One of the beautiful things seen in the fresh birth of the early Church was their spontaneous moving into divine order. It was not something difficult which had to be taught to them. Because they had not learned a wrong way that had to be unlearned, they readily came into line with the true pattern that they were to follow.
The second chapter of Acts describes it: So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common. Acts 2:41–44. In that beautiful togetherness, in their dedication to the apostolic Word and their continual practice of fellowship, the family of God came forth. The divine order in all things was natural to them.
At today’s stage of the restoration of New Testament order, Christians have many traditions to unlearn. During the five or six hundred years since the Protestant Reformation, the restoration has been progressing slowly. In fact, most of the Protestants still need some reformation. The restoration can no longer be identified as only the Protestant Reformation, because at this time, we are truly seeing restoration among the Roman Catholics also. There never has been a time like the present, when millions of Roman Catholics are being filled with the Holy Spirit and are speaking with tongues and entering into the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
We must understand what is taking place.
The living Word that God is speaking in this day is so revolutionary and so battled that only a small minority of Christians are willing to accept it.
As a remnant of God’s people move on to deeper revelation, they will be looked upon as speckled birds (Jeremiah 12:9). However, the restoration will continue to accelerate, and the present truths which are being battled today by principalities and powers will be accepted tomorrow by a greater segment of people.
Large basic segments of apostolic foundational truths are being restored to the Church so rapidly that many will probably find it difficult to apply them.
In the early Church, the believers walked in the truths much more readily than believers do today, for they have so many traditions to unlearn. God must erode the false foundation from under them until it collapses. His living Word is doing that very thing.
Believers who are walking in divine order today must look to the Lord for the expanding vision of what His order is to be. God is raising up an end-time company of believers, a remnant who will not become a denomination; neither will they become a law unto themselves and form some independent walk.
They will not become segregated and isolated as a little group who think they are the only people of God and that wisdom will die with them. They will recognize that they are simply an ordained segment in the Kingdom of God.
God has many ways of working to bring to pass His purposes. In Old Testament times He chose Ezekiel to be a watchman on the wall (Ezekiel 3:17). Today God again has prophets who visualize the things that are coming, lest the enemy should overtake His people or deception be their portion. Lest the purposes of God be frustrated, men again give warning and guidance in directive prophecies. God is raising up a prophetic community upon whom the anointing of the Lord is to rest. They are to go out and position themselves so that those who are hungry and looking for light can find the way.
In the days of American history before the Civil War there was a system called the Underground Railroad. It was not really a railroad. Sometimes it was a ferryboat crossing a river or a lake. Sometimes it was just a little hunter’s cabin tucked away in the wilderness. It provided a way for the slaves who were breaking through to freedom to find help as they made their way up into states where they would be recognized as free men. The stigma that was upon the black people was also suffered by many who were seven-eights white; they, too, were sold into slavery because of that small Negro heritage. They suffered the same barbaric cruelties as the black people, cruelties which were sometimes perpetrated by their white relatives. People who loved God and hated slavery provided a way to get those people through to freedom.
This illustrates the way that God will bring people out of Babylon. In the coming days, we will find that divine order, like an “underground railroad,” will be the means whereby hungry people can be smuggled out of Babylonian traditions and brought into freedom. They must be conditioned to freedom and literally liberated because Babylon is slavery; it is not just an organization. It has placed mental and spiritual chains upon its people. These chains are invisible, but they are there, nevertheless; and the people must be liberated from them. That will not be done unless God has a people who are moving on in the grace of God in divine order. Then they will be able to liberate others to move into this grace.
In order to walk with God now, we must become revolutionaries in the true sense. Revolutionaries without submission give birth to anarchy, but revolutionaries who are under divine order will bring in the Kingdom. We must keep that firmly in mind. There has to be a way whereby we become wholly submissive to the Lord. Although it will be difficult, we must live with continual violence against slavery, bondage, and oppression of every kind, and at the same time find ourselves totally and irrevocably dedicated to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the perfect rule and order that He is bringing forth in His Kingdom.
