The Spirit Realm

Ron Weinland

4th Feast of Tabernacles Sermon – 2010

We’re going to jump right into the next sermon in order here.  All these sermons we’re going through this year, as a whole here in the very beginning and all the way through up to the Last Great Day (I don’t have the Last Great Day sermon prepared yet, I know it’s coming, I just don’t know when)...all the rest of these tie in very closely in the sense of what God is revealing to us because one thing leads to another, the things that God is giving to us.  It’s a complete picture in the sense of being able to see how one thing works with another as we go along here and to me it’s very moving, very inspiring because it’s a greater picture, a better picture.

I remember Mr. Armstrong talking about in times past about how that it’s like pieces of the puzzle and the more you’re able to put together, the clearer the picture becomes.  And that’s very much like this; it’s just a clearer picture of what God has given to us.  It makes things clearer, a little bit easier to understand.  And each time God does that it becomes more inspiring.  The greatness of God becomes greater in our minds, we’re able to grasp more and see more and glorify God more in our thinking and what we do in our worship of God and so forth; and this all fits together.

We are indeed celebrating an incredible Feast of Tabernacles.  This is going to be one of the most significant Feasts that God has ever given to us, truly is.  By the time we get through all this and because of all that God is giving to us and because of what we’ve already covered that is so significant and powerful in itself that I don’t know that we really grasp what has just been given and what we’ve really gone through and what God has declared.  Because there’s a way that God works and there’s a way that God continues to give progressive revelation through time.  That’s an awesome thing that really came out in the book, that as we went along showing how from the very beginning of time it’s always been that way.  God has just given more and more and more; as His plan unfolds more and more and more He gives more understanding, He gives more of His spirit, more of His power to see more, to grasp more of what He’s doing.  And now as we’re getting ready to go into the Millennial period there’s just that much more that God is granting us and giving to us because it’s all in preparation for what He’s doing and what He’s planning and what He’s pouring out upon this earth.

And so again, this is going to be an incredibly significant Feast for all mankind as time goes along.  We’re going to look back in time and realize what an awesome thing we lived through – truly.

As I was writing and thinking about what God was giving us, earlier in the year here, I had chills go up and down my spine as I was thinking about some of these things as God was giving some of this, because they’re so moving, because it’s so awesome and so incredible indeed what God is giving.  And these sermons, as I have already mentioned, are a very powerful 7th Thunder, they truly are.  They are a very powerful 7th Thunder about God, having to do with God.

I want to take you back to that experience that occurred mid-summer when I was working on some of these sermons and even as I put this down in my introduction, “...as I am now writing,” this is going back a few months.  So I’m giving you my thoughts of what was taking place at that particular time.  I mentioned that, “...we’re in California and we have brought the Harrell’s out with us to visit with the Church here.  The Sabbath before Laura and I had been up in the Portland, Oregon/Vancouver, Washington region; and after that Sabbath we did not return home, we stayed out west.  We went back through the Las Vegas area and then went on to Los Angeles,” and that’s where I began to focus on these sermons and begin to work on them.  And so before that weekend, before we actually got to California, I was at the Red Sea as I’ve mentioned so many times, and didn’t have any idea where God was going to lead us concerning these Feast sermons; but I knew it was time to begin focusing on them so I began to work on them and God began to give some of the format here of things that were going to come to pass.  So in the midst of all this I had prayed to God thanking Him for all that He’d given to us over the many previous Feasts; because if you look back and you look through what God has been doing with us, so much has been given during the Feast of Tabernacles.  And if you look at 2005 especially, that was an incredible highlight at that particular time; but with every one of them it’s been continually more and more, giving more and more, and building upon the things He’s given to us even more.

So just as last year God clarified a lot of things about the Millennium and about the Great White Throne and helped us to understand things in a better and a clearer way as to what they’re really going to be like, and took away some of the misconceptions that we had before.  And so again here, thanking God about some of those things and how He has continued to reveal more and more to us and what He’s given to us in His Church, in PKG.  Then around that weekend, so going back a little bit more here, back around that weekend with the visit in Portland and the Vancouver area God did give to me the thought of a couple of sermons... so just the thought of a couple of sermons, kind of the subject matter, that’s how some things work – begin to come into my mind.  And then after we left the area and stayed out west I began to pray and ask God for the sermons that were to be given at this Feast. And right away, two sermons that we have just covered concerning Satan’s judgement and his end were given to me.

I mean it was just... it’s an awesome thing...like writing of that second book.  I have a hard time describing to people... I’ll just relate part of it to you of what the process was like; but even as I thought in some cases where it was going, I didn’t know until I started writing, and then God just gave me things as I wrote.  It’s an awesomely inspiring thing!  And the same thing is true in the sermons here.  And so the two subject matters, not just the subject but the content began to come into my mind as to what we just covered in the last two sermons.  It’s about a deeper understanding, obviously, it’s about God and His Family – some of the things that He began to give as well.  And again, all these things began to come together in a very powerful way and we’re going to be going into some of those as we go along here.

As God began to show me some of what that sermon was about that is going to be given toward the end of this Feast He began to give me some understanding about Elohim, about God Himself; that He wants to give to us more in understanding Him.  And the more you understand about God, the more you’re able to glorify God – you truly are.

I can’t wait until we get into some of the material we’re going to cover today.  There’s one particular area that I’m going to talk about that the more you can grasp what is being said, the more in awe, (and you will grow in this through time), because I’ve gone through these scriptures over and over and over again, and the more I go through them the more God gives to me to see and to understand about Him and it is absolutely awesome because it’s something that you grow in spiritually.  It’s not something you can just read and it’s a story and you understand it; it’s something that is spiritual and something that God gives to you more and more the longer you continue on and the longer you’re able to have that focus and see the things that He’s giving to you on a spiritual plane.  It’s so awesomely inspiring – it truly is!

And so as He began to give some of those things, again, He showed me the importance of starting where we did in this particular sermon and so we’re going to jump in this one here today; again, all tying together; entitled The Spirit Realm.  It’s important to cover this particular flow now concerning a spirit realm, going back to the very beginning of what God shows us is a beginning and building upon those things and taking the plan of God through from one point to another.

So again, the title of this particular sermon today is ‘The Spirit Realm’.  We’re going to begin covering this sermon which does lead to even more revelation from God concerning some of the other points that are truths that we’re going to cover.  And we’re not going to cover one of those today, we’ll have to wait until tomorrow for the next one, but this sets the stage; and they all fit together. You can’t go on to one without covering the other and so this is building up to that in preparation for that.  And again, so incredibly inspiring because it follows the sermon where God has just revealed some of the changes that are going to occur in the spirit world, as we talked about, things that we haven’t understood and haven’t known; and it opens the door to far greater understanding of what God is creating in the spirit realm concerning that of His Family, the Family of God.

As I was writing this (I’ve written some notes that I do want to read, this part here), and I mentioned that: “as I am writing this,” while in California in mid-summer, “ I,” again, “have had chills go up and down my spine just thinking about what God is revealing.”  And all this is being revealed and given to us at a time when He, God, is getting ready to bring much of the spirit realm directly here to this earth (explaining in that sense, the Kingdom of God), 144,000.  That’s an awesome thing to understand, that we’re almost there, right at a year and a half away and God’s Kingdom, a spirit realm is going to be existing on this earth.  We won’t be able to see it except when they manifest themselves, when God blesses us to have the ability to manifest and be with people; and we don’t know how that’s going to be yet, we don’t know exactly how much or what that’s going to entail yet, God hasn’t shown us; but it’s going to be immensely inspiring, immensely exciting indeed.

We’re going to be starting this focus today focussing upon the spirit realm by looking at specific terminology, some things we need to clarify as far as terminology we sometimes use because sometimes we have gotten a little sloppy in times past when talking about certain things rather than being a little more specific. And in this subject matter we’re getting ready to go through we need to be far more specific in certain areas concerning things about the spirit; the spirit realm, God’s spirit and so forth.

Let’s turn over to Revelation 22.  And just mentioning here, we understand there is a physical realm and there is a spirit realm.  And from the beginning only that which is spirit existed and it was only in the form of the one we know as our Father in heaven, the one Eternal God, the Self-Existing One, the God of All Eternity; and we’re going to take a glimpse into some of this beginning of which we can only ‘see’ in a very slight way at this time.  There are things we can’t comprehend.  There are things our minds can’t even begin to grasp because of how small they are, how puny we really are.  And yet they’re awesome indeed, the mind in our little head up here, this mind and the spirit essence in there that gives us the ability to think and reason.  It is an awesome thing!  And yet there’s only so much we can grasp!  And we deal, as a whole, as it is just with a physical world around us.  You cannot begin to deal with anything spiritual until God’s spirit comes along – to understand, to see that which is given by God.

