There is an INDWELLING promised, which goes
far beyond our present experience. It bespeaks of when all inner controversy
has been resolved, and we are ONE IN HIS WILL, so that HE might be "AT HOME" in
us, to freely share communion, unrestricted, unhindered by anything that would
be contrary. We have a glimpse of this blessing in Romans 8:11. "But if the
Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead DWELL IN YOU, He that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His
Spirit that DWELLS IN YOU." We pray that this becomes a reality in each
of us─ that Christ
would be so AT HOME in us, that He would permanently PRESENCE Himself in us─
to become the indwelling, controlling factor of our life, TO LIVE HIS LIFE IN
AND THROUGH US. Bless His wonderful name!
Not only to DWELL within, but also
TO WALK IN US. The word "walk" as used here comes from the Greek word
"peripateo." We note the two parts, "peri" meaning: through, all over, or
around; and "pateo" meaning: to trample, or to tread down or underfoot. This
bespeaks of His leaving HIS IMPRINT EVERY WHERE HE WALKS IN US, and thus, the
outliving of His life through us.
"And they heard the voice of the Lord God
WALKING in the garden in the cool of the day." (Gen. 3:8). He was there to
fellowship with them. He would share of HIS LIFE, leaving the imprint of
Himself wherever He went. But He did not want to WALK ALONE, He desired to walk
with man─
sharing together. Yet Amos 3:3 asks the question, "Can two walk
together, except they be agreed?" So, if God is going to WALK IN US and
live His life through us, it means that we have come to an AGREEMENT─
to be one IN and WITH His will and purpose. No more self-will in contradistinction to His
will, but there is TOTAL AGREEMENT. Matt, 18:19, "If two of you agree ..." And
there the Greek word is "sumphoneo" literally meaning: ONE SOUND. It is the
word from which we get our English word "symphony." PERFECT HARMONY, without a
discordant note of any kind, for all is blended together into one sound. That is
the kind of agreement we need if we are to walk together with Him.
Long ago God spoke to Israel, saying, "If you
walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them... I WILL WALK
AMONG YOU, and will be your God, and you shall be My people."
(Lev. 26:3,12). He gave them His Word, and if
they were in agreement with that Word, to obey it, then they could WALK TOGETHER
WITH GOD, in harmony and blessing. However, He went on to state, (verse 21),
"And if you walk contrary unto Me, and will not hearken unto Me... then will I
also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins."
Self-will rebelling against His Word brings in controversy─ and sets man
against God, and God against man. A discordant sound bringing friction and
unhappiness, and must be thoroughly dealt with.
Deut. 23:14. "For the Lord your God WALKS
IN THE MIDST OF YOUR CAMP, to deliver you, and to give up your enemies
before you; therefore your camp shall be holy: that He see no unclean thing in
you, and turn away from you." The preceding verse gave the instruction on how to
keep the camp clean, stating, "You shall have a paddle upon your weapon; and it
shall be, when you will ease yourself abroad, you shall dig there, and shall
turn back and cover that which comes from you." Illustrative as it might be,
there is a tremendous truth set forth. All refuse of self, flesh, is to be
COVERED, not flaunted before others. LOVE COVERS A MULTITUDE OF SIN. And all
of this "airing" of the sins of those who stumble and fall, makes for
UNCLEANNESS in the camp, and God cannot walk with us until it is ALL COVERED.
May God ever help us to keep our personal camp (heart) clean before Him─
that He might walk in us, to ever deliver us from all evil.
In 2 Samuel 7:6, when David had proposed to
build God an house, God sent the prophet Nathan to him, saying, "Since the time
that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, I have
but walked in a tent and in a tabernacle." It was a temporary arrangement. He
moved among them, He blessed them, and He punished them, by turn, but there was
no real permanency. It was an off-again, on-again relationship, and most
definitely needed a change of order.
Jesus brought to light that NEW ORDER when He
said, "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that HE
MAY ABIDE WITH YOU FOREVER; even the Spirit of Truth; - for He dwells with you,
and SHALL BE IN YOU." (John 16:16-17).
Herein is the arrangement of the new covenant,
wherein God makes promise both for Himself, and for us, saying, "I WILL... and
YOU SHALL..." In the old covenant, God gave His promise, and the people gave
theirs. There was no problem with God keeping His part, but the people
constantly failed to live up to their promise. So in due time God brought forth
a BETTER way, established upon BETTER promises─
for He makes the promise for
both Himself and for us. Again, we say, there is no problem with God keeping
His part of the promise. But then He goes on to state, "Now I will dwell in
them, walk in them, live out My life through them, thus I will keep man's part
also." That is the wonder and blessing of the new covenant. HE COMES IN, NOT AS
A GUEST, BUT AS KING, TO REIGN WITHIN US.
No more will He "pitch His tent among them,"
and so to have fellowship with God we have to go "visit His house." Even though
some of us could say with the Psalmist, "I was glad when they said unto me, Let
us go into the house of the Lord." (Psalm 122:1). But that verse fades into
history when YOU BECOME the house of the Lord.
