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Letters of Truth - Spirit of the Word - Covenant Eschatology - Introductory Note - New Stuff
Redemption . . . All in AllTHE LAW OF CIRCULARITY
Chapter 1To Him be glory forever! Amen." [Romans 11: "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. -- For all things originate with Him and come from Him; all things live through Him, and all things center in and tend to consummate and to end in Him. [Romans 11:36, Amplified].
It has been well stated that our theology needs to be arranged according to the vast sweep of God's law of circularity, for then there will be the proper place for every one of its great truths; and no quick generalization will be in error because too few facts have been taken into account. In place of fragments of truth and piece-meal principles, the wholeness and roundness of the plan of God will appear.
Jesus Christ our Lord is both the CENTRE and the CIRCUMFERENCE of God's great plan of the ages. Not only is He both the " Author and the Finisher of our faith," [Hebrews 12:2], but HE is also all of the DISTANCE between the beginning and the end. "I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, says the Lord, Which is, which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." [Revelation 1:8].
All nature is a manifestation of "circularity." "The sun also arises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to his place where he arose. The wind goes toward the south, and turnes about unto the north; it whirls about continually, and the wind returns again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again." [ECU. 1:5-7].
The many words which we find in the Scriptures, with the prefix "re-" signify a very important fact. We'll but list a few: return, renew, restore, reconcile, resurrect, refresh, redeem- all speak of something that left its place and must now make its circuit and come back to the point of its beginning.
The King James Version of the verse used for our foundation text, begins, "For of Him. .." this word "of" coming from the Greek word "eke" and literally meaning OUT OF. This clearly places God as the Source of all things, and hence the Amplifier's beautiful translation, "For all things originate with Him and come from Him." This we must understand, if we are to receive all things from His hand. And though it may be, that, after it has left the hand of God in its perfect state, God then allows it to become perverted and confused, so that by the time it reaches you, it is hardly recognized as a "good gift," but rather as evil. Nevertheless, if you will receive it as from God, regardless of its present state, then God will surely work "all things" together into good, and the ultimate victory shall bring joy to your heart, and be to His praise.
Strange enough, through the years, the carnal mind accepted pagan theories, and another solaced god was brought into the theology of man. They dressed him in black, gave him a pitchfork and a forked tail and horns, called him a Devil, and then proceeded to give him much of their allegiance. When something good happened along their way, they supposed the Good Lord might have done it. When something bad happened to cross their path, they just knew that the Evil Devil caused it, and they negatively sang his praise and told everybody about his awful deed. Thus more and more the purposes of God being wrought out through the ages were ignored and cast aside, and His sovereign control of the interplay of good and evil was not even considered, for they occasionally had a good God, but mostly they feared a bad Devil.
Furthermore, it takes a real quickening of the holy Spirit to illumine our darkened minds, and to reveal the truth that to trace back far enough, behind all secondary causes, the first cause of all things is GOD. It is true that things can become perverted, for all evil is perverted good, but since all things originally came from God, his is the power to RESTORE all things back to their original state, and to gain an added glory in the very process. To so overcome and conquer all is indeed to the glory of God.
If we accept the testiness and trials which come our way, and realize they were not given to crush us, to terrorize us, but to serve us and to work more of God's purpose into our lives, then we can "hold our peace" and wait to see the end of the Lord, which is mercy and peace. Thank God, all things originate with HIM. Look beyond the present appearance, and keep your eyes, not on the testing, but on the Author and the Finisher of your faith. Now, if you see Him only as the Author, and not the Finisher, then you will be wandering up and down many a by-way trying to find the end. But see HIM also as the Finisher, the Fulfilled of your faith, then He who has begun in you a work which is good, will also bring it to a successful conclusion.
The positive facts of the sovereignty of God might deal quite a death-blow to the vaunted ego of man, but HE is Lord of all. "For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained (ordered) of God." [Romans 13:1]. God can raise up men and abase them. He can momentarily give men certain powers and positions, and man in his foolishness can mis-use and pervert that power and position, but what does that mean? It means that there needs to be a restoration! And that's what The Book is all about-the return, redemption, restoration which God has purposed.
It had to be fresh once, before you could refreshen it, making it fresh again. There had to be life to begin with, before you could revive something, to renew it again to a state of life. It had to be in existence prior to its becoming destroyed or marred, before you could restore it again, bringing it back to its original state. As to its primeval state, all things originated with God.
"For BY HIM were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created BY HIM, and for Him." [Colossians 1:16]. The scope of this is more than the mind of man can begin to comprehend, but " ALL THINGS" are by Him. Praise His name.
"The burden of the Word of the Lord for Israel, says the Lord, which stretches forth the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him." [Zechariah 12:1].
