The Life That Was, The Life That Is, The Life That Is To Come

Part One

The Life!

By Bob Torango

 

 

THE LIFE THAT WAS, THE LIFE THAT IS

AND THE LIFE TO COME

 

 

Eccl 3:14-15

I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.

Whatever is has already been,

and what will be has been before;

and God will call the past to account.  

NIV

Eccl 3:14-15

I've also concluded that whatever God does, that's the way it's going to be, always. No addition, no subtraction. God's done it and that's it. That's so we'll quit asking questions and simply worship in holy fear.

Whatever was, is.

Whatever will be, is.

That's how it always is with God.

(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

 

            What a life! Of course, I am speaking of this present life, a life that is a tremendous, one time gift from our Father. The very fact that we can say that we have a life separates us from all other heavenly, eternal creatures and seals our place in God’s creation as being unique and singular. But, what do we make of this life, this earthly life? Sometimes the importance of our earthly existence gets lost in the far reaching aspects of our eternal life, which some call the “after life.” Indeed, there is a life that continues on after our earthly life is over, a continuance of a spiritual state and condition that will reach into eternity itself, but in this article I want to focus on THIS LIFE, since there are many consequences that will be wrought out of this earthly existence and those consequences will follow us on into the next life. The key to this mystery of eonian life is to understand the dynamics that interplay between the two distinct dimensions of life in this earthly body and the life that goes on beyond the grave. One of the dynamics that we will be discussing is the dynamic of CONTINUITY, which dictates that LIFE is not limited to our earthly existence, but continues throughout the ages of God, even beyond the laying down of our house of flesh. It would be proper for us to term this dynamic of continuity of life in the following statement. “I was alive in the beginning in God, I am alive in the present in my earthly body, I will be alive in God in the future.”

            Life is an energy that in the physical embodies the biological processes of our human body and in the spiritual it embodies the substance of God. Energy is a constant in the universal laws of our world. The First Law of Thermodynamics states: “Energy can be changed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed. The total amount of energy and matter in the Universe remains constant, merely changing from one form to another.” If this is true in the natural creation of God, then it holds true for the spiritual reality that abides in Him. Life does not change, whether embodied in a house of flesh, or in a spiritual house, eternal in the heavenly dimension of spiritual life, it is a constant life, which continues beyond the physical structure. Life cannot be created, nor can it be destroyed, but it can be transferred from one form to another. What a fantastic revelation for us to comprehend! Our life is not to be limited to our days and years in this body, but our life is a constant life, which has been and now is and will always be.

            This, however, is only an understanding of the nuts and bolts of how LIFE is to be interpreted. What Christ Jesus has done for all living creatures is to make a way for us to live in a state of spiritual awareness that is the highest form of life that is attainable, the Life of God. For this reason, we must calculate how this physical life “works for us” a far greater abundance of eternal glory in the life to come, which would be properly termed as a “glorious life.” Again, although LIFE is constant and cannot be added to, nor taken away from, it does take on higher or lower forms of expression, which has eternal consequences for us to consider. Jesus attained to the highest form of life, a life that is not only ALIVE, but is able to MAKE ALIVE! He is the Door to this order of life and we must go through HIM to attain to it. He has given LIFE to every man, but in the scope of our future existence in the ages of God, it is inherently vital for us to comprehend how our decisions and actions in this life add to or take away from our potential of LIFE in the ages to come. This is the mystery of our existence, which has been largely ignored by the ranks of Kingdom Truth and the “fly away” mentality of the first and second Day understandings, but now, in this precise time of God’s Plan, the Chosen of the Lord must come to grips with the LIFE that always has been and always will be.

            For far too long, the structured ranks of religion have made this present life a journey of sorrow and despair, painting a story of a creation that has been marooned and forsaken on this planet of earthly trials and persecutions, with our only true hope resting in ending this life eventually and going to heaven to live with Jesus and the angels. As a result of this defeatist attitude borne out of the carnal mixture of soulish thoughts and understandings, we who have ventured forth from the prison walls of religious bondage have made a point of counteracting that “over yonder” mentality with a message of a present Kingdom, with a reigning King, moving upon and within a present people that are living a very present life and pursuing a NOW relationship with their Heavenly Father. We have more or less left off from too much discussion about the life to come and have, rightfully so, concentrated on ministering about the power of God to bring a NOW salvation to our spirit, soul and body. However, I believe it might be beneficial for us to reacquaint ourselves with the profound connection that exists between this present earthly life that we are living and the eonian life that awaits us when this life has run its course.

