Table of Contents

Introduction

       Creeds and Traditions

A Deeper Look at Philadelphia and Laodicea

The Prize – Intimate Union with Christ

Briefly, For Those Following and New to this Series

       Critical to Understanding the NT

       Born into War, The Enemy from Within Must First Be Put Under the Cross of Christ

       Two Deaths, Two Resurrections

       Does It Really Matter What We Know About Christ, His Journey to Completion?

       Epic Stories Call for Epic Parts

       Scripture’s Testimony of Christ’s Journey to Put Sin to Death Separately From Calvary

Textbook or Revelation

More on the Greatest Story Never Told

Good Soil

Comparing the Days of Noah with the Age of Philadelphia, (“coming of the Son of Man”), and Laodicea (NIV, Matt. 24:37, underline and italicized mine)

       Overview

       Water, Blood, & Spirit

            Unprecedented Season

            2 Peter Chapter 3

            Spiritual Symbolism & Foretelling

            Noah’s War

            Carnality, Pride, & Deception

      Fullness

God’s Crucifying Cross

** Introduction **

I originally planned this post to continue from Part 15.

I plan to condense the major themes, topics, and revelation of this series in multiple posts, a compilation you can print for easy reference.

However, the wind switched sails on me, leading me in a new direction to write about the similarities between the days of Noah and the seasons of Philadelphia and Laodicea, presently existing side by side.

Because Philadelphia and Laodicea’s seasons are substantially concurrent, except for Laodicea’s stretch into the Tribulation, I explore their similarities and differences.

Certain Christians see Philadelphia and Laodicea as one after the other, Philadelphia ending over a century ago (end of 19^th century) followed by Laodicea, continuing through the present.

But others, including me, understand, though there are stark differences* between them, they are largely parallel showing separation in the body of Christ, with a small segment heading one way (Philadelphia) while the major segment heads another (Laodicea).

Philadelphia began in the latter part of the 20^th century with the inner healing, prayer ministry, and fathering movements, and will end with the closing of the “open door” in the end-times (before the Tribulation), while Laodicea continues through the time of the Seals in the Tribulation. (NIV, Rev. 3:8, italicized mine)

When the door to Philadelphia closes, the opportunity to receive the fullness of Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission “healing through intimate fathering, made one with Christ” ends.

When it ends, the body of Christ would have had two millenniums to receive the mystery of intimacy and union with Christ (Sonship), the greatest treasure of this creation. (John 14:18,23; Romans 6:5, 8:23-30; Ephesians 4:13; Philippians 3:20-21; Colossians 1:27)

The fullness of Christ’s Commission will not be available to humanity again until the Millennium.

When the opening to Philadelphia closes, transition to the Tribulation begins, opening the earthly heavens to the fullness of the Spirit of Antichrist, where, tragically, Laodiceans will find their “door” forced opened by the enemy when persecution begins.

* Those who seek Jesus for deeper relationship are prepared by the Lord for encounter, and when he determines they are ready, they are “ushered” through the “opening” into the Philadelphia (Tabernacles) journey, an ongoing experience deeper and richer than the new birth and Pentecost, the final Christian pilgrimage Jesus pioneered for “transformation,” the fullness of his Isaiah 61 Commission.

Whereas those who remain in the spiritual state described in Christ’s letter to Laodicea, if they happen to be alive at the beginning of the Tribulation, will remain unhealed and unprepared to face the trials to come.

***

Philadelphia and Laodicea are pictured side by side not only in the uniquely particular language of Revelation 3:7-22, connecting them in the same season with key phrases and words, but also symbolically in the underlying theme of Philippians as compared to Colossians and 1 and 2 Thessalonians.

Pictured in the parables of the foolish and wise virgins, those “taken…left” and the “wise” and disobedient servant. (NIV, Matthew 24:40-41, 24:45, plus also see Luke 12) are the themes of Philadelphia and Laodicea.

The truth of “separation” in the body of Christ during the seasons of Philadelphia and Laodicea is graphically portrayed by the pregnant woman of Revelation 12.

Revelation 12 has multiple moving parts covering almost a century, likely beginning mid-20^th century, and is critical to understanding the last days and the timing of the Tribulation and key events.

The Book of Revelation is misunderstood in many key areas because Chapter 12 is applied to Israel, Christ, Rome, etc., not understanding it pictures the hidden work of God (womb) inside the visible church (woman) in the last season of the Gospel when sin comes to another “fullness of time.”

(Examples, Genesis 15:16; Luke 21:24; Galatians 4:4; Revelation 12:3, first revealing of the Antichrist Spirit of the age, a time of fullness, before wounding in revival.)

Where sons and daughters are becoming deeply intimate with the Lord, fashioned through cleansing and healing into the likeness of Christ in the safety of the larger body of Christ.

While a large segment who fail to pursue intimacy with Christ fall away, deceived, caught off guard, blindsided, by the tail of the dragon, 2 Thess. 2:3. (NIV)

Revelation 12 does not reach back “before” creation as certain teachers claim (casting out of Satan) and is not about the hills or Caesars of Rome, etc.

Revelation 12 binds the book of Revelation together.

It is the glue of John’s experience, giving in detail another picture of Philadelphia and Laodicea, their outcomes – one wounding the “pre-Tribulation first revealing” of the Antichrist system, the other, fleeing from the resurrected Antichrist Spirit of the age as Satan is cast of the Heavenlies forever, working through the false prophet personally in intimate union.

Revelation Chapter 12 is a graphic, symbolic, last days spiritual picture of the visible church (woman, Laodicea), stars falling away (tail), labor of God bringing children to completion (womb, Philadelphia), revival (wounding of the Beast), rapture, followed by the casting out of Satan and persecution as the Tribulation begins.

The phrase “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter” applies to Christ and those in Christ; his Isaiah 61 Commission is a spiritual application of rulership over the principalities of darkness, particularly in the end-time revival when an unprecedented releasing of the Holy Spirit occurs.

(NIV, Revelation 12:5, italicized mine; see also Revelation 2:26-27)

The end time revival will bring cleansing and healing – breaking the chains of sin and darkness over the lives of those who come to Christ like never before; of course, this applies literally in all realms during the Millennium.

The seven headed Beast represents the seven world Kingdoms relative to God’s redemptive plan, i.e., Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome (at the time of Christ) and then the end time Antichrist world Kingdom, loosely knit with divergent goals and visions but connected in “heart” in opposition to Christ.

Revelation 12 pictures the wounding of the Antichrist Spirit of the age, the first revealing before the Tribulation, during the last day great revival, followed by the rapture, while the rest of the body of Christ (Laodicea) flee from a “revived and stronger” Spirit of Antichrist when Satan is cast to the earth with his spirits.

Note:

Sin (Antichrist Spirit) is subject to “wounding” just like “health.” Wounding of sin and the structures of sin in our inner members can restrain or even destroy its plans, purposes, and deepening journey in its host. This is the type of wounding the Antichrist Spirit receives from revival during the time of revival.

In other words, just like inner healing “wounds” the wounds in our inner members, opening wounds for cleansing and healing, redeeming areas formerly under the control of pain, sin, and suffering, raising the area to new life in Christ, so to the “wound” to the Antichrist Spirit of the age in the hearts and minds of fallen men and women will be cleansed and healed for those who enter the last great revival.

The wounding of the last day Antichrist Spirit of the Age in revival (before the Tribulation) happens as an unprecedented number of “wounded” men and women (likely tens of millions) come to Christ receiving healing on a depth and scale never witnessed before in the age of the Gospel.

The Spirit of God released in the last of the last days will be unprecedented and unimaginable, healing men and women of longstanding afflictions of body, soul, and spirit, breaking the chains of sin and power of darkness, filling them with the Spirit.

The last great revival deals a “death blow” (a temporary halting to the progress and growth of darkness, giving way to the light of God) to the strategies and plans of the enemy through sin, wounding, agreements; destroyed by the power of Christ’s atonement demonstrated in revival yielding a tidal wave of repentance and forgiveness in fallen men and women.

The cross of Christ – the deeper work of the Spirit of grace in Tabernacles “fathering into intimate union” does not likely come into play in the last great revival because it appears there will not be enough time for men and women to make the journey through Philadelphia Christ pioneered for completion.

Simply, the cross of Christ is a distinct and separate season of “intimate fathering” into union, a separate season of time from the new birth and Pentecostal journeys, the promised coming of the Lord to transform “orphans” into Sonship, children and young men into fathers, sheep into warhorses, and other metaphors used in Scripture.

Important

Also, I want to point out, if you have not gathered this already from this series, the Old Testament way of saying Hebrews 4:12 is Isaiah 53:4-6 and vice versa; describing the cross of Christ, his pioneering journey to completion, fathered by God, and our journey in him.

The wounding and piercing, etc., of Christ prophesied of Isaiah did not kill him, but generational sin passed to him from his human ancestry (See Ro. 8:3; especially Ephesians 2:14-16 in an interlinear) raising him into eternal resurrection life “perfection” before his ministry, as I have explained throughout this series and in this post.

Both passages give aspects of the same truth – the journey Christ pioneered for his generations (putting sin to death, made alive in the Spirit, the new creation in flesh and blood), invites New Testament saints into Tabernacles (Philadelphia) – i.e., the coming of the Lord to “father” men and women into intimacy by putting deeply rooted sins to death; wounding and piercing wounds holding men and women captive to sin and the power of darkness.

General inner healing is the first wave of attack against the walls of the enemy.

The second wave, intimate “fathering” a deeper grace of the Spirit in Philadelphia (Tabernacles) brings men and women to maturity and completion.

***

The lack of understanding the “pictures” of Philadelphia and Laodicea represented by the woman in Revelation 12, e.g., veiled, hidden, deep labor of the Lord within the womb of the body of Christ (Philadelphia), with a falling away represented by the stars (tail), and astonishingly the larger body of Christ represented by the woman is oblivious to the perilous danger before her, unprepared and un-equipped to face the wrath of the Dragon, has led to much confusion about the timing of key events, and, most importantly, seeking Christ for intimate union.

The most important truth about Revelations 12 and 3:7-22 is the knowledge God is not asleep but diligently laboring behind the scenes preparing individuals for union with him through intimate fathering like he promised, cleansing and healing those who seek him.

A large segment of Christians, because of creeds and traditions, are taught intimate union with Christ is for Heaven, coming to “completeness” is automatic in Heaven, tragically misinformed about the call of the Spirit in Scripture to seek the “coming” of the Lord, made pure and holy in this realm, not in Heaven.

The Gospel of Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission is for this side of the great divide, not Heaven!

The Scripture makes a distinction throughout the New Testament between those who go on to completion (beyond the new birth and Pentecost) versus those who do not, just as Revelation makes a distinction between those in the New Jerusalem and the nations and Kings outside.

This is not about certain Christians being better than others, working harder in this life.

But about seeking (as the Scripture says) intimacy with Christ, allowing him to enter the deep areas of the “heart”  for cleansing and healing – washing our wounds and brokenness, released, redeemed, and restored from the deep tentacles of sin and its roots, allowing discomfort for a greater resurrection (Philippians Chapter 3).

(1 Cor. 1:7, 4:5; 15:23; 2 Cor. 13:9-11; Galatians 4:19; Ephesians 5:26-27; Philippians 3:20-21; Colossians 3:4; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 1:13, 5:10, etc.)

***

For those wondering, it is likely the various evangelistic “healing” movements in the first part of the 20^th century including the Jesus/Charismatic revivals transitioned Christendom from Sardis to the gates of Philadelphia.

It is also possible the transition from Sardis to Philadelphia began with the return of Pentecost in the early 1900s (Azusa Street Revival), the spiritual “torch” lighting the “way” to intimacy with Jesus.

Whenever the transition began, the first significant “preparatory” wave for Philadelphia’s “greater grace in the labor of healing” (intimate fathering through journey with Christ) was the beginning of the “inner healing” movement in the last half of the 20^th century, creating another layer of separation in the body of Christ.

Inner healing began because it was time in the calendar of God for men and women to go deeper in their relationship with Christ, to move beyond the wonder of the Spirit in Pentecost into yet deeper transformation and sanctification through intimate healing at an individual level (2 Cor. 7:1).

Important

To lead men and women onto the path for greater intimacy with Christ through cleansing and healing, the Holy Spirit awakened “awareness and desire” for freedom from sin and its fruit by allowing wounds to manifest along with the revelation of the Spirit on how to put them to death.

Note: Wounds and sins will manifest whether we seek Christ or not; but when we do seek him, the Lord exposes hidden and secret sins for cleansing and healing in accordance with his Isaiah 61 Commission.

Never in the history of humanity has the Spirit of God revealed in depth and breadth the intricate working of the power of darkness of sin through agreements, lies, vows, expectancies, curses, and traumas , as he has over the last half century.

Over the last half century, the Holy Spirit has birthed intimacy in every medium used by the Lord to reach men and women; springing up globally through worship, teaching, preaching, fathering, and healing and restoration, especially through para-church ministries.

Never on a scale this large (globally) and a work this deep (Philadelphia, Tabernacles), has the Lord labored to bring his Commission to the core of our lives, reaching everywhere to connect sons and daughters by the Spirit with singleness of heart and mind for union with Christ.

The Lord has brought the body of Christ to a place, after two millenniums, where he could “connect” the working of the law of sin (through agreements, lies, and vows) with the “revelation” on how to put them to death, the pathway to not just saving people, but, destroying the legal claim and power of sin to ruin lives.

This generation is witnessing the “connection and marrying” of Scriptures to one another and the Spirit like never before, where, e.g., Christ’s pioneering journey is married to Romans Chapters 3 to 8, where cleansing and healing of 2 Cor. 7:1 is married to Ephesians 2:14-16 (see an interlinear).

Where Christ’s journey to completion is our journey, beginning with inner healing in preparation for deep fathering into intimacy and union with Christ.

Suffice it to say, the Spirit of God over the last half century has awakened his children there is much more to apprehend in Christ beyond the new birth and Pentecost, introducing inner healing to prepare those who desire union with Christ through the journey and adventure of Philadelphia, (Tabernacles).

Philadelphia (Tabernacles) is the last opportunity for maturing and completeness in Christ through deep and intimate fathering; the promised “coming of the Lord” we read in Scripture but never understood.

Deep and intimate fathering includes inner healing, but it is just one of many means the Lord uses to bring you and me into intimate union – his vision for making us one with him “knowing and being known,” the fullness of Sonship.

Before entering Philadelphia (personally encountering the living Christ) we must have a measure of inner healing, so we do not sabotage the journey before it really begins.

You will know when the Lord transitions you from preparatory inner healing into deep fathering, cleansing, and healing.

Entrance into the deep waters of Philadelphia, the Tabernacle journey, is more real and tangible than anything one could possibly experience before that, other than translation to Heaven.

You will find yourself in a different place in the Spirit, deeper waters, stronger current, and greater intensity – a place where there is no going back, just like Israel in the wilderness could not go back to Egypt.

Once the Lord begins the deep work of the Spirit of grace in the revelation of Christ you cannot go back to Egypt, and why would you want to, when you have Jesus like never before, an intimacy you never imagined possible.

Nothing in this realm compares to the wonder of walking intimately with Christ in the journey he pioneered for those who enter Philadelphia.

Philadelphia (Tabernacles) is where eternal bonding to Jesus “begins and comes to fullness” in the revelation of Christ by grace. (NIV, 1 Peter 1:13; Isaiah 40:31, 43:18-19; Revelation 3:7-13).

It is the journey Christ pioneered for his completion, and the journey for ours.

Note:

In the Old Testament Tabernacles (Trumpets, Atonement, and Booths) was the last major feast of the three main feasts. It foretells the deep labor of the Lord making Christian’s intimate and one with him through fathering, cleansing, and healing, putting sin to death to walk in new life.

The Trumpet calls you and me to seek intimacy with Christ in the time of intimacy; the work of Christ’s atoning sacrifice cleans you and me from the filthiness and enmity of the lower nature, bringing you and me to a place of completion, where he can dwell in our booths, the temple of our body, soul, and spirit.

***

While those in Philadelphia feast on Christ, experiencing Jesus in ways never thought possible, those on the outside continue to subsist on past moves of God with provisions barely consumable, having long lost their life-giving qualities.

Scripture tells us there are times when the Word of God becomes scarce, a famine, men and women starving to hear from God, feel his presence – living lives in quiet desperation for any sign of God.

We are presently in a season of such a time, another “fullness of time.”

Where those outside the provisions of Philadelphia, whether Christian or non-Christian, will increasingly experience the deep angst and pain of soul and spirit as darkness deepens its grip over this world and unhealed areas become greater and greater barriers to reaching and hearing from God.

The Trump era may grant American Christians a season of respite; giving men and women more time by the grace of God to prepare for what is on the horizon.

But, regardless of what the respite may bring, the handwriting is on the wall, all GPS coordinates of what God is doing today point only one direction and one direction only, preparing those who desire him for intimate union.

When those in Philadelphia come to completion, irreversible events will begin to be set in motion ultimately leading to Christ’s rightful return in the Millennium.

And in that preparation (Philadelphia), he is also preparing them for the unleashing of revival, one last great offering of eternal life before he closes the door to the age of the Gospel and opens the door to the Tribulation.

There are no church ages after Philadelphia and Laodicea; the body of Christ is on the last leg of her journey.

Everything I read in Scripture and the revelation of the Lord points without hesitation to the present concurrent ages of Philadelphia and Laodicea, both heading toward fullness, men, and women in the valley of decision.

We are heading deeper and deeper into the end times, where like in the days of old (Noah, Moses, Elijah, Josiah, Christ, etc.) though revival come, where millions come to Christ, nonetheless, the Antichrist system will rise from the ashes of the move of God viler than ever, death being the only way of escape.

(The building of the Ark was “revival” in Noah’s day, a visible manifestation of God at work where others had the opportunity to respond to Noah’s witness and plead with God to escape what was about to happen).

Finally, the purpose of cleansing and healing (putting sin to death to walk in new life, Romans 6:5) is to make us “whole and holy” for the purpose of “becoming” intimate and one with Christ.

We cannot become intimate and one with Jesus (John 17:21), partaking of the “divine nature” (NIV, 2 Peter 1:4, bold and italicized mine), bonded to Christ as a bride is to the bridegroom (Matthew 25:1), without the journey of healing and restoration (Luke 4:18-19; Romans 6:5; 2 Cor. 4:10-12, 7:1).

Entrance into the Kingdom of God in the new birth begins the journey.

Pentecost furthers our journey into the Kingdom toward Christ.

However, cleansing and healing of the enmity of the fallen nature must occur if our desire is to come to maturity and completeness – to apprehend what Jesus saved us for, intimate union with him – by putting sin to death to walk in resurrection life. (Romans Chapter 6, 8:10-11; 2 Cor. 7:1, 13:9-11; Galatians 4:19; Ephesians 4:12-13, 5:26-27; Philippians Chapter 3)

For those who missed the Pentecostal experience, God has ways of bringing you to completion, nothing is impossible with him – he will leapfrog you into the deeper life.

The New Testament is about intimacy, being known and knowing the Son of Man and the Father through him.

Healing and restoration are one of the means of reconciling you and me back to the Garden with God before the fall, completing the journey Adam and Eve failed to finish forfeiting their inheritance in God to the enemy.

Scripture uses various phrases and words to describe the greater grace of God in healing and restoration, such as:

fathering, journey from orphan to Sonship, from justification by faith to glorification in Christ (i.e., from legal righteousness by Christ’s atoning work to experiential righteousness through his atonement), baptism of Christ, having the Word of God written on our hearts and mind, “washing with water through the word” (NIV, Ephesians 5:26, italicized mine),

Holy Spirit baptism of fire, cross of Christ, sufferings of Christ, putting sin to death raised to walk in new life, putting to death the enmity of the flesh, revealing of Christ by grace, “coming of the Lord” (i.e., appearing, judging, revealing, taking), crucified with Christ, and for Christ, because he gave everything that can be given in being made perfect, it is said he offered a blood sacrifice,

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, italicized mine)

To the surprise of most, as ingrained as it is in Christians because of creeds and traditions, this last quote is not speaking of Calvary.

This Scripture is no different than the descriptions of Christ’s journey in Romans Chapters 3 to 6, Hebrews Chapters 1 to 10, Galatians Chapter 3, etc., which speak of Christ’s “journey to maturity and completeness” before his ministry, fathered by God.

Philippians Chapter 2 is the same cross we are asked to pick up and follow – it is the cross of Christ – dying to sin to walk in resurrection life, just like Christ, who put the enmity of his flesh to death, made mature and complete, becoming our Savior before he entered ministry. (Romans 6:10; NIV, Hebrews 5:7-10; Ephesians 2:14-16, see an interlinear)

Jesus does not ask us to pick up the cross of Calvary, but the cross of dying to sin to walk in new life, the same journey he made before his ministry!

Jesus was a living, breathing, walking, blood sacrifice (John 6:53-63) – giving the entirety of his life to the Father, made mature and complete; he was not like an animal killed on an alter to appease “a God” like a pagan sacrifice – no!

God’s cross of grace through faith – putting sin to death to walk in new life brings resurrection life – Christ the firstborn, first fruit, pioneer, forerunner, and perfecter of the new creation, from mortality to resurrection life (Psalm 16; Romans 6:10, 8:10-11; 1 Cor. 15:45-49; Hebrews 5:7-10, 7:16).

Highly Important

When Jesus said the Kingdom has come to you it was not about signs, wonders, and miracles but about “him,” his words, his source of life, how it came about, and importantly, his invitation to partake of the new creation in him.

With the New Covenant, just like with the Old, a new language came, expanding thoughts, words, and expressions into the Spirit (1 Cor. 2:13), requiring the new birth and journey into intimacy to receive Heaven’s perspective, understanding, and revelation.

Jesus (and the authors of the New Testament) spoke from the realm he lived in, just like fallen men and women speak from the realm they live in.

Jesus spoke from the balcony of Heaven, from Heaven’s perspective, saying and using words from Heaven’s perspective married to the experience of his journey, (made complete, fathered by God, becoming our Savior (Hebrews 5:7-10), the firstborn, first fruit, pioneer, forerunner, perfecter of the New Covenant in him).

He took words like death, life, blood, suffering, cross, etc., using them to open a new spiritual dimension commensurate with his experience, New Covenant, and labor of God among men and women to cleanse and heal them from their wounds and sins.

We should not be surprised, even in the natural world, when something new comes along it comes with a new language, so to the New Covenant.

For example, Paul goes into depth in the beginning of Romans describing how men and women were living in sin, what men and women had become under the curse of sin because of rebellion from God.

After Adam and Eve lost “immortality” in the Garden, the fate of their seed was “mortality,” (Paul refers to it as “fallen asleep” NIV, 1 Cor. 15:20, italicized mine) future generations predisposed to sin at birth having limited life spans with the possibility of eternal separation.

Paul contrasts what men and women became after the fall to the journey of Christ in Romans Chapters 3 to 6, upending the curse, restoring wholeness and holiness.

Where Christ, born of the seed of men and women and the seed of God (Ro. 1:3-4; Galatians 4:4; Ro. 8:3; Eph. 2:14-15 see interlinear), put sin to death “while alive,” redeeming what was lost “while alive,” raised to resurrection life “while alive,” restoring what Adam and Eve were meant to apprehend completely but failed “while alive;” God presenting the living, breathing, NT in flesh and blood in the living Christ, “while alive.”

Christ’s pioneering journey to put generational sin passed to him to death before his ministry, raised to walk in resurrection life by his Father, ushered in the New Testament, having died to sin perfectly while alive.

With his death to sin he became the testator of the New Covenant, a living, breathing Covenant, offering Israel the blessed and wonderful opportunity to be the first people group grafted into the restored tree of life in Christ.

Paul contrasted what men and women had become after the fall into sin with what fathering by God produced in Christ in journeying with him “while alive” before ministry – death to sin by the cross of grace through faith perfectly and completely in repentance and forgiveness for his generations.

God “raised” Christ from mortality to immortality (eternal life in the flesh this side of Heaven) becoming humanity’s substitute before ministry. See the Note below.

Jesus was the perfect and complete Son of God – the resurrected one – in life, by destroying the enmity in his flesh, before his ministry.

Calvary did not birth the atonement, on the contrary, it was the rejection of the atonement in Christ, the perfect Son of God, sent to bring them into the promised land of healing and restoration, and an early Millennium.

Jesus was “appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead” ‘while physically alive,’ through the journey of putting sin to death, the pioneer of the new faith, the testator of the NT, the example we are to follow in him. (NIV, Romans 1:4, bold and italicized mine)

Christ is our atoning sacrifice – the “person” of the Lord Jesus – him and him alone in his journey to completion, fathered by God before his ministry (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 5:7-10; Galatians 3:13).

Highly Important

Before I explain a couple of verses in 1 Cor. 15, here are more comments on the impact of creeds and traditions, Christ’s journey to perfection, his humanity, and the use of the word “blood” in the NT outside the mention of his blood at Calvary.

Please remember it was not until centuries after Christ and the Apostles, church councils developed creeds and doctrines from what they could reach agreement on about Scripture (not by revelation), creating a second “super-authority” outside of Scripture.

 Tragically, what councils concluded were in instances in stark contrast to the Word of God.

Church councils developed creeds (and the traditions they produced) in an era of state directed councils to articulate one set of doctrines about Christianity, the beginning institutionalization of Christianity and beliefs.

They are not Holy Spirit inspired and anointed writings, on the contrary, they lack the revelation of Scripture by the Spirit (John 6:53-63; 1 Cor. 2:13; 1 John 5:7-8), “because they are not Scripture,” and in more than a few ways contradict Scripture (2 Timothy 2:15, 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12-13).

