The
Glory of God: The Light of the World...
At the very moment of our partaking of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in the Garden of Eden, in the loins of Adam and Eve, our spirit, the spirit of mankind, died cut off from the LORD GOD. Our spirit became darkness; the innermost place, the holiest of all inside us became black. No longer was any light there God no longer lived there; for we had usurped his place, taken it for our selves, sitting upon his throne there, and now we were dead to him.
But in the fullness of time, God made a way into the holiest of all. He made a way into our spirit that we might live, for we were dead and in darkness there. He made a way that we might live, there, in our innermost place in his presence. 'God IS light.' So, to live with him, in his presence, is to live in the light, there, where he is.
We know that Jesus made the way into the holiest of all through his death on the cross. Jesus had to die for us to live: only through death could he make a way into our innermost place, our spirit. It was death for death that we might live.
We know it is Jesus’ death which brings life to our spirit. But we have not fully realized that our spirit has a place where it lives; it has a place inside us; and God has shown us its place in its pictorial representation in the temple of the O.T. ...it is the very innermost room of the temple: ...the holiest of all! The holiest of all in the temple of God is a picture of our spirit.
And we know that the holiest of all in the temple of God, “which temple we are,” was in utter darkness. There was no window there. There was no natural light there. It was in pitch darkness. And so we can know that our spirit, in God’s sight, is in utter darkness: God has shown us.
And he has, also, shown us, that the holiest of all inside us was the only place where we could live with him: for “God is a spirit:” God is Spirit; so the place of his dwelling in us, is in Spirit, in the innermost room of our heart, our spirit.
And the only way into the holiest of all was through a thick veil, a dense curtain. And so we can know that the only way to enter into the place where our spirit lives is to pass through a ‘thick curtain,’ likewise. Our ‘thick curtain’ is the ‘veil’ of our flesh: i.e. the dense, covering ‘fat’ layers of our pride which lie over our heart, which are clouding and blinding our understanding; and we know that the only way to enter in through our pride is a death to it.
We know that the only way to live in the holiest place of all was through death: Jesus showed us this: ...at the very moment of his death on the cross, the ‘door,’ or the way into the holiest of all was made manifest! It was revealed! It was no longer hidden from us! His salvation and mercy was shown us at that moment! “The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first tabernacle was yet standing.” (Heb. 9: 8) While as the Son of man, in his “first tabernacle,” his earthly body was “yet standing,” still living, there was no full deliverance from death made manifest. No way was yet shown us, for our dead spirit lost to God in black darkness to be made alive...and to dwell with him where he lives!
Jesus signified the way...for us...that this was through the veil of his flesh, the veil of the temple, being split and torn asunder at the very moment of his death when light entered the dark place for the first time: through that division, the split in the thick curtain rent in twain. (Matt. 27: 51) The dividing of his flesh: and there the way from the profane to the holy. That was the way from our soul, the holy place in the temple (profane: it couldn’t save us) to our spirit, the holiest of all in the temple (holy: only here we could be saved.) And, it would be the only way of entry in for us also: through the veil of flesh, our pride, being divided asunder in him through faith in him. (Intellectual salvation: Jesus come in mind in our soul: doesn’t save. Actual salvation: Jesus come in spirit in our flesh: saves. (1 Jn. 4: 1-6)
The only way he could dwell in man’s holiest place of all was through his death; and he showed us, in his love for us, that the only way we could dwell in his holiest place of all was through our death, in like manner; “I am crucified with Christ.” ...“If any man serve me let him follow me: and, where I am, Jesus said, there shall also my servant be.”(Gal. 2: 20 / Jn. 12: 26) (If I don’t allow Jesus’ death to be real in me – way beyond intellectual assent that he died for me – he is as nothing, and ineffectual to save me.) It was death through disobedience that had brought our spirit into the darkness; and it would be death through obedience that would bring our spirit into the light. ...Only obedience (sinless death) could extinguish the darkness of disobedience (sinful death) and, there, and bring light: and life. ...Only obedience (death to self) could extinguish the darkness of disobedience (unbelief) and there bring light: and life. (Jesus’ death, natural: so that his death in us could be, spiritual: so that we could enter in, where we couldn’t go before, where the “greater works” are: i.e. those which are spiritual. (John 14: 12) First, natural understanding, then, spiritual understanding: the spiritual being greater than the natural; the invisible is greater than the visible. Our minds are carnal wherever we have not died.)
Jesus had to die for us to live...there...in spirit...inside the holiest of all; which was dead, pitch black, but now is full of light! And this is where we live with him: in our spirit; in the holiest place of all within us...the only place we could live with him.
