Another
Coffee Break:
A Revelation of God's Glory, Part 8
October 2, 2015
While
the parable of the ten virgins plays again into the picture of the release of
the Glory of God, we're going to take a different track today as we get back
into the picture we first drew with Adam and Eve of the union that God created
between them, and the union He has been building between us and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
For
that union to be built to the place where we are the reflection -- and the
completion -- of the Lord Jesus Christ, there must be some radical changes to
our nature, our personality, our makeup, the very essence of who we are. And that's where we take up with today's
discussion.
Revelation
3:12: 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.
I've
taken this verse out of its original context, so let me briefly take you to
that overall prophecy. This was a
statement made to the Ekklesia in Philadelphia -- the sixth of seven letters to
the seven Ekklesias in Asia Minor. These
seven letters comprise a single letter overall to the body of Christ, and
address a series of issues that still affect the body of Christ today. Each of the seven letters wraps up with the
promise "to him that overcometh," and each letter is
sequential in its promise from the first one to Ephesus, to the last one
addressed to Laodicea.
Each
promise to the overcomer adds a new dimension to the one previous. These seven letters begin with the rebuke to
Ephesus because they've been so caught up in doing good works that they've lost
their first love. (In fact, that same
issue affects several of the Ekklesias addressed in these letters.) They've turned their attention to the Tree of
the Knowledge of Good and Evil and are making decisions predicated on humanly
acquired reasoning and rational thought.
There's a whole lot more here than I want to even try to get into today
so let me simply summarize. The promise
to Ephesus is that if they will overcome their reliance on the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and/or the Knowledge of Evil, the Lord will reopen the Garden
experience to them and give them to eat of the Tree of Life.
The
progression in the seven letters continues from there, and without recapping
each of the ones that follow, let me quickly move to the promise in the letter
to Philadelphia.
There
is so much contained in this one prophetic promise that it is almost mind-boggling,
so let's see what it looks like when we retranslate and amplify from the Greek
text.
He that overcomes [the temptation to rest on previous overcoming
and past victories] will I make to be a support (and a symbol of the Glory) in
the dwelling place of Yod Hey Vav Hey (Elohim), and from that place of dwelling
there will be no reason [or cause] to ever leave; and I will engrave within and
upon him the very nature, the character, the authority, the makeup, the very
essence of Yod Hey Vav Hey (Elohim), and the very nature, the character, the
authority, the makeup and the very essence of the city of Yod Hey Vav Hey
(Elohim), which is the new Jerusalem (*), which descends [to the earth] out of
Heaven from my Yod Hey Vav Hey (Elohim); and I will engrave within and upon him
my new (and completed) nature, character, authority, makeup and very essence. (Revelation 3:12, RAC Translation and
Amplification)
(*) Now,
put this together with Revelation
21:2: And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from
God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
This
isn't bad as a translation, but it still misses the whole picture. Let's try this one again:
And I, John, saw the holy, consecrated and set apart city [of
many people], the recently made and unprecedented Jerusalem, the city of double
peace (**), descending out of Heaven [to the earth] from Yod Hey Vav Hey, made
ready as the betrothed Bride, adorned, ornamented and embellished with honor
for her husband-to-be. (Revelation 21:2,
RAC Translation and Amplification)
I'm
starting to look like a broken record with these asterisks, but there is a
point to this.
(**)
A short history lesson, if you don't mind.
The picture of the "double peace" as the Hebrew translation of
Yerushalayim goes is based on David's capture of the city from the
Jebusites. The Jebusites had occupied
the fortress of Salem (Shalom) after Shem's death and renamed the city, Jebus,
after their father. Ironically, their
father's name had been, Jerus, meaning "foundations." Jebus meant "crushing," and that
was the military tactic of the father of the Jebusites -- hence the name change
given by Jebus' sons.
When
David took the city from the Jebusites, he restored Shem's original name of
Salem, but added to it the original name of the father of the Jebusites, Jerus
(pronounced "Yeroos"). Thus,
the City of David became Jerus-Salem, and the "foundations of peace"
were established in the now-combined ten tribes of Israel with Judah and
Benjamin, creating the nation of Israel with its capital.
That
was the first of the two pictures of peace.
The geographical city of Jerusalem lost its picture of peace when
Rehoboam (Solomon's son) disbanded the ministry of praise and worship in the
Temple at the urging of his counselors, and Jeroboam came up out of Egypt and
split the nation into two again, taking the ten tribes with him. Throughout the Psalms, David clearly had the
picture of Jerusalem as the City of God and as the heart of the Lord. In the years that followed after the division
of Israel, the prophet Isaiah made a unique distinction by referring to
Jerusalem in general as the people of God, but identifying Zion (where David
established his Tabernacle, and the Temple was later built) as a metaphor for
the Bride to come.
When
John, therefore, is given the picture of Jerusalem as the double peace, he is
drawing the analogy of reestablished, permanent peace, "the
peace that passes all understanding."
(Philippians 4:7)
Some
of you are looking cross-eyed at me wondering what all this has to do with the
Glory of God being revealed. This is a
quick illustration, but let me put it like this:
Once
you've been in or under the Glory of the Lord, you just don't want to
move. That's a bit of an exaggeration,
but the peace is so phenomenal that you NEVER want to leave it. I won't take time now to share some personal
stories, but let me simply say that whenever you have a time of very intense
intimate worship that continues on and on and on, you frequently experience the
Glory settling in over everyone in such a way that folks don't want to move,
they don't want to talk, and they just want to "soak".