If you are a student of church history and church ages, you likely know beginning with the age of Ephesus through the age of Thyatira, the body of Christ fell deeper and deeper into teachings outside of Scripture, and began turning the corner back to Scripture with the Reformation, the age of Sardis.

The parables of Matthew 13 also depict the church ages, as well as other patterns in the NT too broad to discuss here.

God designed Scripture to lead men and women into a deeper relationship with Christ through the leading and guidance of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ by, for example, teaching, study, insight, discovery, and revelation.

Scripture, along with the moving of the Spirit, are designed to lead Christian men and women into cleansing, healing, and restoration (“transformation” Romans Chapter 6; 2 Cor. 3:18, 7:1; Phil. 3:20-21, 2 Timothy 2:20-21); unlike creeds which cater to the intellect and not the vision of Christ’s prayer (17:21), the journey to intimate union with him and the Father, the heart of his Isaiah 61 Commission.

It seems strange, but needful to mention, creeds, and the traditions they produced, are not part of Scripture; if God wanted Scripture summarized and condensed in creeds, he would have anointed someone to do it, and it would be in accord with the larger text of Scripture.

For example, as most everyone who has attended church knows, creeds and traditions have the atonement occurring at Calvary, Christ becoming our Savior at Calvary, which is in opposition to the Word of God.

Christ was Israel’s and humanities Savior at his completion before ministry. (Romans Chapters 3-6, 6:10; Hebrews Chapters 1-10 (his journey to completion) Hebrews 5:7-10, 7:16)

He was the “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” before he began his ministry – Calvary did not make Christ our Savior, Calvary was the rejection of Christ our Savior (Matthew 21:37). (NIV, Isaiah 9:6, bold and italicized mine)

Calvary did not add or take away anything to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, he was fully and totally Jesus when he entered ministry, having authority to save, not ninety percent, but one hundred percent (John 3:34; Colossians 1:19; 1 Timothy 2:5), cleansing, healing, and saving men and women in his ministry.

God did not conspire to kill his Son, which appears (directly or implied) throughout the writings of commentators and even in translations; the enemy did through fallen men and women. (Genesis 3:15; Matthew 21:37)

He entered ministry “fully” the Savior, not lacking anything or any authority to save.

He made that clear throughout his ministry; he did not die at Calvary to usher in forgiveness (God forgave sins in the OT); Christ forgave sins during his ministry.

But he did die at Calvary (the Father’s preference, not a command, versus taking up the sword) to extend forgiveness to the uttermost for the benefit of the people he had come to love. (Matthew 26:28)

Christ kept forgiveness “open,” giving men and women more time to come to grips with their unrepentant hearts before Jerusalem’s destruction, to come face to face with what they did and missed with their Messiah.

Because as he said, their sin now remained, there was “no excuse for their sin” (NIV, John 15:22, bold and italicized mine); the sword was coming, either by him, or by Rome.

Jesus, Prince of Peace to the uttermost, leaving vengeance for a later time, gave them more time to come to forgiveness (Matt. 26:28) deferring to the destruction to come after his departure; choosing not to kill those he had just spent three years trying to save, not only for their benefit, but for his, having loved many into the Kingdom.

(Jesus stopped short in his Isaiah 61 declaration in verse two, excluding vengeance – giving them more time before the ax fell on Jerusalem.)

(For questions about Scriptures like Matthew 26:54, Acts 2:23, see an interlinear and the writings I have about these and others in this series.

Briefly, suffice it to say, Christ came as the Prince of Peace and he would stay the Prince of Peace (re: Matt. 26:54), not taking vengeance for his rejection – fulfilling his own utterance as the Prince of Peace and not vengeance; and regarding Acts 2:23, he was foreordained by God to be made complete (Hebrews 5:7-10), not to be killed (Matthew 21:37).

Tragically, creeds and traditions teach, if not directly then by implication, Christ was perfect at birth, having no internal temptations: the curse of sin completely severed by the conception of the Holy Ghost from any generational sin in his human ancestry.

This is a nice thought, but it does not agree with Scripture.

If it were true, those grafted into him would be connected to one unfamiliar with their sufferings and fight with sin, because the path to righteousness (glorification) is not through Calvary, but through putting sin to death, raised to resurrection life (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 5:7-10, 7:16).

This is where the creeds go wrong in the deepest and clearest way, creating a Christ the Scripture does not create, the exact opposite of the Bible.

The Scripture clearly teaches Christ was “fully human” (NIV, Heb. 2:17 italicized mine) “tempted in every way” we are tempted (NIV, Heb. 4:15 italicized mine) made sin (born into sin just like everyone born of woman, NIV, 2 Cor. 5:21) born in the “likeness of sinful flesh” (NIV, Ro. 8:3 italicized mine) “born of a woman” (Gal. 4:4 italicized mine), tracing Christ’s ancestry all the way back to Eve, Genesis 3:15.

If that was not enough proof Christ had generational sins passed to him from his human ancestry, made complete by his Father, his first glorification, then Ephesians 2:14-15 should finally settle the conflict between church beliefs and Scripture.

The Greek speaks specifically about the enmity inside of Christ (which he destroyed, making his flesh one with the law (Matthew 5:17), i.e., put sin to death).

Jesus the first of the new creation, perfectly, raised to resurrection life, his first glorification, our atonement in flesh and blood – the only one to satisfy God’s wrath against sinful humanity by destroying the curse of sin in his generations, tempted just like you and me, but never sinning, always taking the way of escape by the cross of grace through faith by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Commentators, at least the commentaries I read, do not know what to do with this Scripture because it conflicts with creeds and traditions, viewed as more authoritative than Scripture.

The commentators I have read refer to the creeds (church councils) where manuscripts deviate from the traditions handed down.

Not only do creeds and traditions contradict Christ’s words and Scripture about his humanity, but they also severely cripple the plan of God, our connection to Christ, by not teaching Christ’s pioneering journey to completion, the pattern for our journey (John 14:18-23, 17:21; Ro. 6:5; Eph. 4:12-13; Phil. 3:20-21).

The greatest error of the creeds is pointing the great weight of the NT to Calvary when it should be pointed to Jesus, his journey to completion through intimate Fathering, suffering the wounding and piercing of putting sin to death (Isaiah 53:4-6; Hebrews 4:12-13) made complete, becoming our Savior before his ministry, Romans 6:10 and Hebrews 5:7-10.

The lack of this understanding, the two deaths and resurrections of Christ (John 12:28) results in Christians having little vision beyond the new birth other than ministry and the gifts, settling for the loaves and the fishes instead of pursing intimacy with the Lord, God’s labor today in Philadelphia (Tabernacles).

It also results in missing the OT types foretold in the Holy of Holies, the summer fruit harvest, David’s wilderness sojourn, Moses,’ and other types, even mismatching Calvary, which occurred at Passover, ignoring the truth the Atonement was part of Tabernacles (Trumpets, Atonement, Booths) and not Passover.

All it takes is one significant error for the enemy to multiply others, and we have an avalanche of errors coming down through the centuries, the most notable is misunderstanding the new language of the New Testament when it comes to suffering, cross, baptism, resurrection, death, etc., and “blood.”

If God had planned Christ’s death at Calvary as the atoning sacrifice, Scripture would clearly and plainly say that, but it does not.

The mystery of Christ is transforming fallen men and women into the likeness of Christ, not the atoning work of Christ which makes that possible. Christ’s journey to completion, fathered by God, is clearly described from every conceivable angle throughout the New Testament.

There’s no mystery in Calvary, it is clearly the rejection of the New Testament in the blood (life!) of Christ.

But there is a great mystery in Christ making you and me into his likeness in the sense the Scriptures can only describe so much, and point the way, because the journey is uniquely personal and intimate with the Lord.

Christ “dying to sin, raised to new life” on the cross of grace through faith is just as real and tangible (even more so!) than lawless men nailing him to the Roman cross.

The cross of grace through faith is God’s handiwork, fathering, making men and women (beginning with Christ first) into his image and likeness, destroying sins passed through the generations.

The cross of grace through faith brings men and women into resurrection life, while the cross of Calvary and subsequent resurrection only restored Christ to where he was before his physical death, having no effect on salvation, other than giving men and women of his day more time to come to forgiveness, sending a clear message to all future generations he finished the race to the uttermost as the Prince of Peace.

Highly Important

Briefly, one more small section on the word Blood.

Just as death in the NT may mean spiritually dead or asleep (Eph. 5:14), mortality (Ro. 8:10-11), physically dead, or having died to sin passed through the generations, having a regenerated nature (e.g., Ro. Chapters 3-6; Hebrews 1-10); resurrection may refer to life after physical death or new creation life after death to sin, so too Blood has multiple meanings.

Of course, blood in the Old Testament may refer to the sacrifice of an animal, and the sprinkling of the blood a necessary part of atonement under the law (Hebrews 9:22).

In the Old Testament it can also refer to the taking of life if a watchman is derelict.

It is not blood per se (the fluid) but the act of “sacrifice” whether leading to physical death (for an animal under the OT), or, under the NT, death to the fallen nature (the enmity in the fleshly nature passed through the generations) that gives “blood” the “symbol of transition” from mortality (Ro. 8:10-11) to resurrection life (immortality).

Jesus entered resurrection life completely, having put generational sin to death before his ministry perfectly, the only person to present a true, complete, and perfect life (blood) sacrifice to God, dying to sin, raised to new life (Ro. Chapters 3-6, 6:10; Hebrews 5:7-10).

The reason it takes so much writing to explain Christ’s blood sacrifice is because the creeds (and traditions) have so corrupted the NT meaning of the word blood used by Jesus and others, interpreting the NT with the OT and not the New (John 6:53-63; 1 Cor. 2:13; 1 John 5:7-8 where blood speaks of the sacrifice in life, from mortality to immortality, Ps. 16, 1 Cor. 15:45-49, Heb. 7:16, of Christ).

In the NT blood generally refers to the complete and total sacrifice of one’s “life,” the only word to aptly describe the depth and extent of sacrifice, not for killing, but blessed and enriched in new creation life, Christ the perfect sacrifice, we in part.

The author of Hebrews (12:4) refers to Christ’s blood sacrifice in putting sin to death, raised to new life, in relationship to our journey, saying our sacrifice falls far short of his!

Important: Hebrews 12:4, spilled, shed, or shedding is not in the Greek because it is not meant to be there, this is not about Calvary but the subject of the Book of Hebrews – Christ’s journey to perfection, Hebrews 5:7-10, 7:16.

In reference to the NT and Christ, except in the few places where the context is about his literal blood at Calvary, “blood,” describes his wholeheartedness – the totality and entirety of his life in submission to his Father for the purposes of God’s plan for redeeming men and women.

The sacrifice of our lives in the NT (Christ the pioneer), is the fulfillment of what the sacrificial system of the OT foretold: instead of giving the choices of your livestock, you give the choicest of you – your life, of which Christ gave everything, even rights and privileges.

His sacrifice to the Father was so complete, perfect, destroying the enmity in his flesh (passed to him from his generations) perfectly fulfilling the law in his flesh (Isaiah 53:4-6; Ro. 6:10; Eph. 2:14-16 see an interlinear; Hebrews 5:7-10), made complete, one with his Father, he became the substitute for our sins.

Christ fulfilled everything God needed through his pioneering journey, destroying the enmity in his flesh perfectly and completely, atoning for our sins – his blood sacrifice alive – the greatest “blood sacrifice” a person can make, doing something we could never do, we having both parents born into sin.

He is the first and only to perfectly put sin to death passed through the generations, birthing a spiritual “bloodline” for the grafting in of all peoples, the promised coming of the new grace through him to us. (1 Peter 1:10-12)

Blood is the only word remotely close to describing Christ’s sacrifice on his journey to perfection before ministry – the mixing of grace, intimate fathering, and faith, by the Spirit to destroy sin passed through his generations.

Jesus is more than his literal blood, he tried to communicate that (John 6:53-63) to people obsessed with blood lines, trying to get them to understand the bigger picture, it is not bloodlines but wholeheartedness toward God which saves us.

Even today we use the word blood to describe someone or something requiring all of us without any connotation of actual death.

The creeds mix his sacrifice to perfection with Isarel’s rejection and Calvary, rolling it all up into a nice package, an interpretation catering to the mind, but it is in great error, not only for understanding the story of Jesus, but the vision of God for our journey on whom the end times approach.

Jesus was the pioneer of the cross of grace through faith through repentance and forgiveness for his generations, destroying the fallen nature passed to him before it snared him into sinning, which was his greatest fear (Hebrews 5:7-10), destroying the enmity in his flesh before it got a hook in him (Ephesians 2:14-16 see an interlinear).

I have discussed blood throughout this series if you want more on the subject.

I will also, Lord willing, have more in future posts.

Jesus used “blood” in John Chapter 6 to stretch hearts to the greater message behind blood, sacrifice, wholeheartedness, the giving of oneself to God, how Heaven interprets a blood sacrifice as total and complete giving leading to resurrection life and not death!

A blood sacrifice means you left nothing on the table (Hebrews 4:1 for us), of which Christ is the only one to put sin to death perfectly without sinning – the only true NT atoning blood sacrifice.

That is why we can say things like “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (NIV, Galatians 2:20, italicized mine)

Or, I die daily, and all the other expressions on spiritual warfare used to describe putting sin to death Christ pioneered for him and us.

Because they have nothing to do with physical death, which lead to Christ’s second glorification, but to his death to generational sin passed to him through his human ancestry, God raising him from mortality to immortality in the flesh, his first glorification.

Because it is not about Calvary, but the journey Christ pioneered, his journey fathered by God to completion before ministry, where “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood.”

(NIV, Romans 3:25, italicized is mine: see an interlinear because “shedding” is not in Greek, not by accident, but because this is not talking about Calvary, but his death to sin, Romans 6:10; Hebrews 5:7-10) 

Couple more last thoughts in this section.

In Matthew 26:28 Jesus is saying in effect, “The New Covenant is in my blood,” meaning his life – not the fluid flowing through his veins and arteries – but “in him,” Christ, Messiah, Son of God, Prince of Peace, etc., my eternal resurrected life.

I am freely allowing them to take my life, my eternal life in the flesh, to give men and women more time to choose the Gospel, once they realize who they killed and what they lost.

Please remember as you read the Scriptures, a new language came with the New Covenant, a language reaching down to the heart and soul and spiritual meaning of words like death, life, resurrection, raised, cross, suffering, blood, crucify, from the perspective of Heaven and not earth.

Jesus spoke in parables and “sayings” not to confuse or hurtfully hide truths people desperately needed, but to stretch hearts to see and hear with the eyes and ears of their hearts, and not their head.

Couple final examples.

In the eyes of Heaven, what humanity calls “life” before the new birth (born again), the Kingdom of God sees men and women walking in death, mortality, destined to die, having lost eternal life in the Garden.

Jesus said “‘Let the dead bury their own dead,’” (NIV, Luke 9:60 italicized mine), meaning let those outside the Kingdom of God, or at least outside the new birth (if they are in the Old Covenant), having a fallen nature, destined to die, bury those who have physically died.

The word death has multiple meanings in the New Testament showing any number of separate places in God.

That is how God designed the Bible, not as a textbook, but one requiring his anointing to understand through intimacy and relationship with him, which requires a journey beyond the new birth.

Even after the new birth, we are still mortal destined to physically die (Romans 8:10-11) unless and until those who pursue intimacy with Christ enter resurrection life this side of Heaven, having been fathered into intimate union with Christ, like Enoch, Moses, Elijah, Paul, and Peter by their testimonies, knowing the time of their departure. (Phil. 3:10-21)

Entering resurrection life this side of Heaven, a possibility for those who pursue Christ and fathered by him, is available in the New Testament, the promise of his Isaiah 61 Commission, the deep labor of the Spirit in Tabernacles, especially in the age of Philadelphia.

If God can rapture those who have not pursued intimacy with Christ – as prominent ministers teach (which is not taught in Scripture), what about rapturing those who apprehend what Jesus apprehended them for, like Peter and Paul who by the cross of grace through faith Jesus completed his work in them?

They knew the time of their departure, not their physical death as traditions erroneously teach, but when the Spirit would take them away like those in the past.

The teaching of resurrection life in the New Testament is real, tangible, more than the new birth, it is coming to a place where Christ has completed his work in us, partaking of resurrection life this side of the great divide, serving the Lord until he brings us home like Enoch, etc.

If their were men translated directly to Heaven in the Old Testament, how much more is that possible for men and women in the New!!

Now, to 1 Corinthians Chapter 15.

Paul begins Chapter 15 (verse 3) by summarizing the two deaths of Christ which I have covered in this series.

First, as he had previously preached to them, Christ’s death to sin to walk in new life – it would be the same as his letter to the Romans (Chapters 3 to 6, where Christ died to generational sins (Ephesians 2:14-15 & 1 Peter 2:24 (last half of vs. 24) in an interlinear) passed to him from his human ancestry, raised from mortality to immortality, resurrection life, Ro. 6:10, before his ministry, Hebrews 5:7-10, 7:16).

Isaiah 53:4-6 is the OT equivalent of Hebrews 4:12-13 in relation to putting sin to death, Christ the first to suffer through the wounding and piercing of putting sin to death, entering eternal life in the flesh before ministry, the firstborn, etc.

Next Paul fast forwards to Christ’s burial, avoiding all the events of Christ’s ministry and Calvary, straight to the burial of the Messiah for the purpose of saying Christ rose in accordance with the Scriptures.

Paul does not go through all the detail of Christ’s journey to perfection, having already preached it to them, jumping to the “physically dead” Christ, like Peter on the day of Pentecost, who preached God “raised” the “resurrected” Christ. (Acts 2:31-32)

The early Christians knew Jesus was the Messiah, Savior, Lord of Lords when he entered ministry, he was rejected and killed contrary to the plan of God (Matt. 21:37); they did not associate Calvary with the Old Testament practice of killing an animal, they knew God was not in the business of killing people on the cross!

This concept does not come in until the creed’s centuries later through the wisdom of men and not God, where “yeast began to be kneaded deeply into the dough of the Word” in the beginning of the fourth church age, Thyatira.

They understood the references to blood in Scripture meant the totality of Christ’s life given over to do the Father’s will, it did not refer to the liquid flowing through his body as if he was an OT animal.

They understood what Jesus was trying to communicate in John 6:53-63 and all the imagery “blood” stood for in the New Testament letters, “LIFE,” which Jesus gave without restraint to the Father in his long journey before ministry to perfection, giving his “own” blood (life), made perfect, becoming the Savior (Ro. 6:10; Heb. 5:7-10).

Even in the Old Testament blood is an imagery for human life, not the literal liquid flowing in one’s body.

Simply, on the day of Pentecost Peter explained how the “resurrected” Jesus – the one foretold by Psalm 16, who would gain eternal life in the flesh while alive, God raised “again” after his physical death. (John 12:28)

(Christ having fulfilled Psalm 16 in the flesh before his ministry, John 12:28, Acts 2:31-32 specifically, and Acts 2:22-32 in general.)

Note: Notice the rephrasing of Acts 2:23 from the Greek in an interlinear. God foreknew, foreordained, predestined, Christ for “completion;” to destroy sin finally by putting it to death, made one with the Father.

God did not foreordain the promised one for killing, but to kill sin. (1 Peter 1:10-12)

Paul is saying in 1 Cor. 15:3-4:

Jesus put sin to death perfectly (Ro. 6:10, Hebrews 5:7-10), triumphant over the power of sin passed through the generations, defeating it on its own turf, where it is harbored in wounds and agreements (the enmity in his flesh), suffering the wounding and cleansing of sin and its effects (Isaiah 53:4-6, Ephesians 2:14-16 see an interlinear; Matthew 5:17),

completing the race for humanity, fulfilling the law in his flesh perfectly, raised by his Father to eternal life in the flesh (Ro. Chapters 3-6, Hebrews 5:7-10, 7:16), walking in eternal life just like the angels (Luke 20:35-36).

Proving he “was” the perfect lamb of God (having atoned for our sins in his perfection, see 1 Peter 2:24, second half in an interlinear) God raising him a second time just like the Scriptures foretold about his rejection and killing, two deaths, two resurrections.

Psalm 16 is not about raising a physically dead Jesus, but raising the Messiah from mortality to immortality, restoring eternal life in the flesh lost at the Fall, which Jesus apprehended before his ministry.

Please remember dying, dead, death, in Scripture is determined by the context, how the Spirit of God meant it (John 6:53-63, Romans 8:10-11; 1 Cor. 2:13), like “mortality,” “physically dead,” “physically alive but spiritually dead or asleep,” or even a “body destined to die” even though the person is a Christian.

Christ’s death to sin before ministry, fathered by God the Father, made him the perfect lamb of God, not his conception, but his journey to perfection.

Jesus had generational sin passed to him just like every other human after Adam and Eve (see Ephesians 2:14-16 in an interlinear, Ro. 8:3, 2 Cor. 5:21, Hebrews 2:17, 4:15).

There is a difference between dying “to” sin alive, wholeheartedly submitted to God’s plan to destroy the fallen nature passed through the generations, a living breathing sacrifice – the greatest sacrifice one can make, versus rejected, tortured, and killed, dying to extend grace for another season.

Dying for sin is something Christ’s Father initiated with Christ for perfecting his Son from generational sins passed to him from his human ancestry, the substitute – lamb sacrifice – men and women could never do having both parents born into sin.

Lawless men-initiated Calvary, not God, not Scripture (which was a warning, like the Great Falling Away is a warning), finding no resistance in Christ, having already died to sins willing to extend grace to the uttermost.

When Paul mentions Christ’s burial, he is signifying the loss of resurrection life Christ apprehended in previously dying to sins – again, he does not get into the details of Christ’s journey to completion and Calvary in his broad brush of Christ’s life in the first part of the Chapter.

Christ’s second glorification, rising on the third after his physical death, was proof positive Jesus was who he said he was, the Messiah in flesh and blood!

Scripture notes and separates the two deaths of Christ in Isaiah 53:4-6 and 53:7-9; Acts 2:31-32; John 12:28, 1 Peter 2:24, and Matthew 26:28 and others.

Just because the OT prophesied the death of Christ, and Jesus spoke of his upcoming death, does not mean God ordained it as his sacrifice – everything about Christ’s death speaks opposite of what the creeds teach.

I have written extensively in earlier posts of the many reasons showing there was no intent by God for his Son to be killed, e.g., you do not say what Jesus spoke about those planning his death in the “woes” and then say by the way, God planned all this – there are many other clear contradictions in Scripture opposing Christendom’s indictment of God for the physical torture and death of his beloved Son.

No wonder Christians do not flock to deep fathering, afraid of what God might do to them – what a tragedy the creeds have inflicted on Christendom.

Whenever Paul or others describe or speak about Calvary it is about killing, not once is Calvary mentioned as the place of salvation, implied or otherwise.

Whenever they describe Christ’s journey to completion it is about Christ dying to sins, the purpose, and actions of Christ to put sin to death.

For example, when Paul speaks about baptism for the dead in Chapter 15, he is not talking about the physically departed, but the “living dead,” those outside of Christ and even those in Christ who have not entered resurrection life (Romans 8: 10-11).

He is saying look,

“I am going through the suffering of putting sin to death to apprehend resurrection life in the flesh, what Jesus pioneered for Christian men and women to pursue in him (Romans Chapter 6; 2 Cor. 4:10-12; 7:1; 1 Thess. 5:23; 2 Timothy 2:20-21) for cleansing and healing.

Why would I do this, go through this suffering, if there was not a resurrection to intimacy and union with Christ and the Father as Jesus promised this side of Heaven?”

Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission is for here, not Heaven, that’s why Jesus died to sin, the first fruit of the new creation (1 Cor. 15:20-23), redeeming, restoring, and displaying the new creation in fullness during his ministry as an offer to life for Israel.

Christ is not the firstborn, first fruit, pioneer, forerunner, and finisher of Calvary, Calvary produced death, not life – it is not the pattern for our lives.

But he is the firstborn, first fruit, pioneer, forerunner, and finisher of dying to sin, raised to new life, of those who have fallen asleep (i.e., those living in “mortality”) entering “immortality” at his perfection (Psalm 16, Romans 6: 10, 1 Corinthians 15:20-23, 15:45-49, Hebrews 5:7-10, 7: 16).

God translated Enoch, Moses, and Elijah, types of the new life resurrection to come in the New Testament through Christ, foretelling the fruit of Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission and fathering.

Paul and Peter through their own testimony spoke of their coming translation, knowing the time of their departure – because they finished the race.

We do not know if the Lord has translated others over the centuries.

The rapture in the last of the last days is for those who finish the race, it is something to seriously consider and think about.

Important

Galatians 3:13 is not speaking about Calvary, but the cross of grace through faith, the restraining power of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:17).

Paul is “not” likening Christ to animal to be “hung on a pole” (NIV, Gal. 3:13 italicized mine); he is not describing Calvary, but Christ’s journey to perfection, what they were trying to apprehend, Gal. 3:13, saying in effect Christ died to sin, that is what brought him to completion, not the works of the flesh, but death to sin so he could be raised by his Father to walk in new life, the pattern for the new creation, his Isaiah 61 Commission.

Paul goes into much detail here, in Corinthians (2 Cor. 4:10-12), Philippians (Phil. 2:10-11), and other places about the crucified life, dying to sin to walk in new life; these verses are not about Calvary, but about new life in the Spirit free of sin, resurrection life this side of Heaven, Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission in fullness!

Metaphorically, from the balcony of Heaven, Christ was (hung) on the cross of grace through faith, restrained from doing what he wanted (Galatians 5:17, our pioneer) in his long journey putting to death generational sins passed to him from his human ancestry (Romans Chapters 3 to 6, verse 6:10; Hebrews 5:7-10).

