THE JUDGMENT OF THE CROSS By J W Luman Part 1 - The Great Division We’re going to be searching the scriptures together now in regard to the great division; the division that is made by The Cross. There is in the heart of God an Eternal division, and you can not cross that division. It is very clear and it is very distinct. And in the Eternal Plan of God primarily this division deals with two men, and in these two men God has summed up all living things. You are in one of these two men: you are represented by one of these two men. You are either found in Adam or you are found in Christ. Now the problem is just this: most Christians, most people do not understand the clarity, the greatness of the division between those two. Most of us claim to be in Christ; we want to associate ourselves with Him, in matters of Salvation, heaven - spiritual things. But in other things, we want to associate ourselves with Adam. We want to be in Christ and live like a human. We want to be in Christ and have spiritual thoughts, spiritual goals, but we still maintain ambitions after the flesh. In other words, we confuse the divide, and when it’s convenient we associate ourselves with Christ. For instance, now it’s convenient: we’re all here, we’re singing songs, and we’re associating ourselves with Christ - we’re all spiritual! But how about this afternoon? When you’re not sitting here, when we’re not singing songs, when you’re in your home or out somewhere in the street; facing problems, facing situations - with whom do you associate then? And more than that, when there is the necessity of making a decision; more than that, when there is the necessity of making a commitment - with whom do you identify? Adam or Christ? Flesh or Spirit? That’s the question, and it’s a very great question. Now the whole Bible lays in those two divisions. The very center of the Bible is The Cross. And The Cross is not just a place or a thing: The Cross is an understanding concerning Christ. To you and I The Cross is an understanding concerning Christ. It’s not separate from Christ, it is understanding Him in His death, His burial and His resurrection. It’s understanding Him in that way as He relates to us. It’s understanding our relationship to Christ; our relationship to Him in His death, in His burial, in His resurrection, because that’s where the divide comes. That’s where it comes in our hearts, that’s where it came in the Person of Christ. It didn’t come when He was born of the Virgin. He was born under the law, made of a woman, made under the law, made a little lower. He became the old, He became the first. So the division didn’t come when He was born to Mary. For Him the division came at The Cross, where everything He had become, everything that He had become.. Think about it... everything died at The Cross. And that’s where the division came. Now, we have a new name for the division - the dead and the living. Everything that He became - DIES! He didn’t merely bring it to an end. He died! And then He came forth in the Resurrection. He came forth as The Resurrection. Do you know what that means? It doesn’t mean that He was merely raised from the dead. He was raised from the dead, but it’s more than that. He said, “I Am The Resurrection.” That means He is the life of all who would live. It means that on the second side of The Cross there are not a bunch of living things: THERE’S JUST ONE WHO LIVES! But we don’t understand that. We want to see dead things on the first side of The Cross, and we want to see living things on the other side. Now on the first side you can see dead things (plural), but here at The Cross, all of those dead things became One dead man. Your Bible says when one died, all became dead with him. What a great dead! It had to be a great dead, because it reached all the way back to Adam. You remember Adam? In Adam God saw all mankind, and God said, Thou shalt surely die. The Cross reaches all the way back to Adam. Christ reaches all the way back to Adam. The death of Christ reaches all the way back to Adam; He brings it into Himself. The Bible says as it is appointed unto man once to die, so Christ died. The promise is fulfilled in Christ. The promise that God made to Adam, the promise God made to the first man: sin - and you die. At The Cross - he died! Man, all, became one dead man. There’s nothing that death didn’t touch; nothing escaped it. Man did not escape it, creation did not escape it, the universe did not escape it. It was all made by Him and for Him. So that He may sum it up in Himself, bring it to nothing, and become the firstborn and head of a New Creation. When the Bible says old things are passed away: that’s exactly what it means. We don’t understand that; religious people do not understand that, because we’re always trying to bring something over here in Christ. We always want something to occupy His place. We must understand that whatever we bring over - in our hearts, in our minds, occupies His place. Do you know what the scriptural term for that is? I’m telling you the truth - Antichrist! Substitute for Christ. That term is found in your Bible four times - Antichrist. Christ occupies that side of The Cross - without Him this side doesn’t exist! This is The Resurrection, this is The Life, this is the New, this is the Second Man. Here is the last Adam - at The Cross, but here is The Second Man - Life Giving Spirit. If you take Him away ... there’s nothing! If in our hearts, if in our minds we see ourselves there: any of those pronouns: me, you, I, ourselves - immediately we become Antichrist. Now this is the Truth. Immediately we begin to wear the mark of a dead man, a stinking man - Antichrist. We think ourselves to be alive, therefore we think ourselves to be God, because only He can live. The mark comes into our head: everything we think, we think like this man. The mark comes into our hand: everything we do, everything we set our hand to do, we do it as that man. The Spirit of God looks and says, what are you doing here? You died at The Cross! What are you doing here? You at The Cross received a mortal wound, you died in the Person of The Son, but now you have revived yourself. You have revived yourself in your own mind and in the eyes of unlearned people, and in the eyes of those who would follow the flesh. You have revived yourself in the great lie. You are at war against The Lamb! You are a perversion to The Cross! The great deceit, the great deception! That judgment, that understanding, that division of The Cross has not come in most hearts. Like Uzziah of old, King Uzziah during the time of Isaiah, he went into the temple of God to do worship. He was not properly clothed, he was not a priest. He was a King, but he was not the King/Priest. And the Holy Spirit, the priesthood dealt with him concerning The Cross. How so? Because all the sacrifices were a type of The Cross, the furniture in the temple was a type of The Cross. They dealt with Uzziah on the basis of The Cross. Uzziah rebelled. “I have a right to be here!” And immediately - not the next day - immediately he became leprous from head to foot. Do you know what that means? Leprosy is the true condition of uncrucified flesh. One Bible scholar defines leprosy as human flesh turned inside out; flesh totally uncovered, flesh totally exposed, putrefied. King Uzziah looked like that, and he looked like that until the day he died! What happened when he died? Isaiah tells us. “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord.” I saw the Lord where Uzziah tried to be; it wasn’t Uzziah’s place, it was the Lord’s place - High and lifted up, on His Throne in His Temple! Not you and Me. Here it is just Him. We are found in Him not as the old, not as those who have a life of their own, but as those who have come by way of His death, burial and resurrection; as those who understand here it is not me, it is Christ who liveth in me. You can’t bring anything over past The Cross! Immediately the Holy Spirit says NO! You can not come here, it must go back to The Cross, it must go back to the place where it died, it must suffer the judgment. If you will live, all of that must die. You must die, that Christ and Christ only is your life! That’s how great the division is in the heart of God. All of these things we read in the book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ simply describe