IN VIEW OF HIM
                              BY JW LUMAN
  
                             PART 1
  
  We are coming in the Lord's Body from one view to an altogether
  glorious view of Him. I thought at first we would deal with the temple
  and the tabernacle and the Jordan in this view, but I don't know that
  we will at all. I don't know that we'll deal with these things because
  they are largely types, and to be realized they must be brought over
  into Christ anyway. So, I want to just bring this thing right over into
  Christ from the onset. The types are there, the types are real; the
  significance of them can not be denied. But we must approach this not
  only in the understanding of a type, but in the understanding of the
  Holy Spirit given of God for that purpose. And of course there, the
  type is understood.
  
  But I would that the Lord would just deal right into the depths of our
  soul with regard to these two views of Christ. Now you can not come
  to the second until you've come to the first. And it is the first that we're
  going to speak of now, and then I will deal with the more glorious
  view. I truly believe, you'll just have to hear my words, and know that
  I speak just from the Lord out of my heart - I truly believe that we are
  being assembled (and I guess I will refer to these types), being
  assembled at the Jordan. There is coming, and going to come in our
  hearts - now we are understanding the believer, you and I as being
  here in Christ. Yet, there, coming to an understanding of Christ,
  because you can't come to an understanding of Christ except you be
  IN HIM. You might understand things about Him, but you cannot
  come to the understanding of Christ except you be in Christ, and
  Christ be in you. 
  
  My point is this, I'm understanding the believer as being in Christ yet
  coming to an understanding, coming to the Word of Truth by the
  Spirit of Truth whereby the absoluteness of Truth, Judgment - "Ye
  shall know the Truth..." begins to take place in the believer. And what
  happens with that is there is a dividing in the heart of the believer - the
  generation of man - from this regeneration of the Son of Man. And
  there is a dividing in the heart, so much so that we, in the fulness of the
  regeneration are in our hearts, in our souls, in our inner man,
  identifying with nothing but the regeneration - that generation of which
  He and HE ALONE is the firstborn. The Only Begotten of God, for
  all else are begotten of Him, since He is the seed, and one seed of the
  Father, and we are born of Him, Spirit of His Spirit. "For he that is
  joined to the Lord is one spirit."
  
  Well, the whole point of this is for this generation of man to be taken
  out from your hearts. See folks, this was Israel's problem. Israel's
  problem was not that they weren't out from Egypt - they were out,
  darling. They were out by the hand of God, they were out by
  everything that was a type of the deliverance of salvation. The
  deliverance part, because there is a deliverance part of salvation - there
  is that which takes you out. "Translated us, delivered us from the
  power of darkness, translated us, however, into the kingdom of his
  dear Son." There is that deliverance. The problem with Israel wasn't
  that they weren't delivered - it isn't that God fell down on his job; it
  isn't that they were still in Egypt and somebody lied to them, and just
  told them they weren't. They were actually out from Egypt, and not
  only that, in the full symbolism of the deliverance, Egypt out from
  which they had been taken - was DEAD. Dead - the federal head of
  it was dead, dead as a doornail; the armies of it, the power of it, the
  chariots of it, the Pharaoh of it, the whole of it - dead. Hallelujah! And
  there was a deliverance wrought and Israel was out from that, but the
  problem with Israel was in this simple statement - they were out from
  Egypt but Egypt yet remained in their hearts - in their hearts. They saw
  themselves not as the redeemed of the Lord. When Moses told them,
  "God says stand still and behold the salvation of the Lord" - Honey,
  they never fully beheld the salvation of the Lord, that wasn't seen until
  it appeared in the top of Mount Zion. And the group that was brought
  out by the Red Sea never saw Mount Zion - never came. And why?
  Because God failed? NO - because of unbelief - exactly because of
  unbelief. Not because the way was not provided, but because of
  unbelief. Certainly not because the promise of God was a joke, but
  because of unbelief. 
  
  Honey, I'm telling you our biggest problem and maybe our singular
  problem is a problem of  unbelief because of the lack of the renewing
  of our minds. We are simply not able to grasp hold of "all things are
  new". We simply are not able to come into the realization in a Divine
  way, an understanding way of the regeneration, of the restoration, of
  the reconciliation, and therefore we are hindered in the ministry of all
  of these things. You can minister nothing you haven't in your heart
  received. The whole problem was one of unbelief and you know, in
  their hearts, they were never travelling toward Canaan; in their hearts
  they were always going away from Egypt. And in their hearts they
  were always looking back. And I'm telling you that 99.9% of the
  Church, and I'm talking about the Born-again family of God, the
  Church - I'm not talking about religion or the system, I'm talking about
  the Church, those who are truly delivered, those who are truly in
  Christ, but I'm telling you 99.9% of us are not pressing toward the
  mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ - we are looking
  back; our heart is looking back. 
  
  Israel was looking back. They looked back until the day they finally all
  died, and those that were left were those that were looking forward.
  Isn't it amazing that immediately they came again to the Passover - the
  passing over - the crossing over - I'm not so much talking  about a feast
  now, as I am about a realization of all that those feasts involve. The
  Jordan - the river of Divine revelation, the river of Divine realization,
  the river that was parted not by the staff of Moses, but by the feet of
  Priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant upon their shoulders. There
  is a great deal of difference between this crossing and the crossing of
  the Red Sea. One got them out of Egypt, the other however, is getting
  them into the heart of Canaan. Folks, everyone here in Christ who
  would walk in Him, who would follow Him, into the fulness of the
  regeneration must pass over this Jordan - must cross over, and must do
  so in the view of  FULL SALVATION. This is the view that is coming
  - a view of FULL SALVATION. "To them who look for Him", it is
  promised, "He shall appear a second time." That's not like a second
  time like 1,2,3,4; going to the store the first time, now I'm going the
  second time - it has nothing to do with that. But this second view - this
  referring to all that is second is that which is spiritual; that which is first
  is that which is flesh. 
  
  " He shall appear to those who look for Him, without sin, unto full
  salvation." It is in the view of Him that we come to realize FULL
  SALVATION. Not in the view of ourselves, but in this view of Him.
  But before we come to the second view, the first view must have been
  firmly established in our hearts. Before Israel could make the crossing,
  there was a view that had to be firmly established in their hearts. And
  it was not the view of dead Egyptians, it was the view of  dead
  Israelites that had to be established in their hearts. And I'm going to tell
  you something, as kindly as I can, as meekly as I can - until you and I
  by the Divine view of Him, come to an absoluteness with regard to
  ourselves as being dead as a hammer, we will never come to the view
  of life. You can not skip the one and have the other - you can not do
  it. And there is only one thing that will really give testimony as to
  whether you have come into this view of life or are coming, or not -
  and that's the fruit that you do bear - the increase that you do bring
  forth. AMEN. The difference between the fig tree that's cursed and
  jerked up is not  fig tree or leaves - it's fruit. The fig tree that bore not
  fruit was cursed, withered and died. The whole issue here is not one
  of theology, it's one of the INCREASE OF CHRIST - it's either
  coming forth or it isn't. The Spirit of Christ is either abounding or it
  isn't.
  
  It's not one of theology. I'm so sick of theology. My God, looks like
  we'd all be sick of theology. All we do is sit around on our rears and
  argue theology. We're worse than any denomination people ever were
  - we're worse than the old time Canaanites every thought about being.
  Because all we want to do is argue stupid points of stupid theology and
  divide ourselves by endless dumb questions. What I'm trying to tell you
  folks, is that we're going to be brought and are now being prepared
  and being brought into a view where theology is not the question, but
  INCREASE OF CHRIST! - and fruit - relationship is the evidence.
  Hallelujah to the Lamb of the Living God! Now this is the view that is
  set before us and it was the view that was set before Israel and it was
  the view before which Israel crossed over. See, God set the view of it,
  and in the view of it, they crossed right over into it. And there they
  were under various administrations of deliverers, of prophetic priests
  and of kings, and finally then brought in, and all of that. But my point
  is, they crossed over in a new view.
  
  It was told to them, "You have never gone this way before." There are
  no footprints here to follow. You have never gone this way before. I
  wonder when you and I are going to get tired of rehashing old
  theology. But of course, those of us who think we know it all already,
  can only rehash old theology, can't we? Because there is never any
  place we have not walked before. God help those of that mind,
  because we'll just run around in circles. No, there is a view of Him that
  shall bring a full expression of Him into the earth and that view is
  established in the heavens for those who will turn to see Him in that
  way. But we are only released to see Him in the second view, when
  the first has had a completion worked in our hearts. 
  
  So, they came to the river; they came to the Jordan to cross over and
  once again - see what  was the sign to this evil and adulterous
  generation? Everywhere you look it's going to be the same - THREE
  DAYS! What's the sign? Three Days and the result of it - of the Death,
  of the Burial, of the Resurrection. Well, they come to the river Jordan
  - Three Days. Now isn't that something? It took them, because of
  unbelief, forty years to get there the second time. And don't forget that
  - this is the second time. This is the second view. This is the view that
  is spoken of as "shall see Him a second time." And this view is only
  possible when all of the old is dead! All who would not enter are dead.
  All who had the say in the matter - sweetheart, there have been many
  who have had the say in the matter and have refused to enter in, and
  they are all going to die. In whatever way you want to take that to be,
  but I'm telling you, they are all going to die. Many of those that they've
  kept from entering in will then enter in. Their children entered in. A
  new administration orchestrated this entering in, and an old
  administration that had served God in the wilderness - served God in
  the wilderness - "Moses my servant...", served God in the wilderness -
  did not enter in. Hallelujah!
  
  What I'm telling you folks, is we have come to that time. Oh, I know
  some have gone before, and true to the type, are spies. I mean after all,
  it was two spies who finally led the whole in, was it not? Joshua and
  Caleb, and for forty years their heart was here while they wandered in
  the wilderness, knowing that the promise was not just for them but for
  all to see. Now there's a tremendous understanding that should come
  to us there, but I wonder where our heart is with regard to the Church.
  So many that have "entered in", and I'm using that term in a way that
  I hope you can understand, looked into these things, entered into these
  things in an individual way, have only come back seemingly to despise
  the Church, not with any desire at all to bring it all in; have only come
  back to divide the Church and hurt the Church, not with any desire at
  all to lay down their lives to the Church even though it may mean
  camping in the wilderness with them - that they might bring them in.
  And you know, they lost nothing for that. Caleb was as good at 80 as
  he was at 40 - they lost nothing for that. You'll lose nothing, honey, by
  laying down your life for the Lord's Body; you'll lose nothing by laying
  down your life for the sheep - you'll lose nothing. You're not going
  anywhere without them anyway. We may think we are, but we're not. 
  
  So certainly, there were those that went in and came back and gave
  bad reports, those that went in and came back and gave good reports.
  And even this time there were those sent again - that went in. But they
  came back, that Israel might go in. Now I don't know why this thought
  comes to me, because I'll guarantee it's not written down anywhere,
  but the Lord speak to our hearts, because I'm telling you that there is
  about to be a very massive entering in! But it will not be led by, nor
  governed by those who have animosity in their hearts toward the
  Lord's Body. I'm not talking about a religious system, I'm talking about
  the Lord's own sheep - to lay down our lives one for another, but not
  to ridicule and browbeat, and think we're so much better. What makes
  you better? If, if, if I have entered in to the full view, if I have eaten of
  the Lamb, how does that make me better than my brother here who is
  blind? It is Christ who lives! Hallelujah! Paul entered in, did he not?
  God, he was translated into the third heaven, saw things that could not
  be spoken even in an English language or any other Hebrew or Greek.
  He saw all things new. He saw the Full Salvation of the Lord. God
  revealed His Son in him, and he came back, did he not? He came back
  with the understanding that he was there, but he came back. And why
  did he come back? He says it in Colossians. He says he came back for
  your sakes. I came back and in coming back I came back to suffer
  persecution, and I suffer persecution gladly, I rejoice in my persecution
  and in my suffering for you, the Church, the Lord's Body (Colossians
  2:24), not only that, in doing so, I make up in my flesh the deficiencies
  of Christ. I continue His suffering, for His Body, the Church. Why?
  The end of that discourse says why (verse 28), " That we may present
  every man perfect in Christ." That's the end of the discourse. 
  
  My God, so many of us it seems like that I see today, are rather like
  thieves in here - we go in and see things, and immediately we get this
  humanistic spirit of hoarding it all up in my cellar. Rather than enacting
  a great distribution program. And just saying - everybody come and
  eat! Hallelujah - come and eat! Look what I've found - everybody just
  come and eat! Everybody! My  Lord! Thank God those that were sent
  the second time came back with a true report. Oh Jesus - I'm telling
  you there is One coming into His house that's coming with a true
  report, and He shall lead all His house into fulness of the restoration.
  There is coming into His house a True Shepherd with a true voice and
  His voice, the sheep will hear. For the Good Shepherd lays down His
  life for the sheep - He doesn't despise the sheep or fleece the sheep -
  no - He lays down His life for the sheep. 
  
  I believe in my heart of hearts, there must be as there was in type,
  because I believe the type is there for a reason, a purpose, a pattern,
  and an admonition. I believe that there are forerunners. I believe that
  the Lord Jesus Himself was the forerunner of the Son of Man who is
  to come. And that the Son of Man who is to come, and who is
  coming, and who is glorious in His coming, represents the FULNESS
  of all that the Lord Jesus was the forerunner of - because he comes in
  the fulness of the Lord Jesus - not in the fulness of man. It is this view
  that we are talking about that will make the difference. 
  
  I believe that when they went in there they saw the milk and the honey
  - these are they of the second view. And then there is a Priesthood that
  entered in and fully represented in the Ark of the Covenant, and what
  they had upon their shoulders, the fulness of the second view. And it
  was in all of that and through all of that, that Israel was able to cross
  over into the good of the land - and start their journey toward the
  fulness of Mount Zion - the end of which was the House of God's
  glory! The light for all nations. All of that is just there. But none of it
  does anybody a lot of good until there is a crossing over, now does it?
  Until there's a comprehending. and you've got to understand one thing
  about Jordan - Jordan is here representing that veil that must be done
  away. It is here representing a realization, a revelation, a Divine
  understanding, because right in the midst of the Jordan is that which
  represents Full Salvation and the Lord Jesus fulfilled that in His own
  baptism - going right into the midst of Jordan by the hands of John,
  coming up right out of the Jordan - representing everything that those
  Priests and the Ark of the Covenant represented, and representing all
  that is caught up into that. He came forth upon the bank, came up out
  of it, just like those Priests came forth out of it. And when He did,
  heaven opened - not until then, but then, heaven opened and then the
  Father spake and identified His Beloved!
  
  And everything that is here represents Christ in His greater view - in
  the ultimate view. And it is out from this view that the Son of Man
  shall come, representing, declaring the fulness of that view in the midst
  of His house, that His whole house may be caught up in, and become
  the manifestation of that reality in the earth. And it is set down so
  clearly just in type, that I really for the life of me can't see the
  possibility of erring if you just follow the type and the order in which
  it is set. But God by His Spirit give us understanding as to our part in
  this thing. So we have to come - but again, until there is a working in
  us to an "absoluteness", until there is a certainty with regard to this first
  view, we are never at liberty as it were to walk in the greater view of
  Him. 
  
