MAX KLEIN BIBLE MINISTRIES
The Seven Baptisms
Written by: Max Klein
Baptism means identification or association:
Introduction:
1. This meaning began in Homer's time. Homer wrote of the one-eyed giant, Cyclops who had trapped Ulysses and his men in a cave and was eating them one at a time. The ingenious Ulysses devised a plan. He had his men sharpen a large log and together they rammed this log into the eye of the one-eyed Cyclops rendering him blind. They identified (baptized) the sharpened log with Cyclops’ eye which changed Cyclops from a seeing giant to a blind giant. Having blinded the Cyclops, they were able to maneuver their way out of the cave. Another example by Homer: Homer's Odyssey, book 9, used baptism for hot metal identified (baptized) with water when a smith dipped a piece of hot iron into water. This is how a blacksmith would temper swords in the ancient world. After this identification, the sword was made stronger and so less likely to bend.
2. Xenophon said that the Spartan military recruits after finishing infantry training would identify (baptize) their spears with pig’s blood. They would run by a barrel of pig’s blood and thrust their spears into this blood. This ritual, identified their spears with killing and the soldier’s readiness for combat with the enemy.
3. Euripides used the word for a ship identified with the bottom of the sea when it sank. Before sinking, the ship was valuable; after sinking it had no value at all.
4. So "baptize" in the classical Greek meant to identify one thing with another so that the characteristics of the original thing were altered. Therefore, the interpretation of the word "baptism" is identification with something that brings about a change.
5. There are a number of cognates related to this Greek word such as bapto, baptizo, baptisma, baptismos, baptistes, and embapto. A few examples follow:
6. John 13:26, “Jesus then answered, ‘That is the one for whom, I shall dip [the future of the Greek word bapto] the morsel and give it to him. So, when he had dipped [the aorist participle of bapto; the sop now takes on a new meaning that of honor] the sop [the morsel], He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.”
To give someone a sop [a special bit of food usually a piece of bread or meat with a tasty sauce] was the highest honor of a banquet. At a banquet a special piece of bread or meat was prepared along with a special sauce for the guest of honor who would then honor someone by giving it to that person. Jesus as the guest of honor took this sop and dipped it into a special sauce and gave it to Judas. In this way, the Lord Jesus Christ honored Judas as a member of the family of God, and for his ministry as an apostle to the Lost Sheep of Israel. This honor should have given Judas second thoughts regarding his plan to betray Jesus to the Sanhedrin.
7. Matthew 3:7, “but when he [John the Baptizer] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism [identification: the Greek word baptisma], he said to them, “You brood of vipers [poisonous snakes], who warned you to flee from the wrath to come [Baptism of Fire: identification with the fire of Torments and then the Lake of Fire]?”
8. Hebrews 6:1-2, “Therefore, leaving behind the elementary teaching about Christ, let us advance to maturity, not laying again the foundation [of the basics such as]: a change of thinking about dead works [just as an unbeliever must have a change of mind about Christ to obtain salvation, so the believer must have a change of mind about legalism (dead works) in order to obtain the spiritual life], and of faith toward God [Faith-Rest Drill], (2) doctrine of baptisms [the Greek word baptismos; a reference to the seven types of baptism as found in Scripture] as well as the laying on of hands [ritual rebound in the age of Israel], and of resurrection from the dead, and of eternal judgment [the Great White Throne Judgment].
9. Matthew 3:1, “In those days John the Baptizer [the Greek word baptistes; when John baptized someone into the Jordan River, the converts were identified with the plan of God and his kingdom.] came proclaiming [as a herald] in the desert of Judea.”
There are two categories of identification in Scripture namely an actual identification or a real baptism and a representative identification or a ritual baptism which uses water.
The four real or actual identifications with something that has significance.
1. The Baptism of Moses: 1 Corinthians 10:1-2 presents the baptism of Moses, "For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; (2) and all were baptized [the Greek word baptizo] into Moses in the cloud [the Lord] and in the sea." This was a real identification in which Moses was identified with the Lord and the open path through the Red Sea and the Jews were identified with Moses. By the way, none of the Jews got wet, only Egyptian unbelievers who were immersed in the water as a means of death.
2. The Baptism of the Cross is found in Matthew 20:22, “But Jesus answered [Salome by addressing her sons] and said, “You [plural: a reference to James and John] do not know what you [James and John] ask. Are you [James and John] able to drink of the cup [bear the punishment of all the sins of the world] that I am about to drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism [the sins of the world identified with Christ followed by the Father judging them] that I am baptized with [identified with]?” They [James and John] said to Him, “We are able. [the dumbest statement that James and John ever made]” [I selected the longer text as did Jerome.]
3. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Retroactive Positional Truth and Current Positional Truth) occurs at salvation for Church Age believers only.
Colossians 2:12. Having been buried [aorist participle] with Him [Jesus Christ] by means of the baptism [God the Holy Spirit identified us with the burial of Jesus Christ as part of our salvation] by means of which [Baptism] you have been raised up [main verb] with Him [in union with Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of the Father] through faith [at the point of salvation] in the operational power from the source of God who has raised Him [the humanity of Christ was given a resurrection body] out from the dead [physical death].
Romans 6:3-9:
Romans 6:3: Or do you not know that all of us who [a correlative] have been baptized into [identified with] Christ Jesus [Current Positional Sanctification: we are in union with Christ in his life in heaven], have been baptized into His death [Retroactive Positional Truth and so identified with his substitutionary spiritual death on the cross]?
Positionally, (in union with Christ) we share His righteousness, heirship, priesthood, destiny, election, eternal life, royalty, sonship etc. All these making us a new spiritual species in Christ Jesus. The plural correlative hosoi (ὅσοι) means that if we were identified with Christ in heaven and we were, then also we have been identified with Christ in his substitutionary spiritual death in which he removed the power of sin nature. Thus, the sin nature should not have power over our lives.
A few more points will be noted:
1. Note that the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation enters the believer into union with Christ at the right hand of God the Father which union is called current positional truth.
2. This verse also mentions identification with Christ in His spiritual death on the cross which identification theologians call retroactive positional truth. Retroactive positional truth also includes identification with Christ in His physical death and burial as well.
3. Identification with Christ in His death, then, has a two-fold connotation namely all personal sins were judged at the cross and since that is the case, God the Father is free to provide in grace, the Recovery Procedure. The second connotation is that good and evil were rejected by Jesus on the cross since good and evil are a part of Satan’s policy and plan. On the cross, Jesus relied on the proto-type spiritual life which operated under the two power options namely God’s power system.
4. So, the old sin nature’s ruling power over the Christian has been broken since all sins were judged on the cross and the Recovery Procedure has been provided. So, Retroactive Positional Truth has destroyed the sovereignty of the old sin nature over the life of the Christian.
5. Also, since Jesus rejected the good and evil policy of Satan so should the believer reject Satan’s policy of good and evil as the believer applies Retroactive Positional Truth.
Romans 6:4: Therefore, we have been buried together with Him through the identification [Baptism of the Spirit] into His death [physical], in order that just as Christ has been raised up from the dead [on Resurrection Sunday], through the glory of the Father [through the Father’s power], [So also we, the dead in Christ, will be raised from the dead by the power of the Father, and those alive at the Rapture, by the power of the Holy Spirit.] in this manner we also might walk in newness of life [Experiential sanctification should reflect our future ultimate sanctification.].
Christ had to die physically “and Jesus having shouted clearly with a loud voice said, Father, into your hands I deposit my [human] spirit, and having said this, he exhaled” (Luke 23:46). This last exhale caused His soul and spirit to depart from his mortal body resulting in physical death. Just as Christ had to die physically in order to obtain his resurrection body, so we must depart from our body of corruption, or mortality in order to receive our eternal body called our resurrection body.
The Newness of Life:
1. The newness of life provided through the baptism of the Spirit includes positional freedom from producing good and evil. Not only are we free from the tyranny of good and evil but we are also free from having to produce good and evil.
2. The believer has no obligation to improve the devil’s world through social action, socialism, welfare state, communism, environmentalism, or any social gospel, social action, getting involved, etc.
3. The human race is protected from Satan’s policy of good and evil through the laws of divine establishment which promote freedom instead of improvement at the cost of freedom.
4. In addition to the Laws of Divine Establishment the believer is insulated from good and evil positionally through the baptism of the Spirit.
5. Divorced from the Old Sin Nature positionally and its useless activity of human good and the function of evil, the life of the believer can be devoted to glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ through maximum knowledge and application of Bible doctrine.
Romans 6:5: For if we have become united with Him [Christ, the new husband] in the likeness of His death [the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross], and we have, and not only this, but also, we shall be [united in the likeness] of His resurrection [Current Positional Truth: in union with the resurrected Christ].
Romans 6:6: Be knowing this [through Retroactive Positional Truth], that our old man [our former husband, the sin nature dates back to the Garden] has been crucified together [with Him], in order that the [human] body, with reference to its sin nature, [the sin nature located in the body] might be rendered powerless [when we use Recovery Procedure and the two power options], that we should no longer be slaves to the sin nature.
“Our old man has been crucified with Him” meaning that the power of the sin nature has been broken on the cross. Since the power of the sin nature was broken by the work of the cross, we as believers have no excuse for not executing the spiritual life. We will not be able to say to Christ at our evaluation that our sin nature was too powerful for us to execute the spiritual life.
A few points for further clarification:
1. Retroactive positional truth is that phase of the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation which identifies the believer with Christ in His spiritual death, physical death and his burial.
2. In the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross all the personal sins in human history were imputed to Christ, but at the same time the other two trends of the old sin nature were not imputed for judgment.
3. Good and evil is the policy of Satan as the ruler of this world and the function of the old sin nature as the sovereign of human life. In fact, the sin nature functions as the agent of Satan.
4. Good and evil were not imputed for judgment on the cross. Hence, in the spiritual death of Christ on the cross they were rejected to remain an issue in the angelic conflict, rejected to be perpetuated in human history as an issue every believer must face, and either overcome through the intake of doctrine or be entrapped by ignorance of doctrine and therefore lose out in glorifying God in time.
5. We are identified with Christ in His spiritual death, which means that we must understand that our sins have been judged and that good and evil has been rejected.
6. It all adds up to the fact that the sovereignty of the old sin nature over human life has been made powerless through retroactive positional truth.
7. The imputation of all personal sins of the human race to Christ on the cross means that the believer through the rebound technique is instantly forgiven sins, cleansed from all wrong doing which includes Satanic good and evil, restored to fellowship and filled with the Spirit.
Romans 6:7: For we who have died [the Christian is identified with the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ: theologically called Retroactive Positional Truth] have been acquitted [positional deliverance] from [the power of] the sin nature.
A few points for further clarification:
1. A dead person is discharged from the obligations of his former sphere of life. This is why the word “death” is used in this context. It is not a literal, physical death we are discussing but identification with Christ in His death.
2. As unbelievers we were under the authority of Satan as the ruler of this world, and under the authority of the old sin nature as the sovereign of human life.
3. Both the power of Satan and the old sin nature have been abrogated through the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation.
4. This passage, then, emphasizes the annulling of the power and the authority of the old sin nature as the sovereign of human life.
5. Positionally, the power of the sin nature has been broken. Experientially, the old sin nature controls to the extent that we fail to understand and utilize the provision and support of logistical grace.
Romans 6:8: Now if we have died with Christ, and we have [retroactive positional truth], we also believe that we shall live in association with Him [the instrumental of association; a reference to Current Positional Truth].
In this verse, the 1st Class conditional sentence shows the relationship between Retroactive Positional Truth with Current Positional Truth. The protasis, the ‘if’ clause states the reality of Retroactive Positional Truth and the apodosis, the concluding clause states the doctrinal inference and the reality of Current Positional Truth. While Retroactive Positional Truth presents positional rejection and separation from good and evil as the policy of Satan and the function of the old sin nature, Current Positional Truth relates the believer to the function of the royal family of God. In other words, they have separate functions.
Romans 6:9: Knowing that because Christ has been raised from the dead [He received a resurrection body], no longer can He die; [physical] death is no longer a master over Him.
Analysis:
1. Retroactive positional truth destroys the sovereign authority of the old sin nature over human life. Current positional truth, on the other hand, destroys the limited authority of physical death in human life.
2. Instead of being ruled by the old sin nature located in the cells of the human body and influencing our souls toward sin, good and evil, we now have a new sovereign, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are identified with Him in His deaths, in His burial, resurrection, ascension and session.
