The Cross

The Cross - Des Walter Message given in Goldsboro, N.C. 9/24/00

I want to share with you today on the subject of the "Cross," because I think it is probably the most misunderstood aspect of the Christian faith. So I want to by-pass the traditional concepts that are the product of the natural mind and present to you the TRUTH as seen from God’s point of view.

We will begin in Hebrews, chapter 2, because we need to lay a clear foundation and discover how God thinks about things because the Prophet Isaiah said, "As far as the heavens are above the earth, so far are my thoughts above your thoughts." Have you ever thought about that? Here we have been living with our thoughts for so long, or thoughts we have received from others, that have formed the basis of our understanding about God. But you see, His thoughts are way above our thoughts. So today let’s put away our thoughts about the cross, and let God start to insert some of His thinking and then we may come up with an answer quite different to that which we have believed over the years.

Hebrews 2:6, "One in a certain place testified saying, what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the Son of Man that thou visitest him? You have made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor and you set him over the works of Thy hands." That is what God did when He created man. So it sounds like God had great confidence in the creation he called MAN. I do not see God making some alternative plan just "in case" it didn’t work out. No, it says here, "You crowned him with glory and honor. You have set him over the works of Your hands." - vs 8 - "You have put all things in subjection under his feet and You left nothing that is not put under him, but now, we see not yet all things put under his feet."

That is the sad note that comes in here. But then we rise back on to the plain of glory because the next verse says, "But we see Jesus". So what is God saying to us? Why does the Lord tell us not to dwell on what we consider to be our failures and short comings but to focus our eyes on JESUS? In order to answer this most important question we need to understand how we were created and what we were created to be. In Genesis 1:26 we read, "And God said, "Let us make MAN in OUR IMAGE and after OUR LIKENESS." The very first thing I want to impress upon you is that THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE! This MAN is not from outer space or some super creature different from every other man on the earth. There is no other MAN that God created and he represents all mankind on the earth in every generation. This is the reason why we need to look closely at what is recorded concerning the man (MANKIND) that GOD CREATED.

You will notice that in creation man did not have any physical material body, for he was created as spirit. However very few people today realise that the reality of their being is spirit. Even among Christians, most would deny this fact and declare they are mortal human beings. After 6000 years of living as flesh and blood in a material physical world, mankind has become convinced that they are mortal human beings. However the whole picture of man from God’s point of view changes when we realise that the FORM is not the REALITY.

Christendom is convinced that mankind has descended from Adam the man of dust and so teaches that everyone is born a sinner and under the curse of death. This puts SIN at the centre of all theology, which majors on how to deal with this issue, to satisfy God and "Go to heaven when we die." It is this focus that has distorted our understanding of the CROSS.

Because of our origin out of God we all have the capacity to create. From a child we begin to create the kind of person we believe we are. If we are convinced we are not very clever and cannot succeed in life, that is exactly the kind of person we create and become. If I feel I am not loved we will create a very insecure person. If I believe the world is filled with evil and that I am subject to every problem and difficulty, I will be filled with fear and live in the hostile world I have created. So by ignoring the TRUTH concerning the Creation of man, and majoring on our physical birth, we have created an entity we call a "SELF." This "Self" is the source of all our problems, and locks us into this physical material world that is governed by the law of sin and death. However I want you to know that this "Self" is just an illusion and has no reality attached to it.

We need to get our eyes off the "self" that we created and consider the reality of what we are. Only then will we recognise the unreality of our assumed identity, which did not come from God, but which we believed ourselves to be. Some people say to me, "Well, I’m an alcoholic". And I say, "Well, you are very fortunate, because you know exactly how to live your life successfully. You are going to drink to excess and get drunk, and you are going to abuse people including your wife and family, generally cause a mess, because that is what alcoholics do. So if you declare you are an alcoholic, you have predetermined how you will act and what you will do, and nobody is going to blame you, because you are an "alcoholic", doing what an alcoholic does.

But, of course if we are Sons of God then we are going to live as Sons of God, are we not? Sons of God don’t sin do they? Sons of God cannot sin, can they? Whoa! Is that really true? Let us look in the First epistle of John, chapter 3. Now if I say something today and you can’t grab it, please don’t get angry, but do what Mary did and hide it in your heart. Just put it aside and say, "Lord, if this is you speaking to me then you will teach me in your time and it will be okay".

