Eternal Glorious Fountain Ministry (EGFM)
Programme: Lekki Soul Centre (LSC)
Date: Wednesday, March 23rd, 2022
Ministering: Reverend Kayode Oyegoke
It is those who are sanctified that will enjoy perfection (Heb. 10: 14). “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection…” (Heb. 6:1). Before perfection, a person must have done all the principles of the doctrine of Christ. After doing these principles, one ought not to stay there but rather go on unto perfection.
The oracles of God (Heb. 5:12) are majorly divided into three segments: the preparative realm which is the realm of the milk, which is the first principles of the oracles of God; then the principles of the doctrine of Christ which is the meat of the word of God; and the last dimension is the principle of the strong meat of the word of God. The word of Christ is the word which will graduate one to be able to learn the principles of the word of God. A person cannot learn the word of God without the word of Christ. A person cannot stand before God when he is not sound in all the oracles.
"And Bezaleel made the ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it…" (Ex. 37:1). Reading from Exodus 37 from verse 1 to verse 9, we will understand that the cherubims are arranged in accordance with the ark. They were on the mercy seat. The Mercy seat is referred to as the place of the oracle. When we talk about the oracle, we are talking about the body of mercy where these cherubs stood. God is not on either side of the oracle. Instead, God's place is in the midst of the oracle.
"Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth." (Ps. 80:1) God always expresses Himself from the midst of the cherubims. The four living creatures are also referred to as cherubims of the Throne of God. They are always on standby with a permanent ministry to the Throne. They carry the Throne and go where God goes. You will see them anywhere God is condescending. Moses and Ezekiel had encounters where they saw God on the Throne condescending, riding on top of them (Deut. 33:26, Ezek. 1).
The only way to purify our feet is with doctrine. During Moses' experience, the angel was speaking God's mind and could represent God because he had his feet dug into the oracle. The four living creatures are the closest to Him who sat and were closer than the twenty-four elders. Different Bible verses attest to this positioning of the four living creatures. The midst where God sits is the core of mercy.
Everything about the Throne of God is the Holiest of all. The four living creatures and twenty-four elders are beings of the Holiest of All. God is showing us something when He described His Throne in Revelation. Everything about the Throne signifies God's realm–His world. It is a picture of what God is made up of. The Throne of God is a body of knowledge for the sons of God. You cannot sit on a thing if you are not knowledgeable about it. The only route to the Throne is the doctrine of God.
There is no doctrine of milk on the throne and around the throne. This tells us that He who sits on the throne understands and knows that there is a place for children, those who are ignorant and unaware. He has allocations for them to take care of them until they become spiritually mature and are responsible; so they can be responsive enough to the doctrine of responsibility, which begins with the meat of the word.
A person can do well with the doctrine of milk and go to heaven but such a person will never find destiny. True destiny is not in what the milk of the word can offer. We will not discover our essence that way. Because Satan beat man down to the flesh, it is hard for him to relate to God's world. Satan did this intentionally to keep man trapped here and not return to God.
Anything Jesus speaks from this order is not ordinary. It is a great privilege for us to hear these words. These thoughts are not ordinary; mere men cannot think them. A gate has to be opened for a man to have an entrance–for these thoughts to drop in him. When these thoughts drop in a man, the Godhead is aware. After some time, the thought will condition his thoughts and such a man will begin to think according to that way. By so doing, such a man will have ties with the Throne of God. The irony is that those who have these things may not know how much they are known in that realm.
The adversary, Lucifer, was a cherub but he was not a living creature. He was a celestial man of the third heaven (Isa. 14:12). The person we are dealing with is a fallen cherub. He is a cherub whom Jesus has destroyed. This man was not ignorant in doctrine. His feet were in the oracle (mercy seat). One cannot come before the presence of God and consistently live there if one is not a tree in the oracle. Such a person must be in the oracle and be a mercy being.
To plant a person in the oracle means such a person is rooted, grounded and built up in the doctrine of God; he is not ignorant of God’s word. We would not be so different from those beings if God takes the same word, uses it to grow us and makes sure that we are rooted deeply and planted in the oracle.