3. Before salvation and the baptism of the Holy Spirit our lives were under the absolute rule of Satan who is the ruler of this world and under the rule of the old sin nature which is the ruler of life, and under the limited rule of physical death. All of that, of course, has been changed since salvation.
4. Now both retroactive and current positional truth have abrogated the authority and power of these former rulers. The power of Satan over our lives has been broken through identification with the rejection of good and evil namely Satan’s policy and plan and through our position in union with Christ. The power of the old sin nature is broken through retroactive positional truth and the power of physical death is broken through current positional truth.
5. Therefore, having studied these things by principle and by implication we are now ready for application, verses 12 & 13 specifically.
6. Having been positionally liberated from the sovereignty of the old sin nature as an absolute ruler, and the authority of physical death, we must recognise and apply doctrine for the experiential victory commanded in verses 11-13.
Galatians 3:25-28, “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under the authority of [have need of] a school bus. (26) For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (27) For all of you who were baptized into Christ [identified with Christ through union with Him] have clothed yourselves with Christ. (28) There is neither Jew nor Greek [no racial distinction], there is neither slave nor free man [no social or economic distinction], there is neither male nor female [no gender distinction]; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [All Christians have the same privileges and opportunities to execute the spiritual life.]”
Current Positional Truth, Elaborated:
In the Church Age, Current Positional Truth establishes our relationship with Christ as opposed to religion. It refers to the Church Age believer in union with Christ and is the key to understanding the Church Age and how the royal family came into being. Therefore, it is the basis for distinguishing between Christianity and religion. Christianity is a relationship with God without merit whereas religion is a system of works to gain the approbation of God. Never shall the twain meet!
The mechanics of Current Positional Truth is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, whereby the Spirit enters us into union with Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For also by agency of the one Spirit we are all baptized [identification resulting in becoming a new spiritual species] into one body [in union with Christ], whether Jews or Greeks [racial distinctions are removed], whether slave or free [class and economic distinctions are removed], even all were made to drink [the aorist passive, the voice of grace] the one Spirit [The Holy Spirit did not ask us whether we wanted to be put into union with Christ or not.].” Ephesians 4:5, “One Lord [becomes our Lord positionally at Salvation]), one faith [faith alone in Christ alone; Acts 16:31], one baptism [Baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place at salvation].”
Current Positional truth guarantees that there will be no judgment for believers in eternity, Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Thus, the condemnation which occurred at the first birth was removed at the 2nd birth. As a result of being born with the sin nature and the imputation of Adam’s Original Sin, we were condemned to the Lake of Fire for all eternity, but now that has been removed. Romans 5:12, “For this reason just as through one man [Adam] the sin [nature] entered into the world [procreation], and so spiritual death through the sin [the imputation of Adam’s Original Sin to the sin nature], and so spiritual death spread to all mankind, because all sinned when Adam sinned [since we were all genetically in Adam when he sinned, we will receive Adam’s Original Sin].” However, at our spiritual birth, the 2nd birth, our pre-salvation sins were all forgiven including Adam’s Original Sin. After which, the Spirit entered us into union with Christ where there is now no condemnation (Romans 8:1).
Current Positional truth qualifies the believer to live with God forever. To live with God forever, the believer must have eternal life and God’s perfect righteousness, 1 John 5:11-12, “And this is the deposition [testimony] that the God [the Father] has given to us, eternal life, and this life is in his son [Since we are in union with Christ, we share this life.]. (12) and he who has the son [a relationship with the Son] has the life [eternal life] and the one who does not have the son of God [relationship with the Son] does not have the life [eternal life].” 2 Corinthians 5:21, “And He [the Father] made Him who knew no sin [perfection] to be a sin offering [imputation of sins on the cross] as a substitute for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [current positional truth].” To live with God forever means you must have His life, and you must be as righteous as He is.
Positional truth guarantees the believer’s eternal security, Romans 8:38-39, “For I am persuaded that neither death [nothing in death] nor life [nothing in life] nor angels nor principalities [ruling angels] nor powers [human organizations] nor things present nor things to come (39) nor height [nothing in heaven] nor depth [nothing in Hades] nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Eternal life in Christ is for all eternity!
Positional truth belongs to all categories of believers whether they be apostate, mature, immature, spiritually adult, or carnal. Since Current Positional Truth occurs at the point of salvation before experience in the Christian life begins, it doesn’t depend on that experience. 1 Corinthians 1:2, “to the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus [at salvation], called saints together with all who call upon the person of Our Lord Jesus Christ, their [Lord] and ours.” So, even though you may be carnal or in reversionism, you still have positional truth. Being in union with Christ has nothing to do with what you do [experiential righteousness], or don’t do [failure to execute God’s plan]. Current Positional sanctification is completely the work of God the Holy Spirit and so is not based upon our volition, but on the sovereign decision of God. We make the decision to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but we don’t make the decision to enter into union with Christ “all were made to drink the one Spirit” as per 1 Corinthians 12:13. God the Holy Spirit graciously did that for us and so it cannot be undone.
Current Positional truth creates a new spiritual species in Christ as per 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ and he is, he is a new spiritual species. The old things have lost their power; behold, new things have come to pass.” You become a new spiritual species at salvation by being put into union with Christ. It is what God does for you, and therefore it is grace. It is not what you do after salvation, such as the self-righteous works of legalism. The “old things” have to do with spiritual death and those things related to that death; the “new things” refer to things you receive at salvation such as the 40 assets and the unique spiritual life.
Positional truth should motivate the production of divine good and a pattern of life compatible with royalty as per Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his creation, having been created in Christ Jesus [a new spiritual species with many assets] for the purpose of divine good production [via experiential sanctification] which the God [the Father] has prepared in advance [in eternity past, God the Father provided election and predestination as part of our Portfolio of Invisible Assets], that we in the sphere of them [election and predestination] may pattern our lives.”
Even though a Christian may die the Sin on to Death, he will not lose his position in union with Christ (1 John 5:18-20), and so cannot lose his salvation. In order for a believer to lose his position in Christ, he would have to sin in that status, but since the believer cannot sin in union with Christ, he cannot lose his position in Christ and so cannot lose his salvation. Thus, it is comforting and reassuring to a believer to know that even though a loved one may have died the ‘sin on to death’, he has not lost his salvation.
Because we are in union with Christ, we share His:
1. Eternal life, 1 John 5:11, “And this is the deposition [testimony] that the God [the Father] has given to us, eternal life [At salvation, God the Father imputes this life to the human spirit], and this life is in his son [The Christian also shares the life of Christ through union with Him]. (12) and he who has the son [a relationship with the Son] has the life [eternal life] and the one who does not have the son of God [relationship with the Son] does not have the life [eternal life].”
John 14:6, “Jesus said to him [Thomas], ‘I am the way, the truth and the life [eternal life]; no person [in human history] comes face to face with the Father [having an eternal relationship with the Father] except through Me.’”
2. Perfect righteousness, 2 Corinthians 5:21, “And he (God the Father) made him [Jesus] who knew no sin (perfection) to be a sin offering as a substitute for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him [positional truth]. Sharing the righteousness of Christ, we become the objects of God the Father’s love as per Romans 8:39.
3. Election, Ephesians 1:4, “just as He [the Father] has elected us for Himself in Him [Jesus Christ] before the creation of the world [in eternity past], that we may be set apart [experiential sanctification] and blameless [ultimate sanctification] in the presence of Him [Father].”
4. Destiny, Ephesians 1:5, “By means of love, He has predestined us for the purpose of adoption as adult sons to Himself through Christ Jesus our Lord according to the grace purpose of His will.”
5. Sonship, Galatians 3:26, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
6. Heirship, Romans 8:16-17, “The Spirit Himself testifies together [bears witness] with our [human] spirit, that we are the children of God. (17) Now, if we are children and we are, also heirs, on the one hand heirs of God [the Father], and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed [if it is true that], we suffer with Him [pass all three stages of undeserved suffering], that also we might be glorified with Christ.”
7. Sanctification, 1 Corinthians 1:2, “to the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints together with all who call upon the person of Our Lord Jesus Christ, their [Lord] and ours.”
8. Priesthood, Hebrews 7:12-19, “For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change in the Law also. (13) For the One [the Lord Jesus Christ] concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe [the tribe of Judah] from which no one has officiated at the altar. (14) For it is evident that our Lord has descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests, (15) and this is clearer still, if another priest arises similar to Melchizedek, and there has, (16) who has become a priest not on the basis of physical requirement [a reference to the Levitical Priesthood] but on the basis of indestructible life [the Lord’s priesthood is forever]. (17) For this reason, it is witnessed, ‘You are a priest forever similar to the order of Melchizedek.’” [We are in union with Christ. Therefore, we are royalty and priests forever. We represent ourselves before God as royal priests.] (18) For, on the one hand, there is a rescinding of the former commandment [the Mosaic Law that authorized the Levitical priesthood] because of its weakness and uselessness (19) (for the Law brought nothing to completion), but on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope [the second door of hope for the Church Age believer—a personal sense of destiny—by which we enter the adult spiritual life] through which we draw near to God.”
Hebrews 7:26-28, “For it is fitting that we should have such a high priest, impeccable integrity, the One who cannot do evil, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; (27) Who does not need daily, like those Levitical priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for their own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He [Jesus] offered up Himself. (28) For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of His [God the Father’s] oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, who has become perfect forever [Jesus Christ is a perfect high priest].”
9. Royalty, 1 Peter 2:9, “ But you and only you are an elect [elect by God the Father] race [as a new spiritual species], a royal priesthood [since Jesus is a king-priest], a holy nation [God’s entity: a nation of priests: every Christian is a priest], a people for God’s own possession [a protected people], so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him [Christ] who has called [in eternity past] you out of darkness [spiritual death and the Cosmic Systems] into His amazing light [his plan];”
10. New Spiritual Species, 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ and he is, he is a new spiritual species. The old things have lost their power [Old Covenant]; behold, new things have come to pass [This would include the New Covenant to the Church.].”
Current Positional Truth changes our relationship with Angels.
1. Through current positional truth the believer is higher than angels positionally.
2. Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, and so superior to all angels. By virtue of being in union with Christ, every believer is now positionally superior to angels.
3. Positional truth has fulfilled the believer’s triumph with Christ in the angelic conflict. We are victorious with Him already.
4. Furthermore, positional truth demands compatibility with experiential righteousness. Therefore, the believer’s walk on this earth must be compatible with positional truth since we have perfect security in Christ, we have the freedom to choose for Jesus Christ, to love Jesus Christ, to respond to His love, and to fulfill our purpose on this earth.
What positional truth is not?
1. It is not an experience, emotions or ecstasies.
2. It is not progressive; it cannot be improved in time or eternity.
3. It is not related to human merit or ability.
4. It cannot be changed by God, man or angels. It is eternal in nature.
5. It is not obtained gradually as you grow in grace, but in toto at salvation.
6. It is not known apart from the metabolization of doctrine.
7. From understanding the doctrine of positional truth, we progress in our spiritual life, but we cannot improve it since it is perfect at salvation.
8. We are not in Christ because of what we do (execution of the spiritual life) or fail to do (fail to execute the spiritual life), but because of what God has done.
A few points of explanation:
1. The conclusion from positional truth, whether retroactive or current, is that the Christian must apply these doctrines to his spiritual life.
2. In Romans 7:1-4 where we have an illustration of a woman whose first husband has died freeing her to marry another. This is what actually happens to us as believers at salvation. The old sin nature is the husband up to the point of salvation, but at the moment we believe in Jesus Christ positionally the sin nature is dead, as it were, the first husband has died and we have a new husband through union with Christ. Retroactive Positional Truth removes our first husband, the sin nature whereas Current Positional Truth enters us into union with Christ, our new husband.
3. The old sin nature-husband is still around, still seeking to regain his control over his former wife, the believer. But union with the second husband, the Lord Jesus Christ, has broken the first husband’s authority over the former wife.
4. The Baptism of Fire:
Matthew 3:11, “On the one hand I [John the Baptizer] baptize you [believers] by means of water because of a change of thinking [about Christ], but the one coming after me is mightier than I whose sandals I am not worthy to lace [loosen, remove]. He himself will baptize by means of the Holy Spirit [a reference to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in the Church Age] and by means of fire [a reference to the Baptism of Fire at the 2nd Advent].”
