The ‘Spirit’ in Revelations 22:17 is the spirit of Eternal Life. Note the word, 'freely' used in both verses (Rev. 22:17; 21:6). The word ‘freely’ is attached to a character in everlasting life. The word is also used 1 Corinthians 2:12 in relation to everlasting things; the word is also used in Romans 8:32. All things are not the same as new things; all things are way higher than new things. New things lead to all things. New things are the things of Christ. One must have first possessed Christ before he can possess the Father (John 14:6).
Coming to God must be through Christ, or through faith in Christ (2 Timothy 3:15). Thus, faith is a necessary tool for journeying into salvation. Faith is the wisdom of God embedded in Christ; i.e. the faith of an anointed one, the Messiah. Christ is the Messiah because He was chosen and approved by God. No other man fits into God's choice but Christ. God’s choice of a man is of a peculiar kind, which is the new man, and Jesus epitomized it.
Before Jesus’ coming in the flesh, no man has been able to receive the material called the anointed one - Christ. Christ is a man that is set apart from men and with whom God can relate. The entire intent of God with - and for - man is encapsulated in Christ. Jesus is the anointed one, not because He performed miracles, but because He gives God pleasure; He is a man God loves and will never withhold all things from. He is a man who would unlock God’s heart so that God would pour all things into Him and open the door of everlastingness unto Him, which He never shared with any other. John saw this attribute of the Son which was hidden from men, and said, “the Father loveth the Son and has given all things into His hand” (John 3:35). Jesus is the first man God will give all things to. Although He is the anointed one (the Christ), our attention must not shift from his human identity - Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is the man who received Christ and all things of God.
God did not only show all things to the Son, He also gave them to Him. Implying that He should make use of them as His life here on earth, not just in heaven. God permitted Him to use eternal life as lifestyle in the flesh.
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life…” (John 3:36). Believing here goes beyond believing that Jesus is the Christ, but believing that He is the Son of God. One who believes in this wise has everlasting life as his own possession.
John 3:16 is often associated with the New Birth experience, but more so, it is valid for those who have become Christ. Those who believed in Him are born again, yet this Scripture says that they should not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus taught everlasting life to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), but she did not understand a bit of it. When she shared her experience with Jesus to the men of the city, she did not capture His promise to give her living water, rather she focused on His revelation of all the things that she had done. That was the much she could receive from the Messiah because that was all she could understand at her level. Her limitation in understanding also prevented her from seeing life, even eternal life which He was presenting to her. Jesus said to her, “if thou knewest the gift of God…thou wouldest have asked of Him” (John 4:10).
The gift of God is eternal life. We do not know the gift of God, therefore we do not know what to ask of Him. And so we ask God for things that are not His gift, because we do not yet know His gift. We do not know the implication of having the living water and so we have not asked it of Him. Oftentimes, we rather ask God for natural things. If we have true knowledge of the gift of God, we would ask Him for living water, even in the face of contradictions and denial of natural things. We often despise the living water because we are yet to know and value it.
We need to partake of the living water and the living bread also. Jesus said, “I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.” (John 6:48-50). But one may think that this bread has not profited him in any way even after persistently hearing the words of life, because he still sees death expressed in his body. This is because our bodies are yet to truly begin to eat the bread of life. Everlasting life is the beginning of the bread. Jesus further promised to give His life for the world so that the world might live (John 6:51). We do not know life yet, thus, we need to humbly approach Jesus’ feet for Him to teach us and not fall for the deception of satan.
One way satan deceives believers is by giving them gifts similar to what God gives, so they would think they are from God, before they ever get to receive what God actually gives. The devil also lies to saints, to make his works remain hidden. It is not easy to resist the voice of the devil because he speaks ceaselessly, he keeps coming. In our quest for the supernatural, we must not lose our natural sense and reality. Evil spirits culture souls to be supernatural in a manner that makes them lose their natural sense; this we must avoid by the help of the Spirit and word.