That’s why I think back all the time, and people I’ve seen as they came into the Church, different ones who progressed in the Church... sometimes they weren’t really progressing...but sometimes when people took things upon themselves when they came to understanding on their own that wasn’t given through God’s apostle, that didn’t come down through the Church; but they came to certain understanding on their own and so forth...  Actually what they were doing in every case, in every instant, was going out into left field, farther away from the trunk of the tree, farther away from the truth; but always being lifted up with pride and haughtiness that they came to discover, came to see something.  You can’t figure things out on your own, we can’t do that. You can’t study the Bible and ‘figure’ things out on your own.  All you can do is work with, use what God has already given!  And if He gives more, new, there’s a way that He does that and only one way.  And that’s a difficult thing sometimes for us to understand.  And yet I’ve seen ministers make those mistakes in a very big way, I’ve seen different ones through time giving sermonettes and so forth make those great mistakes because they have to do with being presumptuous and self-willed and not understanding God and how God works and how His spirit works.

We’re going to take a glimpse of this beginning that I mentioned here about God Almighty, going way, way back.  And again, there’s only so much we can see and understand.

Let’s look at what God reveals about Himself, which is stated in many ways in different fashions, in similar fashions in one respect, but in many different ways He talks about Himself, He explains Himself, He reveals Himself... that which man cannot know, that which man cannot understand fully by any measure.  But with His spirit we’re able to begin to grasp and see certain things to a point; and so anything that God gives to us that is spiritual, that is of the spirit, that is of the truth we can only come to truly see it spiritually when He chooses to reveal it.

Verse 13 - I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.  Mankind cannot understand this; your mind cannot understand this. I cannot fully understand this.  I can only grow in appreciation and awe of this and what God gives to us about Himself.  We cannot comprehend such a thing!

We have a difficult time comprehending, as some of us were talking the other day, about looking out into space, into the universe 13-14 billion light years away.  What does that mean?  And most of that is empty space!  And we can’t comprehend that let alone what we’re seeing that far out there.  It’s incredible!  We can’t even deal with; grasp that which is physical in this universe.

We can’t even grasp and understand the complexities of the human body!  Man is trying to find cures for various things and what causes certain things to function in the body like they do and they can’t find them!  They can’t understand them!  ...because our minds are so puny.  Now we’ve come to see and grasp a lot of things about the human body, but it’s a complexity that man is just barely touching upon because it is so complex!  And to think it just kind of slithered out of the ocean and over millions of years got better and better through time is so...  I mean people with PhD’s... and studied deep for a lifetime, go into these things; and they end up in the end (if they believe those things), being totally stupid.  That’s just stupid! To think that we slithered out over time and somehow it just got better and better; that somehow we could think ourselves into how to do something better!  We’ve never done that...even with our minds!  I don’t care how many millions of year’s time would go on... we can’t make ourselves better.  Evolution is one of the stupidest, dumbest, most ignorant concepts that man has ever come up with – so called intellectual man.  And they would rather disallow, get rid of something that they can’t begin to grasp – Alpha and Omega.  So since they can’t grasp and comprehend something, since they can’t put it in a package, they can’t deal with it, they reject it.  They reject the Great God of the universe!  It’s so incredible, it truly is.

So again, man cannot see, man cannot grasp the spirit realm; cannot begin to comprehend the simplest things about God unless God chooses to give it to them...and that’s what He’s doing to the Church.  He calls us, He begins to give us understanding about a plan which obviously is very much about Him, His mind, His being, His purpose, His will; and we grow and we become more and more in awe as we go through time, of what He’s doing, the more He reveals to us.

Let’s go back to that area that I mentioned, that the more you come to see it, that the more you come to appreciate what is being said and through time you’re going to continue to go back to it and say... I mean, I can’t even say anything... it’s like without words.  What can you say?  You just come to see more and appreciate more and you’re more in awe of God.

We were so off base in these things because we hadn’t understood, because God hadn’t given it yet, because we still hadn’t come out of the trinity yet. We didn’t understand that.  As I talked about the other day, Mr. Armstrong’s life was one of coming out of the Protestant world, coming out of darkness – and God blessed him with so many Truths and so much understanding over a period of fifty plus years.  But the process wasn’t complete over that period of time; there was still more to come out of. But God is the one who leads us and brings us out of those things.  And you can’t get to a point beyond where you are until God takes you there!  That’s God’s responsibility!

It’s just like the revelation, the ability to understand 144,000; because of the wave loaves offerings being on Pentecost and that they can’t be on any other day... something that should have been so easy to see, so simple... but because of the Wave Sheaf, on a specific day, referring to Jesus Christ, the wave loaves are the same thing!  It has to be on a specific day to be fulfilled!  Passover couldn’t be fulfilled the day after, the day before (like some have tried to make it), or a week and a half later, a month later.  It is on a specific day that it had to be fulfilled.  That’s God’s way!  And the wave loaves are the exact same thing – Pentecost!  And I marvel that we couldn’t see that; but we couldn’t until God gave it...and then it was ‘hit yourself on the forehead’ because it’s so clear.

And so we were geared in a certain direction and it tried the Church.  It was a blessing to the Church!  It’s helped us to become stronger!  If you look back at what we went through... I look back at the gut-wrenching heartache that some went through because people came to see things in themselves that they couldn’t see otherwise.  How easy it is, how powerful it can be sometimes to be pulled in a different direction, to begin questioning oneself - and God had mercy upon us, He gave us certain things ahead of time and we were able to see.  And then people were able to repent because of the thinking that was wrong in the mind.

And so some things God allows in order to bring up...just like the trial, the heating of... and the dross comes to the surface like in heating up silver, heating up gold; and then you can skim off the impurities.  But until you go through that you can’t grow, you can’t go past a certain purity until God brings it.  And so God saved these things for that purpose.  You can’t go beyond what God gives you and that’s God’s responsibility.  It’s not ours; because you can’t know.  Mr. Armstrong could not know that Jesus Christ hadn’t eternally existed until God gave it; and it wasn’t for his time... but we hadn’t come out of the trinity yet.  And so because of that there are certain things here that we were not meant to have, that we could not grow in yet like we can now, like we’ve been able to for a period of time now.

John 1:1 - In the beginning was the Word, and that Word was not Jesus Christ. That’s how we used to read this, or the Church read this.  Is that correct, those of you who have been around for a long time? That’s what we believed; and because of that we didn’t see so much of what God is giving by His spirit to see that’s here that is so awesome, so incredible.

So again, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. I want to take a little bit of time here and take this even from... it was a different Feast sermon that was given at one point in time here just to give a little bit of some of this definition here, to get it clear in our minds and for those of you who are new to build upon what you already know, or to have it cemented even more deeply in your mind, in your being.

So first let’s look at one word and that’s the word ‘with’ that’s right up here where it says, and the Word was with God; because, how did we take that in the past, many years back?  That Jesus Christ was with God because Jesus Christ was the Word; so He was with God.  And that’s not the word ‘with’ here.  That’s the wrong word.  It’s not a word that means ‘you’re with somebody’, it doesn’t mean ‘alongside of somebody’.  It’s not what this word in the Greek language means, but that’s how we read it because of the way it’s written in the English.  So to take a look at this word here; it depends upon what’s in our mind and what we’re reading there.

This is a different kind of word and there is a word in the Greek that means ‘to be with someone’, but it’s not this one here.  And just so we can see that I wanted to take you back to a couple of scriptures here, one in particular – Matthew 26.  We’ll come back to John 1:1 here in a minute; but just so you can see how the different words are used that are translated sometimes in the English language poorly – because they didn’t understand God’s plan.  Those who translated didn’t understand, so oftentimes when certain words, especially a word like this that doesn’t seem to carry as much importance – but it becomes extremely important if it’s not the right one, and especially if something else is in your mind about the Word, if you think it’s something else then you will automatically read things into scripture rather than what the scripture is actually saying.

