“For the Word of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, BUT TO US WHO ARE BEING SAVED IT IS THE POWER OF GOD! For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of those who have understanding, I will confound.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-19 NASB,Emphasis added)
Can you see the tremendous mystery that’s embedded within these words? Holy Spirit is telling us that when some people regard the message of the Cross all they see is utter foolishness. But when those who truly belong to God regard it, a portal opens up before them that the others cannot see. And it admits them into an astounding dimension of glorious Good News Insight and Wisdom!
So two groups of people look at the Message of the Cross. And one group notices next to nothing. They remain blind, deaf, and clueless. But the other group looks at it and sees an enormous Treasure lying before them! Beloved, among those who will be equipped to see it, will be those Last Days disciples who have been properly trained to function as effective members of Messiah’s earthly Body. And because they’re living and acting in union with Him, they’ll be equipped to engage effectively and successfully in the inevitable combat with the powers of Darkness. They are the ones that will fully ‘get the point’ and will thus be equipped to prevail throughout the Last Days battles to come!
God’s powerful and effective strategy includes a lethal ‘surprise’ that awaits His enemies that lies hidden within His Son’s true disciples. It’s the radiantly blinding surprise that was made possibly by the awesomely overwhelming Significance and Power of the Cross. This is why I say that the Message of the Cross is the Ultimate Trojan Horse through which God will ultimately shock, devastate, and vanquish His enemies!
Because the Enemy forces hate and try to erase God’s Living Word from every scene, they keep falling into the trap He set before them. Unwittingly they keep setting off the concealed explosive devices that will continually blow their hopes, plans, and aspirations to smithereens! And this is why God will always get the Last Word! He will rub their noses for all of eternity in the realization that they were taken completely off guard, surprised, exposed and thoroughly routed! They will finally realize how miserably they have failed in trying to oppose and eliminate God’s beloved Son. And they will forever be confronted by this inescapable and excruciating fact: the dumbest, most self-destructive thing they could have ever done was to make sure that Yeshua of Nazareth would be executed on the Cross and buried!
That’s right! God lured them into manipulating things to ensure Yeshua’s arrest, torture, crucifixion, death and burial! They assumed they had destroyed God’s Word and His Plans. But instead, it opened the way for Him to redeem and save all repentant humans from the clutches of Satan, Sin, Destruction and Death! So the hidden Truth of the Cross is the stupendous, hidden explosive device that blows up right in the faces of those who keep trying to eliminate the Word of God. The joke is on them. The Word of God endures forever! And they continue to be blind fools, daring to come against the Resurrected One who has All Authority in Heaven and on Earth!
Hidden In Plain Sight
God’s Trojan Horse tactics effectively conceal from our enemies what He’s actually doing at any given point of His Invasion into the territory they have, only for a limited time, usurped and captivated! So the more Yeshua’s enemies try to erase, distort, and eliminate Him, the more do His Authority, Preeminence and Effectiveness grow and multiply exponentially! The Word’s Invasion cannot be effectively resisted or stopped! But God’s True Activities are always disguised to misdirect, confuse, mislead, and bring the enemy’s efforts to naught. This is what Paul was alluding to when he reminded the Corinthian congregation of what it was like when he was first sent to them:
“… My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of mankind, but on the POWER OF GOD! Yet we do speak Wisdom among those who are mature; a Wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s Wisdom in a mystery, the hidden Wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the Wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written:
“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the human heart, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.”
