George Warnock emphasizes the importance of fully entering into God's rest and the necessity of a deep, personal relationship with Him. He reflects on the journey of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan, illustrating how many fall short of God's promises due to unbelief and a lack of faith. Warnock highlights that God desires true fellowship with humanity, and that our spiritual journey often involves trials and testing in the wilderness to prepare us for a deeper communion with Him. He encourages believers to embrace their identity as friends of God, to seek His presence, and to understand that true rest comes from ceasing our own works and allowing Christ to work through us.

Thank you very much, Brother David. I'll be all right in a minute. I do feel honored to be here, not because it's a David Wilkerson convention, but because I do recognize that God is raising up a people in this day, a people who are going to go in all the way. And I prayed much in times past that God would allow me to be identified with that people who are going in all the way. And I want to be with you as long as you go all the way. Let us turn to Hebrews chapter 4. Let us, therefore, hear, lest the promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. I think maybe I'll just stop there and maybe read back later, and then some more after that in this chapter. But the Apostle writing to the Hebrews says, Let us, therefore, fear. And I know God wants us to have a confidence and a faith and assurance that what he has said and what he has promised, he will surely perform. But there's a godly fear that God would put upon his people that though he wants us to have faith and confidence and assurance, he does not want us to have any presumptions. And there's a vast difference. The Apostle writing to the Hebrews who were inclined to be wavering because coming out of Judaism, they were coming into something that they couldn't touch, something maybe insubstantial, as far as the natural goes. There was always the tendency to go back to something structured, something they could see, something that they were brought up in, something that gave them a sense of security. But Paul would remind them that God had brought them to a new day and a new hour and had done new things and had brought forth the reality of which their temple and their structure and their priesthood and all their rituals were but mere types and shadows. And so he would put upon them a godly fear that lest the promise being left to us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. God's problem with his people has always been to get them to go all the way. Oh, how blessed it is when God moves and there's a flowing of his Spirit. Perhaps there's utterances and healings, a manifestation of his presence. And it's so good that we just want to camp there. This is good, what more can we ask? But God cannot be satisfied until his own heart is satisfied. And that's why God is so anxious. And I know he's going to have a people in this last day who will go all the way in with him. For the delight of his own heart. We've been all, I suppose, brought up to look upon God as the great and mighty one, alone and by himself, who doesn't really need us. We're the ones that need him. The fact is that God has a tremendous need for fellowship with you and I. For the simple reason he can't find true fellowship in the midst of angels and archangels and cherubim and seraphim. Because they're not like him. You can't have real fellowship except with humankind. You can enjoy the other creatures that God has made, but only with man can you have real fellowship. Some when you're kin. And of all the creatures that God ever made, man alone is the only creature that God can have fellowship with because only he was made in his image. Only he was made in his image. I think it was Augustine that said that man was made to find rest in God and he'll never find true rest until he comes back to his God. And I remember reading that and the thought came to me one day, that is true. That God made man in his image, that in that man God might find a place, a resting place for himself and God can never be satisfied until he draws man back into himself. That he might find his habitation in the human heart and therefore it is for him and for his glory that we are and we're created. I know we need God, but God needs you and I. For his glory, for the expansion of his glory and for the rest and satisfaction of his own heart. What our brother just said is so true. He wants the people who will sit at his feet and hear his words. Doing what he says is no great problem if we've learned to sit at his feet and hear his words. And we're told that the Lord Jesus chose twelve apostles for twelve disciples. They were not called apostles immediately until he sent them forth. Do you know why he chose them? Anyone venture just to guess why he chose them? That they might be with him. First, that they might be with him. Secondly, that he might send them forth to preach. For how shall they preach unless they've been with him? How shall they truly relate Christ unto others unless they know him themselves? And so God does not want us to fall short of the rest that he's provided for his people. Not only that he's concerned that you and I find the delight of our hearts, but he desires to delight his own heart. And he never truly found it in the fullness of the sense of that word until his only begotten came to earth or was made in the likeness of man. True, he had a little fellowship in the Old Testament. He had one man whom he called his friend. Imagine that. God had a friend in the Old Testament. That's the only one that I know of. Abraham was called the friend of God. And Jesus chose these twelve that they might be with him and become his friends. So he says, I'm not going to call you servants. For a servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. He doesn't need to know. You just do what you're told. But he says, I've called you friends because whatsoever I've heard of my Father I've made known unto you. The