THE CHURCH IN THYRATIRA(continued)
Thyatira
is the fourth church, and in her we see the rise of the woman Jezebel.
No such lady of that name is known except the wicked wife of Ahab,
Israel’s worst king. In the church at Thyatira we find that the spirit
of Jezebel was alive and at work in the midst of the Lord’s people! Some
of the believers in the church at Thyatira were in the JEZEBEL
CONDITION!
The reign of the house of Ahab is typical of the reign
of the flesh through carnal men all through the history of Israel and
the church. Jezebel is typical of that internal feminine quality of the
soul which works in union with the flesh and men who walk after the
flesh. Jezebel represents the aggressive, seductive, lustful desire that
influences people in a religious sense apart from the mind of the
spirit. This soulical Jezebel is the instigator of all religious and
spiritual perversions! She is the source of all error and carnal
religious activities! The Lord Jesus said of Jezebel in the church at
Thyatira, “Which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my
servants.” Jezebel is the carnal and soulish “spirit” or attitude that
prophesies and teaches in the church systems of man and seduces many to
“commit fornication” with the world and with other false prophets in the
church systems! Paul Mueller once commented about Jezebel, saying, “The
worst thing about this prophetic witch of evil is that she is married
or joined to those who think they are appointed to rule and reign with
Christ, as Jezebel was married to wicked Ahab.”
Jezebel calls
herself a prophetess (one with the word of the Lord), Jezebel teaches,
and Jezebel seduces God’s bondslaves to commit fornication and eat
things offered unto idols. She seduces the bondslaves! Her attack is
against the seed of Christ within, her assault is upon the sons of God!
Remember, my beloved, the real things the overcomer must overcome are
not the theater, the dance hall, and the bar — it’s these perverted,
corrupted, fleshly, carnal, soulical, and pseudo-spiritual conditions
found in the seven churches! To him that overcomes all these are the
promises made!
THE JUDGMENT OF JEZEBEL
“Behold,
I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into
great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill
her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am He
which searcheth the reins and hearts…” (Rev. 2:22-23).
The kind
of God we have revealed in the holy scriptures is a God of both mercy
and judgment — the two sides of love. He is not a nebulous nonentity of
sentimentalism. He is a God of character! We thank God today that He is a
God of compassion, love, and mercy — and there would not be one of us
alive today to breathe His fresh air if it were not for His amazing love
toward us. But there is a purpose in judgment, and it is always a
purpose of love. There is a deep, clear purpose in everything God does.
And His love for us, deep and tender, is the fire burning under that
purpose. The character of God must be kept ever in mind. The leading
trait of His character is expressed, not by the word “purity,” nor
“righteousness,” nor “justice;” but by the word “love.” Though if we
knew the real meaning of love we would find it includes these others,
and more. The purpose in judgment is two-fold. It is a purpose toward
sin, to get rid of it. And God’s attitude here is uncompromising! No
exceptions are ever noted. And there is a purpose toward men. Now
regarding the purpose toward men, it is disciplinary. The whole thought
is to change the man! It is love working, love for the man. It is the
same purpose as the surgeon’s. He thrusts his keen-edged blade, not to
hurt or destroy life, but to save it! He is driving hard against the
disease. The knife that cuts and hurts is held steady by the kindly
purpose in his heart.
We must learn this fact early: our Father
loves us just as much when He is subjecting us to surgery, as when He
sends His blessings and gifts and brings us into the sunshine of His
glory. Precious friend of mine, He loves us most when He is dealing
severely with us, “for whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and
scourgeth every son whom He receiveth” (Heb. 12:6). “I am the true vine,
and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that beareth not
fruit He taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth
(prunes) it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (Jn. 15:1-2). Ah, the
Father reaches into your life and mine and prunes away that which is not
fruitbearing — and it hurts! But, as some Puritan divine said years
ago, “The husbandman is never so close to the branch as when he is
trimming it.” The Father is never more close to you, my beloved, than
when He is reaching in and taking out of your heart and life those
things that hinder the development of HIS LIFE and the manifestation of
HIS NATURE.
