Come and See – Chapter 10 of the Gospel of John – Verily, Verily -Part xvi – The Last Verily, Verily –

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry [thee] whither thou wouldest not. (John 21:18)

    We come to the last Chapter of the gospel of the Spirit of God according to the apostle John. This is a tremendous chapter, if one just brushes away the dust, you can see marvelous things. In this last chapter we have the last Verily, verily. We have the third appearance of the Lord to His disciples. After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he [himself]. (John 21:1) (The sea of Tiberias is the Roman name for the Sea of Galilee, and it is only recorded twice in the Bible, and both times it is in the gospel of John: John 6:1, and John 21:1; the first time it is associated with man in the number 6, showing the dreadful rule of man over the things of God.)

   One of the main characters in Chapter 21 is Simon Peter who is mentioned first in verse two. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. We also have Thomas, which the world likes to call doubting Thomas, and yet at this stage he was assured that this was His Lord and His God. And how fitting that in the beginning of the Gospel of John, in Chapter 1, we have a man called Nathanael, and the Lord closes this book with Nathanael of Cana Galilee. We also have the sons of Zebedee (James and John) called together from their father’s fishing boat. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. (Matthew 4:21) And then to draw in His other disciples, the Spirit of God points to two others who were present. We also need to see that this wonderful gospel of the Spirit of God does not close with the ascension of the Lord. It’s almost as if the Spirit of God is showing us that the Lord Jesus will have a continual presence by His Spirit among those who belong to Him. We have the Spirit of God exposing the mind and heart of Peter in verse 3. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing. Simon Peter is only interested in going fishing; however, the Spirit of God and the Lord turns this around from the natural to the spiritual. It seems that their minds were on the things of earth, and all that was behind them had vanished, however, they toiled all night, and they caught nothing. They were completely on their own and on their own thoughts, however, when the sun rises with healing in its wings, it was the Son of righteousness standing on the shore. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. (John 21:4) Once again in His glorified state they knew Him not. However, the image on the shore, the Man of mystery called out to them in the love of His Father. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. (John 21:5)

   He cried out, Children, have ye any meat? Once again, the bread of life was in their presence, that He was the sustainer of all things. They cried out concerning their failure in the night. They answered Him, No, for they had caught nothing. The Master was standing on the shore of His creation, The Almighty God was there to sustain them, He then cried out to them,. . . . Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. (John 21:6) We could spend hours here at the right side of God and His right hand. The Lord speaks with meaning, seek and ye shall find. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. (Matthew 7:7)

   He declares the end from the beginning, and the beginning from the end. They are obedient to the voice of the image of a man. And they cast their net and we see an immediate result. They are unable to draw the net in for the multitude of fishes. . . and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Why do we labor all night in the dark and have nothing? What about our nets? Have we cast our nets in the shadow of darkness in unfruitful waters. Cast the net on the right side of the ship . . . You see all of our efforts in the gospel must be directed rightly by He who is at the right hand of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. When He directs us there will be fruit in our life. When we go out on our own, for our own purposes, or even in our own self-confidence, we fail in the darkness. But with His light as a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path guides our net through His divine power He guides the fishes to the net. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea. (John 21:7)

   In verse 7, the number 7 of this 21^st Chapter, two (as in witness) and one (as in God) and three (3) sevens (7) as in the fullness of the Godhead bodily, we have man’s recognition and the eyes of man opened for the disciple whom Jesus loved, declared to Peter, It is the Lord. This Chapter is just marvelous, how the Spirit of God speaks in the shadows.

   It was Simon Peter, who said to the disciples, I go a fishing. It was Simon Peter who spent the whole night in nakedness and there was not one fish in the net. However, when Peter knew that it was the Lord, the first thing that Peter did was to cover his nakedness. . . . when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (for he was naked,) And THEN he cast himself into the sea. The Lord gives us our clothing, the weapons of warfare. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (Ephesians 6:13) It is the Lord who girds up the loins of our minds. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1^st Peter 1:13) It is the Lord, through His Spirit, that directs the thoughts and intents of our hearts. And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes. (John 21:8) And the other disciples in their little ships, just like all of us, as we are members of His Body, we are partakers of His Spirit, but individually, we are so small in the sight of the world, even our life is but a vapor, and yet, if the Lord is directing that life the net will be filled with fishes.

  The Lord had no boat in John 21:9, He had no net, yet divinely He had prepared a meal for them on the shore. As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. He had the fire of coals, and the fish and bread to sustain them for bread. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. (John 21:10) In the number 10, is judicial for the Lord Jesus tells them to bring of the fish. Although they were given divine instruction to find the fish that the Lord led to the net, He gives them credit for being part of this great catch of great fishes. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. (John 21:11) These were great fishes that were caught. They were great in the sense of size, of multitude, and according to the purpose and plan of the Almighty, 153, And when you write that down, you have one (1) there is only one God, you have the number 50 which is the number of God’s judicial grace, and you have the number 3 in the fullness of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The net that they were using was not meant for such a large catch, however, again, the divine Master kept the net from breaking. The word of God cannot be broken. The gospel of the Lord Jesus cannot be broken, His plan of salvation cannot be broken. His divine election cannot be broken, and our eternal life in Him cannot be broken. Each one of us have been encompassed with the net of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and although we are a great number, the net cannot be broken. In verse 12, the Lord gave them an invitation, the first word was Come.

—— ♦——

Come and Dine

——♦ ——

   Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. (John 21:12) And this the first divine unction we receive from God. As the woman in John 4:29, at the well said, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?

   The Lord Himself issued, Come unto me in Matthew 11:28, Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Philip told Nathaniel, Come and see. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. (John 1:46) Come for we have found the one that the prophets had written about, and it is Jesus of Nazareth. And the Lord speaking to His own led them by the still waters and He prepared a table for them that they may eat and be full of His presence. There is no doubt in their hearts, for they ALL knew that it was the Lord – knowing that it was the Lord.

   How His presence gives us confidence in Him. And even in our sustenance, our food in the physical sense and in the spiritual sense the Lord takes the bread and gives it to them in verse 13, Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. He is the divine Provider. We see in the bread as the physical, and in the fish that was out of sight until the great catch. We see them as the spiritual food and harvest of precious souls for the Almighty.

   This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.  (John 21:14) This is now the third time, how wonderful, to be embraced by that number of divine Oneship, divine unity, and divine omnipotence, that God reveals Himself as He has done throughout time as God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God reminds us of that great day of resurrection, that He had risen from the dead. All hope was restored in the day of His resurrection. He who has the power of an endless life proved it on the day of His resurrection.

   So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. In verse 15, there is the beginning of a marvelous sequence; in the number 10 (Law) and in the number 5 (grace). These two aspects troubled Simon Peter during his life and service to the Lord Jesus Christ. After they were through with their divine meal, the Lord Jesus, with His penetrating eyes, looked into the heart of the son of Jonas, remember, Peter said, I go a fishing. The Lord then drew Peter away from the other disciples, they become shadows in the distance, and the Lord Jesus drew Peter into His divine presence, and asked the divine question that was the very first commandment, that thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment. (Mark 12:30)

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: (Deuteronomy 6:4) And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (Deuteronomy 6:5)

   He looked into Peter’s eyes, He was face to face as He was with Moses, and asked Peter, lovest thou me more than these? This was a divine question. And it deserved a divine answer from the heart. Peter said, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. And as if the Lord Jesus was saying to Peter, Well that might have been so, but the last words that I heard from your voice, were the words of denial, I know not this man of whom ye speak.  Are you sure Peter? And in that love that you have for me, you show it to the rest of my lambs. Love them, as you love me, and feed my lambs.

