Fulfilling Your Destiny

Chapter Three

 

As God Created us we should never make a bad decision but some people go from one disaster to another. Take marriage for an example and see how many people choose a partner for life only to find they have chosen the wrong person. Could such situations be avoided? Of course but for some reason we are convinced that God does not love us but seems to want to deny us Peace, Joy and happiness. So we are more comfortable ignoring God and avoiding having much to do with him. How could such a concept of God be so established in the heart of man? Let us look at what happened when Adam had eaten of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The first thing he said is, "I AM NAKED." A new consciousness changed his thinking even about himself, as well as everything else. We do not know how long Adam lived in the Garden of Eden, but he had never felt NAKED before and if we had been looking at him we would have said, "I cannot see any difference in you from what you have always been." But a new consciousness had changed his perception about everything. Instead of walking and talking with God as he had always done this day he went among the trees and HID HIMSELF from God. But God went looking for him asking Adam a question, not just where are you, but, "What are you doing hiding from me?" Adam replied, "I am naked and that is why I am hiding from you."

I want you to notice how God responded to him with a simple question. God said to Adam, "WHO TOLD YOU!" The implications of this question are very clear, for God was really saying to Adam, "I NEVER TOLD YOU that you are naked, but WHO DID TELL YOU, because you have been listening to another voice."

To understand what happened to Adam let us look at the Life of Jesus Christ on the earth and what he did. First of all you will notice that the term "devil" does not appear in the Bible until we come to the New Testament in Matthew 4:1, and the first person that becomes involved with this "devil" is Jesus Christ before he begins his ministry. "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." It was the Christ within Jesus who directed the following procedure and not the devil. Why was this experience essential to his life and ministry? Because it was the FIRST ADAM in the Garden of Eden who was infected by the serpent and so with that first victory the serpent (devil) had infected every man and woman who has ever been born on the earth since then. However, a Son of God had just been born of a virgin and slipped through the serpent's net. So before he could be the Savior of the world there must be an open contest with the devil because unless he can defeat this enemy of mankind there can be no redemption. John said in 1 John 3:8,

"For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil."

The first issue Jesus Christ had to face was to "Fast" or eat no food for 40 days, which would have drained his natural energy and created a craving in his natural body for food. Now the Tempter comes to test this man to check on his integrity. Knowing his physical condition after having no food, he says, "If you are the son of God, inferring a doubt about his true identity, command these stones be made bread."  The tempter is not foolish enough to tell him to do some wicked thing but this is quite legitimate because he was very hungry and it does not affect anyone else. But that is not the issue for a Son of God for a true son only DOES what he sees his Father do and only says what he hears his Father say. To simply do what others may want you to do is not legitimate for a SON OF GOD, even if it seems like a good thing to do. So Jesus responds to the tempter by quoting a statement God made to Israel concerning the reason for their wilderness journey so long ago. This is what he said from Deuteronomy 8:3,

"And he humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you had no knowledge of, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you to know that man does not live just by eating natural bread only, but LIFE flows to you through every word that IS PROCEEDING out of the mouth of the LORD."

The life of a Son of God is not sustained by physical bread but flows from its source, which is Christ within us. The next test required Jesus to be taken into the sacred precincts of the Temple in the Holy city of Jerusalem. Seated upon a pinnacle of the Temple He is again instructed, "If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down because, it is also written that he shall give the angels charge over you and in their hands they will bear you up lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone." Jesus of course did not do what the tempter told him to do, quoting again from the Old Testament, "It is written you shall not tempt the Lord thy God." Presumption is not a suitable response for any action in the life of a Son of God. To act that way is like we are demanding that God has to respond in a certain way regardless of our motivation. The scriptures say, "The lord searches the Heart." The only true motivation for a son of God is true obedience to the word and will of God.

