THE CHRIST

THE CHRIST
Beautiful Jesus
Wonderful counselor
Faithful in all Your ways
Faithful through all of my days
I worship You and You alone
I bow down before Your throne
I declare You are the ONE
That You are God’s only Son
Beautiful Jesus
You’re so beautiful Jesus

Christ Jesus is the most exquisite, magnificent,
Beautiful person who ever lived,
Even though we do not know what he looked like.
His beauty transcends all concepts of beauty.
He is the perfect representative of the Living God;
Not just a good man, not simply a prophet,
But God himself in the form of a man;
The WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE.

OVERVIEW:
Few people living today have not heard of THE CHRIST, JESUS.
The Christmas story is known throughout the world.
Christmas, the celebration of his birth,
Is celebrated throughout the world.
The God of creation, Jehovah, the Self-Existent One,
Chose a specific time in history,
To reveal himself, in a body, as a man, to the world.
The humble birth of this man changed the course of world history.
The calendar is now divided into the time before Christ (BC)
And the time after Christ (AD).
The followers of Christ have taken His teaching
And His Scriptures and His Spirit,
To virtually every nation on earth.
It is unquestionable, that this man, Christ Jesus,
Is the most important and influential person who ever lived.
Yet, Christ Jesus never wrote a single word himself.
He only lived on earth for approximately 33 years.
He only gained notoriety in Israel
For the last three and one half years of his life,
When he ministered in the power of the Spirit of God.
The first words he preached were,
“Repent for the kingdom of God is near.” (Matthew 4:17)

He preached the “good news” that God would forgive the sins of those
Who would by faith, believe in him, turn from their sin and live for him.
He chose a group of twelve common men to teach
And disciple for the last three and one half years.
Christ Jesus revealed the glory of God as no other man.
He performed miraculous signs and wonders never before seen.
He healed the sick, and raised the dead to life.
He cast out demons from those oppressed by the devil.
The final proof that he was the Christ of God
Was the fact that God raised him from the dead,
After which he showed himself to his disciples,
Approximately 500 in total.
He said of himself:
I am the way the truth and the life
No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.
From now on, you do know him and have seen him. (John 14:6-7)

In other words, Christ Jesus is the visible form of God.
God is a Spirit who cannot be seen.
He made himself flesh, embodied in Christ Jesus,
To reveal himself to the world.

JESUS TEACHES NICODEMUS
Now there was a man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus,
A member of the Jewish ruling council.
He came to Jesus at night and said,
‘Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God.
For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing
If God were not with him.’

In reply Jesus declared,
‘I tell you the truth, unless a man is born again,
He cannot see the kingdom of God.’
‘How can a man be born when he is old’ Nicodemus asked.
‘Surely he cannot enter a second time
Into his mother’s womb to be born!’
Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth,
Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit,
He cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
You should not be surprised at my saying,
You must be born again.
The wind blows wherever it pleases.
You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from
Or where it is going.
So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.’
‘How can this be?’ Nicodemus asked.
‘You are Israel’s teacher,’ said Jesus,
‘And you do not understand these things?
I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know,
And we testify to what we have seen,
But still you people do not accept our testimony.
I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe;
How then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
No one has ever gone into heaven
Except the one who came from heaven--
The Son of Man.
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert,
So the Son of Man must be lifted up,
That everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
That whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
But to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned,
But whoever does not believe stands condemned already
Because he has not believe in the name of God’s one and only Son.
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world,
But men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light
For fear that his deeds will be exposed.
But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light,
So that it may be seen plainly
That what he has done has been done through God.’ (John 3:1-21)

THE END OF THE AGE
Christ Jesus promised to come again, at the end of the age.
To take all believers to be with him in heaven.

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am.
And to see my glory, the glory you have given me
Because you loved me before the creation of the world. (John 17:24)

This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven,
Will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11)

This is the hope of every believer.
On the cross of Calvary Jesus said to the one thief who repented:
I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43)

THE OLD TESTEMANT:
God the Father chose the nation Israel to reveal Himself in and through.
Through their recorded history God revealed Himself and His Christ.
He gave them Ten Commandments and a form of worship
That would enable them to live in harmony and relationship with Him.
He delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt with great signs and wonders.
He provided for them for forty years in the wilderness.
He brought them into the land that He had promised.
Nevertheless, Israel rebelled against God time and again.
Time and again, when they cried out to God,
He would deliver them from the circumstances their sin had gotten them into.
God sent them prophets and judges, Godly men and women, filled with His Spirit,
Through whom he would deliver them and show them God’s holy way.
This went on in repeated cycles until the time of Christ.
At the time of Christ Jesus, Israel, having disobeyed God, was under Roman rule.

CHRIST FORETOLD:
Throughout their history God revealed His Christ to Israel
In the form of supernatural visitations.
The prophets foretold the Christ who would come
And restore God’s Kingdom to Israel,
And remove their sin permanently and for eternity.
The Old Testament Scriptures were full of prophecies of the coming of the Christ.
The Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One,
Is the focal point of God’s revelation to mankind in the Old Testament
As well as the New Testament.
He is the one who would repair the relationship between God and man
For all who had faith in God and His Christ.
In Jeremiah 31: 31-34, The Lord declares:
The time is coming,
When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
And with the house of Judah
It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers
When I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt
Because they broke my covenant
Though I was a husband to them.
This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
After that time,
I will put my laws in their minds
And write upon their hearts.
I will be their God,
And they will be my people.
No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
Or a man his brother, saying 'Know the Lord,’
Because they will all know me
From the least of them to the greatest
For I will forgive their wickedness
And remember their sins no more.

