Everything Depends on the Truth of Your Viewpoint
Beloved Family… I’ve always been amazed by the incredible amount of diversity and all the conflicting perspectives and opinions that exist and compete with each other in this fallen, broken world. Just by observing what’s always going on around the globe, you will see the enormously differing arrays of people groups and their unique cultures, customs, traditions, cultural lifestyles and subjective imperatives. That presents a menu of possible options that, to me, is truly mind-boggling. But what are we to make of this? What is the origin of all of this? Well, if you have a Bible-based worldview, probably sooner or later, all of this diversity may bring this text to your mind:
“Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do; and now nothing, which they purpose to do, will be impossible for them.
“Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there, over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.Therefore its name was called Babel because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:1-9 Emphasis added.)
A Matter of Perspective
So, actually, in light of what Scripture reveals to us, each human has a subjective ‘grid’ that resembles what a set of eyeglasses or contact lenses do to our ability to see. The subjective grid, that is unique to each human, filters and changes the objective reality the person is perceiving. The subjective grid, in one way or another, changes how we interpret and understand what we’re taking into our brain and mind. So what we think we see and what we’re so sure that we know, are often vastly different from the way objective Reality really is! And that is why we must be trained to defer to God’s Living and written Word, rather than idolizing our own Sin-damaged perspectives, opinions, ideas and feelings.
Isaiah 55:6-9
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Emphasis added.)
Dear ones… this division or, ‘diversity’, as the modern humanistic world likes to call it, can be viewed from two differing perspectives. If we look at it from the perspective of Almighty God’s incredibly complex, multi-leveled Creation, we see His infinite Freedom and Creative Ability at work. In its pure essence, everything God has created is ‘very good’ and all of it has a wonderful, fruitful, beneficial purpose. It is incredibly multi-layered and wonderful in its variety and diversity. Who would not marvel at the ingenuity and wisdom of its design and the connectedness that makes all of that into the unified whole we call ‘The Universe’?
But when we look at it from the spiritual perspective of God’s revelation of what the Serpent and his Word-rejecting Sin did to damage, distort and disfigure the pristine perfection of Adam and Eve’s human nature, and that of the human race that was begotten by them, we see that the Unity and Integrity of our race has been shredded and mortally wounded. God’s revelation (and our personal observations) tell us that Death is at work in all of it. It permeates our flesh and grossly disfigures our ability to understand and appreciate and cooperate with each other. Mankind has lost its ability to serve as God’s image and likeness. We were made to radiate and reflect and share His Lovingkindness (as He continually showers it upon us all) with the rest of His Creation that is all around us. Creation was designed to love and respect and cooperate with itself, by living and operating as one with its Creator!
Tragically, after our Fall into Sin and Death, even in our most cherished and intimate relationships, such as marriage and family, human beings struggle mightily; and we often fail to fulfill even the best and most noble of our intentions. We violate our promises and vows, and break the heartfelt oaths we make to be true and good to each other. Is it not true that this death continues to work in us even though we hate it and do not want to have anything to do with it? And is that disintegration process of the death with which Sin infected Creation not what causes the divisiveness and bitter conflicts that plague even the noblest intentions of all, even those who are proponents and proclaimers of the world’s vast array of man-controlled religions?
The Death that, as a result of Sin; invaded our nature and all the other levels of God’s Creation, continually causes the fabric of this time and space dimension of God’s physical universe to disintegrate and fizzle out and come apart at its seams. Scientists call it ‘The Law of Entropy’. Nothing lasts; everything keeps declining and disintegrating and changing and dying out. Our earthly reality is like a fleeting puff of billowing smoke.
Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” What advantage does man have in all his work, which he does under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. Also, the sun rises and the sun sets, and hastening to its place it rises there again. Blowing toward the south, then turning toward the north, the wind continues swirling along; and on its circular courses, the wind returns. All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full.To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again. All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing. That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done.