            I am aware that there are some of us that think they will never come to a laying down of this life, that they have entered into an eternal state, both spirit and body, now and not later. These dear ones think they have already entered into an incorruptible and immortal state, regardless of the physical and moral limitations they obviously have in their present state and condition, they would rather have us look past those limitations and believe with them that we are all in an eternal state of perfection as we appear now. I digress from such heart felt, but misplaced notions, as for me this is only an act of denial and an obscene attempt at trying to find another way into the glorious state and condition of the New Man, as brought forth in the scriptures. It would be nice if all it took for us to be like Jesus was a simple statement of faith on our part, but I do not believe it is quite that simple. We are running an obstacle course through this earthly existence, whether we want to admit that or not, and it is all for our benefit, set up and instituted by our loving Heavenly Father, in order to give us a way to obtain a measure of glory that goes beyond the requisite measure of glory that has been so graciously provided for all mankind by the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord and Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.

            For us to be able to comprehend the full relationship that this earthly existence has with our eternal existence we must be able to discern the presence of an economy that is working for us in the Kingdom of God. If we only have a simplistic knowledge of the reason for us being on this earth, then we will find ourselves in the camp of mankind that has given up on making any rhyme or reason out of the seemingly unconnected sequences of events in their life and only see this earthly existence as something to survive until we can escape this mundane realm and, through death or a rapture, enter into our next existence, hopefully finding ourselves in the elevator going up, instead of feeling that sinking feeling of going down. For this camp, heaven is up, hell is down, and earth is the place we are stuck in, between the two, until something gives and we go to one or the other. What a pitiful way to spend our time in this life, wouldn’t you agree? But, I have good news for us! There is a purpose and a reason for everything that happens in our earthly existence, even though we cannot always see that purpose while going through the experience. This life has great CONSEQUENCE for us and God’s will is always working for us and not against us. If we still think this life is only an interim between hell or heaven, then we need a revelation of the ongoing interactions that come about from the events that transpire while in this earthly body. If we are still walking through this life according to an attitude of survival instead of walking through this life with an attitude of salvation and overcoming, then we need a revelation of how this life has many eternal rewards and cycles of acceleration into the “MORE EXCELLENT” elements of God’s glory. I pray this writing will help you to see what you may have been missing in your earthly experience and you will come to know, as our dear friend, J Preston Eby has stated, “I am not an earthly man having a spiritual experience, I am a spiritual man having an earthly experience!”

            First, we must know we have come to earth from our Heavenly Father, who birthed us from a spiritual dimension and placed us into this physical dimension with a plan attached to our individual life. Our life is ordered of the Lord, first and foremost, and He is the One that orchestrates the avenues and paths of our journey back into Himself. Each person that has ever lived has had this plan and purpose woven into their existence. 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ came to earth, just as we have done, and lived His life in perfect submission to the Plan of God that was attached to His earthly existence, and He overcame everything that the root of Adam revealed in the heart of all mankind, becoming our Deliverer and our Lord, purchasing us lock, stock and barrel from the debt of sin and corruption. Jesus Christ reconciled the world back unto God and put mankind on track to returning to their previous state and condition, but not just our original state and condition, which by all rights would make this arduous journey senseless and redundant, but a truly magnificent abundance has been incorporated into this final and conclusive act of restitution. Isn’t that just like our Father? He has gone beyond all of our expectations of His gracious favor toward us in providing a grace that removes all of our debt, which is extravagant in itself, but in a stunning act of lavish loving He has also made a way for us to grow up into His greatness, accumulating His favor and becoming weighed down with His glory, in an exceeding manner that threatens to overflow our being and fill everything around us with that glory. He is an elaborate God when it comes to blessing His creation!

