21. We Have the Seal of God

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Writing “The Great Reset” gave us clarity for this lesson. Note that the two parts of Chapter 7 are inserted into the vision after the removal of dishonesty and before the removal of all accusation against God.

Chapter 7 is the opening of the Scroll, just prior to its final opening, the beginning of the revelation of Jesus Christ. We are looking at the dawning fruit of this deliverance service. Verses 1-8 are about the sealing of the servants of God in their foreheads, and verses 9-17 are about the multitude of the Christian Church, now living in the full knowledge of the Salvation of God.
  
The Enflowing of Word. We have demonstrated beyond question that the elements of John’s vision are given to add power in our knowing to the realities of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing is known separately from the key Gospel truths. Before laying out the remainder of our page, let’s begin with the enflowing of Word.

We hold the seal of the living God, the Lamb inside of us. We pause the afflictions normally come upon all for the sake of the seal. We seal the servants of God on their foreheads, that there might be a firstfruits of Christ in the midst of the Church. We establish the heart of the Kingdom upon the earth. We see a vast multitude coming out from great travail, out from the opening of the seals, out from a mighty deliverance service, standing in the knowledge of the presence of the Lamb.

The Church knows All-Salvation now returning to the Father. The Church speaks good words and good grace. The Church comes out from great travail. The Church lives inside the absolute redemption of the Lamb. The Church lives in the full knowledge of God. The Church lives as the Community of Christ, the fulfilment of the Covenant, God among us. The Church knows Father-with-us, God arising as fountains of living water, inside of all.

The Jesus Secret Page. We have two boxes, now, on the Jesus Secret page, each with two columns and two headings. The first box contains “The Seal” and “Sealing the Kingdom.” It is the larger of the two boxes. The second box contains “Salvation Returning” and “God-Among-Us.”

I now understand how all the seeming disparate parts of the remainder of John’s vision fit together perfectly. Revelation 8:1 ought to be placed inside Chapter 7 as the completion of the opening of the Scroll. Then, Revelation Chapters 8-22 are simply a series of visions meant to increase our understanding of these two parts of the opening of the Scroll, the unveiling of Christ.

I Know this Seal. What is the Seal of the living God? I know what this Seal is, for it has been written upon all my thinking for ten years now, this May of 2023.

Let me give the intimate and personal side of that Seal first, before we look at its full meaning and definition. This last week, I was looking at a picture Maureen had found of four of the ministries of the move of God, taken probably in the mid-seventies, just before I first went to Graham River Farm. The brothers in the picture were Noah Nothing, Tom Rowe, Buddy Cobb, and Sam Fife, as I first knew them.

The Commitment of My Heart. As I looked at this picture, my heart was seized in tears concerning the Word God spoke into me through these men, and concerning the COMMITMENT of my heart to that Word and to the Communities of Christ in which it was planted. In my tears, I said, “Father, I gave my heart to You and to this Word fulfilled in Your Church. That was forever.”

In that moment, I heard God speaking to me His next Word in the unfolding of Christ through me. I heard His voice saying, ~ “I have loved you with an everlasting Love.” ~ I knew He was talking about me all the way through.

Personal to Me. That was a first for me, for as an Asperger’s man, accepting such a wondrous reality as personal to me has always been outside of my ken. I cannot pretend.

In the hearing of that personal word to me, I knew that God loved me personally, separately from all others, from the start, and through every stumbling step of my life. I knew that God was affirming that the Word I received from Him through these men, and the Church as Christ Community to which I had committed myself in my early twenties, was the unswerving story of my life.

I knew that God is about to do something wondrous.

Rooted and Grounded. This “Seal” of the living God is nothing other than what is found in-between Christ living inside our hearts and being filled with all the fulness of God.

That you, being rooted and grounded inside of love, might be fully able to seize hold of, to comprehend together with all the devoted ones, what is the breadth and length and height and depth [the full extent of God], and to know even more the surpassing, beyond-all knowledge of the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:17-19).

The Seal of the living God is being rooted and grounded inside of Love; it is knowing the beyond-all knowledge of the love of Christ; it is found in the gathering of the Church.

Defining a “Seal.” The Greek word has the same meaning as the English word. It is a stamp with an image on it, typically pressed into wax, that served the same as a signature today. On the one hand it signifies that a document has not been opened. On the other hand it is a stamp of approval, as in, “this meets all my expectations.”