From Heaven’s viewpoint, Christ paid the price for sin by putting it to death once and for all by his own blood, not the literal liquid in his body, but by the total and complete sacrifice of his life to the Father in destroying the enmity in his flesh, perfectly, completely, and entirely, becoming our Savior, our atoning sacrifice while alive – the NT in flesh and blood who was tested by Satan and found flawless.

Someone had to “experientially” destroy the power of the curse of the law of sin through the generations, showing grace through faith is stronger than the strongest death, that the Messiah is our sufficiency.

And it was the Christ, God’s only begotten Son, born of the seed of humanity and the Spirit of God, putting the man Christ Jesus in the place of Adam before the fall, except having to destroy the enmity in his flesh passed to him to finish the race Adam and Eve failed to finish, let alone much start.

When the Lord begins the deep work of the Spirit (1 Peter 1:13; Rev. 3:7-13; John 21:18-19; 2 Cor. 4:10-12, i.e., Philadelphia/Tabernacles), we can no longer live our life the way we use to in agreements, lies, vows, etc., as the Lord puts those to death and we begin to walk in new life by the Spirit, Galatians 5:17.

Jesus came to Israel to offer resurrection life in flesh and blood – not as a human sacrifice – like an animal as Christians are taught to believe from creeds and traditions (established by council centuries after Christ).

Note: Not once does the Scripture intimate Christ’s atoning sacrifice was at Calvary (it is a place of “killing” the Messiah in Scripture, e.g., Acts 7:52, not a place of him dying to sin to walk in new life, e.g., Romans 6:10; Hebrews 5:7-10).

Nor does it teach the New Testament and salvation started there; nor we should be thankful for the events of Calvary as the birthplace of salvation as it is taught today; Scripture does not speak fondly of Calvary, yet Christendom worships Calvary.

Scholars assume certain words connect to Calvary not out of revelation, but out of the lack of revelation.

Words like cross, crucify, death, resurrection, suffering, wounding, that refer to Christ’s pre-ministry journey to perfection scholars have pointed to Calvary, ignoring the new language of the New Testament Jesus clearly laid out in the Scriptures, having spiritual meanings just as real and meaningful as the meanings used literally and metaphorically in everyday life (John 6:53-63; 1 Cor. 2:13; 1 John 5:7-8).

 ***

Jesus did everything possible short of taking up the sword to avoid physical death, because he was walking in eternal resurrection life, having already put sin (from his human generations) to death without sinning, perfectly.

Christ chose to die extending grace to the uttermost knowing there would be those who would “come” to him after his execution.

God did not command Christ to die but gave him his preference “primarily” for the benefit of Jesus.

Important

Imagine how Jesus would have felt after taking up the sword having spent over three years trying to win hearts, connecting in love with hundreds, seeing certain ones who he had come to know and love hurt, injured, or possibly killed.

God’s preference for Jesus “not” to fight was not just about the loss of life, and the tarnish of the newly established covenant starting in blood (Christ’s life, spiritual bloodline), but as much or more about the heart of his beloved Son – the short and long-term effect of killing those he just tried to save.

Taking up the sword would, like creeds and traditions, veil the beauty of the New Covenant, his pioneering journey, and the journey of making men and women into his likeness (his Isaiah 61 Commission, cleansing, healing, and restoration through deep fathering; the journey of putting sin to death, raised to walk in new life pioneered for his generations and ours).

Would people draw close to Christ, trusting him with the entirety of their lives, deep vulnerability for cleansing and healing knowing he took-up the sword to kill those he tried to save?

How would that look on the Gospel’s evangelistic resume and what we know about mercy, grace, and the longsuffering patience of God for men and women to come to forgiveness?

Under the Old Covenant God labored with disobedient Israel for generations and the Hebrews in the wilderness for forty years.

The heart wrenching mental, emotional, and spiritual battle in Gethsemane was never about whether Jesus would die for the sins of the people, as creeds and traditions espouse, his painful suffering in the Garden was not about that.

He had already died for the sins of the people in his journey to completion before ministry, his first glorification, having put inherited generational transgressions and iniquities from his human ancestry to death perfectly, raised to walk in new life, the first born, first fruit, pioneer, forerunner, of the new covenant creation.

(Fulfilling Psalm 16 and 23 perfectly in the flesh before his ministry; Isaiah 53:4-6 (53:7-9 is Calvary); John 12:28 his completion/perfection was his first glorification before ministry; Romans Chapters 3 to 6; Ephesians 2:14-16 see interlinear; Hebrews 5:7-10, 7:16; 1 Peter 2:24 see second part of passage in interlinear showing before Calvary Christ had already atoned for sin.)

Gethsemane was about suffering the knowledge he was the Savior, Messiah, Isaiah 9:6 in flesh and blood, having done everything the Father had asked him to do, having all authority and power, the name above names, seated with his Father in union (seated with his Father refers to positional intimacy, not geography!), having to choose between killing or being killed – that was the battle.

God wanted Israel to accept their Messiah, Christ having atoned for their sins in his first glorification before ministry. (Matthew 21:37)

If his Father had commanded him to submit and not fight Christ would not have suffered like he did in Gethsemane because he did the will of his father exactly.

He wrestled in Gethsemane because it was not his Father’s command to submit to the plans against him, but a righteous God honoring his beloved Son with the choice to choose, either one would result in his Father’s blessing – either sending angels to fight with him or resurrection if he chose to submit.

There is a great more of the story of salvation than the simplicity and errors promulgated by Christendom’s creeds and traditions.

Creeds and Traditions

Throughout this series I shared views on the “more harm than good” creeds and traditions have done, passed down through the generations, becoming synonymous with Christianity, superior to Scripture, affecting the translation of certain key critical passages.

(Though Peter speaks to the generations of his day, 1 Peter 1:18, this passage applies to all church ages, especially to 21^st century Christians on the cusp of the end-times having centuries of creeds and traditions passed down from church councils.)

Well over a millennium ago, and over centuries, certain leaders concluded Christianity needed a “consensus” of central beliefs for teaching and evangelism.

Out of the desire for a uniform set of beliefs church councils by compromise codified key doctrines of the Church – institutionalizing Christianity Jesus prophesied would happen through the parables of the mustard seed and yeast.

Of course, formally articulating “what we believe” through man-made documents led to determining who “is” and who “is not” “of faith” by what they confess orally or in writing, which may differ from what they genuinely believe.

Hopefully, most understand you cannot measure a person’s Christianity by creeds and traditions, Statements of Faith, church doctrines, etc., through confession of beliefs, or by signing documents of “Christian profession,” etc.

Only Christ truly knows those who belong to him, are pursuing him, and can receive revelation from him.

As I mention below, if the Bible is inspired by God (which it is) then it takes Holy Spirit anointed revelation to receive what God inspired – for the finger of God to write “the nature of his Word” on our heart and mind (Hebrews 8 and 10).

In the New Covenant, the Lord writes the “nature” of his Word on the hearts and minds of those who “journey” with him.

The writings of men cannot “measure” or discern the new birth in someone.

The “new birth in Christ” is the entrance into the Kingdom of God, not theology, nor the reading or confession of codified beliefs – it is Jesus who saves and knows who belongs to him and who does not.

However, there are ways we can be witnesses of one another’s connection with Christ and the body of Christ.

One way is by discerning the Spirit of Christ in one another, Peter did of Jesus by revelation from the Father.

Another way is by tasting the fruit of the Spirit from one another as Paul describes in Galatians.

Bottomline, creeds and traditions do not offer “spirituals” (intimate connection with Christ, the path to intimacy) or means of measuring who is of faith.

Tragically, they do offer barriers to a deeper and more intimate relationship with Christ, which for us living in the last of the last days can lead to catastrophe (Great Falling Away).

Why, because creeds and traditions hinder God’s children from knowing they are in a season of time where Jesus has made it possible to pursue intimate union with him like never before.

There is more to the Lord than the new birth – much more; the new birth is the beginning of the journey, not the end.

We do not want to leave the Lord’s offerings and promises on the table (Hebrews 4:1) when it is there for the asking, seeking, and knocking.

Jesus is offering the fullness of his Isaiah 61 Commission, the deep work of the Spirit of grace in Philadelphia (Rev. 3:7-13; 1 Peter 1:13, Phil. 3:20-21), today like never before.

Now, more than ever, is the time to eat and drink at the Lord’s banquet while the door and resources of his banqueting table are still available.

***

Here are hurdles and challenges institutionalized church teachings in creeds and traditions present to the body of Christ:

• Their presence promotes intellectual knowledge at the expense of seeking revelation, encounter, and transformation in intimate journey with Christ.
• They lead to a false sense of security by promoting “works,” elevating what we “say, do, and decide,” above “who we are becoming in journey with Christ.” Scripture promotes who we are “becoming” above knowledge, the opposite of the creeds. Christianity is about “becoming” first, the pattern the Father established for Jesus, followed by doing (ministry), not vice versa.
• They strengthen the fallen nature’s “masking” of wounds and brokenness – the hidden and secreted areas of the “heart” we do not want others to know out of fear; all the while Jesus silently labors to gain access to cleanse and heal our wounds and brokenness.
• Creeds and traditions promote shortcuts to God he did not design or want; designing increasing relationship with him through journey: the journey of “knowing and being known,” the birthplace of intimacy and union.
• Creeds and traditions create a “middleman” or maybe I should say a “middle council” between Holy Spirit inspired writings (Bible) and uninspired and unauthoritative writings of men. Writings outside of Scripture are not authoritative in the courts of Heaven.
• From a different angle, they circumvent God’s design for creating relationship with him by seeking, asking, and knocking, thus a barrier to the “making” process of Scripture – the salvation journey.
• If God wanted his Word codified into short writings instead of seeking him for inspiration, discovery, and revelation in the mystery of Christ, he would have provided them.
• They create a layer of “learned and initiated” hierarchy of men and women between God and lay men and women.
• They weaken the body of Christ by discouraging the Lord’s children from seeking personal revelation, i.e., the training and exercise of God given spiritual muscles specifically for the pursuit of Christ.
• Tragically, creeds and traditions in error with Scripture are food and drink for “agreements” etc., becoming a power in themselves, imprisoning hearts and minds in extra-biblical beliefs and practices, robbing the revelation of Christ by grace (1 Peter 1:13).
• They make Christianity “knowledge, and, an event (Calvary) instead of a journey toward intimate union with Christ,” “a decision instead of transformation,” “a Chamberlain peace agreement with the enemy instead of a battle for life,” and “a wide road instead of a narrow road,” etc. Stripping the Gospel of intimate relationship with Jesus for intellectual ascent instead of transformation and union.
• Tragically, they emasculate the person of the Lord Jesus, making him something he is not, stripping him of “becoming (Hebrews 5:7-10),” hiding the heart of the Gospel, the mystery of Christ.
• They hinder deeper moves of God’s Spirit and unveiling of his word; promoting further divisions in the body of Christ every time God births a new move of his Spirit.
• Importantly, they do not promote the fullness of Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission – the fullness of salvation in cleansing, healing, and restoration – the purpose for which Christ came, the heartbeat of the Scripture.

 

Here are more thoughts on how creeds and traditions have impacted the body of Christ:

When you hear something new, is your first response to filter it through layers of creeds and traditions, check commentaries, what scholars have written, or seek the Scriptures asking the Lord for insight, understanding, and revelation?

There is a difference between knowing different layers of “teaching” versus having “truths” of Scripture imprinted on your heart by the finger of God through revelation, where it becomes part of you, especially during the final pilgrimage, Tabernacles, made intimate and one with Christ.

Is your understanding of Scripture what Christendom gives as the standard precepts of Christianity from “creeds and traditions”?

Or have you received the blessing of tutoring in the Word and Spirit toward intimacy by men and women who have a deep relationship with the Lord?

Have you encountered Christ (or seeking to encounter him, experiencing the “coming of the Lord”) beyond the new birth and Pentecost in the deep labor of the Spirit today?

The presence of the “power” of creeds and traditions through agreements can cause fear of new insight and revelation, defensiveness, fear of hearing anything other than through institutional authority.

As we seek intimacy and encounter with Christ, the reigns over the control of our life transfer to him, and he, our great Lord and Savior, will direct us on the straight and narrow as we travel the path he pioneered for union with him!

Just as certain a momma Grizzly and Lioness will protect and fight for their cubs, so to Christ the lion of the tribe of Judah will protect and keep you safe in his love and care as we journey toward intimate union with him. (Exodus 15:3; Psalm 18, 91; Isaiah 49:25-26; Zephaniah 3:17)

** A Deeper Look at Philadelphia and Laodicea **

The Lord has deeply blessed me with new discoveries and insights about the days of Noah and the last seasons of the Church in Philadelphia and Laodicea.

I hope the comparisons between the days of Noah and Philadelphia and Laodicea in this (and hopefully in the posts to come) will bless you too.

There are striking similarities between the days of Noah, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, e.g., “coming of the Lord” “preparing a dwelling” “intimacy with God” “door” “fullness of time” “divine transition of humanity to a new era” etc.

After I started this post, I understood better the reasons Jesus compared the days of Noah to the last days, and it was not just because an era ends due to the sinfulness of men and women.

But because they are special seasons of time in the calendar and plan of God where the Lord labors intensively and intimately with men and women to bring them into greater intimacy with him.

It is also a time where the sinfulness of men and women becomes so great he must put an end to generations, else generations to come under the law of sin will become worse than their ancestors and permanently lost.

At first glance, it may appear Christ’s pioneering journey has little connection with the days of Noah and even less with Laodicea (those who do not seek Christ for healing, the fullness of his Isaiah 61 Commission), but that is not the case.

Note:

To give context to the striking contrasts between Philadelphia and Laodicea, examples would be Christ “fathering” Christians who seek intimacy and union with him from “orphans” into “Sonship,” or from another perspective, from legal “justification” to experiential “glorification,” for the former. (Romans 8)

For the latter, Laodicea, it would be Christians in the same season of time who do not seek intimate union with Christ, though saved (justified), they have not sought “fathering” into intimacy.

Christians who find themselves outside Philadelphia and hold on to Christ through the Great Falling Away (2 Thess. 2:3; Revelation 12:4), will have Christ walking with them as they face the severe hardships of persecution and martyrdom in the time of the Seals.

Christ (and the Father) “fathers” those ushered into Philadelphia (like God the Father “fathered” him);  foretold in David’s wilderness journey and the journeys of others; perfecting Christ, the pioneer, forerunner, firstborn and first fruit of transformation by grace through faith.

God has the same plan for you and me leading us by the power of the Spirit to the cross of grace through faith for cleansing and healing of body, soul, and spirit.

It is the “mystery” of the good news of Christ, made (transformed) into his likeness in journey him, changed from glory to glory (NIV, 2 Cor. 3:18; Philippians 3:20-21).

The Spirit leads men and women on the cross of grace through faith to put sin to death, raised to walk in resurrection life (Romans 6) – the fullness of Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission like never before to Christians in the last of the last days.

This is the journey of “wounding and piercing” the structures of sin keeping men and women imprisoned and captive.

In contrast, those of Laodicea may also experience conviction of the Holy Spirit leading to repentance and forgiveness, but, unless they are brought into the deep work of the Spirit of grace in Philadelphia, they will not receive the fullness of the “cross of Christ leading to transformation.”

This is because there will not be the resources nor the time for “fathering unto Sonship” after the door to Philadelphia closes , the last great end-time revival is over, with the Tribulation rising above the horizon.

Philadelphia leads to transformation into the likeness of Christ, the receiving of new names, ruling and reigning with Christ as his bride.

Those of Laodicea who refuse the mark of the beast also receive a special place of ruling and reigning with Christ in the Millennium, but not in intimate union with him, like the bride of Philadelphia.

Just as Christian men and women are not the same here, they may not be the same in Heaven (notice in Revelation the elders, living creatures (the brides from all ages), those martyred in the Tribulation, the Kings, nations, etc.).

This is not about pitting or comparing Christians to one another to see who is better, or stacking Christians, respecting some more than others, but about those who seek Christ for deep intimacy in the time of intimacy (Philadelphia).

Philadelphia and Laodicea are not talent contests or competitions, but Scripture and Spirit distinctions between those who want more of Jesus, pursue intimacy, having permitted Christ to cultivate an “agape love” for him and the Father.

The differences between those who pursue more of Christ versus those who do not through the centuries come to a head, a time of fullness in the last of the last days in Philadelphia and Laodicea – the fullness of those who seek Christ, and the fullness of those who do not.

***

The completion of Christ’s journey, his perfection before ministry, is the foundation for salvation, the plan of God to bring men and women back into the journey of “being made” into his likeness through Christ, the firstborn.

For example, Noah is one who foretold Christ’s pioneering journey through his intimate and growing relationship with God.

Noah’s relationship with the Lord, however intimate it was, led him to execute the Lord’s plan to bring an end to the unrestrained growth of sin in his generations.

(2 Timothy 3:1-9 speaks of the era of the Gospel, and more so in the last of the last days when the Spirit of Antichrist comes to another time of fullness.)

God’s instructions to Noah opened decades of conversational intimacy with the Lord over more than just the vessel as he journeyed with the Lord while building the Ark, an intimacy few have apprehended.

** The Prize – Intimate Union with Christ **

The prize for Noah was not the escape from coming destruction, just like the prize for Moses was not the plagues and the exodus, or for Samuel, the honor of being Israel’s judge, or for David, Kingship, or for Jesus, the signs, and wonders of his ministry.

And just like the prize of Christianity in the last of the last days is not the rapture.

The prize for Noah, Moses, Samuel, David, Christ, and all the men and women God has used to advance the Kingdom of God in their life and in the lives of others, is intimacy, the most cherished part of any journey with the Lord.

It is apprehending being “known” and “knowing” the creator of Heaven and Earth.

To “know” Jesus, made one with him, the offering and promise to those who seek intimacy, is the crown jewel of Christianity, and pictured as thus in the Book of Revelation through words and phrases, declarations (Revelation 3:12), and pictures.

It is not what we do, but who we become.

The great exploits of men and women of God in the past came out of who they were laboring to become, because resources were not in place for the Lord to do the “deep work of the Spirit of grace” before sending people out in ministry.

God, nurtured, developed, and trained (fathered) Christ, Paul, and others deeply and intimately over years in journey with him, before release into the larger purposes of God.

Likewise, the promise of intimate union with Christ in Philadelphia, knowing and being known, transformation, “so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” is occurring before the Spirit is releasing men and women into the larger purposes of God. (NIV, 2 Peter 1:4, italicized mine)

***

Surely, for Noah, with the monumental task of building a vessel of such size, there was much in the way of ongoing one-on-one direction and guidance from God, not only about the vessel, but other things as well.

Like the hundreds of thoughts and feelings Noah and his family must have had about what was coming, their present circumstances, and future.

And without a doubt, the Lord fathered Noah in how to best speak about what was happening, what was coming, and how to turn to God. (2 Peter 2:5)

Though, from everything we read, it was too late for others to repent and enter the vessel building business – Noah having an exclusive license from God – others still had a chance to escape the second death through repentance*.

* 1 Peter 3:19-20, Christ’s proclamation was to those spared from the second death, having found repentance like the thief on the cross.

Considering what the Lord is doing in this hour for those who seek intimate union with him, tragically, those who do not seek Jesus will find themselves like those who died in the flood.

But this will be a flood of persecution in the Tribulation, having missed the vessel “cleansing, healing, and restoration” business of their “body, soul, and spirit.” (Ro. Chapter 6, 8:10-11; 2 Cor. 7:1; 1 Thess. 5:23, see interlinear; Rev. 3:7-13)

A present growing tragedy will become a devastation in the body of Christ in the decades to come unlike any hurricane or other disaster we have become increasingly acquainted.

Because Christendom is awash with mainline teaching everybody goes in the rapture, you do not need to be concerned, * sit tight, the Lord will rapture you before things become horrible.

* For most people, when leadership tells them not to be concerned about something, they become inattentive, instead of searching the matter, taking their questions to God, diving into the Scriptures and seeking Christ.

This teaching, especially the teaching surrounding 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4 fueling the belief all Christians go in the rapture, is not in accord Scripture, nor with every revival since the beginning of time.

Though God hides his labor in Philadelphia (Tabernacles) from the larger body of Christ for good reasons, it is “revival” for those in it, until the Lord closes the opening, likely before the passing of two decades.

Again, unlike past revivals, presently, God’s labor in Tabernacles is not well known.

Every revival from the time, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, results in divisions, one moving forward with God, others down a different path.

The present Philadelphia revival, which will become larger in the next ten years, will eventual birth the last great revival.

In contrast, the lack of revival in those of Laodicea will result in them going down a different path, one filled with persecution and danger.

The teaching the Lord raptures all Christians is fodder for the Great Falling Away, and worse when the Tribulation begins.

Every move of God from the beginning of time results in splits and divisions, one segment going one way, while others go down a different path.

It is no different now, God drawing those who want him into deeper places while those content with what they have linger behind as God brings greater provisions and blessing to the Church.

Today the Lord is reaching out with everything at his disposal to draw those who will respond to the call to go deeper with him (Philadelphia), while others continue as they are, unaware of the great move of the Spirit happening quietly and seamlessly within the larger body of Christ.

Separation is building in the body of Christ, and tragically, because it could be avoided, the outcomes could not be more different (see Revelation 3:7-22, 7:9-17, and Chapters 12 and 13 for the different journey’s and outcomes of Christians who are alive in the end-times, witnessing the last great revival and the aftermath into the Tribulation).

Again, it would be great if the entire body of Christ responded to the overtures of the Lord, but we see clearly in the prophetic word of Scripture, along with the events of today, it is not happening.

God’s Word does not predetermine our choices – those who go deeper and those who do not – but foretells the future from an all-knowing God for the benefit of the body for a host reasons, like warning what lies on the horizon, just like guardrails on a highway.

From the beginning of time, the Bible is replete with those who were drawn by God into a deeper place by the Spirit, usually because of their wounds and brokenness and willingness to be shepherded, while others chose a different path – it is a continuing and constant theme throughout Scripture until the end.

Important

Also, the heart I want to express to you my readers, this is not about seeking Jesus so we can be raptured or seeking insight and revelation from the Lord so we will know more than others, or seeking cleansing and healing just to be healed, but seeking Jesus because he’s Jesus – the source of love and life.

My heart and desire for this series, which the Lord specifically instructed me to start (you could say along with my healing journey, this is my Ark assignment) is for men and women to get excited about the Word of God, the mystery of Christ and the last days, to want to dive into the Word like the days of their youth, setting hearts toward the deeper things of God.

My hope and prayer are for men and women to go on an adventure with Jesus in the closing seasons of the Church, to finish the race strong with whole heartedness.

This series is not about building a following, ministry, etc., but about lighting the fire of Christ in people’s hearts once again for everything Jesus has to offer in growing intimacy and union with him, the prize of this creation.

***

Noah obediently built an Ark “symbolizing making right the ‘temple’ of his vessel for God” through a long and arduous journey, to escape coming destruction (death), the first to foretell (in some detail) the Messiah’s pioneering journey to completion.

Noah also foretold a time when those grafted into Christ would be obedient and submit to God’s blueprint (Christ likeness) for building “their vessels” (body, soul, and spirit), through cleansing and healing by the Spirit, escaping the corruption of the flesh (death), apprehending life in the Spirit.

And those of Laodicea also have an intimate connection with Christ’s pioneering journey, even though in the “season” of opportunity and promise of intimacy, they chose otherwise, they will nonetheless benefit from Christ’s pioneering journey.

First, for every Christian, Christ makes our salvation possible, whether you are in the stage of the new birth, Pentecost, or Tabernacles because of his journey to completion: putting the enmity in his flesh to death without sin, raised by the Father to walk in resurrection life before his ministry – the new creation covenant in flesh and blood.

(Matthew 26:28, offering the NT atoning-resurrection life presently in him to the uttermost, giving up eternal life in the flesh, so some will have “more time” to come to forgiveness; John 6:53-63; Romans Chapters 3-6, 6:10; Ephesians 2:14-16, see an interlinear; Hebrews 5:7-10)

Secondly, those of “Laodicea,” after having witnessed the outpouring of the Spirit through their brothers and sisters of “Philadelphia,” should be encouraged in heart and spirit for their upcoming journey with Christ, having renewed hope and dedication to their Savior, as they face persecution in the time of the Seals.

For, their Philadelphian brothers and sisters will not be on the journey with them, just like they (Laodiceans) were not on the journey with them, raptured just before the onslaught of the Tribulation.

Just like the door on Noah’s vessel led to a specific journey, so too the doors of Philadelphia and Laodicea.

The former to glorification and escape before the Tribulation, the latter into the arms of the Tribulation and Antichrist, having to face the “mark of the beast.”

** Briefly, For Those Following and New to this Series **

This section departs from the comparison of the last days with the days of Noah to refresh those following this series, and new readers, on the greatest story of the Bible: Christ’s pioneering journey to perfection, start of the NT, and atonement.

Pastors, teachers, and others have tirelessly taught the body of Christ the New Covenant atonement was at Calvary, where God punished Christ, appeasing his wrath for our sins on his Son.

There are those who teach the New Covenant started when Christ began ministering, recognizing he could not have performed signs, wonders, and miracles, if he were not the Messiah, but default to Calvary for the atonement, splitting Jesus into two parts.

The focus of Calvary as the place of atonement came centuries after Christ and the Apostles; it is contrary to what the Old and New Testaments teach about the Messiah, what Jesus said about himself, others, and his Father.