the two sides of The Cross - the warfare is against The Lamb, trying to regain His Throne, but The Lamb prevails! Those who have died with Him prevail! Those who live by Him prevail! The division is clear one from the other. This is what we’ll be talking about. We’ll be dealing with the terms “all” and “many”, but I want to describe some of the things that are included in those words. Adam, the first man, old man, old tabernacle, old priesthood - old, DEAD. Now on the first side of The Cross man is soulish. He may have spiritual ambitions, but he is soulish. The first is not spiritual, the second is spiritual; the first is of the earth, earthy; the second is The Lord from heaven. On the one side is soul, on this side it is earth and earthy. That means the earth and that which lives like it. Now then, here is dark, here is night, here is first creation, and here is Jerusalem that now is. Jerusalem that now is represents religion. It’s easy to be religious; Christians are religious, Hindus are religious. Religious means that you believe in some form of a higher being, and with regard to that belief you have some kind of a ritual. It may be something very simple. You may pick up a rock every day and throw it into the river. You might light a candle, you might take a flower and hang it around the neck of an idol; it could be a monkey - or whatever. Or, you could go to church on Sunday morning and sit in a pew. That can be a ritual also. My point is - CHRIST IS A LIFE! Not merely a way of life - He lives in me, in you! Not in some abstract way, but in reality. Christ is life. We have Adam, we have Christ. Everything here is fulfilled in Him. The first - the second; old - new; dead - alive; soul - spirit, life giving spirit; earth - heaven; seated with Him, quickened together, raised together, seated together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus! Dark - light; night - day: ye are the children of the day; first creation - New Creation; Jerusalem that now is - Jerusalem that is from above - One New Man. On the one side everything there is many, everything there is dead. On the other side there is One: a very great One; One City, One Temple, One Tabernacle, One Priesthood, One glorious day. It began in The Resurrection and never ends. He is the light of that day, the day is ever dawning - ever dawning; we are ever walking in the light as He is in the light. One Day! He is The Holy Day, He is The Sabbath Day, He is the High Day, He is The Last Day! The Day of The Lord! If you try to bring another day over here, the Antichrist will live in it. We must see this great divide. ONLY ONE REMAINS. All who live, live in Him. Not only in Him; we live by Him. Hear what the Lord says. “At that day...” What day do you suppose that would be? The Day that the Holy Spirit announces; it’s in John 14:20. It’s the day of Christ. It’s not Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday... It’s the Day that He is, the Day that He’s the Light of, The Day that the Spirit of Truth reveals. At that Day ye shall know. Now you can’t know in the dark, and you can’t know in the night, because in the Bible dark and night represent a condition, and part of that condition is the condition of ignorance. You can’t know except in the day. I can’t tell you how great this is, because most Christians try to understand the Bible from the standpoint of the night, they try to find the great promises of the Bible in the night, they try to find them in the first creation. But they are not there; they are only in Christ. In Him dwells a new heaven, a new earth, a new creation, You and I as New Creatures, as One New Man dwell in Him. “At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” This is what we come to know when we walk in the day, when we walk in the light as He is in the light. And in this understanding we have fellowship one with another, for we are children of the day, not of the night. Ye were once darkness, but now He has translated you from the power of darkness into the kingdom of His Dear Son. So why look into the night? This whole first creation is the night. Why look into the night for those things that can only be found in the day? So Paul says in Colossians 3, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things that are above...” The proper translation is seek those things that are above where you sit in Christ; “set your heart not on things on earth, for you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Except this judgment come into our hearts, except at The Cross, in Christ, we see all of these things dead...how do we do that? We see ourselves dead. When we pass away, all of this passes away with us. And then in His face, we see ourselves alive again, yet not I, Christ liveth in me! A greater man, much greater Man, a Glorious Man! Why? Because He isn’t an old man made better - a New Man - CHRIST ALL AND IN ALL! That’s the Christ you must declare. You declare Him who is in you, you declare Him as out from you, as a River of Living Water! Not as one who is far off, but as One Who lives in His Own Body, in His Own Creation. Let me read some verses that have to do with the dividing. Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is quick (living, alive), and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” Here we understand that the Word of God that is spoken of is a Person. Not only that, we understand that it is The Person of Christ, and beyond that it is Christ in identification with The Cross, because there is a division here. Everything relates to The Cross: The Cross is not a place, it’s not just two sticks of wood. He was a Lamb slain before the foundation of the world! John saw Him as a Lamb as though He were slain. For you and I The Cross is a condition of understanding. We are understanding Christ in His death, the fulness of it, in His burial, in His resurrection. This Living Word is governed by The Cross: He is able to divide the dead from the living, the soul man from the Spirit - Christ. He is able to divide that day as soul, that day as soulish; from that day as Spirit, from that which is spiritual. That is the greatest division in the Word of God and very few comprehend that division. Only The Cross can make it clear. There’s no other way to understand that division. How do you divide what God made man to be in the first creation, from that which Christ is now; and is made unto us in the second creation, in the New Creation? How do you divide that? Theologians can’t do it, words in your Bible can not do it. There are over 40 different translations of those two words in your Bible - soul and Spirit. Natural light just can’t do it, but finally everything is divided at The Cross - Thank God! Finally everything has to come to The Cross for its final judgment. That’s the reason the writer of this epistle uses these two terms. They are the two terms in the Bible that are the hardest to divide: old humanity from new, that which God made man to be and that which by Christ the New Man is. Only The Cross can divide that, only in coming to the judgment of The Cross would it ever be clear in you and I. Only then can our soul truly become submissive and obedient to The Eternal Spirit. Before that division our soul will always seek a life of its own. Ultimately it will seek a “spiritual” life of its own. Our soul will march right into the House of God, it will set itself right on the Throne, and it will say, Put the Crown on me! - except we come to The Cross. There we see the division, there we see none lives but by Him - The Eternal, Everlasting, Life Giving Spirit - CHRIST HIMSELF! He is The Living Word. He is The Word of God in you, He is the only Word of God by which we can understand the scripture. He is The Word of God by which we can rightfully divide the scripture. What am I saying? I’m saying He must be revealed in you, or in your heart, in your mind; you walk in darkness, you walk in the night. But if we’ll bring our hearts to The Cross and say, “Oh God, reveal Your Son in me, let this judgment come into me, let this division come into me, reveal The Son.” Then in the brightness of His presence, in the brightness of His appearing the division is made, the darkness is done away and we walk in the light.” One more verse. 