Part 1 - Centrality of The Cross

We will be dealing with a theme that has been on my heart for several months. The term we will be using is "THE TRUTH". That is a familiar term in the scripture, but I’m finding it is not all that familiar or understood by most believers. We seem to confuse The Truth with mere facts. We say things that are true as opposed to The Truth. There are many things that are true, but in order to truly understand even things that are true, they must be seen in the light of The Truth. If we were going to diagram this, we would put The Cross in the center because The Cross is central to the whole plan of God: The Cross is the VERY CENTER of the plan of God. EVERYTHING OF GOD’S DEALINGS WITH YOU AND I - EVERYTHING - IS RELATED TO THE CROSS. And there are no exceptions to that. The dealings of God with you and I concerning His Eternal Plan, concerning Eternal Life, concerning our Salvation all are related to The Cross.

What does The Cross stand for? What does The Cross sum up or gather up unto itself? The Cross involves three things, and yet these three things are one. THE CROSS IS HIS DEATH, HIS BURIAL AND HIS RESURRECTION - we speak of Christ. So The Cross is the death of Christ, the burial of Christ, and the resurrection of Christ. Those three elements make up the total work of The Cross. So when I say that all the dealings of God with you and I are related to The Cross, I mean that all the dealings of God with you and I are either related to Christ through His death, or His burial or His resurrection. There is no other way or means given whereby God can deal with us except through Christ crucified. And there’s another term: ‘CHRIST CRUCIFIED’. The Bible speaks of Christ crucified, and Paul speaks of Christ crucified. Do you remember when he said, "When I am with you I will know nothing among you save Christ and Him crucified."? That’s 1 Corinthians 2. What does that term involve? "Christ crucified" as a Biblical term does NOT only mean Christ dead; it means Christ in His death, His burial and in His resurrection. The Cross is a complete work; it begins in His death, it follows through to the reality of being buried with Christ, and it continues eternally in the resurrection of The Lord Jesus Christ.

So you and I are always involved with Him by The Cross. And it is The Cross, that is, His death, burial and resurrection that works in us to bring forth in us the full realization of Christ. To know Him in His death, to know Him in His burial, to know Him in the power of His resurrection. But understand that these three elements are one work. You don’t finish one and leave it behind and go to another one, and then finish it and go to another one. That’s not the way it works. It’s not like Grade 1, then Grade 2, then Grade 3 in school. We are ALWAYS learning Christ, we are ALWAYS knowing Him in His death, we are ALWAYS knowing Him in relationship to His burial, and we are ALWAYS knowing Him in the power of His resurrection. It is one complete work of The Cross, and it is through that complete work of The Cross that we are ALWAYS related to The Lord Jesus.

It is extremely important that we understand that there are times that I may be comprehending Him in His death more than any other way, because there may be that need in me to know Him in that way. And then there may be times that I’m knowing Him more in the power of His resurrection. But as surely as I am knowing Him in the power of His resurrection, time will come when I will be knowing Him in the power of His death once again. Paul uses a term in Galatians 5 when he says "‘Til Christ be formed in you." And that work is always and forever ongoing, but my point is: if we are learning Christ in any measure at all, if Christ is being revealed in me or you in any way, it will be in relation to The Cross. There is simply no other way. We must see that The Cross is the relationship whereby Christ is related to mankind. Mankind can not ascend into the heavens to get God to come down. The Cross is where Christ came down. It was for this reason He was born of a woman. For this reason He became of no reputation. For this reason He was made lower than angels - for THE CROSS. For this reason He was made under the Law - for The Cross. In The Cross He came down.

This is where we have relationship with Him, and no other way. We must understand that. He brings us in unto Himself through His death, His burial and His resurrection. And then the reality of that death, the reality of that burial, and the reality of that resurrection continues to work in us. And it works in us toward His fulness being formed in us. The fulness of what? We read in The Bible that to Him is given to be Head over all things to The Church - The Church, which is His Body, THE FULNESS OF HIM who filleth all and all. The fulness of what? What is being formed in you? Who is being formed in you? ‘Til CHRIST be formed in you. Who are you? You are His Body, The Church - that’s who you are! If we are not His Body we have NO relationship with Him at all. The only relationship we have with Him is AS HIS BODY.

But why are we His Body? We are His Body because He lives in us! If He does not live in you, then you are not His Body, because He lives in His Body. Doesn’t that make sense? The scripture teaches that His Body is a Living Body made up with Living Stones, Living Members. Why is His Body referred to as a Living Body? Who is it Who lives in The Body of Christ? Christ lives in His Body - who else should live there? It’s His Body - He’s The Life of it! We are the members of it - He’s The Life of it, He lives there! Who is being formed in His Body? Christ is formed in His Body - His fulness! His Body, which is the fulness of HIM - that’s Ephesians 1:23. So again - the fulness of what? What is being formed in us? Christ - yes, but how? Until there is a working in you and I the fulness of His death, the fulness of His burial and the fulness of His resurrection...’til CHRIST be formed in you and I. That’s what Salvation is all about. It’s about Christ and those that are His. It’s about Christ and His Body, The Church. It’s about that Body growing up in the fulness of The Head; The Head, which is Christ. It is about Christ being formed in that Body. It is about that Body bearing the image of Christ. That’s what The New Covenant is about; that’s what the epistles are about. So The Cross is central, and it is essential to our relationship with Christ.

We must comprehend The Cross IN TRUTH. And we are going to find that The Truth is inseparably related to The Cross - they are one. It is here we face The Truth; not just a fact, but The Cross is a fact. The Cross is a fact, a historical fact, a spiritual fact, but The Cross is much more than a fact. The Cross is the very embodiment of The Truth. All Truth is gathered up in The Cross. And The Cross is Christ crucified; His death, His burial, His resurrection. The Cross is not just a piece of wood, not just a location, not just a place or a thing - much more than that! The Cross is where God’s Son FINISHED The Eternal Plan of God in His death, burial and resurrection. The Cross is where Christ became the very personification of all that had ever been spoken. So you see The Cross is all powerful! And we will find that The Truth is gathered up in The Cross.

Now, The Truth concerning what? First of all, just The Truth itself. A fact requires something outside of itself, a fact has to be related to some person, some thing, some place or some event. A chair is made out of plastic. That is a fact, but that fact requires that there be a chair that is made out of plastic. And if there’s no chair that is made out of plastic then that fact does not exist. But The Truth exists without anything! In fact, all things find their existence in The Truth! Without The Truth, nothing that exists would exist. By Him, through Him, for Him are all things. And we are going to come to the reality that THE TRUTH IS A PERSON. The Truth is Christ Himself, but my point is now, The Truth needs nothing to be The Truth, but everything else depends upon The Truth for its existence and for its definition.

We are going to use the term "all things". That’s a familiar term in The Bible. In the Old Testament we have the first man, first creation, first covenant. It’s the same thing as old man, old creation, the Old Covenant. The first was NOT spiritual, and it is related to a covenant given of God that was written in stone. It was not a perfect covenant. It represents the Old Covenant world, and here were "all things". On the other side of The Cross is The New Covenant, the second or New. The Bible says the first is not spiritual, but the second is spiritual. And we come by The Cross, by Christ crucified from the old into The New. That’s a work of The Spirit. You don’t have to figure that out. That happens when you are born again. It’s not something you do yourself. When you and I are born from above, we come from the first man to The Second Man. When you and I are born from above, we come from the body of the old man to The Body of The New Man. That’s a work of The Spirit, that’s a birth of God! The problem is, in our hearts, in our understanding we don’t always come from the Old Covenant to The New Covenant - there’s the problem.

These Christians that Paul was writing to had that very problem. Paul saw them as a New Creation in Christ, he saw them as The Body of Jesus Christ, he saw them as having no life but Christ, because he saw them in relationship to The Truth. He saw them in relationship to The Cross. But many of these believers who are born again, who have in them a genuine work of The Spirit did not comprehend that. They had not come in their hearts from an Old Covenant, an old understanding; even an old understanding concerning God, because this is what the Old Covenant was. The Old Covenant was an old understanding concerning God. It wasn’t the covenant of the devil - it was The Covenant of God, but it was written on stone! It was outside, not inside. It could NOT change the heart because it was outside.

And to a whole lot of believers it’s exactly that today. It’s still written on stone; only we use paper. We say, ‘I believe this, this is a fact, this is a true thing.’ It is a fact, it is a true thing - but have we comprehended it IN THE TRUTH? Have we come from an Old Covenant to a New Covenant understanding? That’s the question. I ask you - are you The Body of Christ? You’ll read me a scripture that says that you are. But do you understand that in The Truth? Do you understand that in its relationship to The Cross? Or is it just written on paper, and you read it and believe it? Or is it written on a banner, and you read it and believe it? We’ve got to understand something very important here. The only difference between the Old Covenant and The New Covenant is just this: one of them was written on stone, on parchment; the other one is written IN YOUR HEART. That’s the only difference, because this is One Word of God. The Old Testament is not the word of the devil and The New Testament The Word of God. No - One Word of God. The New fulfils the old! But if you’ve just got the New written on paper, it’s no different than the old. No, the difference is it’s written in your heart.