"-shall we not be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?" [Hebrews 12:9].
We speak of being "born again," and of "regeneration," but it is also clear, you had to be generated in spirit, to have a spirit existence, before you could be regenerated to that realm. Regeneration does not deal with a re-birth to this earthy realm. Jesus made that plain to Nicodemus, when He said unto him, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." This so puzzled the natural mind of Nicodemus, that he answered back, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born ?" [John 3:3-4]. But Jesus was not speaking of our natural birth into this physical body. He knew that our "spirit" came from God, and that if we were to move once again in freedom in the KINGDOM OF GOD, the spirit realm, we would have to be BORN AGAIN into that realm. Surely, "that which is born of flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." [John 3:6].
God is the "Father" of spirits, for "God is SPIRIT...." [John 4:24], and brings forth of His own substance. And in His wise counsels, He then purposed that these myriads of spirits should be developed and matured, and brought to a place of perfection whereby He could have full fellowship with them, and also that they should redound to His glory. As part of that development process for men, He chose to subject them to this "vale of tears," as men often refer to this earthly sojourn. He purposed to refine you, "but not with silver; He has chosen you in the furnace of affliction." [Isaiah 48;10]. And so, "I have seen the travail, which God has given to the sons of men to be exercised in it." [
Eccl. 3:10].
Praise God! HIS LIFE is beginning to fill these earthen vessels whom He has apprehended in this generation, and they are discovering a practical outworking of His salvation in the very daily process of their lives. Though still in this vessel of clay, they are also joined to the heavenlies, to partake of its substance, its life, its victory. Thus there is an overcoming of the desires of the flesh, and an entrance into the higher realms again. How we yearn for this birth process to be completed, so that we shall be totally loosed from this earthy realm, and become totally a partaker of that heavenly realm.
The whole present kosmos, world system, is in a state of degeneration, going into a state of decay and corruption. But there shall come an hour when the tide is changed, and God will call a halt to the spoilation and devastation, and begin the work of universal restoration and regeneration. Jesus spoke of that time, saying, "IN THE REGENERATION when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of His glory." [Matthew 19:28]. This will surely mark the beginning of the "times when all things will be restored to their pristine glory." [Acts 3:21, Wuest Expanded trans.]. Or, as the Phillip's translation gives, "that universal restoration of which God spoke in ancient times through all His holy prophets."
This plan, so great we scarce can take it in, Paul describes as the PLAN OF THE AGES, when speaking of the manifold wisdom of God which is being revealed, "According to a plan of the ages which He made in the anointed Jesus our Lord." [Ephesians 3:11, Rotherham].
A plan for the ages, and the ages fitted to that plan. All things proceeding out from God, passing through the processes and developments which He ordained, and then ultimately all things returned back into Him once again. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out !" [Romans 11:33].
One of the mysteries of God's great purpose being executed throughout the ages, is why He chose to work a divine interplay of good and evil, the negative and positive, the emptiness and fulness, the bondage and then the liberation. We may not, at present time, comprehend all the ramifications of why it is essential that He would use, and interplay evil with the good, in our development unto spiritual maturity. But it brings a new rest within just to know that ALL THINGS are out of God, and that HE is in perfect control of all the present process, "Working all things after the counsel of His own will." [Ephesians 1:11]. Furthermore, we read, "For it was an act worthy of God and fitting to the divine nature, that He, for Whose sake and by Whom all things have their existence, in bringing many sons into glory, should make the Pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering." [Hebrews 2:10, Amplified]. And if it was necessary that our Lord walk this path of suffering, then I am sure that we shall arrive into His fulness via no other route, but we must walk in His steps.
Yet we are equally persuaded that the hour shall come when the eyes of our understanding shall be enlightened, and we'll not only understand why He chose to use evil and its interplay in His purpose, but we'll say with a heart full of praise, "He has done all things well." We know so little, we grasp but a fragment of His plan and purpose. But we are coming to understand enough to at least know that God is GOD, and we can commit ourselves unto Him, as unto a "Faithful Creator," assured that we shall receive the fulness of redemption, and return back into Him in due time.
"For the creation was subjected to frailty-to futility, condemned to frustration-not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it. Yet with the hope that nature ( creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption and gain an entrance into the glorious freedom of God's children." [Romans 8:20-21, Amplified].
Psalm 90, beginning with verse one, reads "LORD, YOU HAVE BEEN OUR DWELLING PLACE IN ALL GENERATIONS." Past, present, and future--He alone is our home, our dwelling place. Outside of a consciousness of His presence we are but homeless wanderers, seeking to return into Him, wherein we have full peace and satisfaction. "He has made everything beautiful in its time; He also has planted eternity in men's heart and mind (a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun, but only God, can satisfy)." [Eccl. 3:11, Amplified].