Matthew 26:18 – And He said, Go into the city to such a man and say unto him, The Master said My time is at hand, I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.  Now, I’ve picked this one here because it’s really unique when you start looking at certain words here.  The word ‘to’ here – and He said, Go into the city to such a man...this word here is the one translated in John as ‘with’, but means ‘unto, to’ or ‘at’.  It does not mean ‘with’ in the sense of ‘being alongside or beside someone’.  And so how would this sound... “And go into the city with such a man”... no, He’s telling them to go to the city to a certain man that you’re going to know, that you’re going to recognize, that you’re going to talk to and I’ll tell you how to do this.  But they had to go into the city TO him, to where he was.  It wasn’t to go into the city alongside this guy all the way into the city.  Do you understand what I’m saying?  It’s a different word and it does not mean ‘beside’ or ‘along with’ or ‘alongside’.

So this is a good usage here...and He said, Go into the city to such a man and say unto him, The Master said My time is at hand.  I will keep the Passover...same word – ‘at’.  In other words ‘unto’, like we said earlier, ‘unto, to’ or ‘at’...at your house/unto your house.  In other words, go into the city to this man, unto this man and tell him we’re going to keep the Passover AT/UNTO your house.  Okay?  Not, we’re going to keep the Passover... how stupid does it say, we’re going to keep the Passover ‘with’ your house – if it’s ‘alongside with’ and so forth.  Doesn’t make any sense, does it?  The house is going to keep the Passover with you?  No, it’s not what it’s talking about.  It’s showing what you’re doing; you’re going to, unto something.

So again, I will keep the Passover at/unto your house...this is the word that means ‘with’ in the Greek...with My disciples.  And that is not the word used in John 1.  We see a difference here just in one verse of how a word should be used that’s in John 1 and then in another example here of how it is actually used in the Greek when it does mean ‘with’; with your disciples. Because Jesus Christ was going to be ‘with, alongside’ His disciples when they kept the Passover.  So a beautiful verse in that respect.

I get a charge out of this next one here.  Ephesians 3:14 – For this cause I bow my knees unto; who do you bow your knees unto?  ...the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Doesn’t mean you’re bowing your knees ‘with’ Him.  See, that’s how John 1 is – God isn’t bowing His knees – we are, unto God.  So again, words can mean so much, they can change something so much; and especially depending on what is in your mind.

And so we were able to easily stumble because of a belief we had of Jesus Christ eternally existing along with God the Father eternally existing, that we were able to read something into here that seemed to make sense; the Word was alongside God, together with God... and that isn’t what it’s saying.  So again, incredible here how things can change so drastically in meaning and something can be hidden from us for so long that is so powerful, that means so much, because these verses that God is revealing here reveal so much about Him - they truly do.  This is profound!  This is profound beyond human understanding and God gives us a glimpse and we’re able to build upon it and grow in it as time goes on.  And you’ll go back to this a year from now, two years from now, three years from now and you’re going to see more than what you see today because it’s a growing thing on a spiritual plane, it truly is, of appreciation, of comprehension, of understanding, being in awe of God.  And that’s the greatest thing for us – the more we learn the more in awe we become of God; and the more in awe you are of God the stronger your faith is, the stronger your boldness is, the stronger your confidence is, the stronger you see your relationship with God, the more love you’re able to grasp that comes from God.  It just goes on and on and on about a relationship with God, it truly does – beyond words.

So again, John 1:1 – In the beginning; What does that mean?  Alpha, the first: I can’t understand that and you can’t begin to understand this... In the beginning; so God is working with us as human beings, as puny as we are, but He’s working with us to give to us something that is being able to be communicated to us that we can somewhat understand; but we can’t go too far into it.  You can’t!  It’s a matter of faith...it’s truly a matter of faith.  As a matter of fact, I’ll just read that quickly here where it talks about that in Hebrews...  Hebrews talks about this and it talks about this matter of faith in the faith chapter.

Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is the substance, In other words, ‘the ground, the foundation, the firmness of it’, if you will, like when you’re building something.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It’s evidence.  Even that is a difficult concept – you have to have God’s spirit to really begin to grasp that when you begin to understand what faith is all about.  For by it the elders obtained a good report. In other words people of old, as it begins to go through later and tell about all these different stories and what everybody’s gone through through time, those whom God has called and worked with.

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, it’s a matter of faith!  Because you can’t get it, you can’t understand, we can’t comprehend how something that’s nothing all of a sudden becomes something physical – it’s there, it exists.  But we believe it as a matter of faith – that God did it, that God put the moon out there, God put the earth here and we know that He came along later on and refashioned it and He put everything that we see out there and He made everything perfect for life to exist in it as we know it.  He did it all from nothing!  And we can’t grasp that!  That’s why so many reject it; because the world deals with physical.

It’s just like how I am in awe when I read through the book of John because it probably reflects and gives more that is human, in the sense of the human mind and how we normally react (even in God’s Church); but even with the disciples as God was drawing them, because as Jesus Christ was with the disciples they were being drawn and they were being given certain understanding but to a limit because they hadn’t come to Pentecost yet and they hadn’t been given the impregnation of the holy spirit yet.  And so God was drawing them and Jesus Christ spoke in parables so that everything wasn’t totally clear, because it wasn’t time yet for man to have all knowledge like that that He was giving.  And so it’d only be given to those who had His spirit dwelling in them as He revealed the spiritual intent and purpose of what was being said.

And so you come to stories like Nicodemus, whom Jesus Christ basically told him about the holy spirit.  He was telling him about the spirit and how that you need to be born again.  And so how did Nicodemus respond?  “Well, how can you crawl back into your mother’s womb again and be born a second time?  These are crazy things!”  That’s the way Nicodemus took it because he couldn’t understand what was spiritual when He was talking about being born again.  And Jesus Christ came back and told him you don’t get it, you can’t get it; it’s of the spirit, that’s why you can’t understand.

And then I love the one about the woman at the well.  She’s coming down to the well and Jesus Christ talked to her about, “I can give you living water.”

“By all means, give me living water because I’m tired of making this trek down here every day to get water; and if You can give me something that’s living water I don’t have to come down here every...”

That’s all she saw.  She wouldn’t have to come down there every day to do this chore.  That would make her life easier, better.  Look how easy ours is, we just turn on a tap.  Back then things were harder; you had to go on a journey, had to do these things back and forth, back and forth trekking water.  And so all she could see was something physical... she didn’t understand what Jesus Christ was saying and on and on it goes.

“You have to eat My flesh and drink My blood.”  And it says many of the disciples at that point quit following Him; not the twelve disciples, but those that were following Him to that point in time, being taught by Him.  They quit following Him after that time because in their minds, their Jewish minds, all they could think of was cannibalism!  “That’s so totally against the Old Testament!  Drinking human blood?!  We’re told not to drink any kind of blood; and here you’re telling us we have to drink Your blood and eat Your flesh? You’re nuts!”  And that’s what they thought and they quit following Him because they couldn’t grasp it... and on and on it goes.

Just like in John 14 when Jesus Christ was telling the disciples there about, ‘if you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.”  And who was it?  Was it Thomas?  Which one was it?  I can’t even remember now which one it was – asked Him, “Well, just show us the Father and it’ll satisfy us.”  ...or whatever...  How was it stated here?  Let me get back there; I’ll just read it to you, I don’t want to mess it up here.  To me it’s a humorous story in that respect.  It was Philip!  John 14:6 - where Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life, no man comes unto the Father but by/through Me.  If you had known Me you should have known My Father also.  So in other words, if you’ve known Me you should have known My Father also.  From henceforth you know Him and have seen Him.  Now they hadn’t seen Him...and that’s all Philip could think of.  “We haven’t seen the Father?!  How can You tell us by knowing You, by seeing... ‘and now you’ve seen the Father’?”  And Philip said, Lord show us the Father and that’ll satisfy us.  Because he couldn’t get it... because the thinking was all physical.  And that’s the way we are, we’re so physical.

And so even with God’s spirit it takes so much time sometimes to really see things that are spiritual because it has to do with our ability, our growth individually, spiritually, to grasp the things of God.  It’s so awesome, it truly is; it’s just dumbfounding!  And such an incredible experience!

That’s why in interviews or different things that have happened in times past you try to explain things to people because they think in a Protestant world and they think physically... “How did God talk to you?  How did God show this to you?”

And you think, “Uh, it was a bush burning... you going to believe that one?  Are you really going to...??”

