Three Definitions On The Negative Mysteries
....PDF Version
As read by Kenneth B Visscher
The Mystery of Iniquity, the Mystery of Israel’s Blindness, Mystery Babylon the Great
So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. Matthew 20:16
Every person who comes to Christ to accept Him as their saviour and to trust Him for their very eternal life comes eventually to face the same stresses, the same testing and the same barrage of trial. No matter what time frame from history or wherever in the nations a person is found, they come with the very same desire to know that they are loved by the Lord Jesus and are kept by Him unto life eternal. During the time of this age each person, coming to Christ, must trust that He is, and that He is the rewarder of all they that diligently seek Him to find Him. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6. We are also told that the true church is the pillar and groundwork for a peaceful life, an existence that is not marred by the mixture found in the world. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. 1 Corinthians 14:33. This is the way that any person who comes to the Lord should find themselves, in that place of peace with no confusion, no frustration, no division from other fellow believers.
But that realm of peace is not happening. Peace has been
taken away from the earth, there is no peace and there is no place of comfort
in Christian assembly. The entire world of man and the entire “religious” world
of man are in great tribulation, not peace, is in trial, not comfort and
serenity. The world has entered the time wherein the Lord has begun to shake
all things; this is including all things worldwide in every fashion and in
every realm of this world. The person who came to Christ for salvation and the
person who remains with Christ are facing the same dilemma that they are in a
‘shaken’ condition. There are some who sit in their comfortable theology and
their plush and relaxed doctrines, but for those who truly trust in Christ, a
great malady has come to them instead, a tremendous scope of trial, a
tribulation which can only be described as “great”. That is for the whole world
of those who trusted in Christ. The Lord allows these three mysteries He
created to touch His people. This mystery of Babylon, (the great whore), this
mystery of iniquity (unregenerate self will), and the mystery of Israel’s
blindness which has now become the mystery of the blindness found in
Christendom. These three mysteries, created by God are designed to test all of
God’s people.
So as these things begin (or in the case of some, have touched for many years) the lives of
all those who trust in Christ, even if they be in a denominational church or
out alone in the wilderness, these things come as the Lord wills it. They come
to try the souls of all these who trust in Jesus. Why is that? They come so
that the Lord can uncover their hearts, can openly see their inward places and
can determine if their heart is the heart which will run after God and the
things of God’s Kingdom. Will this believer become more interested in their
heritage as children of God or will this believer simply want God’s gifting and
God’s power? The Lord openly allows these mysteries to affect the life of each
one who trusted in Jesus so that their hearts, laid bare before Him, can be
openly judged. All these are called
should these mysteries touch them, but only those who have hearts that are
right will be chosen. Those
who have the right heart will be tried and tested by these three mysteries
until perfection comes.
Many of those who trust in Christ also trust in their
manly worldly leadership, church leaders, pastors, teachers and so on to also
guide them. I call them the false 5
fold ministry. When these mysteries come to try the heart of such a believer,
they are taught that this is the attack of demons, the attack of Satan who
hates them and the attack of those things which would drag the child of the
Lord away into hell or into some sort of deceptive abyss by which they will
lose their place in Christ and end up being vagabonds in a backslidden
condition. So these leaders teach that these mysteries coming to the trusting
Christian are demonic and Satanic attacks when in fact it is the Father by the spirit
of truth that is bringing these mysteries to His child to try that child’s
heart.
So then the very same manly ministries, anointed by man,
anointed by whatever institution they attended and educated them and gave them
some sort of a diploma, these false blind leaders leading the blind, these who
are of the generation of vipers and whose father is the devil, these come in
the guise of holiness to that child who has these mysteries laying bare their
hearts before their creator and these false leaders give them false invented
doctrines instead. Doctrines of rapture, of eternal torment, of a Christless eternity
for those who disobey their beliefs; of an eternity wherein they will be
brought out to escape all that is presently trying to torment their lives by
laying bare their hearts. These thieves and vipers that are called “clergy” do
this so that God is not seen but their denomination and the power they have as
a church system is seen. That they tie these children of the Lord to their
false pews of power and their empty promises of glory. But it is God they have
offended, His children they have stolen; it is the working of these three
negative mysteries they branded as Satanic, it is all of this in concert with
their own comfortable untested theology that has quenched the Holy Spirit and
has given their assembly a much easier spirit, a strange one of some sort which
requires no testing of the heart nor baring of the soul. This is the reason why
these things come, to try the hearts.
