The BBC Nativity Series 2010 in 5 half hour parts was excellent on many levels.The photos here depict the final moments of part 5 when the 3 Magi arrive to visit the new-born King. Joseph is studying Jesus when the other three come in bearing their gifts, finally prostrating themselves in worship.
For dramatic reasons several stories within stories culminate in the stable room, thereby making the arrival of the wise men contemporaneous with Jesus birth, and the visit from the shepherds. This does not happen until Jesus is many months older, which is why Herod then orders the death of all babies two and under.
What really comes over in the dramatization is the fact that Jesus' birth simply was not convenient on so many levels.
Who is going to understand a Virgin birth? Not even Joseph to begin with. Then at the precise moment Mary is to give birth comes the upheaval of the census demanded by the authorities, which mean they have to go to the place where Joseph originated, Bethlehem.
Yet what seemed so random, so human, so impossible, was ALL meant. Was all prophesied. And one of the most random events seemed to be the sudden appearance from lands far away of the wise men themselves.
Clearly, stars were intended for signs and seasons, as stupid as this seems to a Western world who are almost totally divorced from their surroundings, having built themselves into "artificial cities" of convenience since the very early days of the fall. But those who are truly openhearted, and listening can indeed discern the times and the seasons.
Secondly, these were clever men. Jesus said that in general the Father has hidden the things of the Kingdom from the wise of the world. But exceptions exist. And these three were such, proving the verse, "if you seek Me with all your heart, you shall find Me."....clever or not!!!!
Thirdly, these wise men had a detached view. They were outsiders. They were not Jews. Yet like the Gentiles to follow, were able to discern more about the plans of God than the very children of Abraham themselves. All this came over very clearly in the production.
Gold, frankincense and myrrh would just seem like a random set of exotic gifts, that they being of means could bring with them from these faraway lands, but yet again like other sets of threes in the Bible,(3 feasts, the shoot ear and full ear of corn,Abraham Isaac and Jacob,the 3 part Tabernacle,Children young men fathers in 1 John 2 and so on and so on)
once again they are a photograph in time,
an encapsulation in the heart of God,
of the Divine Purpose to have a race of sons (and ofcourse daughters) of the Most High, God in flesh. God Incarnate. Not only in Jesus, but by extension-
As He is , so are we in the world.... a race of Jesus in us living as us....John 15.
Here, facing us I believe, every Christmas is the complete package. A version of Christianity which cannot be broken smaller, cannot be watered down,it is the One single Truth known as the real WAY.....the one known as the WAY to the TRUTH to the LIFE.
Here is my Facebook encapsulation. Brevity rules in a Facebook status.
Chris Welch
People say to me "what 3rd level gospel?"
Before describing each, and saying why I believe most churches are "bewitched", and have had nearly all of these necessary ingredients of the True Gospel stripped out of them, may I describe 4 levels of fulfilment.
As we relate more and more to the "single eye way of seeing" that Jesus described, which Rich and Daniel Yordy,Fred Pruitt and Nancy Gilmore, all refer to as "seeing God only"....
we understand that there is ONLY one LIFE. Everything else is distortion of that one Life. The devil tries to steal that life, invert it, turn it in on itself, as a "self for self" existence, which can only at best, ever be partially true. LIFE, since it originates in God, cannot ever really be like that.....so the devil can only pull things off in short term manipulations, since his bad fruit always seeps through in a very obvious manner.
So in describing LIFE as gold,frankincense and myrrh , this is no different for a non-Christian, than a Christian, and no different from what Jacob Boehme describes as "the Cross in the heart of God" before time or creation ever existed at all. It's just the category description of LIFE.
Commission, Cost,Completion. Coupled with the Word process of:
Thought, Word,Deed.
The Father conceives it, it is expressed perfectly in the Son, and SPOKEN into being by the Son, with the Spirit bringing the action to pass.
All genuine fairy tales, stories, acts of musical creation, drama, that have any bearing on reality contain these components. Snow Queen is one such. This describes what happens when we try to shortcircuit the process of LIFE by believing rather A LIE, and receiving in our heart a shard of glass that makes us inoperable as a person.