            When the spirit first started dealing with my heart about the economy of His plan for creation, it was so different from the usual doctrine that was being ministered that I did not immediately feel comfortable teaching upon it, except for our local meetings. I do believe we need to be careful with the Word of God and not use it in a flippant and casual manner, so I pray I am able to convey this thought to you appropriately and that it will not cause anyone to lack in the things of God. Indeed, I would like to stir you up to consider how truly gracious our Lord has been to us, not only in providing all men everywhere a free gift of salvation, having removed and disannulled our covenant with death and our agreement with hell, and setting our feet upon solid ground, reinstating us in good standing with our Heavenly Father, but He has also incorporated other steps of glorification that go beyond the foundational gift of restitution, so that each man can work out his own salvation in fear and trembling. Surely Paul, in writing this, did not mean that we can work out our own salvation as to our deliverance from the curse of Adam, but in this statement he instructs us that there is much more to our salvation than the prospect of not going to a place of eternal damnation. Jesus has saved us from an eternal state of hellish duality and a corruptible nature and we will praise and glorify Him through eternity for that, but the act of reconciling us back unto our Father is not the only blessing that we have inherited from our Lord and King. He has also opened up the door of blessing upon blessing, an accumulation of blessings, which allows us to enter into a further state of authority and dominion that is a realm of reward that is above and beyond the purchased possession of our soul at the cross. “We are reconciled by His death, but we are saved by His life!” (Romans 5:10) Our journey into the fullness of the Father is two-fold, having been reconciled, we are now being saved and will continue to be glorified with an accumulative measure of His glory!

            For some, the second part of Paul’s statement does not apply. They believe that the only thing we are to minister is the reconciliation, the reinstatement of our sinful soul into right standing with God. As many of you know, my wife and I are strong proponents of the truth of The Great Reconciliation, and have been at the forefront of this Truth for well over 30 years now, having suffered the persecution that automatically comes from speaking such a truth that is viewed by the vast majority of main stream Christianity as heresy and lies. We have never shirked from standing in the midst of ministry that assaulted us from the pulpit and showing them no fear and no dismay, loving those that treated us so unkindly and still proclaiming this marvelous love story of God towards man in spite of it all. We have cast our lots with this Truth and regardless of financial difficulties, loss of reputation, made a laughing stock and mocked openly, we stood in firm confidence knowing that our ranks would grow and the Lord would continue to reveal His great intent to many others. We, and many other ministries of reconciliation that have come forth through the years, hid ourselves in the substance of God and He has done just that! Today, we see fellowships all around the world that are standing in the great Truth of Christ’s redemption for every man, life lines have been made in the Body of Christ that have formed a Corporate expression throughout the kingdom ranks. Now, we see a worldwide growth of ministries that are willing to take the stand for this universal Truth of God’s undying and unchanging love for His children and great inroads have been made on the mission fields in every nation. This message is now being preached in the midst of thousands, whereas in our early days it was ministered to groups of 5, 10, 20, and sometimes to hundreds. God is on the move! The world is searching for an answer to their feeling of spiritual abandonment and the Truth of Reconciliation will deliver them from condemnation and guilt and shame as they come to know the love of God and the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. But, we must keep moving on, dear ones! We that are called to be pioneers of new ground in Christ, those of us that have been chosen of the Lord to blaze new trails of enlightenment and revelation must always be ready to pull up our stakes and move into virgin country in Christ, and I believe with all my heart this is such a time. God is calling us out from our comfortable abodes of truth and is once again challenging us to see, with new eyes, a vista that is untouched and unattained thus far by sons in the making.