If it was a bush and it was talking to me and it was burning and I told people that there would be some who would probably like to make... “Is he really safe in society?  Maybe we should get this white jacket and put him in a place.”

So how can you tell people? And you say, “God spoke to me.”

And you can’t say that because then they think ‘hearing’ and ‘sound’... “You’re hearing voices?!” ...no!  How do you tell someone about God’s spirit?  How did Jesus Christ tell Nicodemus about the spirit?  He couldn’t!  He said basically, “You can’t get it Nicodemus! It’s like the wind, you can’t see it, it comes and it goes and you don’t know it... where it comes from and where it goes.  You can’t see it.”  And the same thing with us: how can you communicate to someone how God works with the mind, how God reveals to the mind.

That’s why I mentioned when I wrote that second book; as I was writing it was in the mind.  How would I know what scriptures to go to?  How would I know what to explain?  I don’t know!  I don’t have that kind of a mind, no one does.  And then God just gives it and look what happens by the time you say... I didn’t put the end on it, but when you get to the end – it’s complete; and it’s what God inspires and what God gives.

Sermons!  God inspires them, He gives them, it’s His spirit.  It’s not something you sit down and try to figure out.  Let’s see, I’ve got to get my concordance out, I’ve got to look up these words... because it used to be that way in the church.  A lot of ministers put their sermons together that way – by looking in a concordance, looking at certain words and trying to give...  It doesn’t work that way in the Church!  It’s God’s spirit and God has to give it.

In the beginning was the Word; whatever that beginning was. What was that beginning?  Well, for us we think physical so we think, “Oh, so there was a moment when it all started...”  That’s not what it says, so it’s like ‘in a beginning’; it’s kind of like when the Earth was created... ‘In a beginning God created...’  In the beginning was the Word and the Word was unto God.  That’s what it means; it was God’s Word – that’s what it means.  Shows the ownership, shows where it came from; that’s what the word means!  It doesn’t mean somebody beside or next to someone else, it was unto God; it was God’s Word... and the Word was God!  Well, how profound is that?  It’s unto God, it’s from God...and it is God!  It’s who God is! The Word!  It reveals everything about God Almighty!  How incredible is that?  Dumbfounding!

So I wrote down in my notes here:  What does this mean?  Exactly what it says!  The Greek is ‘Logos’, and means more than speech.  See, we see something like this and it’s a word in a sentence.  I don’t know what we think.  It’s speech.  Mr. Armstrong a long time ago understood and revealed to the Church that it means it’s the revelatory thought – the thought, the thinking.  It reveals the mind of God.  It’s the Word; everything that makes up the very thinking, the mind, the being of God.  It is God!  And so when God gives us the Logos, gives us His Word, which He says He does; He gives to us His Word, His truth – it is His mind, it is who He is.  Our speech conveys basically who we are.  How we talk to one another reveals things about ourselves; reveals how we think and our mind, and we communicate to people.  And God communicates to us the Word, His mind, it’s His thought, His revelatory thought that He gives to us.  He has to reveal it.

And so a beautiful definition: the revelatory thought of God.  Because you can’t know it unless He gives it to you.  He has to communicate things to you.  He has to communicate His Word to you; and it makes it come alive because there is that which is powerful in the spirit that we don’t fully grasp and He puts it in your mind... He puts it in your mind!  It’s not by words; it doesn’t have to be through a bush and a sound or something in the air that we have to have...although God used those things to work with people especially early on and in presence of someone that they have to see, like Abraham. And on and on it goes.  That’s why I also marvel through time.  This is a beautiful time.

I think of the time of Mr. Armstrong. There was never a time like Mr. Armstrong’s. He lived by faith in a way that no other man before him ever had, if you understand.  It was a purer faith than anyone who had ever gone before because of the amount, the kind, of revelation that God was giving to him; and we continue on with that.  It’s not because of a bush that was burning, it’s not because of a sea that opened up; it’s not because of things we have seen, it’s not because of God’s very presence in a very physical form of Melchizedek teaching, because by this time everything is written down in a book we call the Old and New Testament.  And by the time we came to a period of time of Mr. Armstrong’s time in the 1930’s God, as he looked in this book and read, God through the power of His spirit made it come alive – he could see it.  He revealed truth to him like the Holy Days.  They didn’t fully understand the Holy Days, his wife Loma and himself, when they began keeping the Holy Days.  Kept it for seven years apart from the rest of the Church because they didn’t fully understand everything about it; but they tried to obey God in the way that they only knew how at that time.  And through the observing of these things, through time, you know what?  Because of that spirit working in their mind they came to see more and more, they came to understand more and more the meaning.  Because of obedience and because of how God’s spirit works they came to understand things on a spiritual plane.  No one TOLD them these things.  God did by His spirit in the mind.

So when I talk about the disciples, they had Jesus Christ.  Paul; we read that yesterday.  What an experience!  Mr. Armstrong never had that experience.  It was more by faith than anyone before him, if we understand.  I hope you do, I hope you understand what I’m saying.  The physical things were taken out; there was more that was strictly on a spiritual plane in a revelation from God through the power of God’s spirit and things have continued on in like manner.  Sometimes it’d be a whole lot easier, you’d think.  I mean, there are times like I’ve wondered what... “Just please, let a bush talk to me.”  No!  This responsibility is killing me... No!   Anyway... so sometimes as a human being we think that might be a little bit easier, but it isn’t.  It all goes back to faith, it all goes back to the inspiration of God’s spirit and it is such an awesome thing, it truly is.

So again: Logos – revelatory thought of God, the mind of God.  The mind of God...

In the beginning was the Word, the Word was unto God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning unto God. It’s kind of poetic.  God writes a lot of things in a poetic fashion; you go through Proverbs, you go through Psalms especially.  There are a lot of things even written in some of the other books that in Hebrew are poetic and it’s a beautiful thing.  There’s no poetry like that in the world.  There is with God; it’s powerful.  So it was unto God, and not unto any other – that’s the point.  The Word was only unto God.  It was His; that’s what it means.

Verse 3 - All things were made by... now in proper English grammar it’s referring back to the Word and it would be ‘it’ because the word is Logos. We understand its God, it’s the mind of God, the being of God, but you don’t refer to your mind as being a person.  Do you understand what I’m saying?  So all things were made by God/by that mind/by the Word; that’s where it came from because everything has come from the mind and the being of God; and that’s what it’s telling us.  All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.  There was nothing!  Do we understand there was NOTHING? ...but the Word, who was God, the mind, the being, the life of God.  I don’t understand that but God says that’s the most we can grasp as far as the beginning; that there wasn’t anything else.  There was no ‘spirit heaven’; there was nothing created spiritually yet.  It was God, God Almighty.  We can’t begin to understand that.  You can’t!  It’s impossible!  But God is giving us more and more through time and I’ll tell you, we have much more that God’s going to reveal through time.  It’s so awesome, it truly is.  The more we come to see, the more God gives, the more awesome it will become.

So again, All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; in Him, in His Word, in His being was life.  I know what it’s saying, but I still can’t grasp that fully by any measure as a human being.  ...and the life was the light of men. God had a plan before anything was ever made.  That’s something we’ve never really understood.  We really, in times past, going back in other era’s, we really never grasped those things – that God had a plan before anything was ever made.  Because we felt that maybe the idea was that maybe because Lucifer did what he did, then God decided something else to do...and that’s not the case.  God planned him as well. God planned everyone in the angelic realm.  It’s God’s purpose and God’s plan...and we’ll talk about that later because that causes questions if you don’t understand what He did and how He did it and why He did it.

So the being of God, the mind of God, the Word of God from the very beginning had a purpose, the light of men.  That mind that would give us light, the ability to see, the ability to come out of darkness.  So God had a plan for His Family.  That’s what started it all.  It’s His Family; it’s what He’s wanted.  He wants to share in ways that we can’t even begin to appreciate or comprehend or understand.  That’s why we go through a long process of life, of learning some of the most basic things of life; that the important thing of life is in the sharing of life.  And yet man tends to be selfish and we want to suck it into ourselves like a black hole.  We’re selfishly motivated and we don’t understand, no, it’s in the opposite, the giving and the sharing of it that gives the richness of life.  But because of our nature of being selfish we tend to suck it in like a black hole.  We like to bring in all the light and become a black hole with no light.  That’s what happens with selfishness. That’s why it’s so evil and so wrong.  God gives light and the truth, the Word, His way, His mind, His being – life as we understand it in such a small infinitesimal way.

