In 1998, the Spirit of the Lord began to earnestly teach me about two topics that had always seemed "out-of-reach." They were so high and so holy that I never even imagined that I could enter into them in this life.
These revelations concerned the Melchesidec Priesthood order and the First Resurrection. The anointing that came with these revelations caused me to understand that this was a "now" word and that I should not put it off to people of another generation. After all, "This is the generation upon whom the ends of the age are come!" I had, at last, to face that fact!
The Lord showed me that He had been speaking to me about these things for some years but I hadn’t really believed His Word. I had been as the Israelites who wouldn’t listen to Ezekiel. The Lord told him, "Thou are unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not," Ezek. 33:32.
I had received His word with gladness and then promptly went my way and never gave it another thought! But, this time it was different. The Lord really got my attention and began to show me there was some preparation in my life that was necessary to function as a Melchesidec priest and to qualify for resurrection.
To explain that preparation, all I need to do is to share a few words from a sister who said, " The Spirit said to me: ‘You now have the spirit of Jesus.’
"When I wondered what that meant, He answered, ‘That means full subjugation.’ (Which means I’m bowing to God’s will). Subjugation means "to subdue, to conquer." There is our preparation in a nutshell – to subdue self!
The Lord spoke to my heart, " The next thing I shall teach you is of the resurrection of the just. In every generation, some however held this hope in their hearts, that perhaps they would see this day, but this day is now upon thee and few are taking seriously My words concerning My promises."
"Teach My children plainly of my resurrection. All that you know, share with them and I shall blow life upon thy words and they shall begin to take faith for them.
" Do the words that you hear in My Spirit these days sound to you like the words of a beautiful song – something to listen to and to rejoice in its beauty? Or are you hearing the trumpet call of My Spirit calling you to arise and to prepare yourselves for that which I do speak unto you. Put not my words into the back of your minds as some treasured memory to take out at times to admire and rejoice in! Keep them ever before you. Study them diligently until your fainting heart believes that there shall be a resurrection in this day!
"Be not as my disciples who would not even consider the thought of my dying and entering into another realm. When it happened, they were in great confusion and anguish of soul. Commit yourself wholly unto me as did Mary, of old. When she said, "Be it unto me according to thy word," (even though her mind understood not), I would that you stand in the same attitude in this hour."
If we don’t know what resurrection means we can say, "Yes, Lord. Be it unto me according to thy word."
Shortly after this dealing, I visited my friend Faith, and the Lord spoke to her, "Time’s clock is striking the hour of God and My people shall become that hour. Understanding of this shall come with ever increasing awareness. Every place on which your foot shall tread — I have given it to you. Take no anxious care as to outward performance. Cease all judging after the seeing of the eye and hearing of ear. (Isa. 11:3). Look beyond the garments of sackcloth that are your outer covering. They are of earth and fitted for only that realm.
"Has your heart cried, ‘Who shall roll away the stone?’ Are you looking for what the flesh man can do? He Who is the Resurrection and Life sits with in thee as a refiner and purifier of silver, and is purging utterly His floor. At the appointed time He shall come forth from your midst and the stone, though great, shall be removed forever! Do you think that the stone of your flesh nature shall stand before the stone cut out without hands?"
In prayer, the Lord spoke, "The grave clothes, were unwrapped from my body and the head cloth folded separately. The head and body were separate." They had not yet come together, but the Head and the body shall be one!
He continued, "Even so, am I not now removing from My own their grave clothes, those things that have hampered them from walking in my life. This is my present operation in these I am preparing for Resurrection. Walk softly before Me and you will see what I will do."
The Lord asked me a question: "What is thine inheritance?" I knew He didn’t want an answer from me. He wanted to tell me something. How would you have answered? His answer was: It is certainly, ‘ the sure mercies of David’ that are coming unto you. "It is not only My nature inworked in my people; it is My life that is coming forth in them. You can not have one without the other. And when these are one in My people, the result is the Resurrection from the dead!"
"I have much to reveal to My barley firstfruits company, as they are able to bear it. The reality that I have spoken in parables and dark sayings is about to come to light, and you shall know that new Life comes from Me in a way you have not known it before."
These two scriptures clarify what "the sure mercies of David" are: Isa. 55:3, ‘Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure (confirmed) mercies of David."
Acts 13: 34-37, " And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he said also in another Psalm, Thou shall not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption."
Do you know what the sure mercies of David are? They are resurrection! They are not knowing corruption. That is our inheritance!
I began to look to the Lord for confirmation of these words as pertaining to our day. I knew they were truth, but were they for this generation? He assured me that He had indeed given foretastes of these things and reminded me of something that had happened to me in the early 60's while on the mission field in Canada’s North.
We two couples were praying before we retired, when the Spirit told us. "Consider not your pillows, but seek Me all the night." We were surprised, but we obeyed and made sure no one fell asleep. If they tried, they’d get an elbow in the ribs!
I reassured myself with the thought that I’d have a nap in the afternoon, but with seven children to care for and Indian people coming and going, it simply didn’t happen. I felt fine though, and didn’t feel tired.
That night, when we decided to say "Goodnight" to the Lord again, He did not want to say "Goodnight." Again He said, "Consider not your pillows, but seek Me all the night." We obeyed and again, there was no sleep the next day. None of us were tired or yawning. It was "business as ususal." We didn’t feel any different for not having slept for two days and two nights.
The third night, the Lord once again required us to pray all night. We didn’t understand this, for as yet, He hadn’t said anything to us. As the first light of the dawn of the third day began to break upon us, we started to feel the awesome presence of God and we all took off our shoes.
The missionary’s wife had a vision of a baby boy – a mature child — being born. We had not heard of the manchild that is to be birthed at the dawning of the third day.
We had gone three days and three nights without sleep and when I went to wash my face, I was sure I’d have bags under my eyes. I looked and felt the same as when we first started praying. None of us had any weariness at all, and we couldn’t understand it. A few days later, the Lord told us, "I have given you a foretaste of the resurrection life that you are going to experience at the dawning of the Third Day." We are now in that day!
Men are still asking, "... How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?" 1 Cor. 15:35. Our answer is to look at Jesus as our pattern. What kind of body did Jesus have when He was resurrected? Was it a spiritual body or a natural body? Was His body not the same one He had lain down?
Yes, He had a bodily resurrection, but, on the other hand, He could be talking to His disciples and suddenly disappear, or leave through the wall. It looks like He had a new kind of body that was both spiritual and physical. Jesus had a heavenly Father and an earthly mother. His resurrection was a culmination of that relationship.
He could enter the spiritual or the physical dimension at will. He said, "All power (authority) is given unto Me in heaven and in earth" Mat 28:18. He could vanish — appear suddenly — take on a physical form — be touched — eat food — show His wounds. His words prove that He was raised physically: "... handle Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see me have," Like 24:39. Note that Jesus said nothing about His blood! Herein lies a wonderful mystery!
We are all familiar with that mighty "resurrection" scripture in 1 Cor. 15:52, 53: " In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. At the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."
