Jeremiah 30–31; 2 Corinthians 1:20
The Ingathering
DAY 130
KINGDOM OF THE LAMB
THE TEACHER HAD in his hand a small parchment from which he began to read.
“‘I looked and behold in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb’ . . . In the midst of the throne stood a Lamb. This is the vision given to Yochanan, John, in the Book of Revelation. Do you see anything strange about it?” he asked.
“Everything,” I said. “The four living creatures, the elders, the lamb . . . ”
“How about a lamb on a throne?”
“Why is that stranger than the rest?”
“Think about it, a lamb, the most defenseless of creatures, so weak it must be protected not only by its mother but by a shepherd . . . That’s what’s so strange about the vision. The Lamb is on the throne. The Lamb is king. The Lamb reigns over all. A lion would make sense, but not a lamb . . . the most powerless of creatures reigning on the throne with all power and over all.”
“It’s a symbol of Him? Correct? Messiah, the Lamb of God.”
“Yes,” said the teacher. “And He will reign over God’s kingdom. So the kingdom of God will be the kingdom of the Lamb. How radical is that . . . a Lamb upon a throne? It goes against the way of the animal kingdom and that of man’s kingdoms. But the kingdom of God doesn’t work according to the laws of this world, but by its own. And to prosper in God you must learn the secrets of that kingdom. In the world, it is the strong and fierce who rule. But in the kingdom of God, it is the Lamb that rules. So in the kingdom of the Lamb, the weak are strong, and the strong are weak. In this kingdom, if you would have, you must let go. If you would receive, you must give. If you lower yourself, you will be lifted up. If you become little, you will become great. If you lose yourself, you will find yourself. If you surrender, you will prevail. And if you die to yourself, you will find life.”
“As He died and found life,” I said, “and as He surrendered all and has prevailed over all and overcome the world.”
“And if you walk in the footsteps of the Lamb, you too will prevail and overcome the world. For we are of the most radical of kingdoms . . . the kingdom of the Lamb.”
The Mission: Live this day in the way of the Lamb. Let go that you might have. Die that you might live. And surrender that you might overcome.
Matthew 5:30–45; 20:25–28; 2 Corinthians 6:3–10; 12:9–10; Revelation 5:6–14
The Lamb Mysteries I–VI
DAY 131
THE UNSCRIPTURES
HE TOOK ME into the Chamber of Scrolls and to the ark. He removed the scroll, placed it on the wooden table.
“I want you to look carefully to see what’s on the scroll.”
He began unrolling it.
“These are the Holy Scriptures,” he said, “the Word of God in its original form. Tell me what you see.”
“Writing, words, letters.”
“Is that all?” he asked.
“What else is there?”
“You haven’t even described the half of it.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You’ve only described to me the black . . . and not all the rest.”
“The white?”
“Yes, the white background. The black is holy; so too is the white. Without it, you wouldn’t see the black of the ink, there would be nothing with which to contrast it, nothing to delineate it. Without the white, you wouldn’t see the Word of God. The white is the sacred unscripture of God.”
“The unscripture?”
“Yes, the unscripture. When the Word is sent into the world, it must have a context, it must have a parchment, a paper, a voice, some medium to bear and manifest it to the world. This is the sacred white of the unscripture. And do you know what the holiest unscripture is?”
“No.”
“Your life,” he said. “Your life is the sacred white upon which His Word appears, the holy parchment that bears and manifests the eternal script. Therefore, the key is to join your life, your heart, your emotions, your soul, and your will to the Word of God . . . to join the black with the white, the ink with the scroll, to receive the holy oracles, to carry it and manifest it to the world. Let every part of your life become the white of God’s Word . . . the sacred unscripture.
The Mission: Today, join the Word to the parchment of your heart, your will, your emotions, and your ways. Let your life become the sacred white of God’s Word.
Psalm 119:11; Matthew 7:24; Colossians 3:16
The Invisible Scriptures
DAY 132
DAY 132 THE BISORAH
IT WAS A particularly windy day and even more where we stood on the top of a desert mountain.
“What does the word Gospel mean?” he asked.
“An account of Messiah’s life,” I replied.
“It means good news. It’s the good news of Messiah’s redemption, the forgiveness of our sins on the cross, the overcoming of death in the resurrection, salvation, eternal life. Now where in the Bible does the word Gospel first appear?
“In the New Testament.”
“No. It appears first in the Hebrew Scriptures.”
“How? As what?”
“As the word Bisorah. Bisorah is the word from which the Gospel of the New Testament comes. In fact, Messiah began His ministry by quoting a Hebrew verse in which that word appears: ‘The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, for the Lord has anointed Me to proclaim the Bisorah, the Gospel, the good news.’ And there’s more to it. Bisorah comes from the root word basar. Basar means cheerful or joyful. So the effect of the Bisorah, the Gospel, has to be joy. Its nature is to make one’s life joyful. To know that you’re saved from judgment and been given heaven as well is more than enough to give you joy every day of your life.”
“But there have to be believers who don’t live with joy.”
“Then they’re not receiving the Bisorah, not as it is. Do you know what else Bisorah means? It’s a word that describes you right now.”