  The first view very simply is the view of  HIS DEATH. That sums up
  Death, Burial and Resurrection - all of those three works, those three
  days of camping as it were on the bank of the Jordan; those three days
  of preparation there before they were to encounter by a new view, a
  new realization, and pass over into the good of it and into the fulness
  of it, and then begin to walk in it unto the perfection of it, the
  absoluteness of it. Have you ever read where Solomon brought the
  house to the foundation thereof, the finish thereof, and then the
  perfection thereof? That was the end of the journey. It was there that
  the true salvation of the Lord was finally seen. It's not seen back here
  in just getting out of this generation. Honey, what I want to tell you is
  there is a greater view of Christ than the one that sees Him associated
  with the old man in death. There's a greater view. But until you and I
  come to that view, and it has something of an absoluteness worked in
  us, we will never be released to view Him in His glory - in the fulness
  of His life! We are brought there - they were brought there - they were
  brought into Canaan - not by the rod of Moses, not by that and all that
  that represents. They were brought into the good of Canaan by a view
  - the Priests standing in the midst of Jordan representing a Divine
  statement, a Divine Truth, a Divine Word, a Divine Revelation. and
  they passed over - your Bible tells you - they passed over BEFORE the
  Ark of the Covenant of God. They passed over before it! And the
  Priests that held it upon their shoulders - it was before that. It was in
  the view of that. It was that view that maintained the way. 
  
  But who was it that passed over? Those who had not seen dead
  Egyptians, but had seen dead Israelites! They were the ones that passed
  over. Listen, those that passed over could stand here in Him and say,
  'We are dead to Egypt. We are dead to that. We are alive only unto
  Him.' Now there's one thing to say Egypt is dead, but another thing to
  say we are dead to Egypt, and alive only unto God. "Likewise reckon
  ye yourselves also to be dead indeed to sin" and all that involves -
  dead, dead - we're not reckoning sin dead, we're reckoning me dead.
  I don't want to get gruesome and gory, but if I called one of you up
  here and just took a pistol out and shot you right between the eyes, and
  you just fell down on the floor and kicked once and were gone ... Now
  we can just carry on all we want to in here, and it isn't going to
  influence you - nothing of it is going to bother you. We can have a
  Holy Ghost rally or we can have a night club party, and in either case
  it isn't going to affect you. It isn't what's going on anymore that matters
  - it's the state of being that matters. Now, you and I have never come
  to see that yet. That's the reason we can't walk by a sinner without
  sinning. I've heard Christians say, 'I can't work in that place - it's just
  full of sinners.' Well, My God, just manifest life! We haven't come to
  comprehend Him in the absoluteness of His death, and until we do, we
  are not going to do it - every type in the Bible says no. Not only that,
  the fulfillment of the Lord Jesus says No - no, no, no, no man can
  come here - no man can enter here - No! To man there is here one big,
  definite, eternal NO! "None cometh here but by me." That doesn't
  mean "allowed" by me. That means BY ME. He's not the doorkeeper -
  He's the Door! BY ME! Hallelujah to God!
  
  They crossed over by the same one they got out of Egypt by, but there
  was a different view of Him involved. And those that died never came
  to that view, therefore they could not enter in. But those who did enter
  in finally came to that view when they saw those that didn't die. Whey
  they saw Israel dead, not just Egypt - they saw Israel dead! Then they
  are ready to enter in. When you and I understand that we have been
  delivered through His Death, His Burial, through His Resurrection -
  and that Resurrection is where He and He alone lives, because He
  says, "I am the Resurrection. I am the Life." He never says I do
  resurrections, He said "I am the Resurrection." There isn't anybody
  alive here but Him! Paul comes to that realization and says, My God
  Almighty, "It is not I, but Christ who liveth in me." Somehow you and
  I want to find ourselves in that picture, and we will do that until the
  first view is worked in us with a certainty. I rejoiced as a young man
  and as a young preacher, I rejoiced in the reality of the death that is
  associated with Egypt being dead, you know, and I'm out from there
  and thank God. But I'll tell you friends, there was a time in my life,
  and it was just in 1963, November 8th in a prayer room in Dallas,
  Texas when I came to view Him - not in this second way, but in that
  first view of Him, and realized that death did not just deal with Egypt,
  but with Israelites who would not enter into the fulness of His life. And
  I saw MYSELF DEAD, and I understood only ONE IS LIVING
  HERE. What did I do? I entered into a realization of LIFE! Glory to
  God!
  
  And this is the realization that I have been brought to - death and
  burial, and it is He alone raised up - we are quickened by Him - but
  only He lives! The first view is dealing with the doing away. You are
  familiar with verses - Hebrews the tenth chapter - "In the volume of
  the book it is spoken of me. I come to do thy will, O God. Now your
  will is not found in sacrifices and offerings so I'm not coming to make
  any. Here is thy will, O God, which I come to do O God. He taketh
  away the first, that He may establish the second." And it is in His
  coming that both are accomplished. And He has come the first time.
  He has appeared ONCE, at the end of the world to TAKE AWAY.
  That's in Hebrews the ninth chapter. "And as it is appointed unto
  mankind once to die, so Christ ONCE died." But honey, here's the
  point, mankind, you and I see, seem to have a hard time seeing
  mankind dead. When it is with regard to ourselves, we have a hard
  time seeing the kind of man we are dead. I don't know whether we can
  hear this, but O God, Israel had to come ... those who were to cross
  over into this more glorious view, had to come to see Israel as a
  delivered people, die. Honey, I'm telling you something. You and I
  have got to come to see even that which He delivered - dead - that we
  may see only Him living! And come to understand that all that lives
  here in Him, only lives By Him, and in union with Him, and here is the
  renewing of our minds whereby we put off the old. That's the first
  view - Christ associated with sin. How definite, how completely He
  dealt with that old generation. How completely He dealt with that. 
  
  Israel in the first instance never understood that. So they died in the
  first view of Him. How many believers will die in the first view of
  Him, never having come to understand the reality of Life in Christ?
  And become a manifestation of that in the earth? How many, folks, are
  we going to have to sit and watch go by, and go by, and go by, until
  somebody sets their heart to pass over? They were all in a view of God
  when they died, honey. Mount Sinai is not the mountain of Satan, it's
  the first mountain of God, it's just the lesser mountain. It's where God
  revealed himself in darkness, and thunders and lightnings and all of
  that kind of stuff. And his glory was seen there, yet only in a limited
  fashion and in a faded way, because Mount Sinai speaks not of life nor
  the living, but it speaks of death. "Thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou
  shalt not..." It speaks of death. It was associated with a tabernacle of
  death. Honey, blood went from the first part of that thing to the last
  part of it. The whole thing of the tabernacle was saying, "you are dead,
  you are dead, you are dead..." The whole thing was saying "you are
  dead". Only one time a year could the Priest that represented that
  administration even go into the Holy of Holies, and that but for a short
  time and he could not remain there. He could glimpse life, but he
  could not remain there. He could glimpse life but he couldn't walk in
  it. He couldn't stay in it. He couldn't remain in it. How many believers
  are in that view or haven't even yet come to that view? What I'm telling
  you is that's a real view, it's a view given of God. It's a view to the end
  of which you and I must come. You don't skip over it - you've got to
  come to the end of it. 
  
  And here is what Paul says in II Corinthians - they wouldn't do it, they
  could not look steadfastly to the end - you see the end of that view is
  the view of Him in His glory. The end of view number one is view
  number two. Moses came down off of the mountain of view number
  one and because his heart was close to God, God said, okay, here,
  here's a little of it. And he came down off of the mountain aglow, and
  Israel could not look at him, so they put a veil over his face because
  they could not steadfastly look to the end of that which was not
  perfect. They couldn't steadfastly look to the end of the law; the end
  of that first view. They couldn't do it, so they had to cover his face up.
  Well, that view faded. And I'm telling you that there have been those
  in this view, because their heart was stayed upon God, have glimpsed
  a little glory. And the first time they opened their mouths, someone
  said, 'Put a cork in it.'
  
  Moses put no veil over his face - Israel did that. Israel demanded that.
  And so that view faded. God brought him back in it though, didn't he?
  Brought he and Elijah back in it and just let them view it on a certain
  mountain, and they were swallowed up in it. And only ONE remained
  there, and that was THE GLORY HIMSELF - The LORD JESUS!
  Do you understand the mercy and grace of God Almighty? What I'm
  trying to tell you is there is a view of Him that does speak of death.
  And you and I have got to follow Him in that view to its absolute end.
  Until we do we will not be released to see Him in His glory because
  we'll try to bring ourselves in there. And folks, no flesh shall glory in
  this appearing. This is a view of Him without me. I am not found there
  - He is found there. 
  
  You see, let me tell you, I'm not in that view. That view is coming
  forth in me, but I'm not in that view. He is in that view! The world is
  not waiting to see a manifestation of a dead Adam, but of a living
  Christ! He is the center of the second view. He is the center of the first
  too, but the first includes me. Yes it does, the first includes me. He
  included me in the first - that He may bring me to an end, a doing
  away with the me, doing away with the Adamic creation, the old
  generation. It's in that view, and it's a difficult view to walk in. The
  whole of God's dealing with Israel, right up to the Jordan was a very
  difficult dealing. Israel rebelled and rebelled - it's a very difficult
  dealing. His dealing with them in that tabernacle was a very difficult
  dealing. Have you ever truly looked at it? Have you ever truly studied
  that type, because the whole thing is representing the old going out by
  the cross.
  
  And it's pointing to a glory that none of that view can remain in or
  apprehend in its fulness. In fact, it's only in the second view that the
  Ark of the Covenant is taken out from darkness and obscurity, and
  placed out in front of the whole camp, that they may view it as they
  have never seen it before, and pass over into the good of it. But that
  has never been done before. That's never been part of that first view
  that God gave them of Himself, because that first view was for one
  reason only - to get them out of Egypt, and get Egypt out of them, to
  bring them out, as it were, through death, through burial, through
  resurrection; resurrection where only He lives - only He lives. 
  
  But when that view has had a working in our hearts - Oh, my God -
  my heart is bursting with this second view of Him - that shall I believe
  - this second view of Him, this most glorious view of Him - will
  produce a manifestation of Him in the midst of His Church. I believe
  it with all of my heart. I believe it associates with the coming of the
  Son of Man, because I believe the Son of Man repeats as it were, what
  Jesus did to a degree. He comes to His own. He doesn't come this time
  however, to be smitten. He comes to smite. He doesn't come to be put
  to death. No, no, no. He comes to reign. Hallelujah! He doesn't come
  to lead a man to death. No, no, no. He comes for the manifestation of
  LIFE. But it is HE who comes nonetheless in His most glorious
  appearing. Darling, you and I, until we've associated with Him in His
  first coming, have nothing to do with His second coming. Because it's
  not you and I who are appearing, it's "When HE who is our life shall
  appear..." Now notice those words carefully - notice the scripture. It
  does not say 'when He who is our life shall appear then shall ye appear
  also with Him in glory." It doesn't say that. It says "...then shall ye also
  appear." The word "also" here is not speaking of two appearings -
  Him and you. The word "also" makes one appearing out of it. It says,
  "to the same degree, the same manner, by the same method. WHEN
  HE APPEARS, YOU APPEAR AS THE APPEARING OF HIM!
  That word "appear" there comes from the Greek word - "
  manifestation."
   
  What I'm telling you is that there's only ONE appearing here. There's
  only ONE appearing here - HE's appearing in those who make up the
  land. You do understand that everyone who crossed in became
  synonymous with the land. You do understand you are the habitation
  of God. But He's appearing in His habitation. He must first appear in
  His habitation. Then His habitation is made glorious and presents a
  glorious appearing that the world can see. We're looking for His
  appearing! And if you're looking for any but the appearing of Him,
  you're going to miss His appearing. And from everything that I can
  read in the Bible, that's a sad occasion. That's an occasion for weeping,
  wailing, and gnashing - that's a sad occasion. 
  
  The second view is not of me - it's of HIM. I've got to come to the
  point that I've seen enough of me - that's about as simple as I can put
  it. Where I've seen about enough of me, and I'm ready just to see Him!
  Now that may not be the most spiritual way to put it, but that's as
  simple as I can make it. It's got to come to that in my heart. 
  
  And I think that's all summed up in these types we've been talking
  about. And in actuality they are much more than types - they were
  more than types to those people who actually participated in it back
  then. Jordan really wasn't too much of a type for them - in actuality
  they all did cross. That wasn't the figment of an imagination that some
  writer wrote about but never actually happened - that took place on the
  face of the earth. God had that enacted that we may understand
  something with regard to Christ and our relationship with Him. But oh,
  He has brought us right up in our understanding, right up to the bank
  of the Jordan - we who are in Christ. See, this is a thing working out
  in our hearts. We who are out from one, and in to another. This
  journey is being worked out in our hearts by a view. We have come -
  and my only question is, I know that we have all turned out hearts, we
  say, oh, we are not of Sinai, we are of Zion, and in actuality of truth,
  that's so, but my question is, has that view had its work in us yet? Has
  it truly had its work, or are we here in Christ not having a renewing of
  our mind, still applying all of these things to an old man, becoming
  nothing but a thief and a robber, taking that which doesn't belong to
  us? Rather than becoming a manifestation of everything that not only
  is His, but everything that HE IS.
  
  Therein is our inheritance, dear heart. My inheritance is not kicking
  Him off of His throne, but having His throne established in me. My
  inheritance is not taking His place, but rather by some working of the
  Holy Spirit to become a manifestation of who He is! There is nothing
  of me found in this second view - it's taken care of in the first. But
  until we come to the end of the first - as long as the first remaineth -
  the way into the second is not made manifest. That's applicable to
  anything that can be called first or second. There's got to come a time
  in your heart where there at least it is a settled matter - you're still not
  trying to find your life as a man - but will come to turn with all of your
  heart to find your life only in Christ!
  
  Hallelujah - what a view! We want to talk about those views. There are
  three little terms that I've given to them just to help me handle it in
  some way. THE EXALTED VIEW - THE TRANSFORMING VIEW
  - AND THE THRONE VIEW. It's all the same view. The view of
  Exaltation where He is supremely exalted. The Transforming view -
  that view where there is a transforming into that same image. The
  Throne view - that view where His throne is established in the midst
  of His house, and this man becomes a manifestation of that throne.
  Glory to God! But I'm telling you folks, I'm not talking about Adam.
  Adam is seriously dealt with when he's found running around over
  here. Amen. He doesn't want to be caught over here. Any man who
  would defile this temple, God destroys. How? With the brightness of
  His appearing. What a destruction!
  
  May the Holy Spirit establish in us this first view - the view which
  takes away, does away. Oh, my. "Lift up your eyes, your redemption
  draweth nigh." There is that view of Him wherein everything that's lost
  is found again - and it's all IN HIM. My Lord God, it's ALL I N HIM!
  