Baptism of Fire: The baptism of fire (identification with fire) is defined as the judgment of unbelievers both Jew and gentile at the Second Advent. They will be removed from the earth and placed in fire for 1000 years until the Last Judgment, Luke 3:16-17; Mathew 25:31, 33. The analogy to the Baptism of Fire is found in Matthew 24:36-41. The one left in the field is the mature believer; the one taken is the unbeliever.
Parables of the Baptism of Fire:
1. The wheat and the tares (the unbelievers), Matthew 13:24-30, 36-40.
2. The good and bad fish (unbelievers), Matthew 13:47-50.
3. The ten virgins: five wise, five foolish (the unbelievers), Matthew 25:1-13.
4. The sheep and the goats (the unbelievers), Mathew 25:31-46.
5. The talent test, Matthew 25:14-30. The one talent man represents the unbeliever.
If Jesus Christ had not been rejected by the Jewish people, then the age of Israel would have continued until its completion (the Tribulation completes the age of Israel). (However, they did reject Jesus Christ as Savior and Messiah and so the client nation was destroyed, and the Church age was intercalated that is inserted before the age of Israel was complete.) After the completion of the age of Israel at the end of the Tribulation, comes the wrath of God namely the Baptism of Fire when the Lord removes both Jewish and gentile unbelievers from the earth and identifies them with fire forever. After which, the Millennial reign begins.
The Three Ritual Baptisms. None are extant at the present time. They are representative identifications in which water is used as a training aid to represent some principle of doctrine.
1. The Baptism of John is found in Matthew 3:2-6, “Saying, ‘Change your thinking [regarding Christ] for the kingdom of heaven is near.’ [The future king was already on the earth] (3) For this is what was communicated through Isaiah, the prophet saying, ‘The voice of one [John the Baptizer] proclaiming loudly in the desert [of Judea]. Prepare [the aorist tense is a one time-decision] the way of the Lord [an idiomatic expression for salvation]. Keep on making upright [the use of the Recovery Procedure followed by the development of experiential righteousness] His paths!’ (Isaiah 40:3) (4) Now, John himself kept on having a garment of camel’s hair [very uncomfortable] and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. (5) Then [after John went where God wanted him to be] Jerusalem kept on going out to him [face to face] and all Judea and all the districts around the Jordan. (6) and they were being baptized [identified with the kingdom] by him [under John’s authority] in the Jordan River [where Israel crossed when they entered the land], and they kept on confessing their sins [post-salvation confession of sins].”
MAX KLEIN BIBLE MINISTRIES
The Book of Revelation: Chapter Four
A verse-by-verse commentary by Max Klein
Ephesians 1:17-18, "I pray that the God of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory may give to you a lifestyle of wisdom and revelation concerning him through metabolized doctrine [human volition is involved]. (18), That the eyes of your right lobe [of their souls] may be enlightened [through your advance in the spiritual life] so that you may know what is the confidence [regarding escrow blessings in time and in eternity] of His election [the objectives], what are the riches of His inheritance in the saints. [escrow blessing for time and eternity]."
Regarding this prayer, a few points for elaboration:
1. Although Paul is praying to the Father, he is not asking the Father to provide anything for these Ephesian believers other than what he has already provided.
2. In this prayer, Paul desires wisdom and revelation for these Ephesian believers, but realizes this will not happen apart from the Ephesian’s desire to learn about the spiritual life.
3. Paul clearly states that God the Father has already provided the means of obtaining revelation and wisdom which is via the two power options “through metabolized doctrine.”
4. Paul prays that the Ephesian believers may be enlightened and so have confidence regarding their Escrow Blessings. In other words, Paul is praying that the Ephesian believers utilize the spiritual life which God the Father has already provided for them.
Let us bow our heads; If we need to use the Recovery Procedure as found in 1 John 1:9, let us do so at this time that we might be in fellowship. (pause) Father, we thank you for the privilege and opportunity to study your word and for the freedom that you have provided for us here in Corpus Christi, Texas, U.S.A.; furthermore, we express our appreciation to God the Holy Spirit who will enlighten us regarding the message this evening. We as priests pray this through the person of our Lord Christ Jesus, our High Priest, Amen.
Outline:
1. The Church taken into heaven Revelation 4:1
2. The Lord Jesus Christ in heaven: Revelation 4:2-3
3.The Angelic staff namely the 24 elders: Revelation 4:4
4. The Administration of historical judgment: Revelation 4:5
5. Church at rest in heaven: Revelation 4:6a
6. The highest angelic creatures with the uniform of wisdom are the four angelic heralds of Revelation 4:6b-9
7. The worship of the 24 angelic general staff: Revelation 4:10-11
8. The Doomsday Book with its seven seals which are the historical trends of the Tribulation, Revelation 5:1-4
9. Jesus Christ controls history: Revelation 5:5-7
10. The Hymn of Victory: Revelation 5:8-14
A few points for clarification:
1. From this point-on, the content of the book of Revelation is just as pertinent to the Church Age believer as the first three chapters.
2. Everything in Revelation, chapters four through twenty-two, has meaning or application to the royal family of God though it deals with subjects other than the Church Age.
3. Everything taught in Revelation chapters 6-18 deals with the Tribulation but it is written for the benefit of the royal family, believers in this dispensation. Therefore, the symbolism, the visions, the prophecies, the hyperbole, the historical events future to the Church Age, all have spiritual application and are pertinent to us right now.
4. Undoubtedly, positive believers (believers desire to learn God’s plan) of the Tribulation will derive blessing from the application of these things found in Revelation 6-18, but they will also derive just as much understanding and blessing from the book of Daniel, and the book of Zechariah. However, the primary purpose, then, of the rest of the book of Revelation is to brief Church Age believers about future history: things to come, the rest of history. It is a textbook of human history from the time of John in A.D. 96 to the end of time.
5. We have profited from the historical trends mentioned briefly in the first three chapters of Revelation; we shall also profit from the study of prophetical history in Revelation chapters four through twenty-two.
6. Revelation is sensational but sensationalism in itself has no benefit. So, avoid the emotional approach which desires sensationalism for it can cause the believer to lose his momentum in the spiritual life.
7. Inevitably, we respond emotionally to certain doctrines and passages of Scripture, but we should not seek for only those passages which arouse us emotionally, but we must consider, concentrate, understand and know the whole realm of doctrine, regardless of where our personal interests lie.
Revelation 4:1
After these things [the Church Age and its historical trends] I looked [John began an investigation of prophetical history]. In fact, now hear this: [behold: a transitional phrase from the historical trends of the Church Age to prophetical history] a door has been opened in heaven [the Rapture had taken place, and Church Age believers had been taken into heaven] and the first voice which I heard was like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here [the mandate to take John to heaven] and I [Lord Jesus Christ] will show you what must take place [from the Rapture to the end of time] after these things [after the Church age].”
Μετὰ ταῦτα εἶδον, καὶ ἰδοὺ θύρα ἠνεῳγµένη ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, καὶ ἡ φωνὴ ἡ πρώτη ἣν ἤκουσα ὡς σάλπιγγος λαλούσης µετí ἐµοῦ λέγων, Ἀνάβα ὧδε, καὶ δείξω σοι ἃ δεῖ γενέσθαι µετὰ ταῦτα.
Revelation 4:2
Immediately, I was [became] in the spirit [it appears that the soul and human spirit of John were taken into the 3rd heaven and possibly temporarily placed in an interim body]; now behold a throne was standing in heaven, and someone [the humanity of Christ] was sitting on the throne [authority in heaven].
εὐθέως ἐγενόµην ἐν πνεύµατι· καὶ ἰδοὺ θρόνος ἔκειτο ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν θρόνον καθήµενος,
4:3. Furthermore, [introducing a result from what preceded] He [Lord Jesus Christ] who was sitting [on that throne] was like a precious stone in appearance like a diamond [a translucent and transparent stone] and a sardius [Carnelian or Ruby mined in Sardis of Asia Minor] also a rainbow [representing integrity] which encircled [the circle emphasizes eternity] the throne was like an emerald in appearance.
καὶ ὁ καθήµενος ὅµοιος ὁράσει λίθῳ ἰάσπιδι καὶ σαρδίῳ, καὶ ἶρις κυκλόθεν τοῦ θρόνου ὅµοιος ὁράσει σµαραγδίνῳ.
Keep in mind that these heavenly gems are not the same as the gems we mine on this earth. These names of gems are only to give us an approximation.
The Greek word ‘iaspis’ refers to a diamond though translated as a jasper. A sardius is described by having a deep red or brownish red. The sardius refers to a ruby (carnelian). All of these gems, the diamond, ruby and emerald have intrinsic value; much more the Lord Jesus Christ.
A few points of interpretation:
1. Three of the most precious stones, the diamond, the ruby and the emerald, all with great significance and representing something far beyond earthly value, are presented in this verse. Each one is related to the principle of intrinsic value, a value that does not change as other things change. Everything related to our Lord Jesus Christ has intrinsic value rather than relative value. And notice that this intrinsic value is invisible. So, since it is invisible to our eyes, how do we understand intrinsic value? Our Lord sitting on the throne in His third royal patent is compared to a diamond, a ruby, and an emerald; all of these are stones with intrinsic value and are visible to us. The greatest intrinsic value in life is invisible and immaterial, therefore it must be understood by analogy. All real values in life are related to the only savior and to the one who controls history, the King over kings and the Lord over lords, Jesus Christ.
2. Bible doctrine has intrinsic value, while happiness and the pleasures of this life only have relative value. There is no true happiness unless it is related to the intrinsic assets of the spiritual life. That is why so many people are doing so many things which they think will make them happy, but they are not happy at all because true happiness, like everything else, must be related to some intrinsic asset of the plan of God. When people have doctrine, capacity and wisdom, they will have great happiness and blessing in whatever they might do since their happiness and blessing is related to something or some person with intrinsic value.
3. Relative values are only meaningful when related to the intrinsic values related to the spiritual life. Life is only meaningful for the Christian when he relates it to the intrinsic values of Bible doctrine and its source, the members of the Trinity. We are sustained by an intrinsic, valuable concept called Logistical Grace, not by gold and silver, not by diamonds, not by anything that is overt and visible and considered to have intrinsic value. Bible doctrine is the mind of Christ and is the only thing of intrinsic value which we can claim, own, use and apply for happiness and blessing in this life. The believer who lives in the divine power system has a scale of values which is intrinsic while the believer who lives in the Cosmic System has a scale of values which is relative. Relative values cannot bring happiness in this life. Values in the divine power system are all intrinsic thought, and truth. The values in the cosmic system are all relative and therefore detrimental. Relative values are meaningless without the backing of intrinsic values.
Values apply to people:
1. Only people with virtue and integrity have intrinsic values, hence the believer in the cosmic system has only relative values and so no capacity for friendship, marriage or anything else.
2. The relative values of people depends on their beauty or attractiveness. How many people have selected their friends, their wife, their husband, on the basis of overt beauty and attractiveness? This is a great mistake for it is the soul where such intrinsic values as integrity, humility, authority orientation, leadership and wisdom may exist.
3. None of these relative values in people are the basis for permanent relationships of any kind. That is why some people never have any permanent friends. They always pick and choose on the basis of relative values.
4. Only intrinsic values in people are important in human relationships. Therefore, an enemy with integrity is far better than a friend with hypocrisy.
Values as they apply to finance and economy:
1. Things with intrinsic value include gold, precious gems, manufacturing capabilities including the gross national product. In other words, things that you can see and things that you cannot see, principles which are invisible and real and things which are visible and real. Bonds, bank books, paper money, stock certificates, credit cards, letters of credit, have no intrinsic value, hence they are assigned to the category of relative values.
2. The relative value of things depends upon the intrinsic value represented on the scrap of paper, whether it is a stock certificate or a paper dollar.
3. Therefore, relative values cannot exist legitimately without the backing of something with intrinsic value. The terrible economic collapse of France during the French Revolution came from this principle that there was nothing of value to back their paper currency.
4. Our economy is off the gold standard which means that paper money is not redeemable with gold and silver which have intrinsic value, but it doesn’t mean that it is valueless. As long as we have the functions of free enterprise with its production and markets for our products that currency in effect is backed by the wealth of that free economy. However, if a government in arrogance and subsequent total irresponsibility should print so much currency as to far exceed the wealth of its nation, then that currency will have lost its intrinsic backing. Furthermore, if that same nation should attack free market activity and destroy its industry through unfair taxation, crippling bureaucracy etc. then that nation has no base for maintaining and accumulating wealth. This double attack upon the economy spells economic collapse.
