Bringing the Throne Into the Land of Promise

BRINGING THE THRONE INTO THE LAND OF PROMISE

Introduction
The Coming of the Ark
What Is Our Land of Promise?
Two Different Armies
Conclusion

Introduction

When the tribes of Israel invaded Canaan they brought the Ark of the Covenant with them into the land of promise. The Ark of the Covenant was so named because inside the Ark was the Covenant, the Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments are the Divine judgment on Satan. The nations that inhabited the land of Canaan were worshipers of demons. Their sin had reached its full measure. The invading army of Israel was the coming of the Throne of God, the judgment of God, to drive from the land and destroy utterly every remnant of the demons.

This is precisely what will take place when the Lord Jesus appears with His saints. The return of the Lord Jesus from Heaven accompanied by His saints and angels will be the coming of the Throne of God, the judgment of God, to drive from the earth and destroy utterly all the works of Satan. This will occur when the sin in the earth has reached its full measure.

But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed. He will give their kings into your hand, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand up against you; you will destroy them. (Deuteronomy 7:23,24)

Notice in the above verse the total destruction of the enemy. We are not to fear Satan or compromise with evil in any manner. The troubled history of Israel portrays what takes place when the enemy is not totally vanquished. The experience of the Jews is intended to instruct us whose task it is to remove sin from the creation.

Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things,” says the LORD Almighty. (Deuteronomy 4:3)

It is Jesus Christ who will trample down the wicked, but He will do it through His Church.

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. (Romans 16:20)

When we receive Christ and are baptized in water we are to acknowledge by faith that we are taking our place with Christ on the cross. When we come up from the water we are signifying that we are rising with Christ to walk in newness of life.

We have left our adamic nature and the Law of Moses on the cross. In the spirit realm, our new born-again nature takes it place in Christ at the right hand of God. This is the seat of supreme authority and judgment.

Since we have died with Christ and have risen with Him, it is as though we had fulfilled all the requirements of the Law of Moses and thus are without condemnation in terms of the Law. In addition, the Holy Spirit begins the work of judgment of our personality, for it is appointed once to man to die and after this the judgment.

The judgment every saint experiences is not a judgment of condemnation. The guilt of our sins was done away on the cross. We continue without condemnation as long as we obey the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.

The judgment we experience concerns the sin resident in our personality, the sin that has come from Satan and is found in mankind. The sinful nature of mankind includes the following:

Depending on the world for our survival and security.
The lusts and appetites of our flesh and soul, the uncleanness of our spirit.
Our self-will, stubbornness, and willingness to disobey God.

Until we are delivered from sin in these three areas we are not qualified or competent to return with Jesus Christ and bring the Throne of God into the world.

The Coming of the Ark

The significance of Israel entering Canaan was not primarily the establishing of a home for the Jewish people. It was the creating of a holy land, a land that would typify the making holy of the entire earth, a place of rest for God and those who love God.

The Jewish people were bringing with them the holiness of God in the form of the Ten Commandments, the Covenant. The Canaanites had never heard of such a holy law. They were the prey of demons. When the Israelite army brought the Ark into Canaan it was the coming of the will of God. This was the foreshadow of “Your kingdom come. Your will be done in the earth.”

When Jesus Christ appears with His saints it is the coming of the holy law of God, the will of God, into the earth. Jesus Christ Himself is the Ark of the Covenant in that God’s eternal moral law is in Him. We also are having the eternal moral law of God written in our mind and heart.

The nations of the earth are the prey of demons. They have little concept of the righteousness and holiness being created in God’s saints.

One can see at a glance why Satan has labored to change the original new covenant, the writing of the eternal moral law in the mind and heart of the Christian, into a ticket to Heaven, a ticket we receive by taking “the four steps of salvation.” Such “believers” are not the counterpart of the Ark of the Covenant. Their coming with the Lord Jesus would only bring more worldliness, lust, and self-will into the earth.

When we received Christ a firstfruits of our personality was seated in Christ at the right hand of God. This is the place of supreme authority and power. God’s will is done here. Our task is to bring God’s will into the remainder of our own personality and then into the entire creation.

Our entire Christian life is to be devoted to maintaining our position at God’s right hand. We do this by following the Law of the Spirit of Life in every detail of life. We are to think in the Spirit, speak in the Spirit, act in the Spirit. We are to be filled with the Spirit in all that we are and do. We accomplish this by praying without ceasing, reading the Scriptures and obeying them, gathering regularly with the saints, and doing all else that is part of wholesome Christian living.

