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Jesus made it very clear when the Sadducees came to him, and tried to trip him up, because the Sadducees now did not believe in the resurrection, I remind you, and they came to Jesus and they said, "What about this woman?", because the Levitical law was, if you married a man and he has not given you a child, and He dies, you marry his brother. That's the Levitical law that that family line should be perpetuated. So the Sadducees said to him, "Well, this woman married a man and he died, and she married his brother, and he died, and eventually she married all seven brothers. Well in the resurrection, who is she going to be married to?" So they were mocking Jesus and they said, "Isn't this a ridiculous doctrine of the resurrection of the dead? Now who is she going to be married to in the resurrection?" And Jesus said to them, "You do error, for ye know not the Scripture or the power of God." Now what was Jesus saying to them?
He was saying, "It's not the personality that's resurrected." The personality is not resurrected. Glory to God. And the second aspect to this teaching is that the spirit that is in man, the human spirit, that which was of God from the beginning is eternal, it originates from the father, and it returns to the father, and it is in the process of making a series of journeys through the realm of time. This is the realm of the father, up here, the eternal realm of the spirit. God has literally just hung a ball in the middle of the realm of the spirit, and he's called it time, or the life of the ages, that's what he's called it. That's where we are now. This is where death takes place, there is no death in the spiritual realm of the father.
And there are spirits, the spiritual sons of God that were with the father from before the foundation of the earth, we're told about it In the book of Job, and they take journeys along, they take journeys, and they leave the realm of the father, and they pass through the realm of time, and they return to the father. It's called a spiritual day, the time that it takes to make one revolution around the sun, and during this journey they will pass through four seasons, spring, winter, summer, and fall, it's a spiritual experience. And for the time period that they're passing through the life of the ages, you can't live in this realm without a body and a soul.
So for the time that they're passing through the life of the ages, God gives them a personality, a soul, and a body. This is the spring time over here, you are born in the spring time. Plant life blooms and blossoms in the spring, and in the summer. And as you continue on, you enter into the winter and the fall, and plant life dies, and the soul and the body withers away, and the human spirit which is of God, which is eternal, completes the circle and returns to the father. And the purpose for all of this, so we have two things, the personality is not resurrected, you are not going to see Aunt Gerdie in the great by and by. I'm sorry that upsets a lot of people but brethren, that's the truth, I'm sorry, it's the truth of the Scripture.
The second truism is that there is a spirit in man, which is eternal, and it takes journeys through the realm of time, and in order for it to exist in the realm of time, God gives it a personality and a body, only for that journey. And when the human spirit enters out of this ream, that body and personality dies, it will never be raised again. The only thing that's going to be resurrected is the human spirit which is from God that is in man, and he making many journeys through the realm of time, and the purpose for which he is making these journeys is not karma, it's not to reach Christ consciousness, it's not because he is reaping what he has sown, it is not punishment for the evil that he did in a past life, because all of those things would refer to the personality of man.
The purpose for this, is that the spirit is being trained to live in the flesh, to live in the flesh without being corrupted unto sin. When a spirit enters into the flesh, someone has to rule. If the spirit man rules the soul, there will be no sin, and what will happen to the soul and the body, anybody know? It will not die. If the spirit man enters into the realm of time and receives a soul and a personality, and the soul rules the spirit man which is sin, cause the soul is desperately wicked, who could know it, what happens to the soul and body? It dies.
So we could tell, I could tell whether your spirit or your soul is ruling, because your ancestors died. All of your ancestors before you have died, and I have no reason to believe that in due season, unless Jesus Christ enters in, by giving you his life, you too shall die, your body and your soul shall die. So I know that your spirit man has been overcome by the personality that God gave you, cause God has judged you and there is death on your family line. Does everybody understand that? That is the sole and specific purpose for this occurrence of journeys through the realm of time. And the only thing that is going to put an end to this continuous journeying through the realm of time is the ability of the human spirit to rule the personality that is given to it, when it enters into the realm of time.
And there is only one way this is going to take place, it's not going to take place by anything that this spirit does. It is going to take place because the Spirit of Jesus Christ is going to lay hold of it, in one hour, in one of these journeys, in one of these lifetimes, that it has a personality, that it appears in the life of the ages, the Spirit of Jesus Christ that is in this hour being poured out upon all flesh, it's going to lay hold of it, and fertilize it, and right here in the flesh, bring forth Christ, who will be righteous, and without sin, and therefore cause the body and soul of this individual to become incorruptible. Do you understand that?
Okay, as they're passing through, the soul that they receive to sustain them, in the realm of appearance is going to be replaced by the soul of Jesus Christ, because the Lord Jesus Christ has apprehended them for his own purpose, that's it. It has nothing to do with good or evil, bad or good, Christ consciousness is none of this stuff that you hear in reincarnation, this is not reincarnation, it is a spiritual truth that is in the Scripture. Don't take my word for it, pray about it, but if you're manifesting fear, it's not of God, because you have to believe, pray, and you have to believe that if it's not true, God's going to deliver you, okay.
That's it, two basic elements of it, both of them very upsetting to most men, that the spirit journeys through the earth for many occasions, and that they're not going see their dead relatives again. And there's going to be a lot of persecution coming against this ministry, and against me. I've known it for, I've had this revelation for a couple of years, and I didn't really, I never wanted to preach it, I never thought God would ask me to preach it, when he raised up this ministry, and he didn't give me much time, he's been very patient with me, what are we here nine, ten months?
