise.
Peter screams and curses, "Damn you; I do NOT know Him." His words pierce the center of Jesus' heart.
They bind Jesus with ropes. They do not have the authority to kill Him; the Romans tore that authority away from them and they dare not challenge the Romans who are more than willing to bloody all Jerusalem and to desecrate the temple if they have to. Pilate's citadel is on the north side of the temple wall, higher than the temple and thus looking down into it. The Jews will not enter that citadel; therefore Pilate must come out to them.
But it is some distance from the court of the Sanhedrin to Pilate's court. While they push Jesus before them, Judas, empty now, and horrifically alone, comes weeping back to the remaining priests. They laugh at him; he goes out in black despair and hangs himself.
Jesus knows.
Pilate comes out and looks down at the Jews. Suddenly he knows that there is something terribly wrong with the universe. They bring Jesus up to Him. "I find no fault with this man," he says. But he wants nothing to do with the hellish fury he sees before him, so he sends Jesus to Herod.
Herod is a playboy. Herod is the life of the party. Herod makes everyone laugh. "Oh, goodie, do a miracle for me. I'd just love to see a miracle." Everyone laughs. Jesus is silent.
Back to Pilate.
Let me give you what are supposedly Pilate's own words as written in the government accounts required by all Roman governors. Whether this is actually Pilate's writing, as I read it now, I doubt. Facts of Christian knowledge and ideas gathered over centuries are all cobbled together in this account. However, it does give the picture I want to draw and so I will include a portion here.

~

Jesus was dragged before the High Priest and condemned to death . . . Caiaphas . . . sent his prisoner to me to confirm his condemnation and secure his execution . . . Soon my palace assumed the aspect of a besieged citadel. Every moment increased the number of malcontents. . . All Judea appeared to be pouring into the city . . .
By this time the marble stair groaned under the weight of the multitude. The Nazarene was brought back to me. I proceeded to the halls of justice, followed by my guard, and asked the people in a severe tone what they demanded. . .
"Crucify him! Crucify Him!" cried the relentless rabble. The vociferations of the infuriated mob shook the palace to its foundations.
I then ordered Jesus to be scourged, hoping this might satisfy them; but it only increased their fury. I then called for a basin, and washed my hands in the presence of the clamorous multitude, thus testifying that in my judgment Jesus of Nazareth had done nothing deserving of death; but in vain. It was his life these wretches thirsted for.
Often in our civil commotions have I witnessed the furious anger of the multitude, but nothing could be compared to what I witnessed on this occasion. It might have been truly said that all the phantoms of the infernal regions had assembled at Jerusalem. The crowd appeared not to walk, but to be borne off and whirled as a vortex, rolling along in living waves from the portals of the praetorium even unto Mount Zion, with howling screams, shrieks, and vociferations such as were never heard in the seditions of the (Pandemonium), or in the tumults of the forum. (The Archko Volume, 138-141)