So gold,frankincense and myrrh relate to anyone involved in the process of Life. So that is the first manner .But it relates specifically to Jesus,two, in its purest form, to Mary, three, and by extension to every believer, four.
Gold,Frankincense and Myrrh
Introduction
This is the apostolic foundation of our faith. Take away from it , it is not Christianity. Add to it, it is not Christianity.
Compare the words : Gold , Frankincense and Myrrh with this verse:
Revelation 12 :11 Youngs Literal :
11and they did overcome him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life -- unto death;
Paul said, among the mature, we compare spiritual with spiritual. In a linear thinking mode, comparing these two statements above would appear fruitless.
But Jesus Blood has bought for you instead of "Genesis 3" type shame, glory. As there is nothing much other than liquid sunshine radiating over a hillside that best represents glory, the most solid way of representing it materially is in the metal gold. Which is the form used in the Tabernacle.
Next, frankincense was offered up by priests in the Temple and tabernacle, and best represents the whole office of priest. Jesus was made High Priest for us. But He conforms those who are born again according to His own priesthood, a priesthood which was never rooted or anchored here on Earth, but in the Melchizedek order in heaven. And how does He do this? Primarily , from Day One, by getting us to believe His Word in our heart, and confess it with our lips......
THE WORD OF TESTIMONY.
Finally Myrrh was for anointing for burial. Myrrh relates to suffering , to laying our life down unto death.
Three forms of death in a believer
A.There is a death, walking away from our former external ways. B.There is a death that conforms us inwardly to the new priesthood we join. C.But there is a death of intercession, dying daily in situations to see Life come forth in others. For some this is actual death......but remember, death is quick. It doesn't take long to enter eternal glory. What is valuable is the Romans 12 :1-2 existence that Paul knew, laying his life on the line, going into war against the strong men in the spiritual realms, the principalities and powers, which would then yield up their prey of captive souls over towns, cities and regions. The Kingdom is born in the second, third, fourth mile!!!!!!
The angel came to Mary to say she had been highly favoured among women. She was chosen by God to bear His only begotten Son Jesus. No other human being at any time was ever going to have the privilege of providing a womb for the Father's seed to bring forth "in the likeness of sinful flesh" the 2nd Adam, the Word that had always dwelt co equal with God, now to be manifest in human form. This was the glory of God made manifest. This was the gold of God.
Mary just simply responded with "Be it unto me according to Your Word."
And so it is for us. You don't reason it out. You don't argue. Confronted with this wisdom of God that is higher than any of us, we simply respond:
God, I ask you to be born in me supernaturally by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit overshadows us too, not to bring forth some material manifestation of Jesus as Jesus of Nazareth....for He now sits at the right hand of God the Father. No, it's better.
Better than Mary had. She only had a separate Jesus that she had to bring up, then later follow.
We have a Jesus who has promised to be with us, and even in us by the indwelling and outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
The nearest spiritual picture we have of the gold that the Father is offering us, apart from the natural external picture that the apostles knew of jesus Himself, was the picture of the Holy of Holies. Jesus was humanly this Incarnate form of an acacia wood or human flesh and blood box, covered on the inside and out with gold, with glory.
The presence of the Holy Spirit radiated from within His being, His attitudes, His joy, faith and expectancy, His purpose, His energy. But also the Holy Spirit was upon Him , anointing Him with power to do things that He of Himself COULD NOT DO. Why? Because He had laid His glory aside before He left heaven in order to come and live AS US, AS WE LIVE.
The point being that Jesus ultimate purpose was always to reproduce tons of acacia boxes, just like Himself. The tabernacle has always been about the Holy of Holies. About golden covered containers. Inside and out.
When He came, He came as a golden covered container. Inside and out.
So THIS is the apostolic foundation we are laying in folk from Day One of believing in Jesus. We lay a foundation of grace and glory. We lay the Divine seed by the gift of utterance in the Holy Spirit. This is what the phrase "you have known the gospel of grace in truth" means.
Anything less than this GOLD just is not the gospel of grace in truth.
Yes, we know our sins are forgiven through the precious Blood of Jesus, as it says in 1 John 2 and refers to above in Rev 12:11......but that's not the gold.