So the Father looks upon all these who have trusted in the
saviour and who have asked Him to come into their lives and by these three
mysteries the Father tests them to see if they have the mantle of strength
needed to be released into the depth of walk that is desired by their Father.
He seeks through the multitude of hearts and finds one here, one there, one
over yonder who He sees accepts these three mysteries working and who holds to
them and submits to their fire so that they can have a heart that is pure and
is truly open to God. This is the great working of the creator. To test and try
the hearts, to see if there be any man or any woman who will follow after Him
in the full fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death.
That is what comes of these three mysteries, a conformity, not to this world or
to those who escaped by denouncing these mysteries as demon powers, but to a
people who know that they are being set here upon this course of trial by God’s
own hand to empty themselves of all that they are as individuals so that they
may be rebuilt, remade, reborn into the very image of Father.
The ones who rejected these mysteries are left in their
comfort zones, left in their false blessings, left to fodder on the scraps
fallen to the ground from the tables of the hirelings; those “clergy” who are habituates
of the synagogue of Satan and are a den of vipers, who feed
themselves on the flock of God rather than being anointed of God to feed the
flock. Who comfort themselves with their lukewarm untested theologies and half
measured false blessings. Who are satisfied with the meat they make of their
parishioners rather than the meat God provides by rightly dividing the word of
truth. Who fill the ears of their listeners with fables and fallacies and to
not love the truth in order that one would escape the piercings of the cross
and the heat of the fiery trial. These are left, as a nation is left, with
hearts unchanged, with minds left corrupted and unclean by allowing them to
hold fast to earthly notions based on the values of common carnal men. God
sends these strong delusions so that they might believe a lie.
* The Mystery of Israel’s blindness is repeating itself
once again, Christendom is just as blind.
* The Mystery of Iniquity is only being concluded in the
lives of those who opened their hearts.
* The Mystery of Babylon is being ended in those who learn
to overcome carnality.
This comes by obedience to the tests brought by the
introduction of these mysteries to the believer. This test separates the many
that are “called” from the few
that are “chosen”.
So the Father sifts through the hearts before Him. He discovers in
there those that are willing to bear the full length and breadth of the
fellowship of Christ’s sufferings being made conformable unto His death. This
is not to say that God does not have foreknowledge as to who will or who will
not be able to endure the walk necessary to overcome all things. God knows full
well who will be able to lay down their lives completely to finish this race.
What God is doing is a matter of human will. That twisted doctrine in
Christendom of God not surpassing our will seems rather daunting when one
thinks of the consequences of disobedience. But the human will in its
unregenerate fashion is the power of personal iniquity. What God is discovering
is whether or not a person is willing to give up their will, lay it aside, lay
it down, in order that God’s will may be done. What God will not do is FIX the
unregenerate will of a person. He determines if that person is able to LAY DOWN
that will or if they need the crutches of man’s denominational systems to
support their choice to remain dependent upon others to bolster their faith.
When God finds a heart that is willing to endure this Gethsemane experience, He
moves that person on to the next step and declares openly that they will be
marked and sealed for the first resurrection. The Father then separates that
person completely unto Himself.
The believer who is thus willing for this test to come to them is then
set aside by the Lord. The first thing that happens is the Lord sets His
anointing upon this one, sealing them unto the day of redemption; that which
defined is none other than the first resurrection. Great joy for a period of
time is in the candidate for this rising as the Lord has His hand mightily upon
them and His anointing is flowing through them giving them the established
knowledge that they have come into this new place in God. In the outward circumstance of the person,
cutting off from others takes place, sometimes drastically. Large amounts of
tribulation is meted to them to separate them from others, areas of hurt rise,
difficulties, deceptions, trial by fire and by water, many things can happen
which when seen later is the hand of God pulling the candidate for this
resurrection out and away from all others. God becomes very jealous at this
point not allowing anything to control or restrict His chosen ones from any
other person or system of man, He carefully guards them, separates them by the
Holy Spirit unto Himself and He will not allow them to leave the protective
covering of His hand for even one moment.