The Lord said of Jezebel, “I gave her space to repent
of her fornication; and she repented not” (Rev. 2:21). Thank God! He
gives us a space to repent! He sees into the depths of our being. He
reveals what He sees to us. Like a parent correcting a child, He gives
space to repent. He doesn’t just slap us around! If we will not heed His
warnings, then come His feet of brass that burn as a furnace! Can we
not see? Do we yet understand? He casts her into a bed of trouble rather
than pleasure, He throws all who fornicate with her into great
tribulation, He kills her children. This is the judgment which comes.
This is the judgment which will redeem Zion! This is the judgment which
washes away the filth of the daughters of Zion and the blood of
Jerusalem! This is a revelation of the Lord which starts at the house of
God (I Pet. 4:17) and then flows out from that house to all creation!
The sons are the firstfruits — every other man must at God’s appointed
time pass through the same dealings, the same revelation and purpose of
the Father. When the process is completed God will be ALL IN ALL,
everything to everybody, the indwelling and controlling factor of every
life (I Cor. 15:28, Amplified).
You may remember the story of the
man who was trying to get his mule into the barn. The man was tugging
on the rope and pulling with all his might. He got behind the mule and
pushed; he put his shoulder to its back but he could not budge the mule
who just stood there, stiff-legged, and would not move. He could not get
it into the barn! A fellow walked up and watched for quite a while.
Finally, he said, “Mister, I’ll get your mule into the barn for you if
you like.” The man stopped in astonishment and said, “Can you?” He said,
“Of course, it is easy.” The stranger walked over and picked up a
two-by-four, came over to the mule, quietly lifted the two-by-four, and
whacked him on top of the head, right between the eyes. The mule went a
little cross-eyed! Then he hit him behind the ears. Before the mule
could quite straighten up again, he struck him underneath the chin. With
that he took hold of the rope and with two fingers led the mule into
the barn! The owner stood there astonished. The fellow came out again
and said, “You see, mister, actually this mule is a very cooperative
critter. You just got to get his attention!”
Sometimes God has to
GET OUR ATTENTION. And to do that He chooses to use events which are
instruments of His judgment. God told Moses that the reason for His
judgment upon the Egyptians was to make them know that He is God.
Everything God does shows us something about who He is, but in this
instance of judgment God particularly expressed that His intent was to
show Himself to the Egyptians. And He was successful in this, for in
chapter eight of Exodus Moses records the Egyptians telling Pharaoh,
“This is the finger of God.”
Taken to the isle of Patmos, John
was made to see a “great multitude” of saints which no man could number,
from every nation, kindred, people, and tongue, standing before the
throne of God and before the Lamb. Each was clothed in a white robe and
held a palm branch in his hand. The white robe speaks of purity; the
palm branch denotes victory. Being made pure by the inwrought
righteousness of Christ also brings victory over self! Asked by one of
the elders, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, with palms in their
hands, and whence have they come?” John answered, “Sir, you know.” And
the elder said to him, “These are they which have come out of GREAT
TRIBULATION; they have washed their robes and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb.” Each of these white-robed saints had to experience
great tribulation!
Can we not see by this that these are the very
people, nominal Christians, who had been followers of Jezebel, the
false prophetess, the soulish religious works and worship which were not
born of the Spirit of God. And the false soulical ministry of the
church systems, which led them to commit spiritual fornication and to
eat spiritual food that was defiled by idols — by false images and
conceptions of God. Were we not all there at one time? Some of us
repented when the Lord corrected us, and we have continued to repent as
the Lord has revealed the deception within our hearts. Others of us have
been dealt with by the judgments of the Lord in our lives, and then we
repented! To Jezebel and her followers the Lord said, “Behold I will
cast her into a bed (of trouble), and them that commit adultery with her
into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.”
It
is significant to note that the term “great tribulation” appears only
twice in the book of Revelation, and in neither case does it apply to
the nations or to the world! Both times it has to do with the Lord’s own
people! The idea that the book of Revelation is about the “great
tribulation” that has come, or is yet to come, upon the nations of earth
is a myth, a fable, folklore, and a fairy tale! That is not what the
Book says! The Lord Jesus said that He would cast the spiritual
fornicators of the church age into great tribulation unless they
repented. What do you suppose would be the purpose of the great
tribulation? Why, bless your heart, it would be to influence and
motivate them to repent! It would be God’s two-by-four hitting them over
the head to get their attention!
