Beyond
Jordan by Bill Britton
The four people walked down the street together,
all members of the same family, yet widely separated spiritually. For tho they
all lived in the same house, and had a natural affection for one another, yet
they represented four different classes of church people. One was a Modernist,
and had no born-again experience, one was a Fundamentalist, the third was Pentecostal,
and the other well, I'll tell you about him later.
Things are said or
written sometimes that are hard to receive, and we must be very careful that we
do not rebel against the words of God. As the psalmist said: "Oh that men would
praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wondrous works to the children of
men! For He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction
and iron ... BECAUSE they rebelled against the words of God and contemned the
counsel of the most High (Psalms 107:8-11)."
THE MODERNIST
Frances
believed in going to church. She belonged to a fashionable church with a beautiful
sanctuary, pipe organ, and robed choir. it was the socially accepted thing to
do, to be at one of the two services held on Sunday morning. Their minister was
suave, dignified, held two doctors degrees, and was well read on current world
problems. Frances believed that you could be a better person by going to church
and by reading the Gospels. She believed that you could be a better member of
society, a better citizen. She believed that everyone should go to church, and
should join the church of their choice. But she DID NOT believe in a born-again
experience. She did not believe that you could know, this side of heaven, whether
you were really saved or not. You just have to wait until the Judgment day, and
then when the angels weigh your bad deeds against the good ones, you'll find out
whether you made it in or not. But she did not believe in present day experience
with God, a "know-so" salvation. That is the modernist point-of-view.
THE
FUNDAMENTALIST
George was a born-again Christian and glad of it. He had
an experience with God, and he knew it. He well remembered the night, when as
a sinner he had come to God and repented. All his sins were washed away, and he
had entered a new life. It had been different ever since. Oh, he had been a member
of a church and had a good head knowledge of the Bible and religion. But he had
never really been saved before. He knew now that you don't just grow. up in a
church, get baptized and confirmed at the proper ages, and hope your way to heaven.
George knew that it took a real experience with God, and he was one that knew
you could have one. And though man accepts God's blessings, he knew that this
experience was not generated from man's side. It was an operation of the Holy
Spirit, a sovereign act of God. George had this experience of the new birth. He
was a Fundamentalist.
THE PENTECOSTAL
Marie was pentecostal. By
that I mean that she not only was saved and had the born-again experience, but
she had a second experience called the Baptism in the Holy Ghost. Now the fundamentalist
doesn't believe in a second experience. They believe in one definite experience
with God, they III fight for that truth. But when you begin to talk about another
experience with God, and speaking in tongues, then you're off the "deep end",
in bad error. One experience, they say, is enough to get to heaven. You should
just try to get people saved, they tell you, and forget this tongues business.
But the Pentecostals believe in a second experience. A definite experience
with God. Do they have Bible for it? Oh, yes, they say ... don't you know that
Passover Feast, a type of salvation, is not the only feast? The second feast,
the Feast of Pentecost, is a type of this second experience! It's right there
in the Bible. You become "filled with the Spirit" through meeting God and accepting
a sovereign act of the Holy Spirit. You don't just read the Bible, pray an hour,
pay your tithes and attend church and grow in grace until you are finally "filled
with the Spirit." Every Christian, pentecostal or not, should grow in grace and
in the knowledge of the Lord. But you don't just grow and grow and get larger
and larger until you have the Baptism of the Spirit. Sometimes teen-age new converts
and white-haired denominational preachers have gone to the altar together and
come up speaking in tongues. It is a definite experience, available to all who
will receive it.
In my own experience, I was a member of a church
for six years without a born-again experience. Then I was saved from sin, really
saved, and I knew it. It changed my life, I was a new person, released from the
power of sin. I testified of it in street services, jail services, preached in
youth meetings and brush arbors, etc. I was really saved for five years before
I received the second experience of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. I loved the
Lord, and I knew that I was saved. But I didn't have the anointing of the Spirit.
When this came, this second experience, I was there. I knew I had received something
new in my life. It changed my life. I was never the same again. I had a new anointing,
a now and gracious touch of God. I appreciate the five years that I knew and served
the Lord before I received the infilling of the Spirit. But when the Holy Spirit
took control of this vessel more than twenty-five years ago, there was a great
change took place. And the glory is getting greater and sweeter all the time!