            So, I call us to now look beyond the borders of reconciliation and see what awaits us by reason of our reconciliation. As Paul so eloquently stated, we must now start to focus on something besides “being apprehended” but now we must start to desire to “apprehend that for which we have been apprehended!” (Philippians 3:12) Have we been reconciled? YES! But is that all God desires for us to know, that we have been reconciled? It is the first step, but now we must ask ourselves this question, “why have we been reconciled and what further glories are we to experience once we come to the knowledge that Christ has reconciled us?” That is our challenge now, to be able to press on and reach out to the great reason for this gift of grace and love. Can you imagine a company of sons who no longer have to deal with the issues of death and life, sin and righteousness, hell or heaven? I don’t think we fully comprehend the extent to which such dead issues drain the life out of the average fundamental Christian, as they struggle to come to grips with the quandary of how such a loving God could ever look the other way and let the devil have them for eternity. What a contradiction they face on a day to day and minute to minute basis with such a falsehood and misrepresentation of our loving Father toward all of His children! Thanks be to God, those of us that have had the veil of our understanding rent and see Christ as He truly IS, the Savior of the world, the Redeemer of every man, the Giver of Life and the Author and Finisher of our faith, we that know this great Truth have been given a great gift of knowing the heart of the Father. But, to tell you the truth dear friend, we have yet to see the real power of such a revelation, life changing, chain breaking, body healing, mind renewing power. Empowerment is the undeniable result of such enlightenment. Instead, I see many sons of God still weak in their faith, talking the talk but not being able to appropriate and incorporate this revelation into their walk in Christ. I believe that is going to change! This deficiency of real life consequence will change as we come to truly understand why Christ reconciled us and became our Forerunner into the presence of the Father. I will tell you this for sure, it was not so we could have a bigger church than the churches that have been against us all these years! This precious Truth that has been kept as a Secret within the hearts of the early church and throughout the successive ages since has not come our way in such abundant evidence to just let it become another dogma of our belief system, but it is ALIVE with purpose and intent!! Let others drag this Truth of God’s eternal love for all mankind down into some kind of religious social club of comer-outers that have made much noise about how they left the bondage of structured religion and are now free from any authority in their life, only to live a life of immorality and have taken up to being religious nomads, wandering aimlessly through this earthly existence. In contrast, those of us that still have the fire of the Holy Ghost shut up in our bones, those of us that are like Caleb, our vision has not dulled and our destiny in Christ is still alive and well in our soul, let us rise up to the trumpet call and shake ourselves and prepare to enter into a fresh realm that is alive with the sound of a mighty wind that will surely bring great changes to our lives.

            You have been apprehended by God for a breaking over into another depth of life in the living Christ. You have been brought out of the ranks of servants and have been given an opportunity to become great in God, a mighty man and woman of valor, a sign and a wonder to all the ages, an ensign of Christ, an ambassador, a kind of first fruit of His glory. Now, if you think that these terms that I have listed only signify an homogenized, generic walk in Christ, then you need a greater revelation! The scriptures make great distinction between the walk of the servant, of which we all are servants of Christ which is our earnest position of relationship with Him, and the walk of the sons, which speaks of the deeper and more intimate relationship that awaits each servant in their progressive journey into God, the Father of all. We are not those that are called to keep the status quo, but we are those that bring the wind of change to the earth, whose words set the heavens on fire, who have the countenance of the rising Sun, Light Bearers of a New Day.

            Most people have no idea as to how the ministries of this hour that walk in such power and anointing arrived at that state. It did not happen over night! Such power and glory is the result of walking through the furnace of fiery trials and testings and coming out on the other side without the smell of smoke upon them. There is a place, dear one, where angels fear to trod, for the way is narrow and hard on the flesh, a place where the flesh cries out for sustenance and none is given to it, for this place is all about the spirit and flesh has no part in it. Most people can walk through a fiery place if they can feed their flesh a little bit, as they get mad at God, pout and cry and threaten Him with quitting their faith, only to give in later and repent for their actions. Not so for the truly anointed ones, for it is their lot to give no place to the enemy in their being. For them, there is only one way, onward and upward. They see the end from the beginning and count all life’s trials as mere opportunities to show forth the nature of Christ and to glorify Him with their submissive obedience. Through long ordeals of instructions and conditioning, like an athlete in training, they have been given an endurance that outlasts the momentary lesson of life and as a result, they have profited thereby with an eternal weight of glory that clothes them in this life and stays with them into the next life. Behind each great man and woman of God lies a long road of heartaches, losses, disasters, sacrifices, afflictions, etc., each of which has worked it’s curious work of imparted glory, sharpening the edge of the vessel of God until every word and action, tempered by the flame of God, contains a measure of God’s substance that is palpable to all that hear or observe them. The sharpening of our senses is the same action as in the sharpening of a blade, with fierce resistance and friction being required to wear down the dull edge and to put the edge to the material that is sharp and true. Our senses will remain dull and unresponsive to God as they are, so He lays us to the grinding stone to make of us an instrument of His choosing. There is no other way to perform this operation, so let us stop looking for another way or search for an escape, this is the way of God concerning His sons.

