56. We Sit in Judgment

And I saw thrones, and THEY sat upon them, and judgment was given to THEM.

Authority in action is not power, but judgment. We are made like God in judgment before we are like Him in any other way.

“It is not by inward fortitude nor by outward ability, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord (Zechariah 4). – For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure (John 4:34). The One tasked with the application of power is the gentlest One of all. Yet a River is powerful indeed.

The First Resurrection. We pray and angels execute. We judge and the Spirit flows. This was the role given to mankind from the beginning. The truth is, we have been well exercised in this role on the negative side. Now we are judging all things to Life.

But let’s set our line into its larger context, that which we set out in the last lesson. Verse 5 states – This is the first resurrection. Again, Revelation 20 is a Chapter most amenable to speculative fancy on ideas that are irrelevant to us right now. We have one purpose in our study, to KNOW what God is doing through us right now into our world.

What We See. The last lesson positioned us in this way of seeing, that we are looking forward from right here and now towards the unfolding of the Age of Tabernacles out from our bellies, an unfolding that will affect things visible on this earth more and more.

Inside the perimeters of that view, as we consider the next several years, we see three things. The most noticeable of the three is the screams of evil “power” seeking to overwhelm all even as they are exposed as empty and vanish from the human experience, psychopathic humans first and fallen angels second. Second, we see our bodies being swallowed up by LIFE!

The Most Important. The third thing we see is the Church of Christ, our Christian brethren all across the earth. And we “SEE” our Christian brethren as a woman clothed with the sun, clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The first thing is a distraction only. The second is what is most important to each of us personally, for our bodies being swallowed up by life is the full answer to every desire we have ever known. But the third is most important to Father and Son, These who have come to us to make Their Home with us. Because we would share Hheart with God, we allow Their Desire to shape our desire.

Priming the Pump. Now, when I began writing, I could see nothing concerning what would be in this letter. So I “primed the pump” by bringing in our text and by referencing the last lesson. What happened next is always wondrous, but no longer surprising, for suddenly God’s purpose for Revelation 20:4-5 regarding us right now is threatening to require two lessons instead of one. We will try to focus it to one.

I have referenced these thrones and those who sit upon them in terms of the ages to come, and that topic would fit in Symmorphy VII: Completion. But it does not fit here. We want to know what they mean for us RIGHT NOW.

The Mechanism of the Resurrection. What God did in these two verses, set into the flow of the wrap-up of this age of folly, is to give us the exact mechanism of the resurrection. But then, a veil was cast over these lines, until the time of the unveiling. – That time is now.

Let’s set out the exact progression. 1. Thrones. 2. THEY, sitting upon the thrones. 3. Judgment given to THEM. 4. A resurrected Church. And suddenly, instead of a blank Jesus Secret page, we are trying to keep our topic from becoming two pages. The exercise of our authority has an immediate and overwhelming effect – LIFE!

Our Jesus Secret Page. Our page will begin, as usual, with the statements of faith from our passage. Then, we want to bring in a full definition of “judgment,” for we must know what it means. Yet the context of “THRONES” and the dictionary definitions of “judgment” must be woven together.

The next box is titled “The Power of Seeing.” Seeing and judging are essentially the same thing. Judgment is the source of seeing and seeing comes out from judgment. Judgment is substance; seeing causes appearance. The next box will be an “Ask and Believe,” followed by the immediate result of our seeing, “A Resurrected Church.”

Statements of Faith. Through our expressed faith in Christ, Jesus through us, Michael and his angels bind Satan and all demons and remove them from the human experience. At the same time, the authority of Christ through us takes possession of the places of authority and influence throughout heaven-earth formerly under the control of darkness. We sit upon thrones and judgment is given to us. We judge all things through the seeing of God and to Life, each in its season. We judge and are part of a Church clothed with Jesus, having refused all sufficiency in self, Jesus her only Head. We live and reign with Christ a thousand years.

Plural – Many. We begin with “Thrones.” Thrones in this context has a double meaning, intended by God, in the same way that Jesus’ words in John 14:2 have an intended double meaning. – “There are many rooms in which to dwell inside My Father’s house.” “Many rooms” has two meanings. First, it means there are many places inside of God, a place for each one of us, and second, it means that God has many places in which to dwell, a place in each one of us.

“Thrones” is plural – many. First, it means ALL the places of authority in heaven-earth filled by us. And second, it means each one of us with a personal place of authority.

