“Father, has-come, the hour. Glorify Your Son, in-order-that the Son of-You might-glorify You; according-as You-gave to-Him authority over-all flesh, in-order-that all whom You-have-given to-Him, He-might-give to-them Life Eternal. THIS, THEN, IS ETERNAL LIFE, IN-THAT THEY-MAY-KNOW YOU, THE ONLY TRUE GOD, and Whom You sent, Jesus Christ! I, You I glorified upon the earth, the work having-completed, which You-have-given to-Me in-that I-might-do (it). And, now, glorify Me, You, Father, with Yourself … I-manifested YOUR Name to-the men whom You-have-given to-Me out-of the world.” From Jesus’s prayer – John 17:1-6 (**from the Grk txt & its Grk word order)
There has been a sense in my heart from the LORD for months that there is coming to the body of Christ a new revelation of Father as “God” in a way we’ve never known before. It is not new apart from scripture, rather a correction of our perception of Him that will strip away from our consciousness “Old Covenant” views of Who He really is as “God”, every single strand that still keeps believers from living openly, honestly, before His Face in the Holy of Holies because of guilt or holding back (requests for His Blessings from the cross) through sin consciousness, (having wrongly believed God is still finger pointing your sin – see Heb. 8:8-12 -esp v 12, & 10:15, 17, then also II Cor. 5:19, 21).
“And was, Abram, ninety-nine years. And YHVH was seen (lit. also, “caused-(Himself)-to-be-seen”) to Abram; and He was saying to him, “I (am) El Shaddai; Walk before Me (connotes – “Walk (as though) openly before My Face”) and be-complete” … And Elohiym talked with him…” excerpt from Genesis 17:1, 3 (Lit. frm Massoretic txt)
I believe this unveiling revelation is going to set the Bride of Christ into a level of Royal authority in her walk, which she has believed exists for her, however, has not really walked in, because of “Fear of the Throne Room” (ref. Est. 4:10-11).
For the last some years there has been an unveiling of Jesus in His resurrection glory, to show to us what the finished work of the cross really means for us as to our standing before God (ref. Rom 5:1), that the New Covenant has nothing at all to do with sin consciousness, as was the state of God’s people under the Old Covenant of Law (ref. Heb 9:8-9; 10:1-2, 19-22; 9:14). In this unveiling of Jesus there has been a revelation, to the body of Christ, of the Father, about Whom Jesus continually spoke, in the Gospels – especially in John’s Gospel. What’s amazing about Jesus unveiling His Father, even through the works He was doing (“He went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him.” Acts 10:38b NASB. Ref also Jhn. 14:11), is that the people, in hearing of the Father, were saying, “ImmanuEl“, that is, “with-us, God!“ (Mat. 1:23 – see Mat. 9:8, Mk 2:12, Lk 5:26 et al). In other words, Jesus was demonstrating, in all of these amazing works of power to set free God’s people from the ramifications of sin and the devil, that the One to Whom He taught the people to pray, “Our Father…” was not the perception of a God ready to judge for every sin, a big Divine Ogre in the heavens who angrily wasn’t speaking anymore, or wasn’t willing for them to have promised inheritance, the blessings promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all because of centuries of mounted up sins of all the fathers. Rather, this suddenly “ImmanuEl” was actually, through Jesus, showing the immensity of Himself – of such incredible loving-kindness, of His heart so full of Grace – the TRUTH of His heart for them, towards them, in pouring out exceedingly unmerited, undeserved, unearned Favor – as Father, yes, as GOD! (Ref. John 5:18-47; 14:1,11). Yet was it not so that Isaiah had prophesied this revelation – of both “Father” and “God” – would come out of a Son (Isaiah 9:6)? Jesus was fulfilling God the Father’s prophetic destiny, His very intentional purpose to bring about the revelation of the Abrahamic covenant. (Explanation is coming … hold on – it is mind-boggling amazing!)
The Old Covenant perception, of who God was, had been wholly based upon His having to treat them in such hard discipline because of the Law of Moses; He had to condemn, to judge, for the people put themselves in obligation to the Law – to all of its precepts, its demands … and, yes, to all of its judgments – if they did not keep their end of the deal (Ex. 19:8; 24:3, 7; Deut. 5:27; 27:26). Today, too many of us still regard, even slightly, “God” under the auspices of this Old Covenant’s aspect that did not come from His heart for us. We are, in this hour, receiving the revelation of Who He is as “Father”… It has been desperately needed, and must continuously be taught. But we have separated, in our minds, to some degree, “God” from “Father”, still holding fast to vestiges of Old Covenant/Law perception of how we behold Him as “God” in our thinking. I hear it in the way He is spoken about, in the way He is proclaimed in preaching from different preachers. He is still being held in view of a God ready at any moment to pour out judgment for sin. We see a “Good, Good Father”. But I think our hearts have yet to be wholly convinced that this “Good, Good Father” is so because He is an Awesomely Good God!
And it is the resurrection of Christ Jesus that proves this to be so, that He is, indeed, an Awesomely Good God. God, as God, yes as Father, but as an exceedingly good and powerful God, raised His Son from out of the dead – because this Holy God received completely the perfect sentence – the full ransom payment – through Jesus offering Himself by faith – while WE were STILL sinners – for your and my sin, for your and my release from sin, for your and my release from the penalty of sin, for eternity – and thus GOD declared us, you and I, righteous! (Rom. 4:22-25; Eph. 2:4-7).
