GOD’S ETERNAL BLOOD COVENANT PATTERN – Our Need to Develop ‘Covenant Eyes’
Beloved Family… can you see that everyone who is part of this current generation has begun to venture into uncharted territory? It’s uncharted because the danger of our republic undergoing total destruction has never before been this high. In our American national experience, during the 1860’s, the United States underwent the agony of a brutal and bloody civil war that tore into the fabric of our young nation. And we faced even greater dangers during the agony of World War II. The damage and carnage and painful ill-effects of those disasters were enormous and widespread.
But, by God’s grace, we survived all of that. And our people were eventually able to pull out of their temporary nosedives and change course, and move beyond them. But now, however, the whole world is caught up in another kind of deadly civil war that is global in scope! Therefore it is the ultimate inescapable event. At present, it isn’t a ‘hot war’ that is being fought with weapons or military invasions; at least not yet. Nevertheless, we are all caught up in a ‘cold war,’ a struggle, that has the potential to erupt into violence and destroy just about everything the many nations around the world have stood for throughout their histories!
In America, after the USA has reached the outcome of the 2020 presidential election… the stakes and the aftermath will ensue, making it clear that, regardless of which side has won that momentous election… the ramifications will blend in with the other power struggle conflicts that are simultaneously taking place all across the globe. The winners will enjoy a period of extended existence and latitude in which to operate. But the losers will face sudden retribution, dismemberment and death. That’s how dire and deadly this Last Days level of struggle truly is.
There will be no mercy and no quarter given by either side.
“They worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His Name and His Tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.
“It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. HERE IS THE PERSEVERANCE AND THE FAITH OF THE SAINTS!” (Revelation 13:4-10. Emphasis added.)
Sheer desperation will drive those who are being blinded, to begin to make dire and incredibly dangerous and risky decisions in their effort to claw and scratch to survive. And both sides will concoct potentially disastrous schemes to counter and neutralize each other. They’ll resort to sabotage, staged violent civil turbulence, constant undermining of the economy, and treasonous collaboration with foreign enemies. They incessantly promote subversive schemes to enrich themselves… in collaboration with corrupt politicians and the supportive financing of globalist oligarchs who are intent on destroying the nations that prevent or delay the creation and installation of their one world governmental agenda. And they will, most definitely, keep doing whatever they can to silence and stamp out the faith initiatives of Christian and Jewish people.
The losers will desperately seek to regain their former power and control and will care mostly about their survival and continued advantage. They’ll pay little or no heed to the enormous amounts of ‘collateral damage’ that their frantic efforts to survive will cause to the general public and the infrastructure of the nation. To maintain their grip on wealth, privilege and power, they’ll feel compelled to destroy every national infrastructure, and impinge upon the former rights and freedoms of the peoples! The climate that these current events will create will make it easier and easier for many to slide into the quagmire of violent conflict, bloodshed, tyranny, and civil chaos. Sheer desperation and the will to survive will drive many, on both sides, to intensify their mutually destructive efforts and escalate the downfall of our entire way of life.
Principles, Truth, Morality and the Rule of Law will be progressively sacrificed on the altars of expedient pragmatism. And when all the former undergirding support columns of those structures crumble and disintegrate, the way of life most of us have been enjoying will begin to disappear entirely! So an era of a ‘no holds barred struggle to the death’ is likely to become the norm… as each side continues to strive to gain an unbreakable death grip on its opponent’s throat.
In such circumstances, it will become extremely easy for those caught up in the conflict, to quickly descend to utterly savage and primeval levels of consciousness and behavior. When it’s a matter of ‘kill or be killed’, and surviving or dying, people stop thinking in terms of right and wrong, or good and bad. No longer do they see themselves to be ‘principled believers’ or ‘moral stalwarts.’ Instead, they’re driven to ‘fight fire with fire,’ and to ‘hit back as hard as possible’ because their very survival will be at stake.
And, of course, believers will not be exempt! We’ll be thrust right in to the middle of the chaos. And once our natural feelings of outrage, anger and vengeance are aroused, we too will be gravely tempted to begin to look down on those who despise, oppose and threaten us. And because they offend and anger us, we’ll feel justified and free to retaliate in kind! And that, dear friends, is the ‘slippery slope’ that quickly pulls more and more people into the horrors of armed combat, total hatred, and inevitable mutual destruction!
