Conclusion-

The Apostle Paul uses himself as an illustration of a believer who has been saved, filled with the Spirit, and then has pressed forward to life lived in the Fullness of God. This is perfection. This is attainment to the first resurrection from among the dead: by this I mean the necessary preparation of the inward nature for the putting on of immortality at the coming of the Lord from Heaven.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20—NIV)

All of us Christians know this verse. How many of us are having this experience?

We in America, and perhaps in the whole world, are facing ominous times. The drums of Hell are beating to the attack. This is not a reason for the cross-carrying disciple to fear but it certainly is cause for the average, lukewarm church attender in America to be terrified!

Perhaps you are hearing of dreadful things taking place in your community, even in Christian families. What are we to do?

We do not want to spend our days in terror and dread. We are to learn to "fly by instrument." We are to learn how to look to the Lord instead of to our outward circumstances for direction and confidence. Flying by instrument requires experience and constant prayer if we are not to crash.

The Lord Jesus is drawing near to us. As we open the door of our personality to Him we become much more aware of His Presence and will than ever before. As we cease our own frantic life and listen for the still small voice we are surprised to find out He is instantly present and willing to guide us. This is what I mean by flying by instrument.

Our natural understanding as we examine our circumstances is telling us we should be terribly worried. But we have prayed through to victory and the Lord is telling us all is well. We have to do this many times before we really know the Lord is speaking and can rejoice—especially when the outward circumstances tell us we are heading toward disaster.

As I am writing these words (February 25, 1999), the citizens of the United States are fearful concerning the breakdown of computers when the year 2000 rolls around. The Christians, instead of bearing a testimony of confident faith in God, are leading the panic parade. Instead of going to Jesus to find out what to do they are feverishly hoarding food and money so they will survive when the midnight hour comes. They do not care about other people, only about themselves and their own family.

I have been to the Lord several times about this. I refuse to dwell on "what might happen." I am flying by instrument. So far I have received assurance that all will be well with my family and myself. We shall see if I am hearing correctly from the Lord.

In any case, I would not go hide in the woods and leave the poorer church people here. What kind of a pastor would that be? As long as I have food and shelter, no one in this congregation is going to go hungry or cold. God help us!

Jesus said if we seek to save our life we will lose it. I believe this. But we American Christians are soft. We are not ready at this time for severe suffering. Trouble is coming. The provision God has made for us is that He will draw nearer to us than ever before—so near we will know what to do in every circumstance.

I keep telling the members of the congregation to look to the Lord for the tiniest detail of life. Every morning I ask the Lord how big a handful of raisins I should put on my oatmeal. You might think this is foolish. Well, you go ahead and ignore the Lord if you want to. But as for me, I intend to ask God about everything I do. If I learn to do this now, then, when the trouble comes, I will know what to do no matter how dark the spiritual atmosphere becomes.

The American Christians have been told there is no need to prepare themselves because they are going to be caught up to Heaven before they can be harmed. The purpose of this lie, from Satan’s viewpoint, is to prevent their participation in this next move of God that would bring Jesus into their life to a much greater extent. Satan prefers to keep them alive in their adamic nature, hoping to go to Heaven at any moment.

By looking toward a flight to Heaven for deliverance, instead of to inward victory, the believers in America are missing the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is beginning now in our inward nature to prepare us for the manifestation of the outward kingdom. If we do not receive the inward kingdom now we will not rule in the outward kingdom when it arrives. If we do not enter the inward day of the Lord now we will not be ready for the worldwide Day of the Lord when it comes.

This is Satan’s purpose in keeping the carnal Christians occupied with the thought of flying up to Paradise in their untransformed carnal nature. Can you see how wise Satan is to do this? A carnal Christian looking to be caught up to Heaven poses no threat to Satan’s control of the earth. A cross-carrying Christian learning to live by the Life of Jesus now, is a forerunner of that which one day will tear down and remove from the earth every vestige of Satan’s kingdom.

Notice how the Lord Jesus always lives. This is the eternal Sabbath, the rest of God. Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.". (John 5:19,20—NIV)

We are to live in precisely the same manner.

Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. (John 14:19—NIV)

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20—NIV) Do you want to learn to fly by instrument, to live by the Life of Jesus in you rather than by your mental appraisal of the outward world? Then tell Him about it right now. He is closer to you than you realize, just waiting for you to turn away from your trust in the world and to look to Him for every detail of your thinking, speaking, and acting.

The hour described in the following passage is near to come.

The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel. Then you will know I, the LORD your God, dwell in Zion, my holy hill. Jerusalem will be holy; never again will foreigners invade her. (Joel 3:15-17—NIV) In the verses above we see the convergence of the two comings. The darkening of the sun and moon points toward the historic second coming of the Lord. The Lord roaring from Zion speaks of the power of Christ issuing from within His Body, His saints, who will appear with Him when He appears. Then Jerusalem will be delivered and never again will foreigners invade her.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4—NIV) They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power On the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you. (II Thessalonians 1:9,10—NIV)

"To be glorified in his holy people."

It is clear that when Christ appears He will be accompanied by saints in whom He is dwelling. Thus the historic second coming of the Lord will include not only the Lord but those also whom He has made His dwelling place, His chariot.

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20—NIV)

This is the Word of Christ to us today. He is standing at the door of the Christian heart. Remember, in this verse He is speaking to the church in Laodicea, the last and least praiseworthy of the churches. He is standing before us today.

Who is standing before us and asking for entrance? It is the Lord of Hosts, the Lord strong and mighty in battle.

Why the emphasis on warfare?

Warfare and battle are emphasized because we are at the beginning of the entrance of the Kingdom of God into the earth. The Kingdom of God comes with judgment, and judgment begins with the household of God.

Our goal is the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles, that is, the dwelling in us of the fullness of God. But before we can receive the fullness of God, the Lord must wage war against the enemy in our life. The actual warfare is symbolized by the Old Testament Day of Atonement. During the spiritual fulfillment of the Day of Atonement the Spirit of God deals with our love for and trust in the spirit of the present world, which is Antichrist. He deals with the lusts of our flesh, requiring that we put them to death by His power. The Spirit of God deals with our self-will, the poison that has been injected into our human will. Our self-will is the biggest enemy of all. We must suffer numerous imprisonments, numerous fires, before the Spirit begins to make headway against our self-will.

In order for God and Christ to settle down to rest in our personality we must be cleansed from the love of the world, from the appetites and passions of the flesh, and from self-will and self-seeking. This period of reconciliation to God is the spiritual fulfillment of the Day of Atonement and has begun, I believe. It shall extend throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age until God has finished reconciling to Himself every person that He plans to bring into the new heaven and earth reign of Christ.

In the present hour God is working with the royal priesthood, with those who will appear with Him and install the Kingdom of God on the earth. After they have been reconciled to God and filled with His Presence, the work will continue with those who have not been called to such a high rank in the Kingdom. I believe some of the work of reconciliation will be administered at the hands of those who already have passed through the program of reconciliation.

The end will be that all creatures in Heaven and upon the earth have been brought under subjection to Jesus Christ. Once this has been accomplished, Christ will turn over the Kingdom to the Father and the Father will fill all of His creation.

Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. (I Corinthians 15:24,25—NIV)

We understand, then, that the Divine work has been proceeding toward the goal of bringing the entire creation under subjection to Jesus Christ, and thus under subjection to God in Him. Christ died on the cross as an atonement for the sins of the world. Now He has come to us in the Spirit in order to receive us to Himself that we might dwell with Him where He dwells, that is, in the Fullness of God.

All of our Christian experiences have been bringing us to readiness for this third great work of redemption. Are we willing to move past Pentecost and enter the feast of Tabernacles? Basic salvation and the baptism with the Spirit are not sufficient to enable us to stand in complete victory during the dark hours that lie before us.

But the Fullness of God, which has been prepared for this very period of history, is more than able to present us faultless before His throne with exceedingly great joy. Let us not permit anything to swerve us from our response to this new and total involvement of our personality with God.

Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty—he is the King of glory. Selah (Psalms 24:8-10—NIV)