The Mystery Of The
Indwelling Christ – Crucified With Him
....PDF Version
Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt,
this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he
that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown unto you
spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal
things? If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we
rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest
we should hinder the gospel of Christ. Do ye not know that they which minister
about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait
at the altar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained that
they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9:10-14
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with
Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye
also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon
the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence,
and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God
cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time,
when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice,
blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing
that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in
all. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of
mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one
another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even
as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put
on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule
in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye
thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching
and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do
all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Colossians
3:1-17 (underline mine)
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the
flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the
Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Romans 8:12-13
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the
world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is
the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that
dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith,
God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. James 4:4-6
Let no one defraud you by acting as an umpire and declaring you unworthy
and disqualifying you for the prize, insisting on self-abasement and worship of
angels, taking his stand on visions [he claims] he has seen, vainly
puffed up by his sensuous notions and inflated by his unspiritual thoughts and
fleshly conceit, And not holding fast to the Head, from Whom the entire body,
supplied and knit together by means of its joints and ligaments, grows with a
growth that is from God. If then you have died with Christ to material ways of
looking at things and have escaped from the world's crude and elemental notions
and teachings of externalism, why do you live as if you still belong to the
world? [Why do you submit to rules and regulations?--such as] Do not
handle [this], Do not taste [that], Do not even touch [them],
Referring to things all of which perish with being used. To do this is to follow
human precepts and doctrines. [Isa. 29:13.] Such [practices] have
indeed the outward appearance [that popularly passes] for wisdom, in
promoting self-imposed rigor of devotion and delight in self-humiliation and
severity of discipline of the body, but they are of no value in checking the
indulgence of the flesh (the lower nature). [Instead, they do not honor God
but serve only to indulge the flesh.] Colossians 2:18-23 AMPLIFIED
Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also
obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. It is
a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he
also will deny us: If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot
deny himself. 2 Timothy 2:10-13
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we
shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this,
that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be
destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is
freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also
live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more;
death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin
once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Romans 6:5-11
Know ye not that they which run in a race
run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man
that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it
to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not
as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under
my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I
have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
(3 Visions)
“I beheld men
upon the earth, labouring for and working in the world, one with the world,
setting themselves up for their life in the world and in personal well being.
As man set himself up in the world there were many nations which were very
rich, but also many nations which were very poor. Both of these still lived in
the world and were one with the world. Then saw I the Lord above the earth and
with very quick motion of spirit he removed very suddenly the entire world from
men. Not the physical earth that man stands upon, but the world man has created
to exist in by the power of the carnal mind. This world was removed in a single
stroke by the spirit of the Lord alone and by a working of His spirit that had
done this at a set time which was foreordained since the foundation of the
world. Man lost all he had built through his carnal means and all that he had
held dear was now gone from him as the Lord removed it all.”
(End Vision)
“Then I beheld
the life of an Overcomer, no one person specifically, but a picture of the
Over-comer and their life in the world of men. I saw within the very spirit of
the Overcomer The Lord Jesus Christ standing in the full splendour of His raised
person, one with the spirit of the Over-comer. The Lord was casting up huge mountains
in the soul of the Overcomer, casting them up as one would throw a rock upwards
and away from the earth. The mountains would cast up, but then fall flat to the
ground. At the same time the Lord with His other hand would reach down deep
into the soul of the Overcomer and pull up vast and very low valleys, bringing
them up and causing them to be made flat with the mountains so that the
mountains which were once high and the valleys which were once low all became a
level plain. Then the Lord walked forth in the spirit of the Overcomer upon
this level ground and the nations around about the life of they that overcome
saw the Lord in them and entire nations came to the Lord to be saved. The
Overcomer, once the mountains were laid flat and the valleys lifted up, had no
restriction from the Lord moving in them and from the Lord being seen in them.”
“The Lord Jesus
Christ abiding in the inner part of the new nature within the life of they that
overcome was standing in each one, yet saw I one as an example of what the Lord
is doing at this present time in the life of they who are seeking the Lord to
overcome. I saw that the Lord covered over the heart of the Overcomer and His
fingers firmly grasped the heart and held fast the heart completely in His nail
scarred hand. As He held the heart of the Overcomer He would from time to time
squeeze this heart bringing much pressure upon it. Two things would happen.
