Words of comfort

Many of you have noticed by now that there is some overlap between the current series and what I wrote in The Wars of the Lord. In this series I have told some of the same stories with more details, and I have also paused many times to extract valuable lessons that can be learned. So these are not just stories, they are examples and illustrations for our learning. In fact, you should think of these as the manner in which God taught me the same principles.

Most of what I teach has been learned through experience as I have been led by the Spirit over a period of many years. I did my book learning in the 1970’s to gain foundations and to learn what other people were saying. But in the 1980’s I began to be led directly in this path that God set for me. Therefore, many things that I have learned are different from what others teach. We all have different experiences that should be shared with others for the benefit of the body as a whole.

My intention is to put all of these into a large hard-cover book at some point, rather than to separate them into smaller books. The main problem with this is that this is a never-ending story. With or without me, history moves on. The divine plan continues to unfold. No story is complete in itself in the big picture. God keeps adding to it and building upon older foundations. Patterns repeat periodically as if to expand our understanding of each underlying prophecy.

Growth in an Ever-Expanding Universe

Growth is continual, then, as we are led by the Spirit in our spiritual journey. Where does it end? That’s the point. It does not end, not even when we are fully mature and have been transformed into the image of Christ. Even our transformation and elevation to our calling and our position in the heavenly places is just the start of something new. We are being equipped in this life for our real mission in the ages to come. Paul recognized this when he said in Ephesians 2:6, 7,

⁶ and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

So we ought to view this present life as the time of being equipped, rather than as a life to be endured prior to retirement on a cloud with a harp. In fact, the God-given gift of the five-fold ministry in Ephesians 4:11,12 is this:

¹¹ And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teaching, ¹² for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.

On one level, this “work of service” is what we do here on earth during our lifetime, but in the bigger picture, there will be much “service” done in the ages to come. At the present time, we may have only a dim picture of what type of work will be done in the ages to come. Yet we know that the lessons of the present era are necessary for future ages as well.

In my view, most people do not learn much during their lifetime to equip them for the ages to come. That is probably why God will educate them further in the next life, and I doubt that this will ever end. God alone is omniscient and needs no continuing education. He keeps from being bored by creating new things and by teaching His children how to build things. We avoid boredom by learning new things and by participating in His building projects.

The Fruit Tree Project

On April 27 I reported on the “tree” that was bearing fruit after being planted four years ago in blessed soil.

https://old.godskingdom.org/blog/2021/04/report-on-the-second-passover-2021

On the Second Passover, April 26, 2021 the fruit inspectors found fruit on the tree, unlike what Jesus found in His first coming (Matthew 21:19).

The soil is blessed, the tree is fruitful, and the fruit is tasty.

The ground, which was cursed by unresolved bloodshed, has been blessed according to God’s instructions in Deuteronomy 21:1-9.

The laws of spiritual warfare in Deuteronomy 20:19, 20 tell us that fruitful trees cannot be chopped down in the course of warfare. Whereas the fig tree was chopped down in Matthew 21:19 for its lack of fruit, our tree at this end of the age is bearing fruit through the overcomers.

The fruit, too, is tasty and fit for consumption. Jeremiah 24:2 prophesies of two kinds of fruit. One basket has good fruit; the other has rotten fruit. Yet both were given to God as first fruits according to the instruction in Deuteronomy 26:1, 2. The condition of the fruit was determined by the hearts of the people, whether or not they would hear and obey the word of the Lord.

In Jeremiah’s day, the word was to submit to the judgment of God by submitting to the one whom God had raised up to rule the world system. The first was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (Jeremiah 27:6-8). Those who agreed with God’s judgments and submitted to the king of Babylon produced good fruit (Jeremiah 24:5, 6, 7). Those who had no respect for God’s judgment upon the nation could produce only rotten fruit (Jeremiah 24:8, 9, 10).

This is one of the issues that separates the overcomers from everyone else. The Kingdom tree in our time is currently an overcomer tree. The tree will expand later to include more people, as their faith and obedience grows. The point is that this tree was planted in good soil at the Second Passover in 2017; that it is now bearing fruit after four years; that we have now entered the fifth year and so we may all partake of it, according to the law in Leviticus 19:23, 24, 25.

Opposition

Those who oppose the Kingdom remain in disagreement with Christ. Hence, they have decided to oppose this Kingdom tree. They can no longer defile our “soil,” and they cannot reverse the declaration that the tree has borne fruit. But they are now trying to destroy the fruit on the tree so that we cannot eat the fruit of our labor.

A swarm of entities has been seen coming out of the abyss, spreading out over the earth. This is much like what we see in Revelation 9:1, 2, 3. It is not exactly the same today as it was in Revelation 9. It is instead a further step, an enhancement of this that is applicable to our time.

It is too early to tell what this means, but we do know that it is an attempt to overthrow the prophecy of Isaiah 27:6,

⁶ In the days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and sprout, and they will fill the whole world with fruit.

We ourselves declare in agreement with God that “all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord” (Numbers 14:21). No amount of opposition can stop this. The restoration of all things will happen in its appointed time. Opposition only delays things until the time appointed by the Father. God directs all such delays for His own purposes.

I do not know if (or how) the present opposition will affect things. It is too soon to know. Our revelation is yet partial. As usual, there are people who are called to walk out these patterns in their personal lives, and this takes time. We all have a vested interest in the outcome of these real-life patterns. I will keep you informed as I am able, but this new conflict is still unresolved.

My hope is that this will be resolved by the autumn feasts, when all the fruits of the land are gathered at the harvest. It may take a full summer of spiritual warfare to gain full victory. At this point, I simply do not know. I only know that God is able, that we are in agreement with Him, that the timing is right to eat good fruit, and that we are near the appointed time of harvest.

But why can't it just be easy for a change? As they say, "God grant me the love of Christ, the patience of Job, and the persistence of the devil."

Continue to pray “Thy Kingdom Come,” and continue to pray for those of us who are actively involved in this warfare. Pray that we will have good discernment and that God will reveal what we need to know at the proper times. The battle is real, but the victory is assured. So, as the Apostle Paul would say, “comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18).