The Cross In The Crossfire - Sister Joela Krueger

This is by Joela Krueger of the sisters of Mary, Darmstadt,Germany
Few people dared to swim against the tide in Hitler's Germany. Most were simply swept along. Several million church members were deceived, blinded and led astray. Is this alarm bell from re­cent history shrill enough to rouse us from our indifference? Paradoxically, the sheer horrors of the Third Reich serve to dull its sound.

Yet latent in each of us lies such potential for blindness and deception that neither education, strength of character, nor even living in a Chris­tian culture can guarantee us immunity. In all like­lihood we will soon face a time of even greater testing. Will we heed the warning?

Jesus recognizes the true extent of the danger. He sees how easily we are led astray. When the dis­ciples asked him what signs would precede the coming of his kingdom, he did not give them a time frame or a checklist of coming events. He challenged them: "Watch out that no-one deceives

you!" (Matthew 24:4)-

Blinded by over—confidence

Jesus knows our weakness. He also knows the strategies of the one he referred to as the prince of this world, a murderer and a liar from thebeginning. Typically, this murderer clothes his lies in impressive language, camouflaging his strat­egies with a show of good intention. Christian vocabulary and the Christian concept of loving one's neighbour suit his purposes perfectly.

As believers, we do not generally consider our­selves susceptible to deception – and that is what makes us so vulnerable. Living the lie of self-deception, we are easy prey for deception from other sources. We have all the right answers, men­tally distinguishing between Bible passages to be taken literally and those we consider outdated or figurative in the light of contemporary scholarship. We take particular care to avoid anything that could smack of fundamentalism.

What would Jesus' perspective be? In John 9:41 he says, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains" Do we want to face our blindness and be healed of it? The choice is ours.

Truth — the best protection

The only effective safeguard is love for the truth, as we see in 2 Thessalonians 2:10. Our natural bent towards self-deception will be corrected as we dare to face reality. Each new painful revelation drives us to the cross, whether it concerns ourself or our family, our church or our fellowship, our home town or our country. Only at the cross can the truth be transformed into grace. An increased sensitivity to the truth enables us to see through the thickening fog of deception around us, as we come into closer unity with the King of Truth.

Jesus said, "Everyone on the side of truth listens to me" (John 18:37). Our ability to hear his voice depends on our love of the truth.

Atoning sacrifice or misconception?

With his education, Paul could have taught on a number of themes, yet he "resolved to know nothing ... except Jesus Christ and him crucified"

(1 Corinthians 9-:2). Although he wrote a stirring

chapter on the significance of the resurrection, his real passion and the focus of his teaching was the cross. Considering the high intellectual standards of his readers in the church at Corinth, this was expecting a lot, even then. Things haven't changed. 1 Corinthians 1:18-19 could have been written to­day: "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written [Isaiah 29:141: '1 will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate'

Whether it fits our mindset or not, the fact re­mains that God in his wisdom took the stone that the master builders had rejected and set it in place as the cornerstone (Psalm 118:22).

The past two centuries have seen many able minds, in theological faculties and elsewhere, wrestling with this "foolishness" Even in mainstream de­nominations there is a growing trend to question whether the crucifixion can be seen as an atoning sacrifice, or at least to minimize the offence of such a concept.

Prominent clergy have recently made some star­tling statements. "I believe in the forgiveness of

sin, but I do not believe that Jesus died for our sin"' – "Jesus did not need to die for God to be reconciled with us and to forgive us. In fact this assumption constitutes one of the greatest mis­conceptions in the history of Christianity." 2 And a leading churchman remarked, "Many people find the idea that God requires a blood sacrifice for our reconciliation off-putting. It confuses their concept of God" I

An official statement by the Protestant Church of Hesse and Nassau also took the line that there is no need for the "metaphor of an atoning sacrifice" in order to explain the significance for salvation of Jesus' death. Contemporary theology could, how­ever, still accommodate this theological concept .4

From a human point of view, all this is understand­able. Surely we should welcome any attempt, after 2000 years, to do something about "the greatest misconception in the history of Christianity"? Yet in other parts of the world 200 million Christians are willing to suffer for this "misconception" Each year between go,000 and 175,000 Christians go to their deaths because Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross mean more to them than their own lives, whereas we Western Christians are counted among the blind for whom Jesus is often worth little more than "thirty pieces of silver".

Conformity or renewal?

Why don't we pray in earnest for a renewal of our first love for Jesus so that we can share the spirit of the martyrs from our own churches? One of these was Pastor Ludwig Steil, who died in Dachau on

17 January 1945. Beginning theological studies as a young man of twenty, he wrote, "It is my daily prayer that I will not only speak of God and act 'by virtue of my office as an ordained servant of the Church, but also preach by the Spirit of God and serve in the strength of his authority." Later he wrote, "Christianity has inoculated so many Chris­tians against Christ. Hiding behind traditions, outward forms and rites, they shield themselves from his demands" As early as 1938, Steil was im­plicated in criminal proceedings on five separate counts arising from his comments concerning the anti-Christian dictatorship. When things were getting really tough his wife expressed her sup­port with the remark, "If they do come for you, at least we know that the Church's main sin has been keeping quiet when it ought to be speaking out"

As long as Jesus is perceived merely as an exam­ple, or as a great teacher or prophet, we will see neither changed lives nor controversy. The of­fence comes with Jesus, God's Son, dying a crim­inal's death on the cross. "For God was pleased ... through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross" (Colossians 1:19-20). If we are not prepared to accept that Jesus is the Son of God who died in our place as a sacrifice for sin, the crucifix­ion simply becomes a brutal act of violence and oppression. Many Muslims see it this way. The belief that God has a son and that his son was crucified is blasphemous and abhorrent to them. In the light of this it doesn't take much theologi­cal training to work out that Allah cannot be the father of Jesus Christ.Is the cross becoming an undesirable symbol even in Christian circles? Certainly the image of the crucified Lord seems to be more than our present generation can stomach — once again he is "one from whom people hide their faces" (Isaiah 53:3). Yet for all who have come to know Jesus personally and experienced his transforming power, the cross becomes the focal point of their lives. As we turn our eyes on our crucified Lord and consider the price he paid to redeem us, the cross becomes our source of strength in this life and comfort at the approach of death.

Obstacle to unity?

The cross is the symbol of our salvation but also of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. It is this claim to uniqueness that is the stumbling block on the path to a unified world religion: a stumbling block that can never be removed. The interfaith move­ment will ultimately see Jesus Christ crucified as a hindrance to unity and world peace: the offence of the cross will somehow have to be side-stepped.

Legitimate efforts to work together towards global peace can involve dialogue between religions. But when interfaith prayer is included, our natural desire for peace and harmony with all people of goodwill becomes the focus. Peace with God takes second place. A compromised interpretation of the cross of Jesus is the price paid for a broader basis of mutual understanding. It is here that today's open-mindedness and tolerance turn narrow and intolerant. The tipping point comes when Christians put their faith first and refuse to deviate from the truth of the Gospel.

Marcel Rebiai, founder and leader of the Com­munity of Reconciliation, has worked among Jews, Muslims and Christians for the last twenty years. He knows what he is talking about when he says, "I am willing to sit down and listen to anyone who wants to share their faith and con­victions with me on condition that I too can present the Gospel of my crucified Lord without toning it down. " 

If there is to be genuine unity among Christians, our crucified Lord must remain the centre of our faith and our lives. This is how the old barriers of mistrust and suspicion will be broken down. The one flock of the one Shepherd will gather at the foot of the cross, joining together in an all-out effort to save others from the darkness of this world. They will work for his kingdom to come and his will to be done.

Among those aiming for unity, the two strands are still difficult to tell apart. But sooner or later it will become evident that they are headed in opposite directions. The unity of true believers will lead to the completion of the Great Commission, and will prepare the world for Jesus' second coming. In contrast, the unity of a global human family is a requirement for the emergence of a World Religion in conjunction with World Government, and will prepare the way for the appearance of the Antichrist. We are entering a crucial phase.