But, fortunately, this is not the whole story. Nor is it anything new. People of many previous generations have had to face the very same issues and dire extremely dangerous situations. And, by God’s Grace, we have a lot more reality to work with than what I’ve just listed. There is a lot I have not yet mentioned that can and must be factored into the mix of all these things. The self-adoring fallen people who vie for power and control in any era are not the supreme prime movers and operators of the machinery that runs this universe! Someone far wiser and much more powerful and authoritative than the world of Sin-corrupted humanity is actually in charge of running things. The Living God of Israel is the Supreme Lord of the entire universe. And He has revealed Himself and His ways… first to Israel… and then through Israel… to the rest of mankind… including us:
“So the common man has been humbled and the man of importance has been abased, but do not forgive them. Enter the rock and hide in the dust from the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty. The proud look of man will be abased and the loftiness of man will be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
“For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoning against everyone who is proud and lofty and against everyone who is lifted up, that he may be abased. And it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up, against all the oaks of Bashan, against all the lofty mountains, against all the hills that are lifted up, against every high tower, against every fortified wall, against all the ships of Tarshish and against all the beautiful craft.
“The pride of man will be humbled and the loftiness of men will be abased; and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day, but the idols will completely vanish. Men will go into caves of the rocks and into holes of the ground before the terror of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty, when He arises to make the earth tremble.
“In that day men will cast away to the moles and the bats their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, in order to go into the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs before the terror of the Lord and the Splendor of His Majesty, when He arises to make the earth tremble. Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; for why should he be esteemed?” (Isaiah 2:9-22. Emphasis added.)
God’s Heart for All of His Beloved Humans
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.
“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword!” (Isaiah 1:16-20. Emphasis added.)
Beloved, when humanity degrades itself by wallowing in self-adoring moral wickedness and sinful pursuits, God does not throw up His hands in abject despair. He has a Plan for all of His Creation, the Fulfillment of which no creature or sets of circumstances will ever be able to stop! At the End, God will most definitely have the Last Word! So we Last Days disciples must always keep this fact in mind: no matter how powerful or formidable anyone or anything in Creation may appear to be at present… no created being will ever get away with the Sin and wrongdoing they will have committed. All flesh will be called to give a full accounting! Nothing will ever get past the Authority of God’s Word, nor will anything or anyone in Creation be able to override the Righteous Judgment of God that we will all inevitably have to face!
“Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!”
“He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain.”
“I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’”
“Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! (Psalm 2 Emphasis added.)
Dear ones… we truly have entered the beginning of the most tumultuous era of human history! And this is why it is vitally important that we see the whole panorama of what is going to be involved, rather than being limited to just what the naked natural human eye can see!
We’ve got to have the spiritual faculties necessary to penetrate and see through the demonically-induced banks of Self-life fog that will continually swirl all around us. We’ve got to be aware that the demon-driven anti-God host that will confront us… is itself going to be forced to face a much more powerful and formidable invisible force than they could ever imagine, much less overcome!
God’s revelation tells us that the invisible hosts of Heaven are also here… to form a perpetual hedge of God’s Blood Covenant protection all around His people! And we’ve got to be spiritually equipped to be able to see the whole multi-layered scene, and not just what is obvious to our natural faculties and Sin-twisted perceptions! We must be able to see the enormous advantage in numbers and in Fire Power that God’s Covenant Family always enjoys, as a result of the unbreakable Blood Bond we have with, and in, our awesome Creator!
“Now the heart of the king of Aram was enraged over this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you tell me which of us is for the king of Israel?” One of his servants said, “No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom!”
“So he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and take him.” And it was told to him, saying, “Behold, he is in Dothan.” He sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city.
“Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for THOSE WHO ARE WITH US ARE MORE THAN THOSE WHO ARE WITH THEM!” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, OPEN HIS EYES THAT HE MAY SEE.” And THE LORD OPENED THE SERVANT’S EYES AND HE SAW; and behold, THE MOUNTAIN WAS FULL OF HORSES AND CHARIOTS OF FIRE ALL AROUND ELISHA!” (2 Kings 6:11-17. Emphasis added.)