This dwelling place in God antedates the present "kosmos," world arrangement of this material creation, being "BEFORE THE MOUNTAINS WERE BROUGHT FORTH, OR EVER GOD HAD FORMED THE EARTH AND THE WORLD."
And then the statement is made, "EVEN FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING YOU ARE GOD." The word "everlasting" comes from the Hebrew word "olam" meaning "age," and should be correctly read, "FROM AGE to AGE." Thank God, in all ages He IS GOD, and He IS our dwelling place. And though for a moment we have been subjected to this present vanity and frustration, yet there shall be a returning back into Him. "For a small moment have I forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather you. In a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, says the Lord your Redeemer." [Isaiah 54:7-8].
"YOU TURN MAN TO DESTRUCTION; AND SAY, RETURN YOU CHILDREN OF MEN." [Psalm 90:3].
You could never read this word "return" here, if you had not first read that man had been "turned" away to destruction. It was GOD who turned man to destruction, set him on this downward course, made him subject to the bondage of vanity. Man did not volunteer for this time of travail, but the plan of God included this process, so God Himself turned man in this direction, and it will also be the sovereign operation of a sovereign God who shall bring back into Himself the whole of His creation. He is even now reconciling the world unto Himself.
"For a thousand years in Your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night." [verse 4]. Now comes the time element, so little understood, and such a problem to us all. For in the 13th verse we read, "Return, O Lord, how long?" He turned us to destruction, and planted within the bosom of every man that command to "return," which has become that inward sense of destiny which will not be satisfied until man does find himself at home in God once more. While mankind in general is still in that state of spiritual slumber, and has never awakened, yet there is a remnant, an election of grace, His first fruits, who have heard the inward call, they have arisen, and would trim their lamps and go out to seek and find Him. "And you shall seek Me, and find Me, when you have searched for Me with all your heart." [Jeremiah 29:13].
Ah, yes, we would return, but "HOW LONG, LORD, HOW LONG?" It is hard to comprehend that a thousand years are but as a day, when to us some days seem to be so very, very long. He said, "Return," and we have heard, and would respond, and yet we discover we cannot return any faster than HE shows us the way to come home. The times and seasons are in His hand, but in this we take great comfort, the end is secure, we shall return into God.
Man will traverse land and sea, soar into space, and blaze new trails and break the frontier boundaries again and again- not just to find a new land, or discover something which will bring him fame and glory, though on the surface those things may appear. But deep within the spirit of every man is that sense of destiny,
"I must return to God." But where is He? "That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from everyone of us: for in Him we live, and move, and have our being." [Acts 17:27-28]. Groping through the darkness, knowing not that HE is so very close, were their eyes opened to see. Yet He has appointed a day-- O glorious day, when His light shall shine forth, and a way shall be there, and mankind shall return into Him who is their home. To find that peace and contentment in His pure reality.
"It is plain to anyone with eyes to see that at the present time all created life groans in a sort of universal travail."
[Romans 8:22, Phillips].
In his footnotes for this passage, Conybeare brings out one of the richest explanations we have ever read. "St. Paul here suggests an argument as original as it is profound. The very struggles which all animated beings make against pain and death, show (he says) that pain and death are not apart of the proper laws of their nature, but rather a bondage imposed upon them from without. Thus every groan and tear is an unconscious prophecy of liberation from the power of evil."
St. Augustine bears this out also, when he states, "Even in that miserable restlessness of the spirits who fell away and discovered their own darkness when bared of the clothing of Your light, do You sufficiently reveal how noble You made the reasonable creature; to which nothing will suffice to yield a happy rest, less than You." And again, "The nature which enjoyed God shows that it was formed good, even by its very defect, in that it is therefore miserable because it enjoys not God."
We need not describe at length the misery and frustration of this present groaning creature, the evidences are all about us. But let it be reaffirmed that every tear and sigh, every groan from the pain and distress is an unconscious prophecy that ultimately deliverance must come, for this is a bondage imposed from without, and shall be lifted. Only in the pure holiness of God, bathed with His light, shall the creature find his peace and contentment. And our very struggles and searchings, our restlessness of desire, which cannot be satisfied with this world's substance, is another proof that only in God is true satisfaction found.
All things proceeded out from God, and the purpose of the ages was begun. Next our text reads, " AND THROUGH HIM." Not only is He the Source of all, but even in present time all things live because of His grace and mercy. "But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, BY WHOM ARE ALL THINGS, and we by Him." [1 Corinthians 8:6].
