Qualifying for Kingdom Dominion Part Two
THE KINGDOM OF GOD -Part 59 - by J. Preston Eby
Many students who enter college are required to take an entrance exam. As with every test, the entrance exam is given to determine, and prove, those who qualify, and eliminate those who don't. Those who pass the test will remain and continue with their studies; those who fail are rejected. Every test and trial has within it the element of elimination. Those who do not stand and pass the test are eliminated -- not killed or tortured -- but cast off, excluded, rejected, prevented from entering in to the new realm. That this possibility exists in the callings of God is clearly seen by the earnest exhortation of Paul when he writes to the saints at Corinth, "So run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air; but I keep my body under, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway" (I Cor. 9:24-27). The Revised Standard Version reads, "I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air (a shadow boxer), but I pummel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." Paul realized that the thing that could disqualify him from the high calling of God was his old body with its desires, passions, and deceits -- his flesh. He fought against it, he pummeled it, he beat it down, as some translations say, not yielding to the desires of the flesh, but bringing his flesh man into subjection to the spirit, lest after a wonderful and successful preaching ministry setting forth the deep things of God, he himself would be cast away, rejected from the High Calling of God. Being a preacher, even a great preacher, articulating the wonderful truths of manifest sonship and the Kingdom of God, is not sufficient to qualify one for sonship in the Kingdom or the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. And I can assure you that there are vast numbers of preachers who will be eliminated in that day; those who have not been able to pass the test!
Listen carefully to the wonderful provision God has made for those who love Him and seek His Kingdom above all else. "Who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver..." (Mal. 3:2-3). In the refining and purifying process there is a purging taking place. Purging is getting rid of unwanted and unnecessary material. When Hitler came to power in Germany he instituted a purging of the government. He cast out all of those not in favor of his agenda and whom he believed he could not trust to cooperate completely with him. These were put out of office. When a conspiracy to get rid of him was discovered there was another purge. Those involved in the purge were not just relieved of their responsibilities, they were executed. Under the communist government of the former Soviet Union there was a purge of the high officials every time there was a change of leadership. Many were demoted to a lesser office, some were retired altogether, while others were promoted to higher positions and power. This is what is called a purge.
The Lord, when He comes to His temple of living stones and purges the sons of Levi, or His kingly priesthood, He first of all purges out one man -- old Adam! He comes to cleanse us from the carnal, Adamic mind, nature, and ways. He comes as a consuming fire to burn out of us all that is contrary to the righteousness and wisdom and purposes of the Lord. He is coming to each one of us in the new Day of the Lord and is executing the old man of sin in us. But on a corporate level He is also coming to those who have received the call to sonship and is separating out all who talk the Kingdom but do not walk the Kingdom. Only the ones who have completely surrendered to His will, and have walked in His ways, and have obeyed each sound of His voice, who have clean hands and pure hearts, will remain to reign with Him. How can anyone be put in a place of authority and power in the Kingdom who has not come to the place of complete SUBORDINATION TO THE KING? He will purge the sons of Levi, the kings and priests of His Kingdom, disqualifying those He cannot trust to do His will and cooperate completely in the administration of His Kingdom. The ways of Babylon and all the soul-possessing demands of the insipid church systems must be purged, the attributes of the carnal mind must be cleansed, all self-hood must be purified, and all desire to make a name for ourselves and to gather men to ourselves rather than to Christ must be purified. The ones who will abide the day of His coming and stand when He appeareth are those He is refining and purifying now.
"Kings and priests" are not honorary titles conferred on us because we have believed on Jesus, had our sins forgiven, and made it to heaven. Rather, these are positions of responsibility, authority and power. Kings and priests of God must be trained with far, far more rigor than are subjects of the Kingdom who bear little responsibility. They must also be trained and equipped more thoroughly than the church age ministries which are in part and last only until the Perfect Man is formed. The sons of God partake of a more excellent ministry and bring in a better age! The Kingdom of God is God in His Christ ruling over all things, performing the will of God on earth as it is in heaven. Obviously a great transformation must take place in our personality if we are to meet the standards for ministry at this high level!