We must bring all things to The Truth, comprehending all things in The Truth. We have The New Covenant in Christ. "All things" have to be put here too. In the scripture there are two groups of "all things", and it is essential that we understand this. There are 1) "all things" relating to the Old Covenant, and we’ll read those in the scripture. That includes all the types and all the shadows, all the symbols. It includes creation, the people, the places, the things, the prophets, the promises, the psalms - all things that were given of God, formed of God - all things of the Old Covenant. Then there is another group of "all things": 2) that is called "all things in Christ". And there is a word that is associated with these "all things". It is - NEW. In Christ, all things are NEW. That’s what The Bible says. Those are the two groups into which all things must be divided. And what is it that divides them? THE CROSS! The Cross divides them. We will actually read that in the scripture, but I find that there are very few Christians - ministers or whoever, who understand that. They are continually trying to bring the things of the old over into The New - using scripture in The Bible that says "all things", but they have no understanding of "all things".

"All things", whether of the old or The New can only be comprehended in the light of The Truth. That is The Truth. You and I can understand nothing of Christ except in relationship to His death, burial and resurrection. It’s there that The Truth is seen. We can understand nothing of the Old Covenant; we don’t understand its purpose or meaning until we see it in The Truth. The Tabernacle is part of the "all things"- how do we understand The Tabernacle? There are some strange teachings that have come out from The Tabernacle! But the only way you can understand The Tabernacle is to relate it to The Truth. It must be understood in relationship to Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. And if it’s not, then you have no spiritual comprehension of The Tabernacle at all! And it’s the same for everything in the Old Covenant. It all has to come to The Cross for its comprehension.

You can see it as a thing - the truth of it. The Tabernacle is a true thing, the brazen altar is a true thing, the High Priest is a true thing. You can teach on the brazen altar, you can teach on the High Priest, you can teach on The Tabernacle; but until you comprehend them in the light of The Truth - you can declare them to be anything you want them to be! The brazen altar can only be understood as it relates to the death of Christ. The High Priest can only be understood as it relates to the atoning power of the blood. The Tabernacle itself can only be understood as it relates to His death in its first compartment, to His burial in its inner compartment, and to His resurrection in its final compartment. And yet that’s just one Tabernacle, representing One Full Work of The Cross - in His death, His burial, His resurrection. And The Great High Priest one time a year goes through all three of those compartments! One time a year The High Priest represents Christ in His death, and His burial, and His resurrection. "All things" of the Old Covenant - no matter what; they were all given of God for one purpose. That purpose can only be truly understood when we bring it to The Truth. When we see that thing - whether it’s a person, a place, or a thing; whether it’s a type or a shadow; a promise or a prophecy - we can only comprehend it in its true purpose when we bring it to The Cross; when we bring it to The Truth, when we understand it in its relationship to His death, His burial and His resurrection.

Part 2 - What Is The Truth?

It is extremely important that we get this foundation laid very well in us; because if this foundation is not laid IN YOU, I can come along and lay a foundation on top of you, and it would be too heavy for you to carry. It would just be the words of man, the teachings of a man, and you’d get weary of it after awhile. But if The Lord lays this foundation in us; if you and I can have formed in us Who and What is The Truth, then that will be very important and that will remain. And if this foundation is not laid in us, we’re all wasting our time. So this foundation must be laid in us, and we can’t rush the laying of it. We must have The Spirit of The Lord really lead us and guide us so that we can consider these things so that we can get a hold of this. If we can come to comprehend what is The Truth, then the rest of our lives we will relate everything else to The Truth. We will walk in The Truth, we will speak in The Truth, as The Truth is in Jesus.

But it’s not enough to know that The Truth is in Jesus; we must know that Truth! We must know what The Truth is, Who The Truth is. And we were relating The Truth to The Cross, and we are understanding that The Cross is related to Christ in His death, His burial, His resurrection. So if we are relating all things to The Truth, then we are relating all things to The Cross; consequently we are relating all things TO CHRIST in His death, His burial, His resurrection. And the only way we can truly understand the "all things" of the Old Covenant or the New is when we see them in their relationship to The Cross; when we see them in relationship to Christ in His death, in His burial, in His resurrection. There is no exception - none whatsoever. We read The Bible, we read the Old Covenant, and we read things that are true - teachings that are true, promises that are true, prophecies that are true - true things. We see true types and true shadows. Our problem is we never relate those things to The Truth; we just grab them and run with them! And we preach things that are true, but we don’t preach them in The Truth.

For instance, in the Old Covenant righteousness is taught. "Be ye righteous. Be ye holy, for I am holy." Righteousness is taught in type, in shadow; it’s taught through sacrifices, the clothes that the Priests wore, the color of the cloth that was used - righteousness is taught. So we go in the Old Covenant and we see the word "righteousness" or "righteous" or "holiness" and we say "The Bible teaches righteousness, the Bible says ‘be righteous’." The Bible teaches holiness; the Bible says "Be holy." And we look that up and we read all these scriptures, and then we preach "righteousness." The problem is we preach "righteousness" as a true thing, as a fact, as a true teaching; but we never bring righteousness to The Truth. So we come up with a hundred different definitions of righteousness. All over the world righteousness is preached! One man preaches righteousness as what foods you eat. Another is preaching righteousness as what you wear or don’t wear. Another is telling you it’s how long or short your hair is. They are preaching that as righteousness - what you eat, what you drink, what kind of a house you live in, what kind of clothes you wear. They are preaching righteousness as a true thing, but they’ve never brought righteousness to The Truth. They have never encountered THE PERSON OF RIGHTEOUSNESS; they have never seen righteousness in its relationship to The Cross. They have never seen that righteousness is NOT ME regardless of what I wear. RIGHTEOUSNESS IS CHRIST! You and I have been brought to His death; we have been buried with Him; we have been raised up in His resurrection - in righteousness! CHRIST IS MADE UNTO US RIGHTEOUSNESS!

So if we preach righteousness, we must preach Christ! Here is an example: all things can only be understood as to their true character, as to their true nature when they are seen in their relationship to The Cross. And you know it is the nature of the thing that counts. So what if you preach righteousness, and do not have the nature of righteousness working in you? What difference does it make what you eat or don’t eat if the nature of righteousness is not working in you? Righteousness is not a thing: righteousness is the nature of The Truth. Who is The Truth? Christ crucified; Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. Righteousness is the nature of The Cross working in you - the nature of Christ. Righteousness is the nature of His death working in you. What is His death? "In that He died, He died unto sin once. In that He liveth, He liveth unto God." What is His death? His death is to sin. Righteousness is the nature of His death working in you. So much so that by nature we become dead to sin. What nature? The nature of HIS DEATH!

Righteousness is Christ being formed in you. But what does that mean? You have to bring it to The Truth. Christ formed in you is His death, His burial, His resurrection. We’ve got to get a hold of this! The Truth is inseparably joined to The Cross. They are not two: they are one. The Truth is the nature of The Cross. The Truth is the nature of Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. He died in Truth, He was buried in Truth, He was raised in Truth. So The Truth becomes a nature. And if you speak The Truth you are not just saying words; your words are coming out from a nature - you yourself become an expression of Truth. After all, it’s not really the words that make the difference; it’s the nature that is working in you. You can say sweet things and have a hateful nature. Everybody does that! We don’t experience a change in nature; we just change our vocabulary. And Christianity has picked up on that. ‘I used to say these things, but now I don’t say those things any more. I say these things now.’ But has there been any change in nature? The Truth is the nature. When it gets down to The Truth of the matter, it has gotten down to the nature, and the nature doesn’t lie. Words may lie to man; but not nature. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our speaking to one another was in nature - not just in words? We may not always be able to speak to each other in our words, but God grant that we are able to speak to each other in nature.

So this is what we are talking about: bringing everything into The Truth, apprehending everything in relationship to The Truth. But again - Who is The Truth? Christ crucified, Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. It is in this understanding of Christ that everything - ALL THINGS - come to face The Truth. Christ in His death, burial, resurrection. If you take a promise, a prophecy, a type or shadow in the Old Covenant, you must bring it over to The Cross and it faces The Truth. Then we understand that promise. Oh, we’ve read the promise already, we believe it’s true, but here we understand it. Here the promise becomes a nature working in us. That’s the difference. So wherever believers are gathered together to search the scriptures, you are going to learn many things. We look in the scripture and see the types and the shadows, the promises and prophecies. And here we find the fulfillment, and we see words like ‘forgiveness’, ‘salvation’, ‘sanctification’, ‘resurrection’ - we see these things. We search the scriptures and we learn about these things, and that’s fine.

But we must bring these things to The Truth. We must comprehend these things in a relationship with Christ through His death and His burial and His resurrection if these things are to be worked in us and become nature. The Truth is a nature. For what good does it do us to know many things and not have the nature of Christ? We know many things, but what have we done as a "Church"? The "Church world" knows many things. What is the result of that? Well, just look at the Church world: look how divided it is. Look how many doctrines there are. How did that happen? The Church was birthed on the day of Pentecost - how did it get so divided? By knowing true things, and never bringing those things to The Truth. We have different definitions. One says this is righteousness; another says, no, that’s not righteousness! So the first one says, well, I’ll just start my own church! And the second one says, good for you, go ahead and do it! I’ll start my own church! And we’ll both preach righteousness! But where is the nature of righteousness there? Where is The Truth? There’s only One Cross! There’s only One death, burial and resurrection. There’s only One Body: how did we get so many churches? Different churches, separated churches - how did that happen?