Falling or Rising

Jesus was, is and always will be "destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against" (Luke 2:34). The time has now come when more and more Jews are welcoming him with the words, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" (Matthew 23:39). Yet ever since the early days of the Church, attitudes between Christians and Jews who believe in Jesus have been troubled by theological fallacies that have marred relationships. An agreement was reached in Acts 15, but the situation was eventually reversed and the Church taken over by Gentile believers .

In our times, Ecclesia is beginning to see her own blindness. She is beginning to recognize her Jew­ish roots in the light of Romans ii and to see the Jewish people as her elder, firstborn brother. Jews who have found Jesus as their Messiah are being grafted back into the olive tree as natural branches. This is a process we need to support, playing our part in it as the younger brother. Otherwise the time may come when we are no longer spared and our own branches are cut away from the olive tree. So let us work and pray for this vision of Jewish and Gentile believers growing together. Then God's original purpose will be accomplished, and he will "create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body: reconcile both of them to God through the cross"

(Ephesians 2:15-16, emphasis added).

As we draw nearer to the time of Jesus' second coming, it is his cross that will unite or divide us. How we perceive the cross will determine our

future, and none of us will be able to dodge the issue indefinitely. For each of us personally, there will be a "falling" or a "rising".

The pleasure-seeking lifestyle of our consumer so­ciety – avoiding or rebelling against troubles, pres­sures and unpleasant situations – programmes us for "falling". But by learning to carry our cross we will grow strong as we discover that the Lord is there to help us. "Rising" will be a joyful reality for us here and now in the 21St century. We will know "the cross that lifts up my head ... the joy that seeks me through pain", as the old hymn puts it.

Shifted emphasis

At the same time the cross is being marginalized in more subtle ways. In 1 Corinthians 1: 22-23 we read, "Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified:' By nature most of us fall into both categories. We have just described the educated "Greeks". But what is meant by "Jews" looking for miraculous signs?

It's easy to get discouraged because today's Church seems to demonstrate so little of the authority Jesus gave his disciples. Where are his promises? Painfully aware of our powerless Christianity, our helplessness in the face of illness and suffering, we are on the lookout for any sign of God at work. We are enthusiastic when "something happens", when we see proof that Jesus is victorious and reigns supreme. After all, he is no longer on the cross: he is risen and we are on the winning side!

Yes, this is the truth. But when we overemphasize it, focussing on victory to the exclusion of the cross of Jesus – when signs, wonders and fulfilled promises are not balanced by cross-bearing and discipleship – our teaching becomes lopsided. The problem can be rooted in unbalanced expo­sition of the Bible, or in shallow biblical knowl­edge. Sometimes outward circumstances are a factor. In our understandable desire to lower the threshold for the "unchurched", we play down anything that could hinder people from receiv­ing the Gospel. But if media and music groups end up visually obscuring the cross, a spiritual shift of emphasis can result.

No neutral ground

Let's face it: there is no battle-free zone. We are undergoing training for the times ahead. We need to grow in strength, alertness and discernment.

Today we are reaping what has been sown. Over the last few decades we have gradually become accustomed to tuning out uncomfortable topics in our outreach. Immorality, adultery and abortion are among the issues avoided for fear of putting off new members. The long term consequence is that sin and hell become taboo subjects.

So far we have been free to opt for such tactics, but increasingly they are being imposed on us. A "gender mainstreaming programme", promoted by the UNO and supported by numerous NGOs (non-governmental organizations), is being en­forced – without democratic legitimization – by means of "top-down" strategy. The unclear ter 

minology is a deliberate part of the strategy. The aim is to introduce "gender justice", overthrowing established gender roles and opening the possi­bility of further options. In simpler terms, "gender mainstreaming" means that the differences that by nature distinguish man and woman, father and mother, are now considered negotiable. Gender identity is a matter of personal perception. The ultimate objective is to put same sex partnerships on a par with traditional marriage and families, with the same legal privileges. No matter how tol­erant the arguments sound, the hidden agenda is the breakdown of the family unit. The end result will be the breakdown of the nation.

This constitutes a further step towards the legali­zation of sin. Speaking of sin is on the way to be­coming a punishable offence. After all, it involves a value judgment. Anyone daring to use the term could be discriminating against someone else and offending their feelings. The consequence could well be a fine or even prison. This bleak future has already begun.

Hell-fire preaching was yesterday – and that's well and good. But now we are seeing the opposite ex­treme, for there is no neutral ground. Fun has long since taken the place of fear. Hell is presented as a place of amusement, as entertainment, as "cool". The devil promotes hell – Jesus warned us of it.

Doing away with sin and hell is in fact a triumph for hell. Next on the agenda is the cross. Though it is still accepted as a symbol, its real meaning and the spiritual power it represents are rejected and hated. The time may yet come when anything that reminds us of Jesus' atoning sacrifice will bebanned. Global networking and the increasing potential of monitoring and surveillance systems are already leading us as Christians to a time of decision, if we are serious about our faith. There will be little room for hangers-on.

realize how quickly our strength gives out and we run out of love. This is when we need Jesus. He does not demand the impossible of us, only what he himself won for us at Calvary: suffering love.

Wanted: fireproof Christians

So what can we do to prepare?

If we want to experience the life-transforming power of the crucified Lord, we must start by ad­mitting that we are hopelessly lost and in need of salvation. He can only deal with sin that has been faced up to and brought to him – not "mistakes" that we explain away and excuse. As we ask the Holy Spirit, he will show us where we are blind by nature. He is the Spirit of truth who will lead us into truth and freedom. He transforms timid people-pleasers into strong witnesses for Jesus who will stand firm, refusing to flee from today's endtime battlefield.

Dr. Theo Lehmann, a tried and tested pastor and youth evangelist from East Germany, said of his own experiences, "After spending so many years under a communist regime, it's great to be living in a free, democratic country, not facing discrim­ination or persecution for my faith in Jesus. But I believe this is just a God-given breathing-space ... We should use this time to get ready for what is ahead, when it won't be 'Cool' to be a Christian, but unsafe. Fireproof Christians will be needed, grounded in the Bible and ready even for labour camp."' It doesn't take much self-knowledge to

Coming from God — returning to God

The apostle John gives us a helpful insight into Jesus' attitude as he began his Passion. Jesus loved his own to the last. He knew that he had come from God and was returning to God. So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet (see John 13). Here we see Jesus' strong sense of identity, the source of his dignity, power and authority. He knew exactly who he was as he began his Passion. Public humiliation was preceded by a private demonstration of his humility. This is how our own path of suffering will begin. Great deeds have small beginnings: in the family circle, in the work-place ...

Jesus knew where he came from, and so do we. To all who receive him as Lord of their lives, he gives power to become children of God. However difficult some of us may find our personal back­ground, we have been born of God. This is our identity, dignity and unique worth. We belong to the Father!

We know where we come from and we know where we are going. We don't need to worry about the future. Our home is ready and waiting for us. We know our destination – and we are expected!If God's angels rejoice over every sinner who re­pents, how much more will they rejoice when a pardoned sinner comes home to the Father.

Our path through life is clear, for Jesus said, "I am the way". He has promised that where he is, his servant will also be. He gives us the strength to persevere. For all the grace and blessing we know in his fellowship, he never left us in any doubt that it will be a path of suffering. But no matter how tough things may get, we have the sure promise "that our present sufferings are not worth com­paring with the glory that will be revealed in us"

(Romans 8:18).

We are approaching the final stages of God's plan for this present age, and in his word he has already given us all the help we need to come through in victory. In Revelation 12:7-10 we read of a battle in heaven, with God's opponent graphically de­scribed as "the great dragon ... that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray." Then verse 11 follows: "They over- came him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death." For us too, these are clear directions.

Threefold power to overcome

We overcome by the blood of the Lamb. Jesus said, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them" (John 6:56). For Jesus' followers this is no "hard saying", but a deep mystery. As the branches remain in the vine and the life-sap courses through them, so we too

are sustained by Jesus' sacrifice, not least through Holy Communion. Here we share in the riches of heaven which he won for us.

We overcome by the word of our testimony. This does not mean a testimony that is cheap or vague. It means that we acknowledge a crucified Jesus Christ, that we believe in Holy Scripture in its en­tirety, taking God's commandments as our stand­ard. Clearly, this could mean loss of employment, harassment, slander, fines or imprisonment.