He's been very patient with me, he told me nine months ago, he wanted me to preach it, and I was just plain scared. And there's going to be a lot of persecution coming against this ministry and coming me, but I'm sorry, it's the truth, you know, it's just the truth, and it's already started. Poor xxxxx, she just freaked out, and she freaked out on two levels, she freaked out to the extent that she will not see her dead husband again, okay, here it is right up here, and she freaked out at the thought of experiencing another miserable life, and I could not convince her that it's not her personality that's traveling through the realm of time, it is her spirit man. And if it's your spirit man traveling through the realm of time, you can't think in those terms of having another miserable life.
Do you understand what I'm saying? It's not rational. It's that spark of life that I don't even know who it is, because I'm not spiritual enough to recognize your spark of life. If God was to block out your personality, I would not know who you were. I'm not that spiritual yet, I'm not there yet. I know you by your personality, that's how I know who you are. I don't even know what it means. I can't explain it to you in more depth, cause I don't know what it means, that that spark of life which is your human spirit is that which survives and makes these journeys through the realm of time, I don't know what it means. The only thing that I could say to you is that on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus Christ revealed his glory to three of his disciples. And what he revealed to them, was his spiritual substance, and it was shining, and it was bright and glistering, white as a fuller's garment, it was righteous, and it was pure, that's all that I could tell you, God hasn't told me anymore.
So are there any questions on this area right now? Okay, so the Lord told me that what he wants me to do is to start teaching this in more depth and I'm going to be teaching on it today, and I really don't know how much longer.
The name of this message is Grass, and it is not about marijuana, I will tell you that right now. Okay, we know that in the Scriptures, the Lord gives us a natural type of everything, and the word Grass is likened unto men, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. There are six words translated "grass" in the Old Testament, and one word translated "grass" in the New Testament. Webster says that "grass" is an herbage suitable or used for grazing animals. It's any of a large family of seed producing annual, biannual or perennial plants that does not develop persistent woody tissue, but dies at the end of the growing season.
Okay, I want to go over some of those words, Webster says that "grass" is a member of a large family of seed producing annual, biannual, or perennials. And an annual plant is one that lives once each year. Now, we had a series on Mystery Babylon recently, and we found out that the word "year" in the Scripture, in the Greek, and it's in the English too, it doesn't necessarily mean the 365 days as we know it, but it is a time period, it is a time period that involves a cycle. So an annual, a grass that is an annual, an herb, which is grass that is an annual, will appear once in each cycle. You can call it a year if you want.
The second kind of grass is a biannual, and a biannual plant occurs once every two years, it means either that it occurs once every two years, or it continues or last for two years, I'm going to choose that definition, it continues for two years. This is annual is once in each year, and a biannual continues for two years. That means it doesn't die at the end of one year, it continues for two years. I have a definition for that word "year", from the Greek, it means day or hour, instant or season, and it's the time required for one revolution of the earth around the sun. And we all know that Jesus Christ is the sun and one revolution around the earth would be referring to what I just had up on the board earlier. One revolution around the sun. You pass from the father, you enter into the realm of the appearance, you pass out of the realm of appearance, and you return unto the father. That is a spiritual definition of the word "year".
We're now dealing with biannual, and we're talking about a grass that lasts for two years. And in these instances, during the first year, it grows vegetatively, which means, it produces itself. I'll explain that word in a minute. It grows vegetatively. It produces what you would call blades of grass, okay. That's what it produces, and in the second year, it produces fruit, and after it produces its fruit, it dies.
So an annual is a grass that lives for one year, it was once each year, it's an annual, that means it comes back again the next year. In the first year, it makes its cycle around the sun, it leaves the father, passes through the realm of time returns to the father, and continues again on the next cycle. The biannual continues for two years, and in the first year it grows and produces grass, and the second year it produces fruit, and then it dies, and this fruit that it produces, okay, is the seed.
When the blade of grass dies, when the blade of grass withers, this fruit, which in a blade of grass is called grass seed, that is what it is, it falls down on the ground and it produces more grass. It has reproduced itself in the second year.
And the third kind of grass is perennial. It is present at all seasons of the years. It persists for several years, usually with new growth in the part that goes from season to season. And the part of man that goes from season to season, anybody? It's the spirit, it's the human spirit that goes from season to season. It passes through the realm of time and it returns to the father and each complete cycle is a season.
So a perennial is present at all seasons of the years, and it persists for several years, usually with new growth in the part that goes from season to season. And what that is saying, is that the human spirit that is on this series of journeys which will end in his being a spiritual man, that for each journey that he makes, more spiritual maturity is being added to him. God is training him and God is perfected him in the flesh, and for each season, new growth is added to his spiritual substance. Perennial means persistent, it means endurance, continuing without interruption, and it means regularly repeated, and I suggest to you the Scripture, world without end, world without end, regularly repeated.
Glory to God. So there are four kinds of grass. Six words in the Old Testament, two of them were only used once. One of them I just let it go, because I couldn't make any sense out of what Strong's was saying. The second word that was used just once, is Strong's, okay, the one that made no sense, was #1758, the second one that's used only once is Strong's #3418, and it means "pallor", from the sense of no color, hence, the yellowish green of young and sickly vegetation, greenish in a sickly sense. Num.22:4, "And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, now shall this company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field."
This is life, this is soul life that is so young and weak that it can be destroyed by animal life, and the animal life is the body. The body has lusts, and it can utterly, when the soul is that weak, okay, it can be utterly destroyed by the lusts of the body. Glory to God. And in the Greek, we have the word "pale", and it means "green". Rev. 6:8, "And behold I saw a pale horse and his name that sat on him was death, and hell followed him."
Now we've been teaching in these last few meetings that there are three kinds of beast in the world: there are beasts which do not have the root of Christ, there are sheep which do have the root of Christ, and there are horses which are beings with the root of Christ, that have been joined to him. Hallelujah.