~

In the garden, only Satan himself appeared to Eve as a serpent, a solitary and fairly quiet creature in the beauty of Paradise. In Jerusalem, Satan appeared in Jesus' friend, and all the angels fallen from heaven possessed all the people Jesus came to save, His people, possessed them with all the fury of rebellion and separation from God, all the vomit of the abyss.
Man and Satan together scream, "Crucify him!"
Then the physical pain begins again. They strip Jesus, scourging Him until his back is strips of flesh and visible bones. They press a crown of thorns upon Him and pluck out His beard until His face is a bloody and mangled pulp.
They mock Him. They drive Him forward, placing a cross upon His back.
Passing through the crowds of people lining the way, screaming their fury at Him, He stumbles and falls.
This Jesus, this One who is weak, He is no Christ for us. We will not have a God revealed through weakness. Give us power; give us miracles; give us thunderbolts; but the very last God we will accept is a Man who lays down His life, who does not fight back.
It is not my purpose to replicate The Passion of the Christ, and so I will go no further. It is my purpose to unveil for us Man as God revealed.
This is the One whom we are in, and this is the One who is in us.
Christianity would teach us that it was our sin that "did this" to Jesus, that we were "there inside that crowd." NO WE WERE NOT!!! But we were there, all right; we were there inside of Him.
Let's return to the Covenant.
In the Covenant, God's concern is ours and our concern is His. God looks out for our concern while we look out for His concern. We give no thought to our concerns, not because they are unimportant - but because God holds every tiny concern we have inside His heart and He meets each concern more wondrously than we can think or even imagine. At the same time, the One who is our Life - He carries in Himself God's concerns, and in us, He expresses those concerns. That is, He is our embracing of all the concerns and interests of God.
KNOWING that God utterly has our back, we take up God's back. And when we say, "WE," we mean Jesus, for we never separate ourselves from Him nor He from us.
And here, sitting upon the throne of God, looking out as the expression of the Heart and Concern of God, we see the woman filling the Holy Place, a woman clothed with the sun, a woman in travail.
Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 12:13-17
These words are not for "figuring out" in any way, shape, or form. These words are Spirit and they are Life.
Think - sitting upon the Mercy Seat, looking out with the eyes of God - the first thing we see is our precious brethren in the Altar of Incense, in the Holy Place, who have not yet entered into the Holy of Holies. The angel told John that the Outer Court is not now being measured by the measurement of Christ, only the Holy Place. That is not a put-down; each one will come in his or her season.
The King James says, "And they shall nourish her there."
We are the "THEY." The Bowels of God long over the Bride of Christ, right now upon this earth in the year of our Lord, 2012. He longs over her as she enters her hour of trial, not understanding a thing about what is happening to her. This is the God who fills us, who has made Covenant with us to accomplish His purposes in creation.
Let me fix our eyes on this one point. The God of the Covenant will nourish His woman through you and through me and He will do it in the face of the serpent.
It is here, at the point of the Word God speaks, of a woman in travail, and the face of the serpent that God shows Himself as He really is. 
  – Through us.
Believe in Jesus!

KOG5 God Of the Cup by Daniel Yordy

The Kingdom of God series has just been published by Amazon as a book entitled "The Kingdom Rising". Here is your chance to read it for free, and if you like it to buy copies for your your friends. Daniel's other book "the Jesus Secret" has just come out too.

The PDF and audio versions are available here
I have read nothing quite like it. AC Welch
© Daniel Yordy - 2012 - Our Path Home

Part 5. The God of the Cup 

I had imagined that my next letter in this series would be about "Many Sons," that is, the end result God intends from this Covenant He enters into with us. But God doesn't always show me what He wants me to write next, sometimes He surrounds my way with agony, and out of that agony comes the cry that is what He wanted me to write next. God was not finished with Gethsemane.  

Only, He didn't want me to write about Gethsemane; He wanted me to write from Gethsemane.  