Revelation 12 continues: "They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death." This is about a love that is willing to die! We are no strangers to hatred that is willing to die. Suicide bombers have demonstrated it with sickening frequency. But Jesus has redeemed us and set us free to love as he loved us, to forgive and love our enemies. Love like this is from God and cannot be destroyed by physical, mental or spiritual suffering, no matter how severe the pain. Those who love Jesus are like a seal over his heart (Song of Songs 8:6) and cannot be separated from him. He gives them the strength to keep his command, "Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends:' (John 15:12-13)

The only permissible weapon in this spiritual war is a love that is prepared to die. No other love can strengthen, heal, encourage, sustain and comfort.

By nature none of us possess the qualities we need for this kind of battle. But his grace is sufficient for us, for his power is made perfect in weakness

(2 Corinthians 12:9). The needier we are, the more

wonderfully he will supply our need. If we rely on him for help, we will not be disappointed. WeWe

will say with Paul, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered: [Psalm 44:22] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us" (Romans 8:35-37)• And, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"

(1 Corinthians 2:9).

How can we prepare

(see also STRONG IN THE TIME OF TESTING

by M. Basilea Schlink)

• Read God's Word every day. Store it not just in your memory but in your heart. Cultivate a deep love for the Bible. Apply it to your life now, so that it will be a source of strength in times of suffering or persecution.

• In difficult situations, rely on God's almighty power to help. Don't give in to worry, but trust in the Father's tender loving care. He will never give us more than we can take. As pressure in­creases, trust will become second nature to us, and God will be there to help.

• Learn to bear weakness, pain and illness in faith in the power of Jesus' blood – his strength will carry us through, even if greater tests come our way in the future.

• When life seems hard to understand, practice accepting God's will, consciously surrendering your own and saying, "Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are all your ways, and in the future your judgments will also be true and just" (see Revelation 16:7).

Get the right perspective. Focus on Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, who was acquainted with grief. He alone has won the battle with Satan and sin.

• Lead a life of prayer. Prayer will be our refuge when we feel lonely and forsaken. Jesus will draw close and heaven's glory will surround us.• Overcome your fear of giving offence. Learn to please the Lord. Seek love and affirmation from him, not from people.

• Bless those who hurt or wrong you. Show them God's love in thought, word and deed. This will put you on the right track for future dealings with those who seek to intimidate you. By look­ing on them with mercy, you will be at peace even in suffering.

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As you can see from today's Amazon book page, the crazy way in which computers are set up means that not many will be ordering You will Never be the Same  priced at £2,099.87. For that price you could probably arrange for Jesus to let you have Basilea Schlink herself on day release from heaven!!!!

The Central Sisters of Mary Hub website is here for all the nations, and they will have details of books and prices in your languages.
The English site will send you a catalogue from which you may order books
Other Books by Mother Basilea Schlink
My All For Him as an official PDF
Those Who Love Him -  an all time classic of First Love
Repentance - The Joy Filled life. This is a crossover book. It uses traditional articulation but DO NOT CONFUSE THIS FOR RELIGION. "God has commanded all men everywhere to repent." says the Bible. How does it work? Now we see things as a change of spirit at the Cross. Living by the power of a completely new life as defined by Galatians 2:20. Basilea preaches the spirit of this.
Realities of Faith translated by Larry Christenson fellow Lutheran. The testimony that is the sisters of Mary Darmstadt. Miracle after miracle.
Ruled By the Spirit   a book on the Spirit driven life
Behold His Love     a book on what Jesus went through on our behalf and what it now means
Israel My Chosen People  - there are definitely two sides to the revelation about Israel . One side is in this book.  Things aren't simple though. The other side is that all God's Treasures of Darkness are heavily boobytrapped. Psalms states that Jerusalem is the joy of the whole earth....well you'd never know it. The same for the church (who are called to manifest the manifold wisdom of God to principalities and powers) and the same for the human beings God is saving and bringing to Himself.  and many many more.........
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For more material like Eve of Persecution join Fritz Springmeier onFacebook  

Or buy some of his books http://pentracks.com/blog/
Fritz lives by the sales of his books. He has to be independent to write and research. Unlike Basilea he is not surrounded by an organisation.

TEF11 - Overcome . A post By Daniel Yordy

Through Eyes of Fire series
To overcome is to set creation free; it is to subdue all things. Setting creation free comes only out from the tree of life, only out from the throne of God. Being born of God comes first; believing that Christ is our only life comes first. Faith is the only come-over to the tree of Life.



© Daniel Yordy 2013 : 11.Overcome
The original post can be found here with alternative audio forms and PDF download
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:28

Hebrew is very different from English. Translators must fill in between the blanks all the time. Ancient Hebrew has words that have no English counterparts, while at the same time, it leaves out essential words to the flow of thought that English requires.

The Hebrew in verse 28 gives three specific commands: 1. Fill the earth. 2. Subdue (IT) 3. Rule over the animal kingdoms. The verb “fill” has an object – the earth. The verb “rule” has an object – the animals. But the verb “subdue” does not. Thus the translators inserted the word “it,” causing us to think that God said: “Subdue the earth.” And thus I have said it all through my writing until now.

God did not say, “Subdue the earth.” He said, “Subdue.” It's not that the earth is removed from that subjugation; it's that “subdue” is without limitation. Thus the writer of Hebrews said, “All things are made subject to man.” And Paul said that only the Father is outside of that scope.

The command “subdue” is the Hebrew word, kabash: to subdue, bring into bondage. Here is a larger definition. “Verb subdue, bring into bondage (Late Hebrew, press, oppress; Aramaic, tread down, beat or make a path, subdue; Arabic press, squeeze, knead (body or limb, as in the bath, massage), also attack, assault).”

Here are the English words or phrases kabash is translated into through the Old Testament. assault (1), brought them into subjection (2), forced into bondage (1), forcing (1), subdue (1), subdued (5), subjugate (1), trample (1), tread under foot (1), under foot (1). http://biblesuite.com/hebrew/3533.htm

Let's bring in three references to get a larger picture.

Now the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of meeting there. And the land was subdued before them. Joshua 18:1

There were also those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards. Yet. . . indeed we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them. . .” Nehemiah 5:4-5

Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:18-19

The best picture of the concept of “subdue” is found in Joshua 10:24-25.

So it was, when they brought out those kings to Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the captains of the men of war who went with him, “Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings.” And they drew near and put their feet on their necks. Then Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.”

The word, “subdue” or “overcome” is the action verb of God's great story. Here is the strongest verse in the Bible on subjugation, Philippians 3:20-21: For our citizenship is (of) heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working (energia) by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

Then Hebrews 2:6-9: “What is man that You are mindful of him. . . You have. . . set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus. . .

Jesus is Man, that is, God revealed. All things being subjected to Him means all things under our feet.

But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Hebrews 10:12-14

“Till His enemies are made His footstool” is from Psalm 110, the Psalm of the victorious Messiah. This line is the most quoted Old Testament verse in the New Testament.

There is a problem in the thinking of many who say, “Union with Christ.” That problem is limitation. It is simply beyond us to grapple with the reality that union is union. The moment one says that word, “Union with Christ,” it is absolute and complete, there can be no limitation. If I am in Him, show me where He continues and I do not. If He is in me, show me what part of Him is not. If I am filled with all the fullness of God, what part of God is absent from me? If God flows out from me in rivers of living water, what part of those rivers do not come out through me?

 The churches in Revelation:Every truth in each letter to each church is true of every local church and every world-wide generation of the church from Pentecost to today.

And thus many think (and I understand why, God's claims are just too much), “I rest inside of God. God does mighty things while I rest inside of Him.”

That is not union. If God rests, I rest in Him; if God does, I do with Him. I can do nothing apart from Him; God does nothing except through me (that is, through His body).

If Jesus subdues all things to Himself, I subdue all things to myself, for He and I are one. It is He in me doing it; it is I in Him doing it. All things that He does, I do, for I do not seek my own, but the will of the One who sent me. Union cannot be anything less than union. Oneness cannot be anything less than oneness, I in Him and He in me.

