By the revelation of the Spirit, Paul received the mystery of Christ.

Paul, a Pharisee of the Pharisees,

“…circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” (NIV, Philippians 3:5-7)

Paul came to the understanding:

• what “physical” crucifixion is to the body – exposing the horribleness of sin in the heart of the crucifier in the tortured death of the crucified (a picture of eternal pain for those outside of Christ, Revelation 22:11),
• “spiritual” crucifixion is to the fleshly nature – putting the enmity in the flesh to death by the cross of Christ “grace through faith,” revealing the sinful nature’s wounds and brokenness in cleansing, healing, and restoration of body, soul, and spirit (Romans 8:10-11; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:23, etc.).

 

Paul came to this understanding, like Peter, in journey, in the revelation of Christ (1 Peter 1:13).

By the power of the Holy Spirit, spiritual crucifixion (i.e., the journey of the feast of Tabernacles, being made one with Christ), reveals the pain and wounds from generational transgressions and iniquities lodged deeply in our mortal being (Isaiah 1:5-6, 53:1-6, Romans 7:17-23), and those we’ve embraced beyond our generations.

In Galatians 3:13 and other passages, Paul likens the horror of physical crucifixion to the death of the fleshly nature, not by bludgeoning and physically crucifying the body, but by crucifying the fleshly nature by putting it to death by the cross of Christ “by grace through faith.”

Paul uses the horror of physical crucifixion to convey by picture “from the standpoint of the fleshly nature” what the cross of Christ by grace through faith looks like to it.

And thankfully, in contrast to the horrors of physical crucifixion, the killing of the enmity in our flesh brings the fruitful and fragrant rewards of “…Christ in you, the hope of glory” newness of life in the promises of the New Covenant. (NIV, Colossians 1:27, bold and italicized is mine)

Christ was the first man to put sin to death by the cross of grace through faith on behalf of his generations (mankind), and the Scripture adds, he did it perfectly! (Romans 6:10; Ephesians 2:14 – 16, see an interlinear; Hebrews 5:7 – 10; the pioneer of the New Covenant, Hebrews 2:10, 6:20, etc.)

(There are number of Scriptures, I’ve shared some of them already in earlier posts, pointing to Christ living in grace, and living “of” faith.)

Just as the body fears the horror of physical crucifixion, our fleshly nature (the enmity in our flesh), and the powers of darkness empowering some of our sins, fear the horror of death by grace through faith, spiritual crucifixion.

That’s why, Paul uses such stark and callous terms to describe crucifixion in many New Testament verses, because he’s describing the crucifixion of the enmity of the flesh, which began with Christ first, and not Calvary.

How the body fears the horror of physical crucifixion, is how the fleshly nature fears what it views as the horrors of spiritual crucifixion – cleansing and healing from the fall by grace through faith.

And the journey of “by grace through faith,” in healing and restoration does not begin in earnest until the feast of Tabernacles.

Why is there so little spoken today about the feast of Tabernacles, symbolized by the Holy of Holies, the summer fruit harvest, the bride, revealed in countless types in the Old Testament, and in the life of Christ?

Because it’s the greatest fear of the fleshly nature ruled by darkness.

Darkness has done everything possible to hide the story and journey of Christ because it fears the damage that would be done to the Kingdom of Evil if God’s sons and daughters find their way into Tabernacles and apprehend what they were apprehended for.

This is why the enemy has worked through creeds and traditions over centuries to hide the story of Christ, and make his story all about Calvary, and ministry, instead of his pioneering journey in putting generational transgressions and iniquities to death.

That’s why the following verses, and others like them, are so quickly attributed to Calvary, absent having experienced the deep work of the Spirit of grace and the revelation of the mystery of Christ:

“‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.’” (NIV, Galatians 3:13)

“And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (NIV, Philippians 2:8)

“…He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” (NIV, Colossians 2:13 – 14)

These Scriptures, and I have more on this below and coming in future posts, are not pictures describing Calvary, but pictures describing the putting to death of the fleshly nature, the enmity in the flesh Christ inherited from his human ancestry (Ephesians 2:14 – 16, see an interlinear, Romans 6:10, etc.).

Paul would never describe Calvary using these terms and in such callousness.

Calvary is described as the place their beloved Messiah was killed, not a place of human sacrifice, which God abhors.

Paul would never speak of the Messiah, the man who reached into their lives and loved them like no other, who healed and saved many from disaster, the most precious man to ever walk the earth, the New Testament in flesh and blood, in such vain terms.

These phrases, words that elicit pictures of physical crucifixion, clearly convey the power of the Holy Spirit to bring to death the fleshly nature for those walking by grace through faith, beginning with Christ first, the firstborn, first fruit, pioneer, forerunner, of the new creation.

Paul, and the early disciples, never described Calvary in such callous terms, as if, Christ was an animal, something to be sacrificed, and not a human being, and, I might add, the only human being to never sin.

He put sin to death the right way, by killing it (Romans 6:10), and that’s what drove Israel to kill him, fueled by sin and the tempter, because they could find no fault in him, no hook, driving them to a form of murderous insanity.

The point of the New and Better Covenant was to put sin to death, Christ being the first and only one to be made perfect.

Important

It was Christ’s choice to extend grace to the uttermost by not taking up arms (Matthew 26:28, 26:53), and not a command by his Father.

His Father’s heart was not to kill those he had just spent over three years trying to save; making known his will, but not a command; leaving the choice to Christ, and thus, not a question of “obedience” but one of desire and “preference.”

Jesus lets us know it was not a command by clearly saying he could take the Kingdom by force with his Father’s help if he chose.

Thus, Calvary is not a place of obedience as we’ve been taught – obedience to the Father as a sacrificial lamb offering – but, a place of continued grace in the face of being killed.

Christ became the sacrificial lamb in being made perfect (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 5:7-10), before ministry, not at Calvary; John the Baptist proclaiming the present state of Christ, not his future state (John 1:29).

In contrast to creeds and traditions, the Scriptures clearly teach, from the Old and New Testaments, from many different types, Christ was the atoning sacrifice, made perfect, before ministry, not during ministry, nor at Calvary.

Christ took the punishment for generational transgressions and iniquities from us by the sufferings of the cross in putting sin to death by grace through faith, in complete dependence upon God for healing and restoration, made perfect before ministry.

You do not kill sin by killing the body, but by killing it!

And God’s plan of grace through faith by the power of the Holy Spirit is more than sufficient to kill sin without the need to kill the person!

That’s why the New Covenant is a better Covenant, not worse!

The shedding of blood was required under the Law, not Grace (Hebrews 9:22-28)!

There are varying degrees of suffering involved in putting sin to death: the suffering of wounds being opened and cleansed by the Holy Spirit through repentance and forgiveness in dependence upon God for healing and restoration.

And the suffering of the structures of generational transgressions and iniquities being shaken, wounded, pierced, put to death by grace through faith, and the resulting discomfort and painful journey through that process.

David, one of the greatest types, of Christ, experienced the journey describing in the Psalms the heavy weight of God upon him (Psalm 32) and the wounding to bring him into obedience.

He prefigured and foretold the journey of Christ who would put sin to death; the weight of God against sin passed through Christ’s human ancestry, desiring nothing but the best for his Son, to be made perfect as “…the exact representation of his being…” (NIV, Hebrews 1:3, italicized mine)

Anyone who has experienced inner healing or intensive prayer ministry, and the opening of wounds has experienced in a measure what Christ experienced in putting sin to death for mankind.

He pioneered the path in Tabernacles, fathered by God, so he could accomplish in us what the Father accomplished in him.

Inner healing did not just come about by accident in the last half of the 20^th century, but purposely in restoring the journey Christ pioneered in healing and restoration through which he was made perfect, becoming our Savior.

***

Having been taught these passages apply to Calvary, we’ve cringed because of the absence of empathy and emotion in Paul’s words regarding the crucifixion he describes, not realizing Paul was speaking about putting sin to death, not the killing of Christ.

If one misses this, then the heart of the New Testament is missed.

It’s like trying to enter the Earth’s atmosphere at the wrong angle after having traveled through space, trying to come home to the wonderful creation and promise of God, only to bounce off, or burn up.

Hiding the journey and story of Christ has done unspeakable harm within Christendom.

But God has worked around it, and is continuing to work around it, as he digs deeper in the last days to reveal and make known the journey and story of his Son.

We need not cringe any longer at these passages, because they’re not talking about the killing of Christ, but the killing of the fleshly nature passed from generation to generation, beginning with Christ first.

These Scriptures apply to our enemy, and the enemy of Christ, the works of the flesh, and what “grace through faith in repentance and forgiveness” does to it.

Christ is so much more than Calvary!

To ascribe these passages to Calvary robs Christ of his journey and tragically teaches God ordained and planned the killing of his Son.

And there’s a Scripture that’s been rephrased in translation to basically say what I just noted, and I discuss it below.

It’s been hard to see the distinction between Calvary and the crucifixion of the enmity of the flesh because we’ve been taught to see the Bible through the lens of Calvary, instead of the work of the Spirit in putting sin to death by the cross of “grace through faith.”

And seeing the Scriptures through the lens of Calvary has altered the meaning of many terms in the New Testament, terms and phrases I’ve discussed in this series.

The heart of Galatians, and the heart of the New Testament “the promised grace to come” (NIV, 1 Peter 1:10 – 12), is putting to death the fleshly nature from the curse of sin and rebellion against God.

The fleshly nature has no greater fear than the offering of grace and care in the love of Jesus Christ, the temple it inhabits being made faithfully obedient and disciplined in him.

Truly, our God is a God of war, the instruments of grace through faith being the instruments by which mankind is stripped of the strength in the flesh, made dependent upon the kindness and love of God, to the great horror of the flesh.

Starving and bringing to death the desires, passions, and appetites of the fleshly nature is, from the standpoint of the enmity in our flesh, tantamount to being crucified.

It’s binding the strongman so you and I can plunder his house in the temple of our body, soul, and spirit.

And once the strongman is bound, by grace through faith, we can truly begin to experience a greater measure of Christ’s care and love as he cleanses and heals our wounds and brokenness, freed from the sins that feed upon them.

Paul knew firsthand the journey of putting sin to death by the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, i.e., by grace through faith in repentance and forgiveness – he speaks of that in his writings!

Few through the centuries have entered the feast of Tabernacles, the last leg of the pilgrimage in apprehending Christ: portrayed in the letter to the Philippians, the letter to the Church of Philadelphia, pictured in the pearl of Matthew Chapter 13, and throughout the New Testament.

The opportunity for apprehending Christ by grace through faith in the feast of Tabernacles is presently before the body of Christ, the age of Philadelphia, reserved for the last of the last days, where sheep are “transformed,” into war horses (NIV, Zechariah 10:3).

The body of Christ has before it the opportunity of a lifetime – the age of Philadelphia reserved for making a bride for the Son.

The opportunity to receive the greatest promises of God to any group of generations; to have the name of the Father, Christ’s new name, and the name of the New Jerusalem written on the tables of our hearts and minds; the promise to those who seek Christ through the open door of Philadelphia.

Many have misunderstood the Scriptures and missed the power of the Holy Spirit to cleanse and heal their wounds and brokenness.

But God has reserved a specific season of time in the last of the last days to restore the years, generation and otherwise, what the enemy has devoured.

Creeds and traditions want to package Christianity into a nice set of beliefs that resolve everything around Calvary.

The Scripture, however, resolves everything around Christ, our New Testament Savior, what he pioneered for every man and woman, beginning first with him.

The body of Christ has long lost the understanding of the baptism of Christ; the cross of Christ by grace through faith, made complete in the revelation of Christ (NIV, 1 Peter 1:13), partaking of the new creation (2 Corinthians 3:18, 2 Peter 1:4).

Hopefully, many will experience the deep work of the Spirit of grace before this final leg of the journey comes to a close, and irreversible events are set in motion to transition mankind from the age of the Gospel to Christ’s millennial rule.

In closing this introduction, I want to remind readers our salvation is not an event, but a journey, beginning with the new-birth, through Pentecost, and on into the deep work of the Spirit, Tabernacles.

Many are not aware of this, but the New Testament is written from the standpoint of being made into the bride, the heart and vision of the New Testament.

The New Testament is written from the standpoint of the feast of Tabernacles, being made one with Christ, not from the standpoint of stopping and camping at Passover or Pentecost.

Here are some Scriptures about our salvation journey, a pilgrimage:

• Matthew 15:13 (a journey of cleansing and healing);
• Romans Chapter 6 (the baptismal journey in dying to sin to walk in new life; the baptism Christ pioneered for his sons and daughters);
• 2 Corinthians 3:18 and 7:1 (transformation by the Holy Spirit and our call to pursue cleansing and healing);
• Ephesians 2:8 (a process), 5:15-16 (to seek the Lord in the time of opportunity), 5:26-27 (a journey of cleansing and healing); Philippians 2:12-13 and 3:10-12 (a journey);
• Hebrews 4:12-13 (the cutting away of the sinful nature); Chapters 8 through 10 (the Word of God written on our hearts and minds in journey with him); 12:27 (the shaking away of the fleshly nature);
• James 4:8-10 (pursuit of wholeness and holiness); 1 Peter 1:13 (intimacy with Christ in the revealing of his nature, changing us into his likeness); 2 Peter 1:4-11.

 

Yes, Heaven is made up of different positions in Christ, symbolic of virgins, concubines, queens, and the bride (Song of Songs Chapter 6, Matthew 25, Revelation 4 through 5, etc.).

And we, who sit on the threshold of the greatest opportunities and promises of God, are called to seek the “all” of Christ in this late hour of the Gospel.

“…our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.” (NIV, Romans 8:18-19)

** Unveiling the Mystery of Christ **

With the unveiling of the promised grace to come (1 Peter 1:10-12), the mystery of restoration pioneered by Christ (Hebrews 2:10), came the indispensable unveiling of expanded meanings and expressions of the work of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:13).

The revelation of “…Spirit-taught words” (NIV, 1 Corinthians 2:13), accompanied the revealing of the Kingdom of God.

You cannot have the inauguration of a New Covenant without the inauguration of expanded meanings and expressions.

Many think the New Covenant means the killing of Christ rather than the killing of an animal under the Old.

But that type of reasoning comes from the fruit of creeds and traditions bred over centuries and not the fruit of “…Spirit-taught words.” (NIV, 1 Corinthians 2:13, italicized mine)

In contrast to creeds and traditions, the words of the Spirit of grace in Christ are “…alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow…” (NIV, Hebrews 4:12)

And unlike creeds and traditions, the words of life in Christ bring death to sin through repentance and forgiveness; transforming our lowly natures into the nature of Christ (NIV, 2 Peter 1:4); yielding the peaceable “…fruit of the Spirit…” (NIV, Galatians 5:22).

Creeds and traditions and the words of the Spirit come from two different kingdoms, producing different outcomes.

The New Covenant compared to the Old is like comparing the Sun to the Moon, life to death, a rain forest to a desert, or, Heaven to earth.

The New is so superior and better than the Old (Hebrews 8:6), the best way to picture their differences is by stark contrasts.

The New Covenant compared to the Old Covenant is not about the substitution of Christ for a lamb, but “lives” coming alive “spiritually, in fullness, walking in resurrection life,” beginning with Christ first, the firstborn, versus, “lives” destined to live under the hard yoke and heavy burden of the law.

The New Covenant is healing, restoration “resurrection life,” for the whole person (1 Thessalonians 5:23); beginning first with Christ in his life (Romans Chapter 6), not death.

The New Covenant was birthed “formed,” in the life of Christ; the law of in-kind; the Father reproducing his life in the Son, made perfect through the death of generational transgressions and iniquities passed to him through his human lineage, raised to walk in new life. (Romans 6:10)

Yes, the death of sin, but the death of sin by the living Christ (Hebrews 5:7-10; Isaiah 53:4-6)

Note: Isaiah 53:4-6 is an Old Testament picture of Romans 6:10; Ephesians 2:14-16, see an interlinear; Hebrews 5:7-10; 1 Peter 2:24, 3:18, etc.

***

Every kingdom has its own unique language and meanings, and the mystery of the Kingdom of God revealed in Christ is no different.

Christ and the early apostles taught new and deeper meanings for words like baptize, cross, crucify, death, sacrifice, blood, water, wounded, life, raised to life, bind, lose, sin, resurrection, suffering, etc.

The New Covenant did not strip words of their natural meanings, but unveiled deeper spiritual understandings as the Spirit led.

The understanding of the New Covenant is intimately connected to the revelation by the Spirit of the meaning of words spoken by Christ and the writers of the New Testament.

Jesus and the writers of the New Testament were faithful to leave us with the foundation for understanding the New Testament, and the keys to discovering greater fullness in Christ as revealed by the Spirit.

The New Covenant revealed in Scripture is righteously wise; it gives us just enough to ignite our interest for discovering more of God’s Word.

It is an ingenious plan by God to save us from our sins by making us dependent upon relationship with him, through Christ, by the revelation of the Spirit.

It is designed to be fully understood only in intimate relationship with Christ, and the Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Importantly, it was not to be substituted by the hard yoke and heavy burden of traditions placed upon men and women by man.

But it only took a short time after the deaths of the early Apostles before the works of the flesh through creeds and traditions became dominant in Christianity just as they were under the law.

So dominant, the age of Thyatira, the darkest period of the Church, spanned over a millennium, before the Reformation began to break the yoke of institutionalized Christianity.

And with dominance came the works of the flesh at the cost of personal intimacy and connection with Christ.

Jesus talked about good fruit and bad fruit, and how the New Covenant reveals the movements of the heart (Hebrews 4:12-13).

Under the Old Covenant there were good wounds, those that helped men and women turn toward righteousness (Proverbs 20:30 & 27:6), but they lacked the New Covenant power of the Spirit of grace in Christ to cleanse, heal, and restore.

And under the New Covenant, there’s also good wounds, and, good piercings (Isaiah 53:4-6, Hebrews 4:12, Hebrews 5:7-10, etc.).

Those that bring generational transgressions and iniquities to death by the power of the Spirit, by grace through faith, in repentance and forgiveness, beginning first with Christ.

Unlike the good wounds under the Old Covenant, the good wounds and piercings under the New have the penetrating power (Hebrews 4:12), to uproot principalities and powers (Matthew 15:13, Ephesians 6:12), from the deeply hidden areas of our lives, birthing the nature of Christ through healing and restoration.

There’s a good death, the death of sin, and a death because of sin, physical death.

For every man and woman, there’s the birth of being born with a nature predisposed to sin; and, for those who receive the new-birth, grace for healing and restoration by the Spirit.

There’s a good sacrifice; the sacrifice of the “living” who put sin to death (Romans Chapter 6; Hebrews 5:7 – 10), and a bad sacrifice: the sacrifice of obligation and duty, saving oneself by the works of the flesh.

In Christ’s case, his living sacrifice was a “blood sacrifice,” denoting the depth, extent, and intensity of the giving of the entirety of his life to the plan and purposes of God; made perfect by the “cross of grace through faith” (explained below), becoming our Savior, before ministry (Hebrews 5:7-10, 7:16).

There’s a righteous judgment, where the judgment is decreed against sin, stripping sin of its power to “‘…steal and kill and destroy…’” (NIV, John 10:10), and, a judgment rooted in condemnation depriving grace, mercy, and justice.

