RELEASE OF THE SPIRITUAL MAN
by George Kirkpatrick

Vital Words to the Body of Christ 
Freely We Have Received, Freely We Give
E-mail: vitalwords@aol.com
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1 The Anointing ....................... 
Chapter 2 Coming of the Anointing.............. 
Chapter 3 Christ Jesus......................... 
Chapter 4 Failed Grace......................... 
Chapter 5 Ten Commandments..................... 
Chapter 6 Council at Jerusalem................. 
Chapter 7 Bondage or Liberty................... 
Chapter 8 Flesh or Spirit...................... 
Chapter 9 Curse of the Law..................... 
Chapter 10 Eat Not the Unclean Thing............ 
Chapter 11 The True Seventh Sabbath............. 
Chapter 12 The Early and the Latter ............ 
Bibliography......................... 

 

RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH

Any effort that is put forth to produce a product, using the Bible as its basis, should be one that is meant to teach God's hidden truths.
A teacher should have three main objectives:
#1 A teacher should teach how to learn
#2 A teacher should teach what to learn
#3 A teacher should give a practical application for what has been taught

The word divide means "to cut straight, or to handle the word properly".

Many today, when a scripture is quoted, use the same old worn cliche, "You took it out of context." Yet, when Jesus quoted many Old Testament scriptures, as did Paul, Peter, James and others, they were not used in the context originally written.

The scripture is "all truth". Truth is truth, and it will stand by itself or in the context written. The guideline that must be used is: Does it line up with all other scripture? If it does not, then it will not stand by itself.

Precept means "command". God's commands come as thoughts or ideas. When we see a thought or idea in the Bible, it will line up, line upon line, and we get a little here and a little there until the whole idea the Word is trying to bring forth is formed and therefore becomes a reality. This can only be done through the anointing that is upon us, which is our teacher.

Therefore, on this basis, we will proceed; "Precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little, rightly dividing the word of truth."

 

PREFACE

"IN THAT DAY" - This statement appears many times in the Bible, and it always refers to a time of fulfillment. We live "In That Day," the Day of the Fulfillment of all things, especially the fulfillment in the Word of the coming of the Body of Christ. This will be brought forth by the release and coming forth of the inner Spiritual man.

That heavenly, or Spiritual man will be brought forth into the earth. We see so many times in the Word the phrase, "In Earth". When we see "In Earth", it refers to our physical body which is earth. God's creation, Adam, means "red earth". We live "In That Day" when God is bringing forth His Kingdom into the earth, into His many-membered Body.

When God gets His Kingdom Principles and His Kingdom Precepts into His Kingdom people, He will then bring His Kingdom upon the earth. He must put the Kingdom in the earth (His people), then He will bring His Kingdom on the earth. This, we will see when He comes to be glorified in His saints. He will be admired in them that believe "In That Day". *** II Thessalonians 1-10

Today, many are trusting in the precepts and doctrines of men. Jesus related that these draw near to Him only with their mouth, honoring Him with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him. *** Matthew 15:8

God's desire is to have a people who will stand in the Holy Place with Him who have clean hands and a pure heart, *** Psalm 24:4. He desires a people who are seated with Him in heavenly places. *** Ephesians 2:6

This is "that day". This is the day in which God is baring His Spiritual arm to those people desiring to be those who have grown up into the head, which is Christ.

If we are to become that new creation in Christ, the old, carnal man must pass away, and all things must become new, *** II Corinthians 5:17. This happens when the inner Spiritual man is released.

It should be our desire to walk worthy of God, who hath called us unto His Kingdom and glory. God has proclaimed it, and He will bring it to pass. *** I Thessalonians 2:12

SPECIAL NOTE: Any endeavor, undertaken by a man, can only be judged by those who have been helped by what that endeavor has produced. And if the effort put forth to produce the product, was well spent or wasted, any product that is produced, using the Bible as its basis, must totally line up with the Word of God, and the final product must bring forth glory to God. Anyone producing such a product must have, as his or her teacher, the anointing spoken of in *** I John 2:27:

"But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him."

 

CHAPTER ONE
THE ANOINTING

When the Lord spoke to me to write this book concerning our relationship with the Law, I came to realize this could not be accomplished without a thorough understanding of the Holy Spirit anointing in our lives. This is the life-giving, life-changing, infilling of the Holy Spirit given on the day of Pentecost.

This will not be approached from the standpoint of a physical manifestation of having received the infilling of the Spirit of God, but rather from our relationship to God, after we have received it.

The first mention of the Spirit in the Bible is in Genesis.

The first thing that moved upon the earth was the Spirit. It is no different with us. Before we can have any relationship with God, the Spirit must move upon our earth, or our body. Our first relationship with God is always fleshly, then Spiritual. Most people never go past a physical, fleshly relationship. They never grow into maturity.

The writer of Hebrews speaks of this maturing.

The word perfection is TELEIOTES, which means "completeness or maturity".

The light which shines out of darkness is the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. That light is the Holy Spirit of God that moved upon the face of the waters. The glory of God, the Holy Spirit, is what shone in the face of Jesus Christ. We also receive this promise.

Every step Jesus took, we must follow.

Notice, we see something further in *** Genesis 1:2:

We see both these references used in I Thessalonians 5.

The day of destruction, spoken of in verse 3, is not going to come upon the Children of Light and the Children of the Day as a thief. We are not the children of the night nor of darkness.

Light always means energy. Energy means life, and life is God. Darkness is the absence of light and life. Darkness is the absence of God.

As we saw in Genesis, darkness, "called Night", is part of the Spiritual realm also. We will not be addressing the spirit of darkness. All references to the Spirit and the Spiritual realm will be to the Spirit of light and life.

God is looking for a people who will come out of the flesh and seek Him in the Spirit. He is longing for a people to grow up into the head which is Christ, or the anointing.

Jesus, in speaking to the Samaritan woman, said,

The Father seeks those who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. The anointing is the Spirit of Truth, as we will see later. We have no hope in the flesh, for the fleshly mind cannot communicate with God.

The word flesh in the Greek is SARX, which means the "substance of the body". The word carnal is SARKINOS, which means "consisting of the flesh". God is not looking for a fleshly-minded people, but a Spiritually-minded people who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

God's kingdom people will be those who move in the Spirit, who know the voice of the Father and who operate in His power and authority. God had such a people in the Old Testament.

All through the Old Testament, we find many men whom the Bible says the Spirit moved upon. A partial list is given below with scriptural reference:

Bezalel - Exodus 32:2-3
Moses - Numbers 11:17
Seventy - Elders Numbers 11:17,25
Joshua - Deut.34:9
Othniel - Judges3:10
Gideon - Judges6:34
Jephtah - Judges 11:29
Samson - Judges 14:6
Saul - I Sam. 10:10
David - I Sam. 16:13
Anasai - I Chron. 12:18
AzariahII - Chron. 15:1

We have also stated that all scripture is inspired by God. All 66 books of the Bible were written by men inspired to do so by the anointing of God.

There are different words used in the Bible for this anointing. In the Old Testament we see the word MESSIAH used. In the New Testament this word is used twice as MESSIAS. The word comes from the word for anointing or anointed.

When God gave the priesthood to Aaron, it came with an anointing, called MESHAH. Those anointed into the priesthood were called MESHIAH, which meant "the anointed one".

We know Jesus was the "Messiah" and was also called "Christ". Thus, both these words have the same meaning: "the anointing" or "the anointed one".

"Messiah" and "Christ" are interchangeable words. Why is it necessary that we understand this? Our relationship with Christ is a close, personal one. We have relationships in the natural, and it is important to know and understand the people that we have this kind of relationship with. It is equally important, if not more important, to know and understand the very nature and character of God, that we may commune with Him through the Spirit. When we come to Jesus, it is important that we understand who Christ is. It is also of utmost importance that we understand who Christ is in our lives.