1 Timothy 4:1, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick (living) and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.” Verse 8, “ Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness...” What does the Bible say? “ Christ is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.” This is speaking of the renewing of the mind, the wearing of His righteousness as a crown. “...which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” This word “appearing” is a Greek word that means “to shine upon”, like the sun shines. Another verse will explain that. 2 Corinthians 4:6, “ For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Do you want to walk in “that day”, that great day, that day of salvation, that day of righteousness, that day of His appearing, that day of which He is the light? Do you want to walk in that day, or do you want to stumble around in the darkness? “FATHER, REVEAL THY SON IN ME! BRING INTO ME THE JUDGMENT, LET THERE BE THE DIVIDING, THAT I MAY BE FOUND IN CHRIST!” ADAM CHRIST ONE The First The Second The First Man The Second Man The Old The New Dead Living The Soul The Spirit Darkness Light Night Day The First Creation The New Creation Jerusalem that Now is Jerusalem from Heaven Earth Heaven ---------------------------- ---------------------------- One City One Temple Many One Tabernacle One Priesthood One Glorious Day ---------------------------- --------------------------- Many seeds One Seed THE CROSS Part 2 - The Old Creation versus The New Creation Our search is on the division or the great judgment of The Cross. In the light of the Eternal Plan of God, God’s dealing with mankind, primarily all things are divided between two men. We can put “all things” here, but primarily that can be summed up in one man - Adam, and the last man, a New Man - Christ. Basically that divides the Bible: God seeing everything either as Adam, in Adam, or as Christ, in Christ. It’s just that clear. It’s a profound mystery and can only be revealed by the Spirit of God. This dividing, this judging...I keep using this word “judgment” because that’s the true word. Turn to John 12:31, “ Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” Jesus is speaking of The Cross. This begins in verse 23: The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. He ends in verse 32,33. “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” And He did that. He was lifted up, and when He was lifted up, which speaks of the manner of His death, and that speaks a great deal, He drew into Himself all mankind. Remember we’ve said The Cross reached all the way back to Adam, and drew it into Himself. “I will draw unto Me all men.” Then when One died, all died with Him. That’s the great divide, that’s the great judgment. What could possibly be a greater judgment than that? Think about it: what could be a greater judgment than being nailed on a cross and dying? In Him, we did! We died! Not only is there no more judgment left, there’s nobody left to judge! The judgment is come! Now that judgment is everlasting in Christ; all men are brought to that judgment. We were brought to that judgment in Christ, and we’re brought to that judgment today, and we’ll be brought to that judgment tomorrow. But my point is: THE JUDGMENT IS COME! And when it comes in you and I, by it we are judged. That’s the reason the Bible says judge not one another, because as one we’re judged at The Cross. That’s the judgment. This is the judgment. Jesus says judge not one another, neither condemn one another, because we’re condemned at The Cross. Now the judgment by which we judge, the understanding by which we understand one another is - The Cross. “ For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead.” That judgment goes on: “Therefore we cannot live unto ourselves, but unto Him who died and rose again.” That judgment continues: “ Henceforth know we no man after the flesh; yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now know we him no more.” That judgment continues: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.” It is a continuing judgment by which you are judged: that judgment, that government of The Cross. See, THE CROSS GOVERNS EVERYTHING! Everything God has ever done, in type, in shadow, in pattern or in the fulfillment of His Son, or in His dealing with you and I, is all governed by The Cross. That’s the truth, it is very clear in the scriptures. The government of The Cross is seen in everything God had ever done. It is seen in creation, the principle of it is there in the first creation, the pattern of it is there. And then what is in principle and pattern in the first creation comes to be fulfilled in The Cross, and comes to be expressed in a New Creation. And it’s the same all the way through the scripture: the government of The Cross, the dividing of the living from the dead, the soulish from the Spirit, the first man from the second. We’re going to look at that. I have in mind to deal with this judgment using four different aspects: using one creation - the old creation versus the New; then secondly using One Seed; then thirdly One Son, and fourthly One Testimony. Now we’ll look at it in this One Creation. Creation is man. New Creation is a New Man. The first creation relates to the dirt and is soulish, and that soulishness becomes selfishness, self centeredness. But the Second Man is Spirit, but more than that, He is The Eternal Spirit, He is The Lord from heaven. This is where the mystery comes in, this is where The Holy Spirit must open the eyes of our understanding. This is where the judgment comes it. It makes a difference between our trying to be like Jesus, and our understanding that our life is Jesus. Now in Genesis 1 we’ll look at this division. Remember, everything that God is doing from Genesis to Malachi He is doing in type, in shadow, in pattern of that which will be fulfilled in Christ. Consequently everything from Genesis to Malachi is governed by The Cross. We’ll see that here. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.” Now we must notice that God did not say, “let there be darkness.” Where there is no light there is darkness. Darkness does not have to be created. Darkness is the condition where no light dwells. It is the light that creates the division; the coming of light creates the division. What a tremendous truth that is! IN YOU it is so. “ God commanded the light to shine out of darkness..” We read that. How did He do that? He shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Here that is in principle, here that is in pattern. In Christ it is in fulfillment. Darkness is divided from day; night divided from day - in you! Because He is that light! The light spoken of in these first verses in Genesis is not the sun, it is CHRIST. We’ll see the sun, the moon and the stars later. They are for this first creation, they are for this creation of darkness. They are lesser lights, they are for signs and wonders and times. They simply point to the day of Christ; they simply point to the light that is coming; that’s all they are for, the Bible says that. But this light that divides the darkness, that divides the day from the night, this light is Christ! In Him was life, and that Life was Light! It had to be that way, because even in creation, the Cross is governing. You see the pattern here, but it’s fulfilled in a New Creation, it’s fulfilled in Christ. Isn’t it a shame that so many who are in Christ still walk in the delight of the old? We still judge by times and seasons, we are still looking to the lesser lights for signs. The answer to them has already come - a New Creation where you don’t need that sun for light, and you don’t need that moon for a sign, and you don’t need those stars for wonders. It’s all in Him - He is the bright morning star! Yes, He is the glory of The Father, and He is The Son that is brighter than the noon day! You only need to see Him and to walk in the light as He is in the light. We need to read the Bible that way. We need to interpret the scripture that way. We need to look in the scripture, wherever you look, and see The Testimony of HIM! Verse 5, “ And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” What we’re seeing here is a divine pattern of the order of creation. Let there be light - and the light comes. And there is a dividing of the light and the darkness. And now the pattern continues: first it is heaven. First in the order of things is the