Lord Jesus today has many servants, many good servants. Many servants who are doing what the Lord says. I wonder how many friends he's got. I trust that we'll go away from this gathering and determine that we're going to be the Lord's friend. And we can be his friend if we'll sit at his feet and learn of him. And therein will we find true rest. The word bothers a lot of people. Troubles them. Talking about rest in this day of great need. This day when the world is starving. The world is lost, going headlong to destruction. You hear people talking about resting in God. But it's just that they don't understand what God means by rest. It doesn't mean inactivity. It means ceasing from our own works. As God did from his. It means laying down our own works and beginning to take upon ourselves his yoke. And thereby learn of him. Jesus says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart. And you shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Jesus the son of God who carries such a load. He says, my burden is easy. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Why was it light and why was it easy? Because he came with no other thought in mind but to do the will of the Father. You say he came to perform the great plan of redemption? We know that. But in actual reality, do you want to pinpoint it? He came for one purpose. And one purpose only. And as it were, in his preincarnate condition. We hear him saying to the prophet. Sacrifice and offering. Thou wouldest not. But a body has thou prepared for me. In burnt offerings and in sacrifice for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. And so he is revealed and he walks amongst men. Walks in and out the temple gates, ministers inside the temple, courts on occasion. The whole religious system was greatly overtaken with sacrifice and offering. And ritual and priestly service which God ordained. But way back there in the book of Psalms. I don't know which singer it was but God gave him these words. Imagine, even while they were singing this song. No doubt with their symbols and everything. It was in music. Book of Psalms was the hymnal of the second temple. And they'd be singing and rejoicing, sacrifice and offering. Thou wouldest not. Sacrifice and offering. Thou wouldest not. Little realizing that they were prophesying that the day would come. When all that which they were doing would become but an empty shell. An empty ritual would have no meaning. Because God was moving on to something different. And he was manifesting in the earth. This son in whom would be revealed the finality of every type and shadow. That was ever offered in the Old Testament. Imagine Jesus walking in and out of the temple courts. Seeing the ritual and seeing the sacrifices. He knew that God had no delight in it. I wonder how much delight God really has. In the structured religious systems that we have in Christianity today. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He said on two or three occasions from heaven. And I was surprised to discover that he was saying more than is said in the authorized version. What he actually said was. This is my beloved son in whom is my total delight. Because you can be well pleased with many things. But God was saying this is my beloved son in whom is my total delight. I can find delight nowhere else. But in my beloved son. Perhaps we'll come back to that thought a little later. But the yearning of the heart of God. Was that God's people would not fall short of God's desire for them. Whenever there's a beautiful moving of the spirit of God. Having been through one or two at least. Moving where there was a precious new thing that God was doing. Having seen the joy and the rejoicing in the new thing that God was doing. Somehow discovering that the people wanted to go no further. Because God cannot be satisfied until you've come right nigh unto his very heart. He'll continue to love you. He'll continue to bless you. He'll continue to give you gifts and ministries. And anoint the word that goes forth from your lips. To bring healing and deliverance to mankind. For that we thank him. And he cannot be satisfied until you go out from that realm of the holy place. And into the holiest of all. You say, oh the veil is rent and clean and so I'm already in there. And I remember a great teacher one time. Had it all up in a blackboard and he had the outer courts and tabernacle. Which is divided into two realms. Holy place and holiest of all. He says, I don't know why people teach that we should go into the holiest of all. He says, don't they know the veil is rent? So he rubbed it out. Yes. The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom when Jesus died in the cross. And that means there is access into the holiest of all. But just as in that day they continued to worship in that temple for another 40 years. How could they do it with a rent veil? Unless they took needle and thread and sewed it up. So though Jesus Christ has rent the veil through his own flesh. That veil, as it was in the case of Moses. Remember when he went up in the mountains and saw the glory of God and came down with the glory of God radiating from his countenance. With a light so brilliant that they could not even look upon him. So that Moses, when he saw them squinting and looking away, he beckoned to them. Some think he immediately took a veil and covered his eyes. But I discovered one day that he didn't do that. But he beckoned to Aaron and the elders. And so fearfully they came forward. And he spake unto them the word of the Lord with the glory of God radiating from his countenance. And then he sensed that that glory was departing. And it says when he finished speaking to them because he sensed the glory was departing. He put a veil on his face. So that the children of Israel would not see the end of that which is abolished. Look it up in any other version. He put the veil upon his face so that they would not see the last rays of that fading glory. He put a veil upon his face so that they would not see the finish of the splendor which was done away. And in Exodus