43. A Sheltering Roof
© Daniel Yordy – 2019
A sheltering roof built upon a firm foundation is one of the most important pictures to us of the governance of God inside of His kingdom, by which all things are made good.
Protection.
Protection from all that is contrary to God, and by definition, then, also contrary to us.
To describe God is to describe us in the resurrection. To describe us in the resurrection is to describe God. We are His likeness and revelation forever – God made visible inside of creation. God made us just like Himself, that is, by the pattern that is the Lord Jesus, our only life.
I have defined the grace to come as described by Peter, that is, the “carried-to-us grace” that no one in the New Testament church knew, as our walking in all that resurrection is and means BEFORE the actual resurrection of our bodies – entirely through faith and against all opposition – because God says.
In this letter and the next I want to look at this “before and after” equation. Let’s visualize it first.
Days of “dwelling in booths together” –> the Great Day –> the first days of the Age of Tabernacles.
And again – Knowing without seeing –> Our Transformation –> Seeing what we know!
And as “a sheltering roof” – Removing all demons from the human experience –> the Resurrection –> Providing true protection to every individual being in heaven as well as earth.
Is that not what the fourth most important verse in the Bible tells us?
And I heard a great voice in heaven saying: Now have come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ, because the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, the one accusing them before our God day and night. And they have overcome him through the blood of the Lamb, and through the word of their testimony; and they have not loved their souls unto death (Revelation 12:10-11).
And of course, “salvation” here, that is, wholeness, is just another word for the resurrection of our bodies. We see as well that this line is written entirely inside the “before and after” layout I have described, with our knowing now what we do not yet see. That knowing is “the word of our testimony” coming out from the absolute finality of the Atonement, already all, though not yet visible in outward appearance.
Do you see the great VALUE God places upon our human faith, that we would live as if what He says is true, that is, Jesus, without seeing anything outwardly?
God has nothing that He Desires except it come through such faith in us, the faith of the Son of God.
Removing all demons from the human experience is a big deal. And yes, mighty angels are very much involved in this action, yet they work only as servants to the heirs of salvation.
John’s vision presents a two-step process in this mighty deliverance, that is, on the angelic side of things.
And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels warred against the dragon and the dragon fought back and his angels. And he did not have the strength, nor was a place found for them any longer in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown out {expelled from the heavens, from the spiritual realms}, the original serpent who is called the devil [the accuser] and Satan [the adversary] who is deceiving the entire inhabited world. He was thrown down into the earth {into the physical realms} and his angels were thrown down with him (Revelation 12:7-9).
And I saw an angel descending out of heaven, holding the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand. And he seized the dragon, the original serpent, who is the devil and bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him into the abyss, and shut and sealed it over him, so that he should not lead the ethnic peoples astray (Revelation 20:1-3).
Again, this is what is happening in the angelic realms, but only in response to and in full correlation with what is happening among humans – And they overcame him. Thus we see that Michael and his angels are acting as the “police” towards angels. But angels are not and cannot be the judge.
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them (Revelation 20:4). – Are you not aware that we will judge angels (1 Corinthians 6:3).
Now, I was thinking “but angels are not the ‘police’ towards humans,” but then I thought of many stories I have read or heard first hand or the times I watched death stop in its tracks right before my eyes – and I realize that, yes, angels intervene in human affairs in such a way regularly. Righteous angels do not attack humans, but they are able to block them. And I have heard stories, some firsthand, of angels appearing before the enemies of God’s people and scaring them off.
We have not known the immediacy of angels with us, and rightly so. If we Christians abuse the Spirit, how much more would we abuse angels. The Spirit can take our abuse, although such abuse of the Spirit does not sit well with either Father or Son, but angels do not deserve it. Yet inside the fulfillment of Tabernacles, angels are ready and able to take on their appointed tasks of deliverance and protection. And as we walk knowing that we are very much part of heaven, so the armies of heaven are with us. We have some pretty awesome allies.