heavenly. See, man reversed that order, but Christ, at The Cross, redeemed that order. With man it is always like this: body, soul, spirit. But with God it is always Spirit, soul, body - it is always like that. Now that seems very simple, but it requires a great judgment - the Judgment of The Cross. Verse 9, “ And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.” The very first act of God concerning creation was the act of dividing. Darkness, which He called Night, from the light, which He called Day. Do you see that in the very beginning The Cross was in control, the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world was in control? The very first act of creation - God divided darkness from light, then He divided earth from heaven. God is showing something here: there is a pattern here. It will be fulfilled in Christ, it is to be expressed in you. Light, day, heaven - all of this answers to Christ. Darkness, night, earth - all of this answers to Adam, the first creation. Now then God did something. In this first creation: darkness, night, earth, God said I will give a sign of the New Creation. I will put a Testimony in it, I’ll put a sign in it. So for this first creation, God gave lesser lights: the sun, the moon and the stars. And in this first creation He created both a day and a night. One would follow the other, cycle after cycle after cycle. There would be night, there would be day, but at the end of every day there would be night again. God put the sign there: never a perfect day, never an endless night - just a sign: the sun, the moon and the stars. He gave days (plural) and weeks and months and years. Why did He do that? Verse 14, “ And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.” The whole thing is a type, it’s a pattern of a creation yet to come, where there is no night, where The Day is endless, where there is no sun or moon or stars for light, but CHRIST HIMSELF IS THE LIGHT! The law of that is established here, the pattern of it is seen here, the division of it is seen here. In this first creation God had to divide the night from the day. Why? Because it is a pattern, and here at The Cross He divides totally the night from the Day. This is the judgment. The Cross divides the old creation, all of its sources of light, all of its cycles of days from that One Eternal Day, that One Eternal Light, that One Eternal Creation in Christ Jesus. Listen, don’t continue to look to the old creation for the greatness of Salvation. In the old creation light comes and goes, here darkness comes and goes. That’s the way it is with most Christians - light comes and goes, darkness comes and goes. But it’s never just light! They’re always in a storm, but over in the New Creation, if there’s a cloud in it - Christ is coming in the cloud! I tell you, it’s a wonderful day; it should be the day we are now declaring in the midst of all this darkness! When you look outside, it looks like light to the natural mind, but that’s as dark as a dungeon, it’s passing away even as we look at it. That’s not the day, The Day is in Him, The Day is in you, THE DAY IS CHRIST! That’s the Day! It is The Cross that makes that so; it divides the one from the other. Then God began to create the living creatures. He turned His attention to this first creation. And in this first creation, to give life to this first creation he created living things. These again are for signs, types and patterns. That’s the truth. He created animals, clean and unclean, as a type, as a pattern. Some would be used for sacrifice, some could not be sacrificed. All of that was pointing to The Cross, all of that was governed by The Cross. But there was one governing factor that was the same with all living creatures, whether it was plant or animal. Everything was created after its own kind. After its own kind - that’s the government of The Cross. THE CROSS ALLOWS NO MIXTURE, none whatsoever. Even on the clothing of the Priest much later, no wool and linen mixed - no mixtures, one kind. This has its perfect fulfillment in Christ. Look at Genesis 1:11,12, “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” Verse 24, 25, “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” Everything was made after its kind. That’s the law of The Cross. The Cross allows no mixture: The Cross does not allow me and Jesus, it just allows Him. It does not allow the seed of man and The Seed of God; it just allows The Seed of God. Everything after its own kind. Now man has completely changed all of that. Nothing is after its own kind any more, but that’s all right because The Cross does away with it all anyway! Now what I’m saying is, we’ve messed up the pattern; and that’s all it ever was: a pattern, a principle. It is fulfilled in Christ. Let’s look a little farther, verse 26. Out of the earth God created man. Man was created that he should bring forth after his own kind, his own seed. God created one man, but He called their name Adam. God saw male and female as one man. This too was in the beginning a pattern, a pattern of a New Man, a New Creation wherein there is neither male nor female, but Christ all and in all. When man disobeyed God, the distinction between male and female was brought in and remains to this day in the flesh. But in Christ it is not so. In Christ we are all sons of God, and yet, in Christ we are all the Bride, and yet, in Christ, we’re all One New Man, and yet, in Christ we are all One Body, married to One Head! I want you to notice something in verse 26. Up until now everything is after his kind. Now God creates man and the wording changes. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Now here’s the point: man is of the first creation, man was not after the kind of God. There’s no usage of the word “kind” here, because if you’re after the kind of God you would have to have the Seed of God in you, whose seed is in itself. The Seed of God was never in that first man - never! The first man was never after the kind of God. This man can only bring forth after his own kind, he can not bring forth after God’s kind; he can not do it. He is a type, a pattern, a shadow. There are two words used in the Hebrew; one is “in our image”. This is the Hebrew definition for the word “image” - to shade, a shadow, a phantom, an illusion, a resemblance, a mere empty image having no substance. Now that thrills me because the Bible says the substance is Christ! This man is not Christ, but a type of Christ, a forerunner of Christ, but he’s not Christ. But you are in Christ, you are born of The Seed of God, you as a New Creation are after the kind of God. God is your Father because you are born of His Seed, and His Seed is in you, and His Seed is Christ! New Creation - New Man! And the word “likeness” has many definitions, but a pattern stands out. It means a model, similitude, fashion, pattern. Do you remember when God spoke to Moses, he spoke of this whole creation, because God summed it all up finally in Moses with the Tabernacle in Israel. He told Moses, see that you do it according to the pattern. Why did He say that? Because everything God did here, He did according to a pattern. It all points to The Cross - all of it. It’s all fulfilled there in Christ. We are not of the pattern, we are of the fulfillment. The pattern stops at The Cross; the fulfillment is in you; you are in Him. Everything that is of the pattern in the first - the Tabernacle, the Law, the Priesthood, the sun, the moon, the stars, the trees, the animals, every living creature, each after its own kind. The reality of it is in you! It was all a pattern; it still is - just a pattern. But the reality is in Christ, and you are in Christ. Let this judgment come into your heart! In the face of Jesus Christ let this judgment come into your heart. We need not preach a New Creation, we need to live a New Creation! We need to give expression to Him, to His coming, to His appearing, to Him - as He is, because as He is, so are we in this earth. But most of us are just too ignorant to know that. Most of us don’t know Him as He is. That’s the mystery, that’s where the Holy Spirit comes in, that’s where we must have Christ revealed, that’s where we must come from darkness into light, that’s where we must come from night into day, that’s where we must come from earth into heaven. God reveal your Son in me! Let this judgment be established