The Seed, from The Coming Day of Redemption
The Seed, from The Coming Day of Redemption
And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (Genesis 22:15-18)
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. (Galatians 3:16)</p>
And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:29)
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:13)
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The Kingdom of God is not an organization but a Seed. The builders of church structures and organizations appear to find this almost impossible to comprehend and work with.
The Seed is the Olive Tree. The Seed is the Kingdom of God. The Seed is the Word of God, now made flesh. That one Seed is Christ and all who belong to Christ.
There is no such thing as a Jewish Church and a Christian Church. There is only the one Seed.
Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. (Ephesians 2:15)
The Jew who is descended in the bloodline of Abraham does not become the Seed of Abraham until he or she becomes part of Christ.
The Gentile does not become the Seed of Abraham until he or she becomes part of Christ. This does not mean the individual blithely declares, "I have accepted Christ," and then goes on his way living in his customary manner.
Rather, being the Seed of Abraham signifies the Gentile has embraced Christ. He has received Christ into himself. He has been baptized in water if at all possible, declaring that he has died with Christ and now is living in the resurrection of Christ, behaving in newness of life.
No part of the Law of Moses has jurisdiction over him. The Law of the Spirit of Christ has total jurisdiction over everything he thinks, says, and does. He is without condemnation because he is being led by the Spirit of God to confess and turn away from the works of his sinful nature.
He is "living by faith," meaning he looks to Christ for every aspect of his life, doing nothing of significance without consulting his Lord, Jesus Christ.
This man or woman, boy or girl, is the one Seed of Abraham, the Body of Christ, the revelation of the invisible God.
How many times did the Lord Jesus tell us the Kingdom of God is a Seed! Yet, we attempt continually to give it some sort of structure so we can control and predict it. Such is the age-old problem of denominationalism—that which divides God's people into competing factions and obscures the Divine Life, Light, and testimony.
All that eternally matters in our existence is the Seed, the Divine Life. It is for the Seed that the creation exists. The Jew or Gentile who is not part of Christ is little more than an animal, yet having an ability no animal has—the power to reach out to God in worship and to call upon His Name.
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. (Matthew 13:24)
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. (Matthew 13:31,32)
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (I Peter 1:23)
He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man. (Matthew 13:37)
If the Kingdom of God is a Seed, why do we attempt to organize it? Is this spirit of "booth-building" coming from our sinful nature? Are we attempting to control that which God desires to be the planting and growing of the Divine Seed?
Every experienced minister knows of someone who came to church once or twice, and then was not seen for years. "The individual just didn't accept Christ," as far as we can see, so he is not entered into the list of the newly converted. Come to find out, he or she in later years became a burning, flaming evangelist.
So the keeping of records as to how many "got saved" exists only for the people who care about such things. What other purpose does it have? It is not Kingdom business, as far as I can tell!
I have a cousin, Joan Marie. When she was a little girl she belonged to the "Brownies," I think it was called.
The Brownies did a unit on planting and gave the girls some seeds. When Joanie came home she busied herself digging holes in the backyard and planting her seeds.
You know what she did the next morning, don't you. She went out to the backyard and dug up the seeds to see if they had "growed up."
So it is when we record how many people "got saved." Entirely inappropriate!
We might give an altar call and have seven people come forward for "salvation." We may list this dutifully in our records. What we do not know is, in whom in the congregation was the Seed planted? I practice giving altar calls. But I do not record the results. After all, who knows in whom the Divine Seed has been planted?
I believe the Lord considered the parable of the sower to be one of the more important parables that He spoke.
Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?" (Mark 4:13—NIV)
The parable of the sower is so important it is found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
The individual who is presenting the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is sowing the Divine Seed, Christ.
It may be observed that of four kinds of ground, only one bore any lasting fruit. This alone reveals the folly of counting how many people were "saved."
The first kind of ground had been walked on so many times it was too hard to receive the Seed. Satan snatched up the Seed before the individual could believe and bear fruit. I suppose this refers to people who had dabbled in many philosophies and religions.
The second kind of "ground" was a rock. The individual received the Seed with joy, and made a big show of being "saved." Every pastor has seen this sort of thing. But the believer had no roots to sustain him or her in the time of trouble. No permanent fruit was borne.
By the way, the "fruit" is twofold. First it is the image of Christ, both internally and externally. Second, it is perfect rest in the center of God's Person and will. It is the fullness of the stature of Christ.
The third kind of ground into which the Divine Seed falls is occupied with the numerous cares, riches, and pleasures of life. These choke out the Seed so that no fruit is brought to perfection.
"Narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life; and few find it!"
It is amazing and thought-provoking that the fruit God is looking for is not always produced to a lasting extent when the Word is preached.
Finally there is the fourth kind of ground.
Notice that the fourth kind of ground is "an honest and good heart."