    The Lord loves repetition, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little. He does this through the whole word of God so that we may have confidence in His word that we are directed by the divine and sovereign mind of God. And if we are then we will have divine food for His lambs. So, the second time, He again reminds Simon that he is the son of Jonas, and He again asks that divine question to the heart of Peter, Lovest thou me? He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. (John 21:16) There is assurance in this because we dwell in the world, and the world wants to take our hearts and point it in its own direction which is away from God. Again, the heart of Peter cries out, Yea, Lord. And again, he declares his love for the Lord Jesus – thou knowest that I love thee. The Lord Jesus now increases the green pastures, He declared Feed my sheep. And then the third time, the Lord asks the same question, and again, He used the name Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.(John 21:17) In this third time, we see the complete Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we see the persistence of God in our life that He continually woes us into His presence and desires our love for Him. He has loved us unto death, and He wants to receive love from the depths of our hearts to Him. We can worship God and tell Him how great He is, “How Great Thou Art,” but unless all our words are surrounded with the love of our hearts for Him, they are meaningless words cast into the air with no substance.

   In Peter’s three denials, the Lord held Peter’s hand to the fire. Remember 10, God’s judicial law, and number 5 God’s grace, Peter was grieved, could it be that he remembered the three denials? However, Peter in his grieve again repeats to the Lord of glory, thou knowest that I love thee. And I will have no other gods before me for thou art the Son of God the King of Israel, the Lord of lords, and the King of kings, so the Lord Jesus again repeats that line upon line: Feed my sheep.

—— ♦——

Follow Thou Me

—— ♦——

   Now we approach verse 18, the last Verily, verily in Chapter 21 of the gospel of John. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.

   The Lord Jesus THEN expands on the life of Peter. He brings in the strength of youth, and that we have so much control when we are young. And I am speaking of body functions now, but when we grow old, our strength dissipates, even our mental thoughts become clouded. And towards the end we have to rely on others to gurd us or dress us, or even carry us where we go, and the Lord tells Peter that he is going to have a long life. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. (John 21:19)

Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. (2^nd Peter 1:14)

   It is a bit of personal prophecy given to Peter, in verse 19, the Lord signified by what death Peter should glorify God. And then after the history of his life was unfolded, the Lord Jesus said to Peter, Start right here, follow me. And again, the eyes of Peter turns off the Lord, and he saw the disciple who Jesus loved, and he was more concerned about that disciple, then his own direction from the Lord.

Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? (John 21:20) Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? (John 21:21) Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. (John 21:22)

   So, the Lord once more repeats to Peter, Follow thou me. When we examine Peter, we see a man of self will. Peter was very spontaneous which had led to trouble. Peter showed impulses, both good and bad. In some aspects of his life, he was seen as the waves of the sea, and at other times, his heart is open to the very revelation of heaven. Heaven revealed to Peter’s heart that the One who was before him was the very Son of God, and it was revealed to Peter, by God the Father from heaven.

And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. (Matthew 16:16) And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 16:17)

He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. (Luke 9:20)

Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. (John 6:68) And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. (John 6:69)

    Then we have the impulse of Peter’s heart in denying the very words that the Lord had spoken concerning the Lord’s death, and Peter was sharply rebuked by the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord used these words in His rebuke, Get thee behind me, Satan.

Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. (Matthew 16:22) But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. (Matthew 16:23)

   The Lord used sheep many times as examples, and He places Himself as the Shepherd of the sheep. You see all sheep need a shepherd. They are prone to wander off the trail. They are very defenseless animals and are subject to many beasts of prey. In many ways, we, as the children of God, have like characteristics. We get impatient with the Lord, we want to go our way and not His way, we want to tell Him what His word should be instead of what it actually is. We forget that not only does the Shepherd guide us, but this Great Shepherd, and Bishop of our soul has rule over us. As Peter’s life expanded to many places, to the many faces that he saw, and the many voices that he heard, it is what is done in the body for grace and truth. This is very important to ALL who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything we do in sincerity from the heart in relationship to obedience in our faith of Lord Jesus Christ will be the record in eternity. Your work is not just a lifelong work, it is written by the Spirit of God, and will be recorded for all eternity. The Spirit of God delights in His personal work. His number one delight is to bring each and every one of us to the perfect will of God. 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. (Romans 12:2)

—— ♦——

The Perfect Will of God

—— ♦——

   So, let’s see how to reach the perfect will of God. The first step in our salvation, the minute or moment that the Spirit of God brings us to birth, we have been separated from the world UNTO God Almighty. At that point, we are not to allow ourselves to be conformed to this present evil world. The apostle John confirmed this in his first epistle.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1^st John 2:15)

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (1^st John 2:16)

And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (1^st John 2:17)

   The apostle Paul also reveals to us that we live and abide in this present evil world in Galatians 1:4, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father. In this evil world, we also have evil men, this is confirmed by the apostle Paul in 2^nd Timothy 3:13, But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. We cannot imagine the world two thousand years ago. However, the apostle saw the world in light of that evil. And they were surrounded by evil men. There are two fogs that come upon the world: one is called a ground fog, it ascends up from the ground; the other is an atmospheric fog, which descends overall, and it is so dense that it is hard at times to see a foot ahead. I only use this as an example, consider the days of evil during the lifetime of the disciples as a ground fog, and today, this present evil world as an atmospheric fog that covers all and it is very hard to pass through. We live in a world full of enmity against God. Every day the apostles had to deal with an evil world, and evil men. It was a whole lifetime, not just moments, but day by day for both Peter and Paul and the other apostles. They were trying to keep themselves unspotted from the world, for the friendship of the world is enmity with God. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. (James 4:4) We see through the word of God that those who have friendship with the present evil world are the enemies of God. You cannot take this verse in James out of the Scriptures, it is part of the word of God that seems to have vanished from the pulpits of this world. Ponder this with all of your heart, and with godly fear. And remember those last words to Peter from the Lord, twice, Follow thou me.

   In John 21:18, we see both youth and the aged, Peter is looking ahead at a long trail and the many trials of his faith. It was partly by experience and by the Spirit of God that he could rightly define the trial of his faith which he gives to us in 1^st Peter 1: 7, That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Peter shows us that trials are part of our spiritual growth. He is also imparting to us the value of these trials that they are worth far more than earthly treasures. You can almost feel the value of his own trials in this wonderful verse. What man holds in high esteem and value is nothing in light of the trials of the saints of God. His children display their worth in heaven above. Although they be a poor beggar Lazarus, God has laid aside crowns of righteousness for them. They are jewels in His presence, and they reflect His glory brighter than the stars above.

   In John 21:18, the Lord Jesus presents to Peter a long trail or path, and the path will end with a specific offering up of Peter’s life. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. The Lord specifically told Peter how he would leave this earth, and how he would enter in above. We see this remembrance in Peter’s 2^nd epistle, when he reaffirms to us by what death he would pass through the veil.

Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. (2^nd Peter 1:12)

Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; (2^nd Peter 1:13)

Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. (2^nd Peter 1:14)

Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. (2^nd Peter 1:15)

   In approaching this death, what did Peter do? He went back to the shores of Galilee in his heart and mind to hear those words once again, Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. So, he begins by putting them in remembrance of all that he has spoken and written as well as the writings of the apostle Paul.

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. (2^nd Peter 3:14)

And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; (2^nd Peter 3:15)

As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. (2^nd Peter 3:16)

Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. (2^nd Peter 3:17)

   We know that the lives of both Peter and Paul overlapped which we see in Galatians 2:11-21.

But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. (Galatians 2:11)

For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. (Galatians 2:12)

And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. (Galatians 2:13)

But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? (Galatians 2:14)

We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, (Galatians 2:15)

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (Galatians 2:16)

But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. (Galatians 2:17)

For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. (Galatians 2:18)

For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. (Galatians 2:19)

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. (Galatians 2:20)

I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (Galatians 2:21)

—— ♦——

The Trail and Trial Ahead

—— ♦——

   Now we approach verse 18, the last Verily, verily in Chapter 21 of the gospel of John. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.

