13. According to the Pattern
The first thing that comes out of Pentecost, out of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, is this injunction to make a dwelling place for God among men beginning with the Ark of the Covenant. And this construction is to follow God's pattern precisely. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
God spoke the Ten Commandments on the Day of Pentecost. Then, during the time Moses was up on the mountain with Joshua, through the weeks of June and into July, before the golden calf and Moses' breaking of the law, God spoke to him primarily concerning the building of the tabernacle of Moses.
Thus, except for the parenthesis of the golden calf in Exodus 32-34, the entirety of the remainder of the book of Exodus, chapters 25-31 and 35-40 deal with the design and construction of the tabernacle, it's furnishings, and the clothing of the priesthood who would minister in that tabernacle. The primary elements are repeated four different times through those chapters.
Knowing the elements of the tabernacle is essential to comprehending and living out from the Covenant we signed with God, particularly the three parts of the tabernacle and the seven pieces of furniture. In the giving of the design, in the building of the tabernacle and its furnishings, and in its assembly, the Ark of the Covenant with the Mercy Seat upon it always comes first. In all the travels of Israel, the Ark goes out first. The journey of Israel is the journey of the Ark.
The obsession of David's life and heart was that same Ark.
In the midst of God's instructions concerning the tabernacle we find one of the most important verses in the Bible. And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain. Exodus 25:40
The writer of Hebrews places this line squarely into the center of the New Covenant.
. . . We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”Hebrews 8:1-5
Let's get God's order clear. – The Day of Pentecost is the fifth day of the third month, or, translated into English, June 5. Then, from that day, count seven days.
Now the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. . . So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. Exodus 24:16 & 18
Then, chapter 25 verse 1-2: Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering.” Then verse 8-9: “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.” Then, the first part of this sanctuary in which God will dwell among men is verse 10: “And they shall make an ark of acacia wood. . .”
It is important for us to see that the first thing that comes out of Pentecost, out of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, is this injunction to make a dwelling place for God among men beginning with the Ark of the Covenant. And this construction is to follow God's pattern precisely.
Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 13:14
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. John 16:13-15
Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.2 Corinthians 3:17-18
. . . Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2:20-22
I sense such a deep importance for us to be grounded, grounded, grounded in the purpose of God in our present life and experience.
And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it. Exodus 25:8-9
Do we hear the deepest longing in God's heart?
All of these verses focus entirely on the experience of the first High Sabbath of Tabernacles. On that Day, God fills His temple. From the moment of being Baptised in the Holy Spirit on, God is building us into His house in preparation for that mighty Day.
Now, to possess a depth of understanding concerning the three parts of the tabernacle and its seven pieces of furniture, what those things mean in our present Christian lives, I would recommend that you read my book, The Covenant. Although the audios are on my website, I think you need a copy of the book itself in your hands. However, in this letter, I want to go in a different direction.
My first title for this letter in mind for awhile was “The Critical Importance of the Jesus Secret.” However, “According to the Pattern” means exactly the same thing, but fits next in the journey of Israel, coming out from the glory of Pentecost.
We humans have a big problem with time. We do NOT understand what it is. We must know time and space as God knows them before we can walk in the full expression of the faith of the Son of God.
A brother asked, how can the Father be “coming home” if the Father already fills us now?
Remember that humans think backward from God's thinking. God in us can be understood only by Seed - Plant - Seeds. In other words, God is in us now in all fullness, first – Christ becomes us becoming Him, second – God will fill His house full to overflowing, third.
We call those things that "be not" as they are. God starts with perfection/completion first, then, out from His perfection, He walks as us in weakness. Then, walking as us, He transforms us into His image.
For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
You see, we humans imagine that time governs eternality. It's quite the other way around. Eternality expresses itself partly through time; time is just a function of the eternal appearing every moment. Yet the appearance in time is appearance, not substance. The substance is the eternal; the appearance is the eternal showing itself in time and space. And when we say “eternal,” we are speaking of God only, not heaven. Heaven is temporary.