We know Jesus was "the Christ". But when did He become the Christ? Was He the Christ at His birth, or did that come later?

At this time, there was no mention of the word "Christ" or the anointing which was going to be upon Him. Thus, the angel spoke to Mary.

We see this again when the angel came to Joseph.

Again, there was no mention of the "the anointing" or "Christ". Jesus' name means "Saviour".

The question is: When did Jesus become the "Christ"? It was when the anointing of the Father came upon Him. This happened immediately following John's baptism of Jesus. This event is recorded in three of the gospels.

When the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus on the banks of the Jordan, He became the "anointed of the Father" or "the Christ of the Father". 

It was after "the baptism that John preached" (water baptism), that God anointed Jesus with the Holy Ghost and with power. This is when Jesus became the "Christ of the Father". By understanding this anointing which came upon Jesus, our example, we gain much understanding concerning God's anointed in the earth today.

When the Holy Spirit anointing comes upon us, we become the "anointed" or the "Christ" to the Son.

The first thing that happened after the anointing of the Father upon Jesus was that the Spirit began to direct His life.

It is the same with us. Upon receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, our time of testing begins. I have heard people say, "I have been saved all my life and have never had any trouble." But when a person receives the Holy Spirit in his life, a time of testing is sure to follow.

When the Spirit came like a dove upon Jesus, a voice from heaven proclaimed, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." We know this voice was that of the Father, and that Jesus was His Son.

In order to understand who fathered Jesus, we must go to Luke.

Who fathered Jesus? The Holy Ghost. This was confirmed when the angel appeared unto Joseph.

In three places, the angel proclaimed that Jesus was conceived in Mary's womb by the Holy Ghost. Therefore, when the voice spoke on the banks of the Jordan proclaiming Jesus as God's Son, this voice was the Holy Ghost, the voice of the Father.

The Holy Spirit is the Father, and the Father is the whole Spiritual "Realm of Light".

When we come to an understanding that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one, we begin to understand the words of Jesus in Luke.

Had the Father made them a promise, or was the Father the promise? Jesus said, "the promise of My Father". Who fathered Jesus? In the three scriptures we just covered, the Word said the Holy Ghost overshadowed Mary, and Jesus was conceived. Therefore the promise of His Father was the Holy Ghost. This came on the day of Pentecost. When Jesus said, "I will send the promise of My Father upon you", that promise was the Father.

John 3:3 says, in order for us to see the kingdom of God, we must be born again. Therefore, the Father, the Holy Ghost, must overshadow and conceive this new birth in us. Only then will we see the kingdom of God.

God is "Spirit". The Spirit is the "Holy Spirit". And the Holy Spirit is the "Father".

The Holy Spirit is called by many names:
Holy Spirit Matt. 1:18
Luke 11:13
Spirit of God Matt. 3:16
Spirit of the Father Matt. 10:20
Spirit of the Lord Luke4:18
Spirit of Truth John 14:17
Spirit of Life Romans 8:2
Spirit of Christ Romans 8:9
Spirit of Adoption Romans 8:15
Spirit of the Living God II Cor. 3:3
Spirit of His Son Gal.4:6
Holy Spirit of Promise Eph.1:13
Spirit of Revelation & Wisdom Eph.1:17
Holy Spirit of God Eph.4:30
Spirit of Jesus Christ Phil. 1:19
Eternal Spirit Heb.9:14
Spirit of Grace Heb. 10:29
Spirit of Glory I Pet. 4:14

This was the Spirit which descended as a dove upon Jesus on the banks of the Jordan, whereby He became the Christ, the anointed of the Father.

Peter recognized this in *** Matthew 16:13-20: "...Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" Peter stated, "...Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." In verse 20, Jesus charged His disciples to "...Tell no man that He was Jesus the Christ."

Jesus became the Christ. This was not something which He received at birth, but on the banks of the Jordan. The anointing of the Father is the same anointing Jesus promised us. It is called "the power from on high."

Jesus operated in this anointing and power during His ministry, just as we are to do. We must have this anointing and power operating in our lives, today.

Jesus was made flesh. There was nothing in Jesus' flesh that was beautiful or glorious.

The word comeliness is HADDAR and means "splendor, beauty, glory and majesty". In Jesus' flesh, there was no beauty, glory, or majesty. What was beautiful in Jesus? It was the Light of the Holy Spirit that shone in the face of Jesus, the very glory of God. There was nothing in Jesus' flesh that we should desire Him.

We will receive that same glory of the Father's anointing when the Holy Spirit comes upon us.

This is the glory of the Father, the Light of God that shines in our faces, also. This is a visible light and can be seen in the face of all those who have been filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

The anointing that was upon Jesus was the anointing of the Father. When Jesus prayed, He always prayed to the Father. In everything Jesus did, He gave glory to the Father. He never once took any glory for what He did in the flesh, always directing that glory back to the Father. When the rich young ruler came to Jesus, addressing Him "good Master", Jesus said:

Was Jesus not good? Sure He was good, but He gave the flesh no credit for being good. He turned the glory for His goodness back to the Father when He said "there is none good but God."

Neither is there anything good in our flesh. The anointing of the Father alone makes His goodness to shine through His people. Jesus always gave the honor and glory for any endeavor to the Father. So must we.

Jesus never gave the flesh any glory. There are those today who direct all glory and attention to the flesh.

God will not allow us to take the glory for what He is doing in our lives. The true anointing of the Father upon us will declare His glory alone.

Jesus knew this and took no glory for what He accomplished in the flesh, but rather gave all glory unto the Father, the anointing which was upon Him. He operated through the Holy Spirit's anointing, just as we are to do.

We, too, are to bring our lives under complete authority to the anointing, as Jesus, our example, did.

We, too, are to listen and hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.

We, too, are to speak what we hear and do only as we see the Father do, not with our physical eyes and ears, but with the spiritual senses that are given to us through the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

 

CHAPTER 2
COMING OF THE ANOINTING

 

Jesus' ministry in the flesh, lasted for three and one half years after which the flesh was destroyed. Before this happened, we were given much insight by His words to His disciples, as to our relationship to Him after the flesh was to be destroyed. There would come a time when we would no longer have a relationship with Him in the flesh, but rather, our relationship would be in the Spirit. 

For us to understand this, we must go to the words of Jesus.

He was speaking of the end of the flesh, because the Spirit has no end. The spirit is eternal.

Jesus also said in *** John 17:4 (speaking to the Father):

Jesus' work in the flesh was finished; completed. Jesus' work was to fulfill the law and bring redemption to all mankind. He came as the Sacrificial Lamb of God.

The blood of bulls and goats purified the flesh. 

The death of Jesus brought an end to the sacrificial system under the law. All this system ever did was to purify the flesh.

Today, we see people that can only see Jesus in the flesh and who continue to worship Him in the flesh. They see Jesus as the Good Shepherd, standing at the door and knocking. This is fine if you have not accepted His free gift of forgiveness of sins. But, after we have accepted Him as the anointed Savior, is that all there is?

Unfortunately, in a vast majority of the people, this is as far as they are willing to go with Jesus. They are happy to state, "I am saved," and never go any further with God into His wonderful salvation plan, never going on with the promises of God which are so plain and so beautiful in God's Word.

Before Jesus left the earth, He told His disciples in *** Luke 24:49 to tarry in Jerusalem until they be endued with power from on high. Endued means "to be clothed with, or to be clothed with power from on high". Power is the word DUNAMIS, which means "ability". Jesus said they would be clothed with the ability of God.

Too many, today, are seeking the Spirit of God that they may have some physical manifestation, to be lifted up in the eyes of man. But the Holy Spirit was given that we may have the ability of God, which will enable us to bring forth fruit in our lives to the glory of God.

This fruit is to look like the Father, the Holy Spirit. This fruit will reproduce itself in us, if it is unhindered by the flesh. This power and ability comes forth from the Holy Spirit anointing which came on the day of Pentecost. This was the Spirit of the Father.