For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among people knows the thoughts of a person except the spirit of the person that is in him? So also the thoughts of God no one knows, except the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, SO THAT WE MAY KNOW THE THINGS FREELY GIVEN TO US BY GOD! We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” (1 Corinthians 2:4-13 NASB, Emphasis added)
And the same is true for us today! We were chosen and called by the Lord to follow Him as He leads us into the End of the Age. So Holy Spirit equips us too. Because He knows the thoughts and plans of God, He reveals them to us. We’re privy to ongoing ‘revelations from God’ while we abide in this fallen world and our true significance remains hidden in plain sight from our foes. Our outward appearance is made to seem foolish, dull, and laughable by the Self-life world’s glitzy, showoff, ‘we’re number one’ strife-causing standards and ambitions. So, compared to their pompous ego-inflating antics, we appear as drab, maddeningly ordinary, inconsequential nobodies! And this is precisely why we can be such strategically effective lethal weapons in Holy Spirit’s hands! God’s enemies are hopelessly arrogant, Self-adoring, spiritually blind and obtuse! Arrogant pride is their fatal flaw! They keep artificially ‘pumping themselves up’ to impress and intimidate what is around them, assuming that God and His people need to strive to do the same. So their ‘blind spot’ becomes their hidden ‘point of vulnerability’… that we can continually exploit… as long as we remain bonded to and in intimate contact with God’s Holy Spirit and Word… and humble and unassuming… He keeps enabling us to sense, discern, and ‘see through’ their every lie, scheme, trap and attempt to misdirect us!
“Where is the wise person? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the Wisdom of God THE WORLD THROUGH ITS WISDOM DID NOT COME TO KNOW GOD, God was pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, CHRIST THE POWER OF GOD AND THE WISDOM OF GOD! For the foolishness of God is wiser than mankind, and the weakness of God is stronger than mankind!
For consider your calling, brothers and sisters, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the insignificant things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, SO THAT HE MAY NULLIFY THE THINGS THAT ARE, SO THAT NO HUMAN MAY BOAST BEFORE GOD!
But it is due to Him that YOU ARE IN CHRIST JESUS, WHO BECAME TO US WISDOM FROM GOD, AND RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SANCTIFICATION, AND REDEMPTION so that, just as it is written: “LET THE ONE WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD!” (1 Corinthians 1:18-31 NASB,Emphasis added)
So this is our astoundingly overpowering advantage beloved! Our enemies remain perpetually hung up on themselves, and what they think they’re going to do and how they think they’ll be able to do it. But God has already created and paid for and established His Eternal Final Solution to all the past, present and future damage they can do! He has already done everything necessary to vindicate and endorse and forever exalt His Living Word! And He set us free from bondage to demonic works and their delusionary entanglements. (See Genesis 1:31; Hebrews 4:1-7.)
Everything that matters in every way and on every level has already been finished, paid for, given, and recorded ‘in the books!’ So none of the final Outcome depends on anyone or anything that God has created. Everything depends on the Creator… who has already finished everything and is now resting and rejoicing in Total Triumph… in His Eternal Sabbath Rest! But the enemy refuses to believe it!
“So the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts (inhabitants). And by the seventh day GOD COMPLETED HIS WORK WHICH HE HAD DONE, AND HE RESTED (ceased) ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORK WHICH HE HAD DONE. So God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it [as His own, that is, set it apart as holy from other days], because in it HE RESTED FROM ALL HIS WORK WHICH HE HAD CREATED AND DONE!” (Genesis 2:1-3 AMP, Emphasis added)
So while our enemies remain perpetually hung up on themselves… assuming they have what it takes to usurp the Authority of God’s Word and outdo the Power of His Holy Spirit… they forever obsess over future possibilities that do not actually exist! And when they regard us, as we serve God, they’re filled with scorn and contempt. They laugh at how weak and pathetic we appear compared to the fake glitz and false glory they hide behind. Nevertheless, God never depends on any of His creatures to do or accomplish anything for Him. Nor can they prevent Him from fulfilling His Word. And our Self-obsessed enemies remain blind to this. They keep assuming everything is still unfinished, undecided, and still ‘up for grabs!’