Please bear with my frustration with God and my agony of soul.

~~~

If God reveals Himself to my neighbor BEFORE He reveals Himself to me, will I accuse my neighbor of heresy and deception and will I put my neighbor to death?

The greatest problem with God is that He is entirely out of control.

It is the vanity of man, including you and me, dear reader, to put God to death every time He does something or shows Himself to be something of which we do not approve.

We can't get at God Himself, of course, so we deal with an out-of-control God by endlessly re-writing the Bible and then by rebuking our neighbor when he reads or hears something from some verse we have already so painstakingly put in its place. Non-Christians are astonished when they see the endless, endless drivel pouring out of Christian minds and pens, in our ceaseless attempts to "explain" God.

To define God is to control Him. We demand a controlled God with no tolerance for any other kind of God.

God, of course, eggs this vanity on, having imposed it in the first place. (No, no, no, God would NEVER do such a thing! I am not deceived, everyone else is.)

I said once that God is "reckless." A "mature" Christian leader protested strongly - "No, God is not reckless." Meaning, "I have Him entirely under my control and if you will just listen to me, I will explain this God-on-my-Leash to you."

Now, everyone of us knows that God is out of control, reckless, and unexplainable. We know that when God should go up, He goes down; when He should go out, He comes in. When He should damn, He shows mercy; when He should show mercy, He destroys. When He should be sensible, He acts in extraordinarily bizarre and utterly unreasonable ways.

Okay, let's be honest, let's admit it - the worst thing about God is that He never does what He says, or so it seems to us. But we have lots of wonderful ways to explain a God who does not do what He says.

Jesus said, "Take no thought for tomorrow, what you shall eat or what you shall drink - God will take care of your needs." I've never met a Christian in Western culture who did not disagree with Jesus 100%. There are a few cultures who live that way and they are poverty-stricken as a result. "Get an education, get a job, earn some money, save your money, put up for retirement, buy insurance, store food for the winter, buy bulk quantities to save money," all of them taking thought for tomorrow, what we shall eat and what we shall drink. No one I have ever known would live like Jesus said. In fact, there is good and accurate argument that such a philosophy is the cause of poverty in this world.

Haitians must live for today only, they are not allowed to "lay up" for tomorrow. Should any Haitian accumulate sufficient to provide for tomorrow, his property will be seized by the government. It is for this reason alone, the complete non-existence of capital, that causes the people of Haiti to be desperately poor in spite of billions in aid that vanish into that stricken nation.

So was Jesus wrong? I have no doubt we think He was; we, of course, would never say such a thing; instead, we write books explaining how Jesus meant something quite different from what He said.

So what is the problem?

That's easy - God. God is an uncontrollable problem.

Here's what He says. "The first shall be last and the last first." "Many are called, but few are chosen." "God rewards those who diligently seek Him." "If you want to be the greatest in the Kingdom, here's how." "Many run, but only one wins the race." "If you overcome." "I will give to My two witnesses." "He is coming and His reward is in His hand." "Those who seek glory will win eternal life." "Leave out the outer court for it is not being measured at this time." "Take the little bit from him who did not produce an increase and give it to the one who did." "The stars differ from one another in glory." "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven."

I am writing this bit during the London Olympics. Man is very competitive. We watch the winners, but fail to remember the thousands and thousands of losers, all of whom gave their lives and long hours every day for years to fulfill the dream of their hearts, Olympic gold, but who failed, who came short, who did not measure up, and who will never ever see their dreams fulfilled.

The gospel is the most competitive arena in the universe.

MOST of Christian argument attempts to remove the competition built into the gospel to assure us that we are all winners. Although all of us argues for this belief, that all who receive Jesus will be happy in heaven forever, none of us buys into it for ourselves, not even a little bit.

Admit it. Your deepest desire is to be the greatest in the Kingdom of God. You want with all your heart for God to say, "Hey, look at this one, he really pulled it off, she pleased Me in every way." You want God to approve of you above all your fellows. You want, so very much, to hear, "Well done." And deep down inside, you "know" that all those who see things differently from you will most likely hear, "Depart from Me."

Now, someone who reads this may well say, quite loudly, "Not me, I trust in God, and that's enough for me."

It's so easy to prove that such a one is lying through his or her teeth. There's more than one way to prove it. One way would be to simply ask, "Please explain salvation to me." Very, very few would answer, "Although Jesus is salvation, I don't know Him very well, I am so ignorant. I don't see at all; I am blind. Do not ask me, I am so deceived about most everything."

You see, underneath that statement, "Not me, I am not pursuing glory, I don't want to be the greatest in the kingdom, I trust in God, and that's enough for me," underneath that statement is a very definite assertion that says this. "I know who God is, I can define Him. I know what salvation is, I can tell you. The way in which I understand reality is correct, I can see clearly."

Here's the game.