So in the book of Revelation we are talking about a sickly green horse, and horse typifies the kind of man that is joined to Christ. Well how could this be, how could you be sickly green, and Oh, and the Scripture says, "Behold I saw a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was death, and hell followed with him." Well if you are the kind of man that's joined to Christ, how can you be sickly green and filled with death? Well, I suggest to you that when God looks upon you, this is throughout the Scriptures, he sees you as he intends you to be, at your ultimate end.
So if there is a man in the earth that the Lord God knows he will ultimately be joining himself to, but it has not occurred yet, that man is sickly green and filled with death, because he is not yet, if you're not joined to Christ, there is no life. So we have the first kind of grass that is death, and I suggest to you that it is without the root of Christ. It is without the root of Christ. There are four kinds of grass, I don't know if I told you that. Okay, so we have the first kind of, there are four kinds of grass, and we have the first kind of grass that is sickly green, and it's death, and it is without the root of Christ. It's without the root of Christ. The first kind of grass, it's without the root of Christ.
Now when we talk about grass, we're talking about soul life, because it dies. The spirit doesn't die, the spirit does not die. So when we're talking about grass, we're talking about soul life. And there is a form of soul life that appears on the face of the earth without the life of the father in it, without a human spirit, and when it withers and it dies, that's the end of it, we never see it again. The second kind of grass that we have, is Strong's , there's two numbers for it, #1883, and #1877, and it refers to a tender young herb, a sprout, the first sprouts of the earth, the first sprouts of the earth, and Gesenius says that it's different from the two numbers that are going to be following this, and that the second number, #2682, is a grass that's ripe for mowing, it's ready for the harvest, and Strong's #6212, is the more mature herbage, grass that is already in seed, it's ready to reproduce itself.
So there's basically four kinds of grass, one is totally without life, and the other three kinds are broken down into immature grass, that is young grass that is ready for the harvest, and grass that is fully mature, and ready to reproduce itself. So we now have, let me it down for you, Strong's #1877, is young grass, newly sprouted. Then we go on to #2682, and that's grass ready to be harvested, it's moving on in maturity, ready to be harvested. So is the human spirit's journey through the realm of time, taking on a personality each time, they are gaining in maturity. Each time they appear, they are gaining in maturity, and Strong's #2682, it is a word that comes from the greenness of a courtyard. It means a fence, a habitation, a dwelling place for unclean animals. And I'm suggesting to you that the living soul is an unclean animal, and when you get to the point, when you're a man who is typified by the grass that's ready to be harvested, you are moving along, God is developing you, and you have come to a place where you are ready to be apprehended by Christ, and you already have the defenses of a habitation. Remember, God is building a house? God is building a house, and He is building for the corporate man, and He is building it to each and everyone of us, and the house is being built not outside of us, but within us.
So when you reach this level of grass, when you're ready to be harvested, you already have your house, but you haven't been harvested yet. It means that Christ is already appearing in you, but he hasn't come to full maturity, okay. And the Scripture I have for you, is Psalms 147:8, "...praise ye the Lord, who maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains." Now this word "to grow" means to cause to sprout forth, and Judges 16:22 says, "Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven." Glory to God. Now this word "grow", I've said that if the word is to cause to grow and it means to grow again. It's used with regard to "hair", that you cut it and it grows again.
So what we're saying is, praise ye the Lord, who maketh the grass to grow again upon the mountains, to grow again, implies that you grow before. And we know that grass is an annual, a perennial or a biannual, it keeps growing over and over again. Glory to God. So Judges 16:22 says, "Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven." And the implication is that the hairs of the head are cut, and then they reappear and he could be shaven, so that there is no hair visible at all, and the hair will grow again, and with regard to grass, it withers and it dies, you can't see anything on the surface of the ground, and the next season comes around and the grass appears again. Glory to God. Hallelujah.
So I have a note here for you, The Lord who maketh the maturing spiritual man, who is right for harvesting, who maketh him spring forth on the mountains. And the mountains represent the pride of man, we've had that here many times. The mountains represent the pride of the earth man. And what this Scripture is saying, not that God maketh the young grass to grow, this is the word Strong's #2682, and in Psalms 147:8, God is saying, Praise ye the Lord, who maketh the grass, who is ready for harvesting, to grow upon the mountains." Praise the Lord, who keeps bringing the spirit man back, until he's going to bring him to a place, where he's going to receive an eternal soul, and an eternal body. Hallelujah. This one appears seventeen times in the Scriptures.
And then we have a another word that appears twenty times, and it's a third Hebrew word that's #6212, and what it means is "to glisten", and that always typifies the life of God, when we talk about glistening, and it means "to be green", and it's the green herb which is fully grown and in seed, and in seed, ready to reproduce itself. And that word "in seed" means that it has a fully developed embryo in it, and we know that when the Holy Spirit fertilizes our human spirit, what we have is an embryo that is going to eventually become Christ in you. The first thing you get is an embryo, just like in a human woman's body. Glory to God.
And I remind you that herb, or the Scripture also says that herb that is used for the food of man, this word #6212, one of the definitions is herb that is used for the food of man. And I remind you that Jesus said he's the bread of heaven, and that the sons of God, and Jesus, we will be bread unto the masses. So when you are a mature blade of grass in this condition, you are food for the nations, Hallelujah. Okay, I just want to go into a few Scriptures here, that's basically it, there are four kinds of grass, one without the root of Christ, this is with the root of Christ, all three are with the root of Christ in accordance of our studies of the past week, this one would be a beast, the equivalent of a beast, this one would be sheep, these two together would be sheep.
They have the root of Christ in two stages, young grass, that's the biannual, young grass and ready to be harvested, and when you get to this point, you become a horse, the intention being, that God sits in your saddle, and becomes one with you, and you talk to anybody that takes horse back riding lessons, and the first thing they tell you, is you have to become one with the horse. You have to move with him, and no matter what happens, whether he stumbles or not, you're not suppose to ever let go, you're suppose to be one with that horse. And what God has been teaching us over these last few weeks, is that God is the rider, he is spirit. God is the rider, he is spirit. Okay.