We must love nature just as our Lord Jesus did during His earthly sojourn. The scriptures show clearly His naturality. Some men try to act ‘spiritual’ in their relationship with their wives, neglecting the things that are natural. We see through scriptures, especially the epistles, that after teachings on godliness and the likes have gone forth, the writer begins to admonish the saints to love their wives as husbands, and for the wives to submit to their husbands. This is to say that the natural must not be neglected. One way a man can express love to his wife is by pleasing her.
Marital life is deep. A marriage that survives in Christ enters into everlasting life. In Ephesians 5:21-22, Paul admonished the wives to submit to their husbands in the fear of the Lord. Peter went further to encourage the wives to put on the adornment of a meek and quiet spirit in their relationship with their husbands in emulation of ancient faithful women who regarded their husbands as lords (1 Peter 3:4-6). A wife who has appreciated in the spirit, having come to everlasting life, would call her husband lord. Note that this instruction was not given to the church in Ephesus, but to the brethren scattered across Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. These were men who were at the brink of entering the ark. Marriage is an avenue to show forth conversations of everlasting life that would adopt us for eternal salvation.
Marriage is an everlasting covenant, hence the Lord says He hates divorce (Malachi 2:16). For this same reason the devil hates it and has begun to make distortions of it as in gay marriages etc. Reading further in 1 Peter 3:6, we infer that women who struggle with submitting fully to their husbands have some sort of hidden fear. Satan has fed them with lies that they would be taken for granted if they submitted completely.
Jesus’ washing of the feet of His disciples exemplifies the role of a husband to his wife. Jesus washes the church that He might sanctify her and cleanse her by the washing of the water by the word (Ephesians 5:26). So also a man should be willing to wash his wife, beginning at her feet. This action requires a man humbling himself to the woman’s level in order to purify her feet. Recall that when Jesus was to wash His disciples’ feet, he took off His garment, and put on a towel girdle; this was a humbling disposition (John 13:4-5). A man eligible for marriage is one who can be a feet washer. Feet typifies walk. Purifying the feet of a woman means taking out corruption from her feet, thus purifying her walk. Peter tried to prevent Jesus from washing his feet, after which Jesus told Him that if He did not wash Peter’s feet, he would have no part with Him (John 13:8). To try to stop Jesus from washing one’s feet implies that one is not willing to commit oneself to Him.
A man should not try to begin washing his wife from her head, but her feet. The devil speaks through the head, but when the feet is cleansed, it would influence the head too. Washing your wife's feet means to serve her and win her. Any woman who refuses washing from her husband in this way does not want any part with him.
It is important that we grow in loving our wives. This emphasis is coming to us because the Lord wants us to get it right in our marriages. Note that God did not give Adam and Eve any specific instructions with regards to their relationship with each other. This is because they had life resident in them. They were innocent and meek. Meekness is the key to every dimension of God’s life. The life of God (everlasting life) is applicable to every sphere of our lives, including our marriages. We must not concentrate solely on spiritual things and neglect relationships with our spouses. There is an expression of the power of everlasting life in marriage when it is lived according to God’s standards. Any church or nation whose marriages are failing is going to crumble in a short time. Immoral decadences that resulted in failed or perverted marriages have led to the downfall of several empires in the past. In these days, our hearts must be set; but the hearts of many will fail them because they have put their confidence in something that failed.
In 1 Corinthians 2:12; 6-10, we see Paul show everlasting life to the church in Corinth; not that he taught it. Yet we see him saying he could not speak to them as unto spiritual because they were babes (1 Corinthians 3:1). Thus, it means that he wrote those things with the intention of re-visiting them later when the church would have upgraded in their understanding. As a wise master builder, he was preparing them for everlasting life by first laying the foundation.
Beyond the new birth experience, 2 Corinthians 5:17 also confirms that any believer, whose spirit was already in Christ, whose soul then embarks on the journey to being in Christ has become new. A person’s body can as well be en-christed, thus becoming a new body. New bodies are referred to as living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God (Romans 12:1). Thus, we must make sure that our service unto God transcends our spirits and souls, into our outward man (body). This is till we arrive at a point where Christ will be magnified in our bodies, after which God will also be magnified therein.