  Father, we thank you for the grace of God, the love of God
  manifested in Christ Jesus. Now do deal with us by your Spirit.
  This second view, Lord, involves the seven fold Spirit for herein is
  the full revealing of the Lord Jesus Christ. The heavenly unveiling,
  the earthly manifesting. Hallelujah! Let our hearts turn within us
  to see Him in His fulness. Oh, may we behold the SALVATION OF
  THE LORD. Just open the eyes of our understanding I pray, by
  your Spirit. We thank you for it, Lord, in Jesus' precious name.
  AMEN.
                                 IN VIEW OF HIM
                                  BY J W LUMAN
  
                                      PART 2
  
  Turn with me now to the eleventh chapter of the Gospel of John. We
  are dealing with these two views of Christ to which the believer must
  come. We contrasted these two views - Egypt, the wilderness, and
  Canaan; going from one realization, from one mountain, Sinai, to
  another, Mount Zion - at least we mentioned those things, in order to
  bring something into view. There is a view of Christ which takes away,
  and there is a view of Christ which establishes. And when I am saying
  a view of Christ, I'm talking about a God-given, Holy Ghost revealed
  understanding of Christ in you and that same Christ in whom you now
  dwell. So there are two views of Him, two understandings, but we're
  not to confuse that with natural understanding. For natural
  understanding has nothing to do with Him at all - period. But there are
  two spiritual views of Him and one MUST become absolute before we
  can cross over, because we cross over in the second view, the greater
  view. We don't cross over and come to that view, we cross over IN
  that view. It is that view that brings us over. 
  
  We have been talking about the spiritual journey of every believer as
  it is exemplified in Israel and in their journey. Well, you have to see
  with the eye of the Spirit that was a spiritual journey, and was speaking
  of a spiritual journey, and God dealt with them according to His
  viewpoint. And all of this is summed up in our journey, our walk, our
  following Him into the fulness of the regeneration - coming by the
  washing of the water of the Word and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.
  Coming to view Him in the realization of all things. 
  
  The point is that the believer - you and I are in Christ. Now folks,
  we're in Christ and there are three terms associated with that in your
  Bible - quickened together, the word 'together' meaning 'as one with',
  and that's what it means, quickened as one with Him, raised up as one
  with', 'seated as one with' in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now the
  promise to those is that there is a day, and that's the day of the Spirit
  of Truth, when He is fully come, that you will know. And that day is
  not like Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, but a designation of a realization
  of this day in whom we dwell. But a day that you will know. Know
  what? "That I'm in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you" -
  an understanding with regard to our union with the Lord. 
  
  Here we are in Him, and everything in Christ works by FAITH. You
  possess nothing in Him in an active way, an experiential way but by
  faith. "The just shall live by His faith." Paul says I have come to a
  realization concerning my union with Him. It is just this, "I am
  crucified with Him, nevertheless I live, yet (and it's important where
  those two words are placed in that sentence), nevertheless I live, yet,
  not I, Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live
  by the faith of the Son of God." In other words, I live by the Divine
  understanding that it is not I, but Christ who lives in me. "I live by the
  faith of the Son of God." It is by faith - faith is not this "hope so"
  situation that most teach it as being, but faith is a Divine knowing,
  given of God. And that Divine knowing only comes by hearing, and
  that hearing only comes by the revealing of the Person of the Word of
  Truth, which is the ministry of the Spirit of Truth to do. 
  
  So, our whole spiritual life folks, being in Christ - I'm speaking to you
  who are in Him - our whole spiritual life then, is actually summed up
  and sealed IN HIM. Everything with regard to our life is summed up
  in Him. And everything with regard to living, growing, increasing, has
  to do with our KNOWING HIM - our knowing Him. The knowing of
  Christ that is working in you. The faith of the Son of God that is
  working in you. That has to do and determines spiritual life, as spiritual
  life is taught in the scripture. It is not just moving from one experience
  to another, but it is walking in the knowledge of the Son. Walking in
  the faith of the Son - not just little visitations from God and little
  encounters from time to time, but walking in the knowledge, in the
  faith of the Son - WALKING IN THE VIEW OF HIM!
  
  So our growing up in Christ as we see typed in Israel is very much
  then, one that revolves around what view of Christ, what
  understanding with Christ and our union with Him do we have. What
  is the faith that is at work in you and I? And basically the Bible when
  speaking of that understanding of Christ, that view of Him, speaks of
  two views. One view - that primarily is for taking away, for there is
  that which must be taken away. And the second view, the ultimate
  view, the exalted view, the most excellent view is that view which
  establishes. And it is that view that shall ultimately be manifested in the
  earth. Because the creation is not waiting on a dead Adam, but on a
  living Christ. It is that view. 
  
  But we are finding that this first view - and it's very simply this - this
  first view is you and I coming to see Him as He relates to us in His
  Death, His Burial and His Resurrection. And that's the first view. And
  if you'll look with me in the little verse that we just quoted of Paul's
  statement of faith in Galatians 2:20, you'll see that there are two views
  operating there. The first that he declares is "I am crucified with
  Christ." and that is a very positive view with Paul. When he sees
  himself, he sees himself as one who is crucified with Christ. And then
  he brings in another view. And he uses the term 'nevertheless'. I don't
  know whether you've ever taken the time to look that term up or not,
  but it's an important term. Nevertheless - nonetheless - "Nevertheless,
  I live..." And what he's saying there is what he teaches throughout his
  epistles, and it is just this. This has in effect cost me nothing, rather it
  has gained me everything. None-the-less - I live, but then there's this
  conjunction "yet" and it has to be placed here - "...yet, not I..." Right
  here in Christ you will write NOT I, BUT CHRIST - that is the
  understanding of the second view. And that understanding comes out
  of  the first which sees me crucified with Him. 
  
  "Nevertheless I live..." What is that nevertheless life? What is that
  much more life, that abundant life? It is "Not I, but Christ!" Now you
  see, if you change those two words around it wouldn't make that
  scripture work at all. And I've done some little search on that in various
  translations to know what I'm talking about. And if you changed that
  around you would simply destroy the whole thing. You would say, "I
  am crucified with Christ, yet I live" - and that simply isn't true. Then
  you would say, "Nevertheless not I", which would place all of the
  emphasis on "not I" - not really. I mean it would make the whole thing
  a lie. You would be saying "I'm dead, but I'm not really dead." Paul is
  saying - When He died, I died, I died and died just as dead as He died
  and the realization in which I now walk by His faith is that He lives
  and not me! Now folks, that sounds like simplicity itself, but only the
  Divine Being of the Holy Spirit can bring that view into your inner
  man to the point of transformation. Otherwise you'll read those
  scriptures and say, 'I believe it because the Word of God says it', and
  then you'll just go right on. The whole thing that makes that work is the
  faith of the Son of God. This whole thing, that I live now in the flesh,
  Paul says, this that I live in the flesh, I live in this understanding. It is
  this understanding in which I walk - THE FAITH OF THE SON OF
  GOD.
  
  What I am telling you simply is just this. We have come to a time, we
  have come as a creation, and I'm speaking of a New Creation -
  because I'm not looking to the old creation for anything. I think we'll
  show it something, but I'm not looking to it for anything. We have
  come as a creation to a time in the heart of the Father, in the will of the
  Father, that the emphasis of the Holy Spirit is moving from the first
  view to the second view. I tell you this in the Name of the Lord. We
  are moving in the heavens - not all will move - not all will do that at
  the same time - not all will come to see Him in this view. Oh, this view
  shall be seen by all, but not all shall come to see Him in this view, but
  I tell you by the Spirit of God, that we are moving into such a time.
  Heaven is declaring this, the Spirit of God in moving upon the
  Scripture is declaring this, everything is coming to this. The carnal
  church is looking for they know not what, but they know something is
  about to happen. I'm telling you what's about the happen - GOD IS
  CHANGING VIEWS IN THE HEAVENS, and it is this ultimate
  view, this exalted view of Christ, of the Son that is coming forth in the
  heavens to be made manifest in the earth. 
  
  My whole heart's desire is to be set in this more excellent view of Him.
  But the warning that the Spirit of God has implanted in my heart and
  I can not get away from it, though I may bore some to tears, is just
  this. You can't just leave one view and jump into another. That isn't the
  way it works. And I'm trying to say that and show you that in type. Not
  until the one has finished its working in you, can God bring forth the
  other. And it is in this greater view that you and I who are in Christ
  must come - we're already in Him. Now I know that Israel wasn't "IN
  HIM" but My God folks, that's all laid out as a type. I mean the land
  of Canaan over there on the end of the Mediterranean is not the Holy
  Land either, and I'm sure that's no surprise to anybody. But the type
  is there. God saw them there before they got there. 
  
  What I'm telling you is that whole thing is involving you and I, not
  trying to get into Christ, because if you're born again by the
  "quickened together, raised together", you're already there. The
  problem is like Israel, most of those that are here by translation, Divine
  birth, new birth - most of those that are here are still seeing themselves
  somewhere else. And in their heart they are still wandering around the
  wilderness. Some, in their heart are still captive to Egypt. It is a matter
  of belief - BELIEF. The writer of the Hebrews says that, came to
  realize that and he said it's a matter of UNBELIEF. With them it was
  unbelief. And he looks at the Christian, the ones that he's writing to
  and he says, "See that this same unbelief is not in you. See that you,
  who are now in Christ, blood washed and Spirit born, see that you do
  not fail to enter into this rest."
  
  Honey, you have to understand that what we're talking about is
  regarding those who are now in Christ Jesus, but not in His Faith, not
  in a full view of Him. And if you just look at it in the absoluteness of
  the letter of the Word, then you see they were in Egypt, and then they
  were in the wilderness, and then they were in Canaan, and that's true.
  But you have to see by the Spirit where God saw them, and that in His
  speaking, what He was speaking about. And we who are born again
  are IN HIM, but the condition of our heart - that's where He's
  speaking; the condition of your faith, the condition of your belief, the
  condition of your view - that's what we're taking about here. What
  view are you in? And Paul began to deal with believers saying, "Know
  ye not, do you not understand, have you not come to see that as many
  of you as have been baptized into Christ have been..." And he deals
  with them there. And then he goes on from that point and says, " Do
  you not understand that you are quickened, are raised up, are seated.
  Do you understand that?" He deals with the Church in REALITY OF
  TRUTH. And that is what all of this business is a type of. And that's
  what we have to see there. 
  
  And that makes it all the more pitiful. Honey, it is not really pitiful for
  someone who's not in Christ to not see themselves there, but it is
  absolutely pitiful for those who are in Christ to be ignorant. It is pitiful
  for those who dwell in heaven to think they are in the earth. It is pitiful
  for those who are In Him to think they have to get in Him - that's
  pitiful - and to live like that. And I think that many of us are in the
  classification of being pitiful, you know. Lord, I'm telling you folks,
  what the poison of carnality has done to most believers. The concept
  of union with Christ that most believers have still lies somewhere over
  in "Gloryland", having no understanding where we are. 
  
  We are here to come to this view of Him. Until however, we come to
  the first..., so if you'll permit, I'm still dealing with the first. I can only
  move as the Spirit of God allows me to move, and I'm not trying to be
  laborsome or redundant or boring with you at all, but again I must
  emphasize this. I get up in the morning thinking about this. I go to
  sleep at night thinking about it. I go through the day thinking of
  nothing else. And the thing that is in my heart, the thing that the Spirit
  keeps shouting to me is - UNTIL THERE IS THE FINISH OF
  THE FIRST, THERE IS NO REALIZATION OF THE
  SECOND. Please look - they didn't run and pole vault into Canaan,
  they didn't make rafts. There was a Divine order, a Divine way. There
  is a Divine order, a Divine way for you and I crossing over that river
  of realization. There is a Divine order to which our hearts must come
  before we are prepared to have the eyes of our understanding
  enlightened and begin to walk out, begin to comprehend - Paul uses
  that term - the length, the breadth, the depth, the height, with all saints,
  of the fulness of God in Christ Jesus. 
  
  And the thing that brings the heart to that is this surety that comes into
  our hearts with regard to ourselves, with regard to the old generation,
  with regard to the old man, that view of Christ that brings that old man
  to an absoluteness of nothingness, that he will never be found in the
  resurrection, that he will never be found or exalted in glory. Because
  if he does then he fulfills the scripture that Jesus spoke of when He
  said, "All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers." Come
  on, He's talking about those that are found in the sheepfold. That ever
  came before Him. See honey, here He is the first and He is the last,
  and anything that comes before Him is other than Him - it's this old
  man trying to show up here in Canaan. Now there was the type of the
  old man there in Canaan - just a type, but you have to understand what
  it was. It was the inhabitants of Canaan - all the "ites" - the Jebusites,
  the Hivites, Hittites - God was looking at the thing as a whole. You
  have to see it, not in the literal thing, but in the spiritual understanding
  there. To Israel it was said, "Have nothing to do, make no covenant,
  enter into no agreement, utterly rout, utterly abolish, utterly kill, utterly
  destroy, utterly put out." Why? Because that's the whole working of
  the cross! You and I are being told here in Christ, you've got to realize
  that one has utterly been killed, utterly destroyed, utterly  put out,
  make no covenant - that means be not double-minded, be renewed in
  the Spirit of your mind, and whereby the old is put off and the new is
  put on. This is the fulfillment of what was told to Israel over here with
  regard to the inhabitants of the land. Remember now, they were both
  inhabitants of the land - one of the flesh and one of the Spirit. One had
  it by promise, the other had it by natural birth. Sweetheart, ye are not
  of the natural, ye are children of the promise. You and I are brought
  into Him. Hallelujah to God! The natural has no place there. That
  which is born of the flesh has no place there. And I still keep trying to
  give him place and get God to bless him. And we've got to understand
  that is "any that come before me" - something that comes before Him,
  because He's first and He's last. HE IS ONLY! There is just One who
  lives here. We - His Body, We - the Tabernacle of Him, but there's
  only One who lives here - and that's the SON!
  
  And anything that came before Him is a thief and robber, and has no
  place here at all. So, except we give him place there, this first view has
  utterly done away, utterly finished and utterly routed him. Now we
  want to go, but I'm warned of God that we not make rafts and try to
  cross over; that we not try to come into this thing by natural means. If
  we do, we'll be destroyed. We'll be destroyed by perversion - we'll be
  destroyed, and ultimately in the brightness of His coming, if we find
  ourselves in that category. Trying to rush over - you see, look at Israel.
  The first time they got there. And they wouldn't go over, would they?
  Then they decided, 'Well, we'll do it, bless God, we may as well.' Aha,
  what a terrible thrashing they got. And then this second time when
  God was bringing them into the good of this view that we keep
  pointing toward, and that Paul pointed toward and that the whole book
  points toward, and that there shall be a people come to manifest in the
  earth - this glorious view. It is a glorious view. And no flesh shall glory
  in His presence. 
  
  Oh Lord God, this is a terrible place to be caught in the flesh. I'm
  telling you. The wrath of God comes upon it. The judgment of God
  comes upon it because the judgment of God is already established in
  the cross for it, and there can be no greater judgment than is
  manifested in the midst of creation carried out and executed at the
  cross. The annihilation of the human race! How in the name of God
  can you drum up a worse judgment than that? The annihilation of the
  human race - that a new race, a new generation may come forth in
  Christ Jesus. Hallelujah! Because you can't have the two. And darling,
  both can not coexist in your heart - not here in Christ. And if it does,
  it's going to have to face the brightness of His appearing; it is going to
  have to face the judgment that is established in Him. 
  