In Him was life and the life was the light of men; and so all the way through here it’s revealing things to us, it’s revealing things about this light and it’s beginning, existence that we can understand as a beginning anyway, that it’s God and God only; and in His mind, in His being is this desire, this light He’s going to give to man in time.  How long’s that going to be?  Billions and billions and billions of years down the road, we don’t have any comprehension how many billions of years it was except for certain evidence in the universe, we see things, and on this earth.  We know it had to be millions and millions and millions... we do have that much smarts at least. And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness does not comprehend it.

Well, this is one way that God has used to begin to reveal Himself to us, to mankind in the most basic of ways, truly.  And there’s another way He does it, over in Proverbs 8.  It’s already been referred to in this Feast.  God’s given us another example so that we can better understand the earliest beginning of spirit life, if you will, that He is revealing about Himself and His existence.  And so this matter of the Word is one way that God has chosen to do it.  It’s explained a little differently in the book of Proverbs, but it’s basically speaking of the same thing, of the Self-Existing One of all eternity.

Proverbs 8:1 – Doesn’t wisdom cry out?  ...and understanding put forth her voice? In other words, the most basic beginning of what is understood as wisdom; and God is using this to show Himself, His beginning and things He’s made and given and that there is that which is a result of knowledge and understanding through time that you can grow in; and it is wisdom.  And so He explains certain things in this certain manner.

She stands at the top of the hills, in other words, the context of the road of life; this is how it’s used in the Hebrew language here, along the way in the places of the paths, in other words the road and path of life.  It’s why I mentioned yesterday; sometimes we talk about maturing and how we grow, even spiritually, and when we’re new in the Church it takes time; it just takes time to grow.  And even in adult life without God, without the holy spirit, without God’s spirit in our life it just takes time to mature in life.  A 15 year old can’t be a 20 year old in experience, in life.  A 20 year old can’t be a 35 year old, or a 50 year old.  There are things you learn through life as you experience it.  I’m experiencing things about getting past 60 that I’m not real excited about; but it’s a part of life and there’s wisdom in it.  There are things of wisdom in family and different things you learn that you can’t learn when you’re younger until you’ve experienced certain things.  There’s certain things in life you can’t know until you’ve actually experienced it.  And you can’t give experience to anyone.  And from experience comes wisdom... or it can come; doesn’t always come... wisdom’s not always there, depends on how we use what we’ve grown in.

But anyway, this is a part of what God is showing here about life.  She cries at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. In other words, every opening in life it’s there, it’s there for man to grab hold of if he will, just wisdom to help you in life and how to deal with things in life, how to deal with people, how to deal in business.  We learn sometimes... well, we learn most of the times by mistakes, and so we make mistakes and wisdom can come out of that if we can learn from those mistakes, learn to do a thing in a better way.  And that’s what He’s showing here – it’s there, you’ve got to look for it, you’ve got to hunt for it and you can learn it from others as well, if you will.  That’s what God is showing.

Verse 5 - O you simple, in other words, simple minded, understand wisdom: and, you foolish, be of an understanding heart.  In other words, strive to be of such, strive to receive it...because it’s out there!  It’s in the world that God has created – just in the physical world alone!  You can’t see it but it’s there.  So where’s the source?  Well, we know where true wisdom comes from - it comes from God and that’s why even within God’s creation He’s made things.  There are laws in motion we can learn from and they can give wisdom.  God is the source of all wisdom and He gives us, as human beings, the ability to latch a hold of some that wisdom in life, and the more you’re able to latch a hold of the better your life is.

So it goes on to say here... verse 6 - Listen; for I will speak of excellent things; and of the opening of My lips comes forth right things.   See, from wisdom... from My lips come right things.  So true wisdom comes from God, it’s based on things that are true and right.  For My mouth, in other words, of wisdom, speaks truth; and wickedness is an abomination to My lips.   Wisdom!  The mind, the being of God that He puts even in a physical universe; or on this earth.  It’s out there, things to be learned from, for mankind if we’ll reach a hold of it.  Without even a calling there are things we can benefit from in life.  Without the holy spirit... now, in the sense of wisdom, in the sense of how you conduct your life: and the more people will grab a hold of those things the better off their life is going to be.  And how much more when God begins to give that which is more direct from Him? Wisdom; His mind, His being, His truth.  Truth!  Wisdom hates those things, as it says here...for My mouth speaks truth; and wickedness is an abomination to My lips. Because it goes against laws that are out there; it’s not wisdom, its foolishness – things that people do when it leads to things that are wicked, that are evil, that are an abomination.

All the words of My mouth are righteousness; and there is nothing devious or perverse/distorted in them. So that which is true and right in wisdom – it’s pure.  It’s not devious.  There’s a perverted (some people would call it wisdom in the world), way that people deal with each other and so forth and that’s not true wisdom, that’s not wisdom at all; that is a matter of manipulation and so forth.

Verse 9 - They are all plain to him who has understanding, and right to him who finds knowledge. Receive My instruction, from wisdom; that’s what God is telling us, that’s what God is saying.  Receive My instruction, there’s great instruction from wisdom that’s to be had, and not silver; see, what does the world want?  They don’t want the mind to be of great quality, filled with integrity – they’d rather have the silver, rather have the gold, rather have the riches because then that will just solve all their problems.  You think, “No, it doesn’t, it creates more.”  Receive My instruction and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.  For wisdom is better than rubies; and all things that may be desired can not to be compared to her. I think of what Paul talks about when he writes about God’s way and the plan and purpose and everything that God is offering us...and what can you compare?  What suffering can you compare to what God is offering?  It can’t be compared to it!

I, wisdom, dwell with good judgement, and know where to find knowledge and discernment.  The fear of the Eternal is to hate evil: that’s where you find wisdom; that’s where it is.  Therefore I hate pride, and arrogance, corruption, and all that is perverse.  This is God!  This is God speaking!  This is the mind, the being, the way of God. Counsel is Mine, in other words, that which is true and right – it comes from Me, that’s what He’s saying, and sound Wisdom: sound mindedness!  It comes from God.  Man doesn’t have sound mindedness!  I have understanding; in other words, to give...I have strength...to give.  That’s what God wants, He wants to share these things with us, and in time, especially once He begins to call us and we begin to change and we begin to grow and we come into the Church; then we grow in these things on a spiritual plane that become very true in our being.

By Me kings reign, in other words, if they will they can receive these certain traits, if you will, of wisdom.  And there are leaders who have written, who have talked about those kinds of things that make them the kind of leader they are; but as a whole, most will not apply those things in life.  Most manipulate and play politics and so forth to do things rather than use wisdom.  ...and princes pronounce justice. By Me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. In other words, when there is justice, when there is that which is given that is true and right – it comes from the same source, from that which God has given and made available to human beings even.

The following verses speak of some of those things that mankind has access to if they will follow the right principles that constitute true wisdom.  So it goes on, notice. We’ll let’s just jump on down, but if you follow through that it just continues on like that, showing again what mankind has access to.

Let’s jump on down to verse 22 - the Eternal possessed Me in the beginning of His way, wisdom, the mind of God, the being of God – it is God.  ...before His works of old.  Before He did anything.  There was just God Almighty, Yahweh Elohim, the Word.  I was set up, in other words, established from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth ever was. See, we’re taken back to simple things, things we can begin to deal with.  The earth; it’s physical, we can begin to deal with that.

When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth: In other words, before anything was ever created, wisdom was there, why things were done the way they were, why things were made the way they were – a part of God’s planning – before anything was ever created it was all planned out, all mapped out and wisdom was at the forefront all the way. While as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there: And so again, going back to what God gives us as a beginning, the mind, the being of God, the Word of God, the Logos, the wisdom, the make-up of His very being that reflects what He is, who He is, how He thinks and everything else.  He’s giving that to us and telling us this is the way it was; and these things were established before anything was ever done!

