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THE PROCESS FOR MATURITY
This is a day of instant things. In this fast-paced, fast- food society, we are used to having things as we want them, when we want them. Everything is instant. We can walk into a room and get instant light, heat, or air conditioning by flipping a switch. We get up in the morning and drink instant coffee, and eat instant hot cereal, instant soup, instant mashed potatoes, and instant other things too numerous to name. If it isn't instant, then we turn on the microwave. All too often we also expect instant results in our spiritual life instant perfection, instant power, instant maturity, instant sonship! But, dear one in Christ, God doesn't believe in short cuts! Haste in the high and holy things of the Kingdom of God is freighted with grave danger. When the almighty Creator plants a redwood tree in the womb of mother earth, He is looking forward in infinite wisdom and patience perhaps five thousand years to a day when it is a towering monarch of the forest. Think it not strange, then, that He would spend the entire span of a man's brief lifetime in bringing to perfection a saint who is to rule the world as a son of God, bringing life and order out of the dreadful death and chaos that everywhere reigns upon earth. The wonder is that it does not take much longer. Let us, therefore, not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.
I am deeply impressed with the words of George Hawtin in his paper THE PAGE wherein he writes: "God increases our faith through patience. At first what faith you had was void of patience. It wanted to see creation leap in response to its impatient demands. I The sick must be healed RIGHT NOW. The world must be converted RIGHT NOW. You must get rid of carnality and become perfect NOW, of course; but as years went by and things continued much as they were before you tried to set the world on fire, you began very slowly to see that God is not enthused about impatient faith; you came to see that faith and patience are inseparable and methinks someday you will see that patience IS faith. We have heard a great deal about faith, much of it springing from the desire of the carnal mind. Little indeed have we heard of patience without which there can be no real and lasting faith.
"Harvests do not come without patience and waiting. Vainly we have tried to squeeze God into our mold of haste and hurry. We have cried, wept, and teased like spoiled children in an endeavor to get our way and hurry God in His program. We have demanded of God and tried to command Him. We have quoted Scriptures to try to bolster our position but all in vain. To learn faith in patience is much more important than for us to have our own way about things. In Heb. 10:35-37 the apostle wrote, 'Cast not away therefore your confidence which bath great recompense of reward. For YE HAVE NEED OF PATIENCE that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise"' end quote.
Ah, beloved, does it seem that you shall never overcome the flesh, the world, and the devil, never live the abundant life, never arrive at perfection or attain unto maturity of sonship? Be encouraged, dear ones, for our gracious heavenly Father dropped a word into my heart in such a time of foreboding when progress seemed so slow in my spiritual life that it appeared I was going backward instead of forward. His voice fell in quickening illumination upon my attentive ear with this beautiful word of wisdom: 'My son, look back upon your walk, five years, ten years...how were you then? Have you changed any? Have you grown? Have you gained victories? Are you not wiser, stronger, more enlightened, experienced, and triumphant, and do you not know Me in a deeper way than you did then? Have you made some progress? Can you SEE how much different is your life today than it was then? Ah, My son, if all this has been wrought by My hand in your life through the past few years, can you not now TRUST ME to finish and perfect that good work which I have begun in you? Do you not know that I am silently but faithfully working in you even this day to conform you to the image of My Son?" Sons of God! Do not worry as to whether or not you seem to be making progress. There is nothing in the world that grows so fast that you can SEE it grow. My fourteen year old daughter is growing every day of her life, but I cannot SEE her grow. Let God be the judge of how much or how little you have grown. Your duty and mine is to press relentlessly onward heedless of circumstances or conditions, but pressing patiently toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
