MANASSEH “Of the tribe of Manasseh were sealed twelve thousand” (Rev. 7:6). The name Manasseh means “Causing me to forget.” “And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On bare unto him. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house” (Gen. 41:50-51). Joseph had passed through many painful experiences with his family in the land of Canaan, but now God had so blessed and exalted him that the pain had been erased from his memory. Forgetting is a wonderful mechanism! God causes us to forget all the pain of the struggles, warfare, trials, and tribulations of the journey we have traveled into the fullness of God. He causes us to forget the mistakes, the embarrassments, the weaknesses, failures, and sorrows of the flesh realm and the bondage of corruption. And He causes us to forget immediately following the wrestling in the tribe of Naphtali where finally we get our hind’s feet! Isn’t it wonderful! It is a natural thing to feel bad when we miss God, when we make a wrong choice, and do the wrong thing, but we never have to feel condemned! We simply have to turn away from it and know that God loves us, He is not against us, He is not “out to get us,” in fact, He ordained the very thing which we perceive as a mistake or a wrong choice — He arranged it in our experience to teach us His ways! He always comes to help us to get up and press on in Him! Every son of God is learning this great sovereignty of our Father and His unconditional love! Oh, how hard this is to believe, and the natural mind can’t believe it, but we can believe it from the deepest recesses of our being, in our spiritual man. GOD IS NOT CONDEMNING YOU! That doesn’t mean He condones and winks at and overlooks everything we think, say, and do, but His great heart of compassion freely forgives us and rises up within us to bring forth His victory. It is only the carnal mind that falls under the accusations and the condemnation and the guilt of sin-consciousness. The carnal mind is enmity against God and always thinks God is against it! As soon as we cry out to the Lord for mercy and strength He pours His healing ointment upon us and begins to flow in us by His presence and power. He wipes all the tears from our eyes! He appoints to each of His called and chosen elect that mourn and travail in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that we might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified ((Isa. 61:3). He washes us, cleanses us, flushing away all the old Adamic consciousness of sin, guilt, fear, and condemnation, establishing within us the consciousness only of the new creation man which is created after His image. There is a further consideration concerning this great truth of “forgetting.” Biologists have discovered that there are two tiny glands at the back of the brain of the caterpillar which secrete a growth hormone. These glands control his growth as a worm and his larval life. It is when these two glands shrivel and cease to yield their life-giving flow that the caterpillar begins to die and the butterfly begins to form. This is most enlightening when spiritually applied to the renewing of the mind! This is a wonderful discovery, and I cannot help but believe that these two glands figure in some mysterious and divine way the carnal mind which gives motivation to the natural man. When we apply the fact of the existence of two glands instead of one, we see an amazing picture of the duality of the carnal mind — the knowledge of good and evil, and the law of sin and death. If you long, dear one, to be metamorphosed into the image of the heavenly, then “PUT OFF concerning the former manner of life the OLD MAN, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and BE RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT OF YOUR MIND; and PUT ON the NEW MAN, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24). It is an amazing fact that there is an active force, the secretion of a new hormone which appears in the brain of the caterpillar at the precise time when the two glands controlling the larval life cease to function. It is this new hormone which actually causes the metamorphosis from the chrysalis stage to the butterfly. In other words, both the death of the caterpillar and the formation of the butterfly begin in the creature’s mind! The death of the caterpillar is effected by the cessation of a hormone from two glands in the brain, and the formation of the butterfly is caused by the secretion of a new hormone from another process in the brain. In the light of these remarkable circumstances it is most significant that the apostle Paul by inspiration wrote, “Be ye transformed (metamorphosed) BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND!” All our lifetime we have been subject to the bondage of corruption and death which is rooted in the carnal mind. Ah — “to be carnally minded IS DEATH” (Rom. 8:6). That is God’s own definition of death, and according to inspiration death is IN T-H-E M-I-N-D! “It’s all in your mind,” they say, and though it may be spoken in jest, it is a wondrous and divine truth, nonetheless. In the same chapter a truth is introduced showing that the transformation of the body begins with the renewing of the mind, for, says the apostle, “to be spiritually minded IS LIFE…” (Rom. 8:6). Ah — life, also, is in the MIND! And he continues,, “If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also QUICKEN YOUR MORTAL BODIES BY HIS SPIRIT WHICH DWELLETH IN YOU” (Rom. 8:11). If ever a reason was given for a change of mind, a change of thinking, a raising of consciousness, this must be it: “Be ye metamorphosed BY the renewing of your mind!” It is the termination of the old way of thinking — the carnal consciousness of sin and death, viewing ourselves as just human, natural men, with all the Adamic condition of weakness and limitation — and the activation of a new way of thinking — the spiritual consciousness of our true identity and life in Christ which brings the change, and completes the change until our transformation into the heavenly state of being is consummated in spirit, soul, and body. Make no mistake about it! Paul declares forthrightly that this transformation, this change, this metamorphosis begins with the casting off of the corrupt and carnal mind which carries the mentality of sin and death, and replacing it with the mind of Christ which is the mind of incorruption, life, virtue, and glory! We have heard a great deal about this corruptible putting on incorruption and this mortal putting on immortality. We have embraced many theories about how this would be accomplished, but in one majestic sweep of inspiration the apostle brushes aside all theories to tell us plainly and decisively that we shall be transformed BY THE RENEWING OF OUR MIND! Mind means thought, intellect, reason, sense, thinking principle. Thought is