a God-man in Christ

Ministering as a Priest by Coming to the Throne of Grace to Receive Mercy and Find Grace

May 18, 2013 by aGodMan · 3 Comments

How can we minister as a priest of God today? The way is clearly shown in Heb. 4:16 and Rev. 22:1 – we need to come forward to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace for timely help!

In Revelation we see that out of the throne of God and of the Lamb flows a river of water of life, and in Hebrews out of the throne flows grace and mercy for timely help. Today if we come to the Lord in our spirit praying to touch His throne, we will receive the flow of the water of life, the flow of the Spirit, and this flow brings us grace and mercy for timely help.

This is the way to minister as a priest, by first coming forward with boldness to the throne of grace to receive the flowing Spirit as the fresh supply of mercy and grace. Then, we just flow out what we have received and enjoyed from the throne of God.

When we come to the throne of God, we are supplied and refreshed with the flow of grace; then, the throne becomes the throne of authority to judge in us any improper situations or things that don’t correspond to God. In this way we are both priests (by touching the throne of grace) and kings (by touching the throne of authority).

God desires that we would enter into the Holy of Holies in our spirit so that we may touch the throne of grace and allow the living water to flow through us – this flow will cause us to be built up in His divine life and become His dwelling place – His holy and royal priesthood.

Coming Forward to the Throne of Grace

In Hebrews we are encouraged to come forward with boldness to the throne of grace (which is in our spirit) so that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

When we come forward to behold God, when we come to contact the Lord by praying in our spirit to touch His throne, something happens in our being – we experience the Spirit flowing into us, in all our being, and through us to supply us with grace and mercy.

On the one hand the Spirit is the anointing, slowly coating us with more of the Triune God; on the other hand, the Spirit is flowing from the throne of God and into our being, supplying us inwardly with grace and mercy.

We may feel we are not worthy to touch the throne of God, but His mercy reaches us and qualifies us to be in the position to receive His grace for our timely help.

The Flowing God is our Timely Help

What is this “timely help”? Is it merely God doing something outwardly for us when we desperately need it? We all have a lot of prayers to the Lord, and we make all our requests known to Him.

But many times the Lord doesn’t answer our prayers in the way we think He should, in the way we think we need “timely help”. We may touch the Lord, and yet our prayer for this or that urgent matter may not be answered.

What really matters is that we receive timely help, which is the flowing God into us as living water. As long as we touch God and contact Him, He will flow into us and through us, and this is all that we need. Outwardly the situation may be worse, the problems may be more, but inwardly we experience unspeakable peace and joy.

What we need is NOT that the outward situation would be sorted out, but what we need is God to flow into us to inwardly water us, supply us, and nourish us. As the song says, Touching Jesus is all that really matter – and your life will never be the same!

Whenever we apply the blood of Christ and come forward to the Lord, we touch the throne of grace and experience God as the flow of grace and mercy to refresh us, water us, nourish us, and supply us (Heb. 10:19-20; 1 Pet. 1:8).

This bring us indescribable joy and unspeakable peace, no matter how difficult the outward situations may be or how harsh our circumstances are.

We simply need to touch the throne of grace, and God as Spirit will flow to be our timely help.

The Throne of Grace and the Throne of Authority

God has only one throne, and God in Christ is on the throne in the middle of the New Jerusalem and in the center of the universe.

To us as God’s believers this throne is the throne of grace – we come to the throne and we receive mercy and find grace. But to God’s enemy, this throne is of authority, defeating him and subduing him.

We are priests and kings to God by enjoying the throne of grace (to supply us) and the throne of authority (to subdue the enemy in us). Out from God’s throne flows a river of water of life to supply us with grace (Rev. 22:1) and a river of fire for judgement (Dan. 7:9-10).

We need to touch the throne of grace and allow the water of life to flow through us and supply us with mercy and grace for timely help. This strengthens us and enables us to touch the throne of God’s authority so that He can judge any improper situations in us, anything that doesn’t correspond to His holy nature.

Being priests to God means we touch the throne of grace and receive mercy and grace for timely help; being kings to God means we touch the throne of authority and all the improper things in us are dealt with by God.

God desires that we as His saved people would enter into the Holy of Holies to touch the throne of grace and allow the water of life to flow in us and through us. When this happens, our inner condition will match the New Jerusalem, and the church life becomes a miniature of the New Jerusalem!

In such a condition, the throne of God and of the Lamb are set up in us, and the river of water of life flows in us and out of us toward others to supply them. This builds us up in God’s life to be God’s dwelling place, His habitation, His temple.

Lord Jesus, we want to come forward with boldness to the throne of grace. We come forward to Your throne in our spirit that we may receive mercy and find grace. Lord, we just want to touch You and enjoy You the God who flows as a river of grace. Lord, touching You meets all our needs and is our timely help. We need Your watering and refreshing, and we need Your inward joy and peace. Judge in us what doesn’t correspond to You, Lord, and anything that is improper. We enthrone You in our being. Make us Your habitation, Your dwelling place, your Spiritual house!

