Trumpet Ministries, Revelation 12:5
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And she brought forth a man child [male son], who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. (Revelation 12:5)
The woman, the wonder in the heaven, gave birth to a Son. The Son is God’s Conqueror. The Son is singular in number. The sons of God are plural in number. The Body of Christ is the Son in the sons.
When we are speaking of the members of the Body of Christ concerning their ministry, or concerning their gaining victory over the world, the sins of their flesh, and Satan, we speak of them as being plural—which in fact they are. They are the many members of the one Body of Christ.
But when we speak of rulership over the creation of God we speak in the singular. It is the Son, Christ, who always is God’s Ruler.
The interaction of singular and plural can be noted in the fact that the Seed of Abraham is singular in number; yet the Seed is as the stars of the heavens and as the grains of sand on the shore in number.
The Son is Christ, and none other. Yet the Son is Christ in the elect—formed in the elect and abiding in the elect. The Church labors in the travail of ministry and nurture until Christ is formed in the saints.
The Son is to "rule all nations with a rod of iron."
A Ruler is being created in the true Church: not primarily a healer, a teacher, a deliverer, a judge, although also these, but a Ruler.
The problem God faces is that of rebellion. Satan and others have rebelled against the rule of God. The rebellion has infected mankind. A substantial part of His creation is in rebellion against God.
God could have solved His problem by destroying all rebels—angels and people. But God is planning for the future. By forming His chosen King in people, God is bringing forth the Head and Body of a Ruler—the Governor of the new world of righteousness.
The Lord Jesus was tested to the utmost in obedience to the rule of the Father. Each son who would aspire to rule with the Lord Jesus must be tested to the utmost in obedience to the rule of the Father. Out of the agony of each "Gethsemane" must come the cry of the crucified soul, "Not my will but Yours be done."
It is a Ruler who is being formed today, a Ruler who will govern the creation of God to the ages of ages.
We understand from the second chapter of the Book of Revelation that the overcomer will be given authority over the nations, to rule them with a rod of iron. Authority to rule the nations was issued to Christ in the second Psalm. The rod of iron is the eternal, universal might of the Holy Spirit of God.
But it is always the rule of the Son in the sons, and God in Him. This is a critical truth of the Kingdom of God. It must be emphasized again and again.
The Lord God of Heaven never will give His glory to another person. True rulership will be assigned to us only as Christ is formed in us. As long as King Self is on the throne of our life in any area we are not eligible to rule with God.
As long as King Self is on the throne of any area of our personality we have not attained to the first resurrection from the dead. The first resurrection from the dead is for the purpose of installing Christ, and those in whom Christ is ruling, on the spiritual thrones governing the earth.
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: . . . . (Revelation 20:4)
The present-day aspect of the first resurrection from the dead is the transfer of the governing power in our personality from King Self to King Jesus Christ. Paul’s statements in Philippians 3:8-14 have to do with the transfer of inner government and the resulting attainment to the resurrection that is unto life.
We humans tend to rule in self-seeking and harshness without due concern for those who are being ruled. But Christ rules us by filling us with His body and blood. Christ rules people by giving His Life to them in sacrificial love.
The same thing must become true of the members of the Body of Christ. We never will be allowed to rule the nations of the earth until our hearts have been broken in sacrificial love for the persons being ruled by us. God the Father will permit nothing less than this. God is love. In order to rule His creatures on an eternal basis we must be filled with sacrificial love—the love that proceeds only from God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:26)
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. (John 15:9)
And her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. (Revelation 12:5)
Christ is established eternally at the right hand of God the Father. All that is born of Christ, as soon as it is born of Christ, ascends in the Holy Spirit to the throne of God in Heaven.
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1)
That which is being formed in the saint will never be found in the world or revealed to the world until the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is revealed from Heaven.
There are ambitious believers in our day who are fretted by the sin being practiced in the nations of the world. They would go forth now in the name of Jesus in an attempt to bring the secular realm under the moral control of Christian people. They think it is time now for the manifestation of the sons of God, for the marching of Joel’s army. But it is not time as yet. Therefore, the aggressive Christians will bring persecution on the churches.
We still are in the Church Era of witnessing of the atoning death and triumphant resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The hour for the attack is not yet. The present period is to be devoted to cleansing each saint from the love of the world, from the lusts of the flesh, and from self-rule.
When the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed to the world in the fullness of His resurrection Life and Glory, we also, in whom His resurrection Life and Glory have been formed, will be revealed to the world. The supreme majesty and power of that revelation will release the material creation from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
We in whom Christ is being formed are becoming an integral part of His glorious appearing to the world. Every saint who will permit God to form Christ in him represents an increase in the Glory of Christ to be revealed to this world in the Day of the Lord.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)
When the world beholds the Glory of Christ in the saints, the world will believe God has sent Christ.
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (John 17:23)
Satan has received authority and power from the Lord God of Heaven to persecute those who are bearing the testimony of the Kingdom of God. In God’s appointed time, in the days to come, Satan will be allowed to drive the Christian witness out of the cities of the earth until the testimony of Jesus becomes an ineffectual voice in world affairs.
But Satan never will be able to touch in any manner whatever the formation of Christ in a member of the Body of Christ unless he can entice the believer into immoral or rebellious behavior.
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