It didn’t start yesterday: it started 2,000 years ago. Here came a group of Christians down from Jerusalem that came to Galatia and they got a hold of Paul’s baby Christians, baby converts. And Paul had taught those Galatians The Truth. He had told them that Christ is your Life, Christ is your Righteousness, Christ is your circumcision, Christ is your Bread of Life. Yes, with Paul all things were fulfilled in Christ through His death, His burial and His resurrection. This is the way Paul preached, and he established those Galatians in that Truth, and he went on his way. But here come these Christians down from Jerusalem. Now they believed in righteousness, in sanctification, and holiness, but they hadn’t brought any of those things to The Truth; they hadn’t seen them in The Truth yet. They had not yet - in their hearts - come from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. So what did they do? They told these Christians in Galatians that there was one thing else they needed to do. ‘Paul told us we didn’t have to do anything. He said that Christ was our Life. He said that we were dead with Christ; he told us we were buried with Christ, and he told us we were raised up with Christ.’ ‘Oh well, but now... you must be circumcised.’ ‘Really?’ ‘Yes, you must be circumcised.’ So they circumcised all those Christians!

Paul heard about it, so he wrote the letter to the Galatians. "Oh, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you started out in the Spirit, and now are trying to find your righteousness in the flesh?" It started 2,000 years ago - adding things to Christ. No wonder we have so many different churches, when in fact there is just One Body! We will not bring all things to The Cross. Do you know why we won’t do that? Because you can’t send "things" to The Cross. YOU have to bring them there! And you can’t bring anything where YOU haven’t gone. I must come to The Cross, or I can’t bring anything else there. Until I comprehend myself through a relationship with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection I can’t comprehend anything else that way, because we’re not dealing with words here, we are dealing with the nature of The Truth.

Until that nature is working in me, how can I bring anything into it? I will simply bring all things into my own understanding. And that’s the problem! We are trying to understand the things of God with our own understanding. We think because we are trying to understand spiritual things that this makes us spiritual. Learning about spiritual things does not make you spiritual; the nature of Christ makes you spiritual. THE TRUTH. Bringing all things into The Truth.

Now in order to do this, we ourselves must come to The Truth - present ourselves. And having done that, we must believe that everything of the Old Covenant is fulfilled in Christ, and everything of the New Covenant is the reality of all that is fulfilled in Christ. For instance, the Old Covenant speaks of Salvation. In Christ through His death, burial and resurrection Salvation is fulfilled. The New Covenant is the reality of that Salvation working in us. The New Covenant is that Salvation working its nature in us every day. The New Covenant is not in word, but in Spirit and in Truth. In other words, it is The Spirit of Truth working in us. That’s the New Covenant.

So we must first agree, and come to believe EVERYTHING of the Old, and that includes all the types and shadows set forth in people, places and things; the promises, the psalms, the prophets, is fulfilled in Christ through His death, burial and resurrection. And that here in Christ, you and I are made to be partakers of that divine nature, that all of the first speaks of. Here we come to the reality of it, that we not look beyond Christ or out of Christ. We need only grow up in Christ as The Truth is in Him. And that IN CHRIST we find the fulfillment of everything of the Old Covenant. We may not comprehend the fulfillment of all things in Christ yet, but we must agree that whether I have comprehended them or not, I will look no place else BUT CHRIST for their fulfillment. We must agree that I will never comprehend those things except in the face of Jesus Christ; that I will never experience in nature those things except in my relationship with Him in His death, burial and resurrection. So that my need is TO KNOW HIM!

We must come to that agreement. And now I want to relate this term "all things" as it is used in the scripture to either the Old Covenant or the New Covenant. But we need a little background here. The following verses relate to things that Jesus said, and things that the Apostles wrote as well. We must understand the time in which these things were first written. It was the literal time of The Cross. It was during that 3 ½ years between Christ’s baptism and The Cross. It was during that time of transition - coming from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. And Christ was speaking to the Old Covenant people. We have to understand that. These are people who were raised up in the Old Covenant: they knew the promises, they knew the prophets and the prophecies, they were familiar with the types and shadows. They were looking for the "all things" that had been told to them; they were looking for the fulfillment of them. That’s the setting.

So, Mark 4:34, " But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded ALL THINGS to his disciples." All things. Now, whenever you find this term "all things" in relationship to the teaching of Christ, it’s always the "all things" of the Old Covenant that is being talked about. He would talk to the multitudes and He would do that in parables. You know the parables: the sower and the seed, the leaven. And He was always relating those parables to something taught in the Old Covenant. But He knew that their ears were dull of hearing, and He said that many of them had substituted the traditions of elders for The Word of God. He couldn’t teach The Word of God, so He talked parables, He taught stories. But He drew His disciples aside, and He expounded to them all things. Now Mark 9:12, "And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth ALL THINGS; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought." The disciples had come to Him and said, ‘Master, well if what you say is so, where is Elisha?’ Because it is commonly believed among the Jews that Elias must come first. And Jesus told them, ‘Yes, this is true, he must come first.’ But He said if you can receive this, he has already come - in the person and spirit of John the Baptist. Who was it that John announced? What was John’s answer to the restoration of "all things?" "BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD!"

So in our hearts all things must be brought into The Truth. Then we need to start - one by one - bringing all things into The Truth. We need to take every prophecy, every prophet, one by one, and bring them to The Truth. We need to understand them in relation to His death, burial and resurrection, because I’m telling you, not a handful of people do. Most Christians are still looking for "that day". And the New Covenant is so clear that "That Day" came with The Cross!! We don’t understand that because we don’t understand The Cross. We think The Cross is some place in history; we think The Cross was an event that happened 2,000 years ago. Well, that’s the fact of it, but The Truth of it is The Cross is His death, His burial, and His resurrection, and IT’S WORKING IN YOU TODAY! The Truth is you are children of That Day!

Well, one by one we need to examine the Old Covenant in the Light of The Truth. Then we need to live as His Body, The Church, as a Living Witness of the fulfillment of everything ever promised or prophesied of God. We need to live as the people who have found it IN CHRIST, and are making it manifest in the earth; not as a bunch of people who are still talking about what is going to be, but rather declaring the reality of what is - declaring the reality of Christ.

Luke 10:22, " ALL THINGS are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him." ALL THINGS. Here’s what He’s talking about: everything that was ever set forth in type or in shadow or in testimony has been delivered to The Son by The Father, that The Son may fulfil all things through His death, burial and His eternal resurrection. Jesus is saying not one thing will I leave out! I will lose nothing, but all that is delivered to Me of My Father, I will keep it, I will perform it, I will finish it! Most Christians today don’t comprehend that. We still are going over to the Old Covenant and finding one thing or another, bringing it over past The Cross and trying to figure out when is this going to be. They have no idea what it was talking about, so they just make up something in their imaginations. And they have to put it way out in the future because they have no evidence of it in themselves. But I’m telling you, the evidence is IN CHRIST. You can find it IN HIM. You can experience it IN HIM. You can live it IN HIM. You can possess it IN HIM! ALL THINGS!

Luke 14:17, " And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for ALL THINGS are now ready." Here’s one of the parables, but look at what it is saying. Now let’s get real. Do you really believe that you and I who have been called of God into His Son, born from above, translated into the Kingdom of His Dear Son, come by His death, burial and His resurrection; do you really believe that He has called us to a table and there’s no food on it? Do you think he’s called us into a house, and it’s not finished? The roof leaks? What kind of Salvation is that? Just be reasonable, and look at the scripture. Forget tradition - bring all things to The Truth, see all things in relationship to Him in His death, burial, and resurrection. Not only the things of the Old, but the things of the New. See yourself in that relationship, understand all things in The Truth. COME; ALL THINGS ARE NOW READY!

Luke 18:31, " Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and ALL THINGS that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished." Here’s where He was going - He was going to His death, burial, resurrection! All things written concerning The Son of Man. I can’t find anything written by the prophets that wasn’t concerning The Son of Man! That’s the reason Jesus called Himself The Son of Man. If there is one prophesy that He did not fulfil in The Cross - just one - then the Jews had every right not to accept Him as their Messiah. And yet modern day Christianity has a number of prophecies that they don’t believe He fulfilled. Why then do we think the Jews ought to become Christians? The Apostles presented Christ in fulfillment of all scriptures. Jesus presented Himself in Luke 24 in fulfillment of all of Moses, all of psalms, and all of the prophets. He opened their eyes while He walked with them, and by the scripture He declared Himself.

Now, that’s either true or it’s not true. It’s you and I who do not comprehend The Truth, but The Truth is fulfilled in Christ, and we must bring all things to The Truth in order to comprehend them. And as we continue we will consider what is true spiritual comprehension. What does it mean to comprehend "all things" in The Truth?

Part 3 - The Person of The Truth

We are dealing with The Cross as it relates to Christ. We must understand something about The Cross: The Cross does not merely relate to an aspect of Christ, but rather to the fulness of Christ. The Cross relates to His Person through His death, His burial and His resurrection. He says "I am The Way, The Truth and The Life." That does not mean that He is three things, but that these three things are one. So it is with The Cross. The Cross is not three things: it is one manifestation of God’s Son. Jesus said, "When you have lifted up The Son of Man, then you will know that I am He." It is in The Cross - His death, burial and resurrection that He was and now is manifested to be The Son of God. Consequently all things - all things of the scripture must find their meaning and their purpose in The Cross. And most Christians simply do not understand that, because to most Christians The Cross is just one of many teachings in The Word of God. But in fact, The Cross is central to all the teaching of the scripture, because The Cross is not a place in history, it is not a location, not a piece of wood; but The Cross is the Divine Work of God finished and made manifest in The Person of His Son. And all of God’s dealings with you and I relate to that Finished Work; to that death, that burial, that resurrection. But not in a historical way as time past, but NOW The Work of The Cross, the reality of The Cross, the power of The Cross and The Person of The Cross are ETERNAL.