Praise His Name!
Now the Pentecostals will fight for this truth, and
they will declare to you that you can have a second experience with God. They
know that it has to be a definite experience, and that you don't just "grow into
it." BUT, the strange thing is, they will NOT accept anything beyond that. Even
though the pentecostal theologians know that the Baptism in the Spirit is only
the "earnest" of our inheritance, and the "first-fruits" of the Spirit, yet they
cannot see that there would be anything else for us to receive. A THIRD experience?
Another step in God? Another realm in the Spirit? Oh, that has to be error, they
say. You must be going "off the deep end". (Where have we heard that before?)
Can we actually meet with God a third time? is there a typical Feast beyond Passover
and Pentecost? Let us look into the Word of God and see ....
THE THIRD
EXPERIENCE!
Our Lord Jesus Christ has to be the hub and center of all our
theology and all our experiences in God. On this foundation we build all great
revelation. I'm not just trying to build a new doctrine, or a new theology. I
want to show you in the Word an experience in God that was prophesied in the Law
and the Prophets many centuries ago.
In 2 Corinthians 4:5 we read: "For
we preach not ourselves, but CHRIST JESUS the LORD." in the Amplified New Testament
it says we preach "JESUS CHRIST as LORD." It is these three words that crystallized
to me the truth of this third step in God.
That word JESUS means saviour.
That is the meaning of the Greek word, and also of its Hebrew equivalent, JOSHUA.
We read in Matthew 1:21 "Thou shalt call His name JESUS, for he shall SAVE HIS
PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS." That name reminds us of an experience which we have received
called justification, Regeneration, Salvation, New Birth, or whatever term you
have for it. We don't just grow up in a Christian home and automatically have
it, but He saves us because He is JESUS!
In Acts 10:38 we read. "How
God ANOINTED Jesus of Nazareth with the HOLY GHOST and with power: who went about
doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil." This Jesus of Nazareth
was the Christ, the Anointed One. "CHRIST" means "ANOINTED" in the Greek, and
it speaks to me of another experience that I've had in God where the anointing
of the Spirit came upon me and brought me into a new realm in God. Oh, I had been
growing in God for the 5 years I had been truly saved. I didn't just sit down
and say, "Well now that I'm saved, I guess there's nothing else for me to do until
I get another experience". Oh no. You grow in God, in your salvation experience.
You learn to pray, to give, to suffer for Christ, and more. There's a growing
in the Spirit, and a bearing of the fruit of the Spirit. But when you take another
step in God, and receive another experience in God, you face an entirely new realm
in God, with entirely new possibilities you never had before. Now that doesn't
mean that it's all over. Some say "Well, thank God, I've finally got "it", and
talked in tongues, now I guess they will leave me alone for awhile and I can rest
as far as religion is concerned." But they have missed the point and purpose of
the experience. I found that when I received the infilling of the Spirit, it was
no place to sit down. It was the beginning into a new realm of the Spirit. But
what about another step? Another experience in God to bring us to another complete
realm in the Spirit that we have never walked in before? Is this scriptural? Let
us look ....
THE THREE FEASTS
All those glorious truths that unfold
to us in the New Testament have their roots in the soil of Old Testament types
and shadows. One of the clearest and most conclusive proofs of the three realms
of the Spirit is found in the types of the feasts of Israel. These are given in
Leviticus chapter 23.
First I want to read Deuteronomy 16:16 "THREE
TIMES IN A YEAR shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place
which he shall choose; IN THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD (that's the Passover),
and in the FEAST OF WEEKS (that's Pentecost) and in the FEAST OF TABERNACLES."
Notice now, that THREE TIMES they meet with God. Not twice on earth and once in
eternity. But three times in the realm of time, within the year. Modernists do
not believe in meeting Him at all here, in an experience with God. However, the
Fundamentalists stand up for meeting with God ... once. Not three times, just
once. But the Pentecostals say: "No, it's twice in the year, don't leave out the
Feast of Pentecost, But the Bible says "THREE TIMES in a year". Which one will
you leave out? If the first two feasts are types of experiences in God of Salvation
and the Baptism in the Spirit, then why not believe for and accept the THIRD thing
that God is about to do in the earth in these closing days of this age?
PASSOVER
Chapter 23 of Leviticus deals with these three feasts in detail.
