28. We Are the Ark Made Visible

Audio Only:





Inside of our passage, Revelation 11:14-19, are two mighty things, but they are found inside a setting that seems incongruous to the glory and wonder of those two things. The first thing, in verse 15, has three parts, the sounding of the trumpet, resulting in the resurrection of our bodies, and the transition from the false kingdom to the unfolding of the kingdom of God now known by all.

This first thing is the simultaneous result of something else, however, and that is one of the most incredible and glorious statements in all the Bible, verse 19. – And the Ark of His Covenant was seen inside of His sanctuary.

Following the Spirit. Let’s follow the wisdom of the Spirit and proceed through these things as they appear in the text so that we might know the impact and power of the Ark-Made-Visible.

The second woe has passed, look and see, the third woe is coming quickly.

This is the third of three “woes” that accompany the sounding of the final three trumpets. We no longer harbor the image of an angry God coming to punish humans, so what might these “woes” mean? There is an anger in God, certainly, but that anger is directed towards proving Christ true in every Word.

Foundations Removed. Christ proven true in every word is Christians on this earth loving one another in committed reciprocity. As this great completion happens in the next few years, the foundation of all that opposes Christ, all that casts God as evil and as a liar, all that causes death, is ripped right out from beneath of all of it. The “woe” is towards all that opposes a Lamb faithful and true – revealed now through humans loving one another.

Consider the three enemies that oppose Christ, the beast, the dragon, and death. We will see, in Chapters 19-20, that these three are removed in that order.

The Three Woes. Here are the three woes. – Woe to the beast; woe to the dragon; and woe to death. And what brings the final woe to these three? – A Church on this earth, clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ, bringing forth the knowledge of God into the knowledge of all.

Consider this from Joshua 2. – [Rahab said], “I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. – And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.”

The Final Three Trumpets. In Rahab’s day, it was the children of Israel entering into their promised land; in our day it is millions of Christians across the earth entering into all the fulness of Christ in committed Christian Community.

Let’s set out the three trumpet calls that gather in the Church in such a way that terror fills the hearts of the beast, the dragon, and death, and all who are enthralled by them. The final three trumpets are (5) the trumpet of response, millions of believers rushing into all the fulness of Christ: (6) the trumpet of condition, a Church clothed with the Lord Jesus; and (7) the trumpet of knowing, Father at Home, rivers of Spirit flowing out, the resurrection of our bodies.

The Feast of Tabernacles. As you can see, the final three trumpets correspond directly with the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles. – God filling His fully prepared house – gathered together into Christ – Rivers of Spirit flowing out.

The establishment of the Church truly marks the end of the beast and the dragon, and both of them know that, the dragon overtly, and the political and bureaucratic crooks who make up the worldwide beast know it instinctively. The text says, “The third woe is coming quickly,” that is, the woe spoken against death.

– And then the seventh trumpet sounds.

The Jesus Secret Page. Before continuing, let’s set out the Jesus Secret page. As usual, we will start with the enflowing of Word. The second box is titled “The Seventh Trumpet.” In it is a sub-heading titled “Knowing.” This is the seventh arena of power inside of the Kingdom; it is the arena at the center. It makes sense that God has set the resurrection of our bodies to be the deepest experience of knowing God – Life. The third box has three things in it, “We Are the Covenant,” “We Are the Mercy Seat,” and “We are the Ark Made Visible.” The final box will be an “Ask and Believe.”

The Enflowing of Word. We take possession of the Kingdom even as our bodies are swallowed up into life. We reign into the unfolding of the ages. We are the Ark of the Covenant now unveiled inside God’s dwelling place, the revelation of Jesus Christ. We are the Covenant; a God of Love flows into His creation through our hearts. We are the Mercy Seat; Love now rules through us. We are the Apocalypse, the Ark made visible.

Are Become. The sounding of the seventh trumpet is growing ever bigger in our understanding. Consider this line, from the King James, a song we used to sing. – The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. “Kingdom” is singular in the Greek, but the King James translators could only imagine “England, France, Spain,” and so on, so they made it plural.