But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who "will render to each one according to his deeds": eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness - indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil . . . but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good . . . Romans 2:5-10

There it is. If you and I seek for glory, if we pursue honor, if we desire never ever to die, then God will reward us with this thing called "eternal life," whatever that is - IF we measure up. But if we don't seek our glory, if we don't hanker after honor before all, if we don't long for beating old age and death, then God claims we are, in fact, self-seeking. But self-seeking is not just a negative. The one who does not run this race for glory, is in fact, building up great "treasures" on the other side of things - WRATH.

Do you see what I mean? The desperate, desperate, desperate desire to explain why God does not mean what He says here? You're doing it right now, aren't you?

Here is how God sets up this turkey-shoot, this vanity, we seem to be caught in.

God gives only one definition of "eternal life." Even though almost all Christians try to give the term a definition God never ever gives, a definition that "eternal life" simply does NOT mean, still, all Christians know instinctively what the reward really is, and that certain knowledge drives our psychosis.

Here is the only definition given to the term "eternal life" in the Bible.

"To know God, and to know Jesus Christ whom God has sent."

The goal is to know this Guy who is patently unknowable. And the first one who really knows Him as He is wins. What do we win? Here it is:

. . . We know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2

The prize of knowing God as He really is; the prize of seeing Jesus Christ whom God has sent, as He really is, is that we get to be just like Him - just like the King of Glory, just like the Lord of heaven and earth, just like the most glorious and exalted Being in the universe.

We get to sit in His throne.

So, either we are seeking for glory or we are building up treasures of destruction, one or the other. And both the Way to glory and the Prize itself is to KNOW God.

Do you see how desperately, desperately important it is to each of us to know God, to figure this Guy out, to win the prize, to make Him like us, approve of us, be pleased with us.

"Without faith it is impossible to please God." - "Oh you of little faith."

Even the Christian who says "I understand that God is a 'mystery' and that we will know what it all means in the sweet by and by," is so obviously blowing smoke. They think nothing of the sort; you probe just a bit and you will discover very quickly, and likely to your own pain, that the one who says "I 'know' that God is a mystery," has, by those very words, put God under control, and they will assure you that they see things as we are supposed to see them, and if we will just listen to their take on things, their explanations of "the mystery," then we, also, will understand. In fact, you can really get them going by saying, "Amen, brother, so good, never saw it that way before, you have really enlightened me, keep talking, please." They (and me as well, I do not exclude myself from vanity) will be more than happy to oblige.

God is NOT like winning the lottery. If you play the lottery, you could win millions, but if you don't buy or you don't win, life will continue as it is. If the lottery rules were like God's rules, then it would say, "Buy this one ticket for $1 and you could win millions, maybe, but if you don't buy the ticket, over and over, then you will certainly win losses and losses, greater and greater until you live in unending and utter ruin.

"If you seek for glory, you could win the throne, but only a few do. And if you don't seek for glory, you will win ever increasing destruction, and if your 'effort' to win the throne does not satisfy me, if you don't have enough 'faith,' whatever that is, then somebody else will win the little bit you happen to have." That's God's ticket.

Now listen, the whole reason why the words "That's not right, that's not what God means, God isn't like that," are going through your mind right now is that you know for a fact that you're in this high-stakes pitch for glory or dishonor, you know for a fact that "knowing" God is the race you must win. That's why you "know" what God is all about and can explain quite accurately what He does mean. The possibility that, after all these years of seeking to know Him, we might remain utterly blind and ignorant, is simply unthinkable; the stakes are just too high.

Here are several things Paul wrote to Timothy, several among many other similar things he said to Timothy.

Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. - If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words . . . - But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life (knowing an unknowable God who hides Himself in clouds of darkness), to which you were also called . . . - You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

Let me be frank and honest with you.

I want glory with everything that is in me. I want to be the greatest in the kingdom of God. I don't want to die, I want to live forever; I want to see all my dreams come to pass. I want God to put His hand on my shoulder and to say to all creation, "Hey ya'll, look here, this is Daniel, he blesses My socks off. He so pleases me. He overcomes every difficulty; he triumphs over every adversity; he has such incredible faith in Me. Right from the start, he zeroed in on knowing Me and all along, Daniel was more right about Who and What I am than all the rest of you who thought he was so wrong. From this moment on, Daniel represents Me, and I will move in mighty power through hm to accomplish whatever he desires."

More than that, I want to be the one that so gets God right, that so knows Him as He really is, that I am then given the greatest assignment on earth given to those who belong to Jesus. I want to be the one who says, "Thus saith the Lord," and God says, "Yup, that's right." I WANT Glory!

And you want the very same thing.

