INDEX TO VOLUME ONE(3)
26. Forty Years in the Desert.
27. The spirits of the righteous made Perfect
28. Christ our Substitude.
29. Justification by faith.
30. To love Him.
31. Faith is a gift from God.
26. Forty Years in the Desert
Introduction: It is now 40 years ago, on 5 October, 1979, the day that Father told me to write a letter to the headquarters of the church denomination to which I belonged and submit my resignation as a member of the church. I made this decision after 17 months of serious prayer in the ravines outside Volksrust. It was a big decision to make and took place under many drastic events. But my Father clearly wanted to bring me into the proverbial wilderness. He gave me a Word in Hosea 2: 13-20 as well as in Jer 2: 2-6. He wanted to bring me to Mount Zion (Isa. 16: 1-5). Hebrews 12: 22-25 speaks of this, and that is what the Word of our Father is about in the following chapters.
When I posted the letter on the morning of October 5th at the post office in Volksrust, the truck with our furniture was already on its way to a farm outside the town where someone offered us a resident’s cottage as a place to live. When I quickly emptied my mailbox (No 525) I found an envelope with a few banknotes inside. Then the Father said to me, “So I will always take care of you.” I stepped out of the church with no salary, no money in the bank, no pension or medical aid, but with a promise: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided” To this promise, my Father has always been faithful to this day. I didn’t need to pick up collections or ask for tithes. He faithfully fulfilled His Word because He is good and He is faithful. He also always led me to only reveal my needs to Him, as the manna from heaven and the water from the rock was never lacking.
On December 14, 1979, my now deceased wife, our four children, the fifth on the way, and I were still living in the cottage. On that day, the Father said to me, “Today is for you the first day of the first month of the first year.” And every year thereafter, on the 14th of December, He announced to me that it is now the second year, the 3rd, 4th, etc. So on December 14, 2019, 40 years had gone by. It is this day, here where I sit and write today in my study! How good and faithful is the God and Father, Elohim, whom we serve by His grace, Who is revealed through His Son, Jashuah Messiah!
In this series of writings (I don’t want to call it a book), which is going to consist of 12 chapters, I want to share with you what God our Father has revealed to me over the past months and even years. Although I have spent many years bringing messages on cassettes, CDs, DVDs and written Devotionals for 3 Years (which took me eight years), the series I am writing now is “another thousand cubits” (Ezek 47: 3) deeper into the “Stream of the Spirit”. For forty years we have wandered in the wilderness and God has given us many important words, over and over the same truths. On several occasions people have asked me whether I will write something ‘new’ again or whether it will be just the “old truths”. They were like the people Paul was dealing with in Athens: “Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived with them had nothing but time to say and hear something new”. However, John says, “Brethren, this is not a new commandment that I write unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word you heard from the beginning. And yet I write to you a new commandment that is true in Him and in you, for darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining”.
Ask your Father in heaven now to prepare your mind, by His Spirit, in order to be able to grasp this new word, which is the old word, with your whole being. If you did this when you first heard this word, you would already, after all these years, have lived in a love relationship and fellowship with the Father and His Son, a relationship which you until now may only have dreamed about. So read it now with an open mind, I pray for you.
27. The spirits of the righteous made Perfect (Heb 12: 22-24)
Some day or now? What a wonderful prospect to someday be in the “assembly of the perfected righteous ” ? One day or now? Scripture says in Heb 12:22 that we have come to Mount Zion and to the assembly of “just men made perfect”. It is a wonderful prospect for some to one day be perfectly righteous and also completely holy. However, Scripture says that we have already been justified by the blood of Christ (Rom 5: 9; Rom 3: 23-26) and have already been perfectly sanctified by the one sacrifice of Christ (Heb 10: 10,14). Christ was sanctified by submitting His will to His Father’s will when He said, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” (Matt. 26:39). Also, when we fully surrender to God’s will and become willing to do His will whole heartily (Eph. 6: 6), it also sanctifies us just as Christ was sanctified through it. Then your conscience is also clean, just like Paul’s, because you want to do His will (Heb 13:18) in everything.
A perfect forgiveness of our sins, reconciliation with God and a perfect justification and sanctification have already been given to all people. So we were already fully sanctified in spirit, soul, and body (1 Thess. 5:23) when Christ rose from the dead, being punished for our sins on the cross and in hell (Isa. 53: 5).