Very
frequently, we launch into "soaking worship" as a fellowship. There is often a period of silence following
that worship such that no one says a thing, and everyone is just quiet before
the Lord, enjoying the enormous, indescribable peace.
OK,
I've kind of taken you down a rabbit trail for a bit in order to do some
clarification as to the translation and amplification from Revelation 3:12 and
21:2. Let's get back on track.
The
promise from Revelation 3:12 is for a transformation and radical change of our
character, our nature, our personality, our makeup, our identity and the very
essence of who we are. Consider the
change promised to the one who overcomes and gains victory over -- and I'll
take these in quick succession from the six letters up to this point -- the
Fear of Evil, the Fear of Death, the Fear of Man, the Spirit of Jezebel, the
Spirit of Compromise [we know it as "Democracy" in the body of
Christ] (and its companion, Legalism), and the tendency to rest on past
laurels, the overcoming one has achieved to this point, never mind the revelation
that comes with each of these areas of overcoming.
In
order to draw this characterization back to something we've shared in previous
Coffee Breaks, let's consider the message revealed in The Song of Solomon,
chapter 1, verse 5, along with the same message embodied in Jeremiah 8:21 in
which we see the statement repeated, "I am black."
As
already noted, this is a common Hebrew metaphor rooted in the extraction of Eve
from Adam's side, and the knowledge that for each of us God has created a
counterpart, an "other self" who completes and finishes our
makeup. In Jeremiah's prophecy (and he
draws pretty much the same picture in the sixth chapter), the Lord is crying
out for that people whom He created for Himself. Israel was a nation whom God had chosen,
blessed, protected, caused to multiply, set apart from every other nation on
earth to be the reflection of His Glory.
Israel was designed to become His counterpart in the earth and a
representation to the rest of the world of what could be available to anyone
who could and would walk by faith in and with Him.
The
cry of the Lord, therefore, in Jeremiah's prophecy is identical to the search
that continues to this day. The Lord was
speaking through Jeremiah and calling out for that people He had searched out
for Himself. The search was going forth
throughout the earth for that people. It
is the same search He has built in each of us for our counterpart, our
"other self" -- that one who completes and fulfills us (and that was
the message of the Shulammite in the Song of Solomon).
Revelation
3:12 is the completion of the search God has made on behalf of Jesus Christ for
His counterpart, His other self. Is that
clear so far? Then let me add to this
picture. Consider how Paul put it in
writing to the Romans:
Romans 12:2: And be not conformed to this
world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
The
Amplified Bible puts it even better.
Romans 12:2, AMP: Do
not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its
external, superficial customs [and
mindsets], but be transformed
(changed) [metamorphosed] by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its
new attitude [taking on the mindset
and manner of thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ],
so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and
perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and
perfect [in His sight for you]. (with my additions)
The
whole purpose of this metamorphosing is to change us back into that image in
which we were first created. But there's
more! You see, Adam and Eve were created
in the image and likeness of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is a difference, however, between Adam
and Eve, and that which we are being transformed into. Adam and Eve were imbued with the same
qualities and nature of God and they were given dominion over the earth. They had only one command or warning from the
Lord, and that referred to their NOT eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil. What Adam and Eve DID NOT
HAVE was a Covenant. True, when they
were being evicted from the Garden, the Lord told Eve that her seed would crush
the Serpent's head -- and through that prophetic promise would come the
Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.
What
makes our existence so different from Adam and Eve is that first of all, we
have a Covenant with Father, made on our behalf by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a Covenant we can all freely enter
into, and it is a Covenant which guarantees our being changed, transformed,
re-created, molded and metamorphosed back into that perfect image and likeness
of Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- SO LONG AS WE RESPOND!
It
shouldn't be necessary to say this, but the Covenant that Jesus Christ made for
us is a Covenant we MUST enter into if we are to become partakers and
beneficiaries. Furthermore, this
Covenant was designed to fulfill the purposes of God which were set in motion
before time began. From the very
beginning, all of Creation was designed to bring into being, to grow and to
mature a species of being who would become the very family of God -- a species
of being unlike any ever created.
Creation was set in motion to grow and mature a people who would
overcome every conceivable obstacle, every temptation, every force pitted
against them, and choose an intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ
above life itself.
The
point of all this is that the Glory of the Lord is revealed in the earth,
throughout the Universe, and throughout all Creation. Holy Spirit brings Glory to the Lord Jesus
Christ through the teaching, the instruction, the filling up of us as a people
with the very presence and essence of the Lord God. Jesus brings Glory to Father because it is
through Him that these changes, and this maturing process all achieves the
destiny Father, Son and Holy Spirit set in motion when they agreed and said, "Let
us make man in our own image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion....."
We
need to talk about the changes Holy Spirit is working in us. Those changes are no small thing -- and it is
in those changes that the Glory of the Lord is being revealed. We are being changed from Glory to Glory.
And
that's where we'll go next week.
I remind those of you in need of ministry that our Healing Prayer Call
takes place on Mondays at 7:00 PM Eastern (4:00 PM Pacific). As of Monday, September 14th, our call-in
number has changed to (712)
775-7035. The new Access Code is: 323859#. Our previous conference line experienced
drop-outs and periodic audio quality issues, so this was a needed upgrade!
At the same time, in case you are missing out on real fellowship in an
environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday worship gatherings are available by
conference call – usually at about 10:45AM Pacific. That conference number is (605) 562-3140, and the access
code is 308640#. We hope to make these gatherings available by
Skype or Talk Fusion before long. If you
miss the live call, you can dial (605) 562-3149, enter the same
access code and listen in later.
Blessings
on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Email Contact: Admin@RiverWorshipCenter.org
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