The gold is that you were ransomed as treasures of darkness that He manifest His full self in you.That's the gold. It's the seed DNA that from day one destines you to be a greater and greater manifestation of an acacia box of glory, just as He was. "As He is, so are WE in the world."
He destines us to be that as we just simply , like Mary say along with her:
Well....You have spoken.....seems nuts to me....seems humanly impossible.....but I won't argue and I just say
BE IT UNTO ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD.
Now Catholics don't teach this. Anglicans don't. Pentecostals don't. Well in general. Charismatics haven't a clue. But this is the apostolic foundation day one Word that we deliver to believers, who then hearing the Word, receive it, are baptised, and are filled with the Holy Spirit.
All churches are "bewitched " on this issue which is why so many voices like mine are crying out on the internet.
You don't work for your GOLD. It is in the finished work of Jesus. You believe the Word on offer to every human alive....but you don't work for it. You don't fast for it. You don't have prayer meetings for it. You don't read the Bible for it.
Now I didn't say you never fast, never read the Bible. I just said that gold now has YOUR NAME on it. These are spiritual realities. They are not even fairy stories or nice Christian things to say.
On my insides right now are 38 years of glory inworked not by me, but by the Holy Spirit who promised not only to be our downpayment, our foretaste of glory, the earnest of our inheritance,
but manifest Himself increasingly both in our innards, and upon us in all our ways. He came to
MAKE KNOWN TO US WHAT IS OURS. Without Him we are blind to it all. With Him we SEE the over aboveness of all the GOLD that has always been on offer.
If you are going to a church that is not offering this gold from day one.....take very seriously the notion that you may be becoming increasingly bewitched as you go there.
Take seriously your priesthood.
Mary's priestly function was to BE a PLACE for Jesus to be conceived and born in.We are just the same. You know it's not even different for those who don't know Jesus, because this is the way LIFE, God's LIFE works.
For example, we may be seized with a vision , or a strong desire on our innards to do something. We commit to it. It may be to study to be a doctor or architect. It may be to work on a new invention, or recipe that has never yet seen the light of day. Norman Grubb says what we take hold of, takes hold of us.
In spiritual terms, what we believe in our heart and what we confess with our lips becomes a visible manifestation of our salvation, in and around us.
Jesus spoke by the Spirit to the apostles.
Some have spent their entire lives only "hearing " leftbrain communication, or if they've heard someone like Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream " speech, they ascribe it to the nearest thing they can attach it readily to...and they ascribe it to the pigeonhole called emotion or passion. Well emotion and passion were certainly there at the surface.....but King's speech was powerful because it was something more than that. It was Spirit. So assuming "Lay down your nets and follow me " was a leftbrain sentence makes no sense. Who is going to bother responding to that? I mean what right has any human to say a thing like that?
Hmmm! Well you are missing it if you think that was a left-brain communication. It was tagged underneath with Spirit. Spirit authority. Prophetic authority. In fact, prophetic grace empowering. Because you would need some kind of assurance inwardly to counteract a wildly buzzing left-brain that was freaking out at the thought of what would happen if they left their comfort zone, to follow a Person with no visible means of support structure.
So, just as it was for the apostles,you need to take yourself seriously!
Priesthood concerning you, is both unique and serious. It's God's calling on your life.You only have one life; take it seriously and God will be serious with you about bringing it forth by the Spirit.
In this aspect the vision of the Church is serious. Ministries in the church are serious. Not important for their own sake. But because the MINISTRY of the PRIESTHOOD in you is so serious. Gifts of ministry are PURELY there to Grace and empower you to the work of MINISTRY. You are important. Not someone's ministry! You are the end product...well actually not you....the next batch through you and so on.
My Facebook Profile:1 communicates to 2, who in turn communicate to 2, and so on 20 times.....congratulations you have just touched 1,048,576 lives with your one life!
The Catholic church is wrong if in any way they even so much as imply that a minister stands as a priest. The whole reclamation of the gospel through Protestantism is to reclaim the universal priesthood of the believer.