But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. (Luke 8:15)
In their abundance of zeal, evangelists often employ the verse:
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. (Romans 3:10)
This verse is taken from the following, and does not refer to everyone in the world. However, it is true that the eternal righteousness God requires is not found in any child of Adam but only in the Seed, Christ.
They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord. There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous. (Psalms 14:3-5)
Notice that "there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Yet, "God is in the generation of the righteous."
This is a contradiction, isn't it? So we conjecture that the psalmist who said, "there is none that doeth good, no, not one" reminds us of the Pharisees who said concerning the Lord Jesus, "Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing! Behold, the world is gone after him." Yet it is not true that the world went after the Lord at that time.
It is just the way people speak in exaggerations in the heat of the moment; so it may be true of "there is none that doeth good" when there actually is a "generation of the righteous" and God is in those people. Or, it may have been possible that when the psalmist said these words, that at that time there actually was "none that doeth good" in the entire world. But I kind of doubt this!
The point the evangelist is making is that human goodness will not bring us to Heaven. This is why it absolutely is essential that Christ be sown and grow in us.
Noah, for example, was a righteous man, according to the Bible.
It is people with honest and good hearts (and there are such people, in spite of the evangelists) who patiently guard the Seed that has been planted in them, and bring forth the image of Christ. Then Christ will have brothers who, when He appears, can work with Him in establishing the will of God on the earth.
Sometimes an individual who behaves wickedly actually has an honest and good heart; but because of circumstances does not reveal this in his behavior. Christ may be brought forth in him or her after the Seed has been planted.
But if a person has an evil and treacherous heart, he will be burned in the fire at the end of the age, whether or not he or she has "accepted Christ."
Christ is not a fire escape!
The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:41,42)
Shall gather out of His Kingdom! "Out of His Kingdom"!
God blessed Abraham because of his obedience in surrendering Isaac to God. Christ, the Seed of Abraham, was tested in the area of obedience. We, who through Christ are the Seed of Abraham, also shall be tested severely in the area of obedience.
We also shall inherit the blessing.
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore. (Genesis 22:17)
How can the one Seed be multiplied as the stars and the grains of sand on the seashore? The answer is, the Seed is multiplied in us, the members of His Kingdom; and His Kingdom shall be multiplied forever.
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:7)
All of this because of the obedience of Abraham. There is no way of estimating the amount of good that proceeds from one person who obeys God totally.
It is impossible for human beings to imitate Christ successfully, although we do the best we can. The problem is, we are descendants of Adam and have inherited Adam's nature. But Christ is ready to share with us, who are part of the one Seed, His Divine Nature. The Divine Nature can imitate Christ perfectly, because it is His Nature.
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (II Peter 1:4)
Each member of the Seed has been called to be in the image of Christ, both in his inner nature, and also in his outer appearance. God has provided through Christ all the virtue necessary for our complete transformation into the inner nature of the Seed; and also, in the Day of Resurrection, into the outer appearance of the Seed.
We must have faith that God can perform this work in every true believer.
The inner image of the Seed, that has been planted in us, is the moral Character of God Himself. We may aspire to be like God. But the only manner in which the Character of God in us may come to maturity is through the growth of the Seed that came from God in the first place.
It is my opinion that we make only a rough start toward such character during our brief sojourn on the earth. It is likely that ten thousand years from now, as measured by earth's time, we still will be being conformed to the image of God.
As for the outer appearance of God, I believe it shall be as it is taking place today. As we keep dying and living in Christ, our house in Heaven is being transformed accordingly. Our outer appearance always shall reflect our inner nature. We see the outer appearance of Christ in the first chapter of the Book of Revelation; also in the first chapter of the Book of Daniel.
When the Lord appears, we shall be clothed with our transformed house from Heaven.
If we will continue to press forward in faith we shall attain to these two transformations. Let us have faith!
I think the new covenant should be preached more often than it is. One would think from the current preaching that the new covenant is that if we "accept Christ" we will go to Heaven and not go to Hell. Added to this is a mansion in Heaven that has been prepared for us.
Such may be a new covenant that man has concocted, but it is not the new covenant of the Scriptures.
The new covenant of the Scriptures is the writing of God's eternal moral Law in our mind and heart. Each time we through Christ gain victory over sin, that writing is increased both in our mind and in our heart; both in our understanding and in our willingness to embrace God's will.
But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. (Hebrews 8:6)
The new covenant is a "better covenant" from God's point of view because it will enable the Seed to keep God's commands.
Can you imagine! We are teaching today that the new covenant is better than the old because now, through grace, we do not have to keep God's commands!
I used to yell when I preached, because it seemed to me that Christian leaders and people were deliberately and perversely going against the New Testament. I don't yell so much anymore because I realize that the people are blind spiritually and just have need of teaching.
Some years ago Jesus told me not to call anyone a heretic. "They just need teaching," He said.
Am I smarter that everyone else? Hardly! But I think God has given me a certain amount of clarity when reading the Bible.
