God’s Covenant is with the seed.
God still speaks to His people today through prophetic words. This reminds me of what He said to Abraham. When God called Abraham, He said, "I am going to make you a father of many nations" (Gen. 17:4), and God promised him a son (Gen. 17:19). Then we read the story of Abraham and see that Abraham failed miserably many times but, when God makes you a promise, you can take it to the bank! And, like Abraham, when God gives us a promise, we tend to do everything we can possibly do in the natural to make it happen, and all we produce are Ishmaels. That is all we can produce in the natural. But God has a Son of promise. And God made His covenant with the Seed of Abraham, which Paul tells us is Christ (Gal. 3:16). Therefore, that covenant between God and Abraham was really not with Abraham, although Abraham participated in it. The promise was to the Seed, which is Christ. I want you to get that! The promise that God gives to me is not a promise to Gary Sigler in the natural. The promise is to the seed of Christ within all of us. Has God made a covenant with you? No! He has made it with the Seed. Therefore, even though we talk a lot about obedience, the natural person is not to be the one obedient. In other words, the natural man has nothing in himself that can be completely obedient to God. I may try. I’ll try with all my heart to fulfill what God has promised me, but I can’t, and I need to find that out. That is the experience of Romans chapter 7. We all need to go through that experience. You need to find out that you can’t maintain that perfect obedience which will cause the Seed of promise to come forth and appear in you. The promise is not to you, but to the Seed within you.
The Appearing of Christ
I want to speak here about the appearing of Christ. We all know the goal is the appearing of Christ. Paul said something very interesting. He said, "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh" (2 Cor. 5:16). He says that today we don’t even want to know Jesus Christ after the flesh, but that we should learn to know every person by the spirit. So let me give you a few verses on the appearing of Christ. 2 Thessalonians 1:10 He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." Can you imagine that? The God of Heaven is to be admired in you! Can you look at your sisters and brothers, and see Christ? Well, it may be pretty easy in an environment where we all are in worship and fellowship together, but if you get around them on their job, or in their homes among their family, you have to be able to look beyond what you see in the natural. You have to look into them and see Jesus. You have to admire in them that which He is. Psalm 102:16 declares, "When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory." We know that Zion is the City of God, and is He not beginning to appear in Zion? No one who has been in fellowship with His people for any period of time could deny that God is beginning to appear. I’m sure all of you are like me in this—we have desired for so long to see the beauty of Zion, the City of God. Colossians 3:4 states, "When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory." These are some verses that I have clung to, sometimes without any hope, sometimes in despair, sometimes in utter depression. I’ve held on, knowing that there will come a day when I shall appear with Him in glory—not because I’ve done anything in myself, but because God has covenanted with the Seed. I have within me, and you have within you, the most precious essence of His being. That is where that covenant stands. 1 John 3:2 reads, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." When you really see Him as He is, you will be like Him. Why? Because you will see Him in yourself and in others! And I want to take this one step further. You won’t see Him only in Christians. You won’t see Him only in the glorious Church which is going to be manifested. You won’t see Him only in His special saints, but you will see Him in all of humanity. I saw a video of Mother Theresa once, and it wrought some real change in my life. It showed how she would go into the hospitals. One scene I remember very plainly was when she walked into a certain hospital where there were people sick and dying. There was a man there and those in attendance said they didn’t know how long he could last. He just shook and shook, and you could tell he was in great agony. And this poor, tiny little lady walked over to him. She laid her hand on his head, and she just patted his head, and immediately the shaking stopped and the peace of God came to him. Some Christians said that Mother Theresa was New Age!
If that is New Age, then I will be a part of the New Age to bring God to people. We just cannot ignore the principles of God. We cannot see someone who is so full of the love of God that they would go among lepers, they would go among the filth of the world and hug them and love them, and call that New Age. We have churches all across America today who are saying that is a New Age Gospel, and I feel sorry for them. She was asked, "Sister Theresa, how can you do this? How can you go to the scum of the earth? How can you reach down into the pits of India, and pick up the filth and hug them, and cry, and love them, and pray for them?" Her answer was this: "Because I see God in every person." "We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." When you see Him as He is, you will be like Him! But I was taught, when I first went into Pentecost many years ago, that there is going to be a day when we’ll all be raptured into the heavens, and we’ll look at Him, and when we look at Him, we’ll be changed into His likeness. That is a fallacy! I wish it were true. But there are other verses we need to remember. As John said, "Beloved, abide in His anointing, so that when He does appear you won’t fall on your face in shame before Him at His coming" (1 John 2:28). "To the end that He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints." God’s goal is to call out a people unto Himself, that He may, by the power of His Spirit, the drawing of His Spirit, the workings of His Spirit, work into that corporate group of people His Life, His nature, and His character—that they may stand upon the earth not as Baptists, Lutherans, Pentecostals, but that they may stand upon the earth as one new man, to bring forth judgment unto righteousness.