Wow! Can you see what God is revealing to us through this text? It’s pretty clear that He wants us to know that ‘there’s a lot more to see and know than what can merely be seen with the natural faith-less naked human eye! There is a multi-layered enormity to ‘Reality as it really is’ that ordinary worldly people know nothing about! All they know is what they can perceive by natural earthly sight and feeling. And so was it with Elisha’s servant. At one moment he was just another ordinary clueless worldly person. But after Elisha prayed on his behalf, the Lord equipped that young man to become ‘a seer,’ that is, one who is spiritually equipped to live by faith… and thus be able to see into the Realm of the Unseen (but always present) Realities of Almighty God! The Presence of the Lord of Hosts… accompanied by all of His Eternal Resources… suddenly came into that young man’s view! And he could see the rest of The Story, the other, previously unknown levels of the Reality that was going on before him and all around him. Thus the young man’s former terror transformed into supreme invincible confidence.
And that ability to see, dear ones, is what we too must receive from God. He must be free to enable and equip and train us to see this way also. And if that happens, everything will change for us! The awesome impartation of God’s Wisdom and Truth will transform our emotional climate from a maelstrom of overwhelming terror and panic… into the incredible peace and rest and outrageous confidence that is the rightful inheritance of the chosen Blood Covenant ‘friends’ of Almighty God!
And this is what we Last Days disciples will have to know, and possess, because nothing short of God Himself will be able to equip us to see the full picture of any reality we will encounter. And that is exactly what He wants to do for His chosen Blood brothers! He doesn’t want to hold back on this. He desires for us to come to Him and look to Him exclusively and steadily with total expectancy and confidence in His Covenant Faithfulness, Goodness, Mercy, and Loyalty!
Moreover, He has already done everything necessary to make this possible! He did His part. He gave us everything we’re ever going to need. But now we must do our part. We must begin to really believe that what He has revealed to us, and commanded of us, and promised to give to us… is already present and available to us in its entirety! God must equip us to live by faith in His Perfect Finished Word which is waiting for us in Eternity. And we must exercise the art and skill of being able to see the Full Picture… and to be trained and equipped to experience and operate from God’s limitless Heavenly resources. And that will equip us to fulfill our God-given commissions and tasks! Father has already done the necessary work to make it available. But now we must begin to learn to receive the flow of it… and to use it and walk in it… through our obedient faith.
We can’t afford to waver in our determination to think, act, and react as one with God’s all-Authoritative Word. If we’re not equipped in this manner, we will not truly understand, much less will we be able to say, “I do,” when God’s Word proposes Blood Covenant Union to us and invites us to become ONE WITH HIM… AND RECEIVE EVERYTHING FROM HIM! Apart from Him, we cannot access the ‘inside Covenant information and endless flow of resources’ that God makes available to those who are truly His own. And we won’t be able to make it through the conflict and the chaos unscathed, apart from Him. So we must be trained to remain focused on and fully identified with, and bonded to, our indwelling Lord. And we must look to Him exclusively… and draw from His Holy Spirit’s Fullness incessantly and tirelessly… until it’s an automatic habit for us to think and act as one with Him, and to abide in all of His Infinite Fullness and Perfection.
“Behold, these are the wicked; and always at ease, they have increased in wealth. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence; For I have been stricken all day long and chastened every morning.
“If I had said, “I will speak thus,” behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children. When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight UNTIL I CAME INTO THE SANCTUARY OF GOD; then I perceived their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.
“When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless (from now on) I am continually (one) with You; You have taken hold of my right hand (and bonded Yourself to me and You made me Your very own, and therefore,). With Your counsel You will guide me, and afterward receive me to Glory. Whom have I in Heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the Strength of my heart and my Portion forever!” (Psalm 73:12-26. Amplification and emphasis added.)
“Who may ascend into the Hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His Holy Place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn (made his Covenant promises to God) deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of those who seek Him, WHO SEEK YOUR FACE—even Jacob. Selah.
“Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in! Who is the King of Glory? The Lord Strong and Mighty, the Lord Mighty in Battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may COME IN! Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of Glory! Selah.” (Psalm 24:3-10. Amplification and emphasis added.)
