Jesus apprehended and called me in the 1930's, I have never found or does it exist in Him, the capacity to hate another human being. Without question, "God is Love".  He has revealed His quality of love, completely, in His Son 'Jesus'.  He so loved corruptible Mankind that He gave His only begotten Son to redeem us.

I can not find any hate in Jesus who asked forgiveness for His murderers while the nails are still pinning Him to the Cross.  If our goal is to love mankind any less than this, we are liars, have never known Him, and the truth is not in us.  God is love and He, by nature, must love absolutely.  Although true, this is sometimes hard to handle.  It does not jade or eliminate the necessity for jurisprudence and the verdicts of criminal justice.

This creates the ultimate oxymoron, Jesus, full of grace and tender mercies, had a hate-love with Mankind.  In that He is omnipotent and love absolutely then, His 'hatred' had to be absolute.

It is required to know Him as 'love' necessitates that I know 'what it is' that He loathes.

Don Murphy

Read: Admonition  "what Is it?" part 1

  

The Truth

John 6:48 "I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead." (Manna perishable, ingested by mouth, digested, goes out with the drought.) The Manna was perishable and subject to change. There were two ways it could change: when it was exposed to the sun and when it passed over the tongue. Every nourishing morsel that enters the mouth begins to change the moment it passes over the tongue. 

The purpose of all New Covenant gifts to the church are to bring the redeemed of the Lord to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The Bible refers to ingesting knowledge as feeding upon or eating it. Everything that enters the mouth is altered, assimilated and the leftovers excreted. When one feeds upon the knowledge of the Christ; it is not altered, it is not changed and there are no disposable leftovers. 

The knowledge of Jesus is absolute and as eternal as He is. There is no such thing as false knowledge; there is only knowledge. What is referred to as false knowledge is either error, opinion or ignorance. When Jesus speaks of eating His Flesh and drinking His blood, he is referring to a feast of knowledge, the knowledge of Him. Ephesians 4:13 The goal of each member of the Body of Christ is to come to the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man. To this end all gifts and blessings are given to the church. Once we come to the knowledge of Him we realize all things that are in Him. 

He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is the Lord and He does not change. We are redeemed out of corruption to feed on the incorruptible. 

John  5:26 "For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son, to have life in Himself." The gift of eternal life is to have life in ones self. The gift of eternal life is to have the well spring inseparably within. 

John 7:38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."

John 6:47 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life."

John 6:50-51 "This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread THAT I SHALL GIVE is MY FLESH, which I shall give for the life of the world."

John 6:53. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink of His blood, you have no life in you."

John 6:55-56. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in me, and I in him."

The Perplexing Question

John 6:52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give Us His flesh to eat?"

The Unchangeable Answer

John 6:57-58 "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. (again, the distinction between eating by mouth and Spiritual feeding)
'This is the bread which came down from heaven--not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.'"

John 5:43-44 "I have come in My Father's Name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?" The entire priest craft cultus is predicated upon the assumption that a physical element can be changed into the body of Jesus and ritualistically served up as Divinity. It is a system of dependency and religious welfare diametrically opposed to the free abundant gift of God extended, by grace, to all Mankind. Whether by design or ignorance it is a failure to understand what Jesus means by eating. Whether at the last supper or in His teaching Jesus defines the manner in which we feed upon Him by referring to His relationship with the Father in these words; Jn.6:57 "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me."

One cannot read the Gospels without noticing the total abandonment of Jesus to The Holy Father. Here are just a few quotes of Jesus referring to The Father. He taught, 

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord', shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."

"My Father is greater than I."

"Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner."

"For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself."

"I am the Vine and My Father is the Husbandman."

"I came forth from The Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father."

"It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart I will send Him to you." 'When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from The Father He will testify of Me."

When some addressed Jesus as 'good teacher', He, the personification of good and holiness, replied, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is God." Yet in another place our Lord urges us to emulate and be like The Father, "Be Holy as your Father in heaven is holy." Although we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Our Lord never asks us to do anything impossible; He always enables us to perform. At the same time He warns.

Matt. 23:9 "Do not call anyone on earth your Father for One is your Father, He who is in heaven."