In the original Greek, the word "moment" comes from the word "atoms." The translators took it to means "an atom of time," but in our day we understand an atom to be the smallest particle of matter. It has to do with being changed in the atoms of our body!
The Lord has given a foretaste of a change in our blood to Martin Paulat. The Lord has shown some that blood is congealed light and to this the scientists agree. The red color of the blood is a result of the original sin. "Though your sins be as scarlet.." Isa 1:18 says.
Martin was told by the Spirit to go and have a blood test, for the Lord was going to give him a sign of our change. He did so and sat waiting for the results. A nurse came out and looked at him intently. He wondered if he had egg on his face or something. Then, another nurse came and stared at him wonderingly. The doctor next appeared holding a vial of Martin’s blood in his hand. The color of it was like golden light. The doctor looked confused and asked him if he would take the test again the next day.
When Martin was retested, his blood was as red as any man’s. What had happened? The Lord had truly given him a sign in his body of the changing of the blood. Our blood shall once again become pure liquid light, His Life flowing through our body. When the stain of sin is removed through the blood of Lamb, death has no more claim on the body.
He is giving these signs about being changed in the atoms, in our generation. In the scripture we also see a type and shadow of this in Jesus’s body before ever He went to the grave.
Once I was reading Matt Ch. 17:1,2: "And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared — Moses and Elias —."
The Holy Spirit stopped me with the first word: "after six days." I looked back to the previous chapter to find out "six days after what?" Then, suddenly I understood the Lord was meaning "at the end of the six thousand year day." That is where we are now — at the end of man’s day. We’re at the end of the sixth day and the Lord is getting ready to resurrect His body!
Jesus was transfigured before them. What He was on the inside– the light of the divine nature — became visible on the outside. At that same time, He had fellowship in both realms — the earthly and the heavenly — with His disciples on earth and Moses and Elijah in the heavenly sphere. He had full authority in both realms.
I have a confirmation of that which is within us being brought unto visibility. My friend Faith Williams was pregnant with her third child and was well on in her pregnancy. She is a small person and it was hard on her not being able to keep much food down. She felt so weak and sick as if she could die before this baby come forth, so she went to see her doctor.
After she was on the examining table, he didn’t examine her, but turned and suddenly left the room for some time, Finally he returned and said, " I can’t understand this. You don’t look like you have much life left in you, yet when I saw you on this table, a great light came forth from you. It was so bright it lit up the whole room. I couldn’t stay. It was too much for me!"
Faith said, "That experience gave me courage to go the rest of the way." Can you imagine that in her very feeble state there was life like this within her? This is the light that is going to change our mortal bodies! Jesus became that bridge between heaven and earth.
Another confirmation of our "change" is that the Lord is saying: " It is time for the butterfly." On Oct 25, 1998 He spoke to me, "It is time for the butterfly. It is time to fill the earth with My butterflies. What man, even My children has not thought to see, he shall see. The New Jerusalem city is coming down unto my remnant people, and shall be visible in the earth — no longer hidden away. Even I, in my earthly habitation as a babe was hidden in Egypt, (but God called His son out of Egypt) and so shall it be once again, that His son, (His corporate man) shall be called out of Egypt to be made manifest to the church world, and to those who know Me not. My butterflies are those who have been changed from ‘Thou worm Jacob’, to Israel, a ‘Prince with God’."
Erla Opsahl had a dream in the early seventies which related to the transfiguration. She saw herself in this dream. "All of a sudden I changed. I did not recognize myself because I was sparkling all over, but I still knew it was me. Then I woke up."
I must tell the story of Thea Eroes who had a marvelous foretaste of being changed in the atoms. Thea’s father was a direct descendant of royalty in Austria and was very involved in the Underground movement that was trying to resist Hitler’s advances. Her mother was not well, so she was a very lonely girl living in a big palace.
At the tender age of five she despaired of life and tried to drown herself in the bathtub. A few days later she was outside and suddenly there was a boy of around seven standing in front of her. He said he would play with her and he did.
He asked her, "Why are you so sad?" When she told him that she didn’t see any reason to live, he began to talk about butterflies. He stretched forth his hand and a beautiful monarch butterfly rested upon it. He said, "Look at this butterfly, because you will be like this one day. You will be changed and you will have a life that is different. You will not be earthbound any more. But you must wait, just like this butterfly had to wait and grow through different stages. So you must grow through different stages until you come to the state of a butterfly."
Later, I saw a picture of Jesus as a young lad, in a Catholic church, and I knew who my playmate was!
When she was twelve, Hitler marched into Austria and her father and mother were both taken away and her grandfather was killed. A kitchen maid rescued her and hid her in her little apartment. She had lost all her family and became very despondent. Her friend felt she should go to church and find some comfort in Jesus, so she sent her to a secret meeting being held in the basement of a very old stone church. She sat against a huge, heavy iron door which had been shut for centuries. Only one door could be opened.
Close to 3000 people were there and Thea was among those who asked Jesus to come into their lives. Suddenly the Gestapo walked in and shot the preacher. Turning their guns on the people they said, "The same thing will happen to you unless you deny this God that you call ‘Jesus’ and pledge allegiance to Hitler, who is your true savior."
No one denied the Lord and soon the shots rang out again. Row by row, the people were shot down. Thea closed her eyes and prayed, "If this is my day to be a butterfly, take me!" She could feel the man next to her slump against her and she fell against the door. She waited for the next shot to hit her but it never came.
Finally, she opened her eyes to find that she was no longer inside the church. She had been translated through that huge metal door, to the outside! She was in shock, but was comforted to find a young man who was the same One she had seen as a child. He said, "Don’t be afraid. You are to live." He told her where to go and that she should run and not look back.
Scientifically, we now know that what God did is possible. God can rearrange the atoms in our bodies in such a way that we become spirit that is able to go through matter, and He can rearrange us back again into the natural.
Soon the Gestapo found where Thea was staying so the Underground smuggled her into a railroad car. She was rolled up in a rug and placed up in the baggage compartment in the same car with her parents. They had been rescued and were disguised as peasants to make their escape to a boat on the English Channel that was bound for America.
The German police were watching for the three of them. When they came through their car, her father spoke Italian and acted drunk so they didn’t question him. One determined soldier thrust his bayonet into the baggage compartment. Thea felt the cold steel against her arm, but suffered no injury.
Their happy reunion on the Dutch boat "Statendam" didn’t last long. The captain called everyone up to the top deck and said, "We are surrounded by six U-boats and only a miracle can save us. I ask all of you to pray." They shut off the engines so as not to be heard. Soon a heavy fog came down and enveloped the whole boat. They sat in that fog for two days and two nights. On the third morning it lifted and they saw land. The captain was amazed to find that they were at Newfoundland, Canada. The whole ship had been literally translated (moved) from England to Canada in two and half days – without engines!
This incident was written up in an Amsterdam paper by the title of "The Miracle Ship." Besides its precious cargo of people it also carried gold and treasures that the Dutch were trying to save before they would be invaded.
The Lord later told Thea, "I did this for you as a sign unto My people. They are also going to experience translation. They are also going to be butterflies!"
