Life in Christ Jesus Podcast

The Revelation Series - Clothed with a Garment Down to His Feet

Clothed with a Garment down to His Feet
In John’s description of the Son of Man in Revelation Chapter 1, John declared that Jesus had on a garment down to the foot.  We should pay particular attention to every detail of John’s encounter of the Lord Jesus Christ?   I believe if we look closely, the High Priest shall come into view.  Just as we have seen in His feet of brass, the garment down to the foot is speaking from the Old Covenant Temple worship.  The priesthood and high priest of the Old Covenant wore specific garments for Ministry.  It is no coincidence that our High Priest should be clothed as well, but with a greater garment than them.
In Genesis 3, we read of Adam’s fall.  After the fall, God clothes Adam and Eve with garments of flesh.  I believe there is at a minimum a two-fold understanding coming from these garments.  First and foremost, the garments were a foreshadowing of the clothing of the offering of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We must be clothed upon with His offering to come into the presence of the Almighty.  However, viewing what happened to Adam in this encounter, after his clothing of flesh, he was banished from the garden of Eden.  He could not enter back in.  From Adam to Jesus, man could not enter into the presence of God.
Through Moses, God gave the law and set forth a requirement for a continual sacrifice that could never take away sin.  What does that mean, never take away sin?  Does that mean, man will never commit sins or bad acts?  This is something to delve into and consider before our God and Father.  What I want to suggest to you is that these sacrifices could never take away a conscious or awareness of sins.  Day after day, offerings were made.  Year after year the Day of Atonement came and went.  Still there remained for those who came a conscious of sins, and an inability to enter into the presence of the Almighty who was in their midst, but still hid from their view. 
What we have come to in the New Covenant, and the clothing Christ is clothed in is MUCH BETTER.  It far EXCEEDS the offerings of the Old.  His sacrifice takes away from our hearts and minds the conscious of sins.  “Thy sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”  They have been cast upon Jesus and are ever forgiven.  Now rather than having a conscious of the Law of Moses that can never take away sin we need to come to a consciousness or awareness of Christ and be clothed upon with Him. 
Wow, CLOTHED IN CHRIST JESUS!    This is an awareness of His work.  This is a consciousness of Him.  He took us from sin in Adam which produced death and brought us into Life in Himself.  We are raised from the dead (Adamic man), and brought into the spiritual man.  This is an internal comprehension of His work.  Notice this.  He brought us from the awareness of Adam and the sin that led to death to the awareness of Christ and the obedience that leads to life.  Believe me, this is a better Covenant.  This is a BETTER COVERING, covered in Him!
 

