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The Tabernacle Fulfilled
By Lloyd Ellefson
God's great desire has always been to dwell in His people! Before this desire could be fulfilled, His people needed years of preparation! The greater the structure, the more time and work are required in the preparation and building of it. God began to zero in on this by calling Abraham and making him the father of a nation. The Israelites became slaves in Egypt, and God liberated them through Moses. They were led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. About 50 days after the first Passover, they came to Mt. Sinai, and there God gave them the law. Accompanied with fire, thunder and lightning, God came to the mountain top to talk to the people. The fear of God and of His judgment came upon them, so they did not want God to talk to them. They asked Moses to be their substitute. So Moses went up the mountain and received the law of commandments, offerings, etc., and the pattern according to which the temple was to be built.
Moses was the mediator of the law. This law was God's covenant with His people! If they would keep it, God would bless them; if they didn't, He wouldn't bless them. So God's blessings depended upon their obedience to the law. Since it was impossible for them to keep the law in its entirety, and no help was provided by the law, they were bound to fail! However, this was just a prototype or pattern of what God had in mind.
The dwelling place of God in the Old Testament was called the tabernacle of witness, because it was a witness to the presence of God. It was built by human hands. We may wonder why God had them build a tabernacle when He actually does not live in temples made by human hands! But many things had to happen before He could dwell in the temple of our body - which is Christ's body! Peter said that he was soon going to put off this tabernacle - meaning the tabernacle of his body. The tabernacle of witness symbolizes the true tabernacle!
The pattern for the tabernacle, and all the laws regarding the sacrifices, etc., were contained in the law given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Christ is the fulfillment of the law and the tabernacle! Since He is the fulfillment, why are people still waiting for another fulfillment? Why are they waiting for another temple to be built in Jerusalem? Would a natural fulfillment be a step higher than a spiritual fulfillment, or would it be a step down? We need to recognize that we do not look for a future temple built by human hands!
The tabernacle built by Moses was replaced by Solomon. He built a beautiful temple - a showpiece of the Jewish religion, according to his father David's wishes! But that was destroyed when Jerusalem was invaded by the Babylonians. That magnificent temple was reduced to rubble! The next temple, built after a remnant of the Jews came out of captivity, did not nearly compare with Solomon's. Those who remembered the old one cried at the dedication of the new one. But they didn't have the gold and silver, etc., that Solomon had, so they couldn't make it as beautiful. The priesthood was also disrupted because people became priests who were not of Levitical descent.
Later, Herod enlarged and beautified the temple. That temple was destroyed in fulfillment of Christ's prophecy, so why build another one which would eventually also be destroyed? Natural temples were a natural representation and type of something that would be realized in the Spirit. In Hebrews 9 we read that the temple, law, priesthood, and sanctuary were symbols of things to come.
"Now when these things have been thus prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle, performing the divine worship. But into the second only the high priest enters, once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance." (Heb. 9:6-7) Here we observe a progression. The temple was surrounded by an outer court. The whole complex had three entrances. The first entrance was to the outer court, and it was open to anyone who wished to bring a sacrifice. The second entrance was to the holy place; a veil covered this opening, and it was only open to the priesthood. But the entrance to the most holy place, to the second part of the temple, was covered with a very thick veil, and only the high priest was allowed to enter once a year, but not without blood.
Blood typifies the soul, not the spirit. The idea that life is in the blood comes from a mistranslation in Leviticus. It should read, "the soul is in the blood." The blood of the animal sacrifices symbolized the sense of being that is in Christ. So the high priest was not allowed to enter the holiest place without blood. Nothing else went in there - only the blood, symbolizing the soul, or the realization that is in Christ. The only thing that can enter into a real relationship with God is that which is in the mind of Christ!
"The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed, while the outer tabernacle is still standing." (v.8) So the outer tabernacle has to be done away with permanently - it must not be rebuilt!
"Which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience." (v.9) The tabernacle was a figure or type of the spiritual realities which would come in Christ! But as long as the tabernacle existed, these spiritual realities would not be received. So as long as the natural (the external tabernacle) is standing in our hearts and minds, we will not understand what the real tabernacle is.