The milk of the word is not a food that constitutes the Throne. It is a preparatory meal (1 Pet. 2:2). Even the doctrine of Christ is not the doctrine of the Throne of God. However, the doctrine of Christ leads to the Throne of God. Milk, meat and strong meat are all doctrines.
A believer who learns milk doctrine and graduates, will stop being carnal but will graduate into learning how to be spiritual. After some time, he would have become spiritual. After such a person has learned all the doctrines for the spiritual, he becomes spiritually-minded.
When a man is no more carnally-minded, it means he has life and peace (Rom. 8:6). This tells us that these doctrines are different lives. If they are meats, it means they are lives. All these things lead to the Throne of God.
One beautiful thing about the Throne is that it is all about the Holiest of all. The mercy seat of the ark comes from the place where the four living creatures stand, to the place where God sits. This tells us that the four living creatures are not sitting in mercy; they are standing in mercy. But God has His Throne in the midst of the mercy seat.
“And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.” (Rev. 5:6) The place God is sitting is where the Lamb came out from. Initially, we never saw the Lamb. In chapter 5, we saw the Lamb standing in the same spot where God was seated – in the midst of the Throne. The right-hand side of God is not the same spot where the four living creatures or the cherubims of glory stay. The right-hand side is still within the midst of the Throne, and this is where the Lamb sits.
In Revelation 5, the Lamb was not sitting on the right hand. He was standing in the midst of the throne. A book was opened at the right hand; occupying where the Lamb used to be (Rev. 5:1). If what is in the book is done, the Lamb will fully move into the midst of the Throne.
The right-hand side of the Majesty on High is where the control is; it is where God delegated authority to the Son to give inheritance to those who will overcome. The Son is using the right-hand side to do the will of the Father. When the Son is done, He will find expression right in the midst of the Throne.
“But to which of the angels said He at any time, Sit on my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool?” (Heb. 1:13) This tells us that making His enemies His footstool and giving the inheritance to the saints are almost the same thing. The enemies would not be made a footstool until the children are seated on the right-hand side. The making of enemies as a footstool is a gradual activity.
As the children are ascending, the enemies will be dropping. The Lamb and the children will not sit on the Throne until the last enemy is made a footstool. Jesus was raised by God to use the right-hand side of the Throne. It is the right-hand side that operates the power of the Throne – distribution of allocations, retribution to the enemy and all other things – until all evil government and all the enemies that are against God have been vanquished.
“For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet.” (1 Cor. 15:24). Right now, Jesus is not living by faith. He has gone beyond that level, but He can still teach faith. All these doctrines are needed for reigning. The Throne of God has different functions. The right-hand function is different from the midst function.
God quickly brought up Jesus to occupy the right-hand side in heaven, so that God’s enemies will be made a footstool. Jesus has enough wisdom and power to bring down all governments and evil powers. Jesus would have done it many years ago, but He was mindful of God’s accurate timing. Some things need to be checked before dominions and governments are executed.
When one sits on the Throne, one will begin to know the ethics and carefulness of that domain. God raised a Man on earth and made Him sit on the Throne of Deity. For over two millennia, this Man has been controlling the earth. He is the One ruling both the church and the world. Satan does not have the victory over the world. Even if everything is darkened, the Man is still winning because He can turn any situation around and He can never fail. The greatest desire of the Godhead is to find people that can be patient enough to follow them and see where they will finally land. Oftentimes, we are too hasty in making decisions; but the Person we are talking about is too strong. “…We have such a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God…” (Heb. 4:14). There is nothing called time to Him; He owns the time.
Without the doctrine of God, it is impossible to sit on the Throne. When the doctrine of everlasting life was about to begin, we began to get exposed to the Throne. The Throne was featured in different verses in the first chapter of Hebrews (Heb. 1:3,8). This tells us that the issue of strong meat is a work tied to the Throne. It is a learning that has its cord bound to the Throne. Anyone who holds it will climb and sit on the Throne, if he will do it well. Strong meat is a doctrine of the Throne.
You cannot talk about the work of perfection without the Throne being at work. For to administer perfection, They have to bring the Throne and They have to bring us to the Throne. They have to introduce us to the Throne.
To leave the doctrine of Christ does not mean to throw Christ away. Rather it means to graduate. The Hebrew church wasn't just willing to leave, they wanted to withdraw. They wanted to retard. They wanted to go backward. They were laying the foundation again. They now began to lay on Christ. They were digging the ground, putting milk foundation on meat.
Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God… (Heb. 6:1). What they mean by laying again is throwing down foundations. It can be likened to pulling down massive foundational stones. It means one ought not to throw down the foundation of milk on meat. Not laying again means it has been laid before.
The challenge of the soul with doctrine is the discipline of doing. The challenge is the alignment of oneself unto things spiritual. At times, it is a difficult task but that's how God trains people. To make you do spiritual stuff, it means a greater inclination to something spiritual from one spiritual dimension to another. Now, strong meat is more spiritual than the doctrine of Christ. The person that can handle strong meat must be full of age.
For everyone that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Heb. 5:13-14) To have skill is close to mastery. Mastery is the perfection of something. It means you have mastered it. So, to be skilful means you know the way around this word. You know its use; you know how to handle it. To handle something well, you can use it. Some people cannot use meat but they can use milk. This is because they are carnal; they are babes.
One who is unskilful in the word of righteousness is a babe. But strong meat is of them that are of full age (Heb. 5:14). We can tell full age from “go unto perfection” (Heb. 6:1). To leave the principle of the doctrine of Christ is to acquire age through Christ and get it in full. It will take a full age that Christ is to be able to handle strong meat. Anyone who has handled Christ and is of full age, is skilful. You don't get age by hearing alone. You get age by handling circumstances that are thrown at you when you have the word.
What does it mean to have age? The syllabus of the oracle is lengthy, not just wide. It also has heights in the spirit. You can actually draw a radius from the curve of that throne, draw it past the throne and you're still going to be having the oracle of God: from the milk to Christ, from Christ to everlasting life, from everlasting life you land in Eternal Life. So, all oracles are life. Even the milk of the word of God is some kind of life; just that it is lower than Christ life.
There's a difference between the milk of the word of God and “using your initiatives” that teachers who use the rudiments of this world use. The teachers of motivational preaching and teachers of the milk of the word of God can be ministering on the same pulpit and the people won't discern it. And those living by milk can be tempted to leave it because all they are saying is result.
We should not assume that our fathers in the faith don't know some high things. They just don't teach these high things because babies in Christ cannot handle them. But God is going to train babies to be skilful.
So, one who is skilful in the word of righteousness is not one who can teach it, quote revelation or cram scriptures. Instead, it is one who can keep the sustainability of the life of this word in the face of adversity; one who is not casting a wrong meaning to the life God is giving to him. This is skill in operation. It can also be referred to as usage.
The usage of the word of righteousness has nothing to do with the amount of material things a man can acquire from God. It simply means maintaining the status quo of life without dropping. Someone who is using the word of righteousness is one who is fighting a war against what evil spirits want to interpret to him as God's life. This does not imply that we are meant to be poor; for even the usage of the word of righteousness makes natural things respond to us.
The usage of the word of righteousness is what is important. Some forsake the word of righteousness to pursue natural things. But being able to stay with God's life till natural things are added is usage– meaning what God is doing in one is not judged wrongly because of the sight that is prevalent.
"Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment." (Heb. 6:1-2). To use a word is to acquire the life of that word. To be full of age is to have all the life embedded in the meat of the word and to be qualified for the strong meat of the word of God. Perfection comes after full age. Where the High Priest entered is where we will find the strong meat of the word of God. Jesus entered the perfection that is within the veil (Heb. 6:19-20).
"Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him…”. (Heb. 5:8-9). Suffering is obedience, which is learnt. Then "being made perfect" is the glory that follows. Salvation is in two phases: there is a suffering before perfection (1 Pet. 1:11) and one after. The glory after suffering is the perfection of everlasting life. Obedience is the first thing and sprinkling of the blood is another thing. The sprinkling of the blood is the perfecting of one who has learnt obedience (1 Pet. 1:2).
Jesus was made perfect before He died on the cross. Jesus became the author of Eternal salvation but He learnt it in the days of His flesh. He was made perfect in the days of His flesh. His flesh speaks of the dimension of His sufferings, while His blood speaks of the dimension of His death which is His glory. So, when a man is learning blood, he is learning glory. The “glory that follows” is different from “entering into His glory”, which is Eternal Life. It is another dimension. Perfection is glorious. The ministry of everlasting life is a glorious ministration (2 Cor. 4:17); it is both suffering and death.