Jesus, in a prophetic word to His disciples and to us in *** Matthew 10:18-20, said.

It was the Spirit of the Father which spake in Jesus, and it is the Spirit of the Father which speaks in us. This is the anointing of the Father. When this anointing comes, we also become the anointed ones, or "Christ".

When Jesus died on the cross, it was not the end of Jesus. It was only the end of His flesh. His work as Jesus Christ, or Jesus, the anointed of the Father, was finished.

The work He accomplished is eternal. It is not necessary for us to be "resaved" every morning or every week-end. Once we have accepted forgiveness of sin and have been resurrected from death caused by our sin, it is time, then, to go on. It is then time to build on the foundation that was laid by Jesus Christ.

We are not again to go back and continue to lay the foundations of repentance from dead works, faith toward God, doctrines of Baptism, laying on of hands and resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

Yet, these are the main topics in most church sermons today. The writer of Hebrews says to leave these things and go on unto perfection. Leave the basic elementary teachings and go on into maturity. Grow up into the head which is Christ.

Through Jesus, we have access by one Spirit unto the Father. We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone. The apostles represent the New Testament, and the prophets represent the Old Testament. Jesus Christ is the chief corner stone of both and of the building He is constructing in the earth. This building is His Holy Temple, which He will inhabit.

This will never be accomplished through our worship of a fleshly Jesus. This can only be accomplished through the Spirit, through the Spiritual anointing which is upon our lives and by how we allow the Spirit to work through us.

Most have made Jesus Christ the whole house. The foundation is only the place to begin. Jesus is the chief corner stone of the house God is building.

This house is being built through the Spirit. The word through means "channel". This is the channel by which He will accomplish the building.

When we observe Jesus coming to the end of the flesh on the cross, we see that it truly was a horrible thing; the crucifixion, the grief, the sorrow, the pain.

There was also a sense of failure. All those that followed Jesus thought He would bring His Kingdom at that time, overthrow the Roman government and bring Utopia upon the earth.

Then came the resurrection, and Jesus' appearances. This, also, did not last. Eventually, there came a time when all normal activity resumed. All the activities surrounding Jesus seemed to have come to an end. Nothing was happening.

They had seen the miracles and heard the wonderful words of Jesus, but nothing was happening. There was no activity. Peter resumed his trade as fisherman. We see by *** John 21:6, they were fishing with nets. They were not out for an afternoon of pleasure, nor were they fishing for a meal. They had gone back to their old trade of fishermen; everything had returned to the old way of life.

Jesus appeared to them on the banks of the lake. He did not scold them because they were not out spreading the news of the kingdom. He knew it was not yet time for that.

It was not until the day of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit, that these men received direction and power in their lives to accomplish that which Jesus had given them to do.

It's the same in our lives. When we are saved, we generally go back to a normal life. There are small changes which begin to take place. We see a change in our language. We notice our old friends do not come around as often. Our Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings are taken up with church instead of other activities. But the greatest change takes place after the anointing comes into our lives. The power of the Spiritual man is released, and God starts renewing and changing our minds.

We are all aware of what happened on the day of Pentecost. The book of Acts tells of the beginning of the church. There was no church until the day of Pentecost when the anointing came.

Since the day of Pentecost, God has desired a people who will allow Him, through the Spirit, to bring them into the likeness of Himself. God's whole purpose in the earth is to have a people that He may commune with and walk and talk with, as He did with Adam and Eve. God did not create Adam and Eve to take them to heaven. He created them so He could fellowship with them here on earth. God's original plan did not change. But sin changed mankind to where man could no longer stand in the presence of God.

This remained the same for over 4,000 years until the day of Pentecost, when God, again, restored His Spirit to man. 

It is only through the Spirit that man can again come into God's presence and communicate with his Creator. This is why the anointing is so important in our lives.

 

CHAPTER 3
CHRIST JESUS

 

Before the day of Pentecost, our relationship with God had been through the flesh. But on the day of Pentecost, our relationship changed with God. Our relationship is now with Him through the Spirit. We are never again to have fellowship with Him in the flesh. 

God's relationship to us also changed. Peter said,

This was a change in God's realm.

"...God hath made..."

This was not something Jesus had been, but something He had become after His resurrection. While He walked on earth, He was the Christ, the "anointed one". Now, after His resurrection, He has become Christ, the "anointing". Jesus is now both Lord and Christ.

The word Lord is KURIOS and means "supreme in power and authority". The word Christ is CHRISTOS, which means "the anointing, or the anointed one". As Peter said, Jesus had become both Lord and Christ. He was no longer Jesus, the anointed one, but He had become Christ, the anointing. When Jesus was in the flesh, He had this anointing upon Him, but now, after His resurrection, He has become that anointing, or Christ.

Paul stated it well in *** I Corinthians 1:24:

That power in our life is Christ. It is the change Peter spoke of in *** Acts 2:36. God hath made Jesus both Lord and Christ. This change must take place in our lives also. The anointing must become supreme in power and authority. When Jesus was in the flesh, He was our Savior. In the Spirit, He is our Lord and Christ.

We see this change reflected in the way Jesus' name is rendered. Jesus' name, through the four gospels and up to the nineteenth chapter of Acts, had always been Jesus, Jesus Christ, or Christ. But in Acts 19, we see for the first time, Jesus as Christ Jesus.

This is the first place in the Bible Jesus' name is rendered "Christ Jesus". It occurs as "Christ Jesus" 53 more times after this.

For years, as I looked at Jesus Christ, and Christ Jesus, I thought the writers and translators had simply turned the words Jesus Christ and Christ Jesus around. It was not until the Lord revealed it to me that I saw how important this seemingly simple change was in our relationship to Him. Our relationship to Him was no longer to Jesus, the Christ, because this alluded to His flesh; but rather, our relationship now is to Christ Jesus the anointing in our lives.

As I mentioned in Chapter One, the anointing we receive is the Father. Jesus has become the Father. 

Jesus was not speaking of His flesh. He was speaking of who He was in the Spirit. The word above Jesus spoke here was the "heavenly realm".

The word used throughout the New Testament for heaven is OURANOS, which means "the aerial heaven, where the birds fly, the area over the earth". Heaven is also used in the Spiritual sense as being the realm over the flesh. As heaven is above the earth, the Spiritual is above the flesh.

When Jesus said, "I am from above," He was saying He was from the Spiritual realm, but the Pharisees were from this world; the flesh realm.

The flesh is earth; the earth realm. Heaven is the Spiritual realm and is all around us.

Jesus told the Pharisees they would die in their sins; "For ye believe not that I AM." "He" is in italics, and does not appear in the original. Jesus declared Himself to be the "I AM". To find out who the "I AM" is, we must go back to Exodus 3 when Moses was sent by God to deliver the children of Israel.

When the children of Israel asked, "What is the name of the one who has sent you?" Moses was to declare, "I AM, THAT I AM hath sent me." God declared Himself to be the great I AM.

Jesus told the Pharisees they would die in their sins because they did not believe He was the "I AM." Thus, Jesus declared Himself to be God Almighty.

Many times Jesus referred to Himself as the great I AM. In the garden when they came to take Him, He again stated He was the I AM.

They all fell backwards. We find in the Bible, when men fall backwards, they are in rebellion to God. When they were not in rebellion to God, they fell on their faces.

When Jesus declared Himself to be the great "I AM," the Almighty God, men could not stand in His presence.

Then Jesus allowed Himself to be taken. No flesh can stand before the presence of the Almighty God, and Jesus declared Himself to be the Almighty God, saying He was the "I AM".

Isaiah declared Jesus to be the Almighty God.

One of the names of Jesus was the Mighty God. Isaiah also declared Jesus to be the Everlasting Father. The word for everlasting is the word AD and means "continuing future, without end and eternal". Isaiah said Jesus was the continuing eternal Father without end.

