Four Persons
Four Persons
The Kingdom of God ultimately will reside in every saved person, to a thirtyfold, or sixtyfold, or hundredfold extent. The government of the Kingdom of God consists of four person s.
Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the centre, round the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and behind. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. (Revelation 4:6,7)
There is the King who rules over all. The will of the King is the only valid will in the universe. The will of the King is expressed in His righteous laws, and also in His personal directives.
There is the Burden-bearer. On Him was laid the wickedness of us all. He continually makes intercession for us.
There is the one who has the comeliness of God and has the capacity for union with God.
There is the Eagle who flies in the heavens. He cannot be held to the earth.
There are four persons to consider when we are seeking to understand the government of the Kingdom of God:
The Father, who is the Lion. All are to obey Him. The righteous laws He is writing in our heart will finally overcome and remove all wickedness from us.
There is the Son, who is the Ox. He bears our burdens, making intercession for us. We also must be willing to work hard and patiently at the tasks God sets before us.
There is the Spirit of God, who continually invites us to soar in the heavens. The Spirit is the enemy of our adamic nature that always seeks to keep us earthbound.
Sin keeps us chained and bowed down. Every time we are released from a sin we can fly in God's creation.
But who is person number four? We are. To the animal creation we are the face of God, the image of God.
As human beings we can become one with the Father through the Son. To my knowledge, no other creature of God has this ability—not the most highly placed angel.
The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and human beings are the Throne, the government, of the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God is within us. People can be within the boundaries, discipline, and influence of the Kingdom, but not have much of the Kingdom in them.
We enter the Kingdom of God when we are born again of Christ. We inherit the Kingdom of God as we gain victory over the lusts of our flesh and spirit.
Each human being has within himself or herself a throne room. Man, male and female, was created to govern the creation.
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.' (Genesis 1:27,28)
In his (or her) natural state, before he is born again, man is on the throne of his own life. But that throne was not created for one person but for four. As long as a person sits alone on the throne of his own life, wickedness, hatred, misery, and unrest will fill his days on the earth. We may observe this condition over the last 6,000 years.
The reason Christ and His saints must govern during the Kingdom Age with the rod of iron is that the nations whom they rule will still have "Self" on the throne of their personality. They might feel that they should resume business as usual; to restore the world as it had been.
In fact, I think they will gather together in groups and demand that money be restored as the means of transferring goods and services, money having been abolished when the Kingdom was set up.
We see this rebellion take full form when Satan is released from the Bottomless Pit, at the conclusion of the thousand-year Kingdom Age.
But Christ will not permit people to build again a world such as we have today.
Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.' (Psalms 2:8,9)
I would expect that a great deal of effort will be made by Christ and His saints to introduce the Father, the Son, and the Spirit into the personalities of the people of the nations whom they are governing.
Whether or not some of the people of the nations who have been saved to the Kingdom Age (the thousand-year Millennium) will be willing to set aside their own life so Christ may be formed in them remains to be seen.
Otherwise they will attempt to make the new world like the present, and this is not to be. In fact, at the end of the thousand years they will rebel against Christ and His saints. God then will destroy them with fire, revealing God's attitude toward the spirit of the world.
As I see it, some of the saints who are governing with Christ will spend time in the heavenly Jerusalem. They will help bring the members of the elect to the maturity needed to fulfill their role as members of the Royal Priesthood, when the new Jerusalem is installed on the new earth.
The Lord Jesus taught us that the Holy Spirit would be in us. Also, if we would keep His commands, the Father and He would dwell in us.
The Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14:17)
Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. (John 14:23)
Because they are God, the Father, Son, and Spirit expect that they will find Their place on the throne of our life. But there is another king, Self, who will fight with all his might to maintain his supremacy on our throne.
The contest between God and self, as to who is to occupy the throne of our personality, is the fundamental issue of the Christian discipleship.
I may be correct in saying that the majority of Christian people have no intention of permitting God to sit on the throne of their life. Christian people may speak of giving their heart to Jesus, but this often is little more than religious talk.
Although they may be a respected member of their church, they think their own thoughts; they speak their own words; they behave in a manner they believe to be appropriate.
Christ is not pleased with this. He wants us to think His thoughts. He wants us to speak His words. He wants us to behave as He behaves. He is very much alive and watching each of us carefully!
In response to the sermon I preached yesterday, a man in the congregation spoke up and said, "Attempting to follow Christian principles is like trying to obey Christ without Christ." So true!