God reconciled us to Himself through Christ and went further to give us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). This tells us that the reconciliation was not yet complete. Jesus’ ministry of reconciliation took place when He went into the holy of holies and purged our sins by His own blood; “...and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;” (Hebrews 1:3). Reading this verse tells us that Jesus had all things in view, while He went forth to purge our sins. Our sins stood out against us on the mercy seat, preventing us from being able to sit at the right hand of God. This tells us that Jesus did not sit on the right hand of the majesty on high, for Himself, but for our sakes. He is seated there on our behalf so that He can transfer all things to us. This is true because if He were to sit for Himself, He would need no purging of sin, as He was already perfect. However, He could not sit because of our sins.
In the holiest of all, the high priest places his finger on the eastern side of the mercy seat, to sprinkle it with blood. In Scripture, the East side means the front, while the west is backward; East means forward, future, eternity. The ancient Hebrew word for East is qedem, meaning eternal. This therefore means that Jesus went into the eternal dimension, to obtain eternal redemption for us. He moved His own blood into eternity for the purpose of purging our sins. From the view of eternity, we were not qualified because of our sins; sins connote incompetencies and lack of capacity to sit on the right hand of Majesty on high. Jesus sat on the right hand for our sakes, expecting till His enemies be made His footstool (Hebrews 10:12-13).
All things are being dispensed to us from Jesus’ seated position at the right hand of God. We cannot have access to eternal redemption except by all things. All things lead us into the deep things of God (2 Corinthians 5:17-18).
The ministry of coming to God is the ministry of reconciliation; and it is materialized by the dispensation of All Things which are freely given to us (1 Corinthians 2:12). That ministry employs All Things to make saints come to God. Thus, Jesus mediates for us using All Things, to bring us to God. Jesus upholds All Things by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3). Therefore, He has to teach us His word to bring us to the place of having All Things. This word of His power is the word of reconciliation that makes us come into a state of being at one with God. This power is the power of the Son of God and is different from the power of Christ. Thus, as an High Priest, Jesus possesses a kind of power by which He raises the saints into being high priests. This is the power of an endless life, i.e. everlasting life.
There is a dimension of power that the Godhead possess. They are the wisdom behind principalities and powers; Jesus being the head (Colossians 2:10). Principalities and powers, might and dominion, ministers and spirits (or cherubims and seraphims), are all summed up as ‘all principalities and powers’. Seraphs are powers, while cherubs are principalities. Seraphims are the powers of the princes (cherubims). These princes make up the wisdom and principles of the power. Recall in Daniel 10:13, a prince of persia withstood the Angel Gabriel. This prince was the head of all the powers in that realm. Therefore, God Almighty is both a prince and a power.
All the realms from our earth to the heavens are structured as principalities and powers in categories of wisdom. Thus, the constitution of each dimension serves the power that lies above that realm. For example, the power of the rulers of the darkness of this world, are princes of darkness (principalities) that oversee the powers of this world (Ephesians 6:12). The power of spiritual wickedness in heavenly places are the rulers of the darkness of this world. This power implies what is done to access that realm; those beings (also called powers) hold the power to the realms that they take custody of. In this same sense, Jesus is the power of God; without Him, no one can access God. Yet, upon reaching God, there is yet a power that is resident in that realm.
Everything about God that makes Him invisible has been shown to some men in time past and will yet be shown unto some others (Romans 1:19-20). This is the essence of the preaching of the gospel; to make all men see God. God may be invisible now, but after a while, He would show Himself to all men so that each man can choose for himself which eternity he so pleases; whether eternal fire, eternal lake or eternal life.
In verse 20 of Romans chapter 1, we note two terms: eternal power and Godhead. Eternal power connotes the power of God, while Godhead connotes the head of God. This eternal power is different from the power of God used in verse 16. While verse 16 refers to a Christ property as ‘the power of God’, verse 20 refers to a God property as ‘eternal power’.