thinking! The renewing of the mind means the renovation, reconstitution, reprogramming, of our thought patterns and processes. The old mind, carnal and human as it is, is always thinking thoughts of sin and death! It leaves us mortal, corruptible, and unchanged. The new mind is the mind of Christ! To have the mind of Christ means to assume the identity of Christ, for the mind of Christ knows that it IS CHRIST. My natural mind knows that I am the flesh and blood man J. Preston Eby with all his human condition. My spiritual mind, however, knows that I am Christ, that is my true identity, for it is not I, but Christ who lives in me! The mind of Christ is the intellect, the thought patterns, the thinking principles of Him who has conquered within Himself both sin and death and abides forever in the life and immortality of the celestial! The mind of Christ is a transforming mind! It renews not only the mind, but the whole being and identity as well — soul and body. Our minds, our thinking, is being raised from the level of the natural, carnal, earth-bound minds we were born with, and is being spiritualized. This is not an instant change, it is not attained with one grand leap, but a continuous renewal as we hear the voice of the Spirit as He unfolds within us the mind and thoughts of God. These are thoughts of love, of righteousness, of life and light and power and incorruption and glory which transform us into the very image of God! As we wait in holy reverence in our heavenly Father’s divine presence He teaches us how to think out of our divinity instead of our humanity! When we think like God we act like God. When we act like God we become like God. When we become like God we are the sons of God. It is indeed wonderful! Paul speaks not only of the “spirit of life” but also the “law of the spirit of life.” He says that the law of the spirit of life is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:2). The law of the spirit means the nature, consciousness, and function of the spirit. It is the way the spirit is! Every life has a certain nature, consciousness, and function. The higher the life, the loftier its nature, consciousness, and function. For example, our youngest son, in his teen years, was a lover of hamsters. He had a hamster which from the time of its birth had never eaten anything but hamster food. One day he gave it an insect. Immediately, the hamster bit off the insect’s head and then proceeded to eat it. Now this unique action of biting off the insect’s head before eating it is a feature of the “instinct” of the animal. It is in his nature, a part of his innate consciousness. Though you breed countless generations of hamsters, and not one of them ever sees an insect, the moment you give one of those distant descendants an insect he will promptly bite off its head and then eat it. He requires no training whatever! This is the LAW of its life — its inherent nature, consciousness, and function. Nature abounds with millions of examples of this law of life-consciousness. Everything is what it is and acts as it acts out of its CONSCIOUSNESS! The life of our spirit is the life of God Himself, which is the highest life form in the universe! Therefore, it is the richest in consciousness! The life within us, when quickened (activated) by regeneration, causes us to be full of divine consciousness, and this consciousness is the consciousness of INCORRUPTIBLE LIFE. The law of life within us is this consciousness. So — as we put off the carnal mind which is filled with the consciousness of sin and death, and are renewed in our mind into the mind of Christ which is the consciousness of righteousness and life, our spirit, soul, and body will become infused with not only the life of God, but also with the law of divine life, and we will walk in righteousness instead of sin — and we will think the thoughts of incorruption and immortal life instead of corruption and death! As soon as we are regenerated and are awakened to the life of God within, this law of life produces within us divine consciousness. Our responsibility is to obey this newly activated law of life, thus thinking and acting out of the consciousness of life rather than death. In the beginning, the consciousness of this law of life may be comparatively weak and infrequent. Yet — as we learn to obey the very first impulses of this law of life, though it be weak, the consciousness following will become stronger and stronger. In this way the law of life can work within us in ever-increasing measures and power until it reaches every part of our whole being. In this way the life within us is enabled to expand outward and increase in depth and height until all corruption is swallowed up into life in every fiber of our being! This is Christ raised up in us in the power and glory of His sonship! Few believe that the spiritual body can be put on here and now even as we stand upon our feet. Do you? Can you believe it is possible for you to be changed, transformed, metamorphosed in your whole man here in this life? And, since you cannot by any natural process perform this for yourself, are you willing and ready to come under the deep secret law of letting the mind of Christ cancel out the carnal mind, of letting the law of life nullify the law of sin and death in the secret chambers of your consciousness? Within the cramped cocoon which swings through the winter gale on the branch of a tree, a mighty transformation is taking place! Be still — all of a sudden the shell cracks, the cocoon gives way, the folded form stretches itself out of its cramped position, and limbers itself up with joy. In its new consciousness it does naturally what it has never done before, the former things have passed away, and with them all their limitations. The worm can fly! It is the law of its life! And the law of your life, precious friend of mine, is to know and live and demonstrate the full capacity of HIM who is within you THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE! Now here is the mystery of it all. The butterfly has been caused to forget that it was ever a caterpillar! God causes us to forget! The Adamic mind and nature is being put off by the renewing of our mind! The day is coming, my beloved, when we will no more remember when it was or what it was like to walk in the old human consciousness of the natural man, any more than the caterpillar can remember once being a worm. Little by little and day by day God is causing us to forget the things which are behind and to press forward into the glory that lies before! Oh, yes! This is what happens when we are sealed in the tribe of Manasseh — it is there that our mind is renewed and we are caused to forget! That is the spiritual characteristic of the tribe of Manasseh. Isn’t it wonderful!
Posted on: Sat, 15 Jun 2013 15:07:25 +0000
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