This is the chair upon which we have seated ourselves. Yes, we have no business here, but here we sit. We have nothing to lose; we have nothing to gain. All we have is the Desire of God filling our hearts.

We speak Christ our only life. If it's true of Jesus, that's all I am, that's all I do, that's all I could possibly be.

I am not alone; God fills me full; the Word is in my mouth.

In my last letter, “Christ, God's Story,” I used the seven churches in Revelation 2 and  3 as a template describing the history of the church over the last 2000 years. That is an idea I obtained from elsewhere, and, being an amateur student and teacher of history, I fitted the template by my own understanding. To my surprise, it worked. In fact, the more my understanding of things increases, the more that template fits.

However, in itself, using the seven churches to describe church history is just an intellectual exercise with little value. What it does give us is a framework through which to see the great story of God unfold from Pentecost until now. By that means using these chapters in this way is useful to us. However, this is only one use the Holy Spirit makes of these seven churches, and thus such an “interpretation” cannot be written in stone. Every truth in each letter to each church is true of every local church and every world-wide generation of the church from Pentecost to today. Christ is Christ in all who belong to Him.

Let's stop here. – I attempted to continue in the “Bible Study” mode, bringing in the seven verses of overcoming from Revelation 2 and 3 and highlighting various symbols. Then I realized I was not catching the reality of Christ we must have right now. I thought to start over, but decided to keep these first two pages as a foundation. Having laid that foundation, let's see where Christ our life will take us. For me truth does not show Himself by plowing straight on through cold logic, but rather by lateral leaps in unexpected directions.

I have just recast this series on John's vision as “Through Eyes of Fire.” That will be the title of the book.

There is so much in that metaphor that I sense in my spirit, but that I do not yet see. I want to see.

Subjugate all things – Stand fast in liberty – Labor to enter His Rest – Overcome the Beast.

God brings all things under submission by setting everything free. God sets everything free by bringing it all under submission. God labors to enter rest; great works come out of God's rest. The Guy is confusing.

Overcome is outward, not inward. We do not subjugate “the flesh.” To subjugate the flesh is to get Christ solidly under our feet; that's upside down. There is no battle inside, no civil war. God lives in us in utter peace.

One of two things happens if we imagine that we must bring ourselves under subjection to God. Far better is it that we collapse in failure and ruin. But not all do, some succeed by outward appearance to make “themselves” subject to “Christ.” That is not what happens inwardly, however. What actually happens is that they bring an “image of Christ” held in their own minds fully under the control of self. And now this dedicated Christian is at war with God, with no reason whatever to be so.

The flesh belongs to God; it is the eternal dwelling place of the Father. It is the one thing we have no right to subjugate. The only entrance into Life is for us to allow Jesus to BE our flesh, flesh of His flesh.

Overcome is outward. Overcome is the action coming out of our seamless union with Christ.

To overcome is to set all creation free.

Subjugation with God is to bring all things into the Mercy Seat, into the Lamb-Slain where all offense is caused to cease and where the object of love is released into honor and joy. This is the operation of God's throne; it is how Jesus subdues all things to Himself, by mighty energy.

Overcoming does not “get us to” the throne; overcoming, subjugating all things, is what comes out from the throne.

Only those who seat themselves upon that throne, by daring boldness, by audacious presumption, by having nothing to lose, counting the Blood, the Cross, the Resurrection of Christ to be absolute, to be larger than all things, to be complete, it is only those who then bring all things under subjection.

To overcome is to bring all things under the power and into the freedom of Love.

To overcome is to be the tip-point of the Pillar of Fire as it carries all things into Life and Love.

Okay. I've said all these words because they are what God has taught me to say over the last couple of years. But suddenly, my seeing changes. I see what I am saying; I see through eyes of fire.

The flesh belongs to God; it is the eternal dwelling place of the Father. It is the one thing we have no right to subjugate. The only entrance into Life is for us to allow Jesus to BE our flesh, flesh of His flesh.

We have carried a completely backwards definition of “to overcome.” Indeed, I have addressed our wrong seeing over and over, yet continued to think partly in that backwards way. The problem is not ours, though, but how God words things.

To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the tree of life. . .

You do this first, then, after that, you will get life. But without life, how do we do the things of life? Without life, how can we even know what life is?

It is the veil, placed there by God to keep out those who do not belong, those whose hearts are not given wholly to Him. But we? We have already proven ourselves incapable failures in the things of God. We have nothing to lose. We just plant ourselves in that throne, in that Life, in the Christ of God. Then, sitting there, we discover that we are completely turned around; we are now looking out from God, through eyes of fire, at all things.

To overcome begins by eliminating every thought of “going into God” from our minds. To be “going into God” is, by definition, to be outside of God. Outside of God has a name; it's called rebellion. There is only one possible way, however, by which we can BE inside of God utterly and only – by faith. Those who insist on continuing on “into God” live in unbelief and can never know Him.

You know, really, almost all firmly believe that Life must be earned. They believe that to sit upon the throne of heaven by faith is illegitimate, that we cannot “make such claims” because we have not yet “earned” life.

Not sitting upon the throne by faith has a name: rebellion. The only thing being earned is death.

In complete contrast, in all things, in every circumstance, at every moment, God in us and we in God are going out together, always seated upon the throne, always moving out from that throne as rivers of living water setting all things free, which is, by definition, bringing all things under subjection.

Never see yourself “going into” God. Always see yourself utterly IN God, looking out through eyes of fire and going forth as God Himself into all the circumstances of your life.

This reality is NOT real by how we feel or by outward sight. It is real by faith.

The Word is in our mouth.

Let's look at the whole verse.

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach – speak): that if you confess (speak) with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:8-10

This is one of the “gospel road” verses. One of the key verses in the gospel tracts and known by all believers. Yet we had no idea what we were saying.

Now, seated here upon this throne of heaven, looking out through these eyes of fire, I hear the words, “The Word is in your mouth, the Word is in your mouth, the Word is in your mouth,” going through me over and over.

Paul said the “Logos of faith”; he said, “The faith OF the Son of God.” John said this about that Logos: “In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God.”

God is in my mouth. God is in my mouth.

I want to look again at a line I addressed in “Union with God FIRST,” the first letter of this series.

– We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come. –

This is the mind in which we once lived; it is 180 degrees backwards. Here is the truth.

– As we joy in all Life received now, our old ideas just vanish as meaningless. As the new shows itself real by faith, the “old skin” simply disappears from all thought. –

Death does not produce life; life swallows up death.

Life comes first.

I want to do two things here. First, I want to put before our eyes the verses of overcoming in Revelation 2 and 3. I find no unction to deliberate over any specific meanings. If and when I do find particular things from these verses flowing into the present word of Christ, I will, but not until then.

Second, I want to bring all this thinking back into the seeing of the final chapters of my book, The Covenant.

Here are the overcomes. I have put them in this form as a means for us to see the picture God has placed before our eyes. I don't know what all this means; we simply hold it as Christ in our hearts.

These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. . . “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”

These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life. . . “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”

These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword. . . “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.”

These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass. . . And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations— ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’ as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. . . He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”. . . He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.
These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God. . . To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God. . . To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Could these things be written backwards? Would this be a better way to say what God means?

He who eats of the tree of life will overcome.

He who has My name written upon him will overcome.

He who sits in My throne will overcome.

You see, it seems to us that Jesus said, “Look, if you defeat sin and death the way I did, then I will put you where I am now.” Yeah right. I once sat under a man who has preached it this way now for over forty years under a mighty anointing with great convincing argument. The ONLY hope there is for him is to face the truth, “I have failed.” And having failed to just be where his heart wants to be. Where that is, I don't know, but it's the only thing real.

The first step of overcoming is found in these words, “I have failed; I know I can never 'overcome.'” The second step is: “Christ, You are my only life.” – God is in our mouth.

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 5:4-5

Do you see why I say that the only way we could possibly understand John's vision is to see it entirely through 1 John? To overcome is to set creation free; it is to subdue all things. Setting creation free comes only out from the tree of life, only out from the throne of God.

