We pray that all of God's children will sense the purpose behind each trial of faith. May we all grasp the purpose of this hour and become aware of this time of transition. The transition that I'm speaking of is that period between maturity and restoration. I'm speaking of the New Covenant priesthood coming into their own. When the mighty hand of the Lord moved upon the hearts of those who left behind a strange land filled with strange gods, He illustrated to us in human history that restoration does not come over night. Restoration does not come in the blink of an eye. Oh, how we need to get a hold of the heart of God and see that time itself is His great sifter. Dear reader, maturity is a journey! Without a mature priesthood in the earth executing the will of God, restoration will not happen. Therefore, if we desire to participate in the Lord's plan of restoration, we must not make the mistake of stopping short of our spiritual destination. We must also emphasize the time element in hopes that all who are on this journey will not grow weary. For when we do grow weary, our impatience deprives us of the peace we have in Christ.
We have shared in length many things pertaining to this journey.
However, we
feel that it is only fitting to reiterate two points that set the stage
for what we are
about to embark upon. We have shared the indispensable need to begin
our spiritual
journey toward maturity on the right foot. We must have an
understanding of who we
are before we can get to what we shall be. In other words, before we
can know our
purpose in Christ, we must know who we are in Christ. We must take
serious note
that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature
(2 Cor.
5:17). We must have an
understanding of what it means to be a new creation.
We must know the implications of being a redeemed people. We have
shared
about silver being symbolic of redemption. Interestingly enough, we
find a beautiful
connection between the above thoughts and the journey Ezra made. In
Ezra 8:18
we read that by the good hand of our God upon us they
brought us a man of
understanding.
This context speaks of the time Ezra sent men to
a place called
Casiphia so they would bring back ministers for the house of
the Lord. Casiphia
means silver of the Lord. It is significant that this
was the place from which the man
of understanding came, and the sons of Levi, and the others called to
serve in the house of the Lord. The Jerusalem Bible reads I told
them the words they were to say to Iddo and
his kinsmen, living in the region of Casiphia, to provide us with
servants for the Temple of our God.
Then, thanks to the kindly favour of our God which was with us, they
sent us a capable man...
(Ezra 8:17 and 18). Those who know what it means to be redeemed, i.
e. silver of the Lord, are the
ones capable, with understanding. This is a picture of those who know
what it means to walk in the
newness of life. You see, if we do not understand who we are, then we
should not be disappointed
if we live as one who is incapable of making the
journey of maturity and being a part of God's
purpose to restore.
The children of Israel viewed themselves after the flesh; therefore, they could not see that by virtue of being redeemed, they were more than conquerors. The nations feared them because of the power of God in their lives. However, they feared the nations in the promise land because they deemed themselves incapable of possessing their birthright! Many Christians live in defeat because they have no understanding of the Christ that dwells within them. They see themselves as old creatures controlled by flesh. But God has raised up the Calebs and the Joshuas in each generation to make a statement to all creation. Thank God for those who looked away unto Jesus Christ, not only as being the Author of their faith, but the finisher! Thank God that there have been and still are those who dare to embrace this God-birthed sense of destiny! Thank God for those that cannot settle for anything less than what God intends for them in the unique age He has placed them! We need to stop looking at ourselves when impossible circumstances seem to strike. Our Lord is well able to deliver us out of the cold clutch of defeat! He ever lives to have us experience His victory!
Ah, but let us now quickly tie the thought of victory into our next point. Victory is not getting out of conflicts and escaping a crisis. No sir, victory is when we walk through the furnace of afflictions and the world looks on and sees the Son of God Himself walking with us in our fire (see Dan. 3:25). The Lord also wants those who have been redeemed as silver to be tried and come forth as gold, that is to say, to express His nature. This nature is the thing that will govern the corporate man. This mature corporate man is the vehicle God will use to restore. And just what is God restoring? Well, everything that has been buried under the carnality of man doing his own thing in the name of Christ! We can look at everything that was restored in Jerusalem and find many truths, on a higher plane, about what God is doing and will do. We have touched on some of these things throughout the course of this series. Nevertheless, in this great time of transition, the one thing we are impressed to share is that before restoration comes on a great scale, there must be specific function in order. That order is a heavenly government operating in the body of Christ. We are speaking of something that must surpass the good motives that religious men come up with. Nothing short of a theocracy will do when it comes to reaching this glorious destination.
