Chapter
Three After showing us the Sons of God in chapter two, and bringing forth the
truth of their ruling this world in the age to come, we now come to chapter three.
Here we see the difference in the first six verses of the house that Christ is
building and the house of Moses. We see the far greater glory of that "Latter
House", which house are we. Moses' house is shown to be a house of servitude,
a place of servants doing their duty, while the house of Christ is a house of
Sonship, of sons inheriting and ruling with Him. Glory! In this first message
on chapter three, we shall have an in-depth study of God's house.
"My Father's
House"
An amazing truth has come to light as a result of a study on the
"House of the Lord". After digging into more than 30 scriptures, with the help
of the Holy Spirit, we have found that many times when the Bible speaks of a "house",
it does not mean a house in the sense of a building made of lumber or bricks in
which we live. When is a house not a house? When it is a human body, or a place
of habitation for the human spirit, or a realm of life.
Let us go to the
scriptures to clarify what I am saying. Look at Noah in Genesis 7:1. "and the
Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I
seen righteous before me in this generation." Was God telling Noah here to tear
down his physical dwelling house brick by brick, or board by board, and put it
on the ark so that he would have the materials to build another house after the
flood? Of course not! Noah might even have lived in a tent for all we know, the
Bible doesn't say. But at any rate, the house Noah had built on this earth realm
was a way of life. It was a house of righteousness, faith, grace and obedience.
The people who shared this way of life with Noah were his wife, his sons and their
wives. They constituted his household. They lived with Noah in a house of faith
and righteousness, and they brought this house into the ark and were saved from
the flood.
The world around Noah lived in a different kind of house. They
lived in sin, rebellion, wickedness, debauchery, and idolatry. Their house was
corrupt, and God determined to destroy it. But Noah found grace in the eyes of
the Lord, and his faith and obedience saved his house. For had Noah perished in
the flood, his way of life, his habitation, would have perished with him. Turn
to Hebrews 11:7. "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet,
moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned
the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."
The
House of Israel
Each of the patriarchs in the Old Testament "built a house".
In Genesis 18:19 the Bible speaks of the household of Abraham, those who will
follow him on this earth in the promises of God. In Genesis 46:27 it says: "all
the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten."
Verse 26 says that these are those "which came out of his loins". That is, they
were those whom he had brought forth with his own life, in his own image, and
they were continuing his life in the earth. They were "the house of Jacob". They
were the fruit of his 147 years of pilgrimage here. The elders spoke to Boaz in
Ruth 4:11-12, and said: "The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house
like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel; and do thou
worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem; And let thy house be like the
house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall
give thee of this young woman." How did Rachel and Leah build the house of Israel?
Laying bricks, or nailing boards? Of course not! They did it by giving Jacob 12
sons to carry on his life in the earth. They built the house of Israel! And the
house of Boaz was to be built of the seed which the Lord would give him of Ruth.
Leviticus 10:6 speaks of "the whole house of Israel", meaning all 12 tribes.
But within that one "house of Israel" were 12 houses. For each son built a house
for himself. We read in Exodus 2:1: "And there went a man of the house of Levi,
and took to wife a daughter of Levi." This is speaking of Amram and Jochebed,
the parents of Moses. They were of the house of Levi. Exodus 6:14 speaks of the
house of Reuben. In Genesis 50:8 we read of the house of Joseph. In 2 Samuel 2:4
it says: "And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the
house of Judah." The house of Judah is also spoken of in Hebrews 8:8 in the New
Testament. The house of Benjamin is mentioned in 2 Samuel 3:19. Now we see King
David building a house, or realm of life in the promises of God, for God made
a covenant with him. David's house is mentioned in 2 Samuel 3:1 and in Luke 1:27.
These scriptures make it plain that when the Bible speaks of a "house",
it is not always talking of a building where men go to eat their meals and get
their sleep. Here we see that it is a habitation or realm of life for those who
enter into the covenant of the Lord.
"Many Mansions"
Now we come
to a very interesting scripture concerning "the house of God". In John 14:1-2
we read: "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me.
IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE ARE MANY MANSIONS; if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you." "My Father's house"! Now the natural mind gets
a picture of heaven's golden streets with all the beautiful mansions. Surely the
Father's house will be the largest and most beautiful in all heaven! How long
will it take us to get our minds cleansed and be able to understand truth? God
is Spirit, and no structure ever built, in heaven or earth, could ever contain
Him. Then what does this mean? What about our mansions? You won't take away our
beautiful big mansion will you? No, for you never did have one. Not the one you
imagined. For the human imagination, filled with materialism and greed, has dreamed
of moving out of these dirty little houses with all their high rents or back-breaking
payments, and getting a great big free mansion on Glory Avenue, a beautiful home
in the sky. This is not what the Bible is saying at all. When we check the original
language of scripture, confirmed by all other translations, we see that God's
house consists of many rooms or dwelling places, or realms of abode. The Amplified
Bible says: "In My Father's house there are many dwelling places." The New English
Bible and Wuest's translation says the same. The Revised Standard Version, Phillips
translation, Goodspeed, and the Jerusalem Bible all say "there are many rooms
in my Father's house." Rotherham's Emphasized New Testament (very accurate) says:
"In the house of my Father are many dwellings".