There’s a good blood sacrifice, the giving of one’s life in putting sin to death (destroying sin, not the person, a New and Better Covenant, Romans 6:10, Ephesians 2:14-16, see an interlinear, Hebrews 5:7 – 10, 8:6, etc.).

And, an unrighteous, unrepentant, “living” blood sacrifice, i.e., the works of the flesh in institutionalized religion, Christianity, or otherwise.

Where grace through faith in Christ is substituted by the works of the flesh.

The giving of the entirety of one’s life under the hard yoke and heavy burden of duty and obligation; striving to appease God, perceived through creeds and traditions, steeped in anger and unforgiveness.

Thankfully, for mankind, the unrighteous unrepentant act of shedding Christ’s blood was not held against us, but grace continued to flow from the gates of Heaven because Christ chose not to take up arms to take the Kingdom by force.

***

Those who profess Calvary as the place of atonement, which the Scripture clearly teaches otherwise, have another obstacle.

Under the Old Covenant sacrifices were done in repentance.

Christ was killed by unrepentant sinners, who could only come to forgiveness by their willingness to repent, the “same repentance” he preached “in him” and offered and gave before Calvary!

***

There are good sufferings, the suffering of putting sin to death (Romans 6:10, Galatians 3:13, Colossians 2:14, Hebrews 5:7 – 10, 1 Peter 2:24, 3:18, Isaiah 53:4 – 6, etc.).

And there’s the sufferings from the fruit of unrighteousness, familiar to everyone.

And, the sufferings inflicted upon the innocent by sin and sinners, even those that result in physical death; most notable, Christ, Isaiah 53:7-9, his innocent death at Calvary.

The inauguration of the New Covenant in the revelation of the mystery of Christ expanded the meanings of many words: words interpreted by the revelation of the Spirit.

They reveal the nature of God in Christ to heal and restore his Sons and Daughters; beginning with Christ first, the firstborn, first fruit, forerunner, pioneer, and finisher of the faith.

If we miss the heart of the New Testament flowing from Christ’s personal healing and restoration (from the enmity passed to him through his human ancestry), then the journey pioneered by Christ for him and us is veiled under the hard yoke and heavy burden of creeds and traditions.

The Apostle John directs us away from “religion” and toward the Spirit, saying:

“…the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit – just as it has taught you, remain in him.” (NIV, 1 John 2:27, italicized mine)

This is the offer of the age of Philadelphia, the pearl, the promise of Philippians; to apprehend intimacy with Christ in the feast of Tabernacles (NIV, Philippians 3:12).

This series reveals over and over again the Scriptures teach Christ is the New Testament.

It’s all about Jesus!

Unrepentant sinners and Roman soldiers had no part in conceiving, birthing, or inaugurating the New Testament; but every part in trying to derail the work of God, though, for the unrepentant, to their own demise.

The same spirit that taught Christ needed the help of lawless men and Rome to inaugurate the New Testament through his killing, is the same spirit convincing men and women of creeds and traditions.

And it’s the same spirit leading men, through agreements with extra-biblical writings and councils, to rephrase certain Scriptures in translations, substitute words, and add words to conform to creeds and traditions.

It’s been a clever strategy by the enemy to shift the focus off the person of Christ, to the works of the flesh, no matter how religious and emotionally impacting they might seem.

Without a doubt, all these twists and turns of the enemy, the attack on God’s Word to hide Christ’s journey, to shift the great weight of Scripture to Calvary, undoubtedly plays a part in the coming Great Apostasy.

Just as it played a part in the Apostasy in past church ages, particularly the darkest, the age of Thyatira.

It’s tragic, actually horrific, we’re in the last of the last days, on the cusp of the Millennium, and the great upheaval before that, and the body of Christ is still trying to figure out the extent and depth of New Testament promises.

Many wonder what promises are for now versus for Heaven.

What has God actually promised to do here?

As long as creeds and traditions are the foundation of Christendom, many will stay camped at the outskirts of Tabernacles, in the new-birth and Pentecost, and risk missing the deep work of the Spirit.

Creeds and traditions have robbed many of the revelation of Christ; replacing personal discovery, inspiration, and revelation of the nature of Christ (the deep work of the Spirit, 1 Peter 1:13) with intellectual beliefs imprisoned in spiritual agreements (creeds), and the works of the flesh (what we do to save ourselves).

Important

The great weight and body of New Testament writings pointing you and me toward the bride, made possible by Christ’s pioneering journey (fulfilling the feast of Tabernacles), is buried under the hard yoke and heavy burden of creeds and traditions, “stripping” Christ of who he became (his journey to perfection), making him a model (in ministry), and salvation an event (Calvary).

And in all that, stripping the vision of the bride from the heart of the body of Christ.

No wonder Jesus talked about weeping and gnashing of teeth; when many find out how clever the enemy has been to strip and hide from the body of Christ the promises of God to be made like Christ, particularly to those who find themselves in the age of Philadelphia.

Because the flesh hates the journey of grace through faith in repentance and forgiveness, and loves what can be seen with the eye and understood with the mind,

“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.” (NIV, Genesis 3:6) 

The heartache in all of this, for Christ, and those pursuing Christ, is knowing many will experience a lot of deep remorse and regret when they realize, like Israel of Old, and those who stood on the sidelines of revivals, the opportunity for more of Christ slipped through their fingers.

I know what that feels like; it’s not something any of us want to see for another.

If the Lord had not allowed me to be shaken, stepping in and rescuing me in the pit of troubles, offering another chance to pursue him, I’d be in a lot of inner pain and turmoil having missed over a decade of adventure and journey of Christ.

I would not give up the last twelve years for anything. They have been difficult and challenging at times, with discomfort, but, oh, knowing Jesus, and him knowing you, is the greatest treasure ever to be had in this creation.

When we truly begin to get a glimpse of the glory of Christ and what he’s offering – himself – nothing, and I mean nothing, in this world can compare.

When the reality of Scripture really hits home, much is at stake, the desperate need for the deep work of the Spirit of grace, and the prize is Christ, there’s some, who will say like Paul,

“…I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.” (NIV, Philippians 3:8)

This isn’t something we drum up and do on our own, but the work of the Spirit in the revelation of Christ. When Jesus shows up, truly nothing else matters.

This isn’t something automatic with us, but has to be nurtured and cultivated over time through our disobediences by our patient Savior.

He, above all others, is faithful to protect the seeds he’s planted, the soil he’s tilled, the ground he’s watered, and the branches he’s pruned, to make ready a great harvest of fruit in your life and mine, “…Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (NIV, Colossians 1:27)

It’s tragically ironic, creeds and traditions proclaim the killing of the Son of God as good fruit, the fruit of the New Covenant, and not Christ, who he “became,” our Savior.

That, as it was at the time of Christ, the works of the flesh in creeds and traditions battling ferociously against the work of the Spirit, so it is today, two millenniums hence.

I pray you and I continue to endure the work of the Spirit, and be “made ready” (Matthew 25:10, Revelation 19:7), for the surprises surely Jesus has ahead for the body of Christ, and the world, before he sets in motion the irreversible events of the end-times.

** Brief Survey of a Few Scriptures **

In Part 11 I hope to speak more on how the authors of the New Testament used common words to describe the “spiritual,” as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:13-14:

“This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” (NIV, italicized mine)

We must keep in mind as we read Scripture, particularly the Gospels, and the other New Testament writings (in a measure), there’s only so much revealed and made known in writing.

That much of what Christ said were rudimentary understandings of the truths of the Kingdom of God, stretching hearts toward God for revelation; like Peter who received the revelation Christ was the Messiah.  (Matthew 16:16)

Christ could not go too far from where his listeners were, or they’d be so overwhelmed they’d give up.

You do not give high school, college, or doctorate teaching and revelation to new babes.

Just as the revelation of Christ, being made one with him, progresses through the church ages, so to in the writers and writings of the New Testament.

Today, the revelation of the Spirit of God upon his Word is more important than ever in understanding the times we live, and the call of God for the deep work of the Spirit of grace in his sons and daughters.

Christianity is not man-made; something that can be packaged in creeds and traditions and sold as the pathway for intimacy and union with Christ.

For Christ is the path, the journey he pioneered, and he accepts no substitutes.

Houses built on anything but Christ, and Christ alone, will not be able to weather the coming winds and rains of darkness.

Thankfully, there’s coming a righteous outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the wind and rain of God first.

Christ is doing everything possible to awaken his Church to his offer of healing and restoration.

And though the hour is late, the offer having been made for decades through deliverance, inner healing, and other prayer ministries, Jesus is yet still, giving more time for the body of Christ to respond to his offer of life.

Another wave of healing is coming, and hopefully, many will enter the open door of Philadelphia, the feast of Tabernacles, and receive what they need for themselves, their relationship with Christ, made ready for their bridegroom.

***

In Part 11 I am also hoping to speak more about some key scriptures commonly pointed to Calvary.

Briefly, here’s insight on one.

Galatians 3:13 – A Brash Comment about Physical Crucifixion, or, Symbolic of the Cross (Christ, and Ours), Putting Sin to Death by Grace through Faith?

The following comments about Galatians 3:13, i.e., using physical crucifixion “pictures” to symbolize and represent the crucifixion of the sinful nature all humans inherit, including Christ, applies equally as well to Ephesians 2:14 – 16 (see an interlinear), Philippians 2:8, Colossians 2:14, 1 Peter 2:24 and 3:18, etc.

“‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.’” (NIV)

This Scripture, and others like it, are commonly pointed to Calvary.

(As if Paul would ever refer to Calvary, the killing of Christ, the Messiah, four millenniums of prophecy foretelling his coming, the one who spoke directly to him in light from Heaven, in such a demeaning way. More on this later.)

But this Scripture, and others like it, speak of Christ’s journey, made perfect (Hebrews 5:7-10), before ministry.

Galatians is about overcoming sin, putting it to death, not by the works of the law, but by grace through faith in Christ.

The same grace and faith “of” Christ in his journey putting sin to death, the promised grace to come (1 Peter 1:10 – 12).

(Galatians 2:16 & 3:22 and Romans 3:22 & 3:26, literal Greek is faith “of” Christ. Yes, Jesus lived by grace through faith just like you and me! That’s one of the wonders of the Gospel and why we have hope in Christ.)

This Scripture, and the theme of Galatians, i.e., crucifying the flesh, describes from the “perspective of the flesh,” what it’s like for it – the enmity in our fleshly nature – to be put to death by the deep work of the Spirit “spiritually,” by grace through faith (in repentance and forgiveness).

In Galatians 3:13 Paul uses words associated with physical crucifixion (i.e., cursed, hung, pole), to “symbolize and describe” something we can visualize in the natural; what the crucifixion of the old nature by grace through faith looks like in the Spirit from the perspective of the fleshly nature which hates grace and faith.

Christ was the first to partake of the crucifixion of the flesh by grace through faith, made perfect, becoming our Savior before his ministry (Hebrews 5:7-10).

What physical crucifixion is to the body, soul, and spirit, “bringing death;” crucifixion by the Spirit, by grace through faith (our cross) is to the sinful nature and the works of the flesh, “bringing life,” Christ, the firstborn (Romans 5:10).

Crucifixion is where one has been stripped of the means to save themselves, both physically, and spiritually (Tabernacles).

One results in physical death, the other, in death to sin and life in God, Christ, the first fruit of the new creation (Romans 6:10, 8:10-11; 1 Corinthians 15:20; Ephesians 1:15; Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 5:7-10).

Those brought into the deep work of the Spirit of grace (the crucifixion of the old nature), are denied access to the old ways of saving themselves under the works of the law and their practiced ways of living under the “fall.”

But unlike physical crucifixion, which results in physical death, the crucifixion of the old nature by the Holy Spirit results in cleansing, healing, and restoration, not only of the soul and spirit, but the body as well (Romans 8:10 – 11).

Paul captures in Galatians 3:13 the intensity of Christ’s journey in putting sin to death, spiritually speaking.

He uses words associated with physical crucifixion to capture the depth and extent of Christ’s journey in being made perfect (Hebrews 5:7 – 10), which the Galatians were attempting to achieve by the works of the law (Galatians 3:3).

The crucifixion of the old nature and the transformation to the new – a new nature formed to walk in newness of life, is the mystery of Christ the Scriptures speak about, Christ being the first to put generational sin to death, perfectly, without sin!

The crucifixion of the flesh by the Spirit by grace through faith moves you and me forward, toward the new creation.

As the old nature is put to death in the journey of Tabernacles, a new nature is formed to produce the peaceable fruit of righteousness, the “…the fruit of the Spirit…” (NIV, Galatians 5:22, italicized mine).

Galatians 3:13 describes from the view of the flesh (i.e., the lower nature and its use of the works of the law for “cleansing and penance,” and its sinful practiced ways of living), what it’s like when the person is placed into the hands of God in complete dependence on him for healing and restoration.

Please remember Paul describes the fleshly nature in Romans Chapter 7 and it is darkness in us doing the works of darkness.

And though Christ never sinned, he nonetheless, being born into the human race faced the bitter struggle and warfare of resisting and putting sin to death before it put him to death (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 5:7-10).

The flesh man hates grace and faith because it requires, among others, trust, confidence, and waiting upon God, taking life, or what we call life, out of our hands, and into God’s.

Grace through faith in repentance and forgiveness is absolutely frightening to the lower nature, so frightening, many refuse to come to Christ with their wounds and brokenness, preferring to hide them.

The fleshly nature is terrified of grace through faith!

Important

Trusting, waiting, the giving up of rights and privileges is restorative to the body, soul, and spirit, but, excruciatingly painful to the fleshly nature, because, it’s what we and our generations have come to know as life.

The suffering in putting sin to death by grace through faith brings cleansing, healing, and restoration from the sinful nature passed to every man and woman born of woman.

(Romans 6:10; Galatians 3:13; Philippians 2:8; Colossians 2:14; Hebrews 5:7 – 10; 1 Peter 2:24, 3:18, for Christ, and all the Scriptures that apply to you and me.)

Just as in the natural, where there’s suffering in being cleansed and healed from a bodily wound or affliction, so too when being healed from the wounds and brokenness of the sinful nature by the Spirit.

Christ experienced gentleness and care of his Father, in being made perfect; though he went through the pains of suffering in putting sin to death passed to him from his human ancestry – a suffering that birthed the Messiah, “life,” and not death (Romans 5:10, 6:10, Ephesians 4:20-24, Hebrews 5:7-10, 7:16, etc.).

Mankind, including Christ, are born into “suffering,” from the wounds and brokenness of the fallen nature passed to every human being (Romans 8:3; Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 2:17).

We’re born into suffering and affliction; in contrast, the suffering in putting sin to death by the Spirit is to bring cleansing, healing, and restoration from the enmity in the flesh every human inherits.

Which includes the bringing down of strongholds every human, including Christ, inherited from their human ancestry.

Putting it another way, the suffering of the Spirit in cleansing, healing, and destroying the enmity in the flesh every human inherits, brings life.

That’s why in Isaiah Chapter 53 strong words are used, such as, wounded, pierced, stricken, crushed, referring to the Messiah’s journey of destroying the barrier of generational strongholds to end the suffering of sin, that life might reign.

Ephesians 2:14 – 16 in the Greek beautifully describes Christ destroying the barrier of sin from his generations before it could ensnare him from perfectly fulfilling the law in his flesh; putting it to death by the cross of grace through faith in repentance and forgiveness.

As James describes in Chapter 1, we can have enmity in our flesh, and yet not sin – Christ the only one to fulfill that truth.

Christ found himself in the same position as us at birth, having been born of woman, yet, being conceived by the Holy Ghost, he was restored back to the place of Adam before the fall, i.e., not automatically pre-disposed to sin.

That’s why he’s called the last Adam and fully human. (Romans 5:14; 1 Corinthians 15:45; Romans 8:3; Ephesians 2:14-16; see an interlinear, Hebrews 2:17).

Important

In dependence upon God, by grace through faith, men and women are wounded, stricken, from their ability to aid God in their healing and restoration just as the fleshly nature passed to Christ was wounded, i.e., stricken.

And in our lower natures being wounded and stricken, we become completely dependent upon God for healing and restoration; Christ, the only one made perfect, becoming our Savior (Hebrews 5:7 – 10, Isaiah 53:1-6).

Christ went through his journey sinless, a point the Scripture makes sure we know, otherwise, we would all be lost (Hebrews 4:15).

Yes, Christ did put sin to death, but not in his own strength, but by grace through faith in the creative and transforming power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 6:10).

To the sinful nature, the grace and love of God (stricken of one’s own strength, dependent by faith upon God), is the cross of death.

The sinful nature thrives on the works of the flesh to stay shrouded in secrecy, hidden from the light of grace and faith, secreted away in the deeply rooted areas of the heart and mind.

To the sinful nature, grace and faith in the love and care of intimacy with Christ (as Christ was with the Father in his journey), is like being hung of a pole, crucified, unable to save oneself, totally dependent upon God for healing, restoration, and life itself.

That’s why Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ…” (NIV, Galatians 2:20)

Obviously, he was not speaking of Calvary, but his personal cross in journey with Christ; Jesus being the first to pioneer the path of putting sin to death by grace through faith, fathered by God.

Indeed, contrary to creeds and traditions, Christ inherited a lower nature from his human ancestry (Romans 1:3, 8:3; Galatians 4:4; Ephesians 2:14 – 16, see an interlinear; Hebrews 2:17, 4:15), which needed to be put to death before his ministry.

The only way the flesh, the lower nature, i.e., the nature born to sin, can truly be put to death, is by being denied access to the works of self-righteousness as a means of attempting to make oneself righteous through outward appearance, penance, practiced ways of living in vows, or other measures.

And to do that, the flesh, the lower nature (the enmity of transgressions and iniquities passed to every man and woman born by woman, Christ included), must be hung/nailed to the cross of grace through faith, Holy Spirit restrained and starved from saving itself, in dependence upon God for salvation!

The ancients knew, as we know today, the cross, or a pole, represents a place of inactivity, being denied self-rescue in complete dependence upon God.

That’s why they said let’s see if God will rescue him, in mocking.

And it’s not a coincidence Zechariah 10:3 refers to sheep being made war horses because horses are trained in trust and dependence by being connected to a pole, a literal pole, or, the pole of a “human trainer,” see the symbolism (re: Philippians, the love of horses)?

It’s the means of stripping the flesh man of the means to save himself by his own efforts; to crucify the flesh by denying it access to the means to save itself in the ways passed down through the generations in transgressions and iniquities.

To the flesh it’s a cross; to the body, soul, and spirit, it’s life and peace in the Holy Ghost.

Note:

The curse referred to by Paul in Galatians 3:12-13 is the curse of the sinful nature passed down through the generations, Christ being God’s sacrifice in putting sin to death, before it put him to death, the pioneer and firstborn of the new creation.

Though conceived by the Holy Spirit, Christ, a curse for you and me, partook of the human condition through his mother’s lineage, i.e., “…sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.” (NIV, Romans 8:3, italicized mine)

But he, unlike you and me, conceived in grace, put sin to death by grace through faith, perfectly, completely, without sin, becoming our Savior, fulfilling the foreordained plan of God for “Christ” from the beginning of time.

The foreordained plan of God for Christ! not to kill Christ.