That’s why I’m so thankful that God has brought us past a period of time where we ever thought that God kind of slaps Himself in the forehead, at any time, and “What am I going to do now because Adam and Eve have taken of the fruit!  So what are we going to do now?  WOW!  This is a dilemma; wasn’t planning on that one!”  That’s what we’re saying as human beings.  It’s because we don’t grasp the greatness and the mind of God. God KNEW EXACTLY WHAT ADAM AND EVE WOULD DO!  HE KNEW EXACTLY WHAT LUCIFER WOULD DO!  ...and it’s in His plan for His purpose; but our minds are so small sometimes we cannot grasp the greatness of what God is doing in creating Elohim and what it takes to make Elohim.  It is a most profound thing; the creation of the God Family!  A creation that’s greater than anything ever created; and it’s taken everything in creation through time to work with us, to bring us into His Family!  Everything together is for the purpose of bringing us into Elohim.  And that is profound beyond our human understanding; and only by differing levels of God’s spirit can we grasp and appreciate that to whatever level we can.

When He prepared the heavens, I was there: when He set a compass upon the face of the depths: when He established the clouds above: when He strengthened the fountains of the deep: when He gave the sea His decree, that the waters should not pass His commandment: when He appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: as it says here... I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him; Poetic language; in other words, the ways of God are His true delight, for they are the ways of true wisdom that produce full and abundant life; that’s what it’s about, that produce the true and lasting fruit of existence, of life itself.  And how happy I was with the world He created; God rejoiced!  God rejoiced in everything that was there and He uses it in terms of, in this case, wisdom; because it brought it all together.

I rejoiced in the human family. God rejoiced in the human family; that which we were created, how we were created, the purpose of it all and the mind that was there.

Now therefore listen to Me, you children: for blessed are they who keep My ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and don’t refuse it.  Blessed is the man who listens to Me, watching daily at My gates, we’re told those on a spiritual plane, to keep spiritually alert, spiritually on guard.  This is what it’s talking about, waiting at the posts of My doors. Seeking the source, seeking God; for the source of all wisdom, knowledge, understanding, truth.  For whoever finds Me finds life, and shall obtain favour of the Eternal. But he who sin against Me wrongs his own life: all they who hate Me love death. It’s profound.  These verses are truly profound in what God is saying but they reflect things of God and of God’s very being in ways that we, with our minds, can begin to grasp and can begin to work with.

So all this has, again, said much about God and His purpose and existence and that which fills His life and can fill ours as well.  And so from the mention of anything from a beginning of time there is that which God has revealed that is Himself, the Self-Existing One, the Eternal God and that which He has used to describe His existence through the Word, His Word that is of His spirit essence in all that reflects His mind, His being, His thinking, His thoughts: again, that revelatory thought that communicates His plan and purpose for all that follow; all life and its purpose for existence.

So again, only Yahweh Elohim existed from the beginning...then He began to create and bring others than Himself into existence; because before that nothing existed.  And I can’t comprehend that.  I know it, I believe it, but I can’t comprehend it, I can’t picture it in my mind what was taking place, how it took place, because its spirit and you can’t see spirit and you can’t understand that which is spirit.  So God tries to give to us that which we can grasp on a physical plane, which is that which is spirit.

God’s existence is spirit.  He’s composed of spirit essence; but His mind, His thought, His Word is also spirit, but it’s what we call ‘the holy spirit’ and this is one of those areas of definition we need to be a little bit more careful about what we use when we talk about the holy spirit; when we talk about spirit and spirit essence there is a difference and it’s good for us to use them correctly.  And so we refer to the holy spirit because it emanates from God, from His mind, from His being, the revelatory thought if you will.  So when we speak of things of the holy spirit it’s because it’s holy, there’s spirit, but there’s that which is holy in the sense it’s the mind and the being of God.  And there needs to be a distinction made in those things indeed.  It becomes awesomely important when we understand what it means to be begotten of the holy spirit.  It’s not just spirit essence... it has to do with the mind of God which is totally, awesomely profound.

It’s holy because it emanates from God.  The holy spirit is the essence of His being, of His thought, of His Word, of His way, of all that reveals who He is, His Word, His truth – again, His way, His very mind.  So there is spirit essence; it is the power of God that proceeds from God, but His purpose, His thinking, His Word, His mind and all that’s communicated and proceeds from Him, from His being is what we call the holy spirit.  And that proceeds from Him and reveals His thought, His word to those who can and will receive it; to those who can because no one can until God grants it, speaking of mankind.

Let’s turn over to Colossians 1.  So after God and His existence, what followed?  Because that beginning is given to us in a very small package; but there’s so much there and so much more that we can’t comprehend yet.  Colossians 1:12 - Giving thanks unto the Father, who has enabled us, in other words, made it possible for us, to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, remember that? The light...and has translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son: In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: or of all creation, in other words, speaking of that which God is creating. For by/through Him were all things created, it means He is the foundation, He is the cornerstone, He is the basis of all that God is creating.  And what is it that God’s creating?  From the very beginning it’s about His Family.  Everything centers about what God’s focus has been before anything... before anything was ever created Elohim was there, the desire for the Family and how He was going to bring it to pass.  And so Jesus Christ was at the pinnacle of all that creation, always, and this is what these things are revealing.  That’s what this shows.

So by Him/through Him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, principalities, or powers: all were created by, in other words, through, which is what the Greek word means, Him, and for Him:  all things that were created by God are about His Family; and He’s doing it through a Son, which is a marvel in itself we’ll talk more about during the Feast here.  So incredible what God is doing!

Let’s turn over to Revelation 15.  So again, all things were created by God, are totally about His Family and how it will come into existence beginning in and through Jesus Christ.  And it speaks of all things that have been created, both visible and invisible.  There’s that which is spirit we don’t comprehend, we can’t see, and so God tells us things in a physical plane so we can understand some of those things that are spiritual.

There are things created of spirit essence and there are things created of physical essence.  And so just like God has given us a type of things we can see physically, we see physical elements, physical essence that’s out here.  But there are things of spirit essence as well that we can’t see that God has created, that God has made.  That’s why when I talk about there was no heaven... God created it, God made it of spirit – something we can’t comprehend but it’s there, invisible.  You can’t see spirit, you can’t comprehend it; but God created things of spirit essence in a spirit world, or a spirit realm, if you will.  So what the title of this sermon is; ‘The Spirit Realm’ showing the first things that began to come into being when God began to create.  Before that there was nothing but God – that’s what it says; only God Almighty, the Eternal Self-Existing One... and you can’t comprehend God.  We will always be learning about God. Always!  ...into time.  That’s how great God is; far greater than our minds can begin to comprehend.  Our minds are so puny!

So again, things created of spirit essence, things created of physical essence.  Before the angels, God created a spirit realm, because He had to create a realm for them to exist in.  So God began to create things on a spirit plane, if you will, a spirit realm.  The angels were not brought into nothingness – God had to create something for them so God created a spirit realm in which they could exist just as much as He made for us a physical realm in which we could exist...because it didn’t exist before He created it.

Scripture only reveals a few things about the spirit realm and it’s not for us to conjure up such a realm with speculation of things that may be, or may not be.  That’s not healthy and we shouldn’t do it.  God has not revealed such things; and you are not to create in your own mind such possibilities or potential scenarios above and beyond what God says.  We are to keep away from such foolish thoughts, talk, speculation, and presumptuousness.  Suffice it to say there is a spirit realm that God has created which is made of spirit essence just as there is a physical realm made of physical essence, or physical elements – ALL SUSTAINED BY God.  In the beginning God began by creating things of spirit essence in a spirit heaven; again, something we can’t comprehend.

So we need to consider that which God created of spirit essence that exists, again, in a spirit realm.  God has given us physical things by which we can grasp some of those things that are spirit.  And something we can easily compare so that we can grow in understanding is what God is revealing to us more fully in the following example here in what John described when he speaks of being ‘in the spirit’, seeing things revealed to him as they appear in a spirit realm.

Revelation 15:2 - And I saw as it were a sea of glass, now he’s trying to describe something here on a spirit plane of something that God is giving him the ability to see in a spiritual way that I don’t comprehend what fully took place here; and no one can.  It happened to him.  He saw something here that he described being like a ‘sea of glass’, of being like crystal, just a sea like of crystal, the light, the glittering.  It’s not just glass like we think of a pane of glass and you can see right through it, this was something where the light that was in it was immense and it’s like the cutting of a diamond or something; and this is what it’s talking about here and the awesomeness of it.  ...mingled with fire: just like you see all this crystal and the lights and different colours that might go through when you have a light shine through and you see different things there.  And this is a part of what John is describing here of something he saw, like there’s fire because it’s so alive in what it appears to be like.  And so it’s a sea of glass he said that appears like it’s on fire, mingled with fire in places; just jumping all around it.  How do you describe all that?