Then John sees a great
multitude that has come out of great tribulation. A wonderful
transformation has taken place in them through the process of the great
tribulation. They have now “washed their robes” and have “made them
white in the blood of the Lamb.” They were already the Lord’s people!
This is not sinners coming to wash their robes from the filth of sin and
the world they walked in before they were saved. No! These are the very
people the Lord had said He would cast into great tribulation except
they repented! These were believers in the church of Thyatira! Through
this great tribulation they have washed their robes and made them white
in the blood (life) of the Lamb. They have washed their robes from the
defilement of their own untransformed souls, and from the soulish
defilement of religion and religious doctrines, activities, and systems!
As a result of the Father’s chastisement by this great tribulation,
God’s purpose is accomplished in their lives. Cleansed and purified by
the Lamb, they are transformed and brought very near to His throne of
love, grace, and power!
Let us understand clearly just who these
white-robed saints of God are! They are the redeemed of God who have
washed their robes from the defilement of the false doctrines, empty
rituals, lifeless ceremonies, fleshly methods, soulish worship, and
carnal programs of the church systems of man. White robes in the book of
Revelation denote “the righteous acts of the saints” (Rev. 19:8). It is
the righteousness of Christ with which they are clothed, resulting in
righteous, truly spiritual acts manifested out of their lives upon this
earth. All of them have endured the strippings, purgings, prunings,
threshings, refinings, and purifying dealings of God and have been
thoroughly chastened and corrected by the Father!
This great
multitude is seen coming out of the great tribulation clothed in the
white robes of Christ’s righteousness and waving palm branches of
victory and praise to God! This great tribulation is not a seven-year
tribulation here at the end of the church age. Not at all! It is the
symbol of the Lord’s chastisements upon His people throughout the age,
upon all whom He has set His hand to purge and purify unto Himself. Many
of these saints were in the great movements and revivals throughout the
age when the Lord moved mightily by His Spirit to bring a people out of
the existing errors and carnal systems of man, into a closer and purer
walk with Him in the Spirit. The Lord led them through the processings
of His Spirit, which made them pure and righteous in God’s sight while
they walked this earth in the midst of worldly sin and religious
corruption.
These are the ones “coming out” of “the great
tribulation” having their robes washed in the blood of the Lamb! How
many are there? “A great multitude that no man could number.” It is the
“great” tribulation because of the “great” multitude! No man can
experience more than his own tribulation. This “great tribulation” has
lasted throughout the two thousand years since Christ came and began to
form His body in the earth. All through the age He has called out people
after people, company after company, from the apostate church systems
of their day, and now, praise His name, there is a great multitude that
no man can number!
It should be obvious to every spiritual mind
that the great multitude that no man can number is not the same company
as the 144,000 sealed ones that can be numbered. Not that 144,000 is a
literal number, but it is the number of divine government ascribed to a
select called and chosen company who reign with Christ upon His throne.
Both companies are described in the same chapter of the Revelation,
chapter seven. But there is a difference! As the spirit of revelation
and understanding floods our minds, we are left without question as to
the meaning of all this. The difference can be seen in the position of
the two companies. God’s kings and priests are always referred to in
relation to the throne. Jesus said that to the overcomer it is granted
to sit with Him in His throne, even as He overcame and is set down with
His Father in His throne (Rev. 3:21; 21:7). Then in chapter twelve the
manchild is caught up to God and to His throne and rules the nations
with a rod of iron (Rev. 12:5). Later, in chapter fourteen, the 144,000
stand with the Lamb (who is in the midst of the throne) upon mount Zion,
again the figure of the throne, for king David ruled Israel from his
throne on mount Zion (Rev. 14:1.
The “great multitude,” however,
is not “on” the throne — it is “before” the throne of God and the Lamb!