and let me walk in the light as He is in the light! Do you see there is a judgment? Do you see there is a dividing? The instrument of that dividing is The Cross. The power of that dividing is His death, burial and resurrection. One man divided from another - the dead from the living. We are of the living - Christ! The dividing asunder of the soul and all that is soulish, from the Spirit and all that is spiritual; that the lesser, the soul may serve the greater, the Spirit. That there may be in fact a transforming of the soul by the power of The Spirit, a renewing of our minds even having the mind of Christ, that we may function as The Body of Christ, and the fulness of Christ in the earth, as true signs and wonders! That we would function as true signs and wonders come into the world, bringing the TRUE LIGHT in the darkness. That’s why we’re here, isn’t it? That’s why we go out from here, isn’t it? I trust that is so! Part 3 - The Judgment Is Come: One Seed/ One Son/One Testimony We’re going to continue with regard to the judgment of The Cross. This judgment of The Cross is a finished judgment, and yet it is a judgment that each of us must face. We who are in Christ are brought up before this judgment, we are brought there by The Holy Spirit; we who are in Christ are brought up before this judgment for righteousness sake. That is to say, there is a dividing that comes into our heart, and we behold the righteousness of God in the very face of Jesus Christ. And immediately everything that is not Christ is judged to be unrighteous. And it is just at that point where you and I are able to say “it is not I, but Christ who liveth in me.” It is a divine realization, a divine discernment, a divine judgment. And from then on we live by that judgment; that is to say, we live by the faith of The Son of God. That is to say, we live in an understanding given of God, and He gives us that understanding as He reveals His Son in us. So we are brought up before this judgment, the judgment that is finished in The Cross, the judgment by which the old is divided from the new, the old man divided from the New Man. Now that actually happened: it took place at The Cross, and therefore must take place in our hearts. And this judgment we’ll read in 1 Peter 4:17. Remember now, this is the judgment of The Cross, but we must also understand something about The Cross: The Cross is synonymous with Christ. You can not divide the two; no where in the Bible can you divide the two. These are not suggestions I’m making. This is the Truth as it is in Christ. Look at the pattern, look at the pattern in the sacrifices. How many Levitical offerings were there? Five. What is the one thing that is the same about all those offerings? The blood of each one of them must come to the brazen altar. The sacrifice, representing Christ, the altar representing The Cross. One is no good without the other. In the pattern they came together and they are one. It is the same in the reality of Christ. Christ crucified - not just dead, but buried; not just buried, but resurrected. The Cross represents the full work of Christ. So does the Tabernacle: the brazen altar, the golden altar, finally the greatest altar of all - the Mercy Seat upon the Ark of the Covenant, representing the total work of Christ - His death, His burial, where our life is hidden with Christ in God, waiting to hear the voice of The Resurrection. And those that hear His Voice, shall live; that is, they shall enter into the understanding that Christ is their life. And this is what the Holy of Holies represents: a divine understanding that Christ is our life. The veil is removed, the glory of God is revealed. He is Christ in you, revealed of The Father! And the veil of flesh is taken away, and we behold with an open face, that is, an unveiled heart. And we behold the very glory of God Himself, and we are transformed into that greater glory, the glory that Christ Himself is! Don’t let me frighten you - we’re just searching for Jesus. But if you follow the scriptures in your search, they will lead you to Christ in you - not off somewhere - IN YOU! In you, will you experience the true work of the Holy Spirit, the taking away of the veil, the opening of the chamber of the High Priest so that we may enter in, in the knowledge of Him, and be able to say of a truth: We have such a High Priest! He has brought us into the Holy of Holies, and here we stand in the glory of God! That’s what Salvation is all about. And this understanding, this judgment must come into our hearts, and divide us from all that is not Christ, divide us from the first creation to the reality of the New Creation, divide us from that which is soulish unto that which is Spirit and Truth. Now about that judgment: 1 Peter 4:17, “For the time is that judgment must begin at the house of God...” In the King James Version it reads, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” but in the original text the word “come” is not there. The time is: it is always present. “...and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” Because you see, everyone faces this judgment. We say, “oh, I know there is a time coming when we will all face this judgment”. THE TIME IS, and you are facing this judgment now whether you know it or not. Recently I was driving in a work zone that I was unaware of, and I was driving too fast. I was going normal highway speed in a work zone, which demands a lower speed, and a State Patrolman caught me. He pulled me over with his flashing lights and I walked back and said, “What’s the problem, officer?” “You were going 65 mph in a work zone.” I said, “I had no idea I was in a work zone - nobody’s working!” But he said there’s a sign back there telling you it’s a work zone, and it also says that the fine is $250 for exceeding the speed limit! He said most people don’t see that sign but it’s there, and he wrote me out a ticket! Friends, the judgment was there whether I understood it or not, whether I saw it or not, whether I believed it or not. One fellow did believe it: he was a State Trooper, and it wasn’t according to my understanding, it was according to his understanding. This judgment is come, this judgment is - period! Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this universe, of this cosmos, of the whole human race. Now is the prince of this world cast out.” John 12. Jesus left no place for the prince of this world, the devil. In other words there is no place in the New Creation for Satan. There is no snake in the New garden of God. Satan has no place in Him; doubt, frustration, fear has no place in Him. If it is there, we bring it there in our own heart. And immediately when we do, we are brought up before The Cross and a judgment comes. That judgment is right now! And The Holy Spirit is dealing with me and with you according to that judgment. Now His purpose in dealing with me and you is to bring us to understand that judgment. Why must we understand that judgment? Because it is! Why must we understand the death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ? Because it is! Why must we understand we have no life but Christ? Because we have no life but Christ! We must understand The Truth. Ye shall know The Truth and The Truth shall make you free. Now there is usually a cost to knowing The Truth. In my traffic stop it cost me $250! Here at The Cross it costs much more - it costs our life! But the reward is much more than the cost. HE IS MY LIFE! No fear, no doubt about that, no frustration - all joy, all peace, all righteousness. What a judgment! It will make you free! And it’s the only judgment that will. It is the judgment of Truth, the judgment of The Cross; dividing asunder even the soulish from the Spirit, the first man from the second. Taking away the veil, enabling you and I to step into the Holy of Holies in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, to behold His face and realize we are in Him, surrounded by Him, in the fulness of Him, and here He is my life! That’s why when He was crucified the veil in the Temple was rent. It remains rent to this day - in Christ; but sometimes in our hearts the veil is still there: ignorance, the things of the flesh. And The Cross, the judgment of The Cross which is established in Christ takes the veil away in us. So Peter is saying the time is, this judgment begins at the