"And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death…" (Phil. 3:9-10). Death in this scripture signifies perfection or glory. The death of the saints is glorious (Psa. 116:15).
Jesus showed us how to lay down our life by dying on the cross. The death of the saints is more than physical death; but Jesus took the route of physical death. Jesus is the champion of martyrs. It has been written concerning Him that His life would be cut short. He had the ability to live forever and translate into Eternal Life but because of the sacrifice for other people, He had to die physically.
Jesus could journey into Eternal Life without physical death because He was made perfect. But He died physically because He had to bear the sins of the whole world. Jesus, because He is the first born, had to bear a lot of suffering for the rest of the people. The interest of a father is to save the soul. So those who would become first fruits of the word of righteousness would have to suffer for the body of Christ.
Melchisedek brought bread and wine to Abraham and this is what God is communicating to us. The bread and wine which he brought is His life–what he ate to be a high priest (Gen 14:18). This is the strong meat of the word of God–what he ate to be "without father, without mother, without descent, without beginning of days nor end of life" (Heb. 7:3). All of these are lessons to make a man an abider, as a son forever.
Before a man can partake of Eternal Life, he must have the position of an abiding everlasting son. In this place a man is dead. This death is that a man is glorious and can enter into glory. Everything Jesus went through in the days of His flesh was glory including His death on the cross.
Glory is not just ambience and effulgence. It can be character, judgement or a display of heights. Jesus' death on the cross showed that He was glorious in love. A low man won't behave like Jesus did on the cross. To be a glorious man is not to talk when you are hung on the tree of death. Jesus showed glory throughout. To despise shame and endure the cross is glorious. They are deaths.
Glory is grace; without grace a man cannot do gloriously. For example, a man who slaps his wife is short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). It is glory not to keep malice. Marriage is honourable. Many cannot keep the glory of marriage because they do not have glory on the inside.
To be glorious as a man is to be able to endure your wife. To be glorious as a woman is to be able to submit to your husband. When a woman is not weighty and cannot submit, there is no chabod or doxa. When there is weight, something will constrain you from responding. The difference between the wheat and tare when they grow up is that the wheat bows but the tare stands. The world will always go for the tare. The wheat bows because of the weight of the seed. Weight makes one bow.
"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory...” (2 Cor. 4:17). Those who would wear the eternal weight of glory would be eternally meek because of a mighty, weighty life. And we will bear this weighty life such that we will not be able to come out of it.
We will get to a point where we will master how not to respond to Satan's stimuli. All we need is enough glory. Everlasting life is the communication of the ethics of glory. We are going to be so high and weighty that natural forces will respond to us.
Summary
1. A person cannot stand before God when he is not sound in all the oracles of God. All the oracles of God are life.
2. The oracles of God are majorly divided into three segments: realm of the milk of the word of God (which is the first principles of the oracles of God); then the principles of the doctrine of Christ (which is the meat of the word of God); and the last dimension is the principle of the strong meat of the word of God.
3. The Throne of God is a body of knowledge for the sons of God. You cannot sit on a thing if you are not knowledgeable about it. The only route to the Throne is the doctrine of God.
4. The right-hand side of the Majesty on High is where God delegated authority to the Son to give inheritance to those who will overcome. The Son is using the right-hand side to do the will of the Father. When the Son is done, He will find expression right in the midst of the Throne.
5. To be full of age is to have all the life embedded in the meat of the word and to be qualified for the strong meat of the word of God. Perfection comes after full age.
6. (Heb. 5:8-9) Suffering is obedience which is learnt. Then "being made perfect" is the glory that follows. The glory after suffering is the perfection of everlasting life.
7. Glory is not just ambience and effulgence. It can be character, judgement or a display of heights. Jesus' death on the cross showed that He was glorious in love.
8. To despise shame and endure the cross is glorious. They are deaths. Glory is grace; without grace a man cannot do gloriously.
9. (2 Cor. 4:17) Those who would wear the eternal weight of glory would be eternally meek because of a weighty life.
10. Everlasting life is the communication of the ethics of glory.