The Ephesians Story (Part 7)

Continued from Part 6 –

…a tombstone with God’s name on it. He was there to squeeze the life out of God, and the eternal aspect of you would have died. And God was there to end the only enemy He’s got, the only one you’ve got, the only one that could possibly end this business of you being in Christ before the foundation of the world and in Christ throughout all eternity and all time, right up till the grave.

We talk a lot about the crucifixion, but we forget that grave. That grave is just as important as the crucifixion and the resurrection. The earth was not shaking for no reason at all. What was at stake was God’s life, and you were in there. I’m going to do it again. They battled. The devil looked at that and said, “I’m no match for that battle.” Sin looked at that and said, “I’m no match for that battle.” And death and God, not good and evil, but life and death, struggled. You and God were at stake, and life won, and death died. Death be not proud, for in that day death died.

Now you say, “I’m going to die someday.” That’s already over with. God’s clock runs backwards. And out of the mercies of His glory and the glory of His mercies and the treasure of His infinite ways. He came out of the dead. He emerged right through the middle of His blackness, and He came out, and you know, something, He was feeling great. He had put His last enemy under His feet, and you came out with His life that had risen from the dead. There’s nothing that can touch you. Now that is actually your future, but it happened in the past. It’s also your present, but it happened in the past. Someday I’m going to write a book entitled The Return, and now, you’re going to be blessed of all people, because you’re going to hear how it ends. Well, this is the next-to-last chapter. Michael is going to finally have the satisfaction of picking up Lucifer over his head, and he is going to throw Satan into the pit that burns forever. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to drag up a dead body whose name is death, and He’s going to pick Him up, raise Him over His shoulders, and He’s going to throw Him in the pit, and they’re going to crown Him Lord of lords and King of Kings. Hallelujah.

Now, dear saints, that’s what I read to you this morning. I’m going to dramatize it in words; I want you to watch it. There’s a dead body. The struggle’s going on. The victory’s won, and the Lord opens His eyes. “I’ve risen from death. I have conquered,” and you open your eyes, and He looks around and He knows He’s victor over them. You look around, and you know nothing can touch you, and He breaks out of the tomb with all the infinite power of God surging in Him. You break out of that tomb, and He comes forth in resurrected power, and you come forth in resurrected power. And that’s power.

Then He ascends. And as He does ascend, He passes Washington, DC, on His way up and Babylon and Rome and Caesar and Jerusalem and the Sanhedrin, and He ascends over them. He is over them. And you look around, and you are over them. Why can this happen? Cause why? You tell me why. Because we really are in Christ. Praise the Lord. Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord. We really are in God. We are in a fight here, here, here, and here. Isn’t this glorious? And He watches as all these are under His feet, and then He gets to the cloud and He sees an array of creatures with black swords and a beautiful creature of light and they don’t want Him to go any further because if He ascends over them then He is ascended over them and He is Lord over them and He gets into the clouds into the sky and they take one look at Him and they see the power of the resurrection working in Him and they throw down their swords. There is no match for this.

He begins to ascend a little higher, and you look down and you see them under His feet. And you ascend with Him above the principalities and the powers in heavenly places. And you, with Him, are exalted, and the ascension is exaltation. He is exalted, and you are exalted with Him. You are exalted on high, and then He breaks through into the eternals, where a door has been ripped off by the power of God and will never ever close again because of His glorious work on the cross. And He ascends through an open door, and cherubim cry in terror, and angels go out of their minds, and the throne, wow, awaits Him. And with angels half mad and some of them gone mad, He now ascends to the throne that is above earth and hell and the skies and the heavens and the heavenlies and the eternals. It stands on the roof of heaven, and it’s there awaiting Him. He steps to the throne, while everything glorious screams, beats, and jumps up and down, shouting ‘Hallelujah,’ and He who has killed death sits down on the throne because He doesn’t have anything left to do. It is finished. You look around, and you are seated with Him in glory. Praise His name. Hallelujah.

And that’s rest, sister, and if you don’t think you’ve come to rest, it’s because you don’t understand that God is crossed-eyed and time runs backwards and He sees the end at the beginning and the beginning at the end, and you have already come to rest. Now may the eyes of your spirits be enlightened that you may have a revelation of Jesus Christ and that you might see the unsearchable riches that He awaits to inherit: you, the holy ones, and now He is enthroned, and you are enthroned with Him, and sister, what’s your problem? You don’t have one; the only thing you need to understand is that clocks run backwards in the kingdom of God. All these things happened after the end of the ages and before the end of the ages and at Calvary, and you’re headed that way, and it’s already taken place. Gene, I don’t understand. You think I do? That out here in God, there is no time, and there is no space, and there is no dimension, and He was slain before the foundation of the world. He finished all things before He created all things, and He chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world and wrote your name in the book of life, before the foundation of the world. He did that before the foundation of the world, after the foundation of the world, during the foundation of the world, at the crucifixion, at the resurrection, because there is no time in Him.

It is an eternal now that reaches from one end of God to the other. It is an ever-ongoing accomplished fact. You have risen with Him. You have ascended with Him, and you have sat down on the throne beside the right hand of the Father with Christ. And if anybody is ever going to locate you, they’re going to have to go to the supernal, to the very center of the eternal and into the very vortex of God and His throne, because in the eyes of God, that’s where you are right now. Praise the Lord. And just for the record, that’s the Gospel that those illiterate Colossians received when they were new babies in Christ. Praise the Lord. Praise His name. Now, is this glory? Is it ever going to get any better than this? It is never going to get any better than this. Now I’m going to tell you a story. I don’t do this very often, but I think I’ll do it. Can I tell you a story? Last night, Jan and I drove back to Jan and Brad’s house, and I was sitting there in the car thinking about the message in the evening, and this happened.

Michael and Gabriel are standing at the door that has just been ripped down at the same moment that the curtains of the temple were ripped open when Jesus Christ said, “It’s finished.” Gabriel looks out through this gaping hole that will never close again, and the two cherubim, fierce cherubim, no way to describe them, the epitome of all terror, are standing there with no door to guard. But the sword is still blazing and turning in every direction, but still, they’ve got nothing to guard. They don’t know what to do. They’re out of a job. Michael and Gabriel are standing there, and Gabriel says, “What is that? I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.” Michael turns white. He says, “I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. I have never seen anything that holy from the beginning of my own creation.” And they just stand there dumbfounded. What is that, coming up the steps of glory? What is that? Exalta and Glore stand there and say, “What on earth is that, Gabriel?” “I don’t know, Michael. What is that? I don’t know. It’s getting closer. I think it’s headed this way. Have you ever seen anything so pure and holy? Not in all eternity. What does that come in this way?”

So, the angels begin getting the word that something’s happening here. The cherubim, who are terror, are beginning to be terrified. What is that? Whatever it is, it’s the purest, holiest light they have ever seen. What’s this? It’s getting closer and closer, and from within its glory and within its light, there comes a cry, “Don’t close the door. Here I come.” And Michael is terrified at this, and he cries out, “Recorder, come here. What is that?” And the Recorder says, “I don’t know, but call the assembly.” And the angels come from everywhere. Recorder, gaunt, and he’s never in doubt; he stares down at this brilliance that’s coming, this dazzling glory, this white purity, this holiness coming, and finally, he says, “I don’t know what it is. It’s somebody. That’s somebody from the fallen race of Adam, coming this way. That’s who that is.” And Glore says, “Nothing that fallen could ever be that holy and pure.” And Michael grabs your Recorder and says, “Don’t just stand there. Who is that?” Then Recorder says, “It’s the thief, and he’s coming this way.”