house of God. Why did he say “house of God” and not “body of Christ”? They are the same thing. Because he is referring to the pattern. In the Tabernacle there is the outer court, the inner court and the Holy of Holies. The Ark of The Covenant is in the Holy of Holies. In the Hebrew language and also in the Septuagint translation this is called The House of God, the sanctuary, the Most Holy, the Habitation of The Most High. This is where we have been brought by Christ: quickened together, raised together, seated in heavenly places in Christ! The brazen altar represents His death, then the Holy Place represents His burial, then the Holy of Holies His resurrection. We identify with Him in His death, burial and resurrection. “Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death?...That like as Christ was raised up by the glory of God, even so we should walk in newness of life.” Just as we are dead with Him, buried with him, so we are risen with Him. Here’s the way Paul says it: those that were dead - are quickened; those that were buried - are risen, and seated. Where are you seated? You are seated on a seat, you’re seated on a Mercy Seat. Here is the real Mercy of God! That you and I dwell in Christ - we are seated there in the Mercy of God! This was called The House of God, and the veil was between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, blocking the way. In Hebrews 9 the writer says as long as the first Tabernacle, referring to the Holy Place and this veil remains, the way into the Holiest of all is not made manifest. This veil had to be taken away. That’s the reason Jesus said, ‘I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. NO MAN COMETH TO THE FATHER BUT BY ME.” He did away with the veil! That’s the judgment of the Cross. Now Peter says, speaking to the True House of God, not the Tabernacle made with hands, but the True Tabernacle of God, the True House of God; Peter says the time is, that this very judgment begin at the House of God. The time is that the veil be taken away from your heart. The time is that the veil be taken away from the House of God, that you and I may behold His glory. Paul says in another place the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. In who? In The House of God, in you. When? When the judgment that is now comes into your heart, the veil of ignorance, the veil of the old administration is taken away. This is by God revealing His Son in you, because it is in the face of Jesus Christ, who is in you, that we come to this glorious understanding, that we come to this glorious understanding of glory. Now to continue, Galatians 3. We want to look at this judgment as it relates to One Seed. Remember now that this judgment is in us, and the separation of this judgment that we’re going to look at divides in our heart many seeds from The One Seed. This is an interesting search. We’re going to find that the many seeds refer to the earth; The One Seed always refers to heaven. Look at verse 16, and really everything is said in this one verse. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” The order and arrangement of the scripture always thrills my heart. This word “now” brings everything that was said to Abraham over into the reality of Christ now. That’s the truth. It’s that way everywhere this word is used. Verse 20 says, “ Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.” What was spoken to Abraham is fulfilled in Christ. Why is that important? Because God’s Word is eternal. “He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ,” Then verse 29 says, “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Not seeds - ONE SEED. What does that mean? One of the things it means is that you all have One Father. Everybody out here in the world...everybody says we’re all the children of God. No, you’re not! You are only the children of God if you are born by The Seed of God. Otherwise you are just part of the old creation. Listen, it’s one thing to be created of God, out of dirt. It’s another thing to be born again by the Spirit of God Himself. Those who have The Seed of God in them - they are the children of God. And those in whom the Spirit of God is revealing Christ, those who are being led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. We are a child by birth; The Son must be revealed in you, and we grow up in Him. And we come to understand God is our Father. You can say that: a child can say that, but only in the face of Jesus Christ can you truly understand that, because it is a relationship with The Father. But the point is just this: God does not have many seeds - He has One Seed! And here is the judgment. Do you remember Abraham? In Abraham God declared the reality of One Seed. Here’s a little Bible outline. In the creation, the first eleven chapters of Genesis, God dealt with the creation as one man, speaking of a New Man to come. Then we move on: now He deals with Abraham - Genesis 12 through the end of the book. What has God done? What He always does: He shows us the end from the beginning. He shows us where we’re going before the trip ever starts. So in creation, in the beginning, He shows us a creation that is a man. He shows us His intention for man. Now this intention will come to be fulfilled in Christ - a New Creation. That’s the goal of God, that’s the purpose of God. That’s where He’s going. How is He going to get there? He comes back and starts with a seed. Now step by step by step the scripture brings us to Christ, in Whom there is a New Creation. It brings us to Christ in Whom we are One New Man. And the scripture brings us right through those steps. It’s a beautiful pattern, and that’s what everything before The Cross is - from Genesis to Malachi: everything is a pattern which is fulfilled in Christ, to be manifested in us. That’s the Bible. So God starts with Abraham. Abraham is called the Father of Faith because this is now a walk of faith. Our walk in Christ is a walk of faith. In Abraham He reveals a seed - ONE SEED. Then God moves on beyond Abraham, and he deals with Moses. What is the truth seen in Moses? ONE SON. “I have taken Israel for my firstborn. Israel is to me a son.” Do you see that? Many - becoming One. “Out of Egypt have I called My Son.” That’s how God saw Israel: many who are One. How are they made One? They were all baptized into the sea - the death; they were all brought through the wilderness - the burial; they all crossed over the Jordan - the knowledge, the revelation that Jesus is our life. What was the first thing they saw in Canaan? The Captain of the Lord’s Host appeared! And He said, This is holy ground, this is Holy of Holies. What He was saying is a pattern, it’s fulfilled in Christ. Jordan is a type of that revelation of Christ. You can bring it right over into Matthew, Mark, Luke. Where was Jesus baptized? In the Jordan! He came up out of the Jordan, and what happened? The heavens opened! What did God say? “ THIS IS MY SON!” When Israel crossed the Jordan in type, in pattern, look what they represented - This is My Son! With Moses, God revealed His Son, but not many sons - many who are One Son. Now see, Israel didn’t understand this, and they wandered in the wilderness for forty years until they all died; not the death of The Cross, not the death of obedience, but the death of disobedience. The death of The Cross is the death of obedience. “ He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, wherefore God hath highly exalted Him.” John said, I don’t want to baptize you. See, in John everything from Genesis to Malachi was gathered up in John the Baptist. He was the last Old Covenant prophet. Jesus said he was the greatest one, which means he was the one in whom all the others come to find their fulfillment. John was the full aged one: time was coming to its fulness. “And when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth HIS SON.” John represents time coming to its fulness. Old Covenant time: days, weeks, months, years do not go beyond John. John announced a greater day, a greater sacrifice, a greater Sabbath, a greater Priest. BEHOLD, THE LAMB OF GOD! Everything Isaiah said, everything Ezekiel said, all the prophets come to their fulness in John. What they spoke of in type and shadow, John saw all of that in One Man. Therefore Jesus said John is the greatest; he is the full age. That has tremendous