RETURN OF THE RAVEN

CONT., page 4

HOPE FOR THE OLD MAN

Very significantly, as has been noted thus far, it is an imperfect work when the only option is to relegate something to death. Though it is necessary for a period of time – the death period of the church – that work of its very nature cannot be the ultimate fulfillment and must come to an end. Why? Because it is death, and death is an enemy that must be defeated (1 Corinthians 15:26)! Therefore, the imperfect work must be done away with so that the perfect can come. As we read in Hebrews 9:8, the holy place must come down so the way into the holy of holies can be revealed.

Again, the contrast of these two works is clearly evidenced between the reign of David versus the reign of Solomon. David was a man of violence, of death; therefore, he could not build the temple of Yahweh. Equally, Christianity is a work of violence and death, including the violent death of the old man, and is therefore an imperfect work that cannot build the temple of Yahweh.

What is the answer for the old man? The same as that which happened to the temple. Solomon built the temple and the glory of Yahweh filled it. Is not our body the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19)? The only way for the old man to be changed is for the glory of Yahweh to fill the temple; then the old man will do only the will of Yahweh. Like the law, the old man is weak through the flesh (Romans 8:3), and can only be delivered through the glory of Yahweh, by the oil and the wine that is to be poured into it.

It is equally revealing in regard to this matter that Remnant-representing Solomon was the only king of Israel to occupy all the land that was promised to the sons of Israel. Why is this significant? Because we read in Joshua 23:13 regarding the inhabitants of the land who were supposed to be driven out – “know with certainty that Yahweh your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you; but they shall be a snare and a trap to you, and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you.” And in Judges 2:3 we read – "Therefore I (Yahweh) also said (Numbers 33:55), 'I will not drive them out before you; but they will become as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.'"

How then does this prophetic picture relate to man for the last 2,000 years? Carnal man has never been able to take possession of his body, his temple, his possession. Areas of the old man have been left unconquered and have been “thorns in the flesh,” even as Paul equally experienced. Paul’s thorn was left so as to keep him from exalting himself (2 Corinthians 12:7), and such has been the case for all kingdom men. Men up to now have had to try to reckon these areas of the old man as dead, as crucified; but like Paul, and like the sons of Israel, they have found it impossible. Thus one has not been able to wholly put the old man to death, any more than the sons of Israel were able to put the inhabitants of the land to death, and for the same reason.

What then is the answer? As we have noted, the only king of Israel to take possession of the entire land, the representative land of the old man, was Solomon, the man who dreamed. Under him, all the land of promise then submitted to one head. What then is our hope? Yahweh must perform a new work. The period of violent David Christianity must give way to the Solomon Remnant, and Yahweh’s glory come upon us and fill the temple. Only by the abiding presence of His glory will all the land in ourselves be truly conquered, will we truly “know how to acquire (our) own vessel” (1 Thessalonians 4:4). As it is written, it is the fresh oil that breaks the yoke of bondage to sin – “So it will be in that day, that his burden will be removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be broken because of the oil (shemen)” (Isaiah 10:27). This is the olive tree second son of fresh oil in Zechariah 4, the second outpouring of the Spirit, the second release of the dove that returns with the olive leaf and removes the burden of the old man.

Everything up to now in the kingdom has been a shortfall, inadequate. We must have His glory that fills the temple, the glory seen in 2 Chronicles 7:1-3 where “fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifice, and the glory of Yahweh filled the house. And the priests could not enter into the house of Yahweh, because the glory of Yahweh filled Yahweh’s house. And all the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of Yahweh upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to Yahweh, saying, ‘Truly He is good, truly His lovingkindness is everlasting.’” Quite significantly, this is the second time the glory of Yahweh came down in the temple in this Chronicles account, the first being in 5:13-14.

Would it surprise you that this highly significant and obviously dramatic second outpouring of His glory is not even present in the like account in 1 Kings? Compare this yourself. In 1 Kings 8:10-11 we see the identical initial outpouring of His Spirit (the former rain), but in 8:54, when Solomon had likewise finished praying, there was not the dramatic second outpouring where the fire of Yahweh consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices (the latter rain). This latter rain type is the same thing that happened to Elijah’s offering on Carmel – the ascension of the second Remnant. But in 1 Kings 8:55 Solomon simply blessed the people, and that was all!

