It was at Passover that Joshua prepared to go into battle. The Captain of the host of Israel, standing on the plains of Jordan, confronted Joshua before he was to lead the army against Jericho, saying, “As Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come” (Joshua 5:14), Joshua bowed down and worshiped under the shadow of that two-edged sword.
This was symbolic, for Joshua had begun his ministry with a Word from God: This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth.… Joshua 1:8.
Because of his dedication to that word, God would make his way prosperous and give him success. Never did Joshua deviate from being absolutely absorbed in the Word of God; and when it was necessary, that Word came forth even to regulate the laws of nature and to supersede them in authority and power. He made the sun stand still at Gibeon and the moon over the valley of Aijalon until the battle was finished (Joshua 10:12–13.)
At this time God is teaching us something significant about the Passover. Early in the New Testament the Word came, as John the Baptist said, … Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. John 1:29.
At the present-day Passover, it becomes even more real to us that He is our Lamb. His blood averted judgment from our hearts, brought us deliverance from the demonic assaults, and succeeded in taking our feet out of the fetters of bondage that held us.
Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, is the book of destiny. It speaks of people who will have a destiny ministered to them according to God’s grace and provision.
Revelation 5:2 asks the question: “Who is worthy to open the book?” No one was found worthy until one of the elders spoke, saying, “The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the mighty conqueror, is worthy.” Then the Apostle John turned and saw a Lamb as if it had been slain. The Lamb comes into the picture continually, whether it is the Lamb who brings salvation to us, the Lamb who strengthens us in our wilderness wanderings, or the Lamb we partake of at the threshold of the conquest of all the blessings that God has promised us. The Passover is always a real experience.
The book of Exodus tells of the Passover that was kept in Egypt. Numbers describes the Passover in the wilderness. At the threshold of their entering Canaan, different instructions were given concerning the place where offerings were to be made and feasts kept: “In the place that God chooses” (Deuteronomy 12:5, 11, 14). These directions were not given in Egypt or in the wilderness. Joshua had a different kind of Passover—a Passover on the threshold of possessing. It is one thing to experience a Passover that liberates; it is quite another to have a Passover that sustains us in the wilderness dealings of God. And still completely different is the Passover Lamb that strengthens our hands and makes us a part of the Joshua company that goes in and takes our heritage in the Lord. It is one thing to view Him as the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world; it is another thing to view Him as the Lamb who is worthy to open and unseal the book of our destiny, to open up before the remnant of God all the things God has planned and chosen for us and to make them real to our hearts. This is what the Passover has become to us. It is the strength to conquer. It is the strength of the living Word.
We read that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, but what was it like to see Him walk about as a man and know that the Word was God and that the Word was with God? The age-old Trinitarian doctrines must be explored again because Jesus is called the beginning of the creation of God (Revelation 3:14). This does not take away from His Deity or His Sonship in any way, but it will give us an even greater revelation as we draw closer to the Lord. We will not think less of Him, but more. When we read in John 1:2, The same was in the beginning with God, we are not disturbed as to the Deity of Christ; instead, it is being established to our hearts. He is the Word made flesh who dwells among us. What a mystery—God incarnate in flesh! What an amazing thing to see that the Word which was with God, the Word that was God, was made flesh. People saw it, listened to it, and handled that Word of life. They remarked, “Never a man spoke as this man” (John 7:46). That was the understatement of all times, of generations past and those yet to come. They did not grasp it because it was God speaking.
The same voice said, “All things were made by Him” (John 1:3). Our blessed Lord was the agency of the Father in all creation. God said, “Let there be,” and because He spoke, it was created and it came to pass. Then all that God is, Father, Son, and Spirit, came to be realized when He said, Let us make man in our image.… Genesis 1:26. It is as though man, in some unique way, becomes the image of the fullness and completeness of God.
With the spirit of antichrist in the world now, how shall we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error? According to 1 John 4:2–3, every spirit that confesses not that Jesus is come in flesh is a false spirit; it is of Satan. People who do not understand this passage endeavor to confront the spirit in a demon-possessed person, asking, “Do you confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh?” That is not what this Scripture is saying. The devils knew and confessed that fact freely, even when Jesus came the first time. They said, “We know who You are” (Mark 5:1–7). Many times Jesus rebuked them to prevent their voicing who He was.
How then do we test the spirits? The question, correctly stated, is this: “Do you confess that Jesus Christ is come in man’s flesh today?” The mystery and the seal of all that God is doing is not that Jesus Christ came in the flesh of one man whom we call the lonely Nazarene, who walked along the shores of Galilee, who sat upon the mountain, who taught the people, who broke the loaves and fishes and fed the multitude. The issue is not whether Jesus Christ came forth in the flesh of one man, or whether the eternal Word was incarnate in one man’s flesh.
That was indeed true; but in this day, the purpose of the living Word is to see Christ coming forth in your life and in my life. Once again the living Word of God will be spoken through a company of believers. The test of who is antichrist or apostate Babylon will be found in their refusal to believe in the living Word that is coming forth from the remnant, in their refusal to believe that the eternal Word is being made flesh in a many-membered Body. This is the true test.