The Apostle John picks up this theme in the New Testament in 1 John 2:20:
But you have an anointing from the Holy One,
And all of you know the truth.
I do not write to you because you do not know the truth,
But because you do know it
And because no lie comes from the truth.
Continuing in 1 John 2:27, John says:
As for you
The anointing you received from him remains in you,
And you do not need anyone to teach you.
But as his anointing teaches you about all things
And as that anointing is real, not counterfeit
Just as it has taught you remain in him.

Here the apostle John brings together the Old and New Testaments
Regarding the nature of the New Covenant
And the anointing, the baptism (immersion) in the Holy Spirit
That would be imparted by “The Messiah, The Christ, The Anointed One.”

The apostle Paul brings Jeremiah 31: 31-34
Into Hebrews 8: 10-12. He then says:
By making this covenant new, he has made the first one obsolete;
And what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

So, Christ Jesus, The Anointed One, brings into being a New Covenant
By His shed blood on the cross of Calvary;
The fact of His resurrection from the dead,
And the power of his Anointing, given to those who believe.
This Anointing, the impartation of His Spirit, this immersion in His Spirit,
Enables a Christian to overcome the evil in this world and live for God.
It is God’s supernatural, indwelling empowerment.

JOHN THE BAPTIST:
THE MAN SENT TO ANNOUNCE THE CHRIST TO ISRAEL
God the Father chose John the Baptist to make the announcement
Of the coming of The Christ.
As was foretold by scripture John the Baptist was:
A voice of one calling in the desert, Prepare the way for the Lord,
Make straight paths for him. (Matthew. 3:3)

John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance in the desert,
And most of the people of Israel went to him in the desert and were baptized,
Obeying the still small voice of God who had drawn them to Himself,
And being compelled by the Spirit of God, to do so.
The only ones who did not go out to him were the religious leaders of Israel,
Who refused to acknowledge that John was a prophet from God.
The same ones who refused to accept Christ Jesus as their Messiah
John the Baptist said of the Christ:
I baptize with water for repentance
But after me will come one who is more powerful than I,
Whose sandal I am not fit to carry.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
His winnowing fork is in his hand
And he will clear his threshing floor,
Gathering the wheat into his barn
And burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matthew. 3:11)

In John 1:29, John the Baptist spoke of the atoning work of Christ:
Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST:
Christ Jesus came to accomplish a number of specific tasks:
To reveal the character and nature of God who is an invisible Spirit;
Christ is the visible image of God; God made man.
To prove that he was the Christ of God through signs, wonders and various miracles.
He healed the sick, the lame, the blind the deaf and all manner of conditions.
He raised the dead. He drove out demons.
He walked on water, stopped a storm with a command
And feed thousands with a few fish and a little bread.

He quoted from the Book of Isaiah, saying he was the fulfillment:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
Because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
And recovery of sight for the blind,
To release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Isaiah 61:1)

He came to gather those who were drawn to Him by the Spirit of God.
Those who would believe He was who He said He was.
To teach His disciples to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit as He had.
To die for the sins of the world.
After His death and resurrection,
He came to indwell His believers
And enable them to do the same ministry that He had done.
He promised to come again at the end of the age for all who will believe.
Baptized by John the Baptist:
Christ Jesus was unknown in Israel until He was about thirty years old.
He then came to John the Baptist and was baptized along with the many
Who were coming to John to be baptized.
As Jesus was baptized He prayed and
…Heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him
In bodily form like a dove.
And a voice came from heaven:
‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’ (Luke 3:21-22)

Temped by the devil:
After being baptized by John the Baptist,
Jesus was led by the Spirit of God into the desert,
Where He ate nothing for forty days.
Then the devil came to Him and said:
'If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.'
Jesus answered, ‘It is written; Man does not live on bread alone.’
But on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'

The devil led him up to a high place
And showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
And said to him, ‘I will give you all their authority and splendor,
For it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.
So if you worship me, it will all be yours.’
Jesus answered, ‘it is written:
Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’

The devil led him to Jerusalem
And had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down from here.
For it is written;
He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully;
They will lift you up in their hands,
So you will not strike your foot against a stone.’
Jesus answered, it says:
‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ (Luke 4:3-12)

Jesus Begins His Ministry:
Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.
‘The time has come.’ he said.
‘The Kingdom of God is near.
Repent and believe the good news.’ (Mark 1:14-15)

Jesus chooses twelve disciples
One of which would ultimately betray him, Judas Iscariot.
For approximately three and one half years Christ Jesus ministered before Israel.
Teaching in their synagogues,
Performing signs and wonders that verified who he said he was.
Finally, the Truth compelled Him to speak against the religious establishment;
This angered them and resulted in their demanding of Pontius Pilot
That He be crucified.
At the demand of the Jewish religious establishment,
Christ Jesus was put to death on the cross of Calvary.
However, it was not only the Jewish religious establishment
That put Christ to death,
It was the sin of every person who ever lived, and all have sinned.

THE COMMAND OF CHRIST JESUS:
After His resurrection,
Christ Jesus commanded that His disciples wait in Jerusalem
Until they had received what the Father had promised and He had foretold;
The impartation of the Holy Spirit; the Anointing from “The Anointed One.”
The same impartation spoken of in Jeremiah 31 and 1 John.

If you love me, you will obey what I command.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor
To be with you forever - The Spirit of truth.
The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.
But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14:15-17)

What was this command?
It was to wait in Jerusalem until the Father sent the Holy Spirit.
Wait until you are baptized (immersed) in the Holy Spirit.

