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The Woman and the Glory

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Scripture reading: John 17:5, 22

God’s smile, His good will, and His permissive will are all that the church seems to have been enjoying until now. But now is the time of the overshadowing, when the manchild church is being brought forth within the woman church. We are moving into a time when nothing but the perfect will of God will be acceptable.

“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” Revelation 12:1.

This is not Mary, the mother of Jesus. This chapter was written of the future and not of the past. Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Ghost and brought forth Jesus Christ, the son of God. The church is being overshadowed by the Holy Ghost again to bring forth the Christ in us, not in a physical sense, as with Mary who had a natural child, but in the spiritual sense, where we shall bring forth the fruit of the soul and not the fruit of the womb. “Clothed with the sun” signifies an elect and called-out people of God, who at last will attain to the glory of God as their covering. Covering is not only for protection, but clothes which they wear daily – the righteousness of God being a part of our habit. The sun represents Christ, just as the moon represents the church. This woman was clothed with the sun, and her footstool was the moon. The meaning is clear. It brings out the scripture of Jesus’ prayer in John 17:5 and 22,

“And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.

We do not need ecumenism. The glory of God in us is making us one without reservation or fear of separation.

This glory which Jesus prayed about is the picture we see in Revelation 12. It is the same glory which hung over the tabernacle in the wilderness. The same glory Ezekiel saw at the river Chebar, and which Isaiah saw in Isaiah 1 and 6. All the prophets saw it, and Paul saw it when he was knocked down on the road to Damascus. I believe this is the same glory which I also saw in a vision in Greenwich Farm in western Kingston, when I saw the shadow of a man, cast by a great light in the sky, resting on the sea and on the land, and the voice of God speaking to me, saying, “The glory of God dwelleth in His people.” The glory is already given, and the church needs to appropriate it. The people of God is the only temple on earth now recognized by the Lord as His temple. In Haggai 2:7 and 9, there is a prophecy which is yet to come to pass, and it cannot be speaking of a natural temple, as there is none now standing which would have the approval of God. This temple, of course, must be the temple of the human body which God desires to dwell in, “not made with hands.”

“And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.”

This scripture speaks of Revelation 12:1, which is the fulfillment of Haggai’s prophecy. The woman, the church, will be clothed at last, not in her own righteousness, but with the GLORY OF GOD.

“Upon her head a crown of twelve stars.”

(Excerpt from The Pattern, 2nd edition, 1995, pg. 151-153)

Thought for today: We do not need ecumenism. The glory of God in us is making us one without reservation or fear of separation.

We Must Be Overshadowed

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Scripture reading: Psalm 57:1

In order to be filled with the “divine nature,” we must be overshadowed by the divine. The effigy of the two cherubim on the Mercy Seat in the Tabernacle of Moses is a type of the divine overshadowing. The Song of Solomon speaks of the love between Christ and the church, and the final act of planting the seed of life within the soul, the womb of the church. This is God’s divine order of bringing forth life.

Isaiah 51:16, “And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.”

Since the heavens are of old, and the earth is already founded, we can only conclude from this scripture that it speaks of the heaven, or abiding place of God within the soul of man, and the earth, to mean the physical man which as the scripture says, will be made immortal. The covering here is one of protection, an overshadowing that does not only change man’s nature, but protects him while the change is being made. This idea is carried out by the scripture as shown below.

“And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by.” Exodus 33:22.

It is absolutely amazing that God had to cover Moses to protect him from Himself. In simple terms, the power of radiation of God was too much for Moses’ eyes, so God simply hid him in a rock. The overshadowing always brings protection along with the main purpose for which God gives it.

“Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee; yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.” Psalm 57:1.

“For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.” Isaiah 25:4.

Here again, we see the double purpose of overshadowing. Not only is it a place of hiding, but in this scripture, it created strength to the poor.

“And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” Genesis 28:15.

In 1st Corinthians 10:1-2, Paul writes in the Holy Ghost,

“Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.”