Dear ones… why is the story about the prophet Elisha so important to us in the context of this message? It’s important because it’s revealing the existence of what I like to call ‘Blood Covenant Eyes.’ God is a Blood Covenant making and honoring Being. He has taught His Covenant ways to the human race… and, if we take His Word to heart and become one with Him and renew our brains and minds accordingly, we will begin to see what He sees… the way He sees it! That’s what I mean by having ‘Covenant Eyes.’ It is to have the Spirit-imparted mind of our Resurrected Messiah! That is the faculty that enables us to navigate according to God’s awesome Wisdom… even through the most dangerous and dire earthly circumstances!
I came across an analogy several years ago that helped me arrive at this ‘Covenant Eyes’ understanding. This expression, ‘Covenant Eyes,’ is analogous to an expression that is common throughout the African continent. There they talk about ‘Bush Eyes.’ In wild undeveloped parts of Africa, nature reigns supreme. The topography and the climate and the various species of wild animals ‘rule the roost’ and ‘call the shots.’ And the native peoples who are born into and live their lifetimes in the bush regions must quickly ‘learn the ropes’ and learn to develop ways and means of surviving in such harsh and unforgiving circumstances… just as others before them had learned. Bush eyes equip people to read the subtle signs and clues of vital information that can be seen and read in the topography of the land. As they roam through the vicinity, they develop a sensitivity that enables them to ‘read’ the climactic weather signs and ‘read’ the telltale clues and traces that migrating predatory animals of all kinds leave behind. To people with ‘Bush Eyes,’ the ‘lay of the land’ is like a daily newspaper that they are able to read, and from which they can discern, with uncanny accuracy, whatever is going on around them, at any given time.
And because these experienced native people are privy to all of this practical and very necessary information, they can serve as trustworthy pathfinders and guides for any foreigners and strangers that may have need to come into their vicinity and move through it and conduct their business with the local peoples. And so, when guides take uninitiated foreigners in tow… and guide them through the bush… they immediately spot things about which the foreigners are totally unaware! And they know where to go, and what to avoid, and when to move, and when to wait etc., etc. They can survive off of the land… and avoid hidden predatory animals that are lurking nearby. And they know how to deal properly and safely with the local natives, because they have a full understanding of their ways and values and taboos.
So… when you have ‘Bush Eyes’… you can survive and thrive and serve as a teacher and guide for those who are still uninitiated. But if you are not endowed with the insightful advantages that Bush Eyes give… you will surely perish.
“Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die!” (Genesis 2:15-17. Emphasis added)
Beloved… I believe that when God’s Living Word gave this information to the first Adam… He was speaking out of the Wisdom that ‘Covenant Eyes’ can impart to us. Eve and Adam were in Covenant with God. I firmly believe that. I believe God revealed His Covenant ways to them and was teaching them how to embrace and abide and live accordingly. But because they had not yet fully developed their own set of ‘Covenant Eyes,’ when the Serpent chose to stalk them, they were deprived of the Covenant Wisdom they needed to trust God’s Word implicitly and wholeheartedly. And thus they really did perish… and they took all the rest of us with them.
Covenant Love and Commitment in Action
So I believe that the rest of the Bible is showing us the steps of how a True, Perfect, Blood Brother (Almighty God) reacts and responds when His other ‘blood brothers’ (Adam and his entire ‘household’) are entrapped and damaged by an enemy. So God didn’t join Himself to the enemy that had deceived and overcome them! He came to the defense of His Covenant friends, against their enemy. And He DID WHATEVER IT TOOK to rescue and bless and restore them to the maximum extent. A True Blood Brother would have no other choice! The Covenant Bond to which He obligated Himself makes it absolutely necessary for Him to expend Himself, and all of His Resources, to the maximum extent necessary on their behalf… even if it kills Him!
And I believe the Lord is showing us that in these Last Days… when the enemy of our souls begins to finally run out of time, he will be being forced to expend every bit of ammunition that will be at his disposal. He will strive to do whatever he can think of, to take us all down with him. But GOD’S PEOPLE CAN BE FITTED AND EQUIPPED WITH A FIRST CLASS SET OF ‘BLOOD COVENANT EYES.’ God is ready, willing and able to impart that equipment to them so they can read the lay of the land… and spot all the clues and signs that have been left for us to read and interpret and learn from. Even when we don’t deserve His Mercy, God remains faithful to us.
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Lord God, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight.
“For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.” (Ezekiel 36:22-28. Emphasis added.)