We think, if we have something now, we can't "receive" it in the future. Or, if we will receive something later in life, we must not have it now. The substance of God is the opposite; God thinks quite differently.
God begins with everything complete and ends with the beginning. Go back through my article on Passover.
– Our salvation could never begin if it were not already finished. –
Seed (We have it all; call it to be so) - Plant (Christ as us, mucking along in the human) - Seeds (We are transformed into His image).
This is a great mystery, but we are speaking of Christ and the church.
I know this, that we must see out from His eyes. When we look at God from afar, we cannot know Him. When we see all things out from His eyes, the eyes of Christ, that we are utterly inside of Him, then everything begins to look different. This is a function of grace, something we must wait upon God to know. I wait upon Him now by writing. Yet there are other ways of entwining ourselves with Him, ways personal to each of us. We don't wait to "receive" Him, but to know Him.
And we cannot know Him except we speak Christ, all that Christ is.
We entwine ourselves with God and He with us by speaking Christ.
Calling those things that be not as though they are.
This is NOT strange. Human thinking is strange. We think that time rules God. If we imagine that there is one moment when all of God, any part of God is not, as in “Jesus 'left' the Father when He 'came to' earth,” we make God into a creature of time.
Eternal MEANS God always now. Infinite means God always here. God means God Personal in me.
God is not and cannot ever be “other.” The moment we think of God as “other,” we have defined Him down into form and time and space. Here we are; God is over there. Now we do this and that, but God eternal is way out there somewhere. You see, we even treat eternality as a geographical location, as in “there is no time in heaven.” Or, “the God who dwells in eternity.” Those statements have NO meaning. Time is not a location, but the continual function of eternality.
God – and all things inside of Him.
God – and all things are of Him and through Him and to Him, all every moment.
God is always all now; God is always conforming Himself to all; God is always transforming all into God always all.
God is not static; He is dynamic. Yet He is always faithful and true. God is a Rock in which we dwell safely; God is a Wind that blows us we know not where.
We can stand around trying to look at God, making Him into a human idol, or we can place ourselves where we already are, inside of Him, the Rock, looking out from His eyes at all things, and going along for a very Windy ride.
The difference between where we live – looking at God or looking out from God – comes entirely by the words that we speak. We prophecy Christ; we call all that He is all that we are.
I have received a clearer view of The Jesus Secret and how important it is, not my book, but the truth of speaking all that Christ is as all that we are.
Let me lay two foundational verses side by side; then I want to talk about The Jesus Secret.
“See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 1 John 4:17
As He is, so are we.
We MUST understand this statement in two different, but fully compatible ways. It means two things that are always side by side, entwined together.
First, it means that He is as we are, Christ as us as we find ourselves to be in weakness.
Second, it means that we are as He is, the resurrected Christ ascended over all.
Christ as us does not need the pattern. We rest utterly in Him.
We as Christ requires the pattern; otherwise what we become will be not-Christ.
I used the term “The Jesus Secret” because it sounds current. But, in fact, “The Jesus Secret” is just another way to say, “The Mystery of Christ.” Thus the premise of my book begins with Paul's words in Ephesians and Colossians.
This is a great mystery, but we are speaking of Christ and the church – the mystery which has been hidden from the ages, but is now made known, Christ in you the hope of glory.
It is also based on John's words that are the core of the Covenant.
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
You see, John also begins with “We are now” and ends with “We shall be.” What shall we be? What we are now. What are we now? 1. It has not yet been revealed. And 2. Just like Jesus, who is God revealed.
We DO NOT KNOW what we already ARE.
How will we know what we already ARE?
By seeing Jesus as He IS!
Anyone looking at Jesus cannot ever see Him as He is. Only by looking out from His eyes can we know Him.
I wrote The Jesus Secret on this premise, that we become (know) what we are by speaking all that Christ is, the all-speaking of God. Thus I took every useful line in the New Testament from Matthew to 2 Corinthians in Volume 1 of The Jesus Secret and turned it into a statement of what Christ is, spoken by us as we are.