This must be well grounded in us. If it is not, you will have no standard for The Truth. The Truth must have a standard. The Truth is not without a basis; The Truth in fact is the standard! The Truth is the standard of all things. All things are measured by The Truth. It is the measuring line, the plumb line. So The Truth is the standard by which God measures all things, by which God determines all things, and by which God defines all things. In the very beginning of God’s dealings with man in the Bible, Adam was a type of The Truth. He was NOT The Truth, but a type of The Truth. He represented God’s standard in the earth. God determined everything of the creation by that standard. It was all created for Adam - for his use, for his good. He actually named everything, so he gave creation its name. He named the animals, the trees. So what is that a type of? All things were defined, got their name and definition from The Truth. Adam represented The Truth; and it gives us a hint as to Who and What The Real Truth is. The Truth is not just a thought or a teaching. The Truth is not a meaningless standard. THE TRUTH IS A PERSON. In the beginning Adam was a type of that Person. So much so, that Jesus is called The Last Adam!

And as we have seen, all things must be brought before The Truth. Remember what God did in the garden? One by one He brought them before Adam to see what Adam would call them. All of that is a type, a shadow. But in The Cross is the reality. Jesus said, "If I be lifted up from the earth (we know He’s speaking of The Cross), I will draw all men unto Myself." It was when Christ was lifted up, it is by The Cross that everything is brought before Him, and is named by Him as to its true nature and its true character. It is in The Cross! The Cross determines the identity, the definition of all things - The Truth. And we are still defining The Truth. This must be grounded in our hearts, because how can we understand anything by The Truth until we understand at least - Who is The Truth? The Truth will become once The Truth is revealed in us; and The Truth must be revealed. The Spirit of Truth is come to reveal The Truth: you can’t know The Truth any other way. It is by The Spirit working in you, filling you with the knowledge of The Truth, with the nature of The Truth, because you can’t separate the nature of The Truth from the knowledge of The Truth. We must understand that The Truth is a nature working in us, and that nature will become the standard by which we know all things. We will understand that it is the nature of Christ, or it is not.

Let’s think now. The Truth is the standard of God. When God speaks, He must speak The Truth. And the point is, God never just speaks true things: He always speaks The Truth. Now with that in mind, let’s think about this standard as it is taught in the scriptures, because we have connected The Truth with The Cross, and we’ve connected The Cross with a Person. Then we connect The Person with a divine nature, and finally we see that divine nature as the ruling power of the Kingdom, which is The Church. And that ruling power is of course The Lamb - the nature that rules. So The Truth is a standard. Where do we find evidence of that standard in The Bible? Let’s look at Israel. What was the standard of Israel - the thing by which Israel was measured? Measured as to number, measured as to size, measured as to righteousness or holiness. In every way, Israel was measured by a standard. Not having a standard would be like you are trying to build a building and somebody gives you a ruler, and you look at the ruler, but it has no numbers on it, it has no marks on it; it’s just a stick!

The Cross is not just a stick! It has connected with it, and bound up as one with it, a ruling nature. A nature by which all things are measured. What was the standard of Israel? It was The Tabernacle. The Tabernacle determined the whole order of Israel. It determined where they camped, because every tribe was set in order by this one standard. If Israel was marching, and it was time to make camp, it had to be done according to this standard. We must understand that everything here is a type of spiritual life. You and I have times of camping: in learning Christ we have places where The Lord keeps us for a time. And He deals with us in that place for a period of time. Then we break camp and we move on in The Lord. What we don’t understand in many cases is that there’s a standard determining all of this. And for Israel it was The Tabernacle. Until The Tabernacle was fully set up, nobody knew where to pitch their tent, because everybody had to camp in accordance with, or in relation to The Tabernacle. Everything related to The Tabernacle. If it was time to offer sacrifices, you couldn’t just go out behind a tree and do that. No, your sacrifice had to be identified with The Tabernacle. You had to bring it to The Door of The Tabernacle, and from that point on The Priest took care of it. You had to bring it there: you had to lay hands on it.

Do you remember in Hebrews 6 it says let’s get on beyond these rudimentary, elementary teachings? The doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands? This is not New Testament laying on of hands: this was Old Testament baptisms which were just ceremonial washings and the laying on of hands on the sacrifice. That’s what the writer wants them to get on beyond. You laid your hands on the sacrifice, you identified with it. That was a type, a shadow. The Tabernacle was the standard of life, it was the standard of worship, the standard of encampment, the standard of marching. In every way Israel was determined and measured by The Tabernacle. And what was The Tabernacle, except - THE CROSS? Not jut a part of it - the whole of it. The furniture that was there - six pieces of furniture. One way or another each of those pieces relates to Christ’s involvement with MAN. That’s the reason there are six there, because the seventh is The Tabernacle itself, representing Christ crucified. And that’s just a fact. In that Tabernacle blood went from one end of it to the other. It started out at the front door and went all the way to The Holy of Holies. It’s The Cross! It’s His death, burial and resurrection. But it’s more than that: in the reality of Christ it is more than that - it is the divine NATURE of His death, burial and resurrection.

At The Cross it is not merely ceremonial. Jesus went through the ceremonial part at His baptism. The baptism of John was NOT Christian baptism. It was formal, Jewish, ceremonial washing, and Jesus submitted to that, and that ended. The Cross is NOT ceremonial; it has with it the Divine Nature. The standard of The Old Covenant was The Tabernacle. The reality of that is Christ crucified. It is in Christ crucified that we face God’s standard. And this is not what He wants, what He HAS in His Son; not what things ought to be, what things are! The standard is set, the standard is complete. The standard doesn’t depend upon you or me. The standard is fulfilled IN CHRIST. We will either submit to it or we will not, but the standard is set. The standard is sure, the standard is finished. It is that by which God measures all things. I want to repeat: The standard is NOT something we are supposed to be: THE STANDARD IS WHO CHRIST IS. There’s a big difference in those two statements.

Let’s sum up some things now. We have established that all things must be seen in the light of The Truth in order to be comprehended. And until you see The Truth concerning any given matter, you don’t really understand that thing. You may understand that this thing exists, but you don’t know anything about it. And along with that, there’s an interesting definition concerning the word "Truth" in the Greek. Here is just part of it. The Greek word meaning "The Truth" is defined: "the unveiled reality lying at the basis of, and agreeing with an appearance." Here’s what that means: the manifested essence of a matter. It’s like taking a thing and opening it up, and just turning it inside out, and revealing the true essence of it. The covering is taken off, and the true essence of the thing is shown. This is what happened at The Cross! The covering - God’s Son was just laid open! In The Old Covenant, what was the sign of Covenant? They took an animal and you fileted that animal, you cut that animal down the exact middle and you opened it up!

Everything was exposed, nothing hidden - Covenant in Truth! That’s what that is a type of. They just opened the thing up in its exact middle and just exposed the whole thing. That was a sign of Covenant; you were dealing with one another in the naked Truth; you weren’t hiding anything from each other. Listen - when The Lord brings you before The Cross that’s the end of hiding anything from God! Nothing is hidden there, because God hides nothing from you. He opens His Son, and He shows to you - yourself! Yes, opens it, lets you look at it. Not the pretty covering...no, He opens it, and you behold The Truth. You behold The Lamb and the suffering of The Lamb, and The Blood of The Lamb. You behold the entrails. You remember in the offering of the sacrifices they had to deal with the entrails? Nothing was hidden. The deepest thoughts of your heart are revealed! The hidden nature of your soul is revealed. You see it all right there before you. He became that! See, you and I would still hide things from God, but God hides nothing from us. He shows to us ourselves in His Son. His Son becomes the standard. He took on the form, so that God could cause mankind to look at himself.

Sure, when Israel looked at The Tabernacle, what did they look at? They saw themselves - that was their standard. That’s why over in Canaan it was built on a permanent basis. An encampment of tents turned into a City of Jerusalem, and a Tabernacle of cloth turned into a Temple of Gold! Jerusalem and The Temple became synonymous with the people. When we look at The Cross we see ourselves. We are united with Him in His death, burial and resurrection. Nothing is hidden; not because we show it, but because God reveals it in His Son. When we stand there before The True measurement of The Almighty God we can not deny The Truth. We fall prostrate before The Truth! Yes, but we also stand rejoicing in the Presence of The Truth, because as surely as He is our death, HE IS OUR LIFE, because you can’t have one without the other.

So we are seeing firstly that all things are comprehended only when they are brought to the Light of The Truth. Secondly, we have seen that The Truth is a Person. Thirdly, we have seen that because The Truth is a Person, there is connected with The Truth a nature, because a Person is not just a teaching. Christ to you and I must not just be a teaching, but a living reality. We are NOT the Body of a teaching, we are NOT the Body of a particular doctrine. We are The Body of a Person! Our involvement is with a Person, that Person is The Truth. And what is our involvement with that Person except by The Spirit of that Person? That Person is living in us and working in us His nature. So thirdly, The Truth is a divine nature.

A Divine Nature - the scriptures use that term. Not human nature. Christianity is not an improved human nature, but a divine nature. The light of The City is a divine nature. When you look at the end of the book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ you see the manifestation of a divine nature. Fourthly, if a nature, then the nature of Christ crucified. That’s what we really are talking about. The Truth is a Person; that Person has a nature; and the nature of The Person is related to The Cross. By that I mean the nature of that Person is truly seen to be what it is at The Cross. That’s where you see the true nature of Christ. Peter talks about that nature, Paul talks about that nature. The whole New Covenant is based upon that nature. "Obedient unto death, even the death of The Cross, wherefore God hath highly exalted Him." You see, we want God to be obedient to US... ‘do what I say, when I say.’But The Truth is seen, The Truth concerning the nature of Truth is seen in CHRIST CRUCIFIED.