In accord with the teaching of the Bible, in opposition to creeds and traditions, this series reveals the beginning of the “New Covenant and Christ’s sacrificial atonement” to “his completion,” becoming the walking-breathing NT in flesh and blood before ministry. (Ro. 6:10; Eph. 2:14-16, see an interlinear; Hebrews 5:7-10)

Important

This series shows, clearly through Scripture, every argument creeds and traditions have made pointing Calvary as the place of atonement through “prophecy” “foreordained plan of God” “suffering” “blood sacrifice” “cross” “sacrifice versus killing” “sacrifice for sin” “angry God” etc., does not agree with Scripture.

Creed and tradition created through church councils ignored what Jesus said about the new language of the New Testament (NLNT), e.g., John 6:53-63, what Paul said about the NLNT, e.g., 1 Cor. 2:13, what John said, e.g., 1 John 5:7-8, and what Peter said about the NLNT, 1 Peter 1:13.

The New Covenant is not a lesser covenant, but a better Covenant for Christ and us!

If Jesus grafts us into him, and the Covenant is better for us, then it must be better for him as well!

The New Covenant did not kill Jesus, it was people who killed him, fallen humanity, foretold by the prophets of old, but not predetermined.

There is an enormous difference between “foretelling” future choices men and women will make under free will versus “predetermining” the choice a person will make.

For example, God predestined the “making” of Christian men and women into the likeness of Christ, the pattern God designed, leaving it up to us whether we will go beyond the new birth and Pentecost and seek intimate union with Christ.

The actions of religious leaders, lawless men, and Roman soldiers at Calvary does not wash away the blessings of the New Covenant for Christ, the firstborn, pioneer, forerunner, first fruit, and perfecter of the New Covenant – the first to put sin to death, raised to walk in new life (and that before his ministry).

The fact they chose to kill our Savior, the walking-breathing New Covenant in flesh and blood (John 6:53-63), Christ choosing not to take-up the sword, finishing his ministry (fulfilling) Prince of Peace to the uttermost, does not exalt Calvary above the person of Christ.

It does show the lengths Christ was willing to go to save the lost, but it does not change the fact the place of atonement as it says in Scripture was his “completion (perfection),” Romans 6:10, Hebrews 5:7-10.

Romans (Chapters 3 to 6) and Hebrews (Chapters 1 to 10), show Christ’s journey to perfection, describing the story of putting to death generational sins passed to him from his human ancestry before ministry.

The prophets saw by the Spirit the Messiah would fulfill his mission of peace to the uttermost, prophesizing the rejection of the New Covenant in Christ and his killing.

God (and they, led by the Spirit of God) did not foreordain the killing of Christ, and he did not choose to die to fulfill a “script” but to fulfill his calling to absolute utter fullness.

The prophecy of his rejection and killing was no more foreordained than other prophecies seen by the Spirit in what men and women of free will “choose” in an unrepentant state.

Jesus is more than his literal blood!

He used “blood” to represent the totality of who he was, a word they were obsessed with symbolizing human blood lines, but for him, having put sin to death walking in eternal resurrection life, symbolized spiritual life in all its fullness in intimate union with the Father.

The many verses in the New Testament speaking of offering his life, a ransom for many, once and for all by his blood, died to sin to walk in new life, “put to death in the body…made alive in the Spirit”, “nailing it to the cross”, “obedient to death – even death on a cross”, “delivered over to death for our sins…raised to life”, speak of his journey to perfection, made one with the Father, before ministry.

(NIV, 1 Peter 3:18, Colossians 2:14, Philippians 2:8, and Romans 4:25, italicized mine)

Creeds and traditions have stripped away the beauty of Christ’s journey to completion, made perfect through suffering the death of sin passed to him from his human ancestry before his ministry (Romans Chapters 3-6; Ephesians 2:14-16, see an interlinear; Hebrews 5:7-10).

Creeds and traditions have the Gospel birthed in the killing of his physical body instead of “the killing of sin, raised to walk in resurrection life,” what Christ displayed and offered to Israel for over three years.

Our salvation was not born through the killing of Christ, the New Testament is not a repeat of the Old Testament, but through the death of sin, opening the door to reconciliation with God through Christ, appeasing God’s anger over sinful man and woman for those who come to Christ.

God did not present Christ as a sacrificial offering like an animal under the Old Testament, but as an offering to put sin to death, raised to new life – to begin a new “spiritual bloodline” through him, one born of the Spirit and not of the flesh.

Instead of offering an animal “blood sacrifice” we, in the pattern of our Savior, are to offer a “blood sacrifice,” the sacrifice of the entirety of our lives to God through Christ Jesus.

Jesus did not pioneer Calvary, but he did pioneer putting sin to death to show us the “way.”

Important

When you investigate key passages in an interlinear, those seamlessly translated passages pointing to Calvary as the atonement, those denying Christ lived by grace through faith (our pioneer!), and intimating he was foreordained to be killed, you’ll find translation rephrasing, secondary meanings, or, words added, to conform to the creeds.

For example, I have talked about these and others in this series how they have been translated to conform to the creeds: Ro. 3:22, 3:26, Galatians 2:16, 3:22 (Christ lived by faith); Ro. 3:25, Colossians 1:20, Hebrews 12:4 (shed, shedding, spilled not in Greek because these verses are not about Calvary).

The absence of shed, shedding, and spilled, etc., are not iron clad proof those words should not be there.

But when you read the context, you know the Greek does not need an addition because the topic is not about Calvary, but about putting sin to death, raised to walk in new life, his first glorification before ministry.

Continuing, e.g., Acts 2:23 speaks of the foreordained plan of God to bring the Messiah from the lineage of humanity and him, and perfect him (Isaiah 9:6), “not” the foreordained plan of God to sacrifice Christ through physical death. 

And, e.g., Matthew 26:54 in the Greek does intimate Jesus must be killed to fulfill Scripture (for obvious reasons I have mentioned repeatedly in this series), but he will not dishonor his “coming,” ministry, Prince of Peace to save by taking up the sword.

For God did not command Christ to submit to their plans to kill him but gave him “his preference” of the two choices.

Tragically, there is a lie from the enemy threaded throughout creeds and traditions the goodness of God for us comes from evil to Christ, that evil produces goodness and salvation – it is in our songs, teachings, and doctrines.

But it is clearly contrary to Scripture, for Christ, and for us! (Proverbs 10:22; Romans 2:4, etc.)

Jesus certainly thought their plans to kill him were evil!

The law required the shedding of blood under the Old Covenant (NIV, Hebrews 9:22) but not in the dispensation of transforming grace, because the promised grace (1 Peter 1:10-12) came to put sin to death, not to just forgive it.

Critical to Understanding the NT

In the New Testament we offer a different “blood sacrifice,” than the Old Testament, the sacrifice of the entirety of our lives in putting sin to death (the fullness of Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission), raised to walk in resurrection life.

This is the greatest “blood sacrifice” one can offer, Christ the firstborn and pioneer of the new journey, and then those in Christ, fathered by him unto maturity and completion – the mystery of the Gospel.

The enemy, through the creeds, hid the mystery of the Gospel, why Christ came (to destroy sin by fulfilling the law in his flesh, hoping Israel would embrace new life in the Spirit, Matthew 21:37), burying the cross of grace through faith behind the Roman cross of Calvary.

Traditions led Israel astray, just like traditions today are leading men and women away from the deep work of the Spirit of grace in the revelation of the secret of transformation into Christ’s likeness, the labor of the Lord in Philadelphia. (NIV, 1 Peter 1:13 and Colossians 1:27)

No wonder a famine for the Word of God and falling away are happening today.

Today, an increasing famine for the Word of God and falling away is the “fruit” of creeds and traditions, harm, and misunderstandings they have inflicted on Christendom.

This series is not something I undertook of my own volition.

Who wants to walk into a hornet’s nest of creeds and traditions and all the things they represent to men and women, scholars, pastors, teachers, etc.?

Who of their own volition wants to delve into the church councils of the fourth century and later?

But when the Lord begins a new work, he brings new revelation to match the new labor, taking men and women deeper down the path into the Kingdom of God.

Every new move of God brings by the Spirit death to “beliefs” in Christendom  in moving men and women into a deeper place in the Lord.

And we are in a new move of God today, largely hidden in para-church ministries, preparing men and women for the deep work of the Spirit of grace in Philadelphia, Tabernacles, the final leg of the Christian pilgrimage: union with Christ.

The Bible is clear and unmistakable: Jesus was fully Jesus when he entered ministry, not partly Jesus, not waiting for Calvary Jesus, but fully Jesus in every way, the lamb of God, Savior of the World.

Calvary did nothing to add (or make possible for us) or take away from Christ (except for his physical life, having entered eternal resurrection life, he would have lived forever; telling the Sadducees in Luke 20:36, men and women do not die in the resurrection, which went over their heads).

When Jesus said he was the resurrection he was primarily referring to himself, the firstborn, first fruit, pioneer, forerunner, and perfected of the New Covenant – new creation, having entered eternal life (lost by Adam and Eve) in flesh and blood this side of Heaven.

Note:

This series does not minimize Calvary and the events surrounding the execution of Christ.

“What happened to Christ at Calvary after having already,

perfectly defeating the curse of sin before his ministry, fulfilling the law in flesh and blood, made one with his Heavenly Father, pioneering the New Covenant journey for destroying sin by the cross of grace through faith, entering eternal resurrection life before his ministry, (Matthew 5:17; Romans 6:10; Ephesians 2:14-16 see an interlinear; Hebrews 2:10, 5:7-10, 6:20; 7:16)

facing the Devil while fasting for 40 days to “test” the depth and breadth of what he had apprehended “who he had become in God” before his presentation by God to Israel, and,

ministering in teaching, discipleship, signs, wonders, and miracles for over three years to many who wanted blessing without intimacy, having to face opposition from all levels of society,

is, for the lack of a suitable word to describe the supreme injustice to Christ by fallen men (not by God) at Calvary, incomprehensible.”

Only Christ, fathered into intimate union, destroying generational sin, entering resurrection life, a seasoned soldier, fierce, yet an intense lover of souls, could make such a journey.

Only Christ’s incomparable and uncompromising passion to bring his Isaiah 61 Commission’s healing and restoration to men and women suffering under the chains of darkness kept him from taking up the sword and taking the Kingdom by force.

Important

Christ knows firsthand what it is like to be born with the enmity of the flesh every person suffers under (Romans 8:3; Galatians 4:4; Ephesians 2:14-16, see an interlinear; Hebrews 2:17, 4:15).

Jesus knows how to overcome and destroy the curse of sin passed through the generations, that Isaiah’s 61 Commission to effect healing by grace through faith works, having walked the long journey putting sin to death, raised to new life before his ministry. (Romans Chapters 3-6, 6:10; Hebrews 5:7-10)

If you are going to bring Isaiah’s 61 Commission to humanity, walk them through the ‘journey of fathering’ i.e., healing from generational sins in transgressions and iniquities, suffering the wounding and piercing of the structures of sin, partaking of a new nature, you must experience it yourself first.

Christ not only experienced intimate fathering made one with his Heavenly Father, but also pioneered it, destroying the barriers of inherited sin, fulfilling the law in his flesh perfectly (Matthew 5:17), without sin, becoming the Savior of humanity before he entered ministry. (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 5:7-10)

If you are going to bring the New Covenant to others you must know how the New Covenant works in “creating” the new creation by the cross of grace through faith.

You must know first-hand how structures of sin in wounds take root and grow; the legal basis of sin; how to break the power and hold of sin through “binding and freeing” from the claims of darkness through repentance and forgiveness.

You must know how to bind the strongman, what plundering and uprooting the enemy requires, the limits of the human heart, rest, and recovery to effect change, and the journey of cleansing and healing.

You also need to experience what healing and restoration looks like, and how to effectively accomplish healing and restoration without hurting God’s sons and daughters yet be fierce as a lion toward the enemy.

Critical to the journey of putting sin to death are the words men and women need to hear from their Savior when the Spirit makes “known” deeply rooted wounds and pain for cleansing and healing of body, soul, and spirit.

As men and women undergo exposure of sins and darkness, harm they have caused through agreements and otherwise, they need words of encouragement, confidence and trust building, acceptance, approval, and hope.

Jesus knows better than anyone, the pioneer, the cross of grace through faith in repentance works wonders, the weapon of choice against sin and darkness.

Please remember, the wounding, piercing, crushing, in Isaiah 53:4-6 is not about afflicting Christ to appease an angry God, but the wounding, etc., of the nature of sin passed through the generations, destroying their hold over men and women, beginning in Christ first, then those in him.

The wounding of sin brought resurrection life to Christ, (Psalm 16 fulfilled in the flesh before ministry, quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost), bringing healing, not death (one interlinear of the Hebrew says “–us he-is-healed”. (See Note A, bold and italicized mine)

God “wounded” the “nature of sins” handed down through Christ’s earthly generations (wounded, pierced, crushed), by the cross of grace through faith, destroying sin’s ability to propagate in Christ like his generations, pioneering the way for men and women to put sin to death in him. (Isaiah 53:4-6; Romans 6:10; Hebrews 5:7-10)

Christ took the suffering we could never take in the destruction of the barrier of sin between his flesh and the law.

Important

We and our generations entered sin through the suffering of wounds, pains, hurts, and all the way the enemy afflicts men and women through one another in the absence care, love, grace, faith, repentance, forgiveness, etc.

The journey of putting sins to death brings discomfort (but in no way at the depth and measure of Christ’s sufferings in putting sin to death) as the Lord “wounds” our wounds for cleansing, uprooting sins for destruction.

Please remember, in Christ’s healing and restoration journey, the purpose and plan of God made flesh in the Messiah, he suffered through the destruction of sin perfectly for his generations, never sinning. (Hebrews 2:10, 2:17, 4:15, 5:7-10)

In becoming our Savior, Jesus extended grace not just for the forgiveness of sins like in the Old Testament, but for their destruction, raised to walk in new creation life in him.

God forgave sins in transgressions and iniquities in the Old Testament; in the New Testament forgiveness is weightier, it includes cleansing and healing (Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission) destruction of sin, a new nature, raised to walk in new life.

Some cleansing and healing of sin occurs in the new birth and Pentecostal journeys, but the deep work of the Spirit of grace in healing and restoration (1 Peter 1:13; Romans 6:5) under “intimate fathering” is reserved for the final Christian pilgrimage, Tabernacles, which is the focus of God’s labor today in Philadelphia.

The emphasis of “Philadelphia” is the season of God’s deep atoning labor, while the emphasis of “Tabernacles” is the journey, the process of the atoning work, the words for the most part are interchangeable.

For example, Sardis is the season of the return of the new birth and Pentecost, whereas the words new birth and Pentecost depict the process.

Continuing, Matthew 26:28 is not saying he is dying so we can have forgiveness – he forgave sins during his ministry.

But he chooses to die rather than take-up the sword to extend his offer of eternal life to the uttermost, knowing there will be those who come to forgiveness, after they have had a chance to reflect under the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

To reiterate, the difference between the Old and New Testaments is not about forgiveness of sins per se (though the salvation of the Old Testament saints was incomplete without the perfection of Christ, Hebrews 11:39-40).

The difference between covenants is under the New the greater grace of Christ brings experiential forgiveness in the form of healing and restoration (cleansing and destruction of sin).

The New Covenant offers transformation into the new creation, made complete, no longer bound to walk in sin and darkness but in experiential righteousness, the fullness of Sonship (male and female).

***

Calvary is hugely consequential, but it is not the place of the atonement or the birth of the New Testament; the Scripture is clear: Jesus is the New Testament, our atonement, not an event opposed to the new creation God wrought in Christ.

Christ’s atoning sacrifice to his Heavenly Father (the beginning of the New Testament) was not in the hands of fallen men and women, for in-kind produces in-kind, only God through Christ could bring reconciliation through the death of sin, not the physical death of his Son.

You do not destroy sin by killing someone who is perfect, you destroy sin by killing it, uprooting every place it grows (NIV, Matthew 15:13).

Like in days past, Calvary deferred God’s flood of judgment (Titus of Rome) for a generation.

Christ not taking up the sword fulfilled his calling to the uttermost – giving his physical life instead of taking lives; deferring Jerusalem’s destruction giving unrepentant hearts more time to come to forgiveness (Matthew 26:28).

The tearing of the Temple’s veil exposed the nation’s unrepentant sin to a Holy God, losing the protection of the veil from judgment (John 15:22), having witnessed the ministry of the Baptist, and the power of God through Christ, and the disciples of Christ, there was no longer any excuse for unrepentance.

Unlike the aftereffects of Calvary in the lives Christ’s followers, knowing the terrible mistake Israel made in killing their Messiah, seeing Calvary for what it was (Acts 7:52; Matthew 23:13-39), Christendom, in sharp contrast, has for centuries worshipped Calvary, not understanding the real tragedy to Christ and those in Christ.

No wonder there is a Great Falling Away in the last days, holding to the teaching salvation is a one-time event and not a long journey of growing intimacy and union with Christ and the Father.

Yes, the new birth brings salvation, but that is where creeds and traditions stop.

Jesus would say, “Now that you have entered the Kingdom come and pursue me, seek me for the fullness I have for you, allow me to prepare you for encounter so you can reap the full benefits of salvation – cleansing, healing, restoration, resurrection life in intimate union with me forever.”

The Old Testament pointed to the coming of a new and better covenant, where repentance in the putting away of sin bestows a new nature by grace through faith, ceasing the shedding of blood for the remission of sins under the law.

You do not start and new and better covenant by embracing what you are trying to do away with, and, taking it to a level violating righteousness, life, and death, by purposely killing the only perfect human who ever walked the earth.

Please remember what Jesus said about a house divided against itself and the teachings about agreements and walking with another.

Simply, Scripture clearly does not teach Christ was God’s “human sacrifice” – the shedding of Christ’s blood on the altar of Calvary for salvation.

In the Old Testament the atonement did not occur during the feast of Passover, but during the feast of Tabernacles, after the summer harvest of fruit, nuts, and olives, even “typology” does not fit with the creeds.

But Scripture does clearly teach Jesus died to sin, raised to walk in new life: speaking of putting sin to death, entering resurrection life in the flesh, the life he offered Israel for over three years – the theme of New Testament writings and the labor of God in Philadelphia (Tabernacles) today.

Important

Isaiah 53 separates and distinguishes the appearance of the Messiah into two streams of prophecies, the 1^st his coming to put sin to death, made complete, raised to resurrection life (verses 4-6, also see Psalm 16, speaks of Christ’s first glorification), and 2^nd his rejection and death (verses 7-9 speak of Calvary).

Christ’s first glorification (John 12:28, two glorifications following two deaths) prophesied in verses 4-6 of Isaiah 53, occurred before his ministry; his physical death by the hands of lawless men at Calvary, verses 7-9, results in his second glorification.

There is an argument “death” in verse nine is plural in the Hebrew, and not just plural of intensity.

The NIV uses punishment in verse five whereas the Hebrew interlinear I use (See Note A) uses discipline.

The use of the word punishment carries the tenor of the creeds, pointing verses 4-6 to Calvary, whereas the Hebrew uses the word discipline, which points to Christ’s pioneering journey, fathered by God, putting sin to death, made complete before ministry.

Please remember, David one of the greatest if not the greatest type of Christ was wounded, pierced, and crushed by God (in his wilderness journey, a type of putting sin to death) and was not killed, but raised to King over Israel in intimate communion with God (possessing the Ark).

Born into War

The Enemy from Within Must First Be Put Under the Cross of Christ

Before The Enemy from Without Will Bow

The two streams of prophecies (Isaiah 53:4-6 versus 7-9) separate God’s plan for Christ versus the Devil’s plan for Christ.

God’s foreordained plan for Christ was to bear our sins, the enmity in his flesh (Ro. 8:3; 1 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 4:4; Eph. 2:14-15 in an interlinear; Heb. 2:17), put them to death once and for all by the cross of grace through faith (Ro. 5:18-19, 6:10; Heb. 5:7-10) presenting the new creation in Christ (1 Cor. 15:23, 15:45-49; Col. 1:15).

The Devil attempted to destroy Christ, eventually tempting the leadership of Israel to put him to death.

In Genesis 3 God says the Devil will cut Christ’s life short – not him!

God did not work with darkness to kill his Son or to offer him at Calvary to appease his wrath over sinful humanity – the Bible does not teach this, but a number of Scriptures have been massaged with words (like adding shed or shedding), phrases (like implying he had to be killed to fulfill Scripture – he talking about Prince of Peace, translators implying he had to be killed), and rephrases to make it appear this way (Acts 2:23).

The Old Testament prophecies of the rejection and killing of Christ speak of the Devil’s plan through fallen men: the Prophets saw by the Spirit the threat the new creation in Christ would be to the traditions of men and their response.

The enemy has worked through fallen men for centuries to anchor Christendom in the “belief” God planned and intended the killing of his Son for salvation.

This could not be farther from the truth – how tragic (!) blaming God for the death of his Son, no wonder men and women have such deep seated fears of God, believe horrible things have to happen for good to come, and are want to seek intimacy with Christ and the Father as Jesus promised.

Christendom attempts to soften the accusation by calling it a “sacrifice,” but nonetheless, attributes the events of Calvary to God.

Note:

Think it not strange there would be veiled prophecies of the enemy’s work through fallen men in the Old Testament.

Men and women are responsible for their actions, nonetheless, we know from life and Scripture the power of sin, and the power of the enemy to work through sin.

God, who knows the end from the beginning, prophesied the enemy’s involvement in the death of Christ through men in Gensis 3.

By having the Messiah killed, robbing Israel and humanity of an early millennium, the enemy gave himself another two millenniums to wreak havoc on the earth and in the lives of men and women.

It gave him more time to secure forever this earth as his kingdom – there was much at stake for him just like now as we inch closer to the Tribulation and his final assault to make this earth his own.

***

Accusing God of planning and initiating the death of Christ, assigning motives to his heart, creating a story line where pagan sacrifices merge with Christianity, where anger and punishment is directed to Christ and not sin, likening Christ to an animal to be sacrificed or to a kernel of wheat so we can be saved, etc., etc., is a horrific injustice.

Important

Jesus prophesied in Matthew 13 in the fourth parable a woman (symbolizing the Church) would take yeast (false teaching) and mix it in flour (untainted base ingredient, the simplicity of the Gospel) until it was spread throughout and indistinguishable in the dough (institutionalized corporate teaching and doctrines, removing Holy Spirit anointed teaching and revelation).

This is what happened in the fourth church age of Thyatira through church councils over centuries, still affecting beliefs and practices today.

Note: The seven parables of Matthew 13 symbolize the six church ages through Philadelphia with the seventh parable symbolizing the great ingathering of souls in the last great revival at the end of the Gospel age preceding the Tribulation.

I show extensively in this series Scripture does not teach God planned the killing of Christ, nor is Calvary is the atonement or the beginning of the New Testament.

Christendom through church councils took the enemy’s bait hook, line, and sinker, praising God for Calvary when Scripture makes no such attribution or praises (Acts 7:52) but repulses at what happened to Christ.

To be clear, our Heavenly Father did not foreordain, plan, or command Christ’s death at Calvary – the Scripture does not intimate, imply, or teach this doctrine (see Acts 2:23 in an interlinear).

The Father made known his heart in Gethsemane about the two options before Christ.

The Father preferred not staining the legacy of the Gospel with taking the Kingdom by force, and the thousands of implications and complications it would bring (not only for the Gospel and future hearers, but for Christ, his heart, seeing some of those he loved hurt and killed), giving God’s chosen people another chance at salvation, fulfilling his calling as the Prince of Peace to the uttermost.

God did not design the human heart to just turn on a dime and start killing those you who have been trying with everything you have to save over the last three years.

But, and this is critically important to understand about God, Christ, his pioneering journey, and our part in the story and our journey, the ultimate decision was Christ’s to make.

Now, here is what Scripture does teach:

God “foreordained” the coming and perfection of Christ (Isaiah 53:4-6; Ro. 6:10; Ephesians 2:14-16 see an interlinear; Hebrews 5:7-10), “becoming” our Messiah not just legally through birth but experientially through “Sonship,” God presenting his Son for reception, not killing (Romans 3:25; Matthew 21:37; see the woes; Acts 7:52),

God “displaying” the new creation to Israel through Christ [Romans 3:25 speaks of Christ’s first glorification, John 12:28, before ministry, a living “blood (life, John 6:53-63)” sacrifice, see an interlinear, spilling of blood is purposely not in the Greek],

God’s open, living, vibrant, love letter to Israel over three years to “receive” his Son and become a part of the new creation.

Briefly and quickly, here are thoughts to consider:

1) read Matthew 21:37, God’s heart for Israel was to receive his Son, the Messiah, not to kill him, 2) read what Jesus thought of those “planning” his death in the woes to the pharisees, 3) see what Stephen anointed by the Holy Spirit says about Calvary, Acts 7:52,

4) is there any giving of thanks in Scripture to the events of Calvary? 5) God gave Christ his preference, not a command, a choice, not an order to die, but his heart in the matter and the consequences of the “heart and life” Jesus could not presently see, for him and others, if he took the Kingdom by force,

6) before Jesus was killed, he said their sin remained, there was now no excuse for their sin except one – repentance, which Peter preached on the day of Pentecost how Jesus fulfilled Psalm 16, entering resurrection life, and it was that Jesus, the “resurrected Jesus,” the righteous one, the one foretold by David who would regain eternal life in the flesh lost by Adam and Eve, they killed and God raised again (Acts 2),

7) untold numbers experienced the new birth/forgiveness of sins before Calvary, 8) Jesus avoided their plans as long as he could, even wanting another year to dig around the fig tree to see if he could get it to bear fruit (why would he do that if he had to die for salvation to be effective?),

9) Matthew 26:28, Jesus was permitting his death not so forgiveness would come, but so people would come to forgiveness when the Holy Spirit convicts them of rejecting and killing the “resurrected Christ” i.e., having fulfilled Psalm 16 alive!

