Text: Hebrews 8, Heb 1:1
God’s thought for man has always been to obtain eternal inheritance. The inheritance comes through the administration of redemption by the preaching and teaching of the gospel. This inheritance would only be brought to a people who have been weaned from milk and drawn from the breasts. This is because it is served in the meat of the word (and not the milk) while the eternal inheritance comes from the strong meat of God’s word.
Without the inheritance spoken of in Hebrews 1:4, the name cannot be received. The inheritance is the name of the reward. The reward, which is upon, rests on the inheritance, which is its landing spot. The inheritance is the carrier of the reward. The excellent name in Hebrews 1:4 is the reward of the Father. The Father and God are the key mysteries of the everlasting Kingdom of God and are very vital for every believer to understand.
The realm of the father and God are both eternal. The Father is the eternal inheritance in eternal life while God is the eternal reward in eternal life. The reward contains more abilities than the inheritance. Therefore, obtaining only the inheritance is not enough. The realm of reward is a vast realm but the inheritance must have been present in the soul for anyone to adequately see and receive the reward. Elisha had to walk closely with Elijah to see the reward and without this walk, it would have been impossible to receive the reward (2 Kings 2). This is because the reward is quick and can easily be missed. Elijah called the request of Elisha a difficult thing.
Reward is always upon, it is not within. Elisha asked for the reward. Elisha had to walk with Elijah to see him when he was taken away. Elijah instructed that he must be seen before the reward would be granted. The reward can be called a portion while the inheritance, a lot. The difference between both is the manner by which they are received.
The inheritance is received by learning. The demands of the inheritance must be obeyed for the inheritance to be received. The inheritance takes a longer time compared to the reward. The reward is received at the twinkling of an eye. Immediately Elisha saw Elijah, he cried and the mantle fell from him. Elisha cried 'my father my father' which meant that he had done the inheritance twice. This is the same as the cry our regenerated spirits let out saying, “Abba, father” which means “father, father” (Rom. 8:15).
The cry of Elisha was saying to God that he had done the will of God as required by the inheritance twice, and so he is qualified to take the reward. He had worked twice; he had done the first and last works of the inheritance and was now asking for the reward. He asked for a double portion of Elijah’s mantle which is really God’s portion.
Our Lord Jesus while on earth was blessed with the reward. He had both the Spirit within and Spirit upon. There is reward at different levels. The reward of the cherubim is different from that of seraphim. Whoever gives to a prophet in the name of a prophet would receive a prophet's reward, which is the portion of the Spirit upon the prophet (Matt. 10:41) No man has the authority to speak harshly or derogatorily to men of God. Anyone who does this is heaping a curse upon himself. The earth must learn order and authority.
The reward is a spirit; it is a portion that comes upon a particular nature. We need the divine nature to receive the immortal reward. Having the father is an ancient pattern to receiving the reward. If he had not cried in that manner, Elijah might have ascended with the garment. Elijah must have received a higher garment on ascension just as our Lord Jesus also received a new garment on resurrection. When Jesus ascended from hell, he did not appear to Mary Magdalene naked which means he must have worn a spiritual garment different from an ordinary earthly garment. The Holy Ghost must be a garment maker, sowing immortal garments with immortal materials and eternal garments with eternal materials.
The linen of the kingdom is different from earthly linen. The garment of Jesus was not of an ordinary making but one from the everlasting kingdom which could also appear physically. What Jesus is wearing is spirit; His garment is made up of spiritual substances. There are vestures in the realm of the spirit, God can also clothe men with vestures. Something fell with the physical garment of Elijah such that when he got to Jordan, he cried for the Lord God of Elijah and the River parted. The double portion was enough to open the river, blind the Syrian army and cause food to come to the Israelites who had been experiencing famine. This is the operation of reward in action.
Men desire to receive the portion without doing the work not knowing that the portion cannot be received that way. Every reward has a law to it and cannot be gotten casually. Elisha got Elijah's reward because he had the work of Elijah. God, in His mercy, would be giving us the ability to see the reward. Elisha saw it, asked for it and Elijah gave him the condition to receive it.