References and Further Reading

This sharing is inspired from brother Ed Marks’ sharing in this message and portions in, The Priesthood and God’s Building (ch. 8), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on Crystallization-Study of Daniel and Zechariah, week 12 (entitled, The Priesthood and the Kingship for the Building Up of the Church as the Temple of God).
Buy this morning revival book online via Living Stream Ministry.
Hymns on this topic:
# Let us therefore come forward / With boldness to the throne of grace / That we may receive mercy and find grace / For timely help.
# Come forward now to God through Him, / Ne’er shrink back to destruction; / Come forward now to get the life, / Which brings the proper function;
# I come before Thy throne of grace / With hungry heart on Thee to feed, / Thy grace and mercy to receive / To help me in this hour of need.
Pictures credit: the first via my twitter feed here, the second here, and the third via agodman.com.

Filed Under: Christ became the Spirit, Christ lives in me, contacting God, Enjoying Christ, expounding the truth, His heart's desire, morning revival, our birthright, the Christian Life, the Lord's recovery, the Word of God · Tagged With: come forward with boldness, crystallization study of Daniel and Zechariah, holy word for morning revival, ministering as priest, receive timely help, the flowing Triune God, the throne of authority, the throne of grace, the water of life, touch the throne, watered and supplied, we are priests to God

The Throne and the River of Life Typify Christ as King and Priest for God’s Building

May 17, 2013 by aGodMan · 2 Comments

At the end of the Bible we see the vision of the New Jerusalem, and in the center there’s the throne of God and the Lamb, out of which flows a river of water of life (see Rev. 22:1).

The throne and the river of water of life speak of Christ being both the King and the Priest – the throne represents God’s authority and dominion in Christ, and the river of water of life is the fellowship of life, supplying everyone in the New Jerusalem for God’s corporate expression through the city.

God’s original intention in creating man – to have His image for His expression and dominion for His representation – is fulfilled in Christ together with all His redeemed and transformed people in the New Jerusalem for eternity.

Today in the church life we have a miniature of the New Jerusalem, enthroning Christ every day in the center of our being and enjoying the flowing of the divine life into us and through us – for the building of God.

Today we want to see more concerning how the throne of God and the river of life speak of Christ and us (as Christ’s reproduction and continuation today) as being both Kings and Priests.

The Throne of God and the River of Life

In the New Jerusalem and in the whole new heaven and new earth the only authority will be the throne of God and of the Lamb.

Out of the throne of God flows a river of water of life, which waters the entire city, flowing in the middle of the street and spiraling down to reach every gate of the city. On both sides of the river grows the tree of life, with fruits every month good to eat. This really shows that from God’s authority flows a river of fellowship which supplies everyone in the city of New Jerusalem.

The flow of the divine life today is the divine fellowship, saturating and soaking us as we exercise our spirit and we fellowship with one another. This fellowship of the divine life makes us God’s holy priesthood bearing God’s image, His expression (1 Pet. 2:5).

Also, the more we fellowship and we enjoy the flow of life, the more we are being brought under the throne of God and of the Lamb. The throne is the rule and the headship of Christ, which is ours as the royal priesthood to represent God in His dominion, His kingdom (1 Pet. 2:9).

In Zechariah 6:12-13 we see that the offices of the priesthood and the kingship converge in Joshua and Zerubbabel, who are types of the Lord Jesus. This is consummated in the New Jerusalem, where the Lord Jesus is both the ruling and reigning One, and He is the flowing One to reach everyone in the city for their supply.

All this – the throne of God and the river of water of life, the kingship and the priesthood – is for the building up of God’s temple!

The Way to Build up the Church

How can we as a royal priesthood build up the church as the temple of God?

As priests, we draw near to God and come forward to Him to enjoy Him, entering into the Holy of Holies to touch the throne of God. When we touch God and enjoy Him, we will then allow Him to flow as rivers of living waters into our being, saturating us with the flow of the divine life, and then flowing out through us into other people (John 7:37-39).

This is the way to build up the church: enjoying the flowing of the water of life from the throne and allowing it to flow through us to others to water them, quench their thirst, nourish them (the tree of life is in the water of life), and bring them also into the flow of life from the throne.

This is what the Bible clearly tells us when we are called “a royal priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:9)! On the one hand we are royal – we have the position and the authority of a king (by being under God’s throne and being ruled over by Him), and on the other hand we have the fellowship of life as priests (by drinking the river of water of life and allowing it to flow to others).

Everyone among us in the church life should be a royal priest, that is, we all need to be those who have the flow of life from the throne by drinking the water of life and enthroning Christ in our being.

In every one of us there should be an expression of both the priesthood and the kingship. God intends that we all as His spiritual people today, the believers in Christ, would be a kingdom of priests to rule and reign with Him, and to shepherd others by feeding them with Christ as the Spirit flowing in the river of water of life (see Exo. 19:4, 6; Rev. 5:10).

The Priesthood and the Kingship are for the Building up of the Church

In the book of Hebrews we see Christ as the High Priest bringing the believers into the Holy of Holies, into fellowship with God (see Heb. 2:17; 3:1; 4:14; 5:6; 7:1). This is for the building up of a city, whose Architect and Builder is God (Heb. 11:9-10, 16; 12:22).