Jacob Boehme was a humble shoemaker who lived in Europe in the 1500's. He so truly loved the Lord that he pressed through death-to-the- self life until he came into a very intimate place in God. In that place he asked the Lord a question, one that we probably would like to ask: "Lord, why have you made man?" He had the same thought as David had when he said, "What is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visiteth him?" He must have felt, "We have messed things up so much, why do you bother with us anymore?"
The Lord’s answer has meant so much to me. It is written upon my heart in indelible ink. It was, " I have made him to be a visible expression of Myself." I believe this is the main reason why the Lord is saying, "I am going to bring My firstfruits company into a resurrected body. I am going to change their bodies because I want them to be My visible expression upon this earth. I want to indwell My children in a way that they can be both physical and spiritual."
After Jesus’ resurrection, certain saints rose out of their graves and entered into Jerusalem and were seen by the people. Some say this was the first resurrection, but it was not, for they all died again. This generation of overcomers are to be the people of the first resurrection! Those who are here will be changed in the atoms, and those who have gone on shall not receive their redeemed body until we do. This is not going to happen to one person at a time – I believe it shall be a corporate redemption because His "son" on the earth is a many-membered body at this time when the end of the age has come upon us.
It seems that the meaning of resurrection has been redefined in our day. It no longer means what it meant to the early Christians. Some believe that resurrection is when you receive the life of God at salvation, for your spirit is quickened and made alive. Others believe that going to heaven when you die is your resurrection. But, you don’t take your body! If resurrection is anything, it has to do with the body!
We have a pattern to follow. When Jesus rose from the tomb, He brought His body with Him. He had a live body — a body that was of the earth, but also of the heavenlies.
Some say the first resurrection is spiritual and the second resurrection is physical. Consider this: if the dead are asleep in the earth, they need resurrection. If the dead are with the Lord in a spiritual state, we should not undermine the doctrine of the resurrection by saying that they have now attained their final blessed state. This would make resurrection a regression rather than a blessing.
God’s purpose has always been to manifest Himself in the physical creation. His plan is to restore all things — not destroy all things! Jesus’ resurrection was both physical and spiritual. He could be seen; He could eat; He could be touched. Yet, He could be made invisible and go through the wall. His spiritual part was from His Father and His physical part was from his earthly mother. He was given authority in both realms — heaven and earth! This is the kind of resurrection I’m talking about.
What caused this confusion of beliefs about the resurrection? When the church was scattered after Pentecost and a number of believers settled in Greece, they began to embrace the pagan Greek view rather than the Hebrew view. The pagan Greek view spiritualized the resurrection. The gospel view states plainly that there was (and shall be) a bodily resurrection.
The Greeks also taught that matter — our bodies — was inherently evil. The Hebrew view was that creation was very good, for God pronounced it so after He made man.
Before He made the physical universe, God was all in all on the spiritual plane. The omnipotent One decided to create a physical universe to manifest His power and nature on a physical level. We call that "the creation." In creation, physical matter was not opposed to Spirit! It was meant to manifest the Spirit on an additional level. God’s spiritual laws that He had in the heavenlies, adapted his to man’s plan of existence. Man was made a moral creature. The principles of the kingdom were written within him– in his DNA.
Jacob Boehme writes: "God stirred Himself to produce creation...He was desirous of having children of His own kind...Creation was an act of the free will of God; God unfolded His eternal nature, and through His active love, or desire, He caused that which heretofore had been in Him merely as spirit (as an image contained in a piece of wood before the artist has cut it out), to become substantial, corporeal."
If you follow the principle of the kingdom, sharing love, mercy, honesty, loving-kindness, grace, righteousness and truth — all the attribute of God’s nature, the things that will happen to you are those things. It is the principle of sowing and reaping. If you sow seeds of wickedness, hatred and rebellion, what can you expect but to reap the same in return!
We hear on every hand of the terrible wrath that God has for America and the awful judgments He is going to pour out upon her because of His great wrath. I feel that each country is reaping what they have sown, rather than that God is really mad at them! Rather, I see it as harvest time — a time of reaping what has been sown.
When we sow righteousness and goodness surely they will return unto us. This is most clearly seen in the area of money, for we’re all familiar with that. If you are generous and give as the Lord tells you to, without expecting a return, and are willing to share hospitality, you will know that blessing returns unto you manifold.
The past year the Lord has been doing an unusual thing in my life. He will have someone send us a gift and then He will say, "That’s for so and so." I would send it off to that person. For months, He did this quite regularly. Finally He told me, " I am teaching you kingdom economics." This is how it goes: Every time I would send $100.00 away as the Lord led, within a few days He would send me $200.00. I just couldn’t outgive Him!
Please understand — I was not ever doing this with any thought of receiving a return. I was simply obeying the Lord to be a channel to bless someone who needed help. This is different from the church age ministries who encourage people to give so that they may receive back again. The motive here is wrong — it is done to benefit self.
When Bill and I were led to start publishing "The Gospel of the Kingdom" some 30 years ago, we didn’t have extra finances to do that. The Lord challenged us and told us that He would provide. We were not, at any time, to ask for money from the people. We made a covenant with the Lord: "Any time you dry up the finances, we’ll stop. We won’t start begging to be able to continue our ministry. If You don’t provide, we will take it that we are to stop publishing."
He has never stopped providing! About seven years ago I was feeling a little "weary of well–doing" and wondered if I might stop writing. The Spirit reassured me, "The best is yet to come." I have found it so and have been joyfully sharing His deeper revelations since that time and I am going stronger than ever!
These kingdom principles are written upon our hearts! I taught school for a number of years and one year I had a very hard class. It was a Grade Nine class and the previous year they had a teacher who didn’t really like children and she treated them quite harshly. By the time they came to my class they hated school and they hated teachers. That meant a hard year for me as I had to love them back into co-operating with me. I did succeed in winning their confidence and miraculously, they all passed their grade. As for me, I was worn out and needed a change so I left teaching and bought a small confectionery store.
My brother and I pooled our resources to buy this store and barely made it. On opening day, he filled the till from his little girl’s piggy-bank. When the salesmen came they wanted me to put in a big order. I’d mention a few things I needed and then I’d say: " Add it up." Then, if I felt I could pay for a little more, I’d put it on the order and repeat: "Add it up." They all found that unusual because no one else ever ordered goods like that. I told them I intended to pay for that order when it came, so I was going to be careful about my purchasing. It’s easier to go into debt than it is to get out of it.
I conducted my business the best I knew how — to be honest and to face everything as it came. In a few years, all my suppliers were "wining and dining" me — taking me out to dinner, buying me boxes of chocolates and so on. One salesman told me, "You are number one in ice cream sales in the whole of Western Canada."
This was laughable, because my store was so small. It was like two walk-in closets put together! Sometimes the store would fill up and I’d have to let people go out the back door.
Sometimes I’d start to worry when it was time for the bills to come and I didn’t yet have money to pay them. Although I was a very new Christian, the Lord helped me in many ways. He told me, "All you actually have to sell is a happy face, the joy of the Lord, a smile and a welcome to each person who enters your store. If you’re going to worry about the bills, you won’t have that. Other stores are selling the same things you are, so all you have to give is yourself."
