The following is the revealing of the mystery of the veil that is covering the eyes of the unbelieving world though many profess to be followers and believers of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe. (2Corinthians 4:3-4)
In this servants-of-grace ministry God has given us, He wants to use us to reach people. These people are in a desperate spiritual condition. Those we hope to reach are perishing, spiritually blind, and unbelieving.
Those who do not know the grace of God in Jesus Christ are "perishing." They are spiritually dead (just as we once were). "And you . . . were dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph 2:1). Even worse, they are heading toward an everlasting death. "The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire" (Rev 20:13-15). These who are dead (and facing everlasting death) are lost. They are wandering about the earth separated from God, taking a path of self-service. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way" (Isa 53:6). They need a shepherd to seek after them. "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it . . . for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 15:4; 19:10).
These perishing ones are also "blinded." This is why they cannot "see" the truth we share with them. "But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded." The false god of this world (Satan) is blinding people to the truth by feeding them with lies and deceptions. He is constantly offering counterfeit philosophical and religious messages to keep men from embracing the truth.
Ultimately, the problem with blind and perishing people is they "do not believe." Consequently, they already stand guilty. "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18). However, a loving God has provided the remedy. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). By God's grace, we can proclaim this great message.
2Corimthians 4:5-12, 15 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death works in us, but life in you.
15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:7-9)
New covenant servants (sons in Jesus Christ) are "earthen vessels" (ordinary clay pots). Yet, in the container of their redeemed humanity dwells "this treasure" (the Son of God Himself). This arrangement calls for the treasure (Jesus), not the vessels (you and me) to be the object of all trust and the recipient of all glory: "that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." Appropriately, the Lord has also arranged a process that magnifies the treasure. (Matthew 13:46)
This process involves the every day pressures of life, which come from all sides. "We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed." Clay pots cannot withstand much pressure, but the treasure within us (Christ) is able to keep is from being smashed. "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (2Tim 2:1)
The process that draws attention to the treasure also involves many perplexities. "We are perplexed, but not in despair." We face difficult decisions and impossible issues, but our Wonderful Counselor protects us from hopelessness: "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Christ is the mystery and the answer to the mystery. Col 2:2-3).
Persecutions are included in the process: "persecuted, but not forsaken." People accuse us, misunderstand us, or lie about us. Still, we know we are not abandoned by our Lord who lives within us. "For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you' " (Heb 13:5, Paul is here referring to the promises given to men of Israel to whom this is said, the principle still stands even for us, who are of faith).
Even catastrophes are a part of the process that magnifies the treasure who indwells us: "struck down, but not destroyed." Circumstantial upheavals and overwhelming heartaches occur, but the Lord stabilizes our souls, so we don't "tip over" under the weight of circumstances. "They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support" (Psalms 18:18).
Thus, life comes at us like an overpowering military tank, ready to flatten us. There is no natural hope, because clay pots can't handle tanks. Yet, as the dust clears, the flower pot of our lives can remain intact (if we are trusting in the able and faithful one who lives in our hearts). There is no attacking tank (of the enemy) that can overcome the Lord Jesus Christ. “As for you, dear children, you are God's children, and have successfully resisted them; "He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world" (1John 4:4).
Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. (2Corinthians 4:10)
As earthen vessels, we are to live by trusting in the treasure (the Lord Jesus Christ) who dwells within us: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels." (2Cor. 4:7) Also, we are to give Him all honor and glory as He sustains us day by day through the trials of life: "that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." In addition, to help us magnify the treasure who lives in us, there is to be an attitude (an outlook) carried about (embraced) by the earthen vessels (our daily confession in the face of over whelming odds).
The particular attitude that results in magnifying the treasure is the perspective we hold concerning the death of Christ: "Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." This is about dying in order to live. Jesus taught this. "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it" (Luke 9:24). Those who hold on to the life they received from Adam lose what they are trying to guard and develop. They never find true life. However, all who renounce their sinful natural life and trust in Jesus find a new life from Him. This is the attitude that heirs of Christ are to carry with them. "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23). Day by day, our perspective is to include a rejection of any life that we could produce on our own ("deny himself"). We are to agree with God that the self-life always deserves the cross of Christ ("take up his cross daily"). This leaves us with only one option: pursue after Jesus for the life that He alone can provide ("and follow Me"). This pursuit is to yield our desires and will into His hands and our surrendering of self-will to the obedience of death learned ONLY by the cross. Jesus Christ paved the way for our entry through the veil of His flesh and the shedding of His blood.