1 John 3:2, "Now are we the Sons of God, but it doth not yet appear what we shall be". In other words, John is telling us what is our true identity, for we are "Sons of God." This is not because of anything we may have done, but because WE CAME OUT OF GOD. But there is more to come, I mean, Sons don’t have children do they? Isn’t it Father’s that have children. Well, we’ve got to go beyond sonship, so that we can have children, then we become Fathers.

"Beloved we are even here and now God’s children. And it is not yet made clear what we shall be in the future, but we know that when he comes and is manifested we shall resemble and be like him, for we shall see him just as he really is." Notice whenever God thinks about man it is always connected to CHRIST.

And every one that has this hope resting on him Cleanses and purifies himself, because that is how he sees himself. Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. And we know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin". Verse 6, "Whosoever abideth in Him (in Christ), sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth has not seen Him, neither do they know Him". If you sin you haven’t seen CHRIST, and you don’t know Him. He has never become your identity; therefore, you will keep on sinning.

Now, verse 9, "Whosoever is born of God" (Are you born of God today? Come on, are you born of God? Amen? Not too loud now, just a little amen will do as someone may hear you. Are you born of God? Hallelujah! Then what does John say? "WHOSOEVER IS BORN or begotten OF GOD DOTH NOT COMMIT SIN, for God’s nature abides in him. The principle of God’s life, the divine sperm, remains permanently within him, and he cannot practise sinning because he is born or begotten of God".

What is the SEED of God? Well, Christ is the SEED out of whom all mankind has come. Paul tells us in Eph 2:10 "You were created in CHRIST JESUS." Is He not also the SEED of Abraham, "and not seeds, as of many, but one ...which is CHRIST!" Gal 3:16. The "Seed" speaks about generation, and in Psalm 90:1 Moses says, "Lord, YOU have been our dwelling place and our refuge in all generations." So we conclude that every generation of mankind has come out of God.

If Christ is your identity, if you are born or begotten of God and Christ dwells in you, then John says, YOU CANNOT SIN BECAUSE CHRIST CANNOT SIN! Well, you believe that, don’t you? Christ cannot sin and He is your identity. That is who you are, therefore I cannot sin. But remember, the "I" that I am talking about is not simply what the government recognizes me to be. They say this is Des Walter, born 70-odd years ago, and they know my address, where I live, who is my mother and father, and they recognise me by my photograph.

But the truth is that they do not know my true identity, because that is not listed on my passport. My identity is Christ. And if that is my identity then "I," that is the Christ "I", cannot sin. Are you hearing this? Does that explain what John is telling us? You never hear preachers preach on these verses. They always leave them out. NO, you can’t preach that, or we’ll have everybody think they are "going to heaven". Of course I mean NOW, and not after they die, because heaven is not a geographical location but a state of being.

Okay, we will go back to Hebrews now, having cleared up that little problem. "But we see Jesus." We have not yet seen everything under our feet. Why? Because we seem to be very slow to believe these things. To believe who we are, and to understand our true identity is very difficult, mainly because the Church has brain washed us into believing that we did not originate out of God, but out of the man of dust in the Garden of Eden.

Then in some cases, our parents added to our confusion, by telling us how far short of perfection we came in our actions, instead of helping us understand why we acted as we did. So all of these things began to produce a false identity in us, developing an attitude that we were sinners and God was angry with us. This in turn made us afraid of God so like Adam we have hidden ourselves behind our religious thinking, (trees).

To quell our fear of God and bring at least some measure of peace to our hearts, religion taught us to believe, that God recognised our hopeless situation and has come to our aid by killing his son on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins, allowing him to be able to forgive us if we repent. Millions have grasped at this straw, but never found in it a release from their mortality.

But you see, it means that we have never truly discovered the seat of our problem which is our false sense of identity, because we listened to all those voices. The hymn writer summed up our disillusionment in these words, "I’ve tried the broken cisterns Lord, but ah the waters failed, even as I stooped to drink they fled and mocked me as I wailed." Then after all this negative and misleading input I found that I had actually reproduced a "self," an identity which was nothing like Christ, but I called myself a Christian.