"Since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation." (v.10) In the reformation everything is redone or re-established; everything becomes spiritual!
"But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation." (v.11) In Christ there is a new creation! In chapter 8:1 it talks about Jesus, our high priest, "who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens." He is not coming back to earth to re-establish the Aaronic priesthood. He is now "a minister in the sanctuary, and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man." Again we see that everything man does in the material, natural realm, is only temporal!
"For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law." (Heb. 8:3-4) Christ's offering was not of the law; it was of grace and Spirit. If He were on earth, He would have had to be of Levitical descent to be a priest. But He did not have the natural qualifications, for He is not a priest of these natural things!
Today many are ministering as priests of God, yet preaching law, morality, self-effort, materialism, etc. Their hope lies in the future; they hope to go to heaven, they hope to see the rebuilding of the tabernacle, they hope to see the coming of Christ, they hope to see the descending of the holy city, etc. They do not understand that Christ is no longer in the flesh! Nor do they understand the new covenant and our union with Christ!
"Who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, `See,' He says, `that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain'." (v.5) The Levitical priesthood served the shadows of heavenly things, for they did not have the reality! It's hard for us to believe that the seen things are made of things that cannot be seen with our eyes - that the unseen makes the seen! The temporal is seen, the immortal is unseen! It is sad that man cannot get his mind off natural things! The things that belong to the heavenly realm are drawn into a niche man has carved for himself in his mind. As a result, the wonderful things of God, like the perfect tabernacle, the perfect peace, the perfect law and Christ's perfect rule are only seen as fulfilled in the natural realm. How disappointed people will be when it does not happen the way they think it should!
In Rev. 19:10 it says, "For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." The testimony of Christ is not a testimony of earthy things! In Romans 8:2 it tells us that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death! In Christ Jesus is the law of the Spirit of life. This law does not contain any death; there is no death in Christ except the death to sin! He is the Spirit of prophecy. Christ said, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill." (Matt. 5:17) Since He fulfilled them, all the prophecies and the law are fulfilled in Christ in their spiritual essence!
Anything that is spiritual does not reside in the seen realm, and it never will. To see spiritually, we have to be ascended or taken out of our materialistic, carnal, natural thinking, so we can understand that the tabernacle is a spiritual reality.
As we read the scriptures we notice that the writers of the New Testament tell us what we have IN CHRIST! In Christ we have life; in Christ we are blessed with every spiritual blessing; in Christ we are created a new creation; in Christ the whole building is growing into a holy temple; in Christ we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise! Read the first two chapters of Ephesians and meditate on all that we have and are in Christ! These things are not ours by Christ, that is, they are not ours because He has given them to us; instead, He has given us Himself, and in Him we have all these things!
Natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit, so it is foolishness to think that the natural man will receive an anointing. It can only come upon the new creation man! We cannot reduce Christ to a figure, form or person; He is the anointing! But many are not able to differentiate between the natural and the spiritual man. Many base their idea of God on a faulty interpretation of their experiences, so they go on preaching a natural concept of the kingdom - and natural concepts are anti Christ!
"But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." (Eph. 2:13) The blood is the redeeming factor, but this blood of Christ does not refer to the blood that was shed at the crucifixion. In Isaiah 53:11 it says, "As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied." The soul is in the blood; life is in the Spirit! Life is not in the blood - as is often taught, due to a mistranslation of Leviticus 17:11. The blood typifies the consciousness, sense of being, or realization of self. Our true identity can only be realized in Christ Jesus! We learn who we truly are in Christ by hearing the Spirit!
"For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall." (Eph. 2:14) You will notice that it says, "He Himself is our peace." Here it does not say that He gives us peace, but to His disciples He said, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give you." (Jn. 14:27) The peace He gives does not come externally. It's a different peace; it comes internally, and cannot be had without Christ! Since He has made both the uncircumcision and the circumcision one, the factions that caused divisions are gone!