The candidate for this resurrection however may not always see that
the separations from others, the gamut of fiery trial, trials by water, testing
by deceptions is a healthy place to be. They begin to question if they are
right in the Lord’s sight. Add to this the fact that at this time in world
history the Lord for most of the time is seemingly absent, His presence waning,
the knowledge of God in them falls silent at times. This is the place the Lord
wants those whom He has called, He brings His spirit of truth to them, not to
get them out of their trials, but to bring them into even greater trials. God
works to bring us to the full measure of personal crucifixion. No measure of
deliverance, no place of relief. The sponge of vinegar is held to our lips, we
taste it but we will not drink of it because we will not accept anything to
dull the pain and to lessen the process of the cross. So hear this. The Lord
immediately works to crucify the Overcomer. The first thing that is done is
that God separates these unto Himself SO THAT He can kill the self life upon the cross.
This is the circumstance surrounding that one whom God chooses for
Himself. They are sealed unto the day of full redemption, the reception of the
glorified body when He comes, that happens first, but then, the cross. Any
attempt they have had up till then is gone from them. In Pentecost the
believers were built up more and more to gain more and more of God and of truth
and of His word. But in this realm all of that is stripped away. All they have
is removed from them. They cannot move, their hands and feet are impaled. They
cannot say anything of value nor plead their case because their throats thirst.
They cannot be approved by anyone now because they are cursed as they hang upon
their crosses. Cursed
is every one that hangeth on a
tree: Galatians 3:13b. We IDENTIFY with this;
we don’t know what it means to not to! We only know what it means to be
identified WITH THAT CURSE.
It is absolutely necessary to understand that the path of the
Overcomer is a path of crucifixion.
It is a path that is laid out in suffering, in the plight of your very
life, in the entire scope of being identified with Christ in His suffering.
Many do not accept this as truth. They believe that Jesus paid the entire price
for our salvation, that is true, but I am not speaking of our salvation here. I
am speaking of learned obedience, of being brought forth in righteousness with
no part of the former working of good and evil in our persons. Suffering with
Jesus does not mean you have more salvation, which is taken care of by His
atonement for us. It is to be identified with Him as a pattern so that God can
entrust to the Overcomers the weight of His Kingdom and the laws of faith and
purity that run that Kingdom. The Lord is looking for a people who know both
the cross, then the crown, the reduction to the impaling nature of the cross
and the lack of will to refute its working, and the victory of being raised
from this death afterwards.
To quote from an letter I sent out to the body of Christ some days
back, the answer the Lord gave then was very much to the point. I will place
that portion in here now. QUOTE: “So I
asked the Lord about the 3 negative mysteries just mentioned. “Why not just come, we all know the flesh
is rampant and of no value, so why do we need to know more about it?” The
answer was very complete and simple. “It is the exercise in the sons to
qualify them to do this same sifting in the nations once the manifestation in
glorified bodies happens. Those glorified will have full authority to sift and
to cull all that substance in the hearts of the nations which is an affront to
holiness, all because they will have first gone through it, just as Jesus
suffered being tempted in all points as are you. It is for your understanding
so you know that this gives the right to bear the sceptre and the crown as ones
granted full overcoming victory. Glorified ones will be compassionate ones,
perfect in love, delivering the nations from the power of personal iniquity.
Their qualification and right to do so will be because they too endured the
same and were found complete at the end of their earthly trial.”END QUOTE. So the answer of the spirit
was complete. It revealed that Christ Himself, perfect and sinless still
endured the contradiction of sinners. For consider him that
endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and
faint in your minds. Hebrews
12:3.
All points of your life are to be frustrated. All areas of
your person are to be quelled and disannulled. You take on the impaling of the
cross and thus you lose all other identities, you only are identified as those
who bear the marks of the cross just as the Lamb of God does. If your
understanding is lagging, be patient until the Lord makes it all clear. We are
in the throes of this time of trial because we are being IDENTIFIED with Christ
FIRST in this death then LATER in this resurrection! The end will have an
amazing result! Gone will be your high points. Gone will be your low points.
All that you are as persons will be removed from you because of this identity
with Christ in this full gamut of the cross. The amazing thing however is how
the Lord, by the motion of His spirit in us and by this course of judgment on
they that Overcome, takes these three negative mysteries and causes them to be
completely FULFILLED in our lives. It is just as important for these negative
mysteries to come to full growth in us just as the positive mysteries do. All
of them are of God and all of them must be completed in us! Cut short is this
work, for the Lord is making a quick work, a short work in the earth. Where? IN
THE OVERCOMERS. Why? So that they can DELIVER THIS CREATION FROM DEATH ITSELF. So
then the Overcomers will emerge on the world scene with a new identity borne
and witnessed by the marks of crucifixion. They will also be as Lambs that had
been slain.