In Chapter 6 the seals are keeping the scroll from being opened, whereas in Chapter 7 the seal is the mark of God on the forehead, that is, upon the mind. That same seal in the gospel begins upon the heart. Having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil consciousness (Hebrews 10). Sprinkled = blood = a personal Love.

A New Day Dawning. We will skip over the winds and the unjust harm that they cause, placing all of that issue into the next two sessions. What we want to do here is place this action of sealing into the unfolding of the Scroll, and into the next few years.

I saw another angel coming up from the rising sun. John saw this wondrous reality right after dishonesty and falsely accusing the Lamb has been removed from the Church. Yet the issue of accusation against God is just ahead.

Coming up from the rising of the sun. – This is the dawning of the Third Day, the arising of the resurrection and the dawning of the Age of Tabernacles. This is pointing directly to the woman clothed with the sun.

The Issue of the Seal. The issue of the Seal is the accusation against God, coming from humans and angels together. Adam and those with him say, “God is NOT good.” The serpent and those with him say, “God is NOT telling you the truth.”

When God sealed me with His seal in May of 2013, from that moment on, I have never departed in my mind from the acknowledgement that God is GOOD in sharing every circumstance of my life and that God is TRUE in every Word of the gospel He has spoken into me. I am still human, in all my ins and outs, but from then on I have not imaged myself as being separate from my Father.

The Seal. The seal of God upon us begins with Jesus’ command to the Father just before Gethsemane, “Father, KEEP them; Father, make them Devoted to You.” This came out from Jesus’ personal Love for each one of us, “I have loved you with an everlasting love,” “rooted and grounded inside of Love.” We are sealed in our minds as we know this Love, that God is always good in every circumstance, that God is always true in every Word He speaks in the gospel, that God shares every moment of our lives with us and we with Him. Being sealed of God, we then turn, with that same Love and place all our brothers and sisters into God-Love outpoured. We seal our brethren into Christ living as them, for they are as Jesus to us.

The Firstfruits. Why did God use the names of twelve tribes of Israel to define the sealing of His firstfruits?

I saw that the Lamb was standing upon Mount Zion and with Him one hundred forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. – They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased out from humanity as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb (Revelation 14).

This passage from Chapter 14 contains the same things we see here in Chapter 7. Yes, we are this firstfruits, but we are also those who seal these who belong to God, inside our own hearts.

The Number of the Kingdom. Twelve is the number of the Kingdom. Twice twelve, the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles of the Lamb, are the Kingdom doubled, the Kingdom fulfilled. But twelve times twelve is the heart of the Kingdom, the fabric that makes it all work.

We understand from the pattern of Story that God’s Story is two stories in one, the Story of Jesus coming through Israel and the Story of Us, merged together as one inside of Christ. Everyone from Abel to John the Baptist is inside of Christ; they are Christians today, part of that cloud of witnesses hovering with all expectation of faith over us.

Carried on Our Hearts. God’s purpose in using these twelve names is to take us back to Aaron and the twelve gemstones representing God’s people that he carried upon his heart. This is the same picture as the Ark of the Covenant standing firm in the lowest place on earth until every single little one belonging to Jesus had crossed into all the life of Christ. It is the same heart written now upon us, that we would return to the Father carrying every believer in Jesus in all heaven-earth inside our hearts.

Then we turn to our list of names and we are hit with the costliness of our task. I choose to love God’s people ONLY because Jesus first loves me and ONLY by His example.

Shallow and Selfish. Because these are God’s “chosen people,” one would expect to find deep meanings of gospel truth inside these names and the tribes they represent. I proceeded, then, to fill out three slides with the meanings of these names, Jacob’s spoken blessings, and the history of the tribes. By the time I was finished I was in grief.

Two shallow and selfish sisters hated each other, and in their petty spats, they named their sons whatever envy or lust they were feeling at the moment. Jacob changed only Benjamin’s name, the rest he ignored. His “blessing” showed a profound dislike for most of them. Only Judah and Joseph met his approval.

A Complete Mess. The history of the tribes was no different. Yes, from Judah comes David and Jesus, but also Manasseh and Jeconiah. From Joseph/Ephraim comes Joshua, but also Ahab.