“So there is nothing new UNDER THE SUN. Is there anything of which one might say, “See this, it is new”? Already it has existed for ages, which were before us. There is no remembrance of earlier things; and also of the later things which will occur, there will be for them no remembrance among those who will come later still.” (emphasis added)
Beloved… what is the Lord conveying to us through His written Word? What does He want to teach to those Jewish and non-Jewish disciples of His Word whom He has chosen to serve as His ‘Light to the Gentiles’? And in those tumultuous, strife-filled Last Days, what will He expect of that band of disciples that will have to be prepared and made ready to usher in the Return of His beloved risen Son? The book of Revelation tells us that the world will be filled with conflict and confusion, but yet disciples are ordered to overcome evil with Good, instead of being overcome by it! How can such a supernatural level of being and doing, be possible?
Daniel tells us the ‘knowledge will increase’ and so the more data and input and diversity of opinions that will be bombarding humans all over the earth, the more arrogance and rage and opposition and disintegration we will see ripping human societies apart. But God’s revelation lets us know that there is a viewpoint (His viewpoint) that changes everything. There is that natural viewpoint, which is common to us all, that allows us to see things as they are ‘under the sun’… but… there is also a viewpoint that, if we’re equipped to have access to it, allows us to see and understand things as God sees them in Eternity, where they exist in the Fullness of Perfection, ‘above the sun’.
“Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:6-9)
Football and Fallen Flesh
Thinking of the confusion and division and lack of understanding and all the strife, and mortal conflict to which ‘the human condition’ leads, reminds me of something I saw take place one autumn afternoon several decades ago. The football season was at its height. One Saturday afternoon I was watching a game between two major college teams. Suddenly a fight broke out between two players and it immediately stopped the flow of the game. And then, in seconds, players from both benches began running out onto the field, like two opposing armies ready to tear into each other. They split up into little bunches from one end of the field to the other, flailing, clawing and kicking at each other. The outbreak was so sudden and so widespread that the few coaches, officials and security guards could do nothing to stop it from spreading and intensifying.
So the riot ran its course for the next few minutes, while the people in the stands and the TV audience across the nation watched what was taking place on that field in fascination and dread. It was an ugly, horrifying, and yes, embarrassing scene. These were university students… ostensibly part of our nation’s upper crust. Apparently, they were attending their schools to become part of the future leadership of our nation’s business, educational and political class. But now they were showing their true colors. The fallen Death-ridden flesh that is in all of us was instantly aroused to a frightening level of rage and malicious destructive violence. They were university students that were in the process of receiving their education, training, and preparation for future leadership – but how quickly they lost all sense of control; how quickly they transformed into a riotous melee of snarling, raging beasts!
That incident made a deep and painful impression on me. Something about it disturbed me to the core of my being. And a few days later, I believe I was able to understand why. I remember I was walking across a blacktopped parking lot. It was a beautiful crisp sunny autumn afternoon. A strong wind was blowing, and suddenly I saw something that vividly reminded me of the wretched scene I had seen a few days before on my television screen. The wind was blowing many of the dried leaves that had fallen from the trees and swirling them around. And suddenly it hit me – the dynamic I saw in the way the wind gusts were controlling those fallen leaves looked exactly the same as the dynamics I had seen taking place on that football field, among that raging, snarling mass of… fallen human beings!
That Invisible Force
The leaves were forced to gather in bunches. And they were made to swirl around, all across the expanse of that blacktopped parking lot. They were caught up by gusts of wind. And they were helpless to resist. They were at the mercy of a much stronger invisible force. The invisible wind gusts easily picked all of those leaves up and forced them to swirl round and round and crash into each other all across the parking lot. And that was the exact same energy dynamic I had seen suddenly overtake about two hundred college athletes the previous Saturday afternoon!
So I realized why I had felt such revulsion when I witnessed the ugliness of that football brawl. It wasn’t just a bunch of human beings that were having a disagreement. There was something much more sinister and powerful at work than the humans that were visible. I had been watching the activity of a much more powerful force that was invisible to the natural naked eye. I realized that what had disturbed me so much was the fact that there were myriads of unclean spirits in that stadium, inciting and arousing the fallen flesh of dozens of young men, filling them with rage and hatred and driving them to want to bash one another to a bloody pulp for no real reason!
In our flesh, there lurks that… ‘I shall be as God’ self-life mechanism. And that is what those demonic spirits delight in arousing. When they succeed, they generate spasms of violent murderous rage within their human victims. That’s what overtook all of those football players. I saw them caught in the grip of something about which they were totally unaware! Their violent rage was being aroused and orchestrated by unclean spirits that knew exactly how to incite and activate the Death that is always abiding and working within the flesh of the fallen human race.