  I am amazed. I am overwhelmed. I am awed. I could go through the
  dictionary and use every word along those lines and still could not
  express my heart, at just the thought of this view that is about to break
  forth in the heavens. I say 'about to break forth' because had it already
  come, it would have already produced itself in visible manifestation in
  the earth - and it is not now so. But it is so in heaven, and yet here our
  eyes must be opened - the heavens must be opened. Oh, there is a
  view and I sat on a mountain in North Carolina at a time when God
  was dealing with me about this view and I said, "Oh God, you know
  as well as I do that most of the Church is not walking in the first view.
  Most have never come to realize their union with Him in His Death,
  His Burial, His Resurrection. Lord, most have no comprehension of
  that view. Oh God, what in the world are you talking to me about
  another view, a greater view, a magnificent view? How is it that this
  view could possibly come forth when most are totally resistant in their
  heart to the first view?" And all the Spirit of the Lord said to me, the
  only answer I got back was, "This view shall come because I AM
  ready for it. It is my time."
  
  And I can't tell you the scores of scriptures that came and said Amen,
  Amen, Amen - you know, confirmed what the Lord had said
  throughout the scriptures to "this time" that belongs only to the Father.
  It belongs to Him, but I am convinced in my heart through the
  testimony of other brethren with whom we walk in covenant, through
  the testimony of the Holy Spirit in my own heart, and through the
  testimony of the scriptures - I'm convinced in my heart, folks, that
  there's a new view coming forth in the heavens. And therefore it is
  abounding in me to urge the Church, those who would Know Him, to
  set their eyes steadfastly upon Him in the first view. DO NOT TURN
  FROM THE CROSS. Do not turn. What happened to Israel? They
  could not look to the end of that which was abolished. The end of that
  which was abolished is the glory of God! The end of the law is the
  coming of Christ. The end of the letter is the Spirit. The end of it.
  They could not look steadfastly to the end of that which was abolished.
  Too many of us can not look steadfastly to the end of that which was
  abolished. We want to see ourselves come forth in some kind of mini-
  resurrection. We want to see ourselves get better. We can not look
  steadfastly to the end of the abolishment that we might then see the
  glory of the Almighty God. Hallelujah! And come into a true
  realization - IT IS NOT I, IT IS CHRIST!
  
  But I'm here to tell you, some shall see Him in that fashion. Some shall
  see Him unto full salvation and shall manifestly exhibit Him as such.
  And not under a tub, and not under a bed shall it be hidden, but as
  lightning that shineth from the east to the west, so shall it be. And
  nobody's going to have to run and tell you - 'Come over here and see
  Him, come over here, here He is, there He is' - no, nobody will have
  to tell you that, because this thing isn't done off in a corner
  somewhere. Oh, my heart is filled with this thing. But the one brings
  us into the other. It was in the view, that view of Him, that view of
  everything that we're talking about that was right out in the middle of
  the Jordan on the shoulders of a Priesthood that is raised up to exhibit
  it. For nothing else held them together except that view upon their
  shoulders. And it was in that view that they all passed over. It was in
  that understanding, that knowledge, and it is in that view. And that
  view was perfected in them - from glory to glory to glory, right up until
  Mount Zion, then right on beyond that in the very thing that Solomon
  is a type of. And remember One who says, "A greater than Solomon
  is come." And so is a greater temple. What I'm saying is they walked
  in that view right into the restoration of all things. 
  
  Glorious view of Him! What about this first view? Now I'm just going
  to read here. You know the story of Lazarus. But oh, what a story it
  is. Verse 4, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God,
  that the Son of God might be glorified." Verse 11, "Our friend
  Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep." And
  then verse 23, "Thy brother shall rise again." Verse 25, "I am the
  Resurrection and the Life. He that believeth in me, though he were
  dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me,
  shall never die. Believeth thou this?" Verses 43-44, "When he had
  thus spoken he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus come forth. And he
  that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes and
  his face was bound about with a napkin. And Jesus said unto them,
  Loose him and let him go."
  
  Now what we're going to deal with here has to do with this. I want to
  lift one verse out of this - verse 4. "This sickness is not unto death, but
  for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified." This
  sickness is not unto death - but Lazarus died, didn't he? Yet Jesus said,
  "This sickness is not unto death." Honey, there is a sickness which is
  not unto death, and I'm not talking about cancer, tuberculosis or a
  headache. There is a sickness that is not unto death - BUT IT IS FOR
  THE GLORY  - I'm not talking about some kind of natural sickness.
  There is a sickness that is not UNTO death, though it INVOLVES
  death - but the end of it is not death - the end of it is the glory of God
  and the purpose of it is that the Son of God be glorified. And that 
  sickness is dealt with here at the CROSS.
  
  There was a time when I looked at the cross and I saw death. But I
  have come to realize, and you've got to do that, and this is my whole
  point. You have got to see death there - Lazarus did die. But this
  whole event was not UNTO death - it was UNTO THE GLORY OF
  THE ALMIGHTY GOD that the Son of God be glorified. The
  purpose of the cross goes beyond getting rid of Adam. The ultimate
  view of the cross is not death - IT IS  LIFE! Though one dies, another
  lives! And He who lives, lives forever and ever and ever more. But
  you've got to see that it's all by the working of the CROSS, where one
  is done away and another comes forth in glory!
  
  You see this is the view that we must come to. I had always seen the
  whole thing as death. The Lord had to sit me down and deal with me
  severely in that. And he said, "You have not yet seen the final view of
  the cross. You have not yet seen the ultimate view. The ultimate view
  is not you, dead. THE ULTIMATE VIEW IS HIM, REMAINING!
  HIM, LIVING! The ultimate view of the cross is the One Son who
  remains! And remains forevermore. And all who remain will remain
  by Him, in Him, through Him, of Him, as Him." Hallelujah! You see,
  all of that is seen there in John 11 if you'll just take time to look for it.
  But I want to show you now the absoluteness of the death, the
  absoluteness of the judgment, because there is an absoluteness to this
  that you and I must come to grips with. 
  
  John's Gospel the fifth chapter, and again I'm just going to take a
  statement from that. John 5:27, "And hath given Him authority to
  execute judgment also because He is the Son of Man." Sweetheart, all
  judgment was executed in the Son of Man, and all judgment will be
  executed by the Son of Man, simply because He has borne all
  judgment, so shall He manifest all judgment. Now we'll get into this as
  we get over into the second view as to this most glorious Son of Man.
  Executed judgment - He speaks of this, "As Moses lifted up the
  serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up." "The hour is come for
  the Son of Man to be glorified. And I, if I be lifted up ... this spake He
  the manner of His death." But at the same time He said, "Now is the
  judgment of this world. Now is the prince of this world cast out." Why
  is he cast out? Because his world was brought to a judgment. All
  ground is taken away from Him. One who finds no ground, no place
  to reside is cast out. You destroy a creation, you destroy a ground, and
  he who would reside there is cast out. 
  
  Now I know you and I in our hearts, in our minds, and I would never
  intend for you in this natural way, but you and I never think to this end
  as God does because we're even a little squeamish about when he told
  Israel what to do with the inhabitants of the land. And that's because
  we do not have a spiritual understanding of who he's talking about -
  the flesh. And that Jesus executed that judgment on the cross.  But if
  you and I were having trouble with a person we could not get out of
  a building that belonged to us, the sure way to cast that person out is
  not necessarily go in there and lay hands on him. You could destroy
  the building - and bring it to a state of non-existence. You have then
  for ever more, cast out the inhabitant, for there is no place left to
  dwell. Now that might seem like cutting your nose off to spite your
  face, but not if you've got a better building! Not if you've got a better
  creation, not if you've got a better world. This is the way God thinks.
  His thoughts are with such tremendous finality that most of us cannot
  comprehend. We cannot comprehend the finality of our death,
  consequently we cannot comprehend the finality of our life. See, we
  cannot comprehend his final dealings with one world, therefore most
  of us are still blind to the glorious world, to the new world, to the New
  Creation. I'm simply saying world because the Greek translation
  permits me to do that. Creation - world - regeneration. 
  
  Israel did not want finality. They wanted deliverance, but they didn't
  want finality. They didn't necessarily want to be in Egypt, but they
  rather enjoyed Egypt in them. They didn't want finality. They didn't
  necessarily mind seeing their tormentors dead, Egypt dead, but they
  didn't really want to be dead to Egypt, because that's just too final. And
  yet hear the words of Paul, "And yet if I glory, I will glory in nothing
  save the cross, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I am
  crucified unto the world." And darling, that's a finality - not because
  the world's done away, but because I'm done away. I am crucified. I
  am done away. See, most of us in our inner man have not come to
  entertain that view of Christ - the view whereby He literally, totally,
  absolutely abolished a creation in Himself. "In that one died, all died
  with Him." "If I be lifted up I will draw in unto myself all men. This
  spake He with regard to His death." How is it that Ephesians the
  second chapter verses 14 through 18 says that He made the Jew and
  the Gentile one? Those are the parties there spoken of when He says
  'both'. How is it that He did that? Someone says, well He made them
  both one here in Christ. NO He didn't. No, no, no, because in Christ
  there is neither Jew nor Gentile, let alone one. The New Man is not
  something produced out of a Jew and a Gentile getting together and
  marrying. But where did He make them one? It says He made them
  both one, it also says He made them both one in the BODY OF HIS
  CROSS. He made them both one, humanity, right here at the cross
  and He did away with them both as one, and brought forth One New
  Man that is neither Jew nor Gentile as by natural birth. Neither black
  nor white, male nor female. 
  
  He is not of this generation. God didn't come into this generation and
  take the "good" of it and anoint it. There isn't any good in it - it's all
  evil. Jesus said the whole thing is evil and brought it to an end.
  Darling, you and I have got to come to this. You say, is that a view of
  Christ? Yes, that's a view of Christ we didn't care much about. That's
  a view of Christ that we hid our faces from - we don't find a lot of
  beauty in that. But until you and I come to the finality of such a view,
  we're going to continually miss the gloriousness of the second view,
  because we are going to continue to see ourselves there and not just
  Him! We're going to continue to be double minded. We are going to
  continue to find aspects of the old here in the new, and think they are
  supposed to be there - until a finality comes. 
  
  Now He says, it is given unto me. I have authority. That is a
  tremendous word. It not only means 'permission', but it means 'might
  and ability'. It is - I have authority to execute. Execute ALL judgment.
  Not some - all. Now I realize that that which is executed at the cross
  we come to in Him, and then we shall manifest in reality, but here is
  where it is executed. Here is the reality of it. 
  
  Philippians the second chapter, verse 5. "Let this mind be in you,
  which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God,
  thought it not robbery to be equal with God (a thing to grasped at)
  but made Himself no reputation, took upon Him the form of a
  servant, was made in the likeness of men (and that term is translated
  in the Greek as Adam) ... in the likeness of men (mankind, the Adamic
  man), and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and
  became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Now it goes
  on - "Wherefore God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a
  name..." Here - the OBEDIENT ONE. See, most Christians look at
  the cross and all they see is a disobedient one, somebody that dies. Oh
  no, no, no, no. The Obedient One is here. He became obedient unto
  death, even the death of the cross. There is an Obedient Son! The
  world had never encountered an obedient son! Satan, whatever your
  viewpoint of him might be, had never encountered an obedient son,
  man had never encountered an obedient son, the law had never
  encountered an obedient son, principalities and powers had never
  encountered an obedient son. Their only hope to exist, their only
  compromise could have been that if he had in any way compromised
  His obedience, as the Adamic man compromised his obedience. But
  this One - with this One there's no compromise. And honey, that's why
  this One is so hard for you and I to come to face in our hearts, because
  with Him there is no compromise. A person in whom there is no
  compromise is a difficult person to deal with, if you're on the ground
  of compromise. And yet when you and I are brought in our hearts to
  deal with Him - this is the One - we're dealing with an altogether
  Obedient One. And excuses don't count, reasoning doesn't count, if,
  ands, buts, maybes don't count. Nothing counts. He was encountered
  on the ground of His obedience in the wilderness and He was
  encountered in the harshest of ways, only to remain obedient, and
  untouched and unscathed. And the one who would find compromise
  in Him could find no ground in Him whatsoever. Because here was the
  Obedient Son!
  
  "Obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Sweetheart, there
  is one being created here in knowledge, in truth, in understanding, who
  is the duplicate, the exactness of that One! And the world will not
  know what to do with such a one. One who will stand as having been
  obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Glory to the Lamb of
  God! John saw Him, and asked Him as it were what His name was -
  at least that question was in his heart. And He turned and looked at
  him and said, "I am the first and the last. I am He which liveth, was
  dead, but I am alive forever more." Hallelujah! IT'S THE
  OBEDIENT ONE!  We're going to face Him in judgment, we're
  going to face Him in glory - it's the Obedient One, and I'm just saying
  that the world didn't know what to do with Him - the Son of Man. 
  
  I've got a whole list of references here, all of them emphasizing the
  identity of the One here - the SON OF MAN. It's the SON OF MAN
  that Matthew 24 speaks of in His Coming - SON OF MAN. Such a
  One is being formed in the heavens, who has a name above every
  name - exalted. Why? Because He was obedient unto death, even the
  death of the cross. "Wherefore God hath highly exalted Him..." But
  you'll not wear His name except you come by HIS obedience. NO
  MAN wears His name. No man cometh here but by Him. And in His
  obedience - obedient unto death, even the death of the cross - in His
  obedience God was absolutely satisfied. God's heart was satisfied. I
  don't know what your concept is of Satan, but God's heart was
  satisfied as to Satan. In the garden in Genesis there was a promise
  made to the serpent. And the promise was "...he shall bruise your
  head." This is fulfilled in the Obedient One. Oh yes, to be manifested,
  but is fulfilled here. God's promise was satisfied. Because what was
  destroyed? 1 John 3:18 says, "... to destroy the works of the devil."
  Colossians 2:15 says, "... to make an open shew..." Ephesians 2:14-18
  uses three words - breakdown, abolish and slay - that he may bring
  forth One New Man who is at peace with God. 
  
  What has happened here? The man that Satan would use is done
  away. The creation that he would corrupt is gone. The works of the
  devil are destroyed - an open shew of it is made. I know there's much
  to this, but this is the summation of it. And a New Man was brought
  forth in whom there is no place. He is at peace with God! God's heart
  was absolutely satisfied as to his promise and his prediction by this
  Obedient Son. I'm not denying the existence of evil in the world, but
  I just want to tell you, I don't spend my time running from the devil,
  fighting with the devil or battling with the devil. He is not in the
  creation where I am. I'm not talking about resisting him. Understand
  that there is a place where the devil is not, and that's the place where
  by Christ I am! "For as I am in My Father, you are in me, and I am
  in you." And as far as I am concerned, that's an exclusive fellowship
  and Satan has no place there - no ground there, not in this creation. I
  know that many have brought him over in their hearts as it were, but
  you see that's the very ground that the cross destroys - that ground that
  we give him in our hearts; where part of the old creation is alive and
  well, and the snake is there feeding on the dust of it. But this One,
  Christ, brings it to a completion - satisfies God as to the world, as to
  creation; brings one creation to an end and brings forth a New
  Creation in One Man - CHRIST JESUS. In the first creation there is
  a dividing of light and dark - the sun is given, moon and stars are given
  as examples of that, and there's seasons and times and days and all of
  that. And there is good and evil, and light and dark. But in this New
  Creation there is NO DARKNESS AT ALL!
  