The circumcision and the uncircumcision include all of humanity! The circumcision had been chosen by God to display God in the flesh. They were given a law - one that was entirely different from the laws other nations had! So their law separated them from other nations! But they failed miserably in keeping the law! They even misapplied it in order to crucify the Lord who gave it! But that did not keep them from glorying in their wonderful law! The uncircumcised were not abandoned by God; they were to be drawn into Christ at a later date. Since the law, which was the dividing factor, was fulfilled in Christ, it has been taken away! He has gathered into one new man, Christ Jesus, those who did not have the law of Moses, and those who had. So He has broken down the middle wall that separated us!
"By abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments, contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace." (v.15) There are two humanities - natural and spiritual - and they are images of God. The Adamic man is an earthy image of God limited by human reasoning. The reasonings of man are being preached in churches, on television, etc. They are preaching from their own reasonings and ideas about Christ, God, self, law, morality, and things to come. They call it biblical Christianity, but it is devoid of the Spirit's teaching.
IN HIMSELF He made a new man, a new creation! He did not merge the uncircumcision with the circumcision, or vice versa, but He made a new man and put both in the new man! Jesus Christ was expressing that new man after His Jordan River experience, when He changed the government of His life from law to Spirit. That is when He began to be a true witness of the nature of God. Before that He only witnessed through His obedience to the law. The law led Him to the Jordan, and the Spirit led Him into sonship! He did this as a pattern for us.
This new man includes all - white, black, red, men, women, children - all who have received the Spirit! He made in us a new image of God! His perfect image is dwelling in us! He reveals spiritual realities to us!
God wants reconciliation! "And might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near." (vv.16-17) Christ came to reconcile to God, all humanity in one body, i.e. in the body of the new man. Through the cross the enmity was put to death. This new man is not seen, for He is a spiritual image of God!
"For through Him we both have our access in one spirit to the Father." (v.18) God is the One who has anointed us with Christ, for He is our anointing. Only through Him can we have access to the Father! The anointed one is called the Christ or the Messiah - Christ being translated from the Greek CHRISTOS which corresponds to the Hebrew MESSIAH. Are you anointed with the Spirit? Then you are in the body of the Messiah - you are not THE MESSIAH, but you are in the body of Christ, which is the body of the Messiah. We cannot bring this down into carnal thinking. If you do not understand this, ask God to reveal it to you. God is not the author of confusion, for He wants you to understand.
"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow-citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone." (Eph. 2:19-20) We are not built upon doctrines, but on the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief stone of the corner - meaning the very basis on which the whole building hinged. So we are built on the same revelation that the apostles and prophets had - on the fulfillment which comes in the Spirit! Nothing happens in the unseen realm in us until the fulfillment comes to us in the Spirit. We need to become accustomed to hearing what the Spirit is saying, and receive the energy of that word!
The building that is being built, is the true tabernacle of which the physical one was only a type. The cornerstone is the foundation stone which cannot be moved; it gives strength to the two connecting walls! The whole building is built according to the cornerstone. Jesus, being the cornerstone of the tabernacle He is building, said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." His tabernacle has truth and life as its foundation! Christ is the Spirit of the anointing! So His tabernacle is one of truth and life! Lies and deception are in the carnal thinking of man, so that thinking has no part in this building!
In Matt. 16 Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." He mentioned Christ, Son, and the living God. He is not the son of a god of someone's imagination, nor the son of Israel's idea of God. Jesus told the Jews that they did not know God. "...you have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form, and you do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent." (John 5:37b-38) Although Jesus was the exact expression of the invisible God, Israel did not recognize Him, so they did not believe Him. They had formed their own idea of God, and because they were unwilling to relinquish it, they killed Him to get rid of His true knowledge of God! Today people are killing Christ in their spirit, because they won't come out of their natural thinking!
Jesus, the Son of God, is the anointing that has come to us! He is the love of God poured into our heart! Gal. 4:6 says that God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying "Abba! Father!" This simply means that the Spirit of God is the Son of God. He does not come into our minds; He comes into our hearts to renew our minds!