The Communists had a way of achieving their purposes. They train men to become revolutionaries, wholly dedicated to revolution; but these men are not permitted to be a part of the new government that is set up. When the Communists move in and take over a country, they kill the revolutionaries.
They did this in Cuba and in other countries too. Why do they kill them? On the human level, it is almost impossible for a man to destroy one order and still have a real dedication to build a right order.
Most revolutionaries are not dedicated to building; they are only dedicated to destroying an establishment. We must have a dedication that exceeds their dedication. While continually crying against that which is out of order, we must cry to God for that which is in divine order. This is not a middle-of-the-road process; it requires a true vision of God’s Kingdom.
As you read about Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, you will find them crying out against the system that was wrong, proclaiming judgment, and prophesying its fall. Their eyes were upon the future. They saw the coming Kingdom, and they were prophesying concerning it. Get this vision clearly within your heart: down with the old and up with the new that God brings forth! It is not easy to see.
Only an incurably naive and romantic person, one who lives in the past with his head in the sand of traditions, can accept the present state of affairs in the world. This is an age in which people make much ado about nothing. While the world is going berserk, some are even becoming so stirred up about ecology that it seems they would actually dedicate their whole lives trying to perpetuate certain endangered species of animals. It is true that the world is ready to die in the midst of its own garbage and pollution, but why not forget about that and work to bring forth the Kingdom? When the Kingdom comes into full manifestation, God will bring forth species of animals that we have never thought of before. Why try to cling to an age that is dying? Let us give ourselves to bringing in the Kingdom. Cease to merely exist. Live your days with purpose and direction. Keep on top of the spirit of this age in your thinking. Keep your spirit focused upon the Lord. Redeem the time because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16).
Whether or not you understand everything that God is doing, your spiritual protection will be found in being a part of the order that He is restoring. It is essential to realize that every ministry that God raises up will have some area of weakness. This is deliberate on God’s part because the ministries are not to be infallible. They are to have an area in which they can be complete only by what other members of the Body of Christ supply. This is true of an apostle as well as a prophet or any other ministry. They need your prayers, and you need their ministry. There must be a mutual submission and exchange in order that God’s plans can be fulfilled.
Endeavor, above everything else, to find the leading of the Lord, because there must be a breakthrough into another dimension, much like the mirror in Alice in Wonderland. There is a way to walk through into another dimension, on the other side of the mirror. Now we see through a glass dimly, but on the other side of it we are going to know even as we are known. Then we will no longer prophesy in part, but there will be a perfect revelation to our hearts (I Corinthians 13:9–12). This breakthrough into another dimension will be achieved by the individuals who move collectively as a body. The breakthrough into the next age will be made by the company of the sons of God, not by an individual son here and there. The great victory over Satan and the great manifestation of the Kingdom will come about through the unity of the Body of Christ and the oneness with which we love one another and stand together.
Do you have a dread or a fear—like icy hands gripping your heart—of the days and weeks and months slipping away from you? Do you find that the truths which God has shown you are becoming so elusive that you cannot really walk in them? Promises that were very real, hopes and visions that burned in your heart, may become dim as you go along and become distracted. If the devil cannot defeat you, he will try to distract you and use all of your time against you. His strategy resembles that used by the basketball team which is winning the game. With only a few minutes of time left, they start stalling, passing the ball back and forth. Their objective is to keep it out of the hands of the opposing team. They do not need any more points; so they just pass the ball back and forth so that the time will run out and they will win by their margin of points. Let us not fail to see that the enemy will use the same tactics with us, keeping us so busy and preoccupied doing so many things that we fail to set our hearts to the true course, with a determination to win the race. Apply yourself and give diligence to God’s promises concerning you. Pray over them. Cry over them.
Every member in the Body of Christ has an individual ministry to fulfill, and while they fulfill it collectively, they still attain it by a personal dedication and by having the work of the cross worked in them individually. The responsibility cannot be shifted to the pastor. Each one must learn to command his day. Each one must determine how he is going to fulfill his ministry.