   One thing that we need to understand is the fundamental calling of the apostles. On the mainstream they were first called to the Jews; whereas Paul, born out of due time, was called to be the apostle to the Gentiles, which he declared of himself many times. And in Galatians Chapter 2 we see the conflict of the law under the Jews with the grace of God in Jesus Christ. The Law was dead because of sin. The Law could not justify the sinner, it could only condemn the sinner for the wages of sin is death. So, there was a conflict between Paul and Peter, and according to Peter’s epistle the words of Paul put Peter on a straighter path. For in Jesus Christ, we are free from the Law because we have died 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. (Galatians 2:20) And I NOW live BY the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus who has made me free from The Law of Sin and Death. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2) The Law is a teacher that shows me who I am under sin, and the penalty of that sin. But Christ shows me who I am under grace. That I am free of both sin and death. The Law tried to change the old man in Adam, but Christ creates a new man under grace, and the seed of grace is love. Even today it is difficult for many to grasp the transition from death in Adam to life in Christ. It is because of the death and crucifixion of Christ that life has come out of death. (Judges 14) The carcass of the lion brought forth honey, or life. This was Samson’s riddle, and it is still a riddle for the world today; that out of the death of the Lion of Judah came forth life. And the sweetest life of all in that we can lay hold of eternal life in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Peter had many battles that he had overcome and in his two epistles, by the Spirit of God, brings the remembrance of those battles before us.

   Peter ministers to us to keep us from the same pitfalls. Although the Law was through in ceremony and tradition, it was hard for the Jewish believer to withdraw from the whole Law, especially when many of the meetings were taking place in synagogues mixed with unbelievers and believers, those who clung believing in Law and those who were believers of grace. Remember that they had the Old Testament Scriptures, and it was still hard for them to pick their way through the prophecies to see their Messiah. There were many who could not separate themselves from the Law to Grace. Therefore, Peter through a marvelous way through his two epistles presents grace despite the Law. He wanted to put them in remembrance of what was true and holy and right according to the word of God. And even in Peter’s last day’s there was still much confusion over Law and Grace. We see that Peter ministered both to the Jewish world and to the Gentile world. We also see that Saul (or Paul) ministered also to both the Gentiles and to the Jews. So, where is the difference between the ministry of these two men?

   Saul before his conversion was a man of law and order, in all the teachings of the ways of the Jews. Saul had jailed the rebels or the believers in Christ and had given his consent or authority for their deaths. (Acts 7) The Lord in His wisdom and sovereignty performed a profound miracle on the Damascus Road, He called this prominent man taught in all the knowledge of the Law and blameless before the Law and yet, according to grace, Saul was in the darkness of despair. And although he upheld the Law, the Law still condemned him under sin. So, the Lord called Saul out of darkness into His marvelous light by separating him, and in a profound revelation called him to be an apostle of Grace and not Law.

   Who could be a better chose than this man had been taught at the feet of Gamaliel, who could understand the Law any better than Saul? And who could see its faults under grace then one who had been taught from a child in all manner of the Law. I am verily a man [which am] a Jew, born in Tarsus, [a city] in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, [and] taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. (Acts 22:3)

     Let me just insert this here: because of the shortness of life, we see very little of history, we have to trust other men’s writings which are biased in all directions, and who rarely give you the whole truth. And the further that you go back into the history of mankind, the more clouded the water becomes. Even today taking in the events of the past two and half years, if we take ten men from random beliefs and political persuasion, they will give us ten different stories and none of those stories can be substantiated because the facts that they received were twisted by others. They are trying to write historical truths through the lies of men. So, none of their words can be of truth. And we should remember that the father of humanity is a liar from the beginning. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44) So, how can man write about history being a hundred years removed from the truth, or in many cases, the lies of other men that existed one hundred years previously. This is exactly why the Lord put within the prophets of old the Spirit of Christ. And this is why the apostles were ALL under the same Spirit of Christ. The presence of the Spirit of Christ maintained and maintains the truth that was written THEN and is available to us NOW. For the Spirit of Christ, the Eternal Spirit, is the Author and Editor of God’s Holy Word. It was the Spirit of Christ who was in them.

Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:  (1^st Peter 1:10)

Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. (1^st Peter 1:11)

Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. (1^st Peter 1:12)

    One should always remember that secular writing does not prove the word of God. It is the word of God that proves or disapproves secular writings. The history of man, and what man is, is recorded in the word of God bound and sustained by the throne of God. Once you have climbed this mountain you will see a greater distance in all truth. There is no secular book that can reveal the grace of God without the truth of the word of God within it. For grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. This same Spirit of Christ, which was in the prophets of old, which was in the apostles, is within EVERY believer. And it is by the word of God that every believer is sustained and grows in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. God has always had a sovereign hand over His word. When Moses sat down before God and they beheld each other face to face, Moses wrote the words that came out of the mouth of God.And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. (Exodus 33:11) And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face. (Deuteronomy 34:10) They are the same words yesterday, today and forever. God sovereignty engulfs and embraces the whole of His word. The holy word of God has proven that man cannot even be trusted with the word of God. It has taken God’s sovereignty and His Spirit to keep and to preserve the writings in the Bible pure and holy and steadfast. All you have to do is to look at some of the writings of the men who have not the Spirit of Christ within them. They will pollute through their writings the word of God, they will deny it, and shred it in the mechanics of their minds. But rest assured, that their words will fall to the ground for it is the Spirit of God that still leads and gives understanding to God’s holy word. The Lord Jesus has given to His Church each and every soul purchased with His blood the writings from heaven above to ensure that we have the true word of God.

   Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. (Acts 20:28) In Acts 20:28 we have a warning given to those who will oversee the flock of God, Take heed. Many do not see the divine qualifications that it is NOT man who has given them this position, it is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God who has made them overseers, the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. Therefore, they have the same Spirit of Christ within them, and they receive the same direction to feed the lambs, to feed the flock of God with the word of truth. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: (1^st Peter 1:24) But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. (1^st Peter 1:25) Without these qualifications they are misleading people and they themselves neither understand, nor give heedance to the word of God. If you would go into one hundred buildings that claim to be of Christ in today’s conditions, you would get a hundred different stories or versions of an erroneous gospel, and not the truth because we have slipped into an era and an error that is based on man’s thoughts and not on God’s truth. And what can this lead to? Well, it’s already done, in all of these buildings you have confusion and unbelief which abounds all over the world in all forms of religions, and under all kinds of names. Christianity, true Christianity, is NOT a collection of people; it is a collection of supernatural beings BORN of the Spirit of God, and to call any building by the name Christian has to be blasphemous because the individual Christian is the BUILDING and the STONE and the MORTAR of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in NO way is true Christianity based on the systems of man. It is based on ONE PERSON, God’s HOLY and RIGHTEOUS Son the Lord Jesus Christ.

To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,(1^st Peter 2:4)

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.  (1^st Peter 2:5)

Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. (1^st Peter 2:6)

Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, (1^st Peter 2:7)

And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. (1^st Peter 2:8)

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: (1^st Peter 2:9)

Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. (1^st Peter 2:10)

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; (Ephesians 2:19)

And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; (Ephesians 2:20)

In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: (Ephesians 2:21)

In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22)

   Any other name is not of God. If you cannot embrace with all your heart, soul, and. Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you know not the truth, and you know not God. God in His divine counsels  established the name of Jesus Christ above every name. This is one truth that is endless and fills eternity. Whether it is Peter, James, John or Paul, or Jude, all the epistles are filled with the Person of Jesus Christ. They exalt the Son of God in every divine way. Man spends more time in his doubts trying to overthrow the Person of God in Jesus Christ unable to accept that God is sovereign over all things. Man comes up with hodgepodge stories, such as man’s FREE will. No matter what man thinks, he definitely does not have FREE will, for man is under the bondage, slavery, imprisonment and shackles of sin. He is bound by sin, and the final outcome of sin is death.  And here, as God has promised, the flesh is returned to dust, but there is a spirit in man that is of the Adamic nature, and in the unbelieving man this spirit goes on to await judgment. Death becomes the first separation of the just and the unjust according to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God confirms this through the apostle Paul that there is this spirit of man within man. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. (1^st Corinthians 2:11) This Adamic spirit of man is controlled by the will of sin, and the world around him. For the whole world lieth in sin, and they who dwell therein. There is evil and enmity against God because of the inherent sin within mankind. And all who are born into the world are under sin and the penalty of sin which is death. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. (Romans 5:12)

Side Note: The Mystery of Iniquity. The mystery of iniquity or the conflict of the evil against God did not start on the earth. It began in heaven with the rebellion of Lucifer, the anointed covering cherub, and his cohorts, the angels who sinned. Lucifer brought sin into heaven by his rebellion against the Almighty God. In Ezekiel 28:15, Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. We see that Lucifer was perfect in all his ways, from his creation until iniquity was found in the covering cherub. This was the beginning of the mystery of iniquity for Lucifer’s heart was lifted up in pride because of his wisdom and beauty which caused him to be vain and filled his heart with vanity and pride. Both his looks and his position corrupted his heart. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. (Ezekiel 28:17) Lucifer thought and desired more glory then the Almighty. In verse 16 of Ezekiel 28, we have the words thou hast sinned.