Such confessions are in harmony with what actually happened to us at the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism [that is, through identification] into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in an eternally newness of life" (Romans 6:4). When we placed our trust in the Lord, His death and resurrection became our death and resurrection! This is to be our confidence continually. "Likewise you also, must reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:11).
When we carry about this attitude, we are actually trusting the Lord Jesus (the treasure who dwells within us) to live in and through our "earthen vessels," our humanity: "that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body." Christ becomes to us the pearl of great price that we carry in our earthen vessels in all wisdom and knowledge which is His will.
For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (2Cor 4:11)
The treasure who lives within us (Jesus) is to get glory and honor as we trust Him to live in, and be manifested through, the vessels of our humanity. "But we have this treasure (the seed of Christ’s image that man had at the beginning) in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power (the light that gives life to this seed, this light separated the darkness) may be of God and not of us" (2Cor 4:7). Our previous meditation reminded us that we are to embrace an attitude of "death to self" that facilitates this plan: "Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body" (2Cor 4:10). In addition, there is an action carried out toward earthen vessels that also advances this great purpose of God’s plan. This matter is also about dying in order to live. (John 12:24 Except a seed fall into the earth and die it bears no fruit. Matthew 19:26 But Jesus beheld them and said to them, with man this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.)
This action is taken toward earthen vessels: "we who live." We who have found new life in Christ are the ones who are "delivered to death." Our God places us into (or allows us to be put in) situations that are far more than we can handle. Even the Apostle Paul had to undergo this action taken toward him. "For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves" (2Cor 1:8-9). This was not an isolated incident. Paul was frequently in such impossibilities. "From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep" (2Cor 11:24-25).
Since we are earthen vessels, this is the way life unfolds. Clay pots are characteristically inadequate and vulnerable. Consequently, the situations that our all-loving and all-wise God leads us into are consistently like being "delivered to death." However, this action toward us is "for Jesus' sake" as with Paul so with us for the perfecting of the mystical Body of Christ, which we are now become a portion of. In our continual impossibilities, Jesus has repeated opportunities to manifest Himself. Our heavenly Father places us in circumstances we cannot handle by our own resources. We cry out to the Lord, putting our hope and trust in Him. He faithfully goes to work in us. The result is "that the life of Jesus [is] manifested in our mortal flesh."
We as the seed carriers, carry about the seed within us planted by God in man before or at the time of mans fall from the Divine life we had in the first Adam before he fell from grace. Changed into the bestial nature of natural man as we know man this day, a seed carrier that awaits the light of God to open this seed to release and produce Christ in man again.
The following is Paul’s rendering of his Jewishness under the yoke of the Law but we as gentiles were not subjected to it in any way. We like Israel were however under commandment, and this is found in Genesis 2:16-17 and the restraint of the Holy Spirit with government as our guide through this Age of God’s Grace as a stewardship for us.
For God has not created us for ourselves only, but to be Instruments of His Wonders, by which He desires to manifest His Wonders. The resigned Will trusts God, and expects all Good from Him alone; but Self-Will rules itself, for it is broken off from God. All that Self-Will does is Sin and is against God; for it is gone out of that Order wherein He created it, into Disobedience, and desires to be its own Lord and Master.
When a Man's own Will dies from itself, then it is free from Sin, for it desires nothing but that which God desires of his Creature; it desires only to do that for which God has created it and that which God will do by it; and though it is and must be the Doing, yet it is but the Instrument of the Doing, by which God does what He will.
Romans 7:6-15 But seeing that we have died to that which once held us in bondage, the Law has now no hold over us (Israel or the Jews only), so that we render a service which, instead of being old and formal, is new and spiritual. What follows? Is the Law itself a sinful thing? No, indeed; on the contrary, unless I had been taught by the Law, I should have known nothing of sin as sin. For instance, I should not have known what covetousness is, if the Law had not repeatedly said, "THOU SHALT NOT COVET." Sin took advantage of this, and by means of the Commandment (God’s moral code of conduct, which we have adopted) stirred up within me every kind of coveting; for apart from Law sin would be dead. Once, apart from Law, I was alive, but when the Commandment came, sin sprang into life, and I died; and, as it turned out, the very Commandment which was to bring me life, brought me death. For sin seized the advantage, and by means of the Commandment it completely deceived me, and also put me to death. So that the Law itself is holy, and the Commandment is holy, just and good. Did then a thing which is good become death to me? No, indeed, but sin did; so that through its bringing about death by means of what was good, it might be seen in its true light as sin, in order that by means of the Commandment the unspeakable sinfulness of sin might be plainly shown. For we know that the Law is a spiritual thing; but I am unspiritual--the slave, bought and sold, of sin. For what I do, I do not recognize as my own action. What I desire to do is not what I do, but what I am averse to is what I do.