Those dark powers are always seeking to stir up the destructive disintegrating force of the Sin and Death that lurk within us all. And what was really going on during that melee was being done for destructive purposes that none of their human victims were aware of. Had they been aware, not one of them would have wanted, or dared, to participate in that ugly melee!
A Mindless Rage
Beloved, most of us cannot even imagine how vicious we can become, in seconds, if we are put into the right stimulating circumstances. Nor can we explain or justify or free ourselves of such spasms of violent behavior once we are caught up in them. We lose total awareness of Truth and Reality, and can no longer be ourselves. No human in his or her right mind, if they knew what was really going on, would choose to have anything to do with those rabble-rousing spirits of division and conflict such as those that took over what was happening on that football field.
And when I see the criticism and negativity and angry antagonistic strife, so common today in our social media and news reports and commentaries and panel discussions that bombard us from all other parts of the modern world… I shudder at humanity’s cluelessness and lack of spiritual discernment. Unclean spirits, similar to those that manipulated and drove the football players I saw, are having a field day in every level of society, even throughout the highest power structures and elite levels of every nation in existence! I’m convinced that we’re all seeing more of the same demonically-instigated, mindless rage and conflict that I saw take place on that football field.
Most of us are blind to the depths to the spiritual dimension from which we can be deceived and manipulated. All of those enraged young men in that football riot were actually being manipulated and dragged into partaking in that melee so that they could expedite and hasten their own mutual self-destruction! As one professional pundit said recently, when he was describing the people who are so intent on bringing down their own president and derailing everything he and his administration are trying to do, “they act like people that have boarded a large plane and, while they are in flight, are hoping and wishing that it will crash!”
In the Last Days…
Beloved, this is the insanity that Sin and Death have inflicted on us! And this is why God had to take the steps He took in Genesis to bring in the Flood in Genesis 6 and scatter the human race at the Tower of Babel in Genesis chapter 11! He had to cleanse the earth of all the human satanic instruments. And later, He had to confuse their language so they would not be able to continue to unite and join their intelligence and talent and energies in one titanic spasm of self-destruction! If God hadn’t done what He did, we would have destroyed each other, and ourselves, a long time ago! But… in the Last Days… as we near the Climax of all of human history… this is the way Scripture says this world is going to be:
2 Timothy 3:1‑4
“But realize this, that in the Last Days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…”
In the book of Revelation, we see the following description of the escalating violence of the world conditions that will emerge toward the end of days:
Revelation 6:14-17
“The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
What are God’s Disciples To Do?
So, since this present world is going to witness and experience the differences between these two conflicting viewpoint perspectives, we’d do well to take note of the instructions Paul left for us in his letter to the Colossian disciples:
Colossians 3:1-3
“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking THE THINGS ABOVE, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, NOT ON THE THINGS THAT ARE ON EARTH. For you (that is, your radically independent fallen flesh, was crucified with Messiah, and you) have died (to living from that God-less radically independent perspective) and your life is (from now on) HIDDEN WITH CHRIST (in the Heavenly Realms) IN GOD!” (Amplification and emphasis added)
Disciples are now equipped to operate from that ‘in God’ perspective, which is what I mean by being able to perceive and focus upon the way everything is ‘above the sun’. From that ‘by faith in God’s revealed Word’ perspective, we can operate out of the Fullness of God’s Perfection. We can fly habitually at the same altitude levels at which God’s Heavenly Hosts are able to function! At that ‘above the sun’ level, all of God’s Works of Creation and Redemption are completely finished and done to Absolute Perfection! At that level, God and those who are one with Him in Spirit, and in Truth, can abide in Total Rest and Peace and Contentment and Wellbeing! At that level, God’s Perfection enfolds us and nothing will ever be able to force that blessed state to change or diminish or stop!