  "And I don't write to you brethren, there's no need to write of times
  and seasons...", not in this creation, for there's just one day. And the
  light of that day is Christ Himself. And you are children of the day.
  And if we walk in this creation in darkness it's because the darkness is
  in our own hearts - it's not in Him. And if we'll turn to see Him, the
  darkness is done away. Because the darkness cannot resist or
  overcome the light. Satisfied God, consequently we have One here in
  the heavens who is dead to Satan. We have One here in the heavens
  who is dead to the world and to this creation. Listen to me - whatever
  your concept , let Satan rage and roar - here is One who is dead to
  him. Let the world and creation do what they will - here's One that is
  dead to it. And what I'm telling you is you've got to come to an
  absoluteness in your heart with regard to this understanding of being
  I AM DEAD TO ONE AND ALIVE TO ANOTHER. You see here's
  most Christians - most Christians are trying to kill everything else. You
  know, well let the devil die, just get rid of all the world, get rid of the
  creation, get rid of all the sinners - put them in a pit somewhere and
  then I can live. No honey, you're killing the wrong one. I'M DEAD.
  Dead what? Dead to all of that! DEAD! He, the Obedient Son,
  satisfied God in the whole of it - dead to the devil, dead to the world
  and creation, dead to humanity. He summed up humanity in Himself,
  and put humanity as a race, as a species, as a generation to death. And
  I know humanity still walks around out there looking like it's alive, but
  honey, I am dead to it! I have no part in it. But I'm alive in another,
  and to another, and by another! And you've got to come to an
  absoluteness of that in your heart, and quit blaming everything on
  humanity. Humanity is ignorant as a stump and has no answers. 
  
  But now back to John 11 - at the end we see One coming forth and
  says, "And he that was dead..." He that was dead, he came forth in the
  resurrection, didn't he? Come forth IN the resurrection, BY the
  resurrection. Who? HE THAT WAS DEAD! Only you that come to
  be dead - dead - dead to sin, dead by Christ - only the dead can live.
  Only those that are dead can experience the resurrection. He that WAS
  DEAD came forth. Look over there at John's revelation of Jesus Christ
  - "He that liveth, I was dead, now I'm alive forever more." You're
  going to have to come to this first view of Him. You're going to have
  to come to an absoluteness of a death. Not unto destruction - "This
  sickness is not unto death, but unto the glory of God." What I'm
  telling you is the death that you die - you die a death to the world, to
  the creation, to mankind, to everything you are or were in Adam, you
  die to that thing, and you live only BY HIM. The dead hear His voice!
  Nobody else can hear it but the dead. Dead in Sin? NO - DEAD TO
  SIN. "Lazarus is just asleep. I go to awaken him." Awake awake, and
  Christ shall give ye light. HALLELUJAH! HEAR THE VOICE OF
  THE LORD! PRAISE GOD!
  
  But He couldn't call Lazarus out of a hole in the ground until he got in
  one. And He can't bring you into life until you've come to understand
  His death. You've got to come to that first view. It's got to be all over.
  There's got to be an absoluteness in your heart. And then you can hear
  the voice of Him that liveth. Go ahead and come forth. And One
  comes forth in the resurrection. We - the increase of Him - just the
  increase of Him bring forth that most glorious appearing. One dead to
  the world. One dead to Adam, and consequently One dead to the law,
  for in Him all righteousness is fulfilled. "For ye of God are in Christ
  Jesus, who is made unto you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
  redemption." But that's the second view. Honey, Lazarus was four
  days dead. This thing gets absolute. We're not looking at a healing
  there. The old man gets sick and then gets better - NO, that's not what
  we're looking at. 
  
  I tell you, that first view gets more glorious, because it's that view that
  releases you into the second. And so you are ever grateful to the first.
  No wonder Paul says, "I'll just glory in the cross. It's released me into
  this. It's brought me into this glorious view where none lives but Him,
  and I find my purpose in knowing Him, manifesting Him. None lives
  but HIM!" My God, that's the view that's coming into the heavens.
  And I know many will try to pollute it, but it can not be polluted. I
  know there will be many anti-types of it, but the real will manifest itself
  to those whose hearts are turned to see Him. I know many shall try to
  position themselves instead of coming to the position of Him, but the
  reality must be declared. Because the Spirit of God is moving in the
  heavens and the voice of the Lord is being tuned up to be heard. Such
  a shout, such a voice, such a glorious reality breaking forth in the
  heavens. I don't want to miss it because I'm arguing with God about a
  first view. I don't want to miss it by still trying to get me in there
  somewhere. Hallelujah!
  
  The Obedient Son. Obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
  In Him God is fully satisfied, and in the Son that He brings forth God
  is fully pleased. Because in Him there is nothing of the old. That is the
  costliest view of all, folks. It isn't going to cost you things - you've
  already come through that in the first view. The cost of seeing Him -
  and Him alone - goes to the very depth of the soul. The cost of that is
  that nothing remains but Him! None to glory, just all to manifest His
  glory! Oh my Lord God, prepare our hearts to even talk about such a
  view. I talk about the first view because we're all related to that - in
  death, burial, resurrection, yes. But the second view is JUST HIM! We
  are those into whom that view is coming. We are that generation, that
  creation to be filled with it and to manifest it. But the view is not of
  me, it is of Him. Not of you - it is of HIM. It is the most glorious view.
  It is the costliest view but it is the most glorious view. It is the view for
  which creation waits. It is the view which the Father has determined.
  And it is that view that He's bringing in the heavens. 
  
  But as I said, as that view nears its appearing, there is great pressure
  brought upon us by this first view. Because none shall slip over into
  this view. This view is coming to those that are dead - they shall be
  brought forth in this view. This voice is to be heard by those who are
  dead. "The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the
  voice of the Son of God, and they that hear it shall live." We're not
  talking about dead in sin here, we're talking about this dead - obedient,
  dead to  it all - ALIVE TO HIM!
  
  Thank God for Jesus. Thank God for Great Salvation. Holy Spirit, do
  deal with our hearts. You have surely gathered us for such a
  purpose. We who are quickened, raised and seated - surely the
  gathering is for such a purpose as the full view of Him! Such a
  view creation awaits, but they shall never see until those in the
  heavens behold Him! My Lord God, do cause our hearts to turn to
  see Him in this way that eliminated everything but Him. Do deal
  with our hearts. Let these days find its purpose in the seeing of Him
  in this view. I thank you for it. May God be praised. Amen and
    Amen.

               IN VIEW OF HIM
               BY J W LUMAN
  
                    PART 3
  
  Turn with me now to Matthew's Gospel the 19th chapter. In our last
  session we were dealing with coming into this view of Christ, this
  understanding of our relationship with Him of which Canaan in the
  Old Testament is a type. Only those who are in Christ, those believers
  who are in Christ; and that isn't to mean that some believers are and
  some believers aren't, but only those who are in Christ through the new
  birth - quickened together, raised up, seated together can come to view
  Him in this most glorious view. Only those that are in fact ONE WITH
  HIM can come to understand that relationship. To come to this
  relationship is actually what the Bible sets forth in an Old Testament
  type - it is actually the crossing of the Jordan, coming over from the
  wilderness which is a place where there is no understanding. Now that
  simply is what the wilderness was. It wasn't that they weren't children
  of God, it's just that they had no understanding; they had no vision;
  they had no view. Their view was a limited view. It was a view that
  was set out by Mount Sinai - the view of the Law. And God desired
  to bring them over into a greater understanding of salvation - a greater
  understanding of Himself. And Canaan was the type of all of that.
  Everything of Canaan was summed up in the Lord Jesus Christ. All the
  good of Canaan - Mount Zion - all of it is summed up in Christ, where
  you and I dwell by the Spirit. To come into the realization of that is,
  in fact, the crossing over of Jordan, and every one of us has that
  Jordan to cross over, that realization. BECAUSE YOU CAN NOT
  WALK IN CHRIST EXCEPT IN THE LIGHT WHICH IS CHRIST.
  You can not walk - Paul calls it a comprehending, that you would
  come with all saints to comprehend what is the length, the breadth, the
  depth, the height. The word "comprehend" says it all. You can not
  walk in Him except in the understanding of the Lord.  This is our walk
  in Christ - a walk in comprehending, a walk in understanding, not in
  the natural mind, but of the inner man by the Holy Spirit. A view of
  Him. 
  
  We have just touched in our last lesson, because for some reason I was
  very constrained to place a great emphasis on our being "IN CHRIST".
  I don't know why, but I was very constrained of the Lord to just deal
  with the reality of our being in Christ. But we mentioned something of
  this "exalted view", and what I'm saying is there are two views of
  Christ. A first and a second, and by that I'm talking about the
  revelation of Christ; I'm talking about the eyes of your understanding
  being enlightened, and you come to see yourself in union with Him in
  two views. In the first view you come to see yourself in union with
  Him in His Death, His Burial, His Resurrection. And then you come
  to see yourself secondly in union with Him in His fulness. And that is
  a tremendous view. It is that view that will produce the manifestation
  of Him - not man - in the earth through the Church. In this second
  view the Lord has just dealt with my heart, that this second view in
  itself is a three-fold view. And I only call it that for purposes of talking
  about it and teaching it. 
  
  It is first an EXALTED VIEW.  The first thing you come to realize,
  after the realization that you are dead, is as it is said in Isaiah, "When
  King Uzziah is indeed dead (not just put away - dead) it is indeed then
  and only then that I saw the Lord high and lifted up." What does it
  mean to see the Lord high and lifted up? It means, folks, to come to
  realize that HE IS THE ONLY ONE WHO LIVES HERE AND
  HERE WE ONLY LIVE BY HIM. He is exalted where? In His
  temple. In His dwelling place. Where does He sit upon His throne?
  Where does He establish the throne of His absolute authority? IN HIS
  TEMPLE! Where He is high and lifted up! Where everything that is
  there is I AM! There is nothing there that He is not - peace, joy, rest,
  life, perfection, righteousness, holiness. There is nothing there that HE
  is not, because we are not by the Holy Spirit brought into a place, but
  into the being of a person. You are not the body of a religion, we are
  the body of a person. We're not the tabernacle of a doctrine, we're the
  temple of the Son of the Living God! And it is the expressed purpose
  and the expressed ministry of the Holy Spirit not to exalt the temple,
  but the One whose temple we are! You and I must come, whether you
  have or not, whether I have or not, if we are to follow Him into the
  fulness of the regeneration which we're going to now in Matthew 19,
  we'll have to follow Him in this view, where we finally come to see
  Him in His exaltation, where He is high and lifted up. And there is
  none not only above Him, there is none other than Him! My Lord!
  And you and I have got to come to it. 
  
  Now you see, it is in that realization that we are kept from all that is
  not Christ. In that realization - if we have seen Him in this exalted
  position, anything that exalts itself is immediately seen and discerned.
  It doesn't make any difference how good it is, how nice it is. It doesn't
  make any difference - it's not Him. And if it isn't Him, it has no place
  in His temple. Do you hear that? IF IT IS NOT HIM IT HAS NO
  PLACE IN HIS TEMPLE. I  have no place in His temple - I am His
  temple. HE has all the place. HE occupies.  We are brought into HIM
  that we may be occupied BY HIM. Even as He is occupied by the
  Father, so we are occupied by Him. And nobody else has a room there
  - nobody else has any business there. In fact, I mentioned before - if
  any man shall defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. King
  Uzziah defiled the temple of God simply by going into it. The Priests
  could go in there because they were carefully clothed upon in that
  type, which is only Christ. And  therefore they could go in because
  they went in as Him - in a type of Him. What an exaltation the Spirit
  of God wants to bring into this temple.
  
  Now secondly, it is the TRANSFORMING VIEW. It is this view, this
  ultimate view, this second view of Him that transforms the inner man -
  that renews the mind. It is a transforming view. You see the first view
  has been for one reason, and one reason only - to take away, take
  away. It's been a tearing down view in order that the second may be
  established. And it is in this second view that we are transformed - a
  view of Him that will absolutely transform the inner man. So in
  Matthew 19:28, "Verily I say unto you, that ye who follow in the
  regeneration (that is in the restoration of all things) when the Son of
  Man shall sit in the throne of His glory (now remember that term -
  when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory) ye also shall
  sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Now Paul
  says the same thing when he says, "When Christ who is our life shall
  appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." He says exactly
  the same thing. 
  
  All right. We must come to a view of Him sitting in the throne of His
  glory. We must come to view Him in His glory. Now I'll read from the
  Greek version in John 3:13-14. What we're dealing with is His glory.
  What does it mean to view Him in His glory? "No flesh shall glory in
  His presence." What does it mean to view Him in His temple? You
  read over and over in the Old Testament these types - the glory of the
  Lord filled the temple, and when the glory of the Lord filled the
  temple, no man could minister there. NO MAN can stand in the glory
  of the Lord. Even in type, when the glory of the Lord filled the temple,
  no man could minister there. The view of Him in His absolute
  awesomeness is a view to which you and I must come. This is the
  TRANSFORMING VIEW. John 3, "And no man hath ascended up
  to heaven but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man
  which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
  wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." Now in the
  original translation, "And no one has ascended into heaven, except He
  who descends out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. And
  according as Moses exalts up out of the earth the serpent in the
  wilderness, thus must the Son of Man be exalted up out of the earth.
  And everyone believing on Him should not be perishing but may be
  having life eternal."
  
  Now I have mentioned to you that the full view of the cross is not
  death - but LIFE. At the cross one man died, but another man was
  exalted up out of the earth. And what God was really doing in the
  cross was - well, what did Moses do when he lifted up the serpent?
  The people didn't look and die, they looked and LIVED! They were
  dying before they ever looked. They weren't looking to death, they
  were looking to life. He didn't put a dead snake on a pole and lift him
  up, he made a brazen serpent, which is the judgment, the discernment
  of God that divides one creation from another; that divides the living
  from the dead. That's the judgment that the Son of Man brought into
  the world. He divided the living from the dead; He divided the old
  from the new. And we're told look to the new and you shall live. "For
  in that I live, he shall live. For ye shall know that I am in my Father,
  you in me and I am in you. You'll look and you'll live." But who is it
  that you look to? You look to the SON OF MAN. Who is He? He is
  the firstborn of the New Creation! There isn't another firstborn but
  Him! He's the firstborn. Away with this business of me being the
  firstborn or you being the firstborn or firstborn company or firstborn
  people. That's a lot of trash. He is the firstborn of this creation. We are
  that creation of whom He is the firstborn, of whom He is the Head. He
  is the seed of the Almighty God - HE IS!
  