By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. (Ezekiel 28:16)

   We have the words thou hast sinned. This shows us that sin came into heaven. It also shows us the author of sin was Lucifer. This also affected his rogue angels, for it was because of their sin in joining with Lucifer in his sin that they were cast down to hell and bound by chains. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. (2^nd Peter 2:4) Now before we go to Isaiah Chapter 14, which continues the path of Lucifer downward, let’s look a little closer and examine Ezekiel Chapter 28. In the prince of Tyrus we get the affinity of man with Lucifer that man is joined to Lucifer’s sin in man’s disobedience to God. Disobedience is rebellion, the exact same rebellion that first took place in heaven. He is called the prince of Tyrus, and he is bound to the prince of darkness, the prince of the power of the air, the prince of this world. These are the links to Lucifer, and this is the confederation with mankind. For man desires the same exaltation as Lucifer. Man desires to not only be like God, but to be ABOVE God. But when we examine man, we find that man likes darkness more than the light, and this darkness has given mankind an affinity with Lucifer in sin. In Isaiah Chapter 14, let us examine verses 12 through 20.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! (Isaiah 14:12)

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: (Isaiah 14:13)

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. (Isaiah 14:14)

Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. (Isaiah 14:15)

They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; (Isaiah 14:16)

That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? (Isaiah 14:17)

All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. (Isaiah 14:18)

But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet. (Isaiah 14:19)

Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned. (Isaiah 14:20)

   Verse 20 ends with men of renown who are evil doers, and they are renown among sinful men. They, as Lucifer, will be cast down by the Almighty. Both Ezekiel and Isaiah show us this close affinity man has with Lucifer in the prince of Tyrus; he has a temple of his own, and he shows himself as god. In Isaiah, we have the king of Babylon, again the hidden eye that sees the affinity of man with Lucifer in man’s bid to usurp the kingdom of God.

  When Lucifer tempted Eve, and Adam partook of the fruit, Adam surrendered his heart, soul and spirit to sin, and entered into Lucifer’s domain of sin. The devil has used and maneuvered man against God for thousands of years. Deep in the shadows, it was Lucifer turning the hearts of man that led to the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was Lucifer who entered into Judas and sold the Lord for thirty pieces of silver. It was Lucifer who was designated by the Lord as father of the Pharisees, and of the people that led the cries, Crucify him, crucify him. It was Lucifer who brought the fear of the Jews to Pilate’s heart so that Pilate would give the order to crucify the prince of life. Peter exposed the work of the devil in his first epistle, Chapter 5, verse 8, Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. (1^st Peter 5:8) ♦ End of Side Note: The Mystery of Iniquity.

    Every child of God has this adversary, the old serpent, the devil. The devil’s work is to overthrow the things of God, and he delights in his fiery trials against the children of God. He has no respect for their salvation, or for their position with the Almighty. He delights in throwing trials in their path just as with Job. There is nothing that he will not do in his attempt to overthrow the just. And his confederate, Adam, works right alongside of him under the complete influence of Satan. Sin is the bonding thread of man to Satan, and this sin has brought man into the dominion of Satan both in the natural world and in the spiritual world of Satan. In Peter’s epistle Peter was not surmising for he had experienced the attacks from the adversary even as Peter was walking with the Lord, the devil desired to sift him as wheat. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: (Luke 22:31) But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. (Luke 22:32)

    In this 21^st Chapter in the gospel of John, we also see the working of pride among the disciples. There was strife among them on who would be the greatest. Yet, the Greatest was among them. This strife was stirred by the devil. It is amazing how the greatness of God’s Christ fades because of man’s vanity and pride. When John the Baptist spoke to the Pharisees and the Levites, He declared but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not. He was referring to the Lord Jesus the greatest of all.

    When Lucifer was cast down from heaven it was a military conflict for his rebellion caused a war in heaven, and when he was cast down to the earth, he brought his sin with him, and through his deception he tempted Eve with his own sin, and ye shall be as gods. We need to lay hold of this deep-seated desire that is in Lucifer, and now is in man. Eve fell for the lies of the dragon, and it was Eve who persuaded Adam with the same lie of the devil to partake of the fruit of the tree of good and evil. It was the desire of their hearts, the heart of Eve and the heart of Adam that brought sin into the world, and as in heaven, a great war of conflict began. Man against God. Mankind was shifted into a world of darkness and separated from God. Man, as well as Lucifer, became a combatant against God, and thus, a confederate with Lucifer. The same iniquity that was found in Lucifer now drives mankind against his Creator. And through time, this iniquity within man would drive him deeper and deeper into the darkness of Lucifer’s kingdom until every imagination of man’s heart was only evil. And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5)

   Remember that in Genesis Chapter 6 it was a war upon the earth. It is a war of man against God, and not the war in heaven. However, man is under the influence of Lucifer. The war is against God and His righteousness, and His goodness. Lucifer wants to turn both (goodness and righteousness) into a lie. Man will not admit his kinship to the devil; yet the Lord makes it plain in John 8:44. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. Man is under the influence of Satan every moment of his life because of the sin and enmity that is within mankind. Man will not admit it, but he is born into this world a sinner, and the enmity against God is naturally within him. The devil’s war that began in heaven now rages on earth for man is under the same sin as Lucifer, and man’s heart cries out, we shall be as gods.

   This inward root of enmity has shown itself in the history of mankind whether political or religious; multitudes have been put to death for their religious or political opinions. It has been the hidden desire of the political AND the religious to be as gods over humanity; however, today (2022) they are no longer hiding their evil desires. And this is seated in the darkness of man’s hearts. Man’s hearts, that great dark hole of sin, drives him against his Creator. Wars have set man against man for all sorts of reasons and philosophies and ideologies; war has become a necessary economic evil and acceptable to man in his ill-fated scheme to control all of humanity. When we look over the present evil world, we see how man gives his obedience to the very sin that drives him to his death. How many in the last thirty years have allowed sin in the form of a needle and drugs to take their lives. These are the works of the devil to deceive man, and feed man on man’s particular sin. Through the history of mankind, we see the awful convulsion of sin that brings forth death. No matter how man fights against God, man has put himself under the Law of Sin and Death. Mankind doesn’t understand the simple phrase, the soul that sinneth shall die. Romans 8:2 gives us deliverance from the Law of Sin and Death. We should realize the weight of this Law of Sin and Death that was given to Adam in the very beginning. God told them that if they disobeyed that it would bring forth death. This was not a passing thought, but a Law that God established with the first man, most likely because of the rebellion of Lucifer. So, no matter what man does against God, man is still under the Law of Sin and Death. But God is merciful, and in the fullness of time, it was God in the Person of Jesus Christ who manifested Himself in the flesh to take away sin and destroy both death and the works of the devil.