Eden - The Garden of God

Eden - The Garden of God
Genesis 2:7-9  And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. 8 And Jehovah God planted a garden eastward in Eden. And there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground Jehovah God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food. The tree of life also was in the middle of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden. And from there it was divided and became four heads. 
Notice above that the LORD God planted a garden in Eden.  He placed the man in the garden His hands had made.  He gave the man orders to keep what He, God had done.  This is what I want us to see.  God planted the garden, and God placed the man into His work that He had finished, and he commanded the man to keep God’s work.  Of course, we know in this story that Adam did not keep it, and that sin came through Adam and passed upon all of mankind. 
Many people have asked where death, sickness and disease come from.  God cursed the earth.  Adam’s body was formed of the earth.  Adam was robed in the cursed earth.  Not only did the physical earth bring forth thorns and thistles, but the cursed earth that was wrapped around man as his body was bringing forth of the realm of death.  In fact, God told the serpent that he would eat of the dust of the earth.  We conclude here that the earth, which included the bodies of mankind was cursed.
Now to move forward.  Adam is removed from this garden and cast out into the earth.  In the nation of Israel God again brings a people into a garden.  He calls Israel His garden, His vineyard.  In Exodus it is recorded that He said he would bring them in and plant them in the land He had made to dwell in (Exodus 15:17).  In Isaiah God calls Israel His vineyard.  A vineyard is a planting or a garden.  Of course, this vineyard gets in trouble for not bringing forth the expected fruit.  In Joel the prophet writes that the land before the devourer is like Eden (Garden of God) and behind is like a desolate wilderness, again speaking of Israel. 
God had taken this people to himself.  He had gathered them out of Egypt by His own strength.  He had led them, fed them, and clothed them.  In fact, He had told the to just be obedient to His word, and they would be blessed coming and going.  If you take a close look at the Jehovah names in scripture you will see that God is revealing himself as all aspects of a Provider.  He is a Shepherd, a healer, a banner and so forth.  Israel was surrounded with God’s goodness and was again told to keep it.  Just like Adam in the beginning they did not and were banished from their land where God was the complete source.
Now as we look at this what does it all mean?  Jesus said to the Jews (John 5) that they search the scripture and think they have life through them.  However, the scripture was a testimony of Christ himself.  Could it be that the great Garden of God, Eden, where the man was placed in the beginning was a testimony of Christ?  I would say yes.  He is the SEED that had to be planted into the earth to bring forth life (John 12:24).  He is the SEED that had to die, and be formed in the earth, and bring forth the true fruit of God.
IN John 15 Jesus declares that He is the True Vine.  Jesus Christ is the true planting of God.  All other plantings were a testimony of Him.  We that are His are planted into Him, into His death, in order that through us His life would come forth.  Just like the picture in the Garden of Eden all of the source is through God.  We simply have to keep or abide in what God has done.  As God reveals this glorious WORD in us, we receive it and we abide in it.  We keep it.  As Jesus is revealed as our redeemer, we keep it.  We couldn’t redeem ourselves.  As He is revealed as our provider, we keep it, because we couldn’t provide the necessary garments to abide in the presence of God.  We keep all things that are revealed and shown to us in Christ.
The Apostle Paul declared to the believers in Corinth that they were God’s husbandry or farm.  Here is where the true planting of the LORD is done.  Christ is planted in man’s hearts to bring forth in man the fruit of God.  In His planting the Old carnal man is done away, and what springs forth comes from God.  In this garden again is a river.  However, this is the most powerful and glorious river there is.  It is the River of the Water of life. Jesus said, out of your belly’s or innermost being shall flow rivers of life.  Flowing through this garden is the Spirt of Life and the glorious river is bringing forth life wherever it goes.  In Genesis the river was parted into 4 heads.  I believe if we study the scripture, we will see that 4 signifies the whole.  Israel was in 4 groups, there are 4 winds (N,S,E,W).  The scripture speaks of 4 corners.  The brazen altar had 4 horns.  This water of life flows out to the 4 corners or to the entire earth from this garden, who are the people of God, that have been planted in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I hope you enjoy this sharing.  It is short and was taken from one of our Saturday meetings where we gather and sit around a table.  This atmosphere allows us to freely share the water, the bread, and the substance of Christ Jesus with one another.  Pastor Henry Stanley began this many years ago in his home.  It is a glorious time of breaking bread and strengthening the brethren.  Praise God!
 

The Revelation Series - The Feet of Brass V

The Revelation Series – The Feet of Brass V
 In the Book of Revelation Chapter 1 the appearing of the Son of Man in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks must capture our minds.  I am concerned that as many have approached this Book this passed right over their heads.  John saw the Son of Man in the golden candlesticks.  Many approaches the Book with a pre-conceived idea of what the Book is about.  The start of the Book should be the greatest hint, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.”  This is what must capture our hearts.  The heart of the Book is the revealing of Him.  Maybe we should consider it as the removal of the Old Covenant that came forth through Moses and the establishment of the new that was sealed in the Blood of Jesus Christ Himself. Maybe this is what John is seeing unfold in his day, an Old Covenant being removed and a new glorious day coming forth.
When John sees Him, John falls at His feet as dead.  This is significant.  John describes His feet as if they were bass burning in a fire.  As I have shared in the prior messages on His brass feet, the brass of the Old Testament Tabernacle was speaking of Him and His death.  It was the altar with the fire that never goes out speaking of His eternal offering of Christ.  In fact, all of the perpetual or continual offerings and works of the Levitical Priesthood were speaking of the eternal work of Christ.  The Old Covenant was the picture and the type of what is real in Christ Jesus.   In Him, this fire of understanding never goes out.  What His feet speak of is eternal with no end.  Here at the altar of the sacrifice sin was put to death.
Jesus died to sin.  Unlike Adam, JESUS did not die in sin. This makes Paul’s statements take on grandiose meaning.  Paul declares to the Romans as one man died and sin came through one man, MUCH MORE grace has surpassed what sin did to mankind.  In Romans 5:20 of the Kings James Version, the scripture reads, “Moreover the law entered that the offence might abound.  But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”  This word much more means to abound beyond measure, super exceed.  To understand this, I must understand Christ.  He supersedes all that happened in Adam.  He supersedes sin.  He reigns over sin.  When He died, we that have received Him died with Him (Romans Chapter 6). Glory to God!
The statemen by grace we are saved takes on a new meaning when we see His death.  Through His death, my prison of death was annulled.  Through His death, me being bound to sin was no more.  Through His death the chains of sin cannot abound.  As Paul declares to the Romans, when Jesus died our old man died, that we would be married to another, who is Christ.  This is so POWERFUL, and goes back to Adam and Even in the garden.  When sin abounded and he curse came, Eve was told by God that the man would rule over the woman.  Hear this by the Spirit.  The man is to rule over the woman.  Christ is our Head.  We have been married to another.  He rules over us. 
In this union we are joined to Him.  His victory is our victory.   His dominion is our dominion.  “As He is so are we.”  We have been married to another.  He has rule over us, not sin, nor the devil!  Glory to God!  Hallelujah!  He is our victory!  He is our Life!

