"Precious, costly, valuable and rare in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Ps 116:15"And these are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." Rev 14:4
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." 1Jn 4:17
THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
In our Oct. 10th message I wrote, of the "Day of Atonement" which was the Jew's annual holy day of judgement. I shared my hope of illustrating how the sin offerings of the "bullock and the Lord's goat" give wondrous type to the death of His saint's as they follow Christ wherever He goes."
I know I have written before on SONSHINE, of how the sacrificial system continues and is working within the lives of God's sons today. We are God's sacrifices and offerings for the church and a dying world and these scriptures (below) speak to the "shared Cross of Christ" that most in Christendom avoid like the plague. Surely it is but the elect sons, who have found themselves hedged in on all sides that learn to love intimately their Christ of the Cross, for they are the younger brothers come to serve and save a fallen creation. These are the saviours on the mount written of in Obadiah.
"And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD'S." Oba 1:21
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WE ARE THE SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS OF GOD
* We present our bodies, a sacrifice.
" I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Rom 12:1
* One gives sacrifice by dieing. We die daily.
" I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily." 1Cor 15:31
*The only way to have Christ' Spirit living within us is to be crucified with Christ. We are crucified with Christ.
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" Gal 2:20
*We suffer for the church. We fill up the afflictions of Christ.
"Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church" Col 1:24
*We are God's continuing offering and even the sin offering. We are as He is.
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." 1 John 4:17
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THE CONTINUING WORKS OF CHRIST WITHIN
"The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints" Eph 1:18
"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" Col 1:27
Jesus said, "He who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also" (Jn 14:12). We assume He meant that we would work His miracles, but Jesus did not limit His definition of "works" to the miraculous. The works He did are these, and these are those that we are going to identify with in regards to this message; the redemptive life, the mercy cry, the identification with sinners and the rendering Himself an offering and a sacrifice. These are the works He did. We will "do also" these works. And nowhere else, do I believe the likeness of the sons to the Son, so dramatically typed in the Old Testament as it is with the "bullock and the Lords goat" on the Day of Atonement.
The Biblical description of the Day of Atonement can be found at this link and I believe it would be meaningful to take the time to read this chapter.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Lev/Lev016.html#top
The first sacrifice of the bullock represented the destruction of the lower nature in Christ and with these verses the author of Hebrews ties the Son with the sons as one.
"Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him" Hbr 5:8,9
"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren" Hbr 2:9-11
The latter sacrifice of the Lord's Goat represents, in light of the New Testament, the same kind of work in the followers of Christ. They fill up that which is left behind of His afflictions because they are as He is. Col 1:24, 1 John 4:17. How very few see this and thus they never partake of and identify wholly with Christ Jesus. There in lies the the mark that separates "those that care to just get by" and "those that are consumed by the elect Love of God through Christ Jesus."
The difference is made apparent in these scriptures. The "get by'ers" that make up most of Christendom are pictured as the seven woman representing the seven churches of Revelation.
"And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach". Isa 4:1
Allow me now contrast that above with the following scripture, which for me is Holy and leaves me awestruck with a deep brokenness because I know the cost represented here. Note; that which is rendered "Lamb" in this verse is the "Arnion" ~ the little lambkin slaughtered.
"And these are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." Rev 14:4
When you know the Lamb intimately and you have fellowshipped with those that follow Him closely you also know the real "preciousness" of this relationship. You know the "cost" that has been paid. And you understand how "rare and valuable" are these dear saints. Whose heart could not be made tender when one shares Jesus with such as these dear souls spoken of by the Psalmist.
"Precious ,costly, valuable and rare in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Ps 116:15
I sense this a place to quit this morning. Lastly, I might only repeat this scriptural promise which speaks to the sacrifice of the "bullock" and the "goat" which represent the Son and the sons.
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." 1Jn 4:17
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* an addendum: After breakfast and fellowship with a friend this morning, in which I shared part of this blog I came home and stumbled across this account of a vision by one the Lord's pioneers of the "sonship message." Although I have shared this before it begged to be told again. Our brother wrote:
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"In that vision which lasted all night, the most wonderful vision I ever had, in which I saw the sons of God in action all over the world, ministering to the multitudes in every tongue and nation, to all people, I saw both men and women ministering. I saw them standing, suspended in mid-air, in the midst of a busy intersection of a large city, with all traffic stopped, and thousands of people seeing them with their eyes, and hearing them with their ears, regardless of distance, and without the aid of mechanical devices. I saw them speaking to a people of one language, and in a moment's time I saw them transported to another people of another language, speaking to them in their own language, having power over all mechanical devices and natural laws, so that they could cause every activity to cease, and every eye to be fixed upon them, until their message had been delivered.
I saw them walk upon the water; and I saw the terror in the faces of the wicked, at the sound of their voices. I saw the professing Christians fall upon their faces in true repentance, crying out for mercy, and I saw them being genuinely converted. I saw the skeptics being convinced, and the blasphemy of the wicked, as they would rail and mock, only to be struck dumb at just a word from the manifested sons and daughters of God.
The vision lasted all night, as in my spirit I was living in that future time, when God will be manifested in fullness in His sons and in His daughters, while my body was back there in bed alongside my wife. Sometimes the scenes would make me weep and I would sob, my body shaking violently with pain and agony, whereas another scene would cause me to laugh with holy laughter, as I witnessed the genuine repentance of the shallow Church members.
I'll never forget the vision of the young girl (the daughters of God) who spoke with the voice of many waters. Human language could never describe the quality of her voice. All I can say is, it was so filled with love and compassion, it would break the hardest stone, and at her command, every infirmity, every sickness, every blindness, every lameness was healed; every one was made perfectly whole, even those who had been lunatic from birth.
Sister Britain got no sleep that night, and finally when the dawn was ready to break, she asked me why I didn't get up and write the vision. I did try, but could not hold my hands on the keyboard of the typewriter. Some unseen force held them aloft over my head. I walked the floor and wept, and begged the Lord to permit me to write some of the visions I had seen, to preserve them in black and white. At last He did, and I wrote just a very few of the visions I had seen, for a large book could not contain them all.
What did the experience do for me? That vision set my soul aflame! Should I publish what I had written? What would people think of me if I did? Surely they would think me mad! I was just getting started in the writing and publishing ministry, and surely, I thought, that one message would cause all men to lose confidence in me! Finally with tears streaming, I said, I'm going to publish it, regardless of the cost. I know it's true! I know it's going to come to pass! And though all men turn against me, I'm going to publish it anyway! And so we did. We then waited anxiously to hear the reaction of the people. To our surprise, the message thrilled their hearts. THEY BELIEVED IT! They still believe it!" -end quote.
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("The Day of Atonement" to be continued)
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