Simply, his curse was to have our sins handed to him through his human ancestry and put them to death (Romans 6:10), fathered by God, before they could entrap him in the curse of every human since Adam and Eve’s fall.

Contrary to the Scripture, creeds and traditions teach the curse was atoned by the punishment Christ received at Calvary, and that it was God’s design, by rephrasing the Greek (Acts 2:23), to have his Son killed at Calvary (see earlier posts in this series).

One brief word regarding Acts 2:23. The Greek is clear, “Christ” was the foreordained and predetermined plan of God, not the act of the lawless men killing him.

Christ was New Testament in flesh and blood before ministry and Calvary (Matthew 26:28).

***

Galatians 3:13 and similar phrases in the New Testament paint a picture of what “grace through faith” in dependence upon God looks like to the flesh; Christ, the first to pioneer the path of salvation (Romans 6:10; Ephesians 2:14-16, see an interlinear; Hebrews 2:10, 5:7-10, 6:20, etc.).

The Romans used actual crosses to kill people.

God used the spiritual cross of grace through faith in dependence upon him to put the old man to death, raised to new life, healed and restored!

The Apostles referred to Calvary as the place of Christ’s tragic death; not in the context of putting sin to death, a place of salvation, attendant with all the symbolism of Galatians 3:13 and like Scriptures, but a place of killing.

See Acts 2:23, 2:36, 3:13, 3:15, 4:10, 5:30, 7:52, 10:39, 13:28, 1 Corinthians 2:8, and 1 Thessalonians 2:15.

Note:

Notice in Acts 3:15, for example, Peter says “You killed the author of life…” (NIV), he did not say you killed the Messiah at Calvary so we could be saved!

But you killed the one who brought life into existence – and when did Jesus bring life into existence, at his perfection (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 5:7-10, 7:16)!

Calvary in the New Testament is the place of his physical death, not the place of putting sin to death, because sin can only be put to death by grace through faith, and not by a Roman cross.

The spiritual cross of Christ, the path Christ pioneered, is the cross to healing and restoration, resurrection life!

The evidence Christ put the enmity of his flesh to death by the cross of grace through faith, i.e., “…hung on a pole” (NIV, Galatians 3:13, Romans 6:10), through baptismal fires of the Holy Spirit, becoming one with the Father (Hebrews 5:7-10), from mortality to “resurrection life” (Hebrews 7:16), was his ministry of “…miracles, wonders and signs…” (NIV, Acts 2:22), displayed to Israel over 3 years. (Bold and italicized mine)

The Roman instrument of death was the enemy’s attempt to mock God’s cross of life.

But Christ used the enemy’s instrument of death, not as the place of atonement as proclaimed in creeds and traditions, but as the place of purchasing (Revelation 5:9) those who rejected him for another chance at forgiveness (Matthew 26:28).

Creeds and traditions combine two streams of prophecies into one, destroying Christ’s journey, exalting Calvary above his perfection; his ministry and Calvary would not have been possible without Christ’s completion, Hebrews 5:7-10.

Creeds and traditions define Christ’s New Testament sacrifice by punishment, dying, and death.

The Scripture defines Christ’s “sacrifice” as the giving of his “living life,” symbolized by the most intimate of expressions, his blood; showing the depth and extent of his sacrifice in dying to sin by the cross of grace through faith.

***

In the next post I hope to give more insight on Scriptures like, “having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” (NIV, Colossians 2:14)

The explanation of Galatians 3:13 applies equally as well to this passage; another ray of God’s light from a different perspective on the same subject of Christ’s journey being made perfect.

***

And other Scriptures, like Hebrews 9:22, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (NIV)

This passage refers to the Old Covenant, contrasting with the new promised grace in Christ; a New and Better Covenant; one not requiring the shedding of blood in contrast to the Old, the absence of grace to be healed from sin, though forgiven.

But a New Covenant that puts sin to death after the manner of Christ’s journey, fathered by God.

***

And the Scriptures at the end of Luke where Jesus talks about his sufferings, and the teaching of creeds and traditions Christ was “punished” for our sins.

When Jesus talks about his sufferings here (Luke), he goes all the way back to Moses, because Moses is a type of Christ who suffered being made into the man who would eventually lead the Hebrews out of Egypt.

He suffered in being made a Savior to the Hebrews before ministry (40 years before he met the burning bush), just like David (some 15 years in the wilderness), Joseph, and others.

Christ suffered in being made perfect before ministry, not at the end of it.

Calvary was not the making of him, but the killing of him.

And regarding being punished for our sins, so commonly preached in Christendom, Christ suffered in being made perfect, putting sin to death, directed at the structures of generational transgressions and iniquities passed to him, not directed at him.

***

The arrival of grace through Christ birthed new spiritual truths. And with new spiritual truths comes a new language, just like with any new Kingdom (1 Corinthians 2:13).

With the fulfillment of the feasts by Christ (Passover (conceived by the Holy Spirit), Pentecost, and Tabernacles), came meanings to capture the heart and mystery of the New Covenant’s promise to be made one with Christ and the Father.

Example – Spiritually Dead

When Jesus spoke, “‘Let the dead bury their own dead…’” (NIV, Luke 9:60), he was not speaking about the physically dead burying the physically dead, but the spiritually dead burying the spiritually dead who have physically died.

Example – Uprooting Darkness

When Jesus said, “‘Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots’” (NIV, Matthew 15:13), obviously, he was not referring to gardening, but the evil “plantings” in the soil of our heart and mind.

We are a garden either to darkness, or righteousness.

We will bear the fruit of either darkness, or the fruit of righteousness.

All of us have the plantings of the evil one in our lives through our generations at one level or another, and through our own embracing of sin.

Christ came to free you and me from the prison of sin, which requires pulling up the roots of darkness in you and me; the journey of being made whole and holy, putting sin to death, to walk in newness of life (Romans Chapter 6).

And Tabernacles, not the new-birth, nor the Pentecostal experience, is the primary means through which transformation from barley and wheat Christians to fruit bearing Christians is accomplished in the journey of being “made” intimate with Christ, to know and be known (Revelation 19:7).

Example – Seed Bearing Grain Transformed to Seed Bearing Fruit

When Jesus taught on the “‘…kernel of wheat…’” (NIV, John 12:24), he was not speaking about planting wheat, nor was he talking about their plan to crucify him (he had already made that clear).

But about the unrepentant heart that would lead one to seek another’s life, and how sin must be put to death to find life.

And the only way to put sin to death is to suffer the killing of sin by the Holy Spirit cross of grace through faith in repentance and forgiveness.

He never talked about his killing as something to bear fruit, as if he was insufficient, needing to be killed to fulfill the plan of God; but as the only sign Israel would receive, having missed all the wonderous signs in his ministry.

He was the Tree of Life restored in the Garden Israel could become, the Messiah in flesh and blood, having all authority and power,

He was the fulfilled foreordained plan of God; completed; having entered eternal salvation, resurrection life (Hebrews 7:16), “seated” in Heavenly places with the Father, made one; saving, healing, forgiving, raising the dead, performing “…miracles, wonders and signs…” (NIV, Acts 2:22, italicized mine)

There was nothing left for him to do other than let them fulfill their intentions of hatred against him, and in doing so, they would fulfill the stream of prophecies spoken about them; prophecies just like those of the Great Apostasy some will fulfill in the last of the last days because they failed to heed the warnings of God.

He was killed because he “was” the Messiah, not so to become the Messiah.

It was just a short time before Christ was killed when he spoke about the kernel of wheat falling to the ground.

He’s speaking about putting sin to death (prophetically, speaking ahead by revelation), for his followers to pick up their cross and enter the journey he pioneered.

He’s not talking about martyrdom or being killed, but to be transformed, raised to walk in new life (Romans Chapter 6).

Important

Example – Another Scripture about Death to Sin and Not Martyrdom

John 21:18 records Jesus calling Peter into the journey of Tabernacles; the journey of deep transformation, not a future martyr’s death; to be made whole and holy, putting sin to death, the deep work of the Spirit in the revelation of Christ. (See 1 Peter 1:13 for Peter’s take on the journey.)

To presume just after being killed, Jesus would so freely tell Peter (John 21:18), he will face a martyr’s death (commonly taught) is beyond imagination.

Jesus desires the “death of sin” in our lives, “not the death of us.”

That Christ would bring up the cruelty of death as just another day in being a disciple and slide right over all the pain and anguish everybody has just gone through is not the care and love of Christ millions have come to know.

To ascribe martyrdom “to” Christ is the same spirit ascribing martyrdom “of” Christ at Calvary; that martyrdom is part of God’s design for cleansing, healing, and salvation, and not the work of the enemy.

That grace through faith is insufficient for saving, it requires the help of lawless mankind to make us whole and holy.

It is true Christians who forsake grace through faith in the deep work of the Spirit of Tabernacles in the last days, may face martyrdom in the Tribulation (i.e., the Church of Laodicea).

But it’s because unwittingly they chose a path different than Christ.

Informing Peter he will be martyred one day does not square with Christ’s willingness to die, to not take up arms, so none of his friends and followers would be killed.

And of course, to testify against his killers by revealing his righteousness and exposing their sins, so some would come to forgiveness.

He gave his life so others would not be killed and now he’s telling Peter he will be a martyr?

Also, if the creeds are correct, and Christ took our punishment at Calvary, why is Peter, after just going through the horror of his Savior’s crucifixion being told he will now be punished and put to death!!

I’ve written a major section on this verse in a much earlier post, and John 21:18 is clearly not referring to physical death, but death to sin, the long wilderness journey of Tabernacles.

Circling back to John 12:24, Jesus was speaking to those who’ve come to know him in the new-birth, and would come to know him in Pentecost in just a short time; “wheat” symbolizing the new-birth and Pentecostal experience, that, there is yet a richer-and-deeper journey, Tabernacles.

Briefly, what Jesus is saying,

• those who seek Christ will be grafted into the Tree of Life; the seeds of barley and wheat giving way to the transforming power of God to make an entirely new seed, a seed producing the fruit of the Spirit, becoming fruit bearing Christians through Christ’s pioneering journey, Tabernacles.

 

This is the mystery of Christ Paul speaks about in Colossians, to be changed, from glory to glory (NIV, 2 Corinthians 3:18), from the seeds of barley and wheat harvest, symbolizing Passover and Pentecost, to fruit bearing Christians producing the flavorful harvest of fruits, nuts, and olives, spiritually speaking.

Wheat becoming an entirely new seed, producing fruit, is like Zechariah 10:3, a sheep transformed, “becoming,” a horse of war; the miracle of God making something from that which is not apparent, overriding the law of in-kind, birthing a new creation from him!

Or, like a parasite, burrowing its way into an oyster, and being transformed and made a new creation, a “pearl,” Matthew Chapter 13, the sixth parable.

Example – Exalting Christ, Boldly Coming before the Throne (Hebrews 4:16)

Jesus never points us to him without giving us the means to turn to him.

Jesus said,

“‘Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’” (NIV, John 3:14 – 15).

First of all, Jesus was not inviting Israel to kill him, nail him to a cross, then lift him up in the air for people to believe on him!

Horrific Calvary did not directly draw people to Christ, if anything, it did just the opposite, exposing mankind’s sin.

Calvary publicly exposed the fruit of unrepentant sin, darkness coming face to face with the righteousness of Christ: it had traveled quite a distance over four millenniums – from being in God’s Garden, deceiving its inhabitants, to now living in God’s chosen people, cutting down the “replanted and fully grown” Tree of Life.

What brings men and women to Christ, then and now, is the life of Christ, his life then, and his life now!

Being raised from the dead confirmed and testified who he said he was, and what he said was in their hearts.

The horrific killing of Christ at Calvary was not an advertisement to come and be a part of the New and Better Covenant!

It wasn’t until the life of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, which had been manifested for over 3 years, was poured out on the day of Pentecost the first large wave of newcomers came into the body of Christ after Calvary.

It’s always been “Christ’s life,” (Romans 5:10), the manifest life of Christ; his presence, grace and love, bringing people to God.

It’s the fragrance of Christ drawing you and me to him; filling our desperate need to be safe and secure in the grace and love of God.

Jesus never sought to be killed so salvation could be birthed.

On the contrary, he pointed to himself as the birthplace of salvation in the New Covenant already in him (Matthew 26:28).

He did everything possible to win Israel; even desiring to dig around the tree one more year.

You don’t invite people to kill you and then call them wretches and killers (Matthew 21:33-22:14; 23:29-38; Acts 7:52).

Or give parables showing God the Father desired Israel to respect his Son.

Old Testament prophecies are not a script; but a foretelling of what will come to pass, to the good, or evil, depending upon people’s choices.

Israel was not forced to reject Christ, but chose from unrepentant hearts trapped in darkness the broad-way, and not the narrow way.

God’s heart for Christ not take up arms against Israel is not the same as foreordaining his killing.

He left the decision to Christ.

Either way, God would glorify him again (John Chapter 12), if he chose not to fight, or, send angels at his cry to take the Kingdom by force.

Because Christ had fulfilled everything he had been called to do, there was nothing left to fulfill on his part leaving the decision to him; to submit to their hatred and expose their sins publicly in his death, or, to take the Kingdom by force.

Important

What Christ is conveying in this enigmatic saying, John 3:14-15, is understood in the context of his life and journey in being made perfect:

“Just as I picked up my cross and crucified the enmity in my flesh passed to me from my ancestors, destroying the barrier between my flesh and the law, made one with my Father, so shall you be made one with us as you pick up your cross and follow me.”

“As I was made one with my Father, healed and restored, the enmity in my flesh brought to death by grace through faith, so shall the serpent (the sinful nature and the power behind it), be brought to death in your life.”

Though Christ never sinned, he had to put to death the sinful nature passed to him from his human ancestry – the primary purpose for his coming: to start a New Covenant with a new birth born from him!

(Romans 6:10, 8:3; Ephesians 2:14 – 16, see interlinear, Ephesians 4:20 – 24; Revelation 2:27, 3:21, Hebrews 4:15, Hebrews 5:7-10, etc.)

Christ can only truly be lifted up when sons and daughters enter the journey he pioneered “sharing in his suffering in putting sin to death, raised to walk in new life.”

He cannot be truly lifted up apart from his body dying the death, he died, to sin (Romans 6:10), pioneered in Tabernacles, the deep work of the Spirit of grace.

To lift him up we have to be brought low, made new in him, by having our fleshly nature “attached” to the pole of grace through faith, the cross of Christ.

The only way to tread on serpents, to put them to death, is to enter the baptismal fires of the Holy Spirit, the feast of Tabernacles.

Passover and Pentecost are insufficient for the warfare and deep grace in putting the fleshly nature to death.

By referring to the serpent, Christ was connecting himself to our sinful humanity and his victory over sin, made perfect, becoming our Savior (Hebrews 5:7-10).

He’s making it clear there’s a death that must come to inherit eternal life, the death of the serpent, and the only way that can happen is through intimacy with him, the giving of oneself to the care and love of Christ by grace through faith.

And it’s in the wilderness with Christ deeply rooted sin is put to death, the place of one-on-one intimacy and journey with him:

“If you will but humble your heart in lowliness and fix your gaze on me, I will forgive your sins and cleanse you from unrighteousness.

And just as I was made to endure and overcome through the suffering of putting sin to death, raised to walk in new life, so shall you.

And just as the Father walked with me, giving me strength in intimate care to overcome, so shall I for you.

I will take you from the depths of sin, to the heights of eternal life, as you continue to trust and allow me to unfold my plans and purposes for your life in me.”

** The Deeper You Go, the Greater the Challenge Describing Your Journey **

If it hasn’t already, when the waves of Heaven crash upon the shore of your humanity in the revelation of Christ (1 Peter 1:13), Tabernacles, you’ll find it exceedingly difficult to put into words the deep work of the Spirit.

If the new-birth is difficult to convey to another, which it is; and the Pentecostal experience even more, how much more Tabernacles, an entirely new level of much deeper interaction and intimacy with Christ?

It’s so unique and profound, the best way to describe it is likely by contrast and comparison.

For example, the Holy of Holies, “intimacy with God,” in contrast and comparison to the Holy Place, “ministry,” and Outer Court, “acknowledgement of sin.”

Or, the summer harvest of fruits, nuts, and olives “the most sought after and highly prized,” followed by the celebration of the feast of Tabernacles, versus the barley and wheat harvests “the staples of daily life, necessary, though staples,” the feasts of Passover and Pentecost.

Or, the beginnings of “resurrection life,” transformation, in contrast to the new-birth and Pentecostal experiences, “introduction, teaching and preparation” for transformation.

The deeper you go with Christ, the more difficult it is to capture into words encounters with him just like those in love.

The Song of Songs is the best example of the beautifully in love and the limits to what can be put to words.

How can we truly and rightly capture and communicate to one another encounters with the Christ in healings, prayer ministry, or, in personal interaction?

Many times, the best we can do is explain what we perceive as the effects, and even many of those will not bear fruit until some future time.

And if personal relationship with Christ and the work of the Spirit is difficult to convey to another, how can mankind rightly package Christ and our Heavenly Father through institutionalized creeds and traditions?

The Apostle Paul suffered difficulty in trying to communicate what he could about his Heavenly experience.

And the Apostle John, even after walking with Christ for years, experiencing deep intimacy with Christ (Tabernacles) well into his later years, other than saying he fell like a dead man before the glorified Christ, giving us “Revelation,” but little else of what transpired between him and the Lord.

It is extremely challenging to describe one’s relationship with Christ, even among seasoned veterans of the faith, let alone attempting to package Christ and the Father in creeds and traditions.

From the beginning the plan and purposes of God (Genesis 1:26), was to make men and women into “his” likeness, partakers of “his” nature, and not for us to make God in our likeness, which invariably happens when men, no matter how noble, go beyond the Scriptures attempting to package the human and divine.

The tempter had a different plan for mankind: for men to make God in “their” likeness; bringing the Father to our level, erasing Christ’s humanity, and ours; the clever strategy of humanism, a god-man apart from Christ, an Antichrist spirit.

We are to partake of the divine nature, as Peter describes, but it comes at great cost in the sacrifice of putting sin to death: the cross of grace and faith, the baptism of Christ, raised to walk in new life by the Holy Spirit, Christ dwelling and reigning in your life and mine.

Creeds and traditions go to great lengths to package Christianity in a well-defined script of definitions and descriptions as a means of judging whether one be in the faith, the snare of the tempter to judge by the flesh.

Mankind strives in almost every endeavor to achieve conformity (judging), and Christianity is no exception.

But if we know anything about Christ, his ministry, and the history of revivals past and present, Jesus is not one to be packaged like a product advertised and purchased on the Internet.

Nor is he one to be defined by creeds and traditions, just like you and I cannot be defined, how much more the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?

But, a real person, deeply intimate and caring, desiring to make himself known, and to know others, in the wonderful plan God established in Christ to make men and women into his likeness.

Christ is moving many today into the deep mysteries of the faith as he labors to prepare those pursuing him to be his bride.

If we know anything about church history and revivals, we know every revival dismantles another layer of creeds and traditions in the birthing of greater intimacy and care in the revelation of Christ.

And with the end-times on the horizon, you can be sure of one thing: Jesus has more of himself to reveal, more of his Word to be discovered, and more of his Spirit to give, before this age comes to an end.

The end-times are not as distant as many hope or as close as many believe.