On that day you will realize that I am in my Father,
And you are in me, and I am in you. (Christ in us). (John 14:20)
That day was the Day of Pentecost.

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.
He who loves me will be loved by my Father,
And I too will love him and show myself to him. (John 14:21)

If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.
My Father will love him, and we will come and make our home with him.
(John 14: 23)

He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.
These words you hear are not my own;
They belong to the Father who sent me. (John 14:24)

All this I have spoken while still with you.
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,
Will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
(John. 14:25-26)

When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father,
The Spirit of truth, who goes out from the Father,
He will testify about me; … (John. 15:26)

…When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.
He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears,
And he will tell you what is yet to come.
He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine
And making it known to you.
All that belongs to the Father is mine.
That is why I said that Spirit will take from what is mine
And make it know to you. (John. 16:13-15)

THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST:
Christ is the focus of both the Old and New Testaments, because He is the redeemer
And the Scriptures are the story of God’s plan of redemption;
God redeeming man to Himself.
Christ and the Father are ONE.
Christ Jesus said to Philip, His disciple:
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. (John 14:9)
Christ is the perfect image of the Father, the perfect revelation of the Father.
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
Christ Jesus showed to the whole world who God is;
His nature and His incomparable love.
If a person cannot see God in Christ Jesus, he cannot see God at all,
For Christ Jesus perfectly represents God the Father.

THE PREEMINENCE OF THE WORDS OF CHIRST:
Since Christ Jesus is the most important person who ever lived
(being God in the flesh),
It follows that the words He spoke are the most important words ever spoken.
It also follows that the words that He spoke with the greatest intensity,
Are the most important of the words He spoke.
As recorded in the New Testament
Here are the words that Christ Jesus spoke with the greatest intensity:
On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice:
‘If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink
Whoever believes in me as the Scripture has said
Streams of living water will flow from within him.’
By this he meant the Spirit
Whom those who believed in him were later to receive.
Up to that time the Spirit had not been given,
Since Jesus had not yet been glorified.' (John 7:37-39)

At the end of the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation,
Christ Jesus again gives an invitation to the “THIRSTY”:
He (Christ Jesus) said to me:
‘It is done
I am the Alpha and Omega
The Beginning and the End
To him who is thirsty
I will give to drink without cost
From the spring of the water of life.
He who overcomes will inherit all this
And I will be his God
And he will be my son.’ (Revelation 21:6-7)

In the last chapter of the Book Of Revelation
Again the invitation is given to the “THIRSTY“.
This time by the Spirit and the Bride of Christ:
The Spirit and the bride say, Come!
And let him who hears say, ’Come!’
Whoever is thirsty, let him come
And whoever wishes
Let him take the free gift of the water of life. (Revelation 22:17)

So, at the high point of His ministry,
Christ Jesus loudly invites anyone who is thirsty to come to Him
To receive streams of Living Water.
At the end of the last book of the New Testament,
Christ Jesus again gives the same invitation.
Finally in the last chapter in the last book of the New Testament,
The Spirit and the Bride Give again the FINAL invitation
To receive the “free gift of the water of life.”
The invitation to receive the “free gift of the water of life”
Is the preeminent invitation in the Word of God
And issued by God made Flesh, Christ Jesus.

This is made clear because of the following:
It was first proclaimed by the Christ of God.
It was one of two times the Bible records that he spoke loudly
And therefore intensely.
This proclamation was made at the highest point of his ministry.
It was reiterated by Christ Jesus at the last of the final book of the Bible.
It was reiterated by the Spirit and the Bride as final invitation of the Word of God.

The other time Christ Jesus spoke with intensity was in John 12:44-50:
Then Jesus cried out,
'When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only
But in the one who sent me.
When he looks at me he sees the one who sent me.
I have come into the world as a light,
So that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them,

I do not judge him.
For I did not come to judge the world,
But to save it.
There is a judge for the one who rejects me
And does not accept my words;
That very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.
For I did not speak of my own accord
But the Father who sent me commanded me what to say
And how to say it.
I know that his command leads to eternal life.
So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.’

Christ Jesus was emphasizing that He is the embodiment of God,
God made visible, God in the flesh.
When you see Him you see God.
He is also emphasizing His mission:
To save those who would believe Him and accept His offer of eternal life.
Those who do not receive Him, having heard what He said,
Are condemned by the very word He spoke.
In the beginning of his ministry Christ Jesus,

Also spoke about the “Living Water” to a Samaritan woman as follows:
Jesus answered her,
‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink,
You would have asked him and he would have given you Living Water.’ (John 4: 10)
Jesus answered,
‘Everyone who drinks this water (natural water) will be thirsty again,
But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.
Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water
Welling up to eternal life.’ (John 4:13-14)

COME TO ME AND DRINK:
This invitation of Christ Jesus is for the “THIRSTY.”
The “Living Water” He offers is His Holy Spirit.
This “Living Water” flows from the throne of God. (Rev. 22:1-3)
The flow is initiated by the “Baptism in the Holy Spirit” by the hand of Christ.
Christ is the Baptizer. Baptism means to immerse.
Christ Jesus immerses those who believe, in the Holy Spirit,
So that they are saturated with Him. Christ Jesus said:

‘I am going to send you what my Father has promised;
But stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’
(Luke 24:49)

‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised,
Which you have heard me speak about.
For John baptized with water,
But in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ (Acts 1:4-5)

This baptism is available to whosoever will come to Christ “THIRSTY,”
And “WAIT” on Him to receive.
It is for those who understand that Christ is “LIFE,” and desire His “LIFE;”
Those who understand there is no “LIFE” apart from Him;
Who are willing to live His “WAY,” and by His “TRUTH;”
Those who are willing to seek first the Kingdom of God,
And make it their treasure.

