Programme: Writing the Vision (April Edition)
Date: Saturday, 22nd April 2023
Transcript Summary
1. Image and likeness are both needed to exercise dominion. When Adam and Eve were formed, they were not given God’s same image. This means that there was a kind of image put in Adam to exercise the kind of dominion he had in the garden of Eden. If they were given God’s (exact) image, they would have exercised God’s kind of dominion which rules over both the heavens and the earth (Ps. 103:19; Heb. 2:7-8). Every dominion needs an image. As such, God’s kind of dominion will need God’s image. The reason God planted the garden of Eden was for Adam and Eve to journey to the point where they could obtain the image of God.
2. Creation is the seat of display of images; it is an expression of the everlasting world. The everlasting realm – which is where God sits over as the everlasting God – is the place of the expression of His arm or dominion (Isa. 40:28, Deut. 33:27); it is also the seat of images.
3. Fallen spirits invade nations with images because they are aware that once an image has been created, a pathway has been established and a goal has been set for man to pursue. Spirits can easily communicate themselves to man once an image has been painted to him. That was why God commanded the Israelites not to have any other god beside or before Him (Exo. 20:3; Deut. 5:7). This shows that whatever is beside a person would eventually be before him. Spirits are aware of this wisdom; that was why they filled the whole land with images, especially the promised land. The promised land was the land of images and the nations that dwelt there had everlasting strength.
4. Images are not ordinary; they represent dominions and governments. When God led the Israelites to the promised land, He told them they would fight seven nations greater and mightier than them (Deut. 7:1). That was why God commanded that their gods and images be completely destroyed, or else they would be lured away from God. If they fought other nations without fighting these seven nations, it would have had no effect. Despite the strength and dominion that the Philistines boasted, they were not part of the mandate of dominion. The Philistines were not a representation of the everlasting heights that the Isrealites were to overcome. God knew Israel would not be victorious if those nations were still standing.
5. The Israelites would not have been empowered to bring these nations down without the blessing of the Lord upon them (Deut. 7:2). As such, it is not by power nor by might; no man shall prevail by strength (1 Sam. 2:9; Zech. 4:6). The promised land is not the land of children; it is the land of fathers. Therefore, it takes a fatherly stature to inhabit the land. The inhabitants of the land had lost their identities and were representing Satan completely; they became dead nations. As such, only the 'living' could take the land. Thus, Israel had to get to the land when they were living. That was why it was called the "land of the living".
6. When God set Adam on the land (in Eden), He proclaimed the capacity for them to attain their full stature. All images have their stature. God blessed them so that they would get to their maximum stature, which is to be fruitful (Gen. 1:28). To be fruitful is to reach full stature or attain sonship; this is the manifestation God expects. Adam was a "son of God" (Luke 3:38) because there was an image of God he was manifesting, but there is also another "Son of God" that Adam could not manifest. To attain the stature of this Son of God is what it means to be in the "image of God" (Heb. 1:8).
7. Fathering is not just the ability to bring forth an offspring, rather, it is the ability to raise an offspring. God blessed Adam and Eve with the ability to father offsprings. Bringing forth offsprings was not the goal, rather, fruitfulness was the goal. To be fruitful, to multiply and to replenish the earth do not mean the same thing (Gen. 1:28). To fulfill the mandate of dominion, they had to be fruitful and come of full age. Adam needed to become a father and not just a progenitor in order to produce men after his kind.
8. The covenant of everlasting life made with Adam was broken in the first generation. He only gave birth to a son after his likeness, and it was after the fall. Adam did not attain the full age designed for man before the fall; that was why God picked up the covenant with Abraham. God was trying to release something that would make it difficult for the forces of hell and death to stay on the land. God first made a covenant with Abraham, but there was a need to enter another covenant based on the everlasting covenant (Gen. 17:1-2).
9. The new covenant is the everlasting covenant; this is the writing of laws in the hearts and minds. This is done in the land of the fathers, not in their own land. The new covenant is not the first covenant. God can only be the God of those who have the everlasting covenant written on their hearts. The new covenant would make Abraham fruitful because he could not multiply without being fruitful. It was a covenant of fruitfulness, which is the covenant of attaining full age. Abraham already had God’s first covenant (Gen. 17:4), but he needed the second covenant to be a father according to God’s definition of fatherhood. It is only a father who can carry God's image.
