Jan 18, 2019

In a divine council gathering, one would expect to be in the presence of many others, for this is described well in Revelation 5:8 and 11. Yet because this council is in a heavenly dimension, we do not often see them, nor do we often know who exactly is present. Nor is it really necessary to know this, because the important thing is the court case itself and its ultimate verdict.

Secondarily, by seeing and hearing the proceedings of the council, we are given insight and revelation into things to come, because all that is established in the heavens will eventually be fulfilled in the earth. The purpose of the earth, after all, is to provide a double witness of things in heaven. Such is the purpose of a wife in a New Covenant marriage, and we know that the relationship between heaven and earth is rooted in the marriage principle.

Our watch dates of late (January 14-16) appear to have brought us into a new level as we worked our way through the revelations of Passover and the Cross to the Exodus from the House of Bondage and into the power of His resurrection. The courtroom, my humble office, has been crowded with council members at each session, perceived, discerned, and felt clearly, even with the smell of roses.

There is always some connection between the heavenly council and the earthly location where we ourselves meet, but it is not often that the two merge so completely that heavenly things become visible to earthly eyes. Such does happen occasionally, as seen in Scripture. When the fire of God falls upon the altar to consume the sacrifice, as seen in 1 Kings 18:38, it is the glory of God that is seen by human eyes.

When Moses’ face was transfigured, the people saw it and were afraid (Exodus 34:30). When the shepherds saw the angels of God singing and praising God at the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:13, 14), this too was an unusual tearing of the veil between flesh and spirit. Such manifestations are not dependent upon the spiritual condition of those whose eyes see such things, for it was while Saul was on his way to Damascus to arrest the Christians that the resurrected Christ appeared to him and conscripted him for divine service (Acts 9:2, 3, 4, 5, 6).

Such manifestations depend fully upon the will of God and not upon our own will or level of spirituality. Nonetheless, some are specially gifted to see and hear, and so we read about the “seers” in Scripture, some of whom used their gift in submission to God, and others who did not. The angel of seers is called The Eyes of God, an angel that I first saw in 2001. That angel may either reveal things to seers or shut their eyes (as in Isaiah 29:10).

Those who participate in the council session have something to do with the theme at hand. David showed up for Passover (1/14), because he was a type of Christ in that his throne was usurped by Absalom, and because he was often maligned by his enemies. He wrote about this in many of his psalms, which then prophesied of Jesus.

Likewise, Michael showed up for the wave-sheaf offering (1/16), as he is the angel of resurrection (Daniel 12:1, 2). I don’t want to make a big deal of this, but each detail gives further insights into the purpose of the council.

I do not want to overreach or presume to know things before their time, but I am beginning to suspect that the earth has crossed the line into a new level of prophetic manifestations in preparation for the great deliverance from Mystery Babylon. We have been seeing the fall of Babylon in the spirit and have been decreeing its fall in the divine court and in the council; but so far we have not seen much in the earthly dimension itself. We have been hearing the rumble of deliverance in the background, but it is yet largely hidden to the vast majority of the people. And the power of Babylon is still strong in the earth.

Nonetheless, our experience lately suggests that heaven is moving closer to the earth, that the New Jerusalem is even now coming down to the earth at an increased pace, and that we are starting to get more glimpses of heaven as a result. Surely we must be getting close to the great outpouring of the Spirit that so many are anticipating.

Just how long we must yet wait remains a mystery, but I have no doubt that it will come soon. In part, I believe that God is preparing His vessels out of which the Spirit will be poured out. I have noticed in the past that God first equips us with the knowledge and understanding (i.e., Truth) that the Spirit intends to inject into the hearts and minds of men. The sword of the Spirit, after all, is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17). The earth itself was created by the word of God.

In past centuries, when the Bible was given to the people, they valued it highly and studied it carefully. That brought about a cultural revolution and a religious reformation, which changed the West and ultimately much of the world. But many of them studied the Bible without hearing the word. The Bible remained external and the word failed to be written on their hearts.

The Pentecostal movement in the early 1900’s reacted against that failure, seeking the Spirit of God. Unfortunately, as time passed, many of them were diverted by the miraculous signs and wonders and healings that were manifested in those days. Many forsook the Scriptures, thinking that Bible study was carnal and unnecessary. Smith Wigglesworth fought such a mindset in many of his sermons, but in the end he failed to turn that generation toward a search for Truth.