it says till Moses had finished speaking with them he put a veil on his face. But in every other version, when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. Because that glory was gone. It was not destined to remain. It was only for a season. How could it remain? For it was the ministration of condemnation that he had. And if the ministration of condemnation came with glory, says the apostle Paul, how shall not rather the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory? How shall not the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory? God grant that this ministration, that he is beginning in the hearts of his people in this day and hour, might continue to increase and increase and increase because such is the nature of the new covenant. The nature of the old covenant was to decrease and the glory would fade away. So when Moses would talk to them, he'd come fresh from the presence of God with the glory of God upon him. He'd talk to the people and then he'd sense that glory was going and he'd cover his face again. He lacked that boldness. Paul says, not like Moses, the covenant that we have and the ministration that we have is not like the one Moses had. Who put a veil on his face so the children of Israel would not see the passing away of that glory. But their hearts were blinded. For until this same day remaineth the same veil untaken away, which veil is done away in Christ. I know that veil was rent in twain, but that veil is now in the hearts of the people of God. But the secret is, whensoever it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Jesus did it at the cross. The Spirit does it in your heart and mine. It was a wonderful revelation to me when I discovered that everything that Jesus accomplished on the cross, God would now accomplish in your life and mine through the ministration of the Spirit. When your heart and mine turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. And so Paul concludes that message in the New Covenant. There I think it's 2 Corinthians 3 by saying, but we all with open face, and the word open is unveiled with the veil removed. We all with the veil removed are changed into the same image. The same image, the same image, the same image, from glory unto glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Reflecting as a mirror, another translates it. Beholding as in a glass, reflecting as a mirror. God wants us to be mirrors, reflectors. But as we partake of His glory, we reflect it to someone else. They partake of it and they reflect it to someone else. That's why your hope and mine, that the ministration of the Spirit in this day and hour, as in any day and hour, but in this day of the consummation, God is going to consummate His plans and His purposes. He's going to bring into being and into fulfillment all that for which we have had bits and pieces through the church age. He's going to bring to one glorious climax. And so it's so essential that you and I begin to relate to the body of Christ, and that we be fitly framed and knit together in the body of Christ in this hour. That we all with that open face might edify our fellow members until the church of Jesus Christ goes on from glory unto glory, from one degree of glory unto another, until we stand face to face with Him in His unveiled splendor. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. And the Apostle Paul is referring to that occasion in the Old Testament when good news was brought back to them concerning their heritage in Cana. You remember how at the hand of Moses, God had led them out of Egyptian bondage, and as He brought them forth by the hand of Moses, His purpose was to bring them in to the land of Canaan. But they must go through a halfway house. God's purpose in bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt was to bring them into Canaan. And God said, I brought you out that I might bring you in. He didn't tell them too much about the halfway house, because it is only intended to be a halfway house. Just that. And if He had told them in detail, it might have frightened them. God does not want the trial and the tests and the tribulations of life to dampen our spirit and our zeal to go on with Him. For He has provided grace sufficient for every trial or every test that He will bring our way. So God doesn't have to worry about, you know, not informing His people. I'll look after them. I've got grace for them. And so He says, I brought you out of this house of bondage, I'm going to bring you in. Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thy inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. Now that was the song of Moses, one of the songs of Moses. When they came out of Egypt and crossed over the Red Sea, what a time of victory. And they sang the song of Moses. And this is part of it. So that even in the song of deliverance, there was hope of a something better. For us, dear brethren, lest the promise being made of entering into His rest, you should seem to come short of it. So that even in that great thing that God was doing in delivering them out of the hand of Pharaoh, God reminds them, this is not all. I'm going to bring you in. I brought you out to bring you in. That's the purpose for which He brought us out, to bring us in. But do you know that by and large, the church of Jesus Christ has remained in the wilderness? By and large. But what a victory. To see the host of Israel crossing the Red Sea with the armies of Pharaoh following them, and Moses lifts his rod, and the waters go back, and overthrow the horse and his rider in the sea. No wonder they sang the victory song. And I think it's even been put to music. I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously, the horse and his rider as He's thrown into the sea. And I hear some victory songs here. But I trust from this day forward, when you sing your victory song, that you'll remember the purpose for which God gave you that victory. To bring you into the mountain of His heritage. And so when they come out of Egypt, into Canaan, God set His very own presence in their midst as a