God has already given us His own Holy Spirit! This is the Proof, the Guarantee, that we are already one with His Living Word, our risen Messiah! And that means that we are already spiritually fitted, and geared up, and equipped, and prepared with whatever we will need, to persevere, overcome and completely triumph over our enemies throughout the Last Days combat… because of His Eternal Airtight, Covenant Love, Loyalty, and Faithfulness to us! His Faithfulness to His own Promises, that were sealed in the sacrificial Blood of His beloved Son, are what enables us to:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full (Blood Covenant) armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES.
“Therefore, take up the full armor of God (that has already been given to you), so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God!” (Ephesians 6:10-17, Emphasis added)
Our Covenant Lord will not allow us to fail or be overcome… He has already done whatever is necessary to make His total Triumph over Satan, Sin and Death, our Triumph as well. Now He intends to impart to us all the training, wisdom and ‘know-how’ of how to ‘put it on, and wear it, and use it,’ all the while we’re facing off against our demonic enemies. Our Lord knows we’re going to need to know this… that God has already given all of Himself to us. We have been ‘married into’ all that He is… and all that He has… and all that He has already done. He has given all of that to us because that’s what True Blood Covenant Friends and Brothers always do for each other.
God is so perfect that even though He knows we are but dust and are horribly maimed and crippled and disfigured by Sin… He took up all of our slack… and filled in all of our blank spaces… and did for us and in us and through us… and AS us… what we could have never done for and by ourselves! That’s what True Blood Brothers do for their Covenant friends. And that’s why, if we’ve developed our own sets of ‘Covenant Eyes,’ we can afford to live in outrageous confidence and freedom from fear, and not tremble or falter when we’re in the presence of our enemies who have already been completely routed by our Messiah Yeshua!
And so Beloved, this is why I believe Father is moving us to cooperate with Him. It appears that He will be providing articles in the future that will help our FMM Family members to begin to develop their own sets of ‘Covenant Eyes.’ We’re all going to need them, so it appears as if Father is telling us,
“NOW IS THE TIME TO RECEIVE FROM ME THE ABILITY TO ‘SEE’ WHAT IS ALREADY ALL AROUND YOU, AND WITHIN YOU, AND IS ALWAYS AT YOUR DISPOSAL!”
So it’s time for us to get ready to fulfill our commissions as members of the New Covenant Royal Priesthood. As soon as we’re ready to serve in that position, we will begin to serve as guides and leaders for new baby believers who are still in need of the ‘milk’ of the Gospel. And there will be others… unbelieving worldly folks who do not yet have any inkling of the incomprehensible ways of our awesome God… as the Holy Spirit begins to open their eyes and hearts, they too will soon begin, instinctively, to look to us to provide them with some shreds of hope, relief and clear-cut directions.
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of Darkness into His marvelous Light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
“Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the Day of Visitation.” (1 Peter 2:9-12. Emphasis added)
God is obviously not telling us that we don’t need to concern ourselves with the world and what is going on all around us. He’s not saying He wants us to remain aloof and uncaring and to limit ourselves to being ‘spiritually minded’ while we ignore the practicalities of the world around us. We must remain clean and pure by refraining from joining worldly people in doing carnal worldly things. But we must also be fully present in their midst… operating IN THE NAME OF our God… being always ‘on duty’… able to serve as ‘seers’ who can guide others, and read the lay of the land, and sniff out the dangers and traps that the enemy places before us all. It is the guides who must be the most aware of what is going on, far more than all the others! And so, we must become fully involved with God… so that through us… He can tend to the needs of whoever may be around us at any given time!
Wasn’t it the gift of ‘Covenant Eyes’ that gave Elisha the ‘seer’ such an overwhelming advantage over his enemies? Dear ones, he was the one who was most fully aware and involved with what was going on! And those who had the sense to follow him, were the ones who were ignorant and ill-equipped in themselves! So notice what followed later in his story:
“When they (the Heavenly hosts) came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Strike this people (the Arameans) with blindness, I pray.” So He struck them with blindness according to the word of (His Blood Covenant friend,) Elisha. Then Elisha said to them, (the Arameans) “This is not the way, nor is this the city; follow me and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And (as they followed Elisha) he brought them to Samaria.