Neither do they “rule” or “reign” over anything, but they “serve” God
day and night in His temple, and He that sitteth on the throne shall
dwell among them. They are a blessed company indeed! They are very near
the throne, and dwell in the light of the throne, and in the presence of
Him who sits upon the throne, and receive great and eternal and
unspeakable blessings from the throne! They are the vast multitudes of
the redeemed out of the age who have walked with God in a pure walk in
the Spirit in the measure of light they had. And while they are a
redeemed and sanctified and spiritual people, they are not the sons of
God who reign with Christ upon His throne. They have not taken the
spiritual steps that cause them to fully grow, mature, and progress all
the way into God to become kings and priests. They have not attained
unto the measure of the stature of the fullness Christ. Yet, they are
the Lord’s own people, precious in His eyes! He who sits on the throne
of the Lord — Christ and His many brethren — dwells among them; they
live in the wonderful, rewarding, sustaining presence of the King of
kings and the Lord of lords!
“Therefore they are before the
throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that
sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more,
neither shall they thirst any more; neither shall the sun (the
illumination of the outer court) light on them, nor any heat
(processing). For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall
feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water (life in
the Spirit): and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Rev.
7:15-17).
No saint of God can escape the great tribulation! You
will not be raptured out before it comes, for it is already here! It is
not some horrible judgment of vindictive wrath and unrestrained
vengeance poured out upon the nations, my friend; it is God’s own
process of discipline and purification for ALL WHOM HE IS REDEEMING AND
TRANSFORMING INTO HIS IMAGE AND LIKENESS!
THE REINS AND HEARTS
By
the work of this great tribulation and judgment Jezebel is destroyed!
It is not the people involved who are destroyed, but the carnal soul in
all its assertiveness and fleshly lewdness — the spirit of Jezebel
within! How can we know this is a truly inward work, rather than the
Lord dealing with people and movements in the outer world? We know this
first by revelation of the Holy Spirit, but the truth we know is
confirmed in these words: “And all the churches shall know that I am He
which searches the reins and hearts” (Rev. 2:23). This refers to the
inward life of our being — reins and hearts. That’s where the work is,
and when it is finished all the churches will know that God has
searched, judged, and cleansed His people in the inward parts!
“Reins” is an old English word derived from the Latin renes, meaning “kidneys.” “Renal failure” is the medical term today for kidney failure. Renal, of course, is the adjective form of the old English “reins” or the Latin renes.
The kidneys are the organ which separates many of the toxins out of the
blood to prevent the body from becoming poisoned. People who suffer
kidney failure have to go on dialysis, a mechanical method of removing
the toxins from the blood, which substitutes for the kidneys. The
kidneys, in a spiritual sense, speak of that faculty which is able in
our spiritual life to separate between flesh and spirit, between soul
and spirit, between truth and error, between the precious and the vile.
The kidneys are truly our faculty of DISCERNMENT! To lack spiritual
discernment is to suffer spiritual kidney failure! Because the vile
things of the soul, the flesh, and the spirit of error are not filtered
out of our lives, our spiritual life becomes poisoned or polluted. The
Lord, the Spirit, is the one who searches the reins and the hearts — He
examines our discernment and the source of our life, to determine our
true spiritual condition!
Our reins or spiritual kidneys give us
the ability to discern and separate the good from the evil and the
soulish from the spiritual. Jezebel and her followers were all suffering
spiritual renal failure! They had no discernment by the spirit, so they
were carried away by every wind of doctrine, soulish emotion, and
carnal reasoning. Of all the virtues needed by God’s called and chosen
elect in this significant hour, methinks that discernment is among the
serious. There are many people in this hour who talk about being
overcomers, manifest sons of God, kings and priests after the order of
Melchizedek, deliverers of creation. and many other wonderful things,
yet they themselves are unable to discern truth from error, the soulical
from the spiritual, fleshly manifestations from divine operations of
the Spirit of God, or kingdom-building preachers from a true son of God.
I
am often appalled at the vast number of saints I find across the land
who treasure the beautiful hope of sonship to God, while at the same
time ignorantly devouring books published by occult publishing houses,
authored by deceivers who deny the Lord who bought us, laced with pagan
heresies of eastern philosophies, and many other weird beliefs out of
the kingdom of darkness. There are many like that today who cannot
discern truth from error! I care not how profuse your knowledge of the
doctrines of sonship, reconciliation, and the kingdom of God; if you are
lacking in keen spiritual discernment you are still disqualified from
the high calling of manifest sonship. You suffer from renal failure and
stand in need of a mighty healing! God provides no spiritual dialysis!