The race is to know God, the prize is to know God. Ignorance, "Well I just didn't know" is not an option because ignorance of God, lack of faith, is not a neutral, it is, rather, a heaping up of the opposite of blessing, which is the very Biblical word: CURSE.

So, saying "Well, I'm just little old humble me," is proven absolutely false in two ways. One, that very statement is an assertion of knowledge, and two, ignorance of God is not bliss, it is destruction. Paul said that "Well, I'm just little old humble me" IS self-seeking. The bold and audacious pursuit of glory is the only thing that pleases God.

Let me be more frank and honest with you.

I don't know God very well, I am so ignorant. I cannot see Him; I am blind. I have studied to know God for years and years, I have followed after to know the Lord all my adult life, and I remain deceived about most everything I think I know.

I get a bit of a handle on knowing God and He just doesn't stay put, He blows my "knowledge" of Him right out of the water. I light upon one thing He says, and think, "Wow, okay God, I believe this; I believe what You say." And then someone else hits me with the very opposite thing that God says over there, and I am left feeling like an absolute fool.

Let me give you here two VERY opposing verses.

But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:14-17

The "Holy Scriptures" is first, the Old Testament, although it certainly does reach out to include the New Testament yet to be compiled at this point. Paul wrote those words shortly before he was killed in AD 67.

Then, about 25 years later, John wrote this:

But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. John 5:38-40

The fascinating thing is that Paul's words to Timothy, penned at the end of Paul's life, are more in line with the gospel according to Matthew, Peter, and James than with his own gospel; whereas John's words, penned 25 years later, are much more in line with the gospel according to Paul.

Okay, let's be honest, no mealy-mouthed beating around the bush. These two passages cancel each other out. Either one is true or the other is true, but by all human logic, knowledge, and reasoning, both CANNOT be truth. One is the truth and the other is whatever the truth is not. Let's get it out, be honest, "God lied."

But we never ever say that, do we? Not at all. We have a much more clever device, we learned it from Adam and Eve - they started it. Here is what we do.

Now, remember, every man, woman, and child on this planet is absolutely committed to this race of knowing God. Everyone has Him figured out. Everyone is convinced he or she is correct. Listen to the atheists, they are obsessed, it seems, with explaining "God." They sure do know how things really are; they can see all things so much more clearly than anyone else. Everyone is certain; everyone is sure. 

It is normal for Christians to begin with Paul's words to Timothy, they make much more sense to the natural mind. "Yea, here's the trick to winning this race of knowing God, of figuring this Guy out. I will study the Holy Scriptures, as Paul said, because they can make me "wise" for salvation, and if I learn the Scriptures, then I'll have everything I need to be thoroughly equipped."

So you have at it, in obedience to what GOD SAYS! you devote years to this labor, knowing that both the race and the prize are to KNOW God, knowing that God says that learning the Scriptures is where you find all that you need.

Then, one day, someone says, "That's all a big waste of time, studying the Scriptures. Don't you know that Jesus said that you won't find "eternal life," that is, knowing God, in the Scriptures."

Huh?

So we play the Adam and Eve trick. We would NEVER call God a liar, so we call the other "Christian" who thinks he's beat us in this race to figure God out, a heretic. You are deceived! God, the problem isn't You, it's this other person!

Then God (who is REAL in spite of the vanity He has placed over us) opens our eyes and we SEE that Christ is indeed the Living Word, and that reading and studying "the Scriptures" for years has not caused us to know Him as we ought, as He really is.

The problem is, we don't slow down a bit. Yes, God opened our eyes for one moment, surprised us utterly that He was NOT under our definitive control, shaking us to our core. BUT WE SURVIVE! And we're off and running. We now have God figured out - IT'S NOT the Scriptures - and we draw a line right through Paul's words to Timothy. Only, we never call God a "liar," no, we go around and find other Christians who are busily engaged believing that what God says in 2 Timothy 3 is actually true, and call them heretics, telling them they are deceived, and if they'll just listen to us, we have God all figured out. God is finally under control!

Those who love a God who destroys His enemies, including all who disagree with their take on things, in hellfire forever can't stand a God who would show mercy and kindness to every single human being. Those who love a God who has never thought of torturing His creation in hopelessness, hate the very idea of a God who displays His wrath and brings judgment - and yes, say the big bad word, "destruction" on those who anger Him.

And everyone absolutely shudders at the thought of a God who would bring Satan into restored and tender submission to Jesus. Those who reject a God of hellfire, get rid of Satan as well. And those who love a God of hellfire, shudder with absolute horror at the utter blasphemy, the absolute Satanic deception, that the devil would bow in broken humility and weep, "Jesus, my Master and my God." (Even though this out-of-control God says that he will - we absolutely MUST explain why what God says just ain't so.)

God says, "KNOW Me!" And then, it seems to us, that He makes it absolutely impossible for us to do so.

But most Christians have God all figured out - "What He means," they cry, "is that we'll know Him AFTER we die and "go to" heaven!" The incredible thing is, God never says that, nor any such thing. But they sure know that's what He has to mean. Just ask them; they know!