(Now remember that this is Paul talking, a former Hebrew or Jew a Pharisee who was under the Law of
Moses. Whereas we gentiles were never under that Law nor the Ten Commandments that where given to
Israel only as a guide or tutor until Christ. These were to Israel a means of teaching by God to them and for them only in preparation for their becoming a Priesthood to the gentiles or the Nations. Remember also that there was no room for forgiveness under the Law, only death for anyone breaking it.)
Rom 7:16-8:14 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law (the law of sin and death found in Genesis 2:16-17), that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man (the Spiritual law of love and operating in God’s Grace.) : But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God (the law of liberty that is in Christ Jesus); but with the flesh the law of sin.
Rom 8:1-14 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit do mind the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
For this is the true Faith in Man, namely to die from himself; that is, from his own Desire; and in all his Undertakings and Designs to bring his Desire into the Will of God, and arrogate the doing of nothing to himself, but esteem himself in all his Doings to be a Servant or Minister of God, and to think that all he does, and undertakes, is for God. For in such a Disposition the Spirit of God leads him into true Uprightness and Faithfulness towards his Neighbor. For he thinks thus within himself, I do my Work not for myself, but for God, who has called and appointed me to do it; I am but a Servant in his Vineyard. He listens continually after the Voice of his Master, who within him commands him what he shall do. The Lord speaks in him, and bids him do what He would have to be done by him.
So then death is working in us, but life in you . . . For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. (2Corinthians 4:12 & 15)
We who live under the new covenant of grace are earthen vessels. We have no true spiritual life in ourselves. "You have no life in you" (John 6:53). The treasure who lives within us (Jesus) is our daily source of spiritual life: "Christ who is our life" (Col 3:4). Consequently, we must always be dying in order to live. We must be embracing the cross of Christ so that our bankrupt self-life will not be our resource for living. We must look to the Lord for our sufficiency.
The Lord helps us in this process by putting us into impossible situations that necessitate our dependence upon Him. He faithfully responds to our trust and manifests Himself through us. "For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh" (2Cor 4:11). Others observing this receive encouragement to look to the Lord for the life they need. Thus, Paul could write to the Corinthians (who were aware of this process in his life): "So then death is working in us, but life in you."
Every difficulty that God brings into our lives not only has significancy for us, but it can also have an impact on those to whom we are ministering. "For all things are for your sakes." How important it is to have a perspective on life that includes God working in us that He might touch others. Paul certainly viewed life and ministry in this manner. "I now rejoice in my sufferings for you . . . Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all . . . Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory" (Col 1:24; Phi 2:17; Eph 3:13).
As the Lord works His grace into and through our lives, grace can be spreading to many other lives: "that grace, having spread through the many." When God's grace is at work in people's hearts, thanksgiving is so often the beautiful fruit that results. Such thanksgiving brings much glory and honor to God: "may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God." Of such dose God require praise and worship for they only can worship who worship in spirit and in truth, having passed through the veil from death into newness of life. We become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, a spiritual person and joint heir with Christ as His promised heir for the things that He accomplished through the cross.
No Work done without the Will of God can reach the Kingdom of God; it is all but an unprofitable Imagery, or self-wrought Work, in this great Agitation of Mankind. For nothing is pleasing to God, but what He Himself does by the resigned Will, as His Instrument. For there is but one only God in the Essence of all Essences, and all that which works with Him in that Essence, is one Spirit with Him; but that which works in itself only, in its own Will, is in itself only, and not in His Dominion. It is indeed under that universal Dominion of Nature, whereby He holds subject to Him every Life, evil and good, but not under that special Divine Government in Himself, which comprehends the good only. Nothing is Divine which walks and works not in the Will of God.