This giving of myself sometimes took unexpected turns. One evening around closing time, an old "lumberjack" came into the store. I often sang as I worked and I was singing when he came in. He said, "Would you sing ‘The Tennessee Waltz’ for me?" That sounded a little too romantic to sing just to anyone, but he looked so lonely and pathetic that I answered, "Yes" and prayed that no one else would come in while I sang for him.
The Lord blessed and prospered that little business beyond my wildest imaginations! I believe He was teaching me, even then, of kingdom principles. They are written in our hearts, in the very fabric of our beings, and we know when we go against them. If we observe and keep the honesty and integrity that is in the nature of God, we will see His righteousness spring forth.
In some circles it's not popular to be honest and to be a person of integrity because some people want you to be something other for monetary reasons. If you have enough integrity to do things the Lord’s way, people will come knocking at your door saying, "Ah! Here’s someone I can trust! (Even though at first they may try to buy you off, they finally realize that you are more valuable as you are). It is important to know that the Lord has written His moral laws into our physical beings.
In Canada, our schools are recognizing that the young people are lacking morally. They have not been taught morals at home or in the Church but have, rather, imbibed the liberal philosophy, " If it feels good, do it," or "If it seems right to you," it is alright for you. There are no absolutes brought forth as truth so the schools are now hiring teachers to teach morals when they should be learned by example and training from their parents. If they would learn them early, they would soon know what makes them feel happy — and it’s not their own way! It is being obedient to the principles that God has written within them!
Man was created a physical being ordained to manifest a spiritual reality. The proof of that is Jesus’ resurrected body which was physical, yet spiritual – spiritual flesh, if you will.
On December 26, 1998; the Lord spoke to my listening heart: "The next thing I shall teach you is of ‘the resurrection of the just.’ In every generation, some have held this hope in their hearts that perhaps they would see this day, but this day is now upon thee and few are taking seriously My words concerning My promises.
"Teach My children plainly of My resurrection. All that you know, share with them and I shall blow life upon your words and they shall begin to take faith for them. Am I not even now bringing forth signs in the earthly realm to confirm that their heavenly inheritance is nigh?
"Be not holding back with any of My words that I quicken unto you in case some should mock and show unbelief. Listen not to man and fear not their faces. Fear only to be true to the word that I speak unto your heart even though you feel it is too high for thee. I desire My people to begin to take faith for the resurrection that I have promised them!"
The sign in the earthly realm that the Spirt referred to in this word seems to me to be a sign in nature that Rosemary Garzon experienced recently. In Oct. of 1998 she found that there was springtime in her yard. It was time for her fruit trees to come into dormancy and to go to sleep and here was: a crab apple tree in full bloom. Dormancy is a type of death, so the power of death was reversed – the sap was rising up in this tree instead of receding and going down! New life was so powerful in that tree as the sap rose up that it just burst forth with the glory of its life.
Rosemary was so amazed that she went to check the orchard. She saw the magnolia tree full of blossoms, and then three pear trees in bloom. The Lord began to speak to her that even as there were seasons in the natural realms when one is supposed to have life, and when one is supposed to die, there are also seasons in the spirit. When a season comes in the Spirit, He can overrule the natural season. These were for a sign unto us. No matter what season your body is experiencing, — if you’re in spring (as a young person), or in autumn (as in middle age), or in winter (as I am), it doesn’t matter what season your "land" is in when our Father sends forth the regenerating power of His Spirit into your land. Suddenly the flowers will begin to appear on your earth. The sap will begin to rise. It is the season of His appearing.
Psa. 104:16 says, " The trees of the Lord are full of sap." When she checked that out, she found it meant, "the dew of His life."
It reminds me of Psa. 110: 3,4: " Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power —." I used to wonder, "Willing to do what?" I found it was willing to let Him be God; willing to let Him have His way; willing to let your will be His. The verse continues: "— in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchesidec."
The priesthood of Melchesidec has to do with the resurrection body. They’re coming at the same time. I’m sure you have experienced times when the Lord’s Spirit is upon you in a measure that you can barely contain. You are aware that your flesh is too fragile to hold much more of His Spirit and that you would need to be changed to hold the fulness! I believe the Melchesidec Priesthood, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Resurrection must go all together — they are all an integral part of the fullness of God.
The Lord spoke in the prophecy, "Am I not even now bringing forth signs in the earthly realm to confirm to those that their heavenly inheritance is nigh?"
We now want to look into Heb. 11, the faith chapter. Do these men of faith need resurrection, or do they have it? Vs. 13 says, "...these all died in faith, not having received the promises." Why could those mighty ones not have the promises? Vs. 39, " And these all having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
They were not perfected! To display God’s glory, they also need to have the same kind of body as Jesus had after His resurrection.
At one time my friend Faith was going through some "Job’s trials" and in the Spirit she heard a giant chorus of saints from the other side of the river encouraging her on. They were saying, " Come on, you can do it! Don’t give up!" There were all "rooting" for her to overcome. They know, if we don’t, that they can’t come into their resurrection bodies until we do and they have been waiting now for 2000 years or more. The Old Testament saints can’t receive the promises apart from us!
To display God’s glory, we need to have the same kind of body as Jesus had after His resurrection.
Many of you are acquainted with Bill Britton’s writings. His firstborn son was instantly killed when he ran into a tree on the way home from a meeting. He had fallen asleep at the wheel. It seemed like such a great loss, for he was so in love with Jesus. The Lord gave his father a poem about the two armies. The Lord comforted him with the understanding that He had been sent on to that other army beyond the veil, to be prepared, and that he would return in the appointed time. The Song of Sol. 6:13 speaks of this: " — What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies."
The scriptures are clear that men will not be perfected one at a time when they die. It is a corporate work and it shall come forth in this generation when the Lord has a prepared Body on both sides of the veil. They shall be made one body in the resurrection.
I understand that the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the resurrection took place in 1914. If that is the case, we should have seen some people walking in their new bodies. When one asks them about that, they answer: "They were raised spiritually" (apart from the body). That is not the resurrection, for the resurrection does not mean that we are raised spiritually. Resurrection means being raised bodily, because the spirit has been made one with God and has qualified for the resurrection of the body..
The purpose of resurrection is to raise the dead to stand alongside the living so that all may receive the promise at the same time!
Rom. 8: 22,23 "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the spirit, we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."
When many read this verse they think of the manifestation of the sons of God and the power they shall show forth, but what is it saying about the adoption — the redemption of our bodies? It says this is what we are waiting for!
Adoption means "son placing" — to be placed as a son, which is the great hope of the Christian who is going on to know the Lord. In today’s society, we adopt someone else’s child, but in the Israelite society, they adopt their own child. Why would they want to adopt their own child?
The Jewish "Bar Mitzvah" explains this. When a boy of 12 takes this religious service, from that time on, he leaves the care of his mother and is placed with his father who will teach him the things of a man. When the Lord adopts us, He removes us from " Mother Church" and weans us from the breast, from drinking milk and we come to the place where our Father will teach us the things of Himself. We are "placed as a son." We must polish up this hope that has become dim, that we should be adopted by our Father. Believe that it could happen in your lifetime — to you!