The kingdom of this world is the rule of death, the mind and thinking of the knowledge of good versus evil. The Kingdom of God is a universe only of LIFE.

Death Become Life. So what causes this great change, turning death into life? – Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. We have not emphasized thus far the close relationship of the third and fourth ruling verses of the Bible, eliminating the accuser and life flowing out are always together.

But what is actually happening here, and what is its cause? Life is knowing the Father; knowing the Father is at the heart of everything. A KNOWING filled with death becoming a KNOWING filled with God the Father – LIFE.

The seventh trumpet marks the moment.

The First Death to Vanish. But if the River of Life originates in our bellies, that is, in our KNOWING, what is the first death it must swallow up?

We desire to be clothed, that what is dying may be swallowed up, drunk down and consumed by LIFE (2 Corinthians 5:4). – At the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound – When the decaying shall have put upon itself the inability to decay and when the dying shall have put upon itself the inability to die, then the word having been written will become, “Death has been swallowed up into and eliminated by Victory” (1 Corinthians 15:52 & 54).

The Transition. The resurrection has become much more than “something that happens to us in the future.” First, it is the transition between not knowing God and KNOWING God.

Second, it is the transition between a world of death (imagination only) and a world of life (already all). This also is knowing. Third, it is the transition between sometimes thinking accusation and thinking only LIFE – Rivers of Life. But most of all, it is that which we have always WANTED, though we knew it not, the meaning of all our desire.

– At the sounding of the seventh trumpet.

The Seventh Trumpet. The Seventh Trumpet is the Voice of the Son of God calling Life to arise out from death. The rule of death, the mind of the thinking of good versus evil, is no more. No shadow of death can remain in our bodies; the Victory of Life is all we know. All accusation against God is silenced; Rivers of Life are flowing out from us. The meaning of all our Desire has become ours, a body of this earth that cannot comprehend any “not-God.” We are the Kingdom; we live into the unfolding ages.

No More Imagined “Absence.” Consider the direct correlation between what it means to remove the seventh seal and what it means when the seventh trumpet sounds. God is no longer accused. To KNOW God sharing our life with us is to draw ourselves back into that knowing, that is, to refuse to accuse God of being absent. The resurrection means that no thought of any “absence” of God can ever exist in our entire world.

Now, in order to write the words we speak into our brethren as the sounding of the seventh trumpet, I must place myself back into the thinking in which I wrote the first six.

The Seven.
Essence: You come out from God through the good-speaking of Jesus.
Entrance: Give thanks inside of every stumbling step you take with Father.
Connection: See the Blood; know the love of Jesus for you.
Means: God accomplishes all as you return all to Him by giving to your brothers and sisters.
Response: Receive Jesus as every word God speaks; live only inside of God.
Condition: You are free; receive your brethren as Jesus to you.
Knowing: Know the Father as your life, as springs of living water always arising inside of you.

Knowing. Know the Father. God has given you a most incredible heart, a heart capable of knowing the Father. Jesus lives inside of your heart through your acknowledgement. God dwells inside of Jesus inside your heart; KNOW Him.

Every part of your being is made utterly for God your Father, to dwell inside of you and to make Himself known through you as Reciprocal Love. Your heart is made utterly for this knowing of the Father to upwell inside of you as fountains of Living Water, as Source and Completion all in one, as joy unspeakable and filled with glory, as the sharing together with God of every single moment and step of your life.

The Trumpet Sounds. As the earth shakes apart, as wickedness flees in terror, as death is vanquished inside your physical body, as LIFE swallows you up – Know the Father; know Him alone.

The trumpet sounds, and you place immortality upon all that you are, and upon your brethren with you. You hear the voice of the Son of God, and you place incorruptibility upon all that you are and upon your brethren with you. In that moment, knowing “good and evil” vanishes from you forever and knowing the Father is become all inside your sphere. Death is swallowed up in Victory.

Now is come the Kingdom, Rivers of Life released.

Knowing. God dwells inside of Jesus inside your heart; KNOW Him. He is your Father; He arises always in you as Springs of Living Water. Know Him as He shares every moment of your life with you. As you take each step forward together with your Father, do not be alarmed as the earth shakes and as the mind of good and evil vanishes, for you dwell inside of Life, your body is swallowed up by Life, and Rivers of Life are now flowing out from you. You KNOW God.