Jesus declared Himself to be the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life to the Father. It is only through the relationship which we have in Jesus that we have access to the Father.

When did the disciples see the Father? When they saw Jesus, they saw the Father's anointing, which was upon His flesh. Jesus said, "When you see Me, you have seen the Father." This is the same today. When people see us, they should see the Father's anointing which is upon us.

But Jesus' disciples and others around Jesus could not see the anointing because they had not developed their Spiritual eyes. Without Spiritual eyes, all we can see is the flesh. This is where many are today. All they can see is Jesus in the flesh. God would have us to lift our eyes above the earthly realm to the heavenly realm and, as Stephen did, see Jesus on the right hand of the Father.

All through Jesus' ministry, He declared Himself who He was, but they were unable to recognize Him because all they had were fleshly eyes. All they could see was Jesus in the flesh.

Jesus said, "When you have seen Me, you have seen the Father." He did not say, "You have seen an image of the Father, or an impersonation of the Father," but He said, "You have seen the Father."

Their problem then, as now, was they were blinded and could not see the Father. All they could see was His flesh.

Paul recognized the Father when he wrote Colossians 1.

The word image is EIKON, which means "manifestation of the invisible God, or God made flesh". This was so we could relate to Jesus while we were in our fleshly condition,

The writer of Hebrews also addressed this.

The word for image here is CHARAKTER, which means "the exact impression of that which produced it". Jesus was the exact impression in the flesh of God in the Spirit. Jesus stated,

"In that day", the day of understanding...God is trying to show us the Father. This is that day, if we would only open our Spiritual eyes to God's truths.

This is impossible to understand without the knowledge of the Father's anointing which was upon Jesus' flesh. That anointing was Christ. Jesus was the Christ because of the anointing of the Father.

Thus, we see Jesus in the flesh becoming Jesus, the Christ, because of that anointing. After the day of Pentecost, we begin to see the use of His name as "Christ Jesus" for Jesus became that anointing, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.

It is very important that we understand this and begin to apply this in our lives. We need to know that Jesus did not come to earth to show us an easy way to heaven. But He came that He might have a people who know who they are in Him, who know and understand the power and authority which is contained in the anointing which we have in the Father. He came that He might have a people who are vessels of mercy prepared for His glory, not the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.

God is looking for a people, a kingdom people, whom He is bringing forth through Christ Jesus - a people anointed with power and authority; vessels of glory unto the Father.

To bring more understanding in this area of Jesus becoming Christ, we must look further at John 14.

If another comforter was coming, that would mean we already had one comforter, and that comforter was Jesus. Without Jesus we could have no fellowship with the Father.

But He promised another comforter. This comforter will abide with us forever. Whereas the first comforter, Jesus, was only to be temporary, the second comforter, Christ, would be permanent.

Jesus said this would be the Spirit of Truth. He said the world could not receive this comforter because the world had not accepted the first comforter. Therefore, this comforter was not available to the world. Jesus said, "Ye know Him." He declared to the disciples that they knew who this second comforter was, because He dwelt with them.

Who was dwelling with the disciples? Jesus. But Jesus said there would be a change in His position concerning them. Jesus said, "He dwells with you, and shall be in you."

Jesus was dwelling with them, but the position that He held with them ended on the cross. The second comforter, the Holy Spirit of Truth, would come into them on the day of Pentecost.

Jesus knew that He would be leaving them in the flesh but that, on the day of Pentecost, He would dwell in them. How? In the Spirit, as the Father.

Jesus' next statement proves this without a doubt.

"I" (first person, singular) will not leave you comfortless. "I" (first person, singular) will come into you. This statement leaves no doubt that the Spirit which came as cloven tongues on the day of Pentecost was Jesus, as the anointing or Christ.

Our relationship with Jesus is no longer through the flesh, but through the Spirit.

How long is this promise for? The second comforter will abide with us forever.

Jesus' desire is that all believers be one, as He and the Father are one.

As He and the Father are one, so are we to be one in Them. "I" (first person, singular) in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one (the Holy Spirit).

Christ's relationship to us is the same as the Father's relationship to Jesus. As Jesus was the anointed of the Father, so are we the anointed of the Son. As Jesus was the Christ of the Father, so are we the Christ of the Son.

We will never become Deity, but we have become the anointed of the Son. When understanding comes forth in this area, we begin to see and understand how important the anointing of the Father is in our lives. For without the anointing we have no relationship with God.

Many today, like the disciples and the Pharisees, know Jesus in the flesh, but they do not know the anointing which was upon Him. It is through the anointing that we have our relationship to the Father. It is by this anointing that we enter into the Holy Place of God.

When we begin to understand these things, scriptures such as *** I Corinthians 15:22-23 begin to open their truths to us.

Verse 20 reveals who Paul is talking about as being the first-fruits.

Jesus was Christ, the first-fruits; and we are the Christ at His coming.

Paul is speaking of those who are the anointed ones when Jesus returns to His redeemed Body; the purified, cleansed church without spot or wrinkle, those who will be the rulers and reigners with Him for 1,000 years. Those who are the Christ at His coming will make up the Body of Christ of which He will be the head. He will set His head on this Body.

Who is "His Christ"? They are those who have received the anointing of the Father.

The book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ, *** Revelation 1:1. This is the revelation He is trying to bring forth in us who have His anointing. This is our hope. Our position in God is in that anointing. This glorious promise of power is made to those who are the Christ to the Son.

As the scriptures begin to open in this area, we find our proper rank and position in God. When we seek wisdom in this matter, we will find that Jesus is not jealous of our position in Him.

God desires for us to have all things in Him and through Him. 

We knew Christ after the flesh. This is speaking of Jesus while He was in the flesh, but we are to know Him no more after the flesh. We are to know Him after the Spirit, or the anointing.

The word creature is KTISIS which means "creation". This creation is not a physical creation. It is the Spiritual creation which takes place when Christ comes into us. He comes in as a seed; the incorruptible seed. The seed always reproduces itself. Paul wrote,

This is not Jesus, but Christ Jesus. Paul also states,

The High Calling of God is in Christ Jesus.

Even Peter, who was given the keys to the kingdom, stated,

Jesus said, 

One of the main truths He is trying to lead us into is: Who He is in us. He is trying to form the Christ in us, that we may worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, not simply with fleshly emotions, not trying to be pleasing to Him through man-made doctrines, dress codes or what we eat, but we are to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

As Jesus said in *** John 4:23, "...The Father seeketh such to worship Him."

Our position in Him is no longer Jesus Christ, but rather Christ Jesus. We are no longer worshipping a fleshly Jesus, but we worship Him in the Spirit.

There will be more on Christ Jesus later on in the book. It is impossible for us to understand our position to the law and in the law without this understanding of Christ Jesus, the invisible God, the first born of every creature.

 

Chapter 4
FAILED GRACE

 

From the very beginning of time there have been only two ways God has governed His people: by Grace and by Law. These are the only two ways that appear in the Bible.

This all sounds very simple. If we would ask anyone, "Do you want God's law or His grace?", they would most definitely want His wonderful grace.

We see an example of God's grace to David. David committed a great sin against God. A prophet by the name of Gad was sent to David to tell him God had given him three choices of punishment. David's words show that he had great confidence in God's grace and mercy.

When the Old Testament is taught, it is generally thought to be a period of law, but the law was not given until the book of Exodus. This brings up the question, "What did man live under in the book of Genesis?" In Genesis 6, the Bible plainly states that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

The Hebrew word for grace is HEN, which means "favor". Noah found divine favor in the eyes of the Lord. If Noah found grace, then God's grace must have existed for those who were searching for it.

The Bible does not come right out and say man lived under grace, but as we search the scriptures for clues, we find many.