28. Christ our Substitude
Everything that Christ was as the sinless Son of God, right from His birth until His death on the cross, He did on our behalf, as our substitute (2 Cor 5:15). All this has been imputed (assigned) to us (Rom 4: 22-23), yes, to us as sinners and wicked. We could never do anything good in God’s eyes by our own doing or by our own works, for we were only bad through and through. Our best works, yes, our most pious deeds, are discarded and sullied before God (Isa. 64 : 6; Rom 3: 9-20). It required a sinless person to do all these things on our behalf because we could not do so ourselves because of our sins. The name of the only sinless man is Jashuah Messiah, the Son of God. He did the good works on our behalf and fulfilled the Law, which no one could ever keep, and he did so on our behalf (Matt 5:17). He sacrificed His life and poured out His blood so that the chastisement that would bring us peace could be upon Him (Isa. 53: 5). God put us as sinners, so to speak, in Christ and nailed us to the cross in Him. In Him we also went to hell where He bore our punishment, and in Him we rose from the dead. We also were made to sit in Him at the right hand of the Father — not in ourselves, but in Him. It is important to know that we were also buried in Him (Rom. 6: 1-4) and raised with Him from the dead (Eph. 2: 6). All these things that Christ did have already been completed and have made us perfect in Him forever. Outside of Him we are wicked, on our way to hell, even if you try hard to keep the Law in your own power and lead a good life (Isa. 64:6, Rom 7: 15-25). But in Him we have the fullness of God (Col. 2: 9-10).
29. Justification by faith
“Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him” (Heb 10:38). This whole wonderful work of justification and sanctification through Christ’s blood and His resurrection (Rom. 5: 9, Rom. 4:25), is already ours, if we just go to our Father in faith and take possession of it! If we believe Him (Matt 7: 24-25) and we confess it with our mouths (Rom 10: 8-10), all these wonderful things will be imputed to us! But you must come to Him to receive it personally from Him. If you simply read it in the Bible and believe it with your mind, it will not be imputed to you! You must come to Him (John 5: 39-42) — you personally to Him personally (1 Pet 2: 4). Do not make the mistake of thinking that if it is written in the Bible, and you accept it with your mind, that it will be accounted for your salvation. It won’t save you! Let not the accusation by Christ in John 5: 39-42 where He says: “And you do not want to come to Me to have life ”, pertain to you too! Remember there are two types of faith, what you believe with your mind as you read the Bible, and the faith that God works through His grace in you (Eph. 2: 8), the faith that works through love (Gal. 5: 6).
30. To love Him
God’s great purpose for saving us is to be His children, sons and daughters who love Him (John 14: 21-23), family of His, His offspring here on earth (Acts 17: 28). Therefore He also made man and woman, with the desire that in marriage we should not be two separate persons but one, one of spirit, soul and body for “He seeks godly offspring” (Mal. 2: 14-15) – a holy generation. He has chosen a people for Him from among the Gentiles, a people for His Name (Ezra 9: 1), who can proclaim His praise on this earth (Acts 15:14; 1 Pet 2: 9-10). Yes, an assembly of perfect people, righteous saints, along with “the spirits of just men made perfect,” who sit in His presence in heaven, at His right hand in Christ, to love Him. Children who sit and listen to His words (Luke 10: 38-42), the best place you can ever discover (verse 42)! He walked with Adam and Eve in the evening breeze before they fell into sin (Gen 3: 8), so now, after Christ has restored everything that went wrong with the fall, He also wants to be with us daily. He wants to walk with us and pour out His love on us. He also wants to experience how we love Him with all our heart, with all our souls, all our minds and all our strength (Matt. 22: 34-39). He wants to hear your voice (Song 2:14) as you tell Him how much you love Him. He wants to hear you sing praises to His Name, thanking Him for His love, His grace and His faithfulness. He did not save you for you to enjoy and love this world and all that is in the world, for this is enmity towards Him (1 John 2: 15-17). He saved you to think the things of the Spirit (Rom. 8: 5-10), the things from above where Christ sits at the right hand of the Father (Col. 3: 1-2). The love for Him is the highest thing. Why do you think Paul prayed for the Ephesians to know the length and breadth and height and depth of Christ’s love? (Eph. 3: 14-20). Why did he not pray for them to obtain the knowledge of this world, or wealth and honour, that which comes from the tree of knowledge (Gen 3: 1-7)? He says that the knowledge of the love of Christ transcends all knowledge and that it will fulfil them to all the fullness of God (Eph. 3: 16-20). The world’s knowledge is very important in this world for the survival of mankind, but the most important knowledge is to know the love of Christ!
Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3: 20-21) and therefore our heart is where our homeland is. Therefore, we ponder the things above because our birth is from above (John 3: 3-5). This is what the words “born again” mean, “born from above, of the Spirit“. We are strangers and sojourners on this earth (Heb 11: 13-14; 1 Pet 2:11), so we look forward to the city of which God is the builder and architect (Heb 11: 10). Therefore He says, “Therefore put to death your members who are on the earth” (Col. 3: 5). Therefore, He does not want us to have any participation in this world and its lusts (2 Cor. 6: 11-18). He wants us to delight in Him (Ps 37: 4) and to have fellowship with Him and His Son (1 John 1: 3).
One wonderful thing is that if you come to Him to possess and own this wonderful salvation, and you look into His eyes and you look upon Him in His glory and love and mercy, you will not sin anymore. You no longer get it over your heart to sin (1 John 3: 9). You fear and tremble when you think you should hurt Him. You don’t feel at ease in the world and among its people, though we must mix with them in order to shine among them like lights in the world (Phil. 2: 15-16). Also to be the “pleasant aroma of Christ, the fragrance of life to life for those who are being saved” (2 Cor. 2: 14-16). In the light of His image (2 Cor 3: 15-18), the darkness of this world disappears and you no longer take pleasure in it. You certainly do not want to be a Nicolaitan (Rev. 2: 6) who uses his freedom from the Law in the grace of God as a cause for the flesh (Gal. 5:13) to continue to intentionally sin. This attitude can never be justified. You want to abuse the grace of God as a cover for sin? Then you have not yet reached Jashuah and you do not know Him and do not love Him! Then you have not yet looked into His eyes and seen His purity and holiness. Otherwise, you would have become deeply aware of how great a sinner you are. The greatest sin, namely unbelief (John 16: 9; Rom 14:23), becomes so horrific to you that you never want to doubt His words again (Heb 10:38; 11: 6). He says, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23). Yes, They (the Father and the Son) want to come and dwell with you, therefore He (Jashuah) stands at the door knocking to come in and come and have a meal with you (Rev. 3:20).
31. Faith is a gift from God
You may ask: “But how can I have the faith to believe Him in that I am already justified, cleansed, and sanctified from my sin?” He will pour out the faith in your heart through His grace, without you trying to believe, you will experience that faith will flow through you spontaneously, if your first aim is the love command, the first commandment. Your number one priority in your life to love Him! So it means loving Him with all your heart and with your whole being will take precedence over everything. Faith works through love (Gal 5: 6). If you seek Him as a person (Ps 119: 10), seek His face (Ps 24: 6; 27: 8) and do not seek His right hand to do great things for you (Ps 16:11; Ps 20: 6 ; Ps 44: 3), you will find that He will do great things for you. When you put His kingdom first, He will add everything else according to His promise (Matt. 6:33). But do not seek Him with the expectation that He will do great things for you. Do not think that working for Him will make Him happy. He admonished Martha about this in Luke 10: 40-42 and told her that Mary, who sat at His feet and listened to His words, chose the best part that could not be taken away from her.
But how can God see you as perfect while still sinning? Hebrews 10: 1-2 says that there will be “no more consciousness of sins”. Does He refer to what we will only achieve after we are dead and in heaven? Paul says in Philippians 3:12 that he is chasing this perfection as if he can grasp it because he knows that he is not yet perfect. Then he says in verse 15: “Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind”. The Amplified Bible describes it this way: “All of us who are mature [pursuing spiritual perfection] should have this attitude”. What attitude or mind-set must they have in order to be perfect? They must have the mind-set to chase after “those things which are ahead” as if they can seize them (verses 12-13). If you believe this justification, to which I have referred above, and have a desire to never displease God, but to obey Him in all things, to love Him and to listen to His voice, He sees you as perfect. Paul says he has a good conscience because in everything he wants to walk in Gods will (Heb 13:18). In any case, God has forgiven all your sins, what you have already done and what you are going to do, and cast them behind Him (Heb 8: 11-13; 10: 16-18) and He never remembers them. All He sees when you sit before Him and worship and love Him is His sinless Son in His blood, He whose righteousness is yours (1 Cor 1:30), whose sinlessness, perfection (Heb 10:14) and holiness is also yours. He sees you through His blood, He sees you as His son, His daughter. He does this because He sees His Son, in whom He is well pleased (Matt 3:17), in you and you in Him (Eph 1: 3-4).
Your life is now hidden with God in Christ (Col. 3: 3). Pray that He will reveal these great truths to you and give you the faith in your heart to believe them. But do not forget to start with love, to come to Him first and say, “Father, I want to love You with all my being and also to love my neighbour as myself. Fill me with Your love through the Holy Spirit (Rom 5: 5) which you have already given me. I believe You have already given me the Spirit. Now let Your Holy Spirit pour out Your love in my heart.” Isn’t that the ‘Good News’?