The heavenly tabernacle whose Cardboard Cornflake packet replica was constructed in the Old Testament by Moses, has its whole understanding that
you receive the GOLD of Christ INTO your person as a result of passing by the brazen altar of judgment. Christ, offering up Himself as a Blood sacrifice at the Cross that you may safely and freely enter God's tabernacle, and secondly that Christ may ENTER YOU as a deposit of Solid Gold on the inside of your life. Such a good job is done, that the next thing is for you to wash in the laver of His Word, and get baptised in water just as Jesus Himself did "to fulfil all righteousness ".The laver is so shiny that like a Mirror it reflects back to you Jesus, who now lives inside you. The Bible, the Word, talks about the Jesus inside you who is going to fulfil that very Word in you.
At this point you are baptised in the Spirit just as Jesus was. Notice , Jesus only entered the Kingdom procedures at the Laver, because He needed NO ONE to be offered up for His sins....why? He was without sin. So He joins the proceedings at the laver stage. He knows only the GOLD of God's Presence in Him and upon Him. He like us, then entered into the Frankincense stage of priestly ministry. This is what the baptism of the Spirit does for us too. It leads us on into that portion of the tabernacle that is ONLY illumined by Holy Spirit revelation. There are no windows in the Holy Place and the Holiest Place.Even WHILE God is conforming us to the ministry of priest in Him, He is already using us in and out of church, by His precious Spirit. This is the economy of God. Ephesians chapters 1 and 2 lays the foundation of GOLD in us. Chapters 3 ,4 and 5 train us in the Body of Christ, in our lives, in our families and workplaces, and with others in the world, in this new life and how it operates. Chapter 6 is "our main piece of Toast"...the full crowning mission for which we were put on earth.
The young man stage of 1 John 2:12 ff does not BEGIN at the end as if it's a passive stage up until graduation to maturity.
-right from the start, the victory Word is laid upon us
YOU HAVE OVERCOME THE EVIL ONE.
Why?
Because the foundation for our gold, for our overcoming even predates creation.
We were chosen in Him Eph 1:4 before the foundation of the world. Before Adam sinned. Before we sinned! These impediments made no difference whatsoever. At the Cross, God "earthed" His intention. Psalm 85:10-11 Lovingkindness and truth have met together/righteousness and peace have kissed each other/Truth springs from the Earth/and rightousness looks down from heaven!!!!
In the young men stage, based upon Jesus finished work, we are already functioning as His priests in His Melchizedek order, according to this Frankincense stamp, that was upon Mary, then upon her Son preeminently, and then by extension upon us.
Any church that does not make clear in the Spirit the GOLD of our calling,the FRANKINCENSE of our calling....even while we ourselves are being conformed unto a mature knowledge in the Spirit of His grace...
Any church who does not do that
Is building ministry unto itself. Pyramid style. Probably involving the squandering of the sheep's Kingdom money which should either be going to proper apostolic ministry according to the above principles, or helping the poor , needy, or relief of the saints. Or all of the above!!
When we have learned the Gold of our own identity, which is Christ living His Life as Us....
When we have learned how to function as priests by the Spirit, in meetings, in life, in family ,in work..... then we move onto the final stage.
But already we know something of Myrrh. The final stage however is to become intimately acquainted with this, the greatest POWER on God's EARTH.
"And they laid down their lives even unto death." "And for the JOY that was set before Him He endured the Cross, despising the shame."
There are two perspectives on myrrh that are carnal. Only a Christianity that contains the 3 hallmarks : Gold, Frankincense, and a right perspective on Myrrh are genuine. The rest is Religion,heaviness,bondage, us working for salvation, Bewitching.
You can easily tell that the charismatic churches are only at best a middle stage phenomenon, and at worst something that will be consummated as the Antichrist himself "overrunning" the Holy Place, from this description in Song of Solomon Chapter 5:2-6.Something is clearly wrong!
1I have come in to my garden, my sister-spouse, I have plucked my myrrh with my spice, I have eaten my comb with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, drink, Yea, drink abundantly, O beloved ones!
2I am sleeping, but my heart waketh: The sound of my beloved knocking! `Open to me, my sister, my friend, My dove, my perfect one, For my head is filled [with] dew, My locks [with] drops of the night.'
3I have put off my coat, how do I put it on? I have washed my feet, how do I defile them?
4My beloved sent his hand from the net-work, And my bowels were moved for him.
5I rose to open to my beloved, And my hands dropped myrrh, Yea, my fingers flowing myrrh, On the handles of the lock.