And those who had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass having the harps of God.  So again, things like the sea of glass that God gives a description of here made of spirit essence, something that exists in spirit plane, but it has no life existing in it.  It’s just composed of spirit, its spirit essence like physical essence, there’s no life in it except God; and He’s in everything.  He sustains everything.  That’s again more than we can ever begin to comprehend.  But it has no life existing in itself in the sense of something that is alive.  A glass table top or a big picture window have unique properties and can be seen in a unique manner.  In the spirit world, it’s the same thing with the sea of glass; the unique properties of spirit that we can’t see, that are invisible to the human eye, to that which is physical.  So it has spirit structure that is held together by ‘spirit law’ just as much as we have physical things that are held together by what we call ‘physical law’ I guess.   But it’s far beyond that.  It has to do with God and God’s spirit.

So I wanted to make note here about some expressions too.  We’re not going to use the term ‘spirit law’ as we might describe physical law because we use the term spiritual in the sense of the mind; again, spiritual law.  Spirit’s fine, but ‘spiritual’ isn’t because spiritual has to do with the mind.  So again, it’s some of those things we’re kind of tweaking here when you’re speaking of the holy spirit or something spiritual, we’re not talking about something of spirit essence; we’re talking about something of the mind of God, something that is spiritual for us in the Church, is something as a whole that comes from the mind and being of God on a spiritual plane that has to do with the mind.  Now there are other things that are spiritual out there in the world too that come from wrong spirit and there are spiritual things that come from wrong minds.  So again here, we have to think about the mind and what God says comes from it, whether it be right from God and right from us, or right from some other source.

So again, there isn’t much said in the Bible about certain things that you can see that describes the spirit plane.  There are things described about the throne of God; there are things described about in the presence of God and some of those things that He describes that are seen throughout the Old Testament.  There are certain things that are really so nebulous to us that it’s really hard to grasp and comprehend, and we accept that for what it says.  We don’t go beyond that and we don’t add to it; it is what it is.  But there are those things that God describes as a spirit heaven composed of spirit, a place where angels dwell, a place where God dwells with the angels.  Again, things that are difficult to grasp and comprehend.

Hebrews 1:1 - God, who at different times and in many various ways spoke in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us through/by His Son; whom He has appointed heir of all things by/through Whom, speaking of Christ, also He/God, made the worlds/ages/times.  It’s referring to that, but even that which is physical. But it’s about what is to come to pass, what is to be done, even if you want to look at the time of the angelic realm; it was purposed certain things would happen in time in and through Christ – all the way through time – because it’s about Elohim always, always, always.

Verse 3 – Who, speaking of Christ, being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, you know even that one there... we don’t grasp it to the depth that it is that Jesus Christ... He is the Word made flesh.  He was the Word of God made flesh and that is profound.  One Son of God whose Father was to be totally, completely God Almighty.  In time we’ll grow in greater understanding and appreciation of those things as well; but in God’s purpose and God’s plan purposed that there was only one, there could only be one.  So Who, Christ, being the brightness of His Glory, and the express image... express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, God Almighty; when He, Christ, had Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Being made, in other words, to come into being, so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

Verse 5 - For unto which of the angels did He say at any time, You are My Son, this day have I begotten You? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son? And again, when He brought in the first begotten into the world, He said, And let the angels of God worship Him.  That was one Lucifer was not too excited about; when God began to reveal about mankind and then in time began to reveal about a Passover and began to reveal about a Messiah throughout the Old Testament.  Satan’s hatred just grew and grew and grew.

Verse 7 - And of the angels He said, in the Psalms, Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire.  So they were created to serve, to help in God’s purpose that was going to follow in the things that were going to come to pass.  So God fashioned or made the angels of spirit essence with spirit given life.  He gave them life to live – not eternal life.  Just because they’re composed of spirit does not mean they have eternal life.  So now He gave independent free moral agency to life, to beings, angels composed of spirit essence.

Hebrews 1:14 - He made them ministering spirits and said here, they are sent forth to minister for/to them who should be heirs of salvation.  So again, it shows that purpose that was there always.  We see that there was a spirit realm with things created of spirit essence; and again, there’s not a whole lot said about that.  But that’s the way that world exists, of things that can be seen spiritually, but nothing physical can see that world that exists; evidently everywhere... we don’t know.  Has to be everywhere where the physical world is and physical existence is and so it’s vast and things we can’t comprehend.

Revelation 4; so again, we see that there’s a spirit realm with things created of spirit essence and there are angels who dwell in a spirit realm whom God made of spirit essence.  But with them He gave life, there was life in them.  He gave them life as He gave human beings life and the animal kingdom life to live.  Profound creation indeed!  You know, you read through some of the scriptures, sometimes it’s hard for us to grasp because these angelic beings are described looking differently, things that we can’t even begin to describe; some that have faces, heads, of things that are in the physical world, in the physical kingdom – eagle’s face, oxen, man, different things there that we don’t fully grasp and comprehend of things that God created; of things of wings... and this is something spiritual.  It’s something seen in a spirit world that sometimes God has manifested physically.  There are some things that God has allowed some to see in a physical way.  I don’t understand that either, but God has done that.  We can’t understand it, it just says certain things happened.  And so some of these descriptions are given in the Old Testament and some that have describing different kinds of wings and multiple wings at times and incredible spans and the beauty has to be awesome!  It’s very beautiful.  But we can’t comprehend all that.  Varying kinds of faces as I said; it is a most unique and beautiful creation indeed.

And so in Revelation 4, a little bit more about the spirit realm, of things that God gives in different places.  And it says in verse 1 - After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up here, and I will show you things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And He who sat was to look upon as jasper, like a translucent stone, and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like an emerald.   Again, things we can’t comprehend but the beauty had to be incredible of what he was seeing here; the light, the colours and so forth.  But it’s describing something here that’s of spirit that exists in a spirit realm.

And round about the throne there were four and twenty thrones: twenty four thrones.  Again, something that could be seen, composed of spirit; and upon the thrones I saw twenty four elders sitting, some of those, again, who are in the angelic creation described as twenty four elders, clothed in white raiment; so these beings have clothing that can be seen, and they had on their heads crowns of gold. ...that could be seen, but they weren’t gold, physical gold, it’s just something that appears in that colour and beautiful and majesty.

Verse 5 - And out from the throne proceeded lightning and thunder and voices: We can’t comprehend those things.  He’s trying to describe something here on a physical plane that is beyond anything physical – awesome and beautiful in the angelic realm!  And so, out from there proceeded thunder and lightning... and the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne,  so again, things that can be seen that are there that all have meaning in God’s plan and purpose – things we’ll learn about through time even that God will show us things and give us understanding of things.  Just like in the temple.  When you read about the temple in the Old Testament, everything that was there... everything has to do with God’s plan and purpose and how He works it out.

So it goes on to say, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: so again, a sea of glass that it’s describing here, and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four creatures full of eyes before and behind.  Part of the angelic creation, angelic beings.  I don’t know what that means, I haven’t seen it yet.

Verse 7 - And the first creature, in other words the first angelic being, was like a lion, like a lion, and the second like a calf, and the third creature had the face of a man, and the fourth like a flying eagle. And the four creatures, four angelic beings, each had six wings about them; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest day nor night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. It doesn’t mean they say this for all eternity, okay?  It was at this particular time that they didn’t rest day nor night, as it’s given as an example here of something that was taking place because of what’s coming.  All these things are picturing things in the future.

And when these creatures give glory and honour and thanks to Him who sat on the throne, who, and it says, that’s what they did when they did that, who lives forever and ever, it says, The four and twenty elders fell down before Him who sat on the throne, and worshipped Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for You have created all things, and for Your pleasure they are and were created.  It’s a beautiful picture because it reveals much about the angelic realm as well. It reveals much about a faithful angelic realm that loves God with all their being, who has chosen God with all their being, whose minds are set with all their being in honouring God and worshipping God and things that are going to come to pass in the future here where they rejoice in. There are times that they go through where they see certain things of God’s creation come to pass that they are deeply moved, they share in what God is doing, they serve God in what is taking place. And we don’t know all that their serving entails and what they do and when He sends them out to minister unto each one of us.  Every one that’s called – there are angelic beings that are there serving God and helping God.  He lets them share in the creation.  God could do it all!  God could do everything by Himself, but that’s not God!  God’s way is one of sharing.  He doesn’t need me sitting up here, but He shares... and on and on it goes.

