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Prelude to Light |
The Infinitely Holy God, so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Holy Son, to be lifted up on a cross, bearing the sins of the world, so that whosoever believes in His Son, being the incarnate Son of Man, should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Holy Son into the world to condemn a sinful world; but that the world through His beloved Son might be saved. In the Garden of Eden, with the rebellion of Man/Adam against his Creator, humanity has chosen to serve themselves, according to their own individual understanding, of what is good and evil. It is hard to conceive within our self righteous, and self seeking minds, that in a rash moment of time, we could be any thing, but right in our thoughts and actions. However, that is the dilemma of self made little gods, that can neither change the color of their skins, nor the length of their days. But the Son of God has come into this dying world, so that the willful self serving hearts of mankind, might be changed to serve the God of the Living. The Life of mankind, came in the flesh, as the Son of Man, to resurrect the dead of mankind into the love of His Father, so that they may live freely in the kingdom of God, and serve the Lord God of the Living, with gladness and joy of heart.
Adam, the first earthly son of God, committed high treason in choosing to serve himself; and his own darkened wisdom, supplanted the love and trust of his God that made him. The second Adam, Jesus Christ, came as a Son that loved His father above all things, even unto suffering a death for all the self serving sins of mankind. He came to show us the heart of His Father, and to lead us, as children, sons and daughters back into the expanse of the Love that surpasses human understanding. Behold, what manner of Love/Agapao the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew Him not. (1st John 3 verse 1.)
The innocent Lord Jesus, on the night before He went to the cross, to die a death for mankind's sin, He instituted the New Covenant in His Blood, and concluded His Passover discourse, with His priestly prayer that is found in John 17:
These words spoke Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee: As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal Life to as many as Thou hast given Him. And this is Life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gave Me to do.
And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine Own Self with the Glory which I had with Thee before the world was. I have manifested Thy Name unto the men which Thou gave Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gave them Me; and they have kept Thy Word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are of Thee. For I have given unto them the Words which Thou gave Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine. And all mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I AM glorified in them. And now I AM no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep through Thine own Name those Whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be One, as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy Name: those that Thou gave Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Thy Word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that Thou should take them out of the world, but that Thou should keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I AM not of the world. Sanctify them through Thy Truth: Thy Word is Truth. As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the Truth.
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the Glory which Thou gave Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are One: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in One; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast Loved them, as Thou hast Loved Me. Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I AM; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou Loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me. And I have declared unto them Thy Name, and will declare it; that the Love wherewith Thou hast Loved Me may be in them, and I in them.
The Lord's high priestly prayer of intersession, for Himself, His disciples and for His future followers, begs several vital questions, whose answers can only be seen in the Spirit of God's Glorious Light. The Lord Jesus prays to receive of the Glory that His Holy Father has within Himself, and that He, would return to His Father's Glory, even as it was from the beginning. What was His Father's Glory? Was not that Glory, the Holy Spirit of His Father God Almighty, Who is Life Himself, and Whose essence of Life and Holiness proceeds from Him, the Father of Spirits. (See Hebrews 12 verse 8 thru 10.) When did the Lord Jesus give His gathered disciples the Glory that His Father had given Him? Sanctify them by Your Truth. Your Word is Truth. Jesus the Christ of God, is the Word of God and the Incarnate Truth of His Father, and The Truth came to the earth to separate earthly man from their damnable sins of the flesh, for He became Father God's Sacrifice for His Word of Holiness. Is not the Glory, that Jesus gave His Disciples, present at this same last Passover meal that He, the Eternal Word of Truth presided over? The Promised Glory of the Holy Spirit was yet to fully come, but the disciples received the hope of the Promise, when they ate and drank of the Lord's Word Sanctioned Provisions of His Body, through His New Covenant sanctifying Life Blood. The Christ of God Almighty was crucified before the foundation of the world. Amen, Amen, I say unto you! Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, you have no Life in you. It is the Spirit that makes alive; the flesh profits nothing: the Words that I speak unto you, They are Spirit, and They are Life.
Consider the Heart of the matter of Life. Was not that Glory, the Glory of the same Holy Spirit of Life that was One with the Spirit of the Father's Son, and the same Holy Spirit raised up the lifeless body of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead? As the Living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father: So he that eats of Me, even he shall live by Me. The Words that I speak unto you, They are Spirit, and They are Life.
Consider again, was not that Glory, the same Spirit of Life that is One with the Water, and the Blood of Jesus Christ, that was poured out for the sins of the world? (See The Fountain of Living Water.) Amen, Amen, I say unto you! He that hears My Word, and believes on Him that sent Me, has everlasting Life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto Life! Drink of this cup all of you. This is My Blood of the New Covenant that is poured out for many for the remission of sin. Do this in remembrance of Me! The Words that I speak unto you, They are Spirit, and they are Life.
