by Dora Van Assen
GOD THE GREAT TRANSFORMER - Mal. 3:1-3 & Heb. 12:29
Let me give an illustration: Even natural fire consumes or changes everything. Whatever we put in the fire, like paper, wood or coal, turns into flames of fire, even iron changes into steel by fire. And, yes, when steel is held in the fire long enough, it begins to flame red hot. All these things become fire, then they chnage, returning back into their original elements, especially kerosene, gasoline and oil, etc. Praise God, He is The Great Consumer, metamorphosing all unto Himself. Nothing is lost or wasted. Rom. 11:36.
He makes His ministers flames of fire. God's word spoken in and through them are flames of fire, penetrating into the hardest heart and darkened mind. He is opening the subconscious causing man to remember his true identity. Who he is and was and always shall be. The work of the Holy Spirit bringing all to our remembrance. Another meaning of mind is grave or place of remembrance. Too long we have kept our departed loved ones in a grave in the dust. Tjis is an illusion. They are not there, beloved! They fell asleep IN CHIRST, and Christ is not a literal grave, unless you do not know Him in an intimate union of love, pressed together in one (mind, soul, spirit) engulfed IN AND AS one spiritualized form, called the Inner Man, and that you are holding Him in a prison within your own self. Listen, He is knowing inside of you to let Him out. Let Him manifest Himself in and through you. Too long we have not discerned The Lord's Body. That is why we are weak, sickly, dying, because we have not recognized that we are the Lord's Body.
I thank you Father for my Friendly Foe (The Second Death) which is making me conscious of your inward dealing and workings within my Inner Man. A daily renewing as my outer man (flesh body) is burned up, becoming ashes. This is taking place right now in my daily dying and renewing; an ongoing process. The seen OUTER MAN being swallowed up by the Unseen INNER MAN. The mortal functions decreasing while the invisible IMMORTAL SPIRITUAL INNER MAN increases. SPIRIT becomes MATERIALIZED-SPIRIT and material becomes SPIRITUALIZED-MATERIAL. God used both the Outer and the Inner Man. Death is destroying death - The carnal mind which IS death. We are being "delivered from the bondage of the fear of death!" Fear hath torment. Hebrews 2:15, compare with 1 John 4:18.
The quicker we let go and accept the processing of God, dying to all these outer natural things; even to our own visible body which is temporal, the quicker our own pain and suffering will cease by the discovery ofour real life within. Joy unspeakable and full of glory! "And I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Blessed are the dead which die IN THE LORD from henceforth." Rev. 14:13 This only takes place when Christ Jesus is Lord of my life; in full control of both Inner and Outer Man, preserving Spirit, Soul and Body. 1Thess. 5:23. "Unto the coming (entering in and arising) of the Lord." "Arise, shine: for thy light IS come, and the glory of the Lord IS risen upon thee. Isa. 60:1. Like an artesian well springing up, overflowing you.
THE OPENING OF THE BOOKS
Now let us consider Revelation 15:14, where we read: "And whosoever was not found written in The Bood of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire."
We see in verse 12, "the Books were opened: and another Book was opened, which is the Book of Life." There is a distinction made between The Books and The Book of Life. God has given Christ to be the HEAD over all things to the church, which IS HIS BODY. Eph. 1:23. So we see Christ as our Head, as we are the Body of Christ. Christ, The Head - The Book of Life, did not need to be opened. he was oopened and JUDGED before all creation; heaven, earth, and under the earth. All His natural ministry was an open book, nothing hid, nothing of self. He always pointed towards His Father and directed the attention of all people towards His Father, not unto Himself. "Of myself I can do nothing. I can only do what I see my Father do, and say what I hear my Father say. These works are not my works, they are the works of my Father." He lived a life of self denial. He died daily, tasting death for every man.
He died completely to Himself in the Garden as He prayed, "Father let this cup (lot) pass from me, nevertheless not my will but thine be done! He was not praying for God to lighten the burden of the whole world resting on Him or to keep Himself from going to the cross. He said, "For this cause came I unto the world." He cried out, "NEVER-THE-LESS." No matter what I have to go through, please don't give me anything less because I am human. "I want your will to be done!, even if I die here. GOD heard His cry! An angel appeared unto Him to help Him!! He was under such pressure, He became sore amazed and to be very heavy. He said unto His disciples, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death." Mark 14:34-35. He began to pray in such agony that His sweat became drops of blood. Luke 22:43-44.
There is a record of two soldiersin World War 2 who were under fire so long that their hearts broke due to the fatigue and pressure. When they were found, they were sweating blood. They both died of a ruptured hearat. Jesus swear blood when His heart broke with the load of sorrow for all men. He did not die! An angel appeared to strengthen Him. Christ, The Lamb of God, was ordained before time began to be the Saviour of the World. He was destined to die on a tree to redeem us from the Curse of the law. "Cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree." God's will was done!
Jesus did not take "the less" to save Himself from pain and sorrow. He attained unto the "greater" to become the FIRST-FRUITS of The New Creation Man. CHRIST, Head of the Body of Christ. CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD: manifested in and through all creation.