BUT – the issue is NOT removing all demons from the human experience. Here is the issue – Now is come the kingdom. –
The fourth most important verse in the Bible is all about that sheltering roof that is the governance of God providing safety and protection to every individual being in heaven and earth. And this kingdom, this governance of God, comes out from you and me, weak in frame, but certain in faith, walking with Father as His Mercy Seat through us, for the sake, first of our brothers and sisters, and then for all things.
And so, although the reality of removing all demons from the human experience is astonishing, it comes only out from that which is intimately familiar to us and from our ongoing practice of walking with Father. Some might see it as an “intrusion of something not already in the story.” We do not, for we have been casting down the accuser all along; in fact it’s you and me who are making him visibly angry, because we cast him down.
I am seeing something significant here, however, something I’ve never really thought about before. You see, the saying that, “the old must be cast off before the new can come” is completely backwards. That is not what happens in nature. Here is what is happening – the new, as it arises complete, casts off the old, now shriveled up and dead, as easily as throwing off a coat on a hot day.
John’s vision is filled with understatements. We saw that in Revelation 12. – The dragon stands before the woman in order to devour her child as soon as it is born. And so, yes, I have heard preached, “Watch out for the devil because he will devour the Christ inside of you.”
Uh – no! The dragon was all fire and show, but although he went after the woman and her seed in five different ways, his threat failed to amount to anything at all, regardless of any outward appearance or any “light affliction.”
And so, in God’s order, the removal of false human government comes first in Revelation 19:19-21. The removal of all demons from the human experience comes second, in Revelation 20:1-3. The defeat of death, then, comes third and last, in Revelation 20:4b-6.
BUT – Revelation 20:4a is inserted, but it is not part of this sequence. – And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. – This line is the cause of each of these three final and complete victories. Those “thrones” are the Mercy Seats of our hearts, together with Father. And the final chapter of this text, “Our Present Task,” will review what we have learned thus far about being that Mercy Seat.
The point is this. The kingdom come, the governance that God is establishing for the safety and abundance of all creation, is full and complete BEFORE false human government is gone, BEFORE demons are gone, and BEFORE death is no more.
And this completion of the kingdom, God’s governance for all creation, is completed through the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles.
You cannot get rid of demons without also being rid of human political government, that is, humans, in contempt for others, resorting to violence to force compliance. And you cannot get rid of human political, that is, psychopathic government without also being rid of all demons.
Adam and the serpent made a contract, Adam to pretend to dominate and the serpent to pretend to be “what God looks like.” Both sides of the contract must be broken and cast off at the same time.
What does it mean to have no demons inside of the human experience? And with no demons, no human political and violent domination?
We know from Isaiah that sinful actions will continue through the Age of Tabernacles. We know from John’s vision, that after a thousand years of abundance and blessing, millions of humans will still give ear to Satan once again, for a very brief orgy of awfulness. And Zechariah states, from an Old Testament tribal viewpoint, that all nations will come to Jerusalem, which is to us the Church, that is, communities of Christ all across this earth, in order to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14). Yet some might refuse, and in so refusing, they lose the abundance of the heavens, that is, “no rain.”
And so we see that, although there are no dark angels around who are offering a false and “wandering energeia” for any human to live by, still, each one can choose to know the energeoing of Christ only in part. All are sustained by Christ regardless, even now. We are not talking about substance, but only about the knowing of each individual person. People know God at their own pace and to their own interest.
Yet the absence of demons is the cessation of all psychopathy and all twisting of psychosis in deviant, disturbed, and dominating humans.
Any opposition to the gentle guidance of the sons of God will be limited and mute. Yet none are ever compelled. All are free to live and to act as they choose. Only in one way will restraints be placed upon any human, and that is – you can’t hurt other people.