This is a day of instant things. In the fast-paced, fast food society, we are used to having things as we want them, when we want them. Everything is instant. We can walk into a room and get instant light, heat, and air conditioning by flipping a switch. We get up in the morning and drink instant coffee, eat instant oatmeal, instant soup, instant mashed potatoes, and instant other things too numerous to name. If it isn't instant, then we turn on the microwave. All too often we also expect instant results in our spiritual life -- instant perfection, instant power, instant maturity, instant sonship! But, dear one in Christ, God doesn't believe in shortcuts! Haste in the high and holy things of the Kingdom of God is freighted with grave danger. As someone has pointed out, when the almighty Creator plants a redwood tree in the womb of mother earth, He is looking forward in infinite wisdom and patience perhaps five thousand years to a day when it is a towering monarch of the forest. Think it not strange, then, that He would spend the entire span of a man's brief life-time in bringing to perfection a saint who is to rule the world as a son of God, bringing life and order out of the dreadful death and chaos that everywhere reigns upon earth. The wonder is that it does not take much longer! Let us, therefore, not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.
I am deeply impressed with the words of George Hawtin penned some years ago in his paper THE PAGE. "God increases our faith through patience. At first what faith you had was void of patience. It wanted to see creation leap in response to its impatient demands. The sick must be healed right now. The world must be converted right now. You must get rid of carnality and become perfect now, of course; but as years went by and things continued much as they were before you tried to set the world on fire, you began very slowly to see that God is not enthused about impatient faith; you came to see that faith and patience are inseparable and methinks someday you will see that patience is faith. We have heard a great deal about faith, much of it springing from the desire of the carnal mind. Little indeed have we heard of patience without which there can be no real and lasting faith.
"Harvests do not come without patience and waiting. Vainly we have tried to squeeze God into our mold of haste and hurry. We have cried, wept, and teased like spoiled children in an endeavor to get our way and hurry God in His program. We have demanded of God and tried to command Him. We have quoted scriptures to try and bolster our position but all in vain. To learn faith in patience is much more important than for us to have our own way about things. In Hebrews 10:35-37 the apostle wrote, 'Cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great recompense of reward. For YE HAVE NEED OF PATIENCE that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise'" -- end quote.
Ah, beloved, does it seem that you shall never overcome the flesh, the world, and the devil; that you shall never live the abundant life, never arrive at perfection or attain unto maturity of sonship? Be encouraged, dear ones, for our gracious heavenly Father dropped a word into my heart in such an hour of foreboding when progress seemed so slow in my spiritual life that it appeared I was going backward instead of forward. His voice fell in quickening illumination upon my attentive ear with this beautiful word of wisdom: "My son, look back upon your walk five years...ten years...twenty years...how were you then? Have you changed at all? Have you grown some? Have you learned lessons and gained victories? Are you in any measure wiser, stronger, more enlightened, experienced, and triumphant? Do you know me in a deeper way than you did at the beginning? Have you made some progress? Can you see how much different is your life today in the deepest recesses of being than it was before? Ah, my son, if all this has been wrought by my hand in your life within the span of these years, can you not now trust me to finish and perfect that good work which I have begun in you? Do you not know that I am silently but faithfully working in you this very day to conform you to the image of my Son?"
Sons of God! Do not spend your days fretting about whether you are making progress. There is nothing in the world that grows so fast that you can see it grow! My eight grandchildren are growing every day of their lives, but I cannot see them grow. Tomorrow they will be taller, stronger, and wiser than today but I will be unable to discern it. Let God be the judge of how much or how little you have grown. Your duty and mine is to press relentlessly onward heedless of circumstances or conditions, but pressing patiently toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Few of us look in the mirror and come to the conclusion of Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath. During his heyday as a player, Namath wrote a book titled I Can't Wait Until Tomorrow ... 'Cause I Get Better- Looking Every Day. As egotistical as that title sounds, it can help us see how we as sons of God being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ should view ourselves in the lifelong process of becoming like Him. Scripture tells us that to become more like Christ, we need to keep getting better every day!