Consequently there is a nature with regard to His death, burial and resurrection. But it is not just knowing that He died that changes us. It is not just knowing and believing that we died with Him that changes us. In other words, knowing that as a true thing. It is having the NATURE of His death working in us, the NATURE of His burial, the NATURE of His resurrection working in us that counts; not just having teachings about that. I think too many times we substitute teachings for divine nature. And here’s what makes all of this important: number five: that nature comes to be fully and completely defined - THE LAMB. The Lamb in the midst of The Throne. You can’t go any farther than this; there isn’t anything after this! There isn’t a sixth point. It stops with The Lamb - the ruling nature of The Truth; the true power of The Kingdom; that by which we overcome all things. The ruling nature, the Throne nature - not the nature of exaltation, but a nature that God exalts. This is the true nature of that Throne: The Truth determining that all things of the old and the new can only be understood in the light of The Truth.

Who is The Truth? What is The Truth? The Truth is a Person. And if The Truth is a Person, then according to the definition that "the truth is the revealed essence of the matter", then The Truth must be bound up with the nature of The Person. In fact, if you go on with the Greek definition, The Truth is the REALITY clearly set forth before our eyes, as opposed to a mere appearance without reality. Now to translate that into Biblical language: the Tabernacle was a representation of The Truth. It was the mere appearance of a thing, because it was actually behind curtains and behind veils and it was hidden, and it represented a mystery. And yet it was the appearance of Truth, but not Truth itself. But in The Son, in Christ crucified, nothing is hidden, everything is revealed - before heaven and before earth, before the gates of hell. Everything is revealed!

The essence of the whole plan of God is made manifest, and that’s The Truth. The definition goes on to say "the very nature and substance of a matter made known." So then The Truth is a Person; it is not just the appearance of that Person, but it is the very substance and nature of The Person that represents The Truth. Consequently if The Truth is working in us, then it is a nature working in us, and that nature if it is working in us, will control everything that we say and everything we do; because what you say and what you do, you say and do by nature. Even if you put that old nature under the Law, it will break out from time to time and expose itself. So the answer is not to put the old nature under the Law; the answer is a NEW NATURE; the nature of The Truth. That nature working in us exposes everything in us that is not of The Truth. It exposes everything in us that is not of Christ. So with us it is no longer what is legal or illegal that matters, but what is Christ or not Christ that matters. Christ becomes the measuring standard. Everything is measured against Him, and it is seen as either being Christ or not Christ. It may be legal - but it’s not Christ!

We come from the Law system to the Nature system, so that what we do and say comes out from a divine nature. Do you know what that means? The Bible says, "But speaking The Truth in all things." What that means is everything you say is proceeding out from the nature of Truth, because if the nature of Truth is not working in you, you may speak things that are true, things that are factual, but you are not speaking The Truth because there is a deceiving nature behind your words. Let me show you that deceiving nature. John 8:44, " Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." Everything he says is a lie because it doesn’t come out from the nature of Truth. He may tell you a true thing, but it is still a lie, because he uses it to deceive you!

But wait a minute - Jesus didn’t just say this nature that is IN the devil. He said YOU are of your father, the devil. That means they were of that same nature. There’s only two natures - the nature of The Truth; the nature of the lie. That’s devastating to me when I’m brought up to The Cross and shown the nature of Christ, because I realize that everything that I say that is not coming out of that nature is a lie! It’s a lie because it isn’t coming out from the nature of Truth. It’s just words, just words! And those words, even in saying true things can deceive people. How many people say "righteousness", and yet in the preaching of "righteousness" they deceive hundreds of thousands of people? Because they have never seen righteousness in the nature of The Truth, so they preach righteousness as things: things you do, things you don’t do, things you wear or don’t wear. Thousands of Christians are deceived! They take righteousness and make it a lie. We have been talking about bringing all things to The Truth in order to understand them. If we are speaking about a thing - things of God, but we haven’t comprehended that thing in The Truth and the nature of The Truth is not working that very thing in us, then whatever we are saying about that thing is a lie! Now that is devastating to me! But you and I - we just listen to words, don’t we? We say, ‘Brother, he was preaching on heaven.’ Maybe - he was saying the word "heaven", but was it coming out from The Truth? We listen to words, and we’ll just hear words until The Spirit of God confronts us with The Truth. Who is confronted with The Truth? Only those who desire to Know Him. God will not keep back from those who desire to know Him, The Truth. He will bring you and I to The Truth. Whether we abide in it or not is another matter, but He will bring you to The Truth if you have a heart to know Him.

Part 4 - The Revealing is The Truth

If only The Spirit can reveal The Truth, then what is the revealing of The Truth? That’s what I mean when I say what is true spiritual comprehension? What does it involve? And let me say one more thing with regard to the Greek definition of "The Truth." In the Greek definition the word "Truth" is always connected to an unveiling or a revealing - always. The revealing of substance. And it is interesting that Truth is synonymous with the term "revealed". It does not mean that The Truth must be revealed: it means that the revealing IS The Truth. The revealing is not a subject that needs to be revealed. The Truth is the revealing; The Truth is the showing of all things. The Truth and Light are the same. Now, Who is The Truth? The Light and The Life - only One! Christ working in you! The Truth, The Light, The Life - all are one divine nature. You do not reveal The Truth: THE TRUTH REVEALS ALL THINGS. The Truth makes known the very substance and nature of a thing. Nothing can be hidden from The Truth because The Truth is The Light! That’s just according to a Greek definition of the word that means "Truth". And if you realize that definition in The Person of Christ - what a wonderful realization it is!

The standard of God is not hidden. This is why Paul says our gospel is not hidden. If it is hidden then it’s only hidden to those who are blinded by the enemy; but the standard is not hidden, The Truth is not hidden. It was at one time. Do you remember that throughout the New Testament there is a term used called "the mystery of God". It is used many times, but it is always used in this way - as something that has been revealed. Paul always uses it that way: the mystery which WAS hidden from the ages, has been made manifest. What is made manifest? The Truth! See, The Truth, The Cross, Christ crucified was hidden in the Old Covenant. Where was it hidden? One place it was hidden was in the Tabernacle. It was hidden behind veils, in furniture - types, symbols and ceremonies. But at The Cross it is made manifest, that we may walk in The Truth, abide in The Truth, and The Truth may abide in us. What was mystery - now, THE TRUTH!

Let’s look at some verses with regard to The Truth. John 8:31-32. " Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." This is important - He said unto those Jews which believed on Him. Nothing else will do that! You can lay hands on somebody and pray for them all day...you can’t make them free. I can rebuke the devil all day, but I can’t make you free by that. Listen - if there would have been more than one thing that would have made you free, Jesus would have said it. I’m not talking about healing; I’m not talking about miracles. I’m talking about being made free - so that we can stand in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and not be again entangled with a yoke of bondage. You shall KNOW The Truth. Here’s the point: remember the definition? The word "to know" (you shall know) and the word "Truth" are the same! So that what God is saying is just this: the only thing that you truly know is The Truth, and if you are not knowing The Truth, then in fact - you know NOTHING!

There’s no such thing as a "little bit" of Truth, because Truth is a Person. If we are seeing Christ, we are knowing. If we are not seeing Christ we are blind and we are knowing nothing. If we are seeing Christ we are understanding. If we are not seeing Christ, we have no understanding and we are dwelling in darkness. That’s what is being said here. You shall know The Truth...THE TRUTH shall make you free. How do we know The Truth? That’s where we are going. Turn to John 4:21-24. At this time Jesus was talking to the woman at the well. He had gone over into this place that was non-Jewish, enemies of the Jews, who did not worship the True God as did the Jews. They worshiped in another mountain. He approaches this woman at a well of water, and they have a conversation. She perceives Him as being a prophet, and she asked Him a question about worship: which mountain do we go to? And Jesus says it isn’t the mountain at all! Not in this mountain or that mountain; not in Sinai, not in Jerusalem - no. ‘Where can I go worship The Lord?’ Listen - THE LORD IS IN YOU! This is what Jesus is saying - The Lord is in you. YOU are the mountain of The Lord! You are The City of The Most High! You are The Temple of The Living God! You are The Body of Jesus Christ! It’s not a place; it’s a Person that we’re involved with.

"Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH." In Spirit and in Truth. You can not really separate those two because those two are one. The Spirit of Truth - when He is come He shall abide in you forever! In Spirit and in Truth, and that isn’t something that falls on you out of the sky, but something that is working in you.

1 John 2:26 and 27, "These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you." What is he saying? They are not speaking The Truth; they are seducing you with their teaching, seducing you with their words. In other places the writers say they are hidden, as roaring waves and unsettled times, wells without water, storms blowing about - not speaking The Truth. They disturb you, they disturb your peace, they seduce you. What is the answer to it? "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." Here’s the anointing - The Spirit and The Truth; The Spirit of Truth, that nature of The Lord Jesus working IN YOU, because it’s connected with a Him. "Ye shall abide in HIM." Him Who? The Truth? The only Anointed One, The Anointed of God. What was it He said to Peter? "Whom do you say that I am? Thou art The Christ, The Son on the Living God. Upon this divine revelation I will build My Church." He is The Anointing! He is The Anointed! He is The Son of The Living God! This realization of Christ, the very embodiment of The Truth is called here The Anointing, which is The Truth. That should make sense because we’ve said The Truth is not merely a teaching, it’s not facts about something. The Truth is a Person! And more than that: The Truth is The Person REVEALED, The Person made manifest. The work of The Spirit in you is the revealing of The Truth, the revealing of The Person.