Anyone who refuses God after being clearly shown His personality is damned eternally, because this is eternal life and the gift of love. This is because, revelation of Himself to a man is out of love, because He is hid from creation. Even the angels only knew it in a shadow form. Satan knew this and yet decided to go up against God. Satan is already judged and he knows so.
The gospel of Christ is a tiding of Christ (Romans 1:16). Christ is a person; He is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). Since Christ, being the power of God unto salvation, is a person, likewise, the eternal power of God is a person. Angels are also powers; not only are they powerful, they are also framed of power. This is why they can tutor men into being like them. This is what satan did by not even giving Adam the chance to pass on the life of God he had to his offspring before corrupting him. Thus, what is referred to as the old man is an offshoot of a fallen angel. This old man is the nature in man that must be killed as a saint is being exposed to tutoring under spiritual shepherds.
The antidote to these spirits are Christ and God’s eternal power. Therefore, spirits prevent ministers from teaching the truth so that their formations in the lives of men would not be tampered with. Angels are like men and fallen ones teach men their nature from one sin level to another. The highest of that nature is that of the dragon, which will still be taught to men. When men decided to build up a city whose towers will reach the heavens, that was an angelic thought. Angels possess nature in varying degrees. Almost all the angels who fell with satan had dominions. Thus, they fell with their dominion and trapped men into their dominions by teaching. Teaching transfers the nature of an angel/principality into a man who is taught, making him forever subjected to them. Note that satan would not teach men all things that pertain to his nature at once.
When principalities teach a man to a good degree and the rulers of the darkness of this world desire more from such, they connive with the principalities to raise that man into their realm so that he can be responsive to them. Although not willingly but because of submission to a higher authority, they will give in to the demands of the rulers of the darkness of this world. These will in turn raise the soul to suit their desires. In the natural, they bless such a man with more money and influence on the earth. Recall that the king of Tyre was no ordinary king; he had knowledge of economics and wisdom and was a king that was raised by evil spirits. Such men may not even possess a physical throne but they gain influence in any sphere that they are. There are men in our world today who do not have a physical throne, but rulers of nations are subject to them because of their influence. However, these men will be cut down by the everlasting gospel that is being preached.
By the light of everlasting life, we will see many things more thoroughly. Power is a constitution of an entity set up to get to the eventual. Power is directly under the head. Thus, when Elohim appears, He appears with His power.
“The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms...” (Deuteronomy 33:27). This scripture means that everlasting exists under the eternal; the latter is higher than the former. The everlasting is the power of eternal. Eternal power is everlasting life. The power of the eternal God is the everlasting God. There is the everlasting God and there is the eternal God. When God appears, it may seem like one God is underneath another God. God is many yet concealed.
The word ‘everlasting’ as used in Deuteronomy is the same word translated as ‘eternal life’ throughout the New Testament. The word ‘everlasting’ (referring to the God beneath) is aionios (used in the New Testament; meaning endlessness); while the eternal God (the God above) is qedem (used in the Old Testament).
The word ‘eternal’ used in 1 Timothy 1:17 is different from that used for eternal in the Old Testament. This shows that the Greek language is limited in accurately interpreting the things of God. Hence, we must study the Scriptures by the help of the Holy Spirit because they were written in spiritual language and codes. Upon further study in the Old Testament, we see another word, ‘East’ which means eternal, and ‘Eastward’, meaning timelessness, eternity, front, forward. As often as the high priest sprinkles blood on the eastward part of the mercy seat, he makes contact with eternity.
Christ is the power of God, yet there is another power called the eternal power of God, which we must also learn having learnt Christ. The realm of the eternal power (the power of the eternal life) is the everlasting realm and the everlasting God. Everlasting life has its manifestation, but it is a person, a lower dimension of the Father. The Father operates with everlasting life, and goes further to operate by eternal life. God created cherubims to occupy the everlasting dimension, while He stayed in the heavens such that He rides upon them as He moves. God dwells in heaven but heaven is everlasting. To dwell in heaven, God brought eternity into the everlasting realm.