We are waiting for this adoption, this son placing because it has to do with the redemption of our body. Many are looking for power, and that is part of it, but the big thing is the redemption of the body, because if you have that, you can do anything the Lord wants you to do!
Some of the things that the great men of old had to say on this subject are very enlightening. Job believed, though worms would destroy his body, "yet in my flesh shall I see God" Job 19:26.
Daniel 12:2 (Rotherham) says, " And many of the sleepers in the dusty ground shall awake — these shall be to age abiding life, but those to reproach and age-abiding abhorrence."
Now, I will share a word that the Lord personally spoke to me. I had for a number of years, held the hope that I might be a part of the first resurrection and live through the millennium, ministering to the hungry ones. There came a time that I had to give this hope back to the Lord and to lay it on the altar. (I don’t know why). I said, " Lord, it really doesn’t matter if I come into Your resurrection or not, I’m going to serve you as long as I have breath. If you take me by way of the grave, that’s alright, because I know you’re going to bring me back in Your good time."
Some years later I was praying as I was driving along, and suddenly I heard these words arise in my spirit. They sounded familiar but I couldn’t recall where I had heard them before. I heard, " — and all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come."
I searched in my mind as to where those words came from and I remembered that Job had uttered them in Job 14:13,14, "O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come."
When I spoke this word aloud to Bill, the presence of the Lord filled our little car like a cloud. We hardly dared to breathe! It was lunch time and we wanted to stop and eat, but we were afraid to stop lest that awesome cloud should leave. He confirmed His word with the magnitude of His presence.
He wants each of us daily to conduct our lives so that we will be ready for such an event to happen to us.
In 1 Cor. 15: 15,52 the word says, "Behold I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed." Remember that "moment" means " en atomos" — in the atoms we shall be changed!
Again, in Phil 3:11 (Amp), Paul says, " That if possible I may attain to the resurrection (that lifts me out from among the dead) even while in the body." Paul had this hope of a bodily resurrection and had no idea that it wouldn’t happen until the end of the age — another 2000 years. This is for our day — for those " upon whom the ends of the age are come."
O Father, help us to take faith for this so great salvation!
I feel to share this word about The Rubble in the Temple because it has some relevance to our entering into the things of God: remember, we are the temple. "There is much rubble left in the temple of God from former days of apostasy and man’s rule which My people have accepted as truth and as a true gospel. My gospel is "good news" unto mankind, and that which has corrupted My truth must be cleansed from the hearts of My people in this hour. I must build upon a clean and strong foundation, for that which I build shall stand forever and shall not fall.
"My people find it difficult to believe in the goodness of My nature, for they have a perverted image of who I am and what My nature is. Look from whence thou hast come and begin to remove from thy heart every thought against My goodness that has been planted there by man’s decree and over-lordship of My people. For I desire to reveal all My goodness and I need to prepare your hearts to receive it!"
Let us give the Lord permission to clear any rubble that is yet in our temple hindering our entering-in. I believe this is the main reason why we have been so slow of heart to believe that there will be a resurrection in our day.
The ideas about resurrection are, in the main, blurry and uncertain to most believers. They think mainly of the general resurrection for "the bad guys" at the end of the millennium. I want to clarify this to you. There is a resurrection at the end of the Church Age, at the beginning of the millennium. It is called "the first resurrection". We need to understand who is in this first resurrection. Every man needs to be persuaded in his own mind where this fits into his own life.
Rev. 20:4-6 tells us, "And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years."
Who are these priests of God who are to rule with Him for a thousand years? These are the Melchesidec Priesthood. These have been cleansed in the wilderness. They have let God rule over them. They have been so dealt with that they want His Spirit to rule over them (as it was in Adam before the fall).
The scriptures here are talking about a people who are living and reigning with Christ a thousand years. Who is qualified to reign with Christ? I personally believe that a person is qualified to reign with Christ when he has been willing to be submissive to let Christ rule over him. You cannot rule until you are willing to be ruled over. Those who shall reign with Christ for a thousand years are those who have had their self-life so dealt with that permit the Lord to rule. There are no more "do– it–yourself" kits.
" — but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." This resurrection will consist of we who are alive and remain. It will include those overcomers who are on the other side of the veil. As Caleb and Joshua, they have had to wait for the others before they could go in.
Who is going in? "Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection." Those who are going in are both blessed and holy. He has cleansed their hearts that He might fill them with His fullness. And on these the second death has no power and they shall be priests of God — and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
Is it only overcomers who shall be first raised, or will it be all who name the Name of Christ? To determine this, we will look at who is in the general resurrection at the end of the millennium. Rev. 20:11,12,15, " And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
The thought of this fire used to cause our knees to knock together and fear to enter our beings because it sounded so terribly fierce. We didn’t yet understand the nature of God. We didn’t know that this consuming fire that He is was a good and a benevolent fire. He was not out to destroy us but to cleanse and purify us, for that is what fire does. It is corrective, not punitive. It will cleanse those things that are opposed to His nature so that we would be life Him.
Years ago when I was a missionary in the far North. We were driving back to our post there in very cold weather when our car stalled. There were no people for 30 miles and no gas stations. We could have sat there and perished to death. Out feet began to freeze and I called earnestly upon the Lord to warm us up. He dropped this word into my heart, "For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire – " Deut. 4: 24. I answered "We need a fire for our bodies, else we will perish in this cold." He sent His fire unto our bodies and in a few minutes our toes felt like they were burning. Soon we found ourselves as warm and comfortable as could be even though it was still -30 degrees F outside. I saw His fire in a different light that day. His fire is not to punish, but to correct!
The dead, small and great are standing before the Lord. The books are opened. We have thought that the Lord has written down our every sin and misdemeanor we have ever made. When you die you have to face what is written in His book. My mother used to feel that if your good deeds outweighed the bad ones, you’d be alright. I don’t believe it’s like that at all.
I believe the books are the books of the law. 1 Jn 3:4. "Sin is the transgression of the law." God judges all things by His divine standard. He is going to judge sin by His law as He did in this life. He doesn’t need to write down our every transgression, for He is going to call witnesses.
Mat. 12:41,42 tell us, " The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold a greater than Jonas is here."
" The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn (judge) it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here."
The Lord is calling witnesses from the men of Nineveh who hearkened unto Jonah, the Queen of Sheba who came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. At this General Resurrection He is calling witnesses and is judging each one from the books of the Law.
Then, there is another book — the Book of Life! If He is judging some from this book, there has to be some Christians there. I heard of a well-known minister who died for a short time, and in that place he heard someone call for the book to see if his name was there. The book was brought and his name was found but nothing on the page could be read, for it was covered with Blood! The precious Blood of Jesus!
Then, another brother had an unusual experience while visiting a tomb in Jerusalem. He also had had a short "death experience" and now the Lord said He would show him " the other side of the coin."
Suddenly, the light in the cave went out. While he was in the dark, the Lord took him, in Spirit or in vision, to see what it would be like if his name were not written in the Book of Life. Again, in the other realm, the question was asked, "Is his name here?" They opened the book and the Lord looked through it and said, " He is not in my family album." He was not in the place of the believers.