Without exception, each of us has one earthly father whose sperm fertilized the egg that brought about our conception in our mother's womb. We inherit his name and throughout our lives we are destined to have his genetic identity within us. However, within the family, we do not inherit his Title 'Father'.

We all have ancestral fathers or may be called upon to father the homeless or to have the spirit of fatherhood in the spiritual house of the Lord. We have one earthly father with delegated power to bring us into this world and one heavenly Father who created us in Christ Jesus.

Eph. 2:10 "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." 

James 1:18 "Of His own will He brought (begat) us forth." 

1 Peter 1:23 "Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever."
No one upon the earth is worthy to assume the spiritual title 'Father' for no man has the power of spiritual conception and birth. This is the work of the Holy Spirit Who proceeds from our heavenly Father with the eternal seed, the Word of God. The children of God are not born of blood, or of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man but of God. We are born of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God.

For emphasis I repeat, 1 Peter 1:23 "Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because 'All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and it's flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.'"

James 1:18 "Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures."

John 1:12-14 draws a distinction between those born according to the will of man and those born according to the will of God. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even those who believe in His Name; who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." By creation, we have the delegated power to will and choose whether or not we will conceive a child.  Some use this power of choice to abandon and murder their offspring, by abortion, while in the womb. When we are born into this world according to the will of the flesh, we have no choice who our parents will be. We have no choice as to the name we bear, our heritage or the family into which we are born. When we are born from above according to the will of God, the Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from The Father, draws us through repentance to the Father through the one mediator between God and Man. We have the prerogative and privilege of choosing Redeemer, Parent, Family and Heritage.

"As many as received Him" 'to them He gave the right to become the children of God' 'even to those who believe in His Name.''" To 'believe, receive and become' emphasizes our unique ability to act, with the help of the Holy Spirit, by our own volition; whereby we are blessed as decision makers, having a part and responsibility in determining our own destiny. From the beginning and throughout the scriptures the requirement of decision and choice is taught.

Joel 3:14 "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." You must say, Yes or No. Our Father is not conducting an experiment in artificial intelligence. By design He created Man (male & female), as a unique vessel of inherent intelligence with the power of choice. In Genesis 2:19 when He brought the animals to Adam to see what he would call them and whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. It is Lucifer's lie to make you think you are a helpless lump of gelatin when it comes to the purpose of God in your life. There is no neutral ground.

Our heavenly Father is not conducting an experiment in robotics. 

John  1:14 teaches us the nature of those who are born from above, by choice, receiving the new birth according to the will of God. It does so by describing the nature of Jesus our Redeemer. He, through birth, became the way by which we are born of God. He chose the manner of His birth, taking on Himself not the nature of angels but the seed of Abraham. 

John 1:14 says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His Glory as of the only begotten (Virgin Birth) of The Father, full of Grace and Truth." Those born through the incorruptible seed of the Word of God are, by nature, full of Grace and Truth which came through Christ Jesus, Who proceeds from The Father.

Eph. 3:14 "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named."
In every culture of the world, it is the ultimate disrespect for a son to usurp the title of his father, the head of the family.

In John 8:37-38 Jesus draws a distinction between Abraham's descendants and the children of faith, who are the offspring of the same word of faith, saying, "I know you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you." In drawing this distinction He defines the basis of the conflict between good and evil, the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness, by referring to two fathers.

"I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father." 'You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do, he was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is not truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.'"
Lucifer himself is a father, called the father of lies. The book of Revelation speaks of him as delegating the title and authority of his fatherhood to the Man of Sin, to father the system, which is his offspring.

Rev. 13:2 "And the dragon (Lucifer) gave him his power, his throne, and great authority." 'So they worshiped the dragon (father of lies) who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war against him?'"

2 Thess. 2:11 emphasizes the great deception by using the article describing it as 'The lie'. "For this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe 'the lie'. That they all may be condemned who did not believe the Truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." After His warning to call no man father on the earth in Matt 23:9, Jesus prophesies in Matt.24:15 "Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place." (Whomever reads, let him understand.)