And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all
the treasures which are beyond
the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of
the God of heaven, shall require
of you, it be done speedily ... And, behold, I come quickly;
and my reward is with me, to give every
man according as his work shall be
(Ezra 7:21 and Rev. 22:12).
In the decree of Artaxerxes, we read that the king is not only
restoring and providing things
that are needed for the service of the temple, such as silver, wheat,
wine, oil, and salt (Ezra 7:22). We
find in 7:25 that magistrates and judges are to be set in order. And
thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of
thy God, that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may
judge all the people that are
beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye
them that know them not.
When we read that Ezra is instructed to
appoint magistrates and judges, this brings to mind Isaiah
1:26. And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy
counsellors as at the beginning: afterward
thou shalt be called, the city of righteousness, the faithful city.
Due to the negative images that immediately come to the minds of
most people, the restoring
of judges seems out of place in the economy of the New Covenant. After
all, the instituting of judges
began in Exodus 18. Jethro shared in wisdom with Moses that he should
appoint able men to judge
the people (Ex. 18:19-22). Concerning judgment in general, many would
quickly point out the words
of Jesus in Matthew 7:1. Judge not, that ye be not judged.
However, a less quoted passage in
John should be referenced in light of what the Lord is conveying in
Matthew. Judge not according
to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment
(John 7:24). The
issue in Matthew 7 is hypocrisy.
Hypocritical judgment is the thing the Lord sharply rebukes.
Nevertheless, many people will use the
passage in Matthew as a proof text to do away with judgment.
Another mistake the majority of Christendom makes is placing judgment out in the future. They only see judgment as something reserved for the unconverted multitudes. Furthermore, their concept of judgment completely contradicts the nature of God's righteous judgment. Many cling to the horrible idea that God's judgment is synonymous with endless torment.
Christendom in general fails to see that, due to the fact that God is love, every action He takes is out of the motivation of love. It has been well stated that if you have love you can lose it, but if you are love you cannot lose it. However, we are in no way stating that God loves every thing that mankind has done. In light of our subject, we would like to quote these balanced words by Ray Prinzing: "Jesus did not go to the cross to pacify the anger of God, HE WENT TO REVEAL THE HEART OF GOD, for, we repeat, 'GOD WAS IN CHRIST reconciling the world unto himself.' Here was another 'Divine Principle' in action, even as Jesus taught, when 'thy brother hath ought against thee ... go thy way; be reconciled to thy brother.' [Matt. 5:23-24]. He had naught against us, but he knew that we had rebelled against Him - so He initiated the action to bring about our reconciliation again. So great is His love to us-ward. 'He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.'" [Psalm 103:10-12] (from Whispers of His Judgments, p.103 and 104).
There has yet to be a great paradigm shift in the majority of
Christendom, but there must be
a real revelation to revolutionize the way our Heavenly Father is
viewed. You see, we must take
another look at the scriptures, for our God has not changed. He
is the Rock, his work is perfect: for
all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just
and right is he
(Deut. 32:4).
ALL OF HIS WAYS ARE JUDGMENT! We have
misunderstood the nature of our God, because
we have not fully understood His judgment! The gnostics and the new
agers and others who may
deem themselves deep would have us believe that the God of the New
Testament is not the God of
the Old Testament. This is due to the fact that they have not fully
understood His judgment.
Again, we would like to shed further light on our subject from Ray Prinzing's book Whispers of His Judgments. "A judicial sentence is called 'a judgment,' and to be complete, it not only takes into account the past error, lawlessness, iniquity, etc. but also speaks forth the means for its correction, atonement. Men go on to serve their sentence, and when finished, that judgment is complete. The sorrow of earth's judgment is that we are unable to CHANGE THE CHARACTER of man through the execution of the sentence, so they usually go back to their way of crime again. But God's judgments are beautifully REMEDIAL. They will bring a change. As His judgments are carried out, it will work a subduing, a change of mind, until that erring one will turn from their wicked ways, and receive the love and salvation of the Lord. Judgments do not save men, they condition men to be saved. JESUS CHRIST SAVES MEN. Judgments are but a means to the end, HE IS THE END, He is the consummation, HIS NATURE IS THE FINAL VICTORY." (p.87).
Beloved, the scriptures do not teach that, when God's judgments are
in the earth, most of
mankind will be endlessly tormented! ...for when thy judgments
are in the earth, the inhabitants
of the world will learn righteousness
(Isa. 26:9). If we could
only get a hold of the fact that all of
God's judgments are remedial, then we would desire the restoration of
judges! You see, mankind
is the vehicle the Lord placed in His creation to execute His will, His
righteousness, i.e. His righteous
judgment! For it is humanity that is the apple of God's eye. In
order to make this point clear, we
would like to reiterate something we have shared concerning Jacob in
recent articles. We realize the
scriptures speak of Israel after the flesh being the apple of His eye,
but Israel after the flesh is
parenthetical to the full plan and purpose of God! Indeed, Deuteronomy
32:9 speaks of the people
of Jacob being kept as the apple of His eye. We most certainly agree
that all Israel will be saved
(Rom. 11:26). But we must consider the full scope of God's purpose
in creation. He has purposed
a new humanity to come forth and execute His will, just as our Lord
Jesus Christ did! Of course, this
will not be possible apart from the fact that Jesus Himself is the head
of this corporate new humanity.
Jacob received a new name after he wrestled with the angel of the
Lord. He also received a
new walk to go with his new name; ...he halted upon his thigh
(Gen. 32:31). This is typical of
the nature of man being changed. In the process of the change, man is
brought low due to pride and
then exalted due to humility. This foreshadows the divine principle
that God Himself has used since
the dawn of creation. Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O
God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second
(Heb. 10:9). Jesus came to do the
will of God, and, in doing so, He
took the old humanity, the first Adam, to the cross. In resurrection,
He established the new humanity,
the second Adam. Dear reader, in the full scope of things, Adam was the
first man, i.e. the first
humanity, not the nation of Israel after the flesh. Therefore, it
is the new humanity, the corporate
Christ, under the headship of Jesus, that is in the process of being
established. One nation will not
satisfy the heart of the Father, for He gave His Son for them
all!
With the above thoughts in mind, let us see that this restoration of judges is not a re-instituting of an Old Covenant order, but the re-establishment of the New Covenant priesthood! We received a small glimpse of this in the books of Acts. We are simply speaking of a people that are determined to live by the will of God! As the Spirit speaks to them and guides them, they obey, hence they judge! We have never seen this on the scale in which the Lord is in the process of bringing about. However, this must take place in order for creation to be liberated! In the process of time, traditions, political agendas, and just plain old disobedience plunged the body of Christ headlong into darkness. The darkness became so gross that the few who sought the will of God and judged according to Him, were at times put to death by others who claimed Christ. We can look back and see degrees of restoration through the reformation. We would not belittle the liberty the reformation brought, as well as other moves of restoration brought, but we are persuaded of greater things.
We cannot buy into the idea that, in order to participate in God's
plan of restoration, we must
wait for the resurrection, or when we all get to heaven, or whatever
the case may be. Furthermore,
those who walk in the newness of His resurrection life now are the ones
who will be used mightily
in the resurrection. But there are those who may put off drawing near
to the heart of the Father. Such
souls will not only be incapable of judging after His will today and
tomorrow, but they will have a
rude awakening on that great third day, in which a corporate body is
perfected (Luke 13:32). We miss
so much when we fail to see that it is in mere earthen vessels that God
desires to be glorified! After
all, that is the form that expressed the Father to humanity. For our
Lord did not take on the form of
angels. He took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in
the likeness of men
(Phil. 2:7). He could not have come in the
form of anything else but a man in order to communicate God to man!
This brings us to another significant point concerning our theme of
restored judgment. In John
5:26 and 27 we read: For as the Father hath life in himself; so
hath he given to the Son to have life
in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also,
because he is the Son of man.
We would like to take note of verse 27. The Lord did not
say that authority to execute judgment was
given to Him because He is the Son of God. Authority to execute
judgment was given to Jesus
because He is the Son of man. You see, dominion and
glory and a kingdom of all people, nations,
and languages, is given to the Son of man (Dan. 7:13). So much of what
Jesus speaks in John 5:19-47
runs parallel with Daniel's vision in Daniel 7:9-14. It is only fitting
that this passage in Daniel echoes
the same theme in John 5, for the name Daniel means "Judge of God," i.e.
"one who delivers
judgment in the name of God", or "my judge is God." This name, in
and of itself, is the essence of
what Jesus declared in John 5:30. I can of mine own self do
nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my
judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the
Father which hath sent me.
"As I hear, I judge . . . I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." This is the way those who have been born of the Spirit are called to function when it comes to judgment. "As I hear I judge." "...because He is the Son of man." Dear saint, those few words sum up the reason why power and authority was given to Jesus. And so it will be for us if we go on to see how this divine mystery of the incarnation is God's final answer to all the woes of this degenerating universe! God, dwelling in common humanity, standing in the gap between the human and the divine as we operate in authority, by the power of His Spirit, is the means by which the two realms are merged into one new creation. We have seen this new creation displayed in the life of our Head, Jesus the Christ! Now our Head will once again display this new creation in the corporate Christ! Praise the Lord! May we hear! May we judge! May we lay hold of God's agenda! Let everything outside of His will fall by the wayside!
Now, we realize that there are still many things that claim the name
of Christ that have yet to
be rooted out. We can easily look at the condition of things concerning
the Church and ask ourselves,
how is the faithful city become a harlot? (Isa.1:21). How is
it that the household of faith came into
such a condition? Let us hear the words of Isaiah concerning the city
that became a harlot, for he said, It was full of judgment;
righteousness lodged in it
(Isa.1:21).
Here we plainly see that judgment
is a positive thing. While the minds of many might picture a city that
is full of judgment going down
in flames and brimstone, the Lord speaks of righteousness dwelling in a
place full of judgment. Nevertheless, if we can get a handle on God's
judgment, we would see why Isaiah says, Zion shall
be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness
(Isa.
1:27).
Our expectation should be in the fact that God is setting things right, rather than just saving us so we can do our own thing and zip off the planet just before it gets toasted. We are not called into the fellowship of Christ to vacate our office of the priestly order that will minister to all creation. Without seeing this calling, we could easily join the multitudes that are content with religiosity, which seek the things that are permissible, rather than the thing that is commendable. The commendable thing is nothing less than the perfect will of God. When the office of the priesthood is neglected and that which is commendable is not pursued, we are crippled by the absence of His judgment. Until we have discerned His will and come into agreement with it, God is not obliged to restore anything. We would like to paraphrase something Stephen Jones has shared. God is looking for an Amen people. He is looking for those who will say so be it to His will and speak it in the earth. When we become such a people, there will be no more delay in His righteous judgments which must occur in order to bring restoration. This brings us to our next and final parallel.
And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of
the king, let judgment be
executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to
banishment, or to confiscation of goods,
or to imprisonment ... He which testifieth these things saith, Surely
I come quickly. Amen. Even so,
come, Lord Jesus
(Ezra 7:26 and Rev. 22:20).
For God to set things right means that God must set things in
order. When all the pieces are
in their proper place, so to speak, then the fulfillment comes.
However, there is a great downward
tug, if you will, that tries to pull us out of our proper place. When
we vacate that honorable priestly
role of intercession, we forfeit our place in God's purpose of
restoration. Of course, this does not
hinder God. He simply raises up someone who will answer to the call.
Nevertheless, we should exhort one another daily
as it says in
Hebrews 3:13. Let
us therefore fear, lest, a promise being
left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short
of it
(Heb. 4:1).
The action that took place in the book of Ezra stands in sharp
contrast to what was lamented
in Ezekiel 22:30. I searched for a man among them who would build
up the wall and stand in the
gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found
no one
(NASB). You see,
in Ezra, the pieces are put into place. There is a man placed in the
gap. This must take place today
before we see the will of God being executed. As we draw near to the
heart of our heavenly Father
and commune with Him, He will place those anointed words on our hearts
to speak into the earth.
Therefore, it is our relationship with our heavenly Father that will
impact the world around us, rather
than the doctrines we may hold. Furthermore, the more we commune with
Him, the more we should
discern which doctrines to hold and which to let go.
We find a man by the name of Meremoth in Ezra 8:33 who weighed the
silver and the gold
vessels in the house of God. This is significant, due to the fact that
his name means elevations. We
have been elevated, my friend. The Lord has raised us up together,
and made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus
(Eph. 2:6). From the elevated
realm in the heavenly places, we have
been given the capacity to judge from the Lord's viewpoint. In other
words, we have been given the
opportunity to weigh matters in the heavenly realm. In order to do such
a thing, this may often imply
that we are to identify with people in the earth in order to bring
restoration. This is seen in Ezra
chapters 9 and 10. Everything and everyone is in place. Judges have
been restored. Therefore,
righteous judgment can no longer be delayed. Ezra identifies with the
sin of his people. He stands in
the gap. He placed himself in that gap that was made when the holy seed
was mingled (Ezra 9:1-3).
Beloved, that happened for our learning (Rom. 15:4). We can look back
and see the type. Let us now
press into the substance and the reality of what was foreshadowed in
Ezra.
We should also note that the scene in this last parallel shows that in the process of judgment being executed there is a revisiting of the covenant. We are persuaded that these strange wives and the children they birthed represent ideas, thoughts, and the fruits of religious man acting in the stead of Christ, without the leading of Christ. This is a serious flaw in the testimony of the Church of the living God. Due to the delay of righteous judgment being executed, we have seen the perpetuation of the Church mingling with the carnality of man's thinking. Before this mingling is done away with, we, too, must see a revisiting of the covenant. This is the very thing we feel the urgency to press into - the full implications of the New Covenant!
We see the connection of God's covenant and His judgment in many
places, namely
Revelation 10:1-6. We in no way wish to go into detail of all the
beautiful symbolism in this passage.
We simply wish to make two quick points in relation to our study. First
off, in Revelation 10:1, we
read of a mighty angel that came down from heaven, clothed with a
cloud, and with a rainbow upon
his head. This rainbow is symbolic of God's covenant, due to the fact
that the first time we find a
rainbow in the scriptures, God had made a covenant. I do set my
bow in the cloud, and it shall be
for a token of a covenant between me and the earth
(Gen. 9:13).
The bow in the cloud not only
speaks of God making a covenant in Noah's day. It also speaks of a
people in covenant with God.
Clouds are often symbolic of people in the scriptures (Isa. 60:8 and
Jude 12). In Revelation 10:1, we
find that this "mighty angel" coming down from heaven is an allusion to
the corporate body of Christ
exercising the power of God's Covenant, namely the New Covenant. We do
not wish to go into a
long drawn out study concerning the New Covenant. We would like to
simply state that the New
Covenant speaks of God's Spirit dwelling in man and changing the
character of man's being from the
inside out. It is the administration of the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:8). The
rainbow upon the head speaks of
being governed by the Covenant, by way of the Spirit within (Heb.
8:10).
The second point we would like to draw from this passage is the
fact that this description of
the body of Christ shows us that when we come to this place in our
growth, there is no more delay
in God's will being executed and fulfilled. And the angel which I
saw stand upon the sea and upon
the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, And sware by him that liveth
for ever and ever, who created
heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things
that therein are, and the sea,
and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer
(Rev.10:5
and 6). The New
American Standard more properly reads that there will be delay no
longer,
as opposed to "there
should be time no longer." The Amplified reads, there
should be no more waiting or delay.