Authority and Seeing. Here is the entire text of our authority and our seeing.

For a brief while, You made mankind as lower than angels; You crowned him with glory and honor and have appointed him in charge over the works of Your hands. You have put all in subjection under the feet of humans” (Psalm 8:4-6). For in already and always subjecting all to mankind, God left nothing not subject. Now, however, we do not yet see [by outward appearance] all having been subjected. However, we see Jesus, for a brief while having been made as one lower than angels, through the suffering of death, having been crowned with glory and honor, so that by grace coming out from God, He might eat up death for the sake of all (Hebrews 2:7-9).

Get Your Eyes on Jesus. Do you see those last words. – “That He might eat up death for the sake of all.” That is our present focus and task, the revelation of Jesus proven faithful and True.

When God showed me Himself through Jesus alone, in the fall of 2011, and then imposed 1 John 3:16 into my growing awareness, He was saying to me, “Daniel, get your eyes on Jesus.” – You and I have done that. By this we know love, in that He set forth His soul for us (see Jesus, who He is and what He is doing), and we also are committed to setting forth our souls for our brethren (the authority given to us). To what end? – That Jesus through us might eat up death for the sake of all.

Seven Places of Authority. Let’s expand on “thrones” as the many places of real authority found inside heaven-earth. Here are those seven from Lesson 23, “We Are the Trumpet Sound.”
1. The authority of Essence, the Word that a thing is.
2. The authority of Entrance, through thanksgiving.
3. The authority of Covenant, that which connects.
4. The authority of Means, how things are accomplished.
5. The authority of Response, the right given to every created thing.
6. The authority of Condition, liberty for all.
7. The authority of Knowing – the Father known as Love.

Confusion and Falseness. Humans have the authority. Demons move as authority in the heavenly realms only as agents of their masters. Here is the AUTHORITY that rules all things in the present age of folly. 1. Pretending superiority. 2. Ungrateful in all. 3. Separation or false co-dependence. 4. Dependence on self – “just do it.” 5. Unbelief. 6. Imposing control. 7. Blaming God for everything.

It’s easy to see the confusion and the falseness in these thrones as they are now filled by screaming humans. Yet their power to overwhelm by appearance cannot be disregarded. Our job is to fill these thrones with Jesus proven faithful and True inside His Church.

The Dictionary Definitions. Now, here is Webster’s 1926. Judgment: 1. The pronouncing of an opinion or decision of an authoritative nature; also, the opinion or decision given. 2. The act of determining, as in courts, what is conformable to law and justice; also, the determination, decision, decree, or sentence of a court. 5. Justice or righteousness.

6. The mental act of judging; the operation of the mind involving comparison and discrimination, by which knowledge of the values and relations of things, whether of moral qualities, intellectual concepts, logical propositions, or material facts, is mentally asserted or formulated.

“Judgment” Continued. 7. The power or faculty of performing such operations (as in #6), the faculty of judging or deciding rightly, justly, or wisely. 8. The conclusion or result of judging; a decision.

Now, in the levels of thinking as used by educators in shaping student learning, judgment or evaluation is the fifth level of thinking, while creating or synthesis is the highest. This judgment means – “Making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing.”

In a court of law, the criteria used by a judge are the law, principles of justice, and precedence, judgments that have come before. In mental judgment, each of us judges by our own self-determined base definitions we think are correct.

Authority and Purpose. In both human courts and God’s, there is what is called a separation of powers. The judge has the authority to make determinations, but no ability to force those judgments. A different entity, the jailer, has the power to enforce judgment, but not the right to make those judgments. The same is true with us. We have the authority to make judgments, but only the Devoted Spirit has the power to cause our judgments to take effect.

Our criteria is the Word, Christ made personal as you. The final purpose of our judgment is that all would know the Father, that all creation would reconnect with God, that God might be all inside of all.

Turning on the Lights. Typically, the place of judgment is a “seat.” But our place of judgment is a “throne.” This means that our authority goes beyond making determinations; it also includes taking possession of the places of influence in the heavens. Judgment is turning on the lights.

In dealing with an individual situation, then, our goal is honesty, for without honesty, no one can be saved. Salvation is Jesus in you; if you imagine that you don’t need Jesus (dishonesty), then how could you be saved? The purpose of giving an account of one’s life is to come to honesty in all things, that is, Jesus in all. When there is dishonesty and refusal, we close the door for a season; but our judgment is always, in the end, to Life.