The attempt of Lucifer to achieve worship by personifying his fatherhood in the 'son of perdition' to be adored and worshiped by Mankind. Satan does not attempt to achieve worship by destroying the Scriptures. His method is to corrupt and pervert the Written Word of God by weaving it into an elaborate system of mystical rituals. The system in which he will invest his throne and authority, making slaves of the souls of men, is vividly described in Revelation 18. Its goal is to subject the bodies and souls of Mankind. This system is not new but has been in process throughout the centuries, sometimes docile, sometimes aggressive, always working behind the scenes. Any nation that yields to its politico religious wiles, historically, ends in chaos.

To understand the prophetic fulfillment of Nebuchadnezzar's vision dream of an image; Daniel 2:32-35 must be placed side by side with Revelation 18:12-13 where the climax of the image is portrayed. It is emphasized by the conjunction 'and'. There is no other passage of Scripture where the conjunction 'and' is used, so many times, for emphasis. 

In connection with the image, the persistent attempt to change the identity of the chosen vessels of the Lord in their witness to the Babylonian system. Daniel 2:26, the King answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, "Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and it's interpretation?" Belteshazzar means, protected by Bel. Daniel (judgment of God) was not 'Belteshazzar.' 

Nor did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego come out of the fiery furnace. All these names magnify false deities. It was Hananiah (given of God), Mishael (what God is) and Azariah (whom God helps) who were delivered out of the furnace. Each of these names magnifies the Living God. It does appear strange that we hear many sing with gusto about Shadrach, Meshech and Abed-nego coming out of the fiery furnace. 

Daniel 2:32 "This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 'You watched while a Stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found and the Stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.'" 

Revelation 18:11-13 "And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise any more: "merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron and; and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men."

The clay, the only non-metallic element of the first image in Dan.2, is interpreted in its fulfillment Rev. 18:13 as 'the souls of men.' For it was out of the clay of the earth God created man for Himself. The specific gravity of the gold, silver, bronze and iron upon the clay describes the ultimate bondage, perpetrated by the image upon Mankind. This image is built from the head down with its weak foundation of clay and iron.' The Lord builds from the feet up. 

Eph. 4:9 "He who descended is also the One who ascended" 4:13 "Speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head-Christ. The Lord has destined to lift the clay into the Head of Gold. Rev. 2:26 "And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him, I will give power over the nations. He shall rule them with a rod of iron." (dominion) 

The image is now receiving its final cosmetics, disguising itself with appealing terminology such as, 'world community', 'world government', 'world court or tribunal'. Its hidden manipulator will shortly be unveiled and received by all whose names are not written in the Lambs Book of Life.

The prophet Daniel, in interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dream, has a fulfillment beyond the succession of empires it describes. It is a vivid description of the system now being unveiled in the world. The image of the vision had a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron with feet partly of iron and partly of clay. Its partial fulfillment in the Nations it depicts is a matter of historical record.

However, it is a prophetic picture of the character of the system, the hidden manipulator of the United Nations and its subsidiaries. It will be unmasked and will be fully manifested in the world system referred to as the community of nations. The image referred to in Daniel 2 and confirmed in Rev. 18 will be completely fulfilled when the Stone cut out without hands strikes the image where the clay meets the iron, becoming a great Mountain that fills the whole earth. Dan. 2:32-35.

The final fulfillment of the image, its description and destiny is vividly defined in Rev. 18:12, Note the scriptural confirmation: verse 12, Gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Verse 13 refers to the souls of men thus interpreting the meaning of the clay in Daniel 2:33. The Lord made His masterpiece out of clay and He will finish His purpose in the clay. The weakness and vulnerability of the antichrist system is its claims on our heavenly Father's clay, the souls of men. 

Each element of the image, in Daniel 2, is symbolic of the purpose of God in redemption. 

• Gold=deity

• Silver=redemption

• Bronze=sacrifice

• Iron=dominion

• Clay=man the masterpiece of creation. 

Thus defining the image as, prophetically portraying a counterfeit religion embraced by all who are not written in the Lamb's book of life. The image in Daniel 2 does not prophetically portray its fulfillment as another image. It defines the character of the system that will produce the image resulting in the worship of Satan. In Rev.18:17 the destiny of this counterfeit system is reduction to waste in one hour. The warning from The Father of Lights: "Come out of her My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues." Rev. 18:4

A mythological hydra-headed beast had to be invented to describe the nature of this system that thrives on myth. The beast is not used to describe its appearance but its nature. Its head does not have a tail and horns. He does not look like a beast. He is clothed in religious robes and articulates a mixture of idolatry--humanism and witchcraft coped in scriptural language. He is revealed because an Angel comes down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth is illuminated with His glory. Rev 18:1.