            The Lord is not going to stop refining His messengers until they are completely changed and transformed into His image and likeness. We all still have a long way to go in our maturing process, but He is faithful to watch over the works of His hands and to give us strength to finish our race. Again, there is no race involved in our basic reconciliation in Christ, as He has accomplished that phase of His redemptive plan, but now we press on, not as though we have already won, but we RUN, as one that runs to win the race, toward the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus our Lord. Many today have stopped running! They are resting in the work of the cross and have settled for that earnest gift of God’s life, but others today are realizing that we must now continue on in the race of life, which will reward all who cast off every weight and sin that does so easily beset them and run the race with abandonment. There is no “reward” in our reconciliation, as it is a gift, free of charge. But, in regards to our eternal weight of glory in Christ, the faithful and the obedient will reap the fruits of their labor and will draw from the immeasurable riches of Jesus Christ. If there was no difference between the eternal state of the faithful and the unfaithful, we would see a great contradiction in the scriptures regarding this disparity.

            Without a doubt, the scriptures use a plethora of adjectives to describe the difference between a common measure of glory and the “more excellent” glory, the common life and the “abundant” life, the common salvation and the “greater” salvation. It is obvious that throughout the scriptures there are measures and ranks of varying degrees concerning our walk in God. John the Revelator listed some special rewards for those that are termed, “OVERCOMERS”, which I have added below.

 

Rev 2:7

7          He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Rev 2:11

11        He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Rev 2:17

17        He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Rev 2:26-28

26        And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

27        And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

28        And I will give him the morning star.

Rev 3:5

5          He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Rev 3:12

12        Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.  

Rev 3:21

21        To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

Rev 21:7

7          He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

 

            Who are these overcomers? They are those that have faced severe obstacles and testings and have kept the faith and stayed true to the Father through it all. They are the Redeemed, the First Fruit Company, Mighty Men of Valor, Priest and Kings after the order of Melchizedek. They are succinctly pointed out in the scripture as separate from the common believer, having been given special tasks to complete and facing certain risk factors that the common believer was not appointed to undertake. They love not their lives, even unto death, holy martyrs of the faith that have laid their own lives down in Christ and counted it all as dung to win His favor. In all honesty, this train of thought will try some of our pet doctrines concerning the sovereignty of God, since it is plain that God is “rewarding” the overcomers with a bounty of eternal elements to their character and being that is reserved only for such tried and true participants of the Victory that is wrought through their faithfulness. The common salvation of Christ is without reward or works of the recipient, being free and without cost. Jesus paid it all. But, as we can plainly see in these verses and in many other verses throughout the New Testament, there are certain aspects of God’s plan for the believer that incorporates a “gain” of Christ’s riches, which is only accessed by virtuous acts of Christ-like behavior. If God has given to every man a measure of faith, which can be added to in the process of the believer’s journey in Christ, which then becomes a commendable and note-worthy faith, then also our eternal state and condition in Christ is also subject to greater gains and measures of glory that is bestowed upon us through a walk of obedience and sacrifice that works for us a greater salvation. In this context, obedience and disobedience interplay in the believer’s walk, each one possessing a built-in action of increase or stagnation. Obedience increases our portion in glory, God witnessing our faithfulness with certain measures of increase in His economy of blessings upon us. Disobedience stagnates our growth in Him, holding us back from an economy of increase and enlisting us into the instructive judgment of our Father to learn obedience through the things we suffer. Obedience is a fast track in God, disobedience is the slow crawl around the mountain of indecision in our lives.

            One only needs to read what Samuel pronounced over Saul, who overstepped the word of the Lord to him concerning sacrifice and failed to hear and obey the word of the Lord to him. This act of disobedience ripped the kingship out of Saul’s hand and gave it into the hand of David.

 

1 Sam 15:22-23

22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice , and to hearken than the fat of rams.