Just as there was a house
for each of Jacob's sons within the house of Jacob, so there is a house or dwelling
for each of God's sons in the House of God. Each of Jacob's sons were different,
with different promises and different ministries. Judah had the promise of the
scepter and produced the kings, starting with David. Levi was the house of priesthood,
beginning with Aaron. But they were all the House of Israel.
The truth
portrayed to us here is that there is a realm of life where God lives, where He
makes His habitation. And in this same dimension of the Spirit, there is a place
being prepared for us, that we might live in the same realm that God lives in.
Jesus said: "That where I am, there ye may be also." We have lived in a realm
where there is death, pain, sickness, sin, doubts, fears, loveliness, tears, tormenting
spirits, pain, misunderstandings, and all other human difficulties. But Jesus
has come to where we are, shared His life with us, and spread a table for us in
the presence of our enemies. This has been wonderful, but it is not all He is
doing for us. He is going to change our address. We are moving into a new house,
the Father's house. The realm where God lives. A place where there is only eternal
victory and glory. Just as the sons of Jacob were born of him, reproducing his
life, and receiving each one a house within the house of their father, even so
the sons of God have been born of their Father, reproducing His life in the earth,
inheriting all things, and each one having a house, a ministry, a realm of dominion
in the Father's house.
"I Will Dwell in the House of the Lord"
"Surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in
the house of the Lord forever" (Psalms 23:6). This is a psalm of David. Does this
indicate that David is going to leave his palace on Mount Zion and go to live
in the temple on Mount Moriah? Turn to Psalms 27:4. "One thing have I desired
of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His
temple." This too is a psalm of David. In one psalm he says that the thing he
is seeking is to be able to dwell in the house of the Lord, and in the other he
says: "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Someone might say: "But
he is speaking about the temple on Mount Moriah." In fact, no temple was built
during the lifetime of David. Not until after David's death did Solomon build
the temple, the "house of God". Then what was David speaking of here by the Spirit?
He was crying out in the Spirit to be able to live in that same place where God
lives, in that place Jesus spoke of in John 14:2.
Again we read in Psalms
84:10: "I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in
the tents of wickedness". To be a means of opening the door for others to come
into the High Calling, into God's House, is far better than the greatest thing
offered by this sinful world. "The tents of wickedness". A tent is symbolic of
a temporary dwelling place. This sinful age, with all it's glitter and attraction
to the natural man, is only temporary. "The pleasures of sin for a season" (Hebrews
11:25). A tent always speaks of a passing order. Turn with me now to 1 Chronicles
17 for a tremendous revelation of God's dwelling place here on this earth.
From
Tent to Tent
King David talks to Nathan the prophet about his desire to
build a house for the Ark of the Covenant. This golden ark and mercy seat represents
the presence of God Himself, and is symbolic of the New Testament Christ in the
midst of His people. Up to this point, in 1 Chronicles 17, the Ark had never had
a permanent resting place, but had dwelt under tents and tabernacles from the
time of it's construction. Now David feels that it has reached the place where
it will be moved no more, and he wants to build a beautiful temple fitting to
the glory of the Ark.
"Then Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thine
heart; for God is with thee." (verse 2). Here Nathan speaks out of his own heart,
and tells the king the thing that is convenient and pleasant for David to hear.
It is a good project, it is for the glory of God; it is an unselfish motive on
David's part, and it seems so right to the prophet and to the king. But it is
not the will of God. How many times have good prophets, prophets of God, spoken
things outside of the true word of the Lord because they seemed so good, so right
to his own mind. Nathan is not an evil prophet trying to mislead David. He is
God's prophet, the voice of the Lord to the king. He is not afraid to tell David
the truth, for it is this same Nathan that puts his finger in David's face and
says: "Thou art that man", concerning his sin of adultery and murder. It is only
that in this case Nathan did not wait for the word of the Lord. This is the reason
why all prophecies have to be judged and put under the two-fold search-light of
the Spirit and the scripture. But God is faithful. And that night the word of
the lord came to Nathan. He is to tell David what he does not want to hear. He
cannot build God a house. "Go and tell David my servant; Thus saith the Lord,
Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in; For I have not dwelt in an house
since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day; but have gone from tent
to tent, and from once tabernacle to another."
What did God mean that He
had dwelled in tents, going from one tent to another? A tent is a temporary dwelling
place. See what the Bible says about Abraham in Hebrews 11:9. "By faith he sojourned
in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with
Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; For he looked for a city
which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Abraham was rich, the
richest and most powerful man in the country. Why live in a tent, when he could
have built the finest house, the strongest walled city of any in the land? He
had seen a city. Nothing he could build would ever compare with it. He was a type
of those spiritual pilgrims who refuse to build their own kingdom on this earth
realm, having seen the glorious promise of God for a realm of life, a dominion,
far above anything man could accomplish here. "For here have we no continuing
city" (Hebrews 13:14). By building a city, Abraham would have been saying: "I
have reached my expectations. This is what I am searching for. I do not expect
to move again." But dwelling in tents signify that his present life is only temporary,
that he is ready to pull up stakes and make another move, that he is expecting
far more than what he now has.
When God called Abraham out of Ur of the
Chaldees, Abraham was God's witness in this world. And God lived with him. Abraham's
life was one of constant wandering, traveling through the land of Canaan which
had been promised to him. But this was a temporary situation, a tent. And God
lived with him in this tent. But He never let Abraham build a city on this realm.