So, it says here, BUT WE SEE JESUS! Let us take a closer look at Him, "Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, THAT HE BY THE GRACE OF GOD SHOULD TASTE DEATH FOR EVERYMAN". Tell me, when did He taste death for everyman? Ah, you will say, "On the cross when he died as our sin offering," for that is what has been taught. But was not the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world? Rev 13:8. The word "foundation" is a translation of the Greek word "Katabole" which means "The casting down." The casting down was when Adam sinned. That’s when the Lamb was slain.

Now, let’s go back to Genesis 2. Isn’t it amazing how we keep having to go back to the book of beginnings, because we have got things so screwed up because we have never allowed the spirit to lay a true foundation for our Faith. We came in from the Matthew, Mark and Luke Gospels, because we thought that this is where the Good News was established, and that screwed us up again.

It was from these Gospels that we embraced the idea, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel, baptizing them, and teaching them, and make disciples out of them", and we said "That’s our task". NO IT IS NOT! That was for Israel, because that is what Israel did. Israel did not evangelise the world, they proselytised the world. They went out to make disciples of Moses, because everybody they brought into any kind of relationship with God had to be circumcised, and keep the law. That is what Israel did. That is why they kept having an argument with Paul, because he wasn’t doing that.

Okay, so in Genesis, chapter 3, it says, "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made, and he said to the woman, Hath God said ye shall not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?’" Now, I’m not going to read it all because you know the story very, very well. Eve was out there talking to a snake and I mean, how crazy can you get?

Never talk to a snake because they are going to lie to you every time. They will tell you, "I’m your friend," and then they strike – and you are gone! So, this snake is not literal as Christendom has suggested, and neither is it "out there" but, IT IS IN US. It represents the CARNAL MIND. Eve was speaking out of her carnal mind. This was a conversation with her "SELF". You know that God never made a "SELF" don’t you? Eve discovered she had the ability to create her own world and so explored the knowledge that would allow her to succeed, the "Knowledge of good and evil." As she embraced that knowledge she produced a fantasy world which would be dominated by the duality of Good and Evil, and man became A LIVING SOUL.

And, here in the parable, because this is a parable, and by saying it is a parable, I do not mean that it has no reality. I do not mean that it is a fable, but I am telling you this is TRUTH, but it is presented in parabolic form in order to teach us what we need to know, regarding the function of Spirit and the Soul.

So here we are seeing how man functions as a LIVING SOUL. The soul (Eve) has gone out alone seeking to develop its OWN LIFE apart from the spirit, that is God. The life she now seeks was not created in the beginning, but is formed by her own choices to satisfy the desires of her own heart and mind.

The "Soul" being the feminine aspect of man contains the "WOMB," giving her the ability to BIRTH what ever she desires. But now she has abandoned her "husband" the SPIRIT and has become a prostitute, seeking "someone" or something with whom to unite in order to produce the desires of her soulish senses. Did you know that is where all prostitution begins? It begins with the soul expressing its own will and desires, while being driven by its own emotions. Beloved, once we forsake Christ (spirit) as the Lord and authority of our life, we will find the "snake" poised to complete the soul’s decent into the illusion of physical life.

The "Snake" represents the carnal or natural mind that has chosen to function apart from the authority of spirit. How accurate is the Scripture that declares it to be, "More subtle than any beast of the field?" The word "Subtle" is almost the same word translated "Naked," and is used in the Old Testament with that spiritual sense. Scripture says, Adam and Eve were naked but they were not ashamed. What did that mean? It means that while mankind is governed by the union of soul and spirit, as Adam was originally created, nakedness has no evil connotation.

So we understand that the subtlety of the "Snake" is expressed as a perversion of reality. By this I mean that nakedness in a child has no sense of evil connected with it, until they are instructed by the carnal mind or THE SNAKE, usually by the parents. From that time they spend the rest of their lives associating their body with evil in the form of sexuality. Have you ever wondered how whole tribes of people lived for thousand of years without clothes, until a missionary told them it was wrong.

It is interesting to recognise in this regard that the soul represents the female part of man, and it is this gender that is the focus of sexuality. Hence the carnal mind now has excited something in man that is like a wild animal out of its cage and refuses to be tamed. Where did this all begin? In the Garden of Eden when Eve listened to the "snake," and lost what we call today her innocence.