Values apply to thought:
1. Intrinsic value is related to truth, John 8:32, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”
2. Truth in three categories namely the Laws of Establishment, the gospel and Bible doctrine for the believer is the basis for freedom.
3. Therefore, freedom has relative value and can only exist when based on the absolute value of truth. Freedom is meaningless without truth. Freedom without truth is some form of tyranny, obvious or subtle.
4. Doctrine has intrinsic value; freedom only has relative value. Freedom is like the paper money in your pocket, it is no good unless it is based on something possessing intrinsic value.
5. The freedom promised by the French Revolution illustrates the relative value of freedom for it was not based on truth and therefore it did not exist.
6. Relative values only exist when based on and backed by intrinsic values. So, when you see the diamond, the ruby and the emerald in this passage you are merely looking at illustrations of a far greater system of intrinsic value for they represent the intrinsic values of the Lord Jesus Christ.
7. We must utilize and emphasize divine intrinsic values which God has provided, the capital that God has provided. Furthermore, we must have divine values which values transcends any human system of priorities and values.
8. The rainbow emphasizes the perfect integrity of Christ. We are to recognize this perfect integrity which brought about the strategic victory of the First Advent, and if we have just a little wisdom, we will make Christ our role model. Also, this depiction of Christ seated on His throne presents to us, His tremendous majesty and glamor.
9. We live in the dispensation of opportunity, the opportunity of penetrating the facade of relative values in life and pseudo-priorities, breaking through that mesh of cosmic thinking, and establishing a relationship with intrinsic values.
Revelation 4:4
Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four angelic staff officers [the Greek ‘presbuteros’ is a word for authority translated as elders] sitting, clothed in white [or translucent] garments [the uniform of glory], and golden wreathes on their heads.
καὶ κυκλόθεν τοῦ θρόνου θρόνους εἴκοσι τέσσαρες, καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς θρόνους εἴκοσι τέσσαρας πρεσβυτέρους καθηµένους περιβεβληµένους ἐν ἱµατίοις λευκοῖς, καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς αὐτῶν στεφάνους χρυσοῦς.
In Attic Greek, the word presbuteros meant an elder in the sense of someone who was a leader. It was occasionally used for a person who was older in age but it was generally used in the sense of a leader or a ruler with authority. Since we have a council of twenty-four, the term staff officer is used as approximating the meaning here, “and twenty-four staff officers were sitting on the thrones.”
These twenty-four angels were sitting on these thrones out of millions of angels who could have been sitting there, but were not. They were obviously rewarded from something that happened long before man was created. In that pristine conflict there was the achievement of some over others and as a result of that achievement, we now see promotion, eternal success, and privileges for those who did achieve. These angelic officers are allowed throughout all human history and eternity to think as staff officers and so the opportunity of being able to use their minds.
A few Points:
1. As we will see, there are 28 Seraphim residing in the throne room of the Lord namely these 24 angelic staff officers and the 4 angelic heralds. In the prehistorical angelic history, it was only Lucifer who resided in the Throne Room. Ezekiel 28:14, “You were the anointed cherub [promoted to reside in the throne room of God]; I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked among the stones of fire”.
2. The 24 staff officers are further described in Revelation 4:10-11. These would be comparable to our G1, G2, G3 and G4 designations for the General Staff in the U. S. army.
3. These 24 staff officers are wearing a white or translucent uniform and golden wreaths similar to what great believers of the Church Age will receive at the Evaluation Throne of Christ. Just as in the prehistoric angelic conflict in which Satan’s forces were pitted against God’s elect, so in human history. These 24 staff officers excelled in this prehistoric angelic conflict so believers in the Church Age have the same opportunity.
Revelation 4:5
Proceeding from the throne, come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder [the warning of historical disaster in the Tribulation]. And there were seven flaming torches burning [Seven catastrophes restrained until after the Rapture at which time they will be released] before the throne, which are the Seven Spirits of God [the power system for both the Prototype and the Operational Type Spiritual Life; also, since the Holy Spirit restrains through the spiritual lives of great believers, so, also, he restrains evil on the earth and holds back the full force of the Seven Flaming Torches];
καὶ ἐκ τοῦ θρόνου ἐκπορεύονται ἀστραπαὶ καὶ φωναὶ καὶ βρονταί· καὶ ἑπτὰ λαµπάδες πυρὸς καιόµεναι ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου, ἅ εἰσιν τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύµατα τοῦ θεοῦ,
In Zechariah 12:6 the flaming torch is a symbol of great judgment or historical disaster: “In that day [the end of the Armageddon campaign] I will make the generals of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume [annihilate] on the right hand and on the left the attacking people [besieging armies], while the inhabitants of Jerusalem will again live in their own homes in Jerusalem.”
In our context the flaming torch also represents judgments: historical disaster in the form of military judgements, religious judgements, economic judgements, social judgements, national or political judgements, natural judgements, disease judgements in that order. Each torch represents a different judgment from the integrity of God.
The Restraining Ministry of the Holy Spirit
2 Thessalonians 2:6-7, “And so now you know the one who restrains [the Holy Spirit restrains evil in the Church Age] so that he [the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire] may be revealed in his own dispensation [in the Tribulation and not before]. (7) For the Mystery of Lawlessness [already people have made deals with Satan] is already operational [there are military, economic, social, and national disasters, etc. in the Church Age] only he [the Holy Spirit] who now restrains [will continue that ministry] until he [the Holy Spirit] is taken out of the way [at the Rapture].”
With the removal of the Church at the Rapture or resurrection there is no more pivot of mature believers, no client nations to act as a further restraint on historical disaster, and no God the Holy Spirit with his functioning of the Seven Spirits, and therefore the seven flaming torches function without restraint in the Tribulation. The Tribulation is the most traumatic period of human history from the standpoint of historical disaster. Just as the Church Age is the intensified stage of the angelic conflict, so the Tribulation is the era of unrestrained disaster.
The Holy Spirit restrains evil and degeneracy in the Church Age and so prevents total evil in this age. The Spirit works through the Pivot of mature believers and those who have reached Pleroma status (who are receiving the fulness of blessing from God). Other persons and dictators have made deals with Satan, but they have not succeeded as this man, the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire will succeed. Even though the number of mature believers may be small, it still guarantees a certain amount of restraint on evil, degeneracy, and barbarity.
Satan has his own hand-picked shock troops in every generation of the Church Age. They are demonized to the maximum and may even at times be demon possessed to accomplish some terribly evil plan. For example, Adolf Hitler who was generally quite stupid at times was quite brilliant at other times, an indication that he may have been demon possessed during those brilliant moments.
In the Church Age, the Holy Spirit operates as a restrainer through a pivot of mature believers just as a high-pressure area in weather operates as a restrainer on bad weather. Lawlessness is already here, but it is in its mystery form and cannot be revealed to the maximum until the Tribulation. This restraining ministry is hindering evil and so ensures that the human race will not self-destruct.
Satan is defeated by both doctrine in the souls of believers, and by the Laws of Divine Establishment. Satan uses religion to make a counterattack against doctrine, and he uses political tyranny to make a counterattack against the Laws of Divine Establishment. The mystery of lawlessness deals with these two attacks.
Revelation 4:6
Also before that throne, there was as it were [something like] a calm sea of glass [analogy to the Royal Family in heaven enjoying fantastic tranquility and blessing], like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four angelic heralds [literally, four living creatures] full of eyes in front and behind [representing tremendous wisdom which would make them the smartest of the Seraphs].
καὶ ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου ὡς θάλασσα ὑαλίνη ὁµοία κρυστάλλῳ. Καὶ ἐν µέσῳ τοῦ θρόνου καὶ κύκλῳ τοῦ θρόνου τέσσαρα ζῷα γέµοντα ὀφθαλµῶν ἔµπροσθεν καὶ ὄπισθεν·
The sea of glass is translucent and undisturbed; it symbolizes a large group of people which in this case refers to the royal family of God in heaven and the analogy is obvious. The Church is in heaven; it cannot be disturbed by the storms of the Tribulation. It is in absolute tranquility. This means that the resurrection bodies of Church Age believers are enjoyed by everyone and it means also that there is no way that we can again be affected by disaster on the earth.
Heralds: The heralds were the communicators for the king. A herald, for example, in medieval times held the highest rank. He would be a prince or a duke representing the king. In this case the four angelic heralds are representatives in the angelic realm of our Lord Jesus Christ. As the messengers of the King, they wore the coat of arms of the King as their badge of office. Even the Greek word for a herald was used by Homer for the most trusted person in the king’s order of royalty. In performing confidential services for the king, the herald became the spokesman for the king and, therefore, the trusted messenger between states in time of peace or in time of war. In mythology, Hermes was the messenger or the herald of the gods. Paul was often mistaken for Hermes because he was eloquent. Even in the Latin the word carried a very high connotation. In the breach of international law by a neighboring state, Rome always sent to that state two heralds to declare the objection of SPQR and a warning to cease and desist on threat of punishment from Rome. The herald was both the representative of a king and the administrator of punishment from the king, and that is its use in this heavenly scene. The angelic heralds not only communicate the policy of our Lord Jesus Christ, but they also carry out His plan for history and they lead in angelic worship.
The four angelic heralds are doctrinally the smartest elect angels, that is, in the eternal state. Satan, by his creation, was the super genius. His genius was manifest by his development of the cosmic system for the rulership of the world. But these four creatures are the smartest creatures by attainment, even though they were not originally. To be smart naturally certainly brings no credit to yourself; to be smart by attainment certainly does. It is far, far better to be learning all of your life and to increase in wisdom than to have been born with great IQ and decline. So, the four angelic heralds are doctrinally the smartest of all angelic creatures and they demonstrate their wisdom in several worship passages we will study.
“Full of eyes” in our verse refers to the uniform of wisdom which means maximum perception of doctrine in eternity past, in the angelic conflict. They followed the plan of God in the perception of truth; they advanced to maturity, some more than others, and the highest achievement is found in this uniform of wisdom. At least four of the elect angels possess, therefore, the highest honor of angelic chivalry, the uniform of wisdom. The uniform of wisdom indicates the highest possible spiritual IQ at the time of their evaluation. These four heralds replaced Satan as the guardian of the throne room.
Wisdom: just as these four angelic heralds developed tremendous wisdom in their prehistoric conflict, so we must develop wisdom in our spiritual conflict.
Wisdom is related to knowing and doing the will of God.
1. Knowing and doing the will of God requires wisdom.
2. Wisdom builds-up from doing the will of God.
3. Failure to understand this doctrine means never entering the superabundance of happiness mentioned in Psalm 100:1-5, “Shout the shout of great happiness to the Lord, all the land (client nation). (2) Serve the Lord with a superabundance of happiness; come into His presence with singing. (3) Know that the Lord He is God; it is He who delivered us (Jesus Christ controls history), and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture (the spiritual life). (4) Enter into His gates (a place of worship) with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, salute His person. (5) For the Lord is absolute good; His unfailing love is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations.”
a. We serve the Lord with a superabundance of happiness from wisdom circulating in our stream of consciousness.
b. The antithesis to this wisdom is the execution of the sins of arrogance.
c. All wisdom is the fulfillment of serving the Lord with a superabundance of happiness.
d. This superabundance of happiness has to be tested in two ways.
(1) When we advance to spiritual maturity and have fantastic blessing, are we going to think that we have earned or deserved this blessing by something we have done other than executing the will of God through the provision of the grace of God.
(2) We are tested as a client nation through historical disaster and we are tested in dying.
e. This superabundance of happiness is not dependent upon the things of this life, but is a far greater happiness. It increases as one develops and advances in the spiritual life during the living phase on this earth, in dying, in having an interim body in heaven, in resurrection, at the evaluation throne of Christ, in the millennial reign of Christ, and in the eternal state. So, for the Christian, this happiness crescendos until it reaches a climax in the eternal state.
4. What is it that causes a nation to fail? This is brought about through the arrogance of its people especially the Christian population.
5. It is impossible for the believer with his sin nature to execute God’s plan for his life apart from the use of the Recovery Procedure as found in 1 John 1:9.
6. God has provided through His grace policy the means of executing His plan in the Church Age.
7. Therefore, anything that contradicts the unique spiritual life cannot exist in God’s plan. Anything that contradicts the unique spiritual life hinders the believer from using the grace of God to glorify Him through the execution of His plan.