He is to REIGN within us! The Greek word is
"basileuo" meaning: to rule, be a king, or to reign; but it goes back to the
root "basis" which means: TO WALK. It speaks of the foundation of power on
which all else stands.
This gives a whole new meaning to the battle
with the serpent, and God's promise, "The Seed shall bruise your head, and you
shall bruise HIS HEEL." (Gen. 3:15). The adversary would strike a blow at the
kingdom-dominion-rule of Christ. It would bruise His heel. And it did "Please
the Lord to bruise Him." (Isaiah 53:10).
"Him, being delivered by the deliberate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain." (Acts 2:23).
"For though He was crucified through weakness,
yet He lives by the power of God." (2 Corinthians 13:4).
"For the weakness of God is stronger than
men." (1 Corinthians 1:25).
IN HIS HUMANITY He became weary, tired, sad;
was spit upon, was beaten, as His HEEL was bruised. The sorrow, the grief, the
pain─
it was all there!
But He went on to BRUISE THE SERPENT'S HEAD─
"Having spoiled (to strip off, unclothe) principalities and powers, He made a
show of them openly, triumphing over them in it (literally, IN HIMSELF)."
(Colossians 2:15).
When He finished SPOILING the adversary, He
took away all the authority or power or usurped dominion that he had, and NOW
CHRIST ALONE "has the keys of hell and of death." (Rev. 1:18). "That through
death He might destroy (disannul, render inactive) him that had the power of
death, that is, the devil." (Heb. 2:14). Satan did not have power OVER death,
but he had a kingdom of darkness, of which death is the realm. Whatever usurped
form of dominion he had over the human race, was in the form of death. And now
that is broken, and Christ alone has the keys of death and hell. And in His
victory, Christ has power OVER death─
and can make ALIVE again. This was
something that Satan could never do. The thief comes to kill and destroy, but
he can never give life. But CHRIST IS A LIFE-GIVER! amen!
"IN HIMSELF." The entire victory was first
wrought IN CHRIST. "The prince of this world comes, and has nothing in Me."
(John 14:30). HE IS LORD, and all other powers are now subject to Him─
and that is why "The Son must reign until all enemies are put under His feet." They
are UNDER, IN HIM, but now they must be UNDER HIS FEET IN US. So while
we do not yet see all things put under our feet (in union with Him), we do "SEE
JESUS ... crowned with glory and honor." (Heb. 2:9). And when He has finished
WALKING IN US, He will have "brought many sons unto glory." Bless His name!
"Every place that the sole of your foot shall
tread upon, that have I given unto you," God promises Joshua (1:3). It was a
promise of dominion, power, authority, to rule over all that territory wherever
he might walk. And now this can be transferred to a greater than Joshua, for it
is our Lord Jesus Christ that is WALKING─
REIGNING─
progressively manifesting
His authority and His ability, bring all enemies under His feet IN US, and
ultimately in all mankind.
One of the early Church fathers, Gregory of
Nyssa (380 A.D.) gives the thought: "When it is said that God's enemies shall be
subjected to God... this meant that the power of evil shall be taken away, and
they who, on account of their disobedience, were called God's enemies, shall by
subjection, BE MADE GOD'S FRIENDS. When then all who once were God's enemies,
shall have been made His footstool (because they shall receive in themselves the
Divine Imprint), when death shall have been destroyed; in the subjection of all,
which is not servile humility, but immortality and blessedness ..." then total
victory is HIS!
What a victory! All His enemies made His
friends, and each to receive in themselves the DIVINE IMPRINT. That is the
victory of HIS WALKING!
This brings a new depth of meaning to Song of
Solomon 2:8, "The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He comes leaping upon the
mountains, skipping upon the hills." The greater the mountain, the harder He
stamps, for "Every mountain and hill shall be brought low... And all flesh shall
see the salvation of God." (Luke 3:5-6). It matters not how high man had built
his mountain, when Christ places HIS FOOT upon it, it shall be brought low─
subdued, but it shall also BEAR HIS DIVINE IMPRINT, and come into His life and
victory.
The universality of this is awe-inspiring.
"The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His
Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever." (Revelation 11:15).
But the subject at hand is not how all "the
kingdoms of this world" are to be subdued, but what is happening in us? "I
WILL WALK IN THEM." And truly "The time is come that judgment must begin at
the house of God: ... first begin at us ...." (1 Pet. 4:17). People are ever
looking to see if the judgments are falling upon the world, but that's not where
they are to BEGIN. It starts IN US! He is reigning now─
walking in us now.
We have been CALLED OUT, separated unto Him─
to be the arena of His walking
now!
The question is: what dominions, powers,
kingdoms are within us? All the senses of the flesh, all the realms of the
soul─
so much that needs to be brought into subjection to Him. Bastions of
self-will, fortifications of intellectual reasoning, high towers of imagination,
"Bringing every thought to the obedience of Christ." (2 Cor. 10:5).