I will tell you a great secret. I read a story about a wonderful violinist who traveled to Houston to give a concert. He had recently spent thousands of dollars on a Stradivarius violin. Naturally all the news media carried stories about this wonderful opportunity to hear the fabulous music that such an exquisite violin would produce. The local newspapers ran photographs of the Stradivarius and published articles about its history and marvelous tonal quality. Few words were printed about the violinist himself. Most of the praise went to the violin. On the night of the concert, the hall was packed. The crowd was thrilled with every note and the auditorium filled with wave after wave of tremendous applause. The concert ended with a prolonged standing ovation.
But then the violinist did something quite shocking! He took his violin, that beautiful instrument that had been the source of such wonderful music, and lifted it over his head. After the crowd rose to its feet in adulation, he brought the instrument down -- hard -- across his knee. Its back was broken and the strings hung loose. Now it was completely worthless. A gasp of horror went through the auditorium as people wondered if the violinist had lost his mind. But he raised his hand to quiet the murmuring and said, "This is not a Stradivarius! I went down to the pawn shop and bought this violin for ninety-five dollars." The message is clear -- it wasn't the quality of the instrument that produced those beautiful, soul-stirring sounds. It was the quality of the person playing that instrument! And today, in our present state of spiritual growth and development, some of us may feel like ninety-five dollar pawn shop violins along side the famous Stradivarius -- Jesus, the firstborn Son of God! But the reality is that it doesn't matter whether you're as gifted, accomplished, fluent, knowledgeable, wise and externally holy and spiritual as other saints. If your life is committed into the Father's hands, then you too, can produce the most beautiful music imaginable. The key is to get your focus away from yourself and on to the Great Musician -- God Himself. Right where you are, let God begin to "play" you!
To be continued...
Many students who enter college are required to take an entrance exam. As with every test, the entrance exam is given to determine, and prove, those who qualify, and eliminate those who don't. Those who pass the test will remain and continue with their studies; those who fail are rejected. Every test and trial has within it the element of elimination. Those who do not stand and pass the test are eliminated -- not killed or tortured -- but cast off, excluded, rejected, prevented from entering in to the new realm. That this possibility exists in the callings of God is clearly seen by the earnest exhortation of Paul when he writes to the saints at Corinth, "So run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air; but I keep my body under, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway" (I Cor. 9:24-27). The Revised Standard Version reads, "I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air (a shadow boxer), but I pummel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." Paul realized that the thing that could disqualify him from the high calling of God was his old body with its desires, passions, and deceits -- his flesh. He fought against it, he pummeled it, he beat it down, as some translations say, not yielding to the desires of the flesh, but bringing his flesh man into subjection to the spirit, lest after a wonderful and successful preaching ministry setting forth the deep things of God, he himself would be cast away, rejected from the High Calling of God. Being a preacher, even a great preacher, articulating the wonderful truths of manifest sonship and the Kingdom of God, is not sufficient to qualify one for sonship in the Kingdom or the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. And I can assure you that there are vast numbers of preachers who will be eliminated in that day; those who have not been able to pass the test!
Listen carefully to the wonderful provision God has made for those who love Him and seek His Kingdom above all else. "Who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver..." (Mal. 3:2-3). In the refining and purifying process there is a purging taking place. Purging is getting rid of unwanted and unnecessary material. When Hitler came to power in Germany he instituted a purging of the government. He cast out all of those not in favor of his agenda and whom he believed he could not trust to cooperate completely with him. These were put out of office. When a conspiracy to get rid of him was discovered there was another purge. Those involved in the purge were not just relieved of their responsibilities, they were executed. Under the communist government of the former Soviet Union there was a purge of the high officials every time there was a change of leadership. Many were demoted to a lesser office, some were retired altogether, while others were promoted to higher positions and power. This is what is called a purge.
