Man, in his fallen state, like the former earth, is without form (order) and void. Meaning that darkness also covers the mind, the soul of fallen man, but the Holy Spirit hovers over him to bring order out of his chaos. When creation became disorderly because of the adversaries fall, God’s first divine command began the process of transforming the chaos back into His divine order. Gen. 1:3, “Then God said, let there be light; and there was light”. Light is the presence of illumination in general, so, as the light of God enters the spirit of man, this light begins the restoration process of bringing man’s soul back from chaos to life and finally to completion, the restoration his body.
In the process of man becoming God’s likeness and image, He planted a garden wherein He put the man to live. Within the garden God also planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as well as the tree of life. While the tree of life associates with experiencing the life of God, including immortality, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents self-rule and assumes independence from God. That is, becoming your own god, in all areas of life. Gen. 2:9, “And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”.
The appetite is the God given part of man’s makeup that entices the eater, for the nourishment needed, to continue in the life cycle of his God given existence. As the world of physical science has told us, we are what we eat. This principle is that which God established in His desire for humanity to mature into the type of vessel that God purposed for each man to become. Truth shows us that according to that part of the environment of this world we partake of, it is what we become. As we eat or consume the mind-set, the knowledge that this fallen world propagates we become the manifestation of that fallen world. However, by eating and consuming that which is of Christ Jesus’ world, we become the manifestation of His world.
Proverbs 23:7a declares, “For as he [man] thinks in his heart [soul], so is he”. What is in our hearts? That which we assimilate into our minds, the knowledge received is usually that which the desire of our heart becomes. For this cause, Jesus declares unto the disciples. John 6:53-54, “Then Jesus said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day”. (Read John 6:48-58). Understand that to eat the flesh of Jesus and to drink His blood is pointing to the spiritual activity of receiving Him.
The eating and drinking of Christ’ flesh and blood points to the necessity of believers partaking of the benefits of His death by coming to Him and believing in Him. Nevertheless, this is also speaking of the need to go beyond the initial coming to Him for forgiveness of past sins. It speaks of being joined to God and receiving of all the benefits of His life. Jesus Christ is the covenant sacrifice and is God’s provision for our daily sustenance. When we feed on Him through faith, we become partakers of His divine nature, which is life eternal. Through the Holy Spirit’s work, we receive His life and partake of His promises. That same Holy Spirit is rising up within those who share in the mystery of receiving and having a relationship with Christ.
God, the great I Am, is the master chef. He has prepared a diet for His people that not only places them upon a heavenly pathway, but also sustains them throughout the entire journey. Matt. 4:4, “But He answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”. Yielding to natural desires is that which causes us to partake of this fallen world’s mind-set or its diet. But this mind-set can be overcome by the supernatural strength that man receives through receiving and using God’s word as revealed by the Holy Spirit. God’s word sustains our place of victory as we continue to walk upon this pathway to the heavens, the spirituals of God. Death, the pathway of this fallen world becomes defeated, as the whole man becomes a vessel full of light. What does this mean? It means that darkness; unable to comprehend the light must flee before the light. It means that darkness does not gain control of the light when light is received and submitted unto.
Thus, receiving the Christ, the light of God into our spirit enlightens us to know Christ Jesus spirit to spirit. This, God’s purpose, is that man is to know Him through revelation and God Himself completes the maturing of the whole yielded man (spirit, soul and body). Therefore, as we eat of the diet God sets before us, from the Holy Spirit filled spirit of man, it progressively renews the soul (mind, will, emotion and desires). From the soul, throughout the entire body, light and life consumes the whole man including the body. Matt. 6:22 declares, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye be single [not doubled minded], you whole body will be full of light”. Being full of light gives one a life of meaning and purpose while darkness gives one a life without true meaning or purpose. Darkness is a life that is selfish, covetous, and miserly, one that is without true contentment or satisfaction.
We, His people, abide in the Fathers good will as we abide in His love. While He not only places us upon the pathway to the heavens, He also supplies all the supplements needed to enable us to walk this path. He gives light and life; He makes available His revealed word and by eating of the tree of life, we mature in His love. John 5:20, “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does, and He will show Him greater works than these that you may marvel”.
Remember that Jesus prayed for us that we might be one in Him even as He and the Father are one. (Read John 17th chapter) Thus, the requirement in walking the pathway to the heavens is, do not live independent of the Father. Jesus understood this, because He and the Father are one, He did only what His Father showed Him. It is in the Father to always show His obedient ones a more excellent way. This excellent way or path is the pathway of love, for love is the ultimate issue behind all things of God.
Herein, because of love, we can walk this pathway to the heavens. Its basic principle is interdependence, a knowing that I cannot do it alone, a knowing that we need God the Father in all things. The goal of interdependence is to reflect the unity of the body of Christ during its diversity. God has gifted different parts of the body to build up the whole. As the body functions in the way God intends, He uses it to draw alienated people to Jesus Christ. While interdependence is difficult to develop in a culture that insist on its independent ways and rights, we, Gods people, are to minister reconciliation to dependency in Christ. The ministry of reconciliation is the results of a people who forsake the ways of a fallen world and pursue the ways of the heavens. So, in considering this, what world or path does your feet walk upon?
By consuming the things of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we manifest a life-style that reveals deathly corruption and mortality in all we do and are. By consuming the fruit of the tree of life, we manifest a life-style that reveals God-life and immortality. With Paul the apostle, we declare that the pathway to the heavens is a walk, an exercising of the proper diet to the fulfilling of Philippians 3:10-11, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead”. We must want Christ for Christ’s sake, not our own selfish reasons. We are to become lovers of God, not users of God. Our pursuit is to know Christ, fulfilling our journey in truly becoming one with Christ. (Read 1 Cor. Chapter 13). Love exercised is a walking upon the pathway to the heavens, knowing our dwelling place is in Christ and Him alone.
Duane Stewart
duanestewart70@aol.com
www.avoiceforthegatheringsaints.org