Perhaps most believers would agree to the fact that we should think, speak, and behave as Jesus does. Then we may make a noble effort to do better, but this usually does not last.
Now please listen: I am not admonishing us to imitate the thinking, speaking, and acting of the Lord. I am directing us toward the practice of continually petitioning the Lord that we may think as He is thinking; to speak as He is speaking; to do the things He is doing.
Jesus is alive. He is thinking, speaking, and acting, at all times. If we will set aside our own thinking, speaking, and acting, and keep asking the Lord to give us His thoughts, to guide our speech, to do what He is doing, He will answer our prayer and share His Life with us.
If we are to live as part of the Life of Christ, we must bear patiently our cross of self-denial and plod along faithfully after the Lord. We must remain in the prisons in which we are placed without willfully breaking out. We must fellowship with fervent disciples as possible and use the gifts we have been given to build them up.
If we are living now as a devoted Christian, all that remains is to press further into Christ until we are living in His Presence. We can accomplish this union with Christ if we persevere.
Soon we will find that the Father, Son, and Spirit are on the throne of our personality and we are a bystander. This is the Kingdom of God.
Every morning when I awaken I beseech God that Christ may live in my body that day.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
Each morning do you ask God that Paul's testimony may be true of you? It is an excellent practice, and God will hear and answer.
God's answer may include suffering. So if you want God to be on the throne of your life, you must arm yourself with a mind to suffer. If we would enter the Kingdom of God we must be prepared to suffer.
For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. (II Corinthians 4:11)
When we ask God to take His place on the throne of our personality, God responds by attacking our self-will. We must remain patient during this process, realizing that God is answering our prayer that He might replace self on the throne of our life.
In the present hour there are fires burning homes in San Diego County where we live (May 16, 2014). Can you imagine awakening in the morning in an evacuation center and realizing that your home and memorabilia are now ashes?
This is just one example of suffering that is prevailing today throughout the world. As painful as it is for those whose homes have burned, I realize it is as nothing compared to those who are suffering in other parts of the world, such as Syria and Africa.
If we grumble and blame God for our pain, no good will come from it. But if we look to God and praise Him for His faithfulness, God will further His work of taking His place on the throne of our life. That which seemed like the end of everything good actually moved us closer to the desire of our heart.
Do not think for one moment that God does not understand your pain. He never will leave you or forsake you.
This is what it means to live by faith in Christ. This is how the righteous live.
King Self will struggle to maintain his rule over your life, and so you will have to be very determined to keep on praising the Lord no matter what happens.
If we accept suffering with the proper attitude, it frees us from the sins of the flesh.
Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body has finished with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. (I Peter 4:1,2)
"But rather for the will of God." Notice how the Apostle connects deliverance from "evil human desires" with doing God's will, that is, enthroning God in our heart.
It is not "natural" for a human being to want to surrender his right to do as he pleases to God, Christ, and the Spirit of God.
But consider this: God created mankind to govern the works of His hands.
It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified: "What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him?
"You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor and put everything under their feet." In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. (Hebrews 2:5-8)
You and I were created to govern the new world of righteousness that is just over the horizon. God therefore would have us give all diligence to establishing God on the throne of our personality, for it is not possible that we can successfully govern the new world while we are ruled by self-will.
We can see from the events of today that our world is one prolonged disaster as self-seeking political leaders strive for preeminence.
So we do not really have a choice. God has given us a "talent," a throne that is to be occupied by Himself. If we do not labor until God is firmly in control of our personality, we may be scolded severely and led away into the outer darkness.
Now we may ask, "Will we ever be permitted back on the throne of our own personality so we can share in the rulership of the Kingdom of God?"
Definitely, yes. Once God is satisfied that we have surrendered the rulership of our personality to Him, we will be permitted to share the throne with God.
To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. (Revelation 3:21)
The victory that is gained is over our self-will and every other force that would resist the will of God.
To sit on the throne of our own life, along with the Godhead, is the "rest of God" mentioned in the Book of Hebrews. We keep bringing our thoughts, words, and deeds into conformity with the thoughts, words, and deeds of the Lord Jesus. Jesus keeps on bringing His thoughts, words, and deeds into conformity with the thoughts, words, and deeds of the Father.
Now we are one with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. When the world observes this perfect Oneness they will realize that it is the Father who has sent the Lord Jesus into the world and has loved the saints as He loves the Lord Jesus.
I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:23)
This is how we enter the Kingdom of God. It gives us an idea of how our being willing to set aside our own life and embrace the Persons of the Godhead will benefit mankind.