Being born of God comes first; believing that Christ is our only life comes first. Faith is the only come-over to the tree of Life.

Now, God is very practical. One wonderful thing that Pastor Joel Osteen continues to do for me is to remind me to think the expectation of God instead of that old familiar fallback, thinking curse. Another is that God reigns in goodness in all the little things of life.

Speak Christ concerning all things, especially the little things of everyday life.

Now, in the final chapters of The Covenant, there is a progression of seven key chapters: The Ark of the Covenant, Carry Your Cross, Resurrection Life, A Heart Throne, The Mercy Seat, Until My Enemies, and The Pillar of Fire. In the center of that progression is the throne of heaven in Revelation 4 and 5, a heart throne, the Lamb-Slain.

Our heart is the throne of heaven, the Mercy Seat, the throne of God.

Out from our heart proceeds all authority. Yet that great authority IS a gentle touch, a tender word, a cup of cold water. It swallows up into itself all the little things of life, all the ordinary circumstances. At least, that is what is visible outwardly. But in the heavens, what a different scene is taking place!

As we bring all the ordinary things, the little things of life into the Mercy Seat of God, the universe is forever changed. Life swallows up all death.

You see, those who are forever “going into” God, are forever seeing backwards. Let's turn around, seated comfortably here where we have no earthly “right” to be. Let's look out through eyes of fire.

And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. Revelation 4:5

From the throne proceeded. . . voices. – The Word is in your mouth.

We see through those seven lamps of fire, each one of the seven Spirits of God. And each one of those seven Spirits of God attends one each of the seven overcomes. You see, having turned around, now we proceed as heaven proceeds, not as earth sees in its blindness. We see out from that throne, our hearts, through the Spirits of fire to all overcoming, to all bringing of all things into the Mercy Seat, into the Lamb-Slain.

Let's bring in the seeing of Isaiah – 11:1-5

There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist.

God is in your mouth.

First, lets not turn these seven Spirits of God into word studies and principles. Let's allow them to remain Fire and Life. And second, before we attract any psychopaths, Jesus does not “slay the wicked” by killing people. He slays the wicked by bringing them into Himself and carrying them through death all the way into life. There is only one death for us and that death is entirely WAS dead – the Lamb Slain, and now alive forevermore. Christ causes wickedness to cease by the word of His mouth, the breath coming out of His lips. That's our mouth, that's our lips.

The Word is in your mouth.

Do we love people? Of course we do; Love fills our hearts to overflowing. God says He does, and He always tells the truth. Let me become specific. I write for clarity, not to be offensive, but to shine the light upon our own hearts.

Once in awhile I shop at our local Walmart. Our Walmart is centered amongst poor people. It is filled to overflowing with Hispanics, Blacks, and local white “trash.” Most of them are overweight, plus. They fill their carts with white flour, white sugar, and genetically engineered corn, all laced with innumerable man-made chemicals. I am always astonished that there is enough life left in their bodies to push their carts of death out to their cars. I suspect that the productivity coming out of these people is fairly low. Yet, astonishingly, they are among the richest people on earth and in all human history.

Before we attract any psychopaths, Jesus does not “slay the wicked” by killing people. He slays the wicked by bringing them into Himself and carrying them through death all the way into life. There is only one death for us and that death is entirely WAS dead – the Lamb Slain, and now alive forevermore. Christ causes wickedness to cease by the word of His mouth, the breath coming out of His lips. That's our mouth, that's our lips.

Now, there is a mind-set in this world, particularly among the elite and powerful, that would call all this overflow of stuffed, “low-socio-economic,” “minority, that is colored” people “useless eaters.” More than that, these people are hooked to their television sets, to government handouts, to modern education - “think only what we tell you to think.” Many would call them “zombies,” “sheeple,” etc. etc.

The planet is filled with billions just like them. Billions who will never pursue life, never overcome, never rise above their fleshy dump.

Yet I walk through the store marveling in my heart. This fattest, dumpiest one, cart and mind filled to overflowing with junk, though shadowed by sorrow and darkness, is still the image of the Almighty, utterly loved with tender regard by the God who fills our hearts full and of more value than all the wealth of the universe.

God loves each one; we love each one. We lay down our lives; we speak Christ, and the Word coming out of our mouths causes iniquity to cease and causes the object of our love to walk free, carried inside our hearts all the way into Life.

This is the throne of heaven; this is how we “overcome” all things.

Reading through “Until My Enemies,” Chapter 16/18 of The Covenant, just now, I see that I am attempting to re-iterate what I said much more clearly there. You may want to read through those seven chapters again yourself. We are simply using another model to see the same revelation of Jesus Christ revealed now through us.

And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. – “Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals” . . .in the midst of the throne. . . stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. Revelation 5:1 & 5-7

That's pretty cool. We don't look through two eyes of fire, but seven.

What is this scroll? I have heard a number of explanations, some anointed and some intellectual.

The short answer? I don't know. The longer answer – we can place this scroll where it is.

We do not read this vision of John as either a chronological or a logical progression from Chapter 1 to Chapter 22. Rather, it is a series of layers, of springs flowing forward and back, of differing approaches to the same truths. In fact, John's vision is much like how I like to tackle knowing Christ our life, and that is to come at it from all kinds of different directions, jumping from one view to the next without trying to be “logical.” That's my approach even to the teaching of writing. I find it far more effective and real than the “textbook” approach.

I now see Chapters 1 through 9 as a unit, with the two Throne Chapters as its center. All things proceed from that throne. Thus “to overcome” goes in both directions. First, it proceeds through the seven overcomes to the revelation of Jesus Christ upon the earth in His body, that includes you and me, coming through weakness in many and seen by all. That is by calling those things that be not as though they are. At the same time, it proceeds into all the aspects of the original curse, that is, calling those things that are as though they are not. OVERCOME (the Mercy Seat that fills our hearts) flows from the throne in both directions at the same time.

Thus, lets put the first verses on each side of the Throne side by side.

And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out overcoming and to overcome. – To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

Two nikes on one side and two nikes on the other.

Now, the majority want to call the guy on the white horse “The Antichrist.” There are a couple of problems with that, however. First, there is no such thing as “The Antichrist,” and second, it is Christ alone, the Lamb-Slain, who “slays the wicked” with the breath of His lips.

Five of the opened seals correspond directly to elements of the curse. Seal 2: “In pain you shall bring forth children” – brother killing brother. Seal 3: scarcity – “cursed is the ground.” Seal 4: death, with Hades as the wounded of death. Seal 5: “and you shall bruise His heel.” – the unfulfilled martyrs, waiting. Seal 6: the removal of the skin of the beast, the turning on of the lights – nowhere, now, to hide.

If the wicked powers of heaven and the wicked powers of earth, operating out from the curse and ruling by the lie, are causing endless sorrow and death, robbery and murder, debauchery and perversion all across this earth, wouldn't breaking the lie and the curse that gives power to the evil be the thing to do?

Two are left out of this particular picture: judgment upon the dragon (you shall eat dust, that is, human flesh) and judgment upon the beast (your husband will rule over you).

Now, this brings us back to a statement I made in “Authority Revealed.” The end of the age is in our hands, the hands of the sons of God.

A big part of “overcome” is the necessary judgment of God on that which must be judged. Judgment must come upon the wicked rulers of the heavens and upon the wicked rulers of the earth, upon the dragon and upon the beast. Creation cannot be set free any other way.

If a wicked man is beating your child, you do not just keep placing lotion on your child's wounds between the blows. First, you put a stop to the wicked man! Then, the healing means something.

Yes, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. But death still took Lazarus out.

You know, there are actually people who don't want “Jesus to come” quite yet, because there are ever so many more people that “must be saved” first. (I read this just a few weeks ago from a prominent “grace” teacher.)

Do you see how satanic “Christian” thinking really is.

If the wicked powers of heaven and the wicked powers of earth, operating out from the curse and ruling by the lie, are causing endless sorrow and death, robbery and murder, debauchery and perversion all across this earth, wouldn't breaking the lie and the curse that gives power to the evil be the thing to do?

And how is it that Salvation Revealed is not good for all these people that “need to get saved”?