The chariot or the saddle, it's different in different Scriptures, the chariot or the saddle is the soul. The Spirit of God is connected to the soul, the chariot or the saddle is connected to the horse, and the horse is the body of man and it appears in the realm of appearance. What we're talking about here is the mind of man. The Spirit of God is attached to his soul, and the directions come into this man's mind, and his body does what the spirit of God tells him to do. And when you are a horse, when you are totally joined to God, God will think and you will do it, because God will have become your mind. God will have become your mind, Hallelujah.
So that's it, what we're saying here is that there are four kinds of grass, one of those that are incarnated without the root of Christ, and the purpose for that is we've been teaching in the last meetings is that when God said to Adam, go forth and multiply, his intention was, to cover the face of the earth with human vessels, for the specific purpose of then, entering into each human vessel and bringing forth Christ in each human vessel. So God knew that there were men being incarnated without the root of Christ, he didn't care, he was just saying multiply, multiply, multiply, it's not the hour for me to inhabit you yet, multiply as a natural man, you don't need the root of Christ, just multiply. That's the man without the root of Christ.
And when his function was done, when he produced the twelve children, or whatever they did in the ancient days, he dissolved and that was it. And in the last generation, there is going to be a given number of human beings on the face of the earth, and Jesus Christ is going to inhabit every last one of them. In that day, in the last generation, and these are the stages, first you come forth in the earth, as a mere beast without anything of God in you at all, okay, and then you come forth in these three stages, as a young blade of grass, you come forth as a blade of grass ready to be harvested, sheep that hear the master's voice and at the very last, in the last hour, in that last day, you will come forth glistening with the life of God and you will be the horse who bears the soul, which is the saddle or the chariots of God who shall be a rider, and you shall be one with the father, spirit, soul, and body. He shall merely think and you shall do.
And most men today, they think that they lead their own lives and that they think what they want to think, and then they do it, but it's not true, because it's your mind that thinks, and you're doing what your mind tells you to do, and if your mind is not the Lord Jesus Christ, then your mind is Satan. Glory to God. Hallelujah.
Okay, I'm going to touch on some Scriptures now, showing that God likens men to grass, Job 5:25, "Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thy offspring, as the grass of the earth. Hallelujah. Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth. Hallelujah. Okay, glory to God. We're going to pick that apart, and get an alternate translation from that.
The word "seed", "Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great...", the word "seed" is #2233, and it is that which is planted and it means virility, it's referring to male semen. The word great is #7227, and it means "large" or "vast". The word "offspring" means "issue or children", that which cometh forth, and the word "grass" is Strong's #6212, that mature grass which is glistening with the life of God.
Alternate translation. "You shall be very virile, and the children that you bear shall reveal the life of God in their souls, as the mature grass bears the embryo ready to reproduce itself." Glory to God. "You shall be very virile and the children that you bear shall reveal the life of God in your souls, as the grass of the earth bears its embryo for reproduction." Psalms 72:16, There shall be a hand full of corn in the earth, upon the top of the mountains, the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth." Glory to God. The word "hand full" is Strong's #6451, Hallelujah, and it means "expansion, to pour out and permit or to cause to be spread freely, to extend, to break up and distribute". The word "corn" is Strong's #1250, and it means any kind of grain, it doesn't have to mean corn, it could mean wheat, it means "grain that has been cleansed from the chaff, separated from the chaff." We know that our body and our soul is the chaff, and the pure grain is the life of Christ that is coming forth in us. And it comes from a word that means to select, choose, cleanse or purify. Glory to God.
And I have here, John 6:33, and Jesus said, for the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world, and this word in the Greek, it's bread. So in the Old Testament we're talking about grain in seed form that has not yet been ground and made into bread, and in the New Testament Jesus said that he is bread that has been raised by wheat. So in the Old Testament we see the seeds being planted, and it's going to come forth in the New Testament. What's going to happen in the New Testament. He's going to inhabit the body of every human being on the face of the earth. He's going to be increased. Glory to God.
And the Scripture we are dealing with is, "And there shall be a hand full of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains." And the word "top" means "to be leader, to be head, to be the head of men or animals, whatever is the highest or supreme, what is first and foremost, the beginning. Okay, Alternate Translation, "There shall be a hand full of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains." "In that day, there shall be an expansion, a pouring out and distribution of the glorified Christ in the earth of mankind. And he who is the first of many brethren to shed his outer body shall cover over he who was from the beginning, and who was the leader of the proud tribe of the earth, even the soul man, Adam."
Okay, we'll take it a few words at a time, "There shall be a handful of corn in the earth, there shall be an expansion, a pouring out and distribution of the bread of Christ in the earth of mankind." "...there shall be an expansion, a pouring out and a distribution of the glorified Christ in the earth of mankind." And the next phrase is, "...the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon." Oh I have more here, "...there shall be an expansion, a pouring out and distribution of the glorified Christ in the earth of mankind, and he who is the first of many brethren, that's Christ, that's the one that is being poured out and expanded, okay, he's the first to shed his outer body, he's typifying the grass, that has the seed within itself, the ability to reproduce itself, okay. What he's going to do after he sheds his body, what does he do after he sheds his body? He became a spirit, he's now in the world today in the form of a spirit, he's no longer a natural man. And what is he doing as a spirit? He's covering over the one, now we're talking about the tops of the mountains, he's covering over the one who is from the beginning.