Christ said, Every Plant which my heavenly Father has not planted, shall be rooted out and burned in the Fire. All the Works of Man, which he has wrought without the Will of God, shall be burnt up in the last Fire and given to the Wrath of God, namely to the Pit of Darkness to recreate itself withal. For Christ said, He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathers not with me scatters. Whosoever works, and does it not in a resigned Will with Confidence in God, does but make desolate and scatter; it is not acceptable to God. For nothing is pleasing to Him but that which He wills with His Spirit, and does by His own Instrument.
Therefore, whatsoever is done by the Conclusions of human Self in Matters of Religion is a mere Fiction. It is Babel, and but a Work of the Stars, and of the outward World, and not acknowledged by God to be His Work. It is only the Play of the wrestling Wheel of Nature, wherein Good and Evil wrestle one with the other; what the one builds, the other destroys. And this is the great Misery of the vain Turmoilings of Men, the Issue whereof must be left to the Judgment of God.
Whosoever therefore stirrers or labors much in such Turmoilings, works but for the Judgment of God; for no whit of it is perfect and permanent. It must all be separated in the Putrefaction. For that which is wrought in the Anger of God will be received thereby, and kept in the Mystery of its Desire to the Day of God's Judgment, when Evil and Good shall be severed.
But if a Man turn and go forth from himself, and enter into the Will of God, then also that Good which has been wrought in and by him, shall be freed from the Evil which he has wrought. As Isaiah said, Though your Sins be as red as Scarlet, yet if you turn and repent, they shall become as Wool, yes, as white as Snow. For Evil shall be swallowed up in the Wrath of God in Death, and the Good shall spring forth as a Sprout out of the wild Earth.
Whosoever therefore that intends to do any good and perfect Work, wherein he hopes eternally to rejoice, let him depart from himself, namely from his own Desire, and enter into Resignation, into the Will of God, and work with God. And then though the earthly Desire of Self in Flesh and Blood cleaves to him, yet if the Will of the Soul does not receive that Desire into it, Self cannot perform any Work. For the resigned Will continually destroys the Substance of Self again, so that the Anger of God cannot reach it. And if it should happen to reach it sometimes, as may be the Case, yet the resigned Will prevails with its superior Power, and then it bears the Figure of a victorious Work in the Wonders, and may inherit the Filiation or Childship. Therefore it is not good to speak or do any Thing, when Reason is kindled in and by the Desire of Self. Because that Desire springs from, and works in, the Anger of God; by which a Man will suffer Loss. For his Work is brought into that Anger, and kept there to the great Day of God's Judgment.
Every evil or false Desire, whereby a Man devises how to gather to himself by Craft much worldly Gain from his Neighbor to his Neighbor’s Hurt, is taken into the Anger of God, and belongs to the Judgment. Wherein all Things shall be made manifest and every Power and Essence, every Cause and Effect, both in Good and Evil, shall be presented to every one in the Mystery of the Revelation.
All evil Works, done purposely, belong to the Judgment of God. But he that turns from the Will goes out from the Power of them, and those his Works belong to the Fire. All Things shall and must be made manifest in the End. For therefore God brought His working Power into Essence or Substance, that His Love and Anger might be made manifest, and become a Representation of His Deeds of Wonder, to His Glory.
And every Creature ought to know that it should continue in that Condition wherein it was created; otherwise it runs on in Contrariety and Enmity to the Will of God, and brings itself into Pain. For every intelligent Creature that has lost its Place or State wherein God first created it, is in Disorder and Misery, till it recovers the same. A Creature which is created out of Darkness has no Pain in the Darkness; as a venomous Serpent has no Pain from its Venom. The Venom is its Life; but if it should lose its Venom, and have some good Thing instead thereof brought into it, and be made manifest in its Essence, that would be Pain and Death to it. Thus Good is Torment to a Being whose Nature is evil, and Evil is in like Manner Pain and Death to the Good.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. (2Cor 4:16)
Those who learn to live by the grace of God are increasingly protected from discouragement. "Therefore we do not lose heart." This truth was touched upon in an earlier verse from this fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians. "Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart" (2Cor 4:1). The protection from discouragement there involved mercy and grace. Since we serve the Lord by mercy and grace (and not by our merit or by our resources), we have a built-in supply of heavenly encouragement available to us daily.