I can no longer comprehend “Christian” thinking; it is so absurd. Grace is not where someone goes after death has defeated them.

Grace is God present in us NOW in all fullness and flowing out through us NOW into all creation. Grace is Man, that is, God manifest in the flesh, that is, God revealed.

So, let's bring this to the main point of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. That point is the defeat of the lie and the overthrow of the curse. Thus, most of John's vision is focused on those two triumphs as God reveals them now through us.

The lie said that Christ is not our life; the curse said that we have a life not His.

The lie said that Christ is not our life; the curse said that we have a life not His.

What is the real meaning of our sitting down in a chair where we have no business being?

It simply means that we do not know the lie, that we do not regard the curse.

Christ is our life; we have no other life.

Christ is the only Story we speak; Christ is in our mouth.

How do we overcome? The prophetic Word of Christ which we speak, carried by the Lamb.

TEF9 - Authority Revealed by Daniel Yordy

 from Eyes of Fire Series

© Daniel Yordy 2013
The original of this post with all relevant audio formats and downloadable PDF are to be found here.

My goal is to explore the prophetic word of Christ revealed now through us as shown by the vision John saw on Patmos. Yet I continue to find the need to lay a series of foundations before we can discover the full scope and meaning of that prophetic word.

The most essential reality that fills and surrounds, undergirds and uplifts our speaking this Word of Christ IS the Lamb in one hand and the Lamb in the other. Never is any speaking of Christ found anywhere else. We do not speak Christ “in order to.” We speak Christ only “because of” and “inside of” and “out from.” It is that word of Christ which we speak, then, that accomplishes all the will of God. That Word is able to Prove God's will because we speak it. It's called faith; it's called faithful and true.

Yet our speaking of Christ inside the Lamb is bold. It is very bold, as bold as Christ Himself.

Therefore, in order for us to see the truth as it is, I will speak boldly.

The end of the age is in our hands, in the hands of the sons of God, that is, this transition between two ages during which the birthing of the age to come upon this planet causes all the folly, the insanity of man to gasp one last time and then to cease.

Everything, from here on out, is coming through us.

That's why those who begin to speak Christ hit a wall of accusation greater than they have ever known, a wall that they discover has much less power than the condemnation under which they once lived. That's why the dragon stands before the woman to devour her child. It's his greatest mistake in a lifetime of oh-so-great mistakes.

If he were not so arrogant, he would not be so quickly defeated.

Now, those who knew Norman Grubb and who teach union with Christ, also say that there is no more battle. What they say is true, inside the arena of which they are speaking. The problem is simply this; they should say there is NO civil war. We are at peace with God; there is no battle inside of us.

But God has built the universe around the verb, “to conquer.” That is, “to overcome.”

We know Christ as the meek and lowly One; we know Christ as the victorious Warrior. Christ is fully both in us; not half and half, but all and all.

I am not so much a fighter as an explorer. The explorer is part of the victorious Warrior, His gift inside of me. Give me a map and a path or road ahead, and I am in heaven. I am obsessed with the joy of seeing what's in that next valley, drawing peace from that next little waterfall in the stream, gazing in reflection from the next ridge top, leaping down the mountainside like a deer. The next bend in the road is always brand-new to me.

Here now, let's not get side-tracked.

The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ.

The primary word in Revelation is apocalupsis. The purpose for everything is Christ, the Word God is always speaking, revealed in weakness through many, revealed in fullness in His body. The second word of Revelation is martureo, witness or testimony, the same word of Christ spoken by many. Martureo means the prophetic word of Christ which we speak.

Now, Paul defines that word in this way: “calling those things that “be not” as though they are.” That word does have a counterpart, also from Paul, “calling those things that “be” as though they are not.” The vision of John shows us both sides of that testimony. The Kingdom is, though no one sees it. The world system of this present age is not, though everyone thinks it's a big deal.

The Revelation (apokalupsis) of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness (a form of martureo) to the word of God, and to the testimony (another form of martureo) of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. Revelation 1:1-2

One unveiling; two witnesses.

Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. Revelation 1:7

Let me deal briefly with the question of Jesus' body.

Most Christians are convinced that the term “the body of Christ” is a metaphor only, a figure of speech, that we are not really His body. Now, consider the short-circuiting their image of Christ causes. They want two things: they want a Jesus whom they can see face to face, and they want Him to appear to all in that way. So if Jesus appears to me in His own physical body, the body that ascended with Him into the sky, and if He appears to my brother in China, in Australia, in Sweden at the same time, then what did He do? Does He produce for Himself many physical bodies, clones of that original one?

Some might say that His resurrected body is of Spirit substance and can thus duplicate itself in that strange way. That idea falls apart on two accounts. One is, there is no purpose in God giving Jesus or us a second spiritual body, we already have a first, our spirit, (as well as the Spirit of Christ) and our spirit is not our physical body (anymore than Jesus' Spirit is His body). Our spirit already walks in heaven; we need an earthly body to inherit the earth. When God swallows up our present body with life it will continue as a physical body, though on a higher plane. Second, angels have spirit bodies, and they cannot clone themselves; they cannot appear in many places at once.

But that argument beggars the point. Why would Jesus appear in a cloned multiplication of the body He walked in after His resurrection? Why would we, whom He died to win for Himself, whom He has become, why would our bodies be unacceptable to Him? Why would He prefer clones?

The concept of Jesus appearing in one physical body only requires that He can be seen face to face by only one person at a time. Get in line, brother, your fifteen-minute appointment is in 200 years.

So, if He is coming in the same physical body in which He ascended up into the sky, then every eye cannot see Him in a literal sense, unless He clones that particular body. But it seems so strange to me that He would so give Himself to win a body for God, the Cup turning to Joy inside of Him, and then completely bypass that body for this occasion, preferring the odd practice of divine, but sterile cloning, seed that did not bring forth life.

On the other hand, there are those who believe that Jesus will never appear in the physical body that ascended with Him before the eyes of His disciples, they are convinced that body is gone forever, and that we are the only body in which He will ever appear. I don't know if that is true, either.

Let me give the definitive answer to this question. It is, in fact, the only answer. “I don't know.”

But much of this is intellectual curiosity only and not the truth of the revelation of Christ. Look again at Revelation 1:7. Notice the reaction of everyone to what they see: “will mourn.” Here is the meaning of the Greek word. It is the same as in Matthew 24.

kóptō – properly, to cut; be incised (struck), resulting in severance ("being cut off"); (figuratively) to mourn (lament) with a cutting sense of personal, tragic loss, i.e. "cut to the heart." http://biblesuite.com/greek/2875.htm

Most believe that this response is because all the multitudes of those who see Him know that He is about to kill them first and torture them after. They believe that Jesus is a partisan and tribal military commander, and that His war is against all those funny-looking pagans who don't take a bath.

Jesus is Savior and Salvation; He is filled with grace and truth. He has already reconciled all to God; He has already propitiated all sin, that is, brought all human sin into the Mercy Seat inside the heart of God where He caused it all to cease. Sin is not the issue; Christ, the Word God speaks is.

Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Colossians 1:27-28

Those who see themselves on the outside of Jesus, looking at Him, will mourn. Those who see themselves on the inside of Jesus looking out will sing with all joy. This is not an us-versus-them; it is for the sakes of those who mourn that we rejoice. God will send us to them, each in his time until all creation is singing once again, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15 and in Philippians 2.

But those who will not put their sin into Jesus must bear sin themselves in the light of a Holy God. And those who will not put their self into Jesus must bear self themselves in the light of a Holy God. It is a place of judgment. It is a time of mourning.

Yes, judgment produces a measure of outward pain. But that pain does not come from God, rather, it comes from the will of the creature who prefers bearing his own self in this horrific mixture of self-love and self-loathing, rather than losing himself inside another, inside of the One who loves him and gave Himself for him.

Holding tightly to self-love/self-loathing when the lights turn on is the source of all mournful pain. All anyone needs to do is simply say, “Here I am, God. Here!” And all difficulty is forever gone.

In complete contrast, we give thanks for all things. We get excited when everything goes wrong. We count it all joy when we are hit with all kinds of strange adversity. Not because we are weird, but because we are so enmeshed in the God who fills us full that all we can see or know is His heart of grief and tender compassion reaching out to all.