The word imputed is the Greek word ELLOGRO, which means "charge to one's account". Therefore, where there was no law, sin was not charged to their account.

The word death is THANATOS. Thanatos is used to describe both physical and Spiritual death. Romans 5 speaks of spiritual death. Adam did not die the day he sinned against God. But there was a spiritual separation which took place between God and Adam. God no longer communed with Adam. Therefore, spiritual death became a reality in Adam's life.

This spiritual separation, or spiritual death, reigned from Adam to Moses. Although sin was not imputed to man during this time, man no longer had spiritual communion with God for there was no way yet given for man to deal with his sin. There was no communion between God and man as there was in the garden and as there is now, after Pentecost. It was not until the giving of the law that this was accomplished through Moses.

We are not told how God judged or will judge these, but we do know by the Word that their sin was not laid to their charge. Therefore, under God's divine favor, they lived by the grace of God during the entire book of Genesis. This period covered 2,500 years.

We see by this that grace is the gift of Christ; the anointing. Grace is by and through the Spirit. Law is of the flesh. Law and grace are opposites.

Christ freed those who were held captive by the grave, those that had died before the law and those under the law.

Peter sheds more light on this in *** I Peter 3:18-19:

Verse 18 says Jesus was "put to death in the flesh but was quickened by the Spirit" (made alive by the Spirit).

Verse 19 says, "...by which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison..." those who were held by the grave.

Christ went into the lower parts of the earth, taking those who were held captive with Him when He ascended up on high. Jesus freed those held captive by the grave, leading captivity captive, ascending far above all heavens. This was God's grace being shown to those who had died before the law and those whose sin had been covered by the blood of bulls and goats under the law. Verse 7 states that this was the gift of "Christ".

In *** I Peter 3:19-20, we found that Christ went into the prisons, or graves, and preached to those who had died in the flood and also those who had died before the flood.

These things are hard to understand, but we accept them by simple faith. Those who died before the law were shown God's wonderful grace.

This is a very important scripture. God's grace was not just on those before the law. The law did not stop God's grace, but, rather, enhanced it.

When the people broke His law, His grace was still found by those who sought it. Yet, there were some who did fail God's grace.

Thus, Esau failed the grace of God.

Israel also failed the grace of God. God desired to speak to Israel face to face, but they refused to hear God's voice, wanting to listen to man for fear of dying.

*** Exodus 20:1-17 relates God speaking the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel.

The people did not want to hear from God. They wanted to hear from man. The writer of Hebrews uses this as an example of "Failed Grace".

Israel, unlike David, who did not want to fall into the hands of man, chose to be under the authority of man instead of the direction of God. When Israel "Failed Grace", God called Moses into the mount. Only then did God give the law.

If Israel had listened to God, the Ten Commandments would have been the only law necessary. They would have continued under grace; under the direction and guidance of His voice.

Only when they refused to hear God's voice were they given laws, commandments, statutes, judgments and ordinances.

Only then were they given a system of sacrifices to cover and atone for their sin.

Only then were they given the priesthood, man's representative, before God.

Under the law, Israel was no longer allowed to come into the presence of God. From this time on, only the High Priest could enter into the presence of God and then only once a year on the day of Atonement.

The question seems to always arise when discussing the law and grace: "How do we know that God did not give the law to the people living prior to Deuteronomy?" For the answer to this, we go to the book of Deuteronomy.

God did not make the covenant (the law) with their fathers, but with those alive at the time Moses was speaking. God gave Israel the law because they had failed God's grace. They no longer had any spiritual contact with God. All contact with God from that time until the day of Pentecost was one of the flesh.

Today, those who have contact with God only in the flesh, kept under the law, have failed God's grace. They refuse to hear the Father's voice and will not receive His anointing. They have no Spiritual communion with God.

From the beginning, God's desire was to commune with His creation. But sin separated us from God in the Spirit. Man lived under grace before the law, but there was no Spiritual communion with God. Then He gave the law. Under the law man could only have their sins covered through the Levitical priesthood.

When Jesus came, He gave forgiveness of sin so that we may stand righteous before God and man could have total forgiveness of sin.

But it was not until the day of Pentecost that Spiritual communion was reestablished with God.

Many today still desire to be under law, if not Moses' law, then man's law set down by denominational systems. They are told that by following these laws, they are acceptable before God. But, whether man follows Moses' law or man's law, there is no Spiritual contact with God because they have denied Pentecost.

If we are going to move in God's grace (which is much more than forgiveness of sins), we must come to our personal Pentecost, where we establish a personal, Spiritual relationship with the Father.

*** Acts 17:28 tells us the relationship we can have in God. "...In Him we live and move and have our being..." If we are not in Him, through Him and by Him, then we have failed God's grace as Israel did and will be cut off.

God is Spirit. If we are to be pleasing to God, we must come to a Father-child relationship with Him. This can be done only through the Spirit. If we are going to live in God's grace and hear the Father's voice, then our relationship with God must be in the Spirit.

CHAPTER 5
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

 

Let's look at the giving of the Ten Commandments. The giving of the law showed the end of the law. After the people of Israel had rejected God's voice, Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. Moses stayed in the presence of God for forty days, at which time, God gave Moses all the laws Israel was to live by.

The people did not know what had happened to Moses. He had not been seen since he entered into that black cloud. We can imagine the talk, as they sat around the campfires, how Moses must have been consumed by God's presence or how he must have been killed in the mountain. Because of doubt, the people turned from the direction the voice of God had given, to idol worship.

Aaron told them to give him all the golden earrings which were in Israel.

Gold is a symbol for God. The earring is a symbol for God's anointing on their ears. When Israel rejected the voice of God, they no longer needed their hearing because they had refused to hear God's voice.

It is the same today. Man has refused God's anointing and is depending totally upon the voice of man and his church doctrine. He does not feel the need of the anointing upon his ears because he does not listen any longer to the voice of the Father.

They had turned the golden calf into the image of the invisible God. At this point, God was ready to destroy the whole nation of Israel and begin again. But Moses interceded for Israel. God repented of the evil He thought to do to Israel and placed two tablets of stone in Moses' hands on which He had written His Ten Commandments. Then Moses came down from the mountain.

When Moses saw the calf and the dancing, his anger waxed hot. He cast down and broke the tablets beneath the mountain. This showed the end of the law.

We see two happenings here:

We first see God speaking His law to His people verbally. They were still under grace, but they refused to hear. They wanted man to tell them what to do instead of God. Therefore, God wrote His law, and the first thing man did was break it.

We also see that this symbolized the end of the law which would come in Christ. God called Moses back into the mount to give him the law again.

But this time God was not going to put His law back in the hands of man. God told Moses to build an ark and carve two more tablets of stone.

God told Moses this time to make an ark of wood, instructing him that when he was done writing upon the tablets, to place them in the Ark.

The Ark represents God's PRESENCE, PROTECTION, PROVISION, POWER and PEACE. The law was never to be put back into man's hands. God had spoken it, and it had been rejected. He put it in man's hands and man broke it. This time He was going to keep it in Himself.

Jesus was the only man who ever kept the law perfectly, which shows that He is our "Ark of the Covenant".

Moses came down the mountain the second time with the tablets in the ark. The law God had written on the tablets was the same as He had spoken and written the first time. But something had changed, and that something was Moses.

We see this change in *** Exodus 34:29,

Moses' face shone so brightly that he had to put a veil on his face when he spoke to the children of Israel for they could not stand to look upon his face. The brightness on Moses' face was the very glory of God.

If we are to understand this, we must go back to verse 9, where Moses interceded before God for the forgiveness of Israel's sin.

Pardon means "to forgive". There was no forgiveness under the law, only atonement. The word atonement means "to cover, to condone, to placate or conceal". This was accomplished by the sacrifice of the blood of bulls and goats.

Moses was praying for the forgiveness of the people because he had found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Moses knew what God's grace was before the law.