(Acts 2:31-32; Romans 6:10; Ephesians 2:14-16, see an interlinear; Hebrews 5:7-10),

10) what is better – a living “blood” sacrifice (John 6:53-63) giving the entirety of your life to God, fulfilling his will from the mind and heart perfectly, having the law written on the heart and mind without sin (Hebrews 8 &10), Christ the pattern and blueprint for the new creation, or killing someone to be a sacrifice?

No, contrary to the creeds and hundreds of commentaries on the Scriptures under the “shadow and eye of Christendom’s creeds and traditions,” God did not plan the killing of his Son.

But did everything possible short of violating people’s wills to prepare everything in advance (sending John the Baptist) for Israel to receive Christ and enter an early millennium.

Important

To attribute the killing of Christ to God is nothing less than a tragedy.

What does that say about what we “secretly” think of God as our loving, caring, Heavenly Father?

This is one reason the Lord has labored to birth Tabernacles (Philadelphia); to bring men and women out of the dark ages into deep fathering to learn the truth about God and what he wrought in Christ – taking his Son from mortality to immortality twice. (John 12:28; Romans 8:10-11)

Christ fulfilled Psalm 16 before his ministry, entering eternal life in flesh and blood – a blood sacrifice in every sense of the word, leaving nothing on the table in his relationship with God, and then raised again after lawless men took his physical life from him.

Creeds and traditions make the Gospel of Christ an unsolvable “mystery,” whereas the Scriptures instruct you and me to pursue the mystery of Christ – to apprehend what Jesus apprehended us for, intimate union with him and the Father.

The New Testament teaches the “mystery” is the labor of God through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit cleansing and transforming men and women into the new creation Christ pioneered for his generations and us.

Ushering men and women into the journey he pioneered, fathered by God, made intimate and one with he and the Father, mature and complete.

Of course, salvation is a mystery, the new birth, and Pentecost.

But the “deepest mystery” lies in the work of the Spirit of grace cleansing and transforming men and women from mortality into immortality, from justification to glorification, orphans into Sonship, sheep into warhorses, fallen natures to resurrection life in this life, the labor of God in Philadelphia (Tabernacles).

Creeds and traditions rob Christians from the knowledge we are to seek and apprehend intimate union with Christ – the deepest and greatest expression possible in this creation.

And not be the works of the flesh in striving, but in the grace of God by faith in repentance and forgiveness as the Spirit leads in cleansing and healing, a journey, process, not an event.

The New Testament brings greater grace, light, and revelation; it is not less than the Old Testament but newer and better, like the sun to the moon.

The New Testament does not make salvation darker, more mysterious, shrouded except for the “few” as the doctrines of councils in creeds and traditions intimate about God and Christ, creating a separate and overarching set of beliefs having greater authority than Scripture.

The New Testament discards all those man-made barriers, clearly instructing those in Christ to seek the Lord for everything they need, which includes instruction, insight, wisdom, revelation, cleansing, healing; each member part of one another, but also, and this is important – separately connected to Christ in intimate union.

The need for the body of Christ never changes because the Lord works through his body.

But there comes a time when Father God wants to take his sons and daughters on a long journey with him – to get to “know” each other (so this will not be said, see Matthew 25:12) – so we can become mature, complete “Sonship,” becoming better members of one another.

“Knowing and being known” refers to intimacy with Christ, ruling and reigning with him, greater intimacy with Christ than those who did not seek more of Jesus; there are differences in Heaven just like there are differences on earth; the Book of Revelation and other Old and New Testament books make that abundantly clear.

God specifically designed the season of Philadelphia (Tabernacles) to “father” men and women to completion; a uniquely personal one on one time with the Lord in journey outside conventional church settings.

We need teachers, the community of church, pastors, etc., we never outgrow submission to one another in the body of Christ.

God does not give teachers to “make permanent” the student-teacher relationship, but to help cultivate desire and passion for Christ, his word, leading, pointing one another to the journey of “fathering” by Christ.

The journey of the cross of Christ, putting the old man to death through cleansing and healing, seeking to apprehend resurrection life in the Spirit, the journey of Philadelphia, a journey “experienced,” just like the new birth and Pentecost, but exponentially greater.  

The journey of fathering is so important, and because so much harm has been done through creeds and traditions keeping sons and daughters from the deep work of the Spirit, Jesus reserved a special season to bring as many as possible into intimacy before he closes the door on the era of the Gospel.

Tabernacles is a deeply profound work of greater grace beyond the new birth and Pentecost, a dramatic and deepening shift in relationship and intensity, where Jesus personally leads us through cleansing and healing into deep transformation, well beyond creeds and traditions and the limitations they place on God.

Today is the day to seek Jesus for everything he has to offer – the Word promises you will not be disappointed, instead you will find yourself one day walking in intimate union with the King of Kings in the here and now.

Let us not be those who look back over their life as it slips into eternity longing for another chance to pursue intimacy with Christ.

Two Deaths, Two Resurrections

Before His Ministry: Death to Sin, Raised to Resurrection Eternal Life (From Mortality to Immortality); Born to Save, Made to Save; First of the New Creation (First Glorification), Fulfilling Psalms 16 & 23, Feast of Tabernacles (Trumpets, Atonement, Booths), Becoming the Savior. (Isaiah 53:4-6 and much of the NT, John 12:28, Ro. Chapters 3-6, 6:10; Hebrews 5:7-10, etc.)

Calvary: Physical Death, Raised to Eternal Life Again (Second Glorification); Prophecies of Rejection and Death, Fulfilling “Prince of Peace” to the Uttermost (Stopping short of “vengeance,” Luke 4:18-19 versus Isaiah 61:1-2, Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 53:7-9, John 12:28).              

NOTE: Genesis 3:15 says the Serpent (Satan) will end Christ’s ministry, not God, contrary to every teaching of creeds and traditions.

The elevation of creeds (and traditions) over Scripture with changes made to conform translations to creeds makes it difficult for readers to separate Christ’s journey to completion before ministry from Calvary because creeds point everything to do with blood, death, crucifixion, etc., to Calvary.

Also, because of the superiority of creeds over Scripture changes in translation, without referring to an interlinear, it is difficult to separate the two major prophetic streams of Christ’s first coming, i.e., God’s plan to perfect and present the Messiah to Israel versus the enemy’s plan through men to take his life.

For whatever reasons, those responsible for the creeds (other religious beliefs had already made inroads) created a system of beliefs by council having supra-authority over Scripture.

Important

God designed men and women to need the anointing and leading of the Holy Spirit to understand Scripture, creating desire and passion for Christ through discovery and relationship – one of the critical ways of wooing men and women into intimacy.

Scripture is not a textbook understood through Statements of Faith, Creeds, and all the rest, robbing men, and women of seeking Christ for intimacy and union.

Creeds and traditions offer no intimacy, no love letter, no anointing, nothing to stir the heart from sleepiness into desire and passion for the living Savior; and certainly nothing to create hunger and thirst for the living one in deep communion and wonder.

One of the fruits of creeds and traditions is to keep God at arm’s length, from men and women experiencing the kindness and goodness of God deeply, personally, the joy of knowing God intimately through cleansing and healing.

Another fruit “hides” what he accomplished in Christ, what Jesus apprehended in becoming our atoning sacrifice, how their relationship developed, grew, matured, and came to completion over time, just like the Bible teaches! (Luke 2:40 & 2:52)

Another bad fruit, one of the most insidious and malicious, working behind the scenes deep in the heart of men and women not only causing many to serve God in exhaustion, but also wary of running to their Heavenly Father, because after all, if that is what he did to Christ how can I trust my heart to him?

And another is something “bad” must happen for “good” to happen, that out of the killing of Christ came salvation, instead out of the death of sin.

The Bible does not teach that doctrine, refuting it unequivocally.

This is a lie from the author of Sin, see Proverbs 10:22 and Matthew 7:15-23.

Christians with deep wounds and brokenness can have this underlying belief swirling around deep in their inner being, I know I did from my religious upbringing.

Cleansing and healing from “lies” are not something we can just “decide” away, or we would not need Jesus; agreements, lies, and vows, have spiritual power and can only “die” by the cross of Christ through repentance and forgiveness.

Important

Once one sees, by the Spirit, the distinction between the journey of Christ putting sin to death, raised to new life, his first glorification, separate from Calvary, where Christ was put to death, and second glorification, and how words like, blood, death, cross, crucify, suffer, sacrifice, wound, resurrection, raised from the dead, etc., are employed in “two stories,” the Scripture’s story of the Gospel falls in place.

Then strange teachings like God planned the killing of his Son, or it took the spilling of Christ’s literal blood (like an animal in the OT for us to be saved), or God appeased his anger at sinful humanity by torturing and crucifying his beloved Son, become readily apparent because they do not agree with clear Scripture.

(As I noted above, the crucifixion of Jesus occurred during Passover (the time of the first harvest, barley), not during the Feast of Tabernacles, the time of the summer harvest, when Atonement is made; not in accord with the “types” of the Old Testament, a wrench in and of itself in the teaching of the creeds.

The missed connection with the Old Testament “type” is not definitive, but interesting to note. Scripture clearly shows God gave his Son as a sacrifice for “perfection – putting sin to death” before ministry, not for killing.

And, as noted above, in Genesis 3:15, it says in substance Satan will cut Christ’s ministry short, not God!)

The early Apostles clearly understood Christ was born “mortal” (Ro. 1:3; Gal. 4:4; Heb. 2:17) conceived by God to destroy the “curse of sin” passed through the generations by his own “blood” – his life! (Isaiah 53:4-6; John 6:53-63; Ro. Chapters 3-6; Eph. 2:14-16 see an interlinear; Hebrews 5:7-10).

That he “became” our Savior in flesh and blood before his ministry, entering eternal resurrection life (John 1:14; Hebrews 1:3, 5:7-10, 7:16).

They understood Christ was fully human, body, soul, and spirit, redeeming eternal life lost in the Garden, changed from mortality to immortality at his completion (1 Cor. 15:46-49), the second Adam made perfect, entering the Heavens (Hebrews 4:14, having access to Heaven and Earth at will, just like the transfiguration).

That Christ was as they wrote, the firstborn, first fruit, pioneer, forerunner, and perfecter of the new creation in flesh and blood, after God “fathered” him through the journey of putting sin to death, the enmity in his flesh.

That Jesus was “fully Jesus” when he entered ministry, having all authority, seated in Heavenly places – speaks of authority and relationship with his Father, not geography – having the fullness of his name before ministry!

They came to understand the Gospel requires revelation by the Spirit – spiritual stretching of the hearts in the new language of the New Testament; Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission went beyond physical healing to the whole person.

They came to understand “bind and lose” had meanings beyond the physical, stretching deeply into the spiritual (Hebrews 4:12-13); where “captivity to darkness” holds minds, souls, and spirits to agreements, lies, under the curse and power of generational sins in transgressions and iniquities.

They knew from the teachings of Christ they would one day enter the journey he pioneered for his generation and theirs in fulfilling the feast of Tabernacles, i.e., the journey of deep cleansing, healing, and fathering, by the cross he left them.

That they, and all who seek, will experience the baptism he pioneered – putting death to sin to walk in new life, Romans 6, John 21:18-19, 2 Cor. 4:10-12, etc.

They came to understand the symbolism and uses of words as revealed by the Spirit, so, we must ask ourselves, why is it so hard for men and women today to see beyond the flesh into the realm of the Spirit?

It is because we have an adversary who has plotted for centuries to sabotage the labor of God only to find time and again, God is patient, willing to go through the ups and downs of revivals, weaving restored truth generation by generation until he brings his sons and daughters to maturity and completion.

(Romans 8:10-11; Galatians 4:19; Ephesians 4:13; Phil. 3:20-21; Rev. 3:7-13)

The early Apostles knew Jesus was fully human, tempted from within and without, “made” perfect in journey with his Father, carrying the sins of his generations to the cross of grace through faith, raised to walk in the new creation, God presenting the New Covenant in flesh and blood to Israel as his love gift.

God presented to Israel his love in flesh and blood, free for the taking to those humble enough to come to Christ.

Important

When the early Apostles spoke and wrote they did not need to go through lengthy explanations of meanings of death, crucify, blood, suffering, cross, resurrection, etc., because, unless the subject was about his rejection and killing, everyone understood they were talking about his journey to perfection.

They knew Christ was fully human, God had perfected him through the journey Isaiah described of wounding and piercing, the first (and only) to put sin to death perfectly by the greater grace of the New Covenant.

They did not have creeds and traditions making it difficult to understand the heart of the Gospel in the mystery of Christ, i.e., to not only forgive sins but to be cleansed of sins, healed and restored, men and women once again walking in eternal life in growing intimacy with God like Adam and Eve before the fall. 

They came to know Christ was the blueprint and pattern of the new creation union with God.

From another angle, they knew the New Covenant in Christ was not just about resisting sin like the Old Covenant, but to put sin to death like Christ did for his generations through his life and power; Jesus starting a new spiritual “bloodline” more powerful and eternal than the “blood” of the flesh.

They came to know they had “uncleanness” needing cleansing and healing through the teachings and ministry of Christ.

The early Apostles understood sin has power and roots in the temple of our body, soul, and spirit (2 Cor. 7:1; 1 Thess. 5:23), growing like weeds, propagating through the generations, requiring “crucifixion” by the cross of Christ in repentance and forgiveness for cleansing and healing. (Matt. 15:13; 23:26; Ephesians 5:26-27)

They knew God did not plan the killing of his Son and Calvary had nothing to do with Christ’s atoning work, but everything to do with unrepentant sin.

They knew the difference between heart sacrifice and killing; blood used to represent life, like in Ezekiel, versus literal blood; death used for mortality, or to represent killing sin, versus physical death.

They knew the difference between the cross of Christ and the boundaries placed around them in “fathering” orphans to Sonship (Gal. 5:17; Psalm 16:6) versus Rome’s cross; wounding and piercings in “discipline unto righteousness” (like David in the wilderness foretelling the journey of the Messiah) versus those designed to kill.

And one last example, they knew crucifixion to put sin to death by grace through faith leads to intimacy and union with Christ versus the crucifixion that kills.

So, Paul could speak and write without explanation Christ died for our sins, died to sin, put sin to death, given over to death, raised to walk a new life, resurrected, etc., knowing his followers understood it was about Christ’s journey to perfection and not Calvary.

They knew Calvary was not the beginning of the New Testament, the atoning sacrifice, but, in sharp contrast, an attempt to destroy Christ, his followers, his teachings, and what he claimed.

Does It Really Matter What We Know About Christ, His Journey to Completion Separately from Calvary?

Christians may think:

I have salvation, baptized in the Spirit, nothing else matters.

Why bring up the past and surface issues questioning long-standing beliefs and doctrines, it only further divides the body of Christ.

There is already enough division within the body of Christ, why bring up more?

Whether the center of gravity of the New Testament is Christ, his pioneering journey, or Calvary, it does not matter, I have been born again, love Jesus, and, according to Scripture, God will save me from the wrath to come.

My response:

It may have not mattered much in prior seasons of the Church, when the call and moving of the Spirit was the new birth and Pentecost, but it greatly matters now when the call and focus is bringing men and women into intimate union with God.

When John the Baptist began preparing the way for the Lord the elevation of “whether it mattered or not” went up for the people and nation of Israel.

When Jesus began ministering “whether it mattered or not” shot up the scale.

When lawless men (as the Scripture describes those opposed to Christ) began making agreements in their hearts to end his ministry and life “whether it mattered or not” went off the charts.

The labor of God today is not “evangelistic revivals” or “Pentecostal revivals,” those days have come and gone.

Today, God is doing a hidden work in the body, employing divergent resources outside mainline Christendom to call those hungering and thirsting for more of him into the deep labor of union, the season of Philadelphia (Tabernacles).

The Christian journey is not mature and complete until we apprehend resurrection life through the deep work of fathering, cleansing, and healing, intimate union with Christ, far beyond the shores of the new birth and Pentecost. (John 17:21; Romans 6:5, 8:10-11; Ephesians 5:26-27; Philippians 3:20-21; Rev. 3:7-13)

Over the last five hundred years, if you missed revival there was time to enter later; the new birth has had five hundred years to spread its wings and Pentecost over a century.

But the final pilgrimage, the deep work of the Spirit in Philadelphia, intimate union with Christ, fulfilling Tabernacles of the OT (from orphan to Sonship, sheep to warhorses (NIV, Zech. 10:3), treasures to pearls, & from “justification” to “glorification”), does not offer another chance once the “door” is closed.

When it closes, it will stay closed until Christ’s millennial rule.

Epic Stories Call for Epic Parts

You cannot be a part of an epic story if there is not an epic part for you to play.

If the epic story you enter is missing critical parts necessary for the successful completion of your part, you will not receive the fullness of Christ “he died to sin” to make available to you.

You may conclude your part is complete, yet, unknowingly, there is more to apprehend in the story God prepared in advance for you.

With critical parts of the story missing, you will not know the depth and extent of what Christ purchased just for you.

In this event, you will not know to take advantage of opportunities at hand, on a scale and depth unlike previous generations, because the story given to you is incomplete, compromised, tainted, hiding the fullness of Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission promised to you.

Case in point, we live in the time of the greatest promise of God to cleanse and heal (Philadelphia/Tabernacles), and yet, Scripture points to the Great Falling Away (GFA) on the horizon. (2 Thessalonians 2:3; the more I understand about the GFA, the more it appears the thrust of it is in the first half of the Tribulation during the martyrdom of Christians left behind)

How can there be the greatest season of God’s labor bringing men and women into union and Great Falling Away at the same time if it were not partly for creeds and traditions supplanting the message of the Gospel in an epic time in history?

Because creeds and traditions alter the story of Christ, a large segment of Christians do not know their part in the story and Christ’s invitation to journey with him.

The creeds were determined by council through compromise to “standardize” and “institutionalize” Christian beliefs for overseeing, regulating, and propagating the faith (what leaders believe) in a way that is measurable and consistently applied.

They did not come from the bowels of revival – new moves of God bringing men and women into deeper relationship with Christ through Holy Spirit insight, discovery, and revelation of the promised grace to come in Christ.

Finally, if you are taught “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood” (NIV, Romans 3:25, shedding is not in the Greek, italicized is mine) is the killing of Christ, offering his “literal blood” as a sin offering, like the Old Testament, then most everywhere you see death, suffering, sacrifice, cross, blood, resurrection, etc., Calvary comes to mind.

But, if by the Spirit of revelation, taught by Christ and NT authors (e.g., John 6:53-63; 1 Cor. 2:13; I John 2:27, 5:7-9) Romans 3:25 and similar speak of Christ’s journey to completion “putting sin to death, raised to new life” (Ro. 6:10; Eph. 2:14-16, see an interlinear; Heb. 5:7-10) starting a new and better covenant, then most everywhere those words are used his pioneering journey comes to mind.

Because it is about the atonement coming through greater grace and faith, Christ’s journey to perfection, destroying the barrier of sin in his flesh, fulfilling the law, a “living blood sacrifice,” the greatest sacrifice one can make to God.

Scripture’s Testimony of Christ’s Journey to Put Sin to Death Separately

from The Events of Calvary Are Not Ambiguous

There are Scripture passages referring in their own unique way to both deaths (to sin and physical death), and both resurrections (to eternal life after destroying sin, and after Calvary).

Simply, in Christ’s journey to perfection, destroying generational sins, raised to walk in new resurrection life, Christ entered “immortality,” eternal resurrection life (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 5:7-10, 7:16), fulfilling Psalm 16 in the flesh before ministry, his first glorification, as foretold by David, never to die, except where he allowed his life to be taken.

When we pull back the curtains from creeds and traditions, they are clearly distinguishable from one another.

Creeds and traditions combine “Christ’s destruction of the barriers of generational sin between his flesh and the law passed to him from his human ancestry” (Ephesians 2:14-16, see an interlinear) and the hundreds of passages about it in the NT letters, with the “killing of Christ” at Calvary, making them one prophetic stream.

In sharp contrast, the Scripture clearly shows the former is God’s prophetic stream for perfecting the Messiah, destroying sin, making a new creation in Christ, presenting (showcasing) his new creative work to Israel as an offer of who they could become in God if they accept their long-sought Messiah.

The latter, the killing of Christ at Calvary, is a separate prophetic stream, what fallen men will do with God’s precious offering of salvation if they do not repent and come to forgiveness during the Baptist’s or Christ’s ministries.

In Genesis (3:15) God spoke of one (Christ) who would wound the headship of Satan (power and authority) and who in turn would cut Christ’s ministry short.

Creeds and traditions cloud Christ’s spiritual battle and ours behind thickly veiled beliefs and practices intimating they are our way of escape, but they are not.

God was not behind the death of his Son at Calvary, working behind the scenes to undo everything he did through Christ, on the contrary, he did everything possible short of forcing people to accept his Son for Jesus to have a successful ministry.

The clear and plain text of Scripture does not teach God purposed the killing of Christ, or that Christ’s physical death was necessary to consummate salvation, or that his physical death was the atonement.

Here are examples to consider (I discuss these Scriptures in greater depth in this series):

Matthew 26:28, speaks of what he became, who he is presently, not who he will be, the NT in flesh and blood; having entered eternal resurrection life at his completion (Heb. 5:7-10), he would never die, choosing to die and not fight so others would have more time to come to forgiveness and be saved.

Jesus said the New Covenant was in his blood – was he speaking of his “literal blood” (a word they were obsessed, tracing their lineage to Abraham as justification for their righteousness, or was he speaking of “him” the Messiah New Covenant in flesh and blood – the resurrection life in God he had apprehended in his completion (John 6:53-63).

What further must he do to show them he is the lamb sacrifice having put sin to death, entered resurrection life, fulfilling what the OT sacrifices foretold in the Atonement, the holy one, the eternal one, forgiving sins in his ministry.

Healing and raising the dead, signs, wonders, and miracles, so much, Jesus said their sin is now without “excuse” (NIV, John 15:22, italicized mine), destined for eternal separation, choosing to give them more time to “come to forgiveness” before Jerusalem is destroyed and many of them with it.

Matthew 26:54, see an interlinear, this passage is speaking about Christ as Prince of Peace, fulfilling his ministry to the uttermost even if it cost him his life; it is not saying Jesus must be killed to fulfill Scripture just like Scripture does not predestine some men and women to fulfill the Great Falling Away.

John 12:28, having put sin to death perfectly, raised to resurrection life in flesh and blood, immortality (1 Cor. 15:46-49; Heb. 7:16), apprehending glorification, eternal life, the lamb sacrifice made perfect by the offering of his own blood “the entirety of his life to God” becoming our Savior (Ro. 6:10, 8-10-11; Ephesians 2:14-16, see interlinear; Hebrews 5:7-10), God will glorify him “again” after his physical death.

Isaiah 53:4-9, the first three verses are his pioneering journey putting sin to death, entering resurrection life, the subject of many NT letters; Christ was healed from generational transgressions and iniquities passed to him from his human lineage, making the “way” so we can be healed, his Isaiah 61 Commission.

As I have explained, wounding and piercing, etc., does not presuppose physical death.

The Spirit wounded, pierced, crushed, the structures of sin in Davids’s life during his long arduous journey fleeing Saul, and he was better for it; God drawing David closer to him through cleansing and healing of soul and spirit, foretelling the destruction of sin by the Messiah to come.

God’s wounding and piercing (Hebrews 4:12-13, the NT version of Isaiah 53:4-6) brings cleansing and healing, destroying the power and claims of sin over our lives through the cross of Christ in repentance and forgiveness.

The next three verses speak of Calvary, the subject of the Gospels, the rejection of not who Christ would become, but the rejection of who Christ was, the lamb made perfect, who atoned for the sins of the world in his completion, Calvary being the rejection and attempt to kill the New Testament, not the start of it.

Acts 2:31-32, Christ fulfilled Psalm 16 (which Peter quotes earlier) in his pioneering journey, entering eternal life, it was the “resurrected” Jesus, the life-giving Jesus, the one who sacrificed his own blood (the entirety of his life, starting a new spiritual blood line in the new creation having put sin to death perfectly) ministering life to Israel for over three years God “raised” again.

1 Peter 2:24, this must be read in an interlinear, the first part is about Calvary, the second part, of course Peter would know this, is about Christ’s pioneering journey before ministry, Peter having entered the journey himself (to put sin to death, raised to walk in new life); just like Jesus said he would (John 21:18-19, the coming death of verse 19 was not martyrdom! but putting “sin to death”) made whole and holy, 1 Peter 1:13, 5:10; 2 Peter 1:4.

1 Corinthians 15, covers both deaths and resurrections in the chapter; verse three is about his completion, Paul referring to Christ’s death to sin, having taught extensively on it in his writings; of course, verse four is about Calvary.

Acts 2:23, must be read in an interlinear; foreordained speaks of God’s plan from the beginning to perfect Christ, “becoming” our Savior, the pattern, blueprint for the new creation for men and women; God did not foreordain Christ to be killed, this would not be necessary to explain without the tainting of the creeds.

Acts 5:30-32, speaks of both, see an interlinear.

Acts 13:26-43, is a wonderful picture of the two glorifications of Christ, you must read it in an interlinear; See if you can discern when Peter is speaking about Christ’s first glorification separate from his second glorification.

Revelation 5:9, this verse captures the two deaths of Christ like the others. The first mentioned is his physical death, Israel’s rejection of their Messiah, the slaying of the Holy One, the “resurrected Christ” walking in eternal life having defeated death (mortality), the world, sin, and Satan before his ministry offering resurrection life to the people of Israel for over three years.