Christians often view the purpose of salvation as bringing the saints to Paradise. This is not the purpose of salvation. The purpose of salvation is to bring the Presence and will of God into the earth. Thus Christ and we are as the Ark entering Canaan.

Inside the Ark were the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the memorial jar of manna.

The Ten Commandments speak of the moral righteousness created in the saint as Christ is formed in Him. This is the essence of the new covenant — the writing of the eternal moral law of God in our mind and heart.
Aaron’s rod tells of the incorruptible resurrection life, the power of the royal priesthood by which the saints will govern.
The memorial jar of manna portrays the utter dependence on every Word of God that has been learned by the true saint.

Only the people who have had the tables of stone, the rod of Aaron, and the memorial jar of manna created in their personality are eligible to appear with Christ at His coming.

It is God’s intention to move His throne from Heaven to the hearts of His sons, and through His sons into the earth. Man was created to be the throne of almighty God. At present Heaven is God’s throne, but this is a temporary condition. The eternal resting place of the Throne of God is Christ — Head and Body.

What Is Our Land of Promise?

The saints have been as Israel in the wilderness. First we made our exodus from the world under the protection of the blood of the Lamb.

Then we came to Sinai and the baptism with the Holy Spirit. It is here we are given the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus and begin to enter the rest of God. God has given us the gift of tongues so we can learn how to cease from our own works and follow the Spirit of the Lord.

After Sinai there were two major works. The Tabernacle of the Congregation was constructed and Israel was organized into the army of the Lord. These are the two works of God being emphasized now in the Christian realm.

The construction of the Tabernacle symbolizes the building of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is built by that which every member supplies. Our pastor-congregation model of organization may hinder the development and operation of the variety of ministries necessary for the maturing of the Body. One wonders how long it will be before we are able to change into the widespread operation of gifts and ministries taught by the Apostle Paul.

The Body of Christ is very immature today. Thank God for the ministries and gifts that have been restored to the Body over the last fifty years. But there must be much more exercise of the various gifts and ministries of the Body before we will be anywhere near ready to appear with the Lord Jesus.

The forming of Israel into an army speaks of the transformation of the churches of Jesus Christ into a disciplined army. We are hearing our music change from “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” to various choruses that emphasize the coming of the army of the Lord. Banners and other forms of pageantry are appearing in the services.

We hear many prophecies that the next generation will cross the Jordan, so to speak. To what are these utterances referring? We don’t even know what our land of promise is. The Israelites understood clearly where their land of promise was. But our doctrine is such a mixture of Gnosticism and mythology that we suppose our promised land is Heaven.

But if you stop to think about it, the army of the Lord is not being organized to invade Heaven. Is Jericho a type of Heaven? Will a militant church approach the walls of Heaven and march around them until they fall?

Obviously not, so it is clear we do not know what our land of promise is. In the meanwhile we keep preaching our unscriptural doctrines about the Lord Jesus coming to catch away His waiting bride to Heaven. What a departure from the Word of God!

But all this is past for those who are hearing the Spirit. We know we are being prepared for war and we know the land we are preparing to invade is not Heaven.

If we are to bring the Throne of God, in our own personality, into the land of promise, then we need to know where the land of promise is.

The land of promise is the earth. The nations and farthest reaches of the earth are the inheritance of Jesus Christ and His coheirs.

“Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” (Psalms 2:8,9)

“To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations — ‘He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery’ — just as I have received authority from my Father.” (Revelation 2:26,27)

In the beginning God gave the earth to man, not to the angels but to man. We were not created in Heaven and Heaven is not our home. The earth is our home.

Then Satan and his forces came and took over the earth. Now we have to drive him back out and reclaim what was given us in the beginning.

Since we are only dust we are unable to drive Satan from the earth — even from our own personality. God sent Jesus Christ, not to do the job for us but to make it possible for us to drive Satan out of our own personality and then, at the coming of the Lord, from the entire creation of God. It has been given to man to judge the world, and the angels as well.

When we first were saved we were raised to the right hand of God. You would think when we were saved God would bring our new born-again nature to Paradise. But He doesn’t. He brings us to His throne. This is because man was created to be the eternal Throne of God.