That’s the anointing by which you understand and judge, and discern all things. It goes on to say you need no man to teach you. This doesn’t mean that we are not to be taught, or that we don’t need teachers. What is being talked about here? The Truth. You need no man to teach you The Truth IF The Truth is in you. Man can not teach you The Truth: only The Spirit can reveal The Truth, and then whatever man teaches, you will measure it by The Truth. So that if we are going to teach one another, we must speak out from The Truth. And if we do not speak out from The Truth, then those who have The Truth in them, the anointing in them, will reject our words, because it is not The Truth. And that’s the issue here with John, and with The Church: not that there isn’t a need for teachers, but that no man can teach you The Truth. THE TRUTH IS REVEALED BY THE SPIRIT.

What is true spiritual comprehension? The Spirit only has one comprehension: The Spirit comprehends only The Truth. The Spirit does not need to comprehend a lie: He needs only comprehend The Truth, because everything that is not The Truth is a lie. But I don’t need to know what’s not true: I need only to know The Truth! I don’t have time to learn what’s not true: my time must be spent in Spirit and in Truth. I have no interest in anything else. Why should we? Does not The Spirit of Truth dwell in you? "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind."

There are many ministries that can tell you what is not true. What good does that do you? In some Bible colleges there are courses on what is not true - who cares? Jesus didn’t say when you learn what is NOT true, you will be free. No, you shall know THE TRUTH and The Truth shall make you free, because The Truth is not a subject, but the comprehension of The Spirit working in you. The Spirit working in you The Anointing - the revealing of Christ; working in you the nature of that which is being revealed. And that’s really what I want us to understand. True Spirit comprehension is just this: it is the nature of the thing revealed being worked in you. And the thing revealed is The Truth, it is Christ. So true spiritual comprehension is the forming in you the nature of Christ. That’s true knowing, that’s true comprehension. Not learning some thing as a fact, as a teaching, but having the nature worked in you. Many people believe that learning spiritual things is the same thing as spiritual comprehension, but that is not true. You can with a natural mind learn spiritual things, you can believe spiritual things. ‘I believe in heaven.’ But do I believe in heaven as a fact, or in Truth? Is there any nature being worked in me? And this applies to anything of the spiritual realm. It all must be defined and comprehended in The Truth. It must be comprehended in Christ - Christ crucified. It must be received in nature, and the nature that works in heaven is The Lamb.

Then there is of course John 14:6, "...I AM the way, the truth, and the life..." and here is set forth the very "I AM" of Christ. I AM. To be involved with Him as The I AM, we must be involved with Him as The Truth, because The Truth is Who He is. So, we must see The Truth is not a fact or a collection of facts: The Truth is a comprehension given by The Spirit. In fact, spiritual comprehension and The Truth are one and the same. You could pay some attention to John chapters 14-16 with regard to The Spirit of Truth: The Spirit of Truth being The Comforter that is come, and the relationship of The Spirit of Truth to The Truth. You will see that the two are inseparable. So that if something is comprehended by The Spirit, it is comprehended in Truth. If it is not comprehended in Truth, then it is not spiritual comprehension. It is not the anointing that worketh in you except it be The Truth.

In 1 John 1:5-7, we read, " This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." This is a tremendous statement! No darkness at all! What a contrast - God is Light. Light and Truth are the same. Light shines - Truth is revealed. In fact, Truth is what does reveal. Truth and Light are the same: coming to The Light, coming to The Truth. Walking in The Light, walking in The Truth, where there is no darkness at all! This is the source of our fellowship: it’s the source of our fellowship with God and it’s the source of our fellowship one with another. Many try to have fellowship based on teachings, but I’m telling you that won’t work. We only have true fellowship in The Truth. Look at verse 6, " If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." And DO NOT The Truth - The Truth is not just something you say; in fact it is nothing that you do say. The Truth is a divine nature out from which you say all things - if The Truth is working in you.

Oh my friends, we either walk in the lie or we walk in The Truth. And John is writing to The Church; he didn’t send this letter to the sinner. No, this was a letter to The Church. See, we still don’t understand what a lie is. We think a lie is saying, ‘Did you take my Bible?’ And I say no - when I just took the Bible! That’s not a lie, that’s not THE lie. The lie is comprehending anything other than by The Truth. You and I believe many good things. We can believe many spiritual things, but we can believe them by "the lie" rather than in The Truth. We’ve given some examples of that already. Many believe in righteousness, but according to what? Righteousness according to The Truth, or righteousness according to their own definition? You and I may need to examine everything we believe in The Light of The Truth, because the question is not if what I believe is good or bad, but do I believe all things in Truth? Is The Truth working in me? Is The Son being revealed in me? Is everything being comprehended in the Light of Him? Is everything being measured by the standard of The Cross; of His death, burial and resurrection? Am I seeing all things, not only of the Old but also of the New Covenant as well in Truth?

One more verse. 2 Peter 1:3-4. " According as his divine power hath given unto us ALL THINGS that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue; Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." Note that term, "through the knowledge of Him... we are made partakers of his divine nature." It is the nature of The Truth working in you, working in me.

Part 5 - Who Is The Truth?

Now, while every Christian and every ministry would agree that everything needs to be seen in the Light of The Truth, and everyone would agree that there is no real spirit comprehension of anything except in the Light of The Truth; the problem arises over Who or What is The Truth? We’ve been trying to impress one thing upon you: WHO IS THE TRUTH? The Spirit of The Lord will bring all things together into The Truth; The Spirit of The Lord will enable you and I to see all things in The Truth if we ourselves come to The Truth. The Truth must be revealed in you by The Spirit of God. And we have been giving definition to The Truth, and I want to go over those points again now.

The Truth - we must agree that all things can only be understood in The Truth. "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." So we must agree that we need to know The Truth. And we not only need to know: we MUST know The Truth. For if we walk not in The Truth, then we walk in the lie. If what we say is not proceeding out from The Truth, then it’s proceeding out from the lie. And we must define what is The Truth; and we have found that The Truth is not merely a fact about something or many facts, The Truth is not merely a true thing. The Truth is not a teaching, although all teaching should proceed out from The Truth. And we’ve found that The Truth is a Person.

See, this was Israel’s problem, and it is the Church’s problem today. Do you know what the Church has done in 2,000 years? It has regressed, it has gone backward, until it has come to the very condition of Old Covenant Israel. Everything for the Church is in the future - that’s what is being said, that’s what the Church believes. That is what ministry is running around all over the world telling them! We pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to send somebody to countries all over the world for one thing: to tell the Church, and to tell the heathen that nothing has really happened yet, and everything is still in the future! Why don’t we just save our money? Israel’s problem was they could not comprehend all things promised of God, all things prophesied by the prophets; they could not comprehend all of that to be complete in a Person. And so they rejected The Person of The Lord Jesus. They rejected The Person of their Salvation, because they were looking for something else. And yet everything God promised to Israel, and remember that all the promises of God were made to Israel - without exception. Name me one prophet that wasn’t The Prophet of God to Israel. You and I have been grafted in, we have been brought into Israel’s Salvation!

There aren’t two Salvations: one for Israel and one for The Church. There’s just One Salvation! There isn’t one Salvation for the Jews and one for the Gentiles; there’s just One Salvation! There aren’t promises for the Jews and promises for the Gentiles. There aren’t promises for Israel and promises for the Church. All the promises of God to Israel are fulfilled in Christ for The Church! But most of The Church doesn’t understand that. We still preach that there are promises to The Church that are unfulfilled. There may be promises that you have not IN FAITH laid hold onto, but there are no promises unfulfilled in Christ Jesus. Because if there are promises that are not fulfilled to you and I, then there are promises that are not fulfilled with Israel. And if the promises of God to Israel were not fulfilled IN HIS SON, why would we expect a Jew to accept the Lord Jesus? If there are prophecies uttered by their prophets that are not fulfilled in Christ, that are not fulfilled in The Truth, The Person of Christ, then why do we expect Jews to accept Christ? You see, the argument of the Apostles - Peter, James, John, Paul was just this: all things written by the prophets are now fulfilled in Christ! You read that over and over again in the book of Acts. They showed Jesus to be The Christ by the prophets.

It seems to be The Church that has lost the understanding of the prophets, and the promises. The Truth into which all things must be brought for fulfillment; The Truth into which all things must be brought for spiritual comprehension and understanding - IS A PERSON, THE PERSON OF CHRIST! I am just declaring that to you, but I’m telling you we could stay in the scriptures for weeks and months showing this to be so. We can see this in every book of the Bible. In Zechariah 6:12, you just have to notice this: " And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, BEHOLD THE MAN whose name is The Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord." BEHOLD THE MAN - The Man, whose name is The Branch - is Christ! He not only fulfils this title, this name - The Branch; He fulfils every title and every name that is given in the whole of The Bible! Are they expecting Salvation? Behold The Man whose name is Salvation! Are they expecting righteousness? Behold The Man whose name is righteousness!

Right on down the line - all the expectation of Israel is fulfilled in THE MAN! Surely our expectation is also. Why would we look beyond THE MAN? Why would we look beyond Christ? Why? There is no reason, except for our blindness; because if you have seen THE MAN, you will not look for another; you will not look beyond Him for the fulfillment of all things. All things of the Old Covenant, all things of the promises, of the prophets, of the Law, of the psalms - you will not look beyond THE MAN! Because unto Him is given the name that is above every name - in heaven and in earth! You name it, and it’s found IN HIM!