~~~

I freely confess that I wrote the above five pages in a cynical frame of mind and in the pain of my own soul. I do not conclude, however, that these words are not of Him. Rather, I, as is normal for me, am brought up short before an implacable God who does not kowtow to anyone.

God is not under my control. He does not ask me for permission either to do what He chooses to do or to be who He is.

God IS - let every human being bow before Him in silence. Let every human being place their forehead upon the ground in silence before a Holy and a Mighty God.

If a God who is love chooses to order a spirit of delusion to take possession of a nation and then sends destruction upon that nation because they were stupid enough to believe the lie, He does not ask me for my permission.

If a God who is hatred of all arrogance and all haughty looks and all acts of cruelty and indifference, chooses to show incredible favor and goodness to the most despicable and violent human being I could name, He does not consider if I am okay with His actions or not.

There is a deep root of ON-your-face, silent, and willing submission before a God who never ever fits into my box, regardless of how deeply I know Him or how long I have walked in faithfulness before Him, that is the core and center of those alone through whom He will show Himself mighty.

That root of willing and silent submission is rare upon this planet and found in very, very few. It does not come over night. It is not obtained by revelation - no vision of Christ-our-life will ever impart it. It comes in the hard places, in loss and in darkness, this unbending, implacable, never budging statement: "I am God; you are not. Be silent before Me." It comes over years, over and over, time and again. It comes against all rebellion, all finagling, all arguing with God. It comes against all blaming of others, all finding fault. It comes against all self-exaltation, all pretense, all human plans and ideas.

It comes and it comes until it wins absolutely and forever or until we drive that Voice far, far away from us.

We are not the one's who speak. God speaks and we have two options: either we will tremble in silent harmony with that Word or it will shatter us.

He will be . . . a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Isaiah 8:14 He is despised and rejected by men . . . and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Isaiah 53:3

Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. Luke 20:18

Jesus, the Word God is always speaking, is offensive to me and He is offensive to you. And He says, "Be silent before My holy temple and tremble before Me."

Those who say, "Wait a minute now, that's not my Daddy," can be blessed and happy forever in His good pleasure, and God will most certainly do what He wills with His own - He never asks me what I think He should do. But I cannot say what they say.

God is not under my control. I do not have Him figured out. I cannot define Him; I cannot explain Him. All I can possibly ever do is bow my head upon the ground in silence before Him.

To one He says, "Speak," to another He says, "Shut up." To one He says "Go here and go there," to another He says, "Sit down, you aren't going anywhere."

And He WILL do the very opposite of what you want, and He will ask you to bow in silence before His right to order His creation as He sees fit.

Indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to Him who formed it, "Why have You made me like this?" Romans 9:20

I have been trying to re-write a critical New Testament verse. It doesn't say what I want it to say - in fact, it seems to oppose the core and root of the things I teach. I thought I could study the Greek words and find a way to alter the text. That didn't happen. I tried to argue to myself that the writer of Hebrews, very likely Priscilla, a woman, just had it wrong, she didn't see the reality of Christ the way I do. I tried all that - but I find myself unable to silence God.