cloud of glory, and as a cloud of fire. A cloud of glory by day, and a pillar of fire by night. To lead them in the way that they should go. And God said, you just follow the cloud. Just follow the cloud, for I'm leading you into this realm of my inheritance. So the cloud of God went ahead of them, and brought them to a certain place called Marah. They went out into the wilderness of Shur, and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. And so as they searched around for water, they suddenly came to Marah. First no water, and the cloud must have been leading them because they had to follow the cloud. They'd lose direction if they didn't. And they came to Marah and found water. But they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. Similar word to the word myrrh, which is a bitter herb. It's also the word from which we get the word Mary. I noticed once looking through my concordance that there's, I don't know, five, six, seven Marys in the New Testament. It just seemed that Israel had gone through such desolation and bondage that when this little child was born, they said call it Mary. And you'll remember when Nehemiah and Ruth came back from the fields of Moab where they had gone to take refuge during the time of famine. She'd lost her husband. She'd lost her two sons. She came back with her daughters-in-law but turned to them and said, go on back home, dear God. The hand of the Lord had dealt very bitterly with me. God's gone against me. And Orpah, you'll remember, went back to her God that Ruth said, whither thou goest, I will go. Your people shall be my people. Where thou dwellest, I will dwell. Entreat me not to leave thee. And she'd clave unto her. When they got back into the land of Canaan, the people were excited because this long-lost relative was back home. They said, Nehemiah's home. And she says, no. Not Nehemiah anymore. Marah. For the Lord hath dealt bitterly with me. There's a lot of bitterness in God's people. I don't mean just that kind of bitterness where you have resentment one against another. But an inward bitterness simply, it's just bitter. The way it's been bitter. It's been hard. It's been difficult. Can you tell me why God would lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and across the Red Sea and then they're famishing for water and he leads them to a place where there's water which is bitter, which they can't drink. As the brethren have been emphasizing, whatsoever things were written of Hore Time were written for our learning that we, through patience and the comfort of the Scriptures, might find hope. And so, for our sakes were these things written. And God wants us to know that before he can take us into this land of true rest, where we are enabled to cease from our own works and to be so enveloped with the canopy of the Lord's presence that it is no longer you and I that work, but it is the living Christ that works through us. He wants us to know it's a prepared place and we can't just barge in there. But that for this prepared place there must be a prepared people. And that's what the wilderness is all about. That's what the wilderness is all about. That God might prepare you and I for the coming into this good land. But you say, you mean that God has to lead us to bitter waters to prepare? No doubt you've often heard as many teachers are explaining that the fullness of the work of God and his people is always in triads. And oh, we could probably name a dozen or so different triads too to show the fullness of God's work and his people. I'll just mention a couple. I've already mentioned the tabernacle, how that there was outer court, holy place, holiest of all. Then there were the three feasts in Israel. Feast of Passover, Feast of Pentecost, Feast of Tabernacle. And John speaks of three realms of growth in God's people. Little children, fathers, young men. I quoted it right. Never heard a minister yet who quotes it right. Always little children, young men, fathers. No, the order is little children, fathers, young men. I thought John might have slipped up until he repeated it. I write unto you little children, I write unto you fathers, I write unto you young men. Because though the whole family could get strength from that as they opened that letter and read it, John would have us know that he was also writing of a spiritual growth in the family of God. Little children whose sins are forgiven. Fathers who have come to maturity and know him. And men, young men, overcomers. Not referring to age, but people who like Moses at the age of 120 his natural force was still there. His eyesight was still good. And the only reason he couldn't go in and conquer Canaan with Joshua and the rest of them was because he disobeyed God and God says you're going to have to die. And when his time came he says go up in the mountain there and die. And he went up, walked up a mountainside at the age of 120 and laid down his life. The tale of when he comes into Canaan he waited a long time for this generation to arise to take the land. When he came into Canaan he didn't rush over to Hebron to take possession of his heritage. Oh God has sworn with an oath to him 38 years before because your spirit has been right and your heart has been right I swear I'll bring you into this land. But when they got there Caleb didn't rush over and get his little inheritance after seven years bringing others into their inheritance. And when the others got there as he came to Joshua and he says now Joshua remember what the Lord promised you and I 38 years ago and you and I went over there and he says I'm just as strong now as I was then. Give me this mountain. Young men. God's got some gray haired men some in this room today. You think you're in the place of retirement? Forget it. You hear what God's saying? Forget it. Little children fathers young men overcomers. Hope I'm with some of you young fellas to take the land. And I don't mean by that you know that the man might you know he might be feeble and all that but there's no retirement for those who will go all the way with him. Oh I'm not saying