8. Arrogance is a major contradiction to God’s protocol plan of wisdom.
Wisdom is defined as knowledge of what is true or right combined with good judgment which comes from the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit, John 14:26. Wisdom is the fulfillment of the unique spiritual life which includes: metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness, the Ten Problem-Solving Devices deployed on the FLOT line of the soul, and the simultaneous, double-columned advance to the high ground of glorifying God to the maximum.
Good judgment is related to the believer’s scale of values, in which Bible doctrine is circulated in the seven compartments of the stream of consciousness. You create a mirror in your soul, so that in the privacy of your priesthood you can look into the mirror of your soul anytime and see your status quo and your relationship with God or your failure to have harmonious relationship with God.
Under the mentorship of God, the Holy Spirit, Bible doctrine has number one priority in the life of the Church Age believer as a member of the royal family of God.
The foundation for wisdom is God the Holy Spirit. John 14:26, “But Our mentor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you [by interpretation to the apostles; by application to all Church Age believers] all things, and cause you to remember all that I have said to you.”
Wisdom is the sum total of the teaching of Bible doctrine under the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit and the positive response to that doctrine, resulting in perception, metabolization, application of Bible doctrine.
Wisdom understands both the will and the plan of God for your life.
1. You have to know both. You have to know what the will of God is and what the overall plan of God is. The two go together.
2. Wisdom begins when you understand that God has a plan for your life and begin to see it from the Scripture, and then to understand the spiritual life and use it. From this, comes wisdom.
Wisdom is the child of perspicacity.
1. You have to have wisdom and this wisdom must come from outside of yourself. It must come from the accurate teaching of Bible doctrine.
2. Therefore, you have to have humility to acquire wisdom; for no one is teachable apart from humility. Without humility, your mind is not open to teaching.
3. Humility is the basis for teachability, and teachability is the road to wisdom.
4. No one has or will attain wisdom apart from virtue and humility. From virtue comes great happiness. From humility comes grace orientation to life.
5. Wisdom must always have a textbook.
6. The textbook is the infallible word of God, the canon of Scripture, with emphasis on the New Testament epistles.
7. This wisdom is for life, death, and the eternal life beyond the grave.
a. We are to have wisdom regarding our life, our death, our interim body, and our eternal resurrection body. This is all a part of the plan of God for you.
b. How we look at death is how we look at life. Our perspective about death changes our perspective about life. In other words, if one is afraid of dying, he is also afraid of life.
c. Philippians 1:21, “As far as I am concerned living is Christ, dying is profit.” If you are occupied with Christ in your life, you will be occupied with Christ in your dying.
Satanic Attacks Destroy Wisdom.
1. Because of the importance of wisdom in the soul of the believer, Satan is constantly attacking the importance of accumulating wisdom.
2. Satan attacks the ultimate in the spiritual life namely the seventh compartment in the stream of consciousness, the wisdom compartment.
3. The attack on wisdom is as follows:
a. Satan must destroy the whole system of thinking related to the spiritual life in the seven compartments of the stream of consciousness. He accomplishes this by attacking and destroying the frame of reference, memory center, vocabulary storage, categorical storage, conscience, momentum department, and finally the wisdom compartment itself.
b. He attacks also the Problem-Solving Devices. For example, Satan knows that if he can knock-out the use of the Recovery Procedure, the other Problem-Solving Devices cannot function for the Christian will spend the rest of his life in the Cosmic System. If he cannot completely knock-out the Recovery Procedure, he will then attack the need for the Filling of the Spirit and metabolized doctrine so that even if the Christian were to use the Recovery Procedure on occasion, the Christian will be powerless.
4. It has been Satan’s objective to attack the unique spiritual life and destroy wisdom in the stream of consciousness and the Problem-Solving devices, those things which lead to the advance to the high ground of spiritual maturity.
5. Many of the events in history such as the spread of socialism, attacks on the sovereignty of the client nation are designed to fulfill Satan’s objectives. Once wisdom is gone from the soul, and replaced with black-out and scar tissue, we have no protection against the satanic attacks. When too many believers have lost their wisdom, we are destroyed as a client nation and as a people.
6. Arrogance is a major contradiction to God’s Protocol Plan, and is the primary reason why the believer fails to execute the spiritual life.
a. Arrogance is the father of evil and the sins we commit are the children of evil.
b. The documentation of the satanic attack on wisdom through arrogance.
(1) Proverbs 11:2, “When arrogance comes, then comes dishonor.”
(2) Proverbs 16:18, “Arrogance precedes destruction, and before a fall there is a lifestyle of arrogance.”
(3) Proverbs 23:29, “A person’s arrogance will bring him low, but a lifestyle of humility will attain honor.”
(4) Romans 12:3, “For I say through the grace which has been given to me to everyone who is among you, stop thinking of self in terms of arrogance beyond what you ought to think, but think in terms of sanity for the purpose of being rational without illusion as God has assigned to each one of us a standard of thinking from doctrine.”
(5) Arrogance is defined in terms of the sin of jealousy as in James 3:14-16, “But if you have bitter jealousy and inordinate ambition in your right lobe, stop being arrogant, and stop lying against the truth [Bible doctrine]. (15) This pseudo wisdom is not that which comes from above, but is earthly, natural, and demonic. (16) For where jealousy and inordinate ambition exist there is disorder and every evil deed.”
(6) Proverbs 13:10, “Through arrogance comes strife, but wisdom is with those who receive instruction.”
(7) 1 Peter 5:5, “Likewise you younger men [members of the congregation] be subject to the elder [pastor], and all of you, cloth yourselves with humility toward one another. `For God makes war against the arrogant, but He gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore, humble yourselves under the powerful hand of God, that He may promote you at the proper time.”
(8) 2 Timothy 3:2-7 describes facets of arrogance. “For persons [believers] will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, (3) without love, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, (4) treacherous, thoughtless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, (5) having a form of the spiritual life but having denied its power [the two power options], in fact, avoid such persons as these. (6) And among them [immoral arrogant believers] are those who creep into households and captivates silly women [moral Christian women without doctrine] who are loaded down with sins [mostly emotional and mental sins] and lead on by their multifarious lusts [no control over their sin natures], (7) always learning [without the Filling of the Holy Spirit resulting in their having academic understanding of Biblical information, but not usable in the spiritual life] but never able to come to metabolized knowledge of the truth.”
(9) Occupation with Christ is the ultimate Problem-Solving Device in preventing arrogance. Proverbs 8:11, “The respect for the Lord is to hate evil, to hate pride and arrogance and the evil way. And I hate a perverted mouth.”
c. The rejection of wisdom and the attack on wisdom through sin is to tempt believers in their area of weakness. The rejection of wisdom through many categories of sin result in the destruction of wisdom.
d. Arrogance rejects the blessing of wisdom and results in divine punishment of the client nation. Wisdom cannot coexist with any form of evil.
e. All distortions of the unique spiritual life result from arrogance which rejects the life of wisdom with its advance to the high ground of spiritual maturity, and it brings judgment from God.
f. All precedence for the sins of arrogance originates from the fall of Satan. Satan’s sin of arrogance attacked wisdom, Ezekiel 28:14-17a, “You were the anointed cherub who guards, and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God [the great castle of God]; you walked in the midst of the stones of fire [in the interior of that castle]. (15) You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you [his original sin]. (16) By the abundance of your slander [of God] they filled your inner life [motivation and thought pattern] with violence, and you sinned; therefore I [God the Father]) have cast you out as defiled [Satan rejected the protocol of heaven] from the mountain of God [from God’s castle]. And I have excluded you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire [from the interior of the castle]. (17a) Your heart was lifted up [became arrogant] because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom because of your glamour.”
(1) Satan was the highest form of angelic creation. He was the highest and greatest of the cherubs.
(2) He had a special job to guard the throne room of God. He had the ability to go to the palace where God lived (the holy mountain of God) and was the guardian.
(3) Satan was created blameless, and perfect, but with the volition to change all of that.
(4) The unrighteousness found in Satan was arrogance, Isaiah 14:14, “I will make myself like the Most-High God.”
(5) The Hebrew word ‘rekullah’ means to go from one place to another for trade. Wherever the Arab traders went in the ancient world, there was gossip and slander. So, it took on the meaning of ‘slander.’
(6) When Satan became arrogant, he was motivated to slander God. Furthermore, this thinking was full of violence.
(7) Satan corrupted his own wisdom with his own arrogance and made glamour a substitute for wisdom.
Angelology is a major topic in the Book of Revelation.
1. Immediately under our Lord Jesus Christ are the highest-ranking angels, called Seraphim, who apparently fulfilled something similar to our Protocol Plan of God. Since wings are a sign of rank among the angels, the Seraphs are the highest ranking, having six wings. This would be comparable to the promotion of the spiritually mature believers who pass Evidence Testing.
2. At the conclusion of the prehistoric angelic conflict, a new rank was created for angels whose modus operandi during the prehistoric phase glorified God to the maximum namely the Seraphim. The seraph-rank was created as a reward for the greatest elect angels during the prehistoric angelic conflict. Apparently, there were no seraphs until the prehistoric angelic conflict was over since Lucifer as a cherub was the highest-ranking angel before the prehistoric angelic conflict had begun, a new rank superior to the rank of cherub was established for those who excelled to the maximum in the prehistoric angelic conflict under God’s plan.
3. Isaiah’s call to ministry: Isaiah 6:1-7, “In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw [Isaiah’s vision in verses 1-4] the Lord [only the 2nd person is ever manifested] sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the heavenly temple. (2) Seraphim stood above Him [the four heralds of Revelation 4:6 stood above His throne], each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. (3) And one [of the Seraphs] called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy [the righteousness and justice of the Lord Jesus Christ] is the Lord of the Armies, the whole earth is full of His glory [the revelation of the written Word of God]. (4) And the post of the door of the temple shook [at the very mention of the Lord Jesus Christ whereas the Jews in Isaiah’s day were ridiculing His name; this is why they needed the prophet Isaiah] at the voice of him [the seraph] who shouted and the temple was filled with smoke. (5) Then, I [Isaiah] said, "Woe is me [up to this point, he didn’t shake at hearing the name of Christ], for I am ruined [Isaiah having seen Christ in his awesome majesty]! Because I am a man of unclean lips [confession of sins; his tongue has not been used for the glory of God], and I live among a people of unclean lips [they mention Christ only in ridicule and mockery]; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of the Armies. (6) Then one of the seraphim flew to me, with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar [which speaks of the cross] with tongs. (7) And he touched my mouth with it and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven."
4. In Revelation 8, a powerful Seraph is portrayed as the angel with the golden incense shovel, having authority over the fire of the altar, and the processing of all imprecatory prayers of the Tribulation. Revelation 8:3-5, “Then another angel [a high-ranking Seraph in the throne room] came and took his place before the altar [the Golden Altar of Incense], and he had an incense shovel made of gold; consequently, much incense was given to him in order that he might offer it with the prayers of all the saints [of the Tribulation] on the golden altar which is before the throne. (4). Then, the smoke of the incense along with the prayers of the saints [imprecatory prayers first mentioned in Revelation 6:9-11] went up before God [the Father] from the hand of the angel [the Seraph in context]. (5) Then, the angel [a high-ranking cherub] took the incense shovel, and he filled it with fire from the altar and hurled it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder, loud noises [audible warning], flashes of lightening [visual warning] and an earthquake [warning of coming judgment - still time for people to change their minds about Christ and avoid these judgments].”
Understanding the Golden Altar of Incense: Luke 1:8-13, “Now it came about, while he [Zacharias] was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, (9) according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. (10) And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering [prayer was offered during the burning of incense on the Golden Altar of Incense]. (11) And an angel of the Lord [Gabriel] appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. (12) And Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear gripped him. (13) But the angel said to him, "Stop being afraid, Zacharias, for your petition [for a son during the burning of the incense] has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.”
5. In Revelation 10:1-3, “Then I saw another powerful angel, [a Seraph, the Lord’s herald for the 2nd Advent] coming down from heaven, and he was wearing a cloud [The cloud represents the glory, power and wisdom of our Lord Jesus Christ], and a rainbow over his head [the Lord’s integrity in human history], and his face was like the sun [depicts the Lord’s provision of logistical grace blessing and the greater blessings for mature believers], and his feet were like columns of fire [depict the Lord’s provision of the wall of fire: the divine protection for the growing believer in personal or historical disaster]. (2) And he had a small opened book [the title-deed of the earth from which he made his proclamation] in his hand. Then he placed his right foot on the sea [the one who controls the sea controls the land] and his left on the land [claiming planet earth for the Lord Jesus Christ]. (3) Then he [the Lord’s angelic herald for the 2nd Advent] shouted with a loud voice [made his proclamation that Jesus Christ is the legitimate ruler of the world], just as a lion roars [can be heard at a great distance] and when he had shouted [made his announcement], the seven thunders [lower ranking angels, cherubs] relayed the proclamation with their voices.”