At this judgement, there are those who are being judged out of the books of the Law and out of the Book of Life which tells us there are both unbeliever and believer being judged at the end of the thousand year day.
Who are the Christians that are standing there with the unbelievers at the second resurrection? Act. 24: 14-15 tell us, "There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." Both are raised to life, but one group unto judgement. A distinction is made between the Church and the Overcomers. If the soul life of a believer has not been dealt with to become submissive to the Spirit, if he is still walking carnally, he is going to be in the second resurrection.
Can we tell the difference between those who partake of the first resurrection and those Christians who are not raised until the second resurrection? The first are holy and true, and have been cleansed of their self-life and have fully yielded their wills to the Lord. They qualify to be priests after the order of Melchesidec, and are raised to reign with Christ for a thousand years. They are the firstfruits, remnant company.
The Christians who are judged at the end of the age are those who have known Christ in a measure, but have never had their self-life dealt with. I learned this lesson years ago when I was learning about the overcoming life. I attending a Baptist Church for the sake of certain ones there. I would cry on the way home every Sunday because I felt so badly about the things I was hearing yet I had to keep silent. I cried, " Lord, how come everything seems to go so smoothly for these people? They never seem to experience ‘ ups and downs’ like we do. Our boat is rocking all the time and they seem to dwell in calm waters. How come?"
The answer was brief, " Oh, but I’m not dealing with their self-life at this time. Things can be smooth because they don’t even know they have a self-life!" I could see that they felt everything was fine as long as they attended church regularly. They could feel that God was pleased with them. And, I would add that they are there because the Lord hasn’t taken them out of that understanding. I don’t condemn them because they are there. The Lord has not yet called them to come up higher. We should thank the Lord that He has enabled us to walk more deeply with Him and we should not be critical of those who are not yet called to do so.
It is a process. At salvation, our spirit is quickened and made alive — made one with His Spirit. When we receive the baptism of the Spirit, our soul is being dealt with. It must come into subjection to the Spirit within us and that is a long–drawn–out process.
This process is likened unto the "long war between the house of Saul and the house of David: but David waxed stronger and stronger and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker." 2 Sam. 3:1.
In the third experience — of Tabernacles — the only part left to be dealt with is the body. That is why the Lord is speaking resurrection unto us because this is the season of Tabernacles, of entering into the full measure of the Spirit.
We need to understand how Christians will be judged. In Luke 12:35-44, Jesus tells us of the "faithful and wise steward" who will be made " ruler over His household — " over "all that He has." (These are not just bedtime stories Jesus is telling. These parables reveal His ways with mankind). This man learned to be a good servant. He would abide by the law of the household and would do his Master’s will, never his own. He is an example of those who shall partake of the first resurrection and who shall reign with Christ — those who have learned obedience and are qualified to rule. Those who have been willing to serve in love and humility are placed as sons with their Father, " for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Rom. 8:14.
We met a brother on the Internet who invited us to speak at a camp meeting in Ohio. The Lord gave us liberty to do so, but I had a few doubts and fears because we had never met. When we sat down together, almost the first words out of his moth were: "The Lord has me in training to be a servant." All my uneasiness fled, for I could trust such a man! I found him to have the spirit of a son whose heart was being humbled so that he could become one of those "faithful and wise" stewards who would be trusted to rule over all the Lord has. Such an one qualifies for the first resurrection! Yet, there are those who declare themselves to be God — they have their reward in self – exaltation and the Lord shall not entrust His fullness unto those who would reach for the godhead!
The Lord now has a corporate man who is ready and willing to be obedient to Him, ready to let Him rule and to do what He wants to do. Whenever the Spirit speaks to me of the Day of the Lord into which we are entering, He says, "This is My day and I will have My way." It makes me so happy to hear that — how wonderful it shall be to behold! One day the Lord simply melted me as He showed me the joy that He felt that this day had come when He could truly have His way (for He has oft’ restrained Himself) and do to us those holy and righteous acts that He wants to do upon the earth to bless His people.
In Luke 12: 45-46 we see another kind of servant who is not in the first resurrection. "But if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink and to be drunken; the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers," ( in the second resurrection).
Now, who is this "bad guy?" The parable tell us that he is a servant of the Lord. Though he is the Lord’s servant he is not obedient nor is he faithful or wise. He is one who thinks, "The Lord isn’t coming right now, so I guess I can do my own thing." He continues to walk in the carnality of the old man nature when Jesus came into his life to deliver him and inwork His nature within him.
Do we have any Christians who yet act like this even though their names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? It looks like those who still live for self will be judged with the unbelievers; as in Luke 12: 47-49 " And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, (would an unbeliever know His will?) and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not (who doesn’t know? The unbeliever!) And did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whosoever much is given, of him shall much be required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. I come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?"
The Lord is saying that the great white throne judgment is not just for unbelievers. It also judges God’s servants! The Lord says,"I am come to send a fire on the earth. Fire is a symbol of the judgment of the law. Where does this fire come from? It proceeds from the throne. It is the judgment of the law flowing from the throne of God, which constitutes "the lake of fire." This lake of fire sent forth from God is not going to learn people forever, for that is against the nation of our Father. That fire is going to burn out all the disobedience, the rebellion — everything that is against God.
Have you ever felt that holy fire of God burning up the dross in your life? I have. Sometimes I’ve been so embarrassed by the things the Lord has shown me that was in my self that I wanted to hide from looking at it. He would speak to my heart, " I’m just dealing with your enemies and Mine." Another time, He said, " I knew about this all the time. You are the only one who didn’t know!" We have seen Him take our nature to His fire — to refine us, to purify us, to cleanse and to purge. That "pur" in purify and purge means "fire".
Not only will He purge the unbeliever, but He will also deal with His children who have never had their self-life dealt with.
I once heard a brother speak an awesome word. He told how he had served the Lord as a pastor for many years. Upon retirement he decided to run for a political post, but had a heart attack and died before the election. Finding himself in that other realm, he felt to entreat the Lord to give him more years because he really wanted to win that election. He had expected to be able to entreat Jesus face-to-face, but there was a high wall between them. When he asked the Lord to let him return, he gave forth his reasons as to how he had served him so long and well that Jesus should grant his request.
After a great demonstration of fiery power, the voice of Jesus said: "You have not served Me. You have served another god."
The man protested loudly against that when Jesus said, " You have served the god of self. All that you ever did was from self and to serve self. You have never sought My will to obey it."
The man was stunned but could not deny the truth of that statement. It brought him into great repentance and the Lord then allowed him to return to his body — but not for his reason — but to travel and tell his testimony to all, lest they serve " another god" as he had done. Would you not say he had encountered the fire of God’s burning?
The New Testament teaches that the fire shall try every man’s work. "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day (of the Lord!) shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but He himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire," 1 Cor. 3:11-15
Yes, He is dealing here with believers who have Jesus as their foundation. He is judging them as to what they have built on that foundation! A carnal believer shall see his works judged by fire. He will still be accepted by the Blood of Jesus shed for him, but he will suffer loss as the fiery law of God burns up the dross. He is given life after his works are tested in the fire.