First, the Overcomer would come into a greater awareness and understanding of
being dead TO their sinful nature, that their NEW NATURE died TO the old nature
in them. The old nature in them was still animated and alive, but they in their
new nature which is sinless would DIE TO the old nature. The old nature did not
die; the new nature died TO IT. That was the first thing the pressure upon the
heart by the hand of Jesus would do. The second thing was as the Lord squeezed
their hearts that the minions of hell would attack the Overcomer causing their
remaining flesh and carnality to rise up and to attack their peace in the Lord.
They held a great array of warfare against the Overcomer when they were able
when the Lord squeezed their hearts in this manner so as to restrict their
hearts and to place increased pressure upon their spiritual walk. The minions
of hell would bolster up the carnality in the Overcomer to attack the new
nature and to convince the new nature that it was defiled. This became a great
war.”
(End
Vision)
Continuing on
in The Mystery of the Indwelling Christ. There is much confusion in our day
over the old nature and the new nature, the working of the cross and of things
which lead to great deception. A massive falling away is taking place where the
cross is removed from the life of the person who loves the Lord, and this alone
is one of the characteristics of deception, that the cross is removed. In this
study on the indwelling Christ I will reveal to the best of my understanding
where the cross is working and where it is not working. For the Overcomer will
remain under the power of the cross for their whole life through, for that is
the only means to having abiding peace in the Lord and to conquering all that
would take away that peace.
Crucifixion is
a process. It is not the completion of death or destruction, but rather is a
means to this end, the vehicle by which this happens. Crucifixion is the power
of impaling your flesh to the cross to render it inoperative and powerless by
restricting it so that it becomes ineffective by the all consuming power of the
cross. It is not that the old flesh nature you have learned to loath is no
longer in you, for it is, it is that you restrict it by the cross and you
become dead to it, sort of like being impaled upon a cross in the midst of the
world so that the world becomes dead to you. In the same way your flesh nature,
as the world, is what you die to. This death comes by the power of the cross
through your daily circumstance and tribulation, working in you this death
process daily. There is no person at any time who can claim they no longer have
a sinful nature in them for the process of dying to that nature is a lifelong
process until death truly takes you in whatever form and removes your life from
this world of men. The Apostle Paul said, I DIE DAILY 1 Corinthians 15:31,
meaning that he at no time stated that he no longer had an old nature, but
rather that he continued daily to DIE TO IT. The “I” that died in Paul was the
same “I” that is a part of Jesus, even the new creation. It is that fallen old
nature that Jesus will not save. For there is only one that Jesus won’t ever
save, fix, heal or make right, and that is your old carnal sinful Adamic fallen
nature which opposes and exalts itself continually against all that is the Lord
in you. It was Paul, dying TO his old nature that he spoke of here. Just as
Paul stated the “I” in Galatians 2:20 as being the part of him that was alive,
so that part of him that was alive is separated from that part of him which is
perishing, all by the power of the cross.
When an
Overcomer becomes aware that the indwelling Christ is in them of a truth, one
with their spirit as the new nature, they then YEILD to this Lord and thus the
process of crucifixion begins in earnest in them. This process is life long; it
does not happen immediately just as one crucified does not instantly die. Just
as the natural process of crucifixion can drag out for days and days, so the
crucifixion of the flesh drags out for the years of your life, but it becomes
to one who loves the Lord a delight, a great feast of joy, because they daily
PUT OFF this which is contrary to Jesus who dwells in them. When I say PUT OFF,
I mean that it becomes inoperative in you; it does not operate alongside your
spirit or your new joy in the Lord because it is restrained by this crucifixion
process. It becomes the daily process of putting to death this which is flesh
in you by subjecting it to that which is life in you, even the risen new
creation which is one with the Lord in you. So then you see that this cross in
you makes you dead to the old nature but at the same time the cross makes that
old nature progressively and literally die daily in you also. The cross works
to expand itself across all these so that one is fully marked and impaled by it
but free and raised with the Lord at the very same time.
When the
Apostle Paul wrote that he lived, yet not “I”, but Christ in him, and the life
he now lived he lived by the faith of the Son of God who was alive in him, Galatians
2:20, he did not mean that he no longer had a sinful carnal flesh nature. He
was not saying that his carnal nature was dead or that it was only a memory or
that it could pop in and out of a grave whenever it wanted to. Paul knew that
it was very much animated in him and that if it were given place it would work
SPIRITUAL DEATH in him. I say unto you that many who have fallen into delusion
and are following false teachers, apostles and prophets are walking IN
SPIRITUAL DEATH. They have contaminated and defiled the spiritual man in them.