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Administrator of the plan of the ages! Things have not been left to happen-stance, to evolve according to the whims and inclinations of the fallen creature. God was in control when the purpose began, and HE is still in control all through its execution. Or as we read also, "BY HIM all things consist (are held together)." [ Colossians 1:7].
The life of the universe is conditioned by His existence. Phillips translation gives, "He is both the First Principle and THE UPHOLDING PRINCIPLE of the whole scheme of creation." HE sets the boundaries for destruction, and nothing goes beyond His control. "Surely the wrath of man shall praise You: the remainder of wrath shall You restrain." [Psalm 76:10]. What He allows He uses, and restrains all that He does not purpose to use. There may be days when you feel you will completely fall apart at the seams, and you struggle in yourselves to "hang on to the end." Yet in truth it is Christ who holds us together, and though we may be sorely tested, He will not suffer us to be tested beyond what we are able to bear, but will also provide for us a landing place where we may stand, while He works all things together into our good again.
Nor are we left in the vague uncertainty of trying to find our way back." Jesus said unto him, I AM THE WAY, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father but by Me." [John 14:6].Without a way there is no going,
Without the truth there is no knowing,
Without His life there is no living."He that has the Son has life." [1 John 5:12]. Every part of the process of the plan of the ages is vitally connected to our Lord Jesus Christ. THROUGH HIM- by the means of Him all things are administered and shall be brought back into harmony, reconciled into God again. "For He must reign, till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." [1 Corinthians 15:25-26].
So victorious shall be His reign, that all things shall return back into God, for "TO (Greek, into) Him are all things." He is the consummation! At no time is the plan completely fulfilled until all things have been duly processed and returned back into Him. Thus He shall be the SUM TOTAL of all things.
"And I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and you shall know that I am the Lord." [Ezekiel 36:11].
Regardless of the extent of the travail and bondage, He will not only triumph completely, but He shall bring us into His full victory. The overcoming process shall be to His praise, and for our benefit too. Then the combined effulgence of redemptions' glory, in all of its inherent and acquired qualities, will shine out in a scope greater than our fondest or wildest dream. Because then it shall shine out on a flawless universe that has been freed, delivered from sin's thralldom.
When his testings were ended, we read, "So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning." [Job 42:12]. There is no ultimate loss in God, for when He has worked all things together into good, and all has returned unto Him again, nothing of the original will be lost, but there will be that added glory acquired by our conflict with evil, and overcoming it through His grace. Thus the glory of the latter shall be greater than of the
former.
Now, the overall plan is too great, its time element is too long, we thank God for this knowledge that the end is secure, and it will have its own inner stabilizing effect on us. But for a personal application, remember, we all have our individual cycles, blessings and testings, the ups and the downs, and God is using them in His purpose to develop us into His image and likeness, a new man in Christ. Our days come out of God, they are administered and held together by Christ, and they shall all find their consummation back into Him again. He is to be both our Alpha and Omega.___________________________
RETURNING INTO GOD
Out of the depths of the dust of the earth
Heard the call for the time of re-birth,
Whisp'rings of Spirit that breath upon men,
Turning their footsteps t'ward homeland again.Pilgrims and strangers we wandered about,
Vexed by the evils that rampaged without,
Tempted by passions that rumbled within,
Earthly travail for our soul's discipline.Turned to destruction by God's sovereign will,
Till we are broken, contrite, and made still,
Gone the rebellion of ego's great pride,
Dealt by the Cross, till in Him we have died.Buried together in morning's new womb,
Waiting the hour-release from this tomb,
Knowing that He shall unveil yet His own,
Spirit of spirit and bone of His bone.Into His image, conformed by His grace,
Love's undergirding, the path to retrace,
Onward and upward to bow at His throne,
Joy that surpasses all joys we have known.Firstfruits returning betoken the score--
All of creation the Christ shall restore.
Erasing the shadows of vanity's night,
Turning us 'round till we walk in His light.Letters of Truth - Revelation-A Positive Book - Spirit of the Word -
1. The Law of Circularity
2. No Second Causes
3. The Fifth Dimension
4. Time--By Divine Degrees
5. The Scent of Water
6. Christ--Our Mercyseat and Intercessor
7. Christ--Our Advocate and Ransom
8. Not In Our Stead, But For Us
9. A Joint-participation
10. Therefore Choose Life
11. The Corrective Judgments of God
12. God's Wonderful Vengeance
13. Sufficient-The Evil
14. The Potter's Field
15. Jubilee---And The Returning Field
16. By Man Also
17. What Manner of Man Is This?
18. Till All Men Know
19. To The Uttermost
20. All Things Reconciled