This was the first commandment God gave after the flood. Murder was to be punished by the shedding of the murderer's blood. Moses was a murderer. He killed an Egyptian.

By God's commandment, Moses should have been killed, but he lived by God's grace. This was before the law.

After Moses had interceded for Israel and had sought forgiveness for them, God told Moses what He was going to do for Israel.

The word "terrible" means "to stand in reverential amazement of what God is going to do". Paul was referring to this: 

When Moses came down the mountain the second time, his face shone. This was to show the glory that was going to be revealed in God's people at the end of the law.

The end of the law came on the day of Pentecost. The coming of the Holy Spirit brought the very glory of God upon man. Because Israel demanded the law, they could not look upon Moses' face. The glory did not come with the law but with God's grace.

This all ties together in the New Testament.

Paul was speaking of Israel because they demanded the law. Israel's eyes were blinded. We know they did not become physically blind, but were blinded Spiritually. This Spiritual blindness came as a vail, in that they could not understand the Old Testament when it was read. Only in Christ, the Holy Spirit anointing, can that vail be done away with.

Only the Holy Spirit can reveal God's truths in His Word. Only through the Holy Spirit can we understand how the Old Testament and the law pertain to our lives today and how it lines up perfectly with the New Testament; precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, and there a little.

The shine which was on Moses' face was the very glory of God. Paul said they could not look to the end of that which had been abolished. That which was abolished was the law. The glory was not in the law, but the glory which shone on Moses' face was the glory which came at the end of the law. That glory was Christ, which came on the day of Pentecost.

It is the same for us today. When Christ comes into our lives, two things happen. The end of the law comes, and the glory that shone in Moses' face is also revealed in our faces.

When God gave the law, grace ceased for the children of Israel. God would not directly speak to them again. The administration of the law was placed in the hands of the Levitical priesthood. Approximately 1,450 years passed from the giving of the law until the coming of Jesus. Israel lived by and under the law for this time period. At the time of the coming of Jesus, the law was still in effect. Jesus was born under the law, and all the law was kept concerning His birth.

Joseph and Mary offered sacrifices according to the law. Jesus' whole life was lived under the law. When He died, the law was still in effect. His resurrection did not change this fact. But on the day of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the law came to an end.

This is also true in our lives. When Christ, the anointing, comes, the law ends. Those still under the law have not received the anointing. For when they receive the anointing, they will again hear directly from God, as man did before the law. Righteousness comes by the anointing, not by the law.

The word destroy means "to overthrow completely". Jesus did not come to overthrow, but to fulfill and complete the law. He did not come that we may be able to keep the law perfectly, as some teach, but that through Him, we may have a relationship with the Father through the anointing.

Are we then to keep the law? And if not the whole law, part of the law? And if part of the law, which part?

These questions have plagued many since Jesus ascended from the earth. But we have Paul as an example. Paul was a man who had to deal much with the law.

There are still those today who are trying to please God in the flesh. They do this in various ways: by keeping the law, by their diet, with dress and by the day on which they worship. We will look at these one at a time.

CHAPTER 6
COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM

 

For 1,450 years, Israel lived by and under the law. When Jesus was born, the law was in effect. During His life and His ministry, the law was in effect. When He died, the law was still in effect. His resurrection and the day of Pentecost did not change the fact that the law existed. When did the law end?

The law did not end. The law is still in effect. The only thing that has changed is our relationship to the law by Jesus Christ and in Christ Jesus.

Are we then to keep the law? And if not the whole law, part of the law? And if part of the law, which part?

To answer these questions, let's look at the life of Paul. Did Paul know the law? Let's go to go to Acts 22.

Paul was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. "Brought up at the feet of" is equivalent to saying "he was educated by". Gamaliel was the son of the great Hillel and was a doctor of the law, above the status of a lawyer. This would be equivalent to a Supreme Court judge. He was called "The Beauty of the Law". Gamaliel held the distinctive title of "Rabban". He was also a Pharisee.

Pharisee means "separatist". They were strict keepers of the law, claiming themselves to be the authority concerning the law. Paul's education, therefore, came in the strictest sense: to know, understand and keep the law.

Paul was not only a Pharisee, but the son of a Pharisee. The teaching of the law, in every sense, from the time Paul was born was part of his life.

Paul certainly knew the law. "Did Paul keep the law?" Let's go to Philippians.

Paul said he was more zealous after the tradition of his fathers. In today's language, we would say Paul was a fanatic to keep the law...not in part, but in every jot and tittle of the law. Then something wonderful happened to Paul on the road to Damascus.

In Acts 9, while Paul was on his way to Damascus, he met Christ. That ruined Paul's religion. Before this encounter with Jesus and the anointing, Paul was spiritually blind.

Paul had to be blinded physically so his spiritual eyes could be opened. Paul was blind for three days. He fasted and prayed these three days. When Ananias came, Paul received not only his physical sight, but his Spiritual sight, also. Paul never went back to the old religion or his old religious ways or the keeping of the law.

There was only one place in the New Testament that Paul appeared to have slipped back into anything having to do with the law or the keeping of the law. We find this in Acts 21 when Paul returned to Jerusalem. At the request of the elders, he had agreed to a vow. An uprising on the part of the Jews prevented Paul from carrying through with this vow. It would appear that God had stopped Paul from going back and from keeping the law. *** Acts 21:18-30

Another reason Paul may have been willing to step back into the law is found in I Corinthians 9.

There is no indication that Paul would have done this without the elders' request, but we do know that request was not to go back to keeping the law.

When Paul began to preach in the synagogues, he preached Christ, the Son of God. When Paul took his first missionary journey, he traveled through the area known as Galatia, which contained the towns of Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe.

When Paul began to evangelize, there immediately arose the problem of what relationship the new converts had to the law. The following scriptures relate Paul's relationship to the law.

Dissension is the Greek word STASIS, which means "insurrection and uproar". Disputation is ZETESIS, which means "debate or dispute".

This caused quite an uproar for Paul, who had kept the law in the past. A debate took place, and Paul and Barnabas decided to go up to Jerusalem to settle this matter of the law, once and for all.

After much discussion, they decided there were four areas of the law the Gentile believers should adhere to:

# 1 Abstain from the pollution of idols
# 2 Fornication
# 3 Things strangled
# 4 Eating of blood

*** Acts 15:20 and 23-29

A letter was then written by the elders and apostles and sent to the churches in Galatia.

Again, they repeated the four things in the law they felt the new converts should keep. *** Acts 15:29

This letter and this council should have settled this matter once and for all but there are still those today which are trying to subvert the people's minds, attempting to put them under the law.

We see this did not end the matter for Paul. A year or so after the council at Jerusalem, we find that, once again, it was necessary to write a letter to the Galatians. This letter to the Galatians has become the standard as to where we stand in Christ and the law.

When we consider what Peter said about the law at the council at Jerusalem, it should settle in everyone's mind that "Christ" is the end of the law.

God's salvation plan does not include any part of the law. If you believe you must keep the law, or any part of it, hear the council at Jerusalem.

 
CHAPTER 7
BONDAGE OR LIBERTY

 

Most believe that Galatians was the first book written in the New Testament. Its main theme is Christ and the Law. Most also agree that Paul wrote it while at Corinth.

Paul had learned that the Judaizers were continuing to bring people back under the bondage of the law through their false teachings. When Paul heard this, he was most urgent to write to the Galatians. Paul's letter did not begin with the greeting so common in his other letters, nor was this letter addressed to one church, but to all the churches at Galatia. *** Galatians 1:3

Paul immediately began to address this problem.

Who was it that had called them?

The word draw is HELKO, which means "to urge by divine impulse". That urging by divine impulse is the Holy Spirit. To state this more plainly: No one comes to Jesus unless the Father, the Holy Spirit, calls.

Paul said, "I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him that called you (the Holy Spirit), into the grace of Christ unto another gospel."

