Life in Christ Jesus Podcast

The Revelation Series - Eyes as a Flame of Fire III

The Revelation Series - His Hair White as Wool and Eyes as a Flame of Fire II
Revelation 1:14 “And his head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;”
Over the last three weeks we have been looking at the description of the Son of Man as His Eyes as a Flame of Fire.  We have seen in scripture that it is declared there were seven lamps of fire before His Throne, and these seven lamps of fire were are the seven Spirits of God.  We saw that the seven Spirits of God were sent out into all the earth.  We also see in Scripture and know in reality that there is only ONE SPIRIT of God, but in the Book of Revelation the One Spirit is described as seven or seven-fold.  We have looked at the number seven and its relationship to Christ as our Sabbath Day.  The seven-fold Spirit here speaks of completion and fullness and rest that are found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
On the Day of Pentecost, as written in Acts 2 the Holy Ghost sat upon the disciples with cloven tongues of fire.  This fire began to transform those believers and consume all that was in them to refine them in the knowledge of Christ.  This is the work of the Holy Ghost to refine us in Word and Deed into the Image of Jesus Christ.  John 15 and 16 declares that the Holy Spirit will show you the things of Christ, “He shall take of mine and show it to you,” John 16:14.  As the Holy Spirit shows you that of Christ you come to a seeing of Him.  In this process of seeing you are refined in your heart to Image of Christ.  Hallelujah!
In Ezekiel Chapter 1, the prophet of God sees a Cloud with Fire.  In this Cloud are living creatures and above their heads is ONE on a throne.  This one Ezekiel sees has fire from His waist downward and fire from His waist upward, our God is a consuming fire.  When Ezekiel sees Him, he falls on his face as dead before him like John’s experience in Revelation Chapter one.  The Prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah Chapter 6 I saw the Lord High and lifted up.  When he saw Him, he said I am a man undone with unclean lips.  The answer to Isaiah was fire from the altar to purify His Speech.
The answer to our hearts and to our speech is the Revealing of the Living Christ within us.  As we see Him by the Spirit of God we are transformed inside and out.  Our speech will begin to align with what we see in our hearts, “of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,” Matthew 12:34.   As he is revealed within our hearts, He becomes our abundance.  We begin to speak of Him, or out of the understanding of Him.  Let us see, as the Holy Spirit takes of Him and shows Him to us and declare Him that we see to one another!  Praise God!

The Revelation Series - Eyes as a Flame of Fire II

The Revelation Series - Eyes as a Flame of Fire II
Revelation 1:14 “And his head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;”
In Revelation Chapter 5 John sees the Lamb of God having seven horns and seven eyes.  These seven horns and seven eyes are the seven Spirits of God.  In Chapter 1 and Chapter 4 the seven Spirits of God are called seven lamps of fire.   The scripture says the seven Spirits are sent forth into all the earth.  Now we that search the Word know there is only one Spirit (Ephesians 4:4).  So, the number seven is speaking of completion.  God completed creation and rested on the seventh day.  In Jesus Christ our Lord, God has finished a work that we dwell in.
We could say the Spirit of God is sent forth in the earth in the finished work of God in Christ.  In Acts 2, the scripture says Jesus has shed forth the Holy Spirit in the earth.   Malachi said the Lord shall come to His Temple and sit as a refiner’s fire.  Paul says we are God’s Temple, we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  So, God sits in His Temple to refine us.  However, His refining is not making the best us we can be in and of ourselves.  He is refining us in he Image of the ONE that is in us.  We must come to see this.
God is not looking for the best Wayne or Bob or Andrew he can see.  He is looking for Christ.  The refiner is looking for His own image in the gold He is refining.  Our salvation is much greater than us coming to the place to not sin anymore.  Our salvation is Christ in us.  We are to be conformed to His Image.            II Corinthians Chapter 3 says we behold in a glass the Glory of the Lord to be changed into the same Image.  The Image is the Glory of the Lord.  The Image is Christ.  We are to look in the mirror of God who is Christ to be changed. 
Notice in Acts 2 when the Holy Ghost was given, the Spirit was described as sitting upon the disciples as cloven tongues of fire.  The refiners fire came right upon their mouth, and they spoke with tongues as the Spirt gave them utterance.  This heavenly language they received began to refine them.  Even what they spoke was refined.  That is what happens when the refiner begins to reveal the image.  Our utterance begins to declare by this refining process.  We do not speak by enticing words of men’s wisdom or knowledge.  We begin to speak by the Revealing of Jesus Christ in us.  We begin to utter His words.
This is so necessary in the Body of Christ today, that ministry would speak out of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and not out of themselves.  May He refine us to the very thought, person, and substance of Christ.  May His glorious understanding come forth in our voice.  May His nature come forth in our actions.  May Christ be revealed in our hearts that He be manifested through His body in the earth!

