The Spirit of the Pharisee, from The Coming Day of Redemption

I have come across Christians, devout Bible-reading believers, who do not believe in hearing from the Lord. They regard speaking in tongues as so much foolishness. Any emphasis on the Holy Spirit is viewed with disdain.

I myself teach that we never are to pray to the Spirit of God, sing to the Spirit, and certainly not attempt to direct the Spirit. Yet there are Christian ministers who feel called upon to tell the Spirit of God where He should go and what He should do; and others who choose to refer to the Holy Spirit as seldom as possible.

The Lord Jesus has the authority to pour out the Spirit of God, but we certainly do not.

The Holy Spirit has been given by the Father the wisdom and power to bring forth an unblemished Bride for the Lamb. Because of this, the Holy Spirit is extremely active in every aspect of the true Christian redemption.

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Unless I am mistaken, those who do not believe we are to hear from the Lord today (overlooking the testimony of millions of Christians—Evangelicals and Charismatics alike), are persuaded that after the ministry of the original Apostles, God does not speak to us or work miracles among us.

Such teachers must worship the Bible. However, they are incorrect if that is their viewpoint. Religion and the Bible are never ends in themselves. Our true goal as Christians is to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus, and to dwell in untroubled rest in the center of God's Person and will.

Most importantly of all, we can have daily fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus.

I try to avoid being negative in my writing, although I do warn against the sins of the flesh, and self-will. And I never attack a fellow believer or try to pull his stone out of the wall.

However, since the attitude that God does not speak to us today is so vigorously opposed to the central issue of what I believe about the Divine redemption, it may be a good idea for me to express myself.

Why do I term the insistence that God does not speak to us today or work miracles in the lives of Christian people, the spirit of the Pharisee?

And you know, it is a Christ-murdering spirit!

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. (John 5:39,40)

The elders of the Jews who knew the Scriptures from childhood, called for the murder of the Author of the Scriptures when they saw Him in person. How could this be?

Did God speak to people at that time?

And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. (Luke 2:25,26)

And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. (Acts 2:38)

Now, why could Anna and Simeon hear from God and recognize God's Christ, and the elders of the Jews, far more proficient in the Scriptures than Anna and Simeon, be blind to the Man when they saw and heard Him?

For ease of reference I will call this blindness, "the spirit of the Pharisee." It appears to afflict people who want to be religious and who study the Bible earnestly, looking for principles of Christian living. But for some reason there is a factor in their personality that resists the Person of God.

They do not recognize this factor; and when pressed they will react with anger—even to the point of murder, as in the case of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to be clear as to the presence of this blindness. If I am correct, in the future the Christian organizations will combine into what the Book of Revelation refers to as "Babylon, the Great." This tremendous denomination will govern the nations of the earth along with Antichrist.

The important leaders of Babylon the Great will not be in touch with the living Jesus, just as is true of some of the ecclesiastical leaders of our day.

The joint rule of the Catholic Church and the secular kings actually occurred hundreds of years ago. But it couldn't last, just as the future two-headed rule will not last. There cannot be two dragons in the same area, as Lewis mentioned!

And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. (Revelation 17:16)

People bound with the spirit of the Pharisee, unless God has mercy on them, will continue to defend their understanding of the Bible vehemently. God will move forward in the plan of redemption, and they will be blind to it, just as was true of the Jewish elders in the first century, and continues with many of the Jews to the present hour.

Whether such will accept membership in Babylon the Great, I do not know.

I am writing this brief essay because the only way we are going to be able to stand during the moral and physical chaos to come in America is by having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus. This means we speak to Him all the time, and He, from time to time, responds to us in one manner or another.

A second reason for my concern is that we are entering the greatest move in the program of Divine redemption since the atonement made on the cross and the outpouring of the Spirit of God on the original Day of Pentecost.

The fourth of the seven Jewish convocations, Pentecost, was fulfilled as the Spirit of God was poured out on the people in the first century. Also the very helpful practice of speaking in other tongues was instituted at that time.

The previous century, the twentieth century, might be termed the "Pentecostal Century." The Pentecostal message of speaking in tongues and the gifts of the Spirit spread to many parts of the world.