The greatest reality is just in front of us. It is the
manifestation of God’s children in bodies like unto Christ’s when He came forth
out of His tomb. He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. THAT WILL
ALSO BE THE JOB OF THE OVERCOMERS WITH EVERY NATION ON THE EARTH. Theirs is the
right to bring all rule and power and authority to reside under the footstool
of the living Word of God. So great will this manifestation be, so tremendous
the deliverance because all this creation in the throes of death will be in
brought into the same liberty as these who were first identified with Christ’s
sufferings.
So then here are the definitions
of those three mysteries.
May God grant us understanding. Allow me at this point to state that anything
that comes to us in the Epistle Mysteries, all of them the positive ones and
the negative ones, all of them work exactly the same way, they come by way of
the cross. If it be a cheerful right one, or a negative powered one such as
this, the cross must work and by that these things are fulfilled in the lives
of they that believe.
The course of human events has been ruled by this tyrant.
It is the power of “self will” in an unregenerate state causing this present
world of man to be built up to this point in world history. It is the power of
personal will to “choose” according to the dictates of the flesh nature, that
sinful nature which is apart from the life of the ages. Part of this is the sinful
falling away in a self destructive mode. Iniquity is the root and the base of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is in the marrow of our bones
and is the formation place for blood that has not been cleansed. Iniquity is
self will outside of God’s will whose fruit is sin and whose life is totally
centered upon the power of a person’s own unlawful or ungodly desire. God told
Joel that He would cleanse the blood that has not been cleansed. For
I will cleanse their blood that
I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion. Joel 3:21. So there is an end
to iniquity.
Iniquity was first found in Adam. Why was it there?
Because Adam was created to “lack” from Jehovah. His was a “shortage” of the
full measure of the person of God. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day
that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. Ezekiel 28:15.
How can I say that Adam first created by God in the garden lacked from Jehovah?
Because God was omnipotent and omniscient, He filled all things everywhere and
in all time frames and with infinite wisdom. Adam was confined TO the garden. He did not have the omnipotent
omniscient nature of God, He only had the “image” of God and therefore He
lacked all the “power” of God. Adam was created to be a “reflection” of God.
The mystery of iniquity had its beginning in that “reflection when the
temptation was offered to him. Was not his temptation to be like gods? Now the serpent
was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he
said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the
garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat
of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the
woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good
and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit
thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Genesis 3:1-6. Note the words, “ye shall be as gods.”
It is most interesting that Jesus refers to this when answering the
Jews who had taken up stones to stone Him. The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone
thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself
God. Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture
cannot be broken; Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into
the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not
the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me,
believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.” Therefore
they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand, John 10:33-39. It is interesting that Christ takes the lie
of the serpent and uses it to denounce their religious violence against Him. He
takes them in the gall of their own iniquity by giving back to them their very
own fault. Christ revealed by this that He was without this fault, that His was
a life in full identity in sonship with God, while at the same time identifying
with man as to His fallen state. His was the answer that was first afforded to
Adam by the serpent, but then later by the Christ. How amazing is that? Christ
used their own basis for condemnation to deliver Himself out of their spite. Christ
identified with their “ye shall be gods” mentality by showing that He was in
true identity with God.
All mankind does, whether it be religious or otherwise, is
done on the basis of unregenerate self will. The governing of nations down to
individual choices, it is all done based on the premise that “ye shall be as
gods”. In the Mystery of Iniquity, this premise will be revealed and how to
overcome it laid out as part of the trial of the cross. My purpose on writing
this to this study is to show those who are overcoming all things how to accurately
succeed in putting down personal iniquity and rebellion in all areas of the
heart. It is Gethsemane obedience.
The Mystery of
Israel’s Blindness:
This is the mystery that deals with the core issue of personal obedience
or disobedience to the Lord. As a nation it is depicted, but as a person it is
either maintained or cut off. To say it boldly and without watering down any
understanding to it, this mystery comes of not “hearing” the word of the Lord
and coupling that same word with obedience. Or “hearing” the word of the Lord
and interpreting it according to base or carnal ideas and doctrines made of man
in false ordination. In either case the Lord’s required obedience is not
fulfilled.