The Revelation Series - Eyes as a Flame of Fire

The Revelation Series - His Hair White as Wool and Eyes as a Flame of Fire
Revelation 1:14 “And his head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;”
His eyes were as a flame of fire.  If you explore the Greek words for flame and fire they mean just what they say.  So how could his eyes be as fire and how can I understand that?  We that are His should ask these questions?  How do we understand John’s description of the Son of Man?  There are many teachers who get into the Book of Revelation and seem to gloss over the fact that John says in the opening Chapter that he saw one like the Son of Man IN the churches.  And He doesn’t just say he saw JESUS in the churches, John gives a description of How he saw HIM.
The Lord has drawn my mind to this description.  Christ was appearing in the church in a very specific way.  I believe His appearing here is our completion.  “We are complete in Him.”  Remember, the seven churches were seen as pure gold.  Gold in the Bible is speaking of the divine nature and substance of the Lord.  How the church comes to the divine nature is through the ONE who is seen in Him, who is the refiner’s fire.  I believe this description is speaking of His fullness.  Paul writes in His epistles that we are filled with the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19). In Ephesians 1, Paul writes “the church which is His Body, the fullness of HIM, who fills all in all.”  We could consider this as saying Christ fills all members of the church with all the fullness and substance of Himself, “all in all.”
His eyes were flames of fire.  Where do we find these eyes as flames of fire in the scripture?  In Revelation 1:4 we are introduced to seven Spirits of God before the throne.  In Chapter 4:5 John sees these seven Spirits of God before the throne when he is caught up into the open door in heaven through the Voice as the Sound of a Trumpet.    Here before the throne are “seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.”   We connect the seven Spirits of God to the seven Lamps of Fire.  We should understand that seven speaks throughout the scripture of the Day of Rest and Completion.  Our completion is in Christ.
The seven Spirits and seven Eyes are gathered up into the Lamb of God.  In Chapter 5, John sees a Book in the hand of the One on the throne that no man could open.  But behold the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.  John sees Him standing as a Lamb having seven horns and seven eyes, which I believe represents the fullness of God, all power (seven horns) and all knowing (seven eyes).  Here we find these seven eyes in the Lamb who was able to Open the Book and release the seals thereof, which I believe represents the judgement of the cross which came upon natural Israel unto perdition and to the church as the grace of the New Covenant of God that we now stand within.  Every believer through the ages stands within the work Christ has done, and the Covenant He has set forth within the earth.
Revelation 5:6 “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.” 
His eyes of fire are transforming and purifying fire.  Malachi writes the LORD shall come to His Temple and sit as a refiner’s fire and purify the sons of Levi.  Malachi is speaking of the purifying of silver and gold.  Silver and gold are purified in the fire to remove unwanted substances.  John the Baptist writes we shall be Baptized with the Holy Ghost and Fire.  Jesus is seen standing in the Seven Churches which are pure gold.  He is the refiner’s fire in the midst of the Church, which is His temple.  We are to see through His Sight and in the vision of Him we are refined, purified.  Our knowing moves from the earthy knowing of the Adamic man to the heavenly knowing of Christ.  We see through the work Christ has done and are purified through His work. 
As Paul writes to the Romans we are Baptized into His death.   Jesus told James and John that He had a Baptism to be baptized with, and that they would participate in it.  This is exactly what happens by the Spirit.  We partake of the death of Christ.  In this participation with Him by the Spirit we come to KNOW EXPERIANTIALLY in our heart that we are dead to the elements of the world, just as Paul writes in his epistles.  We are dead to sin.  We are dead to the law.  We are crucified to the world.  Why do we experience such a great death, that we may be filled with the Life and Substance of another, even Jesus Christ our Lord!
 