The third test saw him on a high mountain surveying the Kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. Then the tempter said, "All these will I give you, if you will only bow down and worship me." But Jesus was not moved in any way but replied quoting the scriptures again saying, Matthew 4:10, "Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." So the test was over and Jesus was victorious and declared to be the Son of God with power over all his enemies. Jesus Christ was the LAST ADAM, which means that he was the last of a whole generation of people, all of whom were the seed of the woman who had been seduced by the serpent. God had told the serpent that he would put enmity between the woman and the serpent. However, there would come a SEED OF THE WOMAN that would crush the head of the serpent and the seed of the serpent would bruise his heel. We must remember that the woman God was talking about was an integral part of the Man ADAM who was the Son of God created out of God.

Jesus was born of a woman but she was a virgin, which means that she had never received the SEED OF MAN because if she had she would not have been able to birth the Son of God. The seed of God according to Gal 3:16 is CHRIST and Christ is spirit and not a man. Christ is the spirit dwelling in all of mankind and

He is the SEED OF GOD. Every seed contains within itself the very life of the one from whom it came; therefore if you plant an orange seed you would only get an orange tree. But the VIRGIN did not need the seed of MAN to bring forth a child, because she already had the SEED OF GOD which is CHRIST and that seed caused her to conceive by the Holy Spirit who told her that the child she would bring forth would be the SON OF GOD. Now we have just seen how the head of the serpent was bruised by the SEED of the woman and Jesus Christ came away having the victory that he won not just for himself, but also for all mankind. Jesus said, "In this world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer for I HAVE (already) OVERCOME THE WORLD (for you)."

We need to understand how Eve's disobedience changed everything for mankind. Remember that Adam did not sin as Paul told Timothy but it was EVE who was in the transgression. 1Tim 2:14. Because God never recognized the woman as a separate entity the disobedience is attributed to ADAM. Many Christians have never understood what was involved with the eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Religion suggests that Adam simply ate an apple without any spiritual understanding at all. We understand that the Tree of Life represents Christ who declared himself to be the "Way the Truth and the Life."  But what does the tree of the knowledge of good and evil stand for? It is obvious that it represents a certain kind of knowledge that is so profound that it changes the whole world in which we live. We understand that all the Wisdom and Knowledge of the universe is to be found in God but there is knowledge of a different character that is called the Knowledge of GOOD and EVIL that has the power to transform us and our personalities completely.

Until the time when Eve took the fruit of that tree and ate it Adam walked and talked with God in perfect union. If you had asked Adam what is "Evil," he would have looked at you and said, "I have no idea." In the entire world that God had created there was absolutely nothing that was evil because he declared after he had finished everything that it is very GOOD. That word "GOOD" means that everything functioned as it was intended and fulfilled the will and purpose for which it was created without exception and this included the MAN.

When Adam ate the fruit of that tree nothing in creation changed because it was perfect and on the seventh day God rested from all his work because it was FINISHED. This is the divine creation with no beginning and no end; this is actually the only true creation that there is. Because we have not seen nor are able to comprehend that creation, most people do not believe that it exists. The reason for this is we have embraced a knowledge that is not related to God nor is it compatible with what God declares as being truth. Both Good and Evil are comparable terms and are used to compare different things. But there is nothing that we can use to compare with God, nor to compare with what God created for it was all VERY GOOD and there was nothing else. God is above and beyond everything we know, however, in our ignorance have embraced a knowledge in which good and evil represent reality and we declare the right to determine what everything is.

The Prophet said in Isaiah 25:7,

"And he will destroy in this mountain (of our raised consciousness) the face of the covering (of ignorance and blindness) cast over all people, and the veil (restriction of vision) that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears (of frustration)  from off all faces; and the "Rebuke" of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it."

The word 'Rebuke' used here refers back to the highest rank of the Priesthood which is the High Priest. In Israel's history the High priest had to belong to the family of Aaron and was appointed for life only changing upon his death. He was the only member of the Priesthood allowed into the Most Holy Place, behind the veil, and in sacred issues he was the final authority in Israel. However, during the one hundred and seven years between King Herod the Great and the destruction of the holy city, twenty-eight persons held the High Priest's position. The Roman Authorities of the day had assumed the right to appoint whomever they considered fit to hold that high and holy position and power over the people. This was indeed a terrible "Rebuke" to the people of Israel, degrading the highest divine authority established by God to rule over his people Israel. Remember the High Priest was vitally involved in the crucifixion of Christ during his trial.