23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.  KJV

 

Saul thought that he would find favor in the eyes of the Lord by the number of sacrifices he made to Him, but Samuel pointed out that God looks into the heart of man and desires a spirit of obedience and an ear tuned to His voice. Obedience is not a law of commandments we are keeping, but it is a mind and a nature that instinctually wants to please God. In the prior 2 days of the church age, sacrifice was made the focus of serving God, carrying over the Old Covenant law into the walk of the Christian. This took place after the priesthood of the church fell into the hands of a state religion, through the reign of Constantine, which replaced the God-called priests with appointed priests of a political system that had now embedded itself into the church. Now, instead of being a living and breathing organism of God in the earth, the state church was now a system of religious idioms and political shenanigans. The glory of God could not flow in the midst of such an institution, so the glory came upon a remnant of believers that refused to be entangled with the Babylonian system of religion. Church councils forsook the mercy and love message of Jesus Christ and instituted a message of fear and hatred, which made it possible for the church to excommunicate believers from the institution they had formed, which they erroneously portrayed as the “Body of Christ”, which brought them great power over the ignorant masses of Christians. Remember, at this time, the actual book of scriptures was not available to the general body of believers, as it was hand copied and only available to those scholars and leaders within the religious institution itself. As a result, the Christian movement entered into a dark period of lords and kings disguising themselves as mouthpieces of God, whereas the truth is, they couldn’t be farther from the mind and heart of God in their message and representation of Him.

            We really need to look into the mind and heart of the Apostle Paul to clearly see how this father of the faith saw the importance of an obedient and trustworthy life of the believer. It is Paul that states how obedience works for us the greater salvation and it is Paul that constantly warns the church not to fall into apathy and spiritual deception. Paul saw a laziness creeping into the camp of the believers and he sought to reveal to them the two fold  concept of being reconciled by Christ and then going on into the fullness of the outworking of such a great salvation. Paul knew that the fact of our BEING reconciled did not negate the fact that we are still in a RACE! A race is run to gain something that we did not have before we entered that competition. Why would Paul even use such an analogy if he did not want us to know that we have an opportunity in Christ to become greater than what we were before we started to run? The increase of the Lord is available for all believers that see this spiritual concept of obedience and faith working in us a greater account of God’s provision. In truth, the full treasure of God’s storehouse of glory and blessings is in each one of us. He indwells us and has filled us with the fullness of all that He is. But, what we need to understand is that it is not what we POSSESS that gives us the increase, rather, it is what we can appropriate out of that supply. Clearly, we are all given the same amount of treasure, buried within our being, but we must learn how we are to lay our hands upon that treasure

Christ has so richly provided for us and to bring it into full manifestation in THIS LIFE! This treasure is not to be laying around inside of us, dormant and inaccessible, only talked about and discussed and preached and taught about continuously, but it is to be laid hold of, plunged into, brought to the surface of our being and put on open display for others to behold and to desire themselves to lay hold of the same treasure within their own life. Beholding the glory of the Lord upon us, like looking into a mirror of reflection, they will be changed into that same glorious state. It starts with Jesus Christ, the express image of the Father and all that He represents, then a first fruit company of believers dare to look Him full in the face and they are then changed by that reflection, which in turn brings out of them all of the elements of that glory, which is then no longer IN them, but is now UPON them, which then becomes a mirror upon which all others behold and that caused them to be changed also. This chain reaction continues in the earth until all death and sickness and sorrow is removed from the hearts and minds of creation. It is this manifestation, REVEALING, of Christ in the saints that will cause the world to see Him and live. He is appearing IN US, TO THE WORLD! He is not going to appear in a people that are lacking in His glory, but He is desiring a Body to appear in, a glorious Body, full of light and power, which will put His full expression on display in the earth.