For a beautiful illustration of the "OPERATION
OF HIS FOOT," Proverbs 21:1. "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as
the rivers of water: He turns it where ever He will."
Note the phrase, "rivers of water." The Hebrew
is: palgey mayim. Mayim is the word for "water", but "palgey" means: divisions
of, and the word is used of any small artificial channel. The term is used in
reference to the eastern garden which was divided by the little channels which
distributed the water to each area. The main channel was filled with water from
the spring, fountain, well, or whatever, and then directed through the channels
by the simple MOVEMENT OF THE FOOT.
(Personally, for many years I had a garden
that I irrigated, using one main channel through which the water flowed, and
then with a hoe I opened up every little channel (trench) that ran alongside of
each row of vegetables. Had I wanted to use my foot (and get it muddy) I could
have actually caused the water to flow into the various rows by the action of my
foot.)
Deuteronomy 11:10. God promised Israel, "The
land which you go in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt from which you
came out, where you sow your seed, AND WATERS IT WITH YOUR FOOT, as a garden of
herbs."
By the simple movement of the foot the
gardener could dam up one little stream, or by a similar movement release the
water in another channel. Now the wise man wrote, JUST AS EASILY THE KING'S
HEART IS TURNED ABOUT BY THE LORD, "where ever He wills." HIS FOOT RULES! He is
walking in us, and with just the slightest movement, He changes the whole course
of our life.
In the book of Esther we read of a beautiful
example of this. Haman had built some special gallows upon which he had
determined to have Mordecai hung, but before it could be carried out, we read,
"On that night could not the king sleep..." (Esther 6:1). So next the king must
have something to help entertain him through the sleepless night, and he calls
for them to bring "the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read
before the king." In the process they came to the account of how two of the
king's chamberlains, the keepers of the doors, had conspired to lay hands on the
king. Mordecai reported the treacherous scheme, and thus stopped it. Then the
king inquired what had been done to honor Mordecai for this, and they said,
"nothing." So the next morning Haman, being out in the court, was called in to
help advise the king "What shall be done unto the man whom the king delights to
honor?" Self-centered as he was, and thinking that the king meant to honor him,
Haman described what he would like to have done. Once the plan was all laid
out, the king said to Haman, "Make haste... and do so to Mordecai." Thus Haman
had to arrange for a special honor for the very man he hated, and was plotting
to murder.
"The king's heart is in the hand of the
Lord..." Just one SLEEPLESS NIGHT, and the king's heart is turned─
changing the
whole course of history, and the ultimate outcome of the whole working is that
the law of the Medes and Persians is reversed, and Israel is delivered out of
the hand of the one that would have destroyed them all.
Again, we read of how Darius set over his
kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, to serve over the whole kingdom, and over
these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first. All the princes were jealous,
and sought for an occasion against him. Finding no fault, they realized that it
would only be "concerning the law of his God." So they persuaded the king to
issue a decree that no one could ask a "petition of any God or man for thirty
days, save of the king," and the disobedient to be cast into a den of lions.
The king did so. Daniel continued praying to his God. The king had to fulfill
his own decree and into the lion's den went Daniel. Then what happens to the
king? He goes to his palace, passes the night fasting, with no music, no
entertainment─NO SLEEP. God was moving HIS foot─REIGNING OVER ALL THE
CIRCUMSTANCES! Daniel was preserved, the accusers were cast into the lion's
den, and the king issues a new decree─
"That in every dominion of my kingdom
men TREMBLE AND FEAR BEFORE THE GOD OF DANIEL." (Daniel 6:26).
Do you think this is a hard thing for God to
do, to move His foot? As the rivers of water, as the little channels turned in
their courses by a foot, so is "the king's heart in the hand of the Lord... He
turns it where ever He will." The king has one sleepless night, and the whole
direction of events is changed. Glorious is the IMPRINT OF HIS FOOT walking in
us.
You have your day planned, your week planned,
your vacation planned, etc. and you think it is all in order, and God moves HIS
FOOT just a wee bit, and everything is changed─
out of your control, and INTO
HIS. Hallelujah! Thank God for His inworkings, and may He continue to WALK IN
US, until we can cry out, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, AND ALL THAT IS WITHIN ME,
bless His holy name." (Psalm 103:1). He walks, He runs, He leaps, HE REIGNS in
us, until everything within is under His feet, one in His will, bearing His
imprint. Thus, THE SON MUST REIGN UNTIL....It is most significant that there are three
Psalms that begin, "The Lord reigns..." and every one ends up speaking of
HOLINESS.Psalm 93:1, 5. "The Lord reigns... Holiness
becomes Your house, O Lord, forever."
Psalm 97:1, 12. "The Lord reigns... Rejoice
in the Lord, you righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness."
Psalm 99:1, 9. "The Lord reigns... Exalt the
Lord our God, and worship at His holy hill; for the Lord our God is holy."