There
is placed within every true son of God that inward sensitivity to
spiritual realities. We are made conscious, by this spiritual
sensitivity, to the spiritual atmosphere about us in our own walk with
God, in those we meet, and any gatherings we may attend. Perhaps the
most important function of our reins has to do with our personal contact
with God in the spirit! In this we are made aware of the presence and
life of God and convictions are given to us concerning His word, His
will, and His ways. So little are we taught about this and so little do
we understand, that often we disregard that “still small voice” within.
It is soon quenched and the spirit is grieved, and this inner
sensitivity is lost. If it is lost, we need to repent and earnestly seek
the Lord that there may be a restoration of that which was lost!
By
this inner function of the reins we are told of the spiritual quality
of a ministry, of prophecy, preaching, teaching, testimony, prayer, and
worship. By this same operation of the reins within one is made aware of
the motives in ministry. Among the things that are sensed are love,
truth, humility, righteousness, gentleness, sincerity, genuineness, and
dependence on God. On the negative side we may sense pride, error,
self-esteem, deceitfulness, impurity, envy, strife, carnality, or a
kingdom-building spirit. This inner spiritual sense is DISCERNMENT! It
is a “knowing” not derived from the physical senses, information,
observation, soulical intuition, or suspicion. Some have called it
“inner witness,” others have called it “inner light,” but it is a
quickened ability in the powers of the new creation man which flows out
of the mind of Christ enabling one to perceive the spiritual states and
motives of men, teachings, manifestations, and spirits, though to the
natural man this knowledge may be hidden.
I have found that even
among good men there is a tendency to mistake one’s natural perception
and soulical intuition and cognition for that of the spirit. What most
people know as intuition, including psychic powers, are of the soul, not
the spirit. How necessary it is to walk close to the Lord Jesus and
take care that we do not confuse that which is soulish with the
spiritual! By a careful guarding against critical, suspicious, and
uncharitable attitudes, and a concern for God’s glory alone, we will be
kept from error in this realm. Many people have a keen sense of natural
perceptiveness and soulical intuition by which they detect conditions,
but this is not discerning by the Holy Spirit! As a result they may
think that which is natural is of God and be mistaken or deceived.
Natural discernment fails when it comes to the great mysteries of the
spiritual realm and activity. The natural or soulish man receiveth not
the things of the spirit, for they are spiritually discerned!
More
than forty years ago a preacher and his lovely wife appeared in a
Convention we held in Florida. This man possessed a dynamic personality,
oozing with charisma, was wonderfully articulate, and had a fantastic
testimony. At the invitation of the brethren I was associated with at
the time, he spoke to the Convention in one of the evening sessions. The
audience sat spellbound and the whole atmosphere was charged with
excitement as he related how God had poured out upon him a powerful and
supernatural visitation of the Spirit while pastor of a Baptist church
in the state of Michigan. Some strange and awesome things transpired in
his ministry at that time and in that church. But many rejected the
wonderful things that were happening, and even his own family did not
understand the unusual manifestations of the Spirit in his life.
Misunderstanding,
then opposition, and finally hostility arose, and the battle raged
until finally his persecutors were successful in having him committed to
the State Mental Hospital. On and on the story went, climaxing with his
sensational escape from the asylum on a bicycle, and the dramatic
dealings of God which propelled him into a vibrant kingdom ministry. The
people were deeply moved and the ministers were ecstatic! But deep
within my spirit, as I listened attentively that crisp January night, a
bright red flag was hoisted by the Holy Spirit. I knew distinctively by
that inner voice that something was wrong — seriously wrong. While he
was yet speaking, amidst great rejoicing and praising God, I turned to
Lorain and said, “I don’t believe a word that man has said!”