When Christ is born in us He ascends to the right hand of the Father in Heaven. This means a firstfruits of our personality already is on the highest throne. Our discipleship therefore is an effort to maintain and nourish the position freely given to us when we received Jesus Christ, so that the remainder of our personality also may abide in Christ in the center of God’s Person and will. This is the rest of God, the place of rulership; and we must be diligent that no person take our crown.

Notice what is written about the new Jerusalem, which is the Bride of the Lamb, the Church of Christ:

No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. (Revelation 22:3)

And again:

At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. (Jeremiah 3:17)

Canaan represents not only the nations and the farthest reaches of the earth but also resurrection ground.

Crossing the Red Sea symbolizes our leaving the world and entering the Kingdom of God.

Our stop at Sinai portrays our receiving the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.

Crossing the Jordan River refers to death to our first personality and resurrection into eternal life in spirit, soul, and body.

We enter eternal life in our spirit when we first receive the Lord Jesus.

We enter eternal life in our soul as we put to death the deeds of the flesh through the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit.

We will gain eternal life in our body when the Lord Jesus appears, provided we have maintained eternal life in our spirit and soul. If we do not cooperate with the Holy Spirit in putting to death the deeds of our sinful body we will die spiritually. Then we will not receive immortality in the body when the Lord appears.

There is no truth more in need of expression today than that which deals with the relationship between our present behavior and the Day of Resurrection. The Christian churches are almost totally ignorant of the impact of our behavior on our resurrection, supposing the Lord is coming to whisk us all away to Heaven where we will play in Paradise. This is pure mythology.

God’s plan for the Church is that it be His throne so through the Church the Throne of God can enter the earth and drive out and utterly destroy all wickedness. It has nothing to do with our being rushed off to Paradise to play with the angels. Don’t we realize the world will continue in its insanity and corruption until Jesus appears with His saints? And we want to play in Paradise? What are we thinking of?

Canaan, as we have said, is resurrection ground. Every true saint today is pressing toward the mark, that is, toward attaining the resurrection from the dead. When the Lord appears it will be with an army in immortal bodies, filled with eternal incorruptible resurrection life, the Life of Jesus.

Each member of the army of the Lord must have been perfected by the Lord Jesus in iron righteousness of character and behavior, fiery holiness of personality and conduct, and stern obedience to the Father. There cannot be one Achan in the group, for this army will confront the sources of wickedness in the earth. The spiritual darkness in the earth is vastly more powerful, more deeply entrenched, than we have any idea. Even after the thousand-year Kingdom Age has transpired, a time of righteous rulership by Christ and His saints, Satan still will be able to deceive the nations of the earth into attacking the camp of the saints.

The earth is filled with spiritual darkness. We Christians are the dust of the earth. There is little we can do. Therefore we must be filled, filled, filled with all the fullness of God in Christ before we will have the authority and power to drive the darkness from the earth.

Also we must always be under the blood of the cross, for this is our protection from guilt and judgment in the sight of God.

We see then that the churches of today are as children playing in the religious Babylon. We have our myths and games, and little idea of the conflict of the ages that is upon us.

How then will God prepare us for what is ahead?

God will prepare us by suffering, by shaking us, by knocking out every prop on which we depend. We must come to know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.

We absolutely must declare ourselves dead with Christ and risen with Christ. Until we do this we are part of the synagogue of Satan no matter how much we talk in tongues, and will continue to slander the true work of God just as the imitators of Christ have done through the centuries.

The army of the Lord is composed of dead-living people. They are crucified with Christ. They are living by the Life of Christ.

After our declaration of death and resurrection, the Spirit of God leads us into experiences that purify our spirit of all uncleanness; that frustrate and crucify our soul until the Life of Christ is formed; that put to death the passions and appetites of our body so we no longer are living in them.

Our most fervent desires are withheld from us for many years. We are brought into circumstances that are unpleasant, that keep us praying constantly. We learn to live one day at a time, one hour at a time, one minute at a time.

Perhaps we no longer are fruitful in ministry. Perhaps our home life is shaken and torn up. Perhaps we have prolonged illness, or poverty, or some other distress.

We are tried like Job, like Jeremiah, like Hannah, like the Apostle Paul. We have the sentence of death in ourselves such that from time to time we despair of life itself. Yet deep within us is the assurance that God is in control and joy yet shall come. We trust in God who raises the dead.