Writing The Jesus Secret was one-half of God preparing me to start writing this Christ Our Lifeletter. The other half was seeing myself utterly swallowed up in Christ and then discovering the “Christ as us” teaching by those who once knew Norman Grubb, particularly Fred Pruitt's writings. (I just read his letter this morning. We are two voices, each unique and personal, speaking the same thing, Christ our only life.)
Now, I embraced “Christ as me” with all my heart as the only possible way I could abandon “myself” and be found only in Him as my only Self. And, of course, that is how Fred and others presented Christ as us, that Romans 7 brings us to despair of ourselves that we might abandon ourselves utterly and know Christ alone, not I at all, yet I am still around, only it is Christ living as me.
But I must confess that I am a bit naïve. That is, I simply assume that everyone who rejoices in “Christ as me” will do so out from seeing that it is Jesus personal in us, Jesus, the resurrected and ascended Christ.
I had no idea that anyone would use “Christ as me” to shape a “Christ” self by their own pattern and design. Let me distinguish. Just living life as we find ourselves to be, simple and real, is Christ as us – BUT – shaping ourselves as Christ by a “Christ” of our own design is something entirely different.
The premise of The Jesus Secret is simple.
1. God begins with perfection, with Salvation complete. For by one offering, He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
2. We are like Jesus already right now.
3. We do NOT know what we are.
4. We become what we ARE only by seeing Jesus as He is.
5. We cannot see Jesus as He is so long as we are outside of Him.
6. We know Jesus as He is by looking out from His eyes.
7. Looking out from Jesus' eyes, we CALL what “is not” (what does not appear) by what IS (all the substance of Christ, the All-speaking of God).
8. This speaking of Christ, calling all that He is to be all that we are, is the prophetic word of Christ out from which comes all the new creation.
Jesus is every Word God speaks.
Look through the headings that are the confessions of faith in The Jesus Secret; let me list some here – I will just pick randomly.
These statements describe Jesus, that is, they are the Lord Jesus speaking. Can Jesus as He is right now say these things? And what is prophesy? – To prophecy is to speak as if it is Jesus speaking now through our voice. Can we not prophecy Christ? Can we not call Him forth according to the Covenant as all that we are?
• God's will is done in me as it is done in heaven.
• I love my enemies.
• I am here to serve and to give my life for others.
• I am not afraid.
• The Spirit of the Lord sent me to heal the brokenhearted.
• I am always ready for my Master's return.
• I know His voice; I follow Him.
• Rivers of living water flow out of my heart.
• The power of the Holy Spirit is upon me.
• I am a witness of Christ.
• I am transformed by the renewing of my mind.
• I seek glory.
• I am one Spirit with the Lord.
• I prophesy; I speak in tongues.
• I am the fragrance of Christ.
• The life of Jesus is revealed in my mortal body.
“See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
How can we be the eternal dwelling place of God except we be built according to the Pattern. And how can the Holy Spirit build us according to the Pattern except we speak all that our Pattern is as all that we are? Our tongue steers the direction of our ship – always. [BUT – we do NOT transform ourselves.]
I hope to complete The Jesus Secret, Galatians through Revelation, as a second volume. I have made attempts to start, but I want the second volume to come out from a much deeper knowing of God then when I wrote the first. I wrote the first volume in hope, believing what I could not see.
Faith is much more than hope; faith sees.
Thus I can write the second volume only when it becomes again the passion of my heart.
The Holy Spirit transforms us into the image of Christ only by the speaking of our faith, that whatever Christ is right now, we are just like Him. Thus we begin with Perfection complete in us now; we walk in Christ as us as we find ourselves to be; we are transformed into His image, just like Jesus.
Notice, in a quick glance across all the confessions of faith drawn out from the breadth of the New Testament, how many of those words of Christ are related in some way to life-laid-down and love-poured-out.
