Now I must bring in a little balance here before I go on. I have just spent a lot of time talking about a one-on-one relationship and I certainly do not want to belittle that in even the slightest way. Some saints catch a hold of the “just Jesus and me” life, head for the wilderness, find a cave, and spend the rest of their lives bragging about the fact they came out of the “old religious order,” or Babylon. They have little to no fellowship with other believers. They live off individual Bible study, books and newsletters. Sometimes they talk to like-minded people on the telephone and once in a while attend a conference. Folks, living in this lifestyle will dry a person up just like living in a dead church will. Remember God brings us out that He may bring us into something better.
There may be a time of isolation during this processing, but that time is only temporary. We must learn to put off the “commandments and ordinances” we received as slaves to false religious systems and begin to learn to take orders from our new Commander. This is often a long and frustrating experience for many of us because the false religious systems we must be delivered from are under the banner of Christian! Please remember, it was God who placed Israel into Egypt for a long season, and it was God who eventually brought them out, after His purposes were accomplished in them. So too, God may have put you into certain denominations for a season, but don’t be surprised when he makes things so difficult for you there that you will either willingly leave or be thrown out!!
The story of Moses and Pharaoh graphically illustrates a part of the walk every child of faith will experience in their own lives. God put Israel in Egypt and then He took them out. He then isolated them for 40 years in the wilderness before He brought them into the Promised Land. Children of faith, this is the story of our lives here on earth perfectly laid out for us by our heavenly Father.
God may separate us for a season, and that season may be a long time. Moses spent forty years stepping on sheep pebbles before he was humble enough to go back and lead Israel out of Egypt. David spent many years separated from his brethren in Israel living in caves and among the Philistines. Elijah also spent a great deal of time in the wilderness. Paul spent a great deal of time separated from both Israel and the church. God brought about that separation.
John, in the spirit of Elijah, spent much time in the wilderness. He called Israel to come “outside the camp” through the wilderness to the Jordan River to get prepared to enter the New Covenant. From the age of twelve to thirty, we have no record of Jesus’ life here on earth. During this time, a Jewish son would be weaned from the mother’s influence and spend the next 18 years learning his father’s business. You can be certain that Jesus was “learning” His Father’s business. He was learning to rule and reign over all of Creation! We do not have a record of this time because it was a personal time between Jesus Christ and his Father. Jesus was learning how to rule in this spiritual kingdom of His Father. It was not recorded in the Bible because the carnal mind cannot understand these things and would twist them into destructive counterfeits of the truth. Human words cannot really describe accurately spiritual truths. Paul said he saw things unlawful to speak about when he was in the third heavens. What he was saying is that any description he might give in human language would fall short of truly describing what he saw. And so this precious time from the age of 12 to 30 when Jesus was learning His Father’s business is hidden from our eyes
The age of 30 was the age of maturity, of “adoption” and of priesthood. At this age, a Jewish Father would take his first born son, take him to the city gate at which sat the leaders of the city and declare him co-equal in their business. The word of the son would be the same as if speaking to the father. They were one.
You, too, whether you are male or female, (in Christ there is neither male nor female) have been given an appointed time to learn your Father’s business. When God prepares a person for His work, He often separates that person so they are fed by Him and not by a religious system.
In the Jewish tradition, the father took the son to the city gate to declare this “adoption.” A careful study of when Jesus’ Father “adopted,” that is, placed Jesus as partner in His work, is very important. Jesus’ Father did not choose Jerusalem’s gates and the elders of the city to declare Jesus’ partnership. In the same way, it may not be denominational leaders (those who sit at the city gate) who will bear witness to your “adoption.” It may occur “outside the camp” (denomination) beyond the wilderness, and on the other side of the Jordan River.. If you have ears, then listen.
John, in the spirit of Elijah, did not baptize in the pools of Jerusalem. He baptized “all around the region of Jordan (descending).” From Jerusalem one had to go through some of the most wasted, deserted land in the world. He was a “voice crying in the wilderness.” Remember, the son must be presented to the leaders of the city in order for the “adoption” to be witnessed by the proper authorities, that is the business and civil leaders. Now hear the word of the Lord regarding how Jesus’ adoption was “witnessed.”
“When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him and a voice came from heaven which said, ‘You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.’ Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age” (Luke 3:21-23, NKJV)
I cannot overemphasize the importance of this passage of Scripture. Here was Jesus’ placement into our Father’s business as equal partner. Look at the witnesses. These are the new leaders of the New Covenant Kingdom!! God, the Father did not take His Son to Herod, Caiaphas the High Priest and the important leaders of Israel. The new “people of the gate” would be people who have not made a name for themselves. They were common everyday kind of people. Notice that Jesus did not receive His baptism until “all the people were baptized.”