If that is New Age, then I will be a part of the New Age to bring God to people. We just cannot ignore the principles of God. We cannot see someone who is so full of the love of God that they would go among lepers, they would go among the filth of the world and hug them and love them, and call that New Age. We have churches all across America today who are saying that is a New Age Gospel, and I feel sorry for them. She was asked, "Sister Theresa, how can you do this? How can you go to the scum of the earth? How can you reach down into the pits of India, and pick up the filth and hug them, and cry, and love them, and pray for them?" Her answer was this: "Because I see God in every person." "We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." When you see Him as He is, you will be like Him! But I was taught, when I first went into Pentecost many years ago, that there is going to be a day when we’ll all be raptured into the heavens, and we’ll look at Him, and when we look at Him, we’ll be changed into His likeness. That is a fallacy! I wish it were true. But there are other verses we need to remember. As John said, "Beloved, abide in His anointing, so that when He does appear you won’t fall on your face in shame before Him at His coming" (1 John 2:28). "To the end that He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints." God’s goal is to call out a people unto Himself, that He may, by the power of His Spirit, the drawing of His Spirit, the workings of His Spirit, work into that corporate group of people His Life, His nature, and His character—that they may stand upon the earth not as Baptists, Lutherans, Pentecostals, but that they may stand upon the earth as one new man, to bring forth judgment unto righteousness. God’s True Business
I literally weep in intercession when I see some of the things that are on so-called "Christian" television. For instance, not long ago there was an example of the concept that every believer will be suspended in the air for seven years, and then God will pour out great anger and wrath and horrible tortures and judgments upon humanity. Now I know that concept, but I just can’t imagine it. I have experienced the depths of the love of God, and I have been into some of the heights of the love of God, but I cannot find a God who is so angry that He would want to pour out a vengeful wrath upon His people. Yes, the wrath of God is coming. Yes, judgment is being poured out. But you know, Jesus Himself tried to destroy that concept of an angry, vengeful God. He said, "It has been written in your very own law . . ." (He did not deny the law of the Old Testament). He said, "It has been written in your very own law, ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ I know what is there. But I say to you, love your enemies! Do good to those who despitefully use you! I know what is written in your law. You would like me to take this prostitute and stone her" (Mt. 5:38-44, John 8:3-11). Christians all over the world today would like to stone prostitutes and homosexuals. Some would like to get rid of sin in the manner of some of the other religions of the world. We’d like to see a cleansing take place. That’s our concept of God, so that’s easy for us to accept. But Jesus revealed a different concept to us! "It is written in your very own law—but you had better listen to Me. You know, you run to the Scriptures, because in them you think you have eternal life, but you won’t come to Me, because when you do, I’m going to tell you some things, and I’m going to reveal to you an understanding of God and the Father-heart of God that you’ve never had. And because it doesn’t fit with what you have been taught in the past, because it doesn’t fit with the law that you have received, you will reject the love of God. (John 5:39-40). You can take the Word of God and justify the most heinous, horrible crimes with it, and people have done so, thinking they have done God a service. But God is in the business of restoring humanity back to Himself. He has no thought of destroying, but of uplifting. Yes, there is judgment. Yes the fiery indignation and wrath of God is on the earth and is coming to the earth. But it is a righteous judgment! There is passage in the Old Testament where God says that when He brings judgment, He will take into account where a man was born (Ps. 87:4-6). What does that mean? It means He will take account of where you were born. Were you born in India where you had no knowledge of God? Or were you born in America where you’ve had nothing but religion, and you’ve rejected not God but that which religion has said He is? (I rejected Christianity 20 years ago, but I didn’t reject God, and I never would.) Yes, there is judgment. And yes, you need to fear God, because when He appears, who can stand in His presence? When He appears, if you are full of greed, if you are full of back-biting, if you are full of envy, if you are full of jealousy, if you are full of competition, I feel sorry for you! Yes, you will be judged, and I guarantee that you will pay to the very last farthing. But I can also guarantee to you that the covenant is with the Seed of God within you, not with your human, natural personality! That thing is going to fall into the ground and die. It’s going to be consumed and burned up. And out of the rubble, out of the ash heap, out of the pain and the suffering that you may experience, will come the gold and the silver and the precious stones.
To be Continued
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