Let me just briefly mention the feast of Passover, and what it stands for. In
1 Corinthians 5:7 it says: "For Christ OUR PASSOVER is sacrificed for us." And
in John 1:29 .. "And John seeth Jesus and said, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world." Now, it is very definitely established that Jesus
Christ, the Lamb of God, fulfilled that Feast of Passover on Calvary, and that
each of us individually has to come to the place in God to receive an experience
relating to this Passover feast. You MUST be born again. There is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby ye MUST be saved. There MUST come an experience
in God relating to this Passover feast. You go no further in God until you come
to this. You don't come to the second experience until you've had the first one.
You don't get filled with the Holy Ghost until you get to Passover first. The
blood of this Lamb is sprinkled on the door posts of each individual house, but
it is not taken beyond the Vail into the Holy of Holies or put on the Mercy seat.
God deals with this part of the sin question at a later date. I trust this speaks
to your heart.
PENTECOST
This is a NEW meat offering. This means
a "meal" offering, and does not involve the shedding of blood. Two wave loaves
are baked. It is not a carry-over from Passover. It is not a continuation of the
previous feast. You don't save portions of the Passover lamb to eat on the day
of Pentecost. This was a complete feast (experience) in itself.
We find
the fulfillment of this feast in the Early Church in the 2nd chapter of Acts.
Nearly all Bible scholars will agree to this, even if they don't believe this
is for us today. As Calvary was a fulfillment of Passover, so Acts 2:4 was the
fulfillment of the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost. This was the earnest of our inheritance.
It was not the FULNESS, nor the completeness of God's plan. But it was the firstfruits,
and was given as a WITNESS (Acts 1:8, 5:32).
'For we know that the whole
creation groans and travails in pain together until now, and not only they, but
ourselves also WHICH HAVE THE FIRSTFRUITS OF THE SPIRIT (Romans 8:23)." We groan
within ourselves, waiting for the adoption. Does he say "we who have tasted of
the Passover and are saved?" No! "We who have the firstfruits of the Spirit."
He is speaking of the Feast of firstfruits, Pentecost, which the saints back there
had received. He said they were groaning, waiting for something else ... the Adoption,
the placing as a full grown son.
"Now He which established you with
us in Christ, which HATH ANOINTED us, is God who HATH SEALED US and given the
EARNEST OF THE SPIRIT in our hearts (2 Corinthians 1:22)." The earnest. Now an
earnest is a foretaste. It's not the entire inheritance. In the 13th chapter of
Numbers when the 12 spies went in to spy out the land, it says "It was the time
of the first ripe grapes." So what they brought back as proof of the goodness
of the promised land was the firstfruits. They were not expected to be satisfied
to live forever on that firstfruits, but it was a taste and a witness of what
was in the land of their inheritance. God expected them to go in and possess the
fulness. Some refused because of their unbelief, and they died in the wilderness
without ever seeing the full inheritance, but someone finally had faith and obedience
enough to go in and possess their possessions.
"In whom you also trusted
after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also
after that ye believed, ye WERE SEALED with that HOLY SPIRIT of promise which
is the EARNEST OF OUR INHERITANCE until the redemption of the purchased possession
(Ephesians 1:13-14)." After they believed, they were sealed with that Holy Spirit
of promise. Earnest of our inheritance. "Until" speaks of the time when we no
longer have to live on the earnest or firstfruits. You see, the point the scripture
is making is that the experience we have received called the Baptism in the Spirit
is the firstfruits or earnest of our inheritance, and is to seal us and keep us
until the unveiling of the fulness of the Spirit in us. It is a foretaste of what
God has in store for us here on this earth, in the realm of time.
WHEN
IS THE INHERITANCE REVEALED?
"But WHEN that which is perfect is come, then
that which is in part shall be done away. 11 (I Corinthians 13:10). The context
shows here that he is speaking about the gifts of the Spirit. Prophecy, tongues,
word of knowledge. He is not talking about the Scripture in part, but he speaks
about the gifts that operate in the part realm. So that which is perfect is not
the establishment of the canon of scripture, as some claim, but it is the perfect
operation of the fulness of the Spirit. The gifts as we know them now are a "part"
of that operation, but only operate in part. But when is that "WHEN" going to
come to pass? When does the fulness come? The Apostle Peter gives us the answer:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, TO AN INHERITANCE incorruptible, and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation READY TO BE REVEALED IN THE LAST TIME."