The Revelation Series - His Feet of Brass IV

The Revelation Series - The Feet of Brass IV
 This is the fourth teaching I have done on the feet of Brass of the Son of Man in the seven golden candlesticks.  Again, I want to point out that John sees Him IN the seven golden candlesticks or the seven churches of Asia.  I also want to point out that the churches are the believers that are gathered in the seven cities.  The appearing of Christ in these churches is very specific. 
To understand the feet of bass as if they burned in a fire, we need to search the scripture to see Him.  Our focus in the written Word of God should be to see Jesus.  He is the answer period.  As we have seen before, brass is seen throughout the Old Testament Tabernacle and Temple.  Brass is specifically related to the Altar of Sacrifice and the Laver of Washing.  Here in this altar we see God’s judgement of sin.  Here at the altar sin was laid upon the sacrifice.  As an Israelite approached the house, he would bring the burnt offering to the Lord and lay his hands upon it, signifying the transference of his sins to the sacrifice.
We who have received Christ Jesus as our sacrifice have also laid our hands on the sacrifice, transferring our sin to His power over sin.  He took our sin and He paid for all of its penalties.  He is the answer for sin.  Your sin, my sin, and all sin. 
In John 3 Jesus says as the Moses lifted up a serpent on a pole the Son of Man must be lifted up that whoever believes on Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  In Numbers 21 there is a story of the Israelites travels where they had begun to complain of God and walk in unbelief.  The consequence was serpents in the midst.  These serpents begin to bite them, and the Israelites began to die.  As they turned and cried to the Lord, Moses was instructed of God to put a brass serpent on a pole.  Whoever looked upon this serpent would live from the serpent’s bite.  You could say that by looking at the brass serpent lifted up from the ground, there was no power in the bite of poisonous snakes on the ground. 
In Paul’s writings He presents Jesus as who the Brass Serpent on the pole symbolized.  Jesus, who took the sting and power of sin away.  As we turn to Him, we see His judgement of Sin.  In this judgement, Jesus, did not sin, but died for sin.  Jesus, who did not know the nature of sin, being tempted as we are, died to sin.  Here was the defeat of sin. Jesus overcame sins power in the body of His flesh, and judged sin on the cross by taking the man of sin in the body of His flesh to death.  Yes, He judged sin dead or inoperative.  It has no power on us who turn to Jesus.  In fact, Paul writes that we are made dead to sin in Christ’s death.  I don’t know that any have fully heard this. 
“He that is dead is freed from sin.”  Sin’s power, none effect.  Sin’s strength, no ability.  Sin’s death, never again.  Through Jesus we are made free from all of its bite.  We are made free to live unto God in the Heavenly Kingdom He has provided, shielding us from all the works of the devil.  Never again do we have to be subject to sin, but can walk in the power of God, who overcame all things through the death of the cross!!  Glory to God!