Do you see how important it is for us never to say or write things about ourselves that are contrary to Christ Himself, our only life, expressing Himself through our humanity? Whenever our words place ourselves as anywhere but utterly part of the Lord Jesus Himself, then we are not where we must be.

So let me share the true reality of Jesus' body. Let's say that Jesus does show up in a solitary, individual body, the one that came out of the grave. I have no problem with that; I will never get in any line to see Him. Oh no. I am there, all of me, entirely, inside of Him looking out of that same body with Him. You will never find me anywhere else.

This is why I love to write. This question has been vague to me for all the 36 years I have pondered it. Now my eye is single. I know where I am, and that's the only thing that matters to me. And I also know that in His incredible favor to me, God has granted me all whom I love. He has given me you in that same place.

Now, it is not my purpose to provide a verse by verse explanation of my present understanding of Revelation. Such an exercise has no profit in itself. I will not say anything about any verse unless I have a present word of Christ to share with you, a word that enables you to find yourself utterly in Him. Thus I do draw much life from John's vision, while ignoring many things in it. When God wants us to know those things, we will know them. Yet I am always surprised when a word that our fellow believers apply carnally opens itself to us as a key understanding inside the revelation of Jesus Christ. The problem has always been our wrong seeing, “at” instead of “ out from.”

But look at verse 12: Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands. . . John turned to the voice and saw the church. Then, he says clearly that the One who was “like” the Son of Man was IN that very church. The next few lines are a description of Christ's body, the church, filled full with Him.

Then verse 19 is important to us. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.

First, I was presented with a curious teaching, years ago, in a Pentecostal church, that John “made up” all the things in his vision because that was the only way he could smuggle his thoughts to the churches of Asia past the guards on Patmos. Therefore, he used a “code language” that would be known only by them. That teaching bothered me, so I wrote out every verse in Revelation in which John mentions himself. “I saw. I heard. I saw. The angel said to me.” So if this teaching were true, then John lied all the way through.

John saw a vision, a seeing of spirit. The seeing in any vision is both symbolic and real. Let me explain.

When I married my wife, I placed a ring upon her finger. That ring is real gold and a real diamond. It is a real ring. Yet, of truth, I never really cared much for rings on fingers. I do like some jewelry, yes, but rings never did anything for me. In complete contrast, that ring is also a symbol, and as a symbol it is far more important to me than as a ring. The ring, of course, symbolizes our marriage and our love.

Thus, to say that something John saw is a symbol of something else is not to negate what he saw. Yet, some things that he saw are clearly symbolic only, with no literal substance. There will be no seven-headed leopard crawling up out of the ocean and taking control of the world, as some actually teach.

There are many things heavenly that are of literal spirit-substance, just as earthly things have physical substance.

John was instructed to write down exactly what he saw and heard. That seeing was of two things: things that are and things that will be. In reality, the things that are and the things that will be are the same. Every truth of Christ is fulfilled in every believer's life in every generation of the church. Yet God requires that all things come to their fullness in the fullness of times. Thus all things that are, will also be, if that doesn't sound too philosophical.

One more thing before we come back to the authority of Christ now released through the sons of God.

There are quite a number of fee-fie-fo-fum “millenial” dispensations of the revelatory osmotic interpretations of the book of Revelation. I am so uninterested in every single one of them. My God, does Jesus not say, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” which He sent (apostled) to us? This vision is Christ, and Christ is all that I am.

Actually, it is clear to me that those who write such arguments have not been immersed into the Holy Spirit. Thus their spirits are not released to know heavenly realities; they cannot comprehend a Spirit-Word; they cannot “see” that Christ is their life.

I have read carefully the argument that claims John wrote in the AD 60's, and that the Beast was Nero, that everything in this vision happened in AD 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem and that the entire book has absolutely nothing to do with us or this planet or anything Christ would be now in us in our day. I require evidence of some sort; I saw none in that argument, nor any reasonable or cogent explanation. These people are convinced that the vision John saw is utterly divorced from his gospel. I am convinced that Christ is revealed in the flesh, in the dirt and physicality of this world. And Nero was a tin-pot nobody; the only reason we know anything about him is that he just happened to be Caesar when Peter and Paul were executed. The real persecution of the church happened in the AD 90's under Domitian.

Why do people not want to know the living Christ who fills them full with all of His glory? Actually, it is clear to me that those who write such arguments have not been immersed into the Holy Spirit. Thus their spirits are not released to know heavenly realities; they cannot comprehend a Spirit-Word; they cannot “see” that Christ is their life. All they are able to do is hash over intellectual thoughts in the light of limited earthly thinking. And every intellectual argument not recognizing our very limited knowledge and not seeking a clear view of rigorous evidence is just fantasy. I much prefer Tolkein.

Now, the authority of Christ moving through the sons of God is unveiled in large measure through the letters to the seven churches and the seven words of overcoming found in chapters 2 and 3. But that subject is its own letter. Here, I will set the larger context of that authority.

First, consider Revelation 4:1: After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”

The operative word is “after,” or the Greek word, meta, found twice in this verse. Strong's Concordance says that meta is not strictly a chronology term, that is, referring to the future. Rather it is a cause-effect term. “After these things” or “after this” has this specific meaning, “this is the result, the outcome, the necessary effect of that.” The authority of Christ in His church, an authority pictured for us from Revelation 1:1 to 3:22, has direct and specific results as that authority impacts the realms of confused and separated humanity caught in the web of deceit called the world. Thus everything that follows speaks of the results coming out of the authority of Christ released in all fullness through the sons of God.

Wow! This is really cool. I've never had the key to understand the book of Revelation before, not in this way – as a whole. That key is our union with Christ, the Word God is always speaking, that we are now the testimony of that very word in the earth, revealed personally as us. Part of that key is the full marriage between John's gospel, his epistles, and his vision, along with the gospel according to Paul. Now it seems that every phrase just lays itself open to Christ made personal in us.

Which means we go back to Chapter 1 and to the authority of Christ. But first!

In that day you shall know

that I am in the Father

 and you in Me and I in you. John 14:20

This Word is absolute; it stands above all. Any word in the Bible that we do not draw into and draw out from this WORD serves only as a ministry of death. This Word in John 14:20 is the be-all and the end-all. It is the sum of all other things and yet greater than the whole. Those who live absolutely and only inside all the reality of this Word know God and His revelation, no one else. Never, not in a trillion years, will we not be ever-expanding our knowledge in present experience of the reality of this Word in all that it means. The discoveries will never end. The expansion is ceaseless. The depths are unreachable.

Yet He is real and personal and true, our Friend and our life. The Lord Jesus Christ reveals all that He is as us.

There is nothing of Jesus that is not in the Father. There is nothing of me that is not in the Lord Jesus, and there is nothing of the Lord Jesus Christ that is not in me, as me, and revealed in all glory through me.

It is impossible for anyone to know the first thing about John's vision without John 14:20 being ALL that they know. If John 14:20 is not ALL that you know, the sum total of your present life, then you have one job to do, and it is not studying John's vision. Your entire concern is to plant yourself upon the floor on your face before God, holding John 14:20 ever before His face until He makes it your very and only life. It's okay to include Luke 1:38 as well. “Look at me God! I belong to you!!! Let every Word You speak be fulfilled in all fulness in me.”

John 14:20 is the tree of life. You ain't going nowhere without its fruit being you.

Now we can return to John's vision, a vision that comes only out from John 14:20.

Authority. Let's bring in one of the central words of authority – Revelation 12:10. Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.

This is NKJV and not translated correctly. It is “Now salvation, and power (dunamos) and the kingdom of our God, and the authority (exousia) of His Christ have come. . .”

The power is God, the authority is Christ. Jesus speaks; God does. The authority of Jesus' words commands the power inherent inside of God.

We speak Christ; God transforms the universe.

God is sovereign and absolute. The fact that He is also meek and lowly of heart does not mean that any iota of anything ever escapes His purposing. The first thing we must know about this God who fills us full is that He is entirely out of control, that we are seized in the unbreakable grip of a Mighty and uncontrollable God. Yet this terrible Being never violates our person, but wins our hearts by kindness and by love.