He let him see the city of glory. Jesus said: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to
see my day, and he saw it and was glad". (John 8:56). Sometimes we find ourselves
wandering through a world of sin, surrounded by enemies of all kinds, yet always
victorious in Christ. We know the power and glory of His constant presence, and
this is indeed a wonderful place to walk. But it is not God's ultimate for us,
there is a greater glory ahead. Aren't you glad that Abraham never built God's
permanent dwelling place on this realm?
Tents of Israel
"Wheresoever
I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel,
whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me an house
of cedars?" (1 Chronicles 17:6). God is saying that wherever Israel went, God
walked with them, lived with them. But he dwelled in tents. That is, every stage
of Israel's journey was only temporary, was a passing order. A tent. But God was
with them in every tent. God was with Jacob and his twelve sons, shepherding their
sheep, raising their families. A family was being built. But building the family
of God's people is not the eternal order for us, and must someday come to an end.
So God did not build His house on this realm. Then Israel went to Egypt, eventually
came into slavery and tribulation. In their trials and bondage, God was with them,
dwelled in this tent with His people. But it was only a tent, and God would not
build His house in Egypt's bondage. Praise God for that! Aren't you glad that
we do not have to eternally exist as God's people dwelling in Egyptian or Babylonian
bondage? Glory to God, there is a day when all bondages are removed! Then through
the ministry of Moses, God took them into the wilderness for 40 years. They were
free of bondage, but in a wilderness place. Haven't you appreciated the glorious
presence of God in this place we are passing through? But praise be to God that
it is a passing order, and that God's House was not built in this wilderness!
He dwelled with them in a tent. That wilderness tent was a passing order. A new
tent was erected when they crossed Jordan and came into the promised land. It
was a better tent than they had in the wilderness, or in Egypt's bondage, but
it was still a tent. For though God was with them while they lived in Canaan under
the judges, yet He did not tell the judges to build Him a house. Gideon, Barak,
Jepthah, Deborah, Samuel and the other judges were the voice and leadership of
the Lord to Israel. Living under the judges was being led by the Spirit. Being
led by the Spirit is a marvelous realm of life, but there is something higher,
something eternally permanent where God will "build His House".
David Pitched
a Tent
"But the Ark of God had David brought up from Kirjathjearim to the
place which David had prepared for it: for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem."
(2 Chronicles 1:4). David knew by the Spirit that the Ark (God's glory and presence)
belonged in the city of God, Jerusalem, and not in the tabernacle down at Gibeon.
He knew that God's permanent house should only be built when Israel was in divine
order, under a King. He though he was that King. But God tells David that he is
not going to build the house of the Lord. God tells David that though He had made
him a mighty man in the earth, and had been with him in all his battles, David
was a bloody man, a man of war. And this house is not going to be built on that
realm. It is wonderful to have God with us in all our battles and trials of life,
so that we come through victoriously. But thank God this is a passing order, a
tent. We shall not always be fighting the devil, overcoming temptations, casting
out devils. For God has prepared for His people a rest. There is a realm in God
where there is no more war, no devil to fight, no temptations to overcome. And
in this place will God build His permanent home, His house.
"Thy Son Shall
Build My House"
"And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that
thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee,
which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me
an house, and I will stablish his throne forever. I will be his father, and he
shall be my son." (1 Chronicles 17:11-12).
Some may think that Solomon
was the fulfillment of that promise, but only partially and temporary. Some of
the things God said were never fulfilled in Solomon. That scripture was never
fulfilled until Jesus came. We read in Luke 1:31-33... "And, behold, thou shalt
conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He
shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall
give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house
of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Here is the one that
God said would build His house. Here was the one who was a Son to the Father,
the one who established the realm of Sonship.
More than 300 years after
Solomon had built the temple, the Lord spoke through the prophet in Isaiah 66:1-2
and said: "Thus saith the Lord the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool:
where is the house that ye build unto Me? And where is the place of my Rest? For
all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been saith the
Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite
spirit, and trembleth at my word." He thus signifies that His promise to David
has not yet been fulfilled, and therefore that Solomon was not that son that He
spoke of that was to build His house.
Jesus Builds a House
God says
two things in 1 Chronicles 17, verses 12 and 14 concerning a house. "He (the Son)
shall build me an house", and "I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom
forever." Jesus was the first man on the earth realm to ever build God a habitation
where He could live and reveal Himself in His fulness. Jesus built Him a house
of holiness, of obedience, of sinless perfection, of humility and compassion and
true Godly love. This is a place where God can live. And for the first time He
has a habitation on the earth. He could not live in a temple made by the hands
of sinful men. Solomon's temple was only a shadow of the real and permanent House
of God. "God was in Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:19).
The Father has a house
in heaven, a realm of life, a habitation and means of expression. For heaven is
perfect, sinless and eternal. And this is the only kind of habitation that God
could have. But no one had ever built such a house on the earth realm, in the
physical world. Until Jesus came. Jesus built the Father a house to live in, a
life so sinless, so perfect, so full of wisdom and grace that even God could feel
at home in it. Everyone has certain requirements for any house they might live
in. If you said to me that you had built a house for me, and that it was free
and all I had to do was to move in, I would certainly take a look at it. But if
it was just an oversized dog house, no doors, no windows, just one room with straw
on the floor, and a hog trough out front to eat out of, I would tell you very
quickly that I would not feel at home in such a place. I am not a dog, I like
a kitchen in my house, a rug on the floor, a bed in the bedroom, and a few other
things pertaining to human life. Then I would feel more at home in the house.