When disobedience is discovered and remains in an unrepentant state, The
Lord strikes that person with blindness. They remain cloistered in their
disobedient state, camped up in the soft acres of compromise and in their hands
they never hold any type of battle sword. They are armour-less. Their spiritual
life never needs defence because their lukewarmness is apparent. Nothing they
speak or say or do rocks anyone’s boat. They are fast asleep in their comfort
zones and they “zone out” anything that would provoke their ease. No war ever
comes to them, no battle is ever ensued, and theirs is a life filled with the
fruits of blindness and with the passions of self centeredness requiring
nothing of their will to operate to bring about healing in their blind eyes.
These have a friend relationship with the world before they have a friend
relationship with the Lord. The Lord always takes second place in their lives.
They interpret Him by carnal wisdom and they understand Him by current events.
They see not The Lord of the bible in the current affairs of world history and
they denounce any knowledge of The Lord when it comes to the shakings that are
happening during this time we live in.
The greatest sin that shows this mystery working is the sin of “passivity”.
Someone at ease in Zion, expecting that nothing is ever required of them as to “choice”
other than accepting Jesus as their saviour, but then for the rest of their
lives they let others carry the faith they adopt. This passive nature becomes
to them the norm. They know it to be the only truth of value and anything that
would cause them to take up the shield of faith and to fight the good fight
they excuse as futile because they claim it is all done for them already by
Christ. No shakedowns happen in their hearts because they closed their hearts
to the Lord’s judgment. They do not allow anything to remove this passivity
because it is their inactivity that has become the love of their life, their “idol”
in a “green grove”, a place of idolatry which protects self from any form of
crucifixion or anxiety by way of a death to self process.
Jesus said something quite different. He countered passivity by His
own example. He revealed that the way to overcome this mystery is to be on FIRE.
I am come to
send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a
baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! Luke 12:49-50. What was
the fire Christ came to bring us? The very next verses explain it, something any
Overcomer is accustomed to, that is division. Division from all those who we
know are walking in disobedience to truth. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on
earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be
five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father
shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother
against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law
against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Luke 12:51-53. As mentioned earlier in this writing,
The Lord sifts the hearts with these three negative mysteries to find those who
will be willing to be openly judged by the Lord so that they can identify with
Christ’s sufferings and thus be counted as ones who overcame. These divisions
and this fire Christ speaks of here comes because of this open heart judgment.
Those that want all the Lord has for them take no measure of passivity, they
press on in to the highest that they can possess in the Lord and they will not allow
compromise. Family members, friends and others drop off because they are
compromised and asleep and lukewarm and they know of no victorious daily walk. The
passive ones thus are separated from those who are ignited on fire.
The Apostle Paul also combated passivity with two
important things he wrote about, first to Timothy, then to the church at
Ephesus. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts,
which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root
of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith,
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God,
flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love,
patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life,
whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before
many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:8-12. False preachers today do not flee money.
They preach to get money! The other area is the command to wear the armour
provided to those who would battle forward in this spiritual war. Finally, my
brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the
whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to
withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Ephesians 6:10-13
In the writings that will come concerning this mystery, we will see
how the Overcomer is to battle effectively this war in the spirit and how that
victory gives them place, not just now as intercessors, but place for that
which will be in the march that will take place by the Army of the Lord. True
victory in the mystery of Israel’s blindness is found when one has seeing eyes,
wears the armour and is prepared to be part of the Lord’s glorified Army
consuming this fallen creation and the death that lies within it. They will
have authority to cause death to die all because they overcame in this mystery.
They will minister the second death.
The Mystery of
Babylon the Great:
Babylon the great is more than just confusion. It is organized,
intelligent, almost all powerful confusion designed with negative intelligent
design to cause the Overcomer to falter and fail and to cause the Overcomer to
be consumed by the very thing they have grown to detest. This mystery keeps one
in the hurtful experience that the Apostle Paul knew in the latter part of
Romans chapter 7. It is designed by the minions of hell to hold people in
slavery and to bind the earth in stubborn rebellion away from the straight street
of gold found only in the city of the Lord. It is seen as an empire, a building
and in the case of the book of Revelation, a great whore. This mystery comes to
us by the Lord to test us to see if we will walk one of two ways.