In our present verse, encouragement comes from the contrast between what is happening to the "outward man" and to the "inward man." The "outward man" is the physical person, which can be observed by human sight. This is generally the object of attention among the unredeemed (as well as among believers who are walking according to the flesh). This man is "perishing" because sin has impacted all of us. "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned" (Romans 5:12). Man began from dust. "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground" (Genesis 2:7). Due to sin, the outer, physical man is headed back toward that initial starting point. "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return" (Gen. 3:19). For those who do not know the Lord, this is a discouraging fact. They often strive desperately to prevent this inevitable process.
On the other hand, servants of new covenant grace are not discouraged by this fact. "Therefore we do not lose heart." It is true that our outer man is also perishing. Yet, we see a bigger picture than that. "Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day." As our outer man is deteriorating, we are still encouraged, because our inner man can be in the process of renewal: "And have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him" (Col_3:10). As we are humbly seeking the Lord in His word, we are being changed, brought more and more into the newness of Christ: "Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2Cor 3:18).
Now when Sin is wrought in the Flesh, then the Wrath sports itself therewith, and catches at the resigned Will; and then the resigned Will cries to God for Deliverance from the Evil veil, and prays that God would remove the Guilt away from it, and bring Sin into the Center, namely into Death, that it might die.
Paul said further, Now, there is no Condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who are called according to the Purpose of God; that is, those who in that Purpose of God in which he first called Man, are again called in the same Calling, to stand again in that Purpose of God, wherein He originally created Man to be His Image and Likeness.
So long as Man's own Will stands in Self, vanity, so long it is not in the Purpose and Calling of God; it is not called, for it is gone forth from its original right Place; but when the Mind turns itself back again into the Calling, namely into Resignation, then the Will is in the Calling of God, that is, in the Place for and in which God created it, and then it has Power to become the Child of God again; as it is written, He has given us Power to become the Children of God.
The Power which He has given us is His Purpose, for and in which He created Man in His Image. This God has brought again into the human Nature, and has given Power to that Power to break the Head of Sin in the Flesh, namely, the Will and Desire of the Serpent; that is, the resigned Will in Christ treads upon the Head of the Desire of the sinful Will of the Serpent, and kills again the Sins which were committed. This Power that is given becomes a Death to sin and Death, and the Power of Life to Life.
Therefore no Man can make any Excuse, as if he could not will. Indeed, while he sticks fast in himself, in his own Desire, and serves only the Law of Sin in the Flesh, he cannot. For he is kept back, as being a Servant of Sin; but when he turns the Center of his Mind away, and directs it into the Will and Obedience of God, then he can.
Now the Center of the Mind is come out of Eternity, out of God's Omnipotence; it can bring itself into what it will, and whither it will. For that which is out of the Eternal, has no Law. But the Will has a Law to obey God, and is born out of the Mind, and must not rend itself away from that out of which God created it.
Now God created the Will of the Mind for and in Paradise, to be a Companion, with Him in the Kingdom of Divine Joy. It ought not to have removed itself from there; but since it has removed itself from there, God has brought His Will again into the Flesh, and in His new-brought-in Will, has given us Power to bring our Wills into it, and to kindle a new Light therein, and so to become His Children again.
God hardens no Man; but Man's own Will, which goes on in the fleshly Life of Sin, hardens his own Heart. The Will of Self brings the Vanity of this World into the Mind, which is thereby shut up, and continues so.
God, so far as He is called God, and is God, cannot will any Evil; for there is but one only Will in God, and that is Eternal Love, a Desire of that which is His Like, namely Power, Beauty, and Virtue found in His Grace.
God desires nothing but what is like His own Desire: His Desire receives nothing but what itself is.
God receives no Sinner into His Power and Virtue, unless the Sinner goes forth from his Sins, and enters with the Desire into God. And then, He will not cast out those that so come unto Him. He has given to the Will an open Gate in Christ, saying, Come to Me all you that are heavy laden with Sins, and I will refresh you; take My Yoke upon you, that is, the Cross of the Enmity in the Flesh. This was the Yoke of Christ, which he had to bear for the Sins of all Men. This Cross or Yoke the resigned Will must also take upon itself in the evil earthly sinful Flesh, and bear it after Christ in Patience and Hope of Deliverance. It must also continually break the Head of the Serpent, in and through Christ's Will and Spirit, and kill and destroy the earthly Will in God's Anger, not letting it rest on the soft Bed when Sin is committed, and thinking to forgiveness one Time or other.