What is the purpose of all this frustration, this denial, this pain, this perplexity?

It is that Christ may be formed in us, that His Life may be seen in us. An eternal weight of glory is being formed in us in preparation for the Day of the Lord.

As our present body is sown into the death of the cross our new body is having its rise before the Throne of God in Heaven. The new body is our robe, our house from Heaven that will clothe our resurrected flesh and bones in the Day of Christ.

When our spirit, soul, and body have been transformed in Christ, and then filled with all the fullness of God, we have become the eternal Throne of God. When Christ appears we will appear with Him, judging and driving all the works of Satan from the creation.

Our position in Christ at the right hand of God was marked out from the beginning of the world. When we receive Christ our new born-again nature takes its place at the right hand of Power, far above every other title and authority in the universe.

Our task is to prevent our crown of authority from being taken from us.

We now are one of God’s stars, His rulers, since we are positioned at His right hand.

Beginning in the present hour, all of God’s stars will be shaken to see if they can be removed from the Throne. We can be removed if we have not truly counted ourselves dead with Christ and risen with Him; if we are not serving Him with a pure heart. If we are not overcoming the spirit of the world (Antichrist), the lusts of our flesh, and our self-will and rebellion, we can be shaken from our position at the right hand of God.

God is preparing to return to the earth. His throne is being established in the personalities of the victorious saints in preparation for the day when Christ appears and destroys wickedness from the creation.

To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. (Revelation 3:21)

Two Different Armies

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)

And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” (Revelation 11:3)

The greatest witness of God to be seen on the earth will be given in the near future. This is the latter (spring) rain promised in Joel, Hosea, Zechariah, and James. This will be an Elisha, double-portion anointing of the Spirit of God.

The two witnesses, as we understand the Scriptures, are Christ and His Body. They will bear witness of the soon coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth. It will be one last opportunity for people to repent before the end of the Church Age arrives.

Frequently we hear of prophecy to the effect that God is raising up a generation that will do exploits, that will cross Jordan. We at our church are firm believers in the young people and children, that God is going to use them in an outstanding way.

The army that is being prepared is an army of witnesses in the traditional sense. They will be armed with every gift needed to heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead, and preach and teach the Gospel of the Kingdom. Undoubtedly many of them will be given the gift of languages so they can speak to every nation, every tribe on earth.

In addition to the traditional evangelism the end-time army of witnesses will be able to perform works of judgment and destruction in order to open the doors to hostile nations and to reveal what the world can expect when the Lord returns.

As we have seen the gifts of healing operate over the last fifty years it has been evident that the ministers have sometimes been corrupted by the power given to them. We are being warned today to guard against the dangers that are presented when we are given authority and power.

We must guard against taking the glory to ourselves.
We must guard against coveting money and material riches.
We must guard against the temptations of the lust of the flesh.

This is why the witnesses of Revelation, Chapter Eleven are clothed in sackcloth, speaking of humility and a renunciation of the world spirit. Ministers of today often are dressed in expensive clothes and drive the finest cars. It will not be so with the army of witnesses being trained today.

However, the army of witnesses is not the army that will cross Jordan, so to speak. There is another army. The crossing of the Jordan means the Lord Jesus has returned from Heaven with His army of resurrected saints to drive all sin from the world, to bring in everlasting righteousness.

The army of witnesses will be composed of flesh and blood human beings operating under a double portion of the Holy Spirit. The army that will drive Satan from the earth will be composed of saints in resurrection bodies.

Two Divine works are taking place today. The first is, we are being prepared for the great latter-rain outpouring so we can bear witness to every nation of the soon coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth. The second work is the forming of Christ in us. It is Christ in us that is the basis for our descending with Him and taking back the earth from the enemy.

Notice carefully the following:

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)

“When Christ, who is your life.” We are not eligible to return as the Ark of the Covenant, so to speak, bringing the will of God into the earth, until Christ is our life.

Christ becomes our life as we continually are brought down to the death of the cross. We are learning to live by the power of His resurrection. We are sharing His sufferings. We are crucified with Christ. It is no longer we who are living but Christ who is living in us.

The exercise of Divine judgment against Satan cannot be conducted by flesh and blood. Flesh and blood cannot enter the Kingdom of God. It is Christ, and God in Him, who alone can destroy Satan and all His works.