I come away from writing out those names with one over-riding thought. God’s people are a COMPLETE MESS. Christians can be shallow, selfish, manipulative, dishonest, narrow-minded, self-righteous, and downright dislikable.

In February of 1979, Sam Fife stood in front of 500 devoted Christians who had given all to follow the word he preached and said, “You are all shallow and fleshy. I am thinking of stepping aside and devoting myself to a handful of young people who are real about the truth.”

One Difference. Don’t be mistaken; Jesus felt the same about you and me. God sent Him to His own and His own received Him not. Jesus turned His back on all the petty selfishness and shallow fleshiness of His people and walked away.

EXCEPT – there was one difference between Jesus and most others whom God has sent to His people. Before He allowed Himself to be pushed away, Jesus drank His Father’s cup. Jesus took you and me, in all the awfulness of our rebellion, into Himself and carried us through our darkness and into His love. AND WE ALSO for our brothers and sisters.

Firstfruits. When we get to Revelation 14, we will define the firstfruits. Here is how we picture the purpose of these who are sealed. The Church is as a crystal, thus she is defined as “foursquare.” This “twelve-times-twelve” is the fabric of togetherness spread throughout the whole, those whose hearts are given for the care of all.

The firstfruits are the core of every Community of Christ. Right now, they are a mess. This is why we do not judge by outward appearance; neither do we consider any thought of “worthiness” or “unworthiness.” How could we be saved if we did not need Salvation?

And We Also. Jesus loves us with an everlasting Love. When we accused Him of evil; when we ran and hid ourselves; when we betrayed Him; when we denied Him; when we cried for His execution; when we mocked Him and refused to believe His word – He loved us; He sealed us into the Father’s Love inside His Heart and He carried us all the way through. Set me as a seal upon your heart (S-of-S 8).

AND WE ALSO – do the same for our brothers and sisters.

We seal the firstfruits of Christ by placing all our brethren, whose outward appearance stinks; who are contemptuous to us, into the Love of God poured out into our hearts. – Sealed!

Sealing the Kingdom. We are sealed as the firstfruits of God in His Kingdom; then we turn and seal our brethren in their minds into the Love of God that there might be a complete number of firstfruits for the sake of the larger Church. This is a costly Love, for our brethren are like us, shallow and fleshy, manipulative and dishonest. Jesus received us when we were enemies of God, not counting our falseness, but only His Love. We receive our brothers and sisters in the same way. It is this outward expression of God-Love that wins the hearts of many, that they also would turn and be that same love towards others inside the Communities of Christ gathering around them. In this manner the Kingdom is built out from the firstfruits of Love.

Out from Travail. Nicene Christianity has interpreted Revelation 7:9-17 as a description of what it’s like when we are “in heaven.” We reject such slander against the Gospel, for we have already cast down that pale horse which worships death.

Revelation 7:9-17 is the fulfillment of the Gospel inside the Church right here on this planet. – God does what He says He will do – right here on this earth, right now in this age. This “multitude which no one can count,” millions upon millions, comes out from great travail, not “tribulation.” Tribulation means “bad things happening to you.” Travail means “bringing forth LIFE through all the pressure.”

Salvation to God. We are already familiar with every part of the description of this glorious Church unfolding here and now, but I might come back to this layout in an upcoming lesson.

For our page, I want to focus on two things, “Salvation to God” and “will tabernacle among them.” The phrase “salvation to God” has never really meant anything to anyone. It just was “holy sounding” words. – Does God “need” salvation? When we understand God’s principle of reciprocity, it means everything. This is Isaiah 55 fulfilled, that every Word spoken by God returns to Him, out from the earth, complete, having accomplished all God intends.

From Us to Many. The fact that this is the first word spoken by this vast multitude of people means that every one in that assembly KNOWS and believes into the full Salvation of God, every Word of the Gospel fulfilled in us here and now. We do not return into all the fulfillment of God without two things, without full confidence that we are already there, and without taking our brothers and sisters with us.

“Salvation to God” means that every member of that unveiled Body of Christ carries all of their brethren in their hearts with them, each one as the Lord Jesus Christ to them. It means they see Jesus in all who belong to Him.