No, no, the earthly Will grows strong, fat, and wanton upon this soft Bed, but as soon as the Light of God shines in the your soul, and shows Sin to you, the Will of your Soul must sink itself down into the Passion and Death of Christ, and wrap itself up close therein. It must take the Passion of Christ into its Possession, and be a Lord over the Death of Sin by the Death of Christ, and kill and destroy it in the Death of Christ.
The Will of Sin must die, though it is never so unwilling. Be at Enmity therefore with the voluptuous earthly Flesh; give it not what it would have; let it fast and suffer Hunger till its tickling ceases. Account the Will of the Flesh your Enemy, and do not do what the Desire in the Flesh wills, and then you shall bring a Death upon the deathful Property in the Flesh.
Regard not any Scorn of the World, as considering that it does but scorn thine Enemy, and that is become a Fool to it. Nay, do you thyself account it a Fool, which Adam caused you to possess, and made to be your false Heir. Cast out of the House the Son of the Bond-Woman, that strange Child which God did not give to be in the House of Life in Adam at the Beginning; for the Son of the Bond-Woman can not inherit with the Son of the Free-Woman.
The earthly Will is but the Son of the Bond-Woman. The Four Elements should have been Man's Servants, but Adam has brought them into the Sonship, or adopted them into himself. Therefore God said to Abraham, when he had opened the Covenant of the Promise in him, Cast out the Son of the Bond-Woman, for he shall not inherit with the Son of the Free. This Son of the Free is Christ, which God of His Grace has brought again into the Flesh for us, namely, a new or renewed Mind and spirit (that was dead as a seed), wherein the Will, namely the Eternal Will of the Soul, may draw and drink the Water of Life, of which Christ spoke, saying, Whosoever shall drink of this Water that I will give him, it shall spring up in him, and be a Fountain of eternal Life. This Fountain is the Renovation (regeneration) of the Mind or Will of the Soul, mans spirit.
Therefore I say that all Fictions and Devices to come to God by, let them have what Name so ever they will, which Men contrive and invent for Ways to God, are but lost Labor and vain Endeavors, without a new Mind. There is no other Way to God, but a new Mind, which turns from Wickedness, and enters into Repentance and God’s Grace. For the Sins it has committed which go forth from its Iniquity and enmity and wills it no more; but wraps its Will up in the Death of Christ, and with all Earnestness dies from the Sin of the Soul in the Death of Christ, so that it wills Sin no more.
And though all the Devils should press hard upon it, and enter with their Desire into the fleshly Mind, yet the Will of the Soul must stand still and hide itself in the Death of Christ, willing and desiring nothing but the Mercy of God and Grace of God.
No hypocritical Flattery or outward comforting ourselves avails at all; as when Men will cover Sin and Iniquity in the Flesh with the Satisfaction of Christ, while they remain in Self still. Christ said, except you turn and become as Children, you shall not see the Kingdom of God. The Mind must become as wholly new, as in a Child that knows nothing of Sin. Christ said also, you must be born anew, or else you shall not see the Kingdom of God. There must arise a Will wholly new in the Death of Christ and from that death to self-will or self love. It must be brought forth out of Christ's Incarnation or Entering into the Humanity, and rise in Christ's Resurrection.
Now before this can be done, the Will of the Soul must die in the Death of Christ; for in Adam it received the Son of the Bond-Woman that is Sin into it. This the Will must cast off in death, and the poor captive Soul must wrap itself up in the Death of Christ earnestly with all the Power it has, so that the Son of the Bond-Woman, namely the Sin that is in it may die in the Death of Christ.
In very deed Sin must die in the Will of the Soul, or else there can be no Vision of God. For the earthly Will, in Sin and the wrathful Nature, shall not see God. It is the regenerated Nature only that is capable of the Divine Vision or Enjoyment. The Soul must put on the Spirit and Flesh of Christ; it cannot inherit the Kingdom of God in this earthly Tabernacle. For the Kingdom of Sin hangs to it outwardly, this must putrefy in the Earth, and rise again in Christ by the new Power of God.
Hypocrisy, Flattery, and verbal Forgiveness, avail nothing. We must be Children, not by outward Imputation, but by being born of God from within, in the new Man, which is resigned in and to God.
All such Flattery of ourselves by saying, Christ has paid the Ransom, and made satisfaction for Sin, and that He died for our Sins, if we also do not die from Sin in Him, and put on His Merit in new Obedience, and live therein, is a false and vain Comfort.