Dr. Lynn Hiles - Revelation 3 - Buy of Me Gold Tried in the Fire

Revelation 3
Because you think you are rich and increased with goods, but you need to Buy of ME
Dr. Lynn Hiles
In Revelation Chapter 3 the Lord Jesus rebukes the church of Laodicea to buy of Him gold tried in the fire, and white raiment and be clothed that you would not dwell in shame.  Dr. Hiles deals with a people moving from their own self righteousness to the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.  Many dear believers’ dwell in their own righteousness.  They try to dwell in their own self works for righteousness.  Even the message they set under brings them into view of a performance-based religion.
The problem of most performance-based teachings are they point to the wrong performance.  They point to our performance.  If we were looking at the performance of Christ, or His Work, we would be teaching the RIGHT works. Jesus counsels the Laodiceans to buy of Him gold tried in the fire that they may be rich.    His work is the gold tried in the fire, and we are filled with riches of God in Christ Jesus. 
He counsels them to buy white raiment that they may be clothed.  In Revelation Chapter 7:14 and 22:14 the Bible declares that they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  This is how we are made pure and complete.  We are made righteous through His work, being washed in His Blood.  There is no other righteousness we can have but His.  He is our righteousness.  We need to see His Work, and rest in what He has completed, putting on what He is done.  Paul writes to the Galatians that we are clothed upon with Christ.  Through our works we can never become righteous and feel Holy.
Jesus counsels them to anoint their eyes with eye salve that they can see.  Without the Spirit of God we cannot see the reality of Christ and our salvation.  Many believers go to the Bible, and do not SEE clearly what Jesus did at Calvary.  They do not SEE the transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant.  They do not see the removal of the Old Temple and the Bringing Forth of New Temple.  They do not see the New Creation created of God in Christ Jesus.  Instead they go to the Word of God and look for these to come. 
At Calvary Jesus removed the Old and through His resurrection He brought for the New.  In Christ we dwell in a new heaven and a new earth. We are subject not to rules on rocks, but we are subject to the very Christ of God and His work.  May we all see and believe what Jesus has done.  I hope you enjoy this sharing by Brother Hiles.  It is a tremendous word being released into the Body of Christ.
Revelation 3:14-19  "And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent." 

The Revelation Series - His Countenance as the Sun III

His Countenance as the Sun III
In the third sharing on His Countenance as the sun from the Book of Revelation Chapter 1, we continued to look at the day where the sun and moon would not be the light.   This day and the seeing in this day are found only in Christ.  He is the light we see by here, not of the sun or the moon, but Christ Himself is the light.  What do we see in His light?
In three of the Gospels there is a record of the Mount of Transfiguration, where Jesus took Peter, James and John up into the Mount and was transfigured before them.  In this encounter on the Mount Jesus face did shine as the sun.  In Mark’s gospel, it says in Chapter 9:8 “And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.”
Hear this, they saw no man but Jesus, and they found themselves in Him.  He told them to tell no one of this encounter until after the resurrection.  Why did He do that?  Because when you and I find our lives in the resurrection we find no man except Jesus only.  We find our lives in Him. The old man is dead, crucified and buried.  We are alive in a new creation.
In this creation we have come to in Christ, He is the Life.   We live by Him.  “At that day you shall know I am in the Father, you are IN ME, and I AM in you.”   Hallelujah.  This is the day that no eye had seen and had never entered the heart of man.  This is the day that no earthly sun or moon can light.  This day is seen through Him.  Here in His light we are righteous, holy, and pure.  Here in this light we have been made complete in Christ.  He is our completion.
Walking in the shadows of the Old Covenant will never complete you.  And so many of God’s people want to walk there.   They want to be told how to be righteous.  How to be made complete.  How to be perfect.  No, no, no!  All of this is in Him.  He is my righteousness.  He is my perfection.  Let me know Him as righteousness.  Let me know Him as perfection.  Let me grow up into Him in all things!
This is what light shows.  It shows His work on Calvary.  It shows that His death truly fulfilled the Old Covenant.  It shows His resurrection really brought life to those that believe and receive Him.  It shows the power of His death, and the exceeding power of His resurrection.  He raised out from Adam.  In other words, He cannot be found there anymore.  The beauty is we are united with Him in His resurrection. 
I pray that the eyes of our hearts be enlightened in the knowing of Jesus Christ!