Christ Jesus said:
‘Seek first his (the Father’s) kingdom and his righteousness,
And all these things (everything you have need of)
Will be given to you as well.’ (Matthew. 6:33).

Christ Jesus said about God’s Kingdom:
‘The kingdom of God does not come visibly,
Nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ’there it is,’
Because the kingdom of God is within you.’ (Luke 17: 20-21)

The Kingdom of God is Christ in you,
The Holy Spirit within you, the Anointing of Christ within you,
The “Living Water” within you, The only hope of glory (everlasting life).
The apostle Paul said that God had given him a commission
To present to the church,
The word of God in its fullness -
The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations,
But is now disclosed to the saints.
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles
The glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you the hope of glory.
(Colossians. 1:26-27)

The only hope that any person has is Christ in them;
The Holy Spirit in them.
That is the hope of glory or eternal life.
We Christians believe that when we die,
We go to live with the Father forever, in Heaven.
That hope is base on Christ living within us.
Our body will die but the Spirit of Christ in us is eternal.
That is our hope.

There’s a pool of blood and a broken body
That will determine your eternity
There’s a sacrifice of a holy life
That separates all of history
There’s a soon coming King a reward to bring
For those who give their lives even unto death
They will all fly away
It could be most any day
To be with Him in never ending joy
Lord of glory Your Bride awaits you
Our lamps are burning come soon
Jesus, Messiah we are longing for You
We are holding back the battle at the gate

*All Scriptures are from The New International Version.

Becoming ONE

Becoming ONE is soon to be accomplished in The Bride of Christ
In the here and now, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
For the Bride, Faith, and Hope will be no more, but realized.
Love, however, remains because Love is eternal.
God is Self-Existent; He has LIFE in Himself.
He is Love and Light.
When He makes us ONE with Him we will be indistinguishable from Him,
In character and being.
We can never be all knowing, all seeing, all powerful and present everywhere.
However, we will be ONE as the Father and Son are ONE,
Because that is what Jesus prayed for and He cannot be denied.
And we shall be ONE in the here and now,
Because that is how the world will know that the Father sent Christ Jesus.

We will be witnesses for Christ, in the fullness of Christ.
Therefore, the world will know that God the Father sent Christ Jesus.
God the Father has sent the Holy Spirit into this world with one objective,
To obtain a bride for His Son, Jesus, and He cannot fail.
Before God wraps up “TIME”, He is going to honor the prayer of Jesus.
He is going to display the work of the Holy Spirit, in its fullness.
By raising up the Bride of Christ from every corner of the world,
For all the world to see.
The Kingdom of God will come to earth as in Heaven.
The world will be astonished,
Just as Christ Jesus astonished the world during the three years
Of His ministry on earth.
The religious world will be shaken to their core,
As they were with the coming of Jesus.
Nevertheless, the fact of the Bride of Christ will be undeniable.
The name of Jesus will be upon every heart mind and mouth;
Every man woman and child.
There will not be a soul on the earth that does not know of Christ Jesus.
Every soul will be given the opportunity to choose Him
As their Lord, Savior and Anointing.
At the apex of Her ministry the Bride of Christ will assailed by Satan.
The account of this is in Revelation 12.

The Woman and the Dragon (Revelation 12)
A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun,
With the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.
She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.

Then another sign appeared in heaven:
An enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns
And seven crowns on his heads.
His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.
The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth,
So that he might devour her child the moment it was born.
She gave birth to a son, a male child,
Who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.
And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.
The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God,
Where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
And there was war in heaven.
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon
And the dragon and his angels fought back.
But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.
The devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.
He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of God,
And the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers
Who accuses them before our God day and night,
Has been hurled down.
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb
And by the word of their testimony;
They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
Because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.
When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth,
He pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.
The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle,
So that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert,
Where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time,
Out of the serpent’s reach.
Then from his mouth
The serpent spewed water like a river to overtake the woman
And sweep her away with the torrent.
But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth
And swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.

Then the dragon was enraged at the woman
And went off to make war against the rest of her offspring--
Those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea.
The woman is the Bride of Christ.
She is pregnant by Christ with the fruit of Her ministry, a male child.
The child is snatched up to God.
The woman flees into the desert to a place prepared for her by God,
Where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days,
The time of The Great Tribulation.
There is war in Heaven and Michael and his angels
Cast Satan and his angels out of Heaven.
Then Satan, the devil, the dragon, the serpent, pursues the woman,
The Bride of Christ, to destroy her.
However, God provides the woman with two wings of a great eagle,
And flies her to a place prepared for her in the desert.
She is supernaturally taken into the desert and protected.
(It is notable that the other time when God delivered his people
On the wings of an eagle
Was when he delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt and into the desert.
The Book Of Isaiah is filled with descriptions of the Bride of Christ in the desert.)

The Serpent spews water like a river to overtake the woman and sweep her away.
But God opens up the earth to swallow up the river of water and save the woman.
(God has a River of LIFE and Satan has a river of death.)
When the dragon cannot destroy the woman, the Bride of Christ,
He goes off to make war against the rest of her offspring--
Those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
These are those the apostle John describes in Revelation 7:13-14:

Then one of the elders asked me, ‘these in white robes--
Who are they, and where did they come from?’
I answered, ‘Sir, you know.’
And he said, ‘these are they who have come out of the great tribulation;
They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’

When the last of the saints is killed in The Great Tribulation,
Christ Jesus returns and defeats his enemies with the breath of His mouth
And the brightness of His appearing. (2 Thessalonians 2:8)
TIME comes to and end,
And Christ Jesus sets up His millennial reign on earth for a thousand years.