In the Gospel of Matthew we see Christ as the King and as Emmanuel, God with us, to join God with man and man with God and bring the authority of God to man (see Matt. 1:1, 23; 2:6). Also, in Matthew we see that Christ is building the church.

The building up of the city in Hebrews and the building up of the church in Matthew are one and the same thing. Christ as the King and as the Priest is for God’s building!

The goal is the building, the church, the city; for this, Christ flows out the fellowship of life to us to make us His expression to express God in His image, and He brings us under the authority of the throne of God for us to represent God with His dominion.

Even more: when we received the Lord Jesus at our regeneration He came into us as a Priest, making us also priests of God! We now have Christ’s priestly life in us, and we can draw near to God to fellowship with Him, enjoy the flow of life, and allow God to flow out through us into others.

Also, at our regeneration we have received the King into us, and we are now the citizens of God’s kingdom. Daily we need to enthrone Christ in us, giving Him the preeminence and the first place in everything.

When we enthrone Christ in the center of our being, from the throne there will be a flow of water of life watering us and flowing through us to others for God’s building!

This is the church life! Today we are a royal priesthood, kings and priests to God enjoying Him and being under His throne, flowing God out to others for the building up of the church, the temple of God!

Lord Jesus, thank You for making us a kingdom and priests to God that we may be under God’s throne and enjoy the river of water of life flowing in and out of us! We enthrone You right now, Lord, and we give You the first place in everything. We want to live a life under Your throne, enjoying the river of water of life flowing from the throne and watering us daily. Lord, we want to allow You to flow into us, flow into all the inward parts of our being, and flow out through us into others for the building of God!

References and Further Reading

This sharing is inspired from brother Ed Marks’ sharing in this message and portions in, The Priesthood and God’s Building (ch. 2), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on Crystallization-Study of Daniel and Zechariah, week 12 (entitled, The Priesthood and the Kingship for the Building Up of the Church as the Temple of God).
Buy this morning revival book online via Living Stream Ministry.
Hymns on this topic:
# And He showed me a river / Of water of life, / Bright as crystal, / Proceeding out / Of the throne of God / And of the Lamb. / And Thou shalt make them to drink / Of the river of Thy pleasures.
# Drink! A river pure and clear that’s flowing from the throne; / Eat! The tree of life with fruits abundant, richly grown; / Look! No need of lamp nor sun nor moon to keep it bright, for / Here there is no night!
# River of living water, / River that flows from the throne, / Fellowship giving and making / God’s own authority known.
Pictures credit: the first via a friend on Facebook, and the second here.

Filed Under: Christ lives in me, Enjoying Christ, experiencing Christ, expounding the truth, God's economy, morning revival, our birthright, the Body of Christ, the Christian Life, the church life, the Lord's recovery, the Word of God · Tagged With: a river of water of life, build up the church, crystallization study of Daniel and Zechariah, for God's building, holy word for morning revival, King and High Priest, the divine fellowship, the flow of life, the kingship, the royal priesthood, the throne of God, we are priests to God

How the Priesthood and the Kingship Fulfill God’s Purpose in Creating Man

May 16, 2013 by aGodMan · 4 Comments

When God created man, He stated His intention and original purpose in Gen. 1:26, and it can be summarized in two words: IMAGE and DOMINION. God desires to have a corporate man that expresses Him in all that He is and He wants this man to deal with His enemy by ruling over the earth and having dominion over all things.

But the first man fell, and God had to call another race, beginning with Abraham. In the Bible we see two lines running through – the line of the priesthood and the line of the kingship. The priesthood and the kingship are actually for God’s image and dominion – God desires all His people to be His priests and kings, those who express Him in His image and represent Him with His dominion.

God’s original intention in creating man is fulfilled through the priesthood and the kinship, since the priesthood causes man to have the image of God, and the kingship causes man to have the dominion and authority of God.

Hallelujah, God has made us a kingdom and priests to His God and Father (Rev. 1:5-6), and in the church life today we function as priests by spending time with God to be infused with God and express God, and the God of peace crushes Satan under our feet (Rom. 16:20).

For eternity in the New Jerusalem we will express God and rule with Him for ever and ever, as He intended for us to be! Hallelujah!

The Priesthood is for God’s Expression

God desires to be expressed, and for this we don’t need to “do our best to express Him as the Bible tells us” but rather, as priests of God, we need to spend time with the Lord to enjoy Him.

A priest is one who spends time with God to be infused with God and saturated with God, and then he brings a fresh living message from God to man. The real priests of God are those who enjoy the Lord, draw near to God, and allow God to flow through them – in this way, God is expressed in His image through them!

God’s image can be seen in His priesthood – as we spend time with God to enjoy Him and be infused with Him, we become His expression, His manifestation, His habitation, and His dwelling place, God’s spiritual house as His holy priesthood (1 Pet. 2:5). Only when man draws near to God and allows God to flow through him can God be expressed through man in His image.

This is our full time job today, and this is the highest profession on the earth: to spend time with God to be infused with God so that we can glow with God and shine forth God to others.

As we spend time with the Lord in His word, being open that He would shine on us and in us, we are being mingled with God and transformed into Christ’s image for His expression (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:28-29).

Moses was one who spent time with God on the mountain, and when he came back to the people of Israel his face was shining!