“When they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, “O LORD, OPEN THE EYES OF THESE MEN THAT THEY MAY SEE.” So the Lord opened their eyes and they saw; and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. Then the king of Israel (who remained stuck in the fallen natural level of human awareness) when he saw them, said to Elisha, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?” He answered, “You shall not kill them. Would you kill those you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.” So he prepared a great feast for them; and when they had eaten and drunk he sent them away, and they went to their master. AND THE MARAUDING BANDS OF ARAMEANS (who realized they didn’t have a chance of overcoming the advantages Elisha had) DID NOT COME AGAIN INTO THE LAND OF ISRAEL.” (2 Kings 6:18-23 Amplification and emphasis added.)
Can you see how deeply involved the man of God had to be with what was in God’s heart… and also with all that was going on around him in this fallen world? He was not a recluse or a hermit by any means. He was right in the thick of the action! God had put him there to serve as His ‘connecting link.’ He was the connection between the Heavenly Realities… and the goings on among the people of this fallen world! It was because of his faith in God’s Word, concerning the established fact that he, and all of Israel were bonded to God’s Omnipotence by and through their Covenant with each other, that equipped Elisha. His ‘Covenant Eyes’ enabled him to see into and through what was going on around him.
If we are deeply programmed with, and trained in, God’s Covenant ways, and hardwired with the Blood Covenant Pattern of our Heavenly Father, we’ll be fitted with a total mental and emotional realization of the fact that our Covenant God has completely identified Himself with us… and that He sees us, and requires us to join Him in seeing ourselves, as being completely identified WITH HIM! We are to identify ourselves with God… just as much as HE HAS ALREADY COMPLETELY IDENTIFIED HIMSELF WITH US! This is the Union that will enable us to ‘SEE’ into both worlds simultaneously!
The issue was not whether or not God was favoring Israel over the Arameans (Syrians), or vice versa. God was for both groups! He knew that the king of Israel and the king of Aram, and their respective peoples, were for the most part, spiritually blind. But He had a place for each group in His Eternal Plan! So, the task reserved for God’s prophetic and priestly Covenant Israelite friends is to serve as the intercessory priestly connecting links through which God is able to communicate with, and transmit His Wisdom into, the minds and hearts of the humans who do not yet know Him! So although the people of this world may currently be His enemies, God nevertheless loves and values and desires them to be His own. This is because He has always intended for all of us to come to know Him, and to be merged with the changeless eternal Truth of His Nature and His Covenant ways!
And so both of the kings in the story needed the benefit of Elisha’s spiritual insight and knowledge of God. Both needed God’s Wisdom and Guidance. All nations have a specific purpose and destiny in God’s Plan for His Creation. And God is here to see to it that everyone receives what they need, thanks to the intermediary service provided by His prophetic and priestly Covenant friends… like Elisha and the other prophets. And isn’t that the kind of wisdom that the true disciples of the climactic Last Days will also need to have?
“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men (Covenant sons of Almighty God), and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.
Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.
“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, LEAVING YOU AN EXAMPLE FOR YOU TO FOLLOW IN HIS STEPS, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, BUT KEPT ENTRUSTING HIMSELF TO HIM WHO JUDGES RIGHTEOUSLY; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:15-25. Emphasis added)
Living as God’s Image and Likeness
Beloved Family… God desires to put His chosen, Messiah-embodying Covenant friends on full display throughout this final era! We are not to hide and lurk in the shadows. We are not to remain anonymous and of no consequence. We are not to allow ourselves to slip down into the earthly level of things, to wallow in victimhood and passivity, or to look down on others, despising and abhorring the unlovable, highly exasperating people we encounter all around us. We can’t afford to have ‘logs’ in our own eyes that prevent us from realizing and admitting that we too have hateful, despicable, inadequacies and erroneous quirks in our own makeup. But just as God looked past what was unacceptable in us… and is working to transform us into the way He sees us when this process is finished, so are we to learn to see those around us in the same way:
“And He also spoke a parable to them: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit? A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.
“Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.