  And at the cross is the only place you can come to see Him. It's there -
  where the one dies and where the other is exalted, and it's unto Him
  that we must look; realizing that no man is going into heaven but the
  One that came out from it. Jesus says, "No man cometh here but by
  me." You can't get there. He says, "I will come and I will receive you
  in and to myself, that where I am there ye may be also." The word
  'also' meaning 'in like manner', not there along also with me - no - there
  in Him, by Him. We're only there by His life giving Spirit. We're only
  there as His Body who lives by Him. We're only there as the
  tabernacle of the Son. Folks, we've got to come to view Him in this
  way. We've got to come to understand this. This is the only sign that
  the evil generation is going to get - the sign of Jonah - being three days
  and three nights in the belly of the whale. Well, that's the END of that
  generation. Jesus says it's the SON OF MAN - a greater than Jonah is
  come. Sure, a greater than Jonah is come. A greater than Adam is
  come. God lifted Him up on a pole and said - "Look at Him. Unto this
  He is death. Unto you who would look - HE IS LIFE!" Hallelujah!
  "Come into this view. Open your eyes and see Him by whom you live,
  in whom you live, through whom you live. He is my firstborn." And
  everything that is there is born of Him. Glory to God!
  
  'Firstborn among many brethren' - in that He is the firstborn from
  among the dead. Let's read it in the Scripture. What I am telling you
  is in Him dwelleth all the complement of God. And when I say
  'complement' let me break that down - complete - ment. But in the
  Greek it is used 'complement'. Sometimes in your King James it will
  be 'fulness' but in the Greek it's 'complete-ment'  - that which
  complements or that which shows forth the completion. We use the
  term in a way - "My, that complements you". You know, you wear a
  new dress or a new coat - it complements you, or you complement one
  another. But there's a little more to it than that in its original meaning.
  It has to do with the fulness thereof. God says, look to THIS MAN -
  in Him - Look to Him. He is the epitome of my thought concerning
  man. This is my Man! This is Him. NO other man compares to Him,
  you see. Paul says, "Oh to be found in Him. Not having my own
  righteousness which is of the law, but that which is by the faith of
  Him." What righteousness is by the faith of Him? By the faith of Him
  we understand that it is NOT I, BUT CHRIST WHO LIVES!. This I
  live in the flesh by the faith of the Son of God. Paul says, "Oh, that I
  may be found in Him, realizing that none but Him lives in this place."
  
  In Him dwells all of the complement of God, all of the complement of
  heaven, all  of the complement of earth, all of the complement of man,
  all of the complement of all creation - everything accepted of God is
  summed up in Him! New heaven, new earth,  new creation, new
  mankind - everything accepted of God is summed up in Him. And
  when you see Him, you see it all - it's just we never quite see all of
  Him. And the sad thing is some seemingly haven't started to see any of
  Him. 
  
  "No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from
  heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven." And He speaks now
  with regard to Himself in a very spiritual truth. He deals with them in
  a spiritual way. You see when He is talking about heaven He's not
  talking about some far away place, but a realm that He as it was came
  out from and yet, dwells in; that He may bring into the earth a glimpse
  of that Man that God will have through the Death and Burial and
  Resurrection of this One. Hallelujah! For He shall be raised up in
  power by the Spirit of God, and all who look to Him, raised up in
  Him. And that same Son in a manifold manner then will come forth
  again. But it's not some other man, it is this Man. It is this One, not
  another One - it is this One. 
  
  Let's follow this through. Ephesians the fourth chapter verses 9 and
  10," Now he that ascended, what is it except that he first descended
  into the lower parts of the earth? He who descends is the same who
  ascends also up over all who are of the heavens, that he should be
  completing all." Verse 10, "He that descends is the same also that
  ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things." And
  in the literal translation "who ascends also up over all who are of the
  heavens, that he should be completing all." What does He say over
  here when John sees him - this one that John sees in the midst of the
  Church, the one who John sees, whose Body the Church is? He says,
  "I am the first and the last." In this creation there is none before me
  and there is none after me. I'm the first and the last. I'm the sum total
  of it. "I am He that liveth, was dead, I live forevermore. And I've got
  the keys of death, hell and the grave." Oh, there's only One who could
  say that. The One who ascended back to where He came from, as it
  were, is the same One that descended. And He descended into the
  lower parts of the earth. And why did He descend there? That He
  might bring forth the keys of death and hell. 
  
  You can look at this One, now don't be offended, and you can say,
  'Ah, go to hell.' He can say, 'I've already been there and it couldn't hold
  me, found no place in me.' You are the Body of this One. You are not
  above this One, you are not beneath this One - YOU ARE THE
  BODY OF THIS ONE. This One. We've got to come to understand
  in a transforming way. See, you and I are never going to understand
  He or what the Church is, until we understand HIM whose Church,
  whose Body we are. You can not understand the Body until we
  understand the PERSON whose Body it is. And I'm telling you, Lord's
  Body, if you don't see HIM, then you are going to try to find your
  identity in somebody else. There is no telling what kind of a name
  you'll come forth in, if you don't come forth in His Name! I mean, I
  may walk in that back door tonight and tell you, 'Well, I'm George.'
  You are? If I don't comprehend whose Body I am, there's no telling
  whose name I'll show up in - just whatever name suits my fancy at the
  time. There's only one name in this whole creation and that's His
  Name. And I don't take it away from Him, I come to bear it - as one
  who has no name of my own. I had a name over here in Adam. But
  over here in Christ, I don't have a name, except it be His name,
  because I don't have a life, except it be Him. Because no one ascended
  here except He that descended for the purpose of bringing back into
  glory many brethren, all who are one with Himself. To bear His Name
  - that His Name might be greatly glorified. And the One who came out
  from heaven is the same one who performed it - nobody else did that,
  nobody else descended, nobody else was victorious, nobody else went
  into the lower parts, nobody else defeated death, hell and the devil,
  nobody else did that - HE DID THAT - that we who live may live by
  Him. Glory to God!
  
  "That He might fill all things." He  might fill all things. That He might
  give gifts. That  He might give ministries. That He might be. He might
  - it's all Him and His. And everything He gives is for the purpose of
  manifesting His fulness. Why? Because He accomplished the thing.
  God said, " Look at Him. He's the only One exalted up out of the earth
  here. Look at Him and live. And if you do not, then ye shall surely
  die." Ephesians 1:19. I read these in this order because I thought they
  were easier to understand in that way, first going to Ephesians 4,
  because Ephesians 4 comes back and catches itself in Ephesians 1:19.
  Paul is saying, "That the eyes of your understanding being enlightened
  (that we come to such an understanding, that we come to such a view
  of Him)... and what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
  saints, what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who
  believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he
  wrought in Christ when he raised him from among the dead..." Now
  the term 'among' is here in this literal translation. Raised Him. Look,
  where did he do that? He signified that even on the cross. There was
  One on the cross who was raised up from among the dead. 
  
  By Him Adam died - that's true. There was one who died there that
  day. There was one who was destroyed. In His death Adam was
  destroyed. But He died to sin. He died to Adam. He died to the world,
  that you and I may live by Him. There was only One lifted up there
  that day. And the One that was lifted up was the same one that was
  raised up from among the dead by the glory of God the Father. And
  if you are living today, you are living by Him and if you're not living
  by Him you are dead as a doornail. But that we may come to know -
  that we may come to know "what is the exceeding greatness of his
  power toward us, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him
  from among the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly
  places, (set him at this own right hand in heavenly places) far above
  all principality and power and might and dominion and every name
  that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to
  come; And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the
  head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of
  him that filleth all in all." The literal says "every name that is named,
  not only in this age, but also in that age which is impending (yet to be
  released)  and subjects all under his feet, and gives him as head over
  all to the ecclesia (the church) which is his body, the complement of
  the One completing all in all."
  
  Now something has been said here. "Has given him to be head over
  the church which is his body..." His body is the complement of Him
  who is the complement of all. My Lord,  God has given Him a body
  for the purpose of manifesting His fulness. A body for the purpose of
  manifesting the completement which HE is, and He is the
  completement of all. He is the completement of salvation. He is the
  completement of life. He is the completement of the creation. He is the
  first and the last. IT IS ALL COMPLETE IN HIM! Has given to Him
  the body for the purpose of manifesting that fulness. Not for the
  purpose of taking something away from Him, but for the purpose of
  manifesting the completeness of Him. But, until that Body comes into
  a view of Him, it will manifest nothing of Him. You and I have got to
  come to the view of Him in His glory. 
  
  Ephesians 2:4, "But God who is rich in mercy, for his great love
  wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins hath
  quickened us together with Christ ... and hath raised us up together,
  and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in
  the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in
  his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus..." What we're talking
  about has everything to do with your being in Him. And you are in
  Him. God is not looking for a bunch of people out from sin. That's
  what he had in Israel and they all died because they wouldn't go in.
  God isn't interested in a lot of people not sinning. God is looking for
  the manifestation of Himself on the earth and only One Son can bring
  him that manifestation - and this is the One Son. But this One Son is
  now made up of many who are One, and the many must come to view
  Him and understand their union with Him in Glory or He shall never
  have a manifestation in the earth and God's salvation will not be
  complete. Now when I say 'not complete' I mean from the Father's
  standpoint because complete salvation to him is the manifestation of
  his glory in the earth. That's what he's looking and waiting for. 
  
  So we are there for the purpose of knowing Him. Colossians 1:15, and
  this all relates to verse 13. "Who hath delivered us from the power of
  darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son
  (transports by the Spirit, us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love).
  Verse 15, and I'm going to read from the literal translation, "Who is the
  image of the invisible God, firstborn of every creature; for in him is
  all created, that in the heavens and on the earth (that's not talking
  about the trees and the roses here, that's part of the first creation. The
  whole thing fell short of the glory of God. Honey, I love nature maybe
  more that anyone, but it all falls short of the glory of God. It all falls
  short of that creation which you are in Christ Jesus. We can love the
  roses and things like that, but He's not found in that, Beloved. He's not
  in the old - it's all here in the new. This is speaking of a New Creation
  here) visible, invisible, thrones, lordships, sovereignties, authorities,
  all is created through him for him. He is before all and all has its
  cohesion in him. And he is the head of the body, the church (you see
  it is the Church who is to demonstrate in the earth this glorious New
  Creation.) He is the head who is sovereign, firstborn from among the
  dead (that's Him - we by Him, we in Him. This whole creation has its
  cohesion - it is held together in Him, by Him and its only purpose is
  for the manifesting of Him); that in all he may be becoming first, for
  in him the entire complement delights to dwell. And through him to
  reconcile all to him, making peace through the blood of his cross;
  through him whether those things are on the earth or those things in
  the heavens."
  
  When were all things reconciled to Him? All things were reconciled to
  Him at the cross, because there the Jew and the Gentile died.
  Everything that was alienated from Him died. You've got to see that or
  you'll get really confused in theology trying to reconcile evil to good,
  or trying to reconcile something that is not reconcilable. The
  reconciliation is the work of the cross, absolutely. We must see this
  reconciliation. In Colossians 1, "That he may be becoming first, for in
  him the entire complement, the fulness of God delights to dwell; and
  through him to reconcile unto him, making peace through the blood
  of his cross...This goes on to say, "and you being once estranged and
  enemies in comprehension by wicked acts yet now he reconciled by
  his body of flesh through his death, to present you holy and flawless,
  impeachable in his sight." How did He do all that? THE NEW
  CREATION IS WHAT IS FULLY RECONCILED. He reconciled
  creation - a New Creation, a New Man reconciled to God, in the
  person of His Son. How did He do that? In the body of His death.
  What did He do in the body of His death? Now - Ephesians 2.
  
  Verse 14, "For he is our peace." Verse 13, "But now in Christ, ye
  who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."
  He's speaking of the Gentile. "For he is our peace, who hath made
  both one." Now he's speaking of Jew and Gentile. When he speaks of
  Jew and Gentile who does he speak of? He speaks of the old
  generation, he speaks of Adam, he speaks of mankind. Let me tell you
  something, there is not a Jew in heaven, there's not a Jew in Christ,
  there's not a Gentile in Christ; there isn't such a thing as a Jew or
  Gentile. It doesn't make any difference what race you are, what tribe
  you are, what color you are. For God's sake, there is NONE of that in
  the New Creation. And there is only ONE SON there who has One
  Father and One Body for the purpose of manifesting their union one
  with another - which is called the Glory of God!. ONE SON - ONE
  CREATION - ONE MAN fully reconciled unto God. Why? Because
  he came through death, through burial, through resurrection. The
  Obedient Son, obedient unto death, wherefore God raised Him up and
  gave Him a name that is above every name and honey, you and I are
  found and named only in Him! We are not reconciled as an old
  generation but a New Creation whose head is Christ.
  
  See this solves a lot of problems about a lot of things. Because most
  of the things that people get involved in are not even here. Why do I
  care about lineages? There isn't any lineage in Christ. There's just the
  FIRSTBORN. The lineage starts and ends with Him - What do I care
  about lineages? What do I care whether you're black or white or brown
  or pink? I don't care if you're from the east, west, north or south,
  because He draws men from east, west, north, south. Everything that's
  in Him has come from one of those directions and has been drawn
  together at the cross, put together unto death, and now there's only one
  direction - and that's above. Hallelujah! This is a view you and I have
  got to come to and be transformed in the understanding of Him. Or
  you won't know which direction you're coming from and which
  direction you're going. You'll just go around in circles and have
  everybody else following you. 
  
  "But now in Christ...For he is our peace, who hath made both one."
  How did He do that? Look at this. "He hath broken down the middle
  wall of partition between us (how did He do that?) having abolished
  in his flesh (Colossians said 'in the body of his flesh) the enmity (see
  this is something He did - He did) even the law of commandments
  contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of two (Jew and
  Gentile) One New Man, so making peace." But how did He do that?
  "That he might reconcile both (Jew and Gentile) unto God (how did
  He do that?) in one body (what body?) by the cross, having slain the
  enmity thereby." This is the body that He reconciled them in - by the
  cross. It's here at the cross where it doesn't make any difference
  whether you're Jew or Gentile, because He summed it all up in one
  body and put it away. And brings forth One New Man who is at peace
  with God - fully reconciled through the cross, through the death, the
  burial, the resurrection. 
  
  Now what is this fully reconciled One to see? He is to see the glory of
  God. He is to see, to come to understand his union with his Father.
  Jesus says, "Father, the glory that I had with you before the world
  was, give it to me." John 17. What is that glory? "Father glorify me
  with thine own self (a union, see). Then He says why - "so that I may
  be glorified in them that thou hast given to me." And He's speaking
  prophetically here. "You have given them to me out of the world. I am
  not of the world and they are not of the world. You've given them to
  me. And what is it Father, that I will that thou wouldest do? Oh, that
  the glory that thou hast given me, I may give to them. That where I
  am, there they may be also, (that's all in John 17) that they may be one
  even as we are one, that the world may know thou hast sent me." You
  and I have got to come to this view of Him in glory. 
  
