September 2001

Part Eight

The Super Highway (H)

               O evil heart of unbelief! O foolish pride of life! You always deceive yourself that you have control over any high places; but you discovered otherwise when you unsuccessfully tried to tempt the Creator of all with your preposterous offer of all the “Kingdoms of this world” (Mt 4:8). For He overcame your wilderness temptations so that one day all worm-men could forsake their earthly, belly-crawl to walk upright on His HIGH WAY of Anointing! It was God Who actually deceived you, O weak man of flesh, when He let you deceive His first natural man! He was demonstrating what catastrophic consequences occur in a world ruled by his WORD WITHOUT ANOINTING! Then after that terrible tyranny of Death’s carnal-mindedness (Ro 8:6) had proved His point, He sent forth His WORD WITH ANOINTING to redeem and restore His beloved world to Himself!
               A high toll is set for all who tread the High Ways of Righteousness which Jesus Christ paid at Calvary for all men! Many unenlightened teachings claim it was only this Head of the Church that had to remit the heavy wage of atonement to take away the sin of the world; and in a sense, that is true. Only God’s “Saving Anointing” (lit. Jesus Christ) was able to take on all the world’s sin; but our Lord is more than just a “Head”, He is also a “Body”, and WE ARE HIS BODY! It was the “Body” of Christ that suffered the scourges, slaps, stickers, spikes and spears! But what rewards come to all who surrender to this crucifixion process. It is the “Body” which is clad in the Armor of Christ [except for the “helmet of Salvation” reserved for the Head] and it is the “Body” that wears the royal robe of Righteousness! Jesus once described the nature of His earthly ministry, “The Son of man has nowhere to lay His Head!” (Mt 8:20) In this He was saying two things: first, when your life is led by the Spirit of God, you are thereafter a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven and no more a subject of this world’s kingdoms; and second, our Lord was saying that His “Body” (of Christ) on which He would one day lay His Headship was not yet fully formed! As Father said to His Christ, “Sit at My Right Hand until I make your enemies your footstool!” (Ps 110:1) Then in Isa 66:1, He identifies these enemies saying, “Heaven is My Throne and Earth is My footstool!” All earth-minded people are the enemies of God! [See: Ro 8:5-8 and Jas 4:4]
               Heavenly-minded people are at rest in the Spirit during their earthly occupation! In Ps 99:5 He encourages them, “Exalt the Lord and worship at His footstool (earth), for He is holy!” They obediently reply, “We will go into His tabernacles and worship at His footstool (earth)! Then You, O Lord, arise with Your Ark of Strength, and enter Your Rest (Sabbath)! Let your priests be clothed with righteousness and your saints shout for joy! For Your servant, David’s sake, do not turn away the Face of Your Anointed! You have sworn in Truth to David, and will not turn from it, saying that You would set the Fruit of his body (Jesus Christ, the Son of David) upon His Throne (heaven)! If Your children keep the Covenant and testimony I will teach them, their children will also sit on Your Throne (heaven) forevermore! For the Lord has desired and chosen Zion to be His holy habitation!” (Ps 132:7-12) And what does it mean to dwell in God’s holy habitation here on earth? Listen to just one of his many experiences as an inhabitant of holiness in Acts 28:1-6:

“When Paul and his party came safely to the shore, they realized it was the island called Melita. The natives showed them extraordinary kindness as they kindled a fire because of the present rain and cold to welcome them. But as Paul gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper leaped out of the heat and latched onto his hand. When the natives saw the venomous beast hanging on his hand, they said to themselves, ‘This man must be a murderer!! For even though he did escape from the sea. he is suffering revenge for something he has done! But then Paul simply shook off the beast into the fire, and FELT NOT HARM! They watched to see if he would swell up, or fall down dead suddenly they way that he should have: but after they observed a long time and saw that no harm came to him, they changed their minds, and said he was surely a god!”

               Natural man has many things to rightly fear in this dark world of sin and death! Only a fool whose constitution is made of “wood, hay and stubble” (See: 1 Co 3:12) would not fear the fires of earthly danger and destruction; and even more, the fiery Presence of the Lord! We do not fault men of corruptible flesh for being terrified by all that is taking place in the world today; but may God prevent a “Root of bitterness”(Heb 12:15) from springing up in the heart of believers when they are blessed to partake of the sufferings of Christ (1 Pet 4:13) that they may also be partakers of His Glory (1 Pet 5:1) and of His divine Nature! (2 Pet 1:4) We, who have all heaven’s resources at our disposal through prayer and faith, have no excuse (other than hidden flesh-mindedness) to be consumed with fears and self-pity in the midst of fiery trials; for it is our bondage to evil unbelief that has drawn God’s Holy Fire to set us free! But, as with the three Hebrew children, we should seek the manifestation of the “Fourth Man having the form of the Son of God“ to meet us in the furnace of our afflictions to walk with us free and unfettered in the Spirit till the trial is ended! Also we can eagerly anticipate at the end of our trial that the fire will have had “No power over our body; not one hair on our head (all of which God has numbered; Lk 12:7) is singed; our garments shall not be damaged; and no smell of smoke shall be upon us!” (Da 3:19-30)

[TO BE CONTINUED]