Now we are in the twenty-first century. It is time for the final three observances to be fulfilled: the Blowing of Trumpets; the Day of Atonement; and finally the seventh and last celebration, the feast of Tabernacles.

The spiritual fulfillments of the final three feasts constitute the promised Day of Redemption, and will attain to a climax in the resurrection, in the making spiritually alive the mortal bodies of those who have participated in these final celebrations.

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)

The Blowing of Trumpets is fulfilled as the Lord Jesus comes to His disciples and prepares them for His coming and His Kingdom.

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:19-23)

John 14:19-23 (above) is speaking of a coming of Christ that will occur before His return to catch up the firstfruits of the Royal Priesthood. It is to prepare us for the tremendous spiritual occurrences of the closing days of the Church Age.

This prior coming is the spiritual fulfillment of the fifth of the seven feasts of the Lord, the Blowing of Trumpets. Can you see from this how essential it is for us to have a one-on-one continual interaction with the Lord Jesus? We need to be aware of His Presence and will for us every moment of every day and night.

This is the coming of the King to declare war on His enemies, beginning with the enemies dwelling in the most fervent of His disciples. Judgment begins in the household of God. It is a measuring (judging) of those worshiping at the Altar of Incense, that is, the believers who cry out to God day and night: "Not my will but Yours be done!"

And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. (Revelation 11:1)

The "altar," mentioned in the verse above, is the Altar of Incense. It is at the Altar of Incense that we learn to say, "Not my will but Yours be done." The Altar of Incense originally was positioned such that to go past this altar was to enter the Most Holy Place.

The Book of Hebrews states that the Altar of Incense along with the Ark of the Covenant was in the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle. This was not its original position. Some scholars believe that when the Ark was removed, the Altar of Incense was placed in the Most Holy Place so this section of the Tabernacle would not be empty.

Behind the second curtain, the tabernacle was called the most holy place. It contained the gold altar of incense and the ark of the covenant, covered with gold on all sides, in which there was a gold jar containing the manna, Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. (Hebrews 9:3,4)

Following their own self-will, the priests had moved the Altar of Incense from where Moses placed it. So this golden Altar no longer speaks of the death to our own will that God's will might be done.

If this is what happened, it certainly is a picture of the Christian churches. They practice worship (the Altar of Incense). However, the Ark, the power to give victory over sin, is not present.

This measuring is necessary, because the greatest hindrance to the powerful witness of the coming of God's Kingdom is our self-will.

The end-time witness, which is Christ working with His victorious saints, will be clothed with the power of the seven thunders. In order for this to be true, every trace of self-will must be removed from the saints.

The Ark of the Testimony is coming down the road, to speak in a figure; and no hand is to be laid on it though it may appear to be faltering in some manner.

Such is the spiritual fulfillment of the Blowing of Trumpets.

The next of the seven observances, the Day of Atonement, may be, in some respects, the most important of the seven Jewish convocations. The spiritual fulfillment occurs as the Spirit of God leads us to confess our sins and self-will, renouncing them with all vigor.

When we do, the Spirit puts to death the sins of our flesh.

The Spirit also leads us through numerous tests until our self-will dies and we learn to lean on Christ for every breath we breathe. It takes a period of time and many difficulties before we learn to lean on the Lord Jesus to this extent.

Living in this manner is not grievous. It is an invitation and opportunity to know our Lord as our best Friend as well as our Lord and Savior.

We are to press forward to the state of being in which we think and plan along with Jesus; we speak along with Jesus; and we act and behave along with Jesus. This is the relationship Jesus has with the Father, and we are to have with Jesus.

As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (John 6:57)

"He that eateth me." Every time we choose to do the Lord's will rather than our own, we are fed in the spirit realm with the body and blood of God's Lamb, the "hidden manna."

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. (Revelation 2:17)

The Lamb's body and blood are our resurrection Life. We must be filled with resurrection Life, that which Paul was seeking, if we are to be resurrected when Jesus appears. It is His body and blood that will draw us to the slain Lamb when He comes.

Apart from partaking daily of His body and blood we are little more than an intelligent animal.

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