(I Peter I.-3-5). Now notice, friends, that he is speaking here of the Inheritance.
Not the firstfruits or the earnest. This came to the early church. They already
had that. But they were still looking forward to receiving the inheritance. And
I don't mean a gold mansion in the sky, but the inheritance is the fulness of
what the earnest was a foretaste of! Glory to God!
Peter goes on to
say in verse 13 that something is to be brought to us at the "revelation" (appearing)
of Jesus Christ. That doesn't mean that you are going to be translated to something
somewhere in the sky, but it is coming to you. When? At the revelation, or appearing
of Jesus Christ. There is something to be brought to us. I want to read Hebrews
9:28 out of the Amplified New Testament: "Even so it is that Christ having been
offered to take upon himself and bear as a burden for the sins of many, once and
once for all, will appear the second time, not carrying any burden of sin nor
to deal with sin, BUT TO BRING TO FULL SALVATION those who are eagerly, constantly,
and patiently waiting for and expecting Him." Yes, praise God, He's coming, and
at His coming He will bring us to full salvation, to our full inheritance! I Thessalonians
5:9 says: "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation (full
salvation) by our Lord Jesus Christ."
So we have another feast here.
FEAST OF TABERNACLES. We are not dealing with doctrines here, but we are dealing
with experiences in God. The Modernist would tell you that the Feast of Passover
has nothing to do with the experience of salvation. But I can tell you on the
authority of God's Word that this feast is a type of our experience of the new
birth, or justification. The Fundamentalist would say, "That's true, but the Feast
of Pentecost has nothing to do with a further experience." Then the Pentecostal
leaps into the picture with a shout that the second feast certainly IS a type
of a present day experience available to us, and they speak in tongues to prove
it. But they go right on to say that the third feast of Tabernacles has nothing
to do with any further experience or realm in God. When are we going to learn?
How dumb can we be, trying to fight off God's gracious blessings? God help us
not to be deceived again.
THE THREE VEILS
The Bible gives us many
other pictures and types of this great truth in addition to the three feasts of
Israel. One beautiful type is found in the Tabernacle. At the bottom of the inside
cover of this book is a chart or diagram of this Tabernacle. Of course, whole
books could be written about the many spiritual truths found in this Old Testament
pattern, but I want to limit our investigation to the three Veils. I have marked
the first one the "Outer Gate 11, the second is the "Door of the Tent", and the
third is the "Inner Veil" into the Holy of Holies. Each one of them was made of
100 square cubits of white linen with beautiful cunning work wrought into it.
Each of them had to be passed through in order to come to a certain place in the
Tabernacle.
THE OUTER GATE
This was the veil before which they brought
the animals to be stain. And this door had to be passed through in order to come
to the Brazen Attar where the blood was placed and the burnt offering offered
up to God. The first thing you saw when you passed through this veil was the big
bloody brazen altar which to us represents Calvary.
This represents
Jesus the Saviour. He said "I am the door". There is no other way to get in, you
must come in at the door. This brings us face to face with the Blood. Here is
where sin is dealt with. Passing through this veil represents an experience we
have in God, passing from death to life in Christ. This brings us into the outer
court where the blood is shed, and where the washing by water takes place at the
laver. But there are more curtains or veils or experiences yet to pass through.
DOOR TO THE TENT
Look at the diagram. Passing through this second
veil, like eating of the second feast, brings us into the Pentecostal realm. It
is a place of spiritual ministry. It is the place of testimony, of spiritual bread,
and the offering up of the prayers and praises of the saints. It is the place
of the seven branch candlestick, representing the Church. This Church got its
start on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. It has the lamps that are full
of oil and kept burning.
No one, regardless of their educational attainments,
can properly minister in the House of the Lord without the Baptism of the Holy
Ghost. There is no other way into the sanctuary except through this veil. Passing
through this veil is an experience with God, the experience of being filled with
His Spirit. Here was a spiritual priesthood that ministered in the sanctuary daily.
