36. A Morning Sacrifice
Audio Only36. A Morning Sacrifice - for Notes
36. A Morning Sacrifice - PP
The Altar of Burnt Offering is now the final piece of furniture before the Gate, which we consider to be the resurrection of our bodies.
We see, now, a direct connection out from the Mercy Seat inside of God inside of us, to the Altar of Incense inside our fellowship together as the Church to our expression of Father towards creation as the One who carries all.
And this connection from the inner to the outer is Blood. It is the Lamb Slain, that meaning personal to each individual person in creation, “I give My life to you for your sake.” It is the revelation of Father’s Heart.
Further Connections. Let’s also take that same thought through the other two.
There is a direct connection from the Pillar of Fire in the Holiest, inside each one of us, to the light of the Lampstand in our fellowship together as the Church to the seeing of all things by a New Spirit inside creation. This connection is Spirit.
Then there is a direct connection from the Covenant written upon our hearts as the Holiest to the Bread of Christ which we share together as the Church to a New Word going forth to order every relationship in creation. This connection is Word.
The Tabernacle Layout.
The Passage Through. Consider, then, the in-between, the passage THROUGH, that is the fellowship together of Church.
No Love in God or in us can be known by the world UNLESS it exists in full measure inside the fellowship within many small Communities of Christ. No Light and Spirit in God or in us can cause creation to know and see God UNLESS it functions to full measure inside our fellowship together as a local Church. And no Word in God or in us could ever order relationships outside of the Church UNLESS that Word is partaken of in full inside our sharing together as Church.
This “through-the-Church” is our glory forever.
God’s Heart in Ours. I am calling this lesson “A Morning Sacrifice” in direct connection with the everlasting version of the Altar of Burnt Offering, the Lamb-Slain as the revelation of Father.
This Altar now represents God’s Heart in ours, as His frontal position to all. That Hheart we share together with Father is the New Heart that leads a New Spirit and a New Word.
The morning sacrifice is the lamb offered at the beginning of each day, with the arising of the sun. It represents that life laid-down and love poured-out that is the defining purpose of a new world, a world of Life.
The Why Comes First. Let’s reorder a statement in the last lesson. – Heart is why one sees and why one knows. Spirit is how one sees and how one knows. Word is what one sees and what one knows.
The “what” is all Godly appearance, the familiar and everyday things of our human lives. Without the right “how,” and especially without the right “why,” however, everything in the “what” ends in death.
And so God places His WHY, His Hheart shared with us, right out at the front of everything, so that all might know a God who carries them.
Describing the Sacrifice. Here, then, is the most specific description for us of this Morning Sacrifice forever. – 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 (1 Corinthians 13 – modified).
This is the authority given to us upon the peoples to shepherd them out from the Heart of God. This is the morning star (Revelation 2:26-27).
Jesus speaks all every moment, but most do not know Him. The glory He shares with us is to be the demonstration of His personal care for each.
What “God” Appears? Consider sacrifice, then.
You see, the God appearing through our fellowship together as the Church, filled with all the fullness of a God who carries all, is not the face of God as defined in the minds of most Christians. That “God” appearance is distant and hostile.
And when they see a God who shows Himself through weakness as One who carries all, they will respond to the outer form of that God, you and me, in the same way and for the same reasons that the Judeans responded to Jesus. This is not an easy thing to bear.
What Do We See? The fundamental difference between how we see God and how most everyone else “sees” Him is how we interpret the stumbling walk of Jesus to the cross.
Is this a punishment against our sins or is this the revelation of Father’s Heart? When Jesus stumbled under a cross He could not carry, was He showing us God or was He showing us sin? Do we see sin when we look at Jesus upon the cross or do we see Father? And do we see only out from His eyes?
Not imputing their trespasses to them (2 Corinthians 5). – Not imputing their trespasses to them. –
Two Opposing Views. John Calvin said that when people see God, they know, in that moment, just how wicked and low they are. John the Apostle said that when people see God, they are just like Him.
An arrogant forehead versus a God who carries all, even stumbling with them along the way. Christianity and all humanity places the frontal position of God as superior demand.
The gospel places the frontal position of God as a man stumbling under a cross He cannot carry, carrying us, carried by Father.