The
brethren, however, received him with open arms and opened numerous doors
for him across the land. They flew him and his companion to the mission
station in Haiti. While there his wife received an astounding vision of
the judgment soon to be visited upon America. Another group of brethren
took him up and opened many doors for him in various states. He soared
to higher and higher heights as the days swiftly passed. Then suddenly —
six months later — the lid blew off! A precious prophet of God also
discerned that something was amiss. He traveled to the town in Michigan
where this man said that he had been the pastor of a Baptist church and
began to do an investigation. What he found out was startling. He
discovered that this preacher had, indeed, been pastor of a Baptist
church there, but he was dismissed, not for any outpouring or unusual
manifestations of the Spirit, but for gross immorality. Furthermore, it
was true that he had spent time in a mental institution, but again not
because of any spiritual experiences! He had a wife and several children
back in that town whom he had abandoned, and the woman now traveling
with him was not his wife at all — she was his mistress!
The
brethren confronted him with the truth and he promptly confessed that
his whole testimony was a fabrication, a lie, and his ministry a fraud.
When asked why he did it, he replied, “God has raised me up in this hour
to see how many of His people can be deceived!” And when the news
reached me, the Spirit witnessed within me, “Amen!” Yet — how sobering
this is! What an indictment! How terribly awesome! For out of the
thousands of saints and ministries exposed to this fraud, only one
prophet and myself (as far as I know) discerned him!
God is
setting judgment in the midst of His elect today! We are not playing
games. God is not playing games. Sonship and the revelation of the holy
mysteries of God are not playthings for the entertainment of the
immature. There are qualifications for every attainment in God, and the
council is set. The Holy Ghost is closely examining candidates for the
sonship ministry. The Lord Himself, the One with eyes as a flame of
fire, and feet as burnished brass, walks in the midst of His called and
chosen people searching the reins and the hearts! The qualifying time is
now. Matters not how many great visions and deep revelations you have
received, or how many wonderful acts of God you can perform. It is
impossible for a person void of discernment to be a manifest son and
rule and reign with Christ! There are no manifest sons with spiritual
renal failure — you can count on it!
Sadly I confess that the
land is filled today with those excitable souls who love the excitement
of gifts, prophecies, visions, meetings, conventions, personalities, and
new and deeper revelations without number, but have not an ounce of
spiritual discernment. These gullible souls swallow every ridiculous
absurdity peddled in the name of “deeper revelation.” Tell such
starry-eyed super spirituals that not everything they see, read, or hear
in the name of the kingdom message is the truth, or of God, and they
gaze upon your ignorance with the sympathetic understanding generally
reserved for a lunatic.
I shall never forget a “Kingdom
Convention” I attended once. It was sad — a monstrous mixture of flesh
and spirit, truth and error, of the precious and the vile. Assembled was
a great host of people from all parts of the United States and other
countries. Some of these people were very spiritual, others exceedingly
fleshly. There were true prophets of God there with a word from the
Lord, and others who were merely pretenders, prophesying vanities off
the tops of their heads. There were profound truths of God ministered,
while others consumed the valuable time rambling about in a multitude of
meaningless absurdities. The pastor’s wife rose to receive the
offering. Among other things, she declared that God had revealed to her
that there were twelve persons present who were to give $10.00 each, and
seven who were to give $20.00 each. These she instructed to bring their
offering to the front where she would lay hands upon them and confer
“the deacon’s blessing” on the twelve and “the apostle’s blessing” on
the seven! For an hour it dragged on, pleading, coaxing, persuading,
appealing, to get the amount she wanted.
Deeply grieved in my
spirit I was prepared to rise, walk to the pulpit, and read the
scripture, “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that
the gift of God may be purchased with money” (Acts 8:20), after which I
purposed to walk out of the Convention. At that instant the Holy Spirit
thundered in my spirit, “No, you don’t!” I sat still. Back in the
audience a prophetess arose, weeping, and began to prophesy the word of
the Lord, saying, “Yea, my people, it is time that you learn the
difference between that which is of God, and that which is of man. It is
time that you know the difference between that which is of the flesh,
and that which is of the spirit. It is time that you discern the
difference between that which is truth, and that which is error.”
As
the Spirit travailed through this dear sister, it came to me so
powerfully; my eyes were opened to behold by the spirit the wonder and
magnitude of what the mighty God was doing in that place that day. HE
had assembled His people together from far and near. HE had drawn both
the babes and the mature, the tares and the wheat, the men of God and
the pretenders, the fleshly and the spiritual, the true and the false.