For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. (Hebrews 8:7)
The reason the first covenant, the Law of Moses, was faulty was because we have a sin nature that wars against God's Law. God's Law is perfect, but we aren't. The purpose of the new covenant is to provide a faultless covenant that will enable us to obey God's Law.
Does that make sense to you?
For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. (Hebrews 8:8)
God found fault with the Israelites because they did not keep His commands, in many instances. The house of Israel and the house of Judah may be read, "the Seed of Abraham." God does not make covenants with anyone except the one Seed---Jews and Gentiles who are part of Christ.
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. (Hebrews 8:9)
The new covenant is different from the old in that the new covenant does not operate as we read the words of the covenant and attempt to obey them. This is where Christians get into error when they try to keep all or part of the Law of Moses. The old covenant and the new cannot be mixed in this manner.
The new covenant is "not according to the covenant" that God made with the fathers of Israel. If we truly have died with Christ in water baptism, then the old covenant, including the Ten Commandments, has no jurisdiction over us. The new covenant, which is the Law of the Spirit of Christ, has total jurisdiction over us.
If we endeavor to mix the two covenants, we are performing spiritual adultery.
Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. (Romans 7:1-4)
When we are married to Christ we are not to return to the Law of Moses. Through means of our union with the resurrected Christ we can gain absolute victory over our sinful nature and over our self-will. To go back to any part of the Law of Moses would result in the reviving of our fallen nature.
Our marriage to Christ, as we by faith pursue Him each day, results in our transformation into the inner moral Nature of Christ. In the Day of Resurrection it will result in an outer form, like that of Christ.
To return to any part of the Law of Moses, including the physical celebrations of the seven major convocations, or circumcision, or the Sabbath Day, is spiritual adultery. It is ignorance and folly, when we consider how superior the new covenant is.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. (Hebrews 8:10)
Instead of writing His eternal moral laws on tables of granite, God writes them in our mind and heart. Thus we understand God's intention and have the desire to perform it.
To then return to any part of that which was written on stone tablets is to leave the superior and return to the inferior.
Moses' law is perfect, enlightening the eyes. But we people are imperfect. So that which was intended to perfect our behavior resulted in bringing our sin to our attention, but did not provide the spiritual power to enable us to obey God's righteous laws.
The new covenant does provide the spiritual power (grace) to enable us to obey the eternal law of God, the Law of the Spirit of Christ. Would we not then be foolish, as well as disobedient to God, to return to a covenant that urges us to live righteously while not providing the Divine Virtue that would enable us to obey God?
And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. (Hebrews 8:11)
When the new covenant has been brought to the full in each one of us we will have no need of apostles, teachers or rabbis. Each one of us will know the Lord, because He has brought Christ, the Seed, to maturity in us. Christ, being the Word of God made flesh, has come to maturity in our mind and heart. Now we have become the Word!
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:13)
Throughout the two thousand years of the Christian Era, the program of redemption has been confined largely to the forgiveness of our sin. In our time the Day of Redemption has begun, in which sin and self-will shall be removed from us. This is a major step forward in the Divine plan of redemption.
The new covenant does include the forgiveness of our sin, but only as we continually seek to obey the Law of the Spirit of Christ.
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 8:12)
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:4)
This is not a gift without requirements attached. If we are to receive the righteousness of the Law, we must obey the Spirit of God at all times, in every circumstance.
I believe we all can see clearly that when we become part of Christ we are Abraham's Seed. All of the inheritance promised to the Seed is assigned to us.
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. (Genesis 22:17)
Thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. We finally shall gain the upper hand over Satan, and over all the works of evil.
You and I, being of the one Seed, are part of a vast number of people who will increase in number until we shall be as the stars of the heavens. This is inconceivable; but whatever the Bible states cannot be changed in any manner.
Satan always is at work. But the warfare against evil has begun and shall conclude with absolute victory for the Seed. We cannot see this victory as yet, as the world grows more evil each day. We hardly can believe that the time will come when there is no more evil in God's creation.
But the Scripture says we shall overcome our enemies, and indeed we shall through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice the next verse:
And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (Genesis 22:18)
From what I have read, I believe many ministers and their followers are under the impression that all who "accept Christ" are destined to escape Hell and go to Heaven to live comfortably in a mansion, doing nothing of significance for eternity.
Such is the Christian mythology.
The truth is, the purpose of the Church Age is to call out from mankind a holy people, peculiarly God's own, and work with them until they attain to the stature of Christ. They compose the Church, the called-out Royal Priesthood. This company, with Christ as the Head, is the one true Seed of Abraham.
When a firstfruits of this holy priesthood is ready, Christ will return, raise them into resurrection life, call them up to Himself, mount them on the white war stallions, and then descend with them to install the Kingdom of God on the earth. Then the will of God shall be done on earth as it is in Heaven. This is what we pray for, isn't it?
Here is the fulfillment of the Word: "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."
All of the above shall come to pass. The zeal of the Lord of Host shall accomplish this.
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:7)