6I opened to my beloved, But my beloved withdrew -- he passed on, My soul went forth when he spake, I sought him, and found him not. I called him, and he answered me not.
You sense here praise and worship is going well. The meetings are all about getting right with Christ. About cleansing. Everything is focussed on all these things.
Just one problem here, well a few actually
The real Jesus is alive and keeps moving doing new things....setting up new intercessions.....annoying isn't it for the church rota!
Cleansing and our priesthood role is not a thing in its own right
Jesus was clear from the beginning who He was : climbing upon the mountains, leaping upon the hills......not sinking into the bathtub, then diving into a quiet life of bed.....
He's always had myrrh dripping from His fingers everytime they are on our door catches
It's not that He's been hiding it from us.....so we'd better just ....well
GET OVER IT.....and despise the shame!!!!!
Yes for the joy set before us ....DESPISE the SHAME.
The charismatic independent churches fall apart in the purposes of God round about here.
They are not laying a Spirit foundation from the word go in believers of GOLD,FRANKINCENSE and MYRRH.
They mostly don't seem to know about the gold, and get people working for it.
They are unable to impart Frankincense, so believers are not brought forth in their priesthood, and instead idle away, or idol away, their time fixated on a leadership that is not a leadership, because true leaders impart grace that reproduces.....and fixated on a worship that isn't really....because when the real Jesus of the Melchizedek order turns up they are just not ready for the REAL ONE.
Either Jesus situations on the one hand, or genuine Jesus ministers freak them out....because ,well.....oooh
they are just so MYRRH-Y......."YUK. I've made myself ready for bed!"
The one thing that really came over in the BBC Nativity was that to accept Christ, is to accept a way of shame. Mary was despised. Nothing about Jesus birth and her calling to be a part of it was comfortable. "Nothing flowed". Well it did, but it didn't flow with those living in the spirit of the Pride of life. Who would believe her tale that GOD HIMSELF had made her pregnant. In accepting his beloved Mary, Joseph was accepting a walk of shame. It is the VERY opposite of the Pride of Life. And to walk in Jesus works in us to DELIVERING from this evil root.
Two Carnal and inaccurate views of Myrrh
1. It doesn't exist. It doesn't suit my personal view of life that insists that my Christianity conform to the Pride of Life. (That means me looking good)
2. It does exist this suffering stuff and it's so heavy and sad....come and share my sadness and be as depressed as hell like me....so we can impress other Christians with our serious view of life.
Notice Jesus doesn't deny there are mountains and hills. He's a realist! He just bounds over them! Song of Songs 2:8 He doesn't go into denial about Myrrh. It's the Cross in the heart of God. It's the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world. There is shame.
But this is what Jesus does with it. He despises it.
Getting too overly heavy and sad in that deep religious way is simply having a "split eye again" and not a "single eye" which sees everything as God's express purpose to work something new out.
I don't go a bundle on much so called intercession out there done in this religious heavy depressive way. Nor on Christian organisations adopting merely human approaches to trying to relieve suffering of fellow saints. NOR do I believe in NOT doing anything about it either. What I believe in is laying a foundation of Identity in Christ in believers so that any suffering is to purpose and is filled with HOPE.
This is how much Jesus believed in "heavy, religious, depressive suffering." The three days of whipping, cruel death on a cross and the tomb are described in about two pages or less per gospel. PERIOD. FINISH. SILENCE.FINITO.
This is "despising the shame. " Not even giving it an advertising slot.
So we mustn't either.
This is what we've got to know about going into death for others....as shared by Mother Basilea Schlink. "Going the way of the Lamb" is a way of GREAT POWER!
Beloved, you think you've seen revivals? You think you've seen POWER exploding upon believers. Ha! Wait til a MYRRH bunch of overcomers dripping with the stuff, is regularly going into death for others in every country of the earth, despising the shame......seeing God only.....expectantly on tiptoe in their suffering....
straining with their eyes to the dawn.....
as an atomic explosion of what God said was to be
the Knowledge of the Glory of God covering the Earth as the Waters cover the sea
As all the pots and pans cry Holy to the Lord
As the building is complete with shouts of "Grace to it....Grace to it..."
Get my drift?