The mountain is the proud earth man, and the top refers to the leader, which is Adam, okay, we're a many membered body of Adam. So after he sheds this body, he's the first one who is going to shed his body, and then what he did was to become a spirit, and what he's doing today is he's pouring out his spirit upon the one who was from the beginning, Adam. He was the first one, at the beginning God was a soul man, at the end the eternal one was a life giving spirit. So he's going to cover over the one who was from the beginning, and who was the leader of the proud tribe of the earth, even the soul man Adam.
Now we've been talking about that, that this is what the Lord is going to do, when Christ is going to do, when Christ appears in your soul, if this is your soul, when Christ appears, what he's going to do, is cover it over totally. He's going to layer over the soul man, and in the realm of appearance, because the soul man isn't being destroyed, except that he can't be seen anymore, cause Christ is laying over him, but he's not going away, he's not going someplace else, he's going to be joined to Christ and become a new creature. He's going to be joined to Christ and become a new creature.
When a man and a woman copulate and that woman conceives, there's an egg, and there's a sperm. By the time a baby is born or way before it, okay, there is no more egg and there is no more sperm, it has become a new creature, a child, an individual in its own right, and that's what's happening to the soul man. He's not disappearing, well he's disappearing, but it's not because he's leaving, it's because he's being changed, he is being joined to Christ and he's being changed. And he's going to appear in the realm of appearance as a new man, by his thoughts, his words, and his deeds. So in that day, there shall be an expansion, a pouring out of the distribution of the glorified Christ by his spirit, it's happening today in the earth of mankind, and he who was he first of many brethren, to shed his outer body, Jesus Christ, the only one that I know of it, he, by his spirit, cause now he's a spirit, he shed his outer body, he's become a spirit, he's going to cover over the one who was from the beginning, and who is the leader of the proud tribes of the earth, even the soul man, Adam. Glory to God.
That's what we're talking about here. The next phrase is, the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon, and the word "fruit" is Strong's #6529, and it means "the result of labor, and the bringing forth of offspring." The word "shake" is Strong's #7493, and it means the origin of the Hebrew word and the primary motion of it, lies in the noise and crashing which takes place from a hard blow or a collision. And it also means "to make a horse to leap." Glory to God.
So what are we saying here, the word "Lebanon", we know Lebanon is a mountain, and it's Strong's #3844, and it really means "white mountain, and the reason it's called white mountain is that it's eastern ridge is perpetually partially covered with snow. And we know that snow is a type of the sons of God. Hallelujah. So the word "wife" is not in the Hebrew text, so what the phrase really says is, the fruit thereof shall shake Lebanon, not that the fruit is going to shake like Lebanon, the fruit is going to shake Lebanon. Now who is the fruit? It's the sons of God. It's the fruit that the Spirit of Christ is presenting, and they are going to shake Lebanon. Alternate translation.
And when Christ appears in the soul of the many of the proud many membered man of the earth, he shall descend upon him with a hard blow and a driving collision as he joins himself to him. It's not going to be gentle, and the hard blow and the driving condition brethren, are the trials and the tribulations, the result of which Christ is joining himself to you. And he's going to bring the soul man into submission, and he's ultimately going to make him his horse, which will leap upon command. When Christ joins himself to your soul man, and you are one, and he says, Go here, you're going to leap. You're not going to go the other way like we're doing today. You're going to do what he tells you.
So the second part of this Psalms 72:16, which is the fruit thereof shall shake Lebanon, this is an Alternate Translation, "And when Christ appears in the soul of the proud many-membered man of the earth, he shall descend upon him, with a hard blow, and a driving collision, as he joins himself to him, brings him into submission and ultimately makes him his horse, which will leap upon command. Hallelujah. I'll read it one more time.
We are translating "the fruit thereof shall shake Lebanon." "And when Christ appears in the soul of the proud many membered man of the earth, he shall descend upon him with a hard blow and a driving collision, as he joins himself to him, brings him into submission and ultimately makes him his horse, which will leap upon command." And I remind you that we're told in the book of Zechariah, that Israel is the goodly horse of the Lord. It may be to people who don't understand, it may sound demeaning, but we are beast, that's all that we are, either we're sheep or horses, or just plain beasts, but we're beasts. And we're only going to receive glory by coming into submission and being joined to the Spirit of God, he is the only one who has glory.
There is no glory in natural man. So the last phrase in this Psalms 72:16 is, "...and they of the city shall flourish like grass upon the earth." We finally got to the grass, so let's see what this is saying. "...and they of the city shall flourish like grass upon the earth." Well the city, who is the city? We're talking about all of the glory of God. The city is New Jerusalem, and the old city is the natural man, and the new city is the New Jerusalem. Babylon, the city, that wicked city, the old Jerusalem, and the new city, the New Jerusalem, where she has been purified and joined to Christ is coming forth. And they of the city shall flourish. The word "flourish" is Strong's #6692, and it means "to twinkle, to blossom, to show forth, to shine, to be bright", we're talking about the life of God again.
So the city which represents the soul life, the soul of natural man, she's going to twinkle, and she going to shine and she going to be made glorious, and we just got through with a really interesting teaching on this in the book of Revelation, Chapter 17, and 18, what is going to happen to Mystery Babylon? She's going to be cleaned up, and she's not going to be a harlot anymore. She's going to be joined to Christ and she is going to be made bright, and twinkle as she shows forth the glory of God.
Now the verse is, "And they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth." So let's relate it to the grass, okay, so redeemed man is going to show forth the life of God just like the grass, #6212, grass, "to be fully grown and in seed." So God is likening the redeemed soul of man to be grass in full seed. Alternate Translation, "And Christ shall be revealed in the many members of the redeemed living soul, and they shall be mature spiritual men, showing forth the life of Christ, like mature grass with a fully developed embryo within it. God likens the process that we're going through to grass, glory to God. I'm going to read you this whole Scripture, Psalms 72:16, and I'm going to read it backwards, okay. Many teachings in this ministry, very often the Scripture reverses the order. We know that the natural realm is the mirror image of the spiritual realm, and when God tells me to, I read it backwards, so that's what I'm going to do now. This is Psalms 72:16, "There shall be a hand full of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountain. The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth."