God cannot feel at home in a house full of gossip, lust, fears, profanity, and
all the other things connected with a life of sin. The house Jesus built had none
of that kind of furniture in it. His life was a place where God could feel at
home.
A Stranger and a Pilgrim
The Bible tells us that Old Testament
men of faith recognized that they were strangers and pilgrims on this earth, and
that our citizenship is in heaven. We are not citizens of this dying world of
sin, this mortal realm where death reigns. We have been given a new birth, and
made citizens of a realm of life, righteousness, divine health, wisdom, love,
joy, peace, etc. Though my spirit has been lifted into the heavenlies where I
am a citizen, my body still dwells in the realm of mortality, and I don't feel
at home here any more. I am an heir of immortality and eternal life, and I am
groaning in my spirit for my body to be redeemed to this glorious place. I'm pressing
toward the place where my body can provide God's habitation on this physical earth
(as Jesus did) where He can fully express Himself again in His house. I want to
be a house fit for the Father to dwell in. And thank God, beloved, the day is
at hand when we are changing our address from Mortality to Immortality, from Corruption
to Incorruption. We are ready to put on our house from heaven.
Our House
from Heaven
"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in
the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with
our house which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed we shall not be found
naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; not for that
we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up
of life." (2 Corinthians 5:1-4).
Now it is evident in this scripture we
just read that the "tabernacle" spoken of is our physical bodies. But the "building
of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" is not just another
body already created and stored up, as it were, on a shelf in heaven, waiting
for us to put this one in the grave so we can put the other one on. For you see,
you're not really going to get rid of this present body. If you put it in the
grave, it is coming out at the resurrection. If you remain till Jesus comes, this
present body will be changed and made immortal, and you'll have to keep it from
then on. What about that "house eternal in the heavens"? This is the realm of
God that our present bodies and our spirits must come to. So we groan, desiring
to be loosed from the realm of mortality and death, and released into the habitation
of life, immortality, and eternal perfection in God. The truth is that the house
from heaven will clothe us over, "that mortality might be swallowed up of life."
This earthly house where our present bodies or tabernacles dwell, is to
be dissolved. This realm that we have known as our "earthly life" is actually
a drying life, a passing order, a temporary tent. Jesus said in John 14:2: "I
go to prepare a place for you". Had He not already provided God a house, a habitation
on the earth during His 33 years in His physical body? But now He indicates that
there is a higher order than this, and it can only come by His death, burial,
and resurrection. So that the life He brings us into is a resurrection life. "That
I may know Him in the power of His resurrection".
"What House Will Ye Build
Me?"
Stephen preaches his final sermon on this earth to the Jewish council.
Now if you were going to preach your final message, and it was going to cause
your death, you would surely want it to be of great importance and a weighty subject.
Stephen preaches about the House of the Lord. He tells them in Acts 7:44-50 that
the temple Solomon built is actually not the real House of God, and certainly
not Herod's temple, now sitting up on Mount Moriah. This strikes at the very heart
of their ecclesiastical system, and enrages them as nothing else can. To infer
that our beautiful temple is not where God dwells, that we are not His people,
His habitation. It is blasphemy and worthy of death!
But what Stephen is
telling them is that Jesus the Christ is the habitation of the Father, and only
in Jesus can they find God. And he quotes the prophet Isaiah to prove his point.
They cannot argue with Isaiah, so they stopped their ears, cast out Stephen and
stoned him to death. This is the way every earthly system reacts to the reality
of God's truth. They cannot stand before the living Word of God, so they stop
their ears, cast out the men of God and brand them as heretics.
"Destroy
this House."
When the Jews asked Jesus for a sign (John 2:18-21), Jesus
answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then
said the Jews, Forty and sic years was this temple in building, and wilt thou
rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body." The word for
temple used here is the Greek word: "naos", which means a dwelling place.
What
Jesus is saying to them is: "You go ahead and destroy this house that I have built
for God to live in on this earth, you kill my physical body, but in three days
I will raise it up". And when He raises it up again here on this earth, it will
be a many membered Body. Now I know that the physical body of Jesus was resurrected
on the third day, but it was never established again as a temple on this earth
for a habitation of God. He never went out in His resurrected body to preach the
gospel or heal the sick and manifest the Father. After appearing a number of times
to some 500 of His disciples over a period of 40 days, He ascended with that body
into heaven where He will remain until the times of the restoration.
But
we have now come to that third day. Jesus said: "Go ye, and tell that fox (Herod),
Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day
I shall be perfected." (Luke 13:32). He will again raise up the House of God,
which is the Body of Christ. They destroyed one body, as a corn of wheat, but
He is raising up a many-membered body, as a great harvest. This many-membered
body, the sons of God, the Overcomer, the Zion of God, is the place where God
will live on this earth. He shall rule out of Zion. His throne shall be in His
sons. Kings and priests unto God and our Father. Glory to God!
Ye are the
House of God
Back to Hebrews chapter 3 again to confirm this great truth.
"And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony
of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ, as a son over his own
house; WHOSE HOUSE ARE WE, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of
the hope firm unto the end." Notice here that the house of Moses was a house of
a servant, a house of doing, a realm of servitude and obeying the laws of God.