Paul was declaring the simple message of the gospel. There was nothing to be added to that gospel. This reference was made concerning the law as being part of the salvation message.

The teaching of the law, coupled with the gospel is a perversion of the gospel of Christ.

In Chapter 2 Paul again relates the journey he took to the council at Jerusalem.

Titus was not compelled or persuaded to be circumcised to come into compliance to the law of Moses.

This is the basis Paul proceeds on: The law is bondage and Christ Jesus is liberty.

The word transgressor is PARABOTES, which means "to overstep the limits, to fall away". What was it that Paul could build again in his life? It had to be his old way, which had to do with the keeping of the law. But Paul stated he was dead to the law, the law had no effect in his life.

Paul begins the third chapter,

The word foolish is AMVETOS, which means "senseless lack of understanding". The word bewitched means "to malign by false representation".

Paul addressed the Galatians as foolish and bewitched. They had no understanding, being maligned by false representation. They had allowed false doctrine to come into their midst and lead them astray from obeying the truth of the gospel.

The word perfect is EPITELEO (continuing present tense), which means "a process of bringing to completeness or maturing". Paul asked, "Is this maturing process through the Spirit, or is it by the law?"

The question was raised, "Wherefore, then serveth the law, or why was the law given?" It was added, because of transgressions. What was Israel's transgression? They refused to hear God's voice, therefore, the law was added.

The law was not part of God's original plan for man. It was added because of Israel's refusal to hear God's voice. God's plan has always been that He would speak directly to His creation.

The word entered is PAREISERCHOMAI, which means "to come in beside". The law came in beside, or it was added, as it says in Galatians.

God had put a time limit on the law, on how long it was to be in effect: "...till the seed should come, to whom the promise was made." *** Galatians 3:19

Who was this seed?

Who was Abraham's seed? It was Christ. When did He come? On the day of Pentecost. The law ended that day for those who accepted Christ, the anointing.

The promise was passed down through Isaac and Jacob, and then to the children of Israel until they refused to hear God's voice and be obedient. Only then did God put them under the law, until the promised seed, Christ, should come. He would again anoint their ears that they might hear His voice.

Under the law we have no inheritance, no promise of eternal life. The purpose of the law was only that the Israelites may have their sins covered until the time Jesus died: that we may have forgiveness of sin and come into a relationship with the Father again.

The covenant with Abraham stands today because it was confirmed by the Holy Spirit anointing upon it. The covenant with Abraham preceded the law by 430 years. It is still in effect after the law because it was confirmed in Christ. As we will see later, the Abrahamic Covenant is ours to claim, if we are Christ's.

The word baptized is BAPTIZO, which means "to completely immerse or dip". The phrase "put on" is ENDUO, which means "putting one's self on another".

We must be totally immersed in Christ, taking His total being upon us.

There are multitudes today who have been told that because they have had some physical manifestation, they are baptized in the Holy Spirit. But there is no evidence of change in their lives.

When we have put on Christ, then the change which Christ, the anointing of the Father, brings in our lives will be seen by all. Our relationship with Christ will then be as a friend.

God will begin to reveal His truths through the Spirit, as to who He is in us.

The phrase shut up is the word SUMLEI and means "to close on all sides like a net or trap". We were held in bondage until we came to Christ, the Holy Spirit anointing. It is then that we are justified by faith.

The word justified is DIKAIOSIS, which means "the act of pronouncing righteousness, justification and acquittal". Being righteous, just and innocent before God does not come by the law, it comes by Christ. God's salvation plan is not by the law, or any part of the law. It comes by Christ.

We are justified by faith, not by things under the law. Only by faith in Christ Jesus, the anointing, do we become the children of God.

This is one of the most important passages of scripture. Today, many do not want any relationship to the Holy Spirit anointing. They are satisfied with salvation and water baptism. When we talk of coming into a deeper relationship with God through the Holy Spirit, they say "I am saved." But, if we are to become the children of God, it is absolutely necessary to come into this Spiritual relationship with Him, for God is Spirit.

As Paul said in Colossians,

Justification, righteousness and acquittal are by Christ, the Holy Spirit anointing. This is our hope in glory.

The phrase "put on" is used as putting on the armor of light. That light called "Day" in Genesis, is the light that shone in the face of Jesus and in the face of Moses and that light can shine in our face.

Christ is also the unifier of the body because it is His body that He is bringing together. Since the day of Pentecost, man, through his means, has tried to unify God's people. All the denominational systems, through man-made doctrines, ordinances and rules, have tried to unify God's Body. But, all it has done is separate and divide the Body of Christ, not only by their denominational differences between each other, but within their own denominations. There are many different groups with different doctrinal beliefs in the same denomination.

At the crucifixion of Jesus on Golgotha, we see three crosses. One cross represented the law. The other cross represented grace. But the center cross held the True Body of Christ.

Law rejected Christ right to the end. Today, as we see the end nearing, those under the law are still rejecting the True Body of Christ, having separated themselves into their own groups having nothing to do with the cross of Christ, or His Body.

The cross of grace showed God's true grace. That thief never confessed Jesus, never asked forgiveness of sins, never was baptized. He did none of the things we consider necessary to be saved. All he confessed was His desire to be part of that Body that hung next to him. Jesus, by His Word, accepted him into the kingdom.

But we see in *** John 19:32 that before sundown, the soldiers came and broke the legs of both law and grace. Therefore, those bodies cannot stand. Only the Body of Christ's legs were not broken.

Sundown represents "the end of all things, or the end of time". Law and grace will not stand after sundown. Only the True Body of Christ will stand in that day.

We see this foretold in Psalm 22, which is the foretelling of Jesus on the cross.

All of Jesus' bones were out of joint. This is the shape in which His Spiritual Body is in today. All claim to be part of that Body, but there is no unity, no agreement. No bones are broken, but the Body is all out of joint. Therefore, the Body of Christ is not standing. It is racked with denominational and doctrinal differences. There is no power in the Body, and there will be no power in the Body until Christ becomes the head of the Body.

We must grow up into the head which is Christ. The Bible says we must put on the mind of Christ. All through the scriptures, we see that it is Christ who is the unifier of the Body. It is His Body which He will bring together, to make up His Church. We must be part of His Body, or when He makes up His Church, we will not be a part.

This will all be done through the anointing of the Father.

God will gather His elect (His chosen). These are His Body, which will make up His church, His True Church. This will be done through His Holy Spirit anointing in our lives. Then the statements we see in Galatians and Corinthians and elsewhere will become reality in our walk.

Christ is the Body. Christ is the church.

If we are Christ's, then we are Abraham's seed, and heirs to the promise which God made Abraham. As Jesus was to the Father, we are to Him. Abraham's seed is Christ. Then only those who have the Holy Spirit of God in their lives are inheritors.

God declares,

If we have not the Spirit of Christ, we are none of His, and if we are not His children, then we will not inherit.

Our inheritance comes through the anointing. It is the Christ in us. It is our hope of glory. We need to "put on Christ". Christ is Freedom, the law is bondage. 

CHAPTER 8
FLESH OR SPIRIT

 

Jesus came that man might be free. But man has consistently brought God's people under his control and power. 

The truth sets us free. The truth is that man's law, enslaves; but God's Truth and Spirit set us free.

After Paul explained the purpose of the law, the bondage of the law and Christ as the freedom from the law, he again addressed this subject in chapter four of Galatians.

The word hear is the Greek word AKOYO, which means "to harken or understand". Paul asked those who desired to be under the law if they understood the law.

Allegory is made up of two words, ALLOS, which means "other", and AGOREUO, "to speak in place of". It signifies to speak, not according to the primary sense of the word, but so the facts stated are applied to illustrate a principle.

We know the bondwoman was Hagar, the Egyptian slave girl. The free woman was Sarah, Abraham's wife. The son of the bondmaid was Ishmael, and the son of the free woman, Sarah, was Isaac.

