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Thirteen men walked slowly down from the
Judean hills into the dusty valley of the Samaritians. They walked slowly
because of the heat of the noon day sun, and because they were in deep
conversation. Their clothing varied from the simple garb of the
fisherman and the laboring man to the finer textured robes of the merchant
and teacher. They were in three groups .....four of the younger men
out in front, arguing fervently, occasionally beating a fist into the palm
of their hand to emphasize a point. Three of the older men wearily
brought up the rear, conversing softly. The middle group walked in a
sort of semi-circle around two men, a black-bearded muscular man who was
obviously asking questions, and a tall young man of about 30 years of age
who answered him in a clear, quiet voice.
At first glance this young man appeared
to be no different from any of the rest, his simple robe much like the
others, and no outstanding physical characteristic. Until he turned
around. And when he looked at you, and spoke to you... then you knew
this was no ordinary man. This was not man seeking after God, but this
was God manifested in human flesh, seeking after lost man. This was
the human body that the divine Creator of the universe was using to reveal
Himself to His own. This was the Body of the Christ, this was the Son of
God.
The group came to a well at the edge of
the city of Sychar, and there was a short discussion. The twelve then
went on into the city to buy food, while Jesus sat down on the well to
rest. Soon there came a woman out of the city, a woman experienced in
the ways of men. When the stranger began to talk to her, she first
thought of him as just another man. Suddenly with a shock she realized
that she was talking to a prophet of God..... her carnal mind never dreamed
that within this body of flesh there dwelled the creator of her very
life. She was too carnal, she never really recognized the body of
Christ, until He finally told her plainly that He was the one she was
speaking about.
For more than 30 years the Body of Christ
was that robe of human flesh that came from the womb of Mary. From the
infant in his mother's arms, to the child in the Temple, on through the
growing up years finally to a full grown matured man, God lived in that
body. And finally, through the mature life ministry of Jesus, God
revealed His true nature and character to the world of lost men and
women. This then, was His purpose and plan.... to manifest Himself in all
His compassion and love, all His power and authority, all His wisdom and
knowledge, through a body of flesh. Through a man. And this He
did in Jesus. For Jesus was all man as well as all God. But this
was not the ultimate. For the purpose of Christ was to redeem all men,
to make a way for all those who receive Him to become like Him, that they
too might manifest the life of God in their mortal bodies. So until
Calvary his body was the Body of Christ, the house that God lived in, but
that body went to the Cross and died. He suffered as a propitiation
for our sins, that being accepted in the beloved, we might become His body,
the House of God.
He then was a Pattern, a Sign. We
are the fulfillment of that Sign, made in the image of that Pattern.
He was the Seed, the Word, planted in death .... we are the harvest, the
precious fruit of the earth, bringing forth His life, perpetuating Him in
this world. He is the "Everlasting Father" (Isaiah 9:6), and
we are "the children whom the Lord hath given me" (Isaiah 8:18,
Hebrews 2:13). As we manifest Him, and bear His life, "he shall
see his seed, he shall prolong his days" (Isaiah 53:10). To the
overcomer Jesus says: "I will be his God, and he shall be my
Son" (Revelation 21:7).
Yes, the Body of Christ, which was once
just one body, has become a great multitude of victorious overcomers.
This was the blinding revelation God gave Saul of Tarsus on the road to
Damascus when He revealed to Saul that in persecuting the true followers of
Jesus, he was actually persecuting Jesus Himself, God of Israel.
Because, though just in infancy, yet they were now His Body in the
earth. Saul became Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, and his writings
abound with this revelation.
But not all men could receive this
revelation, nor see Paul's message. Even the dear Apostle Peter wrote
that in the epistles of Paul there were "Some things hard to be
understood." (II Peter 3:16). For this is a mystery, a
"mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is
made manifest to his saints; to whom God would make known what is the riches
of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ
in you, the hope of glory."
(Colossians 1: 26 - 27). How we rejoice in the truth, "Christ in you
the hope of glory," because it is His Spirit dwelling within. Yet,
because of the trappings of the carnal mind it has been difficult to give
expression of this INNER LIFE OF CHRIST. The more we are "renewed
in the spirit of our mind," the more we can LIVE OUT that which
HE is BECOMING in us. This is more than just the mental gymnastics of our
own self-efforts. It is the energizing if His Spirit upon our human spirit,
which in turn takes dominion over our mind and brings our mind into
subjection to the Spirit of Truth. I pray it may become our normal way of
life to just be thinking HIS thoughts, that we might "show forth
the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvellous
light." (! Peter 2:9).
This is not a mystery that can only be understood by some elite, superior,
holier-than-thou, pedestal saints. No, this great truth can be
understood by babes in Christ. For He is hiding it "from the wise
and prudent, and revealing it unto babes." But revelation comes
through the Holy Spirit by the grace of God. Seeing and understanding
something of the truth of the Body of Christ does not make one feel proud
and lifted up and exalted, but rather grateful to God that He has revealed
this precious truth to us.
There are stations, or grades of
membership in that Body. Yes, we are to be "one" in Him,
there in "one" body, the harvest is one... but Jesus taught that
there will be "thirty-fold, sixty-fold, and hundred-fold" in the
harvest, according to their fruit-bearing. God's promised land,
Canaan, flows with milk and honey... but there is a special place in the
land known as Jerusalem, the City of God....the Bride of Christ. The
city is one city, but there are many mansions, many structures, including
one known as the Temple of God, where the Shekinah Glory dwells. This
temple is one temple, but there is the outer court, the sanctuary, and the
Holiest Place. Yes, there is a higher calling in God than what His
people have desired or dared to believe for. As a forerunner (Hebrews
6:20), Jesus entered into the Holiest Place, and now beckons us to
follow Him and share His glory with Him. Can you believe this?
