On,Now,To the Third Level

This blog has a prehistory....about 100 A4 pages are to be found in the Comments sections of my friend Dan Bowen's blog Life On Wings since February 2008. Here also you will discover loads of incredible related blogs both by Dan and his associates and friends. The only reason for creating a separate blog at this point is that the project I wish to undertake is more substantial than a comments section will allow. So many have been so encouraging and wonder why it's taken so long. Well the climate has changed and I think the time has come to present many of the 3rd level teachings in a systematic way for a grown up Church. I am going to use "Yes I am" by Norman Grubb, available here. Norman uses "3rd Level" a bit differently. I use it to mean the Father level , of 1John 2:12 onward.Both corporately and individually. I believe, since Luther we have been retracing the steps of grace back into the spiritual reality of the Heavenly Tabernacle, of which Moses' version was a prototype, a shadow. I believe the three areas of the tabernacle , correspond to a salvation Christianity, a Baptism in the Spirit type of Christianity, and now the third level, where God wants by His grace to reproduce His Son in us , outside of meetings, learning how to live full-time in Him. In time to come there will be no need for levels-talk, because this will be the norm as Psalm 110 verse 3NASV."We shall offer ourselves freely in the Day of His Power."
Yes I Am is not a book.It is a spiritual symphony in words 60 years in the writing. It contains tramlines of thought that are second nature to the author, but need teasing out in chunks to new readers.
Here is a testimony that is so similar to the material now appearing on blogs everywhere. It comes from the epilogue....So let's begin as we mean to go on, eh, BACKWARDS!!! I would like others to add relevant postings too, to the material as it unfolds.
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July, 1980
Dear Brother Norman.
Thank you very much for making yourself available to come
and stay with us We so appreciated ycur fellowship and your
showing us the way of God more perfectly.
Every day is such a wonderful experience in unbroken
fellowship and communion with the Father. That was how He
meant it to be from the beginning. I know that 1 am one with
Him, and that 1 am no longer I, but Christ living in me, in my
human form. And the thrilling thing is that I can do abso-
lutely nothing to deserve or merit Him. I used to think that the
Christian life was wrapped up in rules and regulations, dos and
don'ts, laws and commandments, and daily disciplines. That's
religion — man's way of being one with Him. I've discovered
that on the cross He said, "It is finished." He settled it forever,
once and for all! I am complete in Him by virtue of Him in me
and as me. There is absolutely nothing I can do to add to the
righteousness of God in my life. Everything that Christ is, I am
—justified, sanctified, glorified, etc. (Rom. 8:30, 1 Cor. 1:2).
Oh, what a wonderful mystery! One with the Father! So many
know only the saving knowledge of Christ by His blood for the
forgiveness of sins, and so very few know the replaced life
through His resurrected and ascended body, of victory, joy,
peace, overcoming, triumph, and complete rest. It is now my
everyday continual experience that in fact I am a new creature,
where old things are passed away and all things are become
new. God intended only for His life to be manifested in us.
Satan no longer has any foothold in me and sin no more
power, no more dominion over me. Condemnation is a thing
of the past that no longer plagues me. In reality, our becoming
born-again puts us in the same standing with God the Father as
Jesus being born of a virgin!
As I know who I really am, there is only victory in Christ.
When trials and afflictions come, it's only God putting His
Christ through such circumstances in life to bring forth life in
others. I have been bought with a price... His precious blood,
and am no longer my own. I am now for others. I am now the
express image of the very nature and character of God in the
earth. It is written that God has "created all things for His
pleasure." At first thought that sounds selfish, until one
realizes that His pleasure is that of giving His all. He's not
looking for something to get from us to fulfill His desires or to
please Himself, but rather His pleasure is to give. That has now
become my pleasure and purpose in life. I no longer look to
God for what 1 can get out of Him for me. My nature is now
His and that is to give. Now as I give, it's with the
understanding that He first gave to me. He is my source. "I loveHim because He first loved me."
With that in mind, trials and afflictions are a pleasure
because they are for the benefit of others. I used to think trials
and afflictions were the "dealings of God" to perfect me, to
sanctify me, to improve me — me, me, me. But I've discovered
that Jesus completed the work of redemption, sanctification,
and perfection: "He hath [past tense] perfected forever them
that are sanctified." God is no longer interested in dealing with
me, but that the world through me might be saved. As long as
we think trials and afflictions are for us as the dealings of God,
we will forever be trying to get our lives in order and
disciplined in order to reach that unobtainable goal of
perfected self. We become very self-centered, self-assessing,
self-disciplined. I've given up once and for all that self-
assessing life, realizing the finished work He has done.