Alternate Translation, backwards. "And Christ shall be revealed in the many members of the redeemed living soul, and they shall be mature spiritual men, showing forth the life of Christ like mature grass, with a fully developed embryo within it. And when Christ appears in the soul of the proud many-membered man of the earth, he shall descend upon him, with a hard blow and a driving collision, as Christ joins himself to the soul man, brings him into submission, and ultimately makes him his horse, which will leap upon command. And in that day, there shall be an expansion, a pouring and distribution of the glorified Christ in the earth of mankind, and he, who is the first of many brethren to shed his outer body, shall cover over by his Spirit, he who was from the beginning and who was the leader of the proud tribes of the earth, even the soul man, Adam." Glory to God, Hallelujah.
Okay, I have a study in the New Testament for you, and there was so much in the Scripture, likening grass to men, and showing that there are three kinds of grass, and this whole concept of cycling through until you come to the place where God wants you, of your spirit cycling through the realm of time, until God brings you to where he wants you. I don't know how many messages this will be, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to do another next Wednesday. So I did pick this one out of the New Testament and the study is in Luke 12:22-31. I'm going to read all of these verses for you, but I'm not going to do Alternate Translations on all of them, I'm just going to pick out some of the pertinent translations. Now I hope that you realize that in the Scriptures, it's very common for both Jesus and Paul, to, I think we talked about this on a prior tape, to intermingle spiritual truth with carnal knowledge. We did a study on one tape, I can't remember which one it was, with Paul intermingling spiritual truth with carnal knowledge. One minute he was talking about how to relate to your brethren in this natural life, and in the next verse, when we picked it apart, we found out that he was talking about deep spiritual truth, and deep spiritual truth is mixed in the Scripture with a lot of, I don't want to say carnal, but practical knowledge for life in the earth, and it's like gold ore.
If you want to get gold out of the earth, first you have to dig up the earth, and then you have to melt it to get the gold away from the natural substance. Well the Scripture is very frequently like that. The gold of the truth of God's word is joined to a lot of natural things that Jesus and Paul said, and we're going to have to extract it to see it for what it is, and to understand it. So I'm going to read you Luke 12:22-31, and then I'm going to do an Alternate Translation on about three verses, and show you where he was imparting to those who had ears to hear, these spiritual truths in the midst of what seems to be a carnal admonition. And Jesus has told his disciples that he spoke in parables, because these things were not for everyone to understand, and let he who had ears to hear, understand.
Okay Luke 12:22-31, and before I start reading, I just want to remind you, I can't read the whole thing, that in the few verse before that, Jesus was talking about a man who spent his whole life hoarding grain in his own barns because what he was trying to do was keep his own body and soul alive. So he was laboring to do that. And this is what Jesus said to his disciples.
22. "And he said unto his disciples, "Therefore I say unto you, take no thought of your life what ye shall eat; neither for the body what ye shall put on.
23. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.
24. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than the fowls?
25. And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?
26. If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?
27. Consider the lilies how they grow, they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
28. If then God so clothe the grass, (here's our grass) which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, oh ye of little faith?
29. And seek not what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
30. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after, and your father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
31. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
So what Jesus is telling his disciples is don't worry about providing for your needs in this world. And the first verses that I'm dealing with are verses 22 and 23. 22. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life or for your soul, it's the same word, what ye shall eat, neither for the body, what ye shall put on.
The word "put on" is Strong's #1746, and there are several words for clothing, this is very rarely used, and it does not mean to put a garment on, it means, it's used in the sense of sinking into a garment, and it means to be totally covered over by it. Now there's no garment of natural clothing that I know of that totally covers over man, he would suffocate. And I suggest to you, what Jesus is speaking about here, is the garment for a man's soul, which is his body, which is completely covered over, glory to God.
And there are several times that this word is used, Strong's #1746, and in each instance it appears to have a spiritual application. For example, I Cor. 15:53 says, "Corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." So we're not talking about garments, we're talking about spiritual things. And Eph.4:24 says, "Put on the new man", which is also a spiritual application of this word.
Okay, we're in verse 22, and Jesus is saying, "Take no thought for your life or your soul, what ye shall eat, neither for the body what ye shall put on." And verse 23 says, "The life, or your soul is more than what you eat, it's more than meat, and your body is more than raiment." Now this word raiment is Strong's #1742, and that is a cloak, or an outer garment, and it also refers to skins of sheep, that's something that you put on and you take off, okay, glory to God. As an Alternate Translation, it's verses 22 and 23. And carrying over the thought from the verses before, "He that provides for his own life is not rich in the spiritual things of God. Therefore, (verse 23), don't worry about the food that your soul needs to survive, neither about the body that it needs to exist in this realm of appearance, don't worry about your soul, I know that it needs food to survive, and I know that it needs a body to exist in this realm of appearance." So don't worry about your body dying, because I know if your body dies, that you're going to leave the realm of appearance, I know about it. That's what he's saying. Don't worry about the food that your soul needs to survive, neither about the body that your soul needs to exist in the realm of appearance. Your soul is more than the food that you eat, and the body is more than an outer garment, or a skin. It's something wonderful, Jesus is suggesting, that I have given you.