Getting Down To Business With Our Father
God first starves out the “old leaven,” the poisonous residue of the false teachings he or she has acquired from old institutions. Then, after having fasted from this poison, He begins to feed the person True Bread from heaven. Much of this time is personal! Just you and your heavenly Father through the Spirit of Truth. He wants this time with you alone!! You are a unique child to Him. He wants to spend personal quality time with each of His children. We each need to feel uniquely special. This is a basic need of all of us. He may bring in instructions from other sources, but it will clearly be secondary and in accordance to His personal guidance. While His instructions may come in many different forms, they will all bear His discernable mark. His spirit will bear witness. Many religious structures are designed to take this experience away from us. Don’t let them rob you of this most precious intimate time in your life. This is more precious than anything in the world and no religious activity can replace this time. None!!
As I said, God never purposes to leave the person in the wilderness. The wilderness experience is to prepare that person to go back among people. God’s purpose in us is to unite us and make us one even as Jesus is one with the Father.
I spent eight years in the wilderness, but my heart always yearned for true fellowship with other believers. The separation was badly needed. I had no idea how much poison I had swallowed in the many church structures in which I had previously participated. Slowly, the fast from religion removed the accumulation of all that poison so that He could then fill me with His Living Word, His Bread, His Life, to know His will, and to walk in His Works prepared from the foundation of the world.
Something else I needed to learn during this time is that apart from Him I can do nothing (John 15:5). Oh, how devastating to my pride!! I was just like Peter always two steps ahead of everybody, including Jesus, thinking I was really doing something important. It is one thing to say that I can do nothing without Him, it’s quite another thing when He puts the fire to our works and we discover all the things we thought were from God were just the works of our carnal minds!! Oh what a shock when we think we are spiritual and then the fire comes and burns all our “spiritual” works away. It is quite devastating, but very needful if we are to grow up into Him.
There is no room for pride and personal ambition in the work He prepared for us to walk in. For His walk, He will always provide all that is needed. There is no room for boasting of your contribution to the cause. He paid the bill fully. There is nothing lacking! Our only contribution is to sing His praises and to declare His mighty works! Wonderful works that fill our hearts with joy! The picture is beautifully portrayed in the Old Testament when Israel went to battle. Go see who it was that prepared the way of battle and what instruments of war they had. These must become our instruments of war. I pray you can feel that joy bubbling up within yourself as you contemplate this wonderful life Jesus Christ has prepared for you and in you.
The beauty of this kind of walk is that it does not corrupt us with the leaven of the Pharisees, that is, pride and self-righteousness. When we work “for” God, we puff ourselves up. When we realize that these are Christ’s works prepared and finished from the foundation of the world, then we have nothing to boast about. We simply have much to be grateful and joyful over. Religious work produces self-righteousness, a chest puffed-up (leavened) with pride, and a stiff neck. Most of us, while we are engaged in these dead works of religion, do not realize we are producing nothing but death, manure at best. It is difficult to impossible to convince us while we are engaging in this fornication with death, that we are not doing the work of the Lord.
Usually we have to run out of our strength and drop from exhaustion from all our religious activities before we can begin to hear what the Lord has in store for us. Often, we have been so brainwashed that salvation is only in our denomination or church, that we dare not contemplate looking elsewhere. Therefore, we try to enter God’s work through the system we are in. This is not possible. We go around hiding our insecurities by spending time convincing each other that we are in the right place. Our mouths become full of apologetics defending our church programs. Many of us have become dogmatists. What we really have become is dogs! In the Bible, a dog was a symbol of those outside the Covenant with God. All we are able to do as dogs is bark and gnash our teeth — favorite expressions of a pharisaic heart. Oh yes, dogs also like to eat dead things! Even worse, they like to roll their backs in old dead carcasses for some reason. Dogs enjoy the smell of death and so do self-righteous folks.
God’s true works fill (expand, enlarge) our hearts with joy that comes forth with great expressions of thanksgiving. The world can tell the difference. It is those caught up in their religious works of the flesh who cannot tell the difference. When all Christians begin to walk in the works of God instead of religious works, the world will immediately change! The world will come to our gatherings desiring to see Jesus because they have seen Jesus in us.