However a new priestly system had been established in the time of the New Testament with every believer forming part of a Royal Priesthood and a Holy Nation under the sovereign direction of CHRIST our High Priest. This New Priesthood made Christ our High Priest, being developed under the New Order of Melchisedec who is both a KING and a PRIEST, uniting the two roles that formerly had been kept separate. The prophet Isaiah makes it clear that in these days of revelation there will be a clear elevation of the house of the Lord, lifting truth above and beyond the realm of intellect and human knowledge. This demands that we should recognize that Truth will not be advertised on Billboards or simply available in books and writings, but it will only be available by the spirit of the Lord. Jesus said, "But the comforter which is the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, HE will guide you into all TRUTH and bring to your remembrance the things I have said to you." In these words Jesus Christ is telling us that true spiritual intelligence will not be available in the multitude of human voices that fill the airwaves today. But will be transmitted only through ONE VOICE and that is the voice of the Holy Spirit who dwells within you.

In a strange way it seems that Father is taking us back to the Garden of Eden living under the same conditions under which Adam functioned back in the beginning. In that Garden, GOD and MAN lived and functioned together in beautiful harmony and peace, as spirit to spirit. Adam did not need to go anywhere or to fulfill any kind of Ritual in order to be intimate with God because he and God were O-N-E.  Flesh and blood and spirit involve two different orders that have no relevance to each other functioning in two different realms. Jesus corrected the woman at the well telling her that the transition in worship was already set so that neither in "This Mountain or in Jerusalem," would be a requirement in order to worship God. True Worship will be free from both TIME and PLACE, representing both the religious world (This Mountain) and Jerusalem (The people of God). The rivalries between these two will disappear when true spirituality is fully realized. Jesus told the disciples in Matt 24 that the Temple in Jerusalem was destined for destruction that took place in AD. 70 and that ended the connection between Worship and a place or building to worship.      

Jesus told the Woman of Samaria a very important truth that God is SPIRIT and those who would worship him must also be spirit and living in the power of an endless life. Man was created spirit in the beginning to be ONE WITH GOD. Spirit has its own language that does not need words to communicate. Spirit has its own activity that does not require actions to facilitate its function. Worship today for God's people requires many words and actions following the function of religion and heathenism, both of which know nothing of true worship. Worship cannot be organized or controlled and must be completely spontaneous in each person.

This is not the general consensus among Christians because Worship is not spontaneous so does not often take place in the home or workplace but only under human leadership when they are in a meeting. The reason for this is that it seems few Christians see themselves as SPIRIT. CHRIST is our true identity and he said in John 10:30 that he was ONE WITH GOD. We tend to Worship God who is UP THERE or OUT THERE somewhere, instead of going inward and finding CHRIST IN YOU the hope of Glory. There is no such thing as God and me as separate entities, nor that mortality and spirit can walk together in harmony. Creation was a spiritual exercise including man because God did not begin with dust as a material substance and actually make a man. There was no formal activity required nor was there any material necessary because GOD SPOKE a WORD and that WORD became the MAN. When God needed LIGHT he did not have to destroy darkness first. He only SPOKE THE WORD, "LIGHT BE," and light was. These are the principles of spirit function that most Christians have not yet discovered because they still believe the lie of the serpent that they would become AS GODS through knowledge.

This whole question has come up so many times over the years that I want to discus it more fully here. The difference between the two Trees in the Garden has not really been understood. The tree of life represents God or Christ as the absolute source of LIFE itself for all living creatures. To 'EAT' of that tree simply means to embrace that life of God as being the same life that functions in me today which is both spiritual and eternal and there is no other. However life is not static so scripture says, to EAT the bread of LIFE, To drink the water of life as from a living stream, to breathe in the air is to breathe in Christ, so it suggests a continual partaking of that eternal life. A child does not have one feed and then needs no more but they must continue to eat and replenishing the life within. Our LIFE flows in a constant stream from its source and is available at all times. But to appropriate that life requires no manual effort of any kind and no external help, but is as simple as breathing.