When Jesus said, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father...,"
He did not set an impossible standard for us. He accomplished
the work of perfection at Calvary and it is found only in the
replaced life. It is actually possible to fulfill all of Matthew 5,6,
7 without even trying. It is possible to live a life free of sin. "As
He is, so are we in this world." How can I say He hath perfected
Me? Because it is no longer I that live, but Christ!
When we can welcome and embrace circumstances joyfully
and with thanksgiving, we can endure all things and become
(as you have well put it. Brother Norman), co-saviors with
Christ. I am now crucified to the world and the world to me
that the world I come in daily contact with might be saved. I die
daily for the benefit of others, that life might spring forth in
them. God has ordained difficulties and seemingly evil
circumstances to happen to us for the express purpose of
Christ being made manifest to others.
Knowing these things, the life of God becomes reality. We
live by faith, not by sight, nor by feeling or circumstances. We
live by that which is eternal and unseen, not by the physical.
lying vanities around us. We are blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places. This world is no longer our home.
We are simply pilgrims passing through. The world of faith
becomes more real to us than the physical world that we see
and touch and smell and taste and hear, with our five senses.
Faith establishes the word of God as fact, as evidence, as
substance, as already accomplished. The promises of God are
in Him "yea," and in Him "Amen" — by us\ All we do is say
"Yes" and "Amen" to what God has already said, and it is so!
When we live by faith, it doesn't matter what happens around
us. We no longer judge things by outward appearance, but we
judge righteously. This is where life becomes fun and exciting
and full of victory as we let God be the judge in life, and we live
by the unseen, eternal reality!
As life becomes a walk of faith, we then see everything with a
"single eye." Jesus said our eye is either single or evil. One or
the other. To see double is to see evil. Adam and Eve partook
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They then saw
with double vision. They then became judges in life rather than
leaving that to God. The -devil very subtly fooled them by
saying, "You shall become as gods, knowing good and evil,"
when in fact the Father wanted them to be gods. We are always
trying to become something when in fact we are simply to be
the "I am" within us. It's so simple that it's complex! When we
look at everything in life as good or evil, we become the judges
(as God), always classifying everything in one category or
another. We become bitter, frustrated, judgmental in life.
There is no joy, no peace, no rest.
To see with a single eye is to have a pure heart. That's why
Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God." Paul also speaks of living our lives in "singleness of
heart." When we have a pure heart, walking in singleness of
heart, with a single eye, we see only God in everything. Every
circumstance, every problem, trial, affliction, seemingly evil
thing, is the manifestation of God to us. We can flow with and
be in harmony with everything that takes place, and be at peace
with God and every man. Proverbs says, "There shall no evil
happen to the just." Knowing this, life is exciting! It is fun!
When we see God only in life, we can truly give thanks in and
for everything!
There is such an emphasis today on getting and keeping "the
presence of God" in one's life. I also once strived and struggled
and cried out to God through daily disciplines to get the
"manifested presence" of God. I thought the presence of God
was dependent upon what I did. I have since thrown all of that
out of the window forever, realizing now that I in fact am the
presence of God. the Holy of Holies, the temple of the Holy
Ghost. I no longer have to go running around striving to get
His presence in my life. /am the manifested presence of God,
even as Jesus was upon earth in His flesh. I am the will of God
in the earth, that the world though me might be saved bv virtue
of Him that dwells permanently within me. As Christ is lifted
up. He will draw all men unto Himself — by us.
Psalm 22:3 says, "But Thou art holy, 0 Thou that inhabitest
the praises of Israel." I've always thought that the way to get
His presence was to praise Him and then He would come down
and inhabit my praise and manifest Himself to me. But that's
the God of the Old Covenant, the God of "influence," or as the
world calls it, a philosophy. Most people look at God as an
"influence": "Here I am down here, and there You are. God, up
there; and if I do certain things and fulfill certain principles,
You'll come down with Your presence and bless me." Even the
world lives by that philosophy, feeling they'll be blessed by
doing and fulfilling certain principles in life. Israel, an
unregenerate people, lived by that principle. But because God
is self-giving, He doesn't expect anything out of us. 1 don't have
to fulfill anything to get His presence. My God is not a God of
influence, but He's a God that has taken permanent residence.
He has taken permanent abode in me. The veil was rent once
and for all from the top to the bottom, opening the way into the
Holy of Holies whereby I freely partake of His presence... no
strings attached. Because of that, praise is now a natural, free,
flowing, continual expression unto Him. Praise becomes as
natural as breathing, and is a state of being and not an act. Our
lives can simply be a praise to Him (Eph. 1:12). The act of vocal
and demonstrative praise simply flows out of that state of
being in which I find myself— that of union with Him, one and
the same with Him. I no longer know a God coming and going,
a life of ups and downs according to whether I praise Him or
not. There is such a higher realm where He becomes you and
you become Him and are one with the Father.
The organized church today is, by and large, a modern
Moses'Tabernacle, trying to fulfill certain principles, rules and
regulations, dos and don'ts, laws and commandments, and
daily disciplines in order to get the presence and approval of
God. That's fine, as long as one does all that; but Scripture says
that no one can keep the law. It also says that whoever does the
law must also live in it. You're blessed if you can do it. but
cursed if you can't. (I've been trying for thirteen years, but
never could.) Besides that, even if one could keep all the
principles, laws, disciplines, etc., there is room for pride
saying, "I've done it." But God will share His glory with no
man. There is absolutely nothing we can do to merit His
presence or approval; neither does God expect us to do
anything to obtain it, because of His very self-giving nature.
It is the tangible, felt, manifested presence of God that the
organized church is looking for today. They'll never find it
though, and only become frustrated in the process, because
Jesus said, "The kingdom of God cometh not with
observation, but behold, the kingdom of God is within you."It
is a wicked and adulterous generation that seeketh for a sign, a
manifestation of God. Once again, the signs and
manifestations will automatically and naturally follow them


that believe. It will be a natural outflow of who we are and not
what we do.
For years I have been asking God for a great hunger and
thirst for Him. I felt that the more hunger and thirst I had, the
more God would come to me. I now realize I've been wasting
my time and energy. But as I now understand who He is within
me, I am full, I am satisfied, my thirst is quenched, my hunger
is gone. Even as the Scriptures declare, out of my belly, my
innermost being, flow rivers of living water. Jesus said, "He
that drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst."
He said, "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after
righteousness, for they shall oe filled." He also said, "He that
cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me
shall never thirst." There is an end! That end is Christ! 1 no
longer hunger or thirst. I now only know a permanently
satisfied, fulfilled life in Christ — full and overflowing for the
benefits of others.
I've given up trying to improve my life. All I have to do is to
be who I really am, which is Christ in me. If I may be so bold, I
am a god, created in His very image with the indwelling Christ
my all. It's no longer I that live, yet it is I, yet not I, but Christ.
No wonder Paul calls it a mystery! Jesus was the firstborn
among many brethren. He came as a Son to be an intercessor
to bring many sons to glory. Paul said, "Let this mind be in you
which was also in Christ Jesus," the "mind" of total self-
emptying, and then spoke of Jesus' exaltation. I, too, am to
have this intercessory mind of total self-emptying to take
humanity's lowest place on the cross. And any exaltation that
follows will be from God.
After years of struggling and striving, frustration and failure
(a necessary step!), I have finally ceased from my own works
and entered into rest. Oh, what fellowship divine, what
communion, what "est! I know Him, even as 1 am known of
Him. I used to work so hard at being a Christian... and, as a

result, God was at rest. Now I'm at rest and He's at work! In
this rest, prayer becomes a state of being. It's no longer an act
of formality. It's continual communion and fellowship with
the Father. Then and only then is it possible to fulfill the
scripture "Pray without ceasing."
I have come to a realization that it was not/that committed
myself to Him. It was He that committed Himself to me. My
spiritual life is dependent upon His total commitment to me.
As long as I think that my walk with God depends upon my
decision, my dedication, my commitment to Him, then life
becomes a never-ending parade of recommitment,
rededication, reconsecreation to Him. In reality, however, the
Christian life is dependent on replacement.
Hallelujah, it is wonderful in Him! The best Bible college
there is is life itself! "For me to live is Christ." Our mission on
earth is to live and to be the Christ to an unregenerate world
around us.
I have concluded in my life that it is absolutely impossible to
live the Christian life, and that God never intended us to do so.
He intended the Christ within us to live it. Then and only then
is it possible to fulfill the law and the spirit of the law (Matt.
5,6,7). And it only comes as a revelation from the Father. Jesus
asked Peter, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter said, "Thou art
the Christ." Jesus told him, "Fleshand blood hath not revealed
it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven. "Jesus then told
Peter, "Upon this rock [upon this foundation, upon this
revelation] I will build My church." Paul said that "the gospel
which was preached of me is not after man. For 1 neither
received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ." Many try it build the church upon principles,
upon teachings, upon everything imaginable except the Christ.
But "except the Lord build the house, they that build it labor in
vain." It is upon this revelation of the Christ that life is fun. Life
is exciting, fulfilling, and wonderful. Oh what fellowship, what
communion,what victory! Hallelujah to Him for ever! I'm sure I'm repeating to you many things that you've already grasped years ago.But I appreciate your listening ear.....
I love you Brother Norman.Thankyou for your love and rich fellowship.
Christopher Bernard