In every book it’s that way. So The Truth comes to be realized in a Person. If we want to know The Truth about something, we will find that Truth, that comprehension in The Person. And I tell you now, there are no exceptions. It takes a lifetime for all things to be brought into The Person of The Truth, to be understood in Christ in our hearts. But that’s exactly what Paul meant when he said in Ephesians 4:15, " But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things..." That’s how we grow up into Him in all things: it is by comprehending all things in Him, by comprehending all things in relationship to Him - not looking anywhere else for anything. But rather, one by one by one - all things of the scripture, all things of the testimony, are brought up in our heart before THE MAN, and in Him we comprehend all things. We comprehend righteousness, we comprehend holiness...ALL THINGS. So, The Truth is a Person, and all things must be comprehended in The Person of Christ if you have true spiritual comprehension of anything. If you try to understand the promises and the prophecies of the Old Covenant outside of Him, it only leads to confusion. It will lead to an unfulfilled expectation. But in Him all expectations are fulfilled.

So now, if The Truth is indeed a Person, The Person of Christ, then The Truth is related to a nature. You remember I gave you a Greek definition of the word "Truth", and that had to do with the revealing of the substance or the nature of a matter. So The Truth has to do with the nature and spirit of Christ, and there is a working of Christ in you, being filled, until Christ be formed in you. There is a forming of The Truth. The forming of the nature and the transforming of the soul; because the soul is transformed by The Truth. Nothing else will transform the soul.

We know the scriptures in Ephesians and in Colossians: putting off the old man and putting on the new; being renewed in the spirit of your mind; the renewing of the mind in Romans 12. Such places as 2 Corinthians 3:18: "...with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into that same image." It is by The Truth that the soul is transformed. That’s part of the statement: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." And The Truth is the only thing that will do that, because here we are understanding The Truth to be the nature of The Person, the nature of Christ. And the nature of Christ and the spirit of Christ are the same. And that will lead us to The Spirit of Truth. And that causes us to see that The Truth is The Spirit working in us, because The Spirit works in us according to The Truth. He works in us according to the realization of Christ. The Spirit reveals Christ. Reveals Him how? Reveals Him in Truth - as The Truth and the fulfillment of all things ever promised of God! So that God is no liar, what He had promised, through Christ is fulfilled; it is Truth. The Spirit works in you, and what He works in you is that nature of Christ. That is the cleansing of our souls, the transforming of our souls. It is here that we come from words, commandments to NATURE. We speak out from a nature, we live according to a nature, but it is the nature of The Truth, the nature of Christ.

Now we have said that all the types and shadows, all the promises and the prophecies need to be brought into The Person of Christ to be understood. And we understand them in The Truth when we understand them as being fulfilled in Him. And that includes all the commandments, The Ten Commandments. In the Old Covenant, what nature is ruling here? The nature of the lie, the nature of death is ruling here. That’s the reason why God put Israel under The Law, but is The Law forever? No, The Law is fulfilled in Christ crucified. It’s not broken there; it’s FULFILLED there. How is The Law fulfilled at The Cross? It’s fulfilled in NATURE. The Law has always demanded a nature, but the nature that The Law demanded did not exist! It demanded the nature of righteousness, the nature of love, the nature of obedience - but those things didn’t exist, because they only exist in Christ! They only exist in His nature. No one under the Old Covenant had His nature, for He had not yet come; there was no death, burial and resurrection. He did not live in His people.

But The Law was a forerunner; The Law SPOKE of a nature that did not exist. So try as you could to keep The Law, you may keep it in letter, but you could not keep it in nature. You couldn’t do it! So it pointed to One to come. Under The Law the commandments said, "Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt NOT steal." But in Christ, where we have come to The Truth, and the commandments have been fulfilled by His nature; here in Christ, where His nature is operating, listen to that same commandment. Now it is a promise fulfilled. Here, thou shalt not steal; here you WON’T steal! In one place you would steal if you could, but The Law says if you do, we’ll cut your hand off; because under the Old Covenant the nature is to steal. But The Law, which speaks of another nature says ‘Thou shalt not steal" because The Law is showing a nature that doesn’t exist. So it becomes a commandment. But in The Cross The Truth is seen: we are not under Law, but under Divine Nature. And if this nature is working in you - you will not steal! You will not bear false witness! You will not commit adultery!

You don’t throw the commandments away, but they come from Law to Divine Nature. The commandment is fulfilled. But wait a minute; it’s not fulfilled by Christian religion; it’s fulfilled by Divine Nature. IF you walk in The Truth, IF the nature of The Truth operates in you, then the commandment is fulfilled, then The Law is fulfilled, and it is no longer ‘Thou shalt NOT...’, but it is the Divine Nature where you WILL NOT. That nature WILL NOT do those things! That NATURE will not steal, that NATURE will not bear false witness, that NATURE will not kill. "You shall know the truth..." - the nature, "and the truth, the nature will make you free." I’m not talking about a "one day" Salvation - in the future. I’m talking about The Salvation that is NOW in Christ Jesus. The nature of The Truth working in us, and again, this nature does not work by letter; it works by Spirit. Not by you "trying" not to lie - that’s what the Old Testament saints did. They tried not to lie because if they did, bad things happened to them. The Law jumped on them!

That’s NOT what Salvation is! SALVATION IS A NEW NATURE WORKING IN US - the nature of The Truth; The Truth which is revealed and openly manifested in Christ crucified. So if The Truth is a divine nature, it is the divine nature of Christ crucified. Christ crucified has to do with His death, His burial and His resurrection. So now The Truth then has become Christ crucified. If we are to know The Truth, then we are to see all things in their relationship to His death, His burial and His resurrection. And we must see ourselves there first. It is here that we must bring ourselves into the picture, because Jesus says in John 14, "I am the way, the truth and the life." Why did He say that? Who needs a way? People that are lost! They don’t know where they are going; they are the ones that need the way, ‘Show me the way! Show me the way home. I’m lost and I want to go home!’

He says, "I am the Life." Who needs Life? Those who are dead: everybody before The Cross was dead! This is the death that the scripture really talks about: they were dead in sin. The Living Spirit did not dwell in them. They had Him by promise; He had promised "I will dwell in the midst of thee." We see that in Zechariah, Jeremiah, Isaiah - it is there throughout the prophets. They had that by promise, but He didn’t dwell in the midst of them. They were dead - dead in sin. That’s the reason they were put under the Law, and they practiced the ceremonies and the offerings and the sacrifices. It was just pointing to One to come. They were dead: they needed a resurrection. So He looks at Martha (John 11) and He says, "I AM The Resurrection and The Life." They didn’t need another promise: they needed a FULFILLMENT! "I am The Resurrection and The Life, he that liveth by Me, though at one time he was dead, will never die."

So Jesus says, "I am The Way, The Truth and The Life." What we must understand is the setting where He said that. It starts there with the death of Lazarus recorded in John 11. That just stirs up questions, so He begins to give the answer to His disciples. He begins to talk to His disciples with regard to resurrection, with regard to life. And that goes all the way through the seventeenth chapter of John: He’s always talking about the same thing. But in John 14 He brings it right into The Cross, because He talks about going away, and they are made to understand He’ll be gone for a very short time. That short time is throughout the scripture: THREE DAYS, in fact. It’s not 3,000 years! Three days. And He said "I’ll come again and receive you unto Myself that where I am, there ye may be also. You’ve been outside of Me; now you’re going to be in Me. I’ve been outside of you, but now I’m going to be in you. I’m going to fulfil the promise of My Father concerning His Household. I am going to dwell in the midst of My people. My Father and I will make our abode in you."

He went away in death, in burial, and He came again in the resurrection, and said, "I AM The Resurrection, IAM The Life, and if I live in you, and you live in Me, you will never die." And He went on to say, "In that day, the day that The Spirit of Truth is working Truth in you, you will understand that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. You will know that you are The Temple of God, and God dwells in you. You will know you are The Body of Christ and Christ dwells in you."

So it is here in the fourteenth chapter that He presents Himself as The Way, The Truth and The Life, and this is done in connection with The Cross, in connection with His death, His burial, His resurrection. So all things come to be comprehended in Christ crucified. Up until this time it’s just been a mystery and the mystery of God is only comprehended in THE TRUTH.

Part 6 - The Mystery Comprehended in The Truth

We will continue now in John 14. There is something now I want to bring into The Truth. In the scripture it is referred to as "THE MYSTERY OF GOD." We are understanding that The Truth finally becomes defined in Christ crucified. We must see all things in their relationship to Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. We must see this if we are going to understand The Tabernacle, for example. So very much of the promises of God, the prophecies, the ceremonies and the worship of Israel is gathered up into The Tabernacle. We could spend the rest of our lives in searching concerning The Tabernacle, because so much is gathered up into it. But in order to understand anything concerning The Tabernacle, and that includes everything that is gathered up into it, we must understand it in its relationship to Christ crucified. I am not going to discuss all of the false teaching that has come out concerning The Tabernacle, but the reason those teachings have come out from The Tabernacle is the failure to see The Tabernacle as it relates to Christ crucified.