The problem was that the Pentecostal movement largely failed to recognize the purpose of Pentecost. I believe that this was due to their failure to see that Pentecost was first established at Mount Sinai when God came down as fire and spoke the Ten Commandments to the people in Exodus 20. If the Pentecostals of the past century had known this, they might have learned that the purpose of their favorite feast day was to write the law in their hearts and minds.

But most of them had already been taught that the law was put away. Many were afraid that if the law were written in their hearts, they might fall from grace! Actually, the opposite is true. It is only the Old Covenant that must be cast aside, and it is the Old Covenant applications of the law that must be changed or altered as shown in the book of Hebrews.

When I first began to come into contact with the Charismatic movement in the late 1960’s, I soon began to hear people saying that studying the Scripture was secondary to seeking the Spirit of God. While that sounded “spiritual” and seemed right to many people, it actually represented the leaven of Pentecost. Once that leaven had worked within the hearts of the Church for a generation, its ill effects could be seen clearly.

The revelation of the law has yet to change the heart of the Church from its “Saul” state of hidden rebellion to the “David” state of being after God’s own heart. The law reveals God’s heart, and as long as Christians think it is an evil thing to be avoided, they will not truly know the heart of God.

Likewise, some give honor to the law while avoiding the Spirit of God, and they inevitably fall into legalism. Even those of the Pentecostal movement became quite legalistic in their attempt to live holy lives apart from the knowledge of the law. Having put away the law of God, they legislated their own laws in the attempt to set up their own righteous standard of behavior. Such standards may have prevented some from committing a few sins, but they did not change the heart nor did they cause anyone to conform to the image of Christ.

In the same manner, those who gave honor to the law of God usually treated it with an Old Covenant mindset. They were content to obey the law (as they understood it) through their submission, but the law was seen as God’s command rather than God’s promise. For example, the tenth Commandment is “You shall not covet.”

An Old Covenant mindset sees this as a command not to covet, and that we must discipline ourselves to not covet. A New Covenant mindset sees this as a promise of God that He will work in our hearts by the Spirit until the law is written in our hearts and we no longer covet.

The difference has everything to do with who is responsible to get the job done. The one who vows is the one responsible to fulfill it. The Old Covenant is man’s vow; the New Covenant is God’s vow or promise.

If we depend upon our own vows, we soon find that it is impossible to keep those vows perfectly. We can enjoy a certain level of success, if we discipline ourselves sufficiently, but no one can achieve perfection in that manner. Hence, the law cannot justify sinners, and the law sells us into bondage as per Exodus 22:3. We are then ruled by Master Sin (personified in Romans 7:20, 23) until we place our faith in the promises of God, making Him responsible for us as His children.

The point is that the Spirit of God is going to be poured out in these last days in order to drive home the understanding of the New Covenant. This will heal the blindness (and veil) that is inherent in Pentecost, which came upon Israel when they refused to hear God’s voice on that first Pentecost at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:18-21). The same blindness that came upon Israel (Isaiah 42:19) also came upon the Church (more gradually) as they failed to understand the New Covenant. The Old Covenant “veil” (2 Corinthians 3:14) gradually blinded the Church, especially when the leaders removed from the average believer the right to hear God’s voice for himself.

Part of the revelation that we received this week was that this veil is being lifted. Hence, when the glory of God covers the earth, the people will see His glory with unveiled faces. Those few who still remain blind and veiled will remain in “outer darkness” or will be cast into that outer darkness outside the borders of the Kingdom.

Eventually, these will make up the nations that will rise up at the end of the thousand years, hoping to overthrow Christ’s Kingdom (Revelation 20:7-9). Scripture foretells their defeat. Their attack will give Christ cause to take over their lands, and thus the Kingdom will lay claim to the last territory remaining outside of His direct rule. Only then will the Great White Throne judgment take place, for then God will judge all men who have lived from the beginning of time.

Those events are yet afar off, but we are privileged to live in an exciting time of our own. We live at the end of the Pentecostal Age and are moving into the Tabernacles Age. Our hope is to be part of the First Resurrection (Revelation 20:4, 5, 6), which will give us great responsibilities along with immortality to begin the process of reclaiming the earth for His Kingdom and glory.