Duet. 25:2-3 tells us of God’s dealing with the wicked and gives us insight into His nature. He says the wicked man shall be given 40 stripes for his fault — but no more lest thy brother should seem vile unto thee." The Israelites always stopped at 39, lest they should exceed the number God allowed. This is why Jesus had 39 stripes. If the wicked man is worthy to be beaten, he shall be beaten, but the Lord is not going to beat him so badly that he would be despised or not able to have any self-worth anymore. It was not in the Lord’s heart to beat him mercilessly or endlessly. Do you hear that? That is our Father’s nature! Punishment is unto correction rather than destruction or everlasting torment. He is going to deal with sin, but not to such a place that He will destroy the person!
Unbelievers may receive longer, more severe judgment as prescribed in the law, but some may be given " fewer stripes than the believer because they didn’t know God nor His will." And all this time, we thought "the bad guys" would get the most stripes! We should think about that! The carnal, fleshly believers are also going to endure stripes, perhaps more than some who knew not God
Are there some qualifications for being in the first resurrection? We have seen that self-serving disqualifies one and puts him in the second resurrection, so there must be some qualifications to first attain unto the blessed state.
Luke 14:12-14 gives us some light upon this. It says: "When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, either thy kinsman, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shall be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."
Have you ever thought of that before? There is to be a recompense for the good we have done. A friend, who cannot boast of much of this world’s goods, told me she wasn’t worried at all about what Y2K might bring. She said, " I’m confident the Lord is able to create miracles for us. I’ve proved Him in this. Every Christmas my husband and I would invite the street people in for dinner. I’d cook a turkey and all the trimmings. We’ve had from 20 to 70 people come. I’ve always wondered how the Lord was going to stretch that one turkey, but no one left hungry and we always had leftovers. I’m not worried about Y2K! I have seen the Lord do this and He may have the opportunity to do it again!"
We’re talking about how do we qualify for the first resurrection." Remember — whatever good things you do here, payday is not on Saturday night! Don’t think if you do something good you’re going to be instantly rewarded in this life. You may not get any reward in this life! But, our Lord says you will be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. What could be greater than to have this mortal body given such life that it won’t matter if we eat or not. No one can destroy your life. You can be in and out of this realm as the Spirit decrees. That is our reward! That is the hope of the church. Our recompense is having our corruptible bodies put on incorruption.
Those who would qualify must be those who practice mercy, grace, loving kindness and agape love, the traits of our Father.
There are three kinds of love: "Eros", which is physical attraction based in self-gratification. It’s the lowest kind of love there is.
The second kind of love — just a little higher than that, is "phileo", which is brotherly love. It is based on fairness and rights. If you’ve grown up in a large family, you are familiar with the striving to be treated fairly and to have all your rights. It is a big thing in our society today. Everyone is claiming their "rights."
There is another love, of the highest order, called "agape" love. It is the love of God. It is unconditional love; it is selfless and giving. It does not crave its own " rights" and depicts a spiritual maturity that will be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. This is the kind of love that is able to love with God’s love. The more I walk with God, the more I feel His Love for others fill me. As yet, I don’t know how to fully express this agape love for others.
This love is not to be confused with the "love" that the New Agers are talking about. The love they know is phileo love — the love that self can work up! This kind of love will always fail you. The only love that never fails is that love that proceeds from the Spirit of the Lord within.
I may not even like a person as far as his personality goes, or his actions are concerned, but if the Lord gives me His love for them, I can love them with agape, unconditional love. At one time I had close fellowship with several sisters. Their husbands both knew the Lord but were building on their foundations wood, hay, and stubble. There were no diamonds there at all!
The Lord put it on my heart just to love them, even though I saw nothing loveable in either one of them. One day I said to one brother: " I don’t care how you feel about yourself or how miserable you are (and obviously you are quite miserable), I love you — and God loves you — and I want you to know that."
He got mad at me for saying that! He said, "Elaine, I wish you’d stop saying that because I’m sure you don’t mean it and you know it isn’t true. How could you possibly love me?" (The trouble was that he didn’t love himself.)
I was on the spot. I answered, " Actually brother, you really aren’t that loveable! There are things about you that I wish were different, but it doesn’t seem to matter because Christ in me loves you so much that I don’t even see those things. They don’t really bother me because I see you as Christ sees you. You’re His child and He really loves you."
I said that to both of these brothers and they are doing much better in the Lord. (Now this is not the same as "seeing Christ in every man" even if they have not been born from above. I don’t mean that. That is New Age doctrine.)
Larry Hodges was ministering at our home some years ago and before he shared, one of these brothers stood up and said, " I’m only here because Elaine loves me!" That almost blew me away. He had made a lot of trouble for us at one time and the Lord told me, "It is important that you love him, for you are the ones he maligned." With our love he could recover himself from his low estate and believe that his heavenly Father loved him.
I have to admit that it is absolutely impossible for us to love the unlovely, but He who is within us — the Holy One of Israel, He whose nature is Love — can do it. When He asks you to do it, He enables you. And when it wanes, He will rekindle it because it comes from Him. "By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, that ye love one another." He is stretching that to include the "unlovely," whether saint or sinner.
One of the qualifications for resurrection is learning to love unconditionally (as the Lord puts it on your heart) and to show grace — holding no grudges. Also, we are to forgive from our hearts the sins (or debts) of other people. When the Old Testament talks about forgiving debts, it means sins. Forgive their sins — you are a priest!
Mat. 18:21-35 shows that God will cancel the debts of those who appeal to Him for grace through Christ. This is the parable of the servant who was forgiven a large debt, yet in turn refused to forgive a small debt of his fellow servant. When the Master found out about this, he delivered him unto the tormentors. Jesus’ conclusion was: "So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."
Have you ever not forgiven someone and have held resentment and bitterness in your heart and been delivered to the tormentors? You are tormented night and day by this thing that is eating at your innards. This is what that means — that you would be tormented until you would pay all that is due unto the other person. And what is that? It is forgiveness of their debt (sin) as yours have been forgiven.
This is the principle of the Jubilee — the cancellation of all debts. It is the key to receiving our inheritance, the promise of God — to forgive as we have been forgiven.
In conclusion, I’m going to share some foretastes that the Lord has given to His elect in our day.
1. Rosemary Garzon’s Mother: "In 1926, the Lord spoke this to me for several days: Isa. 26:19, "Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead."
"After a time of heavy travail, I was caught up in the spirit to the heavens, flying over the earth, and blowing a trumpet as I flew.
"I saw the whole earth below as a vast graveyard. Tombstones covered the face of the earth. I beheld the earth rolling back, and the dead were cast out. They were clothed with white raiment as they came out of the earth. I then spoke these words: ‘And the earth shall cast out the dead at the voice of the Son of God!’ The sounding of the trumpet was so heavy upon me that I was as a drunken man. I could scarcely walk without staggering for days. No wonder the prophets of old fell as dead men when encountering God. No man could look upon Him and live again in the natural realm.