As pointed out in The Key to Their Understanding, page 5, we see that the two-part Remnant is revealed in the testimony of Chronicles, while Christianity is revealed in Kings. So, per this unusual difference in these two accounts, what do we see regarding the remarkable difference between these two works? Precisely what we have been saying regarding the salvation of the old man – breach Christianity, that relegates the old man to nothing more than death, lacks the latter rain glory that helps the old man; while the Remnant is a work that is entirely different relative to the fate of the old man, and through the coming much needed latter rain glory provides not only for his restoration and empowerment, but his ascension.

Let us now consider another enlightening matter regarding this much needed glory, but we will consider it from a much larger testimony per Yahweh’s timing. In the mid 70’s, this man wrote on a sheet of paper five areas in my life which I asked Yahweh to deal with and placed it in an envelope. You could say they were five areas in which the old man was the thorn(s) in my flesh. I will make myself vulnerable to you, not only for your sake but for my own (for in confessing our weakness we can be healed), and tell you what those five areas were: pride, anger, lust, impatience, and fear. (Maybe you know of them as well.)

If you will, these were my five kings that would come to take away Lot, the covering (Genesis 14). They were certainly the five giants, Goliath and his four brothers, in my life that tormented me.

The first one to be slain in my life was pride. Yahweh used a personal death circumstance to give me the authority to “place my foot on the neck of pride.” This was a wonderful deliverance, but it cost me – my own painful death! But, it was certainly worth it.

The second one to be slain was anger. While I am grateful for the victory I gained over that one as well, once again it too was a very painful experience.

Upon obtaining these two victories, I prayed for victory over the other three likewise, even though I did not relish at all going through the experience and paying the price that I had to pay on the first two. But, for the chance of victory over the other three, in the long run I knew that though the price would be painful, the victory would be worth it.

But since I prayed that prayer, He has not brought that wrathful violence on the other three, or might I say, on me, for that is how it really works out.

While writing this work, Yahweh gave this man further insight regarding this entire matter, insight that was gained through this intercession/identification.

Of the five areas that I presented to Yahweh, He has dealt with two of them by a violent death; but there still remain three of these areas of my old man that need to be dealt with. Thus, He has divided these five – two and three. What you are getting ready to read now is pure revelation, which has never been known or taught before, and has been made possible by the work of intercession, even an intercession that was not of myself. We are a very blessed people to now see these things. Remember, Yahshua taught in parables, and when He gave specific information such as numbers, they have a corporate meaning that is more than the natural setting in which He presented the parable. What you are getting ready to read is a clear example of this.

Recorded only in second Remnant Luke, we read the words of Yahshua:

“Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five in one household will be divided, three against two, and two against three” (Luke 12:51-52).

Yahshua was not talking about a literal household here, though my own home experienced that specific painful division in 2003. The “household” He was speaking of here was the household of faith, the church.

How many years was Christianity supposed to receive? As we have addressed many times before, it was supposed to receive 3,000 years. However, because they have failed for 2,000 years, and would continue to fail for the next 1,000 years, Yahweh must cut their days short to two and perform a new work – the Remnant Bride.

And let us add here as another testimony in this seamless garment of truth, there were three “friends” of Job who spoke in the breach period of Satan’s afflictions, or the 3,000 years given to Christianity. It is quite affirming that when they spoke, they spoke in a consistent order – first Eliphaz, then Bildad, then Zophar. This was done three times, with Job replying after each man. But the third time something quite revealing took place. Eliphaz spoke, then Bildad; but Bildad cut his message short and Zophar never spoke – “there was no answer in the mouth of the three men” (Job 32:5). In true testimony regarding Christianity, their message was equally cut short from three to two. Who thus spoke in place of the third? Our hot pepper, the Elijah figure with the strikingly similar name – Elihu! Thus once again we see three-part Christianity being cut short to two, and the third part being replaced by the Elijah. (My thanks to Phillip Kessler, a most diligent student of the Scriptures, for noting this and pointing it out.)