The Revelation Series - The Feet of Brass III

The Book of Revelation - His Feet of Brass III
The Brazen Altar was the first piece of furniture in the Israelites approach as they entered the gate into the Temple courts. If you consider Psalms 100:4 in relationship to the altar it may be eye opening.  “I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my mouth.”  I will enter His courts with praise.”  As an Israelite in the Old Covenant, once you entered the gate you would be face to face with the Priesthood and the Brazen Altar.  Here at this altar would be as far as you could go.  God would remain hidden within the Temple that you could see but not enter into.  You could see His mighty works.  You could see the cloud of His presence, but you could not access it.  There was a continual remembrance of sin.  There was a continual remembrance that you did not stack up or meet the requirement. 
 Now through our Lord Jesus Christ, we have access.  This alone should cause believers to shout for joy.  We have access into the divine presence of God through the offering of the body of our Lord Jesus and His resurrection from the dead.  Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life.  No man comes to the Father but by me.”  For just a moment think of this in relationship to the Temple.  The offering the Israelite's came to could not give them access to the Temple of God and the presence of the Lord.  They could see the building that Housed the presence of God, but they could not access it.
I am certain they may have imagined what His presence was like.  Maybe they even asked a friend who was a priest what it was like serving in the Temple.  However, even the priests could not access the Person and Glory behind the veil.  Consider closely what Jesus says.  I am the way.  I am the access to the Father.  Through the power of my offering you can enter all the way into that which was veiled away and access the very presence of God.  Not only do we now access the building, the Apostle Paul writes we are the building built upon the foundation stone of Jesus Christ.
Now this glorious offering removed stains of guilt, sin, and shame that we can reside in the presence of God.  Our very conscious of sin is taken away.  Isaiah says he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows.  Jesus was described as a man of grief and sorrow.  The sorrow and sin and decay of mankind was what He carried in the Body of His Flesh, and He crucified it, freeing us from its bondages.  We are now free to enter into the presence of God.  We are now free to live and abide in Christ Jesus our Lord.  We are now free to be called Sons of God.  What an access this ONE OFFERING has made.
We should set our hearts to understand this ONE OFFERING for sin.  We should set our hearts to know Him in His fullness.  We should know Him from the glory of creation to His humanity and to His exaltation.  We should know His depths, His heights, His Glory.  I pray you enjoy!
 

The Open Heaven - James Register

For many years I have had the privilege of knowing James and Hazel Register.  A saying I have is this is as good as it gets.  These are two of the most beautiful people I have ever known.  I love and respect them both tremendously.  Both hearts are two know and walk before the Lord, and to love His people fervently.  What a great witness of Christ they share!
 
In this sharing from Brother James, he brings into view the Open Heaven.  At the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, Luke writes the Heaven was Opened and a voice spoke from Heaven.
 
“Luke 3:21&22 Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, 22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.”
 
From the open Heaven the voice declared This is my beloved Son.  Here is God pleased.  Similarly, there was a voice that came on the Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus took Peter, John and James with Him into the Mount.  There Jesus was transfigured before them.  The Glory Cloud covers the Mount, Moses and Elijah appears, and Jesus was declared of God.  “This is my Son, hear Him.” 
 
What I believe is being said is all the law and prophets are summed up here in Christ.  No longer would the law be declared.  No longer would the prophets of the Old Covenant declare one who is coming.  He had come.  Hear Him!  Now before all was the Word of God that would shake the Heavens, being declared of God.  This Word was THE WORD, Jesus Christ Himself.  When we see the Heaven Opened we see The Word of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
He is the Word we come to.  He is the Word of the New Covenant.  We do not come to the Law of Moses.  We come to the Word of Christ.  This Word that was given to us.  When we hear this Word we are saved.  Listen and hear the Word from Heaven speaking of the offering of the Blood and Body of the Lord Jesus.  Hear what this Word speaks, all thy sins are forgiven thee.  You have been crucified with Him.  When He died you died. 
                                        
Now listen to the Word of His Resurrection.  When He was made alive from the dead you were made alive with Him.  When He was raised you were raised with Him.  You are a New Creation in Christ.  God dwells in you.  You have come to the living Temple of the living God.  What a glorious place you have come to.  The place that God now dwells.  God dwells in you.  Glory to God! Hear the WORD from Heaven!

The Revelation Series - The Feet of Brass II

The Book of Revelation - His Feet of Brass II
In John’s seeing of the Son of Man the sacrificial system is immediately brought into view.  Jesus was described with a garment down to his foot, wearing a golden girdle, with feet of brass as they burned in the furnace.  Immediately, our hearts should go to the Old Covenant and begin to look at the sacrificial system. 
 
As Israel entered the Temple Courts the first piece of furniture to be encountered was the brass altar.  Here was the sacrifice offered.  Here the judgement took place.  In a symbolic way the sins of the offeror were transferred to the sacrifice.  Jesus our great lamb was where all sins of mankind was finally transferred.  He offered himself once and for all, completing the requirements for the redemption of all mankind.  Man would now simply have to respond to Christ’s offering.  Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord is now saved through the work and effort of our Lord Jesus Christ who gave Himself for all men.
 