"All translations agree that dew is sparkling light. "Wake and sing – your covering is as the sparkling Light of His Life!" This is that transfiguration where Jesus was clothed upon with light! Death is swallowed up in life!"
2. Rosemary’s daughter: My twelve-year-old girl had a prophetic dream concerning the death of my mother six months later. She saw a man pour a thick white substance over her grandmother’s body as she lay in the coffin. He placed a key in her hand before closing the lid. My daughter knew that the thick white substance was for the purpose of bringing her back to life later. This was pure frankincense, a symbol of the very Life of Jesus Christ.
Frankincense was put upon the 12 loaves of shew bread. They typify those of His governing Body of kings and priests after the order of Melchesidec who dwell in that Holy Place before the presence of His Face continually. (Frankincense is not used in embalming because it speaks of His Life-giving Spirit).
3. A Lady in Colorado: I was told of a godly lady who had a close relationship with the Lord. Around 20 years after her death, the family wanted to move her body to another cemetery. They had her body exhumed and decided to open the casket to see the condition of her remains. Instead of the expected stench, a fragrant odor like flowers and spices came out of the open casket. This was completely unexplainable! This story was repeated throughout the area for a number of years.
4. Sissy Tillery: Sissy had a vision. She was walking with Jesus. He took her to a bush and showed her the cocoon of a butterfly. The little thing inside was getting too big for the cocoon and was trying to burst out. Then a beautiful butterfly came out – all shining, with golden wings. The Lord told her that the first of the firstfruits are being pressured to break their cocoons (bodies) so they can emerge.
In another vision, she saw a huge cave filled with darkness and the people there were wrapped in burlap wraps. Then Jesus stood at the door and held out His hands and cried, "Come out, My people," and they came out of the darkness and began to unwrap themselves as Jesus shined His light on them.
5. Mary Rose: I was only a few weeks old in the Lord when I heard Him say: "This new life that has come to live within you will overtake the outer man."
That same year, I was reading about Enoch in the Word. The words just shot out at me, and I heard the Lord say, "As it was with Enoch, so shall it be with thee. Enoch walked with God and he pleased God and God took him, for he was not."
I asked, "Lord, what was he not?"
He answered, "He became nothing so that God became all-in-all in him!" We are of that "Enoch generation!
Again, I awoke one morning and His presence was so awesome that I was just quaking before Him. I got out of bed and the Spirit rent my flesh asunder and He took one step forward out of my body. He said, "Run to the mirror," and I did. I looked in the mirror and I saw the transfiguration. I saw Him. I saw myself, but it was Him inside of me. He said, "It has been Christ in you, the hope of glory, but ultimately, it will become Christ in you the glory of God!"
He told me that the word for this year was: "Arise and shine in /99!" This is for our day!
6. Pat Savas: A friend of mine asked the Lord how this resurrection was going to happen and He gave her one word: "Popcorn". When you think about it, it is the immortality that is within us that is coming out and swallowing up mortality.
In March, on my 61st birthday, I was feeling like nothing because I’m out of the ministry – out of everything. I’m taking care of my husband who is ill. That is where God has me. I said, " Is this it, Lord? This nothingness? Is that what you want for me for the rest of my time here?"
He said, " Stand still and let me finish this work in you." Then He began to give me images of the cocoon and butterfly. First, He called me, " You worm Jacob." Then He began to give me images of the metamorphosis. About a month later I was crying out to Him and saying, " Show me thy glory. I need to see Your glory. I’m all alone here in this dark cocoon and I need to see Your glory."
He answered immediately, " You are my glory." I know this is a word for each of the firstfruits company.
Several months later I was again crying out, "Father, this has been a long trek for me." (I’ve always felt like an alien in an alien land. I’ve always felt I came from somewhere else and belong there) "If only I could see You, Father. If only I could see You!"
He said, "Better to be Me than to see Me." He never says what I think He’s going to!
About the same time as Rosemary’s trees were blooming last fall, I was getting these images of the cocoon and butterfly. I never connected it to Tabernacles, but the Lord said to me, "By staying in your tabernacle until the seventh day (which means completion), you are keeping the Feast of Tabernacles. And you stay there until you are completed!"
That day I had had a particularly hard day. I was out on the patio crying out. "Christ Jesus, rise up in me." I know I am walking in resurrection power because I cannot do this. Jesus has to do it in me. I spoke to myself. " Just rise up and embrace the Father’s will. Just rise up and embrace the Father’s will." As I was praying, a golden butterfly came and sat next to me. That butterfly did not move. It just stayed there even though I was crying out to my Father.
The next day I took my husband to the beach to get a little sun. We say by the harbor watching the boats. I looked over and saw a boat named "Chrysalis." Did you ever think a boat would be called Chrysalis? Elaine, I believe what you have said. Christ Jesus is already within us and I can now confidently say, as I never could before, "Yes, I am of that generation upon whom the ends of the age has come." And we are going to be changed into the perfect image of the first-born Son. We will not be Jesus, but we will be exactly like Him. When people see us, they will see the Father like He told me, " Better to be Me than to see Me."
7. Elaine Cook: "I am reminded of a word that seems to be relevant here. One spring we ordered a new vehicle and w had to wait ten days or more for it to be shipped here. Since we couldn’t go anywhere, we decided to spend the time in prayer. At the beginning of that time, I saw with the seeing eye (Prov. 20:12), the Lord holding Bill and I in His arms, close to His Bosom. That made us feel good, but we didn’t understand what it meant.
At the end of this seeking time, I saw this again, exactly as before. Yet, before My wondering eyes, I saw us melt right into the Lord. I say myself looking out through His eyes, seeing things as He saw them, hearing through His ears and knowing all things from His heart. Then He told me, " Throughout this whole Church Age I have been teaching My people what it means to have Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now, I am, in this new age, teaching My people what it means to be in Christ." When we are in Christ, we only know and do the things of our Father, like Jesus said.
8. Kathryn Dawson-Lowe: In the spirit, I saw Jesus rising from the dead. He rose up through His graveclothes and left tem behind.
Then I saw Lazarus come forth. He had to take the graveclothes off. The Lord showed me that Lazarus stands for revival, and Jesus stands for resurrection.
Revival (Lazarus) dies again, but resurrection (Jesus) never dies!
The Lord impressed upon me that we would see Revival and Resurrection side by side. Those that came out of resurrection, came into new life.
9. Julie Francisco: I was inquiring of the Lord, "Lord, I am tired of hearing what others are saying about revival. I want to hear from you." This is what I felt the Lord spoke to my heart:
" There will be no more revivals, child, like there were in the past — the church age is passing away and this is My New Day. The word I speak today is Resurrection Life. This is the word I am speaking to My people and it’s the word I’m speaking to you. This is for you; believe Me when I say this. My life is even now rising within you, in this, My New Day. Resurrection life! Rejoice in Me today!"
It seems I need to remain open to the Lord regarding these things. There are so many precious ones praying for revival. What I see are "Moves of God" ushering His people into the Feast of Tabernacles, (but no "great revivals" as in the past). In any case, I give this all to the Lord and say "yea and amen" to Resurrection Life.