But Christ established a new house, a house of Sonship, a house of "becoming"
His likeness and His habitation. You are that House.
Read with me in Ephesians
2:19-22. "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the
Lord; In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the
Spirit". Need I say more: Is it not plain and simple, yet powerful and life-giving?
The Anointing Filled the House
In John chapter 12:1-5, we read the
story of Mary anointing the feet of Jesus with a pound of ointment of spikenard,
very costly. Verse 3 says: "The house was filled with the odour of the ointment".
Let me tell you here that the House of the Lord (which house you are) will be
filled with the odour of this glorious last day anointing of the fulness of the
Spirit poured out upon the "feet" of the Body of Christ. This anointing is for
the deliverance of groaning creation. For in verse 5 Judas tells us that the value
of it is "300 pence". We know that 300 is the number of divine deliverance. Gideon's
army, Noah's ark, Solomon's golden shields, etc.
Jesus spoke to the Jews
in Luke 13:35 and said: "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." That is,
the realm that the Jews had lived in and known God in, was finished. God would
never deal with them again through the blood of bulls and goats. God would never
again accept their sacrifices in the temple. "The law and the prophets were until
John (the Baptist)" said Jesus. Now a new house is established.
A House
Divided
When the scribes from Jerusalem accused Jesus of casting out devils
by the power of the devil, He said (Mark 3:23-27). "How can Satan cast out Satan?
And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if
a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise
up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. No man can
enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind
the strong man; and then he will spoil his house."
Now Jesus here is talking
about Satan's house. He is spoiling Satan's house by casting devils out of people.
To bind a strong man, you must be stronger than he. And Jesus proved that he was
much stronger than Satan. I declare unto you that Satan is to be bound by the
sons of God, and his house is to be completely spoiled. Every devil cast out,
every sickness healed, every sin eradicated, every bondage delivered, and every
prison door opened and the captives set free. This is the purpose of this great
anointing upon the sons of God in these last days.
A man can be a house
or dwelling place for evil spirits. In Matthew 12:43-45 we read the words of Jesus:
"When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places,
seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from
whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself,
and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than
the first".
When a devil is cast out of a person, his house needs to be
destroyed, and a house of godliness and righteousness built in it's place. The
man in the story remained in the same realm of sin after the evil spirit was gone,
and it wasn't long until he was filled with more demons than he had ever had before.
When you are delivered of a demon of lust, or alcohol, or tobacco, do not continue
the unclean acts which gave expression to that spirit and formed him a habitation.
Turn away from smoking, drinking, etc., lest you open the door to many other things
even worse, and end up in terrible demon possession.
The House of the Harlot
In the book of Proverbs is a story of a young man being enticed into the
house of a harlot. Proverbs 2:18-19 says that her house inclineth unto death,
and that none that go unto her can take hold of the paths of life. Now a harlot
is a type of the false system of religion, ecclesiastical denominational order
of man-made churchianity. Beware, sons of God, that you are not enticed into her
evil ways of division and bondage. I am not the first prophet that ever cried
out against the harlot system. In Jeremiah 5:7 we read: "How shall I pardon thee
for this? Thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are not gods;
when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves
by troops in the harlots' houses." The house of the harlot is built upon sinking
sand. Matthew 7:24 says: "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and
doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock."
Yes, friend, the rain is coming, the storm will beat upon your house. Only that
built upon the Rock will stand through the last day storm.
The Glory of
the Latter House
Now we come to the great climaxing truth of this message.
Let us read Haggai 2:3. "Who is left among you that saw this house in her first
glory? And how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as
nothing?" You see, Haggai was a post-captivity prophet. That is, he prophesied
to the remnant that had returned from Babylon to rebuild the temple and restore
the city of Jerusalem. But once out of Babylon and back in Canaan, they settled
down to build their own houses, and failed to build the House of the Lord. In
Haggai 1:2 the people said: "The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house
should be built". But in verse 4 the Lord spoke through Haggai and asked them
if it was time for them to build their own houses and let the house of the Lord
lie waste. Yes, men today are building their own houses, their own little kingdoms,
their churches, fellowships, little denominations, and communes. But they are
not building God's house.
The people said that the work was too great,
they did not have the substance or strength to build. And even if they did, it
would not compare with the glory of Solomon's' temple, built in the zenith of
Israel's wealth and power. That is what folks are saying today about building
God an earthly habitation, a body to live in. We could never, they say, attain
to the glory of the house or life of Jesus Christ, that first temple of God. We
have too many enemies within us, too little of the nature of God (gold), and it
is just impossible for anyone today to be like Jesus. Also it is really impossible
to have a many-membered body of people who measure up to a glorious church without
spot or wrinkle. That will just have to wait for heaven, they say. But God said
(Haggai 2:3). "Look at this mess around you here, look at the so-called church,
the stones all broken down and separated by barriers of many kinds. How does this
compare with the glory of that first temple, the firstborn Son of God in all His
glory?" Yes, the Lord says, be strong, for I will do what I have promised, and
you shall build me a house. And the glory of the latter (last) house will be greater
than that first house. Read it (verses 6-9): "For thus saith the Lord of hosts;
Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and
the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations and the desire of all
nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.