He that is a bitter Enemy and Hater of Sin can and may comfort himself with the Sufferings of Christ. He that does not willingly see, hear, or taste Sin, but is at Enmity with it, and would willingly always do that which is well and right, if he knew but what he ought to do; such a one has indeed put on the Spirit and Will of Christ, and is His true Disciple and co-heir.
But the outward Flattery of being accounted a Child of God by Imputation or external Application is false and vain. The Work done in, or by, the outward Flesh only, does not make the Child of God; but the working of Christ in the Spirit makes, and indeed is, the Child of God. Which inward Working is so powerful that it shines forth as a new Light in the outward Life; and proves itself to be the Child of God by its external Conduct and Actions.
For if the Eye of the Soul is Light, then the whole Body is Light in all its Members. Now if any boast himself to be a Child of God, and yet suffers the Body to burn in Sins, he is no true Child, nor capable of the Inheritance; but lies bound by the Chains of Satan in gross Darkness. And if he does not find in himself an earnest and sincere Desire of Well-doing in Love, then his Pretence to the Childship is but an Invention of Reason proceeding from Self. He cannot see God, unless he is born a-new, and show forth by His Power and Life, that he is His true Child. For there is no Fire but has Light in it; and if the Divine Fire be in the Soul or spirit, it will shine forth, and the Mind will do that which God will have to be done.
But perhaps you will say, I have a Will indeed to do so; I would willingly do it, but I am so hindered that I cannot.
Nay, you vile Man, God draws you to be His Child, but you will not; the soft Cushion in Evil is dearer to you than to be so readily parted with. You prefer the Joy of Wickedness to the Joy of God. You are wholly swallowed up in Self still, and live according to the Law of Sin, and that hinders you. You are unwilling to die from the Pleasure of the Flesh, and therefore you are not in the Filiation. God draws you to it, but you yourself will not.
O how fine a Thing would Adam think it, if he might be taken into Heaven with this Will of the voluptuous Flesh about him, and have the Child of Wickedness, that is full of Deceit, set upon the Throne of God. Satan also would fain have had it so, but he was spewed out.
It is a troublesome Thing to mortify the evil Will; none are willing to do it. We would all gladly be the Children of God, if we might be so with this rough Garment of fallen Nature about us. But that cannot be. This World passes away, and the outward Life must die; what Good can the Adoption in the mortal Body of Flesh and Blood only do me?
If we would inherit the Filiation, we must also put on the new Man which alone can inherit it, as being like the Deity. God will have no Sinners in Heaven, but only such as are born a-new and become Children, and to have put on Heaven.
Therefore it is not so easy a Matter to become a Child of God, as Men imagine. Indeed, it is not a troublesome Thing to him that has put on the Filiation, whose Light shines; for it is Joy to such a one. But to turn the Mind and destroy Self, there is a strong and continued Earnestness requisite, and such a stout and steady Purpose, that if the Body and Soul should part asunder by it, yet the Will would persevere constantly, and not enter again into Self.
A Man must wrestle till the dark Center that is shut up tight, break open, and the Spark lying hid therein kindle and from thence the noble Lily-Branch sprouts, as from the divine Grain of Mustard-Seed as Christ said. A Man must pray earnestly, with great Humility, and for a while become a Fool in his own Reason, and see himself void of Understanding therein, until Christ be formed in this new Incarnation.
Then when Christ is born, Herod is ready to kill the Child, which he seeks to do outwardly by Persecutions, and inwardly by Temptations, to try whether this Lily-Branch will be strong enough to destroy the Kingdom of the Devil, which is manifested in the Flesh.
Then this Destroyer of the Serpent is brought into the Wilderness, after he is baptized with the Holy Spirit, and tempted and tried whether or not he will continue in Resignation to the Will of God. In which Temptation he must stand fast, that if Need require, he would leave all earthly Things, and even the outward Life, to be a Child of God.
No temporal Honor must be preferred before Filiation. But he must with his Will leave and forsake it all, and not account it his own, but esteem himself as a Servant only in it, who is to obey his Master. He must leave all worldly Propriety. We do not mean that he may not have or possess any Thing; but his Heart must forsake it, and not bring his Will into it, nor count it his own. For if he sets his Heart upon it, he has no Power to serve them that stand in Need with it.