So what is the good news? The good news is that Jesus has entered the holiest of all. And entered...lives there! He has made it full of light! He has entered the innermost court of Heaven, the holiest of all the very spirit within us! He has made possible the entry into the lost, dead, dark, rebellious spirit of man: to save us! He stands in the entrance way of our very own ‘thick curtain’ – the blindfold of our pride – making it possible for us to face the truth...there...at that point; that we might enter in, there, in that point, which is the door: by being able to face him there without fear in full assurance of faith that we are forgiven and loved there; and he will help us through, in himself: for he, himself, is the door!
The light of the golden candlestick, which is against itself, in the holy place of our soul, gives us knowledge about the holiest of all. But this knowledge in itself is not the life of the holiest of all. It is only knowledge about it. And knowledge ABOUT life does not save: for it is not life, himself. Knowledge about anything isn’t ‘it’ itself; it is only information telling me about it. 'Many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.'
Many people will understand the truth of the holiest of all. They will know all about it. And they will be able to say and write many marvellous things about it. They will be able to describe the testimony of those who live within the holiest of all, whose supernatural spiritual life is told – symbolized and portrayed – in the glorious Ark of the Covenant and its living contents, which is in the holiest of all. They will also be able to describe, in spine-chilling gripping drama the Shekinah Glory of God, writing much marvellous truth about it. But they themselves may not actually be living, there, themselves. The testimony is not our own within our own spirit, unless we are accepting and welcoming the slaying light, within our own selves personally. Unless the writers are THEMSELVES surrendering their knowledge that they might write their treatises, in Jesus, from their own personal experience of dying to their own natural desire for glory from men to be seen of them.....actually experiencing themselves the tribulation that must be gone through in order to die to that desire, which always accompanies any true entering in, (which is only through the loss of all things, especially the loss of our own selves!).....they are only hindering those who are entering in. ‘Woe to us, lawyers! For we have taken away the key of knowledge by entering not in ourselves! And entering not in ourselves we hinder them that are entering in: because we have taken away from them, thereby, the simplicity of the truth of the only way how to enter in: through the continual dying to our own egos, not through continually feeding on fascinating knowledge.’ (Luke 11: 52/Acts 14: 22 /1 Cor. 15: 31 /2 Cor. 11: 3)
‘And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.’ This is not talking about non-Christians! This ‘men’ in the above scripture, is talking about me, and you; and all of us! All mankind! Christians included! As I have said, elsewhere, at length, man hates the light that exposes him to his own self. We instantly turn from anything that tries to get under our skin and show us up. But it is right, here, at this point, that we see again the good news of the gospel of Jesus and the glory of God, his righteousness; his own kindness, on our behalf, in saving us from our own sin!
The good news of the gospel of Jesus is that Jesus, himself, who loves us so patiently, so fully, is able to stand right here, through his death for us, giving us light here, illumining our inner being, that we might see the thoughts and intents of our deceitfully wicked hearts, so that we can turn from them (else, we couldn’t,) that we might know him, and follow him in, with all our hearts in spirit and in truth, and so be saved, (having something to be saved from!) For if we didn’t have the light, (which only was given us when Jesus died, and entered the holiest of all; which now is full of light: “light is come into the world”) we couldn’t see them; and if we couldn’t see them, we couldn’t turn from them, because we wouldn’t know they were there, or that we had any; and not seeing them we wouldn’t really know we were sinners, and so we couldn’t be saved; because what was there to save, if there wasn’t anything there to be saved from?...if there wasn’t any real thing in us, that needed being saved?
And now you can see the wisdom of God in that he chose to use what is foolish to you to save you; because the foolishness of God is wiser than men. I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND WILL BRING TO NOTHING THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRUDENT. For the word of the cross, to those who are perishing (not letting the slaying light in, to reprove me unto truth: and light and life) is foolishness; but unto us which are being saved (letting the slaying light in, to reprove me unto truth: and light and life) it is the power of God.
Salvation is real, only if it is real. All else is an elegant ‘Band-Aid’ which I wear, that cannot stop the rot beneath it! Jesus really died, to really free us! To free us from the real rot that is in us from the Garden of Eden, that we didn’t know was there, until he revealed it to us, in us, in his light there; which light we can easily run from; or, in painful surrender, run to. It’s up to me to decide whether I will reject, or welcome “the sting of death,” at every flash of its piercing light, (which mercifully he has given me, so that I might be converted there) at every turning place, at every point where is the touch of the cross of Christ in my flesh, where only is his cross real in me and not intellectual. Only what is converted is saved. Only what is reproved by the light is the end of that bit of darkness in me. (Ephesians 5: 13/ John 3: 20, 21)
‘Light is come into the world’ ...into the midst of the world... into its spirit, in us...to expose it for its own good, for his name’s sake, that we might enter in. Light is come into the pitch darkness of the holiest of all! We may dwell with God there in his glory! The truth of the utter corruption of my spirit in Jesus is now exposed that I might be delivered of it, in actuality; by being delivered from fleeing ‘the sting’ of it; because it is there that I experience the reality of the truth that I am totally and utterly forgiven and loved of God. In him I can face ‘the sting of death’ without fear! I don’t have to run away there, anymore! (Jn. 3: 19-21) I truly, truly am loved! I can face the worst of me and not hide from it! And not hiding from it I bring it to the light! And there I am delivered of it in beholding him there! ...who is himself, the light! And gazing upon him, with an open face, there I am changed! I am changed into the same image as I behold in the mirror, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. This is how we know him, in spirit and in truth; here is intimate relationship in the holiest of all!