HE had set them side by side, the sons and the bastards, drawing forth a
manifestation from each. And by this judgment was set in the midst! How
terrible! The Lord would then and there test, try, and prove His
people, that it might be manifest who among them could discern between
light and darkness, flesh and spirit, and truth and error. Every man was
justified or disqualified through the judgment of the Lord! Those
justified would press forward into deeper depths and higher heights of
glory. Those disqualified went their pitiful ways to sink ever deeper
into the bottomless pit of flesh, fruitlessness, delusion, and darkness.
Precious
saint of God, have you been asking the Lord to give you discernment?
The first step that you must take is to be able to discern yourself! God
cannot trust you to discern others or the great powers of the spiritual
world, until you can discern between your own soul and spirit. That
which prepares you for all discernment, is to draw so near to God that
you will see yourself in His light, and then everybody and everything
from His viewpoint. You must dwell in His presence and smell His odors
until you will instantly detect any strange odor that comes near your
life. The story is told of a Chinese boy who wanted to learn about jade.
He went to study with a talented old teacher. This gentleman put a
piece of the stone into the youth’s hand and told him to hold it tight.
Then he began to talk of philosophy, men, women, the sun and almost
everything under it. After an hour he took back the stone and sent the
boy home. The procedure was repeated for weeks. The boy became
frustrated — when would he be told about jade? But he was too polite to
interrupt his venerable teacher. Then one day when the old man put a
stone into his hands, the boy cried out instantly, “That’s not jade!”
Ah,
the Lord brings every son into such submission and intimacy with Him,
that we discern the least uprising within ourselves, or any temptation
thereto when it is afar off. God is teaching us to become so quiet as to
our own self-effort and fleshly activities, that our life is like still
waters; and any strange sound will alarm and arouse us to prayer and
watching. He has drawn us apart from the false odors of the flesh, the
strange scents of religious Babylon, and the stench of the spirit of the
world, for none can learn discernment in the harlot’s house.
I well
remember sitting on the platform of a large meeting many years ago. We
were cooperating with this meeting in hope that through fellowship with
these people we might be able to reach some of them with the word of
reconciliation, sonship, and the kingdom. A well known minister from a
large Charismatic church on the west coast was the guest speaker. After
giving his testimony, he called those with needs to the platform for
prayer. With great flourish he entered into his “word of knowledge”
ministry by which he told various ones what their problems were. I had
sensed, all through the ministry that night, something strange. Like a
lightning bolt from the sky, the Spirit spoke from within myself, “This
is not of me — this man is operating in a psychic gift, not by the mind
of the Spirit of God!” “This isn’t jade!” Then followed this piercing
inquiry, “What are YOU doing here?” At that moment I would have welcomed
a trap door to open beneath me, permitting me to just quickly and
silently disappear! At that rebuke from the Lord I learned a valuable
lesson — we do not make people pure by mingling with their mixture!
KILL HER CHILDREN WITH DEATH
“And I will kill her children with death…” (Rev. 2:23).
The
Lord searches the reins and the hearts, deep within the inner life.
Yet, there is also an outward dealing for the Lord says, “I will kill
her children with death.” The “children” of Jezebel, the offspring of
the religious nature of the soul, are all those carnal religious
thoughts, attitudes, ideas, concepts, doctrines, works, methods,
activities, manifestations, movements, systems, and kingdoms which are
born of the flesh. This is not a battle to kill people, or literal
flesh! People go around saying that God is going to kill babies.
Hogwash! These are symbols, types, and shadows of spiritual realities.
God is going to kill the soulish children that are the offspring of the
carnal mind of the soul. Every union bears fruit, and the fruit is the
children.
It is of utmost importance that all of God’s elect see
this great truth, because once we grasp it, we understand the severity
of the Father’s dealings with the spirit and works of religion in our
lives which are, one and all, the children of Jezebel. The power of the
Christ comes with eyes blazing with fire, and feet burning as in an
oven, to slay all the religious children in our lives! Oh, yes, He will
kill each and every one of them, and He will reduce us to God. This is a
spiritual battle that shall end the prophesying of the Jezebel-soul
within ourselves, and will bring down the rule and dominion of the
self-life. Just as Jezebel of old came to her ignoble end by being
trampled to death by the horses of Jehu, so shall all the ways of
carnality and soulishness be destroyed from the lives of all God’s
called and chosen elect. So also the Four Horses of the Apocalypse (Rev.