“What do you mean?”
“The wind has caused your cheeks to become rosy. The word Bisorah, the Gospel, means rosy.”
“Rosy?”
“Yes, for the effect of the Gospel is to make the one who receives it rosy, as in filled with life. And do you know what else Bisorah means? Fresh. For the Gospel, the good news of salvation, is always new, always fresh. It never gets old. And if one is not living in the freshness of life, then one is not receiving the Bisorah, or has stopped receiving it. Since the Bisorah is always fresh, it must always be freshly received . . . as if for the first time. And those who receive it in this way, their lives become new, revived, and refreshed. For the Gospel is the Bisorah, and the Bisorah never ages, never gets old, and can never be anything else . . . but new, fresh, and enough to make your life rosy-cheeked.”
The Mission: Receive today the Bisorah, the good news, as if for the first time. And by that power walk afresh in the newness of life.
Proverbs 25:25; Isaiah 52:7; 61:1
The Nisan Gospel Mystery
DAY 133
THE PRIVATE AND THE GENERAL
WE WERE SITTING by where the campfire would have been if it had been lit, but it was morning. There was no fire and we were alone.
“In an army,” said the teacher, “who has the most authority?”
“The general,” I answered.
“Correct,” he said. “He submits to no other rank but exercises authority over every other rank. Now who in an army has the least authority?”
“The private.”
“That’s correct. The private is the opposite. He submits to all other ranks and exercises no authority over any other.”
He paused for a few moments, then spoke again.
“A riddle . . . When does the private have the same authority as the general?”
“Never,” I said. “Or he wouldn’t be a private.”
“But there is
a time when the private exercises the same authority as a general. It’s when the private is carrying out an assignment given to him by the general. When a private carries out a directive, an errand, a mission, or an order given to him by the general, then, with regard to that directive, he carries the general’s authority. Every other soldier, every rank, every captain and colonel, must yield to him in the fulfilling of his assignment. Before him, every gate must open and every door must be unlocked. Now,” said the teacher, “let’s take it to the ultimate. In the universe, who has all authority?”
“God.”
“Yes. He is the General. And who has the least authority?”
“Us . . . man?”
“Yes. So when does the private, you, bear the authority of the General, God?”
“When . . . we carry out the assignment given to us by God, when we carry out His mission.”
“Exactly,” he replied. “If you live outside the will of God, if you act against it, then you will live and act with the authority of a private, which is to have no authority. But if you live inside the will of God, if you follow the directives of God, if you carry out His assignment, if you set your course on fulfilling His mission, then you will live in the authority of God. Then every rank in this universe must yield to your steps, every door must unlock, and every gate must open. So make it your aim to live your life wholly in the will of God. Find your mission and fulfill it. And you will walk in the power and the authority of the Almighty.”
The Mission: Today, aim to walk fully in the will of God. Carry out a mission from the General. And as you walk in His will, walk also in His authority.
Matthew 28:18–20; John 20:21–23; 2 Corinthians 10:3–5
The Private and the General
DAY 134
THE SKELETON PROPHECY
DO YOU REMEMBER this place?” he asked.
In front of us was a large and forbidding valley.
“This,” he said, “is where I shared with you of the Valley of Dry Bones.”
We began walking in its midst as we had done the first time.
“Imagine you’re the prophet Ezekiel. God places you in the midst of a valley like this, and it’s filled with bones. He tells you, ‘Prophesy to these bones.’ So you do. Suddenly you see the bones coming together, one by one, and forming skeletons. Then on the skeletons appears flesh, and then skin. Then they come alive. Do you remember what it was all about?”
“Israel would come alive again as a nation in the land.”
“Yes,” said the teacher, “but how? Israel was not to appear on the earth as other nations. It would happen as in the Valley of Dry Bones. First would be the bones, the broken, scattered remnants of the ancient nation, the dispersed bones of its culture, of its national memory, the people themselves scattered throughout the earth. So God began to gather the bones together from the nations. And what do you then have?”
“A skeleton?”
“A skeleton. And so Israel first appears in the world as a skeletal entity, the skeleton of a nation. Its language, Hebrew, comes to life first as a skeletal language, the skeleton of a once living ancient language. The government appears first as a skeletal government, the culture as a skeletal culture, a skeletal army, a skeletal land . . . a skeleton nation. And then, over time, the flesh appears, exactly as in the vision. And on the day when Israel was raised from the dead, do you know what appeared on its proclamation of existence?”
“What?”
“The words ‘Prophesy to these bones!’ The words from the Valley of Dry Bones. How impossible is it to raise up bones and skeletons and cause them to come alive?”
“Totally impossible.”
“And for two thousand years it was totally impossible to raise Israel from the dead. But God said it and God did it. Never forget that: He’s the God of the impossible . . . the God who touches what is completely hopeless and dead and causes it to come alive again. With God, nothing is impossible. For He is the God of the impossible and of the Valley of Dry Bones.”
The Mission: Even modern history bears it witness: God is the God of the impossible. Seeing the reality, believe God today for the impossible.