6. In Revelation 14:15-18, “Then, another angel [a high ranking seraph, a herald, possibly one, of the Four Heralds, who had received orders from God the Father] came out of the temple [from heaven], and he shouted with a loud voice [relaying the orders related to the last seven plagues] to Him [Christ as the judge will execute the Father’s command] who was sitting on the cloud, "Send in Your sickle [of judgment] and reap the harvest, because the hour has come to reap [time for divine judgment], because the harvest of the earth has become over ripe [When the human race thru cosmic involvement is in danger of total destruction, then the Lord destroys segments of the human race where the degeneracy exists]. (16) Then, He [Christ] who was sitting on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped [Jesus Christ who controls history approves of the coming divine judgment; the U. S. government has assumed the role of policemen of the world in an attempt to control history; what arrogance!]. (17) Then, another angel [the one who commands the execution squad of seven] came out of the temple which is in heaven [heavenly headquarters], and he also had a sharp sickle. [the symbol of divine judgment] (18) And in the meantime another angel [a high ranking seraph], who had authority over the fire [of the altar of incense of imprecatory prayers] came out from the altar; and he shouted with a magnificent voice to him [the officer, a cherub who is in command of the execution squad] who had the sharp sickle, and said, "Send in your sharp sickle [confirmatory order to execute the seven judgments, the seven last plagues of Revelation 16] and harvest the cluster of grapes [the saturation of human degeneracy] from the vines of the earth, because its grapes are ripe [ripened to the point of degeneracy and rotting].”
7. Revelation 18:1, “After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory.” Revelation 18:21, “Then a strong angel [an angelic herald, a Seraph] took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not be found any longer.
8. Revelation 19:5, “Then, a voice [a Seraph, one of the Heralds] came from the throne saying, “Give praise to our God, all His servants, you who respect him [the Lord Jesus Christ at his coronation and after the incarceration of Satan], both the small [believers who were losers in time, but now attend the coronation in their resurrection bodies] and the great [the believers who were winners in time].” Revelation 19:17, “And I saw one angel [a herald] standing in the sun. And he cried with a great voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven, Come and gather together to the supper of the great God,”
9. Revelation 20:1-2, “Then I saw [a vision] an angel [a powerful Seraph] descending from Heaven, having the key of the abyss [the fourth compartment of Hades] and a great chain [giant handcuffs] in his hand. (2) And he seized [with violence] the dragon [a term for beauty; a large snake in Classical Greek], that ancient serpent [so named because he indwelt the serpent to tempt the woman] who is the Devil [slanderer, accuser, defense attorney] even Satan [the Hebrew for devil], and bound him [with the chain] for a thousand years.”
10. Other Seraphs include the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. Michael commands the angelic army which defends Israel through the end of the Tribulation. Daniel 12:1, “Now, at that time, Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people [speaking to Daniel] will arise; and there shall be a time of distress [the Tribulation] such as never occurred since there was a [client] nation until that time: then at that time [the Tribulation] your people every one who is found written in the book [of Life] will be rescued.” Revelation 12:7-9, “Now there was war in heaven and Michael and his army of elect angels fought against the dragon [Satan]. Furthermore, the dragon and his fallen angels fought back. (8) Nevertheless, he [Satan and his demon assault army] did not win, in fact, a place was no longer found for them in heaven. (9) Then the great dragon, the ancient serpent [related to the garden] who is called the devil [accuser, maligner] and Satan, who keeps on deceiving the entire inhabited earth was thrown out of heaven; he was thrown down to earth [in the middle of the Tribulation], furthermore his angels were thrown out of heaven with him.”
11. Gabriel’s announcements of the coming births of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. The announcement of the birth of John the Baptizer is made in Luke 1:11-20. Gabriel is identified in Luke 1:19, “And the angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God; and I have been sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news.” The Archangel Gabriel is also the one who brought the good news to Mary in Luke 1:26-27, “Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee, called Nazareth, (27) to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.”
12. Gabriel’s trumpet-call to assemble all living believers at the Rapture of the Church is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, “Because the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a command [will give a command through Gabriel], with the voice of the archangel [for mortality to receive immortality] and with the trumpet of God [the Father’s trumpet command for corruption to become incorruption], in fact, the dead in Christ will rise first [in their resurrection bodies].”
Revelation 4:7
Now, the first angelic herald [literally, the first living creature; each bears 1/4 of the arms of the Lord Jesus Christ: arms are the hereditary heraldic device of a family] was like a lion [the coat of arms of our Lord's second royal patent as the Son of David, from the tribe of Judah who will rule Israel forever], and the second angelic herald was like a young bull [coat of arms of the First Advent of Jesus Christ emphasizing His submission to the Father's plan in going to the Cross], and the third herald had a face like a man [coat of arms of the third royal patent: King over kings and Lord over lords celebrating the strategic victory of the First Advent], and the fourth angelic herald was like a flying eagle [the coat of arms emphasizing Jesus Christ the one controls history].
καὶ τὸ ζῷον τὸ πρῶτον ὅµοιον λέοντι, καὶ τὸ δεύτερον ζῷον ὅµοιον µόσχῳ, καὶ τὸ τρίτον ζῷον ἔχων τὸ πρόσωπον ὡς ἀνθρώπου, καὶ τὸ τέταρτον ζῷον ὅµοιον ἀετῷ πετοµένῳ.
Anticipating the rest of our study in this verse and in the context, you will notice that four majestic symbols are on our Lord’s escutcheon: the eagle, the greatest of the birds; the bull, the greatest of domestic animals for power; the lion, the greatest of wild animals; and the man, the highest of all living creatures visible today on the earth.
Judah, the Lion:
The lion of Judah is a symbol of bravery, nobility, and strength. This symbolism is equated with the Tribe of Judah as per Genesis 49:8-9, “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's sons shall bow down to you. (9) Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up?”
Many in the tribe of Judah demonstrated their bravery and nobility such as King David who actually slew a lion (1 Samuel 17:36). The tribe of Judah in time became the most powerful and most important tribe. Not only did it produce great kings such as David, Solomon and Hezekiah, but also, the Messiah would come from among its members. Jesus himself is called the Lion of Judah in Revelation 5:5, “. . . the Lion from the tribe of Judah [the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of David] . . .”
Young Bull:
It includes such doctrines as the virgin birth, the hypostatic union, our Lord’s humanity residing and functioning inside the prototype spiritual life, the resultant kenosis and impeccability which qualified Him to go to the cross and bear our sins under the greatest possible humility.
The paragraph below is taken from the booklet, Levitical Offerings by R. B. Thieme Jr. page 17.
“God in His grace provided for the Jews a means of approach to Himself that included the shedding of blood. It should be understood, however, that while the shedding of blood of the animal sacrifice [like a young bull] was analogous to the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross, this is a representative rather than a true analogy. The physical death of the sacrificial animals represented the spiritual death of Christ. Jesus Christ did not bleed to death on the cross. His “shedding of blood” did not save us (Heb. 9:22). We have salvation through His substitutionary spiritual death, by His being judged for our sins (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 2:24). When the Bible mentions the “blood of Christ,” as it frequently does (Eph. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:19; 1 John 1:7b), the intent is to relate every shadow of animal sacrifice with the reality of the cross (Heb. 10:1).”
The Face of a Man:
The third angelic herald had a face like a man. That is, he is bearing arms of a man. The heraldry device here emphasizes the hypostatic union as the basis for our Lord’s third royal patent. So pertinent to this part of our Lord’s coat of arms is His substitutionary spiritual death, His physical death followed by His resurrection and session. At His session, He received His third royal patent at the right hand of the Father based on His strategic victory of the angelic conflict. This patent produced titles including King over kings, Lord over lords, the Bright Morning Star. It is from this third royal title that the Age of Israel came to a halt and a new historical era or dispensation was inserted to call out the royal family of God, the body of Christ, the Church Age believer.
The Flying Eagle:
The eagle is used as a symbol of Christ controlling history in two ways one through blessing and the other through discipline, and judgment.
1. Regarding judgment: Job 9:25-26, “Now my days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good, [the rapid passing of time without blessing] (26) They slip by like reed boats [moving gently down the Nile], like an eagle that swoops on its prey, [an illustration of the Lord teaching the hard way. The hard way is by suffering, by discipline, by hurting.]”
2. The judgment of a client nation through military disaster: Deuteronomy 28:49, “The Lord will bring a nation against you [Israel as a client nation] from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand.” The eagle swooping down is Jesus Christ controlling history in using a nation usually a very evil nation, a very unjust nation, to punish and discipline the client nation under the third and fourth and even fifth cycles.
3. The eagle also emphasizes divine protection: Deuteronomy 32:9-11, “For the Lord’s portion is his people [Israel as a client nation to God]; Jacob is the allotment of his inheritance. (10) He found them in a desert land, [helpless in slavery] and in the howling waste of the desert; he encircled them, he cared for them, he guarded them as the pupil of his eye. (11) Like an eagle that stirs up its nest [trains the eaglets to fly], that hovers over its young, he spread his wings, and caught them, he carried them on his pinions [the terminal section of the wing].”
4. There will always be Jews in every generation of human history in spite of Satan doing everything he can to destroy them. In the angelic conflict the major objective of Satan is to discredit and destroy the Jews. In spite of Satan’s efforts in bringing every possible type of persecution against the Jews in every generation of history, the Jew has not only survived but has prospered is indicative of the fourth part of our Lord’s coat of arms namely the ‘flying eagle’ as found in Revelation 4:7.
5. A description of our Lord’s blessing as per Isaiah 40:31, “Yet those who have confidence in the Lord will gain new strength [confidence in the Lord is the momentum of the believer in the Old Testament]. They shall mount up with wings like eagles [believers advancing in the spiritual life], they shall run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” Interestingly enough the last three lines of Isaiah 40:31 actually deal with the tremendous production of energy to those who have spiritual momentum from doctrine resident in the soul.
6. The eagle device, then, in our Lord’s heraldry emphasizes His control of history, not only from the standpoint of His faithfulness to the believer who is advancing, but His faithfulness to believer in discipline and unbeliever in judgment. Hosea 8:1, “Put the trumpet to your lips! Like an eagle the enemy invades against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant, they have rebelled against my doctrine.” The eagle on one hand delivers Israel when there is integrity from doctrine, but on the other hand, when there is degeneracy, the eagle becomes the basis for an army invading.
7. Describing the invasion of the Chaldeans in administering the fifth cycle of discipline as per Habakkuk 1:8, “Their horses are swifter than leopards [the cavalry of the Chaldeans], more eager to attack than wolves of the evening. [The wolves, by the way, always attack the weak ones, the stragglers of the flock, implying that the weak ones of Israel would be destroyed by the Chaldean invasion] Their steeds paw the ground, [they can’t wait to get at you] Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swooping down to devour.”
8. The eagle on our Lord’s escutcheon says in effect, take your choice: blessing or discipline.
Revelation 4:8
Now, each one of the four angelic heralds had six wings [high ranking Seraphs], also they are full of [covered with] eyes [a uniform of wisdom] both outside [analogous to the application of Bible Doctrine] and inside [analogous to the perception of Bible Doctrine]; furthermore, day and night they never stopped saying, "Holy, Holy, Holy [Christ’s integrity], the Lord God, the Almighty One, He who was [eternity past] and He who is [glorified Christ at the right hand of the Father], and He who is coming [at the 2nd Advent].
καὶ τὰ τέσσαρα ζῷα, ἓν καθ ἓν [one by one] αὐτῶν ἔχων ἀνὰ [each] πτέρυγας ἕξ, κυκλόθεν καὶ ἔσωθεν γέµουσιν ὀφθαλµῶν· καὶ ἀνάπαυσιν οὐκ ἔχουσιν ἡµέρας καὶ νυκτὸς λέγοντες, Ἅγιος ἅγιος ἅγιος κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ, ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόµενος.