Judgment (partly from Webster’s 1926). We decide with authority; we determine what is true by the seeing of God. We compare and discriminate based on a true knowledge of the hearts of others. We decide rightly, justly, and wisely. We judge all things by the Word that is Jesus, Christ made personal as each. The Spirit of God flows out to accomplish our judgments in His devoted way. We take possession of all realms of authority in heaven-earth, dispossessing all the powers of darkness. We judge the Church to be clothed with Jesus; we judge her to Life.

Synergeoing with God. And God saw the light, that it was good (Genesis 1:4). – Those who love God are synergeoing with God, directing all things into goodness (Romans 8:28).

We are talking about seeing our Christian brethren, who, by outward appearance right now, are a prostitute. Now, our fight is not to persuade our brethren of anything. Our fight is to insert the authority of Christ into the realms of authority inside of which have been found only arrogance and confusion. We do this by reciprocity, that is, synergeoing with God, giving to others what God has freely bestowed upon us.

Three Parts of Judgment. The first thing God gave us inside of Jesus was that He called us to be justly innocent and clean. The second thing He gave us was to call us His own, His beloved. We then turn and give the same to our brothers and sisters. One who does not do this does not know Jesus as He is and does not perceive the meaning of the Father.

Judgment has three parts. First, we see as God sees. Second we speak Christ into the situation or persons involved. And third, we expect the Devoted Spirit to accomplish all, each in its time. The goal is always honesty, that is, receiving Jesus.

How Things Become Good. Now, this God has taught us to do. But what we must know is the incredible levels of power that move through this way of seeing, that is, synergeoing with God. And – this is the only way any particulate of creation can ever become GOOD, through these thrones of judgment.

We together take possession of the centers of authority in heaven-earth, thus evicting the squatters who had moved into those places when Adam turned them to darkness. This action is removing the seals from the Word of Christ written on the hearts of His Church, Revelation 6. At the same time, each one of us judges every step we take with Father to be GOOD, a step inside the favor of God.

God’s Essence. When you judge your way to be good, it becomes good. When you judge your brother and sister to be clothed with Christ, the powers of darkness are being evicted from the heavens surrounding the Church. When we together call our brethren into LIFE, massive changes are, in fact, taking place in the heavens.

This is God’s essence, and thus, the essence of God-with-us, of a life shared with the Father. – God… who is continuously giving life to the dead and calling into existence things not existing (Romans 4:17). Our ability to CALL our brethren into life is greater than all the powers of evil whispering darkness.

Three Levels of Judgment. Again, just as judgment has three parts, so it operates at three levels. The first level is each one of us, our own throne, our own judgment passed upon our circumstances and our shared life with God, that it is good, to place by seeing every moment inside the goodness and favor of God. The second level of judgment is reciprocity, our decisions found in loving one another. Love is a choice; we choose, we judge LOVE. This second level is one to the other, mutual.

Then, the third level of judgment is we together, already calling our every step together to be GOOD, now filling the places of authority in all heaven-earth with the SEEING of God, continuously giving LIFE and goodness to all things.

The Power of Seeing. Nothing created can be good except it be seen as good and called into goodness by God, and also by us. The essence of God is to give Life and to call goodness into being. We see as God sees; we speak Christ into others; and then we expect the Devoted Spirit to accomplish our judgment. This is the task God gave to humans from the beginning. As we judge by the measure of Christ, synergeoing with God, the surpassing beyond-ness of power flows through us. We judge our own way to be shared with God and filled with His goodness and favor. We judge our fellowship together to be Love, God among us. Then, we judge our brethren, the entire Church of Christ, to be clothed with Jesus; we judge her to LIFE!

A Life of Trust. In essence, by operating in this powerful way, we are simply sitting down into the normal Christian life, that which God intended from the beginning. Yet this authority that is ours is not something we take for ourselves, but only as how it is we share life with God and with one another.

This is a life of trust, of synergeoing with God and reciprocating with one another, a life of Joy. And thus, in taking our seat of great Authority, we enter with thanksgiving, we ask God-with-us, and we believe with all expectation in the Devoted Spirit that we receive all that we ask.