Whatever we do today, whether we are studying, working, travelling, resting, taking care of our family, doing chores, etc – our REAL job, our real profession, and our real business is to spend time with God to be infused with God that we may shine forth God to express God in His image!

The Kingship is for God’s Authority and Dominion

God’s intention is for man to express Him and represent Him. The line of representing God with His authority is fulfilled by the kingship, because a king receives authority from God in order that he may reign for God.

Today we as believers in Christ in the church life are kings representing God with His authority to deal with His enemy (Matt. 28:19-20).

How does this happen and what does this mean? In Rom. 5:17 and 21 we see that we reign in life by receiving the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness! When grace reigns in us, we reign in life over Satan, sin, and death to represent God with His dominion for His kingdom!

For us to reign in life we need to enjoy and receive the abundance of grace. God in Christ as the Spirit is our enjoyment – this is grace. According to Vine’s expository dictionary of the Bible, Grace is “that which occasions pleasure or delight”. When we enjoy God in Christ as the Spirit, we are filled with pleasure, delight, and enjoyment. In this way grace rules and reigns in us, and we reign in life!

Note: To find out more about grace, read an article on, The Christian Life is a Life of Grace – so Just Enjoy the Lord!

When the enjoyment of Christ reigns in us, we will be restricted in our behavior, attitude, doings, speaking, and in all the aspects of our living. When we really enjoy the Lord as grace, grace will reign in us, and we will reign in life! The Christian life is not a set of DO’s or DONT’s; the Christian life is a matter of enjoying the Lord as grace and allowing grace to reign in us!

As we enjoy the Lord in such a way in the church life today, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet (Rom. 16:20). Defeating Satan and spiritual warfare to execute God’s dominion is both a personal and a corporate matter: personally, we inwardly allow grace to reign, and corporately, we live the church life and God crushes Satan under our feet!

The New Jerusalem: God’s Image and Dominion Fully Expressed!

In this age, the age of grace, we need to be recovered to God’s original intention – He desires to be expressed and represented through a corporate man.

If we are those who overcome the corruption in the world and the degradation in Christianity by eating Christ, enjoying Him, and allowing grace to reign in us, we will be the overcomers who will receive the reward of the millennium kingdom.

In the millennium the overcomers will be priests, drawing near to God and Christ, and they will be kings, reigning with Christ over all the nations (Rev. 2:26-27; 20:4, 6). May we receive grace and allow grace to reign in us that we may be the overcomers!

The majority of the believers though, as the defeated ones, will forfeit this reward and they will have to be dealt with by the Lord to be transformed and matured during the age of millennium.

Eventually and for eternity, all God’s chosen and redeemed people will participate in the blessing of this reward by serving God in the priesthood and representing God in the kingship as the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth (Rev. 22:3, 5). God’s appearance is like jasper (Rev. 4:3), and the whole city is like jasper (Rev. 21:11, 18) – we express God corporately as His priesthood!

Also, all those who are part of the New Jerusalem will reign as kings and they will exercise God’s authority for eternity (Rev. 22:5).

What a glorious destiny, to be priests and kings to God that we may forever express Him in His image and represent Him in His dominion!

Thank You Lord for unveiling us to see something concerning Your purpose in creating man. Thank You for making us Your priests to express You and Your kings to represent You. Lord, we want to be those who spend time with You to be infused with You and express You to others. We want to receive and enjoy the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness that we may reign in life through You. Make us Your overcomers, those who express You and represent You today and will receive the kingdom as a reward!

References and Further Reading

This sharing is inspired from brother Ed Marks’ sharing in this message and portions in, The Priesthood and God’s Building (ch. 1, by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on Crystallization-Study of Daniel and Zechariah, week 12 (entitled, The Priesthood and the Kingship for the Building Up of the Church as the Temple of God).
Buy this morning revival book online via Living Stream Ministry.
Further reading: chs. 7-8 in, Functioning in Life as Gifts Given to the Body of Christ.
On the same topic: Priests and Kings in God’s Plan, and, Priests and Kings in New Jerusalem (via newjerusalem blog).
Hymns on this topic:
# Take time to behold Him, / The world rushes on; / Spend much time in secret / With Jesus alone. / By looking to Jesus / Like Him thou shalt be; / Thy friends, in thy conduct, / His likeness shall see.
# The gift of righteousness is measured in abundance, / The depth of His love I’ll never understand. / His love reaches me and you; / His mercy goes farther too. / The One on the throne of God is called the Lamb.
# Take time to behold Him, gaze oft on His face, / Receiving His Person, and grace upon grace. / By His pleasant shining, infused we will be; / Our faces will glow with His light, radiantly.
Pictures credit: one of my instagrams and Infusion… Complete!

Filed Under: Enjoying Christ, experiencing Christ, expounding the truth, God's economy, His heart's desire, morning revival, our birthright, the Body of Christ, the Christian Life, the high peak, the Lord's recovery, the Word of God · Tagged With: crystallization study of Daniel and Zechariah, express and represent God, express God in His image, fulfill God's purpose, God's original intention, holy word for morning revival, image and dominion, spend time with Christ, the highest profession, the kingship, the priesthood

Being Saved to the Uttermost by Christ in His Kingly and Divine Priesthood

May 15, 2013 by aGodMan · 3 Comments

Christ is the King and the High Priest, and as the High Priest He is both kingly and divine. In Hebrews 7 we see that Christ is the kingly High Priest, the priest who was enthroned, and as such a One He is fighting against all of God’s enemies to subdue them and to bring in righteousness and peace (Melchizedek, the king of righteousness and peace).