   The final battle is NOT Armageddon, the final battle will not come AFTER the millennial, the final battle WAS in the fullness of time, when Christ was nailed to the cross. AT that point in time, sin was overthrown, death was annihilated, and all the works of the devil were destroyed, all past, present and future. No matter what transpires in the future, the battle has already been won, and the outcome has already been determined. From Adam to the great white throne of judgment all has been judged at the cross of Christ. Christ is the great Emancipator in the divine sense for He cast out Adam and Adam’s sin and created a new man and a NEW populace created and fitted for His heavenly realm based on belief of Jesus Christ. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. In John 1, verse 12, the words received him shows divine action as well as a response to the power of God. For if we receive Him within ourselves by His Spirit, then He gives us the POWER to become the sons of God. So, how does this power work? According to verse 13, in John Chapter 1, we are NOT born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but we are born of the will of God. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Notice it is the will of the flesh, and the will of man, however, the new birth is separated from all men, it is a divine sovereign act of God; they who are born anew are in God’s eternal book of life. According to the book of the Revelation Chapters 4 and 5, the Lamb of God was out of the tribe of Judah, which leaves no doubt that this is the Lord Jesus Christ who sits upon a throne in glory. The gates and the doors of heaven have received their King of glory.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. (Psalm 24:7)

Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. (Psalm 24:8)

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. (Psalm 24:9)

Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah. (Psalm 24:10)

    In Psalm 24, verse 8, it is the LORD mighty in battle. This opens the doors of conflict with the evils of both Satan and man, but it is the LORD who is mighty in battle. In verse 10, notice the difference, it is the LORD victorious over all of His enemies as He claims the title, The LORD of hosts, and he is the King of glory. Selah.

   In the unseen spiritual world that includes the realm of heaven, they (the saints in glory) see NOW the complete victory of the Lord, they KNOW from Adam till now all that has transpired and will transpire in the future, for we on earth as the children of God see in part, but when we are in His presence in glory, we will see the entire spectrum of redemption. God will unfold to us the WHOLE history of the war that has been waging against evil and He will show us the victory on THAT day when the Lord Jesus was crucified. The world, or what we call the tangible, will see the unfolding of time as they pass through it to the very end when the Lord claims His victory over all evil as the Lord of lords, and King of kings.

    Those who belong to the Christ of the cross also belong to His kingdom for Christ has delivered us from the power of darkness that is the devil and his works. God the Father has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, the Son of His love. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. (Colossians 1:13) We are partakers of the holy by the divine calling. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. (Hebrews 3:1)

—— ♦——

The Word of God Liveth and Abideth Forever

—— ♦——

 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.

  It is quite evident by the Scriptures that the Son of God has a kingdom at this present time. We are shown this by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (1^st Peter 1:23) Let us understand not only this verse but let us see what brought this thought and this writing to Peter’s heart, mind and soul. Peter WALKED with the One who lives and abides forever. Peter WALKED with the One who had and has the words of life. Peter WALKED with the One who has the power of an endless life. Peter WALKED with the Eternal Living Word of God.

   For in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was/is Jesus Christ. And the Word was with God, and Jesus Christ was God, the same, the Son of man, the Son of God, the Great I AM, the Jehovah of old, the Adonai, the Elohim, ALL these titles surround and have been given to the Word of God that liveth and abideth for ever in the Person who is THE WORD the Lord Jesus Christ. Just a warning, anyone who tampers with the word of God is tampering with the ETERNAL GOD. And God will honor His word in judgment against any attack of the ETERNAL WORD which is His Son who liveth and abideth for ever.

   Peter uniquely joins life to the word of God, the word of God has a heartbeat, the word of God has breath, the word of God has an expanse of life which is eternity for it abideth forever. The word of God walked upon the earth, the Word of God formed the earth, the Word of God created all things, and that heartbeat and that breath belonged to the manifest image of God in Jesus Christ. By His victory upon the cross He has revealed to us the time frame of man’s history. From the moment that we became partakers of His flesh and His blood we were given the mind of His Spirit, and the pages of the Living Word were opened to our understanding. He shows us the history of Adam. He reveals the presence of Adam, and He shows us the tragic end of Adam through the history of mankind. We have no horizon for our thoughts are directed by the eternal.

   It is His life. It is His heart, it is His breath, through His word, that not only directs us in life, but shows us the tremendous victory that He has already accomplished on the cross of Calvary. He has purchased us, the pearl of great price, with His own blood on the tree. He reveals to us, in our present life, that very victory He obtained for us in His spiritual dominion, the kingdom of God’s dear Son. He also reveals to us, through His Living Word, the future of the tangible earth, and that He will bring this tangible earth into subjection as the Lord of lords, and King of kings. And that old adversary the devil, Lucifer, the old serpent, the dragon, He will bind for a thousand years in a fiery pit without walls. Then, at the end of the millennial kingdom, to once again prove the heart of man and the enmity within that heart, He will loose the serpent one more time. The word of God tells us it will be for a short season. And when Lucifer comes forth, he reinvents his old lie, ye shall be as gods.

   Satan will stir the hearts of the nations against the Lord Jesus and against His people. This final conflict will not only be by the power of His breath, but He will bring His holy angels and His saints to join in His great victory over the nations, and over Satan in this final battle of the knowledge of good and evil. It is here at the defeat of the nations and of the devil that He will cast the devil into the lake of fire. Christ will then draw the sinful angels (Satan’s confederates) out of hell where they have been bound by chains, and He will cast them also into the lake of fire where Satan, the man of sin, and the false prophet, and Satan’s angels get priority in the judgment that is to follow for ALL enemies of God at the great white throne.

   Understand that the great white throne is NOT a place of trial, it is place of SENTENCING, for mankind has already been tried in his lifetime, in his history, and he has been found wanting. The great white throne is the judicial sentencing of all the guilty, each one has been weighed in the balance and found wanting. And each one when the verdict is read out against them will be cast into the lake of fire. This will be the severest judgment that mankind, in Adam, has ever received. After the Lord Jesus has destroyed all the armies of the world, and He has gathered His own around Him, there will be NO EVIL, nor CONFLICT anymore. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. (Revelation 21:7)

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)

And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. (Revelation 21:9)

And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. (Revelation 21:10)

   When we read Peter’s epistles, we see the history of mankind. We see the days of Noah, and the great deluge, we see the rogue angels bound in chains in hell, we see the false prophets like Balaam, we see the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, we see the end of the wicked and the whoremongers and adulterers, and we also see the end of the cursed creation, but Peter did not leave us with a heavy heart for he informs us of a new glorious creation one that is filled with God’s righteousness, and the complete absence of sin, enmity, evil, and death.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2^nd Peter 3:9)

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2^nd Peter 3:10)

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, (2^nd Peter 3:11)

Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? (2^nd Peter 3:12)

Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. (2^nd Peter 3:13)

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. (2^nd Peter 3:14)

—— ♦——

The Love of God in the book of Isaiah

—— ♦——

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.

   On the shores of the Sea of Galilee, the Lord Jesus told Peter to feed His lambs, to feed the Lord’s sheep, and to feed His sheep with the whole journey of Peter’s life. Peter never asked how, for he knew within him would be the mind of Christ and it would be the Lord Jesus who would direct him in both word and deed. Peter not only shows us the end of the old creation but assures our hearts of a grand and glorious new creation. Within this new creation will be the Eternal Spirit of God, and the presence of the Almighty among His people.

   During Peter’s lifetime he spent time in the deepest dungeon when he was in prison, and yet the Lord opened the doors, and his chains fell off, and Peter walked to freedom in the presence of angels. In John Chapter 21, we also see the election of God, there is no mention of a populace, there is no mention of the Jews, He has gathered around His own the elect of God. He is the Author of love, the Bearer of love, and the Fulfillment of love in His sufferings on the cross. And now, in His resurrected form, He is the article of love looking for love from His own.