The Sacrifice of Jesus is the Revelation of God.
We cannot know the Sacrifice of Jesus so long as we continue imagining that God is a creature of time and space rather than God continually revealing all that He is in every moment of time and at every point of space. The only way by which we can know this God is by the full immersion into the Holy Spirit. Only a complete fusion of the Holy Spirit with our mind and soul, not just with our spirits, can cause us to know God as He is.
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.This is the true God and eternal life. (Not some other form constructed by human thinking.)1 John 5:20
That word “understanding” is dianoia, a form of nous, mind. Dianioa means a “through-mind.”
You see, I am only saying what God says in as many different current ways I can say it. We read verses through the hard barrier of Christian thinking, a Nicene Christianity, all that we have known before. People think, “Daniel, what are you saying?” I am saying 1 John 5:20 (etc.) over and over until we get it.
We don't get it.
We don't get it until the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement in the life of the Church/in our lives; when we, for the first time, make the boldest and most daring movement in all the created universe.
When I read the conversation of almost all Christians, it is evident to me that they are not speaking out from the completion of the Day of Atonement. They do not yet know the Sacrifice of Jesus – the revelation of God.
This time issue is a big deal.
God IS.
Then this God who IS shows Himself to His creation. This showing of Himself MUST BE figurative. God is invisible. Thus, part of this figurative manner in which God shows Himself is that God takes Himself, I AM, and expresses Himself as an “unfolding” in time and space. The progression of time is figurative, even though it is real as appearance. Yet the substance of God, all of God, as in IS, or I AM, is full and complete inside of every MOMENT of this figurative, though real, time.
God is the substance, always now, always here, all of God. Jesus is the appearance, the unfolding of I AM in space and time. “He that has seen Me HAS seen the Father.” Yet, though Jesus as Man is the appearance of God in space and time, we do not think of Him as “unreal.”
Now, just as Jesus was the appearance of God in space and time, the unfolding of the I AM, so are we, not by our “doing” but by God. Trying to walk with God moment by moment is unreal; it is imagination only, the way humans keep God at arm's length in their imagination. God walking as us, unfolding Himself in space and time by us is the only way we are made real.
Figurative does not mean unreal; it means what is visible reflects/portrays what is invisible.
Substance in God; appearance in space and time.
Substance in God is called Glory; the appearance of Glory in the earth is called the humility of service. Not-God in God is called shame; the appearance of shame in the earth is called pride, “glory,” and domination.
Man is backwards and upside down and inside out. Mankind is extraordinarily weird and exceptionally deluded. We cannot know anything real or true if we are thinking like typical nonsensical humans.
There is one way only to escape thinking like typical weird humans.
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
Look at those words: We are in Him who is true.
We are not “in Him” positionally or figuratively or by appearance. We are in Him for real, by substance, eternal and complete.
We have the capacity to know that, even though we make little use of that capacity.
How do we, then, know Him who is true?
By BEING, as we are, in Him.
The moment we look at Him, we have removed ourselves from Him in our imaginations and now we CANNOT know Him.
The only way to know as He knows, inside of Him, is to speak as He speaks, to speak: “I AM —.”
This is the only thing true, God, and the life of the age to come.
We call all things by Substance and not by appearance, all the while convinced that the appearance is nothing other than the unfolding of that Substance in space and time.
Space and time are the unfolding, the revelation of God. The life of Jesus is revealed in our mortal flesh.
“See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
We do NOT know what we are – except Christ. Thus, to know what we are, we must speak all that Christ is. Christ is every word God speaks. Thus we speak all that God speaks as Christ, the unfolding of I AM in space and time.
What is Christ? – Christ is FIRST every Word God speaks. “First” means source, not numerical order.
This Source, Christ as every Word God speaks, full and complete, then becomes Christ living as me. This is always second, meaning always coming out of the first. He is the vine; we are the branches.
My strength is made perfect in weakness. – The Word became Flesh and dwelt among us.