“For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. The good man out of the good (Blood Covenant) Treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil (fallen Self-life) treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.” (Luke 6:39-45)
“Therefore if (since) you have been raised up with Christ (by your union and identification with Him), keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above (on God’s Agenda and Purpose for all of Creation), not on the (demon-induced, Sin-corrupted) things that are (engulfing the faith-less self-centered people) on earth. For you have died (to your former separate, rebellious Self-life) and your life (in Covenant Union with Yeshua) is hidden (for the time being) with Christ IN GOD! When (in Father’s perfect timing) Christ, who is our Life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in (His Overwhelming, Triumphant) Glory!” (Colossians 3:1-4. Amplification and emphasis added.)
We are commissioned to allow the Light of God’s Eternal Living Word, that always abides within us, to shine forth into every bit of Darkness that surrounds us! This is how we overcome all the Evil. We don’t allow ourselves to be sucked back into the Evil to be overwhelmed by it! Instead, we abide as one with our glorious resurrected Messiah… allowing His Light to shine continually from within us. We transmit His Divine Wisdom, Lovingkindness, Truth, Intercession and Guidance into every situation, circumstance and interaction we experience. Thus the world-changing Reality and Truth of God’s Perfect Life-giving Electrifying Presence can be transmitted into this world, through our obedient faith-filled intercession… so that everyone who is truly concerned with God and His interests, may have a chance to come to know the Way (our Messiah Himself) who will lead them into the Fullness of God’s awesome Grace:
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
“You are the Light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your Light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:13-16. Emphasis added.)
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with GOOD!” (Romans 12:21)
Can you see what function Father has designed, created and equipped us to serve, as long as we must still abide in this tumultuous world? We are to continually serve as fully aware, ‘seeing’ ‘Faith Connectors’ that link and bring God to men… and men to God… and Heaven to Earth. We are to serve as ‘Spirit-filled conduits,’ through which God’s Perfect Presence and Life-giving Grace can be poured out upon the dead dry bones that lie scattered across the floor of the wilderness into whose sectors we have all been very strategically deployed and assigned!
We too were once as dead as the people around us! But now that God Himself has become our Eternal Life, we are commissioned to allow those around us to see and feel and experience what the awesome difference is, between what they still are… and the living sons of Almighty God that our Covenant with Him has made us to become! We are not to think of ourselves as superior or better than the people around us simply because God has blessed us with ‘Covenant Eyes.’ Instead, we are to beckon to our earthly brothers, encouraging them to hurry and catch up with us, so they can join us in this blessed Salvation Family that God’s beautiful Covenant ways make possible for us all. Then, together, we can all abide with our Messiah as living members of God’s beautiful Blood Covenant Family… to the Eternal Glory of our Precious Heavenly Father!
We are not to look to any created being or entity for our salvation or protection or wellbeing. Nor are we to place expectations on them that can only rightfully be placed upon the Real, Living God! Father has warned us that anyone who trusts in man and puts his faith in created things will be cursed… with total disappointment and the sense of betrayal that comes when you are inevitably let down by what you thought would be a good substitute for Him.
“Thus says the Lord, ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord. for he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitant.’ (But not so those who enter into the Eternal Blood Covenant with Me…)
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. for he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit.”
“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:5-10).
But even though we are not to rely on or trust in any fallen humanity, Father nevertheless loves all of us and wants nothing but the best for each of us. He is so infinitely Great and Perfect and Righteous and Complete in Himself… that He needs nothing from His creatures. And although He doesn’t need us, nor does He place any expectations upon us, He does love, cherish, treasure and desires to be one with us! He looks past our obvious hateful qualities and despicable traits because He desires to bless and fulfill us, so we can transform into exactly what He designed us to be and do. He yearns for the day when we’ll finally be able to enjoy the Fullness of all that He has always intended to bestow upon us.
And that is why we are not to operate in fear or live in dread of our enemies; nor are we to hold them in contempt and disdain. God loves and wants them to become His, just as much as He loved and wanted us to become one with Him! We were once just like them! And now, He wants them to become just like us… Covenant friends and sons of God, members of His Personal Royal Family… Temples of His Holy Spirit, and bonded to Him in all ways, now and forever.
And this is why He wants His chosen ones to remain engaged in this world and entrusts His Living Word and Holy Spirit to our hospitality and care. We are entrusted by God to share His beloved Son with all those who are around us, and with whom we will interact, as we follow the leading of our Master through any given earthly era and set of circumstances. We are not to try to escape from this world… we are sent here to share what we’ve received from God with it… and thereby, by sharing the blessings He gives to us with those around us, even though they do not deserve them, we can cooperate with the Holy Spirit who is here to transform the world until every bit of it becomes the Inheritance of our resurrected Messiah.