This is why, now that we’ve entered the new Covenant Fulfillment Era, we disciples can serve so effectively as God’s Trojan Horses! God’s demonic and human enemies can’t stand to be anywhere near God’s Living and written Word! They stay as far away from Him as possible! So they’re blind to God’s mind, and His counsels, strategies, and plans. The Spirit of God operates on His own unique wavelength… which is always inaccessible to those who hate, despise, reject and go counter to God’s Word! This is what can give us such a tremendous advantage! As long as we believe, trust, and follow God’s Word, we occupy and enjoy the ‘high ground’ position and perspective! We always have the upper hand because God’s Word and Spirit abide and work from within us! We take God’s Presence with us wherever we go! And so to our enemies, we can be concealed and shockingly surprising ‘lethal weapons’ against which they have absolutely no defense or no means by which to detect in advance what we’ll be doing next to foil and confound them!
“But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the Truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take from Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; this is why I said that He takes from Mine and will disclose it to you.” (John 16:13-15 NASB,Emphasis added)
Living As One With Our Commander = Total Victory Every Time!
So, as long as God’s redeemed, regenerated, Spirit-led sons believe, they always have full access to God and His initiatives. But they must come to know their God and identify with Him, and know with certainty that they are one with Him, and are able to do everything FROM Him! When we really believe and identify with this… we’ve reached full ‘combat readiness.’ We can always hear God’s voice, know His heart, and live as one with His Word and Spirit! We’re always one with the King of Glory… so we’re fully equipped and ready to overcome and destroy anything the enemy might try to do next!
Paul is a great example of one who was able to see this ‘War of the Seeds’ (see Genesis 3:15) from both of its opposing sides! Before God revealed His risen Son to him, he was Saul of Tarsus, a man totally unable to recognize Yeshua for who and what He really is. Despite his brilliance and highly favored, privileged religious training and upbringing, Saul remained a rabid enemy of Yeshua and opposed everything He had been sent to Earth by His Father to do. Yes, Saul was a ‘Bible expert’ and ‘master of the ways of organized Israelite religion.’ But because He hated God’s Living Word, He actually hated the Father who speaks Him forth! So Saul chose to be on the losing side of this deadly war. By outward appearance, he was unbeatably pious and religiously devoted to his hard-won understanding and opinions about God. But unlike the Lord’s disciples, he didn’t know God on a personal Spirit-to-spirit level! He was excluded from God’s personal intimate ‘Wavelength.’ He knew things about God… things that pertained to Him that had been revealed to Israel in the Scriptures. But he and his ilk had no access to the Living Reality of the KING of the Kingdom of God… and His Holy Spirit’s wavelength! So they were always flying blind:
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen; to him you shall listen. This is in accordance with everything that you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Do not let me hear the voice of the Lord my God again, and do not let me see this great fire anymore, or I will die!”
And the Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. I will raise up for them a Prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them everything that I command him. And it shall come about that whoever does not listen to My Words which He speaks in My Name, I Myself will require it of him!” (Deuteronomy 18:15-19 NASB, Emphasis added)
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. But the one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed as having been performed in God.” (John 3:16-21 NASB,Emphasis added)
Whoever comes to the Word’s Light is connected to Holy Spirit’s Wavelength. But those who hate and reject the Light embrace the empty Darkness and the abysmal ignorance and deprivation that accompany it! Saul and his other unbelieving brethren never had a clue as to who Yeshua really is, and what His Father sent Him here to be and to do on our behalf. They lashed out in anger, suspicion, and fear. But Stephen and his other New Covenant brethren kept serving as their Lord’s ‘points of entry’ and ‘bases of operations’ here on Earth! How’s that for being a concealed Super Weapon?
So here’s the stunning truth: Almighty God abides and works from within His Word’s disciples! Yet this awesome Reality remained completely hidden from Saul and his other unbelieving companions! They were like blind, spiritually helpless orphans. And Stephen was like God’s New Covenant ‘explosive device’ hidden in plain sight… before men who were blind and deaf to the impact of his heart-piercing testimony. But… even while they raged at Stephen, Holy Spirit was sowing the seeds of Saul’s soon-to-come salvation into his heart and the hearts of some of the others. But, at that moment, Saul and his rabid companions had no idea about what was actually taking place right in front of their noses!