The first veil brought us to the blood, to Calvary, to which the Fundamentalist
will heartily say Amen. The second veil brings us to the oil, to Pentecost, and
multitudes of Spirit-filled people will attest to that. But where does the third
veil take us? "Oh, no", cry the Pentecostals, "We have come through two veils,
let's stop now. We can't go through that third veil! Well, friends, I have news
for you. The book of Hebrews says that Jesus made a way so that we COULD go through
that third veil into the Holy of Holies, and that He has already gone there as
a forerunner for us. Let us look at that veil and see what is behind it.
THE
HOLY OF HOLIES
Passing through this third veil is a type of something the
Church has not yet come to in reality. By faith we are there with Him, now. But
in experience it is yet to come. But thank God, the scriptures indicate that this
shall take place in the last days, the end of this age, and we are now come to
that time. So we can expect another great move of the Spirit to bring us into
a realm never before touched by Adam's race. Glory to God!
My purpose
in this message is not to explore in detail all that is in this realm, but only
to prove by the scriptures that there is such a place. If I can get you to see
that there is more in God for you, then perhaps I can stir you out of your religious
complacency. We have camped around this Pentecostal mountain long enough. It is
time to see that God has more for us, and to get ready to move into it.
The
High Priest went into this place only once, and that in the END of the year. The
blood of the Passover lamb did not go back here. That blood was to be put on the
doorposts of each house, to deal with the sins of the individual. But on the Day
of Atonement it was not the individual he was dealing with, but with the whole
nation. So that sin was put out of business altogether. Back here was Life. Here
was where God said He would meet with man. No death, no sickness, no failure here.
Only the fulness of God. Much more could be said about this place, but let it
suffice to say that there is such a place, and it is available for us. It is part
of the plan of God. Quit letting man tell you that there is no more for you in
God. That argument has kept people from the first veil, out of true salvation,
it has kept them from the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and now it is holding some
back from the fulness of God. Sure, I know there is a 30 fold company in this
harvest. There is also a 60 fold. But if you really love and desire Jesus Christ
as much as you say you do, why wouldn't you want to be in the 100 fold? The 30
fold comes through the first veil, the 60 fold comes through two veils, but if
you want to be in the 100 fold, you will have to go all
the way. Three veils.
THE THREE BAPTISMS
Here is another picture of this same thing. Israel
had three baptisms. Each one relates to an experience we have in God.
1 Corinthians 10:1-2 tells us about two of these baptisms (which is as far as
we have gone to this present time). "Moreover brethren, I would not that ye should
be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through
the sea: and were ALL BAPTISED UNTO MOSES IN THE CLOUD AND IN THE SEA. "Now there
was a baptism unto Moses. This baptism through the Red Sea brought them out of
Egypt and deliverance from bondage and slavery. It was at this time they ate the
Feast of Passover. This speaks to us Of the experience of salvation, the deliverance
from slavery to sin. Praise God!
They were also baptised in the Cloud.
This cloud represented the Holy Spirit. It was their Guide through the wilderness
journey. It was a Comfort to them from the heat of the desert sun. It provided
rain and refreshing. It was protection from their enemies. As a pillar of fire,
it gave them light in the darkness. All these things the Holy Spirit does for
us. Being baptised in the cloud was to them a picture of our being Baptised in
the Holy Spirit. It was with them all through the wilderness journey. Praise God!
But now we come to a third baptism. Just as passing through the Red
Sea on dry ground was a baptism unto Moses, so the passing through the Jordan
River dry shod was a baptism unto Joshua. A new baptism. Under new leadership
or ministry. A new people, all the rebellion and unbelief gone, buried in the
wilderness. See how they prepare to cross Jordan. It is the time of the Harvest,
Jordan is swelling its banks. It is the worst possible time to try to cross, in
the natural. But we are not doing this by the natural. The carnal man has to die.
The carnal mind cannot operate. This must be by the Spirit.
YE HAVE NOT
PASSED THIS WAY
Now we see them getting ready to cross over into the Promised
Land. In Joshua 3:1-4 we find them rising up "early in the morning". A new day
is dawning. The officers pass through the host with the instructions. They are
to keep their eyes on the Ark of the Covenant.
In verse four they instruct
the people: "Yet there shall be a space between you and it (the Ark) , about TWO
THOUSAND cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by
which ye must go: FOR YE HAVE NOT PASSED THIS WAY HERETOFORE."