The second death mentioned “with your blood you purchased for God” (NIV, Rev. 5:9, italicized mine) speaks of his death to sin, “blood” denoting the entirety of the person of Christ (John 6:53-63 “spiritual life”), not just the liquid flowing in his body, but totality of who he was given to the Father to put sin to death once for all, raised to walk in new life, eternal life, presenting eternal life to Israel, the manifest presence of God in Christ, having the fullness of the Spirit without limit (John 3:34), atoning for humanity’s sin in his perfection.

Hint: When Christ became complete, he entered resurrection life, eternal life, glorification, never to die, what David foretells in Psalm 16, having tasted a measure of eternity in his relationship with God, knowing by the Spirit what the Messiah would apprehend as the pattern of the new creation.

And when Christ entered resurrection life, the process of mortality (decay) stopped.

The reason I mention reading certain passages in an interlinear is because in key Scriptures, translation insertions, adjustments, and changes, point “destruction of sin” and like passages to “killing of Christ” passages, hindering revelation from the Lord.

***

The New Testament is new and better because Jesus pioneered the journey of destroying the curse of sin, not only redeeming men and women, but restoring eternal resurrection life by destroying sin.

Briefly, when Scripture refers to Christ as the lamb, it is not implying a literal altar sacrifice (on a Roman cross at Calvary), having his “blood” literally sprinkled.

Rather it is pointing to the “heart” of what the Old Testament foretold, that one day instead of offering animals, we would offer ourselves just like a lamb to God for cleansing, healing, and restoration literally in flesh and spirit.

We would no longer give our prized possessions, but the most prized possession, our lives to God for redemption and restoration, Christ the pioneer and first of the new creation.

The lamb also speaks of the harmlessness of Christ’s nature, inviting and gentle, what we think about lambs, not a lamb for killing.

That Christ, like a lamb in submission, sacrificed his life to his Heavenly Father, made perfect, suffering the wounding, and piercing of generational sins passed to him for cleansing and healing, becoming our Savior. (Hebrews 5:7-10)

Christ, and we in Christ, are to fulfill in “spirit” what lambs foretold under the “law;” the New Covenant a better covenant, to kill “sin” in our lives (2 Cor. 4:10-12, 7:1) the reason God required lamb sacrifices in the first place.

** Textbook or Revelation **

Because of creeds and traditions, Christendom has presented an incomplete Gospel to Christians for over a millennium.

Where almost every passage in the New Testament associated with suffering, cross, death, resurrection, blood, sacrifice, crucifixion, and like words and phrases point to Calvary.

If these do point to Calvary, there’s nothing to be apprehend beyond the new birth and Pentecost, thus no need for the Holy Spirit to “‘guide you into all the truth’” (NIV, John 16:13, italicized mine), because intimacy and union with Christ happens by osmosis through heart and mind decision making.

Which means we could cut almost all the New Testament out.

Tragically, creeds and traditions lend themselves to making the Bible a textbook, having no need for personal revelation and discovery of God’s plan for making men and women into the likeness of Christ.

If we strip “spirituals (revelation and spiritual connection with Christ)” from the meanings of God’s Word, like the creeds, it becomes a “Statement of Beliefs” suffocating the pursuit of a vibrant and intimate relationship with Jesus our Savior.

We default to defining words and phrases inspired by the Holy Spirit to those used in the natural realm, stripping the Word of its power by the Spirit to “present yourself to God as one approved…who correctly handles the word of truth.” (NIV, 2 Timothy 2:15) 

Or “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.” (NIV, 1 Thess. 5:19-22)

Or “the Berean Jews were of more noble character…for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (NIV, Acts 17:11)

If the Bible is a textbook, a journey of osmosis, teaching no need for personal discovery and revelation in the journey of “transformation,” then Christ and Paul erred for tirelessly trying to usher men and women into the realm of the Spirit and out of the flesh.

Then again, we could delete most the New Testament.

Christ came to “open” the spiritual realm; to see and hear the Kingdom of God beyond the limitation of sinful flesh, by the eyes and ears of the heart, attempting to bring men and women into the language of the New Covenant* so they can receive the wonder, power, and revelation of the fullness of the new creation.

* See Matthew 13:11-17, 13:35; John 6:53-63; 1 Cor. 2:13; 1 John 5:7-9.

It takes purposeful seeking* of the Lord, divine preparation, to receive the greater grace of Christ beyond the new birth and Pentecost and enter the deep waters of Spirit and revelation (1 Peter 1:13), the final pilgrimage promised in Philadelphia (Tabernacles), for intimate union with Christ.

* See Matthew 7:7-11, 7:13-14, 7:21-23, 24:42-51, 25:1-13; personal coming of the Lord to usher men and women through the open door of Tabernacles: 1 Cor. 1:7, 4:5; 2 Cor. 5:10, 7:1, 13:9-11; Gal. 5:5; speaking to Christians Ephesians 1:18; Philippians 3:20-21; Colossians 3:4; Hebrews 9:28, etc.

The Lord has never ceased revealing more of his Word and Spirit through the ages to those who seek him, no matter the conditions of their life.

Today, 21^st century Christians are receiving greater insight and revelation than those of past ages about the journey of intimacy and union with Christ because without union, the outcome, according to Scripture, does not bode well for Christians who neglect so great a salvation in the last of the last days.

Those who teach the rapture of all Christians before the Tribulation will be shocked when revival comes and goes, and the Antichrist system rears its ugly head higher and stronger than before and there is no way of escape.

Finally, it is worth saying again Jesus did not pioneer Calvary, but he did pioneer destroying the barrier of generational sins, raised to resurrection life, becoming the testator of the New Covenant through his death to sin, the new creation Messiah-Savior in flesh and blood.

** More on the Greatest Story Never Told **

I have hundreds and hundreds of pages of writing, beyond what is already in this series, about Christ’s pioneering journey, the heart of God’s plan of salvation, and what it means for you and me living in the last days.

I am not the only one with this understanding, there are others.

Simply, Jesus was “fully” Jesus when he entered ministry, seated (does not refer to geography but authority in God) in Heavenly places, having all authority, a name above all names, able to forgive sins, etc.

Jesus did not seek out Calvary for the forgiveness of sin because he was already the embodiment in flesh and blood of forgiveness (Matthew 26:28) showing through signs, wonders, and miracles he was the manifest presence of God in flesh and blood.

He did not need to do anything else to prove he was the Messiah; this is why Calvary is so grievous, because it was unnecessary from a salvation standpoint other than extending grace to the uttermost, giving men and women who would otherwise perish more time.

He was fully the Savior, High Priest, Lord, King, Prophet “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” a name above all names, positioned at God’s right hand (this phrase is not about geography, but authority, honor, etc.) when he entered ministry. (NIV, Isaiah 9:6, italicized)

Calvary did nothing to change his saving authority and ability; his disciples and others entered the new birth during Christ’s ministry, becoming believers in Christ as God’s plan of salvation.

Jesus never said, I would like to heal you of that disease, or deliver you from those demons, or raise your brother from the dead, or calm the storm, or walk on water, or forgive sins, etc., but I cannot do that now because of I need to be rejected, tortured, and killed, and then I’ll be who God said the Messiah will be!

God is not in the business of physically crucifying man or woman on the cross; he made clear his heart about the offering of the firstborn to the fire in the Old Testament.

He did not create human beings for killing, that is the work of the enemy (John 10:10).

You do not save men and women by the physical death of someone (Messiah), you save them by healing and restoration – by grafting them into a new vine, one overflowing with the Spirit of life for cleansing and healing.

Jesus did not allow his trial, conviction, torture, and killing to save you and me; he was the Savior when he entered ministry.

He chose Calvary versus the sword because of his Father’s “preference,” (see Greek interlinear and Strongs) and because in his heart of hearts he could not start killing those he spent the entirety of his ministry trying to save, knowing too much if that is possible about grace and suffering, that suffering is momentary compared to eternal glory.

He would give them more time to come to forgiveness (Matthew 26:28).

Taking the Kingdom by force would sabotage everything he had laid in place for furthering the Gospel over the last three years.

If Christ had taken up the sword, what would that look like to those outside of Israel and future generations?

What would taking up the sword say of God’s plan to have an intimate free-will love relationship with the most wonderful of his creation, men, and women?

Is not the heart of the Gospel about a loving relationship with Christ and our Heavenly Father, coming from the freedom to choose and pursue, growing and maturing in intimate union with our creator?

Is not the heart of the Gospel about healing and restoration in growing intimacy and union (Isaiah 61), beginning with Christ first, and then those who seek Christ, a journey of choices, a free will offering of oneself to God?

If Christ took up arms, what would that mean to Isaiah’s prophecies and others of Christ coming first like a lamb: giving the entirety of his being to the will of God to be made complete – a living “blood” sacrifice – suffering the journey of putting sin to death, perfectly, “becoming” the New Covenant in flesh and blood?

If God created hearts for instruction, training, and making unto righteousness, how would Christ taking up arms, forcing acceptance, change God’s plan of salvation of “making through journey” men and women into the likeness of Christ?

Important

Christ, born “to sacrifice his life,” “God with us,” “Savior,” experientially sacrificed his life on the cross of grace through faith, destroying the barrier of sin between his flesh and the law, made perfect by his Father, raised from mortality to immortality, resurrection life. (Romans 6:10; Ephesians 2:14-16 see an interlinear; Hebrews 5:7-10)

He became the “radiance of God’s glory…the exact representation of his being” (NIV, Hebrews 1:3, italicized mine) the tabernacle of God in flesh and blood (John 3:34; Colossians 1:19), our Savior not just in name, as a child, but in experiential fullness of Spirit before he entered ministry.

God’s wrath on sinful man and woman could only be appeased by one born of the seed of man and Spirit of God, one who could be fathered to put sin to death perfectly, who was not predisposed to sin at birth, but born into grace, who could demonstrate grace through faith is victorious over the curse of sin.

Christ is the only one who could put sin to death perfectly without sinning, destroying generational sins passed to him by his human ancestry, because he was not pre-disposed to sin like everybody else, having God as his Father, giving grace and faith a chance to work through “the law of the Spirit who gives life.” (NIV, Romans 8:2, italicized mine)

***

A good portion of this series (deeper truths, interconnections, meanings, relationships, etc.) have come to me while writing.

It is amazing no matter how deep the Lord takes you, there is always more around the next corner, not less.

The closer you get to Jesus, the more dependent you become on him – the greatest and safest place any Christian can be!

It takes time for the Lord to bring deeper revelations of his Word and Spirit, depending upon the scope of “heart preparation” before he can safely share deeper truths along with his Spirit. (Psalm 23; Isaiah 43:18)

No one (speaking of Christians) can just walk unannounced into a King’s banquet clothed with the temporal pleasures of this life, satiated in the world’s judgments, and practiced ways of living, and expect seating next to Christ.

Paul, Peter, James, and others in the New Testament did not see it that way (John 21:18-19; Romans 6; 2 Cor. 4:10-12, 7:1; Ephesians 5:26-27; Philippians 3).

I am not talking about the new birth or Pentecost, but the journey of intimate union with Christ – a growing closeness requiring courtship through knowing and being known, i.e., measures of cleansing and healing through transformation. (Matthew 7:21-23, 25:1-13; Romans 6; 2 Cor. 7:1)

See Jesus’ letter to the Church of Laodicea.

He could not make the Laodiceans one with him because they needed cleansing and healing – they were his children but not his bride to be.

Even within the priesthood, there are those allowed to minister to Christ, and those who are not (Ezekiel Chapter 44).

We are not all the same of this earth, nor will we be in the Kingdom of God.

Solomon spoke of the queens, virgins, concubines, and the choice one.

Jesus had the three and the twelve.

There are twenty-four elders, the living creatures (brides from all ages), and those martyred in the Tribulation, the 144,000, nations, and kings in Revelation.

Good Soil

To be effective, the promise of the new work of God in the 21^st century, i.e., “Philadelphia” * must have a “measure” of good soil for the Lord to work with.

Soil seeking release from suffocating weeds, thorns, thistles, rocks, from previous generations, structures of sin passed from the last generation, and the “additions” we have made to it.

If our hearts require new soil, the Lord knows how to bring that about.

* Philadelphia is the name of Christ’s letter to the Church and is also descriptive of the final Christian pilgrimage – coming into intimacy and union with Christ, the love of the brethren.

* Tabernacles, the final feast in the OT (Trumpets, Atonement, Booths) is fulfilled in the NT first in Christ’s pioneering journey, made complete, fathered by God, and then in our journey in Christ, coming into intimacy and union with him, which is the specific and focused work in this hour of history in the age of Philadelphia.

* One could say Philadelphia describes more of the outcome and Tabernacles more of the journey, but they are substantially the same.

One could say Philadelphia is the NT name of Tabernacles (Trumpets, Atonement, Booths) of the OT.

Tabernacles and Philadelphia are descriptive titles to the labor of the Lord healing and restoring men and women; like Isaiah 53:4-6 and Hebrews 4:12-13 are to one another, but more detailed.

***

For the labor (new work, Isaiah 43:18-19) of the Spirit in Philadelphia (Tabernacles) to take root and bear good fruit, the Holy Spirit must do advance preparatory work cultivating Godly desire, passion, and sorrow.

There must be a measure of understanding our wounds (low hanging bad fruit we see and know about) and the wounds we have caused to others.

The Lord must prepare hearts in advance for encounter with him.

He must position them in an environment of prayer, seeking, and waiting, as the Lord step by step prepares the soil of the heart for his Word and Spirit.

It takes much labor (patience and dedication on our part) to prepare someone for the deep labor of the Spirit in the revelation of Christ (1 Peter 1:13; John 21:18-19); it is not something to be hurried as resources and people must come together at the right time and place to prepare the heart properly for the journey ahead.

It is extremely complicated, something only the Lord can do, to bring people and resources together for cleansing, healing, and restoration.

There is no magic wand waving on the road to intimacy and union with Christ.

Jesus works through the body for the body, laboring over years to connect resources from one to another at the right time and place; Philadelphia (Tabernacles) being exponentially more intensive than general prayer ministry and inner healing.

Because Tabernacles is about cleansing, healing, and restoring “deeply” in the heart and mind the likeness of Christ; destroying generational strongholds by the cross of grace through faith; uprooting the enemy’s plantings.

It is about sowing new seed in soil cleansed of sin and the power of darkness; transforming “the sinful nature in agreements, lies, and wounds, etc.” from the fall to the new creation in Christ, the heart of his Isaiah 61 Commission.

It is about deep fathering, being known and knowing, learning obedience, grace, faith, discipline, in the intimate care and love of Christ and the Father.

***

Intricately fused with growing intimacy and union “transformation” (2 Cor. 3:18; Philippians 3:20-21), partaking “in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4, italicized mine), through cleansing and healing (putting sin to death, Romans 6:5; 2 Cor. 4:10-12; 1 Peter 1:13) are deeper and richer revelations of God’s Word and Spirit.

More appropriately, the more intimate we become with Jesus the greater revelation of God’s Word and the moving of his Spirit we will receive.

Deeper understandings of God’s Word and the moving of his Spirit are essential to the journey of glorification (Tabernacles/Philadelphia); you cannot have one without the other.

The more cleansing and healing, the more revelation, training, and instruction in the Spirit, and vice versa, taking men and women deeper into wholeness and holiness, the path Jesus pioneered for making you and me into his likeness.

The Great Awakenings and Pentecost revivals, though wonderful in their day, will pale in comparison when the fullness of God comes to fruition in his saints publicly in the great end-time revival.

Just as there is no comparison between the Outer Court and the Holy of Holies, wheat, and barley harvests with the harvests of summer fruit, nuts, and olives, there will be no comparison between earlier revivals and the end-time revival and harvest.

***

“‘I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron.’” (NIV, Isaiah 45:2; see also Psalm 107:16)

The havoc and fierceness of the enemy is no match for the power of God in cleansing and healing those who earnestly seek intimacy with him.

Jesus will not allow the enemy to keep you and me from intimacy and union!

He is determined to have a bride in the last of the last days.

He will not let the enemy destroy the end-time bride he conceived, birthed, and brought to maturity and completion, though the enemy lingers in eager expectation of destroying those who come into Sonship (Rev. 12:4).

Jesus is jealous for those who are jealous for him.

The God of Psalms 16, 18, and 23, who ushers his children into deep “fathering,” bringing them into Sonship, the glories of intimate union in the last day move of the Spirit in Tabernacles (Rev. 3:7-13, 12:5, 19:7; Ephesians 4:13), will keep his glorious ones safely from the enemy’s strategies of destruction during and after the end-time revival (Psalm 91; Rev. 12:5).

He will use those who gave their all to him in the Philadelphia journey to wound the beast (the Red Dragon waiting to destroy those who come to maturity and completion (NIV, Rev. 12:4)) in the end-time revival.

Where Christians and non-Christians with long standing afflictions of flesh, soul, and spirit, having suffered greatly under the whip of the enemy through generational transgression and iniquities, barely clinging to life, have those same wounds “wounded” (destroyed) by God through healing and restoration.

Yes, before the Tribulation, God will bring a last day corporate “wound” to the Antichrist system, “the Spirit of the age,” through the depth and breadth of revival in healing and restoring men and women from all levels of society.

The “wounds” the enemy has lavished on humanity through the sinful desires and passions of the flesh will suffer “wounding” by the Lord in one last great outreach to the lost before the ax falls to the root of the global Antichrist system.

Christ “wounding” our “wounds” is a good thing, exposing our wounds and brokenness and the sins that feed upon them so we will, hopefully, be open to cleansing and healing – his Isaiah 61 Commission.

Untold millions will come to Christ after seeing and hearing the testimonies of the thousands upon thousands who experience divine cleansing and healing, “shaking and wounding” the Antichrist system to its core during revival for a short season.

Make no mistake about it, the enemy will do everything he can to disrupt, sidetrack, and destroy the plan of God in this hour of history.

But, if we keep our hearts in the right place by the grace of God, Jesus will see his work to fruition and the enemy destroyed finally in your life and mine.

I pray and hope, if you have not done so already, you seek the deep work of grace specifically reserved and promised by Jesus for this time of history.

Finally, Christians from all levels of society have entered the inner healing movement over the last half century.

There is a new phase now, and coming, richer, deeper, and quicker.

Now, more than ever, is the time to seek the Lord with your whole heart for “his” desire and intimate plan for your life.

** Comparing the Days of Noah with the

Age of Philadelphia (“coming of the Son of Man”) and Laodicea **

 (NIV, Matthew 24:37, underline and italicized mine)

Overview

I must admit, there is not as much as I would have liked to have on Noah in this post, because it gets to be too much for my proofing department (me!) if the post is too long.

I have new revelatory material drafted on Noah, and Christ’s comparison to the last days, for the next post.

To my surprise as I started this venture, I found out there is much similarity between the days of the Noah and the Philadelphia-Laodicea church ages and the end-times (I generally refer to the end-times as the short season beginning with the “great revival” until the start of the Tribulation).

Again, the comparison of the days of Noah with the present season and end-times is striking.

The phrase “coming of the Son of Man” * refers to the entire age of the Gospel, about two millenniums. (NIV, Matt. 24:37)

We on the cusp of the end-times, a short season of time before the Tribulation, must also consider what Jesus meant in relationship to other events, like the first and second revealing of the Antichrist and wound, last great harvest of souls, great falling away, bride, rapture, etc.

* The heart of the coming of the Lord (see also John 14:18,23, 17:21; 21:18-19; 1 Cor. 4:5; 2 Cor. 5:10; Gal. 4:19; Eph. 1:14, 5:26-27; Phil. 3:20-21; Col. 3:4; Hebrews 9:28; 1 John 3:2) to make his children intimate and one with him is the deep work of the Spirit of grace in the revelation of Christ, 1 Peter 1:13, in the season of Philadelphia (Tabernacles) Rev. 3:7-13, reserved for the last of the last days.

The coming in Matthew 24:37 is a twofold coming; FIRST, the coming of Christ to make those who seek him one with him, fathering orphans to sonship; SECOND, the coming of those who have come to completion to minister to others, like the Apostles, and others through the centuries who have come to completion, especially those who come to completion in the last of the last days in Philadelphia.

Note:

The “last days” in Scripture generally covers the entire era of the Gospel.

Sometimes I refer to the present season of Philadelphia/Laodicea (concurrent church ages) as the last of the last days, other times as the last days, assuming the reader knows what I am writing about.

Technically, the “last of the last days” would be the Millennium, Christ’s 1,000-year rule.

Hopefully, it is apparent Christendom is approaching another epic time of crossing one border and, either,

entering the glorious fruit of intimate union with Christ in the season of “Philadelphia (Tabernacles)” pictured:

in the journey of being made clean in Eph. 5:26-27; baptized with the same baptism Christ pioneered Ro. 6:5 and 8:10-11; given new names in Rev. 3:7-13; mature and complete in Eph. 4:13; brought to an even deeper place in the Spirit with Christ during the last great revival described in 1 Thess. 4:15-18 (a description of the bride moved by the Spirit in the end-time revival),

and pictured in the “son” of Rev. 12:5 (a picture of the rapture just before the Tribulation), seen as the living creatures (after the rapture) of Revelation, or,

for those of “Laodicea,” entering a restored and more brutal Antichrist system under the false prophet (after having recovered from the wounding of revival).

Christians from Laodicea who do not take the mark of the Beast will rule with Christ in the Millennium along with their Philadelphian brethren, but their route will be most difficult having to reject the mark of the Beast to make it through the first half of the Tribulation.

Please note, contrary to popular opinion, 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4 is not about the rapture, but about coming to maturity and completion in intimate union with Christ, bonded to him in union here, in this realm, and ministry in the Spirit.

It is a picture of union with Christ like Ezekiel saw of the living creatures.

Men and women of God used by the Spirit to bring revival via Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission on such scale and depth it wounds the Beast for a short season, ushering untold millions into the Kingdom of God before the Tribulation.

Notice the difference between caught away from sin, bonded to the Lord in intimate union (1 Thess. Chapter 4) in this realm versus caught away from this realm into the Heavens (Rev. 12:5), the rapture of the end-time bride, pictured as the living creatures in Revelation.

“With the return of the nation of Israel (Hosea 6:2), completion of the Sardis church age (1500s to last half of the 20^th century), and,

preparatory transition to Philadelphia (Tabernacles) over the last five decades through parachurch “inner healing” ministries, along with,

the greatly expanded knowledge of fathering (John 14:18,23) sons and daughters out of the sinful nature of wounds and brokenness through inner healing, breaking of agreements, lies, etc., (putting sin to death), raised to walk in new life in areas once sold to sin and darkness, is resulting in,  

testimonies of sons and daughters presently “experiencing” the deep work of the Spirit in Philadelphia, the journey of intimate union with Christ, fathering by Christ toward maturity and completion,

because of these activities of the Spirit in the body of Christ, we know for a certainty we are in the last days nearing the end-times.”

Until the Lord begins deep fathering in Philadelphia toward intimate union, we are “orphans” in his eyes no matter the depth and extent of our ministries.

Ministries do not make us men and women of God, only intimate fathering does.

Ministry, scholarship, etc., is not a stamp of “fathering.”

The stamp of “fathering” is Christ likeness from union with Christ, from having undergone the wilderness journey with the Lord, cleansing and healing, the deep work of the Spirit of grace in the revelation of Christ.

After all, the disciples were Christians when Jesus said they were orphans, having already experienced the new birth.

And Jesus warned (in separate stories) the foolish virgins and those who did miracles they did not know him though they were followers of Christ at the most basic level.

It is undeniably clear the Scripture shows the disciples were believers before Calvary, having been born again, receiving revelation by the Spirit and ministering in Christ’s name.

Though the deep work of the Spirit in “Philadelphia” and the neglect of seeking intimacy with Christ of “Laodicea” are part of the broader end-times, publicly, the end-times will not be apparent until the last great revival and the rapture (which happens later), for those who completed their journey through Philadelphia.

Keeping your focus on Israel, Middle East, Russia, Turkey, China, Iran, etc., or American politics will not give insight into the end-times, deepen your relationship with Christ, strengthen your spiritual members, deepen your understanding of the Word and the moving of God’s Spirit, but rather pull you farther away from Jesus.

No political party is going to save America.

Humanity has crossed the point of no return; it is now a matter of time before the Lord closes the door to Philadelphia and begins to set in motion the last days.

I believe from what I see happening in the Spirit in people’s lives we are in the last half of the season of Philadelphia.

The Lord gave the Northern and Southern Kingdoms more time, the Hebrews another forty years before entering Canaan’s land, and Israel another forty years after Christ before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.

We are in “extra time” the Lord is giving the Church today, stretching the season of Philadelphia so more have the chance to enter and come to maturity and completion, the fullness of his Isaiah 61 Commission.

Great revivals occurred before the “old” ways were set aside to make room for the new, the last great revival followed by the Tribulation is no exception.

Noah, his Ark and preaching, was a “revival” giving notice to the lost they should cry out to God in repentance.

The slaying of the Kings by Abraham gave notice, the plagues on Egypt and freeing of the Hebrews gave notice to Canaan’s land, Elijah’s revival gave notice to Ahab and Jezebel, God gave the Southern Kingdom one last alter call through Josiah, the greatest Passover Israel ever had, and Christ and the Apostles gave one last alter call to the people of Israel before their time came to an end.

We know from the Word there is a last day great revival followed by the rapture, followed by the second and more brutal revealing of the Antichrist ushering the world into the darkness and brutality of the Tribulation.

The most important knowledge a Christian can possess now is the understanding the labor of the Lord is preparing and equipping men and women for intimate union with him, what he reserved in Philadelphia for the last days.

This is the heart of the Gospel for all church ages, and especially now, in the season of Philadelphia, reserved as the centerpiece of God’s labor in the last of the last days to bring those who seek him to maturity and completeness.