And being unable to silence God, to require of Him to stop saying things of which I do not approve, I am brought up against my only role of being, myself, silent before Him.

When God speaks, I tremble.

. . . Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him . . . Hebrews 5:7-9

Gethsemane.

Now, I must confess, I don't do well with "obedience." If I hear a nudging, "do this," or "do that," something freezes up inside, something short circuits and I shut down. I don't do "voices." And I read many things in the New Testament that I fail to do, or that I act against, at times. 

But I cannot count the number of times over many, many years, that the word "NO!" "NO!" "NO!" has hammered against me in implacable slow motion, they are far too many. "NO!" never comes with explanation, it never provides a context, it never gives options, it never moves, it never quiets down, it never stops. When a "NO!" begins against me, it grows and grows and grows, against my crying, against my arguing, against my raging, until I fall in silence before Him and the only thing I can say is, "Yes, Lord."

I have never heard Him speak, "Do this or that great thing, for I am with you." I have never heard Him say, "Go here or go there in My name." "NO!" is the vast majority of what I have heard from God. 

There is nothing inside the word, "NO!" that I can expand on or give profound teaching upon. It carries no nuances, no development of thought. I cannot stand before the congregation and give testimony of the mighty power of God moving through the word, "NO!"

God orders all my steps; He hedges my way about with thorns. His "NO!" comes in so many forms. It comes as a quiet voice, though it never stays quiet long if I resist it. It comes in doors that slam shut, opportunities that go nowhere, jobs that turn into nightmares, relationships that become sour and I don't know how to fix them. His "NO!" has come against every hope, every dream, every desire I have ever known; it has removed all my strength and ability.

I say, "come against every hope, dream, and desire" over 36 years of adult life, but in a peculiar and difficult way. God has said, "NO!" until I give Him thanks for the loss of all things, but the desire increases and increases. The more He says, "NO!" in one way or another, the more my desire to see God do what He alone has placed in my heart grows, yet I can only remain silent before His implacable control and unceasing limitation of my life.

Don't think I have a demon; don't imagine that God would never do such a thing with someone who has actually given their life utterly to Him. God does what He wills with His own, and we give Him thanks.

I have watched God give the very thing I desire to another before my eyes in more ways and at more times than I can count or remember, all the while He Himself up-whelms desire with tears in my heart and then says, "NO! - Be silent before Me."

Do not ever imagine that the one God exalts is closer to His heart and will than the one whom He abases.

Do not ever think that the one whom God fills with mighty demonstrations of glory and power is nearer to His throne than the one whom God cripples and maims.

Yet that absolute line runs both ways. I must NEVER imagine that the one through whom He does mighty and glorious things, the one whom He exalts before His people is NOT closer to His heart and throne than I.

God does what He wills with His own and He asks no man's pleasure.

God is in His holy temple, let all the earth be silent before Him.

Let God be true and every man a liar . . . that You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged - that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before Him. Romans 3

If God says "Wrath," He will be justified in His words. If God says, "Mercy," He will be justified in His words. If God says, "Nothing can separate you from My love," He is justified in His words. If God says, "I vomit you out of My mouth," He is justified in His words.

Be silent before Him; tremble when He speaks. And do not think to give Him answer or to say, "Nay" or "Yea," to the Almighty.

We have one answer, only, to offer to God in whatever it is that He speaks. Out of a quiet and simple heart, we say, "Look at me, God, I belong to You. Let it be to me according to what You say."  

I had no idea, when I wrote the first five pages of this letter in frustration and agony of soul, in a hurting and cynical mind, contending with a God who seems never to fulfill what He says in my life, and yet who never allows His word and His desire to dissipate from my heart, but causes it only to grow louder and deeper - yet always unfulfilled, that I would do anything other than to file these pages away quietly. Yet I see, now, that no other word could come next after Gethsemane than this word.

For the entire contention of this point is Gethsemane.

When Jesus cried, "TAKE THIS CUP AWAY FROM ME," He was wrestling with the same agony and frustration as I have expressed, only far, far more so.

This is the God who would be your life. Will He be God in you?

Will you drink His cup?