Eph. 2:21 says, "In whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord." This is not a natural building; it is a spiritual building of truth that is being built in Christ! The Spirit of truth brings us into all truth! Truth cannot be separated from Christ, so a temple of truth has to be built in Him! All the external rituals and religiosities will pass away when the Spirit dwells in us. This does not mean they are no more; it simply means that we are now living in a different dimension. We no longer identify with our body of flesh because Christ is our life! In this identification our body is redeemed, for it no longer bears witness to the flesh and its desires, nor to the mind that communicates its own reasonings. A true witness of God's nature is now coming forth through our bodies while we are here on this earth! However, the mind of the Spirit is not understood by the natural man.
In John 5:25 it says that the time is already present for the dead to "hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live." Hearing the voice of the Son brings us life! It is the only way we can receive life! That is why Jesus said, "For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it." (Matt. 7:14) Many are travelling on the broad way to destruction, but only a few are on the way of life. Only a few are hearing the voice of the Son of God. This is serious business.
Those who distort the scriptures will never hurt God, nor will they interfere with anything God is doing; they only hurt themselves by their actions and wrong thinking. Man is constantly hurting himself and destroying himself, but he can never hurt God! God is unvarying and unchangeable; He is always the same! He remains our refuge and inexhaustible supply of mercy and grace! Understanding this is foundational to our understanding of God.
In Eph. 3:17 it says, "So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith..." Christ, the Anointing, the Spirit of God, the Son of God, dwells in our hearts! The revelation that Christ is the Son of the living God, came to Peter, and it has to come to us too! The Son of the living God dwells in our hearts by faith - and faith comes by hearing God. Hearing God gives us the spiritual energy to have faith. Christ dwells in our hearts; He doesn't just come to visit us in order to anoint us for a certain task. Since He never leaves us nor forsakes us, it means He doesn't come and go.
"And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him." (1 Jn. 2:27) Jesus, anointed by the Spirit, is called the Christ. When we are anointed by the Spirit, we are called the Lord's Christ. (Acts 4:26) The words, Christ, Anointing and Messiah, are all translated from the same Greek word. So when the Spirit comes to indwell us, we are anointed ones - meaning Christ or Messiah. We are the Lord's Christ because we are the Lord's anointed. We are not God, but we live by the Father!
God has chosen us, sealed us, and anointed us! Christ does not lose anyone whom the Father has given Him, but will raise him up on the last day. The reason people are veering away from the truth, and getting back into their human nature instead of living in their spiritual nature and bearing fruit, is because they do not build on the right foundation. If we do not recognize that we were made to die to the law, so that we can be joined to Christ, we will try to live in the law as well as in Christ. This does not work! It does not bring a true witness of Christ!
It is impossible to be a true witness of spiritual realities without the affirmation of the Holy Spirit. Jesus realized that the people in His day could not know who He was because they did not have the Spirit to give them understanding. Even Peter denied Christ three times, in spite of the fact that God had revealed to him that Christ was the Son of the living God! He still claimed he did not know Him - and he didn't, because the Spirit had not been given at that time. So you see that revelation doesn't have true meaning to those who are still in the natural man. He does not understand the new birth.
John 14:1-2 reads, "Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house (or abode) are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you." The King James Version has popularized MANSIONS, but the true translation is DWELLING PLACES. In other words, in our Father's household are enough dwelling places for each one of us. Christ dwells in the Father, and Christ also dwells in our heart, and we dwell in Him! Christ is the place that has been prepared for us to dwell in. Dwelling in Christ means we are also dwelling in the Father.
"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am," (in My Father's dwelling place) "there you may be also." (v.3) Will He come again in the near future? In the year 2000? Many scholars have spent countless hours trying to figure that out. Let's think about this for a minute. How can Christ dwell in our heart by faith if He has not come again? Well, they say that He only dwells there by faith, not in reality - that He is actually in heaven. Then what about the verse in Galatians that says God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying "Abba! Father!" There is no greater reality than that! God sending the Spirit of His Son into our hearts is much greater than His appearing in a physical form! Since He has come to us in His Spirit, His presence is in us now, and He does not need to appear in physical form!