The goal of this world leader is to stand, then sit, in the holy place in the Temple of God. Under his headship he is bringing together the religions of the world. There is no created creature capable of symbolizing the system he rules. The Holy Spirit uses a mythological pictograph to describe the myth of Satan. 'A hydra-headed beast.' No temple, even if constructed, to the exact blueprint of the original, temporal, Divinely-ordained symbolic, temple of stones, can ever, again, be called the temple of God or contain a place, scripturally qualified to be called The Holy Place. To embrace such an idea would be a travesty of the Old Testament symbols and denial of the finished work of Jesus in fulfilling them through the Cross, resurrection and ascension.

Jehovah, the Master symbol designer, always builds a destruct mechanism in His symbols; that they might not overshadow their fulfillment, the Substance 'Jesus The Christ.' The brazen serpent, symbol of the cross, lifted up in the wilderness was destined to be ground to powder.

2 Kings 18:4 Hezekiah broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, 'for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, calling it Nehushtan' ('little brazen thing', the name by which they worshiped it). To avoid deifying and establishing symbols as holy objects, Jehovah invalidated His symbols in fulfillment recording them as teaching tools. The cross the instrument of suffering and execution is now a piece of dead wood. There is no virtue in the executioner's devise; the Virtue is in Jesus.

'Jesus', who is the revelation of The Holy Father, urges us to be holy as our Father in heaven is holy. The title "Father" designates the One Who IS the Holy Place. Jesus is the Name and Person in which the Holy Father reveals Himself and His fullness.

Heb 1:3 "Who being the brightness of His Glory and the express image of His Person, and upholding all things by the Word of His Power, when He had BY HIMSELF purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high."

The pre-Adamic Lucifer was cast down because he desired to ascend and become like the Most High Father. His goal is the same in the Adamic creation. He has designed to achieve worship by magnifying his title and personifying his fatherhood in a man. Jesus our Lord, Whose title is, The Christ, bears The Name of The Father but not the Title. being the only begotten perfect Son of The only perfect infallible Father, He could say, The Father is greater than I and in the same breath say he that has seen me has seen The Father. Thus fulfilling the essence of the prophecy, "For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given: And the government will be upon His shoulder. And HIS NAME will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

He is not a clone, He is the only begotten perfect Son of God, the Image of the perfect Holy Father in every attribute, bearing His Name and the dominion it signifies. 'Jesus', The Firstborn from among the dead, is Lord of a New Creation order of Beings. James 1:18 "Of His own will He brought us forth by the Word of Truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures."

Believers are referred to as being The Temple of God because the Holy Spirit Who proceeds from The Holy Father abides in them.

1 Cor.3:16 "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" The work of the Holy Spirit is to reveal God's Son, Who is the effulgence of the glory of The Father, in us."
Our destiny is to become like Him in every aspect of His Person. We now have this Treasure in earthen vessels.

Gal. 1:15 "It pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me."

Just as our heavenly Father reveals Himself in Jesus and His Church, so, Lucifer is also a father and progenitor of like kind. His objective has always been to rule Mankind by personifying his fatherhood in an earthen vessel; this is the authority the Dragon gives to the Beast. His primary goal is to contaminate and defile the Church, the Temple of the Living God, by usurping the Title of ONE OF WHOM THERE IS ONLY "ONE".

Ephesians 4:4 gives us a list of things that are unique in that there are only 'ONE' of them with NO SUBSTITUTES. "There is One Body, One Spirit, One Hope, One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, ONE GOD AND FATHER of all, Who is above all, and through all and in you all."

In this, the closing years of the Age men's hearts are failing them for fear of the judgment coming upon the world. There is worldwide discussion of the conditions; while the agent of the chaos is only mentioned by a remnant who are ridiculed. Religious hucksters trading upon the Name of Jesus seize the moment by selling re-hashed information about the mark, the antichrist system and how to escape. The affluent sellers and traders, upon the Name of Jesus, take the mark, embrace the antichrist system while speculating from whence it comes and what kind of mark it bears. Lucifer uses the greatest Event in history, the Cross, as a tool to produce his masterpiece, the greatest deception. Jesus spoke of this hour as a time of deception so great that He used drastic terms to describe it. He taught, "if it were possible the very elect would be deceived" and "Unless those days were shortened no flesh would be saved, but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened."