“Now when they heard this, they were infuriated, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into Heaven and saw the Glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
But they (saw nothing of what Almighty God was doing to them as He worked on them from within Stephen. So (in their ignorance) they shouted with loud voices, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one mind. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.” (Acts 7:54-58 NASB. Amplification added.)
A few days after this took place, that explosive device that Holy Spirit had slipped into Saul’s heart, suddenly detonated inside of him! And Saul’s spirit was connected to Yeshua’s Spirit, and to Stephen’s, and those of Ananias, and the other disciples. Suddenly he became aware of a brand-new world that extended just beyond that ‘portal’ that suddenly opened up before him. And even though his natural eyes were blinded for the moment… Saul was given a totally new spiritual perspective!
“Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them in shackles to Jerusalem. Now as he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a Light from Heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I AM Jesus whom you are persecuting!…” (Acts 9:1-5 NASB, Emphasis added)
The Life of the risen Lord who had been concealed within Stephen suddenly destroyed the Self-life of Saul of Tarsus! Holy Spirit was about to prepare to insert the Resurrection Life of Messiah into Saul. And a new creation began to emerge… a New Covenant Spirit-filled Trojan Horse disciple… just like Stephen had been… was about to take the place of that Yeshua-hating ‘Pharisee of Pharisees!’
So exactly according to plan, Yeshua reproduced Himself once again… and began to live and continued to sow and reproduce Himself… from within the flesh of His former enemy. And the Seed of the Woman continued to reproduce and multiply Himself through this awesome New Covenant Super Weapon that eventually became Paul, ‘The Apostle to the Gentiles!’ And the damage he continues to do to Satan’s domain is incalculable!
“I have been crucified with Christ; and IT IS NO LONGER I WHO LIVE, BUT CHRIST LIVES IN ME; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20 NASB)
And so just as it was with Peter, James, John, and the other New Covenant apostles and disciples, so did it happen to Saul of Tarsus. And that process continues to be repeated all over the world, even to this present moment… and will continue into the future! This is what Peter was emphasizing to the New Covenant believers shortly before his own martyrdom finally placed him in the arms of his Heavenly Father:
“Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the Righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, for His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to Life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own Glory and Excellence. Through these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world on account of lust.
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith, supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they do not make you useless and unproductive in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. FOR THE ONE WHO LACKS THESE QUALITIES IS BLIND, OR SHORT-SIGHTED, HAVING FORGOTTEN HIS PURIFICATION FROM HIS FORMER SINS.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choice of you; for AS LONG AS YOU PRACTICE THESE THINGS, YOU WILL NEVER STUMBLE; FOR IN THIS WAY THE ENTRANCE INTO THE ETERNAL KINGDOM OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST WILL BE ABUNDANTLY SUPPLIED TO YOU!” (2 Peter 1:1-11 NASB, Emphasis added)
So, the New Covenant apostles, who now included Paul, continued to introduce and establish ‘The New Thing’ that God said He was going to do through the prophet Isaiah:
“Do not call to mind the former things, or consider things of the past. Behold, I AM GOING TO DO SOMETHING NEW, NOW IT WILL SPRING UP; WILL YOU NOT BE AWARE OF IT? I WILL EVEN MAKE A ROADWAY IN THE WILDERNESS, RIVERS IN THE DESERT! The animals of the field will glorify Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people. THE PEOPLE WHOM I FORMED FOR MYSELF WILL DECLARE MY PRAISE!” (Isaiah 43:18-21, Emphasis added)
Beloved, this is what our boot camp training equips us to have and use! Holy Spirit is abiding in us to train, teach, prepare and commission new generations of disciples all across the globe in these Last Days! This is what Peter and his fellow apostles were conveying in their writings. And the following is the revelation Paul received from Holy Spirit, when the time came for him, and his chosen brethren, to spread and multiply the effect of God’s Trojan Horse New Covenant ‘Weapon’ in all directions. And soon it will be time for the Last Days Fulfillment to appear. And we have been called and commissioned to take part in it!