In the last of the last days, when Christ reveals more of himself, many will discard what they believed as sacred and flee to the living Christ as quickly as they received their teachings about Christ in the first place.

The glory cloud is moving beyond Passover and Pentecost and urging the body to pull up stakes and prepare for Tabernacles.

Hopefully, many who are camped will be rescued and enter the open door of Philadelphia “the deep work of the Spirit,” before the fullness of the Great Apostasy comes to fruition.

If we labor in trying to understand our own body, soul, and spirit, how they function, relate, and are different from one another, how can we possibly attempt to define Christ, and relationship with him?

There is yet so much more of Christ to be pursued and apprehended.

There’s only so much we can pass on and share with one another.

Tragically, if we miss the understanding in the Scriptures of the progressive revelation of the Lord through Church history, then “camping,” instead of “venturing,” is the natural thing to do.

Let’s not be among those who camp, but seek to enter the present work of the Lord, to finish the race, and finish strong, in him, and by only him.

** Hidden under the Shadow of His Wings **

Ministry, gifting, knowledge, revelation, or spiritual encounters, no matter how profound, fresh, or new they may be, can never satisfy the God created need for intimacy with Christ and the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Just like love letters can never take the place of being together, so too Scripture, and all the writings over the centuries about it.

Scripture, like everything else, is unfulfilling and incomplete without communion “knowing and being known,” by the one who inspired everything we hold as sacred, true, and holy.

Only Christ can take you and me beyond the natural view of the written Word and into the revelation of him, his nature (1 Peter 1:13), “…explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.” (NIV, 1 Corinthians 2:13)

Only Jesus knows what he meant, by what he said, when he said it.

Only he can bring the Word alive in our lives, where it’s living and active in fulfilling the promises of God for you and me in him.

He is our “Sun:” we are absolutely dependent upon the Son of God rising daily in our lives, filling our bodies with warmth, love, and kindness only he can bring.

There are great and wonderful men and women of God who are teaching truths from Scripture with “…Spirit-taught words.” (NIV, 1 Corinthians 2:13)

Many of us would not be in the place we’re in today, without those who’ve been faithful to pour themselves into teaching and training others.

And for those who’ve been really blessed, they’ve had men and women point them to the prize, “the vision,” “…the deep truths of the faith…” (NIV, 1 Timothy 3:9), in the revelation of Christ (NIV, 1 Peter 1:13), or, as Paul says, “…I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (NIV, Philippians 3:12)

Provided with teaching, training, vision, and resources, there comes a time where everything gives way to the pursuit of deep and intimate communion with the one who purchased you and me with his own blood.

Passover and Pentecost (the new-birth and baptism of the Spirit), if done rightly, are designed to provide you and me with the first elements.

The fourth element, resources, are provided by the Lord when he brings one into Tabernacles.

He not only redeemed (at his perfection, his first glorification, before ministry), but purchased (at Calvary, glorified “again” on the 3^rd day), you and me.

He redeemed us in his perfection (Hebrews 5:7-10), and then in our (mankind’s) rejection of him, after three years of ministry, he went to the uttermost and purchased (Revelation 5:9), mankind at Calvary, for another chance at salvation.

He did this not just for the purpose of mankind being saved, or baptized in the Spirit, but to be made into his likeness, the pioneer of the faith, including mankind, those who come to him, in the commission the Father gave him.

He, just like you and me, desires to be known, and that can only happen in journey with him.

He wants those who will allow him to be known, as they become known.

And as we allow him to be known, and us known, he can trust us with his glory, to use it wisely in advancing the Kingdom of God.

He wants to share ruling and reigning “now,” “in the Millennium,” and the hereafter.

He wants to share what he’s apprehended, at different measures, with those who will faithfully represent his heart in relationship.

He wants those who not only come to know the heart of his Word (his thoughts), but also his Voice; who cherish the sound of his Voice and the moving of his Spirit.

He wants those he can work with over the long journey of Tabernacles, the season of Philadelphia: the greatest promises of the Gospel dispensation.

To be made one with him by allowing him to cleanse, heal and restore our wounds and brokenness from the sins of our fleshly nature, for our self-interest, and Christ’s, advancing the Kingdom of God.

As Paul said, why else would one be baptized for the dead (a commonly misunderstood Scripture)? (NIV, 1 Corinthians 15:29)

Meaning, in brief, if the truth of Christ, and the truth of “resurrection living” was not real, why would one (Paul speaking of himself) go through the suffering of putting the fleshly nature to death, if there’s no resurrection to walk in new life “this side of Heaven.”

Why would we do all this, put sin to death, if there’s no resurrected life in Christ this side of the great divide?

Paul’s point in 1 Corinthians 15 is Christ died to sin so we can have life now, abundantly and extravagantly.

That’s the point Paul is making about being baptized for those who are dead – to rescue the lost among us from eternal separation through revealing in our lives the new creation, resurrection life.

That’s what Christ did, and is calling us to do in him!

Christ undertook a baptism to rescue you and me; it is only just and right we undertake the same baptism to rescue others headed for the cliff.

And the baptism Christ refers to in the Gospels is the baptism of Tabernacles (Romans 3 through 6, etc.), the baptism of being made complete, one with him, as far as we’ll let him take us.

Only Jesus can bridge the gap between all the things we think we know of Christ, all the things we’ve been taught, into the reality of his nature, who he is.

And Tabernacles is the journey he’s reserved for that purpose, to bring all things together in Christ.

The first two feasts fall short, they were not designed to do the deep work of the Spirit – but only to introduce and prepare for the deeper things of God.

Only Christ, who knows you and me better than we know ourselves, can bring the right combination of truths, revelation, inspiration, and discovery at the right time, in the right place, in closer relationship with him.

That’s why it’s so important today, the age of Philadelphia, for God’s sons and daughters to be pursuing the Lord for deeper intimacy and connection.

It’s not too late.

We’re on the cusp of the Lord unleashing a new wave of his Spirit.

Big changes are coming.

And I caution the world is not the place to measure what God is or is not doing, but what he’s doing and offering in the body of Christ.

Many have their eyes focused on the world, but Jesus said keep your eyes focused on him. If you need new glasses, he’s got a new pair just for you!

Now is the time to respond, if you haven’t done so already, to Christ’s pursuit, because he’s desired you all along.

He’s got a specific plan of healing and restoration for every son and daughter.

There’s no substitute for intimacy and communion with Christ.

Love letters will not be sufficient in the days to come as the calendar winds down in what we know as the Gospel dispensation.

Our only hope is to apprehend him, and that takes journey (Philippians 3:10-14; Colossians 1:27).

** Tabernacles, Deeper Waters, Deeper Journey **

“Christ” is not deeply imparted or gifted at the new-birth or Pentecost; else Paul would not have sought him (Philippians 3:10-14), nor would Christ promise to write his new name, the Father’s, and New Jerusalem’s, on Christians who overcome (NIV, Revelation 3:12).

Jesus wasn’t a model but “…fully human in every way…” (NIV, Hebrews 2:17)

He had been “made” one with the Father (John 14:8-9, 17:21; Hebrews 1:3), healed and restored (Romans 3:25, 4:25, 5:19, & 6:10; Ephesians 2:14-16, see an interlinear, Hebrews 5:7-10), and divested himself of rights and privileges that would interfere with his relationship with the Father (Philippians 2).

Note: I’m going to discuss Romans 3:25, 4:25, etc., in the next post and clearly show they are not referring to Calvary, but Christ’s journey in putting sin to death.

Important

Regarding Romans verses 3:25 (shedding is not in the Greek); and Romans 4:25, and many like verses, are not, as commonly taught, referring to Calvary, but to Christ’s journey in being made perfect, dying to sin, raised to walk in new life (NIV, Romans 6:10), the resurrected life he shared with Israel for over three years.

Because, these verses are not about Calvary, but Christ’s living sacrifice; his “blood” sacrifice to the Father in being made perfect, the firstborn, first fruit, pioneer, forerunner, and finisher of the faith.

The word blood is used in the Greek without reference to being shed, because, just like the Old Testament, it may represent “life,” the giving of one’s life, not the killing of someone.

It’s the only word in the natural rightly capturing the depth, extent, and entirety of what Christ offered and sacrificed, including rights and privileges, in putting sin to death, becoming our Savior.

No other expression can capture the depth, intensity, and intimacy as that word in what Christ offered in being made perfect, becoming our Savior, ministering out of who he became to Israel as fulfillment of the coming Messiah. (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 5:7-10; Isaiah 53:1-6 (his perfection), Isaiah 9:6)

In the Gospel of John Chapter 6, Jesus ascribes “life,” to the word blood, not death.

The firstborn, first fruit, pioneer, forerunner, and finisher of the faith does not refer to Christ’s “birth,” nor to “Calvary,” but to the promised grace to come (1 Peter 1:10-12), the revelation and mystery of God: the only one to put sin to death (Romans 6:10), enter resurrection life (Hebrews 7:16), becoming our Savior (Hebrews 5:7-10), the New Testament in flesh and blood (John Chapter 6, Matthew 26:28).

The creeds teach God offered Christ to lawless men as a punishment for our sins, as a living human sacrifice to be killed “as one would offer an animal to be killed.”

It seems straightforward enough, but it’s not what the Scripture teaches, and abhorrent under the Old Testament.

The enemy has had a field day with this teaching, the effects reaching into almost every area of Christian teaching.

Calvary has become the pillar of the faith, instead of Christ: he being the one who “pioneered” by grace through faith in journey with the Father.

Christ destroyed the barrier between his flesh and the law through overcoming sin through journey, not being overcome by lawless men at Calvary (Ephesians 2:14-16, see an interlinear).

And in the suffering of putting sin to death (Isaiah 53:4-6, Galatians 3:13, 1 Peter 2:24 & 3:18, etc.), Christ was made perfect, cleansed, healed and restored from generational transgressions and iniquities, raised to walk in resurrection life, the life he freely offered Israel and you and me today.

Setting our Sights on Christ

After being made perfect, there was nothing “in him” to tempt him to be careless, or abuse his position of authority and power in relationship with his Father.

And he who was born to save, was “made” to save, apprehending by grace through faith the plan of God for him completely, in utter dependence upon his Father; pioneering the path and pattern for those who would follow in his footsteps (John 14:6; Hebrews 2:10 & 6:20).

Christ walked by grace through faith in the leading of his Father.

There was nothing in him to exalt himself beyond measure.

And this is important to know.

There’s coming a day when the Heavens will open and the glory of God will fall upon the body of Christ in great measure.

It will be so great, those who’ve neglected to receive a measure of healing and restoration will find themselves facing temptations they never knew existed within them.

There’s great risk being outside of Christ, whether “in” or “out” of revival.

In many ways, there’s a greater risk in revival for those who have not sought healing and restoration.

Because, as the presence of God comes closer, the things deep within awaken, either to the good, or, the bad.

Those who face the end-times unhealed and unprepared, a picture of the Laodiceans and five foolish virgins, will come face to face with many of their wounds and brokenness in the fires of the Antichrist kingdom.

Those who do not gather sufficient oil for their lamps in the day of the Lord’s labor, i.e., the present moving of his Spirit in healing and restoration, will find themselves facing great challenges on many fronts when the windows of Heaven open in great outpourings in the days to come.

If there ever was an age, a season of time, devoted to going beyond knowing “about Jesus,” or, knowing “his presence,” to knowing “him,” it is now, the age of Philadelphia, the season for the fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles, the bride of Christ, in the last of the last days.

Much of Christendom seems to be centered around knowing and doing.

The season before us is more about becoming.

I hope this is your prayer, as it is mine:

“Lord, I have to have more of you.

I’ve got to have you in every area of my life.

I offer my life as a living sacrifice to you.

I’m not satisfied with just living in the Outer Court (new-birth), and Holy Place (baptism of the Spirit), anymore.

I have got to be taken into the Holy of Holies with you, and made like unto you.

Consume every area of my life for your glory.

Let me be a reflection of your nature.

I want intimacy and communion with you; to feel your heart and know your thoughts.

Stoke the embers of fire in my soul and spirit, and set me on your path in search for you, the living waters of life.

Lord, set my heart like a diamond is set in the ring of her beloved.”

** The Subtle Deceit of Knowledge **

Knowledge has a “way” of leading to complacency, self-satisfied, knowing “about” Jesus, or his “presence,” but not knowing him.

This is the great risk in the last days; knowing about Christ, his presence, well-versed in theology and the things of God, yet, missing the deep move of God’s Holy Spirit in healing and restoration, substituting the “former” for the “later.”

The former, were given to lead us to the later, not to replace the later.

The former, were given to introduce us to the Kingdom, to teach and train, in pursuit of the deep things of Christ; not to camp and settle for less, but to desire more.

The great risk of settling for little when much is available can lead to the great lie in the last days: self-sufficiency, independence; staying camped when we should be pursuing him as he pursues us.

Courtship cannot be a one-way relationship: both parties must desire each other, seeking to meet and please each other’s interest.

And you cannot truly know each other’s interest without journey.

Jesus desires to cleanse and heal you and me for our self-interest, and his.

He has a lot at stake in our healing and restoration.

He desires not only intimacy with you and me, but the many who will come to him through the advancement of God’s Kingdom by those who’ve experienced measures of healing.

Isaiah received a sober picture of the wounds of God’s sons and daughters.

They exist in every Christian in one capacity or another:

“…Your whole head is injured, your whole heart is afflicted. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness – only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with olive oil.” (NIV, Isaiah 1:5-6)

And speaking of not only of Israel at that time, but prophetically, spiritually, symbolic of those areas of your life and mine stolen by the enemy:

“Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.

Daughter Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a city under siege.” (NIV, Isaiah 1:7-8)

(For those familiar with inner healing, verses five and six may be likened to the judgments and lies we believe about ourselves and others from ancestral sins and wounds we’ve embraced.

Whereas, verses seven and eight may be likened to bitterroot expectancies, vows, and curses, going before and behind robbing and destroying.)

You may feel Isaiah’s words are too strong to describe 21^st century Christian wounds and brokenness.

Please remember, Isaiah is speaking about (symbolically) the wounds of sin in the inner man and woman we cannot see with the natural eye.

You may prefer Paul’s general description of sin instead (Romans Chapter 7), to Isaiah’s uncultured description.

To Christians in the last of the last days, the age of Laodicea, concurrent with Philadelphia – both of them growing side by side – like Jacob and Esau in the womb (Hebrews 12:16, symbolic of missing the deep work of the Spirit in the last days for the pleasures and cares of this life), the Lord says in warning to 21^st century Christians heading to the lukewarm harbor of Laodicea and potentially to the Ungodly Darkness of the Tribulation:

“‘…you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.’” (NIV, Revelation 3:17-19)

But God.

Christ took the suffering we could never take in putting sin to death in utter dependence upon God; the wounding, crushing, piercing, of the structures of generational sins passed him from his human ancestry.

Christ, fathered by God, under the weight of God’s heavy hand toward sin, not toward Christ, put sin to death by grace through faith in the cleansing and healing power of the Holy Spirit, made perfect, becoming our Savior, before ministry (NIV, Romans 6:10; Ephesians 2:14 – 16, see an interlinear; Hebrews 5:7 – 10; Isaiah 53:1 – 6 (verses seven through nine speak of Calvary), etc.).

That’s why Christ’s warning is so stark in the last days; because he’s offering healing and restoration few seem inclined to pursue, from leadership on down.

If we desire Jesus, and all he has for us, setting our eyes on him, no matter how wounded or broken one may be, he’ll gently and meticulously begin to answer the cry of our hearts.

The fleshly nature in Christian and non-Christian is determined to live life apart from the necessity of Christ – to find life in anything and everything but Jesus.

It works for a while, but like all temporal things, they fail to fulfill what we thought they offered, because only God can fulfill the deep vacuum of life.

The Apostle John said it so true and lovingly:

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.

For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world.

The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” (NIV, 1 John 2:15 – 17)

You and I live at a time when Christ has made himself available more than any time in the history of the Gospel.

He’s doing things today he could not do when he walked this earth.

Yes, that’s right.

The age of Philadelphia is the season of the Scripture’s greatest promises to the body of Christ.

Out of this work will come the last of the last days bride; ministering the heart of the Lord in revivals, bringing a close to the Gospel dispensation, and setting in motion the end-times and what’s to come.

The Lord has labored for centuries to position the last day church with everything it needs to be made one with him before unparalleled times crash upon the shores of humanity.

That’s why the rewards are so great “the bride of Christ,” and the risks so great, persecution under the Antichrist system in the Tribulation.

Today, the Lord is not “primarily” calling people into the Outer Court, the new-birth, like the last 500 years.

Nor is the Lord “primarily” calling sons and daughters into the baptism of the Holy Spirit, like the last 100 years.

Today, his emphasis is on preparing a bride so he can birth on a national and international level revivals to bring many into the kingdom; the parable of the “net,” of Matthew 13, the wound of the Beast in Revelation 13, before the door to the Gospel age is closed and the Millennium opened.

The time of primarily emphasizing the new-birth and Pentecostal pilgrimages has long since passed.

Presently, the Lord is calling his sons and daughters to the end of the Tabernacle, the Holy of Holies, to be healed and restored in the journey he pioneered two millenniums ago.

The fruit of the Lord’s labor will not only be the bride, but, untold numbers being saved in the end-times.

Talk about long-suffering – waiting two millenniums for what he wanted to do in Israel, if only Israel had realized the opportunity presented within their grasp.

And today, many are facing the same situation as happened in the past; with the great moving of God’s spirit comes the great peril of falling away, so great, the Scripture says there a Great Apostasy in the last days.

Before God’s sons and daughters sits the greatest opportunity, to be made like Christ, and a great peril, to miss the bride.

And if one finds themselves in the Tribulation, having missed the bride (I pray none of us find ourselves there), to not take the mark of the Beast, whatever that is.

Every man and woman born in this creation will bear for eternity either the image and likeness of Christ, or the image and likeness of the evil one (Revelation 22:11).

What a sobering thought!

It’s sobering to know we have one life; and at some point, enough choices will have been made to point us in one direction or the other: either humbling ourselves and finding Christ, responding to him, or, …

Thankfully and mercifully, some find Christ at death’s door.

But intimate relationship with Christ is not about making a choice at death, but a choice in life.

The Gospel is about being saved now, in this life, not about being saved at death.

Christ was perfected in life, before his ministry, not in death!

Contrary to popular preaching, not everyone will be the same in relationship with Christ for all eternity (Ezekiel 44, Revelation 4 & 5, 21:22-26, etc.).

There are those who minister to Christ, those who minister for Christ, and positions below those.

I’m speaking about intimacy and connection with Christ dependent upon how far one has journeyed and what Christ was permitted to do.

The Song of Songs speaks of the virgins, the concubines, the queens, and those who are even closer still, having the deepest intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ, (NIV, Song of Songs 6:8-9).

In Revelation there’s distinction between the living creatures, i.e., the bride from all ages, and those martyred in the Tribulation, i.e., the Laodiceans.

There are differences of intimacy with Christ in the New Heaven and Earth.

Even Jesus gave distinction within his circle of disciples.

Those distinctions don’t just vanish when eternity comes.

Not everyone who is born of Christ will be in the bride; because not everyone will complete the entire Christian pilgrimage from Passover to Tabernacles for any number of reasons.