   There is no way that man, in Adam, understands the true love of God. Man cannot even define the love of his own heart, for his heart has been permeated with sin, so that man’s value of love cannot be compared to God’s love. In reality, God’s love is beyond the bounds of earth. For God the Father SENT His love in the Person of His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, His ONLY Son, the Son of the Father’s love. He sent Him into the vineyard, for truly they would reverence the heir, the Son of the Father’s love. However, they took Him out of the vineyard, and took Him to the place of the skull, and by wicked hands crucified Him showing the enmity of man’s heart and the absence of any godly love. Man’s heart at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was perverted and polluted and hardened by sin brought into the world by Adam. Therefore, Adam cannot enter into heaven, he cannot return to the paradise of God, he cannot enter into the gates of the garden, he has made his world of his own curse of sin. The only thing that Adam left as an inheritance to his children and to his descendants is his legacy of death. God’s love is not in ANY of Adam’s thoughts for Adam, after the curse of death, had no understanding of God’s love. This is why that when we come to Christ we become A NEW CREATION, a new creature, anointed anew with God’s love, a new heart, a new spirit, and a restored soul. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. (Psalm 23:3) There’s no greater love then this: that God laid down His life for His friends who were at one time His very enemies. With all His disciples that He had chosen, the Lord Jesus loved them in His manifestation unto the end which was death on the cross. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)

   In Isaiah Chapter 53, we have a divine prophecy. Prior to the cross this divine prophecy remained in the unseen of man’s heart and mind, but Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross shined the light of His glory on Isaiah Chapter 53. Not only do we see the temporal fulfillment, but we see the spiritual reason for the spiritual fulfillment. Before the cross of Christ, man could not see the love of God in Isaiah Chapter 53. The sacrificial thorn was not yet revealed to them, the tender plant and the root of dry ground, they could see; however, from the cross the love of God was shed abroad. Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? (Isaiah 53:1) For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. (Isaiah 53:2) The prophecies out of the Old Testament concerning the Lord Jesus Christ glowed with the glory that is in the face of the Lord Himself. When they looked upon Him there was no beauty that they should desire Him, however, He was manifested to take upon Himself their transgression and their iniquity, and now we KNOW, in the spiritual world, that God laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3)

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:4)

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)

He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. (Isaiah 53:8)

   Isaiah tells us that He was taken from prison, and from judgment, and who, yes, WHO, will champion or declare His generation? In the divine will and determinate counsels and foreknowledge of God, He made His soul an offering for sin.

And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:9)

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:10)

He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11)

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12)

  And through the travail of His soul, He was satisfied. For He endured the cross with the joy that was set before Him. He endured the scoffing and shame and shed His precious blood and offered His soul and the body of His flesh to the offering of God for the sin of the whole world. This NOW puts love in the 53^rd Chapter in the book of Isaiah. Every verse ends with the love of God. Every word reflects the light of the love of God in Christ Jesus. The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is fulfilled in the eternal love for those who trespassed against God. Isaiah 53 gives us more understanding of John 15:13. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And from Isaiah we can see that God has highly exalted the Lord Jesus Christ. The child of God sees Isaiah 53 completely different from those who know not God. The child sees the full portrait of the love of God in the Man Christ Jesus, and this love fills your heart, your mind, your spirit and your soul.

—— ♦——

Lovest Thou Me?

The Work Ahead

—— ♦——

 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.

   This is the love that Christ was seeking from Peter, and this is the love that would carry Peter from his youth to the days of the end of his life. Peter was assured and wanted us to be assured that Christ had finished all the work, He had satisfied the determinate counsels of God. He had brought His holiness to man in the new birth, and as newborn babes He would feed them with the sincere milk of His word. He would fill their hearts with His own love. In the prophecy that the Lord gave Peter concerning Peter’s life, no matter what trial of his faith, Peter remembered those words each and every step, Lovest thou me more than these? And through Peter’s lifetime when he was traveling in distant lands, when he went into the dark hole of Babylon, when he traveled through Asia Minor, and when he visited his people the Jews, in those footprints were the words, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.

   This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. According to John Chapter 21:19 Peter KNEW the details of his death, and how he would glorify the Lord Jesus, and how the Lord Jesus would be glorified in Peter. There are some who say that Peter was beheaded, there are others who say that he was crucified, however, his death, Peter knew from the shores of Galilee the exact method and time of his death, and even in his epistle he keeps the way of his death a secret. Why? Because it was the death of his Savior that was to be maintained and to keep the glory and the love that He has for His own. Peter would have a work to do which would be the good work of God, and it would be different from the other apostles. The apostle Paul also showed his time of departure in 2^nd Timothy 4, verse 6 thru 8.

For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. (2^nd Timothy 4:6)

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: (2^nd Timothy 4:7)

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. (2^nd Timothy 4:8)

   The apostle Paul was still under the jurisdiction of Rome, it is quite possible at that time that he knew the method of his own death, for he also had the sense of offering himself a sacrifice to God. However, let’s NOT FORGET that the apostles one and all gave their lives as a sacrifice unto God. Judas, being the only turn coat, who was of that wicked one, but all of the rest of the apostle including Paul, born out of due time, gave their lives, their footprints, for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see a further prophecy in Chapter 21 of the gospel of John in verse 22, Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. In this prophecy a forecast of the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ that John would not pass away till the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ while John was on the isle of Patmos. Once again, we do not see the details in John 21, only the reference to the work that was in the future for the apostle John. And as we read the introduction to the Revelation of Jesus Christ, we see the opening up of future history and things which must shortly come to pass. It is the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto Him so that the Lord Jesus could show unto His servants THINGS which must shortly come to pass. This was not only for John as a servant of God, but for those also who have been called out of darkness into God’s marvelous light since John received this prophecy on the isle of Patmos. It is interesting that although this prophecy encompasses so much of man’s history, John never mentions his own death or his departure. It is almost as if he vanishes from the scene at the end of the book of the Revelation.

   On the Isle of Patmos, we must see the importance that Christ came in the Person as the Son of man. John gives his first recognition of the Savior with the wonderful title, Son of man. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks [one] like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. (Revelation 1:13) This is exactly the prophecy that was fulfilled from John 21:22, and 23. Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. (John 21:22) Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? (John 21:23)

    Although there was confusion among the disciples, there should be no confusion with us today. As the Lord Jesus appeared to the apostles after His resurrection, it was a bodily appearance of flesh and bone. When the Lord Jesus appeared to Paul on the Damascus Road it was the appearance of the Son of God in His glorified form. When the Lord Jesus appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos, it was the same Son of man who walked upon the earth and gave Himself a sacrifice for sin. On Patmos, we have the REVELATION of the Son of man joined in the vision of the Almighty God AS ONE. This fulfilled the words that the Lord Jesus spoke to Peter in John 21:22. Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. There is also this hidden point: that the Lord wants all His servants to understand that each one of us have a specific individual work to do which is subject to our calling. Peter did not ascend to the third heaven as Paul had; however, on the rooftop heaven at the sixth hour heaven opened to him. (Acts 10:9)

On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:  (Acts 10:9)

And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,  (Acts 10:10)

And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: (Acts 10:11)

   John was not converted on the Damascus Road but was called when he and his brother James were mending the nets of their father with the same words that the Lord Jesus spoke to Peter in John 21. Follow me.

And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. (Matthew 4:18)

And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. (Matthew 4:19)

And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. (Matthew 4:20)

And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. (Matthew 4:21)

And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. (Matthew 4:22)

   We see the theme of love throughout John 21 when the Lord called out to His disciples in the ship. He used the Father’s term of love: children. This showed His affection for all of them. When He was speaking to Peter, He was expressing His own love in the very question that He asked Peter, lovest thou me? For it is quite evident that He loved Peter, but He wanted to hear from Peter that word of affection, the word of affection that He has spread over all of His children.

    In this Chapter John is the only apostle who is identified with the love of Christ. This does not mean that He didn’t love the others, but even God has special affections for His servants. We could consider Antipas in the book of the Revelation, the Lord had a special affection for Antipas, and this affection was valued because Antipas did not value his own life but stood for the glory and the honor of the Lord. Antipas resisted evil and fought for truth. The Lord creates newborn babes, and they all have differences, they all have their own fingerprints, they all have their own place in the divine counsels of God. God has worked out the details of their personalities, of the sphere of their labor, and the length of their labor, and also the glory of their labor wherein, they will receive a crown of righteousness from the Lord. This is one aspect that gives the modern church away, the church of apostasy and unbelief wants every servant of the Lord to be the same, they want only certain personalities in the pulpit. They want only men approved of men in the pulpit. In fact, they are more familiar with the old men of renown then they are with the true servants of Christ. But this does not deter the work of God for God is able to speak through a clap of thunder, and in a small still voice. He is able to make a small work into a work of His own glory. He is able to take the most unlikely weapon of His warfare and open the stammering lips to fill the presence of those around with both the word and the glory of God. You see, the heart that is given to Christ is directed by the will of his Savior, and each one is given a work with the character of that work. And each one must fulfill the purpose and God’s work in that particular work. There have been some servants of God who have had a very short life, and yet they left an unforgettable footprint of God’s love. There have been others who have become aged and even in their aged condition carried the glory of God in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout this world. God is able to show unto His servants THINGS that have, and THINGS that will shortly come to pass.