Ezekiel 37:1–14; Luke 1:37
The Valley of Dry Bones Revelation
DAY 135
THE PREEMPTOR
WE WERE WALKING through a large plain flanked by low-lying mountains when something caught the teacher’s attention. In the sand between the rocks at the base of the mountain was a snake. Its mouth was stretched around an egg much larger than its body.
“This,” said the teacher, “is a dasypeltis scabra, the egg-eating snake. You don’t have to remember the name, but take note of what it does.”
“It swallows eggs,” I said.
“Yes,” he said, “and it reveals a critical principle in the spiritual realm. The serpent is a symbol of evil and of the enemy. And serpents of this kind are known for swallowing eggs. What are eggs? That from which life emerges. Moses was called to free the Hebrew slaves from Pharaoh. But in the days of Moses’s birth the pharaoh decreed that all male babies born of the Hebrews were to be killed. Only by a miracle did the baby Moses survive. So too it was in the days of Messiah’s infancy that King Herod tried to end His life. What does this reveal?”
“The enemy attacks the young.”
“More than that,” he said. “The enemy would again attempt to destroy Messiah’s ministry in the wilderness just before it began.”
“So the enemy especially attacks at the beginning of God’s purposes.”
“Yes, and before the beginning. God had promised to gather the Jewish people from the nations and resurrect the nation of Israel. But just before the words of the prophets were to be fulfilled, a satanic fury broke forth on the earth in the form of Nazism, to wipe out the Jewish people just before the prophecies could be fulfilled, before Israel could be reborn. The pattern repeats again and again. What is the enemy? He is a preemptor. He attacks the purposes of God not only after they begin, but before they begin, to preempt them.”
“Just as the serpent seeks to swallow the egg.”
“So when you’re in the will of God and all hell comes against you, don’t be discouraged. Be encouraged. It’s a good sign. The enemy doesn’t waste his time. He’s doing everything he can to keep God’s purpose from being accomplished. So keep going all the more strongly. The attack is a sign of how great is the calling, the blessing, the purpose, and the victory God has just ahead of you. Just don’t give up, but press on all the more . . . until you see those purposes break through their shell.”
The Mission: Today, respond to any problem, setback, hindrance, or attack by pressing on all the more to apprehend the victory that lies just beyond it.
2 Corinthians 2:11, 14; Hebrews 10:36
The Preemptor
DAY 136
THE HEAVEN-TO-EARTH LIFE
IT WAS A beautiful day with clouds slowly drifting through a deep blue sky.
“Heaven and earth,” said the teacher. “We think of the one in contrast to the other. But the secret is the opposite.”
“What do you mean?”
“Messiah told us to pray ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ Thus the two, heaven and earth, are to be in union. Messiah’s redemption is the joining of heaven to earth, and earth to heaven. Therefore, to live in redemption you must live in the joining of heaven and earth.”
“So we’re to live looking to heaven.”
“Yes,” said the teacher, “but that’s not the secret. It’s much deeper than that. ‘On earth as it is in heaven’ means it is to be on earth as it first is in heaven. Heaven is first, and then earth. ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,’ not the earth and the heavens. Heaven is always first. Life and blessing proceed not from earth to heaven, but from heaven to earth. And yet most live the other way, even those who seek God.”
“From earth to heaven.”
“Yes. They seek to ascend, to become holier, more sp
iritual and godly, more pure, righteous, loving, more heavenly. They seek to rise higher. But the answer never comes from earth to heaven.”
“So the secret is to live not from earth to heaven . . . but from heaven to earth?”
“Yes, the exact opposite of everything we’ve known and how we’re used to living and thinking. The answer is to live a heaven-to-earth life.”
“So we shouldn’t seek to be holy?”
“We should, but not from ourselves. It must start with heaven. The only way you can become holy is to live from the Holy. The only way to become pure is to live from the Pure. The only way to become good is to live from the Good. The only way to become loving is to live from Love. The only way to become truly giving is to live from the Gift. And the only way to become godly is to live from God. You don’t attain heaven. You let heaven attain you. You start living a heaven-to-earth-life, where everything you do begins from heaven and proceeds to earth. You let heaven, through your life, touch the earth, touch every part of your world . . . on earth as it is in heaven.”
The Mission: Learn the secret today of living a heaven-to-earth life. Live each moment from above, from the good, from the glorious, from heaven.
Isaiah 55:10–11; Matthew 6:10; Colossians 3:2
As It Is in Heaven
DAY 137
SHALOM ALEICHEM
IT WAS ON the first day of the week, morning. All the students were gathered together in the open-air tent waiting for the teacher to speak.
“Peace be to you,” he said. “That is what Messiah said to His disciples when He greeted them. As is written, ‘As they said these things, Yeshua, Jesus, Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace be to you!”’ It’s the only record of Messiah saying those words. It was the first thing He said when He appeared to them after the resurrection. He could have said anything, but He chose to say, ‘Peace be to you!’ In fact, He said it twice in the same encounter. There must be something about those words. Why do you think He said it, and that it’s only recorded after the resurrection, not before?”
The Book of Mysteries Page 20