The important point is, in the season where Christ is focused on the bride, the age of Philadelphia, “this present hour of church history,” it’s imperative the body of Christ take every opportunity to respond to his overtures of love and care in healing and restoration.

Besides eternity, a lot is at stake.

His hope goes beyond you and me; not only how he can clean us up and live his life in us, but to rescue others like he rescued us.

He’s looking for those who will give him their whole heart.

You and I matter greatly to him; and how he can use what he’s done in us to impact others, and generations yet unborn.

 Important

After the Tribulation a magic wand is not waved and suddenly, in the Millennium, everything is made “well” in the hearts and minds of those who weathered the Tribulation.

And what about the children who will be born with wounds and brokenness in their likeness?

The Millennium begins in a mess: it will take generations to repair and rescue the damage from the fall; by grace through faith through repentance and forgiveness.

The process of healing and restoration will begin in the Millennium like never before, what Christ wanted two millenniums earlier for Israel.

The effects of the fall from grace in the Garden over six millenniums ago does not just go away when Christ begins to rule and reign on the earth and the knowledge of God begins to be imparted globally in a way it’s never been imparted before.

What you’re being prepared for now is not just for this side of the Millennium, but to rule and reign with Christ in the Millennium – helping future generations come to the knowledge of Christ in deep, intimate, and practical ways, including abundant Holy Spirit healing and restoration.

Christ will need sons and daughters by his side to train and teach those who survive the Tribulation and their children the knowledge of Christ and the Kingdom of God free from demons we face today.

In the Millennium, sons and daughters will still need to be made whole and holy from the effects of generational transgressions and iniquities.

Just because Satan is bound, the devastation of sin passed from generation to generation does not suddenly disappear, no, it will need to be put to death.

The Millennium continues healing and restoration from the fall until sin has been put to death.

The spiritual atmosphere will be free of the devil and demons in the Millennium.

But there will be much, much labor to be done over centuries to restore the generations to what God had planned for Adam and Eve from the beginning.

** The Carefulness of God in Revealing Greater Light **

As much as I would love this series to be shared across Christendom, many are not in a place to receive greater light beyond where they’re camped.

The Lord does not force himself on others.

It’s taken two millenniums for the body of Christ to get to the place where the Lord could share again “…the deep truths of the faith…” like he has over the last half century. (NIV, 1 Timothy 3:9)

If you reveal greater light to quickly contrary to what people believe as “sacred,” you run the risk of worsening the situation, instead of healing and restoring.

Jesus said to first bind the strongman before attempting to “‘…plunder his house…’” and “‘…carry off his possessions…’” (NIV, Matthew 12:29)

Before seeds of truth can be planted (Hebrews 8:10 & 10:16), the soil of our hearts and minds must be tilled, weeded, and made ready.

Weeds, thorns, and thistles, cannot be just ripped from people; else the latter end may be worse than the former.

For truth to take root, grow, and be fruitful, the rocky and hard places must be tilled and made ready for seed and water.

And before stumps, weeds, and thorns can be pulled, the soil of our hearts must be made ready with repentance and confession.

We cannot be in agreement with unrighteousness while God is laboring to cultivate and plant righteousness.

It’s a work of the Spirit by the Lord to know how, when, and where, and in what order, to reveal his nature by grace in you and me (1 Peter 1:13).

There’s a certain amount of preparatory work to be done in creating desire and appetite for Christ before the strongman can be bound.

Only Christ can bring us into greater revelation and intimacy with him.

There’s no other path than in Christ, by Christ, and through him.

What I’m sharing with you about Christ’s humanity, “…fully human in every way…” many in Christendom do not understand. (NIV, Hebrews 2:17; see also Hebrews 4:15; Galatians 4:4; Romans 1:3 & 8:3, Ephesians 4:20-24, etc.)

Many believe Christ had to overcome temptation from without, just like you and me, but, did not have to overcome and put to death temptation from within.

That he was spared receiving generational transgressions and iniquities from his human generations, which is contrary to Scripture, but in agreement with creeds and traditions.

Few understand the separation between Christ’s perfection and Calvary, their separate significance; the former occurring before his ministry, ushering in the New Covenant.

(Christ’s death to sin, being made perfect, becoming our Savior (NIV, Hebrews 5:7-10; Romans 6:10), was the death of the testator fulfilling the promise of the grace to come, the New Testament in flesh and blood – a living testament to his death to sin, “resurrection life,” John Chapter 6 & 11; Matthew 26:28, etc.)

Personal note:

In the late 70s and early 80s I took three years of Bible College immersing myself in Scripture.

I ended up having far more questions than answers about the person of Christ.

We were taught the various theologies of Christ but all had internal conflicts in one form or another.

All the teachings seemed focused on a means of communicating Christ through definition instead of being known, and knowing, in relationship with him.

Christ does not want us to define him, but to know him, and he us!

Wouldn’t you rather be known, and not defined by others?

Definitions are because of a lack of relationship “to bridge a void,” not because of relationship.

Jesus does not want to be defined, packaged, but known.

Creeds and traditions and other attempts to define the person of Christ, at best, grasp at Christ outside of relationship, and, at worst, create greater barriers to Christ through extra-biblical agreements.

And we know the power agreements can have over someone’s life and through the generations.

But Christ has come to break the power of those agreements in our generations.

In a lot of respects, it’s one of the roots of warfare we see pictured in the Philadelphia and Laodicea church ages; access beyond what man has taught over the centuries into the deep areas of our hearts and minds.

Intimacy with Christ is the call in this hour.

The cost is great, the rewards are great – what greater reward is there than the Lord, and the cost of continued neglected opportunities is also great.

In the early 80s the Lord gave me a “vision” of his calling on my life;I would be teaching others in the future.

Over the next 30 plus years I had all but forgotten about that experience.

In the early 2000’s the Lord began to stir my heart again.

But it wasn’t until the end of the first decade, facing challenges on many fronts, I became desperate for God once again.

Brokenness drove me to seek God for one last adventure.

And he’s honoring my prayer – you’re reading one of the fruits of my prayer for more of the Lord – greater insight into the life of Christ and his call in this hour for intimacy with him.

A lot of things began to shift in my life at that time.

After going through surgery and treatment for prostate cancer and much prayer ministry in about almost every area of my life, the Lord began 8 years ago to open up the Scriptures in a fresh new way.

(I still receive periodic prayer ministry, marriage counseling, and personal counseling.

The work of men’s groups, Wild at Heart, Elijah House, among other ministries, helped prepare me for what God continues to unfold in my life today.)

The Lord spoke to me a number of years ago, as the intensity of my journey deepened, “Not many know this.”

And that’s what my website and this series is about: the deepening call of Christ in this hour and the revelation of his nature.

I’m sharing with you what the Lord has given me about his personal journey and the distinct difference and separation of his “perfection,” “ministry,” and “Calvary.”

He’s opened up fresh insight on his humanity and the separation of his perfection from Calvary, in contrast to what is taught in creeds and traditions.

How, before his ministry, he was the New Testament in flesh and blood, the promised grace to come (NIV, 1 Peter 10 – 12); the “…radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being…after he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven…” (NIV, Hebrews 1:3, italicized mine)

(Christ was seated in Heavenly places before his ministry, at his perfection; remember, he talked about coming from Heaven, i.e., what he apprehended in being made perfect, one with the Father.

And being “seated” refers to his “position” in the Father, and not geography!)

He was the holy one made complete, perfected, the Messiah, the fullness of God’s Word made flesh, before his ministry. (NIV, Hebrews 5:7 – 10, Colossians 1:19; John 1:1-18)

Christ was the “…firstborn…” (Colossians 1:15), “…firstfruits…” (1 Corinthians 15:20), “…pioneer…” (Hebrews 2:10, 6:20), before his ministry. (NIV, italicized mine)

Christ provided the purification for sins in being made perfect before ministry: offering the sacrifice of his life in being made perfect.

A “blood sacrifice,” the most intimate expression possible, is the only way to rightly and justly describe the journey of putting generational transgressions and iniquities to death in complete dependence upon God for healing and restoration, his first glorification. (Isaiah 53:4-6, Romans 6:10, Ephesians 2:14-16, see an interlinear, Hebrews 5:7-10, John Chapter 12, re: glorification)

The actual shedding of Christ’s blood, gave rise to his second glorification, but it was not his atoning sacrifice – which had already been accomplished in his perfection – but the continuance of grace in the face of rejection, “purchasing” the unrepentant for another chance at salvation (Revelation 5:9).

Yes, there’s a Scriptural distinction between Christ’s “atoning sacrifice” accomplished in his perfection before ministry, and the continuance of grace (i.e., not taking the Kingdom by force), “purchasing” the unrepentant for another chance at salvation, by submitting to death at Calvary.

Christ, the firstborn of the new creation experience, the New, and Better, Covenant (Hebrews 8:9 & 9:23).

Even in the Old Testament blood was used to represent life (Ezekiel 33); Jesus used his flesh and blood “walking in resurrection life,” to convey spiritual life (John Chapter 6, Matthew 26:28, 1 Corinthians 11:24-25), the language of the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 2:13.

In the new-birth we fall in love with the rudimentary truths of the Bible; the types and shadows pointing to Christ, his fulfillment, the new things he brought, and particularly for 21^st century Christians, the prophecies of the last days.

But as we mature, our love begins to transfer more and more from the love of the writings, to the love of the one who inspired the writings.

You cannot but love the one who rescued you and me from the mouth of the lion and lovingly restores what the locusts have eaten.

The Lord has saved the best for last; the most profound feast of the Christian pilgrimage, having the greatest promises of transformation, is available today unlike any time in history.

The promises of Philadelphia are unprecedented.

If you want the adventure of a lifetime, the door to Philadelphia is calling.

But it takes an invitation from Jesus to go through the door.

It’s not something we can do on our own.

He has an invitation for everyone who wants him.

It just needs to be sought.

And he knows how to help you, if you need it, to turn toward him and seek the deep call of his Spirit.

The Lord is searching high and low for those who will minister to him, his bride (Ezekiel 44:28, Zechariah 10:3, Song of Songs 6:9, Revelation 3:7-13 & 12:5, etc.), before the curtain of this age is closed.

Will we seek to be satiated by the World, by endless Christian activities, or, allow Christ access to our wounds and brokenness for healing and restoration in the care and grace only he can bring (Ephesians 5:26-27)?

Tabernacles is the last season of the long Christian pilgrimage.

It took the Church over a millennium to get back to the new-birth.

And another 400 years to get to Pentecost.

And only a half century to begin the transition to Tabernacles.

The calendar of God is moving forward.

Christ is the price and promise of this age like never before.

Jesus labored for two millenniums for 21^st century Christians to seize the time of his visitation.

Let’s make sure we do the little he asks to make his labor and sacrifices fruitful.

** Why the Understanding of Christ’s Pioneering Journey Matters **

Christ the Tree of Life Restored

You may be wondering why Christ’s perfection versus Calvary matters?

You may be thinking, I have Jesus, this is ancient history: What possible impact does this have for 21^st century Christians?

The answer, a tremendous impact; the Scripture matters.

The understanding of the journey Christ pioneered, made perfect, fulfilling the feast of Tabernacles (where the dominant work of the Spirit is transformation), is critical to understanding the long journey of healing and restoration in being made one with Christ, the age of Philadelphia.

This is the journey symbolized in the “pearl” of Matthew 13, and, among many others,

• by the wise virgins of Matthew 25:10, “prepared” for the wedding,
• in the story of the talents (Matthew 25), who are taken into the joy of the Lord (Tabernacles),
• pictured in Romans Chapter 6, baptized with Christ’s baptism: dying to sin, raised to new life,
• in 1 Corinthians 15, raised to walk in new life like Christ (Romans 6:10),
• pictured in Galatians, crucifying the fleshly nature,
• described in Ephesians Chapter 4:20-24, the journey Christ pioneered,
• depicted in the writings of the book of Philippians, apprehending Christ,
• described in Colossians as the mystery of Christ formed in you and me, and, among countless other writings in Scripture,
• Christ’s letter to the Church of Philadelphia, new names for those who complete the journey, changed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).

 

It’s critical to understanding the sacrifices and discomfort of the journey; what God wants to accomplish not only in making a bride for his Son, what it looks like and takes, but also in advancing the Kingdom of God in the lives of others.

And, importantly, understanding the new-birth and Pentecostal experiences are milestones: Tabernacles the final destination this side of Heaven.

Comparing the new-birth to the unsaved is like comparing day to night.

Pentecost compared to the new-birth is like the affections and love of a young adult in courtship to the love of young children.

And Tabernacles to Pentecost is like being married to courtship, or, like the Sun to the earth, or, like our solar system to the galaxy, so much greater.

There’s an order magnitude in progression from the first two feasts to the feast of Tabernacles; where the greatest transformation is experienced in the long journey of being made into the likeness of Christ, the Holy of Holies.

Here’s some brief comments why the understanding of Christ’s perfection, separate from his ministry and Calvary, is critical to understanding the story of Christ, and for those in Christ.

Why it matters:

• Darkness has labored for centuries to hide the stories of the ancients and prophets prefiguring and foretelling in “type,” the Messiah’s journey to completion, becoming our Savior (Hebrews 5:7-10).

 

For example, Joseph’s journey before he became vice regent; Moses’ life in the wilderness for 40 years before facing Pharaoh and leading the Exodus; Joshua’s 40 years in the wilderness before facing Jericho and entering Canaan’s land; Samuel’s journey before becoming judge and anointing two Kings; David’s flight from Saul for some 15 years in being “made” fit to be King and possess the Ark of the Covenant, the divine presence of God; Elijah’s journey before Mt Carmel, etc.

• The enemy labored not only to hide what was foretold and prefigured in the Old (by creeds and traditions), but also through clever strategies: confusing the nature of Christ’s humanity and usurping the “language” of New Testament with the thoughts of man.

 

Imposing and misinterpreting Old Testament concepts on the words of Christ and the writings of the New Testament; ignoring Christ’s and Paul’s teachings about “…Spirit-taught words.” (NIV, 1 Corinthians 2:13)

Creeds and traditions have created a wedge between our humanity and Christ’s; breaking the “law of in-kind” established by God in creation, making Christ, contrary to the teachings of Scripture, distinctly different from you and me, choosing the councils of men over the Word of God.

Declaring through creeds and traditions (in substance) generational transgressions and iniquities from Christ’s human ancestry did not pass to him.

That, in substance, Christ was not tempted from within like you and me, but only from the outside, in contradiction of the Scriptures.

Important

In accomplishing that feat, the enemy destroyed Christ’s human link with mankind, erasing his separate journey to completion, merging it with Calvary, erasing the need for us to follow in his footsteps, the journey he pioneered (Hebrews 2:10 & 6:20).

A very clever strategy indeed to separate mankind from Christ and the plan and purposes of God to be made like Christ.

The enemy stripped from the Scriptures not only Christ’s humanity (Romans 8:3; Ephesians 2:14-16, see an interlinear; Hebrews 2:17), but his triumphant victory over sin; conceived in grace, he put to death generational sin perfectly; entering in fullness resurrection life.

If the enemy could create confusion over the story of Christ, his humanity and journey, then he could create confusion about our new-birth and our pilgrimage, which he accomplished in the creeds.

What the enemy fears most, is not people being saved (because he can work on them after salvation), but God’s sons and daughters who enter Christ’s journey: pursuing the deep work of the Spirit of grace in Tabernacles, beyond the new-birth and Pentecost.

Tabernacle Christians pose the greatest threat to the enemy.

Because they represent the making of the bride.

Because, when the bride is complete, the end-times will be released, setting in motion the beginning of the end of the enemy’s reign on earth.

Not only will Tabernacle Christians from all ages rule and reign with Christ in the Millennium, but are a formidable foe, in Christ, to the enemy this side of the great divide.

If you break the bond of Christ to our mutual humanity, then Christ becomes something less than fully human, like a “model” commonly expressed today.

Note:

Christ was born with enmity in his flesh (Romans 8:3, Galatians 4:4, Ephesians 2:14 – 16, see an interlinear, Hebrews 2:17, Romans 6:10, & Hebrews 5:7 – 10); generational transgressions and iniquities passed to him through his human ancestry.

The purpose of the divine conception of the Holy Spirit in Mary was to create a human sperm untarnished by sin, i.e., a child conceived in “grace,” placing Christ in the position of Adam before the fall, not predisposed to sin, but predisposed to grace, restoring mankind’s ability anew to choose faith over the fleshly nature drawn to sin, James Chapter 1.

Christ by grace through faith put sin to death (Romans 6:10), grace overcoming the pull of the fleshly nature (James 1), made perfect, becoming our Savior (Hebrews 5:7-10).

This is why the Scripture teaches Christ was offered by God as a sacrifice for sin; presenting his Son by grace through faith to overcome four millenniums of mankind conceived and born into sin.

Christ was sacrificed to put sin to death, knowing grace from the moment he was conceived, learning to resist sin, the sin of his generations, fathered by God to put sin to death by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Christ, in repentance and forgiveness for his generations, nailed his flesh, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to the cross of utter dependence upon God for healing and restoration.

That’s the meaning of Galatians 3:13; not Calvary, but the cross he askes his sons and daughters to bear; the putting to death of sin in utter dependence upon God for healing and restoration (2 Corinthians 3:18).

I’ve already mentioned earlier in this series but it bears repeating; Christ received grace from his Father and lived by faith, see Romans 3:22, 3:26 and Galatians 2:16 and 3:22 in the Greek for the preferred rendering, the faith “of” Christ, and not faith “in” Christ.

The cross of Christ is not the cross of Calvary, but the cross of being in utter dependence upon God for healing and restoration by grace through faith.

To be discussed in more detail later, the wounding, piercing, crushing, nailed to the cross, etc., in Isaiah 53:4-6; Galatians 3:13; Colossians 2:14; 1 Peter 2:24 and 3:18, are not descriptions of Christ’s killing at Calvary, but the revelation of the Spirit of Christ’s journey in putting sin to death, not Christ to death.

The New Testament does not degrade to the killing of the Messiah for salvation, but a New and Better Covenant, where sin is put to death!

The above are not different descriptions of the killing of Christ, but spiritual pictures of the making of the Messiah, redeeming mankind from generational transgressions and iniquities through the suffering of his flesh in putting sin to death (NIV, Hebrews 5:7 – 10), fulfilling Psalm 23 as Peter says this side of Heaven (before ministry).

Someone had to have victory over sin and Christ was conceived to do just that.

Calvary was not the place of victory over sin, but the exposing of unrepentant sin.

Missing the journey of Christ’s pioneering work, to be made like him:

• Is like trying to “know” someone in the absence of relational intimacy, the means to being “known” and “knowing,” (Matthew 25:12).

 

How can we know someone if you don’t know their story, are missing the full picture, and not only missing their story, but the story we’re invited in to be known?

• Keeps Christ at arms-length and his sons and daughters in ignorance.

 

Possessing the scriptural knowledge of Christ demystifies the journey we’ve been called into, i.e., the vision.

The mystery of Christ, being made like Christ, is a mystery; but the “vision” for the journey birthed in desire and passion in the revelation of Christ is not a mystery – the vision is clear, to be made like Christ in journey.

Creeds and traditions inherently sabotage intimacy and bonding that can only come about in journey with Christ.