—— ♦——

The Church in Distress and Confusion

——♦ ——

   Peter was given a different sphere of labor then Paul, or John, or James, or Jude. We see this in the first verse of Peter’s 1^st epistle.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, (1^st Peter 1:1)

Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. (1^st Peter 1:2)

   Peter’s first epistle closes with an exhortation for the church that is at Babylon.

By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand. (1^st Peter 5:12)

The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son. (1^st Peter 5:13)

Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen. (1^st Peter 5:14)

   In the first two verses, we see a church in distress. Those who held the truth had been forced to scatter from the political world, and from the religious deceptive men who had usurped the authority away from the leading of the Holy Spirit in the church. But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. (2^nd Peter 2:1) And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. (2^nd Peter 2:2) Peter warned that what had occurred in the Old Testament would also occur in their churches. in fact, it had already happened, and to recognize these beasts in sheep clothing. The first thing that these false prophets and false teachers do is to bring confusion into the house of God through damnable heretical doctrines through their deeds and Nicolaitan doctrines as being priests of God. These damnable heresies confused the children of God, and excited the vanity, pride, and the lusts of those of no faith. Their pernicious ways of deadly deeds and doctrines caused the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

   The first truth that was attacked was that Christians were to be separated from the world. False teachers and false prophets were (and are) totally opposed to this truth, and consequently, as the house of God became corrupted in the Old Testament when they allowed and accepted the worship of other gods to be joined with the worship of Jehovah, so also, by accepting the world and the things of the world, this same merging of the gods of the world entered into the infant church . . . Ye worship ye know not what.

So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. (2^nd Kings 17:32) They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence. (2^nd Kings 17:33)

I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests;  (Zephaniah 1:4) And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham; (Zephaniah 1:5)

   Instead of separation, we have the heresy of consolidation and merging. This heresy can be seen in their signs, Come worship with us, inviting all humanity into the sphere of the things of God. Worship and gospel are two distinct spiritual arenas: the gospel is the outreach to the world of the unsaved, and worship is ONLY for the saved. The world CANNOT and should not be allowed to worship with the saints. How can the world, the unsaved, worship who they do not know? Over the years, it isn’t the world that has become the minority for the saints have been driven out and have been scattered abroad by the world church that knows not Jesus Christ.　

    And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (2^nd Peter 2:3) These false teachers played, and continue to play, on the greed and covetousness of their subjects. The prosperity doctrine is deliberately constructed to make merchandise of you. If you give a thousand dollars to God, God will return that 10 fold. You need to tell that to the apostle John on the Isle of Patmos who gave his life for Christ or read all about the trials and tribulations that Paul endured throughout his ministry, and also, James, and Jude did not depart from the world as rich men. In fact, if they were present today, in their poverty, they would be looked down on by the churchalcoholicss drunk with the prosperity doctrine. This is a doctrine of man, and what is it used for? These false teachers use it to make merchandise (MONEY) out of the people that they minister to. What does this mean? Well, foolish people, all they want is your money, your bank account, the widow’s house, the beggar’s food; they want to strip you of all that you have to fill their own pockets and coffers. Now, they will not preach it this way, but they will use smooth and enticing feign words, and yes, they will even pervert the word of God to meet their own ends.

   The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son. (1^st Peter 5:13) The name Babylon means Confusion. Remember that Babel (Confusion) in the land of Shinar (Confusion) in the territory of Babylon (Confusion) all these names mean confusion: different areas of confusion, but nevertheless it is all confusion. Babel was the scene of confusion because they would not follow God. Instead, they used brick and mortar to build their own religion, and their own tower to reach unto heaven; therefore, when Peter wrote of Babylon, he also knew in his heart that the church was doing the same by using the articles of man, the building supplies of man to build their own kingdom so they might reach the heavens their way and not God’s way.

    Confusion is part of today’s world religions with all the undertows and all the infightings of greed searching for the golden ring of mammon. It is not the understanding of the word of God that is important today, it is the understanding of the psychology of the human race, and how to put them into bondage under ungodly systems so that the systems mighty prosper with the wealth and luxuries of the world. This is all in 1^st Peter and in 2^nd Peter. It’s ALL there, but many refuse to look. To those who cannot bear to read the epistles of Peter, read this: you have submitted yourselves to the pernicious ways of false teacher and they have made merchandise out of you.

—— ♦——

Separated, Scattered and Secured

—— ♦——

   The Old Testament prophets were men filled with the Spirit of Christ. The theme from Moses to Malachi was separation unto God which enabled them to hear God’s voice, and thus, they spoke for the Almighty. Each one of the prophets of old had different personalities and stature, but one thing that they had in common was the Spirit of Christ within. And we have this same Spirit within the true Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, each individual of His Body has the Spirit of Christ within. However, today, the True Door of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ and His Spirit are not welcomed in the professing church, as the Temple of old in the days of Ahab, false prophets and teachers have spiritually boarded up the doors of the house of God. Men of deception, within the Church, are canned preachers preaching canned sermons as they rattle their money cans pleading for the riches of the world. How does this hinder the work of the Spirit of God? They have shut up the house of God and then have brought in Baal, the idolatry of the world, so that the Spirit of God now works outside of the professing Church.

   When the Lord was speaking to Peter, He wanted Peter to look on his own work that Christ had called him to do, in a sense, he was telling Peter that his work was different then Johns. Was Samuel’s work the same work as Moses? No. Was Elijah’s work the same as Malachi’s? No. The key thread even with John on Patmos was separation unto the Lord, and the Lord’s will and not man’s will. Paul, writing to the Galatians, told them and us, that everyone should examine his OWN work, and not to look on the work of others.

But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. (Galatians 6:4) For every man shall bear his own burden. (Galatians 6:5) Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. (Galatians 6:6)

   All servants of God should have a place of separation. Separation from the will of men; separation as the brook Cherith, or forty years in the wilderness, or on the Isle of Patmos. When you mix with the world, and the religious traditions of men within the professing church their darkness will rub off on you. No one EVER has to ask man concerning the word of God, it is GOD who gives the true interpretation of His own word, and ONLY GOD can give the ONLY interpretation. The history and time of man has proven that man cannot be trusted with the word of God.

    In the days of Ahab, there were many prophets, but they twisted the words and only the true prophet of God Micaiah could stand before God and proclaim the truth of God. Micaiah’s island of Patmos was the deep prison of Ahab. As Isaiah had seen God on His throne, Micaiah while in prison also saw the Lord lifted up upon His throne. And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. (1^st Kings 22:19) God had given Micaiah the most important message of his lifetime, to stand before the evil king Ahab, and deliver the message, And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the LORD hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you. (1^st Kings 22:28) These words were burned into Israel’s history because Ahab DID NOT return from the battle. But a soldier, at a whim, launched an arrow into the air, and the hand of God delivered that arrow into the heart of Ahab. And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: therefore he said to his chariot man, Turn thine hand, that thou mayest carry me out of the host; for I am wounded. (2^nd Chronicles 18:3) The prophecy of Micaiah, although maybe small in our sight it was HUGE in the purposes of God.

    Today the spirit of man in Adam rules the visible church. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. (Galatians 6:3) Do you see the strength of sin in this verse? That through pride and self-evaluation a person can see themselves higher above others. A person can deceive himself for their own lust for glory, and thus, being deceived by one’s own sin of vanity follows the wrong path. I am sure that Judas felt well of himself, in fact, even the high priest prophesied that he was doing the will of God. And yet, they were all condemned by the Spirit of God in Acts Chapter 2, for it was by THEIR wicked hands that they crucified the Prince of life.