Carnal, or spiritual. It comes to us as the power of the human mind in
this present world empowered by fallen powers in the air, the spirits that now
work in the children of disobedience.
Mystery Babylon comes to each Overcomer two ways. First, it comes to
bind the Overcomer. This binding IS DONE IN THE WILL OF THE LORD. It is a
binding which causes that person to be enslaved by the system, enslaved by the
mind control of carnal men. No deliverance ever comes to the Overcomer by this
enslavement until “the time period for it” has ended. Then the Lord moves this
mystery in the heart of the Overcomer so that they become delivered from
Babylon the great by walking in the full power and armour of the spirit of
truth.
Mystery Babylon comes with marks upon the flesh, words upon the
libraries of men, and science that is an abomination to God rather than true
science which the Lord is honoured with. Mystery Babylon invents whatever it
needs to invent to keep men carnal. It keeps that carnal (worldly minded)
person from ever being free. It is the adulterous whore riding upon the soul
that is seen as a mystery, but is exposed and killed by the history. The
Overcomer learns the difference between the mystery and the history and walks
accordingly. They learn to “shut her mouth” so that she does not consume
anymore the “comings forth of Jesus” from within their souls. When the
Overcomer grasps the difference between the mystery and the history, they will
know how to walk with a spiritual mind and not with a carnal mind. They will
walk purely in the mind of Christ. Not separate, but together with those of
like precious faith, THEY will possess together His mind.
This mystery comes first as a great persecution against the Lord’s
people. And
Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great
persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all
scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the
apostles. Acts 8:1. When they heard
these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God
also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. Now they which were
scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far
as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the
Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they
were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And
the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned
unto the Lord. Acts 11:18-21. Later on
however, this Babylon comes as one who would turn hearts unto idols. It becomes
a cruel taskmaster that doesn’t deliver one up TO Christ, but removes one away FROM
Christ. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there
come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of
perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or
that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing
himself that he is God. 2 Thessalonians
2:3-4.
Mystery Babylon, this whore which opposes all that is God
comes to tantalize un-crucified flesh, to find a place, a home, a dwelling in
the heart and to oust God from it. It comes in the mystery then is seen in the
history. It takes the Overcomer away
into the land of lukewarm deception with fanciful ideas of their own self made
power and glory and how the Lord is pleased to chose them over all others to be
His “special” prize. They are chosen for
the “honoured” place. The world will one day be “amazed” at how much they were
the scriptural description of God’s holy ones, they have this as a realm of
exaltation, but before humility. The deluded
Overcomer is found being deceived in this mystery. They are carried away into
places which pamper the soul life and which quenches the spirit of truth from
operation. It is here, in this delusion that the Overcomer spends some time,
and no Overcomer is exempt from going through it, it is part of the sifting of
the heart to see if the Lord will have His way in them.
Here the two beasts of
Revelation 13 are found; here they are either strengthened or slain. Here the
Overcomer learns how the beast rises to slay them instead. Here, in this
mystery the Overcomer learns how complete defeat and utter failure can be
turned around by the miracle of resurrection power. In this mystery the power
of the risen Christ can come in them and be so mighty that even their dead
bones will come to life. This mystery is designed to either destroy the
Overcomer in defeat, but if conquered, to be the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ. If the Overcomer gains victory in this mystery, then they gain
the right to rule and reign with Christ upon the eternal Throne. This mystery
slew Jesus upon the tree, it slays the Overcomer, but that death is the
ultimate prize. Once it is discovered in the Overcomer, exposed in the
Overcomer and killed in the Overcomer, then the full weight and measure of the
glory of God becomes their portion forever and they are destined to rise in the
first resurrection.
So now we begin to study these three mysteries. They will
be presented as the spirit of the Lord blows softly upon our understanding and
directs their order and revelation. Each one now as a separate chapter will be
laid out in whatever sequence the Holy Spirit gives them in so that each one
who reads and understands may be encouraged and may walk as ones wearing the
victory crown.
May the Lord bless us all as we now continue in these
studies. These words are words of prophecy, they come showing us what will be
in this present time, they may relate to historical things, but they point to
that which is to be, that which is about to happen. May God grant us this grace
to see and to understand these things by His favor.
To be continued.................
Kenneth B Visscher
Copyright