Corporate Works
It is in a true corporate gathering of Christ’s body in fellowship that we receive our full nourishment. When we learn to “see” Christ in each other, we will be able to receive from each other that which God had hidden in them to give us. If, however, we see them after the flesh, we will not open our hearts to receive. There is a nourishment our Father gives us when we are in the wilderness and there is a nourishment which comes from the City of God, that is, corporate worship and communion. Living in the wilderness beyond the appointed time cuts us off from the fullness of Christ. Remember, to everything there is a season turn, turn, turn.
Picture, if you will, the Ark of the Covenant. It is made of Acacia wood covered with gold on the inside and out. This speaks of our humanity (the wood) covered by the divinity and glory (gold) of God as our coverings. The gold on the inside speaks of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The gold on the outside speaks of His glory as you walk in Him including through your corporate expression in His body on this earth. The gold covering on the inside speaks of God’s divine work to us individually. The beaten gold on the outside of the ark speaks of God’s divine work through us which is manifested to His creation. The outer gold is to be seen! In Moses tabernacle (Law) it was hidden. In David’s tabernacle the ark was made visible for all to see. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out onto the 120 disciples and they declared the mighty works of God.
When we Christians catch the reality of truly walking in Christ, we begin to manifest the glory of God on earth! We hide in Him. We cease from our works and enter into His works which are filled with glory! We literally become covered with Him, His work, His glory!! Oh, saints, can you see it?! Father give me the words to express this plainly. When we cease from our labors, and enter into His, we truly enter Christ and manifest his glory on the earth. His works declare and manifest the glory of God. Go to the second Chapter of Acts and see an example of what I am talking about. Please take some time right now to digest these thoughts before you go on with this article. Invite the Holy Spirit to open your eyes of understanding to see this by the spirit and not with the natural mind.
In a true corporate expression of Christian fellowship, each person has something to offer. Christ in the midst of us, will fill in that which is lacking. Insecure people must be encouraged to believe that Christ lives in them and that they are important to the fellowship. They must be made to see they are an expression of Christ. In order for Christ to be expressed fully, they must contribute to the expression. The overbearing must be gently restrained so that the meek can be encouraged to participate.
This kind of “assembling” requires a very mature leadership, a leadership that purposes to unite the body and join it unto the Head, Jesus Christ, and not to themselves. This subject is another article. For now, let us understand, that coming together, assembling, going to church, presently in most church institutions is done after the pattern of Moses, and not after the pattern of Christ. Ritual will never take the place of life! Seek God’s face and get out of this type of death! However, once God has stripped us of our “Babylonian garments,” we mustn’t spend anymore time in the wilderness than God has called for. We can waste what God has given us in the wilderness just as easily as in a dead church. A cave in the desert or a coffin disguised as a nicely decorated church may not look alike, but apart from Christ, they are both tombs. One is just a fancier model than the other. Too many Christians who have seen through the hypocrisy, dead rituals, and pompous parades orchestrated on Sunday mornings have separated themselves not to Christ, but to a different banner of death. I realize I have repeated myself. I want to drive the point home.
Christ is a many-membered body. We need each other for many reasons. One of those reasons is to see what is really inside us. It is in rubbing shoulders with people that we can test of which spirit we are. Here we can see if we manifest the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or if what is within us is just hot air or even worse, perhaps foul gas. I know I am stepping on some toes right now. As a matter of fact, my toes are feeling sore too! Good!
Assembling is needful for Christians. However, assembling in an unholy and unlawful manner is no better than congregating at the local bar or some sports event. At least those in the bars think they are having a little fun. If we are not receiving Christ in a real way when assembling, we are better off going fishing or playing tennis. At least in that kind of activity we are getting some exercise. Standing up and sitting down for a handful of songs hardly matches a good tennis game as far as exercise goes. In some churches the main exercise one gets is reaching into their wallet. If your pastor does not allow you to exercise your spiritual senses and gifts, by all means, go fishing. Who knows, maybe Jesus will meet you there and break bread with you.
Cry out to your heavenly Father for the True Bread of Life, the Hidden Manna. Allow Him to bring it to you in whatever form He desires. It may come from a stranger knocking at your door. It may be served by a hitchhiker you pick up. It may come from the quiet person in your assembly who always keeps to himself. Cry out and reach out! He may send an angel. He may send His Presence. He may catch you up into the third heaven. He has many ways to feed us our daily bread. Open your hearts and He will fill your mouths with praises declaring the mighty works of our Father (Acts 2:11).