   In the days of Peter, according to 1^st Peter, Chapter 1, verse 1, the saints were scattered ALL over the world. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. And although they were scattered, they were united by ONE Spirit, the SAME Spirit that spoke within the heart of Peter was the same Spirit the spoke to the heart of John, and today, although we might never meet or see each other face to face, the SAME Spirit of Christ unites us together within His very Body. Look how the Spirit of God works through the pen of Peter to frame this verse. Peter was writing to like spirits, those with the Spirit of Christ within, he designated them as strangers because they are a peculiar people, not having the world’s desires or trappings, and this is consistent in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. It is the character of faith that one has believed God, and therefore, has separated himself to God, and thus, becomes a stranger and a pilgrim on this earth. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13) Peter continues this theme of the strangers who belong to Christ in the Church. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. (1^st Peter 2:11)

    Abraham was called OUT of Ur of Chaldees. Abraham was CHOSEN of God, and Abraham BY faith became part of the chosen generation, a people of faith that stretches from righteous Abel to the last child of God called and chosen in the circumference of time. Peter wants us to realize who we really are. We are members of a chosen generation, the generation of eternity, the generation of life everlasting, the generation of Jesus Christ. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1)

    This is the characteristic of God’s strangers on earth: they are chosen of God, they are part of the elect of God, and they seek those things that are above where Christ sits at the right hand of God.

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1) Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. (Colossians 3:2) For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3) When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)

   These strangers and pilgrims have no affection for the world because their hearts are with Christ above. They have been chosen out of darkness into the marvelous light of Jesus Christ. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. (1^st Peter 2:9) Although Abraham was called out of the darkness of Ur of Chaldees, and separated from the world, the friendship of God replaced all ties that he had with the world. He was truly a stranger and a foreigner in the world, and God could call Abraham His friend. But thou, Israel, [art] my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. (Isaiah 41:8)

    But all the strangers of the Lord’s Body, all those who walk by faith and not by sight, are SCATTERED through the world, but UNITED by the Spirit of Christ. When Peter was speaking of the strangers, notice the vast territory that he covered. He mentions five (5) points of the known world at his time. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. (1^st Peter 1:1) Peter ties verse 2 to these strangers scattered throughout the world. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. (1^st Peter 1:2) You’re a stranger, however, you are one of the elect of God and you were chosen by the foreknowledge of God the Father, you were sanctified by the Spirit of God, and you were sprinkled, cleansed, the waters of purification and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, and by this, you have received the grace of God, and the Lord Jesus has said in your heart. My peace I give unto you.

   You should also realize that all this was happening at the strongest point of Church history when the Spirit of God had freedom within the infant sons of God, and yet they were scattered, they were assembling in small groups to KEEP the PURITY of the word of God. They recognized the gifts that were AMONG them because the gifts were recognizable because of the Spirit of Christ within. All of them felt the movement of the Spirit of God within their own hearts, and they believed that they were the elect of God according to the foreknowledge of God, and man was not going to take that away from them.

   When you look at this first Chapter of 1^st Peter, the Spirit of God begins with the elect of God, and then carries this theme through the first Chapter, it is though the Spirit of God is speaking to His own to encourage them and ground them in the truth. It is the gospel of God sent down by the Holy Spirit and preached unto you. Do you see the authority in the gospel, and what the Holy Spirit wants us to see? That the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ HAS to be SENT DOWN from heaven when it is preached to you.

Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. (1^st Peter 1:12)

But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. (1^st Peter 1:25)

   There are two things that we should realize that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ belongs to Him. It is the history of His accomplishment to redeem mankind to Himself, and all the power of God was within the Lord Jesus Christ when He was redeeming man unto Himself. Wherever the power of God is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ preached, it will accomplish what the Lord has sent it to do. The gospel not only showers salvation over men, but it also condemns those who believe NOT. If anyone listens to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ SENT down from heaven and does not believe in the Christ of God, they walk away condemned because they have not believed on the Son of God. (I never realized how miserable I was until I was saved, until the Lord called me out of darkness into His marvelous light, and then I saw the man that I used to be under the condemnation of God because of my sin. And what joy I had in knowing that man was dead to me, and he could hurt me no more.) When the apostle Paul explained to the Galatians that he was crucified unto the world, and the world was crucified unto him, it was not a statement of remorse, but a statement of joy that, that old man, that dead man, was gone forever and now Paul belonged to a new man which was IN Jesus Christ. The same Spirit of God that called him was ever present with him. He could tell the world that he had one Savior, and one God and that was and is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the same today, we are called out of the world’s darkness, and we feel the old man die, and we feel the new life within, in a moment of time, we are translated by God the Father into the kingdom of His dear Son. We might be scattered all over the world; you might be in a very dark corner of this world, and these words may be the only encouragement that you receive, understand in your heart that we are bound together with the same Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, where you go, I go, and where I go, you go.

   We know in our current time frame that there are many spirits in the world. But there is only one Spirit that has our hearts, and this is the Spirit of our Christ, our Creator, and our God. The Holy Spirit, as an endless thread, joins us together. We hear the same voice of the Lord Jesus in our hearts. And when we see the true word of God written or spoken our hearts burn within us. And nothing can separate us from that, not sin, nor death, nor the serpent can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (Romans 8:37) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, (Romans 8:38) Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:39)

   Do you see the power of the love of God in these verses? If you understand this power, then the doctrine of your eternal security is NEVER in question. For how could God love me unto His own death, and not surround me with that love for all eternity. To deny that power of God is to deny His love for me. The Spirit of God has given Roman Chapter 8 to settle us and to secure us in our faith in Jesus Christ. The first thing that the Spirit does at our new birth is to take away our condemnation, and then He gives us the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus, and then frees us from the Law of Sin and Death. Christ is the Author and Finisher of my faith; through faith He has given me grace and truth. In Romans 8:9, He has given me His Spirit within, and this Spirit, in His love, designates my sonship.

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.  (1^st John 3:1)

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1^st John 3:2)

And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (1^st John 3:3) 　

   In John 21, as the Lord was speaking to Peter, He revealed to Peter His omniscience and His foreknowledge in telling Peter how he would pass into eternity. We miss this, if we are not listening to the voice of the Spirit. The lifelong work of Peter would be to feed the Lord’s lambs, to feed the newborn babes desiring the sincere milk of the word, to feed the Lord’s sheep with the heavenly manna from above, to expound the Scriptures concerning the Christ of God, and to honor the words of the Lord Jesus, Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (Matthew 11:29) For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:30)

   In John Chapter 10, the Lord declared that He KNOWS His sheep, and He is known of them. There is no doubt here that God has an eternal bond with the sheep of His pasture. The Lord also states that His sheep HEAR HIS VOICE. Peter understood this in his ministry, and from his writing in 1^st Peter 2:2-3, we feel his compassion for those who were young in the faith. As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: (1^st Peter 2:2) If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. (1^st Peter 2:3) They can only be fed with the SINCERE MILK of the word of God. And when that is being done, the Lord’s voice is present, and the words of the Lord Jesus are fulfilled, my sheep hear my voice.

   But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. This was the last message from Peter to us 2^nd Peter 3:18 before he was offered up to God before his departure. We can see him looking back to the Sea of Galilee at the resurrected Lord standing before him, and the words twice repeated, Follow thou me. All the footsteps, all the footprints between Galilee and these last verses from his 2^nd epistle was so that we could grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Peter’s spirit was about to depart, he was aged and infirm, he needed help from others to move, and his weary flesh was failing, but his spirit was strong in the presence of his Lord. His last words remind us of John 21, and the trials of his faith were truly more precious than gold and silver. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: (1^st Peter 1:6) That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. (1^st Peter 1:7)

    Peter closes the curtain of life with the words But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And as tender plants and as roots out of dry ground with the water of the word and the nourishment from the Spirit of Christ we should take heart to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ. To Him, the Great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls be honor, glory and majesty, both now and forever.

Amen.

    I think Peter’s life lessons recorded by the Spirit of Christ are well noted and are profitable for any servant of God today. May our footsteps and footprints be worthy of the Lord’s work . . . Follow thou me.

Amen and Amen. Selah.

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

© Copyright 2022, Michael Haigh

This article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.

All Scripture references are from the King James Bible. (KJB)