The silver (redemption) is mine, and the gold (the nature of God) is mine, saith
the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the
former, saith the Lord of hosts, and in this place will I give peace, saith the
Lord of hosts". Five times in this short scripture the prophet uses the phrase:
"Saith the Lord of hosts", for he certainly did not want Israel to think that
these were his own words. They are the words of God. What are you saying Haggai?
That out of this pile of rubble, this poor weak people are going to be built a
greater and more glorious temple than that of Solomon? Why, that's ridiculous,
in fact, it's almost blasphemy! Surely you don't know how glorious that temple
was! Yes, I do, but I also know what God is saying. He is saying that in spite
of how glorious that house was that Jesus built for God to live in, the last house
that He will build out of the living stones of His people will be even more glorious,
and the glory of God shall fill it here on this earth.
"Greater Works from
a Greater House"
Jesus Himself said: "He that believeth on me, the works
that I do shall he do also; AND GREATER WORKS than these shall he do; because
I go unto my Father." (John 14:12). That first house that God lived in on this
earth was only one body, could only be in one place at a time, was subject to
many limitations of earthly life, could be subjected to death. But because He
went to the Father, through death, burial, and resurrection, He prepared a place
for us. He made it possible for another house to be built. He builds the house,
and becomes a Son over His own house. This latter house comes into resurrection
glory, receives immortality, and defeats every enemy in living bodies here on
this earth. God will live in this many-membered house in His fulness, and pour
His glory into that house. It is your opportunity to be a part of that great latter
house, beloved, rejoice and praise God for it!
Everything brings forth
after it's own kind. This is a principle that is true in the natural as well as
in the spiritual. To get corn, you must plant the corn. You can only get cattle
from other cattle. Fallen man can only produce other fallen men. And Jesus is
bringing forth sons in His own image. But notice something. He never sent the
Holy Spirit upon them, never gave them this birth in the Spirit, until after His
resurrection. John 7:39 says that "The Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that
Jesus was not yet glorified." For it was to be His resurrection life that they
were to receive. Isaac never had any sons until after his trip with Abraham to
Mount Moriah where "in a figure" (Hebrews 11:19) he was raised from the dead.
And the sons of God could not be brought forth until after the resurrection. The
Old Testament saints looked forward to it, and though they received a good report
through faith (Hebrews 11:39), they could not receive the promise until after
the resurrection. God's House is to be built on the foundation of a resurrected
Christ, after the power of an endless life. a true Melchisedec priesthood!
So
this is why the latter house will be greater than the former. The first house,
in the body of Jesus Christ, though it was perfect and glorious and a fit place
for the Father to dwell in. it was in a body that had not yet come through the
resurrection. He did not bring forth sons on that plane, in that image. It was
after the resurrection that He poured out His Spirit, and began bringing sons
to glory. And it is children of the resurrection that will make up this glorious
last house of God! What a high calling we have received, beloved! Be faithful!
You are the house of the Lord! Walk in holiness, in sincerity. Provide the Father
the furniture in His house that will make Him feel at home, love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, faith, etc. Let God by His Spirit build in you a way of life, a
realm of living, that is above the corruption and confusion of this present age.
We are citizens of another way of life, another world. But our city is coming
down! And the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His
Christ. Our house shall rule and reign on this earth, and every other house, every
other realm of life other than God's life will be shaken and destroyed. All creation
shall shout for joy at the manifestation of the Sons of God, the end-time House
of the Lord! Glory to God, hallelujah!
The Hearing Ear
In the first
six verses of this chapter we found that Moses was faithful in his house as a
servant, but that the house of Christ was the house of Sonship. We dealt with
the fact that we, the body of Christ, are the house, the habitation of God through
the Spirit.
Now in the rest of this chapter, God gives a solemn warning
lest we let unbelief keep us from going on with God into the fulness of His promises.
Beginning in verse 7, God uses the Israelites in the wilderness as the example
of how we can miss God through unbelief.
The first point he brings out
in verse 7 is to hear the voice of God. Beloved, this is the first requisite.
If we cannot hear God's voice, if we cannot recognize the sound of the trumpet,
if we cannot know the true message when it comes forth, then we will be in no
position to believe and to enter in to the promises of God. We must be able to
hear and to hear with the ear of the Spirit. Jesus continually said to the people:
"He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." In Proverbs 20:12 it says: "The hearing
ear and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them". Here we see that
those who have a hearing ear have it because God gave it to them. Oh, beloved,
bear this in mind. If you have heard the voice of the Lord, if you have recognized
the message of the hour, let this not bring forth in you a boastful heart. Let
not your own spirit become exalted, as though you had accomplished something in
yourself. If you have a hearing ear, it is because God has given it. Let this
bring to your heart a humility. Let this bring to your heart a recognition of
the marvelous grace of God who has chosen you, a vessel of clay, to whom He would
make known His marvelous, eternal truths.
Jesus said in Revelation 3:20,
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock: If any man hear my voice, and open the
door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with me." The first
requisite to supping with the Lord and having that beautiful fellowship in the
Spirit is to hear His voice. How can you expect to have the secrets of God made
known to you if you cannot recognize His voice? Jesus said in John 10: "My sheep
know my voice, and another they will not follow". Many people today cry: "wolf"
at anything they hear preached that does not sound like what they had been hearing
all their lives. They are afraid to listen to new truths for fear that they will
be deceived and be swallowed up by false doctrines. How, in heaven's name, can
people expect to go on into the unsearchable riches of Christ and to understand
the unfolding and progressive purposes of God if they refuse to hear?