A dear friend of ours in the city of Detroit shared this meaningful experience with us some years ago following a message I brought along this line. "I will never forget my first day in school in a rural community in the South. I arrived alone, but refused to go inside. I didn't think that I would enjoy school, and was quite certain that I didn't need an education. In my childish mind I made a firm decision not to go to school at all. Quickly I passed by and went straight to my grandmother's home. Grandmother, surprised at seeing me, asked, 'Why, Veta, what are you doing here? Didn't school start today?' I actually felt I was in command and could carry out my plans, so I replied with finality, 'I have decided not to go to school!' Grandmother was a wise old woman, and appeared to respect my decision. She didn't scold, but sadly said, 'I'm so sorry to hear that, Veta. I'm really disappointed that you aren't going to school. You see, grandmother needs someone to write letters for her, and I had hoped that you would go to school and learn to write. I thought you would be the one to write the letters for me.' I loved my grandmother very much, and her words impacted my childish mind. I changed my mind, deciding to go to school just long enough to learn how to write. I left grandmother's, made my way back down the road to school, arriving late, of course, and walked in with my hat and coat on for I was certain that I would be there for only a short time. The teacher was very understanding and quite gentle with me. Later, I found myself at the blackboard, chalk in hand, the teacher's hand upon mine, showing m how to make the number 2 along with the letters of the alphabet. After some minutes I asked the teacher when would we get on with the writing. Suddenly the whole prospect loomed menacingly before my mind and irritatedly I inwardly shouted,'If we don't go faster than this, I'm going to be here ALL DAY! And I was, of course! I went back to school the next day, and the next, and the next for many years to come! I became a star student, and a joy to my grandmother."
So God, omniscient and omnipotent, has established here upon earth a School for the training of those destined to be the future rulers of the universe. This School is known as "the body of Christ." None shall ever rule in the Royal Priesthood who have not gradual from this School! And what a great Teacher we have! One begins in God's School of Kingship and Priesthood in the first grade. You start with the ABC's. God opens the class and says, "Now children, we are going to learn how to rule. To rule means ! to govern, to control, to be master over that which is ruled. You can never rule anything until first you overcome it WITHIN YOURSELF. To 'overcome' means TO COME UP OVER THAT WHICH IS OVER YOU. When, within yourself, you rise above the circumstance, the problem, so that it no longer controls you, you are then ready to control it, to no longer be the victim of circumstances, but the master of them." And so, in the nitty gritty of everyday life God teaches us how to overcome, how to reign, how to bless, how to love, how to have compassion, how to be a King and a Priest in His Kingdom.
The promises of God are vast and varied. Some of them are free and can be attained very easily. That is why so many people receive them. But if you would be a member of the Royal Priesthood and receive the power to bless and deliver creation, if you would learn the life and authority and government of God in preparation to take the Kingdom and reign with Christ, then that is a different thing altogether. You must become a follower of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. It takes patience to attain any worthy goal. It takes endurance too. No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of Heaven. We do not attain sonship by a single bound. Neither do we qualify for the Royal Priesthood in a moment of time. It is not something you receive one night at the altar. We have need of patience. We must through faith and patience grow up to the spiritual age of thirty. We must become mature ones through experience. Only such can serve as the priests of the Most High!
A MATURE PRIESTHOOD
The farmer cannot make the seed grow, he cannot generate light
this is done only by God. So, when the seed of the Kingdom is planted in the human heart, if other conditions are right, God will make the seed grow until that son reaches spiritual maturity. The greatest need in the world today is spiritually mature sons of God who are qualified to minister as Kings and Priests in the Kingdom of God.