Our Only Focus. Inside our study of Revelation 12:10-11, we will have a lesson titled “Now Is Come the Kingdom.” Clearly it is the same thing as Revelation 11:15. Meanwhile, “destroy those who destroy the earth” is a background hum, part of the meaning of – which the Lord Jesus… will render inoperative by His presence made visible and known. Whatever that means is NOT our focus, for our eyes are caught by the most wondrous depiction of the GOSPEL yet seen inside the creation.

We are caught by the Ark of the Covenant made visible.

The Apocalypse. Then the sanctuary of God inside of heaven was opened and the Ark of His Covenant was seen inside of His sanctuary, the place of His dwelling. – This is the Unveiling of Jesus Christ. – As the Church, we are the place of God’s dwelling inside all heaven-earth. We are the Ark of the Covenant; we are the Covenant inside the Ark; we are the Mercy Seat of God. This is the definition and meaning of the Apocalypse.

The Tabernacle of Moses is the structure of the Gospel and the Ark of the Covenant is a picture to us of the completion of that Gospel.

A Profoundly Clear Picture. Until the Philistines stole the Ark, no one ever actually saw it, except the High Priest once a year. When the priests took up the Ark that Israel might journey forth, they draped the top of the Veil over the Ark. When they carried the Ark, the only thing anyone ever saw was the Veil. The Gospel says that the Veil is gone, but no one believes it.

But what is the Ark? The Ark is a wooden box, our weak humanity forever covered by God our Father inside and out. Upon the heart of our humanity, hearts of flesh, is the Word of God written, His Covenant. Upon that box is the Mercy Seat of God, sprinkled with Blood, the throne of heaven where we sit. And the going forth of the Ark is the Kingdom.

The Covenant Inside. And upon that Mercy Seat as it goes forth is the Pillar of Fire, the continuous entrance of God as Love through us into all creation.

We will start with – What does it mean that we are the Covenant inside of the Ark? Look at the picture just above. The Pillar of Fire, that is, God coming through, is actually touching down on the Covenant inside the Ark. Although that Fire flows out as Mercy, yet it is Covenant that is the Door. Consider this re-wording. “We have this treasure (the Covenant) in earthen vessels (the Ark) so that the LOVE might be out from God, for we do not Love of ourselves.”

The Entrance of God. Now, this is the critical topic of A Highway for God, that, because the Covenant is written upon our hearts, our hearts are the entrance of God into creation. BUT – the momentous reality presented by this verse in the moment of its fulfillment is the words “now seen.” “Now seen” is the Apocalypse, the cover removed from the eyes, a reality that takes on ever greater clarity for us.

Do you know what it really means? It means that for the first time since Adam’s rebellion, humans on this earth are actually capable of loving one another. When God is acknowledged, then God is Love.

The Only Human Reality. Blood Covenant means a binding connection that makes two to be as one and many to be as one. But it does not mean “oneness,” for “oneness” is just a gimmick – as well as that which erases the personal.

Now, it is the Ark that is made visible, not the Covenant inside. We will look at the Ark last. Humans in our world, including ourselves, cannot conceive of a human reality where “Love One Another” is the only way of living. “We are the Covenant” means we are that bond with God that makes “Love One Another” the only human reality.

We Are the Covenant. Christ Jesus, the All-Connection of God, is written upon our hearts with Spirit ink as every Word God speaks. Our hearts are now become that same bond between God our Father and every created thing inside our sphere. The Love, then, that dwells inside our shared Hheart with Father, is the entrance of God into His creation. And that Love flows out from us in the melody, harmony, and rhythm of every Word that is Christ Jesus.

Know God with You. Love RULES. The Mercy Seat that covers the Covenant is the authority of God, the throne of heaven-earth; it is where we are seated. Revelation 20:4 – I saw thrones and THEY sat upon them, and judgment was given to THEM – is the exact same thing as this line – The Ark of His Covenant was seen.

