9.3 Swallowing Up - the End of Folly

Death is a consequence, not a cause. The single, most powerful quality of human hiding, common to all, is to externalize the problem. “It’s that, it’s them, it’s God’s fault, it’s the devil’s doing, it’s someday, it’s over there.” The greatest externalization of the tree of good versus evil is the carnal depiction of heaven and hell as external “places” to which one “goes” “someday.” Everyone avoids the dishonesty of their own hearts. They dismiss the twistedness of their own story of self by the assumption either that it must be true or that it is irrelevant.

For Life to swallow up death, however, it must swallow up its causes, for death is only the result of something inside.

The Causes of Death. We know that “death/thanatos” carries a number of very different meanings, most negative, but some positive, and that we can know which meaning to apply only by the context. Think of death in each of its negative connotations, the splitting apart of heaven and earth, physic and spirit, living in ignorance of God, possessing a spirit that cannot know God, being clothed with the skin of a beast, and so on. In every instance, death is a consequence only. It is never the cause. To swallow up death, God must bring Life to the cause.

Cause 1: Unthankfulness – I hate the way God made me.
Cause 2: Superiority – I want to be better than they are.
Cause 3: Abuse – I will control; I will prevail.

God’s Highway. In our last study, Symmorphy VI: Mankind, we investigated the meaning and nature of being human. In this text, we are drawing from those things in order to know how the Kingdom of God comes through us now to impact every part of creation.

But as God’s highway into creation, our own lives, inside and out, are the first to be impacted by LIFE flowing through us and then on out to all. Yet that great impact on us comes, not by our receiving of Life, for we cannot receive more than all the fulness of God already filling us full. It comes, rather, from our giving, with Jesus, of Life to others, beginning with our Christian brethren.

Life Flowing Through. The resurrection of our physical bodies, then, is not Life flowing in, but Life flowing through. Thus, it is NOT the causes of death inside of ourselves that we would see eliminated, swallowed up by Life, as if God is “testing us to see if we will walk in His ways or not.”

Jesus did not save us by being concerned about His own relationship with God. He ASSUMED His relationship with God to be absolute, even when He felt all horror. Jesus saved us by joining us with Father inside His own set-forth soul, and now He invites us to share with Him in doing the same for our Christian brethren. This way of thinking is the River of Life.

A Way of Thinking. This way of thinking, then, that the River of Life does not come to us, but through us to others, that our being WITH God is absolute and incorruptible, this way of thinking frees God to be Himself inside our world. That’s what I am after. We are looking at a way of thinking that allows Life flowing through us to swallow up death everywhere we go.

Now 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 15:54). Incorruptibility precedes immortality.

A Little Change. Look and see, I tell you a mystery. We will not all die; we all, however, will be changed – in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised unable to decay, and we will be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

What, exactly, will be changed? – Very little, actually, even though that “little” is most wondrous. When my physical body is swallowed up by Life, will I be a different person? – God forbid! The deceit that says, “When I am in heaven (or when I am resurrected), I will be a better person,” is a filthy garment covering over the hatred of God-with-me NOW.

Placing “Me.” Death is caused by “me for me.” Life is caused by God through me and Jesus together, for others, for Father’s sake. It is the same “me” in either case. But the first me, trying so hard to be big, succeeds only in making itself tiny and irrelevant. Whereas the second me, REJOICING in being always small, finds itself vast beyond comprehension, filled with all the fulness of God, revealing God to all.

Then we have Christians, many of whom have adopted a form of Buddhism. – The answer is to be rid of “me.” This is just mental deceit, for when the “me” is gone, then Jesus and Father also vanish. Yet it is only self-deceit, for everyone else hears the continued expression of “me for me.”

A Life Shared with Jesus. Because I give thanks inside of and for the sake of all things, my entire life, every moment, is a life shared with Jesus for Father’s sake. What part of that life, what moment, what circumstance, shared with the Father, should I be rid of? The pains of Asperger’s? Would I wish to be rid of Jesus-with-me in any of those moments?

What part of the Father sharing all with me would I wish to forget? Is there any moment, circumstance, or interaction with others over the course of my entire life that Father and I cannot synergeo together to turn it into wondrous blessing for the sake of others? – It is not so!

The Salvation of My Soul. Those who want to “fix” my autism have NO knowledge of the immense POWER that Father and I share together. Life swallowing up death is when that power becomes visible.

So – what will change when my physic is swallowed up by Life? – This is an interesting thought on which to meditate. You see, the salvation of my soul is already complete, that is, Jesus sharing all with me and me with Him is the complete and only story of my life. This is a reality proven out as every normal difficulty I have ever faced in life continues to hit against me. “Father, You share this with Jesus and me together, and we with You turn it into blessing for the sake of others.”

Some Wonderful Changes. NOT one thing in my soul will “change” when my physic becomes immortal, for I am already filled with all of God. Physical appearance will change, back to what I was around, say, thirty, neither too young nor too old. The biggest change will be my physical stamina. I will be able to work and work, without getting very tired. Physical pain will lessen, but not vanish, for I do not wish to be a leper, without pain. Tiredness will lessen, but not vanish, for sleep and rest are part of God.

I am still entirely human, and thus limited, capable in some things and not capable in others. I will still be needing my brethren and they me; we will still be giving space and favor to one another.

Put On the Lord Jesus Christ. But all the changes that mean something inwardly have happened already, for I am just like Jesus soul with Soul. Just like Jesus, I can do nothing of myself. Just like Jesus, I trust utterly in Father-with-me. Just like Jesus, I set forth my soul for the sake of others, that Father would be free to be Himself with Joy inside His creation. All those changes taking place all around me? That’s the Spirit flowing out, just like it was with Jesus.