The Revelation Series - His Countenance as the Sun II

His Countenance as the Sun II
We are continuing our study of the Son of Man in the seven golden candlesticks.  We are looking at His countenance as the sun.  In the natural we see by sun light.  Our eyes have no sight without light.  Jesus is the sun we see by in the Spirit. Without Him there is no light. 
John 1:4 “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” 
Isaiah 60:19 spoke of a day where the sun and the moon would not be the light.  Men have tried to figure this out by their own minds.  Remember, without Him we have no sight.  Jesus was the light Isaiah was speaking of.  When Christ came, he said “I am the light of the world.”  In order to see in the spiritual realm, we must see by him.  To have sight we must be born again of God’s Spirit, John 3:3.  Otherwise, man is simply bound to natural sight, with no true spiritual light at all.  Man may think he has spiritual sight, but he has NONE! 
1Corinthians 2:9  “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” 
The above is a very popular scriptures, quoted in many Christian circles.  Many quote this in regard to what is prepared for them over in glory land or heaven after they die.  However, the very next verse in this chapter says that God HAS revealed them to us by His Spirit.  What was prepared for us that we did not see was prepared at the cross.  Jesus said in John 14, “I go to prepare a place for you.”  He said if he prepares a place for us that He would come again and receive us to himself.  Where He was going was the cross.  The place He was preparing was the Father’s House. 
The Apostle Paul writes that we the church are the Temple of God (Father’s House).  Before the death, burial, and resurrection the Temple of God was in the natural Jerusalem.  According to the Old Testament scripture that Temple was God’s House.  Jesus declared throughout John’s Gospel that God was in Him.   In John 14:10 he says we are to believe that He is in the Father, and the Father is in Him.   This is the glorious relationship that He was going to the cross to share with the church.  Jesus had become the place that God dwelt. 
Jesus said, recorded in John 2, “Destroy this Temple, speaking His Body, and in three days I will raise it up.”  The Apostle Paul writes, I Corinthians 14 “Now you are the Body of Christ and members in particular.”   This is what He prepared for us.  This was never in man’s mind, that we would be His place of habitation, that the living Christ would fill us with ALL He is.  The Glory of God has moved from an Old Temple built with hands to an altogether New Temple built through the cross – death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 
We see this glorious reality only through the light of Christ.  Paul prayed that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened through the knowledge of Christ.  These are the eyes that did not see what God was preparing.  Now we who SEE HIM by the Spirit, do understand (see) what God prepared, in order that we may declare Him to the Church.