LET US GO ON TO EXPLORE THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WORD “ONE”
The word “ONE” is a crucial word to understand “God” and the Word of God.
“Here, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is ONE!” (Deuteronomy 6:4)

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are ONE.
Just as there is ONE God, there is ONE body of believers,
ONE Bride for Christ Jesus, ONE faith in the ONE God,
And ONE baptism (immersion) into the ONE God.

There is one body, one Spirit--
Just as you were called to one hope when you were called--
One Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all,
Who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men,
The man Christ Jesus. (1Timothy 1:5)

God said that through ONE man all the nations of the earth would be blessed.
That man was Abraham.
Through the “seed” of Abraham came the one nation, Israel
And from Israel the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed ONE.
Although God chose to displayed Himself through the nation Israel,
His intent was to bless every nation on earth through His “Christ.”
The perfect representative of God, God made flesh;
The Christ, who extends an invitation to everyone to come to Him in faith.
God’s purpose in creation was to create a people for Himself,
A people with whom He could share his very being;
A people who would become ONE with Him by the power of His Holy Spirit.
A people who would by an act of their will,
Would choose to embrace Him, God, the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE.
The only WAY, the only TRUTH and the only LIFE.
A people who would allow God to live in them and through them
A people who would submit their will to His perfect will.
A people who would be a living temple for Him.
A people with whom He could share the wonder of His Paradise, His Heaven,
His Kingdom, the realm of God
In the here and now as well as the by and by.

Only those who are ONE with God can enter Heaven
Since there can be no corruption in Heaven;
Those who love God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength;
Whose hearts are fully devoted to Him, who have consecrated their lives to Him.
Those who enter Heaven must have the character and being of God and His Christ,
Filled with His Spirit having the mind of Christ.

After the resurrection of Christ Jesus, the Father sent the Holy Spirit,
On the Day of Pentecost, to obtain a Bride for His Son.
That has been the sole objective of the Holy Spirit since that time.
A Bride who will love Christ Jesus as much as the Father loves Him.
A Bride without spot, wrinkle or blemish,
A Bride commensurate with Himself in character and being,
A Bride with whom He will spend eternity,
The City of God, whose architect and builder is God;
The NEW JERUSALEM.

Today, God’s purpose for each person who believes in Him
Is not only that we receive Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior
But that we become ONE with Him.
God wants us to become ONE with Him so that the world may believe
That He sent Christ Jesus into the world.
Only when the people of God become ONE with God,
Do unbelievers understand that Christ Jesus lives in His people;
That He lives today as surely
As he lived on earth as a man 2,000 years ago, as recorded by history.
Because only when we are ONE with Him,
Do we manifest the glory of God as Christ Jesus did,
Which is the proof of who He is.
To enable us to become ONE with Him God has given us His GLORY.
The supernatural, indwelling Spirit of God.
Jesus said:

My prayer is not for them alone (those believers currently living)
I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message
That all of them may be ONE
Father, just as you are in me and I am in you
May they also be in us so
That the world may believe that you have sent me.

I have given them the glory that you gave me
That they may be ONE as we are ONE
I in them and you in me
May they be brought to complete unity
To let the world know that you sent me
And have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20-22)

Jesus is praying for His Bride; the Bride He died for; the Bride He lives for.
He is praying not only His desire,
But also what must and will become a reality.
That His people, His Bride must and will become ONE with Him,
And when they are ONE with Him they will be ONE with each other by definition.
Complete unity in the body of Christ, Is a work of the Spirit of God
Bringing about a people in complete agreement with God,
And therefore with each other.
Unity in the Body of Christ comes when we are ONE with Christ Jesus.
Just as it is stated in Psalm 133:

How good and pleasant it is
When brothers live together in unity.
It is like the precious oil poured on the head
Running down on Aaron’s beard,
Down upon the collar of his robes.
It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion,
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
Even life forevermore.

The oil spoken of here is symbolic of the Holy Spirit.
The oil poured over Aaron was for his anointing,
Signifying his consecration, his being set apart to God.
When God’s people are anointed, consecrated and set apart to God,
Then God bestows his blessing on them.
The blessing is LIFE forever more, LIFE in the Spirit of God, eternal LIFE.
The Book of Acts demonstrates Christ Jesus working in His Church,
But over time the Church became corrupt.
In the realm of men it is said, power corrupts
And absolute power corrupts absolutely.
When what was called the church had great power, it became corrupt.
God then raised up many who protested against the corruption.
This movement, called the Reformation,
Brought about the great diversity to His church that can be seen today.
This was done by God so that no single, man made organization,
Could have absolute power over his people.
Nevertheless, at this time God is uniting His people in Christ
By the power of His Holy Spirit;
A charismatic people, who will minister in the fullness of Christ Jesus.
Christ Jesus will manifest Himself through His Church as He did when it began.
Those who will not submit to Christ and His perfect love will be left behind.
The later temple (the Body of Christ) will be greater than the former one.
The glory of the later day Bride of Christ will exceed any glory
The Body of Christ has ever known.