When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, He taught them the manner in which they should pray. At the same time He taught them the Title and Name that designates The Holy Place. Every prayer to our Holy Father must be compatible with the paradigm and value system set forth in the Lord's prayer.

Our Father in Heaven
Hallowed be Your Name
Your Kingdom come
Your will be done
On Earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors
And do not lead us into temptation
But deliver us from the evil one
For Yours is the Kingdom
And the power and glory forever, Amen

The Lord's prayer is unique in that the opening phrase defines the Holy Place, the Title and Name in which it is revealed. (When the Identity of God was revealed to Moses in the burning bush, he was admonished that the ground on which he stood was holy.) The closing phrase is in the form of a decree. "For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." Reminding us of the inevitable fulfillment of the Kingdom on the Earth. Safely sandwiched between the Holy place and the Decree is the petition of the Organism through which it will be fulfilled. The petition is predicated upon total abandonment to the Holy Father. The victory of the Petitioner is as inevitable as the Decree itself; for Jesus the Kinsman Redeemer, is its Surety.

The Book of Revelation is the unfolding answer to The Lord's Prayer. It is the prewritten prophetic record of the victory of Jesus in and through the Church, which is His Body; fulfilling the purpose of its empowerment and destiny to be built up of lively stones into the Spiritual House of The Lord. With it's Head 'Jesus', The Messiah, it is the heir of the Kingdom, it is the Messianic State wherein all earthly distinctions vanish. It is The City that has foundations whose builder and maker is God. "And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it." Rev.21:24. Its Head and its Members are not known according to the flesh. It is not the reembellished continuity of an order created to be temporal, it is the New Creation in Christ Jesus, IT IS THE NEW JERUSALEM. In that the Apocalypse is a prophecy about the finality of the Age it clarifies and defines all things for it is about the finishing of the Mystery of Christ. There is finality in the phrase, "He who is unjust, let him be unjust still, he who is filthy, let him be filthy still, he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still." Rev. 22:11.

The symbolism of historical Babylon, Balaam, Balak, Nicolaitans, Jezebel, Armageddon, the Euphrates, and much more, is defined. The lake of fire and its inhabitants are defined. The two Jerusalems spoken of, allegorically, by the apostle Paul, in Gal.4:26 are defined. The last Book makes a distinction between those who dwell upon the earth and those whose citizenship is in heaven. The Jerusalem from beneath is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt. Rev.11:8. Sodom, represents bondage by choice, Egypt, bondage by imposition. Together they represent the ultimate bondage; choose bondage and you will be granted a double portion and likewise have bondage imposed upon you.

John, on the Isle of Patmos, saw the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Descending from above! Visible or invisible, The Church, the Body of Christ has always been from above. It is being built from and will be finished from above. Not one iota of the Body of Christ is from beneath, its priesthood is from above, its citizenship is from above, its seat of authority is from above. Its authority is eternal and is not perpetuated through the use of religious titles. It wrestles not with flesh and blood. Its destiny will not be realized within the frame of a rejuvenated political party or a religious denomination. Its messengers are not called to dabble in political intrigue. The Kingdom, we have received, will not be established by military might. The Body of Christ, visible and invisible, has never been anything else but a vessel from above.

Jacob, in his vision dream, saw a ladder set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven. You set up a ladder to ascend and descend. He did not see Angels (messengers) descending and ascending upon the House of God. He saw them ascending and descending. Gen.28:12.

Jesus referring to the fulfillment of these things said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see the Angels (messengers) of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." We are members of the Son of Man Who, referring to His Body said, "destroy this Temple in three days I will raise it up." The sign of The Son of Man is in all creation, manifested and defined in and through us. "Son of Man", the word for 'man' (anthropos) distinguishes man from animal. Thus emphasizing, the son of Man in resurrection is neither Jew nor Gentile. He is the firstborn among the dead. Neither He nor His Priesthood has any earthly roots. He is a Priest, forever after the order of Melchizedek. His priesthood is in His eternal genes and He produces like kind. He constitutes a new creation out of all Races.