Ask and Believe. God, our Father, we thank You that You have symmorphosed us with Jesus in the exercise of Your authority and judgment, that we might see as You see, that we might synergeo with You, and that we might call all things into pure and intrinsic goodness. Father, we thank You that this throne inside of You where we sit is a place of utter trust, that You are with us in all. We know and expect, Father, that our Devoted Spirit accomplishes all that we together intend; we know that the surpassing beyond-ness of Your power flows through us into Your Church, giving Life to all, that death might be eaten up by LIFE!

Life and Authority. We are asking God for LIFE for our brethren, the Church. And yes, we are talking about their bodies and ours being swallowed up by Life. – That He might eat up death for the sake of all.

For just exactly as the Father awakens and gives life to the dead, in this same way, the Son also gives life to whomever He desires. – Indeed, just as the Father possesses life inside of Himself, so also He gave to the Son to possess life inside of Himself, and He gave to Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man (John 5:21 & 26-27).

The Essence of the Gospel. The life unfolding the ages God has given to us, and this life is inside of His Son. The one who possesses the Son has the life. – If anyone should see his brother… he will ask, and God will give him life [for his brother] (1 John 5:12 & 16).

What I am suggesting is that Revelation 20:4 is the fulfillment in power in the heavens of John 5 and 1 John 5. This is the essence and meaning of the Gospel. That essence is that the resurrection out from the dead, our bodies and the bodies of our brethren whether in heaven or on earth, SWALLOWED up by Life, that resurrection comes through these Thrones, through our judgment.

My Dream. And now I understand the dream God gave to me a couple of years ago. Let me recount it again. In my dream, I was standing with Maureen in a valley. Before us was as a wall of rock. Even as we stood there, I could hear Life flowing towards us as through a channel, bubbling in the expectation of Life. Then Life, coming out from the channel in the rock, sprayed across us as like a joyous mist and we were young again, as if I were around thirty and Maureen twenty-four. I knew, in the dream, that this was a process, and that it was happening right now.

Life Flowing Through. Since that dream, I have had the question, can resurrection happen before the final Day of the Feast of Tabernacles? We know that Paul said that those in the heavens-only will receive their new physical bodies in the moment before our own bodies are swallowed up by life.

Revelation 20:4 enables us to see how both of these things are true. The resurrection is a process flowing through and out from the experience of sharing life with God, calling every step we take with Him to be good. The end of that process is a resurrected Church, but the flow of that process is not “as if” we are resurrected, but rather the dynamism of LIFE now, synergeoing with God.

A Resurrected Church. The essence of resurrection is the life of Jesus we share with the Father right now. As we judge our way to be good, so Life flows into the Church. As we call our brethren into Life, so the Resurrection becomes. This is the glory that Jesus shares with us that we might see death eaten up by Life, that we might call forth a resurrected Church.

As this living Church stands forth upon this earth, millions of believers in Jesus from both sides of the veil, so our JOY knows no bounds. God shares Hheart with us and we with Him. We synergeo with Him in all judgment, directing all things into intrinsic goodness, bringing forth the normal Christian life as Communities of Christ, the New Jerusalem all across the earth.

Making All Things Good. And I saw thrones, and THEY sat upon them, and judgment was given to THEM. This is the gospel; it is the normal Christian life.

Yet now we know that we receive life from God even as we ask God for life for our brothers and sisters, that we might be the channel of that life for them, together with God. This is simple and true. It’s how God Himself exists. And it is POWER beyond anything any human has ever known, the gentle power of the Devoted Spirit accomplishing all that we and God together intend, a river of life making all things good.

Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is titled “We Are the Tabernacle.” For that lesson, read Revelation 21 two or three times. We will have two lessons on this chapter, the second being “We Measure Christ Community.”

The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself, their God, will be with them.

I love the word, “tabernacle.” I love the fact that in all the Christian communities in which I lived, our main building, where we ate and worshipped together, we always called, “the Tabernacle.” I would, with tears, that this be the name used in the same way by all for the next thousand years.

Let’s Pray Together. “God, our Father, inside of Jesus, we synergeo with You directing all things in our lives and in Your Church into goodness and LIFE.

“Inside of Jesus, we call our brethren, millions of believers in Jesus all across the earth, into LIFE, into seeing and knowing Jesus as He is, into knowing the Father, into the resurrection out from the dead. Inside of Jesus, we judge all things to Life. We judge our own way by goodness, we judge our fellowship together by Love, and we judge Your Church, oh God, to be clothed with Jesus.

“Let it be, even as we speak. Father, You have answered us.”