Of all seasons, this is not the season to be focused on world events, for they come and go like the tide, wasting valuable spiritual energy and time when the Spirit is whispering the hour is late, it is time to turn your eyes from the temporal to the eternal through what I have reserved for you in this present hour.

Jesus is saying in this hour, “Come and hide away in me.”

World events have nothing to offer you and me other than the Gospel of what the enemy is doing in the world, displayed daily through almost every form of media the work of the Spirit of this age in fallen men, women, and nations.

But like the Word exhorts, let us keep the eyes and ears of our heart focused on Christ (NIV, Hebrews 12:2).

This is the time to seek the Lord for encounter, just like the Word says, for cleansing, healing, fathered into intimate union, while the door to Philadelphia is open – because one day it will close.

***

You cannot write about the “coming of the Son of Man” without also speaking about the most important event in human history – the foundation of the Christian faith in Christ’s pioneering journey to completion before his ministry. (NIV, Matthew 24:37)

And you cannot cover Christ’s pioneering journey, which unsurprisingly, is the subject of much of the Apostle’s writings, including most of Hebrews, without also covering Christ’s invitation for us to seek him for his “fathering” journey with us, especially in the season of time he reserved for that purpose, Philadelphia.

Christ’s pioneering journey to completion (Romans 6:10; Ephesians 2:14-15 see an interlinear; Hebrews 5:7-10), the last season of the Church in Philadelphia (“coming of the Son of Man”) and Laodicea (“lukewarm”), and the “days of Noah” and other last day events, are interrelated. (NIV, Matthew 24:37 and Revelation 3:16, italicized mine)

The heart of Noah’s story, Christ’s, and ours, is relationship with God.

Where are we in our journey, are we in a place where intimacy with Christ is “taught and pursued,” and if so, how deep have we allowed our Savior to take us toward union with him, are questions needing to be asked today.

For us living in the last days, spiritual milestones (new birth, Pentecost, spiritual gifts, ministries and offices, and Tabernacles, (Philadelphia), the final Christian pilgrimage) are not in and of themselves the vision of the Gospel of Christ.

In the beginning, God clearly expressed his heart was to father men and women into his image and likeness through relationship, the heart of the Gospel of Christ, to be made intimate and one with him (John 17:21; Romans 8:10-11, 8:19, 8:23, 8:30; 2 Cor. 3:18; Phil. 3:20-21).

Please remember, image and likeness come from journey, it is not instantaneous but are qualities that come with walking in journey with God.

Because God did not create the heart perfect, but created it to be made perfect in growing intimacy with him, thus the fall from grace by Adam and Eve.

Adam and Eve were created without flaws but not “perfect in relationship” – that takes time and journey “in relationship.”

God’s vision for men and women is fellowship and connection leading to intimacy and union, to know and be known; to share the deepest parts of our hearts with God knowing we are safe and secure in the love and care of Christ Jesus.

That every part of our being, body, soul, and spirit, has the revelation of Christ, his nature and presence, knitted to Jesus’ heart, submitted to the kindness of his will, where “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (NIV, Galatians 2:20)

Becoming “known” to Christ, where “‘in him we live and move and have our being.’” (NIV, Acts 17:28)

These and similar passages about “made one with Christ,” into his likeness, are not symbolic of transformation to come in Heaven, something impossible to apprehend here (in Christ) – on the contrary, the authors of the New Testament believed and experienced the fullness of transformation, the new creation, in this life through “fathering,” formed and fashioned into the likeness of Christ on the cross of grace through faith.

This is what many of the New Testament “appearing, coming, taking, revealing, judging, etc.” Scriptures are about.

These and other Scriptures point to the promise of intimate union with Christ this side of Heaven.

Again, according to Scripture, the journey of “transformation” of the body, soul, and spirit – men and women made intimate and one with Jesus – is for this side of the great divide in the fullness of Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission.

This is the focused labor of the Lord in the present season of Philadelphia, making a corporate bride for the Lord.

We see a picture of the raptured corporate bride in Revelation Chapter 4, the “living creatures,” showing the various attributes of Christ made through “transformation” of his bride.

The “living creatures” are a picture of those who came to completion in Philadelphia (Tabernacles (and those who came to maturity from past ages)), having ministered in the last great revival, raptured just before the second revealing of the Antichrist.

The ox, eagle, lion, and man are all attributes of Christ imparted in the journey of Christ “fathering orphans into sonship,” making men and women intimate and one with him through cleansing, healing, and restoration, just like he promised in his word and Commission (Isaiah 61).

I wrote about the ox, eagle, lion, and man earlier in this series, what they represent to Christ and the impartation and transformation of his nature into his sons and daughters in journey with him, as Peter says, we are partakers of the “divine nature.” (NIV, 2 Peter 1:4, italicized mine)

When you begin the journey of Tabernacles (Philadelphia), the last leg of the Christian pilgrimage, if you have not already begun, you will know what I mean.

Tabernacles is the most precious, wonderful, life-giving journey one can ever experience this side of Heaven – the greatest grace for the greatest promise of the Gospel era.

Though individuals have experienced Tabernacles throughout the millenniums, Jesus reserved a special season specifically for men and women to come to completion before the Gospel era closes.

Though, through the lens of the nightly news, it only looks like sin is coming to another time of fullness, God is doing a hidden work, from the eyes of the enemy, laboring to bring his children to completeness in journey with him.

You will not find God’s labor on the nightly news, or likely mentioned in your local church, but you will find it popping up in parachurch ministries here and there, small groups, and in inner healing and counseling circles.

In Noah’s day, he received the greatest grace and promise available for his time.

A measure of grace to build an Ark in a hostile environment, to preach and witness to the lost, and importantly, a measure of grace to hear the voice of God for decades as he labored to succeed in fulfilling God’s will for his life and family.

We have a greater grace today than Noah, not only to transit from one era to another without suffering physical death, but to come to maturity and completion, something not available to Noah.

This is one of many reasons why comparing the days of Noah with the present seasons of Philadelphia and Laodicea are so telling and revealing.

Water, Blood, & Spirit

Washing of the Word, Sacrifice, & Healing Fire of the Spirit

Like the days of Noah, God is doing a similar work in the 21^st century, though, by far, on a much greater scale not only in the depth of men and women’s identity, but also in their destiny through healing and restoration.

It is a depth and breadth few have apprehended in the past, travelling even deeper in the next few decades.

Like Noah, the Lord is bringing those who seek him into greater trust and confidence, sharing his plans, but unlike Noah, bringing men and women to maturity and completeness, deeply “fathering” eternal vessels with his glory.

The Lord is fathering men and women into his likeness, formed, and fashioned by the baptismal “waters and fire” of the Holy Spirit, made intimate and one with Christ (body, soul, and spirit, 1 Thess. 5:23).

[(Matthew 3:11; Romans 6; 2 Cor. 4:7, 7:1; Ephesians 5:26-27; 1 Thess. 5:23; 2 Peter 3:12, this last passage is about the new creation in Christ, the water of the Spirit cleansing while the “fire” of the Spirit destroys sin “transforming” our nature into the nature of Christ.

The sudden appearing of Christ (2 Peter Chapter 3) is not about the destruction of this creation and the new Heavens and Earth of Revelation Chapter 21, but, about his coming to make his children intimate and one with him, Matthew 24:36-25:13.

Peter is speaking from the “view of the Spirit” when the enemy is put to death and God’s children are raised to Sonship, resurrection life, how they walk in the new creation – the cleansed and restored Heavenly and Earthly realm of resurrection life in Christ, the Lord having removed and destroyed the structures of sin.

Please read 1 Thess. 5:23 in an interlinear. This is not about us being already “blameless at the coming” (NIV, italicized mine), i.e., Jesus “finding” us blameless, but rather, about his coming to “make” you and me “blameless” in him, like its sister Scripture, Ephesians 5:26-27, Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission.)]

Noah’s Ark foretold, in a broad way, the forming and fashioning to come of men and women to “hold, carry, and present” the attributes of Christ through the coming “rain” and “fire” of revival.

Those who have not learned to swim in the deep waters of Christ (1 Peter 1:13), “weighed down” by sin and the cares of this life, missing the promise of transformation in journey with Christ (Philadelphia), will be greatly challenged when the “rain and fire” of God’s presence comes in revival like a flood.

It is the “grace” of God through the gentle conviction of the Holy Spirit “the washing with water through the word” (NIV, Eph. 5:26) leading to repentance (Romans 2:4), releasing the “sacrifice” of the body, soul, and spirit, from the enemy’s claims into the fire of God’s cleansing and healing into Christ likeness.

The enemy will greatly tempt those who do not take the way of rescue (from the effects of this world through cleansing and healing) to see and interpret their “nature” as their “true” identity and destiny.

These are not warnings to the lost, but to Christians, because the longer one walks in a state of “lukewarmness” the greater the propensity to resist healing and restoration unless and until some kind of triggering event occurs, like bad fruit “sin” (which was the case for me) or sickness (which also happened to me).

Symbolically, the generations in Noah’s day were not able to “swim” (i.e., missing God’s instructions on how to build an Ark) in the floodwaters of the Spirit, having neglected washing by the water of God’s presence and instructions like Noah.

Similarly, the men and women of Sodom could not “suffer” the burning heat of God’s holy fire – a fire designed to cleanse a repentant heart, but the opposite for an unrepentant heart embracing sin.

For a season of time, God purged the Northern Kingdom of their sins by both “water and fire” under the ministry of Elijah on Mount Carmel.

The fire of the hottest furnace in Babylon could not hurt Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego because they could “suffer” the heat of God’s fire having been (symbolically) purged of their sins in journey with God, having repentant hearts.

Important

Today in 21st century America, unlike anytime in human history, we have access to “the washing with water through the word” (John 13:1-17; NIV, Ephesians 5:26, bold and italicized mine), having unprecedented access to Scripture and spiritual resources, whether from a local body or parachurch ministry.

The scripture says, “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (NIV, Ecclesiastes 4:12), a universal truth.

In 1 John Chapter 5 we read of the testimony of the water, blood, and Spirit.

Noah had a threefold testimony.

First, the testimony of the word of God setting him apart, receiving the cleansing (water) of the “word” (washing away of sins through repentance) over the course of his life in growing relationship with God.

This helped prepare him for the day of God’s special mission and the deeper sanctification he would experience through the journey of building the Ark.

Secondly, the sacrifice of his life, especially the sacrifice of the “whole of his life” (foretelling the symbolism of a living blood sacrifice) in obedience to God in building the Ark.

Third, the witness of the Spirit upon Noah, anointing him not only to pursue righteousness for him and his family, but for the unrighteous of his day; “a preacher of righteousness” fathered by God. (NIV, 2 Peter 2:5, italicized mine)

I am not suggesting God made Noah experientially clean, walking in New Testament cleansing and healing, but there was a measure of “rightness” before God setting him apart from others in his day.

A “rightness” birthed from a repentant heart, drawing him close to God into the special and unique plan the Lord had for him and his family.

Noah foretold of an age to come, where men and women would draw close to God in repentance and forgiveness by grace through faith seeking to give the entirety of their life to God for experiential cleansing and healing from sin.

Again, though not to the same extent, Noah foretold, like those listed in the hall of faith, the pioneering work of Christ, fathered by God, of cleansing, healing, and restoration.

By listening, receiving, and entering by grace through faith into the words of God Noah was (symbolically) foretelling “the washing with water through the word.” (NIV, Ephesians 5:26, underline and italicized mine)

To a limited extent, he became a “living sacrifice” (foretelling a living blood sacrifice) by obeying God’s leading to lay down his life in building the Ark.

Submitting to God’s labor of fathering him by the water of the Word, Noah offered a living sacrifice by grace through faith, by which the Spirit through Noah’s submission transformed his earthly habitation (symbolically) into an eternal dwelling (foretelling resurrection life and the rapture), capable of surviving the flood of God’s Spirit cleansing the earth of sin.

Thus, we can say Noah, a type of Christ, foretold the pioneering work of Christ and our journey in Christ in Philadelphia by:

putting sin to death (Romans 6:5, 6:10; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Hebrews 5:7-10), “washing with water through the word” (NIV, Ephesians 5:26, underline and italicized mine),

sacrificing the whole of his life (pointing forward to Christ’s living blood sacrifice and our sacrifice in Christ) to God by grace through faith and obedience,

having the temple of his dwelling (symbolically) transformed from earthly to heavenly by the power of the Spirit, becoming (symbolically) a new creation, entering resurrected life, raised from justification to glorification, escaping the wrath to come.

The New Testament is the promised age foretold by Noah and others, and, unlike any time during the New Testament era to date, the 21^st century age of Philadelphia (Tabernacles) is the season for complete fulfillment.

It is also the last church age in the New Testament era for the mystery of Christ – intimate union, the “making” of cleansed and healed eternal vessels of body, soul, and spirit.

Unprecedented Season

We live in an unprecedented time of church history where the labor of the Lord is focused on fulfilling in fullness the promise of his Isaiah 61 Commission, or as John describes as the ‘three-bearing witness’ to the testimony of Christ, and us in Christ, “the Spirit, the water and the blood” (NIV, 1 John 5: 8).

This is important, Jesus has labored for almost two millenniums to bring the body of Christ into a season where an abundance of resources is available to fulfill his Commission finally in “fullness” in the age of the Gospel, the season he calls Philadelphia.

The water represents the washing of the word of Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission, cleansing and healing of body, soul, and spirit, from agreements, lies, vows, expectancies, etc., of the enemy, necessary for intimacy with Christ. (Hebrews 4:12-13; Ephesians 5:26-27)

Inner healing prayer ministry, fathering, and anointed counseling are key resources the Lord uses to wash wounds and the sins that feed upon them.

The blood represents the sacrifice of the entirety of our lives to God as an offering “a living sacrifice,” the greatest offering we can make to God by following Christ’s pioneering path. (NIV, Romans 12:1; 1 Corinthians 15:23, 15:45-49; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 2:10, 6:20)

The journey of becoming intimate and one with Christ in Philadelphia (Tabernacles) requires sacrifice, it is not something we decide, but something the Lord leads us into; areas under the enemy’s bondage where Jesus wants to bring freedom (Galatians 5:17).

Christ is the only one to give a “true” blood sacrifice, giving the entirety of his life including rights and privileges to the Father in his journey of putting sin to death, made perfect, entering eternal resurrection life before his ministry.

Creeds and traditions have twisted Spirit led words and concepts into something God did not intend, nor Christ meant, and sacrifice – a living blood sacrifice – is one of them, because it is the last thing the enemy wants us to know about Christ for obvious reasons.

If we believe salvation (atonement) occurred at Calvary, then salvation is an event, completely missing Christ’s pioneering journey, the pattern he created and established for our journey in him.

The new birth and Pentecost are not a significant threat to darkness – there are millions of Christians today yet the enemy becomes stronger than ever, so much, the Scripture describes a Great Falling Away from faith in Christ in the last of the last days through the first half of the Tribulation.

But Tabernacles, the deep work of the Spirit in Philadelphia, fathered from orphans to “sonship” (Ro. 6:5, 8:10-11, 8:19, NIV, Ro. 8:23 bold and italicized mine, Ro. 8:30, 12:1-2; 1 Peter 1:13; Rev. 3:7-13), is a major threat to the Kingdom of darkness.

Because it is the journey of deep fathering, becoming intimate and one with Christ, coming to walk in the fullness of the new creation, having had the Spirit destroy the Kingdom of darkness in one’s life; becoming not intimate with the Lord – the wonder of the Gospel, what we were created for – but also a resource he can use to help advance the Kingdom of God in others.

[(The “death to sin, blood sacrifice, raised to life” spoken of Christ in the first half of Romans points to his journey to completion, which Paul not only instructs us to follow in Chapters 6 through 8, but emphasizes it in Romans 12:1-2.

Romans 3:25 is not about Calvary, but Christ’s pioneering journey to perfection – a living blood sacrifice – giving the entirety of his life to God, putting sin to death perfectly, raised to resurrection life before his ministry. (Romans 6:10, Hebrews 5:7-10; John 6:53-63; 1 Cor. 2:13 (it is best to read Ro. 3:25 in an interlinear).

Please remember, a blood sacrifice in the “New Testament” was not the fluid flowing in Christ’s body or ours today, but what blood represents – life in the Spirit from becoming (made) a living sacrifice to God.

It is the source of the new creation in Christ, a new spiritual bloodline, the eternal life of the Spirit flowing from God through Christ to those grafted into him.)]

The third witness John writes, the Spirit, represents the refining fire of God’s Holy presence “fathering,” “transforming,” and “fashioning,” men and women from the fall into the risen nature of Christ.

The Spirit brings the labor of Christ all together, marrying the washing of the Word, sacrifice of life, and power of God, to “pour new wine into new wineskins” (NIV, Matthew 9:17; Matthew 3:11; 1 Thess. 2: 13; 2 Peter Chapter 3) making the new creation, Christ the firstborn and first fruit.

2 Peter Chapter 3 (In Brief)

Before God redeems and restores the natural realm of the Heavens and Earth, he must first redeem and restore the natural and spiritual “Heaven and Earth” of our body, soul, and spirit.

After all, our fall from grace and faith brought the curse of sin upon us first, then the larger creation.

Likewise, God must first restore the spiritual Heaven and Earth where we “live and move and have our being” (NIV, Acts 17:28), our body, soul, and spirit.

This is what Peter is describing in 2 Peter Chapter 3, our person, body, soul, and spirit, and not what John beholds in Revelation Chapters 21 and 22.

Notice all the imagery Peter uses in 2 Peter climaxing in Chapter 3 with the imagery of what our journey to completion looks like from the “throne room of God,” when the Kingdom of darkness in the heavenlies is destroyed in one’s life, having the structures of sin put to death, soul and spirit brought to “nakedness” for cleansing, healing, and restoration. (Psalm 51:17; Matthew 3:11; Romans 6, etc.; Hebrews 4:12-13, 12:26-27, etc.)

In other words, the context of 2 Peter is about the deep work of the Spirit, the coming of Christ and the Father to their children as promised to make them one with them.

Important

Peter has undergone the journey of union with Christ, having a Heavenly perspective like never before, describing the labor of God (2 Peter Chapter 3, the coming of the Lord to prepare a bride) from how it appears from Heaven’s balcony.

We must remember the authors of the NT speak from their “spiritual position in Christ, what they have apprehended,” like Jesus did (the only one who apprehended perfection), seeing life from the perspective of God and not man, drawing men and women heavenward in spirit and understanding (1 Cor. 2:13).

When Peter speaks about the new heavens and earth in Chapter 3, he is describing what the Spirit sees – what he has experienced spiritually in putting sin to death, raised to walk in new life – not how the uninitiated, whether Christian or non-Christian might see or think of things.

Please remember he is speaking in the language of the NT, not the OT.

***

It is important to note before the Lord begins the deep work of the Spirit, he must first fortify our foundation of “confidence, trust, and faith” in him.

Once he is satisfied, we are ready to begin the journey through the opening into Philadelphia (Tabernacles) where he begins answering our prayers and hope for wholeness and holiness in him.

Our prayers for wholeness and holiness, Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission, “birth” during the season of seeking encounter with Christ, the preparatory phase of God’s labor before we are ushered into the deep work of Philadelphia.

And as described above, he accomplishes what he sets out to do (with our cooperation) by:

“washing with water through the word” cleansing our wounds and brokenness and the structures of sins rooted in them (NIV, Eph. 5:26, underline and italicized mine),

fathering us through repentance and forgiveness,

forming and fashioning his nature by writing his “living word” in our hearts and minds (Hebrews Chapters 8 & 10) by the transforming power of the Spirit, (2 Cor. 3:18; Philippians 3:20-21; Romans 6:5)

as we, (restrained by the Spirit from seeking the works of the flesh for our wounds and sins), on the cross of grace through faith (Romans 6:5; Ephesians 2:8; Galatians 5:17), offer our body, soul, and spirit as a living sacrifice – a blood sacrifice (in eyes of Heaven) – waiting for our promised healing and restoration.

This is the labor the Lord is doing today in Philadelphia (Tabernacles) through inner healing prayer ministries, deep fathering, anointed counseling, and other resources the Lord has anointed and prepared for the deep work of the Spirit.

Noah had never seen a flood or built a vessel, that we know, yet he moved in obedience and reverence to do something he had never done or seen. (Heb. 11:7)

The new birth was not “known” until God moved upon pioneers in the 1500s to birth the born again experience again; the same with Pentecost in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The final Christian pilgrimage in Tabernacles, made intimate and one with Christ, is no different.

Just like the new birth and Pentecost, we did not know what the final pilgrimage, Tabernacles, offered, until the Lord revealed a deeper understanding of his Word by preparing and bringing men and women into the Philadelphia season of deep fathering and transformation, the promised coming of the Lord.

We know the authors of the New Testament letters (the writings after Acts) apprehended resurrection life from their testimonies, the fullness of Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission (as much as was possible in their day) coming to completion.

We also understand it is “highly” probable Paul and Peter did not see physical death, the Lord translating them (raptured) to Heaven like Enoch, Moses, Elijah and who knows if there are any others, because they knew their time had “come.”

Regardless of how well known the final Christian pilgrimage in Tabernacles is, God is revealing and birthing Tabernacles again, here and there, in small groups and individuals.

God is moving among pioneers today as he did with Noah, the patriarchs, prophets, kings, Christ “the pioneer of all pioneers” as men and women heed the call of the Spirit as the New Testament era approaches the end.

The “coming of the Son of Man” i.e., the deep work of the Spirit in making men and women one with Christ, Tabernacles, is the only labor of the Lord where Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission – dying to sin to walk in new life – can be apprehended, the final pilgrimage to completion. (NIV, Matthew 24:37)

Philadelphia, Tabernacles, is the only season reserved specifically for that purpose, and it is not a coincidence it occurs during the rise of the Antichrist, the falling away, preceding the Tribulation.

It is the only place in the Christian’s spiritual pilgrimage where “fathering” marries the cleansing of the word (water) with our life sacrifice (blood), as imperfect as it is, with the transforming power of the Spirit (Spirit) in healing and restoration to make men and women one with Christ, suitable for effectively advancing the Gospel in the lives of others deeply and richly (NIV, 2 Peter 1:8).

Important

Collectively, “water, blood, and Spirit,” describing the journey men and women are fathered into intimacy and union with God in Christ, has other descriptions in Scripture like (not in any order):

1. A) dying to sin to walk in new life; B) presenting ourselves as living sacrifices; C) changed from glory to glory; D) apprehending resurrection life; E) changed from mortality to immortality; F) the new creation,
2. G) coming, appearing, judging, revealing of the Lord; H) mystery of Christ; I) partaking of the “divine nature” (NIV, 2 Peter 1:4, italicized mine); J) “united with him in a death like his…united with him in a resurrection like his” (NIV, Romans 6:5, italicized mine),
3. K) made one with Christ; L) cleaning the inside of the vessel; M) “new wine into new wineskins” (NIV, Matthew 9:17, italicized mine); N) Galatians 4:19; O) Ephesians 4:30; P) Philippians 1:6, 1:10, 2:16; Q) 1 Thessalonians 5:23; R) 1 Peter 1:13; S) Matthew 3:11, etc.

 

Spiritual Symbolism & Foretelling (Similar to Types)

Tabernacles, Philadelphia (Rev. 3:7-13), the final Christian pilgrimage of the Lord’s labor, made mature, complete, Sonship, is after (beyond) the new birth and Pentecost, just as the Holy of Holies comes after the Outer Court and Holy Place, and the summer fruit harvest after the harvests of barley and wheat.

The Tabernacle in the wilderness, Temple, harvests and feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Trumpets, Atonement, and Booths) are all types of our journey, foretelling the NT Christian pilgrimage to union with Christ.

The Christian pilgrimage in Christ, the pioneer, firstborn, first fruit, forerunner, and perfecter of the New Covenant, is the fulfillment of what the feast of Tabernacles (Trumpets, Atonement, Booths), Holy of Holies, and summer fruit harvest foretold.

It is the building of our “vessels,” deep work of the Spirit of grace, mystery of Christ, in the temple of our body, soul, and spirit, through cleansing and healing (Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission) by fathering (John 14:18, 14:23).

The Lord’s labor in our Tabernacle journey (Rev. 3:7-13) is not something we do in our own strength, but the labor of the Lord in and through us bringing you and me to completion.

We know the OT is the NT concealed, and the NT is the OT revealed.

We also know many of the Godly beliefs and actions of key figures throughout the OT pointed in some way or fashion to the Messiah – a mosaic of pictures through men and women’s lives (Sarah and the prostitute Rahab are noted in the hall of faith, Christ the perfecter of faith) pointing to the Christ to come.

Through the lives of sinful men and women of the OT God weaved a victorious robe of wonder, beauty and righteousness in the conception, birth, and raising of his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus.

So, it is no wonder we can look back to the OT and see reminders pointing to the wonder and beauty of Christ, our journey in Christ, and pictures of our propensities and make up.

For example, we know we are body, soul, and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

We see the three temptations of Eve and Christ, body, soul, and spirit, and the three “Do not” of the Colossians, body, soul, and spirit (an attempt by the Colossians to war against the flesh by the flesh, like the Galatians). (NIV, Col. 2:21)

In the Gospels Jesus refers to his body, soul, and spirit which agrees with what other Scriptures say about Christ, he was “fully human” (NIV, Hebrews 2:17).

So, for example, it is not a stretch to see similarities in the design and operation of Old Testament harvests, feasts, Tabernacle and Temple as more than mere coincidences with New Testaments teachings whether it is about us or our journey.

For me, I see similarities between the design of the Tabernacle/Temple and the body, soul, and spirit.