“And even if our gospel is veiled (in Trojan Horse-type concealment), it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they will not see the Light of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ, who is the Image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bondservants on account of Jesus. For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Christ.
But we have this Treasure (hidden) in earthen containers, so that the Extraordinary Greatness of the Power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but (because He lives in us, we’re) not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying around in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the (Resurrection) Life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who live are constantly being handed over to death because of Jesus, so that the Life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal flesh.” (2 Corinthians 4:3-11 NASB, Amplification and emphasis added)
Note well what Paul said, beloved: ‘We have this Treasure in ‘earthen containers.’ Our bodies and daily earthly existences, duties and responsibilities, are so common that they serve as ‘camouflage’ concealment… Trojan Horse camouflaged disguises… within which is concealed the Highly Explosive Last Days Spiritual Weapon God has entrusted to our care. As we occupy the current positions to which we’ve been deployed, we have within us the Treasure which is the Resurrection Life of our Messiah! It was the same Treasure Stephen had… the Overwhelming New Covenant Weapon that faithful disciple had habitually made himself aware of and from which he continually filled and fed and fueled himself!
Our Risen Lord Himself is the Endless Eternal Resource, the Infinite River of Living Water that Father makes available to all… through us… in the midst of the onslaught of our religious enemies. And the Brilliance and Power and Authority of this Treasure was, and will always be, more than enough! We can release our Commander’s Life-giving Presence into this world… so that His Grace and Love can ‘detonate’ the Infinite Blast of His Infinite Might and tender Mercy… in all directions… to whoever and whatever may happen to be around us!
“In the beginning [before all-time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. He was [continually existing] in the beginning [co-eternally] with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being. In Him was Life [and the power to bestow Life], and the Life was the Light of men. The Light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it].” (John 1:1-5 AMP, Emphasis added)
Preparing Ourselves For Last Days Marching Orders
Dear ones… God Himself lives, abides, works, and reveals Himself… to us… in us… and through us! He is our continuous unbeatable Advantage over which we have endless reason to rejoice and celebrate. But the time for the Great Celebration must wait for Christ in us to finish the ‘mopping up’ process that will lead us into the Grand Finale that will finally put a final halt to all hostilities when the Lord of Glory Returns to Earth at last… in the flesh! Until then, let’s remember who we are, what we have, and who will be standing in total Victory at the end. And then… after the End finally arrives… it will be time for the Glorious Celebration to begin and for all of the commendations and congratulations to be personally bestowed on us by our Commander!
“None of the rulers of this age recognized and understood this wisdom; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written [in Scripture],
“Things which the eye has not seen and the ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, who obey Him, and who gratefully recognize the benefits that He has bestowed].”
For God has unveiled them and revealed them to us through the [Holy] Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things [diligently], even [sounding and measuring] the [profound] depths of God [the divine counsels and things far beyond human understanding].” (1 Corinthians 2:8-10 AMP)
The risen Lord who lives in you is much sharper than any two-edged sword that any of our demonic enemies could ever imagine or suspect. They don’t know Him, nor do they ever wish to know Him. So how great of an advantage and opportunity does that provide for us? Will you avail yourself of what has been given to you, now that you have the relative safety, security, and leisure time to take advantage of it? How skillful and well-equipped do you want to become in it? Beloved, God hides His Word and Spirit from His enemies. But I urge you to be sure that God’s enemies do not succeed in managing to hide His Word and Spirit from you! Do not join them in their rebellious blindness that chooses to worship and adore creatures… while they strive to defy and rebel against the Creator of all things!
Let’s train ourselves to go further and deeper into an awareness of Him, becoming habitually and increasingly aware of the devoted hospitality and interaction we have the privilege and opportunity of showering upon Him! He is our Treasure! And He is here to live and act from within you, and me, and all the rest of those of us who truly believe and trust in Him!
Here is a link to a message that can be helpful, as you garden and develop your relationship with your indwelling Lord during your training:
This Happens When You Dwell in God’s Presence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOqtTm6uUNE
How To Be Led By the Holy Spirit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUomF2yjBEc