Our members are seated together with Him in the heavenlies; there is a whole glorified Man seated upon the Throne. We are, metaphorically, spoken of as members of His Body because His glorified genes are in us. His heritage and destiny are written within the constitution of our entire being. His God is our God; His Father is our Father.

John 20:17 "I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God." When Christ, who is our life, shall appear then shall we appear with Him in glory. Edification (building) comes from above. Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, Teachers, and every member are appropriately referred to as, the ascension ministries. His Body is an ascension called out people. If the ministering messengers do not get their material from above, it is wood, hay and stubble. Jesus is building His church from the Throne and every member is called to be a ministering co-worker with Him, to edify (build). They are not buildings of brick and mortar but the Eternal Organism. 

Only a very small part of the functioning Body of Christ is visible. Rev. 7:9 says, "There is a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues, standing before the Throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the Throne, and to the Lamb.'" To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

The Word of God does not describe things as they appear but as they are. Thus the Apocalypse uses drastic pictographs and symbols to describe that what is acceptable, religiously and politically correct to man is an abomination to God.

The letter to the seven churches of Asia (the called out people) do not end with the last verse of chapter three. In the first three chapters the Pruner of the vine is walking through individual assemblies of His church. He is pruning His vineyard, pointing out dead material, dealing with compromise, and calling for repentance. The prophetic letter ends in chapter 22 with the prophecy, "Surely I am coming quickly." Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen. 

As Jesus walks among the 7 Assemblies, He finds two unimpeachable witnesses to whom He does not use the word repent. Smyrna, a faithful witness, was so poor in earthly goods that He makes mention of it at the same time He reminds them of their wealth in Kingdom gold, and that they would suffer prison and persecution, even unto death.

To Philadelphia, also a faithful witness, He makes no mention of poverty and promises escape. The Lord, thus magnifying that the witness of His Kingdom, would not be predicated upon wealth or the lack of it or upon persecution or escape from it. John saw and recorded the most extensive, definitive vision ever given. He saw the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the Author and finisher of faith; consummate the Age and finish the Mystery of Christ. At the same time he was living in a cave, on a barren island, for the testimony of Jesus Christ, which is the Spirit of Prophecy.

The key to the nature and motivation of the antichrist system and ensuing spiritual conflict, including the identity of the mark of the beast, is in the detailed assessment, by our Lord, of the seven Assemblies of Asia. Although similarities can be found, the seven assemblies do not represent the church during the unfolding eras of the church age. They reveal the conditions of the then current era, when John was exiled on Patmos. 

Many, among the 7 assemblies had witnessed the Ascension. Prophetically, they describe the overall conditions of the visible church, prevalent in the closing hour of the Age. During the time of the Patmos vision, there were two uncontaminated assemblies. These two witnesses were Smyrna and Philadelphia.

Smyrna was poverty stricken in this worlds goods but wealthy in Kingdom coin and needed no repentance. Philadelphia, though not poor, was also a pure witness like Smyrna, rich in heavenly things having no need of repentance. Our Lord thus magnifying that the witness of His redemption would not be predicated upon poverty or wealth, but upon the imperishable riches of Him, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Pergamos is called the seat of Satan. Our Lord lists the things always present and dominate where Satan has control. He used historical figures, so evil, they characterize the throne of Satan. The doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. Jesus said, "You also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate."

There was another present at Pergamos; Jesus called him "My faithful witness (Martyr)." His name is Antipas meaning 'like the Father.' He was slain where Satan Dwells. History says, he was roasted in a brazen bowl at the request of Domitian, who bore the title Augustus, which means venerable. His martyrdom is a reminder of the conflict between the father of evil and The Holy Father, who we are admonished to be like.

Rev.13 gives us a detailed descriptive picture of the antichrist system and its Head who will have authority over every tribe, tongue, and nation. He will be worshiped by all whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If ANYONE has an ear, let him hear. We are taught this system and its Head will demand and have total submission which will be by choice--"they will choose to believe 'the lie'".

The great deception must contain a subtle attraction and emotional appeal to the Church for Jesus to say, "If it were possible the very elect world be deceived, and because of this and for their sakes He would shorten the days."

Don Murphy ©December 1999-2024

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