they're out active in ministry but that's nothing to do with doing the will of God anyway. I shouldn't say that. It's not first. But Jacob there laying in his bed just about ready to die and they brought their sons in to kiss them goodbye and he props himself up in his bed and prophesies the word of the Lord with a prophecy that's written down in holy scriptures concerning what God would do with his people in the last days. He laid back and died. Anyway another three and one that I always like. The kingdom of God is like a seed that's planted in the ground and springs up first the blade then the ear and after that the full corn. But I didn't quote it all. The full corn in the ear. Not in translation not in rapture not in resurrection. The full corn in the ear. First the blade then the ear after that the full corn in the ear. So that the ear becomes the connection the transition between the blade and the full corn. What I want to impress upon you is that almost invariably in the history of God's people they will settle for that area of transition. And even the holy place the tabernacle was a place of preparation for the priest to come into the holiest of all. You have to go through that. There's no other way. There's no back door into the holiest of all. We must have gifts. We must have ministries. We must have the illumination of the candlestick. We must have the table of showbread. And Aaron must stand before the altar of incense and offer up the holy incense before the Lord. Appreciate what Brother David has been writing about the altar of incense. And incidentally I'd also written something about it just before I got his letter on it. And I discovered that they didn't light the fire of the incense there in the golden altar. The golden altar wasn't made for the burning of fire. But he would take the incense off the golden altar and put it in a censer. But the fire for that incense came from the altar of the Lord out in the outer court. So he'd have to go out there. That's where the fire was kindled. Take coals from the brazen altar and bring it in and put the incense upon it. In order that there might be a cloud that covered the mercy seat. In order that the incense might ascend unto God as a sweet smelling savor. As David said my prayer shall be set forth before thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. So that God is saying it is true I don't want your prayer I don't want your praise I don't want your worship except it is ignited by an act of obedience and submission to the will of God at the altar of Bertholfen. The blade, the ear, the full corn. The full corn in the ear. So let's just consider for a while the purpose of God in leading his people through the wilderness. We look upon it geographically. They came out of Egypt. They traveled through the wilderness and they entered into Canaan. But ours is a spiritual journey. Ours is an inward journey. And so we have to see the wilderness in you and I. And because God must have a prepared people for this prepared place he has to deal with you and I in the wilderness. And in leading us through the wilderness he is revealing that old life that carnal nature that we have there in the wilderness that we might deal with it. So that the wilderness becomes a preparation a place of preparation something that Israel did not learn. And yet tenderly was God leading them every step of the way showing them his glory in such a way that he might entice them unto himself and cause their hearts to be turned unto him that they might realize that God meant what he said. I'm bringing you into a good land. And if God's word is true and if they believe God all they could say is God I see the drought I see the waste in the howling wilderness I see bitter waters but Lord it has to be for your glory. You must have a purpose in it. What are you trying to reveal to me? What are you trying to show me? He brought them to Marah because Marah is the condition of our heart. He brings you to bitter waters that you might know that this is what my heart is like. Deuteronomy chapter 8 By this time he's talking to another generation. This first generation didn't make it. So he's talking to another generation but he does tell us the purpose of the wilderness life. Verse 2 Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these 40 years in the wilderness. Now that's something different. The Lord led you 40 years in the wilderness. God was leading them but because they did not know God's ways they wandered. To them it was a wandering place. No purpose. No real intention. God was mad at them so he's just leading them around haphazardly. That's the way they looked upon their God. I don't think it's without significance that the first stopping place was... No, I don't think it was the first. I think it's the first one mentioned here. It came to refit him. I believe first. But one of the first places where they stopped in camp was Mara. Because God knows the bitterness that's in the human heart. And when God leads you to waters of Mara he has a purpose in it. You say, what purpose can there be in God giving me bitter waters to drink? Until we discover that God didn't give you bitter waters to drink. God gave you bitter waters that you might see the grace and the glory of God of changing those waters and making them to be sweet. Instead of that we stoop down and we drink of the bitter waters and grumble and complain against God and man. Drink some more and more and more bitterness and complain and murmur. Instead of saying, God, the cloud of your glory led me here. The cloud of your presence brought me here. What are you trying to show me? He'll show you. So Moses cried unto the Lord. The Lord showed him a tree. And he cut down the tree and threw it into the waters and became sweet. So God led them to Marah to perform the miracle of changing the bitter into sweet. And by that to show you and I that if we truly embrace the cross of Christ in our life no matter what experience may come our way as we cast the tree into the waters it becomes sweet. And it changes our nature from one of bitterness