The Lord, when He comes to His temple of living stones and purges the sons of Levi, or His kingly priesthood, He first of all purges out one man -- old Adam! He comes to cleanse us from the carnal, Adamic mind, nature, and ways. He comes as a consuming fire to burn out of us all that is contrary to the righteousness and wisdom and purposes of the Lord. He is coming to each one of us in the new Day of the Lord and is executing the old man of sin in us. But on a corporate level He is also coming to those who have received the call to sonship and is separating out all who talk the Kingdom but do not walk the Kingdom. Only the ones who have completely surrendered to His will, and have walked in His ways, and have obeyed each sound of His voice, who have clean hands and pure hearts, will remain to reign with Him. How can anyone be put in a place of authority and power in the Kingdom who has not come to the place of complete SUBORDINATION TO THE KING? He will purge the sons of Levi, the kings and priests of His Kingdom, disqualifying those He cannot trust to do His will and cooperate completely in the administration of His Kingdom. The ways of Babylon and all the soul-possessing demands of the insipid church systems must be purged, the attributes of the carnal mind must be cleansed, all self-hood must be purified, and all desire to make a name for ourselves and to gather men to ourselves rather than to Christ must be purified. The ones who will abide the day of His coming and stand when He appeareth are those He is refining and purifying now.
"Kings and priests" are not honorary titles conferred on us because we have believed on Jesus, had our sins forgiven, and made it to heaven. Rather, these are positions of responsibility, authority and power. Kings and priests of God must be trained with far, far more rigor than are subjects of the Kingdom who bear little responsibility. They must also be trained and equipped more thoroughly than the church age ministries which are in part and last only until the Perfect Man is formed. The sons of God partake of a more excellent ministry and bring in a better age! The Kingdom of God is God in His Christ ruling over all things, performing the will of God on earth as it is in heaven. Obviously a great transformation must take place in our personality if we are to meet the standards for ministry at this high level!
This is a day of instant things. In the fast-paced, fast food society, we are used to having things as we want them, when we want them. Everything is instant. We can walk into a room and get instant light, heat, and air conditioning by flipping a switch. We get up in the morning and drink instant coffee, eat instant oatmeal, instant soup, instant mashed potatoes, and instant other things too numerous to name. If it isn't instant, then we turn on the microwave. All too often we also expect instant results in our spiritual life -- instant perfection, instant power, instant maturity, instant sonship! But, dear one in Christ, God doesn't believe in shortcuts! Haste in the high and holy things of the Kingdom of God is freighted with grave danger. As someone has pointed out, when the almighty Creator plants a redwood tree in the womb of mother earth, He is looking forward in infinite wisdom and patience perhaps five thousand years to a day when it is a towering monarch of the forest. Think it not strange, then, that He would spend the entire span of a man's brief life-time in bringing to perfection a saint who is to rule the world as a son of God, bringing life and order out of the dreadful death and chaos that everywhere reigns upon earth. The wonder is that it does not take much longer! Let us, therefore, not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.
I am deeply impressed with the words of George Hawtin penned some years ago in his paper THE PAGE. "God increases our faith through patience. At first what faith you had was void of patience. It wanted to see creation leap in response to its impatient demands. The sick must be healed right now. The world must be converted right now. You must get rid of carnality and become perfect now, of course; but as years went by and things continued much as they were before you tried to set the world on fire, you began very slowly to see that God is not enthused about impatient faith; you came to see that faith and patience are inseparable and methinks someday you will see that patience is faith. We have heard a great deal about faith, much of it springing from the desire of the carnal mind. Little indeed have we heard of patience without which there can be no real and lasting faith.