But the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is different. It requires an activity of a part of our humanity called the MIND to seek out knowledge that is constantly expanding in the world in this 21^st century. This now includes a myriad of books that we must read. Man's view of everything that we may feel is important for us to know. Then we have the Internet where millions of words are available right at our fingertips on every conceivable subject. The Bible for most people is difficult to understand because it is a spiritual book and can only be spiritually understood. It holds a most important place in a Christian's life being considered to be our inerrant guide to truth. If that is true then please tell me how people in the New Testament times could know truth because no one had a Bible? There were scrolls in the Synagogue which contained the first five books of the Old Testament but that was all. In fact for 1600 years no one had a BIBLE as we know it today, as the printing press was not available, so how could all those people know the truth?

The place given to the Bible today by Christians has replaced the Tree of LIFE with the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil. Such a statement will be challenged by many but let me explain a little more. The Psalmist said, Thy WORD have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Most Christians consider the 'Word' refers to Verses in the Bible but this is not true. We also read, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path," and this also is thought to refer to the Bible but this is untrue also. John begins his Gospel saying, "In the beginning was THE WORD," but he was not saying that the Bible was there in the Beginning with God and that the BIBLE WAS GOD. That would not make any sense because the WORD was a "Person" who exists because GOD SPOKE a WORD in the beginning and that WORD was his son Jesus Christ. When God said, "LIGHT BE," then from that moment light existed.

If we look carefully through the scriptures we discover the key to spiritual knowledge is not by what has been written, but by what God is saying to us now. You will notice that everything that God desired to do was done by speaking a word. What God says to us has the power in itself to accomplish His will so as we HEAR the word He speaks to us and act upon it the power of God is released to accomplish whatever He desires to do. Jesus said in Mark 4:24,

"Take heed what you hear because with the measure you use to hear, understanding shall be given to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that is able to hear, to him shall be given understanding: and he that does not hear, from him shall be taken even that which he understands." (Paraphrased)

Peter said in 2 Peter 1:18,

"And this voice which came from heaven (another world) we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount."  We have also a more sure WORD of prophecy; whereunto you do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, illuminating our understanding, until the new day dawns, and CHRIST arises as LORD in your hearts."

God said in Isa. 55:10,

"For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me until it shall have accomplished that which I purposed and it shall accomplish the thing that I sent it to do."

Every miracle Jesus did was accomplished by Jesus Christ speaking a word. To the man with the withered arm He said, "Stretch forth your arm," and the man's arm responded accordingly. No healing was necessary in terms of dealing with sickness or disease because Jesus knew that such had no true reality for it is not part of creation. His direction to the disciples was to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom and heal the sick because there is no sickness in the Kingdom of God. Sickness is escalating on the earth in these days with more and more diseases being discovered and science will never stem the tide but there is an anointing Jesus received which was promised hundreds of years before He came to the earth by the Prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 61:1 says,

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.  To proclaim the time of our acceptance of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God against the 'Seed of the serpent' and to comfort all that mourn."

This is our calling beloved and our equipment to accomplish the will and purpose of God, to see every knee bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ IS LORD to the glory of God. The word of the Lord spoken in Creation is still just as powerful today as it was then, to see everything that would oppose us or seek to limit us in our expression of Christ defeated and put under our feet. He took us into death in himself to destroy its power forever, rising again on the third day triumphant over sin, death and the grave taking us with him. He did this so that we could in turn declare to the world that we are now part of that one who walked out of the tomb saying, "I am he that liveth and was dead, and now I am alive for evermore and I hold in my hand the keys of the grave and death." This is not something we must hope for sometime in the future but is NOW OUR PRESENT REALITY IF WE CAN BELIEVE.