And this is why God tells His own to abide there with Him… EVEN NOW… by faith in His Perfect Credibility and Trustworthiness… even though we must still physically abide and work on this fallen planet in this demon-oppressed universe. The ‘above the sun’ perspective about which God’s written Word informs us, lets us know that two ‘realities’ are taking place at the same time. It’s as if Reality has two tracks that are running simultaneously. One reveals the dimension of Eternity, where everything is done and exists in its completed state, and the other reveals our earthly, temporary time and space dimension that we experience here on Earth.
When seen in that light, the ‘under the sun’ perspective is similar to watching a movie about a historical event, say like a football game that was played in the past. The issue is already decided. The final score is in the record books. But as you watch the re-run of the game that was filmed, you experience the original excitement and uncertainty that the athletes and spectators experienced when the game was actually being played. It seems and feels as if nothing has been finished or resolved… but that’s not true. The Truth is, is the game is finished and done with. And the winner and loser have already been determined in actual fact. That is why Scripture gives us such a seemingly unrealistic command concerning the viewpoint we are to habitually entertain while we live in this fallen world:
Colossians 3:1-4
“… Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth! For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our Life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in Glory!“ (Emphasis added.)
Dear ones, do you see it? Our God-given faith enables us to remain forever rooted in the unchangeable Reality and Truth that God’s Perfect Living Resurrected Word is abiding within us to impart and to and share with us. He’s sharing His Eternally Perfect Righteous Resurrection Life with us even now! Yes, we still have to witness the influence and interference of our demonic enemies at work in other people. But God, through His Living Word and Holy Spirit has already intervened. So He is here to connect us to Himself and to His ‘above the sun’ Perfect Eternal Reality and Fullness! And by the Gift of His indwelling Spirit, He empowers us to receive everything we need from Him and to cooperate with Him as He transmits what He has already done, ‘above the sun’, into this fallen demon-possessed world ‘under the sun’… THROUGH OUR OBEDIENT FAITH!
This is what His awesome New Covenant Reality makes possible for us! Now, we can cooperate with God, as He transforms what is in this time and space world into the way everything is in the Eternal Kingdom of Heaven! Because the Holy Spirit has transformed and regenerated us, we are now serving as God’s Living New Covenant Temple! His Perfect Presence lives and works from within us, and is able to radiate forth from us… into this fallen, dying, desperately needy world!
Yes, the New Covenant offers to us the privilege and responsibility, of serving as God’s Royal Priesthood on Earth… ‘points of entry’ for God’s Word and Spirit to be present and to work from within us in this world’s ‘under the sun’ time and space dimension. Now God can work what belongs to Him, ‘above the sun’, into and through… us… to ‘garden’ and ‘purify’ and transform His earthly Creation, as only He can do.
Ezekiel 47:1-12
“Then he brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, for the house faced east. And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from south of the altar. He brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate by way of the gate that faces east. And behold, water was trickling from the south side.
When the man went out toward the east with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the knees. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the loins. Again he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not ford, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded. He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?”
“Then he brought me back to the bank of the river. Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river there were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then he said to me, “These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah; then they go toward the sea (the Dead Sea), being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea become fresh. It will come about that every living creature, which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live.
And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there and the others become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. And it will come about, that fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to Eneglaim there will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the Great (Mediterranean) Sea, very many. But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
Dear Ones… can you see what God is telling us? Can you see what is in His heart’s desire to be and to do for us? He is here to bring the living dead human race back into a full share of His own Eternal Life! He is here to make us one with Himself so that we can serve as His true and authentic image and likeness! It is for this awesome task that we have been chosen and commissioned to serve as true disciples of His Living Word. It is for this that God has filled us with His own Holy Spirit!
So the Truth is, that even now, before the end of this progressive redemptive work arrives, we are equipped to remain immune and protected from being caught up in the maelstrom of Evil and Wickedness that our demonic enemies keep stirring up. We are equipped to reside permanently above and beyond all of the swirling earthly selfishness and pride and arrogant stupidity. As long as we keep our heads and remain ever-aware that we are forever one with our Messiah in God… then there is nothing any enemy can do to drag us into anything that is deadly and against the will of our Heavenly Father!
We belong to Almighty God now, and no longer is there any connection whatever between what we are now, and what we once were at the beginning of our earthly existence! We are protected and immune from having to be dragged back into the destructive demonic entanglements that continue to enshroud this fallen world.