6:1-8) shall trample under foot all the wiles of the Jezebel spirit
within every son of God! As soon as these four horses have finished
their work in us, we read, “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw
under the altar the souls that were slain because of the word of God”
(Rev. 6:9). These are souls that have been brought to death, all their
carnal, soulish manifestations ceased. The spirit is now Lord! In this
connection Paul Mueller wrote some time ago, “Our feminine souls are
being crucified to be renewed and resurrected, then to be married to our
masculine spirits, in preparation for our transformation.” Aren’t you
glad!
I have a word from the Lord for Jezebel. “All your children
shall be killed!” saith the Lord. They cannot live because there is no
life in them. Anytime there is in our life, or in the church, the
Jezebel spirit, and we do not allow the spirit to move and touch us, but
we follow after other lovers that we esteem higher than the Lord
Himself, everything we produce out of that attitude and union — dies. It
comes to naught. “So whether you repent, or whether you don’t, Jezebel,
I’m going to kill every one of your children! They cannot live! They
will not live!” If you want to know how the Lord is going to kill your
children, I’m going to tell you how He’s going to kill your children. “O
daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that
rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh
and dasheth thy little ones against the stones” (Ps. 137:8-9).
Everything
that Babylon produces; everything that the soul, apart from the spirit,
generates; all that the church systems by self-effort, carnal wisdom,
and fleshly zeal bring forth; for all of this God has a man, a corporate
man, a new creation man, a man in the image of God, a man in the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, full of faith and the
Holy Ghost who shall smash the images of Baal and dash the children of
Jezebel, and establish the order of the kingdom of the Lord in the midst
of God’s people in the earth. This heavenly man refuses to accept
anything less than the life and power and wisdom and glory of the Son of
God. “And all the churches shall know that I am He that searches the
reins and the hearts.” That is the scope of the ministry of GOD’S MAN in
this wonderful day of the Lord! Aren’t you glad!
Jehu, by the
word and anointing of God, took care of Jezebel without even touching
her. It happened by the word of his mouth, by the spirit and authority
of a spoken word. With the words of his mouth he looked up on the wall,
and there were some brethren standing around, and he said, “Here’s what I
want you to do. GRAB HER AND THROW HER DOWN!” A word of authority is
coming in the mouth of God’s sons today, and they are commanding
concerning Jezebel, “Throw her off the city wall!” This has already
happened within all who are entering into this new kingdom Day, for
Jezebel has already been cast off the wall of our personal city. But I
tell you something else. The most dangerous place you can be in this new
Day of the Lord is in the church system. “And I heard another voice
from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not
partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her
sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and
famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the
Lord who judgeth her” (Rev. 18:4-8).
It’s a dangerous day to be
involved in organized religion! I’m not trying to be rude, crude, or
vindictive in any way, but there are a lot of things going on right now
in the midst of God’s people that are highly esteemed and getting the
attention of the whole world, but it’s just Jezebel raised up upon the
city wall. It’s almost a circus atmosphere in the Charismatic and
Pentecostal scene, drawing the crowds, catering to soulish excitement,
with all kinds of theatrics and showmanship, as men look at the lying
signs and wonders going on about them, but pay no attention to the deep
and eternal work of God to be wrought within. It’s time for Jezebel to
be thrown off the wall! I’d like to grab her right now! But God has a
time and a way, and it’s not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit
of the Lord!
Once Jezebel was thrown from the wall and trampled
by the horses, the dogs came and ate her flesh and licked up her blood.
The dogs love Jezebel. She’s dog food! There are a lot of dog ministries
around, trying to lick her blood and eat her flesh — to receive an
impartation of the death that is in her. That’s alright, let them eat
her, let them devour her — she’s still dead in your life! God has thrown
her down from her high place in the lives of all God’s elect. Jezebel
can no longer have any influence over those called unto sonship. She can
no longer control, she can no longer manipulate, she can no longer
deceive, she can no longer seduce the called out of the Lord!
To be continued…
J. PRESTON EBY
KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES
