Contending With The Oath of God by Daniel Yordy

January 2, 2011
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"For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, "Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you." And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us." Hebrews 6:13-18

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"Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him.

And He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks." But he said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!" So He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Jacob." And He said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel: for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed."

Then Jacob asked, saying, "Tell me Your name, I pray." And He said, "Why is it that you ask about My name?" And He blessed him there. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: "For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." Genesis 32

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"So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together.

"Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am." And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."

"Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided."

"Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son- blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." Genesis 22

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This is the final letter of my series on the Unveiling of Jesus Christ. It's not that I will depart the topic, everything in the heavens is focused on that reality right now. But I must complete the series. This letter is a topic I am hardly capable of addressing. It is the most holy and profound I have attempted to write about. The passages from Genesis that I include above are two of the most profound and holy scenes in all the Bible.

If you do not understand the truth I am sharing, that's fine, I hardly understand it myself. Yet it is from the throne of God and essential to the revelation of Christ our life. Simply hold it before the Lord that He might reveal its meaning as pertains personally to you in its time. This is what I have done with this particular word for 30 years, knowing that it was the critical truth of the birthing of the age to come.

Let me start where the writer of Hebrews ends this passage - the hope set before us.

God is very clear in the New Testament on exactly what this hope is. It has two parts. Paul says that the hope is the redemption of the physical body, that our present mortal body be swallowed up in life, that mortal must put on immortality and corruptible must put on incorruptibility. Paul said clearly that we do not have this thing, yet, that we hope and groan for the transformation of our body into life. At the same time, John said that our hope is that we are just like Him, conformed to His image.

The word of the gospel is that we are just like Him; the demonstration of the power of the gospel is the transformation of our physical body - the defeat of death. The gospel is both. Truth and power. Heavenly reality and earthly demonstration.

Our hope is that we are filled with all the fullness of God. Our hope is that rivers of living water flow out of us. Our hope is that all authority in heaven and earth is given to us to see the word God speaks triumph in visible reality in all things upon this earth. Our hope is the defeat of death. Our hope is the throne of God.

The writer of Hebrews says that we lay hold of this hope. Paul says that we lay hold of eternal life. That word is "to seize." Paul says in Philippians that we seize hold of that for which God seized hold of us. More than that, Hebrews says that we are fleeing for refuge, giving the clear picture of the Matrix, the world of deceit and vanity ruled by demons and operating under all the meaning of the curse. We break out of all that is less than all that God speaks, all that falls short of His glory.

More than that, the mechanism by which the truth of God becomes full reality through us in this earth, Hebrews shows, is the oath of God. Yet that oath of God does not sit there requiring us to be passive believers, "Someday God will make it all work out."

No. God says, "Prove me."

Of all the words I have ever heard preached from the throne of God, one that has gripped my heart with tensile strength is found in these words. "I will not let You go until You bless me."

"I will not let You go."

God swore an oath that He would fulfill His word in us in this earth. All that He speaks. To God, His Word was not enough. He wanted to give us more than His Word. How could there be more than God's Word? I have no idea, yet God thought it vital that He increase the power of His Word by committing Himself to a binding oath sworn against His own person.

Do you see how terrible the substitute of the serpent is, in turning this oath into nothing more than "the certainty of heaven after you die," when the New Covenant says no such thing, but speaks of something entirely different?

Jacob wrestled with God. He seized hold of God Himself and would not let Him go, even though God told him to let go. Jacob refused. "I will not let You go."

"I will not let you go!"

God, You're Word was not strong enough for You. God, you added an Oath spoken against Yourself, a binding unmovable Oath, that this thing is real in me. I will not let You go until You prove all the You say in my body of flesh.

"By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son - blessing I will bless you . . ."

And so we come to the heart of the matter. We come to the moment of transformation, the point at which the ring is cast into the fire, the moment that the accuser is cast down and the Kingdom of God comes through us in all power.

The unveiling of Jesus Christ. The apocalypse. The removal of the cover that hides the great and mighty work God has wrought in birthing His Heart inside of us.

Genesis 22 is the final passage from death into life, from in-part into all-fullness.

I read the words of this passage again and see that which is so holy and profound in every phrase, yet I cannot articulate with clarity how it applies to us right now. You might think, "Well, Yordy, how can you point us to truth that you cannot show?"

And I would agree with you.

Except.

"I will not let You go."

God cut the covenant with Christ upon the cross. That covenant was sealed by Christ with His blood and by God with His oath. When you and I were baptized in water, we entered into the terms of that covenant between the Father and the Son. It is not baptism that saves us, but rather the covenant that baptism signifies.

"That you might be filled with all the fullness of God."

"He that believes in me, out of his belly flow rivers of living water."

"He who overcomes sits with me in My throne, as I overcame and sit with My Father in His throne."

"For this mortal must put on immortality, and this corruptible must put on incorruptibility."

These are just some of the terms of that covenant. I tell you, we have no idea the extent of what these things mean in their literal and immediate application inside the gospel of Christ.

"Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God . . . that you may prove . . . the will of God."

Prove the will of God. That is the culmination of the gospel according to Paul. Prove the will of God in these bodies of mortal flesh.

"I will not let You go until You bless me."

Contend with God concerning His oath. He swore against Himself in a binding oath that He would fulfill all that He speaks in us in this life in this age on this earth. His Word cannot return to Him until it has accomplished all the purpose for which it was sent. Contend with Him concerning His oath. Seize hold of Him and do not let Him go.

"Be filled with all the fullness of God" was spoken into this earth. It cannot return to the Father until it is fulfilled. Contend with God concerning His oath.

"For this mortal must put on immortality" was spoken by God into this earth. That word cannot return to the Father until it is fulfilled. Contend with God concerning His oath.

Without faith it is impossible to please God.

And He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks." But he said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!"

"By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son."

Seize hold of God, grab Him by the middle and wrestle with Him, contend with Him concerning His oath and do not let go. Do we understand that Jacob won his struggle with God. God said, "You have wrestled with God and have prevailed." Jacob outwrestled God! And God gave him a new name. God transformed him through weakness. Jacob prevailed.

But Jacob was just a foreshadowing of us now upon whom the ends of the ages have come. We wrestle with God concerning His oath, sworn in the midst of Jesus' bloody body hanging upon the cross. "I will do this thing."

"Let God be true and every man a liar."

God says things in the New Covenant, many, many things, that I do not see fulfilled with my eyes. Job says in chapter 19:

25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;

26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,

27 Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!

I will see my Redeemer with my own eyes in this body of flesh!

"Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh." 2 Corinthians 4:10-11

"But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." Romans 8:11

I refuse to spiritualize this word in any way. To spiritualize it is to make the word of God of no effect. It is to settle for meaningless drivel, for fakery and pretending, for Christianity without power. I will not settle for anything less than all that God speaks fulfilled in all meaning in my mortal body, in my dying flesh.

God says that the greatest power in the universe is right now giving incorruptible, immortal life to my dying body. Do I feel it? No. Do I see it? No.

Contend with God concerning His Word. He has sworn an oath against Himself to fulfill all that He speaks in us. God does not play games. He is looking for a people will take Him seriously, who will regard what He says, who will tremble at His word.

To regard the word God speaks is to wrestle with Him, to seize hold of Him and not let Him go until He fulfills all that He speaks inside of us.

The Word of God is entirely dependent upon the seed of the woman, faith, before it can bring forth all the life that is in it. No faith, no fulfillment.

Faith wrestles with God. Faith does not let Him go. Faith contends with God over all that God speaks, no matter how impossible it sounds. Faith does not quit until we see God in our flesh, until our own eyes behold, and not the eyes of another.

Now, in saying all this, please don't think I'm talking about some sort of human striving, some religious performance, some grunting effort of ours. I am not. I see an experience with God, an entwining, so deep and holy, an act of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who is our life.

Now, picture the scene with Abraham and Isaac, the last moment right before God speaks. Isaac, at least in his thirties, lies on a pile of branches maybe four feet off the ground. He is bound with ropes. Next to him stands his father, Abraham, with a knife raised up in the air above his son, poised to plunge. Isaac does not resist, the presence of God is upon him in a bubble of peace he has never known before.

Picture that image in your mind and keep it.

"And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'" Revelation 19:6-9

"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. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me." John 6:53-57

These three things are the same. They look different, yes, but they are speaking directly to the same moment of passage from in-part to in-fullness.

This is not an 'idea' I am presenting to you, but a holy reality that we hold before the Lord. We don't understand what it means, but we know that Abraham offering the word God spoke to him, the deepest treasure of his heart, back to God, at that same point of the fulfillment of God's determination in the earth is found the marriage supper of the Lamb, and the partaking of all the fullness of the life of Christ.

"A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."

Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me." John 14:19-23

More than once I have concluded a series with this word. It concludes all that I have to share.

The Father and the Son come to us, they reveal themselves personally and intimately to us as private individuals, and they make their home in us.

The intimacy and reality of the Son with me, inside of me, is greater to me now than I have ever known. Walking with the knowing certainty of the person of Jesus always with us is to walk in what the world would call "insanity."

I expect that the Lord Jesus will appear to me visibly, any day now, and to many of you as well, just as He appeared here and there after His resurrection. He is alive, you know. The time of His appearing is now. Yet, though we may not now see Him visibly, we rejoice in full expectation in all that His appearing in us means.

The time is now. The GRACE that IS to come is now, unfolding, revealing, glorifying Christ in us.

God always leads us to celebrate with all joy, dancing, and celebration the victory of God in us, though we do not see it. Yet we will see it with our eyes.

Victory over physical death, victory over sin, victory over the beast, in this world, in this life, in this age, in us now. We will see it with our own eyes.

Yet whether we see Him or whether we don't, to walk as if He is visible beside us is to walk in that which is always true.

But the Father? The Father taking up residence inside of me? This is something we have not known. We have known the Spirit of God, for it is He who has lived in us since we were born again. And the Spirit of God, present with us, makes us more and more aware of the reality of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our life.

But the Father? We have not known the Father inside of us.
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Chris Welch:

Now, in this context, revisit this Revelation 3:20 (1st of 3 in post) 2008 prophecy I was given in the Havant Conference