In order for us to receive the dispensing of the Triune God into us for our supply daily, we need a condition of righteousness and peace. Christ in His kingly priesthood first subdues God’s enemies to bring in righteousness and peace, and then He ministers the processed Triune God into us as our daily supply and enjoyment (see Heb. 7:1-2; Gen. 14:18-20).

As the divine priest, Christ is able to save us to the uttermost, since He lives always to intercede for us before God (Heb. 7:25, 28). Christ is qualified and strengthened by His divinity to always live to intercede for us, and He is able to save us to the uttermost in God’s life all the way to glory!

Today we are in the process of being saved in His life from all the by-products of death, so that we will be fully grown in the divine life – saved to the uttermost!

Experiencing Christ in His Kingly Priesthood

Christ is a High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec, and if you look at Christ’s genealogy you will see that He didn’t come out of the tribe of priests but of the kings (Judah). Christ’s status is of a king, and His function is of a priest – He is a kingly priest.

As the King, Christ rules with authority to maintain righteousness and peace, to arrange the situations to be good (Rom. 8:29) for Him to minister the processed God into us as our supply.

Christ defeats His enemies and anything that stands in His way so that righteousness and peace may be brought in for His people to receive the “bread and wine”, God Himself processed to become our life supply. Many times these enemies are not outside of us but inside – our very self is God’s enemy!

We need to take in God’s living and operative word by means of all prayers and petitions (Heb. 4:12; Eph. 6:17) so that our soul would be separated from our spirit, our wondering mind would be slayed, our troublesome and wild emotions would be balanced, and our stubborn and rebellious will would be subdued.

When this happens, when God’s living word operates in us to slay the enemy in us, we can receive the reality of the processed Triune God into us as bread and wine for our supply.

We have a now-Christ, a today-Christ, who lives in the heavens and in our spirit, and who is our daily salvation and our moment-by-moment supply! The last part of footnote 4 in Heb. 1:3 in the Recovery Version says,

In this book is the present Christ, who is now in the heavens as our Minister (8:2) and our High Priest (4:14-15; 7:26), ministering to us the heavenly life, grace, authority, and power and sustaining us to live a heavenly life on earth. He is the Christ now, the Christ today, and the Christ on the throne in the heavens, who is our daily salvation and moment-by-moment supply.

Christ in His Divine Priesthood Saves Us to the Uttermost

In His status Christ is the King, but in His constitution and element He is divine (Heb. 7:28). Christ is the Son of God, and His divinity constitutes Him to be a divine High Priest who is living and full of life so that He may be able to continue His priesthood perpetually.

Christ as the divine High Priest has conquered, subdued, and swallowed death – where Christ is, there is no death but only life! Christ’s divine priesthood is the absence of death and the presence of life, the presence of resurrection life! Christ is constituted with the power of an indestructible life (Heb. 7:16), and so He is now saving us to the uttermost, to perfection, to be like Him (Heb. 7:25).

Christ has already been perfected through becoming a man, living a human life on earth, passing through death and entering into resurrection; now He is saving us to the uttermost!

Christ as the divine High Priest is saving us from any by-products of death like groaning, vanity, corruption, bondage, or decay. In Him there’s no death, and He perfects us by saving us much more in His life (Rom. 5:10).

In His resurrection Christ’s humanity was sanctified, transformed, and uplifted into the divine sonship (Rom. 1:3), and now He is the Firstborn Son of God possessing both divinity and perfected humanity. As the divine High Priest, Christ saves us in His life through regeneration, sanctification, renewing, transformation, conformation, and glorification!

He regenerates us by imparting His divine life into us. Christ sanctifies us by imparting His divine nature into our being. He renews us by dispensing His divine element into us. Christ transforms us by imparting the divine being into our being. We are being conformed as Christ is imparting and forming the divine image into our being. Eventually, Christ will glorify us by dispensing the divine glory into our being.

Christ is saving us right now to the uttermost – He saves us from the innermost to the uttermost!

Lord Jesus, thank You for being the Kingly High Priest to fight against God’s enemies to bring in righteousness and peace! We want to take in Your living word so that the enemy in us would be slayed and we would receive the processed Triune God as our daily supply and enjoyment. Thank You Lord for being the divine High Priest saving us to the uttermost! Save us more in Your divine life today from any by-products of death. Lord, save us from the innermost to the uttermost.