            This is why we must allow ourselves the opportunity to rise up and possess these great attributes and elements of character and nature that resides in us, or we will miss the mark of the HIGH CALLING, not the mark of salvation, but the mark of that priest-king order that is beyond the call of the common walk of the believer. Oh yes, dear ones, there is a missing of the mark, regardless of how much some would try to remove such a thing from the scriptures. We are not talking about missing heaven and going to hell for eternity, as the church institutions pummel the common believer with, but it is with great fear and trembling that I must let you know that in the greater and weightier elements of God’s plan for creation, there are eternal “marks” that can be missed and there are eternal “marks” that can be hit. This is the “working out of our own salvation” that has been so neglected in the past years of the reconciliation message. I personally believe that we can miss our highest calling in God, settling for a lesser position in God by reason of our faithlessness. I know some today that treat their holy calling like a normal job in the world. They have lost all perspective of what God requires of such chosen vessels that receive such a commission. They cheat God’s people of the fullness of God’s provision and like the priests of Eli, they keep unto themselves the riches of God’s truth, refusing to feed it to those that God has placed under them to minister unto. Instead of the living Bread and the Wine of Life, they feed the people old, stale bread and watered down wine, keeping the life-giving elements of God’s plan for creation to themselves, all because they are afraid of the attacks of their religious peers. This is why across the world, in the biggest churches in the world, there are God-called ministries that are sitting on the truths of God and keeping these revelations of God’s intent toward all creation under wraps, out of fear of men. They fear men more than they fear God! The same goes for those that go about the world ministering ungodly abominations to the people of God, taking the word of Truth and bringing it down into the mundane and profane realms of the carnal mind. Calling themselves THE I AM, shamelessly declaring themselves to be higher than Jesus, blatantly proclaiming that they have no need for the remission of sins, setting themselves up as demi-gods, mystics of the new age doctrine, they are clouds without water and a stink in the nostrils of all that is holy and upright. This is the result of men and women that have discarded the need for a holy relationship with God, who have removed any concept of good and evil, or light and darkness. They aspire to dumb down these precious elements of God’s character and nature, calling good evil and evil good. We cannot afford to have the elements of God homogenized by such rebellious spirits, for these have MISSED THE MARK of their holy calling and have made a gross error of judgment that will affect them for eternity. God help us to not follow after their folly.

            As we delve into this grand portrait of God’s plan for all creation and of His intent to lavish upon us the fruits of our labor in Him, we will find that our life on this earth has much consequence attached to it. Life is not to be taken lightly! This world that is locked into a humanistic view of life certainly takes life lightly, which has produced a generation that is rife with cynicism and disregard for the blessings of life that is unequalled in all prior generations. Never has there been such a measure of carelessness with the sanctity of life, as the death rate continues to climb throughout the world through mass murders and genocide. Every city has sections of that community that is so hopelessly locked into despair and hopelessness that it is like a war zone, with rampant drug use and an out of control element of crime and violence. In such environments, life is cheap and is snuffed out without any more regard than someone blowing out a candle. Why don’t they turn to the church, you say? Why should they? These dear, lost children of God see through the smoke and mirrors of that religions institution. They see the hypocrisy in this so-called representative of God and they see that same hypocrisy in the law enforcement institutions, in the political institutions, in the social institutions and they see a system where all the power and wealth is found in the hands of those that have the least regard for life, so they mirror that disregard and take control of their life by abusing the life of others. In the church system, they see ministers that take money and never give it back, the same disregard for their fellow man as the other institutions of this world. The sad fact is, the church has mirrored more of the world’s glory to creation than it has the glory of God. It has patterned itself more after the greed and lust of the world than it has the nature and character of God.

            This must come to an end! How? By the faithful workings of the spirit of God upon the hearts of a committed and dedicated priesthood, which will produce a true expression of God’s intent for all His children. The world will not change by a message alone! If we truly believe God has called us with a holy calling, from before the disruption of the ages, then we will no longer take this calling for granted. I implore you, dear readers, to allow the spirit of our Father to deal with your heart and to start to take the initiative to appropriate His transforming life into your life, so our life will be a diadem to Him in this world. We cannot be satisfied with where we are at this present time in our relationship with our Lord. I pray you grow hungry in your spirit to see more of the greatness of Him displayed in your life. Out of this hunger, out of this burning desire, we will transcend this earthly existence and God will start to flow out from us like rivers of living water. I am asking each one of us to seriously contemplate our holy calling and to esteem it above all other life opportunities we are involved in. This is our life! This is our opportunity! Lay hold of it and take it to the next level.


To be continued:

 

By Robert D Torango

 

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