November 2001

Part Forty-three

Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory (H)

I have read a fiery Gospel
Writ in burnished rows of steel,
"As ye deal with my condemners,
So with you My Grace shall deal";
Let the Hero, born of woman,
Crush the serpent with his heel
Since God is marching on!

     This beautiful verse is omitted from most hymnal versions of Julia Ward Howe’s inspired Battle Hymn of the Republic. The Lord brought it to my attention during my research of the song. These lost lyrics give deeper dimension to His already glorious message in this time-honored piece. Never before have the masses heard the “Fiery Gospel” the sons of God will soon bring to sear the hearts of men throughout the earth! But do not confuse God’s “Fiery Gospel” with spurious “fire and brimstone” ravings of wrathful, carnal minds! The God’s Fire is LOVE (1 Jn 4:8) so every Word He speaks is Love! It is true that God is an “All-consuming Fire”, (Dt 4: 24) however that simply means when everything is eventually subjected to the flaming, fervent heat of His Love, it shall be restored to Life! God tells us His Righteous Judgments- which carnal-minded preachers have taught their congregations to loathe and dread, are “as the Light that goes forth!” (Hos 6:5) That same “Light” is seen in Gen 1:3 as God says, “Let there be Light!” It is the same “Light” spoken of in Jn 8:12 as Jesus Christ says, “I AM the Light of the world!” His declaration could also be rightly translated, “The ‘I AM’ [revealed at Moses’ burning bush miracle in Ex 3:2] is the Light of the world!” For Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I AM!” (Jn 8:58) And also when the temple soldiers came to arrest Jesus, He asked Him, “Whom do you seek?” When they answered, “Jesus of Nazareth”, He said to them, “I AM!” And they lurched backward and fell to the ground!
    With spiritual eyes we can see JESUS CHRIST IS THE “I AM” before Whom Moses stood on the holy ground of Mount Sinai! Selah (pause and calmly think of this)!
       God “judges” mankind in the same way Light “judges” darkness! The intrusion of Light in a darkened place instantly reveals its lightless condition! But as darkness has no choice but to be dark, so also Light can only be Light! Neither can deny its existence, they just “are”! But consider that if darkness serves no Godly Purpose, it would never have been created in the first place. The truth is that darkness is actually introduced in Scripture (Gen 1:1) before Light (Gen 1:2)!
    What is darkness but a great deceiver that weaves a web of lies! It tries to claim everything God created in Light is not hid in its scary shadows! But when God turns on the Light of Truth in our hearts, we see that all the good and glorious Nature of our Loving Father has been inside us from the beginning! Thus He says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you!” (Heb 13:5) How could God leave us when He is sequestered in our midst from the hour of our conception?!
    Just because we do not fully understand the holy purpose for darkness in this earthly life, it should be enough to know that if God created it, (Isa 45:7) there is a high and holy, and especially loving, reason for its existence! For one thing, it is divine compassion in our night season of flesh that the darkness hides the multitude of sin-stains on our garment of salvation. We could not stand to see every facet of our sin nature without God’s Grace to shield our eyes from that terrible sight! When the time comes for the unmasking of “self”, His Light of Truth brings Mercy and Love to cover our nakedness! It is the “doctrines of devils” that strip men of their only “fig leaf covering” of secrecy and pride to leave them bare and exposed for all to see and condemn! Darkness also conceals the “True Gold” of Divinity till it is revealed in Jesus Christ within us; at which time the “fool’s gold” of our humanity is likewise uncovered! But we should be grateful to make such a blessed exchange!
    Godliness is typified as the Finest of Wheat; while our humanity is depicted as chaff, tares, darnel, hay and stubble- all highly combustible substances! It stands to reason if such flammables come in contact with fire they will be “consumed”! As we are made to “Bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”, (2 Cor 10:5) those flesh-minded thoughts must and shall be likewise consumed by Christ’s “Fiery Gospel”!
    When all is said and done, there will only be one Tree of Life in the garden of our hearts! There shall be no further need for the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil of man’s humanity!! It will have served its divine purpose providing dark contrast for the Tree of Life of God’s Nature being formed in a blessed and fortunate people! Everything of Godliness can joyfully coexist with Holy Fire! The only combustible element in God’s Divine Character- as it indwells mankind- is the dross of our humanity! Once that is burned away, His pure essence is revealed. The total release of Emmanuel [lit. “God in us”] is the world’s Good News, beloved! Let us rejoice and be glad that the “Fiery Gospel” of the Kingdom is come upon us!

[TO BE CONTINUED]

Notice: this ministry will be in LONDON, ENGLAND the week of Dec 9-16

[except 2 one-day trips to Dublin, Ireland and Paris, France]. Any Kingdom group interested in hosting a meeting must please contact us as soon as possible by email: Sonrise1@aol.com, or telephone: 702-647-2131. Our itinerary is filling up quickly.

[P.S. We are not in need of lodgings as all our accommodations are prearranged.]