The language used in Revelation 10:6, concerning all that God
created and so on, takes us
back to Ezra's prayer. In his prayer, the concept of covenant is being
revisited and, as a result,
judgment is no longer delayed. Thou, even thou, art Lord alone;
thou hast made heaven, the heaven
of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are
therein, the seas, and all that is
therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven
worshippeth thee. Thou art the Lord
the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of
the Chaldees, and gavest
him the name of Abraham; and foundest his heart faithful before thee,
and madest a covenant with
him...
(Neh. 9:6-8). The mention of Abraham is significant
in so many ways, but it is especially
significant due to the fact that Ezra and his fellow countrymen are
about to sign a covenant. As a
result of the signed covenant, the strange wives and their children
were put away. Abraham had Issac
circumcised, which is a sign of the covenant God made with Abraham
(Gen. 17:10). Shortly after we
read of Issac being circumcised on the eight day, we find that Hagar
and Ishmael are cast out (Gen.
21:4-12). In both Genesis and Ezra, as well as other places, we see the
same principle; the principle
of judgment being executed after covenant has been revisited. In
Abraham's case, we see this
principle at work on an individual level. In the book of Ezra, we see
this principle at work on a
national (corporate) level.
Up until a time, the strange wives - the ideas of man apart from
the Spirit, and their carnal
offspring cohabit with the people of God. All throughout history, men,
supposedly in the name of
Christ, have built their golden calves and kindled their strange fire.
They made idolatry out of programs, that were often a product of good
motives married to worldly means of achievement. It
is as if the spirit of the age has more say so in the decisions and
functions of the modern Church than
does the Holy Spirit. However, the Lord will only permit this activity
for so long. Each generation
will, in some way, have the opportunity to cast out the bondwoman and
her son. Each one purchased
by the blood of the Lamb will have to enter into that warfare in which
the struggle over embracing
the liberty of the Spirit or going backwards into a slave's mentality
is experienced. Nevertheless, we
are to be confident in these inspired words: you did not get
slavery's spirit to fear again, but you
got the spirit of sonship
(Rom. 8:15, CLNT).
Marriage, in and of itself, is a covenant. Covenant implies commitment. Christendom has covenanted with many strange ideas and has committed to their own programs for years now. Therefore, it is only fitting that there be a revisiting of God's covenant, which is, in essence, a re-commitment to God's way of doing things. This re-commitment is not to be confused with an altar call or a prayer in and of itself. What we are sharing here implies a complete divorce from the carnality of religion and selfishness that have watered down the Lamb! This implies a piercing of the heart. This implies the execution of righteous judgment. We find a very vivid illustration of this in the history of Israel.
And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit
whoredom with the daughters
of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods:
and the people did eat, and
bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and
the anger of the Lord was
kindled against Israel
(Num. 25:1-3). This brings to mind the
strange women that had to be put
away in Ezra's day. Until judgment is executed, the dark conditions of
Israel's whoredom linger on.
However, the urgency of the quick execution in the king's decree all
throughout the book of Ezra
sheds a bright ray of hope upon a nation crippled by delayed judgment.
It is no different in the body
of Christ. In the Spiritual nation that God is forming, we, too, will
find darkness prolonged, so long
as men shun the counsel of the Lord. Men ignorantly prefer the darkness
over the light when they
settle for a good program, rather than a God birthed move of the
Spirit.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the
people, and hang them up before
the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be
turned away from Israel. And
Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that
were joined unto Baal-peor.
And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his
brethren a Midianitish woman
in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the
children of Israel, who were
weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
(Num.
25:4-6). This picture brings
to mind the words of James. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep:
let your laughter be turned to
mourning, and your joy to heaviness
(James 4:9). James was
exhorting the Church of his day to turn
from their double mindedness.
And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the
priest, saw it, he rose up from
among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; And he went
after the man of Israel into
the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the
woman through her belly. So
the plague was stayed from the children of Israel
(Num. 25:7
and 8). The action that Phinehas took
is best described in Psalm 106:30. Then stood up Phinehas, and
executed judgment: and so the
plague was stayed.
We would like to consider the Hebrew word
for executed judgment in Psalm
106:30. The Concordant Version reads, But Phinehas stood up
and mediated...