And yet the sons of God do not use violence to compel no violence, for that would be evil. I suspect that, whenever someone is inclined towards hurting another person for self-gain, an angel showing up right then in-between the perpetrator and his or her intended victim, will most likely persuade them to go find something else to do! Of course, we are just speculating. However, we have established that God introduces nothing that has not been part of the story from the beginning, and angels as our servants, along with animals as our servants, have been very much a part of God’s story. And when we say “servants,” we do not mean slaves, but rather, honored and highly regarded companions whose joy it is to assist us.
The governance of God, that is, theocracy, is a libertarian governance. – Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
The ruling verse regarding God’s governance among humans is this. – For those who are led and carried by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God (Romans 8:14). The governance of God is limited entirely to that which arises from the Spirit inside of each one, and that Spirit is never “command and control,” but always that which arises from the personal joy and value of each individual.
To be led by the Spirit of God and to be led by the peace of your own heart are the same thing. And in kingdom terms, it is called “theocracy.”
Most people, when they think of the term “theocracy,” define it exactly the opposite of what it is; they define it as brutal men and women using “God” as their excuse to dominate other people and using “God” as their whip to gain compliance. This expression of the union between hardened humans and envious demons, cloaked with “Christian” garb, is NOT theocracy, it is thanatocracy, that is, the rule of death and it is the purest essence of evil. And yet defining theocracy as “thanatocracy” is just one more part of the horrific and vile human accusation against our Father.
Theocracy is LIFE. Theocracy is full liberty for every individual person, honored and treasured by all. Theocracy is an exuberant Father just being Himself in overflowing abundance, now possessing a Body through which He is seen and known as He is by all. Theocracy is a God who is no longer alone. – It is not good to be alone.
And so, when the great voice in heaven says to John, Now have come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ, that voice was speaking of God’s ecosystem and governance in full expression among humans BEFORE our change comes.
This is what Christian Community is all about. And inside of Christian Community, you and I together cast down the accuser of all our brothers and sisters all across the earth and all through the heavens, through the blood of the Lamb, and through the word of our testimony; and not loving our souls unto one death of Christ.
And so we see this line, now, as one more description of our practice of being the Mercy Seat together with our Father, that is, setting forth our souls for our brothers and sisters.
The governance God is preparing for all of heaven and earth through the Age of Tabernacles is fully prepared among humans BEFORE the Age of Tabernacles begins. That governance is real and true to human life, to what we are as God made us, to the liberty of the Spirit, to the abundance of the earth, and to the out-poured blessings of the heavens.
And that governance is found in one place only – inside of and as Christ Community!
In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. (Isaiah 2:2-4).
Isaiah is NOT speaking of “Jesus and the Jews,” an utterly non-Biblical concept. Isaiah is speaking of the temple and Jerusalem of God, which is the Church, made up of those who were formerly Judeans or who were formerly Gentiles, but who are now one new man inside of Christ, a family of people walking together, loving one another with pure hearts fervently.
Nor is Isaiah speaking of a solitary geographical location, but rather that form of God that is Communities of Christ among the peoples, the Body and dwelling place of Father making Himself known as He is.
Zion, then, is the libertarian guidance of the sons of God, those who are wise and kind, walking as the Mercy Seat, sharing Hheart with God. Notice that they have no weaponry nor access to violence. There is no compulsion in God’s kingdom, but only the freedom to walk in that Spirit that dwells inside each one, including the full freedom to make mistakes.
It is an easy thing to say that “AFTER the resurrection,” we will be all that God intends. There is no faith whatsoever inside such a claim, neither does such a thing prove Jesus faithful and true. Being all that God intends after the resurrection only alters the story and makes the serpent correct right from the start.
Jesus proves Himself faithful and true through all that God intends in us now through faith that God is telling us the truth, inside our present weakness and in the face of all opposition.
Thus we see that, at a personal level, many persons all at the same time, the essence of dwelling in booths together is the learning of a Spirit Word, of Christ our life, and of the demonstration and power of the Holy Spirit. By this aspect of Tabernacles, the many grow up into Christ inside of a shortened time.