I would like you to think a moment about maturity. Jesus Christ, of course, was the first Son who ever lived who achieved absolute maturity. He walked as a man should walk. He talked as a man should talk. His attitude and His approach to life were mature in every sense of the word. He looked with holy eyes upon the sins of a sinful world, but was not discouraged nor depressed by it. He wrote over the face of a despairing world, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (Jn. 10: 10). To a world enshrouded in darkness He brought a heart full of heavenly sunbeams, and by the light that was within Himself rolled back the heavy clouds of despair that hung low over a world that had lost its way.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is seen coming in the book of Revelation, riding upon a white horse and the armies which are in heaven following Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, which is the righteousness of saints, and having on His vesture and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. Many centuries ago the prophet Malachi asked the burning question, "Who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth?" (Mal. 3:2). The aged apostle John admonished, "And now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, I and not be ashamed before Him at His coming" (I Jn. 2:28). May the Spirit of the living God lay His finger of inspiration upon us that we may understand that God is preparing a people today FOR HIMSELF. "This people have I formed FOR MYSELF; they SHALL show forth My praise" (Isa. 43:21). In Exodus God says, "Ye have seen...how l bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you UNTO MYSELF. Now, therefore, ye shall be a peculiar treasure UNTO ME above all people...and ye shall be UNTO ME a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation" (Ex. 19:46). God's purposes are fulfilled IN HIMSELF. "Ye shall be witnesses UNTO ME," Jesus said(Acts 1:8). The saints of God are a peculiar people, an holy nation, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, that we should show forth the praises, the excellencies, and the virtues of HIM.
To show you how God's purposes are wrapped up IN HIMSELF and they not only have their beginning in Himself, but they have their ultimate fulfillment in Himself the Scripture says, "Wherefore He has highly exalted Jesus." He has exalted Him to His right hand and caused Him to sit at His right hand, saying, "Sit at My right hand till I make Thy foes Thy footstool." God has highly exalted Him and given Him THE name, that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER. The Father said, "Sit at My right hand till I make Thy foes Thy footstool," and the Scripture said, "For He must reign, till He bath put all enemies under His feet. And when all things shall be subdued UNTO HIM, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto HIM that put all things under Him, THAT GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL" (I Cor. 15:25,28).
The purpose of God will only find fulfillment IN HIMSELF. "And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things UNTO HIMSELF...whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven" (Col. 1:20). Jesus said, "I came from the Father and I am come into the world: again I leave the world, and I am going back"
not to heaven as we would think; He did go to heaven, but heaven is only incidental He said, "I leave the world, and GO TO THE FATHER" (Jn. 16:28). Ah, my brother, my sister, where are we going? For generations we have set heaven as our goal "When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be!" But the Psalmist David declared,"If I make my bed in hell, THOU ART THERE" (Ps. 139:8). The place is not the matter, it is the position, IN RELATIONSHIP TO HIMSELF. Jesus called twelve men whom He ordained as apostles "to be with Him." And then, incidentally, to send them. And to prove that the sending was only incidental, He sent the twelve and He sent the seventy, who were not apostles at all, and they did just as much as the twelve. But He chose the twelve to be WITH HIM. The cry in the heart of God is for a people FOR HIMSELF. Why does God want a people for Himself? So that He may form Himself, that Christ may be fully formed in their lives, in order that His nature and His image and His person should be so wrought in them, that He would be able to APPEAR IN THE MIDST OF THEM, at any time He wants, and in any form He desires to appear.
What was the secret of the ministry, and the wisdom, and the power, and the glory of Jesus Christ? The secret was that God could manifest HIMSELF and say anything, and do anything, and be anything through Jesus Christ that He desired to say, do, or be. He could not do that through the prophets. No matter how glorious the prophets were, even John the Baptist John the Baptist had the Spirit before he was born into the world, while Jesus had to wait until He was thirty to be anointed with the Spirit; John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb but the Father could not reveal Himself in and through John the Baptist in the fullest measure and in the most complete way that He would desire to do. John was the greatest of all the prophets born of women, but Jesus said, "The least in this Kingdom is greater than John." Why? I will tell you. Because John was not a SON! John was not even a potential son.