In bonding with the Lord, being made one with Christ, we connect with him not only from Lord, Savior, and King, but intimate, friend, brother.

Because we experience the same death to sin through the sufferings of the fleshly nature (Isaiah 53:5 in the literal Hebrew concludes with both us and Christ being restored; Isaiah 53:1-6 is his journey being made one with the Father; verses 7-9, his rejection and death by the hands of Israel and Rome).

And the bonding that occurs in Tabernacles is a tangible spiritual connection, far surpassing the new-birth and Pentecostal experiences.

• Keeps the focus on Calvary instead of Christ (the promised grace to come in Christ, fulfilling the feast of Tabernacles, at-one-ment, in his perfection).

 

The revelation of the New Covenant, what it offers in Christ, the knowledge of his pioneering work, the story we’re invited into, helps create desire and passion as we seek to discover more of him, the Word, his promises, and intimacy.

The knowledge of Christ dying on the cross at Calvary stirs emotions: But, does it really create desire and passion for journey and intimacy with Christ?

The creation of sustaining desire and passion can only come about in relationship with Christ through intimacy and journey with him.

Calvary does not display Christ’s atoning work – the offer of life to you and me – but a place of horrific death of the life he offered and displayed for over three years.

Important

Creeds and traditions herald the atoning work of Christ at Calvary.

They proclaim the message the cost of salvation is at great cost to Christ on our behalf, at little cost (sacrifice) for you and me, breeding indifference, sound familiar (i.e., Laodicea, lukewarm?).

Or, they breed the other extreme, I must pay-back what Christ did for me, the feeding ground for “religion,” works and obligation, food for the fleshly nature and the law.

As taught in the creeds, the pillar of Calvary elicits temporary emotions regarding the horrific death of Christ, but it does not elicit an invitation into the story of our Savior, as taught in the Scripture, the purpose for his coming and the Father’s hope he’d be received (Matthew 21:33-44).

There’s a clear contrast in Scripture between Christ’s atoning work in being made perfect, versus, his willingness, not requirement, to continue to extend grace in the face of physical death at Calvary.

Talk about grace – the willingness to be killed when he had apprehended eternal resurrection life, fulfilling Psalm 16 alive, made perfect, raised from mortality to immortality, Hebrews 7:16.

Calvary did not herald Christ’s offer of life – he did that in his ministry!

But a sign showing the fruit of unrepentance, the exposure of sin, where it leads, and, what it becomes in the lives of those who do not forgive.

No, Calvary is not the inauguration of the New Covenant, resurrection life, salvation, but the rejection.

Salvation was birthed out of the Christ’s death to sin, not his physical death (Romans 6:10), raised to walk in new life!

Important

Calvary, the rejection of the “at-one-ment” Christ apprehended in his perfection before ministry, began the planting of weeds in the Garden of God, the second parable of Matthew 13.

As explained in the previous post, the parables of Matthew 13 are also pictures of the seven church ages, along with pictures of the Christian pilgrimage.

God planted the Tree of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ, again in the Garden of Israel, four millenniums after Adam and Eve’s fall.

It took four millenniums to raise another tree in the house of God that would offer righteous, life giving, spiritual fruit; completely and lovingly without condemnation and shame.

Jesus Christ, the Tree of Life, walked in the midst of Israel for over three years.

But Israel, under the heavy weight and toil of its religious leaders, continued to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, rejecting fresh manna from Heaven, preferring the leeks and the garlic of this world.

And if that was not enough, to refuse life from the Tree of Life and imbibe death from the tree of death, they cut down God’s newly planted tree; uprooting what they thought were its roots, cast into the fires of the Roman cross.

Despising the cross of Christ and dependence upon God, they cast him upon the Roman cross of religion and good works.

And according to the law of sowing and reaping, the same judgment they rendered on Christ, laying the ax to the root of his tree, or so they thought, was laid to the root of their tree.

And to demonstrate his kindness and goodness over and over again, God gave them another 40 years before their tree was uprooted.

The weeds planted after the early apostles, came to fruition (from weeds, to mustard seed (institutionalized Christianity), to yeast (false doctrine), some 300 to 400 years later in the creation of Christendom’s creeds (see the seven parables of Christ, Matthew 13).

Ultimately, creeds and traditions would point the great weight and body of New Testament writings to the story of Calvary, instead of the story of Christ, the New Testament in flesh and blood.

Great harm came to the body of Christ after his rejection, ultimately resulting in the institutionalization of Christianity and false doctrine at the beginning of the Thyatira church age.

And many of the creeds continue as strong as ever; entrenched in Christendom.

So much so, they’ll help give rise to the Great Apostasy, one greater than Thyatira, in the last of the last days.

The life of Christ as a whole, and the journey he pioneered, are ordained and designed to create desire and passion as we learn to cleave to Christ, the lover of our soul, in journey with him in healing and restoration.

Calvary, as taught in the creeds, requires little or no cost on our part, i.e., the sacrifice of the Scriptures versus the sacrifice of works and obligation in penance of creeds and traditions.

Whereas, the creation of desire and passion in entering the journey Christ pioneered requires cost, the sacrifice of our hearts and lives in pursuit of Christ.

Only in journey can deep desire and passion be nurtured and cultivated into intimacy and favor.

Because it’s in journey where we learn the sacrifices so beautifully spoken by David,

“My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” (NIV, Psalm 51:17, italicized mine)

It’s out of the exposure of our brokenness to Christ in journey with him, he’s able to work the mystery of God, transforming our lowly natures into his holy nature through his saving and atoning work.

A sacrifice birthing healing and restoration, not martyrdom.

Calvary shows what was lost, not gained, and what will be lost eternally; what a person will become, unless they come to forgiveness.

Journey with Christ in Tabernacles elicits the sacrifice of one’s life, not duty and obligation in penance, but intimacy and care; a sacrifice motivated out of love in desire and passion for Christ, the living Christ.

A desire birthed out of love, not the horrific murder (Matthew 21:33-44; Acts 7:52, etc.) of him two millenniums ago.

Scriptural Reasons to Respond to the Call of God to go Deep

• Understanding the scriptural teaching of Christ’s journey, and our part to seek the path he pioneered (to be made one with him), is obedience to Peter’s instruction:

 

“Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.” (NIV, 1 Peter 1:13)

Peter knows what he’s talking about.

He was the first one in the New Testament to be told he would be taken into the journey of the revelation of Christ, where another (the Lord) would lead him into becoming one with him (John 21:18).

I’ve already written much about John 21:18; it’s not talking about martyrdom, but the journey of being made one with Christ, dying the “death” to sin, made alive in spirit, the feast of Tabernacles.

And the coming Peter notes is not Christ’s second coming, but Christ coming to you and me to cleanse, heal, and restore – “…the judgment seat of Christ…” this side of Heaven (NIV, 2 Corinthians 5:10; see also 1 Corinthians 4:5).

Paul’s companion to Peter’s Scripture is Romans 8:10-11, “But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” (NIV)

In other words, once the Lord moves us on from Passover and Pentecost into Tabernacles, the Spirit will bring healing and restoration to our whole person, body, soul, and spirit, making us one with Christ, bonded to him.

Just as the new-birth ushers us from darkness into grace, and Pentecost further, so to Tabernacles, but much further and deeper in the revealing of the nature of Christ in healing and restoration.

God gave the story of Christ’s pioneering journey for a purpose, not just for Christ, but for those in Christ.

The weight and impact of Scripture has purpose and is not to be neglected or ignored.

Increasing revelation from the Lord calls for increasing response to the moving of the Holy Spirit; to rightly choose more of Christ.

Christ releases more and more of himself in his Word and Spirit for our self-interest, for our blessing; so, we’d be victorious and overcome the evil one in our season of history in partaking the nature of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18: 2 Peter 1:4).

He’s reserved the age of Philadelphia for this time in history, so his body can come to fullness and triumph over the work of evil in our day.

The New Testament is designed “out of” the promised grace fulfilled in Christ, his journey, being made perfect; to miss the journey is to miss the mystery of Christ, “…the deep truths of the faith…” (NIV, 1 Timothy 3:9, italicized mine), the heart of the Gospel foretold in the Old and fulfilled in the New.

The Scripture instructs to go beyond the basic principles of Christ; to be made complete and full in Christ, within the body of Christ.

• Those who miss the mystery of Christ, the opportunity and promises of the deep work of the Spirit of grace in the last days, place themselves at great risk.

 

Missing the journey paves the way to the “broad-way,” straight into the arms of the Great Apostasy, and not, the “narrow way,” straight into the arms of Christ.

God has reserved this season in history for the greatest opportunities and promises of the Gospel, to be made one with Christ.

Promises unlike any preceding period of time since the early apostles.

A risk of not only missing the deep work of the Spirit of grace, but actually ending up in a worse place, like the foolish virgins of Matthew Chapter 25, and the Church of Laodicea in Revelation Chapter 3.

If we stay camped in past moves of God, believing there’s nothing more to apprehend, left to somehow endure increasing darkness, in our own strength, we’ll tragically find out the glory cloud has moved on and we’re outside the safety and security of Christ.

Not that Christ has abandoned us, but, where the pursuit of Christ will now entail greater challenges and sacrifices.

Those who miss the bride and end up in the Tribulation will find the cost much greater and the sacrifice much deeper had they pursued Christ years earlier.

The pull of the cares of this life are daunting, but the treasures of Christ are inspiring, motivating, and life-giving and will ultimately prevail against the spiritual forces of darkness seeking to devour anyone and everyone in its path.

To be “camped” in old moves of the Spirit, places one outside the spiritual “geography” and safety of Scripture, ordained and reserved by God for the days leading up to the end-times.

Those presently in Tabernacles see the revelation of Tabernacles in the Scripture – you see your-self in the Scripture like never before!

You see the progression of the Christian pilgrimage – the how and why the Lord has moved beyond the new-birth and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, into Tabernacles, the deep work of grace, being made one with Christ.

• Responding to Christ’s invitation to move beyond Pentecost into Tabernacles opens the door to healing and restoration like never before.

 

Healing and restoration, becomes a journey, a long journey, a process over much time, and, a necessity, as the Lord begins in gentleness and care to bring healing and restoration one area at a time.

Tabernacles is the bonding of us to Christ, being made one with him in intimacy and care, as he walks you and me through the journey he pioneered, fathered by God.

He knows the path, the complexities of the long journey, creating an increasing dependence on him, as he cleanses and heals our wounds and brokenness in the gentle care and love of God, a care only he can bring.

Creeds and traditions have aided in the creation of obstacles “spiritual resistance,” to the Scripture’s call to pursue the deep things of God.

Among others, creeds and traditions wrongly link the beginning of the New Testament with the killing of Christ, and not the person of Christ;

• Missing Christ’s journey, made one with the Father,
• pointing New Testament Scriptures describing Christ’s journey – the great body and weight of the New Testament – to Calvary,
• imposing the language and concepts of the Old Testament on the New,
• hiding the most important journey of the Christian pilgrimage, the feast of Tabernacles, from Christ’s journey, and ours,
• changing salvation from a journey (Philippians 2:12), to an event, and, if this was not enough,
• distorts Old Testament “types,” of Christ – the meaning of their journeys in prefiguring and foretelling the making of the Messiah.

 

And if this is not enough, there’s the distortions of spiritual pictures and truths communicated by Christ, the authors of the New Testament, and the writers of the Old Testament.

Besides being contrary to Scripture and hiding Christ’s journey (decreeing and institutionalizing Calvary as the place of “atonement”), it leads ministers to misapply Old Testament “types.”

Because Calvary has either replaced Christ or hidden his journey from connecting with the purpose of the “types” God designed to point to the coming Messiah and his journey.

We know the feast of Passover foretells the new-birth, Pentecost the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and Tabernacles the atonement, being made one with Christ by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

(Of course, the agricultural harvests of barley, wheat, and summer fruits, nuts, and olives, the source for the feasts, portray the Christian pilgrimage.)

We know the Outer Court, Holy Place, and Most Holy Place (Holy of Holies), also in their own unique way are symbolic of the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles.

And some have likened our body, soul, and spirit, to the Outer Court, Holy Place, and Most Holy Place, in that order.

(God has given lots of pictures to discover and see the Christian pilgrimage; one reason why the rewards and risks are so great in the last of the last days, because of the abundance of resources and revelation.)

And the reason the body is likened to the Outer Court, the place of the lamb offering in the Old Covenant, because Calvary is deemed as the place of the “lamb,” offering in the New, imposing the Old on the New, in spite of everything the Scripture teaches of Christ being made perfect, becoming our Savior before ministry.

This is just one example how creeds and traditions distort how we “see” and “connect” types to Christ; looking through the eyes of the natural, instead of the eyes of the Spirit; missing the meaning behind the Old Testament sacrifices and how Christ fulfilled the meaning of “sacrifice” in being made perfect.

The New Testament is not the Old Testament, it’s a better covenant, not one based on killing someone, but based on putting sin to death (Romans 6:10).

When sin is put to death, resurrection life is the “natural spiritual” fruit.

And for resurrection life in fullness to happen, the body must be redeemed – healed and restored – transformed, from mortality to immortality.

And the place where the body is redeemed is not the Outer Court, as commonly thought because of the doctrine of Calvary, but the Most Holy Place, Tabernacles, the doctrine of Christ.

The soul is eternal, the spirit eternal, and the body can become eternal if the feast of Tabernacles is apprehended in fullness, like Christ, Paul, and Peter (Paul and Peter, by their own accounts).

(Elijah, Moses, and Enoch apprehended redemption of the body only as types, foretelling the coming of the Messiah.)

Paul describes it best in Romans 8:10-11, the redemption of the body, which I just referred to above.

The redemption of the body is a Tabernacle and not an Outer Court event.

The new-birth, foretold by Passover and the Outer Court of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, is more like our soul, than it is to our body, or to our spirit.

The new-birth is a turning towards God (i.e., God beginning to turn us toward him, Lamentations 5:21), and not the redemption of the body, or the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit, foretold by the feast of Pentecost, and the Holy Place in the Tabernacle, is clearly more akin to our spirit, than it is to our soul or body.

It’s where we move beyond knowing “about,” Christ, the soul, the Outer Court, to experiencing the Spirit of Christ in a measure.

It’s where we receive much in the way of teaching and gifts in learning about the King, the Kingdom of God, and the spiritual kingdom of darkness and warfare.

Again, the Holy Place is beyond the Outer Court (knowing about Christ), to experiencing his presence, which is clearly likened to our spirit.

And Tabernacles, the journey of being made like Christ through healing and restoration, foretold by the feast of Tabernacles and the Most Holy Place, is more like our body (Romans 8:10-11).

Tabernacles is the deep work of grace where not only our soul and spirit are restored, but as the journey deepens, our bodies are made alive “redeemed,” as Paul expresses in Romans 8:23, and for the total man and woman, in Ephesians 1:14 and 4:30 as we contend to putting sin to death.

Important

There are many Scriptures people wrestle with, trying to figure out what they mean.

Like the verses about Christ’s journey, his nature, the enmity in his flesh, born in the likeness of sinful man, born under the law, etc., and, like Romans 8:10 – 11.

Without the revelation of Christ’s journey and feast of Tabernacles, everything is filtered through the lens of Calvary, the new-birth, Pentecost, and creeds and traditions, as if:

• Tabernacles didn’t exist (the greatest feast of the Old Testament, and the one where God comes to abide (Holy of Holies)); and,
• Christ was born perfect: void of the wounds of his earthly ancestors, defying the law of in-kind, and Scripture.

 

You cannot rightly interpret many of the New Testament Scriptures outside of experiencing Tabernacles or unless someone explains them.

Those who are focused on Calvary, the new-birth and Pentecost, lacking the knowledge of Christ’s journey and Tabernacles, generally associate words like wounded, pierced, sacrificed, blood, cross, crushed, suffering, crucified, etc., as descriptions of Christ’s killing and not the journey of putting sin to death, raised to walk in newness will of life.

** Christ’s Perfection Versus Calvary, a Quick Overview **

Here are a few of many reasons why Calvary is not the beginning of the New Testament, nor is it the place of the atoning blood sacrifice of Christ for our sins.

(Yes, Christ purchased you and me with his blood at Calvary (Revelation 5:9), to give those in Israel another chance to come to forgiveness, but, he had already atoned for our sins in his perfection, being made perfect, becoming our Savior, before his ministry (Hebrews 5:7 – 10, Romans 6:10, Matthew 26:28, etc.)

The Scripture teaches Christ is our salvation, our Savior, plain and simple.

He did not need help from lawless men or Rome to be our Savior.

Christ did not have to be killed for us to be saved; a horrible doctrine many have come to believe.

We must realize the Scripture teaches Christ is sufficient in and of himself to be our mediator – He is all we need! before, during, and after ministry.

Calvary exposed their sin, confirming and testifying of everything he said about himself, and about them, all the while continuing to extend grace.

He took the punishment we deserved for our sins and put it to death in being made perfect.

He was healed and restored through the suffering of learning obedience; putting to death transgressions and iniquities passed to him from his human ancestry by grace through faith, made one with the Father, becoming our Savior (NIV, Hebrews 5:7-10, Romans 6:10).

And in that journey, he was wounded, pierced, crushed (fulfilling, e.g., the type David foretold and prefigured in his wrestling with sin and God’s hand upon him).

His wounding and piercing describe the journey and the process of bringing death to the fleshly nature in utter dependence upon God by grace through faith “for sins he never committed,” in the “depth of a sacrifice and journey we could never endure.”

Important

Those of you who’ve had challenging and profound inner healing, prayer ministry, or counseling sessions, like I have, have experienced a small measure of what Christ experienced in being healed and restored from generational transgressions and iniquities passed to him from his human ancestry.

And he completed the journey perfectly, without sin!

To put sin to death, the structures of transgressions and iniquities passed from one generation to another must be destroyed, removed, and those areas once bonded to the fleshly nature cleansed and healed so they can be bonded to God.

And that requires wounding, piercing, crushing, spiritually speaking, the structures of sin passed through the generations, involving the suffering.

Because even if we have not sinned in those areas, we cannot divorce ourselves from the wounds and brokenness of the fleshly nature in our members and the painful effects of those areas being opened, cleansed, and healed.

Whether we’ve sinned or not, wounds and brokenness and the fleshly nature attached to them, is part of us, as it was part of Christ, and the suffering involved in it being brought to death and removed cannot be avoided whether it’s Christ or you and me.

***

Because of creeds and traditions, there’s the belief in Christendom Jesus just appears on the scene and does 3 plus years of grueling ministry, after being tested in the wilderness for 40 days by the devil, without having journey with God, training, learning, and undergoing intense healing and spiritual warfare.

Christ’s wilderness testing of 40 days, was a “test,” of his journey with God over close to two decades, being prepared for the difficult and challenging ministry he would face not only from man, but from the kingdom of darkness.

God did not usher Christ into the wilderness to face the King of the kingdom of darkness without years of preparation in the depths of his body, soul, and spirit, being made complete, becoming one with his Father, our Savior.

Jesus said he had a baptism to baptize and “‘Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.’” (NIV, Matthew 15:13)

Christ is not speaking these words as hearsay, but from experience, from the journey he undertook with the Father over years in being made perfect.