God is moving for us to go in to conquer with the sharp two-edged sword ministry under the Captain of the Lord’s hosts, spoken of in Joshua 5. He is saying to us, “I am the Captain. I have come to lead you. You shall not cease to meditate upon My Word. You shall listen to it until it is not only written on the tablets of your heart, but until you become God’s mouthpiece to speak the Word of the Lord as did the early Church.” His Word becomes a living thing in us and a living thing through us.
The early Church went forth and preached Jesus. In the book of Acts we read repeatedly that the Word of God increased, the Word of God multiplied, and the Word of God prevailed.
That situation did not exist during the days of the Reformation of the Church, nor does it exist in this hour. The Church has emphasized preaching, explaining, and expounding the Scriptures. Sermons are preached about the Word of the Lord.
In this hour, we realize that God does not need to be explained; He only needs mouthpieces who will speak His Word. We are not to become simply explainers or commentators on the Word; instead, our very lives and what we speak is to be God. This will be the issue: “Is God speaking?” People may ask for book and chapter and verse to explain what God is speaking, not realizing that something new is coming forth, a new edition—living epistles, read and known of all men (2 Corinthians 3:2).
Will that make the Bible obsolete? No, it will make the Book more necessary than ever before. You must understand that it is no longer to be cold and impersonal—black print on a white page. He is going to write His Word in your heart until it becomes a living Word within you. The Word will indeed be made flesh and you will speak His Word and bring it forth in the name of the Lord. The words will leap from the page and will be written on the tablets of your heart, and you will be proclaimers and speakers of His Word. This is what God has in mind.
What Joshua did was good: he meditated on God’s Word and it became living to him; but even Joshua did not see the day we are in. Our weapons are not to be carnal. We do not march forth with spears. When we get into a tight squeeze, we do not need to have the Lord make the sun stand still or send a swarm of hornets to discourage the enemy coming against us. We do not need that in this day, but we do need to stand with the sharp two-edged sword which is the Word of God, and speak that Word while principalities and powers fall and the will of God is accomplished. The book of Revelation gives us a tremendous picture of how it will happen. We see our Lord upon the white horse and His name is The Word of God. The armies of heaven follow Him (Revelation 19:11–16), and we are a part of the armies. With the sword that goes out of His mouth He will smite the nations.
True judgments will surely come, but the judgments are not going to come as they have in days gone by. When Israel and Judah sinned, it was amazing how God raised up someone to deal with them. The prophet Habakkuk could not understand why God would use Syria to punish Israel, when Syria was far more wicked than the Israelites whom they were to punish. God gave him the answer, “I will not only punish My people by the instrument I have chosen, but I will judge the instrument also.” This He did. God does not have to use that means anymore. Whatever means He uses, the ultimate agency of all judgment will be the living Word through the mouths of His saints as they stand and prophesy. We are becoming aware of how much the course of everything that comes against us changes as we prophesy according to God’s leading. Even the weather gives way to the will of God being done as we prophesy.
The Word of God in the mouths of His people is going to be the prime cause and the instrument in the hand of God to change the destiny of nations and to bring in the Kingdom. It is rightly called the living Word. Just as God first spoke, “Let there be,” and it came to pass, so the Word of God in the mouths of His people will also become creative. Ezekiel saw this in vision. He had been taken captive to Babylon, approximately within the same decade as Daniel. Daniel was in the palace, whereas Ezekiel was out in the country by the river prophesying to the exiles. By spiritual transportation, he was picked up in the Spirit and shuttled back and forth between Jerusalem and Babylon. Some people believe that the miracles of God recorded in the Bible were accomplished by creatures from other planets who came to earth in flying saucers. What people will invent to avoid believing in God!
One time Ezekiel was picked up and set down in a valley full of bones. God asked him, “Can these bones live?”
“Thou knowest, Lord.”
“Prophesy to them.” Ezekiel began to prophesy, and the Spirit moved upon the bones and they came together. As he prophesied, the Lord laid flesh and sinew upon the bones. Then the Spirit breathed upon them and they stood up, an exceedingly great army (Ezekiel 37:1–14).
This is not the kind of prophesying that Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 14. That was the pattern of the Church age and it still stands; however, the pattern of prophecy in the Kingdom adds to it. In the New Testament Church, prophecies are to edify (build up), to exhort (stir up), and to comfort (cheer up). We still prophesy to build up, to stir up, and to cheer up; but we must also be set to believe to prophesy as Ezekiel did, and turn loose a mighty creative force. If a service is dead, it is your fault. Prophesy to the bones. Prophesy to the Body of Christ. Prophesy muscles on the Body. Be stirred in your spirit, because the Word is to be made flesh again in this hour. We are to be released from our limitations—miraculously and supernaturally! In this day the appropriation of the fullness of Christ is to be a reality within our lives. Let us have faith for these things.
