6.1 Now Turned Around

We return to the flow of learning of Jesus out from Him as depicted to us by God’s Gospel pattern, the Tabernacle. We ended Chapter 4 with these words. – You cannot sit down upon the Mercy Seat of God, however, until you do one more thing, second only to asking Jesus into your heart. To sit down upon the Blood, you must TURN AROUND!

We have equated each entrance and item of furniture with a year of “school,” yet we have considered only ten. There are two more before we “graduate” and “go on to college.” After we had turned around upon the Mercy Seat, because of Blood, first the Mercy Seat and then the Ark became something far more to us, something hyper-glorious.

Newness of Life. Before we consider such glory, however, we must first know what it meant for Aaron to turn around the second time, and thus, what God means even more for us. When Aaron turned around the first time, it meant his own sins gone, but when he turned around the second time, it meant the sins of all Israel – GONE. It meant that Aaron, by type, walked out into the Church of God in newness of Life.

What God means for us, however, is that everything in our hearts and lives is now become for Father’s sake. We no longer hate our form or the circumstances we share with God; we no longer imagine “getting out of here” and “going to” heaven, to “find God,” in rebellious disobedience.

The Day of Atonement. Being now turned around begins, however, with our full acceptance and embrace of the absolute profundity of the Sacrifice of Jesus, His death upon the Cross and His Blood mixed with the dirt of our earth, the full meaning of the Day of Atonement fulfilled in the life of the Church.

For the love of Christ binds us together, having concluded this, that if One died for all, then all have died (1 Corinthians 5:14). – And He is the propitiation, the resolution, encompassing and removing our sins and disconnection from God; but not encompassing ours only, but also the sins of the entire world-cosmos (1 John 2:2).

ABSOLUTE – “It is finished,” unrestricted, complete.
PROFOUND – deeper than all, farther than all.

For Father’s Sake. Knowing that the Blood and Cross of Christ have already fully accomplished all that God intends in our lives, we also know that Christ Jesus, living as us, is our only life. Therefore, we have zero thought of any need to “connect with” God, for God is Personally with us inside of Jesus.

For this reason, we know that every moment, particle, and iota of our life is for Father’s sake alone, that He might win His desire, that His purposes might be accomplished through us in all creation. And we know that the Father’s Desire is the Church of Jesus Christ all across the earth, that the knowledge of God might enter through her into this world. But first, we see that the Mercy Seat and the Ark convey ever more meaning to us.

The Mercy Seat Again. Here is the verse in the Gospel that turned us around. – By this we know Love, in that Jesus set forth His soul for us, AND WE ALSO are committed to setting forth our souls for the sake of our brothers and sisters (1 John 3:16).

We never think other than “one unlimited sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10), nonetheless it is this same Jesus who shares all that He is with us. As Jesus loves, so also do we. And this same Jesus loves our brothers and sisters through us in the same way – And We Also. Just as Jesus first came into full union with us and now lives as us, whether we knew it or not, so He has done the same with all who belong to Him. His Desire is for us to be with Him now, that He might share with us His same Mercy for them.

What We See. Before we can see as God sees, God Himself must remove from our minds and the fabric of our souls every tentacle of thought coming out from the awfulness of “God knows evil.”

Having turned around upon Mercy, seated upon Blood, what is the first thing we see? We see all of our brothers and sisters inside the Devoted place, longing to know the Father as well. These are those who have received full immersion into the Spirit that they might know the living God. Yet they imagine a closed Veil, and Christ just beyond their reach. In this moment, with Jesus, we fall in love with the Church. And in falling in love with the Church, we extend the Goodness of God over her, for she is utterly PURE.

And We Also. Then we see again the Veil torn wide open, and we know that we share flesh with Jesus, one flesh with Him. Now we also are committed to setting forth our souls for our brethren. This is not speaking of outward actions of obligation; neither do we give ourselves “to” other people. Rather, this is an inward response of faith, in giving every particle and moment of our lives to the Father, for the sake of others.

“Father, this agony is You sharing Yourself with me. I give to You all of myself for the sake of this one who hurt me so much, that he or she might know You, completely free of me.” Through this sacrifice of faith, then, our outward actions become now the expression of God through us in kindness and blessing, that others might know the same Love.

The Ark Again. Before sending us into His Church, God has one final place for us in learning of this Christ Jesus who is our life. The Ark of the Covenant is for going forth, for journey, and the Ark cannot rest until the entire Church of Jesus Christ, all whom the Father has given to Jesus, are established as the House and revelation of God. The most important moment in the journey of the Ark was when it stood at the bottom of the Jordan, the lowest place on earth, until every little one who belonged to Jesus had crossed through death into all the life of Christ – until everything was finished.

Yet before we can reveal Jesus to His Church, the Word of the Covenant, written on our hearts, must be utterly PURE.

A Pure Word. How could we know the One True God, except His Gospel Words be flowing through our own hearts and souls, spoken in our mouths, the Words God actually speaks, with no human unbelief forced upon them, the words by which we know God and ourselves? God sends us into His Church as we see Jesus alone, seeing no other, and ourselves AND our brethren only inside of Him, perfect and complete. – To the pure all things are pure.

A pure word says one thing to God’s people – “You are already reconciled to God; you already share Life with your Father.” As we speak the Jesus Secret into our brethren, Christ made personal as you, so the Word of the Father is magnified above all, so the Father is glorified.

A Pure Devotion. The Ark is a box of wood, representing our humanity, covered on the inside and on the outside with gold, representing God. Thus the Ark is best expressed in the gospel by John 14:20, You inside of Me and I inside of you. And by 2 Corinthians 4:7, We have this Treasure in an earthen vessel.

Be devoted to Me, for I am devoted to you (1 Peter 1:16) I make Myself devoted to You, that they also might be devoted inside of Me (John 17:19). Our pure devotion to the Father and to His desire, the Church, is the greatest gift of Grace given to us through the Sacrifice of Jesus and from a Devoted Father. We are seized into God through the pure Faith of the Son inside of us.

What Is Ahead. God now sends us as the Ark of His Covenant, the revelation of Jesus Christ, into His Church, that we might enclothe our Christian brethren with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Church on this earth, the New Jerusalem, is the passion and Desire of God, His dwelling place, the Father’s Home. The Church is the Body of God, the place where God is made visible as Christians loving one another with pure hearts fervently. God intends Christ Community, God’s people sharing life together in commitment and in liberty.

What is ahead for us now is knowing the Father through knowing one another, bringing the goodness and kindness of God into the knowledge of every particle of creation.

Let’s Go to Church. God is taking us to Church. Yet our entrance into the Church as the firstfruits of Christ is part of our Glorious Salvation, the entire topic of the second half of this little book.

But before we step forth into such visible Glory, we must first consider two more things, here, inside the Most Devoted place, inside the Ark we have become. The first is “Aaron’s rod that budded,” how it is that we are made just like the Lord Jesus, and the second is “the hidden manna,” what it means that our Father now shares our lives with us. These two are both for the Covenant, for only a Pure Word in utter Devotion to God can make the Church into which God sends us to be the revelation of Jesus Christ.