I think probably the clearest picture of The Cross in all of the Old Covenant is set forth in The Tabernacle, but it’s fulfilled in Christ. You can never understand anything until you see the fulfillment of it. Until you find a thing fulfilled in Christ, that thing is still a promise to you, not a reality. And that’s the way it is with so many Christians. Christians are always asking me, "Are you trying to take away our...this, that, or the other?" And I say No, I’m trying to show you the fulfillment of it IN CHRIST! I’m trying to bring you from the promise of the thing to the fulfillment of the thing in Christ - IN CHRIST, where you live, and move, and have your being. That’s what I’m trying to do! We’re trying to bring all things that were hidden, all things that were kept secret: hidden in the promises, hidden in the prophecies, hidden in the types and the shadows - trying to bring them out from the shadows in to The Light! And show them in Truth, in Christ, so that we may walk in Truth, and manifest The Truth: for ye shall know The Truth, and The Truth shall make you free!

So it is here in John 14:6, " Jesus saith unto him I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Now here’s a question - where is it we want to go? Where was it that Israel wanted to go? What was the promise to Israel? It’s in Zechariah, it’s in Jeremiah, it’s in Isaiah: "I will dwell in the midst of My people. I will be their God, they will be My people. I will bring them into the place of my habitation" - over and over again. That’s the promise. The promise was concerning A DIVINE RELATIONSHIP - not merely another place, another location. No, in every case, if you’ll look at it carefully, whether it’s in Exodus: "Thou shalt bring them into thy holy mountain. Thou shalt bring them into thy habitation, the place that you have prepared for yourself to dwell in." That’s speaking of Divine Relationship. "I will dwell in their midst" - speaking of Divine Relationship. What was the promise of God concerning Salvation, concerning redemption, concerning His plan? Because it’s the same to you and I, because we have been brought into that same Salvation by The Cross. Not another Salvation - that same Salvation; not another promise - that same promise. What was the promise about? That they would have union and relationship with The Father; that they would have an approach to God; that they wouldn’t be kept far away as by The Law, as it was at Sinai. But that they would be brought near; and not only near, but they would dwell in Him, and that He would dwell in them!

Now that was the promise to Israel concerning "dwelling place". They would be brought to The Father. Now what is Jesus saying here? "I AM the way, I AM the truth, I AM the life: no man cometh unto The Father but by Me." Where is it that The Lord Jesus brings us? HE BRINGS US TO THE FATHER; He brings us into the bosom of God. "You will know that I am in My Father...and where I am, there ye shall be also. I am in My Father, you are in Me, I am in you." The whole 14^th chapter is about that. And it is concerning this that He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." How do we come there? To be in Christ, to be in The Father’s household? Through His death, through His burial, through His resurrection. We die to the one side, and we are raised up in newness of Life! In a New Creation, a new world, as The Body of The Lord Jesus! There to live, there to abide - FOREVER! Praise The Lord!

So these three : Way, Truth and Life are One. Christ does not say that He is three things, but that these three things are One. That’s what He says - I AM; and there is your doctrine of The I Am. I AM! There’s just One I AM. So He’s saying these three things are One. You cannot find Me in these things; you have to find these things IN ME. And that’s a real problem with Christians. They are always trying to find The Lord in something. We try to find Him in this situation or in this circumstance. We forget that we are in Him! We try to find joy and peace in a place, in a location, in a circumstance, or in a relationship. It’s not there! We find peace and joy in The Person of Christ, and we manifest it in the place, in the location, and in the relationship with others. We don’t try to find it there; we find it IN HIM, and we manifest it everywhere. But that’s not the way we do it most of the time.

I’ve been a lot of places, and in some of those places I have said, ‘Lord, what am I doing here? This is not a good place! What is the purpose of my being here?’ I’m trying to find purpose in that place; I’m trying to find Truth in that place; I’m trying to find The Lord in that place. He’s not in that place! He’s in me! And I’m in Him! And what we must do, rather than trying to find the purpose in that place, we find the purpose IN HIM, and we manifest it in that place. We fill that place with Divine Purpose, but the purpose is coming out from Him. Not from the outside: the inside. So put me in a place - any place. I’m not there to find purpose, I’m there to MANIFEST purpose. That place that is outside of Christ doesn’t have any purpose. If it’s going to have purpose, you’re going to have to bring it there. The only purpose that place is going to have is the purpose YOU manifest there! And if you don’t manifest purpose there, the place has no purpose. No - that’s The Truth, but that’s not the way we think.

‘What are you doing?’ He’s saying, ‘I’m looking for the Lord. He must be here somewhere!’ No He isn’t! He’s in you! That’s why you are here - to manifest Him. That’s The truth. We find all things in Him - no exceptions. Over in the old, all things testify of Him. We understand the Testimony of The Tabernacle, the Testimony of the Promise, the Testimony of the prophecy when we bring them to The Cross, when we bring them to The Truth: The Truth - which is Christ crucified. We say, ‘Oh yes, that’s what that means, that’s what the prophet was talking about.’ Yes, this is the destruction, the tearing down, and this is the restoration, the bringing back again. It’s The Cross! That’s what Jesus told the Pharisees but they didn’t believe Him. They knew very well their prophets had prophesied destruction - they knew that. They killed some of their prophets because they prophesied destruction. And yet the same prophets that prophesied destruction, prophesied resurrection - the same prophets. Now Israel liked the resurrection part, but they didn’t want to hear about this destruction part. They sold Jeremiah, they sent him to Egypt and exiled him because he prophesied destruction. He also prophesied restoration and so did every prophet. The Lord told them: you’ve killed all your prophets, you’ve shed their blood in your streets. So he looks at these Pharisees and they are showing Him The Temple and The City, and He says, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it again." Did they believe Him? No, they didn’t believe Him any more than they didn’t believe their prophets.

But He was saying the same thing that their prophets said. He was saying this is the destruction that was prophesied against you, O Israel. And this is the restoration. I am both the destruction and the raising again. It is in My death, in My burial and in My resurrection that the prophets are fulfilled. And they still didn’t believe Him. My problem is The Church 2,000 years later doesn’t believe Him! Until you accept The Truth of the destruction, you will not know the joy and the power and the glory of the resurrection, because you and I along with every other believer: we are The Temple that He raised up, and that He lives in, and The City of God of which He is The Light!

"No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." It’s perfectly permissible to say ‘No man can be The City of God, but by Me. No man can be The Temple of God, but by Me. No man can dwell in My Father, but by Me.’. And ‘ My Father will dwell in no man, but by Me. For My Father and I are One." That is all correct, but we don’t think like that. And that’s The Truth. He was talking here to people who knew the promises, knew the prophecies. During this three and a half years He didn’t speak to anybody but Jews, because for three and a half years He had to confirm the Covenant with Israel. He had to do it; Daniel said He would do it. When He did that for three and a half years He Himself brought the end and said, "It is Finished."

Let’s look at something with regard to The City concerning what I have said: that He has brought us into a Divine Relationship with The Father. What did the prophets say about The City? How did they describe The City of God" Isaiah 60:14, " The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee: and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, The Zion of The Holy One of Israel." They said that about a PEOPLE. They would call THEE The City of The Lord. They will call THEE, The Zion of The Holy One of Israel. Let’s go on with this description in Isaiah 62:12, "And they shall call them, The holy PEOPLE, The redeemed of the Lord: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken." This is The Redeemed of The Lord! The City is a redeemed people. The City of The Lamb is a people redeemed by The Blood of The Lamb. The City is a people in Divine Relationship with The Father. The City is a people in whom God dwells.

Now let’s look at Zechariah 8:3. The City, which is a people, which is New Jerusalem, which is The City of God is given a name. It is brought to The Truth. Look at this: " Thus saith the Lord: I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called A CITY OF TRUTH: and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain." THE CITY OF TRUTH. This is The Light of The City; The Light is The Truth. The Truth is that Divine nature of Christ crucified. But what does the scripture say about that nature? The Lamb - the nature of The Lamb. Now, whose City is it? Who is The Light of The City? The Lamb’s City, The Lamb is The Light of it, The Lamb sits on The Throne. What is that all about? It’s about a people who have come to God through the death and the burial and the resurrection of Christ. It’s about a people who have come in their hearts to The Truth. It’s about a people in whom there is working a divine nature: the nature of The Lamb rules in this City! This City is peace on earth, this City is joy on earth. We open our gates and we say to all who would come - Come to The City, here is peace! Come to The City, here is joy! Come to The City, sorrow is vanished away, tears are gone! Come to The City, here is the glory of God! Come to The City, here God dwells in the midst of His people!

We speak The Truth as it is in Jesus! And we’ve got something to say, and it’s not just a promise of things to come, but the reality of Truth in Christ Jesus. We could talk about the hidden mystery, because The City of God is part of that hidden mystery. The prophets talked about a City, but it was a mystery. The prophets understood that it was a spiritual City. They understood it wasn’t made with hands, but they still didn’t know how it was going to come about. It was part of the mystery that was hidden from the ages, but is NOW made manifest to His saints. And here is where it is now made manifest - IN CHRIST JESUS: the secret made known concerning The City, and concerning the whole mystery of God, concerning the whole plan of God. We can go right through the scriptures and see that so clearly - if we will see the scripture in the Light of The Truth.

The Mystery that was kept hidden - made known, revealed in Light, for those who will walk in The Light as He is in The Light. May we set our hearts on just that - walking in The Light as He is in The Light, because it is there that He brings us that we have fellowship one with another. We don’t have fellowship in my little opinions or your little opinions. We all have opinions. Our fellowship is in The Light, and The Light is The Truth. If we’ll turn our hearts to God and simply say, "Father, show me The Truth" - He is faithful to do so. He will not show you The Truth as being outside of you. He will reveal The Truth in you IN THE PERSON OF HIS SON. Amen.