Here is the in-between. – For it is necessary for this decaying to put on, to enclothe itself with the inability to decay; and this dying to put on, to enclothe itself with the inability to die (1 Corinthians 15:53). We put the Lord Jesus upon ourselves through faith, against what we see and feel.

How? But all of that is inside the topic of “mankind,” and not the topic of “completion.” What does all this mean as God-through-us swallows up all the deadly folly of human wickedness in our world today?

How does God-through-us swallow up unthankfulness? How does God-through-us swallow up superiority? How does God-through-us swallow up abuse?

No one can be saved except they go silent about themselves first, and then that salvation is a process that takes time. Yet those who speak, are speaking death as a flood. How will that death be swallowed up?

Bringing It to an End. Adam chose unthankfulness when he saw the Lamb as life laid down and love poured out, no beauty to be desired. Adam chose superiority when he saw the angel in the other tree, the single greatest outward form created by God. And Adam chose abuse when he saw his wife’s stupidity, and suddenly, he hated her. “I hate looking like God. I want to be better than God. These people in my life irritate me; I must control them.”

Our question is not how we defeat these three things for ourselves or even for our Christian brethren. Our question is how we cause these horrific cesspits to cease upon this planet, giving way to the Kingdom of God.

An Awful Part of the Unveiling. We set forth our souls for our Christian brethren, all whom the Father has given to Jesus inside the Age of Patience. We do not set forth our souls for the world. Jesus said, “I do not pray for the world.” Neither do we.

Here is an awful part of the unveiling, Revelation 9 & 20. But the rest of the men who were not killed by these blows, did not even change their minds out from the works of their hands, to stop worshipping the demons… They did not change their minds out of their killings nor out of their drugs nor out of their pornography nor out of their thefts. – I saw an angel…, saying to all the birds…, “Come… into the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh…

From Horror to Life. This awful horror means that God is saying, “If you want demons rather than Me, then have them, without cover or restraint. And they will eat you up.” – That is, “You will see what these things really are that you have preferred.”

Yet this is death eating up death, after which comes the inevitable great chain and all the demons gone. How does Life swallow up death for the entrance of God? I am convinced that we are reaching for the second witness of Christ, Jesus in us, His Body, living and walking and speaking the thanksgiving of God, synergeoing with God making all things good, loving one another with pure hearts fervently. We are speaking of Jesus in us, completing the second half of His seven-year ministry of LIFE.

A Demonstration of Reality. I am suddenly hit with a deep sense of reality. God proves Himself real in our day and in this world just as He did as Jesus’ first 3½-year ministry. The rubber hits the road. I have felt God pressing me gently to the edge of a great precipice. I find myself facing a plunge into becoming bold. Yet I have no fear of acquiring any “strength of forehead.” This boldness is my utter enclosure inside of Father-with-me.

What if every one of my desperate autistic fears turns into God-with-me for others? What if the word that I share is True? What if Jesus is real?

An Incredible Ministry. Here is the difference between Jesus then and Jesus in us now. The Life that we are made of now is LIFE – out from death. We are made from Victory already won, and our faith is the faith of the Son of God, the One raised above all, the One who has already received all authority. What is this incredible ministry into which we are about to be sent by God?

The next two chapters will include a stumbling attempt to answer that question just a little bit. But this chapter is titled “The End of the Age,” ostensibly the end of the wreckage of human folly upon the earth, but truthfully, God no longer needing to endure waiting to be free.

The Father’s Cup. And you know what, that’s the answer we are looking for – Father FREE. Jesus walked this earth for Father’s sake; He set forth His soul for us, for Father’s sake. Jesus became His Church for Father’s sake. And now, He does the same in us, and as us, and through us – for Father’s sake. God just wants to be free to be Himself inside of creation, known by all, the only meaning of LIFE.

This was the whole thrust of Jesus’ words, especially in John’s Gospel. It will be even more so, now, in the end of the age. The time of the accusation of God ENDS, swallowed up by thanksgiving, drinking the Father’s cup with Jesus.

Reading for Next Time. The next chapter is titled “What Victory Has Wrought.” The premise is that the Victory we will KNOW through utter and ongoing experience produces the very qualities of God out from which the Age of Tabernacles can proceed. The next lesson, then, is 10.1 “Victory as Fellowship.” From there, a whole explosion of Word seems to be happening in me right now.

Covenant and Kingdom can never be separated from each other, even when one or the other is being emphasized. I would suggest that you read/listen to the lessons of Chapter 12, “War and Peace” in Mankind, a book focused on Covenant. We will be drawing Kingdom from these things.

Let’s Pray Together. “God, our Father, it is Your time to be free inside of our world, inside of Your creation. It is time that all falseness spoken against You should cease. Father, we give ourselves to you as one body together, for Your sake, that You might have a passageway into being seen and known by all, a highway prepared for You.

“God, our Father, we call You into our world. We release You to be Yourself through our love for one another. We trust You utterly that You are GOOD all the time, that there is no shadow that comes with You. Father, show Yourself to be Life and Love through us.

“Out from all that Jesus is inside of us, we speak thanksgiving and the giving of thanks into this world. Let thanksgiving be upon the lips of all, that Your design of us and the circumstances of our lives are wondrous beyond cognition.

“Out from all that Jesus is inside of us, we speak honor. We speak the absence of all superiority and all inferiority. Let all acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, and that He comes to you through your brothers and sisters.

“Out from all that Jesus is inside of us, we speak kindness. We speak favor and blessing. We speak forgiveness and lifting up. We speak loving one another with pure hearts fervently. Be what God has made you to be.

“Out from Jesus, we speak LIFE coming out from death.”