The Face of God. By this we have known love, in that He 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). This is my full completion, that you love one another in just the same way that I love you (John 15:12).
Out front – the face of God – the manner by which all will know Him.
God has not been seen among men because Christians have not loved one another by this same love. God is seen and known as we walk together in love and in all purity.
AND WE ALSO. This is the WHY of God, His Heart of overwhelming passion and desire.
Let’s trace again this passage of “AND WE ALSO” from inside the Holy of Holies, that is, inside of each one of us, to God seen and known by all through the Church. Everything begins with and comes out from the Pillar of Fire, the Energeia of God, that Paul clearly and absolutely places inside of us, and much more, as our own energeia shared with God.
Understand as well that eight of the most important verses in the Bible are found inside of us as the Holiest.
As the Holiest. Then we see that the eleventh and twelfth most important verses take all that we are as the Holiest into our fellowship together as the Church. More than that, the seventh ruling verse defines for us HOW we go forth – with confidence.
(The ninth ruling verse is yet ahead, something we will know in full on the other side of the Gate as we set all creation free.)
Here inside the Holiest, inside of Jesus inside of us, we are filled with all the fullness of God Energeia flowing out. We ourselves are defined by Heart Covenant, every Word God speaks written upon our hearts.
Our Practice. And our practice is the Mercy Seat, sprinkled with Blood. It is this Mercy Seat, then, this throne of God, in-between the Energeia that is God filling us full and the Word that is Christ written upon our hearts, that is the WHY of God, the definition of His Love.
AND WE ALSO.
This position, then, is transferred immediately and in totality to the Altar of Incense inside our fellowship together as small groups of believers all across the earth. This WHY of life laid-down and love poured-out among each fellowship guides all knowing of Spirit and Word.
Filled with God. This love is not of us, but of God. We never look to our human frame to produce such a love. Love can exist inside our fellowship together ONLY as we call it to be so, regardless, in full CONFIDENCE that God Himself in Person IS all our connections together.
Do not place a responsibility “to love” upon yourself, for you will never do so. Place God already upon yourself, regardless of any and all human lack. God did not make you capable of being love; He made you capable of being filled with God.
Then, we extend this same absolute to our sharing together as the Church.
Authority to Love. Nonetheless, the Mercy Seat means that we together possess all the AUTHORITY of God to love one another. This is the guide of the Altar of Incense that begins first and shows us every meaning and purpose of Spirit and Word.
[A picture of a Church family sharing a meal together.]
The Face of God, then, is the Door, the visible appearance of the Church, of Christians, regular folk, loving one another with pure hearts fervently. God seen and known.
The Affect of God. The New Word and New Spirit and New Heart in the outer court, then, do not show us anything “beyond” the Church, this sharing together of regular folks. Rather, these three show us the affect of the face of God as the Church upon all who dwell in the immediate vicinity of any such fellowship.
And thus we see that the WHY of God, His very Heart, now shared fully with us, is what God places out as the primary way He intends to be known by all.
One thing alone transforms the universe, and that is our love for one another as God among us. Our love for one another is the Salvation of God.
Not of Us. God did not give us the ability to love one another; He gave us the authority to love one another. This distinction is so critical – that the excellency of the power might be of God and not of us.
Don’t ever “work at” loving others, for such a thing is the rejection of God. The moment you “work at” love, you lose all authority to love.
In complete contrast, place yourself as the recipient of the love poured out towards you inside your brother or sister’s heart, especially when they say and do unkind things. This is the authority of a Man stumbling in searing inability.
Firstfruits. Let’s now place this Hheart we share with God into its frontal position towards all creation, this means by which each one first knows God. – By this we know love.
And let’s do so in both the micro and the macro, both towards those living in proximity to a fellowship of Christians and the entirety of heaven-earth. The truth is, we always include both views in every going forth of God into the knowledge of all.
This is the meaning of firstfruits, the “guiding light” of all, the manner by which all know how to relate together. Everyone will know the Father by our care for one another.
Life Together. That they might be one as We are one; I inside of them, and You inside of Me, that they might be [My] full completion inside of one, that the world might know… (John 17).
[The picture of the Church family again.]
God inside of Jesus inside of folks sharing life together. The completion of Jesus; the communion of the Spirit. The revelation of God.