implications because we’re always trying to take something beyond The Cross. We’re trying to take some prophecy beyond The Cross. If you take it beyond John then you violate the words of Jesus, you violate the whole ministry of John. But with John everything comes to its fulness that points to Christ. And the heavens opened and God said, THIS IS MY SON. Back to the pattern: with Abraham it’s a seed: that seed grows up as a SON. It’s the same in you. First we comprehend as a seed, as those who are born of God, born of the Seed of God, that Seed which is Christ. Then we comprehend as a son, because God reveals that Seed in us to be His Son. It goes on. Now with Moses and Israel there’s a Tabernacle established. We must get the picture: the Tabernacle is situated in the midst of Israel. When they camp the Tabernacle is in the midst; it’s in the center, it is in the middle, but more than that, it is in the midst. Here’s the difference. I could stand in the middle of you, but if I’m going to be in the midst of you, then I would have to be standing inside of you. Then I would be in the midst, and everything would be coming out from me through you. The Tabernacle of God is “in the midst”. That’s the way it was in the pattern also. You can see that truth in the scripture. So in the midst of Israel, His Son, God gives One Testimony, One Gospel. There are not two gospels, there’s not three; there’s just One. And that Gospel is made known when God reveals His Son in the midst. Anything less, anything other can not be called The Testimony of God - how can it be? One Seed - One Son - One Testimony. We can show you this very clearly in the Tabernacle. One Tabernacle: it is three-fold: death, burial, resurrection; The Way, The Truth, The Life; quickened, raised and seated. One Testimony - not three testimonies: One Testimony, because it is all the I AM: I am The Way, The Truth, The Life. Not three things - One thing - I AM! HIS death, HIS burial, HIS resurrection. Not three things: One Finished Work! It’s the same way with the priesthood, it’s the same way with the Feasts of the Lord in Israel. Seven feasts held three times a year, but in Christ - One Feast, One Sabbath! “Except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you.” This is the Feast of The Lord! One Testimony. Every sacrifice had to be brought to the door of that Tabernacle. All worship was at the door of that Tabernacle, everything accepted of God came to the door of that Tabernacle, everything rejected of God could not go beyond that door. One Testimony! How did Israel know where to camp? Did God say, ‘Hey Dan - you put your tent over there! Judah, put yours over there!’ No, He didn’t. That’s the way we think. God directed where they put the Tabernacle and they set the Tabernacle up first, they put it in order; it was facing the proper direction, and the furniture was in order. The Testimony of God was first, then Israel knew where to camp. Judah knew to be on the east side, Dan knew to be on the north side. They knew where to camp, but they only knew where to camp when the Tabernacle was in its proper place. When Christ is revealed in you, you know where to camp, you know the order of God! You know when to march and how to march, you know where you are. You’re not wandering around somewhere lost, when God reveals His Son in you, when the Testimony of God is in you, when it is set in its proper order. The order of The Testimony is The Cross. The order of the Tabernacle was The Cross. Is there any doubt about that? It was after the pattern of The Cross - not just in shape, in substance, in furniture, sacrifices, priesthood. The order is The Cross. When Christ is revealed in you, it is the order of The Cross - His death, His burial, His resurrection. A judgment comes into you, and you are no longer many seeds; you understand that you are One Seed; and beyond that - ONE SON! Part 4 - One Seed, Which is Christ Let’s turn to Genesis 1. We are dealing with the One Seed; you and I are One Seed. That judgment must come into our hearts. Genesis 1:11,12, “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” In our last lesson we spoke of one kind; now we are looking at One Seed. Now there is a divine order established here. It’s the same thing - a divine judgment, a divine understanding, a divine order. And the order that we see here is just this: divine order does not permit for the mixing of seeds. Divine order demands every seed after his own kind. It can not be fulfilled in the flesh - it can not be. No matter what color we are, everything came out from Adam. This divine order is fulfilled in Christ. The Cross does not allow mixing of seeds; there is no mixture in Christ. Why? Because at The Cross, seeds as of many - all men - DIED. And out from The Cross only ONE SEED LIVES, and He lives in you. Where there is just One there can be no mixture. If there is a mixture, it’s in our minds - not in Christ. It’s in the way we think, not in the Truth, for in Christ there is no mixture. That judgment must come into our hearts so that you and I must come to understand in Christ we are not many seeds “all growing up in the garden of God”. No - we are One Seed and God is only interested in the increase of that One Seed in all of us. One Harvest of One Seed! Look at Deuteronomy 22:9-11, with particular attention to verse 9. “ Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled.” Not seeds, as of many - One Seed, which is Christ. Listen, you are the vineyard of God, the scripture says that. Now, I am part of that vineyard too, but sometimes we who are part of the vineyard are also laborers in the vineyard. Paul says he was a laborer in the vineyard, Apollos was a laborer in the vineyard. One sowed, one watered, but God gave the increase. Now if I’m a laborer in the vineyard of God there is a great responsibility that comes upon me and upon you if you are a laborer in the vineyard of God. That is, to sow only ONE SEED. Not seeds as of many...Now the natural way of thinking is that we just sow a lot of different seeds, and surely we’ll get something. And you will get something! But you won’t get Christ! You will get traditions, you will get doctrines, opinions, they will produce something in you, and that’s what you have to offer to God. God says, I gave you a vineyard - what did you sow in it? That’s a real question. It’s not just preaching something; it’s preaching Christ! Not seeds - ONE SEED. If you sow mixed seeds in the vineyard of God, you defile the vineyard of God. What does God consider to be mixture? Anything that is not Christ is a mixture. Man is the mixture - man’s righteousness, man’s goodness; that’s the mixture. It’s when I try to live rather than Christ. In 1 Corinthians 3 Paul says something about the house of God. He says you are the house of God, you are the temple of God. It has to be built upon a sure foundation, and that foundation is Christ. And then it says, “If any man defile the house of God, him shall God destroy.” Now just before that Paul has talked about a vineyard, then he brings that same truth into the temple of God, the house of God which you are. He first says you are a vineyard, then he says you’re a house. Looking at you as a vineyard: mixed seeds profane the vineyard. Looking at you as a house of God, he says, if any man profane the house of God. Now what are we talking about here? How does a man defile or profane the house of God? Man, the first man, the earth man represents many seeds, represents a mixture. If you tried to take this mixture and bring it over into the vineyard of God - what have you done? You have gotten around The Cross; that means that you have not come by His death, burial and resurrection. Jesus says if anybody comes into the sheepfold but by the door, he is a thief and a robber; he defiles, profanes the sheep. Jesus says, “I AM THE DOOR, NO MAN CAN COME TO THE FATHER, THE VINEYARD OF GOD, BUT BY ME.” That is, through His death, burial and resurrection. What happens at The Cross? We who come by His death, burial and resurrection are no longer counted as seeds, but we are counted as ONE SEED, having no life but Christ! The house of God is the same as the vineyard of God. Before The Cross we are all men, many men, mankind - a mixture. How does man defile the house of God? By living in it! The house of God is God’s house. Who lives in God’s