1 Peter 1:1-2
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May Grace and Peace be yours IN THE FULLEST MEASURE!” (Emphasis added.)
It is vitally important that all Last Days disciples are able to attain a true, accurate and precise knowledge of our awesome God and all that He has already done to cover us. We must have a firm grasp on how utterly Perfect He is. We must sink the roots of our personal and most intimate sensibilities as far into the Eternal (changeless) Reality of His Infinite Perfection and airtight, impregnable Blood Covenant Loyalty to us as is humanly possible. We must be so in touch with His Flawless All-Sufficient Reliability and Dependability, that we actually learn to live in the total Peace and Rest that knowing God, as He truly is, enables human beings to do.
Just as Yeshua maintained His focus on His Father’s Eternal Perfection, and just as Stephen remained focused on Yeshua’s All-Sufficient Covering, we too must grow to be experts in the experiential knowledge of God’s Nature, Character, and Disposition. Beloved, that is exactly what that original Exodus generation of His beloved chosen people failed to learn during their forty years of ‘boot camp training’ in the wilderness of Sinai.
Deuteronomy 1:26-36
“Yet you were not willing to go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God;and you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.Where can we go up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified to heaven. And besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there.
”’Then I said to you, ‘Do not be shocked, nor fear them. The Lord your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.’ But for all this, you did not trust the Lord your God,who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.
“Then the Lord heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and took an oath, saying, ‘Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers,except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and to his sons I will give the land on which he has set foot, because he has followed the Lord fully.’”
Hebrews 4:1-7
“Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His Rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had Good News preached to us, just as they also; but the Word they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that Rest, just as He has said,
“As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My Rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.”
“Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had Good News preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts!” (Emphasis added.)
Beloved, as we get closer and closer to the climactic events of human history, how is our boot camp training progressing? How far along are we in knowing and being deeply rooted in the knowledge of our God and how infinitely Perfect and eternally Reliable He truly is? Have we sunk deep roots into the full awareness of His Invincibly Perfect Lovingkindness toward us? Do we have a deep emotional and mental grasp on the outrageous confidence we can afford to have in Him? Do we view Reality through a paradigm that is airtight in its outrageous confidence in our Airtight God?
Isaiah 26:2-4
“Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter, the one that remains faithful. The steadfast of mind You will keep in PERFECT PEACE because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in God the Lord, we have an Everlasting Rock!”(Emphasis added.)
Philippians 4:4-7
“REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING, BUT IN EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Emphasis added.)
When human history as we know it begins to reach its ultimate Climax… pay close attention to the kind of disciples the Fulfillment of God’s Plan is going to require! Try to imagine their unwavering focus and determination and the unshakable confidence that abides permanently within them. They are the ones that God’s Holy Spirit will produce and train and develop and deploy all around the world when that awesome time arrives! Then the Fullness of the New Covenant Gift of the Holy Spirit will be seen by all of Creation. And all sentient beings will see that company of Royal Priests and Prophets ushering in the Eternal Reign of the King of kings and Lord of lords.
So my question is this… will we be ready and fit to take our assigned place within their ranks by the time the coming Fulfillment arrives?
Joel 2: 1b-11a
“For the Day of the Lord is coming; surely it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, so there is a great and mighty people; there has never been anything like it, nor will there be again after it to the years of many generations.
A fire consumes before them and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them but a desolate wilderness behind them, and nothing at all escapes them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; and like war horses, so they run. With a noise as of chariots, they leap on the tops of the mountains, like the crackling of a flame of fire consuming the stubble, like a mighty people arranged for battle.
Before them the people are in anguish; all faces turn pale. They run like mighty men, they climb the wall like soldiers; and they each march in line, nor do they deviate from their paths. They do not crowd each other, they march everyone in his path; when they burst through the defenses, they do not break ranks. They rush on the city, they run on the wall; they climb into the houses, they enter through the windows like a thief.
Before them the earth quakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and the moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness. The Lord utters His voice before His army; surely His camp is very great, for strong is he who carries out His Word!”