Two thousand
years ago Jesus Christ (the true Ark of the Covenant) conquered the waters of
death and passed into the Promised Land as a forerunner for us. There He waits,
until His Body follows Him in and conquers this promised land, putting all enemies
under His feet. You see, beloved, this next move of the Spirit does not bring
an end to everything, a cessation of all activities, as we have been taught. It
actually brings us into a place of great conflict, but with the power to conquer
every enemy. Satan shall be bound, and all his princes and demons shall be put
in chains. This honor have the saints of God (Psalms 149).
So many are
crying out for an old time revival of the "good old days". Oh, no. You see, friends,
what God is taking us into now in the end of the age has never happened before.
Not to grandpa, not to Paul and Silas, not to the early Church. Ye have not passed
this way before. They were under the cloud, yes. They came out of sin, yes. But
they did not yet pass over this Jordan. I know some of you won't like this. But
you'll have to wrestle with the Word of God, not with me. It's too plain. God
made it simple. This is the realm of the unlimited measure of God. Romans 12 tells
us that we have the Spirit by measure, we have faith by measure, and prophesy
according to the proportion of faith given us. But in John 3:34 we read of another
realm: "For he whom God has sent speaketh the words of God, and GOD GIVETH NOT
THE SPIRIT TO HIM BY MEASURE." The Spirit without measure. The fulness of God.
There it is. And it is needed as we cross over Jordan into a land where the enemy
lives. War in heaven. But no place found any longer for the enemy. He is cast
out. Praise God! This is the THIRD baptism. It brings us behind the Veil, over
Jordan, into the Promised Land. Get ready.
JESUS CHRIST AS LORD
Paul
said that he preached Jesus Christ as LORD. This involves a great deal. It involves
His absolute dominion over your life. This is the step that must be taken in order
to walk in this third realm of the Spirit. We can have our sins forgiven, and
still have the carnal man ruling a lot of our life. We can even be filled with
the Spirit walk in the Pentecostal realm, and still go our own way. Paul wrote
to the church at Corinth, which was famous for speaking in tongues and gifts of
the Spirit, yet he told them that they were yet carnal, full of strife and divisions
and uncleanness. Sounds terrible, and it is, but it is so anyhow. Some tongue
talking Pentecostal people who have received two glorious experiences with God
are some of the most carnal Christians I know, full of strife and lust and unbelief.
This ought not to be so. But it is.You preach Jesus as Saviour, and people will
get saved. This is so. I have preached evangelistically in churches, tents, campmeetings,
jails, T. B. hospitals, on the foreign mission field, street corners, school houses,
factories, homes, on radio and many other places. When people hear the message
of salvation, some are sure to get saved. I know this to be true.
When
you preach Jesus as the Christ, the "Anointed One", the one who baptises in the
Holy Ghost, then folks will be filled with the Spirit. All they need to do is
to hear the message. I have preached in various kinds of churches, Pentecostal,
Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Salvation Army, Nazarene, and others. Where
ever you tell people that Jesus is the Baptizer, some will reach out and receive.
I spoke in a Nazarene church, told them that they could receive the Holy Ghost
and speak in tongues, and some did. Why is it so many good Baptist folks, fine
born-again Christians, do not have the Baptism ? Is it because they are not good
enough for it? Of course they're not, and neither are you. But that's not the
reason. God doesn't give the Holy Ghost to those that are good enough. He gives
it to those who hear and believe and receive. They don't have it because their
ministers won't preach it. They won't preach Jesus as Christ, the anointed ...
the baptizer.
Why is it so many churches never see anyone healed in
their services ? Because they don't preach Jesus as the Healer. if they would
preach healing, people would get healed. "Faith cometh by hearing, by hearing
the Word of God. 11 The Episcopal churches preach healing, have regular healing
services, and people get marvelous healings. This is not just a pentecostal monopoly.
Whatever you preach Jesus to be, there will be results in that area of people's
lives.Paul said that he preached Jesus as Lord. This is most important. More important
than healing the physical body. That He might be absolute Lord of our lives, have
dominion in His own Kingdom. For we are His Kingdom, and He is our King and our
Lord. We have preached Him as Saviour. We have preached Him as Baptizer and Healer.