10. “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” (Gen. 17:7). God only made that covenant with Abraham because Abraham had the capacity to bear a seed. That seed is Christ. Christ is the first father that God generated from Abraham. Abraham is a father and Christ is also a father. Though Christ is a Son, He begins the making of fathers according to the heavenly order (Isa. 9:6). If Christ is not a father, then He would not have a dominion/kingdom (Eph 5:5). The Son’s full stature of sonship carries three Fathers – Christ, the Father and God. To have dominion means to be a father that can generate other fathers.
11. (Gen. 17:8-12). The covenant of God with Abraham demanded that every man-child in his household be circumcised. The covenant was needed for them to take all the land. One who will beget the man-child must be a father. Such a child has the future of becoming a man, and will not stop until he becomes a full-fledged man. The circumcision being carried out from the eighth day means that there is a stature needed to make a man. “Eighth day” is what has been approved for a Christ-man to emerge. The reason for circumcision is fatherhood. A man whose foreskin has been removed has lost confidence in the flesh. Such a man has become Christ and can glory in God alone (Phil. 3:3). However, this man would need more years of journeying to become a father.
12. (Luke 2:40). Jesus must have made a covenant with God as a child. The grace of God was upon Him because He was fulfilling the eighth day. Though He was not yet a man, He was a man-child. Being a man-child begins with Christ. At age 12, Jesus had become Christ and had also begun to attain some levels of fatherhood. We see Him discussing with doctors in the temple – reasoning with them at a high pedigree. This is what Jesus said when His parents found Him at some point, “...wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?” (Luke 2:49). This was the first phase of Jesus being a father. After that, He went home and submitted Himself unto them because the time of His manifestation had not yet come. All Christ-men served their masters and obeyed their parents. “Christs” are those who will not seek their own.
13. Luke 2:52 tells us of a higher level of fatherhood Jesus came into. His revelation at Jordan was the last phase of learning to become the everlasting Father. In the previous stages, Jesus did not destroy any image outside but those within. Children cannot deal with images, but sons can. A son is a father. God does not beget children but sons who are fathers. The last stage of fatherhood that Jesus moved into was to be fathered in the image of His Father (Jn. 5:17-18). For that to happen, He lost every right of His (Jn. 5:19). This kind of Son is an everlasting Father who would later journey to become an eternal Father.
14. “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.” (Jn. 5:21). The Son had relinquished His will into the Father’s business. The Father’s business is strictly raising the dead and quickening them. The dead are replicas of images. The Father is engaged with constructing a new land within men – one that will make them living beings. We see this clearly towards the end of Jesus’ ministry on earth; miracles reduced while speakings dominated. The highest expression of God the Father is 'speaking'.
15. Taking the land is a blessing meant for us and our children. However, our children will not necessarily take the same route we did because they would ride on the covenant of their fathers. If a father walks faithfully in a covenant, it is expected that his children would follow likewise, just like God said concerning Abraham (Gen. 18:19). Covenants are sacred entities. Thus, we must be careful when we are 'cutting' the covenant of life and peace, and also of everlasting life because our children will see that life and be bound to it. They are the ones who would deal the real blow against the adversary because the covenant will be transferred to them as an everlasting covenant for their generation.
16. Covenants are generational. A generation can access the first covenant and enter into the second. However, those who will do the second covenant well are the children who were born by fathers of the first covenant. God is raising fathers who would be holders of the everlasting covenant; this is for the sake of the children. The everlasting covenant is meant for sons, which is the generation of fathers that come after fathers; and raising such a generation takes time because God needs to prove them.
17. Covenant is about obtaining names. Everything about the gospel of Jesus culminates in obtaining names. Every time one finishes a syllabus, such a one obtains a name. Jesus obtained many names (Philip. 2:9; Rev. 3:12). The strength of the antichrist is that he propagates his dominion by men bearing his name. Those who are free from him are those who are free from his image, his mark, and the number of his name (Rev. 15:2).
18. What God wants us to become calls for great responsibility. We are engaged in the heavenly “business centre”, which is an age-long business. Heaven is more serious now than ever before. We are going to see a stronger generation arise from this company – one whose strength is determined by the height we attain today. The path of Eternal Life is the path that God, who cannot lie, has set for us (Tit. 1:2).