God blesses us in sharing.  And so again, we are so incredibly blessed to be able to see things of this nature, to see some of these things.  And so again, just a little bit of an introduction here about a spirit realm because it’s good to get some of that picture in your mind about what God has created, to understand a little bit of a distinction here as we go forward when we talk about spirit, things composed of spirit essence, things that when God sent forth His power, by the power of His will, that which is spirit that is His power to create, to sustain certain things.  They’re done by His spirit – not the holy spirit.  It’s by a power.  God has the power of spirit, that we don’t comprehend, that sustains everything.  Laws are held together, laws are there; that’s why man can only go so far even in looking at various things, because what is the core of it all is God, that which God has put into place, the laws that exist there by the power of God; we can’t comprehend that kind of power.

And that’s why man rejects so much, because he can’t deal with that.  How can you deal with something that’s spirit, that goes beyond this earth, that goes out in the universe?  To think that God sustains every galaxy, every star, everything that’s out there... and so it’s easier for man to reject it than to say “I believe You.  I believe it.  I believe God is that great!”  And the more we grasp and comprehend how great God is... when you think about certain scriptures that talks about, who’s going to keep us? Who can keep us from attaining what God has placed before us?  Height? Depth? ...doesn’t matter what it is when it talks about those things in Romans; the greatness of God, of God’s purpose for us to be in His Family.  Who’s going to get in the way?  We can. We do.  But then we repent.  What an awesome thing that we can repent and God forgives us and we continue to go forward.

It’s an awesome, awesome thing to grasp and comprehend; and the more we see the magnitude... and truly, the more you can see the greatness and might of God, the power of God – what’s going to keep anything from happening if God so wills it?  And He’s willed you to be in His Family. He’s made it totally possible.  He’s cleared the way; and we’re the only problem. We stumble, we fall at times; but God’s right there to help us, to help us up, to help us continue forward.

Romans 8:38... there’s a longer section that goes into more detail; but that’s a part of it here where it talks about how that ‘we are killed all the day long’; ‘...and counted as sheep for the slaughter...’ It goes on to say (this still fits but there’s another one that really goes into more depth), No, in all these things we’re more than conquerors through Him that loved us; For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love/agape of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So again, what’s our stumbling block?  What’s going to get in the way?  And if we understand...if you can have the boldness and confidence and understand the greatness of God; the more you understand the greatness of God, to realize nothing, NOTHING, there’s nothing to fear.  Do we ever fear?  Absolutely!  Do we ever doubt? There are doubts. Do we have fear come into our mind of what we’re going to be able to attain or how we’re going to be able to attain it, or whatever.  Really there shouldn’t be anything like that whatsoever.  But there is, because we’re carnal, because we’re human.  And so again, the boldness you can have as you continue to grow and learn more of those things of a relationship with God.

But again, giving the analogies here, the examples of things. It’s a beautiful thing, truly! The more we see God, the more we grasp the greatness of God and the more in awe we are of God, to understand what He promises us?  There’s nothing that keeps it from being attained, from being accomplished; and that should give you great boldness and confidence in everything you do in the year and a half that’s ahead of you in what we have to go through.

Again here, what an incredible thing; a spirit realm.  Nothing existed at first, nothing was there through time but Yahweh Elohim, the Self-Existing One.  All life comes from Him.  All life comes out of Him.  Everything that’s created comes out of Him, from Him.  He commands something to be and it’s so.  He performs His will by His spirit, by His power that comes out of Him and it’s done; He makes something, He creates something, He gives something and it’s there.  We can’t comprehend that!

A spirit realm that He created.  We can’t grasp that one there except we can relate to it a little bit because of a physical creation of things that we see out here; but to grasp a heaven that He made, He created, that didn’t exist?  To grasp He created a realm in which angelic beings could dwell and live as much as He had to create a realm in which human beings could live?  It’s the same thing, same type; one is spirit and one is physical.  And He sustains it all!  God almighty sustains everything!  Everything exists, everything is because of God.  And without God none of it would be.  It’s an awesome and incredible thing!

As a quick summary; mankind of himself can only see what God has created as physical with physical laws and physical essence/elements.  That which is of the spirit, including the Truths of God, can only be understood by man when God chooses to give it.  It must come from God and it has to be communicated to man by God.  There is no other way to receive the things of God.  That’s why our calling is so awesome!  To understand that God individually, with each one of us, draws us at a specific moment in time.

That’s why it’s nothing for God to be working with millions of people right now.  He’s not just working with us!  We’re not the only ones that God is working with; He’s working with millions right now, circumstances and situations and things in life so that when a particular moment in time comes for them [snap] He opens their mind.  He allows them to hear something and to understand it; about the Sabbath, about the Holy Days.  Now they may or may not choose it – because that’s a choice.  Some will and some won’t, that’s just the choice of human beings. But with so many God knows exactly what they will choose.  And with that God is working with different ones to receive, to choose His way at a certain moment in time here, when certain things happen in the United States, when certain things transpire in the world...   God is planning, meticulously so, that when the 5th Trumpet sounds, that that’s going to be a tool whereby different ones are going to have their ears open... He’s going to use that as a part of a process, of something that happens in their life so that when He communicates to them through His spirit into the mind, they’re able to receive it.  In other words, when they hear something about the Sabbath or the end-time; that they have a conviction and they know.

I’m looking forward to that time because God has shown that it’s after that moment in time when Europe does what they do, when 10 nations come together, that we’re going to have a lot of brethren come back.  They’re not brethren right now, they’re cut off.  But we’re going to have a lot come back who were once with us as we walked to God’s house side by side and council blended sweet; and they’re going to be able to see what they’ve done and they’re going to be able to come to repentance like every one of us has who has gone through that experience of being awakened after having fallen asleep spiritually.  And maybe even more now because of how God is doing all this that He’s doing.  I hope it’s well beyond 3,000.  What an awesome thing if it could be 9-10 or more... I don’t know, we’ll see.

But I look forward to that time, because you know what?  There are going to be those out there that I know.  There are going to be some out there that you know; some people out there that you’ve known from your past – 15-20 years ago or whatever it was; and their minds are going to be ignited because God uses a moment in time.  He’s working with them right now!  We can’t comprehend that!  How could God be working with so many?  Hey, if He sustains all this out here, that we look out there and 13-14 billion light years... we can’t even see past it... and that’s all we can see right now and understand to a limited degree right now; and He sustains it all.  It’s nothing for God to work with individuals in their lives, to bring them to a moment in time when their minds are opened to see and they can act upon that then in order to come on into a new age.  What an awesome thing!  What an Almighty God we serve!  Indeed!

But we so restrict God because we are so restricted in our thinking.  We are so puny, we are so small physically.  So anyway, what an awesome thing to glorify, to honour God and to realize He’s working with millions right now.  He’s going to bring millions into a Millennial period.  This is not going to all happen by accident, by chance.  God doesn’t work that way.

So again, that which we’re able to receive, mankind receives, it has to be communicated by God to man.  And that which has existed from eternity cannot be understood by the mind of man.  The spirit essence of God in His mind and thought and all that composes God, His very existence, is not something we’ve been given the ability to comprehend.  The first of anything created began in a spirit realm in a spirit heaven where God created things of spirit essence which have no life (as said here, the sea of glass and the throne of God and the crowns that we read about and so forth), and that’s all we discuss.  We don’t go beyond that – God doesn’t want us to.

Then God began to create spirit beings composed of spirit essence, given independent life in the sense of being free moral agents; just like human beings were made as free moral agents; with free choice, thought and thinking in life.  And that life was the angelic realm that is within the spirit realm.  And that’s what we’re going to go into tomorrow; we’re going to talk about that angelic realm because if we can begin to grasp a little more deeply why God created them the way He did, what their minds were like upon creation, we’re going to understand, be able to come to be able to understand in a far deeper way what God is doing with us and with mankind and why we have gone through everything we have.  Why for... we don’t know, billions of years, multiple millions of years, the angelic realm existed before God even put man on the earth.  Why it had to be that way and why it took that long.  There are reasons behind it and it has to do with how they were created and why they were created the way they were.

So tomorrow we’ll continue by focusing more fully upon these first living beings that God created in the angelic realm.  We have to take this step by step.

~~~end