References and Further Reading

This sharing is inspired from brother Ed Marks’ sharing in this message and portions in, Life-study of Hebrews (msgs. 33-34), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on Crystallization-Study of Daniel and Zechariah, week 12 (entitled, The Priesthood and the Kingship for the Building Up of the Church as the Temple of God).
Buy this morning revival book online via Living Stream Ministry.
Hymns on this topic:
# Saved to the uttermost, I am the Lord’s; / Jesus my Savior salvation affords; / Gives me His Spirit a witness within, / Whisp’ring of pardon, and saving from sin.
# Sing praise to Christ Who lives in us, / The God of our salvation; / Who saves us by His life divine, / And not by regulation; / After we’ve worked—done all we can, / His life has power to change a man: / His life divine can change us.
# O let us rejoice in the Lord evermore, / Though all things around us be trying, / Though floods of affliction like sea billows roar, / It’s better to sing than be sighing.
Pictures credit: the first via Red Bubble here, the second via my twitter stream.

Filed Under: Christ lives in me, Enjoying Christ, experiencing Christ, expounding the truth, God's economy, morning revival, our birthright, the all-inclusive Christ, the Christian Life, the Lord's recovery, the Word of God · Tagged With: a divine High Priest, a kingly High Priest, crystallization study of Daniel and Zechariah, divine priesthood, holy word for morning revival, indestructible life, kingly priesthood, living and operative word, much more saved in His life, saved to the uttermost

In His Heavenly Ministry Christ is the Both the King and the High Priest

May 14, 2013 by aGodMan · 2 Comments

In the book of Hebrews we see that Christ is the High Priest – not only the High Priest according to the order of Aaron (to accomplish judicial redemption for us) but all the more a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek (to carry out His organic salvation).

The entire book of Hebrews is focused on the heavenly Christ – Christ in His heavenly ministry, and the main point concerning the heavenly Christ is that He is the High Priest.

Christ is both the King (the King of righteousness and the King of peace) and the High Priest (see Heb. 5:10; 7:1-3, 28; 8:1-2). Our Christ is both the High Priest and the King – He is a Kingly High Priest, able to save us to the uttermost as we come forward to Him! He is the God-man, fully qualified to be our High Priest.

His main job as a High Priest is not merely to offer sacrifices for sin – He did that once and for all, it is accomplished and done!

Christ’s main job as the High Priest is to minister God to us – He comes to us to minister the very God who was processed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection to be our life supply so that we as His believers may be saved to the uttermost (see Gen. 14:18; Heb. 7:25).

Christ is both the King and the High Priest

In Hebrews we see that Christ is not only the King but that He is also the High Priest (see Heb. 2:17; 4:14; 5:6, 10; 6:20; 8:1; 9:11).

After passing through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection, Christ is now in His ascension, and His heavenly ministry includes both His kingship and His priesthood! Christ is both the King and the High Priest for the building up of the church as the temple of Jehovah, the house of God (see Heb. 7:1-2; Zech. 6:13, 15; 1 Cor. 3:16-17).

As seen in Psa. 110:1-4, Christ is the King (vv. 1-2) and the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek (v. 4) – and the way we can experience Him as the King and as the High Priest is by offering ourselves willingly to Him in the day of His warfare (v. 3).

Today we need to consecrate ourselves to the Lord to become fresh dew to Him, and our consecration is a splendor in His eyes!

Remember: a day without consecration is a wasted day! We all need to be God’s young men, those who are NOT old, stale, or dead but they are new, living, fresh, real, active, and young with Him!

The more we open to the Lord every morning, the more we consecrate ourselves to Him, and the more we go on with the Lord, the younger we get! We need to daily get into the womb of the dawn so that we may have something conceived in our being as dew to water Christ.

In our morning revival time with the Lord we can become the dew to water Christ for His refreshment and satisfaction, so that He as the King would victoriously fight and as the Priest minister to His people for the building up of the temple of God, His corporate expression!

Christ Rules over the Earth & He Intercedes for Us

As the King, Christ has the scepter to rule over the entire earth and manage our affairs, arranging our environment and everything around us so that we may gain Christ every day.

As the High Priest, Christ is interceding for us and He is taking care of our case before God, always living to intercede for us before God (see Heb. 7:1-2; 8:1-2; Gen. 14:18-20).

Christ not only rules over the entire earth in general, but He personally rules over us and everything related to us, managing our affairs to bring us to Him, to bring us into the church life, and to shepherd us all the way to maturity to be His overcomers.

Also, Christ lives to intercede for us as the High Priest. Christ is the only One that can intercede for us all personally at the same time, and corporately together for us to be built up to be His royal and holy priesthood!

Right now, Christ is at the right hand of God interceding for us, and He is in our spirit ministering God into us! Christ is walking among the churches today – trimming anything negative and adding Himself as the golden oil (Rev. 1:12-13).

Christ as our High Priest is girded with a golden girdle about at the breasts – Christ’s divinity is His golden energy exercised and motivated by His love to nourish the churches. He nourishes us by first cherishing us, making us happy, pleasant, and comfortable.

We need to be filled with Christ’s cheering presence, which make us happy. Christ’s presence broods over us to make us feel comfortable and make us happy so that we may be nourished by Him. As we seek to experience Christ, enjoy Christ, gain Christ, and participate in Christ, we will be able to feed others with Christ!

When we are in oneness with Christ and are filled with Him, we will have a cheerful countenance and we will be filled with His cheerful presence. As we see in Psa. 45:5 and 11, the salvation of His countenance becomes the salvation of our countenance - so that we may be one with Christ as the great High Priest to cherish and nourish others!