ADAM AND EVE
God created Adam and Eve and all that can be seen
From that which could not be seen.
He spoke everything into existence by His Word.
In the Garden of Eden (Paradise) Adam and Eve were ONE with Him.
They were perfect beings in a perfect environment,
In complete harmony with God and their environment.
They drank from the River of LIFE
And ate from the Tree of LIFE.
God gave them but one command:
Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
For if you do you will surely die.
However, the devil stepped in and deceived them,
Telling them that they would not die;
That eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
Would make them like God.
So they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
And they fell from the grace of God by disobeying His single command.
The command was for their “good,”
But they did not trust God and were deceived by the devil.

The knowledge of evil contaminates the soul and spirit of man
And brings about his death.
The knowledge of evil and death cannot exist the Paradise of God,
If it could, it would not be Paradise.
Therefore God had to expel Adam and Eve from Paradise,
Since they had followed the devil instead of God.
From that time forward everyone born of woman,
Was born with a fallen nature.
Mankind became part of the devils kingdom,
Having given up the nature of God, and oneness with God;
They took on the nature of the devil: prideful, self-centered, self serving,
Which brings forth evil continuously, and ultimately brings forth eternal death.

However, God knew before hand,
That man would be deceived by the devil, and disobey His command.
Because of His consummate love for mankind,
He had a plan to redeem mankind back to their original, perfect state.
The redemption of mankind, however,
Would cost him the highest price He could pay.
The redemption of mankind required a perfect sacrifice.
Since God himself was the only perfect being,
He required that He Himself, become a man and provide that sacrifice.
Christ Jesus was that man, God made flesh.

The man who God sent to perfectly represent Him,
Emanuel, God with us.
The redemption of man has two aspects.
The first is the forgiveness of his sins.
God’s own requirement was that without the shedding of blood
There is no forgiveness for sin.
Christ Jesus came to earth for the purpose of being a sacrifice.
He was crucified from the foundation of the world, in the mind of God,
Shedding His own blood for the sins of all mankind,
So that anyone who will receive Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior
Is forgiven of all their sins.
Each person who turns to Christ Jesus with all their heart,
Has the blood of Christ Jesus wash away all their sins.

However, a forgiven person must continue to live in this sinful world
And he must maintain his new, forgiven state of being.
This means that the person must live righteously before God.
When we are forgiven, we receive the Holy Spirit of God,
Who supernaturally enables us to live in righteousness, before Him,
By His power within us, Christ in us the hope of glory;
As we submit our will to His will.

John the Baptist, the man sent by God
To announce the coming of Christ Jesus
Said that Christ Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Baptism in the Holy Spirit means to be immersed in the Holy Spirit
Saturated in the Holy Spirit, not once but continually.
To be baptized with fire is to be immersed in the fire of God;
Having all that is ungodly purged from us
By the unquenchable fire of God (Luke 3:16)

Christ Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as Living Water,
Living Water that would well up to eternal life in the person who drank it.
Welling up means that there is a continual flow of Living Water
In the person who is baptized (immersed) in the Holy Spirit. (John 4:14)
Christ Jesus said that if any man were thirsty,
He could come to him and drink,
And He would give him rivers of Living Water that would flow
From his innermost being. (John 7:37)
This Living Water is symbolic of the Holy Spirit.
It flows continually from the throne of God.
It continually fills those who are thirsty and remain thirsty;
Those who have the heart of the Psalmist David, who said:

One thing I ask, this is what I seek
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life
To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
And seek Him in His temple. (Psalm 27:4)

Psalm 46 says that there is a River
Whose streams make glad the City of God.
The people of God comprise the City of God.
Psalm 36 speaks of the River of God as a River of Delights
Because there is complete joy to be found in the River.
Revelation 22 speaks of a River of LIFE flowing from the throne of God.

God is LIFE itself, and the giver of (mortal) life and (eternal) LIFE.
The River of God is the essence of God, His very being, His Holy Spirit.
Ezekiel 47: Ezekiel is shown a River so extensive that you could swim in it
There is an infinite supply of the Water of LIFE in the River of LIFE.
Those who believe and are thirsty
Receive the River of LIFE from the hand of Christ Jesus.
This River then flows from within them, continually.
The Holy Spirit, the Living Water, the River of LIFE
Is given to us to make us ONE with Christ Jesus.
Because only when we are ONE with Him
Will the world know that God the Father sent him.
That is the purpose of God for all mankind on this earth,
That everyone know that Christ Jesus
Was sent by the God the Father
To save all who will choose to receive Christ Jesus
As their Savior, Lord and Anointing;
That they might live forever with Him in Paradise.
Christ Jesus was sent as the visible form of God.
God created the form of Christ Jesus to perfectly represent Him;
The perfect image of God, in whom the fullness of God lives in a body.
(Colossians 2:9)

If a person cannot see God in His Christ,
He will never be able to see him at all.
Christ Jesus lived a sinless life on this earth.
He demonstrated that He was from God
By performing great miracles, that no one had done before Him,
And by rising from the dead.

After His resurrection Christ Jesus told his followers to wait in Jerusalem
Until they received power from on High.
On the day of Pentecost this power came to them.
Then in the power of His Spirit
His followers performed the same miracles that He did.
The Book of Acts is an account of this phenomenon,
The miraculous witness of Christ Jesus living in His people
By the power of His Spirit, continues to this very day.
Those who become ONE with Him,
Represent Him as He intended to be represented.
They are just like Christ Jesus in His character and being.
They do the will and works of Christ Jesus,
They are His Bride,
Living stones built together to comprise the City of God
Whose architect and builder is God.