Okay, now I'm going to skip on to verse 25, "And which of you without taking thought can his add to his stature one cubit? The word "take thought" is nothing significant in the Greek, but the Hebrew equivalent is Strong's #6031, and it's through the idea of looking down upon or brow beating. It means "to bestow labor upon anything." It also means "to till the ground and bring it into cultivation." And we've had many teachings on the fact that what's happened to our soul is that Jesus Christ is killing it, and bringing it into submission and bringing it unto cultivation. When you bring land into cultivation, what you do is make is useful, you make it to produce good things. Well Jesus Christ is bringing the land of our soul into submission, and he's going to make it produce good things, the fruits of his Spirit.
Okay, so we're dealing with the phrase "and which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit". The word "add" is Strong's #4369, and it means "to add upon what already exists." And I have quite a few witnesses here for you because it's an important concept. Gen.4:2, "And Eve again bare his brother...", she did not bare for the first time, she bare again. Gen.8:12, "And Noah stayed yet other seven days...". These were not the first seven days that he stayed, there had been days prior to that that he stayed. Gen.18:29, "And he spake to him yet again...". This was not the first time he spake, he spake again. He was adding to what he had previously done. Gen.38:5, "And she yet again conceived, it was not her first conception, she added a child to the children that she already had. Gen.25:1, "Then again took Abraham a wife...". It was not his first wife, he was adding to what he had already experienced in his lifetime.
Now the word "stature" is Strong's #2244, and it means "maturity, time of life, or length of life." And the word "cubit" is only used twice in the New Testament and it's used right here, and in the other account, which is in Matthew of this same conversation that Jesus had with his disciples. Now in the Greek, all that it means is a measure, okay, but in the Hebrew, the equivalent Hebrew is #520, Strong's #520, and the first definition in Gesenius is "the beginning, the head, the foundation."
And the reason that it's translated "cubit", is that in the olden days, the forearm was used as a measure, they measured from the wrist to the elbow. This was used as a measure, okay, and they called the forearm the mother of the arm, that which comes before the arm. The forearm comes before the arm, and so that is how it came to be a measure, and in the Greek it's called a cubit, but it really means the beginning, the head, or the mother, that which comes before, okay.
And Webster's definition of foundation is, an underlying or prepared base or support, especially the whole substructure of a building. It means a body or a ground upon which something is built up. Glory to God. And another definition of the word "cubit" is metropolis. And a metropolis is a mother city, Webster's says it's a mother city, a principle seat or center of activity. The mother city or state of a colony. So it's like a base ancestor.
Okay, the body is the mother, our body is the mother, the one who gives life in the realm of appearance. Adam called Eve the mother of all living. And you cannot live in this realm of appearance without a body. So she is the one who gives life in the realm of appearance to the soul, and the soul cannot live without the body, and what I'm suggesting to you is that there was a mother, we all had an original ancestor, and she had a child, and he had a child, and he had a child, and this body that we have in 1988, is one of the colonies that has come forth from the mother ancestor, it's the same body, just reproducing the same genetics, can you see that? It's the same body.
So she was the mother, the body is the mother ancestor. Glory to God and I want to give you an Alternate Translation and we'll talk about it a little more. Okay, we're on verse 25, "And which of you, with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?" Alternate Translation, "And which of you, by bringing your soul into submission, can add to your soul, the depth of spiritual maturity, which is in Christ." Now remember that taking thought means to till the ground. So which of you by bringing your soul into submission, can add to your soul the depth of spiritual maturity, which is in Christ? What Jesus is saying, you are at a particular stage in your spiritual development right now. You are in a particular stage, you are in an age. The new age is the Lord Jesus Christ. We're all waiting for the new age. The new age is the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he comes forth in you, when he appears in you, you have entered into the new age.
So what Jesus is saying to these people is, do you think you can bring yourself into the new age, because you bring your soul into submission, because you do your religious works and you stop your smoking, and you stop your fornicating, and you stop your lying, do you think that that will enable you to enter into the new age. The answer is no. The new age is the Lord Jesus Christ, we have that going on all over the church world today. They think they are going to enter in because of what they do, because they pray in tongues, because they dance in the spirit, because they're not doing anything in the realm of appearance, but Jesus said that sin is in our mind.
So bringing your soul into submission is not the answer, you have to birth Christ. You have to birth Christ. It's the only way you're going to get in.
And this is what Jesus was saying, "And which of you, by bringing your soul into submission, can add to your soul the depth of spiritual maturity, which is in Christ." You can't do it. No matter what you do to your soul, you can't bring forth Christ, only Christ can bring forth Christ. Glory to God.
Verse 26, "If ye then be not able to do that which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?" Well, what is the least? The least is bringing your soul into submission, bringing forth Christ is the greatest. So Alternate Translation, "And if you're not even able to bring your soul into submission, (because you can't do it, what Jesus is saying is you can't do it), why are you worrying about keeping it and your body alive." He's saying if you can't even bring your soul into submission, why are you worrying about keeping your soul and your body alive. Do you really think that you could do it by laying up food for yourselves. And what Jesus is saying is that I'm the only one that could keep your soul and your body alive, and food is not your problem. Glory to God. Hallelujah.
Verse 28, and this is the last one that I did, Hallelujah, the one with the grass in it. Verse 28, "If then so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?" Now the word "clothe" here is the word "to envelope", to cover completely. So we're not talking about a garment, we're talking about a body here. And this word "today", we've talked about this in our study of Mystery Babylon, and it means "the current day, it means now, what's happening to you now. And we're told in Matthew 13:18, that the field is the world. So that's the Scriptural definition. "If then God so clothed the grass, if God gives the grass something that totally envelopes it, the grass meaning the souls of men, he gives a body, that's what Jesus is saying. If God so gives bodies to the souls of men, which is today in the world, and this word "world" is the Greek word "cosmos", which means "orderly arrangement", glory to God, "...and to morrow is cast into the oven", the word "to morrow" strangely enough means "a breeze, it means the morning air, and it means to breathe", and the word "oven" is used for making bread which was baked by being spread on the outside, I never heard of anything like that before, but what it's saying is that the "oven" is within, that's what it's saying.