We
read in Hebrews 12:25: "See that you refuse not him that speaketh. For if they
escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape,
if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven." There is a voice of one this
day speaking from heaven. Though He is using human vessels through which to sound
the trumpet, yet it is the voice of Him who ruleth in the heavens. Those who have
ears to hear will hear what He has to say to us today, and thus have faith to
believe to enter in to God's rest.
"Today if you will hear His voice, harden
not your hearts, as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness."
Here in Hebrews 3:8 we find the second requisite to entering in to our promises,
and that is, "harden not your hearts". Oh, beloved, there is such a temptation
as we are marching through this wilderness journey, to get a hardness of heart
through all the manifold tribulations that come upon us. Recognize that everything
that comes is coming from the hand of God. Be ready to praise God for it, and
do not become embittered in your heart towards the Lord our God. Those who become
bitter think they are bitter at their enemies, when in reality, they are becoming
embittered at God who has allowed the tribulations to come upon them.
The
hardness of heart must be removed. God said through the prophet Ezekiel, "I will
take out the stony heart and put in a heart of flesh." God is not looking for
great deeds or great exploits, but God is looking for that one who has a contrite
spirit and a softness of heart, a tender heart, a kindness and longsuffering.
People are becoming defiled and missing the purposes of God because of bitterness
in their hearts, and they know it not. Beloved, I know what I am talking about.
You would have to live in the midst of religious hypocrisy where very pious, religious
people were making every effort to destroy your work for God, to understand the
temptation that can come upon the heart to become bitter. If you could see the
inward workings of religious hierarchies where political maneuverings are carried
shamelessly and men of God become ensnared in a system that causes them to become
animalistic in nature, devouring one another and destroying their brother for
their own political advantage.
Yes, even in Israel's journey through the
wilderness, there were men who tried to overthrow the authority of Moses and to
take over the leadership for themselves, though they were not called to this by
God. Entire houses were swallowed up by the earth in the judgments that came as
a result. And today entire churches and ministries are being swallowed up by the
spirit of this world. God says: "I was grieved with that generation." How grieved
He must be in this, our generation, who have the greatest light since the Son
of God ascended up on high, and yet who are, in so many cases, striving only to
build a man-made kingdom. Yes, today as then, it is a day of provocation, but
He warns us, "harden not your hearts". Then, as now, the people saw the mighty
works of God. Miracle-working powers were performed among them; yet, they hardened
their hearts against God.
Therefore, God says in verse 10 that He was grieved
with that generation. He says the error was in their heart, not in their head,
but in their heart. It was not their understanding that was deficient; it was
not that their doctrines were wrong; it was their desires, their inward life.
They would not allow the Holy Spirit to conform them to the image of Christ. God
says, "they have not known my ways". Oh, God give us people who learn the ways
of the Lord! The Bible says that the children of Israel saw His acts, but to Moses
He made known His ways. There is a Moses company in this hour who are learning
the ways of the Lord. Beloved, when you know how God operates, when you know how
He thinks, when you know what the principles are He works by, then you have no
trouble knowing whether this thing or that thing is from God or not. Learn to
know the ways of God. Get acquainted with our Lord. He wants you to become intimately
acquainted with Him.
"know Him". Paul cried out in Philippians 3:10, "Oh,
that I may know him". This is the cry of our hearts today. To know the Lord and
to become acquainted with His ways. Many have seen the miracles; many have seen
the great works of God; but to those that are learning His ways and are becoming
acquainted with Him and the principles by which He operates, those are the ones
He is calling into Sonship. Although the promise had been given to all and Canaan's
land had been prepared for them, yet, because of their unbelief and hardness of
heart, God swore in His wrath that that generation would not enter into His rest.
Now we come to verse 12 and it says, "Take heed, brethren, lest there be
in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the Living God." There
are many people who would sanctimoniously inform you that they were born again
and Spirit-filled and did not indulge in the gross sins of smoking, drinking,
sex-lust, narcotics, stealing, and profanity. But, if the truth were known, they
have evil hearts full of unbelief because they resist the truth when it comes
to them. Beloved, it takes a heart of unbelief to resist the truth of God. If
your heart is right with God, when you hear the truth, it will witness to your
heart, and you will gladly embrace it and grow thereby. If you resist the truth
of God, it is because you have an evil heart of unbelief. This, my friend, will
cause you to miss the promises of God. Verse 13 tells us that sin is deceitful.
If sin were only those things that were listed in the constitution and bylaws
of the church system, then we could easily know what to avoid. But sin is deceitful.
I must relate here a personal experience I had with this chapter. One time,
years ago, we were living in a little house at the edge of a village in Carney,
Oklahoma. Our only bathroom was an outdoor privy, or an outhouse, as some call
them. We had no hot water in the house. In fact, until we were able to have a
well dug, we had no water at all and had to carry water from a neighbor's house.
It was during this time that our youngest girl, Rachel, was born and seeing my
wife have to take care of herself and her newborn baby under these conditions,
began to do something to me. I had been successful in the insurance business and
was zone manager for a very fine company, but the Lord had pressed on my spirit
to quit my job and give full-time to the ministry of writing and radio preaching.
Our expenses were heavy and had been sufficiently met by my earnings at my job.