A family who ministers to a prophet can receive the room of the prophet into their home. The room of prophets is in the spirit. The spirit of Elijah has a name. Elisha was not Elijah but He got a portion from Elijah. Elisha means “God is my salvation” while Elijah means “the Lord is God”. Elisha can be found in Elijah. The name of that portion which was received is “God is Lord or the Lord is God”. Elisha had worked with Elijah (with God) and he was safe, he walked to a point where he was qualified for the reward - to get the reward. Elisha was a prophet kind of Elijah and no prophet could stand in that office again. The remaining prophets were persecuted, because they were prophets with only inheritance; they did not have reward yet. Prophets like Isaiah were prophets of inheritance.
Prophets with reward cannot be persecuted. The portion of the reward on Jesus is higher by far than that of Elijah. Jesus must have been instructed and led to use His portion mildly lest Israel would follow him in the physical. Jesus had the ability to do more than what Elijah did, but his type of reward was not to destroy.
The throne of God is a reward. The manner of God in the lives of the prophets differs. The reward can be managed when the inheritance is high. No one can handle measures of reward if the inheritance level is low. Moses was interceding under a reward with an inheritance in him that could communicate with the inheritance of God. This is why God could not refuse his petition, because he prayed with both an inheritance and reward he got from God. The inheritance in Moses could ask for mercy for the people and God heard him.
For every mantle/portion, there is the operation of inheritance (symbolized by what Elisha called 'my father, my father'). A lot of inheritance must have first been fulfilled. The Urim and thummim are not inheritance but are portions (Deut. 33:8).
Beings who understand the matter of inheritance and portions are meek and obedient to order and authority and would not dishonor carriers of portions in any measure. The Archangel Michael could not bring a railing accusation against Satan (Jude 1:9) because of his understanding of inheritance and portions. It is wrong to speak against the inheritance in men of God, much less the reward (or portions). The reward is managed by the Holy Ghost and whoever speaks against the reward speaks against the Holy Ghost would face the consequence of that disobedience. This is what Jesus meant when He said such sins will not be forgiven (Matt. 12:31). It is a sin very close to blasphemy (which is to speak against) the Holy Ghost.
The Incorruptible seed is both the living and abiding word which has two phases for the inheritance. This inheritance has two works from the dimension of God’s fatherhood. The first manifestation of God as father comes to show love, after which the second manifestation comes to show how to abide. This abiding love is the weightier love that consists of the both fathers.
The Christ branch is the fig tree and the Fathers tree is the vine. The fig tree, which is the faith tree, overcomes the world. The father does not stay with figs. Jesus kept looking for figs when he was on the earth. There are species of the fig tree; one is the ordinary fig tree while the other is the sycamore tree. The sycamore is a high fig tree of the kingdom; it symbolizes the most holy faith tree upon which birds on the air would come to lodge and take refuge.
Birds of the air refer to angels of salvation who come to stay on sycamore trees. They come to pluck branches in the sycamore to plant them in the vine. These angels stay around the most holy faith to move believers (branches) into the most holy dimension of God (the vine). When a fig tree is becoming a sycamore, it would attract angels of salvation so that he can be moved to the vine tree.
The Hebrew church had become a sycamore tree ready to be harvested. We are moved from tree to tree, till the sycamore branch is fixed to the vine tree by engrafting. No one can be a vine branch without having passed the sycamore tree. Faith starts from the fig tree until it becomes sycamore and then becomes a vine branch.
We perfect faith by praying well “in” the Holy Ghost. We learn how to keep ourselves in the love of God by being taught of the commandment. We must be taught the discipline of abiding in the vine. A man who abides in the vine is one who would ask what he wills and gets it. The reason Elisha received from Elijah was because he had abided in Elijah. He did not ask for food or clothing. We would not know what to ask of the Lord until we abide in Him.