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans that if we confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in our hear that God raised Him from the dead we would be saved.  I’ve heard it said many times that confession is good for the soul.  Usually, that implies confessing our bad deeds.  I want to preface this.  I do believe you should confess to the Lord your sins.  I do believe you need to believe unto Him for salvation.  I do believe you must be born again.  All of this I do strongly believe.
 
However, much of our confession after we are born again is not according to Christ’s work.  Paul wrote in his epistles that we are the righteousness of God through Christ.  Much of the time we do not confess this but confess our short comings.  Consider with me that when we confess our short comings, we are not confessing the Lord Jesus.  If I confess Him, I could say that through one offering for sin you have sanctified forever those who are saved (Hebrews 10).  I could say that I have been made full or complete in Him (Colossians 2:10).  I could confess I have been cleansed and made free through the blood of the Lamb, and that Jesus Christ now lives in me as He declared He would in John 14:20. 
 
I could confess His work and reality in my life.  That is what I could learn to confess and then boldly say that confession is good for my soul!  Glory to God.  I could say this is my judgement, the offering of the body of Jesus Christ and His resurrection.  As God judged Israel’s sins through the offering of the animals.  He has judged us in the offering of Christ, and through His resurrection He judges us complete in Him, having obtained the atonement. 
 
The brass altar is a place of judgement, and is the entranceway into the Temple of God.  No one comes to the Father but through the offering of Jesus.  Jesus is now our entrance way and the only way to the Father.  Here through his work, as we eat the lamb and come to know Him we will find that He has judged us righteous and complete.  We will find that we now live in and through Him that loved us and saved us with His own precious life.
 
I hope you enjoy these podcasts as we follow the leading of the Spirit for the unraveling of the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.  It is a privilege to share with you what the Lord is teaching and showing me.  Glory to God in the Highest!!!

The Revelation Series - The Feet of Brass - The Brazen Altar

The Book of Revelation - His Feet of Brass - The Brazen Altar
John turned to see the voice that spoke with Him and being turned he saw.  This is a powerful statement.  John turned.  Without turning He may have not seen.  We as believers must turn to see the voice who is speaking, and when we turn and come into that state of being, as one turned, we will see Him who is IN the church.  This turning will most likely be from all other voices.  We will turn from our belief system.  We will turn to only see Jesus. 
 
Our state of being and our heart must come to this place that “I may know Him.”  We must be willing to leave everything else behind.  When the rich young ruler encountered Jesus, Jesus told him there is one thing lacking, “sell what you have and give to the poor.”  The ruler possessed many material things and did not want to give them up.  When we read this story in the Gospels, we may only attribute it to our natural goods.  However, we ought to see our goods can be all those things we hold on to.  Our goods can be our beliefs.  They may be those things we set our hearts to whether we call them good or bad.  From these we must to Him.
 
In John’s seeing of Christ in the candlestick He gives an extraordinary description one like the son of man.  The Jesus he sees is unique.  He does not say he saw his old friend in whom He had walked with in the earth, but the one in the midst of the candlestick has a powerful description that we plan to break down over the next few weeks.  Get this!  He has feet of brass, as if they burned in a fire.  What does this mean?
 
Revelation 1:12 “And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.”
 
Every part of this description of Him must be broken down.  What does God mean His feet are as brass?  If I search this I must go back to the brazen or brass altar in the Old Covenant.  I must search that altar out and see how it fits in Christ Jesus.  What was the purpose of the Altar?  It was the place of sacrifice.  What did the sacrifice speak?  The cleansing of sin, and the sweet aroma towards God. 
 
What this brass altar is a picture of is our sacrificial lamb who is Jesus Himself.  In the Old Covenant these sacrifices bore the sins of those who came to the Tabernacle or the Temple.  There was a laying on of hands where the sins that was committed was transferred unto the sacrifice (Leviticus Chapter 1: 1-5).  This is what was done in Jesus (Isaiah 53).  He bore our sins.  All we had done was transferred to Him. 
 
Jesus was the fulfillment and sweet savor of the sacrificial system.  He made one sacrifice for sins and set down in the authority of God.  No other sacrifice can or will be made which can take away sins.  If someone is pointing to another, please do not pursue it.  Jesus has fulfilled it for all time.  Glory to God in the Highest!