Self is but a Slave to its temporal Possessions, but Resignation rules over all that it has. Self must do what Satan will have it do in fleshly Voluptuousness and Pride of Life; but Resignation treads it all under with the Feet of the Mind. Self despises that which is lowly and simple; but Resignation sits down with the lowly in the Dust. It said, I will be simple in myself, and understand nothing, lest my Understanding should exalt itself and sin. I will lie down in the Courts of my God at his Feet, that I may serve my Lord in that which he commands me. I will know nothing of myself, that the Will and Power of my Lord may lead and guide me, and that I may only do what God does through me, and will have done by me. I will sleep in myself until the Lord awakens me with His Spirit; and if He will not, then will I look up to Him in Silence, and wait His Commands.
Beloved, Men at this Time boast much of Faith; but where is it to be found? The modern Faith is but the History. Where is that Child which believes that Jesus is born? If that Child were in Being, and did believe that Jesus is born, it would also draw near to the sweet Child Jesus, and receive him and nurse him.
Alas! the Faith of this Day is but historical, a mere Assent to the matter of Fact that Jesus Christ lived and died; that the Jews killed Him; that He left this World, and is not King on Earth in the outward Man; but that Men may do what they list, and need not die from Sin, and their evil Lusts. All this the wicked Child Self rejoices in, that it may fatten Satan by living deliciously.
This shows plainly that true Faith was never weaker since Christ's Time, than it is now. When nevertheless the World cries aloud, and said, We have got the true Faith; and contend about a Child, with a Contention, than which there was never worse, since Men were on Earth.
If you are truly Zion, and have that new born Child which was lost and is found again, then let it be seen in Power and Virtue found only in God’s Grace. Let us all openly see the sweet Child Jesus brought forth by you, and that you are His Nurse. If not, then the Children in Christ will say, you have found nothing but the Cradle of the Child, that is, the History.
Where have you the sweet Child Jesus, you that are so exalted with the History, and with your false and seeming Faith? O how will the Child Jesus visit you one Day in the Father's Property, the Property of Anger, in your own flesh which you have fattened! It calls you now in Love, but you will not hear, for thine Ears are stopped with Covetousness and Voluptuousness. Therefore the Sound of the Trumpet shall one Day alarm you with the hard Thunder-clap of your flesh, and rouse you up, if haply you will then seek and find the sweet Child Jesus.
Beloved, this is a Time of seeking, of seeking and finding. It is a Time of Earnestness; whom it touches, it touches home. He that watches shall hear and see it; but he that sleeps in Sin, and said in the fat Days of his Belly, All is peace and quiet; we hear no Sound from the Lord, shall be blind. But the Voice of the Lord has sounded in all the Ends of the Earth, and a Smoke rises, and in the Midst of the Smoke there is a great Brightness and Splendor.
Lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. (2Corinthians 4:4-5)
The enemy of men's souls wants to keep perishing people in spiritual blindness. "But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe." 2Corinthians 4:3-4. This counterfeit god is working on all unbelievers (even as he formerly did with us). "In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience" Ephesians 2:2. His influence is so extensive. He works through every system (political, economic, educational, religion .. etc.) within the unbelieving world. "The whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one" 1John 5:19. The primary purpose of Satan's blinding activities is to keep those in darkness from seeing God's light: "Lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them."
Into this dark and blinded world, we come with the message of light: "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." Only the light of Jesus can overcome dead men, for all seed is dead until it is planted, watered and lights heat is applied. Our Lord proclaimed this wondrous remedy. "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness (spiritually dead man), but have the light of life" John 8:12. When the light of Jesus shines into man's darkness, it brings liberating life from God. Paul was sent out with this great gospel: "To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God" Acts 26:18.
We are also sent out as vessels of light. "You are the light of the world" Matthew 5:14. We are light, because Jesus (the true light and life) lives in, and can shine through, each of us. "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light" Ephesians 5:8. We can show forth our Lord in deed and in word. As we allow Jesus, His glorious light shines through us. As we speak of Jesus, we declare His glorious majesty.
Remember, the light of the gospel is about the glory of Jesus: "The light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." Our message is not about us. "For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake." We are but His servants. He is our message. He is the Lord over all. Thus, He is able to save from all that blinds and binds.
The following teachings are taken from writings found in the public domain with the following contributors the Holy Spirit, Pastor Bob Hoekstra, William Law and a few unknowns. All scriptures are taken from the King James Version, American Standard, and the Weymouth New Testament with limited editing.
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