Yet at the outward level, at the Kingdom level, two other vital things are happening as the essence of Tabernacles before the Resurrection. The first is the establishment of the protection and governance of God, not only over all our brothers and sisters in Christ, but also over all things in heaven and earth. And the second is the outflow of rivers of living water as the carrier from our hearts of all the abundance of the earth and all the outpoured goodness of the heavens.
In the final chapter, we will look at the heart of our task, being the Mercy Seat together with our Father. In the remainder of this chapter, let’s place that great task into the next several years.
We are focused. We have a job to do, and we are about our Father’s business.
And Father’s business is to call all things into goodness.
The prayer we prayed together in Chapter 22, “Placing Revelation 12,” is a BIG deal. I would urge you to go through that again, now, and many more times in the coming days. Scroll on down to “There are three parts,” just before “Part # 1” and start from there.
I am now certain in my heart that the Father has given to us His meaning of the seven seals and their casting off of His Word written upon the hearts of His people. As we are called to cast down the accuser for the sake of our brothers and sisters, this is a huge part of how we do that.
The one thing necessary for you and I to be the governance of God towards creation is the circumcision of Christ, that which Jesus called, “becoming a eunuch for the sake of the kingdom.” That means that we have no sufficiency in ourselves, but only in Christ our only life. It means that we never put our hand upon other Christians to force them one way or another to fit our own definitions. It means we never work our own agenda, even in the tiniest of things.
Yet the coolest thing about the circumcision of Christ is that it is complete. Thus, all that we presently are as humans is very much part of Christ and essential to Christ through us.
Here is what I just wrote this morning in The Jesus Secret II.
- I do not belong to myself; I am purchased with a high price. Everything belongs to me. All things are mine. Various ministries, the world, life, death, things present, things to come – these are all mine. And I am Christ’s.
- All things belong to me; I belong to Christ.
- I hold tightly to nothing; I possess all things. I have no sufficiency in myself; I have all-sufficiency out from Christ my only life.
And from this viewpoint, looking out from the Mercy Seat through the eyes of Christ, through eyes of fire, we see two things. Close in, we see all who belong to Jesus, and further out we see all things in heaven and earth.
All belong to us.
And our task is to SUBDUE all.
As we saw in the last letter, here is how Jesus and us, one with Him and one together, accomplish our purpose towards all creation. – Down to the finest details of the Energeia, the mighty continuous and swirling action of His ability to cause ALL [by symmorphy] to be subject to Himself (Philippians 3:20-21).
Here is another way to say the same thing. – Father and us together cover all for all; Father and us together hope all for all; Father and us together believe all for all; Father and us together carry all for all. Father and us together never fail.
This is not a “nice idea.” This is our task, the very thing for which God created us.
Nothing is or can be good in itself. Every created thing comes into existence in full ignorance of God. All things must be called into goodness; all things must be seen as good. This is our task, and if we are not doing what God appointed to us, no one else is either.
All things remain in darkness and in the ignorance of God UNTIL you and I do what God created us to do.
Our task is to be the tender kindness and the comforting encouragement of God to each one.
Look at your own life, where God has you right now. Look forward as you are presently able to see the next several years unfolding for you. From this moment on, it’s all about one thing – you and Father, together with others of like precious faith, bringing out from your belly, through your absolute confidence in every Word God speaks, the governance of God over all things in heaven and in earth. And when we use the human word “over,” we know that, as a Spirit Word, it really means “under,” for God walks beneath of all.
Getting rid of demons is incidental. Getting rid of fake human “power-over” is a piece of cake. Defeating death is as easy as pie.
The thing that means something, the thing that counts, is you and me together walking in the mightiest demonstration of power this universe has ever known – little acts of kindness and gentle words of encouragement – showing Father to all, that all might know Him, that all might see themselves carried only inside of His love.