to one of sweetness. Moses cried unto the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree which when he had cast into the waters the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statue and an ordinance and there he proved them or tested them. The wilderness is for testing. It's not for destruction. It's not intended to bring murmuring or complaining. It's intended for testing for proving that you might be prepared for that land of union with Christ the land of Canaan. For Jesus cannot join unto himself your fleshly nature my fleshly nature your sin and mine but he's going to join the people unto himself therefore he would rid us of every bitterness every stain every sin every bit of carnality that he might join us unto himself that we might find rest in him and that he might find rest in you and I. It's your life and mine that becomes the wilderness. We're the wilderness. So going through the wilderness it's that spiritual work that God is doing in us that out from the wilderness of our life he might bring forth the beautiful garden of the Lord. For the Lord shall comfort Zion he will comfort all her waste places and he will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein thanksgiving in the voice of Melody. God wants to make of this wilderness which you and I are the garden of the Lord. There's so many different illustrations and pictures and types of the work that God is doing in his people and the reason God chooses so many different types and shadows or illustrations is for the simple reason that there's no one there's no one picture that can show the whole story but we see the one picture and we get caught away with that perhaps and we fail to realize it takes all the other pictures together to get the real picture and so those who are strong ready for battle they like the thought of being a part of God's army there is an army marching through the land that's one picture but to be God's army you've got to know also that we're God's temple of course a temple can't march through the land not that literal temple but it's another aspect temple speaks the word God dwells so if God doesn't dwell in you don't talk about going forth to defeat the enemy and then of course we're the body of Christ and without getting into that in any particular detail this morning I'd just like to remind God's people it is the body of Christ in the same way that you have a body in which you dwell I remember a very noted teacher of the word a few years ago he stood up and said I've been preaching the word for I don't know how many years and he was tremendous in the word and he says that I never understood until a few years ago that the body of Christ meant the body in which the Lord Jesus dwelt in the fullness of his presence but a body of people he looked upon here's the body of Christ or the body of people it's much deeper than that you read 1 Corinthians 12 14 you'll discover that the apostle draws a comparison between the body of Christ and the body which you are a finger a hand a foot an eye an ear and he says you're that body of Christ and God granted the revelation of the body of Christ that Christ might come to us with such an impact that we'll begin to pursue in our thinking in our faith in our praying to the Lord in our intercessions pursue that purpose that God has for making of his people the body in which he the Lord Jesus shall dwell in the fullness of his being where he himself is the head where every member is vitally joined each to its part that there might arise in the earth the very expression of the Lord Jesus Christ himself is truly and is effectually but far more reaching than the body in which Jesus that one man dwelt when he was here on earth for I don't think any one of us would have any argument with the fact that when Jesus dwelt here on earth in him dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily it's not that all of God was there because we know God fills everything we know that but the fullness of it the word signifies a completeness nothing lacking so that power take power wealth we know that the universe is filled with it but the completeness of it the fullness of it was in the Lord Jesus love you see it in the creation in the natural realm you see it in the animals in the birds very little of it in the human family but you see it in the lower realms of creation remnants of it but the fullness the highest description of love I'm not good at words it was in Jesus mercy long suffering I mean anything you can think of that pertains to God the fullness of it the completeness of it the perfection of it was in the Lord Jesus when he was here I suppose like I have we've all thought my what we missed not having been born a couple of thousand years ago in or near the little land of Palestine that somehow we might have caught a glimpse of our Lord heard words from his mouth that we knew were infallible and pure and clean and holy straight from the heart of God I don't think it struck me with force until two or three years ago as I was reading John 16 that God had a better plan than that he had a better plan than that Jesus should have remained here in the earth these two thousand years he could have stayed forty days could have stayed forty years four hundred but God had a better plan to me this is staggering but he told his disciples he was going away their sorrow filled their hearts we can't get by without you Lord we've been following you anticipating just knowing for sure that one of these days you're going to set up a kingdom and you say you're going away it doesn't make sense and because I've said these things unto you I said Jesus sorrow has filled your heart nevertheless I tell you the truth listen to what Jesus says I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away you have an amplified version read it in that it's to your advantage that I go away it's better for you that I go away for if I go not away the comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you I can't see anything else in this and other scriptures but that Jesus' intention was that when the