Now we are ready to look at Christ in His Body.

Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. Revelation 1:12-18

Now, we could “interpret the symbols,” that gold is the nature of God, that white as snow means pure and holy, that brass symbolizes judgment, that the word is a two-edged sword, and so on, and I have heard such layout presented in the past. The problem is those are all mental ideas, they are not Spirit-life that opens our hearts to the Glorious One who fills us full.

“I wear a garment down to the feet; a golden band encircles my chest. My head and hair are white like wool, white as the snow. My eyes are a flame of fire; my feet like fine brass, refined in a furnace. My voice is the sound of many waters. In my right hand are seven stars; out of my mouth goes a sharp two-edged sword. My face is like the sun shining in its strength. I am the design and the fulfillment. I am he who lives, and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore. I possess the keys of Hades; I possess the keys of Death.”

Only Christ filling your heart can make these words alive and personal as you. Hold them before Him in His Spirit filling you full. His reality will flow through your mind and heart as tears and rivers of joy.

He is alive, you know; He lives in you.

Here's how it works, holding words like these as a Spirit Word inside your heart. You're tootling along, minding your own business, thinking about this or that, when all of a sudden one phrase from something like this fits into your thoughts in the light of the Holy Ghost and suddenly you see and know, and you either laugh with all joy or you fall on your face and worship God – or both at the same time.

~~~

Okay, I did that, I had a good night's sleep after writing these pages. This next morning, I have read again what I wrote yesterday. As I read, I understood what I wrote, that the operative word from Revelation 1:1 to Revelation 3:22 is “authority” – notice that the throne of God is the destination. Inside this explanation of the authority of Christ lies the action verb of the whole Bible and of the great story of God – overcome, repeated seven times.

What I did not see at all yesterday, is now life in me today.

First, leaf through any book analyzing the book of Revelation and see where they place this word “overcome.” Do they place it above all, as the action of God through us? Do they see it fulfilled in all fulness BEFORE they expand on anything else in the vision? Do they see everything else as the direct result, meta, caused by the fulfillment of this word “overcome,” seated in the throne of God?

You see, most teachings I have heard or read on Revelation abandon the overcomer in the throne at the end of Chapter 3 and see a sterile throne in Chapter 4, filled only with an Augustinian God. How can we write about God unless we know Him as the One who fills us full with all of His fullness? We certainly don't know a lot about Him, but this is the only place we must start.

Next, I have never before seen the seven places of overcoming in the churches of Christ as coming out from the authority of Christ in His church shown to us in Chapter 1. The reason I have never seen nor heard such a thing is that we never knew our full union with Christ. I saw in the past that John was describing “the body of Christ” in Chapter 1, but I saw both that glorified body and the “overcomers” as something far away, far ahead, far above, something I, in my weakness and gross inability, could only wish for, but never really produce. And so all I have ever seen or known is to chop these chapters apart. Chapter 1 is considered by itself. Chapters 2 & 3 by themselves, and Chapters 4-6, completely separate and unrelated.

Let's pull it all together into one story, Christ, revealed personally as us.

One word (among many) in Revelation 1:8 establishes authority as the theme, and that is the Greek word, pantokrator, translated, “Almighty.” Here is Strong's definition: pantokrátōr (from 3956 /pás, "all" and 2902 /kratéō, "prevail") – properly, almighty; unrestricted power exercising absolute dominion.

Unrestricted power exercising absolute dominion.

Here is where we place our forehead upon the ground in utter silence before Him. Yet He Himself puts His hand upon us and lifts us up to walk side by side as His equal, carried utterly inside of Him.

Now, the full unveiling of “to overcome” is an exercise, a process, the conflict and tension of the entire story and of all the history of heaven/earth. Yet the Spirit of God shows us clearly the picture of Christ revealed in His church and we in Him as the seeing we must have to walk through these seven realities of overcome.

Let's look out, again and always, from those eyes of fire.

“I wear a garment down to the feet; a golden band encircles my chest. My head and hair are white like wool, white as the snow. My eyes are a flame of fire; my feet like fine brass, refined in a furnace. My voice is the sound of many waters. In my right hand are seven stars; out of my mouth goes a sharp two-edged sword. My face is like the sun shining in its strength. I am the design and the fulfillment. I am he who lives, and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore. I possess the keys of Hades; I possess the keys of Death.”

The garment of authority is the garment of the High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek. The golden band refers directly to “unrestricted power exercising absolute dominion.” That band of God encircles the chest, that is, the heart, our shared heart with Christ, the very throne of the Almighty.

Head and hair speak of wisdom anointed by the wisdom of God; that wisdom is pure and pure. Jesus said, “As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” I will not develop it here, but it is so clear that this vision of the authority of Christ revealed in His church can be understood only in light of Jesus' soliloquies in John Chapters 5 & 12 and elsewhere. One also needs to bring in Hebrews 7. I will not do that at this time.

Our eyes are a flame of fire means we see God alone, out from the eyes of Love, which is that consuming fire. Our feet like fine brass, purified in a furnace, means we walk as Jesus walked, holy and pure, tried and tested, faithful and true. Our voice of many waters is the words of authority, of Christ our life, coming through many in weakness. Seven stars in our right hand also speaks of authority, and the two-edged sword we speak is that two-sided prophetic word of Christ, calling those things that be not (the victory of Christ revealed in human flesh) as they are, and calling those things that be (the delusions of the world and human self-will) as they are not.

And our face, shining like the sun in its strength is found for us in 2 Corinthians 3:18-4:6

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. . . But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who. . . do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. . . For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

We are His face; we are the light of His glory shining out from earthen vessels.

“I am the design and the fulfillment. I am he who lives, and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore. I possess the keys of Hades; I possess the keys of Death.”

When Jesus is called “the first and the last,” it doesn't mean that He is still hanging around, all alone, after everyone else has departed the scene. Rather the two Greek words used denote the pattern, the blueprint from which all things come, and the fulfillment, the completed House into which the Father Himself comes to reside. Whatever He is, He is all of that in all of us. “I am he who lives and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore,” is Galatians 2:20, the only entrance to the tree of life.

I have the keys of Hades and of Death. Revelation 1:18

In these words are expressed terrible and glorious things beyond all measure or comprehension. I can begin to speak of them ONLY by making it very clear that I have no idea what I am talking about. But I want to know Him in all that He is revealed now upon this earth through me. Thus I would stand firmly in Him through all that is terrible and holy and entirely beyond us.

First, let's bring in the close companion verses from Paul.

So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:54-57

But second, let's pull back into our story. We must know where this fits. Here is the line from my last letter.

(God's story) begins as a Word and then the accuser. Then comes the Word in weakness, then comes the accuser again. Then comes the Lamb in sorrow, then the Word in many, the accuser's last gasp, and the Lamb again, in Glory.

There is a terrible factor that comes into the story with the accuser. The accuser does not “cause” this factor, it is the result entirely of the decision of Adam.

That factor is CONSEQUENCE.

Death and Hades are two sides of the same thing; they are the horrific consequence of human folly.

Death is the divorce of heaven and earth, the ripping apart of spirit and body. Death is more awful than we can comprehend. Death is a horrific, unnatural, and evil tearing apart, the end result of the horror of any creature pulling its mind and will away from, separated from, God.

Hades is not a geographical location, but a state of being. It is both those humans who have neither spirits nor bodies, but are whispering souls lost in the darkness, along with the angels who left their place in God, who are also wandering and bound by darkness.

Hades is the wounded of death.

Here I must stop. I am not about to dance up and down proclaiming that I know even the first thing about the reality of these words: “I possess the keys of Hades; I possess the keys of Death.” Yet I desire to know, for I desire to know Him revealed through me.

But we cannot know the terror of His victory unless we first place it entirely inside the drama and pathos of His story.

Thus, before we can continue on exploring the seven realities of overcoming, I must take the layout I wrote in the last letter, of a Word to a Lamb, and make the best attempt yet to present before both you and me, in one chapter, the great story of God.

It is in His Story alone that all things find their place.