HOW DO WE BECOME ONE WITH CHRIST JESUS?
We begin by hearing the still small voice of God the Father,
Who is continually speaking to every person,
Through the incoherent “noise” of the world.
Speaking to us, calling us to Himself.
We develop a longing to fill that void in our souls only God can fill.
We seek to find God whose voice we have come to know.
We hear the good news from the Word of God, and we believe it.
God the Father imparts “faith” to us to believe the Truth.
We receive Christ Jesus as our Lord, Savior and Anointing.
We pass from being dead to God, who alone is LIFE,
To being alive in God, possessing never ending LIFE,
LIFE which is renewed in us every day.
When we receive Christ Jesus as our Lord, Savior and Anointing,
His Holy Spirit comes to live within us.
We are on the path to becoming ONE with Him.
Christ Jesus then takes us on a journey with Him
From glory to glory,
As we seek first and above all, His Kingdom,
As we submit our will to His will.
We lay down our pride and take on His humility,
For He is gentle and humble in heart.

THE FIRST AND GREATEST COMMANDMENT
The first commandment of God declares
That we are to love the Lord our God
With all our heart, soul, mind and strength. (Mark 12:30)
We must love Him who is LOVE.
We must love Him who is inherently, intrinsically LOVE.
We must love the only source of LOVE.
Without God there would be no love.
All true love emanates from Him.
Love without conditions, Love that never changes, Love that never ends.

SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Christ Jesus said seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness,
Then everything that you have need of will be given to you. (Matthew 6:33)
To live in His Kingdom is to be ONE with Him.
Christ Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within you.
We become ONE and remain ONE with Him;
As we allow the Holy Spirit to live in us, and through us;
As we submit our will to His will.
The Kingdom of God is LIFE in the Holy Spirit.
Those who live in the Kingdom of God
Have the heart of the Psalmist David, who said:

One thing I ask, this is what I seek
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life
To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
And seek Him in His temple (Psalm 27:4)

When this request becomes the cry of our heart
We are on our way to becoming ONE with Him.
The Psalmist David also said:

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And being with you, I desire nothing on earth. (Psalm 73:25)

That will be the heart of those who are ONE with God.
Their portion will be the Lord, desiring nothing on earth by comparison.
Christ Jesus taught his disciples to pray:

Father in Heaven, holy is your name.
Your Kingdom come, Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.

Therefore, as we allow Him to fully live in and through us,
As our will is submitted to His will;
His Kingdom comes to earth as in heaven.

As we allow the Anointed One, the Christ, the Messiah to impart to us
His Anointing, His Holy Spirit, His Living Water, His River of Life,
So that it flows freely through us, continually welling up within us,
Then we are becoming ONE with Him.
The more we drink of the Water of Life, the greater our thirst,
The better we know Him, the more He can teach us.
The more we have of Him, the more He can give.
Christ Jesus said to them that have, even more will be given.
There is no end to what He can and desires to give to us;
His glory (God manifested) is infinite as He is infinite.

A time has now come when true worshipers
Will worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth,
For they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. (John 4:23-24)

The Holy Spirit is seeking those who will worship the Father
In Spirit and in Truth;
To bring forth a Bride for Christ Jesus;
That is His sole mission at this time.

The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth
To strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)

Only through His Spirit within us, can we worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.
God wants to demonstrate to each one of us,
Through His Anointing, through His Spirit
That He is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE.
So that His WAY becomes our WAY, His TRUTH, our TRUTH,
His LIFE, our LIFE, His Spirit living in and through us.
Christ Jesus is inherently the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE
He is inherently LOVE and LIGHT.
By His Anointing, He immerses us in His Spirit, His essence
We become saturated with Him,
Becoming indistinguishable from Him in character and being.
We will never be all knowing, all seeing or all powerful, as He is.
However, the more we receive from Him,
The more we know, the more we see;
The more of His power is manifested in and through us.
Christ Jesus will give us as much of Himself as we will receive,
As we open up our hearts and receive from Him.
He promises that we will find Him,
When we seek Him with all of our hearts.

PRAISE HIM
God lives in the praises of His people.
As He reveals more of himself to us we desire to praise Him,
Because he gave His life for us,
Because He loves us unconditionally and consummately,
Because He imparts Himself, His Holy Spirit who is LIFE to us.
This reality moves us to praise Him.
When we are praising Him,
We are praising the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE,
The ONE who is LOVE and LIGHT
As we begin to praise Him, we may start in the natural,
However, as our praise proceeds He begins to release His Anointing.
The River of Life begins to flow in us more fully.
As we continue to praise Him we become more like Him.
We are transformed by the words of our mouth,
Because we are speaking of the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE;
The only WAY, the only TRUTH, the only LIFE,
Who is supernatural and eternal,
GOD, JEHOVAH, THE SELF EXISTENT ONE.

WORSHIP HIM
When we are fully immersed in our praise to Him,
He comes fully alive in our praise.
Our praise is transformed into in to worship;
We become more fully enveloped in Him.
His Spirit takes us deeper into Himself.
We are thirsting to death, drinking in all we can receive.
The Water of Life flows out of us more and more.
The River of Life is now so deep we must swim.
We are carried away by the River of LIFE.
The things of the earth disappear.
We are lost in His love, lost in His embrace.
We have discovered the Secrete Place of the Most High God.
We have entered the Holy of Holies.
Time has stopped.
We are consumed by God, by the Shekinah Glory of God.
In His temple all cry Glory.
We rest in the shadow of His wings.
He covers us with His feathers.
We are ONE with our God, in perfect LOVE, PEACE and JOY;
Whole, fulfilled, complete,
Perfectly clean, in His holiness.