He undertook a baptism of repentance and forgiveness by grace through faith for his generations, destroying the barrier of sin between the law and his flesh.

Very Important

The author of Hebrews says of Christ, “…he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” (NIV, Hebrews 5:7, italicized mine)

This is not the subject of Calvary, but the subject of his journey of being made one with the Father in the suffering of putting sin to death by the cross of grace through faith in repentance and forgiveness for his generations, and mankind.

The greatest death Christ feared, was not the death of the body, he proved that at Calvary, but the death of the fruit of sin, eternal separation from the Father.

That’s the death he feared, and that’s the death he overcame, putting sin to death, to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:10, 1 Peter 3:18).

You’re not made perfect, if you weren’t imperfect to begin with (Hebrews 5:7 – 10, Romans 6:10).

Christ was born to save, born our Savior, but he had to be “made,” our Savior.

It is clear in Scripture: (Bold and italicized mine)

• Christ was born of the human race from his mother’s side (NIV, Galatians 4:4), and,
• his ancestry passed to him the fruit of “…the likeness of sinful flesh…” (NIV, Romans 8:3), and,
• in his wilderness journey of being made perfect by the Father (NIV, Hebrews 5:7 – 10), he put sin to death by the cross of grace through faith (Romans 6:10), destroying the fleshly nature separating him from fulfilling the law of God in his flesh (Ephesians 2:14 – 16, see an interlinear),
• “The Word became flesh…” (NIV, John 1:14), “…the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being…” (NIV, Hebrews 1:3),
• And having apprehended everything the Father promised to him, being made perfect, glorified, made one with the Father, qualified him to face the enemy one-on-one for 40 days, victorious by grace through faith, releasing him to set his sights on Israel and the millions that would be born from generations to come.

 

He offered life to Israel for over three years, and, when faced with physical death, he continued to extend grace, even in death.

He redeemed mankind in his perfection (Hebrews 5:7 – 10), offering the grace, favors, and blessings of the New Testament “in his blood,” (Matthew 26:28, John Chapter 6), the Millennium within Israel’s reach.

When faced with rejection and physical death, he continued to extend grace to the uttermost, refusing to take up arms, which he could have rightly done, purchasing unrepentant Israel (Revelation 5:9), for another chance at forgiveness.

And many took advantage at the second chance on the day of Pentecost.

Calvary is deeply rooted into the fabric of Christianity, one of the most proclaimed tenants of the Christian faith.

But it was not always that way.

Creeds and traditions rose to the forefront in extra-biblical beliefs in the time of increasing darkness and drift from Christ.

Just as the Reformation had its day in court, and salvation by faith versus works ultimately moved many into the new-birth, in spite of persecution;

and just as the Pentecostal revivals in the early 1900s moved many deeper into the Kingdom of God and Christ’s presence, in the face of persecution;

present and coming revival(s) of Tabernacles will move even more into the deep work of the Spirit of grace into intimate union with Christ.

The unveiling of the mystery of Christ will “make” many into his likeness (Colossians 1:27; 1 Peter 1:13), through the deep work of the Spirit (Romans 8:10-11; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Philippians 3:10 & 3:21, etc.).

Important

Jesus is not done with the body of Christ, far be it – there’s a lot more to come before the Lord closes the door on Philadelphia and opens the door to the end-times.

It’s no coincidence the pearl is the sixth parable in Matthew 13, formed at great expense of time, effort, and energy; as is the parallel in Philippians, sheep transformed to horses of war (Zechariah 10:3); and the parallel in Philadelphia, made new to receive the new names of the King and Kingdom.

God faithfully gives you and me a variety of pictures of the new creation: the making of the pearl, sheep transformed to horses of war, and men and women transformed to receive the name of the King and Kingdom.

And if that was not enough, he gives us the pictures of the bride as living creatures in Revelation Chapters 4 and 5, among yet other pictures.

It will be with great effort, costly, and a long journey, to bring the bride to maturity for Christ to present her as a gift in closing out the era of the Gospel.

Creeds and traditions have a stranglehold on Christendom, through which much is filtered, judged, and measured.

In the coming revivals, the Lord will reach out once again to move the stakes of those who desire him deeper into the Kingdom of God, far from the bondage and chains the enemy has cleverly woven deep into the fabric of Christianity.

More creeds and traditions will fall in the days ahead, just like in the past.

It’s incumbent upon all of us to stay humble before the Lord like the Bereans of Acts 17:11 as events unfold in the days ahead.

In the last days the bride of Christ will know Christ as Lord, King, Savior, the embodiment of the New Testament, and, importantly, as her bridegroom.

She will know he did not need the help of lawless men and a Roman crucifixion to pioneer and author the salvation of this creation.

That, when he walked the earth, he was the New Testament in flesh and blood (Matthew 26:28), before the cross, on the cross, and after the cross.

That he had a name “…above every name,” seated in Heavenly places with his Father (being one with him, John 14), before the cross, on the cross, and after the cross. (NIV, Philippians 2:9, italicized mine)

What was once normal in the life of one unsaved, becomes garbage upon encountering Christ; and what was once normal in the life of the newly born, becomes energized and awakening upon the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

And once many enter the feast of Tabernacles, what seemed normal in Pentecost, will seem lifeless; because of the intensity of the deep work of the Spirit as Christ forms himself in those chosen to be his bride.

 A Snapshot Contrasting Christ’s Perfection and Calvary

• There are two separate streams of prophecy in Scripture regarding the coming of the Messiah, his ministry, and his rejection by Israel.

 

One stream is the coming of the Messiah, the making of him, and his ministry.

The other stream is Israel’s rejection of him.

Christ fulfilled the stream of prophecies about him being made one with the Father, and out of who he became, our Savior, his ministry to Israel.

And unrepentant Israel fulfilled the other stream of prophecies about them, their betrayal, rejection, and killing of the Messiah.

Creeds and traditions combine the two streams into one focusing both streams on Calvary, ignoring his perfection.

• The different descriptions in the New Testament, and even some in the Old (Isaiah 53:4-6), describing his wounding, crushing, piercing (not the piercing at Calvary, Isaiah 5:7-9), blood sacrifice (not the shedding), cross, “…nailing it to the cross” (NIV, Colossians 2:14), “‘…hung on a pole’” (NIV, Galatians 3:13),, are not different descriptions of the killing of Christ, but descriptions of the sufferings of being made perfect (Hebrews 5:7 – 10).

 

These are descriptions of putting the old man to death by the cross of grace through faith in repentance and forgiveness: the greatest fears of our fleshly nature and the kingdom of darkness.

I’ve listed in previous posts the Scriptures where Calvary is mentioned outside the Gospels, and when it’s mentioned, it refers to killing, not these other terms.

The New Testament is about “… Spirit-taught words” (NIV, 1 Corinthians 2:13, italicized mine), as used by Christ and the apostles, not creed and tradition taught-words as passed down through the Church over centuries.

Wounding and crushing as used by King David in the Old Testament is not killing; blood sacrifice denotes the entirety of Christ’s life given to the Father in redeeming mankind (even blood in the Old Testament was used to represent life), i.e., putting sin to death.

Cross refers to dependence upon God for healing and restoration, the same as “nailed and hung,” showing the intense and total giving of one’s life to God; what it takes from a spiritual perspective to bring the nature of sin passed through the generations to death.

Paul said he was “…crucified with Christ…” (NIV, Galatians 2:20), speaking about putting sin to death, not being put to death.

Obviously, it’s not about Calvary, but about dying to sin, to walk in newness of life (NIV, Romans 6:10), the life Christ pioneered for you and me, and everybody else.

We’re to be baptized with the baptism Christ was baptized, Romans Chapter 6.

The preceding words describe what baptism looks like from a spiritual perspective; wounding and crushing of the structures of sin; nailing and hanging the old man’s propensity to want to save himself by the works of the flesh; and the blood displaying the willingness to give all of one’s life to the Lord as a reasonable sacrifice for Christ.

That’s the journey he pioneered, and the one we’re to follow.

These terms are not about killing, but on the contrary, saving, redeeming, healing and restoration, in wholeness and holiness by the power of the Holy Spirit in gentleness and love.

Again, the baptism of Christ is the sacrifice of our lives, taking up our cross, being willing to be nailed (attached) to the cross of Christ in the sacrifice of our lives, vulnerable, open, for all to see Christ in us, as our lives are hung in utter dependence upon God for healing and restoration, i.e., the salvation of our lives.

Not once in the New Testament did Christ seek to be killed, nor did his apostles say anything favorable about his killing.

On the contrary, Peter on the day of Pentecost, in so many words, said you killed him, and you need to repent.

He also said, the resurrected Christ, the Messiah, God raised again, signifying Christ’s second glorification (John Chapter 12).

And Stephen, before he was stoned, said in so many words, you murdered the Messiah (Acts 7:52).

This is not about any specific ethnic group being responsible for the killing of Christ, for all mankind is guilty before God.

Important

I hope to continue this in my next post(s) – it’s a long list of contrasts.

I also plan to speak more about spiritually discerning the language used in the New Testament.

And some of the difficult passages people struggle with, like the end of Luke where the Lord talks about fulfilling all things, his sufferings, and how many jump to the conclusion he must be talking about Calvary.

When he’s really speaking about the span of his life, particularly the journey (probably beginning somewhere around age 12), to his perfection (probably shortly before his presentation to John at the river Jordan).

Or the passage in Hebrews about no forgiveness without the shedding of blood, which refers to the Old Testament, under the law, and not the New, under grace.

The Scripture is clear: Jesus did not have to be killed for us to be saved, but chose to continue grace; otherwise, Israel would immediately be engulfed in death, and people who would later be saved killed.

He chose the same course God chose when Israel rejected the promised land, giving them another 40 years; when God changed course, after pronouncing Ahab’s death, he extended his life; and through many situations with the Kings where God extended time before the Northern and Southern Kingdoms were taken into exile.

Christ just spent over three years trying to save the nation and usher in the Millennium, it would be too great a shift in hearts and lives for the people he loved to turn and take the Kingdom by force, giving them one last sign instead, Jonah.

** The Word of Truth in Your Life and Mine, 1 Thessalonians 2:13 **

If truth played a part in our born-again experience and the baptism of the Spirit, then how much more for Tabernacles, the longest, most intimate journey we will ever make this side of Heaven.

It matters we know the Lord’s story, because knowing his story, is knowing ours.

And our story is not pointed to martyrdom, but the journey he pioneered.

The truth of Christ’s journey matters greatly, else, why even have a Bible?

We need every glimmer of light we can glean from the Scriptures by the Spirit in the revelation of the Lord and his journey.

Else, how can we know “‘…the way and the truth and the life’” Christ pioneered, being made perfect, his first glorification, and then, after ministry, his willingness to be killed at Calvary, his second glorification following? (NIV, John 14:6)

If we don’t know the journey Christ pioneered, we will not know what to apprehend, the plan and purposes of God, our place in it, the journey, and the “truth” in Christ Paul teaches to be mindful (Ephesians 4:20-24).

Paul speaking in 2 Thessalonians says about those who take the mark of the beast in the Tribulation, which includes Christians who miss the rapture choosing the Beast over giving their lives:

“He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” (NIV, 2 Thessalonians 2:9 – 10)

The Scripture warns you and me to move beyond the rudimentary principles of Christ and into the deep things of the Spirit (NIV, Hebrews Chapter 6).

And the Scripture says we are to know “…the truth that is in Jesus.” (NIV, Ephesians 4:21, bold and italicized mine)

And that takes preparation by Christ, the cultivation of desire for him and eventually experiencing the same truth he experienced in Tabernacles.

And that means moving from being Passover and Pentecostal Christians, i.e., the new-birth and baptism of the Spirit, toward the feast of Tabernacles, i.e., to be made one with Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Peter 1:13).

Truth is not an intangible, but a living expression of Christ in our lives.

We’re in the season where he’s making provision for the impossible in your life and mine, for those who earnestly seek and desire him above all else.

He’s not asking you and me to be perfect in order to come to him, quite the contrary.

He’s asking you and me to bring our wounds and brokenness to him for healing and restoration, for our self-interest, his, and the body of Christ (Matthew 11:28 – 30).

As I mentioned earlier, Paul talks about being baptized for the dead (NIV, 1 Corinthians 15:9).

And he’s referring to the baptism of Christ, to be made new from the inside out, to present Christ to others, they might see Jesus and be saved.

The continual seeding, cultivating, watering, maturing of the truths of God planted in our hearts and minds, being changed from glory to glory (NIV, 2 Corinthians 3:18), is just as essential as food is to life.

How else can we know the vision, the plan and purposes of God in apprehending the mystery of Christ in you and me? (NIV, Philippians 3:12 – 14, Colossians 1:27)

Important

“‘Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.’” (NIV, Habakkuk 2:2-3, bold and italicized mine)

And Paul exhorts Timothy regarding those overseeing others to “…keep hold of the deep truths of the faith…” (NIV, 1 Timothy 3:9, bold and italicized mine)

In seasons of great revelation, where God is planting his Word deeply in hearts and minds, setting sons and daughters on a path to maturity in intimate care and bond with him, it behooves every son and daughter to take notice of the changing times and what Christ is about, seeking him for his favor and protection.

In the days to come those who find themselves outside the cloud of glory, Christ’s intimate care and protection in growing darkness, will find themselves exposed to increasing risks of temptations and spiritual peril.

Today is no different than times past where those who clung to the ways of the old, satiated with the cares of this life and all the temporal pleasures it offers, are thrust in times of historical transition into changes they’re unprepared and ill-equipped to handle.

And the transition from the age of the Gospel to the Millennium is, according to Scripture, a severe transition.

Truth does matter.

Without the truth of the born-again experience, you’d still be unsaved and headed for eternal separation from God.

And without the truth of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, many would lack the intimate experience of having the presence of God in their lives.

Without the truths of Tabernacles, many will struggle and face challenges they not need face, and, lack teaching to help others.

How much Christ is able to apprehend in our lives, is for him to know, and for us to pursue in the remaining time we have available between now and Heaven’s shores.

Creeds and traditions make the Scriptures a mystery: imposing Old Testament concepts, language, thoughts, and practices on the New; resulting in complex and unexplainable beliefs about Christ, his journey, Calvary, and great internal conflicts within Scripture, pitting Scripture against Scripture.

Creeds and traditions have been the greatest boon to the publication industry, tens of millions spent on trying to explain and reconcile Scriptures and explain this and that about all the various extra biblical doctrines.

The enemy has strategically through creeds and traditions been a party to making the Church blind to the truth of Christ’s journey and the feast of Tabernacles.

The knowledge of Christ’s journey, the feast of Tabernacles, the place God has reserved for his sons and daughters to be made one with Christ, is the greatest fear of the enemy.

Because he knows, in a dark way, when God completes the bride for his son in the last of the last days, that season will come to a close, and with it the beginning of the end for the enemy’s rule and reign in the hearts of fallen men and women.

He did everything possible to hide the born-again experience and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but God intervened and brought those back in the Reformation and Azusa Street.

And again, thankfully, “but God,” brought back the knowledge of Christ’s pioneering journey in the latter part of the 20^th century to begin preparing his sons and daughters for the open door of Philadelphia.

And many have gone through the open door of Philadelphia into the revelation of Christ by grace (NIV, 1 Peter 1:13).

Creeds and traditions make the Scriptures a mystery; even after two millenniums Christendom still “holds” many of the New Testament Scriptures a mystery, instead of the Scriptural mystery – “…Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (NIV, Colossians 1:27)

God designed the wonder of Scripture to be revealed and discovered in pursuit of Christ, the revelation of mystery to stir our hearts in intimacy toward him.

And for 21^st century Christians, the Lord has made much known to those who are pursuing him.

The grace of God leading you and me into repentance and forgiveness will always be a mystery, but, not a mystery in purpose, understanding, and vision, being made one with Christ.

The enemy hates the thought of the mystery of Christ being discovered by you and me.

Because, as the mystery unfolds in your life and mine, we become more and more like Christ, and less and less like the nature he helped form in you and me, and our generations.

The supremacy, vastness, Majesty, and the attributes of God revealed in Scripture will always for eternity be a mystery for the created.

But as we pursue Christ, and Christ pursues us into greater care and intimacy, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the revelation of the Father through him, becomes more and more “known,” as we become “known.”

Creeds and traditions have done an excellent job in hiding the journey of Christ, making him the mystery, instead of the work of grace in you and me.

And if he’s a mystery, a model, unlike you and me, then he’s unconnected with what it’s like to be cleansed, healed, and restored – the journey of Tabernacles, we must take to be made like Christ.

Jesus is not half-man, but fully man, in every sense of the word, otherwise, hundreds of Scriptures are wrong, and creeds and traditions are right.

If Jesus was not able to reconcile the traditions he faced to the Scriptures, being the fulfillment of Scripture in flesh and blood, neither shall we.

Instead of inspiring, cultivating, and stimulating faith as they are purported to do, creeds and traditions undermine and supplant the journey of salvation.

They transfer desire and passion from seeking the person of Christ with doctrines, obligations, and religious practices.

They take us from the path of the truth of Scripture, to the well-worn path of the natural mind, bringing God to our level, instead of pointing sons and daughters to the throne of Heaven.

They stifle and rob the seeds of desire and passion, to be known, and to know, from the soil of the heart God planted so long ago in the beginning renewal of all things in Christ.

Substituting desire for outward allegiance and uniformity, at the expense of personal discovery and relationship.

Every effort made trying to bridge the gap to Christ outside of repentance, forgiveness, humility, and contriteness, only creates another barrier to Christ.

They replace an individual’s responsibility to know the Scriptures with another Gospel – one fostering uniformity, complacency, and ultimately indifference.

Christ, not creeds and traditions, and the beliefs they breed, is the “one” to be sought, revered, worshipped, and exalted.

It is he who redeemed and purchased you and me – the only “…mediator between God and mankind…” (NIV, 1 Timothy 2:5, bold and italicized mine).

We do not need to create bridges to Christ through creeds and traditions.

He is our mediator, not the writings of man.

If Jesus wanted creeds and traditions to spread the Gospel and used as a form of “agreements” and “teachings,” separate and distinct from his Word, he would have had the writers of the New Testament author an appendix to his Word.

And that is ridiculous, because it robs you and me of the joy of discovering the truths of God’s Word under the leading and guiding of the Spirit in the revelation of Christ.

Jesus is more than able to reach you and me in intimacy and connection through the truth of his Word and the moving of his Spirit absent man’s efforts to summarize and categorize him in beliefs.

** More on the Revelation of Christ **

It was the Father who revealed to Peter who Christ was.

It was Christ on the Mount who presented his “transfiguration,” i.e., his “perfection/glorification,” to his inner circle.

Christ revealed his eternal nature, who he had become “resurrection life,” (Matthew 17:2; Romans 6:10; Hebrews 5:7-10; 7:16), a “vision” of becoming for those who would later follow in his footsteps.

It wasn’t just about showing them who he was, but also about showing them who they, and others, who pursue him, may become.

The purpose of Christianity is not to leave us in our sins, but to save us, body, soul, and spirit (Romans 8:10-11; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:23); making us into the likeness of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18), the vision Christ transfigured before the inner circle.

Jesus gave the inner circle a window into the Heavenly realm of what God has available in the New Covenant for those who pursue him.

That what the Father accomplished in him was available to them by the same grace and faith that completed him.