Holy Spirit came to take up his habitation in this temple which he's forming in the earth that he would manifest his presence out from that temple in the same degree of purity and truth and glory and excellence as he did in the body of the Lord Jesus that was prepared for him when he was here and just as truly as the Holy Ghost came upon Mary a child of sorrow her name means bitterness and caused her to conceive in her womb and bring forth a body prepared of God for the expression of his own image in the earth so just as truly the Holy Ghost is coming upon a pure woman in the earth made pure by the cleansing of the blood of Christ and as that woman nurtures in her heart in her womb the word of the Lord that comes to her she's going to bring forth in the earth a son not another one but the complement c-o-m-t-l-e-m-e-n-t of the one who didn't see fit to stay here but said it would be better if I went away I said you'd have no problem in receiving what I said that in Jesus dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily my brother has already quoted this scripture at least part of it I think in Ephesians chapter 1 which states that when Jesus who was the fullness of God on earth ascended into the heavens he was exalted above all principality and power and might and dominion in every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him that filleth all in all the fullness it's the same word the pluroma the completeness nothing lacking no wonder when Paul would write to the Ephesians he'd have to stop every minute to pray to pray for the ones to whom he was writing because he knew that the things that he was saying was from the heart of God and if the people of God did not have a spirit of revelation upon them they would not know what he was saying and so we come down into chapter 3 having declared these glorious truths of the mystery of Christ being revealed in the earth and in his people and he pauses once again Ephesians 3.14 for this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man we can accept that that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith we know that's true that ye being rooted and grounded in love we know that that's true but listen to this that ye might be able to comprehend but look it up in other versions it's more than comprehend it's to apprehend it's to receive fully what is the breadth and the length and the depth and the height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that you might be filled with all the fullness of God but you notice he said that we it's a corporate thing you can't be filled with all the fullness of God you you you but together God saw fit to take his Son that he might magnify his glory in the earth that everyone who is fitted together in this body might have one function and one function only and that is according to the particular place that they have in the body of Christ to glorify God and to bring glory to his name in a manner which Jesus said was good and it is good that he left so that God could do this in the spirit you got the notion that Jesus is coming back because the church made a mess of herself so Jesus figures he'll come back and set up a kingdom the church failed unto him be glory in the church throughout all ages world without end back to Hebrews chapter 4 for we which have believed do enter into rest as he said as I have sworn in my wrath that they shall enter into my wrath sounds a little strange wording but he's quoting the scripture if they shall enter into my wrath so that God he says God said there was a rest so he says if you believe you enter into that rest that God spoke about although the works were finished from the foundation of the world for he spake in a certain place of the seventh day and this wise and God did rest the seventh day from all his works and in this place again if they shall enter into my rest seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief again he limiteth a certain day I've got to follow the spiritual logic here of the apostle it's a little difficult just to read it over fast like that seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief we didn't touch on that but I think you all know the story how that God said he'd bring them out to bring them in so they camped there at Sinai I think for a couple of years to be instructed in the ways of the Lord to receive the instructions of the tabernacle and the priesthood the cleansing I think it was a couple of years is that right? something like that and then they began to move north into the land that God had promised and they came right up to Kedesh Barnea which was the doorstep of Canaan and they sent spies out to spy out the land to search it out just to know the ingoings outgoings of the enemy ready for conquest and they came back with a report of the land and they all agreed it was good there was no question about that but it says the word preached did not the word that they brought back the word that they the report the word of the report I think other versions say did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it did not profit them they were not joined by faith to those who had the word there was a dissension arose here was Caleb and Joshua with a sure word from the Lord and Caleb said let's go up boldly and take it for we are well able to overcome but they said we can't because the enemies in the land and they're mightier than we are they're giants we're like grasshoppers in their sight they got iron chariots Caleb looked at none of that he said they'll be bread for us they'll be our bread and butter and his only reason was that if God delighted in us he will bring us in the only reason he gave and that was sufficient but you know there was a controversy so that the people of God did not did not join their hearts with that word and and so they failed to enter in now there's much to be said about the new generation that God would raise up as he did then because they didn't enter in God said he would wait for another generation not only that but the excuse they gave for not entering in God took advantage of it