Oh? You think the spirit nature cannot be defiled? Think again! We are also
told to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit” 2
Corinthians 7:1. What we have in this day is masses of Christendom fallen away
into this defilement of yielding instead to this which is carnal in them.
Rather than the power of the new nature progressively destroying the flesh
nature in them they are overcome by it and they mask it over and call it religious
freedom. To overcome one must yield to Christ in them who will in time destroy
bit by bit that flesh nature which you are born with.
When Jesus
declared from the cross, “IT IS FINISHED”, some in our day took that completely
out of context. What man says is finished is not what Jesus said is finished! Man
says it has all been done for us, everything necessary is complete, and nothing
more need be added as it is a done deal. What Jesus said was finished was but
the condition for and the interim measure needed for redemption to now become a
reality. Now that Christ finished the work FOR mankind He continues to work
that IN mankind. Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: “ Or
Philippians 2: 12,13 , “Wherefore, my
beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much
more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” The Mystery of Iniquity continues to work in
the high places of the flesh and in the carnality of man. The man of sin, the
son of perdition, the first Adam, IS NOT DEAD! He is spiritually dead because he
has no holy life in him but carnal power still operates in him which is evident
very much in the world of Christendom. This which is unholy they call holy, and
that which is holy, found in the lives of they who are separated away from them
as Overcomers, is called deceived and unholy. A complete opposite of truth.
This is that perdition that opposes and exalts itself against all that is called
“God”. You can deny that perdition all
you want, but he will not be taken out of the way until the brightness of the
Lord’s coming in you destroys him. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8.
Quoting from Light of His Glory Ministries. “This sly sinful son of perdition
presently sits in the temple (ye are the temple) of God deceitfully showing himself
to men's minds that He is God. One of the many deceitful ways he does this, is
in proclaiming there is no longer a man of sin...that there is no need to die
to self daily, no need to deny yourself daily nor mortify the deeds of the
flesh because there is no old self and there is no flesh man,...it was all
taken care of on the cross at Calvary. Can't you see that it's all
finished? I died and only Christ lives, proclaims this imposter! My work is finished! And so, this false god proudly says, there is
only a divine nature, for in essence, the former nature, the Adamic
consciousness is merely a memory, a phantom, a mistaken identity that need not
ever be related to, much less dealt with. That's the only thing that keeps us
in fear and death...this believing that we still have the nature of the first
man Adam. Receive this and believe this
that Adam is dead. As a result, the law of sin and death can no longer have
power over you. Hummm. Please forgive me
if I can't find a hot air brush to brush off the old man nature, and excuse me
also while I’m scratching away that strange itch and tickle in my ears.” End
Quote. There are only two natures in your earthen vessel. One is holy and pure,
the other unholy and impure. The unholy nature is daily, progressively, day by
day being taken away from you and that which is holy is the only nature which
shall be left. While you live in mortal clay you will always have to lay the
cross out before your eyesight, before your life, dying daily to this which is
perdition in you, until He appears, and when He appears, He will destroy this
perdition by the brightness of His coming. This is a surety and a fact, but in
our day, there are but a few who know this.
For Jesus, the cross is done, the work is finished,
but for Jesus also, the work is one He continues to do in us. This cross must
remain and work in us until either He comes or we finish our course in faith.
Look carefully at those in Christendom around you who walk in varied elements
and degrees of deception. Notice one thing that is the theme of them all. The
cross is the first thing removed from them. No cross, no dying to the old
nature, no guarantee of remaining steadfast in truth. It is that simple. When
the cross is removed, you remove any semblance of being able to walk in the
spirit. You instead walk in that which imitates the true and which concludes
you as one with NO sin and NO iniquitous nature in you. A false front is what
is seen when underneath is the lie of all lies, that iniquity is not present in
you. But when a person yields to Jesus in truth and gives Him place and applies
to their lives the daily cross, then there is no deception, the spirit of truth
has free flow in you and the Lord is free also to move in your life as His
perfect will dictates.
If it be long, or if it be soon, the coming of the
Lord will find the faithful Overcomers still bearing the cross daily, dying out
to this which is contrary to the life of Jesus in them. That cross will work
UNTIL the day of His appearing or UNTIL the Lord declares to you as an
individual that you have finished your course and have kept the faith. If you
allow the working of the cross in you now, it will do so UNTIL it is DONE. Then
you, along with Jesus, can know that for you it is indeed FINISHED. This is the
outcome and promise given to those who would overcome all things.
To be continued…………………….
Kenneth B Visscher
Copyright