  This is the glory - we still need to discuss us coming into the view of
  that glory and the transforming power of it. 
  
  
  Father, thank you for your grace, for that life which is Christ, the
  realization which is Christ. Oh dear God, help our hearts to go out
  after nothing else, for there is nothing else but that which is in
  Him. All things that are - truly are - are in Him, and everything
  else is mere shadows. For the body is of Christ. Oh Lord, God, do
  open the eyes of our understanding that we may begin to behold
  Him in His glory - that transforming view that will bring into the
  earth a manifestation of full salvation. Thank you Lord. Do lead us
  and guide us by your Spirit. We just thank you for it in Jesus'
    precious name. Amen and Amen.


               IN VIEW OF HIM
               BY JW LUMAN

                   PART 4
  
  We are talking about those that shall be gathered in the heavens before
  they communicate in the earth the view, the manifestation of Christ.
  There is now a gathering taking place in Him. God is calling a people -
  I don't want to seem impatient with people, but you must understand
  one thing. I care nothing for this first generation. I have no interest in
  it except to manifest in it the INCREASE OF CHRIST. Other than
  that it holds nothing for me. I believe that God is gathering some
  believers in heaven, in Christ. I believe that he is beginning to gather
  some in a reality that we have been at least hinting at, pointing toward,
  suggesting in the REALITY OF CHRIST HIMSELF; gathering in the
  reality of Him in Whom we live, in Whom we move, in Whom we
  have our being. To most believers that's just a scripture, not a reality.
  Nothing that is not declaring that reality finds the slightest point of
  interest in me. I'm talking about things that have to do with life. I'm not
  telling you I can't sit with you and talk about going fishing. But in
  issues of life, anything less than the declaration of the Truth as it is in
  Him, finds no interest in me. I'm not interested in anything less than
  Him when it comes to the declaration of our life. Because I know there
  is a gathering, and it's throughout the heavens and therefore it's
  everywhere in the earth, and immediately we start looking for the
  largeness of it in number. But you can't number heaven by numbers;
  by stars or by sand or by stuff like that. The measure of heaven is not
  numbers, IT IS CHRIST! The measure of Him working in the thing.
  And I am excited because I understand by the Spirit that throughout
  the heaven, in the Body of Christ, there are those beginning to be
  gathered in the virtual reality of life as it is in Christ - coming to view
  their union with Him.
  
  Jesus says this when he refers to "Wherever two or three are
  gathered..." You see that has nothing to do with how many are in this
  building. You could have two or three in this building and they may
  not be gathered into His name. Or you could have fifty and they may
  not be gathered into His name, or you could have fifteen and two or
  three could be gathered into His name, because the gathering takes
  place here in the Spirit, in the heavens, in that realm that we call "IN
  CHRIST". And wherever two or three, because the measure is not
  found in the ones that gather, but in the name in which they gather -
  in the identity in  which they gather. And they are being gathered up
  in the heavens into His name, and wherever that takes place, there is
  a manifestation of Him in that place. And of course we're in the
  heavens but we're on the earth. So that means that wherever two or
  three are gathered in the heavens we bring a manifestation of HIM on
  the earth. 
  
  And I don't know, then you see, how many is going to be involved in
  this coming - that the whole creation is waiting for - the coming of the
  SON OF MAN who shall set His house in order. I don't know how
  many are involved in that kind of a manifestation, but I know that the
  manifestation of it is HIM. It's just Him. And it's that gathering, that
  realization that we are just dealing with here, because there are those
  whose eyes are being opened, whose hearts are turning in the heaven
  with a desire to see Him, and in the seeing of Him, in the coming into
  that view of Him, being drawn together with Him, and will constitute,
  and are now constituting in the earth a manifestation of Christ. It hath
  not fully appeared, but it will. 
  
  What I want to say is, what ever mirror you are looking into, that is the
  image you are projecting and will project. Now if you and I are
  looking, that is trying to find ourselves... What do you do when you
  look in a mirror? You look at yourself. Well, there are two mirrors
  talked about in the Word of God - there are two places wherein you
  look for your identity. One is the Adamic man. Mankind is a mirror,
  and we often look into that mirror comparing ourselves among
  ourselves, religiously even, and that's the image we project. 
  
  Someone said to me once, "Well Brother Luman, I hear what you're
  saying, but after all we're just human." Well, that depends on what
  mirror you are looking into. You look into the sea of humanity in the
  book of Revelation and you see a beast coming up out of it - you see
  the nature of man, you see a beast coming up out of it. But if you look
  into the Molten Sea, which is what we're going to be talking about,
  which is the laver taken right out from Solomon's temple, and you look
  into that glass and you behold the glory of the Lord! And if you notice
  in the book of Revelation, those that are standing upon that sea,
  looking as it were into that glass, are those who have gotten the victory
  over the beast, over his name, over his mark and over his image.
  There's nothing of it found in them. They are beholding the glory of
  God and they are manifesting that glory. 
  
  Now that's the reason I have no time to look into a mirror that does
  nothing but reflects my image, and just fortifies me - religious me. We
  are going to read about a mirror into which you look and see
  something greater, something other than yourself, and are in the view
  of that glory of God, literally changed into it in the inner man. Now
  why would I want to look into another mirror? Why would I want to
  look in a mirror of humanity, religious humanity and see myself?
  Myself great, myself beautiful, but still just myself. And go out like the
  man in James - deceived, forgetting what manner of man he was,
  never seeing the more excellent man, going his own way, deceived.
  Now it depends what mirror you are looking into. And what I'm telling
  you is God is opening a mirror in the heavens, and this is not the
  reflection, because God's mirror has no reflection. It isn't the reflection
  of heaven that is going to be manifested in the earth, but HEAVEN
  Itself!
  
  See our little mirrors that we have among us just give a reflection. You
  go look in your mirror - and there's a reflection. That's all it is. We're
  going to see the difference in the Word of God between a reflection
  and an appearing. GOD'S MIRROR PRODUCES AN APPEARING!
  The whole creation is waiting for that appearing. The Church is
  waiting for that appearing. Blessed by the Lamb of the Living God!
  
  Turn with me now to Colossians 1. Our whole emphasis in the last
  lesson was that the entire complement of God dwelleth in Christ. And
  what we mean is it is here that CHRIST IS ALL AND IN ALL. You
  and I must come to view that. Oh Holy Ghost, give us some hearing
  now. You will recognize this verse (II 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."  It isn't talking about creation. It's talking about
  the Holy of Holies. Picture the Tabernacle. You and I have been
  brought in Christ into the Holy of Holies. We have been brought into
  the very realm of the dwelling of the Most High. Jesus says, "as He is
  in the Father, we are in Him and He is in us." It's the union of the
  Spirit. We have become the dwelling place of the Most High God. All
  of these verses we know about. The reality of them in many cases we
  have yet to see, to understand, to comprehend. We've been brought
  into the Holy of Holies. What is in the Holy of Holies? There is only
  ONE article of furniture in the Holy of Holies and that is the Ark of
  the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant signifies everything that God
  has done in Christ! The Ark of the Covenant signifies not only
  redemption, but the redeemed. The Ark of the Covenant signifies the
  Church, the New Creation, the throne of God. Full salvation is
  signified in the Ark of the Covenant - a people in union with Christ is
  signified by the Ark of the Covenant, but more than that, a New
  Creation standing in the understanding of the One who created it, is
  signified by the Ark of the Covenant. A creation filled with the light of
  the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is
  signified in the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant stands
  for the ultimate thought of God toward man. It stands for the ultimate
  thought of God concerning redemption, salvation and regeneration. It
  is the finished work of the Father summed up. The Ark of the
  Covenant stands for all of that - not only redemption, but the
  redeemed. 
  
  The term "Ark" in the Hebrew means something that is come together,
  fit together. It's a box, it's a chest, but the word means fit together,
  come together, gathered together. But the whole thing is not just that
  which is gathered together; the word "Covenant" has to do with a
  divine understanding given of God. The whole thing then bears an
  understanding, so it is something that is gathered together in divine
  understanding of the Lord. That's just a simple definition of that. He
  has brought us into the Holy of Holies, but in the Holy of Holies there
  is no natural light - the sun is not there, the moon is not there, the stars
  are not there - there is no natural light there. Those things there are not
  seen, can't shine in. There is in the Holy of Holies absolutely, perfect
  darkness, and God is dwelling in the absolute and perfect darkness  -
  which means He is dwelling where NO MAN can see him. 
  
  Now picture this. I know that we are summed up in the Ark of the
  Covenant - you and I are brought into heavenly places here in Christ -
  we are brought into the Holy of Holies. But it is a place where we with
  our natural mind, natural understanding, even natural religious
  teachings, can not comprehend. Here, in the Holy of Holies, we are
  blind. Why are we blind? Because there is no light. Because where
  there is no light there is no seeing. I don't care how good your eyesight
  is, take you a mile or two into the center of the earth in some cavern,
  turn out the lights, and you're blind as a bird bat, and would be if you
  stayed there for the next fifty years. Your eyes would never adjust
  because there's nothing to adjust to - you're blind. You can't see unless
  there is some light. Just like you can't hear unless there is some sound.
  Here - as far as the old man, the Adamic man, the natural man, the
  religious man - there is no light. All of that stops. There's none of that
  there. And so there as to the natural,  you're blind. As to the natural,
  you're deaf. And will be until God "who commands the light to shine
  out of darkness shines in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
  of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
  
  What lit up the Holy of Holies? The glory of God coming in to the
  midst of the Ark of the Covenant; the glory of God coming into the
  midst of his temple, his New Creation, his New Creation Man. The
  glory of God coming into the midst of it because the cherubim, which
  are a type of that New Creation, were turning not to look at one
  another, but turning to face the glory of God. And when the glory of
  God was there, everything was alight with the glory of God. But the
  glory of God didn't shine upon it, the glory of God shined within it. So
  if you are there in that room and the glory of God comes in to the Ark
  of the Covenant, it's not shining on it, it's shining out from it - filling
  that whole light up with the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
  of Jesus Christ. And all you are seeing, all you possibly can see is the
  Ark of the Covenant, that's all you can see, out from which is coming
  the glory of God. 
  
  And then only when the glory of God appears. Here you and I are in
  Christ, and here Christ is all and in all. But until He is revealed, until
  we behold Him in His glory, we do not comprehend the truth with
  regard to the Holy of Holies. The Ark of the Covenant is there, but
  until the glory of God appears, we don't understand. It isn't that you
  and I are not here, it isn't that He is not all and in all. It's that we don't
  understand. What I'm telling you is just this - that just as the High
  Priest is the only one who could enter there, so it is with our High
  Priest, and by Him we have entered in there. But it is ONLY in the
  light of His appearing that you and I will come to comprehend, and
  then manifest that comprehension. Because I tell you again, you are a
  manifestation of whatever mirror you are looking into. What ever
  mirror you and I are looking into is the mirror that we are manifesting.
  That's the image that's controlling my thoughts. That's the image that's
  controlling my desires. That's the image that's controlling my
  motivations. That's the image that's determining what is valuable and
  what is not valuable with me; what's important, what's not important
  with me; what is real, what is not real with me. That image is
  controlling it all. 
  
  So it isn't whether we're in the Holy of Holies or not. It isn't whether
  Jesus has done His job or not. It isn't whether we're cleansed by the
  blood or not. The question is, has the glory of God yet appeared in the
  Holy of Holies? Has God yet revealed His Son in me and in you? For
  all of this appears IN THE FACE OF JESUS CHRIST; God bringing
  you and I into a view of His Son that only those that are in Him can
  behold. But even at that, only those who are beyond the veil in their
  understanding can behold. And when I say 'beyond the veil' I mean
  beyond the death, the burial, because the veil typifies all of that. What
  happened at the cross? The veil was rent. The veil was done away. But
  in many believers the veil yet remains upon our heart - that veil of
  flesh, and that's the mirror we are looking in. We are looking in the veil
  of flesh. Paul says, "we are yet looking into a glass (a mirror) darkly."
  Why? Because we have a veil on our face. You put a veil on your face
  and go look into that mirror, and see. What you will see reflected back
  at you is a person standing there with a veil on their face. And you and
  I have that veil upon our hearts. But when our heart turns to see Him,
  the veil that is done away, in other words that has been abolished in
  His cross, will be taken away. Why? Because he'll not be seen, he's not
  here. When our eyes are opened up in Christ, we see who is there.
  And  when the glory of God appears in the Holy of Holies, the only
  thing you can see is what's there. And the only thing that's there is the
  Ark of the Covenant. And the Ark of the Covenant is the divine
  testimony of our union with Him!
  
  What I'm telling you is when the glory of God is revealed in you, the
  only man you can SEE is the ONLY MAN that there is in the heavens.
  And that's the man who is CHRIST ALL AND IN ALL. Hallelujah!
  And if that's the man you see revealed in you, that's the mirror - that's
  the image you manifest in the earth. The issue is not whether He's in
  you or not, the issue is - IS HE REVEALED THERE?
  
  We have established that here in Christ is summed up the entire
  complement of God. Here Christ is all and in all. Whether I have come
  to comprehend that or not, whether I have turned to behold the glory
  of God or whether I yet stand with the veil on my face looking darkly,
  looking into the glass darkly, not seeing perfectly. As to whether my
  heart has turned to behold the glory of God may be a question. But the
  fact of the matter is that here in the Holy of Holies there is only one
  object of furniture and there is no question about that. When the glory
  of God appears, there's only  one thing to be seen, and that's the Ark
  of the Covenant. And it is not seen as from the outside, it is seen as
  from the inside. God isn't shining light upon, HE IS SHINING LIGHT
  FORTH WITHIN IT! Someone says, "God show me your salvation."
  We want someone to come and take a big flashlight and shine it upon
  something out there that we can look at. But when you ask "God,
  show me your salvation, HE REVEALS HIM IN YOU!
  
  The LIGHT comes forth in you and begins to fill you up. And with the
  coming of that light, the inner man, the Soul is transformed from
  darkness to light, from ignorance to understanding. From the creation
  of darkness to the creation of glorious light. No wonder symbolically
  it is said then that there is no need of sun, no need of moon, no need
  of natural light, no need of light by day and light by night - because
  here there is no night. Here we walk in the LIGHT of the knowledge
  of the glory of God - that is shining in us in the FACE, that is the
  openness, in the unveiled presence of Jesus Christ - comprehending an
  incomprehensible union with Him. My Lord! To me, the gospel just
  comes to that. To me, the gospel is that which is declared out from that
  light, and to me, nothing else even remotely constitutes the gospel.
  Now that's to me. 
  