This Hebrew
word, which is translated as mediated in the Concordant
Version, is translated in the King James
Version over fifty times as pray (See Strong's # 6419). It
is also translated as judge and judged (1
Sam. 2:25 and Eze.16:52). This should cause us to reconsider the
purpose of prayer. We cannot afford
to disregard the words of Jesus in relation to prayer. ...my
judgment is just; because I seek not
mine own will
(John 5:30). We must come to the revelation that
the prayers that are truly effective
are nothing less than the divine utterance of God's will! When a
corporate man rises to the occasion
and speaks the will of the Lord in the earth, we will see an impact in
the visible world!
Consider the result of the action taken by Phinehas. ...So
the plague was stayed from the
children of Israel. And those that died in the plague were twenty and
four thousand. And the Lord
spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of
Aaron the priest, hath turned my
wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my
sake among them, that I
consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore say,
Behold, I give unto him my
covenant of peace: And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even
the covenant of an everlasting
priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement
for the children of Israel
(Num. 25:8-13). In further relation to our subject, the twenty
four thousand that died as a result of
Israel's whoredom conveys the idea of the purification of the
priesthood. King David had instituted
twenty four thousand Levites to do the work in the house of the Lord (1
Chron. 23:4). This brings
to mind what took place in Ezra's day when the people were purged from
their strange wives. This
is conveyed in Malachi 3:3, which definitely spoke of Ezra's day, but
the greater fulfillment comes
through Jesus Christ and what He does in His corporate body. And
He shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi...
The action Phinehas took foreshadowed the Lord ushering in a New
Covenant after judging
all of humanity on the cross. In the book of Hebrews, we see that this
New Covenant is in connection
with a new priesthood (Heb. 7:20-24). Interestingly enough, the better
priesthood, the order of
Melchisedec, speaks of a covenant of peace, too. Melchisdec means King
of righteousness. You
cannot have peace without righteousness, i.e. righteous judgment. As
long as justice is postponed,
peace is postponed, as well as joy. But wherever the righteous judgment
of God's will has been
executed and the fruits of it, peace and joy, have been made manifest,
the kingdom of God has also
been made manifest. For the kingdom of God is not eating and
drinking; but righteousness and
peace and joy in the Holy Spirit
(Rom. 14:17, NASB).
Ezra, who is a direct descendant of Phinehas (Ezra 7:5), did the
same thing Phinehas did but
on a much higher plane.Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had
confessed, weeping and
casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him
out of Israel a very great
congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very
sore. And Shechaniah the
son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, we
have trespassed against our
God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now
there is hope in Israel
concerning this thing. Now therefore let us make a covenant with our
God to put away all the wives,
and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and
of those that tremble at the
commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law . . .
And Ezra the priest stood up,
and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives,
to increase the trespass
of Israel. Now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your
fathers, and do his pleasure:
and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the
strange wives. Then all the
congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so
must we do
(Ezra 10:1-3,
10-12). We, too, have been given the privilege of operating in this
higher dimension of judgment.
Ezra pierced the hearts of the people in the same way Peter did on
Pentecost and also as Stephen did
just before he was stoned to death (Acts 2:37 and 7:54).
With the above thoughts in mind, we should realize that if we truly go on to apprehend our role as priests in the earth, we will find that we are living in one of the most exciting times in history. At the end of this transition, there will be a re-gathering of the waters, if you will (a feast of ingathering). We are not talking about the ecumenical movements of organized religion. We are talking about the divine order of God's prophetic calender, which is referred to as the feasts of the Lord (See Leviticus 23). We certainly are not going to see any major manifestation of the kingdom by re-instituting the ceremonies of these feasts. However, it is by the spiritual fulfillment of them that we will see an impact of the kingdom of God in the earth. The true Passover Lamb is Jesus Christ. His sacrifice was indeed the literal fulfillment of all the Old Testament animal sacrifices. The animal sacrifices were but a shadow. And so it is with Pentecost. It was the spiritual reality that the one hundred and twenty experienced that impacted the world in Acts 2, not the Old Covenant ceremonies that were going on elsewhere in Jerusalem at that time. Therefore, we should think no differently about the fulfillment of the feast of ingathering, which is the feast of Tabernacles (Duet.16:13).In Jerusalem, there was a re-gathering of the people of captivity. And so it shall be with the heavenly Jerusalem, which is not a geographical location, but the mother of all who have been born from above (Gal. 4:26).