Do you hunger for this? Then prepare your hearts, for I'm going to
show you a mystery.
Read I Corinthians 11:3, also 11:8, 9,
11, 12. Especially verse 12. Let us read it in the Amplified New
Testament: "For as woman was made from man, even so man is also
born of woman." Yes, all mankind began from the womb of Eve, the
mother of all living, but she herself was brought forth from the side of
Adam, her beloved, who had the breath of God. Now look at Jesus.
From His side, pierced there at Calvary with blood and water flowing out,
from this came the Church, His Bride. Yet, from this Church, His
Bride, there must be born a Man who is to rule the nations with a rod of
Iron. Who is this Man? It is the Overcomer, (Revelation
21:7)! This man who is to come forth from the Church, the virgin
Bride, is a body of people who walk this earth in great victory over sin,
sickness and Satan. Though he is right now a part of the Bride, being
in her womb, yet he is always spoken of in the Bible in the male gender,
never as a female. This has nothing at all to do with whether you are
a man or woman in the natural. There will be men in the Bride group,
and women in the Manchild or Son group. But in the Spirit, the Bride is
always referred to as female, and the Manchild as male. It is
"he" that overcometh, never she. The over-comer is that body
of people who overcome and make up the Son.
In I Corinthians 11:3 we saw that the
head of Christ is God, that Christ is the head of that body which makes up
the Man, and that the Man is the head of the woman, the Church. This
is a principle that God emphasizes all through the Bible, God was in Christ,
reconciling the world to Himself, Christ is in the saints (Colossians 1: 27)
the hope of glory, and the Manchild is in the Church, which
is His body by His grace and
through His divine promises, but she is not yet prepared for the marriage
which shall make her "bone of his bones, and flesh of his flesh,"
thus part of His body. In eternity, where God lives, this thing is
already done....He sees her complete in Christ, perfect, glorious, without
spot or wrinkle. But in time, where we earth dwellers are, we see her
yet imperfect, being ministered unto by apostles, prophets, evangelists,
etc. to bring her to perfection. That body Jesus used here on this
earth was not left to decay in the tomb. It was, and is, glorified and
in the presence of God. Don't let anyone tell you that body was
destroyed, or disintegrated, or done away with. Some are saying that
we will never see Him except in each other. Beloved it is true that He
will appear and be manifested IN His saints. But He will also
appear TO His own (Hebrews 9:28), and later He will appear WITH them
in glory. But now He is looking for a body of flesh to manifest His
life through on this earth. This body will come out of the Church, and will be given
great power and authority, as well as the nature and love and compassion of
Jesus. This, then, will be His body, over which He is the Head,
directing them and leading them in all their activities. This body is
the Overcomer, the Manchild, who shall share as co-equal heirs with Christ
(Romans 8:17), even to sharing His Bride as they (along with Jesus the
Head)
become the Bride-groom company (Isaiah 62:5). How inconsistent some
folks are, saying that as heirs we shall share with Him, yet backing up at
the glorious promises of God.
Now, what about the Bride, the
Church... the Virgin who makes herself ready for a wedding? Just
as Mary's wedding and union with her bridegroom Joseph came after the birth
of her Manchild (Jesus), plus a period of purifying (Leviticus 12:4)
before she was fully cleansed and prepared to come into union with her
bridegroom, just so shall the church go through a period of cleansing in a
wilderness place prepared of God (Revelation 12:6) after having brought
forth the Manchild during a time of great travail. There in the wilderness
the Sons of God, the Manchild, the Overcomer, feed her and nourish her with
the Word of God.... imparting divine revelation unto the Church while hell
rages about them. Why are they doing this? The Manchild group,
as the Body of Christ with Jesus the Head continually with them, is her
bridegroom, and as her bridegroom he is washing her "with the washing
of water by the Word (Ephesians 5:26 - 27), that he might present it to
himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but
that it should be holy and without blemish." Now, beloved, these
things are given in the Bible in symbolic pictures and types, so the carnal
mine will not understand nor defile them, but they are going to be
enacted right here on this earth, in reality. People who have been
in His Church, yet having been defiled as a harlot by submitting to
rulership by man-made organizations and sectarian denominations, instead of
true to the leadership of the Holy Ghost as a virgin bride of Christ, these
shall hear the Word of God divinely anointed through the lips of clay, and
by hearing and believing they shall be cleansed and prepared for the wedding
of the Lamb. Many of you will see this with your own eyes.
Jesus, who is head of the Man, rules His
body with love and tenderness...... just so shall the Manchild lead and
guide the Church with a love and compassion beyond our comprehension.
For the Man is the head of the Woman, yet it is by love that he rules, and
she obeys as a good wife should because of his anointing and wisdom in the
Word. Thus, through union with the bridegroom the bride becomes bone
of his bones and flesh of his flesh, and now we see the
complete and mature and perfect Body of Christ.....Christ
Jesus our Lord with the prints of the nails in His hands; with the Overcomer
group who (being His Body) are set down with Him in His throne; and the
glorious and beautiful Bride also ruling and reigning with her Bridegroom,
for time and eternity. Glory to God! What a picture! What
a wonderful future for all of God's people who are washed in His precious
blood! For beloved, if you are hearing the voice of the Spirit today,
it is because you are members of the glorious Body
of Christ!
MARANATHA MINISTRIES
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