THE GLORY
We have entered the realm of God’s glory,
His manifest presence, His Kingdom.
We can hear the sound of a rushing mighty wind.
We can see the fire of God.
The supernatural has consumed the natural.
All manner of supernatural manifestations begin to take place,
Just as they did when Jesus walked the earth,
And the POWER went out from Him.
Just as His disciples did in the Book of Acts,
God confirming his Word with signs and wonders.
Disease and sickness are banished.
The lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, the mute speak,
The dead are raised.
The water is turned to wine.
The loaves and fishes are multiplied.
The people of God walk on water;
They speak to the wind and the storm and they are still.
The audible voice of God is heard.
The sons and daughters of God prophesy.
Old men dream dreams and young men have visions.
The Spirit of God is ONE with God’s people.
He Anoints them to preach good news to the poor,
To proclaim freedom for the prisoners,
Recovery of sight to the blind,
To release the oppressed,
To proclaim the year of the Lords favor.
The people of God freely give what they have freely been given
God is made manifest in and through His people, His Bride.

THE SOON COMING KING
The Bride of Christ announces the soon coming of the King,
The second coming of Christ Jesus.
She will declare, as the Scripture declares:
The trumpet of God will sound;
He will come on the clouds
And every eye shall see Him,
Even those who pierced Him,
And all the earth shall mourn because of him,
So shall it be, amen. (Revelation 1:7)
Then the Kingdoms of the earth shall become the Kingdom of our Lord
And He shall reign forever more.

THE JUDGMENT OF GOD
The Bride of Christ shall announce the judgment of God
To come upon the earth, for those who do not believe;
That written in the Book of Revelation becomes a reality.
Finally, Christ Jesus returns to the earth.
His reward is in His hand;
To give to every person according to what they have done;
Time comes to an end.
The Bride of Christ comes down out of Heaven,
Dressed beautifully for her husband.
The marriage supper of the Lamb is served to the Bride;
Christ places His banner over Her: LOVE

ETERNITY IN HEAVEN
Christ Jesus lives with His Bride in never ending LOVE, PEACE and JOY;
He lives with His Bride in complete contentment.
Lord, we pray praying for your overwhelming, undeniable Anointing,
That puts to shame all the works of men;
That Christ alone would be magnified;
That the name of Jesus
Would be upon every heart, mind and mouth;
Every man woman and child;
In every nation on the face of the earth;
That all those who will, will choose Christ.

THEOLOGY
We respond to the still small voice of God, who is continually speaking to us;
Repenting, and turning away from our sin.
We confess Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior,
Allowing Him to wash us clean in His blood.
We receive immersion in the Water of Life, the Holy Spirit
By the hand of Christ Jesus.
We love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and strength;
Continually thirsting for more of the Holy Spirit;
Seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness;
Allowing Christ Jesus to live in and through us;
Submitting our will to His;
Becoming ONE with Him;
Knowing we will spend eternity with Him.

The Last Revival To Precede The Great Tribulation

INTRODUCTION TO: Called By Christ To Be ONE

I am lost in a love
In a love that can never fade
I am lost in a love that grows stronger every day
Stronger and stronger every day
Jesus my love, Jesus my Life, Jesus my Truth, Jesus my Way

This book embodies what I believe the Spirit of Christ
Is saying to His Church today
And to all those with ears to hear.
Today Christ Jesus is calling His people to be ONE with Him.
This will be accomplished by the power of His Holy Spirit,
By the anointing of The Anointed One.

Today He is calling forth His Bride;
The Bride He longs for;
The Bride He died and shed His blood for.
This will be the last revival before Christ returns,
And the Tribulation begins.
It is the opportunity for all who claim His name
To enter into all that He has for them;
To represent Him in His fullness.

I hope that what I have written will
Encourage those who hear the voice of God
To enter into all that He has for you.
To enter into The Secret Place of the Most High God,
The Kingdom of God, where His love, peace and joy are yours.
No matter where you are in your relationship with God,
There is more for you.
In the Secret Place of The Most High there are no limits.
You do not need to presently be a believer to hear the voice of God.
God is continually speaking to every living person.
But not everyone hears His voice.
Almighty God speaks in a still, small voice.
You have to want to hear from Him to hear His voice.
All of creation speaks of Him and for Him.

He promises that those who seek Him will find Him,
When they seek Him with all their hearts.
To those who knock the door will be opened.
He promises to those who have, even more will be given, forever.
For eternity He will give you more of Himself.
The infinite God has an infinite amount to give.
If you want to know God, you will not be satisfied with religious practice.
Many of those who are religious do not know God.
Just as the Jewish religious establishment did not recognize their Messiah
And refused to receive Christ Jesus as their Savior and Lord.
They were very religious, yet were unable to embrace Jesus, The Christ.

Today there is a lot of religious practice.
But only a few know God.
Only a few seek Him with all their hearts.
Only a few love Him with all their hearts.
Christ Jesus, the WAY, the TURTH and the LIFE
The One who is LOVE and LIGHT.

Jesus said:
"Enter through the narrow gate.
For wide is the road that leads to destruction,
And many enter through it.
But small is the gate and narrow the road
That leads to life,
And only a few find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)

Jesus said: "I am the gate…" (John 10:7)

Jesus, by His Holy Spirit, by His Anointing, is the gate.
Those who find Him, find a satisfaction that is out of this world.
They find LIFE in the Kingdom of God.
They find LIFE in the Secret Place of the Most High God.
They find the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven.
They are covered with the feathers of God.

Will you be one of those?