COME UP HITHER!” I have no desire to take away your “blessed hope,” but would point you to a blessed reality for the here and now! As Christ in this hour comes to us in and by the Spirit to lift our inner-man nature up into the fullness of union in Him, we certainly do experience a rapture — believe me! While the word “rapture” is not to be found in scripture, there are other words and expressions that bear the same or similar meaning. Paul told the Ephesians, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us up together… in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-6). This passage says that God H-A-S RAISED US UP TOGETHER WITH CHRIST. Paul told the Thessalonians that the saints would be “caught up together” to meet the Lord in the air (I Thes. 4:16-17). It should not be difficult for any spiritual mind to see that in both cases the apostle is speaking of the same blessed experience! In both cases we are elevated to a higher plane in Christ, and with Him. There is a glorious company of these “caught up” ones! It is a wonderful place of rest, glory, revelation, wisdom, and power far above the beggarly elements of this world. Reba McMurry told of the little boy swimming in the pool who said to another, “Come on in, the water’s fine.” So I say to you who are dwelling in the earthlies, in the low lands of carnal mindedness, tossed by the storms of life, beset by problems, trials, difficulties, hindered by the flesh and the world, manipulated and controlled by the carnal religious systems of man, “Come on up higher — there is a wonderful realm above of peace, joy, victory, blessedness, power, and the mind of Christ!” The preachers love to proclaim that Jesus is coming to “rapture the saints to heaven” or to “catch His waiting bride away.” But the word of God never says that! When the Bible speaks of being “caught up” or invites us to “come up hither” it is not speaking in terms of miles or light-years away. Let us consider the experience of the apostle Paul’s friend (this was not Paul Himself, as many erroneously assert!). Paul relates it this way. “It is not expediate for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one CAUGHT UP TO THE THIRD HEAVEN. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) how that he was CAUGHT UP INTO PARADISE, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities” (II Cor. 12:1-5). Where did this friend of Paul’s go? Physically, his body went nowhere! This was a spiritual experience! But he was “caught up” to the third heaven. And when he was caught up into God’s glory, he was actually right here on the earth. He never left the ground for a minute! And thus it is in this hour for all of God’s elect people! So completely overwhelmed was he, so utterly were his faculties under the control of the Holy Spirit, that he was not sure whether he was “in the body, or apart from the body.” God carried him into that realm of life known as paradise, the third heaven. Heaven is not a location! Heaven is a realm of Spirit in which we touch, experience, and know God. The first heaven corresponds to the Outer Court of the Tabernacle and brings us to the brazen altar where Christ the Lamb is slain for us, giving to us His life. This is our initial “salvation” experience where we know the joy of sins forgiven and reconciliation to God. There is also the laver, representing the washing of the water of the word, or the word of God that begins to cleanse our walk upon earth. The second heaven corresponds to the second realm of the Tabernacle, the Holy Place, wherein dwells the candlestick, the table of showbread, and the golden altar of incense. We enter the door of this dimension through the baptism in the Holy Spirit which ushers us into this second supernatural heaven in Christ where the Holy Spirit fills us and becomes the light of our life, as the oil fills the candlestick and gives light to the Holy Place. Here we begin to be illuminated by the Spirit, as the Spirit reveals Christ to us and we become aware of heavenly and spiritual realities. It is there we truly partake of the bread of God, and the word begins to be made flesh within us. Then we are able to offer up the incense of spiritual prayer, praise, and worship unto God! The man of whom Paul wrote had already ascended spiritually into the first two heavens in regeneration and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. But now “in spirit” the Lord carried him for a brief moment into that realm of life, that dimension of glory, that third heaven of HIS FULLNESS, typified by the Shekinah Glory of God beyond the veil in the Holiest of all. For this man it was but for a moment, yet this third heaven of God’s fullness is the inheritance of every manifest son of God! Moffatt’s translation says, “In the body or out of the body? I do not know. I simply know that in the body or out of the body (God knows which) this man was caught up into paradise and heard sacred secrets which no human lips can repeat.” The glory, majesty, and power of the third heaven cannot be described by human lips! You cannot explain the glory of manifest sonship to sinful ears or to religious ears! It is not given to them to understand the mysteries of this kingdom! The third heaven must be experienced, for it cannot be told! In this marvelous experience it was not important for this man to know whether or not his body was caught up into that higher realm. He knew he was there! The real man, the inner man, the new man, the new creation, the Christ man, the spiritual body was there! He had entered into the realm of full sonship, the throne realm, the incorruptible, immortal, omniscient, omnipotent sphere of kingdom dominion! And he knew that in God’s due time he would have an abundant and permanent entrance into that realm of glory, by the resurrection power of Christ within, CAUGHT UP. In the Outer Court we die with Christ at the brazen altar. In the Holy Place we are quickened together with Christ by the indwelling of His life. In the Holiest of all we ascend, are caught up with Him into all His glorious fullness and eternal reality!
Posted on: Sun, 01 Sep 2013 23:18:06 +0000
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