Many of the scripture passages referring to Christ's coming, have been wrongly translated; instead of COMING, many of these should be translated PRESENCE. But just the same, He is always coming to someone who hasn't received Him yet. To those who have received Him, Christ HAS come. He dwells in our hearts by faith. God sent us the Spirit of His Son!
In 2 Cor. 13:5 Paul said, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you - unless indeed you fail the test?" (KJV -"except ye be reprobates") If Christ is not in you, you are reprobate. So if Christ is in us, He must have come again! He cannot make His abode in us if He has not come to us! "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him." (John 14:23)
The Father and Christ, the Son of God, are never separated. If Christ is in your heart, so is the Father. Jesus said, "If you have seen Me you have seen the Father...I and the Father are one." Jesus was speaking of spiritual realities. The Father and Christ make their abode in us! The Son is the exact image of the invisible God, so Christ the Son of God is also invisible.
The dwelling place of God was typified in the Old Testament by a natural tabernacle. But the shadow is not the reality; the reality is greater than the shadow. "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?" (1 Cor. 6:19) Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings us Christ and the Father.
"For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body." (v.20) People think they can do whatever they desire with their body, because they think it belongs to them. They also think their life belongs to them, so they can live their life as they please: that if they want an abortion, it's up to them. These thoughts come out of the darkness of the carnal mind. They do not know anything about true life! The solution to this wrong thinking is to learn to know Christ. Those who don't know Him cannot accomplish anything spiritually. Their good deeds and zealousness to establish morality do not come out of life.
"Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God..." (2 Cor. 6:16a) We are not the temple of our own idea of God - we are the temple of the living God - the fulfillment of God's promise which said, "I will dwell in them." It is the fulfillment of the Old Testament tabernacle where the presence of God dwelt in the most holy place. It typified that which was to come in Jesus Christ; He has fulfilled it in the Spirit by bringing God's Spirit, God's presence and the presence of the Son into our hearts. We can now cry, "Abba! Father!" We know that God's presence is everything we need! If we are convinced of the presence of God, we know He will provide everything we need! We won't need laws to govern our morality, because we have the same spirit of the law which is in Christ! His Spirit motivates and energizes us to do right, think right, and give us understanding.
"I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." (v.16b) Now why is he quoting this from the Old Testament? Were they not God's chosen people? Peter was not writing to the old Israel; he was writing to those who had been chosen of God, to those who had the same faith he had! Before they believed, they "were not a people," but now they are the people of God. In Christ Jesus, we are a new creation! Christ forms our new realization and consciousness of God, and that new realization is Christ!
Our new understanding throws light on who we are, and what our purpose is. We are to be the people of God! His people are called-out ones. Called out of what? We have been called out of our wrong ideas of God - ideas that seem so rational and reasonable to the natural mind. His people can hear the Spirit. A separation between God's people and those who are not yet His people occurs naturally, because the natural mind will not accept the spiritual. It constantly crucifies the Christ - that is how Christ gets crucified. Those who bring forth a spiritual testimony of the Father, will be rejected and crucified. In 2 Cor. 6:17-18 Paul wrote, "`Therefore come out from their midst and be separate,' says the lord. `And do not touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you. And I will be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,' says the Lord Almighty." Since God is our Father now, we are not to go back to our natural thinking - it is unclean.
The book of Revelation is a revelation of Jesus Christ and the things that happen in Him. This revelation was communicated to John in types and symbols. The reality is found in the Spirit. Spiritual realization does not come through the natural reasonings of the mind. Trying to understand the scriptures by natural reasonings is useless. We must receive the Christ and listen to the truth He gives!
In Rev. 21:1-2 John wrote, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband." The holy city is not a natural city; it is a covenant. (Gal. 4:25-26)
"And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them." (v.3) From the authority of the throne comes the thundering voice of God declaring that He dwells among men and they are His people! What is the basis for this wonderful declaration? God Himself has prepared this tabernacle! He has given us Christ Jesus - and the Son knows the Father! When Jesus Christ reveals the Father to us, He brings us His unity with the Father!