That a thing is everlasting does not mean it is indestructible. Only the everlasting realm of God is indestructible. Heaven and the cherubims are everlasting but are not indestructible; the life in them is destructible. The cherubims were made of weaker entities of everlasting compared to the everlasting realm of God. The earth is also everlasting, having lasted thousands of years. Anything that can last thousands of years and has several generations buried in it, is everlasting. Hence, the priesthood of Aaron was an everlasting one, as it survived nearly 3,000 years. It was a strong priesthood which was only terminated by a higher everlasting priesthood. Though it was instituted by a ‘weak’ everlasting strength, which could only be taken out by the greater priesthood of Jesus. Jesus took out the law of the Aaronic priesthood and nailed it to His cross and finished it. Thus, His priesthood which can never be terminated or ever corrupted, was instituted.
To differentiate between eternal and everlasting: everlasting is a character in eternal life whose duration is in time, it endures, that is, it has a long duration in time; while eternal is timeless and cannot be qualified in time, it exceeds enduring. We have everlasting substance in heaven, which gives us life incorruptible, undefiled and fades not away (1 Peter 1:4). Everlasting is a light/time of eternity.
There are different levels to everlasting times. The time on earth is managed by the sun, heaven has its time, but the everlasting life of God has a higher timing that cannot be measured by heaven. It is in the realm of this time we find eternity. Thus, one has to go beyond the boundary of time to enter the eternal realm of God. This tells us that immortality is bound by light.
Although everlasting substances endure, they are still within the realm of time. Eternal realm on the other hand, is in a realm of timelessness. It is only when eternal life is brought into time that it becomes an everlasting that surpasses all everlasting. Therefore, to access the eternal, one needs to break beyond the sphere of time.
A good illustration is the vision that Ezekiel saw of a wheel within a wheel (Ezekiel 1:16). Between the outer wheel and the inner wheel are spokes of light (like the spokes of a bicycle wheel). The outer wheel typifies the last veil leading into the holiest of all. The spokes of the light realm are the everlasting realm. Only a man who has inherited everlasting life can travel through this light, to lay hold on eternal life.
The promise God promised us is everlasting life; and our covenant is an everlasting covenant. The reward for learning everlasting life is eternal life. Paul spoke about an unapproachable light in 1 Timothy 6:16, which is referring to Jesus. Thus, we need the everlasting power to see Him who has immortality. It is because of this immortality which He possesses, that He is hidden in an unapproachable light. Even when He appears to men, He does not come in the form explained in this verse. This is the coming of the Lord referred to as come quickly (Revelation 22:12). When He comes quickly, He is coming for the reward – eternal life. Hence, He is careful about this peculiar coming of His.
In summary, everlasting life is the power of eternal life. And this power is the very constitution of life. Thus, everlasting life, when gained by a man, constitutes him into a being of power that can have capacity to carry eternal life. Everlasting life is the first portion of eternal life given to a soul, which is learned (Isaiah 62:11). Salvation is a person made up of two parts: the portion that goes before Him, which is everlasting works. When this work is done, the doer inherits the nature of the work, which is everlasting. While the other aspect, which is with Him, is His reward which cannot be worked for.
The kind of works manifested by the devil are everlasting works, which Jesus was manifested to take away. These everlasting works of the devil constitute the power of death. Thus, anyone who has acquired everlasting life in full would overcome death. After this comes the reward, which is eternal life. One who has overcome the devil by profiting well with everlasting life will be given things eternal, to make him an eternal person. Therefore, the reward is not one, but is a constitution of eternal properties that will make one an eternal entity.
Prophecy: I will give you enough time to learn. I will give you space to grow; I will give you time to walk even in these times.
Everlasting life is for every believer, although it is not attained at the point of new birth. We are blessed to hear these sayings that are everlasting.
Message Ends