Praying in the Holy Ghost prepares us for staying or abiding. The prayer for enlightenment of the eyes of one’s understanding (Eph. 1:17-18) is the beginning of praying in the Holy Ghost. The first fruit of righteousness is holiness. From holiness, we journey to peace which is a more holy place and then move to Joy which is the highest dimension of Holiness and is the everlasting kingdom. As people are journeying into the everlasting kingdom, some others are also journeying into the kingdom of darkness. There is no dominion without yieldedness. We offer service to any kingdom (God’s or Satan) by yielding our members to that dominion (Rom. 6:18-20).
Righteousness is the ordinance of God that must be obeyed before holiness can be found. When a man journeys deeper in righteousness, he finds holiness. The end of holiness is everlasting life (Rom 6:22). The everlasting realm is the realm of living and abiding. Every child of God on earth is expected to come to this everlasting realm. Satan and his agents, however, have given men a false and corrupt life which men have pursued. Choosing to live for this present world is synonymous to speaking guile, which must not be found with any believer. A man should be ashamed if all he has possessed on earth is what Satan has given. We must not see God without inheriting the everlasting realm into our souls.
Those who sow in tears shall reap in Joy (Psalm 126:5). Joy is life everlasting and mourning precedes Joy. After the night (the holy place) comes the morning, which brings Joy. In the holy place, mourners in Zion are found bearing precious seed who when they progress to the Most holy place would come to bear sheaves - which is the harvest (Psalm 126:6).
Joy, as an entity in the most holy, is what oscillates everlasting life. Not joy as a fruit of the spirit but as a most holy substance. This joy is a sign of everlasting expression. Everything about the menorah is made up of the almond. The menorah helps the rod of Aaron to bud, flower and bear fruits; in the most holy, it bore the fruit of Joy. The ministry of Aaron was to trim the lights of the menorah. When the menorah light is not well trimmed, the priests’ eyes would be dimmed and they would be unable to judge the nation well.
The light of the menorah separated Aaron from others. His rod was separated. The menorah is for sight and service in the holy place. Until one becomes a vine, you cannot ask for the reward. Without a corresponding stature, one cannot ask for the reward. Elijah did not ask the rest of the prophets what he should do for them, instead he asked Elisha. The other prophets were ignorant of the walk of Elisha; hence, they mocked him.
God, in His fullness, is the reward. The Son suffered to receive this reward of God (Heb. 5:8). Christ finished the two works of inheritance and became the author of eternal salvation. He perfected obedience and became the reward (author of eternal salvation). By reason of the inheritance which He obtained, He could receive the reward. Therefore, we also need to obey Him for the inheritance to be given unto us. Jesus was made better than angels and called by God. He became the high priest after the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 5:10). Jesus did not take the honour of the reward unto Himself, He did not glorify Himself but was rewarded by God (Heb. 5:4).
Jesus learnt obedience on earth and got the inheritance before He died. Whoever dies with the inheritance would be raised back because the inheritance never dies. The day God begat Him was the day of His reward and on that day He was granted to sit on the throne. He did not learn to sit on the throne but He sat because he had the commensurate inheritance required to operate the reward.
We need to hear His voice today for the inheritance that we may also come to the reward. The reward is the last trumpet (which is the trump of God). The ministry of the resurrection of the dead hinges on the inheritance and reward. The trumpet of God would bring the manifestation of the reward. Israel was prepared to hear the trump on mount Sinai. They had to go through a lot to be able to bear the sound of the trumpet. Man must be prepared to hear the sound of the trump of God. There is the voice of inheritance and the voice of reward. The trumpet is being sounded. The season of receiving the inheritance is long compared with that of the reward.
As the voice of the trumpet of inheritance is sounding, things of heaven and earth in the soul would be shaken. The blood of the everlasting covenant is the blood of sprinkling which speaks things for the shaking of the soul. By this blood, we make everlasting covenant. The covenant of inheritance would not be cut except some things in the soul are shaken. At a higher frequency of this voice, greater limitations which have held us bound before would be taken away.
The things that need to go from us would not go without the release of an energy greater than that of the present. We need to receive things of a higher speed to contend with the negative speed by which we have previously run. There is a cumulative amount of speed that can completely wipe Satan and his works away.
Eternal life would flood the earth, it would be the order of the day: this is the mind of God.