“At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to serve Him and to bless (the people around them) in His Name, until this day. Therefore, LEVI DOES NOT HAVE A PORTION OR INHERITANCE WITH HIS BROTHERS; THE LORD IS HIS INHERITANCE, just as the Lord your God spoke to him.)” (Deuteronomy 10:8-9. Amplification and emphasis added.)
So beloved… as the inevitable turmoil and strife we’ll undoubtedly see in the weeks and months ahead, continue to heat up, the days and nights will be filled with confusion, anxiety, fear, suspicion, and insane levels of selfish, self-preserving and self-enhancing measures. People will be so shaken and jolted that they’ll become disoriented and rattled. And their ability to think straight and function properly will diminish… and that will frustrate and anger people around them. Then our natural levels of impatience, frustration, resentment, anxiety, and hostility will become aroused. And we too will be tempted to snap at, and attack those who offend, and frustrate, and do us wrong.
But we must be able to see and work our way through and past all of that!
We must remain equipped and primed to see what God sees… as He sees it. We must be able to see through those ‘Blood Covenant Eyes’ that the Holy Spirit is here to develop within us and for us. Our ability to ‘SEE’ will keep us in close touch with the enormous advantage we always have… of always being in the Perfect Presence of Almighty God… and having the overpowering hosts of Heaven all around us, protecting, assisting and empowering us with every possible Heavenly advantage. We must remain fully aware of the fact that, because we are one with Almighty God, and already are endowed with all that He is and has… we can afford to be kind, and forbearing, and generous to those around us… just as our Heavenly Father has always been with us!
Father is ready to equip us spiritually and mentally and emotionally to operate at this ‘Seer level’ to the maximum Last Days extent! That is why He gave us the awesome Gift of His own Holy Spirit. By His Omnipotent Spirit, Father is able to cause His Eternal Living Word to become real and vibrantly alive and supernaturally True and Fruitful within our spirits, souls and bodies! He can reveal Himself to those around us through the obedient faith that will permeate our lives and relationships and interactions! And, as long as we keep our wits about us, and remain firmly focused upon our Master and the Heavenly hosts at His command… and as long as we remember that because of our Covenant Oneness with Him, we have full access to all that He is, and all that He has done, and all that pertains to Him – and vice versa – nothing will ever be able to separate us from His Everlasting Covenant Lovingkindness (Psalm 136). We will rejoice with Him in the Day of His Inevitable Eternal Triumph over the Father of Lies and over Sin and Death. God’s Glory will surely overwhelm and totally eliminate the powers of Darkness, once and for all.
Called to The Arena of Testimony, Where His Light and Life Shine
“Behold, I SEND YOU OUT as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speak, but IT IS THE SPIRIT OF YOUR FATHER WHO SPEAKS IN YOU!” (Matthew 10:16-20)
Dear ones… God has fulfilled His part of our Covenant with Him to Perfection! And now, He lives within us… to empower us to be able to fulfill our part of the Covenant for Him! He will always be with us to supply whatever we will need. But in order to remain in position to receive what He is here to impart to us… we must be able to abide within… and be sustained by… the Wisdom and Skill and Discernment and Guidance only He can give us… through our ‘Covenant Eyes’ advantage.
We are now being sent out and deployed into our positions… in the midst of what is about to take place throughout this fallen world. So let us stay alert and on duty… always mindful of the fact that Almighty God Himself lives in us, and abides in us, and is always working to empower us… to will and to fulfill His will… and to shine His Supernatural Light and Fullness, right into the midst of whatever human mess we may be assigned to bless and connect with in this world. Let us transmit into this wicked undeserving world… all that God wishes to send into it… through the obedience of our faith in Him! Let the ‘Covenant Eyes’ the Holy Spirit intends to develop within you, enable you to view what is before you in the very same way that David was able to assess what he had to face:
“Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the Name of (by the Authority of my total Covenant Union with) the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; FOR THE BATTLE IS THE LORD’S and He will give you into our hands!” (1 Samuel 17:45-47. Amplification and emphasis added)