John was only a prophet. I could name you one of the sons in the Old Testament: Moses. However, the Bible says,"Moses was a SERVANT in the house" (Heb. 3:5). Think of that! Moses was not a son, only a servant in Father's house. Well, I could name you another man: Abraham. But Abraham was only a FRIEND of God (James 2:23). A friend! Not a son.. Do you realize what has happened in the New Creation? Has your heart grasped the glorious and eternal significance of the words spoken by our Lord on that dark night before His death, when He raised the cup and said,"This is My blood of the New Covenant"? At that wonderful moment something new came in and the old forever passed way. The old was wonderful in its day, but in this New Covenant: "Their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more, and I will write the law of Mine own Being, the law of My own nature, the law of My own disposition IN THEIR MINDS AND IN THEIR HEARTS, and they will not teach one another saying: Know the Lord, for they will all know Me, from the very least unto the greatest of them" (Heb. 8:10-11). Why? Because we have been born, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but there has been a birth of God. His seed has come into us, we have been born of the Spirit of God, God is having a people in whom is the Spirit of His Son, so that there is a relationship with the Father and a forming and a revelation of the Father's character and mind and will. For what reason? So that GOD CAN APPEAR IN THE MIDST OF HIS SONS, AND GOD CAN APPEAR THROUGH HIS SONS AT ANY TIME AND IN ANY MANNER HE DESIRES. "When He shall come to be glorified IN HIS SAINTS, and to be admired IN ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE in that day" (I Thes. 1:10).
The revelation of Jesus Christ is the appearing of Jesus Christ, and the appearing of Jesus Christ is the coming of Jesus Christ. "Who shall abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth?" Ah, Jesus Christ has come as Saviour and has appeared in saving power in the midst of all the saved ones. He has come as Baptizer with the Holy Spirit and has appeared in the glory of the anointing in the midst of all the Spirit filled ones. He has come as Healer and has appeared in miracle working wonder in the midst of all the healed ones. But now He must come as LORD, as KING, as PRIEST, as the SON OF GOD.
The world will never know Him as King of kings until there are kings among whom He can stand and reveal Himself as King of the kings. The world will never know Him as Lord, until there are lords among whom He can stand and reveal Himself as Lord of lords. The world will never know Him as High Priest until there are priests among whom He can stand and reveal Himself as the great High Priest of their profession. Why is God bringing many sons to glory? That in the midst of all Jesus Christ might appear as the preeminent One, THE SON among the sons. As long as we remain children, He cannot appear as the Son in the midst of children. How are you going to have a Son that is preeminent among a group of babies? That is no preeminence at all, that gives Him no eminence whatsoever, it gives Him no honor. You cannot say, "He is the firstbegotten, the firstborn among many babies!" But as God brings us into maturity, and brings many sons to glory, He appears as the preeminent One, as the first born among MANY BRETHREN. Why does God want us to grow up into the fullness of sonship? So that the Son of God can be revealed in all His glory, wisdom, virtue, and power in and through the sons. Why does God want us to be priests, maturing in the priestly nature and ministry? So that He can appear in the midst as the Great High Priest of the heavens to bless and redeem and restore all of creation into God.
As long as we remain down on some spiritual plane below this high calling, even though He is greater than we, He has to condescend and limit His manifestation in and through us to the level we are on. He appears in the midst of WHAT WE ARE IN HIM. He comes as El Shaddai, the breasted one, bearing the milk of the Word in the midst of all the babes in Christ. But as the Church of the First born rises into the heavenlies to occupy the place God has ordained for it, in the place of glory, then Christ can be revealed in greater glory, in greater majesty, and in greater might.
Do we love HIS APPEARING? Do we want God to make us a people FOR HIMSELF, so that in whatever form He desires to appear, He can appear in the midst? Whenever He appears, we must be like Him on the level in which He appears. The Scripture says, "We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him" (I Jn. 3:2). It says, "We shall be," but it also means: "We must be." If we are not like Him, He cannot appear in that form. He can only appear in the form in which He has been formed in us, because we are HIS BODY and whenever He manifests Himself, He is to manifest Himself in the form of the body, in whatever form the body is.
Oh! Beloved saints of God, let us yield ourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may grow us up into mature priests. We can never be priests of the Most High until we reach maturity. The world will never behold the priesthood, nor be touched by the healing hand of our Great High Priest, until there stands a royal race of mature priests in the midst of the earth. All creation stands on tiptoe to see the glorious sight of God's Royal Priesthood arising with mercy and power. Let us not sell creation short!