In this day we are not going to keep the Passover that the Israelites kept, but that which Moses and Joshua experienced. What is the difference? The people were the recipients of the Passover. They killed the lambs, put the blood on the doors, and thereby judgment was averted from them. That experience was on a lower plane than that of Moses and Joshua who had to make the Passover happen. Hebrews 11:28 states that by faith Moses instituted the Passover. It was not only a matter of obedience; it was a matter of faith. By faith he did this.
There was a great deal of difference between the ministry that came through Noah and the ministry that came to his sons, his wife, and all the animals. They were the recipients of a provision of salvation; but Noah, by his faithfulness, condemned the world (Hebrews 11:7). He judged it. In the present-day Passover, God is not only bringing the ministry of deliverance to all who need it, but He is making it a ministry of faith that literally believes God to deal with the situation, a faith that projects things into being. Moses made it happen and Joshua made it happen. These men believed that God was going to do something in the earth, but that it would not happen automatically.
When God wanted to speak to the world, He sent His Son; and the Word was made flesh. One day, the Word that was made flesh said, “Now you have seen the Father and you have heard what He had to say. You know all about Him.” Philip spoke up, “Show us the Father; then we will be satisfied.” Jesus asked him, “Have I been so long a time with you and you have not known Me? He that has seen Me has seen the Father. He that has heard Me has heard the Father” (John 14:7–9). People are saying, “We are looking for Jesus. We are waiting for the trumpet. We want a rapture.” Like the Greeks in the account of John 12:20–21, they are saying, “Sirs, we would see Jesus.” Some may even be so deceived that they will go out to the desert to find Him. Others will say that He is in a certain inner chamber, and they will rush there; but they will miss Him.
Do you want to see Him? Do you want to hear Him? It is not quite clear yet, but it is beginning to come through. The Word is being made flesh in a many-membered Body. He is coming to be admired in His saints and to be glorified in all those who believe. The revelation is coming forth. Do not think of divine order as an end in itself. The divine order, the apostolic Word, the apostolic company, are not an end in themselves. They are a means to an end. When Noah built the ark, his objective was not merely to build a boat. That boat was only a means to an end. Likewise, the New Testament Church pattern that God is restoring today in the ministries, the apostolic Word, the teaching and principles of the Kingdom, the many sons who are rising with faithfulness and with a true Word from God, is all for one purpose—that a creative Word of God may be spoken. As Israel sang for the wells to spring up, as the princes and nobles dug with scepter and staves, so shall the ministries prophesy to you until you, in turn, also become a vehicle of the Word of God—until the Word is made flesh in the many-membered Body which speaks the Word of the Lord (Numbers 21:17–18).
Like a mighty devastating army that does not break rank, does not thrust one another through, that many-membered Body will go through the land. Though it be like Eden before them, they will leave a wilderness behind them, for they will speak the Word of the Lord and the judgments will fall (Joel 2:3).
They will speak the Word and many things will be created. They are going to see the things that will open up for their children and their children’s children, as they see the doors and the gates of the Kingdom unlocked. The mysteries and the secrets of wisdom will be unveiled again.
The seals shall be taken from the Book. It will be a day of abounding wisdom and knowledge as the living Word flows forth. The wicked will not understand, but the wise will understand. Do not look for the changes to come in the circumstances. The world will change, but that will be an effect. The changes will be wrought in us and through us.
Some may misunderstand the things that God is showing us in this hour and say that we have no need for the Bible anymore. That is not true. The Protestants say that the Catholics are guilty of Mariolatry, of worshiping and praying to Mary. The Catholics counterattack and say that the Protestants are guilty of bibliolatry, of exalting and worshiping the Bible. That must be corrected. We are not worshiping the Bible as a book. We are accepting it as the Word of God, but we go a little further; we expect to see that Word channeled in us and through us in reality.
If we look upon the Bible as something remote from us, we have missed the revelation of the Bible. The purpose of the Bible is to bring the Church to the position which Colossians 3:16 speaks of: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Out of the richness of God’s Word within us, this takes place. The viewpoint of Protestant Fundamentalists falls short of this because they are still exalting the Bible as something apart from the believer. Its revelation must be brought into personal reality. If it is only considered as a book of history or doctrine, it has no real meaning. If you believe that it was inspired, then let it inspire you! If you believe it is the Word of God, then let the Word of God dwell in you richly, for the Bible means nothing if it does not transfer the life of God into your life. It must be made flesh in a manymembered Body.
The prayer of Jesus in John 17 is about the oneness of Christ with His Body. “As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word” (note that very carefully: they will believe in Christ through their Word): “that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.” John 17:18–21.
That oneness will be manifested in Christ coming forth in all of them as one Body. Just as the Father came forth in Christ, so the Father and the Son will now come forth in us. If you believe that the fullness of the Father dwells in Christ, you must believe what He has said—that the fullness of God will dwell in us. There is no distinction in it.