January 2006
The chart called "God's Orchestrated Plan of Love for Mankind" was introduced last month, as part of The Ezekiel wheel Project, to show the intention of God since creation to connect His heavenly throne to His people. His finished work of grace anchors those who believe in Jesus Christ to His heavenly Sanctuary. May you realize the many creative possibilities, because of your divine connection to God's abounding love this wonderful New Year.
A Heavenly View
One of my purposes is to help you envision the reality of God's love with the aid of charts. It has been said that "a picture is worth a thousand words." They can remain in the mind when all else is forgotten. Be still, people who aren't Christians can't understand these truths form God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them because only those who have the Spirit can understand what the Spirit means. 1
As Christians, we are encouraged by the Apostle Paul "...to seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth." 2 I believe the Lord gives me these charts in order to help explain a truth. It has also been said that "a pound of illustration, is worth a ton of explanation."
Many times in the Word of God, a vision describes what the man of God sees in "like", rather than how it "is". This doesn't make his vision any less a reality. The spiritual world is real. The problem is the world of sin around us being so real that we doubt the spiritual world shining around us.
Imagination vs. Reality
A recent Daily Bread (RBC Ministries) shared how David declared the Lord to be his Rock, Fortress, Shield, Horn of Salvation and Stronghold. 3 The author explained, "David was thinking of physical elements that convey spiritual realities. Each picture expresses a deeper thought, linking the visible world to the invisible real of the Spirit. David doesn't wander into definition and explanation, for explanation can blunt imagination. Each picture is left hanging in our minds -- images that evoke mystery, arouse our imagination, and deepen our understanding." I must warn you to be very careful not to define God's truth as imaginations, when in fact His truth is reality.
A.W. Tozer explains in his book The Pursuit of God, imagination is different than the word reckon, which means "count it to be." He says, "This does not mean to visualize or imagine. Imagination is not faith. The two are not only different from, but stand in sharp opposition to, each other. Imagination projects unreal images out of the mind and seeks to attach reality to them. Faith creates nothing; it simply reckons upon that which is already there."
One other point Brother Tozer makes: "...we must avoid the common fault of pushing the "other world" into the future. It is not future, but present. It parallels our familiar physical world and the door between the two worlds are open. "Ye are come," says the writer of Hebrews (and the tense is plainly present), "...unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." 4
A.W. Tozer continues, "...And [the reality of Mt. Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem] is not by any trick of the imagination but is downright actuality. The soul has eyes with which to see and ears with which to hear. Feeble they may be from long disuse, but by the life-giving touch of Christ, they are now alive and capable of sharpest sight and most sensitive hearing."
More Than An Imagination
Be assured that our connection to God's throne is more than an imagination. It is not left up to our imagination that God: 1) Walked in relationship with Adam and Eve in the garden, 2) Communicated His law personally to Moses on Mt. Sinai, 3) Counseled the children of Israel in the wilderness tabernacle, 4) Dwelt among us through His Son on Earth, 5) Placed our sins on Christ at the cross, 6) Made us new creations through Christ's resurrection, 7) Manifests His righteousness, peace and joy through our lives today, by the Holy Spirit, and 8) That Christ will return for His Bride [the Church] and judge the world.
All these events and more are absolute realities. When Isaiah saw the LORD'S train filling the temple in Isaiah chapter 6, it was not an imaginary thing. He actually saw God's throne with seraphim flying about, crying: "Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory" (vs.1-3). He actually saw a seraphim fly to him with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the alter, and felt the angel lay it upon his mouth (vs. 6,7).
The focus of Isaiah was on the reality of God's throne, unlike the children of Israel as they followed the wilderness tabernacle. Though God's cloud by day and fire by night led them, they lusted after the imaginations of their heart. They remembered all the fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic they used to eat for free in Egypt, becoming dissatisfied with God's daily manna. This is an example for us to "...cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."5
The Reality of God's Throne
The purpose of The Ezekiel Wheel Project, presented in past articles, was to connect you to the reality of God's throne. The focus has been upon the Apostle John's vision of God's throne as presented in Revelation, chapters 4 and 5. The vision is signified by God's angel, which is the revelation of Jesus Christ. 6
God's throne or His Sanctuary in heaven is real. God first mentions it to Moses when He asks him to build a sanctuary on earth pattered after the Sanctuary in heaven. 7As a place of worship, it is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: "Be sure that you make everything according to the design I have shown you here on the mountain." 8
The book of Hebrews confirms the fact that the Heavenly Sanctuary has a real veil, where our Forerunner, Jesus Christ, has entered ahead and anchored us behind it. 9Jesus Christ has saved us to the uttermost, and He is higher than the heavens above us. 10 Jesus, our High Priest, sad sown in the place of highest honor in heaven at God's right hand. There He ministers in the sacred tent, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands. 11 He has been given a ministry that is far superior to the ministry of those who serve under the old laws, for He is the one who guarantees for us a better covenant with God, based on better promises. 12
The Sanctuary in heaven is as real as the earthly sanctuary which describes it. 13However, the Heavenly Sanctuary is greater and more perfect. 14 Christ entered the Heavenly Sanctuary with His blood to purge our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. 15 Christ has entered heaven itself to appear now before God as our Advocate. He did not go into the earthly place of worship, for that was merely a copy of the real Temple in heaven. 16
For us today, it is the throne of grace where we obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 17 We can spiritually enter heaven's Most Holy Place boldly because of the blood of Jesus. This is the new, life-giving way that Christ has opened up through the sacred curtain, by means of His death. Since we have a great High Priest who rules over God's people, let us go right into the presence of God, with true hearts fully trusting Him. For our evil consciences has been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. Without wavering, let us hold rightly to the hope we have, for God can be trusted to keep His promises. 18
Where Is Your Faith
The Children of Israel had a promise of receiving a land flowing with milk and honey. But when they arrived, they could not enter the Promised Land because of unbelief. 19 The Good News -- that God has prepared a place of rest -- has been announced to us just as it was to them. It did them no good because they didn't believe what God told them. Only we, who believe, can enter God's place of rest. 20The word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are.21
The problem of many Christians is Spiritual immaturity. This world has so clouded our hearts that we can not see the reality of heaven. The writer of Hebrews said they were like babies who drink only milk and can not eat solid food. A person who is living on milk isn't very far along in the Christian life and doesn't know much about doing what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who have trained themselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong and then do what is right. 22
Brother Tozer says: "As we begin to focus upon God, the things of the Spirit will take shape before our inner eyes. Obedience to the word of Christ will bring an inward revelation of the Godhead. 23 It will give acute perception enabling us to see God even as is promised to a pure heart. A new God-consciousness will seize upon us and we shall begin to taste and hear and inwardly feel God, who is our life and our all. There will be seen the constant shining of "the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." 24 More and more as our faculties grow sharper and more sure, God will become to us the great All, and His presence the glory and wonder of our lives.
Let us hear from you if these Ezekiel Wheel Project articles have ministered to your heart.
A Prayer For You...
O God, bring to life every power within me, that I may lay hold of eternal things. Open my eyes that I may see; give me acute spiritual perception; enable me to taste Thee and know that Thou art good. Make heaven more real to me than any earthly thing has ever been. Amen.
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