Eyes, a few more points:
1. The eyes (“full of eyes”) must be defined in terms of other scripture. When you have hyperbole, analogy etc., you must have some justification. Our justification begins at Matthew 6:22, “The lamp of the body is the eye, [Obviously, the eye is used here not in its literal sense but in its figurative sense for perception.] If therefore your eye is healthy, [a reference to perception of doctrine], then your whole body is full of light; [you have doctrine in your soul].” Luke 11:34, “The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light [doctrine]; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness [demonization in the Cosmic System].”
2. To “lift up the eyes” is a phrase used quite frequently, especially in the Old Testament. To lift up the eyes and to look up, or to lift up the eyes and look around means to be alert, to seek or gather information. Genesis 18:2, “When he [Abraham] lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men [one was the Lord who was going to foretell the birth of Isaac] were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth,” Isaiah 51:6, “Lift up your eyes to the sky, Then look to the earth beneath; For the sky will vanish like smoke, And the earth will wear out like a garment And its inhabitants will die in like manner; But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness will not wane.”
3. The eyes are used figuratively for doctrinal perception in Psalm 119:18, “Open my eyes that I might behold wonderful things from your Law [the Old Testament].”
4. Ephesians 1:17,18, “I pray that the God of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory may give to you a lifestyle of wisdom and revelation concerning him through metabolized knowledge [human volition is involved]. (18) That the eyes of your right lobe may be enlightened [through your advance in the spiritual life] so that you may know what is the confidence [of receiving escrow blessings in time and in eternity] of His election, what are the riches [divine capitalization of every Church Age believer in eternity past through the provision of our portfolio of invisible assets] of His inheritance in the saints."
5. The eye is the index of the mind; what you are thinking or not thinking. Lowly of eyes speak of humility as in Job 22:29b, “and the humble person [lowly of eyes], He will deliver.” Lofty eyes speak of arrogance as in Psalm 18:27b, “but lofty [haughty] eyes, you abase.”
Explanation:
1. God is the most important person to know. However, knowing God is only the first step in the relationship. As you gain more and more knowledge of God in a state of humility, you will develop a love for God. You don’t fall in love with God instantly and have maximum love. Love, in the human race is not an instant thing just as love among angels in their prehistoric angelic history was not an instant thing. Developing a love for God goes hand and hand with developing a lifestyle of wisdom.
2. The Uniform of Wisdom, “the eyes,” emphasizes the extrapolation of wisdom from knowledge of God and his plan. Furthermore, the Uniform of Wisdom is an angelic reward for elect angels who had advanced to the equivalent of spiritual maturity through their positive response to truth [doctrine] as it was presented in angelic history. Therefore, the Uniform of Wisdom is an eternal reward, a monument to the persistent positive volition toward doctrine on the part of certain elect angels.
Relating the pre-historic angelic history to human history:
1. God always provides free will for His higher creatures namely free will to succeed or free will to fail.
2. God always lets his higher creatures understand their choices namely if you follow His plan, then you can expect this etc. If you reject His plan, then the integrity of God will punish you for the consequences of your decision.
3. Just as the Lord made it very clear the choices Adam and Ishah had in the garden, so God made it very clear to the angels regarding their choices in their heavenly state. In summary, if they should stay with God and His plan, they would be blessed forever; if not they would be punished forever.
4. The Lord graciously provided perfect environment both for the angels in their habitat and for mankind in the Garden of Eden.
5. The Lord always tests the free will (volition) of his higher creatures namely angels and humans whether they want to remain under His authority and plan or not.
6. Since the angels already possessed perfect righteousness, eternal life in their eternal bodies and already were living with God, the test was quite simple namely, do the angels want to remain under God’s authority and gracious plan and provision or not. This decision would be an eternal decision to be made within a specified period.
7. Adam, his wife and their descendants would make their eternal decisions from a fallen position. Adam and his wife’s eternal decision for eternal relationship with God would take place after their fall. As a result of this fall, their descendants would make their eternal decisions regarding God and His plan in a fallen state.
8. The Lord always provides a time frame in which the creature must make that eternal decision. After which he is locked-in to the consequences of that decision.
9. Lucifer was the first creature to make his decision which was to reject God’s authority and His gracious plan. He did so, knowing clearly what the consequences of that decision would be. Just as God makes it very clear to the members of the human race the consequences of their decisions. Though Lucifer understood clearly, he wasn’t concerned since he assumed that he would be victorious by making himself like the Most-High God.
10. Satan in arrogance rejected God’s plan and in that same arrogance convinced one third of the angels to join him. Satan’s rejection was expressed “I will be like the Most-High God.” Since he assumed that he would succeed, the Lake of Fire was not a concern. Also, Satan convinced one third of the angels that he would succeed in the revolt and therefore, there should be no concern regarding what the Lord had stated about the Lake of Fire.
11. Just as Satan convinced one third of the angels so does he convince the majority of people today that this story about heaven and the Lake of Fire is only a fairy tale.
12. In the Garden, Satan convinced the woman that the warning the Lord gave to Adam and ultimately to her about eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was a lie. Furthermore, if she were to eat, she would be as smart as God (I will be like the Most-High God), and consequently infinitely smarter than her husband with the implication that Adam would be taking orders from her henceforth. Of course, after her little plan failed, and having realized that she was now under condemnation and not wishing to be alone in this fallen state, she invited Adam to join her by handing him the forbidden fruit.
13. In the Garden, their decisions were not eternal in nature. The Lord did not say to Adam that in the day he ate from the fruit of the forbidden tree, namely the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that he would be eternally condemned and bound for the Lake of Fire. No! He merely warned Adam that he would die spiritually immediately by eating from the forbidden fruit and ultimately die physically.
14. After Lucifer and one third of the angels made their decisions to reject the Lord and His plan, a trial was held in which Satan and his comrades were sentenced forever to the Lake of Fire.
15. During this pre-historic angelic trial, Lucifer’s name was changed to Satan, a Hebrew word, the exact equivalent to diabolos in the Greek. These words not only have the meaning of a defense attorney, but also one who impugns the character of someone; one who slanders. So, these words not only tell us that Satan functioned as the defense attorney for himself and his comrades during the pre-historic angelic trial, but also that he impugned the integrity of God. How he impugned the integrity of God a primary component of the love of God, we do not know. We just know that he did. He may have implied or even stated that a loving God with perfect integrity would never sentence his creatures to the Lake of Fire. Also, he likely alleged that his rights and those of his comrades as creatures of God were violated. Therefore, Satan requested that an appeal trial would need to be convened in order to properly address this issue.
16. Possibly to make this issue crystal clear to both the fallen and elect angels, God the Father, the presiding judge granted him an appeal trial. The Lord would create lower creatures who would function as witnesses in this appeal trial, initially Adam and his wife, Ishah. (In the pre-historic trial, certain key elect and the fallen angels would have been called forward as witnesses to testify.) Angelic witnesses would be replaced by human witnesses. Satan would function as the defense attorney and the Lord as the prosecuting attorney.
17. The phases of this trial were as follows:
1. The Opening Statement, Adam and his wife in the Garden: The opening statement at the beginning of the trial is limited to outlining facts. This is each party's opportunity to introduce core dispute(s) in the case and provide a general road map of how the trial is expected to unfold. In the Garden, the Lord laid-out his strategy which was to prove that He was a loving God and that his institutions and His plan for mankind and angels were perfect. On the other hand, Satan would have outlined his plan by making it quite clear that when he said that he would be like the Most-High God, he really meant that he would be greater than the Lord by demonstrating that his policy and plan encompassing good and evil would be the best for mankind and for angels as well.
2. The Formal phase of the Trial, the Old Testament: In this phase of the trial, evidence both direct and circumstantial is gathered and presented. Direct evidence usually includes the following: eyewitness-accounts, confessions etc. Circumstantial evidence usually is that which suggests a fact by implication or inference. Either kind of evidence can be offered in oral testimony of witnesses or physical exhibits, and documents.
During the Old Testament, the Lord demonstrated over and over again through evidence gathered and through testimony that He is a God of love with emphasis on integrity, wisdom and power and that His plan for mankind is perfect including His Laws of Establishment and His plan for believers. In effect, He proved that there is no one like Him. Satan on the other hand gathered evidence trying to prove that his plan and policy of good and evil is much superior to the Lord’s plan. Satan attempted to prove that his good and evil which includes socialism and tyranny is better than the Lord’s system of nationalism and freedom; his economic system of confiscation of wealth and its redistribution is better than the Lord’s free market system etc. Satan compiled evidence and then distorted the implications to suggest that God is not a God of love. For he likely questioned some of God’s decisions and action. For example, how could a God of love destroy so many people with the flood? How could a loving God destroy those lovely Canaanites living in the Pentapolis just because the Lord did not agree with their sexual preferences? How could a loving God command the killing of men, women, children and animals in the conquest of the Canaanites?
Since the perfect marriage failed in the Garden, Satan would compile more evidence in the Old Testament that would suggest that the divine institution of marriage was not a good design. Satan’s contention was made easier since most of the greats in the Old Testament did not farewell in marriage. For example, Abraham and Sarah had a horrible marriage most of their marriage life. He was a wimp, and she was a bitch. It was so bad that he was willing to give his wife to the Pharaoh of Egypt and then after leaving Egypt acquired a mistress as a substitute for relationship with his wife. Then, after Sarah died, he barely waited long enough for her corpse to cool before he married again. Jacob’s marriage life was a disaster namely two legal wives and two mistresses. Moses, the greatest believer of the Old Testament divorced his first wife. Then, there was David who had over 20 wives with whom he had 90 worthless sons. This evidence obviously was accumulated and presented by Satan.
3. The rebuttal of Christ during the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union and the Church Age: At the conclusion of the defendant's case, the plaintiff or government (in this case, the Lord) can present rebuttal witnesses or evidence to refute evidence presented by the defendant. This may include only evidence not presented in the case initially, or a new witness who contradicts the defendant's witnesses. Christ defeats Satan’s argument against the love of God during the 1st Advent by becoming a mediator uniting infinite God with finite mankind in order to resolve man’s sinful problem. A tremendous decision related to impersonal love. Then, the ultimate demonstration of the love of God the Father and the humanity of Christ was the work on the cross. Furthermore, the Lord rebuts Satan’s attack against marriage by raising the standards of marriage and relating those standards to the spiritual life in the Church Age as found in Ephesians 5:22-25. In every generation of the Church Age, there is at least one married couple who are able to meet these standards as commanded in Ephesian’s chapter 5 which becomes the strongest possible testimony for the divine institution of marriage. This completely rebuts Satan’s argument against marriage.
4. The rebuttal of Satan in the Tribulation: Satan after seeing how the evidence that he had accumulated against the love of God and marriage has been successfully rebutted in the Christo-centric dispensations (the 1st Advent and the Church Age), he decides that any rebuttal would be hopeless. So, he goes to violence.
5. The Closing Statement of the Lord, the prosecuting attorney during His Millennial rule on the earth: The Lord in His closing statement makes it very clear that only He has the ability and the integrity to bring-in perfect environment.
6. The Closing Statement of Satan in the violence of the Gog-Magog revolution since he will realize that he is losing the appeal trial.
18. In order for this trial to be fair and unbiased, God made a sovereign decision to permit the free will of mankind to coexist with his sovereignty. Man can freely choose for God or Satan in this trial.
19. Since human history is an appeal trial, God permitted Satan, the defense attorney to cross examine the first witnesses in the appeal trial namely Adam and his wife. Before doing so, Satan observed them both carefully.
20. He observed the woman’s dissatisfaction of being under Adam’s authority though his rulership over her was perfect. Satan also observed Adam’s tremendous love for his wife, a love that seemed to Satan to be greater than Adam’s love for the Lord. So, Satan knew that if he could get the woman, that he could also get the man to fall.
21. Satan knew that if he were to attack the man first, it would not be a clear victory for if he got Adam to fall first, then Adam could merely command his wife to eat of the fruit. In so doing, the woman would have a legitimate complaint since the Lord had placed her under Adam’s authority. On the one hand, she would be in violation of the Lord’s mandate not to eat of this fruit, but on the other hand, she would have obeyed her husband as she was commanded to do so by the Lord.
22. By getting both Adam and his wife to eat of the forbidden fruit, and consequently enter into spiritual death and to be expelled from the Garden, Satan was victorious in this Opening Statement of the trial.