The TRUTH is, she stepped out of REALITY and entered into an illusion generated by the carnal mind. This illusion revolves around the belief that our great need is to satisfy every desire that we generate in the realm of our soul. Here is the way it is expressed for us in the parable of the "Garden of Eden." After the mind was separated from the spirit, the lusts and desires within man lost all their restraint and now were able to take control and fulfill their own destiny.

"When the woman SAW that the tree was GOOD FOR FOOD, and that it was PLEASANT to the EYES, and a tree to be DESIRED TO MAKE ONE WISE, she took the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also to her husband."

What was it that motivated her to disobey God? Was it some literal snake hanging out of a tree? I think not. First of all her EYES saw something that captivated her attention, then desire began to arise in her that she must have that which now caught her attention. She reasoned in herself that it was good for food even though she had never tasted it before, so this was a "Mind activity."

She convinced herself that this tree would give her a wisdom she did not have, and so her will was energised and her actions now fulfilled her desire. She based her decision to disobey God on the function of her five natural SENSES, sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing, none of which are capable of discerning God, who is Omniscient, having all wisdom and knowing all things.

Thus Adam and Eve found themselves to be NAKED! No this is not a simple reference to having no clothing as the natural mind would have us believe. The PERCEPTION of man had changed. His ability to see into the reality of things was lost, and in its place they had created an illusion that today we call physical mortal life. MAN was not created as a physical being, for the man in Genesis 1:26 was not flesh and blood, for he was a pure spirit man. This should not appear strange to us because GOD IS SPIRIT and man came out of God.

Gone was the intimate fellowship man had with God in the Spiritual Garden of his heart, and instead man had created a whole new physical material world that was no longer a Garden, but a wilderness. When God had completed creation, Scripture says, "And God saw everything that he had made and behold IT WAS VERY GOOD!" But in the world man has created there is both GOOD and EVIL and the earth brings forth thorns and thistles. In this "world" man has to earn his bread "by the sweat of his brow" unlike the provision God made for man in a Garden that provided everything he needed.

You may wonder what all this about the Garden of Eden has to do with the CROSS. But in theology it is the concept of S-I-N in the Garden with all its spiritual consequences that is the focus of most theology. Christendom has provided its followers with FORGIVNESS through a sacrifice in which God kills his son, and sheds his blood without which he cannot forgive sins. Every religion has provided some way in which man can find absolution, be it by a trip to Mecca, or an abundance of good works to out weigh the evil we have done. Even in some cases by the offering of their children’s lives to some heathen God.

If we fail to understand the Truth revealed in the Garden of Eden by trying to put a literal interpretation on it, we will end up with a totally distorted view of the CROSS of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When God created man, he was a "God-man". He was to be the dwelling place of God, so that whatever God is, that would be the expression of His life. So man was created as spirit until he explored a "world" that was outside God, who is spirit. The knowledge of good and evil is not a part of God for these opposites do not exist in the realm of spirit, only in the physical world.

As we saw recorded in Gen 1:31, everything that God made was VERY GOOD! Well may we ask, where did the devil and evil come from, if God did not create them?? Did God not plant the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? I don’t think so!! Gen 1:9 tells us, "Out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food. The tree of LIFE ALSO in the midst of the Garden, and the tree of the Knowledge of good and evil."

All the trees of the garden provided food and nourishment, but the Tree of LIFE and the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil, were not in the same category. They represent a kind of probation for Adam by which they would reveal the "thoughts and intent of the heart." Is not "Knowledge" the key to success in this life today? What about the quality of LIFE, where does it fit in our list of priorities today. Why to men push themselves almost to breaking point, risking a heart attack or nervous breakdown, so they can be rich. All this when we have access to the tree of LIFE which is Christ. But alas that tree has little attraction for most people just as it was for Eve in the garden

Both of these trees are said to be "In the midst of the Garden!"

Could these two trees be the same, depending upon the kind of mind we use to interpret them?? With a spiritual mind the TREE is to us, a tree of LIFE. But with the natural or carnal mind, that same tree becomes to us a tree of the knowledge of GOOD and EVIL, or a tree of duality. Seeing God as a BLESSER and a PUNISHER, as a Saviour and a destroyer, as a Redeemer and a Condemner, as a Father and a Judge.