We are the dispensers of Grace, that is, – KNOW God with you. In other words, we are the KNOWING that causes others also to know God, that is, to Love. Why would anyone ever think that the Apocalypse was anything other than the gospel – Christians loving one another?

We Are the Mercy Seat. Because our shared Hheart with God contains the Covenant, that is, Christ Jesus, we are also the Mercy Seat upon the Ark. There we are seated as the rule of Love going out into the ordering of all things. We are the throne of Grace. Because we Love one another in Christ Community, we impart the knowledge of God to all. As we walk forth together with God, so our every step orders the unfolding of the ages, a Kingdom of life forever.

Being Made Visible. Then, “the Ark made visible” is also the resurrection, that is, the most profound knowing of God in our Christian experience. You see, God, in Himself, cannot be seen, ever. Yes, the Ark is gold on the outside, that is God. But what is it that is actually visible? – Us, our limited humanity.

David’s tent then teaches us a most wondrous thing about the Ark. One does not look for God’s dwelling-place to find the Ark of His Presence. Rather, one looks for the Ark of His Presence to find God’s dwelling place. And that is us in Christ Community. Here is the EXACT SAME thing. – The aroma of His knowledge being made visible through us in every place (2 Corinthians 2:14).

We Are the Ark Made Visible. As our bodies are swallowed up by Life, so we are the Ark of the Covenant made visible, the deepest knowing of the Father just being Himself inside of creation, the Unveiling of Jesus Christ. Where we walk, there is the presence of God made-known; all created things come to us as God’s devoted temple, that they might learn Love through us.

The Circle of Life. To be the Entrance of God into creation means that we keep the DOOR to God on the one side wide open while at the same time we keep the door to humans on the other side wide open. Our Door wide open to God is “Ask and Believe,” that is, saying, “Let it be to me” to every Word God speaks, that is, continually giving God permission to enter, that is, FAITH.

Yet God coming through is always the Gift of Himself to us first, and thus we reciprocate, that is, we give God back to Himself by giving the same to others. This is the circle of Life forever, the bringing forth of Life. - And she brought forth a son, seized into God.

Ask and Believe. Lord Jesus, You say that You live inside of our hearts through our faith inside of You. Lord Jesus, You say that You are our life and our Source, and that we are Your completion as we love one another. Lord Jesus, we are so filled with You that we know with all certainty that we are the Ark of the Covenant, the presence of God made known, His knowledge, going forth through us into every place. And, Lord Jesus, You say that we are committed to share life together as Your revelation. Lord Jesus, we believe that You are always coming out from God and always returning to the Father; we know that You are telling us the truth. Let the very depths of Your Heart be our hearts as well, Lord Jesus. – You have answered us.

Reading for Next Time. The Spirit of God made me to know that we are not finished with Revelation 11. I am adding two lessons, although they will not include a Jesus Secret page. So – the next lesson is titled “Back to My Two Witnesses.” You might want to read Revelation 11 again for next time.

And those dwelling upon the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets have examined by torment those dwelling upon the earth. – If the Spirit of God means that the sea is the unregenerate and the “earth” is Christians who “draw back,” then might this mean something entirely different inside the truth?

Let’s Pray Together. “God, our Father, the fulfillment of all that You have spoken is at hand. Everything is ready; everything is in its place. We set our eyes and our hearts upon Your Church, more than a hundred million believers in Jesus now upon this earth, each one of whom belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ as the revelation of His Glory.

“Father, there is no greater privilege than that You would be Love through us for Your people, that they might see You and know that You are Love through them as well. Father, we ask for Your purity, Your steadfastness, Your confidence, that we might stand through all inside of You.

“Father, we ask inside of the name of Jesus that You would send out Your gathering angels, that You would call every one who belongs to Jesus on this planet into the full knowledge of All Salvation now. Father, enclothe Your Church with the Lord Jesus Christ, that she might come out from not knowing You, never to return.

“Father, we ask inside of the name of Jesus that You would send out Your mighty angels to protect Your people all across this earth from the evil one. We ask that You would open the windows of heaven that she might find provision separate from the world system. Let us be Your Mercy for Your people’s sake. We know, Oh God, that You always answer us. It is so.”