When we eat and drink of the Lord's sanctified provisions within the Infinite God's spiritual dimensions of the bread and wine, we eat of Jesus' Body and drink in of the Living Spirit of His Blood, so that we, who are enjoined to the Body of Christ, would be of One Spirit with the Son of God, Who is One Spirit with His Father. Jesus Christ, the Son of Adam, would sanctify, that is to set apart completely the flesh of His humanity, even that of His human will. Witness that hours before His crucifixion, Jesus, on the Mount of Olives, prays: Father, If Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: Nevertheless not My Will, but Thy Will be done. Jesus, the man, in His Love and trusting obedience, always followed the lead of the Spirit of His Father, even though He knew that God's will would climax with His crucifixion on the cross for our sins. Jesus, fully trusted His Holy Father's Will, even at the moment of His death: Father into Thy hands, I commit My Spirit. In the end, the physical life of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, succumbs to the sins of the world, but three days later, His same human body is resurrected in the Glory of His Father God. Because of His absolute Love and obedience to the Will of His Father, the Spirit of Jesus, even as the Son of Adam, became truly One, with the Glory of the Holy Spirit of His Father God. When the members, who identify with the Lord's Body, receive of the Lord's New Covenant Blood, we also should be saying in trusting obedience: Holy Father, not the will of my flesh be done, but let the will of Your Holy Spirit be done in me!
And the Glory, which Thou gave Me, I have given them: that they may be ONE, even as WE are ONE: I in them, and Thou in Me that they all may be ONE: as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be ONE in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. But, how do we honor the Lord in His Priestly Prayer, and become one? It is an impossibility for all of us shortsighted little gods while we are yet serving our individual selves. But when the little gods realize that they are not in control, and the life they have in the flesh is fleeing from them, then there is the possibility for the real solidarity, through the Glorious Gift, and leading of the One Holy Spirit of God. For It is not by power nor by might, but by My Spirit says the Lord of Host. He that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit. (1st Corinthian 6 verse 17.) You can do nothing without Me. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (See Romans 8 verse 13 thru 17.) For God is Love, and in His Love there is no darkness at all. I have declared unto them Thy Name, and will declare it: that the Love wherewith Thou hast Loved Me may be in them, and I in them. How remarkable that the Almighty God, Loves each one of the Lord's faithful believer's, even as He has Loved His only Begotten Son. If we are abiding in God's Love, then we are living in the Light of the Spirit of God, with the revelation of the Savior of mankind, Jesus Christ. The revelation of God's unsurpassable Love, is through His Holy Spirit, Who enables us to be conformed into the glorious likeness of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
If we were all joined unto the Lord through the Holy Spirit, then we would be knitted together, as one in the Love of God, where we would be esteeming one another, and seeing the vitality that each individual brings to the Lord's ministry of reconciliation. The problem remains in our flesh. We the church, in our carnal, historical, religious states of Roman Catholic and Protestant separations, wrought through the violence of men, obviously are not one with each other in God's Love, but are ruled by the philosophical and shortsighted unction of man, and not the unction through the Holy Spirit of God. When the Holy Spirit is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of God's judgment. (See John 16 verse 7 thru 15.) For when the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you into all Truth. The Roman Catholic Church, became dismissive of the Blood of the Covenant, and invented transubstantiation for their own expedient will. The Evangelical Protestants became dismissive of Holy Communion, for they thought it was an invention within the errors of the Roman Catholic Church. The evangelicals completely misinterpret the Letter to the Hebrews to their own hurt and those sitting under their gospel.
But in the Spirit of Truth, the unleavened Holy Bread of the Lord speaks of our being One, within our Lord Jesus Christ and His Body, because each individual member, who repents of their own sins, will be sanctified or cleansed by the Spirit of the Holy Blood of the New Covenant. So then for a certainty, we have not understood the unseen essential Glory of God's Perfect Love, in the Communion Cup of Blessing that speaks both of the death of our sin, through God's reproving Spirit, and also, our peace with God, and with each other, through God's same Holy Spirit of Love. For we have come "to Jesus, the mediator of a New Covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks more eloquently than that of Able." (Hebrews 12 verse 24.) God does not give His Glory to another, but His Glory is in His Son Jesus Christ, and also in those who are within His Son, our Savior and Lord.
The time is now come, for the whole Church to remember her First Love, and for the Bride to sanctify herself into Jesus' with His mediating Blood, as through the washing and cleansing by the Spirit of the Word of God. On this earth, we of the church body, are to represent to the unredeemed world the One Body of Jesus Christ, as living sacrifice of love and humility. And that Love is of the Spirit of God, and we are to remember that we are absolutely dependent upon that Same Holy Spirit of Grace, for the Spirit and the Water and the Blood are ONE.
"And they shall overcome the evil (accuser) by the BLOOD of the LAMB, and the Word of their testimony, and they loved not their life unto the death." (Revelation 12 verse 10.)
To proceed to the next chapter, please click on The End of Confusion and the Glorifying of our Lord!
Robert Glenn Pratten