house? God does! Not me, not you. We’re the house! He’s the life! It’s not my house, where I live. If I live here, I defile it, the flesh defiles it. How do we come to live in the house of God? We don’t live in the house of God! He makes us to be a living house - lively stones, a living temple. How does He make us to be a living temple? HE LIVES IN US! We must understand that. If any man is found trying to live in God’s house, he is counted as a thief and a robber, and he is cast out. That’s the judgment of The Cross - NO MIXTURE. We see this in the type, the pattern, but the fulfillment of it is in Christ. That judgment must come into our hearts. Deuteronomy 22:10, “Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.” Mixture. “ Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together.” Mixture. All of this is a pattern; it comes to be fulfilled in Christ Jesus. No mixture, not seeds - but One Seed. I want to show you something. There are five verses in the whole Bible where the term “seeds” in the plural is used. One of them is here in Deuteronomy 22:9, and this verse says “thou shalt not.” Thou shalt not plant seeds as of many, but one. The next verse is Matthew 13:4, “ And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up.” And in the original text the word “seeds” does not appear in this verse, but the sower sowed seeds. Now Matthew 13:31,32, “Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.” This is the same as in Mark 4:31, “It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth.” Here we have a reference to seeds, as of many; but when we’re dealing with seeds as of many, they are related to being in the earth, because there’s only One Seed in heaven. That’s not by accident. Many seeds, a mixture of seeds relates to the earth. Now what about that grain of mustard seed? It is sown in the earth, but how does that relate to Christ? When it is sown in the earth it is the least of all the seeds. How does that relate to Christ? It relates to Him in His death - he became as the seeds of the earth. He was made for a little while lower than the angels, He was made under the law, He was made of a woman, He made Himself of no reputation, he took upon Himself the form of a servant, He made Himself to be least of all of the seeds of the earth! He came out from heaven into the earth for the purpose that He might fall into the ground and die! We must understand that. So He uses the grain of mustard seed as a type of Himself. He still doesn’t use seeds - One Seed, but that Seed made Himself lower, least of all the seeds, that He might suffer the death for all the seeds; He fell into the ground and he died. Jesus said this of Himself: I must fall into the ground and die, if I do not, I will abide alone. But if I die, I will bring forth much fruit, I will be a great tree called the Kingdom of heaven! And in an exegesis Bible it says, “a great tree that becomes the dwelling place of that which flies”; those that dwell above the earth, those that mount up on wings and find their lodging in this tree. Not out of seeds, out of One Seed who became lower, that He might bring forth the increase of Himself, that you and I may find lodging, dwelling in Him. He hath translated us from the power of darkness into the Kingdom of His Son. One Seed - this judgment must come into our hearts. And lastly, Galatians 3:16, “ Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many: but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” The emphasis of this verse is the last word of it, “ thy seed, which is Christ.” Is there any doubt as to Who The Seed of God is? Think of man: he is made out of dirt. We look at each other and we see our bodies. It’s made out of dirt; some of it is white dirt, some of it is brown, some of it is yellow or black - it’s just dirt, it’s just earth! But we run around comparing dirt! My dirt is better than your dirt - it’s just dirt! We spend a lot of time on dirt. The greatest waste of time is to preach about dirt! Not only a waste of time - it’s stupid! “Thou shalt be holy. Be righteous!” It’s just dirt! It doesn’t make any difference what color your hair is, it doesn’t make any difference if you have hair or not - it’s just dirt! But we want to preach to it. We have the treasure in earthen vessels; the treasure is not the vessel - the treasure is in it. So that we don’t glory in the vessel, we glory in God, but not us. But we glory in the vessel; we’re a bunch of vessel comparers! Why don’t we just compare the treasure? There’s just one treasure - we all have the same treasure. We all have the same Seed. Here He comes - being born again of the Incorruptible Seed of God - Christ in you! In our soul we thought we were many, but now the eyes of our understanding are enlightened, and we see One Seed, and we come to a judgment: we are not many, we are One Seed. And our soul is transformed in understanding, in knowledge, and becomes obedient to the One Seed, which is Christ, Christ in you! What you need to do is get a little container of dirt and keep it with you all the time. Next time you start preaching dirt, preach to that dirt - it’s all the same! That no flesh should glory in His presence. Listen, it is not the bodies that we have that are important; what is important is The Body that we are, That Body which is Christ. The bodies that we have must be laid down as living sacrifices to The Body that we are. The lesser serves the greater. I have a body, you have a body, but we are One Body - The Body of Christ. Now only the Spirit of God can really show you that, but He will show you that by revealing His Seed in you, because the results of that Seed is a great tree - The Body of Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of God. The center of that Body, of that Tree is The One Seed. If there is One Seed, then there is only One Body. This is the truth. So you see, I’m not interested in the dirt - not your dirt or mine either. I’m interested in The Seed. Is there evidence of The Seed? That’s what’s important. Not seeds, as of many; but as of One, that Seed which is Christ. One last thing: the promises are not only to One Seed; all the promises are fulfilled in One Seed. Where is it that all the promises are yea and amen? In Christ Jesus! The promises are not just about Him, they are to Him. Look at Galatians 3:19, “ Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made...” All the promises are fulfilled in Christ. Now I’m just going to read you some of those promises. They are all to The Seed, they are all fulfilled in Christ. That means that Christ is the substance of those promises. It’s not that Christ is promising me something - HE IS THE PROMISE OF GOD! It’s all in Him - Knowing Him. Genesis 9:9, “ And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you.” Genesis 12:7, “And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land...” Genesis 13:15, “For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.” Genesis 15:5, “ And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.” Genesis 21:12, “...for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.” Genesis 22:18, “ And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed...” Romans 9:7-8, “Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children, but, in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” On and on you could go. Wherever The Seed is mentioned in the whole Bible, it is fulfilled in One Seed. Not you, not me - but CHRIST! That Seed is in you, and everything that is in Him is in you! He is to be the blessing of all nations! He is without measure! He is the heir of God! AND HE IS IN YOU! You are the children of God because of The Seed. You are the vineyard of God because of The Seed. You are the house of God because of The Son. You are the kingdom of God because of The King. Everything you are, you are because of Who He is! The whole ministry of the Spirit therefore is to reveal Christ in you, because until we see Him, until we know Him - we know nothing! We just walk in the imagination of our own heart. My greatest desire for you and for every believer everywhere is that God may reveal His Son in you; that you come to seek the Father for that very thing; that your whole prayer becomes that - Father, reveal Thy Son in me! Reveal Thy Son in me, Reveal Thy Son in me, Lord this I pray, Let it be today, Reveal Thy Son in me!