Remember in the Garden of Eden there are not two people there, for God called THEM ADAM. God did not call them Adam and Eve. It was Adam that called his wife Eve, who represents the soul. So the soul now takes the fruit to the Spirit and says to Adam, "Here you are, I want to share this "fruit" with you, because it can make us wise, and can even make us as gods". Now the Spirit has a dilemma.

Adam has a problem. What is he going to do? He can do one of two things. He can tell Eve, "You’ve blown it now, because remember God said, "The day you eat of that tree you will die." Now I am sorry for you Eve. I mean I love you very much, but listen, I’m not going to touch that fruit, because I know God. I am very sorry Eve, but you have blown it now, and you will just have to bear the consequences. I’m not having a thing to do with you or with the fruit."

Now he could have said that, but if he had, you wouldn’t be here today. I wouldn’t be here today. Why not? Because the soul would have been eternally separated from the Spirit, and there would have been no redemption. Can you hear this? Can you hear what the spirit is trying to teach us? Because the soul having sinned would have been separated from God and would have had to die, while the Spirit remained true to God and lived.

Can you hear this? So what did Adam do? Adam said, "Okay", and he took the fruit and ate it. He did not eat that fruit in rebellion. He did not eat that fruit because he was deceived by the snake! Are you hearing this? ADAM ATE THAT FRUIT BECAUSE HE WAS PREPARED TO DIE, SO THAT THE SOUL COULD LIVE.

Can you hear this? Of course, you know who Adam is, don’t you? THAT IS CHRIST for he is the ALPHA and OMEGA the BEGINNING and the END, the author and the finisher of our faith. That’s Christ. The MAN in Genesis 1:26, who was CHRIST, the WORD, that dwelt with God and was God. He breathed into the nostrils of this MAN, the breath of the same life that he had. That was the breath of God. That was the life of God. And, Adam said, "Okay, I am prepared to forfeit my life, in order that the SOUL might be redeemed."

Since that time man has lived as a living soul. That is not how man was created in the beginning, but he BECAME, a living soul. And we have lived out of our soul ever since being subject to the passions, emotions and desires within us, that have risen up to take control of our lives. How often have we cired out like Paul, "Who shall deliver me from this body of death?"

Now, look back to Hebrews 2:9 "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for everyman". He tasted death for everyman. For remember that Adam was not a single person. Don’t think of that man created in Genesis 1:26 just as a single man. That was mankind. Adam represents ALL OF MANKIND. And what is the identity of MANKIND? CHRIST.

Luke 3:38. This is the genealogy of Jesus Christ, "Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of ADAM, WHICH WAS THE SON OF GOD". Adam the MAN, is the SON OF GOD. That is who MAN is. That is Christ. Can you see it? Isn’t it amazing? When somebody shows you these things, you say, "Why didn’t I see that before".

We see what we want to see, and because our theology has been messed up we haven’t seen the truth, because we have not been looking for it. Jesus Christ came into the world and Paul said He is the last Adam, BUT HE IS STILL ADAM. God had vested Himself in His creation. There is no God outside of His creation, for God now has become the resident within all of His creation.

Wherever there is LIFE, that is GOD - IN ALL CREATION. That’s why all men can be saved. Come on, it’s not because all men are voluntarily going to say, "Oh yes, I love God", because they really do not know who God is. So when we look at Jesus Christ, this babe that was born in Bethlehem’s manger, what do we think? Oh, he is not one of US. This is some strange creature from the heavenly realm somewhere. We don’t quite know exactly who He is, but they gave him a name and called Him Jesus, but most people are convinced he is not one of US."

Are you hearing this? Didn’t you consider Him to be something quite different from us ordinary people? And then the theologians came along and said, "Of course you know that God is a trinity?" We have God the Father, and now we have God the Son, whose name is Jesus, and we have God the Holy Spirit, so in fact we have three Gods.

Christians therefore conclude that if Jesus was God, then God must be a man also, but we can never be like him even though we try. This TRINITY Teaching is not Biblical but was given to us by the Roman Catholic Church and Constantine the Emperor of Rome in AD. 322 and became Church Doctrine enshrined in the Nicene Creed two years later.

I want to tell you the babe in Bethlehem was no different from YOU WHEN YOU WERE BORN!!! He was no different from me when I was born. He was born of a woman and I am born of a woman. He was flesh and blood and I am flesh and blood. I don’t know any God that is flesh and blood and who is born of a woman. God is Spirit and is eternal.