But when I was without a job, the expenses went on while the money coming in was
cut off. Things got in very bad shape. Financially, it seemed that the door to
heaven was closed. Night after night I would stand in the field behind our house
and look up at the stars and say, "Father, I know you own every one of those stars.
I know you own the cattle on a thousand hills. You have in your hands the hearts
of millionaires who would not even miss the amount that it would take to bring
us through this financial crisis. Father, I do not doubt your ability to meet
our needs. The question in my heart is, why are you not meeting those needs? Why
are you letting us go like this?" Night after night I cried to God. Our bills
were getting behind. We hardly had money to feed our children. We lost our car
and it looked as though we would lose our little home. Unknown to me, a bitterness
against God was beginning to creep into my heart. I did not recognize this until
one night I went to a service in Oklahoma City. The preacher was preaching on
the first part of Hebrews 3. I had with me an Amplified New Testament, and began
to read this chapter in the Amplified, reading ahead of where he was preaching.
I came to verse 8, and in the Amplified it says: "Do not harden your hearts, as
happened in the rebellion of Israel and in their provocation and embitterment
of Me in the day of testing in the wilderness." I stopped and read that phrase
again, "embitterment of Me". Then I realized that the children of Israel in the
wilderness were bitter at God. I said, "God, why were they bitter at you?" And
the Lord spoke to me as I sat there in the service that night and said: "They
became embittered at Me because they knew I could do better than give them bread
and water. I gave them manna from heaven and water from the rock, but they lusted
after flesh. They knew that if I desired, I could give them quail, and they were
bitter at Me because I was not doing as much for them as they knew I was capable
of doing." I though to myself, "what a wicked and rebellious people. They did
not deserve to go into the promised land, becoming embittered like that at God."
Then the voice of the Lord spoke to me and said: "Son, that's the condition you
are in. You are becoming bitter at Me." I cried out in horror, "Oh no, Lord, not
me, I'm your son. I wouldn't be bitter at you no matter what". He said: "You are
becoming bitter because you know in your heart and have faith to believe that
I am able to meet all your financial needs; and yet, you are wondering why I am
not doing it, and bitterness is coming into your heart."
As the light of
His Word shined upon my heart, I recognized that it was true, and right there
in my seat, while the preacher in the pulpit was continuing his message, I had
an altar call and cried out to God for repentance and for forgiveness. I said:
"God if you will cleanse me from this awful thing, I will never complain or become
bitter at my circumstance you bring me into, regardless of what it is". God graciously
forgave and cleansed my heart; and I went from that service victorious. I committed
the future, financially and otherwise, into His hands. And do you know what friends?
My victory opened the windows of heaven; and before the week was out, the financial
bondage was broken, and I began to receive substantial gifts from unexpected sources
all over the country. (These came in spite of the fact that we had made no mention
to anyone of our needs. God will not allow us to tell of any need that we might
have). As soon as I had won the victory in my spirit, God began to speak to those
who had the ministry of giving and who could hear His voice. Yes, beloved, sin
is deceitful; and sometimes we get ensnared without even knowing that we are guilty
until the Word of the Lord exposes us.
So, as we finish up the third chapter
of Hebrews, we see God emphasizing the awfulness of unbelief and warning us that
this will keep us out of the land of rest. The chapter ends by saying: "They could
not enter in because of unbelief." Now, as we get ready to go into chapter 4 and
take a look at the rest of God, let us cleanse our hearts from unbelief, and ask
God's Spirit to search us and illuminate our hearts by His Word, that we might
see ourselves as He sees us.
Another principle is stated in verse 13: "Exhort
one another daily". Beloved, whether you believe it or not, you need me, and I
need you. We need to exhort one another. Sometimes folks write to me and tell
me of some trend they see in my writings. Perhaps they feel that I am putting
too much emphasis on one phase of the message. Or perhaps they feel that I am
getting hardness of heart because of my message against the Babylonian system.
But there are those, and I thank God for them, who are concerned enough to write
me and to exhort and rebuke me in the Spirit. They cannot know how seriously I
take these exhortations. I do not cast them aside as just another complaint; for,
beloved, I want to be right. I want to enter into God's rest, and one thing we
need in order to make the grade is to exhort one another daily. So if I hit you
where it hurts, if I stir you up, thank God for it; I am doing it for your benefit,
and I am doing it because I love you.
Verse 14 points out the absolute
necessity of stedfastness. It is not enough to have revelation of coming Sonship.
It is not enough to feel the anointing and to enter into an experience with God.
It says we must continue, and to hold fast the beginning of our confidence, stedfast
unto the end. Oh, beloved, there is much tribulation in the world today. There
are many pressures coming against those who are pressing into Sonship. But I exhort
you, hold fast your confidence, stedfast unto the end. The one who wears the crown
is not he who starts the race in a flurry of enthusiasm, nor he who is out in
front at the end of a half mile, but it is the one who crosses the finish line.
So bear in mind that all things are coming to an end; and that God intends
in His purposes for us to remain stedfast to the end of this race. He has the
power to bring us through. Blessed be His Name! We are all running in a race,
but the crown is given to him that finishes. So run that you may obtain! In many
places in the Bible it says: "And it came to pass". And let me say to you friends,
no matter how hard your trials are, they have come to pass and in God's time they
shall pass. Hold stedfast to the end, and remain faithful to Him Who has called
you.
Bill
Britton Hebrews the book of better things