Saturday, December 20, 2008

THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN

THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN MADE PERFECT





Have you ever noticed how the Holy Ghost often sandwiches precious truths right into the middle of a seemingly unrelated discourse? Such is the case in Hebrews, chapter 12.



He is giving Pastoral instructions-- urging folks to take heed to their lives, and to avoid sins. Then:



Hebrews12:18-24 For ye are NOT come unto the mount that might be TOUCHED, (THE law of Moses) and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which [voice] they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: (For they COULD NOT ENDURE that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And SO TERRIBLE was the sight, [that] Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) BUT ye ARE come unto MOUNT SION, (The City Foursquare, A PERFECT CUBE,THE MOST HOLY PLACE) AND UNTO THE CITY OF THE LIVING GOD, THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM, (not TOUCHABLE, NOT BUILT WITH HANDS, WITH ITS FOUNDATION IN HEAVEN) and to an innumerable company of angels, To the GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND CHURCH OF THE FIRSTBORN, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, AND TO THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN MADE PERFECT (MEN WHO HAVE LOOKED FOR HIM BY FOLLOWING HARD AFTER THE WORD AND SPIRIT),And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than [that of] Abel.



This scripture tells us WHERE WE ARE in the economy of God.



Not ONLY have we come to the NEW JERUSALEM and MOUNT SION, we have come to the time of THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN MADE PERFECT.



Almost every time I have mentioned this, I am confronted with retorts such as, That is not what God is doing now.



I beg to differ. I choose to believe what the Holy Ghost said through the writer of Hebrews. WE ARE COME.



But my critics reply, Anyone can see that those conditions do not yet exist. And, I have to agree-- WE DON'T SEE THEM YET.



But, when I was teaching this at Emmanuel Assembly during the 50's and 60's, I used an homely illustration to explain what I knew to be true. I had been doing interior decorating prior to that time.



When our crew went into a home to paper a room, the FIRST thing we did was to throw a drop sheet on the floor and over the furniture. If someone were to have come along and asked us what we were doing, we would have said, We are papering this room.



Obviously, we only had a drop sheet on the floor. Later, it would have also been obvious that we were only sanding down the seams of the previous coats of paper. Still later, it would have been obvious that we were only painting the woodwork.



These activities were each a PART of the WHOLE JOB, and must be done in their proper times for the job to be satisfactory and complete.



But, IN EACH SEGMENT OF THE WORK, WE WERE PAPERING THE ROOM.



GOD IS NOW SELECTING AND BUILDING A BODY OF SONS WHOM HE WILL SHOW, BOTH TO SPIRITS AND MORTALS.



I CAN NOT TELL YOU EXACTLY WHAT STAGE OF THE WORK IS TAKING PLACE RIGHT NOW, BUT IT IS ALL A PART OF THE JOB.



These SONS OF GOD will have a work to do in the earth, which can not be accomplished in any other way, nor by any other people.



I am confident they are described in scripture as being the angel which has achain, and binds satan. (They cut off his influence in the earth, and replace it with the influence of the Spirit that has birthed them from the midst of the church as we know it today.) (See Rev12)


Satan operates in the realm that is called AIR in the scripture. He is called the PRINCE of the POWER of the AIR. He will be bound and cast out of that realm. The OVERCOMERS will be caught up into that realm (AIR), and spread the INFLUENCE OF GOD (Holiness, peace, love, etc.) around the globe, IN THE SAME MANNER THAT EVIL (hatred, warfare, deceit, etc.) is being spread today