  Colossians 2:9,10 - "For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the
  Godhead bodily and ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all
  principality and power..." In Hebrews 2:5-8 we see God's intention
  for man. The last part of verse 8 says, "But now we see not all things
  put under him, but we see Jesus. We see him who was made a little
  lower than angels for the suffering of death..." Now I'm going to read
  out of the literal translation. Hebrews 2:8, " Yet now we are not as yet
  seeing all subject to him, yet we are observing Jesus who has been
  made some bit inferior to angels, because of the suffering of death,
  rife with glory and honor (in other words, because He suffered death,
  He was given glory and honor) so that in the grace of God he should
  be tasting death for the sake of everyone. For it became him because
  of whom it all is and through whom all is, in leading many sons into
  glory, to perfect the inaugurator of their salvation through suffering.
  For both he who is hallowing (sanctifying) and those who are being
  hallowed (sanctified) are all of one. For which cause he is not
  ashamed to be calling then brethren." What has He done? Through
  His death, through His being made lower - for what purpose was that?
  That He should be crowned with glory and honor. In what way? How
  was He crowned with glory and honor? In that He brought forth many
  sons into glory! And He who hath sanctified (Christ) - hallowed,
  through His death and resurrection, and those that are being hallowed
  are ALL OF ONE. Therefore He's not ashamed now - in the heavens.
  He's not ashamed to call them brethren. Why? For THEY ARE ONE.
  
  "In Him dwelleth the fulness." "You are complete in Him." "He hath
  brought many sons unto glory." There is no doubt as to you and I
  having been brought forth into what the Old Testament called the Holy
  of Holies, and what the Hebrews writer called 'heaven itself'. Now as
  to whether you and I who are there, as to whether the glory of God
  has appeared or not, as to whether our hearts have turned to behold
  Him in His glory - that may be a question. But there is no question as
  to where we have been brought.  "Those who are being hallowed..."
  You remember we read that.  "He who is sanctifying and those who
  are being sanctified..." All right. Colossians 3 speaks to that, verses 9-
  11. This is the King James. "Lie not one to another, seeing that you
  have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man
  which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
  him. Which is created how? RENEWED IN KNOWLEDGE. After
  what? After the image of him whose creation he is. "Where there is
  neither Jew nor Greek, circumcision not uncircumcision, Barbarian,
  Scythian, bond, free, but Christ..." What is the knowledge we are
  being renewed in? Our inner man is being renewed in a knowledge
  with regard to our very LIFE. My soul is being renewed in an
  understanding with regard to my LIFE; with regard to my existence.
  My soul, my mind, the Spirit of my mind being renewed. He who once
  wore the name of the old is bearing the name of the New. The creation
  whose name is Adam is being replaced by the Creation who bears the
  name of its Creator. Hallelujah! Glory to God!
  
  "Being renewed in the knowledge of him who created it, wherein
  Christ is all in all." What knowledge is it being renewed in? Well,
  there's no Jew there see, so we can't look there and think we're a Jew.
  There isn't a Jew to see. We can't look here and think we're a Gentile -
  there isn't one there to see. You can't look here and think we're this or
  that. None of that is there. The knowledge that is here is that it is
  CHRIST ALL AND IN ALL! I told you, this view of Him is first the
  view of exaltation - it is the view where He and He alone is lifted up.
  He and He alone sets upon the throne. HIS temple is filled with HIS
  train. HIS house is filled with HIS glory. This is the view of the I AM
  THAT I AM - not the you are that you are - the I AM THAT I AM.
  And then that view just broadens. Now I tell you this is the view that
  God in His Son is bringing into the heavens for those whose hearts
  shall turn to see Him in this manner. 
  
  Look how this reads in the original translation. "Do not lie to one
  another, stripping off the old humanity together with its practices,
  and putting on the new, which is being renewed into recognition
  (coming into a recognition)..." When we first look into this mirror, the
  glory of God begins to shine, not upon it, IN IT, and when we first
  look into this mirror, the first thing that has to be in our hearts is - "I
  don't recognize this One. I've never seen this One before. Oh God,
  that's not me. He's not a Jew. Looks like a man, but he's not a man.
  Lord what is this? Who is this? HE WHO IS OUR LIFE IS
  APPEARING! What kind of a man is this? The light of the
  knowledge of the glory of God has come - in the face of CHRIST
  JESUS.
   
  That veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, do
  you know that it had cherubim embroidered upon it? It had what the
  Ark of the Covenant IS embroidered upon it, that veil did. You could
  be in the Holy Place and you could see the embroidery upon that veil
  of what was over behind it. But you couldn't see what was behind it,
  you could just kind of see the promise of it. You could see what God's
  intention was, but you couldn't see the real intention of God. It was
  there, as it were, by promise. The veil of flesh. God's intention for
  man. What is man - well He intended him for a thing but that thing,
  the first man did not come up to God's intention, but it was intended
  for a thing. "But we see Jesus ..." What did Jesus do? Well, He
  suffered and died. What did He do? He took away that man. He took
  away the veil. And you see it related to the tabernacle. When He died
  that veil was rent. That veil was done away. A natural symbolism of a
  spiritual reality - the thing was done away. The veil of flesh - mankind,
  the man. The man that keeps us from seeing the glory of God is you
  and me. I am the man that keeps me from seeing the glory of God. Oh,
  I can have a symbol embroidered on me. I can think about heaven. But
  until I pass out from one man, and find myself  in reality in another,
  the glory is just a promise, not a reality; it's a place we're going and not
  someplace we are. Because no flesh can enter in there. No man can
  come there, Jesus says, but by me. And this He speaks of His Death,
  His Burial, His Resurrection where the veil of flesh is done away. Who
  is the veil of flesh? In everyone of these scriptures where it talks about
  it, it says "neither Jew nor Gentile..." It names the veil of flesh - it is
  humanity.
  
  We look in the mirror of humanity and we can't see the glory of God
  because it's not there. That whole humanity fell short of the glory of
  God, comes short of the man of God's glory. And as long as we're
  looking at that mirror to see ourselves, we can not behold the glory of
  God. But that veil is done away. So when our heart turns to the Lord -
  oh, then the veil which is done away is taken away. How is it taken
  away? In that it is not found in Christ - it's taken away. And we're
  standing as it were in Him, with a face no longer veiled, and we are
  beholding the Ark of the Covenant. I mean, we're beholding the light
  of the knowledge of the glory of God. We're looking into a glass, a
  mirror, and we are beholding who is the glory of the Lord. That Ark
  of the Covenant is the glory of the Lord. Listen to me - the glory of the
  Lord didn't shine on it, the glory of the Lord shined IN IT. The Ark of
  the Covenant is the glory of the Lord. God's glory is a creation in
  union with Himself. That's His glory. His glory is those that he has
  brought by Christ unto glory - that's His glory - His creation in Christ
  Jesus is His glory. Here it is stated simply - when we quit looking at
  one creation, we behold the other. When we quit looking at the
  creation that comes short of His glory - we see the creation that is His
  glory! When we are ceased to be, in our heart, numbered with the one,
  we become numbered with the other. Beholding the glory of God our
  inner man is changed - changed in comprehension, changed in
  identification, changed in recognition, changed in wisdom and
  knowledge and understanding - changed in LIFE into that same image. 
  
  Glory to God! Let's turn to Ezekiel. I want to show you something
  about this word mirror - glass. Do you remember Paul speaks about
  this glass in I Corinthians 13, he says we're looking now in a glass
  darkly, but when is it that we don't see in that mirror darkly? When
  that which is perfect is come. Would you call that the glory of God?
  I would. James talks about the same glass - he talks about those who
  look until they see the perfect law of liberty - the glory of the Lord.
  For only there is there perfect liberty. But here in Ezekiel, this mirror,
  this glass is absolutely, without mistake identified. 
  
  Ezekiel 1:1 - the latter part of that verse, "...the heavens were
  opened..." Okay, here it is, God giving you and I an open heaven.
  What opens the heavens? Let's go back to the Tabernacle. The Holy
  of Holies, you will agree with me, was God's type of heaven. The
  writer of the Hebrews tells us that. It's called the second tabernacle.
  Into the first went the Priesthood, but into the second went the High
  Priest. Now our High Priest is not entered into something made with
  hands, but into heaven itself. The Holy of Holies was a type of heaven
  and the object in heaven is God in union with His Creation. What
  opened that? An open heaven would be what? It would be a rent veil.
  The promise of Jesus to you and I through Nathanael was I will give
  you an open heaven! In the New Testament when heaven was opened,
  who was seen? THE LORD WAS ALWAYS SEEN. But He was
  always seen in a way that identified Him with you and I - identified us
  first at John's baptism - identified Himself with you and I in death,
  burial and resurrection. On the Mount of Transfiguration He was seen
  in a way that He was identified with you and I in His glory. The three
  being there representing the Church. But my point is, whenever
  heaven is opened, only One is seen. But the One that is seen in
  heaven, now hear me, is always seen in union with those whom He has
  redeemed. Because that's what constitutes heaven. Redemption
  constitutes heaven. The Redeemed constitute the dwelling place of
  God. The Redeemed constitute the Tabernacle of the Most High.
  Heaven is constituted by the occupants of it. God being the occupant,
  but He has brought us into Himself so that He is not only the one in
  whom we dwell, we are they in whom He dwells. Why would He want
  to dwell in us? For the purpose of manifestation. Not for purpose of
  existence - He exists without us, but for purpose of manifestation - to
  show forth His glory!
  
  That's what heaven really is. The heavens were opened, and when
  heaven was opened, Ezekiel is going to see the full salvation of the
  Lord. He is going to see the dwelling place of the Most High. But the
  word here is "I saw visions of God". The word 'vision' here in the
  Hebrew is 'marah'. You can guess that out of that in the Greek and so
  forth it is mirror or glass. It's the same thing Paul was talking about.
  But notice Ezekiel said, "heaven opened and I saw the marah of God."
  When heaven opens, when the heart turns, the veil is rent; when
  heaven is opened, we see the same thing. We see the marah of God.
  What is the marah of God? The word 'marah' means mirror, but it
  means more than that. In the Hebrew it has a two fold meaning.
  Number 1, it means 'the act of seeing'. When I get on this I just want
  to jump up and down and scream, but that wouldn't do anybody any
  good. It means the act of seeing. Here you and I are sitting right here
  in the Holy of Holies. Now without light we can't see. It means the act
  of seeing. What that translates to is this - until we come to see the
  marah of God, God says - you are blind. God doesn't count natural
  seeing as sight at all. He says, you are blind. Jesus told the Pharisees,
  "If you'd just confess you are blind, I could give you light, but you
  don't do that, so your light is darkness." And we have so many
  Christians who are sitting here in the Holy of Holies with their little
  candles. And they just won't confess they are blind. So they just live
  out of the imaginations of their own heart. They just imagine what the
  Ark is. 
  
  But when we finally come to say, "God, I'm blind and I'm going to be
  blind until you appear", and turn our hearts. Ezekiel was sitting on the
  river Chebar, a captive. And the word 'captive' translated in the Old
  Testament is 'one without vision'. And he finally had to come to a
  place of just confessing, "Oh God, I can not see. I've got all these years
  of training as a Priest, and I still know nothing. I don't have a word to
  give to Israel. They are all captive and I'm a captive with them. They
  don't have a vision and I don't have one to give them. I have nothing
  to say. I'm blind." This was the condition. He says the heavens were
  opened, and I saw the marah of God. It means the act of seeing. Paul
  says, "beholding as in the marah" - beholding. What I'm trying to tell
  you is that in heaven there is nothing else to see. That's the reason I'm
  not interested in hearing about anything else, because there's nothing
  else to see. Until you've seen Him, until you've seen the marah of God,
  you haven't seen anything. Until you have seen the marah of God you
  have no true comprehension of salvation, no true comprehension of
  redemption, no true comprehension of heaven, no true comprehension
  of you, no true comprehension until you see the marah of God. What
  we've been doing is looking into the marah of man. And comparing
  ourselves among ourselves.
  
  So, he brings us here where we're going to be blind until we see. So
  the first thing is the act of seeing. But the second thing 'marah' means
  is 'the appearing of the thing seen'! Not only the act of seeing, but the
  appearing of what we see. Now you go to your little mirror, and you
  just see a reflection. God is not after a reflection of Himself in the
  earth, but He's after an appearing of Himself in the earth! "Beholding
  as in the mirror..." What do you look at when you look in the marah
  of God? You don't see yourself. Come on, whose mirror is it? IT'S
  GOD'S MIRROR! What Ezekiel saw was the mirror that God looks
  into when He wants to see an appearing of Himself! And who was this
  mirror? Ezekiel said the appearance was as a MAN. He talks about the
  four creatures - the New Creation, but he sums it up and says it was
  the appearance of a MAN. Then a little further along he says, and I
  saw a throne, and upon it and above it was the appearance of a MAN.
  And in the last verse he says, and the appearance of the whole thing
  was as a big rainbow, and the appearance of the glory of God. Ezekiel
  saw the MAN WHO IS GOD'S GLORY. Ezekiel saw the whole
  creation of God summed up into a MAN. Ezekiel saw the MAN that
  God looks at when he wants to see the exact appearing of himself. He
  doesn't find that in Adam, but he finds it in the New Man! The New
  Creation which is CHRIST ALL AND IN ALL. God doesn't see
  himself in a Jew or a Gentile, he sees himself in Christ - that's where
  he has brought us, and he has brought us there that we may manifest
  that appearing. For "when he who is our life shall appear, ye shall
  also appear with him in glory." That is you become the appearing of
  Him. When you see Him, you'll become the appearing of what you
  see! Hallelujah!
  
  God sees us here yet not us, but Christ, and he's trying to bring us to
  look in the same mirror; to where it is not our appearing, but His
  appearing. Where it is not I that I see, but Christ. And I become the
  appearing of that which I see. "Beholding as in the mirror the glory
  of the Lord." This man, the glory of the Lord. The Ark of the
  Covenant - the glory of the Lord and we are changed into that same
  image. "When he who is our life appears, then shall ye also
  appear...". But not individually, no. With Him - as one with Him. The
  original translation here says "together with, as one with" Him in glory.
  Out of this glory comes One in His image. John saw the One and he
  said He is like unto the SON OF MAN! I tell you, those who see Him
  in His glory shall manifest His glory in the earth, out from that view of
  One shall come One in power and in glory. Hallelujah!
  
  Oh God, give us understanding. And this One who appears, they who
  behold Him, and become therefore the appearing of Him, come forth
  bearing His Name. Now we can't go beyond what I've just said until
  we see Him. Because to do so is just speculation and preaching. The
  SON OF MAN is not a sermon to be preached but a manifestation of
  Christ to be experienced! But as sure as Christ is All and in All, just as
  sure, He shall find manifestation in the earth for the purpose of
  perfecting His house, that His house may become the instrument of
  His glory in all the earth. You won't look into the marah of God and
  see anyone other than Him. But those who behold Him shall manifest
  Him whom they behold! For it is not only the seeing of One, but it is
  the appearing of One who is seen. 
  
  Now Church, I'm just telling you, it's time to quit looking at the mirror
  of mankind and begin to set our hearts toward the marah of God. It's
  time to quit measuring salvation among ourselves, that it may be
  measured in the FULNESS OF HIM who brought us into it - even
  Christ the Lord. And I tell you, for those who are determined to press
  in, He shall appear in this way. Why? Because you will SEE HIM AS
  HE IS. He will appear in this way because this is the way He is. You
  will not see another, you will see Him as He is, and those who see Him
  will not receive another either. YOU ARE KEPT IN THE VIEW OF
  HIM. GLORY!