And now ‘the veil’ which has clouded and hid the saving truth, for generations, has been torn down in my flesh in my beloved, and taken away, and the fear of entering in, and living in the holiest of all is gone! ...And in the light that has now come, we understand the truly good news of the gospel of Jesus, that our very innermost being is completely forgiven in Jesus in order that we might face our iniquity when we see it, and deal with it without fear and not run from it, and so be freed of its all-the-while insidious hindering work in our sub-conscience. Now we can understand the truth, and know that we are sinners, (1 John 1: 8, 10) and therefore, have a possibility in us of experiencing salvation – all through the revelation of ‘the sting of death’ in us.
The sting of death is that sudden ‘taste’ of rebellion against the truth, rising up in us to reject it because we hate and resist anything which is appearing in us to convict us. The ‘sting’ is that instantaneous ‘prick’ of indignation we feel against any indictment against us. (1 Cor. 15: 56 / Acts 9: 5; 26: 14) ‘And the sting of death is sin:’ this rebellion against the truth me is sin. For the sting of death is actually God’s gift to me as it shows me that something is wrong in me, and that therefore to rebel against it is sin, because if I didn’t rebel against it, I would acknowledge the truth, and so be saved. The sting shows up my rebellion to me, that it is there, that sin is in me: there is my proof.
And now the Spirit of Truth is revealing within us that the gospel can no longer to be used as a pleasant ‘Band-Aid;’ not if we want to enter in, and live where God lives in the holiest of all; else, we ‘abide alone;’ “left” behind on the surface. (John 12: 24, 26) ...The grace I am given, through Jesus’ death for me, is that I live in him, where he is, through his light and life, being really in me. ...But, it is true, that ‘we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.’ *
As for me this entering into the kingdom of God was truly, through much tribulation, it was at a very great cost to me; where ‘the rubber hits the road,’ there is a very real cost. (Acts 14: 22 / 2 Cor. 4: 10, 11, 12) I experienced seven years of great tribulation in him. Seven years of awful nights of being held within the fire of the eyes of God.... countless nights paralyzed in bed, experiencing the excruciating fear and terrible pain of seeing me seeing my self in Jesus.
And to my dishonour: being despised by the spirit of the World; which was his mercy towards me and his gift, and for which I am glad, glad, glad and so grateful; because without it I would be left behind, wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked in his sight. Better to be hated for living the truth than loved for living a lie. In his terrible way, without my knowing what was happening, I ‘bought of him gold tried in the fire,’ even as he counsels us to do, that he might be made rich in us; ‘and white raiment, that I might be clothed, and that the shame of my nakedness not appear: my eyes anointed with eyesalve, that I might see.’ It was because he loved me that he rebuked me. Because he loved me he chastened me that I might repent, and be found in him not having my own righteousness but his; that I might know him, through his knowing me; and even as Adam knew Eve, which thing cannot be spoken of on the Earth.
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( * And the kingdom of God, which with much tribulation we must enter into, ...where is it? ...and what is it? The kingdom of God is that inner place within me where God is literally ruling and reigning within my spirit: having dominion over my spirit wherever I am surrendering to “the pricks,” instead of “kicking” against them... wherever I am opening up, to the piercing, stinging, slaying light... letting him in, to devour me, to consume me, to “take” me away, in order to reign in me. And that is, where the kingdom of God is! And that is, what it is! And when the complete taking away of the pain of the sting is my OWN testimony, then there I can say, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” and rejoicing in the true and living EXPERIENCE of that victory I am an overcomer. And there I inherit all the promises given to them and to them alone.
‘The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.’ You cannot see it. It is invisible. And it is invisible because it is spiritual. And because it is spiritual there is nothing for me or you to see. It is all...within. Within the ‘me,’ in me. “The kingdom of God is within you.” Not in your brain, not in your intellect, not in somewhere or something out there, not “in the desert,” not in something or somewhere in here, not “in the secret chambers,” not in anywhere where you could go...but only where he can go... your spirit that is within you... and if he is not there, ruling ‘me:’ decreasing ‘me’ for the increase of him I am not in the kingdom of God and I don’t know what it is. And, what is more, I know not the spirit which is in me. ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?’ No one! ‘THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NO, NOT ONE.’)
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