WHOSOEVER OR WHATSOEVER
Now back again to Revelations 20:15. Let us consider the word, 'whosoever'. In searching for the true meaning of this scripture, I found that the words 'whosoever' and 'whatsoever' aare used interchangeably. They both are used for the words, WHO, WHICH, WHAT, THAT, ONE, MASCULINE, FEMININE, NEUTER and IT. The subject in the sentence clarifies it. The subject in Revelations 20:15 is speaking of DEATH and HELL - not the people in it. For death and hell gave up the "dead" that were in it. THEY ARE THE GREAT AND SMALL STANDING BEFORE THE WHITE THRONE. THEY HAVE ALREADY BEEN JUDGED. Only the things that caused "Death and Hell" are left to be cast into the lake of fire. Such things as disease, germs, bacteria, worms and whatsoever destroys the body. Also all negative thougths, such as fears, regrets, remorse, (the worm that dieth not) and whatsoever other things that casue pain and sorrow. These are the things that cause pain and sorrow. These are the things cast into the lake of fire, which is God's consuming process; purifying and changing all back into Himself through Christ. Rom. 11:36, Eph. 1:10, Col. 2:8, 11, 15. Jesus put off - STRIPPED HIMSELF, or SHOOK THE CORRUPTIBLE DUST OFF His body when He AROSE FROM THE GRAVE.
Now we are coming to our last reference on the purpose of The Second Death. Rev. 21:7-8. "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God and he shall be my son. But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers, and sorcerers and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. This is the Second Death."
These scriptures must be taken together. They are connected with the conjunction - BUT. It is written to the same company of people. Those who overcome and those who do not overcome. The overcomer shall be a SON, who inherits all things. The non-overcomer will continue to have judement or correction until he also overcomes: that is, he is delivered by the purifying fire of Christ. The Holy Spirit of God, DWELLING WITHIN, from all inward lying sorceries that worketh abominations before God. These all stem forth from fear and UNBELIEF. "As a man thinks in his heart so is he." Oh, we cry out, "No! that's not me! I would never do such horrible things! This is speaking of unbelievers and ungodly men who know not God!" That is right! We are ungodly unbelievers until we come to ourself, like the ProdigaL Son in the pig pen of his own carnal mind. When he came to himself, immediately he RECOGNIZED his Father, who He was, and his own relationship to Him as His Son. Immediately all fear and doubt was taken away; DISAPPEARED as darkness before the NOON DAY SUN. He knew there was no separation. He was his Father's Son all the time he was living it up in his mistaken identity. When we know God, then our ungodliness turns into GODLINESS.
This is a White Throne Judgement dealing with our inner thought and motives, not our outward appearances or expressions. This White Throne speaks of purity of SPIRIT IN mind, soul, and body.
We are so lacking in love and trust, we have little confidence in God or in our neighbor, we lock everthing up around us. We live in prison houses of our own making, afraid to come out into the sunlight of His loving faithfulness, afraid to enter into that secret room hidden deep in our heart that nobody knows but God. So we won't let anyone in - not even Christ. Praise God! Christ is already in us, opening that locked door, awakening our consciousness so we may be aware of these ungodly thoughts so that they can come to the Light to be judged unto Life and Righteousness - IN HIM. "He will not crush a bruised reed or quench smoking flax until He has brought judgement into truth." Matt. 12:20, Isa. 42:3-4. He won't stop or leave until, we stand righteous in Him before God.
This Second Death judgement is laying the ax to the root of the tree. The root is not only hidden, but is the very seed and substance of The Tree of Good and Evil. This double minded state where we cannot come to any decision due to lack of confidence in ourself, brings worry and anxiety. It causes sleepless nights, tossing to and fro - no rest for mind or body. No matter where we go we cannot hide from ourself. Our own heart is the greatest deceiver. All lying is sorcery, stubborness is I-dolatry. These lying vanities and false pretenses we put on before the public in reality only reveal our inner nakedness before God.. Try as we will, we cannot hide our shame until we allow Christ to open up our inner being showing us our true self. So every imagination of our heart must be exposed to HIS LIGHT, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against God, and bringing every thought into the obedience of Christ. Allow Christ to do this! Cooperate by accepting His chastisement. "When we judge ourselves we shall not be judged." 1 Cor. 11:31. But if we do not judge ourselves, then He will judge us. This is taking our "Part" in the lake of fire, which is the Second Death, a death TO our SELF-LIFE. Christ is in my heart and in your heart right now, sitting as a refiner and PURIFIER of silver and gold. He will not be satisfied until He sees His own face reflected in our face. Only then can we offer a sacrifice of praise unto our Lord. Mal. 31-3, Heb. 13:15.
Now I want to turn your attention to the phrase: "and all liars shall have "THEIR PART" in the lake which burneth with fire and brinmstone." BRIMSTONE IS SULPHUR - USED AS A PURIFIER AND PRESERVING AGENT. In Strong's Exhaustive Concordance #3313, I found this word, "part" defined in Greek as: To get a section or allotment; division, share. Literally, it can mean coast, course, piece, portion, some sort or who what sort. Bro. William Branham, in his book The Seven Church Ages, translated this word; "Time". All liars shall have their TIME in the Lake - not forever. Surely the word, 'part' or 'portion' also suggest this to our understanding. It's only a piece - not the whole pie!
When we are judged according to our works, we will all need different kinds of correction - some will have many stripes and some will only have a few stripes. It is in accordance to how long it takes for us to let go our own will, coming willingly into harmony with the will of God. We ourself decide to lay down our soul-life. If we try to keep our soul we will lose it. If we lose our soul we will find it in Him.
"He who is fond of his soul is destroying it, and he who is hating his soul in this world, shall be guarding it for life eonian. John 12:25 LCNT
I am learning, the quicker I settle down, resolving in my own mind to accept any adjustment or align my will to His perfect will, all the hurt is gone. Hurt changed to gladness, sorrow into joy, loss into gain, death into life. My own resistance caused all the pain and turmoil in my heart. The instant I let go, I am free.
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