Salvation Returning. The Church of Jesus Christ brings forth the Knowledge of God in this earth out from great travail. “Salvation to God,” the first words spoken by a glorious Church, is the return to God of every Word spoken fulfilled. Salvation returning to God means every member of that Church is confident in all of Christ now and that every member carries their brothers and sisters back to the Father inside their own hearts. These are the two things we plant inside the hearts of all, “Believe into Jesus” and “Love one another.” 

Christ Community. Here are the words of the New Covenant, spoken by Jeremiah and repeated by Hebrews. I will place My laws in their through-minds, and upon their hearts I will inscribe them; and I will be God inside of them, and they will be a people inside of Me.

Since my twenties, I have known from these words that what God WANTS is to be known by all creation as Love-Among-Us, the Father Himself dwelling inside the gathering together of His people, inside all their interactions together. God-Among-Us is Christ Community.

In Us for Others. I committed myself to Christian Community because I knew that here alone was the dwelling place of God, God tabernacling among us. In spite of all the flaws in those communities, I have found nothing that even resembles God-among-us in any expression apart from Spirit-filled Christian Community. I despair of convincing anyone that knowing God and knowing one another are the same, that Salvation Revealed is Church Life.

Here is the point. – When God finds His own Heart in ours, willing to drink the same Cup Jesus drank, the universe will change. This is the seal of God in us for others.

God-Among-Us. Our goal is to be like Jesus, returning to the Father with every Word fulfilled. The Father’s goal is the Church, many local Communities of Christ, God tabernacling among all their interactions together. Above all things God desires a dwelling place, a temple, a body through which He can show Himself as He is to all created things. That body is local Church life, Christians walking together daily in commitment and in liberty, loving one another with pure hearts fervently. Christians loving one another is God made known.

Only the Lost Need Salvation. Going through the names of Israel left me in tears, in the realization that God’s people are so often arrogant and cruel BECAUSE they are ignorant against just how much each one desperately needs the Salvation of God.

“Only the lost need salvation; only the forgiven wash His feet with tears.”

Deliverance is required; we cast down the accuser. But a “wake-up” is also needed, that piercing realization that in myself, I am fallen short of God. Why do I keep myself so fervently inside of my God? Why do I insist on carrying my brethren with me? Because apart from God, I am staggeringly, overwhelmingly LOST.

The Seal Given to Us. We are searching for the heart and center of what everything is all about for those who would be part of God for the sake of His people. – God, however, establishes Himself as love into us, that when we were still sinners – when we were enemies, hostile to God, Christ died for us, for our sakes (Romans 5:8).

By every measurement, Christianity on this earth today is a joke, a disaster, a FAILED experiment. Every true ministry ever has despaired over the selfishness of Christians. This is the seal of God given to us, that we would love all who belong to Jesus with the same love by which Jesus loves us. By this means alone will Christians know they are loved.

Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is titled “Many Battles and One.” Again, this is not a Jesus Secret page, although we will include a box from this lesson on the page, “We Are the Trumpet Sound.”

To prepare for the next lesson, I would like you to read “The Battle” in Through Eyes of Fire. I will draw fully out from that chapter without repeating it. I wrote this a few weeks after God sealed me “in the midst of the storm.” You will see that it is the same Word God is giving us now. Pay careful attention to the section called “How the Power Elite Will…” If I wrote this today, I would alter nothing in this concise layout. Notice the fake “Great Reset” fully there in the explanation. – Also, read Revelation 8-9 once.

Let’s Pray Together. “God, our Father, You have loved us, each one of us, with an everlasting Love, personal and close. You have loved us through every moment of our days, and in the midst of every stumbling step. Father, You loved us when we were enemies, when we fought against You and did wrong things to others. You carried us through all that darkness inside of Jesus until we could know You and until we could be Your Love as well.

“God, our Father, all Your people are the same; they do not know how much they NEED to know You. Your people do not know how important “love one another” in the earth is to them.

“Lord Jesus, You have set us as a seal upon Your heart. Then we turn and, out from You, we set Your people as a seal upon our hearts. Lord Jesus, be God-Love through us for their sake.

“God, our Father, inside of the name of Jesus, we seal multiplied thousands, Your firstfruits, with the same seal of Love, that the mind of the Spirit, the mind of complete union with You, would be the only mind they know.

“Yes, Father, we see great destruction coming upon the earth, but it cannot come until Your firstfruits are swallowed up utterly into Your knowing, into the glorious Salvation in which they live. God, seal all Your people now into You, in Jesus name.”