Conclusion

Christianity is much more than a religion, a system of beliefs and practices whereby we hope to appease or please God. Christianity in its purest form is Jesus Christ Himself. Divine grace in its purest form is Jesus Christ Himself.

Christ is the new covenant. Christ is the resurrection. Christ is eternal life.

To enter the Kingdom of God we must receive Jesus Christ into our personality, into our mind, our speech, our actions, into every decision we make every day and every night of the year.

To the close of his life the Apostle Paul was seeking to gain Christ, to win Christ. To this end Paul regarded all his religious attainments as so much garbage.

The Christian religion, with its pulpits, pews, stained-glass windows, may be thought of as scaffolding. There will be nothing like these once the Body of Christ has been formed. There will be no temple in the new Jerusalem because the entire city is the Wife of the Lamb, the eternal dwelling place of God and the Lamb. The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its Temple.

The end of the matter is Christ Himself. Christ is the Ark of the Covenant, the eternal moral law of God made flesh. Christ is the will of God incarnate.

The one thing God wants in Heaven and upon the earth is His will to be done, His commandments to be kept. In the Day of the Lord the law will go forth from Zion, from the Church, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

We speak much today of God’s love, saying it is “unconditional.” I don’t believe we know what we are talking about. I think we have love mixed up with sentiment.

When God created Satan and the angels who later fell, He loved them. Nevertheless they will be in the Lake of Fire for eternity. We must take this fact into consideration when we use the unscriptural phrase “God’s unconditional love.”

God loves every person born into the world. Yet some shall spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. What is this about unconditional love?

The proof we love Christ is that we keep His commandments. If we keep Christ’s commandments God will love us. Love is not a sentiment, it has to do with obedience to God. Love and obedience to Christ’s teaching are inseparable.

Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. (John 14:23)

There is a tremendous “if” in the above verse.

Loving Christ is keeping His commandments, not a feeling or sentiment of some kind. “If you love Me feed by sheep. If you love me feed My lambs. If you love Me keep my commandments.”

God’s love for us has to do with whether we are obeying Him. If we have a desire for God but are bound with sin and stubbornness, and yet we keep praying for release that we may serve God, God will save us by fire. He will send such suffering upon us that our chains are burned away. Perhaps this is what is meant by unconditional love.

But if we do not obey God but “accept Christ” to escape pain, we can expect great amounts of trouble to come our way.

“But will we be saved anyway?” people often ask. It may be true that you will enter the Kingdom as a naked spirit with no inheritance, there to be governed by the more diligent saints. Or you may go past God’s limits and hear “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” After all, this statement was addressed to someone who worked miracles in the name of Jesus.

A good cure for the concept of unconditional love are the parables of the virgins and the person who buried his or her talent. The door was shut in the face of the foolish virgins and the talent was taken from the lazy servant while he was cast into the outer darkness.

To say “these people never accepted Christ” is to reveal an almost total ignorance of the Divine salvation, to cling to the pitiful Christian formula for salvation which understands little of the way God works with people and knows practically nothing about His timing.

But then religion is always this way. It strains out gnats and swallows camels.

Well, the Lord knows those who are His, and He commands them to depart from wicked behavior. God will have no one in His royal priesthood who is not totally obedient to Himself. It will be the task of the priesthood to govern the nations of the earth for eternity, for it always will be possible for people to decide to disobey God.

There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:5)

We have seen, then, that the return of Jesus at the head of His army of saints will drive all sin from the earth. How near we are to this event I have no idea. Will the Church be caught up to mansions in Heaven before this invasion? Of course not.

However, at the time of the first resurrection from the dead we will be caught up into the air that we may possess the thrones that govern the spiritual atmosphere of the earth. We will be assigned a white war stallion and directed to our place in the army.

Then Christ and His army will descend in the fullness of the power of God. Antichrist and the kings of the earth will seek to prevent Christ from entering His lawful inheritance, that which he purchased with His blood on the cross. But to no avail. They will be crushed totally.

It is the holy law of God, the doing of His will, that will be entering the earth, the land of promise. The Ark will have entered Canaan. The whole earth will be filled with joy and peace. The Throne will be joined to the footstool. Heaven will have become one with the earth.

“Your Kingdom come. Your will be done in the earth as it is in Heaven.”

(“Bringing the Throne Into the Land of Promise”, 3834-1)