The Daily Word of Righteousness

Seven Steps to the Rest of God, #33

The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. (Revelation 1:20)

Christ is walking as the High Priest among the golden lampstands, which are the churches in the earth. He is comforting and strengthening us but also rebuking us and warning us of the consequences of not following the Holy Spirit to the high levels of holiness and righteousness to which we have been called.

Jesus addresses the angel, the spirit of each church. The promise of rewards always is to the individual saint, to him who overcomes. Jesus is coming to each of us personally. Jesus desires to make each of us a dwelling place in the house of the Father. First we must pass through the numerous processes of reconciliation. There are no shortcuts.

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)

"No man comes to the Father." Our goal is not Heaven, it is the Father. Heaven is not the Father and the Father is not Heaven. Sin began in Heaven but not in the Father. The Father is a Person.

The subject of the fourteenth chapter of John is the Father's House, which is Christ—Head and Body. Each of us has been called to be a dwelling place in the House of the Father, that is, to participate in the spiritual fulfillment of the Levitical feast of Tabernacles.

Whether or not we attain this exceedingly high calling depends on whether we pass from the ranks of the many who are called to the ranks of the few who are chosen. We can pass to the ranks of the few who are chosen only when we decide that Christ alone is the Goal of all our life. Our decision must be for eternity. As long as we are double-minded about being one with Christ we will not be chosen to be a dwelling place in the eternal Temple of God (Hebrews 3:6).

Jesus informed us clearly that He is the House, the Tabernacle, of God, the eternal dwelling place of the Father:

Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. (John 14:10)

As we move ahead in the fourteenth chapter, Jesus proceeds to show us that He is not to be the only dwelling place of the Father but that He will, if we allow Him to do so, make each of us a room in the Father's House.

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. (John 14:18)

This verse parallels John 14:3. It is the coming of the Lord to each saint in order to prepare him or her to be a room in the Father's House.

To be continued.