They put the dough on the outside of the oven, and the heat of it baked it. We are being baked from within because the oven, the fire, the heat is Christ in us. I have a reference for you, Mal. 4:10, "For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, all that do wickedly shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall burn them up."
It's the soul man that's going to be burnt up, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch, and he's going to be burnt up by the Spirit of God. And we found out in our study on Mystery Babylon over these last few services that when he burns, his smoke is going to ascend for the life of the ages, and that smoke refers to the glorified body.
So let me give you this Alternate Translation, and try and understand what Jesus was saying here, this is verse 28, "If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field and to morrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?"
Alternate Translation, "Well then, if God can give bodies to the souls who are in one lifetime part of the adamic many-membered man, and the next time they take breath, under the great judgment necessary to translate them into the body of Christ, don't you think he can sustain the bodies of those who have been called to be his disciples." Do you hear this? "And if then God can give bodies to the grass, the natural man, which is to day in the cosmos, the cosmos today is Adam, okay, but tomorrow, the next time they take breath, they're going to be cast into the oven, which is the judgment of God, which will translate them into the body of Christ." If then this lifetime God can give a body to a man who's a natural man, and in the next time that he lives, in the next lifetime God can cast the same man into the oven, God has the power to convert this natural man into the body of Christ, that's a mighty miracle. "Don't you think that God can sustain the bodies of you, who are his disciples."
Look at what a mighty God he is. He can give a body to a natural man, and he can give a body to a man that's under the judgments of God for the purpose of being converted into Christ, and you wonder that a God like this can't even keep your body alive, if he already gave you the body, you think he can't even keep you alive. This is what Jesus is saying. He's saying, don't worry about food, because if I wanted to, I could keep you alive if you had no food. That's what he's saying. Don't worry about food, don't worry about running to the doctor about every little thing, because if I wanted to, I could keep you alive without, he kept Moses alive without food or water for forty days. Medical science says you die forty days without water. Jesus too. He said, what worrying for, what are you doing? What are you worrying about these little carnal things for? And here is the deep spiritual truth buried in this admonition that Jesus gave to his disciples.
But those who have ears to hear, hear it. I just want to repeat at the end of this message, I don't believe in reincarnation. Reincarnation is an abomination before the Lord and it glorifies man and what it preaches is the glorification and the perfection of the living soul. That is not Scriptural. The soul will not be perfected in any way except it being joined to the Lord Jesus Christ. And reincarnation preaches perfection of the soul, through many experiences, and sowing what you reap. So there is no way you shall be perfected, unless you are joined to the Lord Jesus Christ. On the other hand, the Lord has asked me to tell everybody who will listen, that there is a spiritual truth that involves the human spirit, not the personality, the human spirit cycling through the realm of time, in accordance with the will of God as it matures spiritually, until Christ joins himself to it. And we know hopefully that there is a counterfeit for every truth. And I just bless everyone listening to this message, I bless this message, may the will of the Lord be done. Glory to God, Hallelujah. Any questions?
COMMENT: You said that Jesus shed his body, so he's a spirit. What happens to his glorified body, didn't he get a glorified body, Jesus, what happened to his glorified body?
PASTOR VITALE: His glorified body is spirit. He's spirit, the glorified body is spirit. Remember the teaching that we had, that I did it in three different colors, that this is what the natural man looks like, this is his spiritual conditioning, as a human spirit, it's surrounded by a soul, and its surrounded by a body, and that the soul and the body is going to be beaten to pieces, and they're going to be rearranged like dust, they're going to be beaten small as dust, okay.
And his spiritual substance is going to exist in this new body that's not going to have the solid lines which our human are. We try to walk through a wall, we're going to get a lump on our head, but this human body that's been beaten to dust, and the soul that's been beaten to dust, typified by the fine flour of the Scripture, it's been made spirit. His body and his soul has been made spirit, and now he can walk through walls. See, it's little pieces, it's no longer this dense body which was a prison house.
And he could appear and he could appear and look just like we look now, but the reality of his spiritual structure is that he can appear and disappear and walk through walls, because his soul and his body has been beaten small as dust, and rearranged by the power of almighty God into a spiritual body.
COMMENT: He's spirit now, but yet you can't see the glorified body, you mean there's times when you can see it, and there's times when you won't be able to see it?
PASTOR VITALE: Yes, he appeared to the disciples, remember, he was on the shore, and he was cooking fish, and bread, yes, he did appear to the disciples, and he appeared to them in another form. Although he appeared to them on the road to Emmaus, they didn't even know who he was. So when we get a glorified body, we're going to be able to take different forms. And sometimes you can't see it, because right now he's in us, he's in us. So if you want to see him, you have to try and get a hold of our thoughts and listen to our word, and see our deeds, and you can discern Jesus Christ today. When the Greeks came to him and they said, "We would see Jesus." They didn't get to him, they said to his disciples, "We would see Jesus." Jesus' disciples said, "We want to see the Father," and Jesus said, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." Then the Greeks came to Jesus disciples and said, "We would see Jesus. "Now what did his disciples say? His disciples didn't say, "If you've seen me, you've seen Jesus.". His disciples went to Jesus and said, "The Greeks want to see you."
And Jesus said, "If a corn of wheat fall into the ground, it shall bring forth a great harvest." What he was saying was that his disciples, in that hour, were not manifesting the Spirit of Christ, but when the harvest comes in, which is happening today, glory to God, you shall see Jesus in the many-membered body of Christ. Just like Jesus revealed the Father, there is going to be a company of men on the face of the earth that will reveal Jesus. Glory to God. Anything else?
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