We would like to take note of the words in Ezra 9:1. Now when
these things were done...
Similar phrases are mentioned in
Revelation. After this...
(4:1 and 7:9), as well as after
these
things...
(7:1, 18:1 and 19:1). The things that were
done, as far as Ezra 9:1 is concerned, speaks
of a great move of restoration, not just a revival, but a restored
order. You see, without divine order,
spiritual immaturity will be perpetuated. And so it is with this
generation. There must be a restored
order. There must be a corporate man that does not judge after the
flesh, by outward appearance, nor
by the natural senses (2 Cor. 5:16). There must be a priesthood to
arise and strike like lightning at
the motives of the heart. There must be a people that speak with
unction, anointing, and authority.
This means that before they step into that role of mediating Christ to
creation, they must first put
away their strange wives. I must confess, in my time of seeking the
Lord during the process of this
writing, instantly I found myself saying to the Lord, "I'm the one who
needs to be pierced." I pray
not to be mistaken to boast in myself, but rather to say that we must
first be partakers of what we
share, to some degree. If there is no experience, then all we have is a
philosophy. This is no
philosophy, but if we are not moved by what the Lord has spoken, it may
as well be a philosophy.
Being pierced, i.e. heart broken, for the body of Christ
will be something we experience, if we stand
in the gap long enough.
No amount of human invention will organize this order.
Nevertheless, by the predetermined
counsel of God, a people shall walk out this New Covenant reality. It
will not be literally taking
physical lives, like Phinehas, but executing internally what he did
externally. The New Covenant
works from the inside out. By piercing the heart of man from the
inside, pride dies, humility is birthed,
and life is given. Having stated all that, let us add that we are to
take heed to the principal conveyed
in Ezra 10:8. And that whosoever would not come within three
days, according to the counsel of
the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and
himself separated from the
congregation of those that had been carried away.
This time of
transition is just that - a time! This
means that this time will come to an end. Our response to the Spirit,
between now and that end, has
a lot to do with what we may gain or lose. For, another time (age)
shall come in which these words
shall become extremely relevant: He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still: and he which is filthy, let
him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous
still: and he that is holy, let him be
holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to
give every man according as
his work shall be
(Rev. 22:11 and 12). So let us walk in the
light that we have been given so that the
measure may increase and Christ may be seen. Let us make our calling
and election sure (2 Peter
1:10), for we have been called into a royal priesthood, a holy nation
(1 Peter 2:9). Our Lord has
ultimately secured the restoration of all through the blood of His
cross (Col. 1:20), but we have been
graced with the opportunity to participate with Him in His plan of
restoration. However, there is that
sobering reality that we can suffer loss and be among those that can
only be restored in the age to
come.
As we have stated, this vision was never meant to be a philosophy. It is not a prelude to another scheme of organized religion, nor is it the extremity of having no order. The high calling in Christ is keeping the ultimate purpose of God foremost in our minds, rather than making a permanent rest stop out of anything that is parenthetical to the calling. Even now we have a strong witness in the earth in several parts of the world of this awesome ingathering. Many of God's children have stood in the breach that was created by Adam. The fruit of their communion with Christ in prayer is blooming. As surely as the Lord lives, His judgment will execute victory, for His judgments can reach beyond this short vapor we call life. His judgments can reach down into the deepest darkest pit. His judgments can reach the most lofty high minded people. Let it be declared from the housetops that the end result of God's judgments is restoration! And dear reader, the means to this glorious end is a mature corporate body fully given to the Lordship of Christ. Let us be clothed with that vision to keep our hearts covered with great expectations even for this day and age.
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. It has recently been
updated with several new writings, including a timely letter by Andrew
Jukes on the topic of
restitution and substitution.