This is the oneness Christ discloses in John 17:20-21;23-24. "I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me...I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am..."
Jesus was with the disciples when He spoke these words. He was dwelling in the Father at that very time! This was Christ's prayer for us while we are living on this earth. It is not a prayer to be answered after our physical bodies are dead! It is being answered today in the realization that comes from the Christ within us. He brings us His mind; He knows His oneness with the Father, He knows that His dwelling place in the Father is His home. On earth He was an alien, a stranger, and rejected; so are we.
The natural tabernacle is not to be rebuilt. We now dwell in a temple not made with hands; we dwell in Christ and Christ dwells in us! This is the spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament tabernacle! Then we are where He is! This changes us. It makes us comfortable with God. Living in legalism makes us uncomfortable, for it brings fear. At Mt. Sinai, the Israelites were filled with fear when the presence of God came down on the mountain. They did not want God to talk with them. It was more comfortable to have God talk to Moses, and let Moses relay God's words to them. Those who are in Christ are not partakers of that judgment, for they are in the Son. Actually, their presence and testimony of witness become a judgment for unbelievers.
Jesus Christ is the truth, and He came to bear witness to the truth. He has sent us the Spirit of truth, and His truth is the truth that is in God. Christ living in us means the truth is living in us. Our relationship with the Father is one of truth; it is not a relationship with the Bible, but with the Son and the Father. The Bible bears testimony to the truth, but we must come to Christ, the truth, to receive life! (Jn. 5:39-40)
It is difficult for us to understand that Christ is the truth, and that He is the resurrection. But the fact is, that Jesus is what He says He is! Resurrection means being raised out of the separation from God that exists in our natural consciousness. It does not mean that dead bones will be put together to form new bodies, causing people to come out of their graves.
Anyone who is separated from the life of God is dead, for he is separated from the source of life. We can only be separated from God in our awareness, consciousness, realization and sense of being, because God is omnipresent, and we can't get away from Him. He fills all things; in Him we live and move and have our being. If we do not have this oneness with God and Christ, we are separated from Him, and are living in death.
The good news is that in Christ we become new creations - sons of God! Now, together with Christ, we can call God our Father! This is for NOW - not just for the future! That is why these verses are so meaningful. If you have not yet come into this, the seed of this truth is being put into you by this testimony. I pray that God will cause it to grow in you.
Revelation 12:12 says, "For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you, having great wrath." People who dwell in the sea have no concept of spiritual realities; those who dwell in the earth have an earthy image of them. They see Jesus in a physical body, God sitting on a material white throne in heaven, the holy city as a literal city of gold, etc. A woe is pronounced upon them, for the adversary can come to them. They are open to deception because they do not have truth. Those who dwell in the heavens have received a consciousness to understand spiritual things. Blessed is he who doesn't see but yet believes!
In our union with God, a separation from earthy things takes place. This does not happen geographically or physically; it happens in the spirit - in our realization of truth. This changes us and we become true witnesses of God; we receive a better understanding of who we are, why we are here, and where we are going. It takes away the fear of physical death. The Spirit reveals unseen things to us, and makes the unknown known.
In contrast to our union with God, which is life, separation from God is death. Because the carnal mind is separated from God, it is full of ego, ignorance, and darkness. It becomes its own god and listens to, and obeys its own fleshly desires. Christ brought understanding through the Holy Spirit. He knew that oneness with God would not rob God of anything. Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus!
God has prepared a place for you and me to dwell in, and that place is Christ! He takes away the darkness, the opposition, the ignorance, the sin-consciousness, the guilt and the shame. Through our union with God we are growing in our yieldedness to the Holy Spirit. This is a wonderful life! May you join us in this pilgrimage into the mysteries of the God of Jesus Christ, and experience the joy of being one with the Father and His Son Christ Jesus! God bless you! Amen.