With every age, there is an overshadowing, and this must come forth within those overshadowed by the will of God for their time. We, therefore, in this time have an overshadowing, and this is the greatest of all the overshadowings of the past. They were only a type of that which God is bringing forth within us for our time and for all mankind.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, 2nd edition, 1995, pg. 150-151)

Thought for today: We, therefore, in this time have an overshadowing, and this is the greatest of all the overshadowings of the past.

The Four Cherubims

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Scripture reading: Hebrews 10:20

The four pillars at the entrance of the Holy of Holies is a type of the four cherubims of Ezekiel 1 and 10, Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4. These represent a picture of man’s soul, which in Revelation 4 is mentioned as “four beasts,” and in Revelation 7:1 as four angels of death and destruction standing on the four corners of the earth (soul).

To re-enter Eden, we must go through fire. The flaming sword is the Word of God, and the baptism of fire through which man must go to come into perfection. Note that the angel with the sword was at the east of the garden, and the angel of Revelation 7:2, the fifth angel, was rising from the east to seal the saints. The east represents the mind of Christ.

The picture of man’s soul is as follows. Man's SoulWe could re-enter into this Eden realm, and eventually partake of the tree of life which is Christ, which would re-cycle our nature to the nature of Christ, BUT for these four beasts which occupy our soul realm. Man has the nature of the eagle in his mind, which makes him soar in his thoughts away from God. In his emotions, he is like a lion, a wild savage beast that thrives upon the death of others. In his will, he is stubborn as an ox. In his desires, he is a man. No other creature desires as much as man. He will desire heaven and hell at the same time. He is a creature of desire.

The breaking through the veil, therefore, speaks of man breaking through his own flesh nature. Paul writing to the Hebrew Christians spoke of the veil being the flesh of Jesus Christ in Hebrews 10:20,

“By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.”

Jesus prepared the way for us by breaking through His own flesh, thus He established the “how” of it, so that we too might break through and be OVERCOMERS.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, 2nd edition, 1995, pg. 145-146)

Thought for today: Jesus prepared the way for us by breaking through His own flesh, thus He established the “how” of it, so that we too might break through and be OVERCOMERS.

Soulishness

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Scripture reading: Revelation 4:10-11

The soul of man is the prize of God. This is the one earthly item which we definitely know that God desires more than all others. Gold, silver, lands, cattle, angels? No! The soul of man is the great prize. When this is won, then all creation is won. God DESIRES SONS, not robots, not beings compelled to worship Him, but sons who willingly lay at His feet all the goodness He gave to them.

“Not my will, but thine, be done.” Luke 22:42.

Gifts from the Spirit of God are to be given back to God. God is not making man independent of Himself, but by His goodness being poured out upon us, He is drawing us to Himself. There is nowhere else where the goodness of God can be MAXIMUM EFFECTIVE, but in the hand of God. Do you use God or does God use you? God is His own administrator, and when man acquires the attributes of God and uses them for self, he is usurping authority.

There is another classic example in the Bible in Revelation 4:10 and 11.

“The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

Here the beasts represent the souls of men, changed from the beast nature to the nature of the Christ. They took off their crowns, came off their thrones, fell down before Jesus Christ, and worshiped Him.

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power.”

This is what they say, surrendering to Him all the power and glory He gave them by His blood and sacrifice. This loudly suggests that they will not be their own, but forever be His and part of Him who redeemed them.

According to the promises of the Lord, we are to be made priests and kings. Revelation 4 shows this situation, when man is at last made priest and the soul is inhabited by the King, Jesus Christ, thus, we also become kings. Even as Jesus surrendered all power and authority to the Father, and submitted Himself to the ignominy of the cross, so also the sons of God, true to pattern, surrender their crowns and their priesthood to Him who redeemed them. A very beautiful picture indeed.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, 2nd edition, 1995, pg. 140-141)

Thought for today: The soul of man is the great prize. When this is won, then all creation is won.

This message entitled “Discerning the Body of Christ” is part two of a two part series. It was given at a conference in Schuyler, Nebraska in November 2003 by Brother Cecil duCille.

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