Christ Ministers God to us as Our Life Supply

Most Christians appreciate merely the judicial redemption aspect of Christ’s ministry as a High Priest. Yes, Christ was a High Priest according to the order of Aaron in His earthly ministry for the putting away of sin (see Heb. 9:14, 26), but today He is much more in His heavenly ministry a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek!

This Melchizedek is a Priest of the Most High God (see Gen. 14:18-20), and he came with bread and wine to meet and feed the victorious Abraham who just defeated the kings and rescued Lot his brother. Today Christ in His heavenly ministry is designated as the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek to minister God to us as our life supply.

Christ ministers to us the very processed Triune God (as typified by the bread and the wine, see Matt. 26:26-28) as our life supply to nourish us, refresh us, sustain us, comfort us, and strengthen us so that we may be saved to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25).

We need to have an uplifted view and appreciation of Christ’s heavenly ministry as a High Priest. Our High Priest, Christ, is not according to the order of Aaron offering sacrifices to God – He is according to the order of Melchizedek ministering God to us!

As we fight for the brothers, as we live the Christian life, we are not “poor sinners” but “victorious fighters”, and Christ meets us to feed us, supply us, and nourish us as our great High Priest. We need to be those like Abraham who, once he heard that his brother Lot was taken captive, didn’t criticize or blame him for this but rather went and fought for him with his “special forces”, his army.

There are some who used to be among us but are now no longer meeting, and there are others who have backslidden; we need to fight for the brothers and pray for those who don’t meet with the saints.

As we fight one with the Lord for the brothers, Christ as the High Priest comes to supply us with bread and wine, the processed Triune God, so that we may be inwardly supplied, nourished, fed, comforted, sustained, refreshed, and strengthened that we may be saved to the uttermost.

Lord Jesus, uplift our view and our appreciation of Your ministry in Your heavenly ministry today. You are the High Priest ministering God to us for our inward supply, strengthening, nourishment, comfort, refreshment, sustaining, and strengthening. We love You Lord as our High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek! Thank You for Your daily cherishing in Your humanity and nourishing in Your divinity. Lord, You are able to save us to the uttermost! We love You as our King and as our High Priest!

References and Further Reading

This sharing is inspired from brother Ed Marks’ sharing in this message and portions in, Life-study of Hebrews (msgs. 32, 35), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on Crystallization-Study of Daniel and Zechariah, week 12 (entitled, The Priesthood and the Kingship for the Building Up of the Church as the Temple of God).
Buy this morning revival book online via Living Stream Ministry.
Further Reading: Psa. 110:4, footnote 1, Gen. 14:18, footnote 3, Heb. 2:17, footnote 2 (Recovery Version).
Hymns on this topic:
# In heaven He sits at the right hand of God, / Where as the High Priest He presented His blood; / Our Advocate, bearing our burdens above, / Our Surety, He careth for us in His love.
# Superior Thou to Aaron too- / Thyself, the offering given, / Thou enteredst, as our Great High Priest, / The holiest place in heaven. / Thou art our true Melchisedec, / With endless life in power, / To minister the “bread and wine,” / In every needful hour.
# He ever lives above / For me to intercede, / His all-redeeming love, / His precious blood to plead. / His blood was shed for all our race, / And sprinkles now the throne of grace.
Pictures credit: via friends on instagr.am here, here, and mine here.

Filed Under: Christ lives in me, contacting God, Enjoying Christ, experiencing Christ, expounding the truth, God became a man, morning revival, our birthright, serving the saints, the all-inclusive Christ, the Christian Life, the Lord's recovery, the Word of God · Tagged With: a kingly High Priest, being open to the Lord, Christ intercedes for us, Christ is the High Priest, Christ is the king, Christ ministers God to us, Christ's heavenly ministry, crystallization study of Daniel and Zechariah, holy word for morning revival, King and High Priest, offering ourselves willingly, the order of Melchizedek

Christ is the Shoot of Jehovah (Divinity) and the Shoot of David (Humanity)

May 13, 2013 by aGodMan · 2 Comments

This week in our morning revival time we want to see a fresh and new revelation of the priesthood and kingship for the building up of the temple of God, as unveiled in the book of Zechariah and throughout the Bible. The building of God is the corporate expression of the Triune God, and it equals the building up of the church as the temple of God and the kingdom of God.

Ever since God created man, His purpose for man did not change – in Gen. 1:26 He clearly indicated that He wants man to express Him in His image and with His dominion.

To express God in His image means that we need to be the corporate expression of the Triune God for His glory – this equals the building up of the church as God’s house, His holy priesthood (see 1 Pet. 2:5).

To express God in His dominion means that we need to be the corporate expression of the Triune God for His reigning – this equals the building up of the church as God’s kingdom, His royal priesthood (see 1 Pet. 2:9).

God desires to obtain a corporate expression in humanity, a group of people built up together in the divine life who express Him in His image and exercise His dominion over everything.

Up until now, the twenty first century, God has not yet obtained such a corporate expression. But in Zechariah 6:11-15 we see that Christ is the Priest and the King, and in Him God has His complete expression and dominion on the earth!