And people have been glad to say: "Yes, Jesus, we will let you take our sins away,
and we appreciate you healing our bodies and providing our needs and filling us
with the Spirit, but from here on out we'll make our own decisions and row our
own little boat. Isn't that just about the picture with so many ?
But
the time has come that we must preach Him as LORD. For He must have a Body over
which He IS Lord, in all that it means. When Jesus was here on earth, the Fat-her
had a Son that responded to His every wish. "I always do those things that please
the Father", said Jesus. "Not my will, but thine be done". He walked in this realm
continually, and by this the Father was magnified exceedingly. Now God has given
Jesus a Body, a Body made up of many members. A Body over which He is to be the
absolute Lord and Head. "That every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ IS
Lord, to the glory of God the Father." This is the Lordship we are preaching.
We preach Jesus Christ as Lord. "They that are led by the Spirit of God, they
are the Sons of God.
We have preached Him and received Him as Saviour.
This is as far as many preachers seem to have gone. "Be delivered from sin, come
to church, pay your tithes, be a good Christian according to our standard, and
that's it. That's ail there is for you on earth, the next thing is Heaven". But
others have preached Him as Christ, .lie Baptizer. They have taken the second
step: "Be saved from sin, get the Baptism and speak in tongues, get the right
kind of water Baptism, and you've got it made Well those two steps are fine and
necessary, but don't stop there. There's one more thing. He must be Lord. This
can only come to those who have gone through that third veil, through death to
self. Self and Christ cannot both be Lord. Self must die. Christ must rule supreme.
Perhaps you think that you have already arrived, and that everything in you is
in subjection to His will. But there are areas of your life that have not been
touched yet, and self still rules. But we preach Him as Lord, and this must bring
results. A people will come through this last death, and a resurrection into His
Life and Lordship. Glory to God!
THE HIGH CALLING
"Forgetting those
things which are behind, and reaching forth unto these things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus
(Philippians 3:13-14)." Paul, with all his knowledge, consecration, and attainments,
still recognized that he had not yet reached God's ultimate for him.
Here he was, at the close of his ministry, sitting in prison, yet still reaching
higher in God. What an indictment against those self-complacent doctors of theology
who think they have reached maturity, and are satisfied with what they have. Paul
had eaten the Feast of Passover. He had partaken of Pentecost. But he realized
that there was still something more to come. He constantly urged the Church to
open their hearts and their understanding to it, and to be filled with ALL THE
FULNESS OF GOD!
As Paul says in Colossians 1:26, these things have been
kept hid until the time for the revealing. He saw these truths, and wrote about
them. But when the time for the Restoration came, men could not see them until
the Spirit opened their eyes. Did you ever wonder why the great theologian Luther
never preached on the Baptism of the Spirit, speaking in tongues, and gifts of
the Spirit? It was not time for it. Why didn't Finney, Moody, Spurgeon, Cartwright,
and others of their day preach about healing and miracles and tongues and interpretation
? God kept them secret until the right time. These men were mighty men of God
in the things God revealed to them.
But when the time for the restoration
of Pentecost came, little common men who didn't know one tenth of the Bible that
these great theologians knew, moved right in and began to preach the deeper truths
of the Holy Spirit. Because the door, the second veil, was open!
And
now, in the end of this age, it is time for the third veil to be entered. It is
time to cross Jordan. You are going to have to pray about this, now that you have
heard the word. I knew that this revelation would cause some controversy. I could
have just kept quiet, and enjoyed this for myself. But no. It is not for an individual.
It is for His Body. God is going to have a Body of people that is going to break
Into this thing together. Don't try to tell me that you are already there, when
the Body has not yet come in. If you get through this veil, you'll go in with
His Body. It will bring us into a conflict such as the world has never seen before.
And the end of that conflict will be absolute and utter destruction of all demon
forces, putting every power of evil under the feet of the Body of Christ, that
Christ may be victorious over all. Praise God for His glorious plan!
Let the song of the Lord rise from within thee. Let His praises ride on high!
For the day of His glory is at hand, and the time of our ascension is nigh! Watch
thy spirit with diligence, and guard against the flesh. Be thou submissive unto
Him, and let nothing hinder thee from entering into His glory! Thou art come to
the hour when the precious ointment flows over the Head, down upon the beard,
to the skirts of His garment! Praise ye the Lord!
Bill Britton
Bill
Britton "Sons of God Awake " 