42 The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. - 43 We must eat the book.

The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

The angel, whose feet are as pillars of fire because of the end-time judgment on all lawlessness, particularly the lawlessness in the house of God, instructed John to "take it, and eat it up."

Many thousands of believers today are reading the book. They are attempting to discover how to use Christ and His power in order to further their own interests. The Scriptures have become a self-improvement course. The result is, self is being strengthened and Christ is not increasing.

We are not commanded to read the book of the Divine testimony, although studying and meditating in the written Word of God continue to be an absolute necessity for the victorious saint. The end-time, latter-rain Divine testimony must be "eaten" until the believer himself is the message, the testimony.

We must eat the book.

If we would be part of the first resurrection we must learn to live by the body and blood of Christ as He lives by the Life of the Father. We learn to depend on Christ by allowing God to bring us to the waters of Meribah, to the place of desperate thirst for joy, for contentment, for satisfaction, for life. Then God brings eternal Life from the Rock. This is how we "eat the book," how we learn to live by Christ’s body and blood.

All who are filled with His Life, His body and blood, will be gathered to the Carcass, the slain Lamb, from whom and by whom we have learned to live (Luke 17:37). The first resurrection is the forming of the body and blood of Christ in us. What is taking place in us now will be revealed in glorified flesh and bone at the coming of the Lord from Heaven. It is Christ’s body and blood that will raise us up at His glorious appearing.

Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:54) The inner Word of Life is sweet as honey in our mouth but it makes our stomach bitter. It makes our stomach bitter because the cross of Christ is in it.

And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. (Revelation 10:9,10)

The "book" is opening today because Christ is being formed in us. Christ will be strengthened in us until we are "filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19).

The seals are being opened. The Scriptures are becoming a new book to us as the Spirit of God gives us the understanding of what is written. The truth always has been there but it appears we have been able to perceive only small fragments of it.

We are to study the Scriptures and rejoice in the wonderful promises of God to us. The saint lives by the written Word. The Word is a pillar of fire to him, a set of judgments, promises, and directions that enable him to follow God "by night" when the cloud of Presence and blessing is not visible to him.

We follow the Scriptures at all times, especially when the inspirations and feelings are absent. God never will work in a manner contrary to the Scriptures. The written Word of God cannot be changed in any manner whatever. The Word will stand intact when the heavens and the earth pass away. The Scriptures are the "more sure word of prophecy" (II Peter 1:19).

The little open book of the majestic angel is the Word of God lifted from the Scriptures and made alive in our heart. Christ is the Word made flesh, and we live by eating the flesh of Christ. The book is the revelation of Christ in us—that which will enable us to successfully bear the double portion of the end-time anointing, and then will make it possible for us to rule with Christ over the nations of the earth.

We cannot master the little book with our mind. We must eat it. We must become related to Christ as the Lamb whom we eat as well as to the Teacher who is giving us lessons on how to live.

We cannot become strong in God through our knowledge of the Scriptures alone. We become strong in God through eating Christ, drinking Christ, partaking of Christ, living in and by Christ.

The song of restoration, of glory, is sweet in our mouth: "God Has an Army"; "Sons of God, March Forward"; "It Is the Time to Take the Kingdom"; "This Is the Day"; "There Never Was a Day Like This Day."

But making the transition from the life of the soul to the life of the Spirit is not sweet and pleasant. The Christian life is a balance between the sweet Word in our mouth and the death and resurrection of Christ that take place in our personality.

The believer who rejects what is bitter, choosing to accept only the sweet, is a "mouth" Christian. His Christianity is all in his mouth, in his honeyed phrases (see Leviticus 2:11 concerning honey and offerings made to the Lord).

The Christianity of the true saint is in his life, his whole personality. You can sense the cross in him or her. Some today are testifying only with their mouth, but that testimony is weak indeed! Others are testifying of Christ with their personality, and that testimony is strong and effective.

In many instances the churches are testifying only with their mouth, not with their hearts, or actions, or motives, or imaginations. This is because they accept the sweet but reject the bitter of the end-time move of God. The latter-rain, end-time witness makes the stomach bitter. The stomach represents the soul life. False teachers have a god—their stomach. They do not worship Christ. They worship their stomach.

Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods. God will do away with the foods and with the stomach as well (I Corinthians 6:13).

The "stomach" is made bitter. The soul life is crucified. Our spiritual life, flowing from the resurrection of Christ, becomes increasingly prominent in our thoughts, our words, and our deeds.

We learn to serve Christ in the Holy Spirit, not in our fleshly ambitions. The righteousness, peace, and joy of the Kingdom of God are all in the Holy Spirit. They are not in the blessings of the flesh, although God has given us richly all good things to enjoy.

The Divine salvation is a delight. It remains a delight throughout our discipleship. For a season we can become upset as God releases us from the bondages of life lived in the lusts of the flesh, in the worship of Satan, in self-will, self-exaltation, self-ambition, self-centeredness, self-love.

We have seen that the two witnesses, of Revelation, Chapter 11 portray the double portion of God’s Spirit that is coming upon the saints of the Lord so the Church and the peoples of the earth may be prepared for the return of the Lord from Heaven.

It is the latter (harvest, spring) rain. It is the second great prophecy to all mankind, the Book of Acts being a record of the first prophecy. The Church must prophesy again. (Revelation 10:11).

There have been many forerunners of the two witnesses, many saints who have reflected in their lives and ministries some of the characteristics of the tremendous revival of the closing days of the present age. Enoch was raised to Heaven because of his faithful walk with the Lord, becoming a witness of what God expects from mankind. Enoch, a type of the two witnesses, was a prophet of the judgment to come (Jude 1:14).

Moses and Aaron were two witnesses who brought the Word of God to Pharaoh, bringing many plagues upon the land of Egypt as a testimony of the Divine wrath against the gods of Egypt. Joshua and Caleb were two witnesses who left the Church Age, to speak in a figure, searched out the Kingdom Age, and then brought back the luscious fruit of the land of promise so the Israelites could see the goal of their pilgrimage. Ten other men were sent, and they brought back an evil report concerning Canaan. Not everyone who is called is chosen to receive the inheritance.

Elijah and Elisha were two witnesses of the Lord God to an apostate Israel. Their lives and ministries are rich in symbolism concerning the end-time, double-portion revival—the Divine testimony that will herald the coming of the King of kings. Ezra and Nehemiah were two men of God who were active in the restoration of the city of Jerusalem. Joshua and Zerubbabel were two witnesses of God who were leaders in rebuilding the Temple of God. Anna and Simeon bore witness by the Holy Spirit of the Baby, Jesus, that He is Christ.

Jesus sent out His Apostles two by two to heal the sick, cast out devils, raise the dead, and to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God. Their testimony was confirmed by extraordinary signs and wonders of the Holy Spirit. Moses and Elijah, two witnesses from Heaven, stood with the Lord Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration and discussed with Him "his decease that he should accomplish at Jerusalem."

It has been the writer’s conviction for more than forty years that the Lord Jesus meant what He said when He declared that the person who believes in Him will perform the same works He performed, and greater works than these. The testimony of the Holy Spirit seems to be that such works are at hand and that we are to give our full attention to the prophecy the Spirit desires to deliver through us to God’s people and also to all mankind. The Father in Heaven loves all His children with a very great love, a love far beyond our ability to imagine. God loves the nations of the earth—all the nations of the earth (Amos 9:12; John 3:16).

Who among us will lay aside every other interest and allow the Holy Spirit to bring the power and the words of the Kingdom of God to every man, woman, and child on the face of the earth? Will you? And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. (Revelation 10:11)

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