23. After which, Satan and his comrades undoubtedly threw a grand victory-party. Satan in his tremendous genius knew that there was no solution to man’s fall for mankind was in a hopeless, helpless situation. There was no solution, but one which Satan had overlooked. Only a member of the Trinity becoming a mediator and then going to the cross and bearing the sins of mankind could resolve this problem, but who could ever have imagined this!
24. The Lord announced to Satan that He would become a mediator and savior for mankind. Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your seed and her seed [a reference to the humanity of Christ]; he [Jesus Christ on the cross] shall bruise your head [the strategic defeat of Satan], and you shall bruise his heel [Jesus will be punished for the sins of the world]." This announcement must have been a tremendous shock and blow to Satan and his comrades.
25. The Lord brings in more witnesses which will be the environment for the formal trial in which both the defense attorney and the prosecuting attorneys present their objectives. Genesis 1:28, “And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth [in anticipation of the Fall and the 2nd stage of the trial] and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."
26. In the Old Testament, namely the formal trial, Satan tries to prove that he is superior to the Lord. For example, since marriage failed in the garden, Satan maintained that the institution of marriage was not a good system. Satan offers as a substitute for the divine institution of marriage, multifarious choices such as fornicate as you desire, the phallic cult with child sacrifice, short term relationships, homosexual and lesbian relationships, polygamy etc. This attack against the perfect institution of marriage is not put to rest (defeated) until the Church Age in which the Lord raises the standards of marriage as per Ephesians 5:22-25. A few great marriages in which the man and wife are able to obey the mandates as found in this passage defeats Satan’s attack against marriage, proving that there is nothing wrong with this divine institution, but the weak point being the people involved.
27. Satan’s impugning of the love of God is finally put to rest on the cross, part of rebuttal phase of the Angelic Appeal Trial. Romans 5:8, “But the God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died as a substitute for us.” The greatest expression of personal and impersonal love!
28. During the formal stage of the trial, the Lord adds to volition and marriage the following: family and nationalism. Providing protection, security, prosperity and a measure of happiness to those who follow them, the Laws of Establishment. Satan does everything he can to attack and destroy each and every one of these divine institutions. Proving over and over again, that he will never be like the Most-High God. Though the Lord must allow the evil of Satan to run its course, He does not lose control. In the pre-diluvian period of the formal trial, Satan even tried to destroy true humanity on the earth via the cohabitation of demons with the females of that period. This the Lord shut down with the flood.
29. In order to concentrate his power and influence and by so doing destroy all freedom to believe in Christ and grow spiritually, Satan attempted the first ‘United Nations’ in the Tower of Babel. This of course, the Lord shut down by creating many languages, the greatest barrier to internationalism.
30. Wherever, Satan focusses his attention and gets the peoples of an area to follow his ‘brilliant ideas’ like homosexuality, it leads to total decadence like in Sodom and Gomorra and the other cities in that area. If the Lord had not stepped in and destroyed those cities, this cancer would have eventually destroyed the entire inhabited earth.
31. After the formal trial was brought to a close by the 1st Advent of Christ, Jesus Christ rebutted all the stupid and evil ideas of Satan. This he did during his three-year public ministry and by His work on the cross.
32. The Lord demonstrates through the mature believers of every generation but especially in the Church Age that his plan for mankind produces the greatest possible happiness and capacity for life. This He demonstrates especially through mature believers taking Evidence Testing.
33. After the Lord’s rebuttal during His 1st Advent and the rebuttal of the Church Age believers, Satan realizes that all is lost. So, when it is his time to rebut, he goes to violence namely the violence of the Tribulation.
34. The Tribulation is Satan’s rebuttal and the greatest period of violence the world will ever know.
35. In contrast to the disastrous period from the fall of man to the 2nd Advent in which period Satan rules, a period of one disaster after another, the Millennial reign of our Lord Jesus Christ will be the greatest period of peace, health, longevity and prosperity of any period of history. This being the closing statement of our Lord Jesus Christ.
36. Satan is released from the Abyss to make his closing statement namely fomenting a rebellion against perfect government.
Just as the angels have aristocracy in their eternal state, so will the Church Age believers in the Millennium and the Eternal State:
1. The aristocracy of the Millennium and the eternal state is not based on physical birth rather it is based on regeneration, the new birth, which occurred at the moment you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. The aristocracy of the Millennium and the eternal state is not based on human ability, human wisdom or human attractiveness, but on spiritual advance inside the divine power system.
3. Those who are entered on the lists of eternal aristocracy will rule with Christ in the Millennium, and they will have special privileges, rewards, decorations for all eternity that other believers will not have.
4. The final aristocracy of history is the greatest aristocracy; the only one which avoids any concept of snobbery since it is not based on class distinction, racial distinction, human achievement, or personal attractiveness.
5. Neither race nor nationality has anything to do with the aristocracy of the Millennium and the eternal state.
6. Included in this new order of aristocracy will be humble folk, famous folk, the attractive and the unattractive of this life; they will all have one thing in common namely maximum exploitation of logistical grace inside the divine power system.
7. Though being born again gives every believer equal opportunity, it does not guarantee every believer aristocracy forever. It gives opportunity to use your free will to achieve spiritual maturity and form that eternal and lasting aristocracy which glorifies our Lord Jesus Christ by its very existence in heaven.
8. Therefore, the election to privilege in the Church Age is the greatest opportunity for becoming part of the order of aristocracy in the Millennium and knighthood for the eternal state.
Revelation 4:9
And when the angelic heralds [literally the ‘living creatures’] shall give glory and honor and thanksgiving to Him [the Lord Jesus Christ] who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever.
καὶ ὅταν δώσουσιν τὰ ζῷα δόξαν καὶ τιµὴν καὶ εὐχαριστίαν τῷ καθηµένῳ ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου τῷ ζῶντι εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων,
One cannot give what one does not possess. These four angelic heralds in their eternal state had glory so they were able to give glory. These angels had developed great honor and integrity so, they are able to honor; they possessed tremendous capacity for gratitude based upon their grace orientation and humility and so were immensely thankful to the Lord. Thanksgiving is based upon gratitude.
Application for the Christian:
1. Compliance with the royal family honor code and the production of functional virtue is necessary for the fulfilment of the worship principle.
2. All worship directed toward God must come from virtue, honor and integrity, the production of the divine power system.
3. Satan invented the Cosmic System as the administration for the rulership of this world. In the cosmic system, Satan uses both morality and immorality, two antithetical concepts, just as the communists do through peace movements and war.
4. Because most moral Christians today are not living in the divine power system where virtue, honor and integrity is produced, but live in the Cosmic System as servants of Satan, their overt morality is based solely on arrogance and self-righteousness.
5. These Christians use their morality as a means of maligning, gossiping judging, and crusading and so have no humility, authority orientation, integrity or honor.
6. To give God honor in worship one must possess honor. This demands momentum inside the divine power system, the function of perception and application of doctrine. Through this advance in the spiritual life, the Christian develops grace orientation and maximum gratitude which he expresses in thanksgiving. Furthermore, he develops honor by which he is able to honor the Lord.
7. Arrogance is devoid of gratitude. No matter what you do for the arrogant believer, he will never appreciate it. Obviously then the arrogant believer does not appreciate what God has done and is doing for him in logistical grace. In other words, people who are ungrateful to people are also ungrateful to God.
8. Believers involved in the Cosmic System are arrogant. Arrogant believers never appreciate anything that is done for them. Arrogance destroys capacity for appreciation and consequently capacity for love, capacity for life, and capacity for happiness. Arrogance either destroys worship or distorts worship into a system of ritual without reality.
9. 1 Peter 1:8, “and though you have not seen Him, you love [occupation with Christ], and though you do not see Him now, but believe [ faith perception to maintain their love], you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible having received glory [Escrow Blessings in time].”
Restating the principle that one can only give what he possesses. The believer in time upon receiving his Escrow Blessings has some glory to give. However, in eternity with his Escrow Blessings in resurrection body, ultimate sanctification, he will have maximum glory to give to the Lord in worship.
Revelation 4:10
And the twenty-four staff officers [of the angelic general staff] will fall down before Him [submission to divine authority] who sits on the throne, and they will worship Him [the Lord Jesus Christ] who lives forever and ever, and they will lay down their crowns [since they have glory, they are able to give glory] before the throne [as part of their worship] and say,
πεσοῦνται οἱ εἴκοσι τέσσαρες πρεσβύτεροι ἐνώπιον τοῦ καθηµένου ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου καὶ προσκυνήσουσιν τῷ ζῶντι εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, καὶ βαλοῦσιν τοὺς στεφάνους αὐτῶν ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου λέγοντες,
In verse 10, we have the antiphonal worship [responsive to the worship of the Four Heralds] of the angelic general staff. The future tense of the Greek verb proskuneo meaning to worship is a gnomic future for a statement or performance which may be anticipated when throne-room worship is conducted by some of the highest orders of angelic creatures. We also noted that they are not constantly doing this, they have other duties, but it is mentioned first because if you start under the concept of worship, then your priorities will be straight.
A few points for clarification:
1. God cannot be first in your life apart from submission to divine authority based on genuine humility. Genuine humility is the capacity for loving God from perception of doctrine. Note then that there are two concepts in worship: the first is submission to divine authority as delegated through the Word, and the second is capacity for loving God through perception of doctrine.
2. Love for God is a motivating virtue which comes from residence and function inside the divine power system, persistence in the perception of Bible doctrine.
3. Without genuine humility it is impossible to worship God, and it is impossible to have happiness in life.
4. Genuine humility increases as perception of Bible doctrine parlays love of God into occupation with the person of Christ.
5. The same genuine humility provides capacity for life, for love, for happiness in human relationships.
6. The same genuine humility also provides the base for the function of impersonal love in the application of doctrine to human relationships. Now here is the shocker. There is a definite relationship between worship of God and human relationship. Worship is a successful relationship with God and it results in successful human relationships. Take God out of life and successful human relationship cannot exist.
Revelation 4:11
"You, O Lord, our God are worthy to receive glory and honor, also the power, because You have created all things, also because of Your sovereign will, they existed, and they were created.
Ἄξιος εἶ, ὁ κύριος καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἡµῶν, λαβεῖν τὴν δόξαν καὶ τὴν τιµὴν καὶ τὴν δύναµιν, ὅτι σὺ ἔκτισας τὰ πάντα, καὶ διὰ τὸ θέληµά σου ἦσαν καὶ ἐκτίσθησαν.
A few points for elaboration:
1. Only one Man is ever worshipped by angels; only the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ in His glorified state is the object of angelic worship. In heaven there will be that remarkable phenomenon of angels worshipping the humanity of Christ though man was created lower than angels.
2. The deity of Christ has always been glorified as eternal God with all the divine attributes.
3. The humanity of Christ from the virgin birth to the cross was in a state of perpetual humility having humbled Himself by becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Then in resurrection, ascension, and session, the humanity of Christ was glorified at the right hand of God the Father. As a result of this glorification, all elect angels worship Him.
4. In the state of glorification with kenosis set aside, our Lord Jesus Christ is the object of the highest angelic worship. While during the first advent our Lord’s humanity was made lower than angels, His same glorified humanity is now higher than angels forever. Therefore, angels worship Him.
Summary of the Worship of the Four Angelic Heralds and the Twenty-four Staff Officers as found in Revelation 4:4-11:
1. Wisdom is required for accuracy in worship, “they are full of [covered with] eyes [a uniform of wisdom] both outside [analogous to the application of Bible Doctrine] and inside [analogous to the perception of Bible Doctrine].”
2. Knowledge of doctrine is necessary for worship, Revelation 4:8b, “Holy, Holy, Holy [Christ’s integrity], the Lord God, the Almighty One, He who was [eternity past] and He who is [glorified Christ at the right hand of the Father], and He who is coming [at the 2nd Advent].” Revelation 4:11b, “because You have created all things, also because of Your sovereign will, they existed, and they were created.”
3. Thanksgiving is based on grace orientation and humility, “You, O Lord, our God are worthy to receive glory and honor, also the power” as per Revelation 4:11a.
4. Worship is based on recognition of divine authority as per Revelation 4:10a, “and the twenty-four staff officers [of the angelic general staff] will fall down before Him [submission to divine authority] who sits on the throne, and they will worship Him [the Lord Jesus Christ].”
5. You cannot give honor and glory unless you have honor and glory. The Four Heralds had honor and glory as demonstrated by their Uniform of Wisdom; the Twenty-four Staff officers had honor and glory as demonstrated by their Uniforms of Glory and their Golden Wreaths.