Then, third, Christ is a Spirit of Power. Again, “third” means that Christ as a Spirit of Power is always coming out from Christ as me in weakness always coming out from Christ as every Word God speaks.
And fourth, Christ is a Corporate Body, the dwelling place of God forever. That word “forever” is “through the ages,” meaning that Christ as a Corporate Body is continually, every moment, the unfolding of God IS/I AM in space and time, in heaven and earth.
Christ as a Corporate Body is always coming out of Christ as a Spirit of Power always coming out of Christ as us in weakness always coming out of Christ as every Word God speaks – I Am.
This order is so very important. We are not speaking of “time” but of source. Yet God reveals this order by time, that is, by the journey of Israel and the Church. And He unfolds its experience in our lives through time, that is, God all in all every moment, yet unfolding in space and time as human experience.
This Corporate Body is the dwelling place of God. This Corporate Body is what must be built according to the Pattern. That is, it must come by Spirit out from vessels of weakness (meaning not by our hand) according to every Word God continually speaks.
Because The Jesus Secret gives us the speaking of Christ across the breadth of the New Testament, by speaking these confessions of faith, we know what we are. And we are being fashioned by the Holy Spirit according to the Pattern, all the while resting utterly in Christ living as us, as vessels of weakness.
This reality and walk is so wonderful, utter rest and joy and confidence.
~~~
A brother was speaking evil with others against another brother in the Lord, a minister of Christ. Because he wanted also to associate with me, I wrote him privately how abhorrent such practice was to me. In his reply, concerning that circumstance, he made this comment: “I call it like I see it.”
I don't know if there is any phrase more contrary to Christ than this. It is dishonesty. No one ever calls anything the way they see it. We all see only what we call. Whatever we speak first, that is what we see. And what we speak comes out from our hearts and nowhere else.
Here is God's order: And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good. God sees what He first calls. Then God takes that same word and places it in our mouths: The Word is in your mouth, this word of faith which we speak.
Then, immediately after, the serpent comes along and says, “Did God indeed say.” It is the nature of the serpent to turn everything of God backwards and upside down. God says, “Whatever I speak, that's what I see.” The serpent says, “Whatever I see, that's what I speak.”
Out of God's words comes Christ. Out of the serpent's words comes accusation.
Are you having trouble seeing Christ in all things? If you are, the reason is simple and clear. You are speaking not-Christ. Seeing always comes out of speaking. And speaking always comes out of the heart.
What do you want?
If you really want Christ in your life, then you must speak Christ in your life. You will see Him there no other way. If you really want Christ triumphant in His church, then you must speak Christ triumphant in His church. You will see Him there no other way. You always see all things exactly as you call them. And you always call all things by what you want in your heart.
There is a Greek word in the New Testament that means what a person values most at the core of their heart. This word is the center and meaning of Sacrifice. It means far, far more than “I want.” Rather, what a person values most at the core of his or her heart is the essence and meaning of their person. It's what they are.
God has made it clear to us what He values most at the core of His heart, that is, what He IS in essence and being. God values most a Man laying down His life for His friends.
“Let there be light” is the beginning of Christ unfolding Himself into time and space. A Man laying down His life for His friends is the completion of that measure of the unfolding of Christ, the heart of God revealed. Yet the revelation of Christ will never cease; His unfolding into space and time in both heaven and earth is forever. The increase of His kingdom is without end. – Isaiah
But forever, speaking always comes first, and seeing always comes second. God has placed the unfolding of Christ into our mouths – the Word is in your mouth.
You want to see Jesus? There is one way only by which you will ever see Him.
Speak Christ your only life. Speak all that He is, every good word of God spoken into us, as all that you are.
You will see Him no other way.
That Greek word that means what a person values most at the core of his heart? – Doxa. – Glory.
Glory is the only possible way we can know Sacrifice.
The Sacrifice of Jesus is the Glory of God revealed, the core and essence of His heart, the one thing He values above all other value.