I liken the “soul” to the “Outer Court,” where “decision” of the heart is made to offer a sacrifice to God; where in the NT, we offer our lives, receiving the gift of salvation, the new birth, yet not understanding the depth and extent God is calling us to give our lives to him.

The “spirit” likened to the “Holy Place,” Pentecost; where spiritual activity begins in a measure, through prayer, impartation of the word, in the illumination of the light of the Holy Spirit.

I liken the “body” to the “Holy of Holies,” Tabernacles, in this analogy.

Because this is where we offer the sacrifice of the entirety of who we are, where the Lord subdues the flesh (John 21:18-19; Romans 6:5; 2 Cor. 4:10-12; Gal. 5:17; Philippians 3), by his cross, training circle, the Spirit of God forming and fashioning you and me into the likeness of Christ.

Where we feel the discomfort of putting sin to death, the wounding and cleansing of the sinful nature in the body, soul, and spirit, through the breaking of agreements, etc., restrained by the Spirit from “doing life,” the sinful practices of the flesh, learning and receiving the ways of Christ deeply in our body, soul, and spirit through transformation, raised into new life.

The body, soul, and spirit may represent the water, blood, and Spirit as well.

Please remember I am speaking in generalities, a way of seeing how beautifully designed and planned creation is, and the pictures the Lord gives of his labor and vision for our lives.

For me, the “water” is more connected to the “soul” where we make decisions of the heart and mind for Christ and the things of Christ.

The “Spirit” connects to our “spirit” which connects to our soul and body miraculously God designed between the heart and the mind.

For example, though we are body, soul, and spirit, each part of us affects the other parts through its desires, passions, cravings, and lust, whether to the good or evil.

The “body” and “blood” have the greatest connectivity because again we “feel” the greatest effects of the sacrifice of our lives through our body – the subduing and putting to death the ways of the sinful nature.

And likewise, we “feel” the greatest effects of walking in new life – the peace, comfort, love, joy, and care and protection of God through our body; it works both ways, not just one.

We do not know the pre-flood knowledge men and women had of themselves, but contrary to evolution and humanism, it is highly likely they understood a great deal about their make-up, at least until layers of sin blinded their eyes.

Even in the darkness of our day’s humanity speaks of the “spirit” of men and women but there is no mention of where it could have possibly come from.

Noah’s War

One thing we can be certain, Noah wrestled with his fallen nature, body, soul, and spirit, in apprehending the completion of God’s instructions.

After Eve’s fall from grace – body, soul, and spirit – and Adam’s, the warfare of the separate desires, passions, and cravings of the body, soul, and spirit, became fertile grounds for strongholds and internal warfare.

(The cravings of the body lusting against the soul and spirit and vice versa.)

Noah, foretelling our journey, was not immune to generational sins.

He, by grace through faith, by the Spirit of God in his life, “wounded” wounds and sins blocking his way in completing God’s call on his life in righteousness and not bitterness.

Obviously, God’s intervention in Noah’s life came with GREAT INTERRUPTION to his way of thinking, plans, and future – what he had planned for his future.

For certain, there was a clash within Noah between what he wanted to do with his life, what the enemy was secretly planning through the fallen nature to destroy in his life, and what God intended to accomplish in Noah.

Noah had to battle his own desires and passions, the enemy’s secret, and not so secret plans, to be in a position where he could fulfill the will of God with a good heart.

God’s intervention stirred warfare in Noah he did not know existed, just like it does in our life – which is “always” though sometimes discomforting, to our benefit. (Song of Songs 2:15; Luke 12:2-3; Hebrews 4:12-13, 12:26-27)

I feel confident in saying God intervened time and time again in Noah’s journey to provide comfort, peace, perspective, care, and likely some measure of cleansing and healing for Noah to complete the monumental task of building the Ark, witnessing to the lost, and living life in submission to God at the same time.

You can be certain Noah completed the Ark because the Spirit of God was actively laboring in his life.

He may or may not have had the knowledge of how sin works, agreements, and what not, but he certainly felt the effects of sin as he worked through the will of God for his life and family.

We fall short in our understanding of God and Noah if we believe Noah with his family or others built the Ark without guidance from God.

Certainly, Noah had much in the way of guidance from the Lord along the journey and who knows whatever help the Lord may have otherwise provided.

Just like Noah is credited with building the Ark, Abraham with right standing before the Lord because of his faith (NIV, Genesis 15:6), and we instructed to apprehend Christ, we know from experience “it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” (NIV, Philippians 2:13 bold and italicized mine)

Carnality, Pride, & Deception

Whereas under the new language of the New Testament words like death, suffering, cross, crucifixion, blood sacrifice, wounding, etc., can speak of good things – putting sin to death to walk in resurrection life – and often do in the New Testament, carnality, pride, and deception, speak for themselves.

In the journey of fathering, healing of wounds, and destruction of sins, the labor of the water, blood, and Spirit in Tabernacles renders powerless the strongman, releasing what he has stolen from us and our generations, binding him instead.

Until we come to completion, made intimate and one with the Lord, there are areas of life where the enemy knows us better than we know ourselves – where we have yet to apprehend “knowing and being known” by Christ.

Where areas of bondage in sin, and the nature of an “orphan,” still rule our lives.

These will be areas where carnality, pride, and deception have roots, where the cross of Christ by grace through faith in repentance and forgiveness has yet to complete its atoning work of redemption.

For example, John talks about (indirectly) the “binding” power of sin 1 John 2:16, and Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 and, as I note earlier, Colossians 2:21.

Fallen men and women, every man and woman after Adam and Eve starts out “fallen,” is no match for the curse of sin, where every human is destined for eternal separation from God because of sin.

(Note: Jesus was a man and human in every sense of the word – the Scripture makes this abundantly clear.

But he, unlike us, was conceived by grace by the Spirit, not pre-disposed to sin from the get-go like everybody else, enabling him by the cross of grace through faith, fathered by God, to put generational sins to death passed to him from his human ancestry, made complete, the pioneer and testator of the NT.)

Only God’s intervention in the OT and through Christ in the New Testament gives men and women the opportunity and promise of eternal life in Christ.

Thanks be to God for his rescue plan in Christ Jesus!

It appears a large segment of Christians do not know the deeply secreted and hidden work of the enemy within our members in carnality, pride, and deception, the binding power of sin in all its various forms, remains largely in place during our seasons in the new birth and Pentecost.

The new birth and Pentecost are not substitutes for the work of the Spirit of grace through the journey of Philadelphia (Tabernacles); they are not substitutes for the “deep” fathering and healing and restoration that occurs in Tabernacles.

There are no shortcuts for transforming justification into glorification (Romans 8:30), or treasures into pearls (Matthew Chapter 13), or sheep into war horses (Zechariah 10:3), or orphans into sonship (John Chapter 14 & Romans Chapter 8).

***

From the beginning, knowing Adam and Eve’s relationship was yet fragile with God, the enemy took advantage of their young relationship before they could establish deep intimacy with God.

This is not meant as an excuse for their sin in any way, but an observation they had not come to completion yet – which would have put them in the same place of “knowing” just like the fallen angels before they fell.

The enemy desires nothing less than men and women feed upon the appetites, passions, and cravings of the lower nature, to become and embrace carnality, as a way of life, making his abode in the uncleansed areas of body, soul, and spirit.

His desire is for the sinful cravings of the body, soul, and spirit to rise above and dictate “cravings” having nothing to do with God.

This can manifest in any number of things, food, pleasures, worship, attitudes, beliefs, life practices, anything, and everything sensual and devilish. (James 3:15)

The enemy desires the body, soul, and spirit to be torn and twisted into pride, an arm of the fleshly lower nature, exalting what the carnal man or woman has crafted for themselves whether it be through work, pleasure, wealth, relationships, etc.; whatever gratifies the lower nature.

Those who “light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches” (NIV, Isaiah 50:11) and “have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (NIV, Jeremiah 2:13) walk in darkness drinking polluted waters.

Oh, the extremes lost humanity finds itself, walking under the power of darkness under artificial light, drinking from bitter springs, living life apart from God, prideful of accomplishments, while Heavens’ heart is heavy with sorrow.

Perverting cravings and twisting natures into his likeness is not enough for enemy, he wants it all, desiring one final possession – direct worship of him.

Most men and women have a God breathed check in their heart, a God given sense the worship of Satan, whether you believe he exists or not, is dark and something to avoid.

Whether to the good or evil, “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (NIV, Ecclesiastes 4:12)

Fullness of evil comes in the second revealing of the Antichrist (after Satan is permanently cast out of Heaven, at the beginning (and through) the Tribulation) openly, publicly, and internationally, when humanity openly worships the beast, Revelation 13:14-15, embracing the ultimate deception, intimate union with darkness, the Spirit of the age and the false prophet.

This is the completion of the Antichrist’s bride.

(The first revealing of the Antichrist, Revelation 12:1-5, shows the tail of the Dragon deceiving the saints of God, symbolic of Satan’s first two chords, the unbridled and unhealed desires and passions of the soul and flesh leading a sizeable portion of Christendom into the Great Falling Away.)

When Christ’s bride comes to completion in the season of Philadelphia on the threshold of the Tribulation, the fruit of her completion is intimate union with Christ, openly demonstrated in the last great revival bearing the fruit of salvation and healing for lost and weary souls.

When Satan’s bride comes to completion in the first half of the Tribulation, those who take the mark of the Beast, the fruit of her completion, openly demonstrates their union with darkness by persecuting those not raptured, bearing the fruit of death to those refusing the mark of the beast.

Now, more than ever, is the time to seek Christ with all your heart for cleansing and healing, seeking Christ (2 Cor. 7:1) before darkness becomes too strong.

We need every measure of Christ we can receive to complete our race to the finish.

It is not too late for Christ to usher you into the deep waters of God’s Spirit in Philadelphia.

He has teachers and lifeguards standing by to give you everything you need to swim in the deep currents of his Spirit in the last of the last days.

Fullness

Noah lived in unprecedented days, a time of sin and righteous coming to fullness.

Today, four and half millenniums after the flood, the spiritual atmosphere is similar, other than its global reach and greater complexity, “world” beliefs relentlessly seeking the hearts of men and women.

The critical feature today, like in the days of Noah, is the labor of the Lord in those who seek him, whose eyes look heavenward, interested in apprehending an intimate relationship with the Lord.

This is not just about Christians and non-Christians, but about what is happening today in the body of Christ – those drawn into deeper waters of the Spirit (Philadelphia), versus those deaf to Christ’s knock on their door (Laodicea).

Christendom has not understood the picture Christ paints with his letter to Philadelphia; to receive “new names” implies deep transformation into intimate union with the name given, a journey well beyond the shores of the new birth and Pentecost, but deep in the Holy of Holies (Tabernacles) the only venue where transformation and union with Christ and the Father occur.

We live in unprecedented days, not only like the days of Noah, but also the days of Moses and Christ, where seismic change is set to occur as one era comes to a life-altering dramatic conclusion, as another era opens offering even greater intimacy with God.

Some living today will see the “coming fullness” of 1) the first revealing of the Antichrist system as it tightens its grip over culture, society, government, media, etc., 2) great falling away from profession of Christ as Savior, and 3) righteousness in the last great “revival” outreach to the lost.

As I have previously mentioned, the death wound to the Beast of Revelation, a temporary stun like unto death, comes from the tsunami of revival that sweeps the earth in the last of the last days just before the Tribulation.

The last day great revival will render the Spirit of the age in the first revealing of last day Antichrist “stunned” from the suddenness and depth of God’s wave with tens of thousands upon thousands seeking healing and cleansing from Christ.

After the revival subsides, and the rapture of the bride occurs, Satan, full of wrath and hatred for everyone and everything, will be cast out of Heaven forever, along with his prince spirits (pictured in the lion, bear, leopard), and all the dark spirits, ushering in the beginning and final reign of his rule.

Note:

For purposes of this series, the “Antichrist” or “Antichrist system” generally refers to the Spirit of the age – the spirits of darkness taking men and women captive at greater levels into sin and bondage. Of course, the “Antichrist” takes a unique personal form in the false prophet after Satan is cast out of Heaven and the Tribulation begins (Revelation 12 and 13), also depicted in 2 Thess. 2:3-4.

We live in a time when, like the days of Noah, Canaanites, and time of Christ, sin comes to another fullness, this time under the “first revealing” of the Antichrist Spirit of the Age through the dragon (the seventh world Kingdom seen in Revelation 12:1-5) before the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit in revival.

The great falling away begins before the Tribulation and appears to come to fullness during the first half of the Tribulation when Christians left behind are martyred.

As noted, the “second and fuller revealing” of the Antichrist occurs after the rapture and casting out of Satan from the Heavenly realm.

Again, see Revelation Chapters 12 through 13 describing the great falling away, form and fashioning of the bride in the womb of the Church, end-time revival pictured in the “child,” and following persecution of those left behind under the fullness of Antichrist after the angels cast Satan out of Heaven.

Few know this, but because of Satan’s legal and experiential claims against the body of Christ until the bride comes to fullness and raptured, the angels cannot cast him and his host from Heaven until the bride comes to completion and raptured.

The second and complete revealing occurs through the false prophet and the rise of the “eighth” head of the beast under Satan. (Revelation 12:6-13:18; 17:9-13)

The last day revival brings the death wound to the beast (stifling its grip and stopping its growth for a short season), recovering in greater fullness after the revival subsides with Satan taking its reigns literally as its eighth head during the Tribulation.

Satan likely possesses the person of the false prophet in signs and wonders (Revelation 13 and 2 Thess. 2:4-10, second revealing of Antichrist).

In relationship to Scripture and God’s labor with men and women, the seven world Kingdoms of the beast of Revelation 12 are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome at the time of Christ and after, and the last day seventh head of the beast, what we call Antichrist, the Spirit of this age.

Again, the first revealing is before the Tribulation, followed by the “eighth” during the Tribulation, i.e., the second revealing.

***

More than in past generations, the signs of the time point to a changing of the guard over humanity just as in the days of Noah, Moses, and Christ.

The Gospel era essentially comes to completion with the completion of the bride/last great revival in the end-times, setting in motion the Tribulation, and afterward, God’s deeper and richer plan to make those who come through the Tribulation into his likeness under the millennial reign of the perfect one, the Lord Jesus.

We must remember many of the great historical events in the lives of the ancients, patriarchs, judges, kings, prophets, and apostles, were in anticipation of the coming of Christ, or the result of his appearing.

Jesus Christ, and Christ likeness for those in him, is the centerpiece of this creation, the visible likeness of the “invisible God.” (NIV, Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 1:3)

Important

The promise of Christ in Philadelphia to give us his “new name” (NIV) the Father’s name, and the name of “new Jerusalem” (NIV) is Christ’s seal his labor in us has come to completion ‘to the measure of Christ’ to his Father’s liking. (Revelation 3:12, italicized mine)

Paul spoke repeatedly in his writings about apprehending resurrection life in this life, putting sin to death, becoming a new creation in the fullness of the likeness of Christ.

Philadelphia (Tabernacles) is the final pilgrimage into the likeness of Christ; a long journey of healing and restoration, if we desire a deeper relationship with Jesus here, and in the New Heaven and New Earth to come.

Image and likeness are qualities apprehended in journey with God, not something accomplished with the stroke of a brush at creation or with the bending of the knee at the new birth.

It is a journey of transformation from “justification” (new birth) to glorification (Tabernacles, from orphans to sonship), intimacy and union with God.

We receive spiritual connection with God at the new birth – our spirit becoming alive to the Spirit of God – but the work of transforming our heart, mind, soul, spirit, and even our body is a long journey of healing and restoration.

The writing of the Word of God in our hearts and minds, instruction unto righteousness, learning the ways of Christ, unlearning sin patterns, the complex and patient process of destroying sin, transforming our lower nature, takes time and encounter with Christ in journey with him.

This is why God gives us the seasons of the new birth, Pentecost, and the more intimate and compelling journey of Tabernacles, where the deep labor of God forms and fashions you and me into the image of his Son.

Tabernacles is God’s doctorate program with a major exception from what we know of doctoral programs – it is open to anyone regardless of how much formal schooling they have had.

The requirements: love for God and his Word, pursuit of Christ, and willingness to let Jesus form and fashion you and me into the man and woman God intended from the beginning, offering ourselves as a living “blood” sacrifice to Jesus.

Our willingness does not come overnight, just like everything else.

It takes time for the Lord to teach trust and confidence in him, what love looks like from the balcony of Heaven, and to endow our hearts with passion for him.

Simply, the fallen nature, whatever yet remains in us, does not want the love and care of Christ, and in those places, we need Jesus to come and free our hearts and minds unto his loving embrace.

The Scriptures are clear, if we cry out to him for whatever we need to begin our journey toward intimacy, he will take a hundred steps to our one!

Note:

Image speaks more about the outward qualities of God, like stature, authority, presence, upright, while likeness speaks more of the inward qualities coming forth from the heart and mind of God, like forgiveness, mercy, charity, kindness, goodness, longsuffering, patience, gentleness, etc.

***

The authors of the New Testament give a variety of descriptions of the journey from justification to glorification (e.g., Romans 8; 2 Corinthians 3:18, 4:10-12; Philippians 3:20-21).

Like “apprehending Christ” or “to know and be known” or “the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (NIV, Colossians 1:27), or “to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (NIV, Ephesians 5:27).

Or like Romans 6:5: “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (NIV)

Note:

As I have explained at length throughout this series, Romans Chapters three through six are not about Calvary, Christ’s death, and resurrection at Calvary.

But Christ’s journey before his ministry putting generational sin passed to him from his human ancestry to death, raised “resurrected” into immortality eternal life by the Father, becoming our Savior through his atoning “blood” sacrifice in putting sin to death by the cross of grace through faith.

Christ entered eternal resurrection life before his ministry, fulfilling what Adam and Eve lost in the Garden, completing the race they tendered to the enemy perfectly without sin. (Romans 6:10; Ephesians 2:14-16 see an interlinear; Hebrews 5:7-10, 7:16)

***

When Adam and Eve fell from grace through faith in the Garden, they sabotaged God’s perfect plan for them and their happiness to “make” men and women and their descendants perfectly into God’s image and likeness in their own individually unique, talented, and gifted ways.

But God, knowing the end from the beginning and what Adam and Eve would do when presented with temptation – failing to wait a little longer for God to provide for the “lack” they were experiencing – had another plan leading to intimacy and union with him.

He foretold his new plan in his “word” over them and then over four plus millenniums in types and shadows pointing to the Son he would present when hearts were ready to take the next step in God’s rescue plan.

Our Heavenly Father demonstrated through Christ the promised grace to come (NIV, 1 Peter 1:10-12), under his care and love in journey with him is more than sufficient to destroy the power and curse of sin passed through the generations.

** God’s Crucifying Cross **

A Concluding Important Deeper Look

Contrary to the world’s way of dealing with sin, which can lead to capital punishment, God’s plan for sin is to rescue, redeem, and restore the sinner.

In the days of the Roman Empire, those judged as “capital offenders” were horribly mistreated and tortured through physical crucifixion.

In the Kingdom of God all sins are capital sins, ultimately leading to physical death and eternal separation from God “if” not atoned by the substitutionary work of Christ.

Like the Roman empire, God’s plan for dealing with “capital offenders” is also by crucifixion on a cross.

However, in sharp contrast, God’s cross leads to cleansing, healing, and restoration – destroying the work of sin, transforming, and raising the sinner to walk in resurrection life in the new creation.

God’s cross (the cross of grace through faith) pioneered by Christ, putting generational sins to death perfectly, establishing the New Covenant “in the person of Christ,” raised by the Father to eternal resurrection life before his ministry (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 5:7-10) destroyed sin, not Calvary, not the Roman cross, but Jesus our Savior.

So, we can be temples of the Holy Spirit, God’s cross redeems and restores the temple of our body, soul, and spirit, making us whole and holy, changing new birth sons and daughters from orphans into “sonship.” (NIV, Ro. 8:23, italicized mine; 1 Thess. 5:23)

The Scripture describes God’s cross many ways and from different angles, such as, baptism of fire, dying to sin to walk in new life, “cross of Christ” (NIV, Philippians 3:18 (Philippians is not about Calvary, but the cross of putting sin to death)), and others, such as the Lord’s “appearing,” “coming,” “revealing,” and “judgment.”

The cross of Christ is the journey Christ pioneered first for his generations, and for those grafted into him.

The result of the journey of the cross of Christ, among other descriptions, is the “mystery, which is Christ in you” (NIV, Colossians 1:27).

Jesus and Scripture exhort every Christian to pick up the cross of Christ.

It is not a central part of the new birth or Pentecost, but beyond, our final pilgrimage to completion.

It is a season of intensive and deep healing and restoration by grace through faith in growing intimacy and dependence upon God; suffering the loss of the sinful way of life we and our generations relied upon in our fall from grace.

It is the “way” to experiencing the kindness, gentleness, and goodness of God in intimacy as he cleanses, comforts, and cares for our wounds and brokenness, bringing us into a richer and deeper relationship with him.

It is an unimaginable journey into an unimaginable relationship, the promise of Philadelphia (Tabernacles).

It is the Holy Spirit “selecting and taking” men and women into the deep waters of the Spirit, a path deep into the Kingdom of God few have traveled over the ages.

(The Lord chooses those (Matthew 24:40-41, 25:2) who desire a deeper relationship with him, who have allowed him to prepare them for the final pilgrimage to completion, i.e., the deep work of the Spirit of grace in Tabernacles (1 Peter 1:13; Rev. 3:7-13).

God designed his “spiritual” cross to rescue the sinner from the captivity of darkness by destroying the power of sin living in our wounds and brokenness (Romans 7), the work of Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission.

It is the deep work of the Spirit of grace freeing you and me from the strongman (sin living in you and me), rightfully restoring the plunder he has stolen.

It includes the breaking of agreements, lies, vows, curses, expectancies, and other “bindings” we and our generations have made with spirits of darkness.

The journey to restoration, the cross of Christ, has a variety of descriptions: the journey from justification to glorification (Romans 8:30); orphans transformed through fathering into Sonship (John 14, Romans 8); apprehending what Christ apprehended us for (Philippians 2 & 3).

It is described as changed from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18); the secret of being made one with Christ (Colossians 1:27); sheep transformed into war horses (Zechariah 10:3); wise virgins made into brides (Matthew 25; Rev. 19:7); the deep work of the Spirit, made into Christ likeness (Rev. 3:7-13).

Throughout this series I have shown many Scriptures describing Christ’s journey putting sin to death, raised to walk in new life, and passages about Peter’s and Paul’s journey as well.

(Romans Chapters 3-6; Ephesians 2:14-16, see an interlinear; Hebrews 5:7-10, 7:16; for Paul for e.g., 2 Cor. 4:10-12; for Peter for e.g., John 21:18-19, 1 Peter 1:13, etc.)

The cross of Christ, deep work of the Spirit, cross of grace through faith, dying to sin/raised to life, Tabernacles, Christ’s letter to Philadelphia, baptism of fire, sufferings of Christ (apart from Calvary), pioneering journey, mystery of Christ, etc., speak of the same journey beyond the new birth and Pentecost.

These phrases, along with others in Scripture, describe our journey from orphan to sonship, from justification to glorification, from new birth to intimacy and union (Tabernacles) – Christ making sons and daughters one with him.

This is the journey Christ pioneered before his ministry for the new creation – what he offered Israel they failed to discern and receive.

God foretold Christ’s pioneering journey in the lives of the ancients and prophets including the harvest of the summer fruit, the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and Temple, and especially the feast of Tabernacles (Trumpets, Atonement, Booths).

Highly Important

The cross of Christ (grace through faith, Ephesians 2:8; Matthew 16:24-25) is the “restraining power of God” (John 21:18-19; Romans 6:5-10, 8:10-11; Galatians 5:17; 2 Cor. 4:10-12) walking Christians through cleansing and healing (through repentance and forgiveness, Romans 2:4; Ephesians 5:26-27; 1 John 1:9).

The cross of Christ provides love and care for wounds, releasing sins, restraining the ability to revert to the “works of the flesh” in agreements, lies, vows, etc., when God begins cleansing wounds and the pain they have caused.

The Holy Spirit brings focus on the areas the Lord desires to cleanse while the Lord walks men and women through the process of “putting to death” the sin(s) giving life to darkness.

Jesus’ “fathers” men and women to put sin to death as his Heavenly Father “fathered” him to destroy generational sins passed to him.

The intensive journey of the cross of Christ begins when Jesus ushers those seeking him through the veil (the opening) into Tabernacles (Philadelphia); the season of time reserved at the end of the age before the Tribulation to bring those desiring a deeper relationship with him to maturity and completion.

Finally, the Roman cross separates the body from the soul and spirit by killing it, sending the soul and spirit into eternity.

God’s plan for sinners, the cross of Christ, is a journey to redeem and restore humanity, partaking more fully of the new creation available now.

The cross of Christ redeems and restores body, soul, and spirit, as before the fall, ushering men and women at maturity and completeness into resurrection life, from mortality to immortality, finishing the race Adam and Eve failed to finish.

(Romans Chapter 6, 8:10-11, 8:23, 8:30; 2 Cor. 7:1; Ephesians 4:13; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Thess. 5:23, etc.)

Blessings, Drake

(Tyndale) The New Greek – English Interlinear New Testament by Translators Robert K. Brown and Philip W. Comfort, Editor: J. D. Douglas. Copyright © 1990. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

(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.™

Note A: Taken from The Hebrew-English Interlinear ESV Old Testament: Biblia Hebraica Stutt Artensia and English Standard Version by Thom Blair, General Editor, Copyright © 2014, page 1561. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org. (Interlinear used by permission from Lexham Hebrew-English Interlinear Bible copyright © 2004 by Logos Research Systems, Inc.)