The word for gendereth is GENNAO, which means "to beget or bring to birth". The covenant from Mount Sinai (the law) brings bondage to birth. 

Arabia is where Israel had wandered for 40 years. The Jerusalem which now is, is the ancient city of Jerusalem, which is in the nation Israel.

Jerusalem has always represented the True Worship of God. Those who are trying to worship God by keeping the law have gone back to Mount Sinai, the old physical Jerusalem, with its fleshly observance of the law, which brings bondage to birth. They have their inheritance with the bondwoman.

But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. The Jerusalem from above is the Spiritual Realm of Light, the realm over the earth. Jerusalem above is free. There is no bondage. 

In Revelation 21 we see something else about this city:

The New Jerusalem is coming out of the Spiritual realm. The Jerusalem from above is the Spiritual Holy City of God and is prepared as a bride.

When we look further, we see that this Holy City is the bride, the Lamb's wife.

This, I know, will immediately raise the question: "Isn't the Church the Bride of Christ? Isn't the Church that Holy City?" This has been taught by many and has become a doctrinal stance of many groups.

One of the basic rules we must follow is that we go to the scriptures to get our beliefs, not take man's teaching and try to make them fit in the Bible.

We saw in Revelation 21:9-10 that the Bride, the Lamb's wife, is the Holy City, New Jerusalem. The Holy City, the Lamb's wife and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb go hand in hand. In order to understand the Marriage of the Lamb, we need to look at the Marriage Supper. We find this in Matthew 22.

Jesus spoke this parable:

We see after this, that those who were bidden would not come. The king sent his servants into the highways and byways to gather the people into the wedding supper.

The wedding was furnished with guests (not brides).

All the guests had on wedding garments (not the bridal veil). There was no bride at this wedding feast. When this seemed strange to me, I began to study the Hebrew Wedding Ceremony. The bride was never at the Marriage Supper. 

When the time came for the bridegroom to marry his bride, he went to the bride's house. The wedding was always held at the bride's house.

After the Marriage Ceremony, the bride, heavily veiled, was brought to the bridegroom's house and was escorted to the bride's chamber, where she was to remain until after the Marriage Supper was over. The bridegroom was not to look upon his bride until after the Marriage Supper.

The Marriage Supper was part of the Wedding Celebration. The Marriage Supper sometimes lasted for days. There was much eating and drinking. The bridegroom would then enter the Bride chamber. The bride would become his wife through the marital relationship.

When we come to an understanding of the Hebrew marriage ceremony, we then begin to see how Jacob could have married Leah and not have known until the morning after the Marriage Supper that he had been deceived. *** Genesis 29:21-25

When we think of marriage, we think of two people getting married and leaving immediately on their honeymoon to be alone, the wedding veil being lifted at the end of the marriage ceremony. It was not so in the Hebrew wedding. The bride was not unveiled until after the marriage supper.

This is a shadow of the unveiling of the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven. This will be after the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

At the Marriage Supper of the lamb, we will sit down in the Kingdom of God, then the bride will be revealed.

In Matthew 22, we see there is no bride at this marriage feast because the bride is still in the bride chamber and will not come out of her bride chamber until after the Marriage Supper is over.

We also see the Marriage Supper in Revelation 19:

The Lamb's wife is going to be arrayed (clothed) with fine linen, and that fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. Now, if we, the saints, are the wife, then we would clothe ourselves with our own righteousness. This would be self-righteousness. God said our righteousness is as filthy rags in His sight.

Do we say "Come," unto ourselves? If the saints are the brides, who then heareth?

It should be obvious that He is referring to us as the children of the bridechamber and not the bride. The children of the bridechamber do not grow up to be the Bride.

We are waiting for adoption, not marriage. When a man takes a wife he does not adopt her. The fact that the church is not the Bride of Christ becomes even more clear in Abraham. The Holy City, New Jerusalem, is our inheritance. This was also the city which Abraham looked for.

This heavenly Jerusalem has been God's promise to man since Abraham, the Father of faith, left the Ur of the Chaldees.

Was Abraham looking for the church when he looked for that city? No, Abraham was looking for the physical manifestation of God's Spiritual promise. We know he was not looking for us.

The Bible is plain concerning who the bride of Christ is. The marriage of the Lamb and His wife are in the Spiritual realm. We do not understand what this all means, but we do know God's principles. We are told that the Holy City is the mother of us all. We also know that Christ Jesus is our Father and many scriptures say that we are the children.

In this, we can see the family and marriage as God instituted it. He says man and wife became one flesh. But in this marriage there is no flesh, because this is happening in the Spiritual realm.

When the Bible refers to the Father as being our husband, He is referring to Himself as our husbandman, which means "provider or one who cares for us", never husband, as to be married unto His church. He acts as provider.

We are God's husbandry, and He is the husbandman, or caretaker and provider.

If this city was the church, why did God show Jeremiah where it would sit upon the earth? To gain more understanding, we must read in Jeremiah 31:

Jeremiah says the Lord shall build a city.

We go, again, to Revelation 21 for more understanding concerning the eternal city.

*** Revelation 21:2 tells that the holy city, New Jerusalem, came down from God out of heaven. *** Jeremiah 31:38-40 tells where this holy city will sit upon the earth. He said this city would not be plucked up. We would not say this about a physical city; but God is speaking of His Holy City coming down from God out of heaven (the Spiritual Realm).

There are no scriptures which say this Holy City is the church, or that the church is that Holy City. This is man's teaching and has no scriptural backing.

The allegory Paul put forth has five parts. I want to look at these five parts. Look again at Galatians 4.

The word answereth is SUCTOICHEO, which means "to line up in a row". We think of answereth as being in subjection to and must report back to, but SUCTOICHEO means "to set in a row or to line up with".

On one side we have that which lines up with Mount Sinai, Hagar, Jerusalem (which now is) and Ishmael (or the son this produces). This is all referring to the law.

On the one side is the law:

#1 Flesh
#2 Bondswoman (Hagar)
#3 Old Jerusalem
#4 Ishmael (the son law produces)
#5 Bondage
On the other side of the allegory, those freed from the law by Christ:
#1 Spirit
#2 Freewoman (Sarah)
#3 New Jerusalem (our mother)
#4 Isaac (the promised son)
#5 Liberty (freedom)
Illustrated here are those who attempt to worship God after the flesh and those who worship God after the Spirit.

We, as Isaac, are children of promise, and that promise comes by the Spirit, but so many today who desire to walk in the Spirit are commanded to keep the law, or some part of it. If we refuse to serve the bondwoman's son, we are separated from their company and there can be no fellowship.

Paul said in *** Galatians 4:30-31:

Back at the council at Jerusalem, Peter said, 

Paul also was at the council at Jerusalem. He stated, 

That yoke of bondage is the law but Paul said Christ has made us free. Therefore, we are to cast out the bondwoman because her son will not be an inheritor with the Son of promise.

Paul has stated our position in Christ and the law as plainly as it could be explained. The law is of the flesh. Freedom is of Christ. You can serve the law in the flesh and stay in bondage but there will be no inheritance for those under the law.

You can serve Christ in the Spirit and be free. Stand fast in Christ's liberty and be not entangled again with the things under the law.

CHAPTER 9
CURSE OF THE LAW

 

The word for curse is KATARA, which means "to separate and denounce evil against yourself or another".

Paul writes that as many as are under the law are under the curse. That curse separates us from God and denounces evil against us.

At the time Adam and Eve sinned, God pronounced curses against them and the serpent, bringing separation and pronouncing evil against them.

God separated the serpent from all other animals. God cursed him to crawl in the dust the rest of his existence.

Adam was not in communion with the earth. God had separated Adam from the blessing of the earth. The earth had become a curse unto him. It would no longer yield its blessing. Man would have to work the soil by the sweat of his face.