Joel and Paul describe the altitude level at which New Covenant disciples are equipped to see what is going on and to be able to ‘fly’ through it in total overcoming Triumph. He warned us to make sure we would be able to maintain the ‘above the sun’ viewpoint and perspectives that come from living permanently at that ‘above the sun’ altitude level. From now on, God expects His New Covenant Royal Priesthood to develop and work from that perspective. So let’s make sure we develop the skill and art of abiding in the Lord and sharing His awesome Eternally Perfect and Complete Rest and Peace, as we learn to abide with Him and never, ever forget to share His Eternal Viewpoint and to operate from it at all times and in all things:
Don’t Be Deceived
Can you see that Paul is showing us the difference between those two possible viewpoint perspectives? The Eternal Heavenly perspective of God that abides ‘above the sun’ – and the temporary, here today, gone tomorrow, earthly perspective – the way things appear to those that are trapped in the world below, ‘under the sun’? That ‘under the sun’ viewpoint is the perspective in which all unrepentant fallen flesh always remains mired.
To such people, everything seems to be ‘never good enough’ and they assume that everyone is ‘out to get them’. That perspective forces them to see everything as ‘hopelessly inadequate and in need of improvement’. It limits them to assume that there is no god but Self. It blinds people to what the True Living God sent His Living Word to be and to do in order to redeem, restore, regenerate and reconcile for us whatever Sin has blasted and stolen from us.
So to such people, nothing is ever ‘good enough’ – everything is ‘up in the air,’ ‘up for grabs,’ and all outcomes are still to be determined. That is why they scratch and claw and strive so relentlessly to gain the advantage and attain supremacy. They are terrified and cannot stop themselves from becoming ‘control freaks’… in a temporal world that is doomed to failure and futility… and whose end is approaching quickly.
But God has revealed that all things in His Works of Creation, Redemption and full Restoration, are already finished and Consummated to Perfection in His Eternal Mind, Will, and Plan. In His dimension, everything has been made to be ‘Very Good’… that is, PERFECT! What He has for us ‘above the sun’ is His everlasting Gift to us. And we are even now regenerated and Spirit-filled and equipped to receive and enjoy and share this Gift here on Earth. This is how we can glorify God… by reflecting and embodying this ‘above the sun’ Perfection with our thoughts, actions, reactions, and interactions. We are able to bless and care for one another and use and share the many gifts that His precious Spirit continually transmits to us from ‘above the sun’, to His Eternal Glory and Praise.
But fallen flesh is no longer able to access that Heavenly wavelength and the perspective that it gives. It cannot see the way Reality is and the way it operates ‘above the sun’… it can only perceive the way the powers of Darkness force people to see and to act, react and interact, on this fallen, cursed demon-oppressed earth. This is why so many people on Earth can’t help but obsess over how the powers of Darkness manipulate everything that is ‘under the sun’. And that is why fallen flesh is always so hostile, critical, suspicious, negative, pushy and self-serving in its perspectives and pursuits. That perspective is what has created what we call this dog-eat-dog world. It is the essence of fallen Man’s humanistic Self-worship.
Abide With Him
Beloved, we must not allow ourselves to be deceived into being stuck in that ‘under the sun’ viewpoint. Use everything that happens, or does not happen, during your boot camp training, to remind yourself of who and what the New Covenant has enabled you to be. Receive God’s New Covenant Blessing and Inheritance and embed them deeply into your mind and will and heart. Root your entire being, past, present, and future, into God’s Eternally Perfect and Complete Blood Covenant Ground. Learn to abide ‘AS ONE’ with your awesome Creator, the Living Word of God, in His Father’s Perfect Peace and Rest.
As long as we remain one with Messiah Yeshua, whatever happens to Him… also happens to us! Whatever He has, is ours! His Living Word’s Resurrection Life becomes our Resurrection Life! His uncreated Spirit permeates our God-given spirits! And this is where God always desires us to remain firmly rooted. So let’s learn to identify with our Messiah, while we still have time to learn to do it. Everything that happens and doesn’t happen in the present is ‘raw material’ that we can use to help us develop the skill of staying focused on God and rooted in His Changeless ‘above the sun’ Perfection and Eternal Wellbeing.
Revelation 21:1-7
“Then I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, made ready as a Bride adorned for her Husband.And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the Tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
“And He who sits on the Throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life, without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.”
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