"Harvests do not come without patience and waiting. Vainly we have tried to squeeze God into our mold of haste and hurry. We have cried, wept, and teased like spoiled children in an endeavor to get our way and hurry God in His program. We have demanded of God and tried to command Him. We have quoted scriptures to try and bolster our position but all in vain. To learn faith in patience is much more important than for us to have our own way about things. In Hebrews 10:35-37 the apostle wrote, 'Cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great recompense of reward. For YE HAVE NEED OF PATIENCE that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise'" -- end quote.
Ah, beloved, does it seem that you shall never overcome the flesh, the world, and the devil; that you shall never live the abundant life, never arrive at perfection or attain unto maturity of sonship? Be encouraged, dear ones, for our gracious heavenly Father dropped a word into my heart in such an hour of foreboding when progress seemed so slow in my spiritual life that it appeared I was going backward instead of forward. His voice fell in quickening illumination upon my attentive ear with this beautiful word of wisdom: "My son, look back upon your walk five years...ten years...twenty years...how were you then? Have you changed at all? Have you grown some? Have you learned lessons and gained victories? Are you in any measure wiser, stronger, more enlightened, experienced, and triumphant? Do you know me in a deeper way than you did at the beginning? Have you made some progress? Can you see how much different is your life today in the deepest recesses of being than it was before? Ah, my son, if all this has been wrought by my hand in your life within the span of these years, can you not now trust me to finish and perfect that good work which I have begun in you? Do you not know that I am silently but faithfully working in you this very day to conform you to the image of my Son?"
Sons of God! Do not spend your days fretting about whether you are making progress. There is nothing in the world that grows so fast that you can see it grow! My eight grandchildren are growing every day of their lives, but I cannot see them grow. Tomorrow they will be taller, stronger, and wiser than today but I will be unable to discern it. Let God be the judge of how much or how little you have grown. Your duty and mine is to press relentlessly onward heedless of circumstances or conditions, but pressing patiently toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Few of us look in the mirror and come to the conclusion of Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath. During his heyday as a player, Namath wrote a book titled I Can't Wait Until Tomorrow ... 'Cause I Get Better- Looking Every Day. As egotistical as that title sounds, it can help us see how we as sons of God being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ should view ourselves in the lifelong process of becoming like Him. Scripture tells us that to become more like Christ, we need to keep getting better every day!
I will tell you a great secret. I read a story about a wonderful violinist who traveled to Houston to give a concert. He had recently spent thousands of dollars on a Stradivarius violin. Naturally all the news media carried stories about this wonderful opportunity to hear the fabulous music that such an exquisite violin would produce. The local newspapers ran photographs of the Stradivarius and published articles about its history and marvelous tonal quality. Few words were printed about the violinist himself. Most of the praise went to the violin. On the night of the concert, the hall was packed. The crowd was thrilled with every note and the auditorium filled with wave after wave of tremendous applause. The concert ended with a prolonged standing ovation.
But then the violinist did something quite shocking! He took his violin, that beautiful instrument that had been the source of such wonderful music, and lifted it over his head. After the crowd rose to its feet in adulation, he brought the instrument down -- hard -- across his knee. Its back was broken and the strings hung loose. Now it was completely worthless. A gasp of horror went through the auditorium as people wondered if the violinist had lost his mind. But he raised his hand to quiet the murmuring and said, "This is not a Stradivarius! I went down to the pawn shop and bought this violin for ninety-five dollars." The message is clear -- it wasn't the quality of the instrument that produced those beautiful, soul-stirring sounds. It was the quality of the person playing that instrument! And today, in our present state of spiritual growth and development, some of us may feel like ninety-five dollar pawn shop violins along side the famous Stradivarius -- Jesus, the firstborn Son of God! But the reality is that it doesn't matter whether you're as gifted, accomplished, fluent, knowledgeable, wise and externally holy and spiritual as other saints. If your life is committed into the Father's hands, then you too, can produce the most beautiful music imaginable. The key is to get your focus away from yourself and on to the Great Musician -- God Himself. Right where you are, let God begin to "play" you!
To be continued...
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