Also, the overcomers and eventually all the believers will be the priests and kings in the millennium and in the New Jerusalem! Oh, how we need to see a clear revelation of the priesthood and the kingship for the building up of the church as the temple of God!

Christ is the High Priest and the King

As we have seen before, in the first five chapters of Zechariah there are eight visions of comfort, consolation, and encouragement to God’s people. These visions are confirmed in Zech. 6:11-13 by the crowning of Joshua the priest linked with Zerubbabel the governor of Judah.

We can see throughout the Bible that there is no man that is qualified to bear the responsibilities of a priest and a king – only Christ can do this! Christ is the High Priest and the King, as typified by Melchizedek (see Gen. 14:18, Heb. 7), and here in Zechariah, as typified by Joshua (the priest) and Zerubbabel (the governor, from the line of David the king).

Christ is both the shoot of David to be the king and He is the High Priest, holding both the office of priesthood and kingship. What a wonderful Christ we have!

Christ is the Shoot of Jehovah and the Shoot of David

Christ is both the Shoot of Jehovah and the Shoot of David (Isa 4:2; 7:14; Matt. 1:22-23; Zech. 3:8; Jer. 23:5). Christ is the God-man – He is the shoot of Jehovah in His divinity, and He is the shoot of David in His humanity.

Through incarnation, Christ became a new development of God, for the Triune God to “branch Himself out” in His divinity into humanity. Wow, God wants to increase, to branch out, to spread into humanity, and for this He became a man, bringing God into man, and branching out in divinity into humanity!

Christ is the Shoot of Jehovah – referring to Christ’s deity, His divine nature – and He is the fruit of the earth – referring to Christ’s humanity and human nature.

Christ as the “shoot of Jehovah” is a tender, new, fresh development of growth, budding, or sprouting of God into man. Christ as the shoot of Jehovah denotes the riches, refreshing, vigor growth, and the productive power of the divine life!

In His divinity as the Shoot of Jehovah, Christ comes out of God, and His comings forth are from eternity (see John 8:42; Micah 5:2). In His humanity as the Shoot of David, the fruit of the earth, Christ has a human body made of dust and He grows out of the earth, being made in the likeness of man (Isa. 53:2).

In His desire to be multiplied and reproduced in humanity, the Triune God branched out in Christ, the divine Shoot of Jehovah and the human fruit of the earth, and He passed through a long process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, death, and resurrection, so that in resurrection He may produce the many grains – the many believers in Christ, the many brothers of Christ, the corporate expression of the Triune God (see John 4:24; 20:17; Rom. 8:29).

Hallelujah, Christ as the Shoot of Jehovah became the shoot of David and now is being reproduced and still “shooting forth” in humanity in His many believers!

The Counsel of Peace will be Between the Two of Them

In Zechariah 6:13 it says that “the counsel of peace will be between the two of them” – between the priesthood and the kingship of Christ, there will be the counsel of peace.

Our Christ is so wonderful – He took the lead to be the first King and Priest, and He regenerated us with His divine life to make us a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation (1 Pet. 2:9).

Even though in the Old Testament no king could be a priest, and up until the Lord Jesus no one was qualified to be both king and priest, Christ is the first One and we are the many ones who are His duplication to be both priests and kings!

In the millennium Christ together with His overcomers will be kings to reign over the earth and priests to serve God – this is a reward for the saints who overcome in this age (Rev. 2:26-27; 20:4, 6).

However, the rest of the believers, “the defeated believers”, the ones who are not fully cooperating with the Lord to be produced as His overcomers in their lifetime, they will be dealt with in the millennium and they will also enter into this portion for eternity!

For eternity, our destiny as the spiritual people of God, the church, is to serve God in the priesthood and to represent God in the kingship in the new heaven and the new earth for ever (Rev. 22:3, 5). Hallelujah!

Lord, unveil us to see You and appreciate You as the shoot of Jehovah and as the Shoot of David. Lord, increase our appreciation of God’s branching out in divinity into humanity to bring God into man and man into God. Thank You for becoming a man and passing through human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. Now we are the many sons of God and brothers of Christ, a royal priesthood! Lord, keep us enjoying You and keep growing in us unto maturity that we may be the overcomers who enjoy the full portion of a king and a priest together with You in the millennium!

References and Further Reading

This sharing is inspired from brother Ed Marks’ sharing in this message and portions in, The Priesthood (ch. 4), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on Crystallization-Study of Daniel and Zechariah, week 12 (entitled, The Priesthood and the Kingship for the Building Up of the Church as the Temple of God).
Buy this morning revival book online via Living Stream Ministry.
Further reading: Zech. 6:11 and note 1; Isa. 4:2 note 2; Zech. 3:8 note 1; Zech. 6:13 note 1 (all notes from the Recovery Version).
Hymns on this topic:
# Now the building spiritual / And the priesthood all are one; / Now the building of the house / By the priestly work is done.
# As Shoot of David, God’s temple He’ll build, / He’ll be a Priest and o’er all nations rule.
# Thou art the Priest from us to God, / The holy Priest for us, / Like Aaron called of God from men, / For us Thou servest thus.
Pictures credit: 1 Pet. 2:9 here and Zech. 6:13 here.