they said our children couldn't stand that kind of a land because they couldn't stand the enemies that were there and the difficulty we'd have and settling down and making a home for ourselves our children couldn't take it God says I swear by myself you'll die in the wilderness and I'll bring your children in so the excuse that they had as a reason for which they couldn't go in God says alright you're afraid for your children you die here and I'll bring them in what I'm saying is and I'd like to emphasize this in closing seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter there in it doesn't say well because they didn't enter in God just forgot it I'm encouraged to know that when God has a plan a purpose no work of man or Satan is going to hinder it I'm not saying by that that you and I are therefore going to make it in that sense of overcoming and taking the land I'm saying that God's going to do it in spite of us and if we fail we'll have another people ready also I've discovered that God's timetable oh he might delay it sometime like he did here 40 years but even that delay was in his purpose at least he fitted it into his purpose later on and when the time comes when God says this is it's going to happen and if the people to whom the word of the Lord came and to whom he gave precious promises whom he encouraged to prepare their hearts for this land have not done so or despise it or reject it or lay it aside as some far out teaching God can go out there in a matter of a few weeks and prepare a people and bring them in and he'll do it I get letters from Kenya I don't know why the only foreign country that I get large numbers of letters from we had a man from Kenya over visiting us recently God's moving mightily there and what I find is the Kenyan people that write me they seem to have real understanding of these things and when I read what David said about God turning these third world countries poor countries to bring forth what he has in mind in this day and hour my heart rejoiced and I think I was a little more diligent in attending to my correspondence some of these foreign countries that if we in this land if there's no group of people that goes into the inheritance it's not going to frustrate God's purpose he's going to do it so he's not depending upon you and I but he does desire that we should lay hold upon it and embrace it otherwise our hearts would not be open and receptive to this word principle in scripture is that the secret things belong to the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children that we might do them if God hides it well I think God hides lots of truth I'm not saying that there's anything really new under the sun I'm saying it's new to you and I and the time comes when it'll be new in manifestation in the earth hidden away in the heart of God for centuries isn't the day of harvest all Christendom recognizes that if it's the day of harvest there's going to be a good harvest because God's a good gardener and you know and I know that he should've come 40 years ago I thought it was senseless to finish high school because the Lord should've come the teaching is when you get a temple over there in Jerusalem and get the antichrist in there then he can come I'm telling you that God's building a temple not made with hands and then in the midst of the temple the man of sin has been and is being revealed because that's the temple that God's concerned about antichrist is not concerned about some old wooden temple someone's going to try and build over in Jerusalem he's determined to rob God of his glory and he's put his glory in you and I and he'll try his best to set up his habitation in you and I if we'll let him that's why we say come Lord Jesus from the shining forth of your splendor and destroy that man of sin that rises up in every one of us from time to time as we seek to exalt ourselves above the throne of God and refuse the Lord Jesus Christ his total lordship in our lives come and smite that antichrist in me I know he's going to be revealed out there far greater degree than he is now that man of sin will rise up in your heart and mine if we'll give him a chance but not if we stand face to face in the presence of our Christ because his light will destroy every trace of the carnal nature every trace of sin and those who stand face to face with him and certain Greeks came to see Jesus they'd heard about this great one there were Greeks but they were Hellenistic Greeks in other words they were converts to Judaism they came to the feast and they came was it to Philip and Andrew one or the other or both and said we would see Jesus and they told Jesus there's some Greeks here they've come down a long ways they'd like to see you and the simple yet strange reply was except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit the fact that Jesus died in obedience to the will of the Father the fact that God raised him from the dead the third day and seated him at his right hand in heavenly places far above all rule and principality and power and might and dominion in every name that is named and gave him to be the head over all things to the church which is his body the fact that God did that is God's guarantee to you and I to the world to all creation that there shall arise in the midst of the earth much fruit because of the corn of wheat that was planted dear Lord Jesus we thank you Lord Jesus for these people do you understand thank you for these people Lord whom you have apprehended for this hour Lord I thank you for the liberty you gave which I do not always have to try to show forth in some small measure Lord the glory that you have in store for them grant that they might take this word embrace it lay hold upon it bear it in their heart lest the fowl of the air pluck it out and devour it lest the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches crowd it out lest thorns and thistles and briars spring up and choke the word and it bear no fruit but may the word have found reception in a good and honest heart and bring forth fruit unto eternal life in Jesus name I pray