That he’s the means by which men and women are made into the likeness of the Father, just as he was made into the likeness of the Father.

That restoration is through him (1 Peter 1:13).

So, when the Father sees us, he sees the likeness of his only begotten Son, the fragrance and fruit of Jesus.

Yes, he wants to see our own unique qualities, talents, gifting, personality, “us.”

But, all of that is to be immersed in the person of Christ, the perfect one; so, when the Father sees us, he sees the beauty of Jesus in thought, words, and deeds, written throughout the fabric of our new nature.

That simply, when the Father sees us, he sees Jesus; not just because of what Jesus did in dying “for” our sins by bringing death to sins passed to him from his human ancestry.

But also because of what Jesus did “in” us: bringing death to our sins.

That because of the work of the Spirit: Christ’s glory so great and immersive in our lives – we are in Christ indistinguishable from the nature of the Son in the eyes of the Father.

That Jesus would so fill our hearts and minds, who we are, others would not only know we’ve been with Jesus, but that Christ is in us.

***

Jesus is the promised grace to come (1 Peter 1:10 – 12), the New Testament in flesh and blood (Matthew 26:28).

Only by “eating what he ate, and drinking what he drank,” (NIV, John 6:53), spiritually speaking, can we hope to apprehend “…Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (NIV, Colossians 1:27)

When Jesus speaks of being the gate or the door, he’s not referring to a pathway as we think of a path, but, an entrance way into the care and love of God by grace through faith in the revelation of Christ, being “made,” “transformed,” from our lowly natures into his holy nature by the power of the Holy Spirit:

“Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” (NIV, 2 Peter 1:4)

If you want to see a glimpse of what the new nature looks like for those who finish the race, “attributes presented by pictures”, i.e., the bride, then see the “living creatures” of Revelation.

They’re a picture of the raptured bride.

Christ presented a panoramic view of the history of the body of Christ in Matthew 13, those who go beyond “buying” the treasure, i.e., the new-birth and Pentecostal experiences, to “becoming” the treasure, a “pearl.”

I hope you see the windows the Scripture gives into the workings of the Spirit, revealing pictures of the mystery of Christ being formed in you and me, by grace through faith, deeply, personally, and intimately.

And the feast of Tabernacles, beyond the new-birth and Pentecost, is the journey of encountering Christ’s healing and restoration, reserved for the last days in the age of Philadelphia.

On the road to Emmaus Christ’s disciples talked with him and yet failed to recognize him.

He was with them, and yet unrecognizable, until their eyes were opened.

And he was not only unrecognizable with them, but unrecognizable to them in the revelation of who he was before Calvary; because he had to explain to them starting with Moses the revelation of Christ, his journey.

And Moses is a type of Christ’s journey, not Calvary.

Calvary was an attempt to destroy the revelation of Christ, not reveal it.

Tragically, many walk and talk with Christ, and yet, the eyes of their heart have not been opened beyond creeds and traditions to the deep work of the Spirit.

They know about Jesus, know his presence, but haven’t entered the journey of truly “knowing him, and he them.”

Calvary is a picture of the revelation of Christ rejected.

It’s not a picture of the revelation of Christ’s atonement for sins, but a revelation of Christ rejected for the atoning work present and accomplished in him, having been manifest to Israel for over three years.

The bloodied, flogged, lifeless body of Christ at Calvary was not the remission of sin, but, a picture of what sin looks like – a picture of unhealed and unrestored mankind from the inside out.

If we miss Christ’s open door to healing and restoration in the time he’s reserved for it, many will enter Heaven unhealed and unrestored, saved by grace, but, not in the place they could have been had they pursued Christ in Tabernacles.

Hopefully, any unhealed and unrestored places are not so great they become stumbling blocks; turning one aside from Heaven and back into the World as darkness multiplies and grows in the coming days.

The only way to reach unrepentant Israel (and mankind), was to publicly expose their sins and nakedness on the righteous body of Christ as a testimony against them.

The veil of the temple was torn in two, but it was not torn so we can have access to the Holy of Holies through Christ – that had already been accomplished in his perfection, and made available to Israel over 3 years.

When the veil was torn, it revealed, spiritually speaking, the open sores, wounds, welts, and other wounds of sin (seen and foretold by Isaiah 700 years earlier) in the unrepentant heart of Israel now made manifest on the body of the Lord Jesus.

Their sins could no longer be “veiled” behind their bodies of flesh – the grace of God exposing their sin in fullness that they might come to forgiveness (Matthew 26:28).

Christ had destroyed the barrier between his flesh and the law, for him and his generations, which they refused; so now their sin would remain and unveiled for all the world to see and know.

The veils in the Tabernacle in the wilderness and the Temples were curtains of grace, protecting the sinner until the promised grace of God came.

In refusing Christ, Israel refused the grace and love of God, setting in motion the eventual destruction of their beloved nation and Jerusalem once again.

And even with the tearing of the veil, God gave the people of Israel another 40 years to come to repentance and receive forgiveness.

The picture of Christ on the Roman cross is a picture of sins, what they look like to God; and having refused Christ, there would no longer be an excuse for Israel having eye witnessed the majesty and power of their Savior.

And the same holds true for mankind today; the Bible, creation, history, and the testimony of millions having experienced the saving power of Christ will leave those who reject Christ with no excuse.

And how all of that works out in the economy and justice of the courts of Heaven is for the Lord to know and for us to trust in his divine justice; he knows those from the ends of the earth who are his (Malachi 3:17-18), and who will and will not respond to his overtures of grace and love.  

Israel refused to repent in the day of their visitation; their sins publicly exposed on the body of Christ in one last effort to reach some before the axe of Rome was laid to the root of their tree.

The open door of Revelation Chapter 3 is the revelation of Christ made available to the body of Christ once again, today! intimately, and deeply, in the last of the last days.

It’s the ministry of Christ to cleanse, heal, and restore our wounds and brokenness, and the sins that feed upon them.

It’s the revealing of Christ, his nature, his desire and promise to restore you and me into his likeness.

It is not something passed through the generations or through Church, but a continuing encounter with the risen Christ.

It’s the revelation of his person, his pioneering work, and your part in allowing him to fulfill his commission in you.

The Making of Who We Are Called to Be, An Example

When God calls someone into ministry, an office, gifting’s, or other service, he first and foremost calls them into being “made” into what he called them to do.

If one is called to pastor, they must be “made” to pastor.

This is the pattern Christ pioneered, the first to be “made” into his calling (Hebrews 5:7 – 10).

Adam and Eve did not start out “perfect,” but were on a journey of being made into the image and likeness of God.

Yes, they were created without defect, but they had a long journey ahead of them of learning “being made perfect – the journey of perfecting the heart through choice, experience, and life,” requiring intimacy by grace in the revelation of the Father.

Important

In that regard, (Christ made into his calling) the author of Hebrews would not have admonished his readers by saying, “…you have not yet resisted to the point of…your blood” if he was speaking about Calvary. (NIV, Hebrews 12:4)

Because, God is not calling us to Calvary, but to putting sin to death, by the power of the cross of grace through repentance, the Heart of the Gospel.

You’ll notice I did not include the word “shedding.”

The word shedding, or shed, or spilled, is not in the Greek; it’s not implied by the context of the subject matter the author is writing about.

The subject matter of Hebrews is putting sin to death by grace through faith, the pioneering journey of Christ, becoming our Savior (NIV, Hebrews 5:7 – 10).

The reason shed, shedding, or spilled, etc., are not in the Greek is because blood represents the most intimate expression possible regarding the sacrifice of Christ’s life in being made perfect – the giving of his life for us to be saved.

A natural word, just like in the Old Testament, to describe a spiritual truth.

That’s why there’s a number of Scriptures in the New Testament where the term blood is used without shed, shedding, etc., because the context is about putting sin to death, the giving of the entirety of Christ’s life, having nothing to do with Calvary, and everything to do with his journey.

Christ’s sacrifice encompassed the entirety of his life in service to God.

First in redeeming mankind from sin by putting to death generational transgressions and iniquities (Isaiah 53:1-6; Romans 6:10; Hebrews 5:7-10, etc.).

Hebrews is the testimony of Christ’s journey, having everything to do with his life from a teenager until his ministry, and nothing to do with Calvary, the rejection of everything he represented – the New Testament in flesh and blood.

In Hebrews 12:4 the author is not comparing Calvary to us, because respectfully, that would be ridiculous; God does not call us to be killed, and neither did he call Christ to be killed.

The comparison Paul is making is the journey of being cleansed, healed, and restored, the feast of Tabernacles, the pioneering work of Christ in being the firstborn from among the dead, the pattern and path for you and me.

Further, and this is important to understand, Calvary was not something Christ had to do or else it would result in disobedience, sin.

Sin is the subject of Hebrews, to bring an end to it by grace.

Christ could have, by his own words, called angels and taken the Kingdom by force and not sinned.

Because God is not a party to sin, and his Father would send angels if he had chosen to resist.

To reiterate, Calvary was not a place where Christ’s decision had anything to do with the sin or not, the subject of this passage.

Calvary had nothing to do with sin, and everything to do with him deciding whether he would submit to being killed; in either case, his decision was not about sin but whether to continue to extend grace to the uttermost.

No matter what, his Father would be with him, to either glorify him again (John Chapter 12), or, to send angels and help him take the Kingdom by force.

His Father’s heart was to continue to extend grace promising Christ he would glorify him again, but ultimately, it was Christ’s decision.

** An Alternative Door and Destination **

Creeds have supplanted Christ as the door to a different destination – a destination focused on death, instead of life.

Christ in his own words says he’s the gate through which everything must pass to enter the kingdom of God.

He’s the pattern, the only pattern God “made” to see Christ in you and me.

He’s the New Testament and everything it means to our healing and salvation.

In sharp contrast, councils “made” creeds and traditions the door and Calvary the destination.

God made Christ as our Savior; councils through creeds and traditions made statements of faith, doctrine, and creeds our salvation through which one is measured to see if one be in the faith or not, sound familiar?

You may think I’m being too strong, but it is by man-made creeds and traditions Christ is generally measured in one another, and not by intimacy and union with Christ, which is hard for the natural eye to measure, but not to the spiritually mature.

Because our relationship with Christ is not built upon what we may profess or not regarding creeds and traditions, but journey, connection, and intimacy with our Savior.

Creeds and traditions have presented to a measure “another gospel,” pointing the great weight and body of the New Testament to Calvary, instead of the atoning work accomplished by the Holy Spirit in the Lord Jesus Christ, our only mediator with the Father!

The Scripture says, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.” (NIV, 1 Timothy 2:5-6)

Any teaching outside the Scripture crediting our salvation to anything or anybody other than the Lord Jesus Christ and his death to sin to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 5:7 – 10, etc.) is another Gospel no matter how holy or righteous we try to make it, or, how many people have come to believe it.

God did not need the help of lawless men and Roman soldiers to perfect Christ and to usher the New Testament salvation.

Christ’s death to sin, the death of the testator, was sufficient by grace through faith in fulfilling the promised grace to come, the Messiah, New Testament in flesh and blood.

If man creates from unhealed wounds and brokenness creeds and traditions to build bridges to Christ, instead of God’s provision of intimacy with Christ by grace through faith, then the alternate path, “the works of the flesh,” will produce the fruits of the flesh, and not the fruit of the Spirit.

For the Scripture says, “…and everything that does not come from faith is sin.” i.e., bad trees producing bad fruit. (NIV, Romans 14:23)

In an effort to instill honor of Christ in the eyes of mankind, by proclaiming through creeds his mission to save mankind, creeds and traditions actually dishonor Christ.

They erase his pioneering journey, hiding his victory over generational sins “the how of his journey,” and the “who” he became in being made perfect.

And what that means to the millions who take his name as sons and daughters.

It’s one thing to know Christ is wholly without sin, but it’s another thing to hide his journey of overcoming sin, being made perfect.

The Apostle James clearly teaches we can have enmity in our flesh and not sin.

Christ had enmity in his flesh, and he put it to death, before it could put him to death.

Creeds and traditions emasculate Christ, the Scriptures, and the journey God set in place to be made whole and holy by grace through faith in repentance and forgiveness.

Creeds and traditions teach an impotent Christ; stripping from him the necessity of putting generational transgressions and iniquities to death, supplanting the clear teaching of Scripture.

They teach an impotent heavenly Father; stripping from him the power of grace and faith to put sin to death, i.e., he created a plan to redeem mankind through life and not death, beginning with his firstborn; they attribute to him the killing of Christ, instead of unrepentant sinners.

And by making both Christ and the Father impotent in bringing salvation to mankind, creeds and traditions rob the body of Christ from the understanding Christ is more than sufficient to bring sin to death in our lives, just as the Father accomplished in his generations.

No wonder in the age of Philadelphia, the present age, God is restoring what creeds and traditions have robbed by promising those who venture forward in Christ, pursuing the deep things of the Spirit, new names (Revelation 3:12).

Christ “began” the journey of making sons and daughters “one” with him while alive.

And yet because of God’s great love and compassion, knowing man would alter what he did by putting their hand to the work of God, Christ used Calvary as a picture of his atoning work by exposing their sins on his body, and then being raised again to testify of his righteousness.

Calvary was not the place of atonement, but, the act of one who had already atoned for sin; exposing their sins on the marks of his body.

Christ continued to extend grace through his death, the sign of Jonah; openly displaying what was hidden in the flesh of those who hated him by presenting a “convicting picture” of their sins (Matthew 26:28).

That’s why Jesus spoke a number of times about you and me picking up our cross and following him, the cross of putting the works of the flesh to death, to be made new, to walk in newness of life, not to be killed and crucified by an angry mob of unrepentant sinners.

Creeds and traditions substitute the cruelty and barbarianism of the Roman crucifixion for the true cross of Christ, overcoming and putting to death generational transgressions and iniquities, enduring the suffering, completely and perfectly, becoming our Savior.

The body of Christ as a whole has not experienced the intensity of the feast of Tabernacles in the journey of being made like Christ and the necessity of the secret and hidden areas of one’s life opened up for cleansing and healing.

There’s a wounding that must happen to cleanse and heal our wounds and brokenness and maybe in the next post I will go into this in more detail.

Suffice it to say, just like physical healing, our wounds must be opened up “wounded, pierced,” to be cleansed, healed and restored.

It’s a law of nature and a law of the Spirit.

That’s why Isaiah uses those types of expressions in Chapter 53, describing the cleansing and healing of the inner man, not the killing of Christ, which is described specifically in verses 7 through 9, more on that as well later.

***

Where’s the wonder in personal discovery and spiritual experience in relationship with Christ, if creeds and traditions are the foundation for knowing Christ?

The push for uniformity in the institutionalization of Christianity suffocated the heart from receiving personal revelation, spiritual experience, and most importantly, intimacy and connection with Christ.

The Church was commissioned by Christ to point us to him, not to writings about him.

To teach you and me how to search, seek, and move toward apprehending Christ; not to substitute those God given desires with confessions and beliefs.

That, at their best, leave one camped in the wilderness of Laodicea when they should be moving toward the promises of Philadelphia, or, at their worst, outside the Outer Court, left imprisoned in the World.  

How can extra-biblical writings be authoritative and have God’s stamp of approval when they’re not inspired by him, but man’s attempt to summarize what God said or inspired?

Writings outside Scripture should do their utmost to point you and me to Scripture, to help explain Scripture, not become a substitute.

Anything written about Scripture should point, one way or another, to Christ; what he wants us to know from Scripture in apprehending him, the New Testament in person.

As each new wave of God’s Spirit breaks on the shores of earth, Christians are faced with the same dilemma as Israel of Old – the moving of the Spirit in new and unusual ways in the midst of those holding steadfast to traditions.

When Jesus appeared, he faced over a millennium of traditions.

It would take a mighty move of God’s Spirit to set people free; and many, with the waves of Christ crashing all around them, set their hearts and affections once again toward Heaven.

And tragically, many did not.

Here we are in the 21^st century facing the same challenges Christ faced two millenniums ago, and all the revivalists since.

There are still 1600 years of entombed creeds and traditions imposed upon Scripture, confining Christendom to strict compliance with its teachings, and, within strict compliance of its boundaries.

Tragically, no wonder the Scripture prophecies a Great Apostasy in the last days.

Because many are camped in Passover and Pentecost when they should be moving toward Tabernacles.

God’s sheep are unknowingly being kept from the safety of the deep waters of the Spirit in the revelation of Christ (NIV, 1 Peter 1:13); and missing the revelation of Christ in the end-times will lead to the revelation of the Antichrist, a different image, one made in the image of man, not God (Revelation 13).

Many are being fed centuries old stale and moldy food – food never prepared by God in the first place – in pastures hardened by the pacing of hungry souls and spirits, not aware they’re slowly dying for lack of spiritual meat and drink.

Many of God’s sons and daughters don’t know he’s made provision for those who want him, an “oasis,” Tabernacles, the only way of escape (Revelation 3:10), from the wilderness of the World.

Staying camped in the feasts of Passover and Pentecost in the years ahead will not be sufficient to weather the coming waves of darkness.

Flocks are starving and the famine for God’s Word is only going to get worse as we go deeper into the last days.

The glory days of Passover and Pentecost have long since come and gone; the glory cloud is pointing toward Tabernacles, and many will starve unless they’re shepherded to greener pastures.

No wonder God says in the Old Testament through Zechariah he is angry with the shepherds, and will take it upon himself to rescue his sheep, those who desire him, into the deep things of the Spirit. (NIV, Zechariah 10:3)

And no wonder we see the Dragon dragging a third of the stars of Heaven, casting them to the earth with the remaining fleeing with the woman into the wilderness, engulfed in the unfolding of the Tribulation (Revelation Chapter 12).

Creeds and traditions have defined Christ like one would define and inanimate object, or an artifact, instead of the living person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And in defining Christ, the impression has been made there’s nothing more to be discovered and revealed of the person of Christ, the person they’re supposed to be pressing forward to be made like (2 Corinthians 3:18).

In defining Christ, the Church has lost the beauty of revelation; and in losing revelation, the Church has lost the appetite and desire for more of Christ.

And has forfeited the pursuit of being known, and knowing Christ, in the journey and adventure of knowing the Lord deeply and intimately, and he, you and me.

Mother church has kept her children by her side, except for ministry and evangelism, safe, risk-free, under the shadow of her wing, while the Lord has been waiting for his sons and daughters to be taught to pursue him.

And from pursuit to being prepared by him (made brides), initiated into Tabernacles when he “…comes” (1 Corinthians 4:5), “…taken…” (Matthew 24:40 & 41), “…revealed…” (1 Peter 1:13), “…appears…” (Colossians 3:4), etc., all synonymous with ushering his sons and daughters into the wilderness of his Kingdom to be made one with him. (Bold and italicized mine)

To learn his ways, trained, seasoned and matured, receiving the new names only he can give in journey with them (Revelation 3:12).

And in all of this, being cleansed, healed, and restored in the journey he pioneered and the pattern he established.

God’s plan beginning with Adam and Eve, to make men and women into his likeness was shipwrecked on the reefs of the enemy’s kingdom.

But it will finally come to fruition in a large measure in the last days with the completion of the Philadelphia church age, the end-time bride, setting in motion its fulfillment in the Millennium.

Blessings, Drake

(NIV) Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblical, Inc.™