Now let us ask another revealing question. How many baths were there in Solomon’s sea? The answer depends on what book you read. In Christianity 1 Kings 7:26, the sea contained 2,000 baths. But in Remnant 2 Chronicles 4:5 the word-for-word verbatim sentence tells us that the sea contained, not 2,000 but, 3,000 baths! So which one is correct? Also stated in these writings many times, it is far more important that Yahweh’s word make prophetic revelatory sense, than historical sense and accuracy. The fact is, Solomon’s sea via this parable equally affords the testimony of a household split two and three, or 2,000 baths and 3,000 baths.

What was Yahshua telling us in light of my own experience and this riddle regarding Solomon’s sea? The answer is that the kingdom household will be split two and three, or 2,000 years and 3,000 years. The first 2,000 years will be given to Kings Christianity; but they will not receive the third part of their kingdom allotment. Instead, their time has been cut short to 2,000 years, or 2,000 baths, and the kingdom will be given to the Chronicles Remnant, and they will receive the next 3,000 years, or 3,000 baths. Thus the kingdom will be split, even as Yahshua said, two and three.

From The Issue – II, page 11, we see this breakdown.

So why do we bring this up? How many of the five areas of my flesh did Yahweh deal with violently? Was it not equally two of them – pride and anger? And is this not precisely the way Yahweh has the church to deal with the old man for 2,000 years – through a violent death? Precisely so! So what then is my hope for the remaining three areas of my flesh, my old man, that need to be dealt with? While I was indeed willing for another very painful and costly price to be paid in order to find deliverance from the remaining three areas, I now see the hope that, even as we have seen evidenced thus far, the remaining three will not be dealt with by death, but by glory, by His Spirit filling the house!

Thus, even as the church household is split two and three, with the first two being testimonies of a wrathful death to the old man, and the last three being testimonies of the old man being dealt with by transforming glory, so I have the hope personally regarding the remaining three areas in my own life. But more importantly for you to see, is that the day is at hand when the old man will not suffer death anymore; the battle with our old man will be over, and he will be empowered to do the will of Yahweh, for the land will serve under one head. Hallelu-yah!

In Matthew 13:52 Yahshua said:

“Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings forth out of his treasure new and old.”

The word “household” here, is the same Greek word used in Luke 12:52 per the division of the “household” two and three. What are we seeing then? Who is the head of the household of the kingdom of heaven? Obviously it is Yahshua. So how is it that He will bring forth out of His treasure “new and old”? Again, what Paul has relegated to death for the last 2,000 years, will finally be brought into the kingdom of heaven for the purpose of good. Yahshua will finally effect a good work that is the result of legally uniting the new and the old, the new man and the old man, and the old man will finally quit being put to death.

In this same regard and equally revealing, it is significant that all the furniture in the temple was wood covered with gold. What is wood? It is flesh man. Man is often prophetically represented by trees, or wood, even idols made of wood who, in fitting testimony, having eyes cannot see, and having ears cannot hear (Isaiah 44:12-18, Psalms 135:15-18). Truly, men are their own idols. What then is our hope? That Yahweh’s much needed and vital glory will come upon us and qualify us to enter into His temple. The furniture of the temple was not just gold, but there was an old man under that gold; it was the gold overlaid on wood that prepared the furniture to enter into His temple. This is the same testimony when the skins of the two kids (hair speaks of glory) were placed on Jacob so that he could receive his father’s blessing. This is the much needed glory we must have on the old man. When this occurs, the old man will submit to one head, even as all the land promised to the sons of Israel finally submitted to one head – Solomon, the man who dreamed.

Thus we see once again, even as we saw per the corners of the field, that it is the Remnant work that affords the much needed deliverance for the affliction of the old man. (I am most grateful to Yahweh for Mr. Carroll Sanders who saw many of these things shared here which came up as we spoke about this matter. Carroll was a pastor for ten years before he was called out of Christianity.)

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