Dead to Sin and the Old Man

Dead to Sin and the Old Man
Colossians 3:3&4 “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”
This is the understanding of the cross that we all must come to.  Here we will find relief for our souls.   Paul writes multiple times in his epistles that we died with Christ at the cross.  To grasp His death is freedom.  To grasp His life is salvation.  
Jesus declares to the Jews in the Temple, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).  Here He is speaking of being made free from sin.  Christians all over the earth seek to get free from sins or bad deeds.  Jesus said if the Son makes you free you are free.  Read the Chapter.  See the context.  
How can it be that we have been made free from sin, but yet have so many issues with sins or bad deeds?  Christians are caught in all kinds of bad situations, including divorce.  Why is this?  We do not KNOW HIM!  We do not Know our salvation.  If the Son has set us free, we are free indeed.  How did he do this?  He put us to death where we were held.  
In Romans 6, the Apostle Paul declares we are baptized into the death of Christ.  He writes in the Chapter that we are dead to sin.  The word know or knowing is used 3 times between verse 3 through verse 11 alone. These words are three different Greek words.  In verse three the word know mean is dealing with information.  Paul is saying do you do not have the information of what happened when you were baptized into Jesus Christ.  “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” 
In verse 6, Paul is dealing with an experiential knowing.  “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”  This word is the same word used when Mary says to the angel as recorded in the gospel of Luke, “I have not known a man.”  We know our old man is crucified through our experience and knowing of Christ who is in us.  This is the answer to our hearts.  We must know Him, period! 
Finally, in verse 9, “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him,” this knowing means seeing or perceiving.    I believe as we know Him we will see and perceive that death has no more dominion over Christ, and in that it has no dominion over Him it is true of His body also.  Death has no dominion over you if you are members of His Body.  He that is dead is free from sin and its domain.  
Our dominion is in what Christ Jesus has accomplished.  He died to the world and all that was in it, and was raised out from the dead to live unto God.  We live unto God through Him.  He is now our life.  When He appears in us, as that is where He dwells, we appear in this glorious life of Christ.  Glory to God!

The Revelation Series - His Countenance as the Sun

The Revelation Series - His Countenance as the Sun
We have been in a study for months on Revelation Chapter 1.  I expect to be here for some time, looking at the appearing of the Son of Man in the seven golden candlesticks.  This has been one of the most impactful studies of my life.  God is summing up the fullness of the Son of Man, in the candlesticks.  All the descriptive language of Christ must be seen and declared by the Church.  What does it mean that he has feet of brass, eyes of fire, hair white as wool, and a countenance as the sun?  Through this series it is my heart to see, know, and declare this vision of Christ that John saw IN the church.  
Many teachers pass right over this description of Christ in the Church to understand what the Book of Revelation is declaring to come.  I believe we will get to that, and I believe it is in context to John’s day as earlier shared in the Revelation Series. However, I want us to turn our hearts to the one John SAW IN the Church and let that correspond to Jesus declaring to John that He IS and was and is to Come.   Let us see the IS factor.  In other words, John saw Him present in the Church.  Now as we see Him present in the Church let our hearts turn to the Revealing of Him that has come to make His dwelling place in a people. 
How could John see such a sight?  I believe there are keys to understand this.  First John was in the Spirit.  When Peter received the Revelation of Christ, Jesus declared to him, that flesh and blood did not show this to you but my Father which is in heaven (Matthew 16:16&17). Jesus also declared as written by John in his gospel that the Holy Spirit was going to come and that the Holy Spirit would show or reveal Him (John 16).  We can conclude this seeing of Christ in the Church is a work of the Spirit and not of flesh.  Now let us focus on the LIGHT John sees by. 
Revelation 1:16 “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.”  His countenance was as the sun.  Here is the fulfillment of the prophets where God said a day is coming where the sun will not be the light, and at evening there will be light.  A couple examples of this is found in Zechariah 14:6-9 and Isaiah 60:19. These scriptures of the glorious day that was coming where there would be a light greater than that of the sun was speaking of Christ.  He is how we see, understand, and walk in this new day.  Without the sight by Him and of Him we stumble around, not clearly SEEING in this NEW DAY! 
Now as we see Him a new creation comes into view.  One not born of man, nor the power of man, but of God (John 1:13).   Here Light divides Darkness, and the darkness here is not absence of the sun, but absence of the SON.  Our encounter and SEEING of Him brings us to understand the creation of man, and the division of the Old Man and the New Man.  The more of Him that we see the clearer our vision will become, and we will see “that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of Spirit is Spirit.”  Look at this division.   Without the Light of Christ, I do not comprehend or experimentally know this. 
Now through Him I SEE this division.  He divides the Night from the Day.  Here in Him I find my life through the LIGHT of LIFE.  He is our Life, and His Life is the Light!  Hope you enjoy this sharing.  Glory to God in the Highest!!!