The people, even in Jesus’s day, had no recollection whatsoever that not a single one of their forefathers, who’d eventually died in the Sinai desert, were actually not one time ever hit with judgment, with any sort of condemnation between Egypt and Sinai, from this Almighty Awesome God. The God who remembered, in their crying out in the bitterness of slavery, the covenant He had made with Abraham (Ex. 2:24), Who accordingly did wondrous act upon act upon act to deliver them from the strong and iron hand of Pharoah, of several hundred years of bondage, poured out not one time a judgment upon His people after they walked out of Egypt … not one single one died, or were even plagued with anything … for 3 long months of desert walking, of complaining for no water or food, towards the mountain where He had made Himself known to Moses. This YHVH of their forefather Abraham, Who’d revealed Himself as a Covenant God of immense blessing and promise, had treated them, from Egypt to Sinai, under that covenant He’d given to Abraham – TO BE GOD TO THEM, to Abraham’s seed (see Gen. 17:7b, 8b), blessing them and providing for them with every single complaint (I.e. Ex. 16:1-18).
Some fifteen hundred years later, the Father, in Whom Jesus was constantly boasting, was in fact, being “God” – through Christ Jesus, His Son – making known intentionally to the seed of Abraham the Grace-Truth reality of who He really was, of Who He always wanted to show Himself to be to all of mankind, in all the wonders and signs, in all the healings, and deliverances from demonic possession and oppression. The people under the Iron Roman rule in Jesus’s day were beholding the great love of the Father as “GOD”, a God their fathers all the way back to Sinai never knew as such, but a God who really was this good as He had revealed Himself to Abraham.
“So-that, if anyone in Christ – a NEW Creation! The old passed away. Behold! Have come-to-be new, All (things)! And the “All” – from GOD! The One having-[decisively]-reconciled us TO-HIMSELF through Jesus Christ; and He-gave to-us the service of [decisive]-reconciliation: – how that GOD was, in Christ, a world [decisively]-reconciling to-Himself, not accounting / not reckoning to-them the offences of-them.” II Corinthians 5:17-19a (** from the Grk txt)
This revelation of God in Grace-Truth reality exploded to me from the Scriptures several weeks ago, in seeing something from Abraham’s life I’ve never seen before or heard preached, and then seeing it explode in confirmation in the New Testament throughout the epistles of Paul.
Look back up top to where the quote from Genesis 17 is. In v 3, when Abram falls on his face, the next statement of the Scriptures, from the Hebrew text, says, “And Elohiym talked with him…” It is the first time, since “YHVH” first spoke to him back in Ur of the Chaldees, Genesis 12:1-3, this Genesis 17 encounter is the very first time in this man’s life that the LORD made Himself known to Abram as “Elohiym”, the fullness of the Godhead God. The last time before here that “Elohiym” is used, by Name, was about 400 years earlier, in Genesis 9, after Noah offers up a sacrifice of every clean animal, having lived through the judgment that swept over the earth; God, Elohiym, covenants not to curse again (through a flood). The very reason that God makes Himself to be named as “Elohiym”/”God” back in Noah’s day is exactly the very same reason why He is making Himself known as such to Abram – to cut covenant, in order to show forth unmerited Favor to man! The revelation to Abram, though, is immense.
“And was, Abram, ninety-nine years. And YHVH was seen to Abram; and He was saying to him, “I – El Shaddai; Walk before Me (connotes – “Walk (as though) openly before My Face”) and be-complete. And I give My Covenant between Me and you; And I increase [namely] you in exceeding exceedingness.” And Abram fell upon his face. And Elohiym talked with him, saying, “I – Behold! My Covenant, with you! And you will be a father of many Nations. And is not called anymore, your name, ‘Abram’; but will be, your name, ‘Abraham’; for a father of many nations I make you.” excerpt from Genesis 17:1-5 (Lit. frm Massoretic txt)
You need to see this, Beloved. The very first revelation of YHVH, of the LORD, to Abram as the fullness of the Godhead God comes to this man when he is 99. In the twenty-four years since having been in Canaan, even since the very first revelation of the LORD to this man back in Ur of the Chaldees, not one single time has Abram ever had a revelation or known the LORD as “Elohiym”. Abram here now falls on his face at the opening statement of YHVH as El Shaddai, with His blessing. And then the Scriptures say “Elohiym talked with him, saying, “I – Behold! (“I, look [at Me]!)” ... you can picture Abram looking up from his on the ground posture … and he sees “Elohiym/the fulness of the Godhead God” (“Jesus” in the fullness of Deity {See Jesus’s prayer frm Jhn 17:5, then Jhn 8:58, Phil. 2:6a, Col. 2:9, Heb. 1:8,10} – the scriptures are clear from Jhn 1:18 & 1 Jhn 4:12a that “no one has seen God at any time“). When Abram sees “Elohiym”, God declares, as GOD, that His covenant is with Abram… and Abram suddenly becomes/receives faith to become … a FATHER! His name is changed to reflect the covenant, to reflect the GOD he is beholding. Do you see, Beloved?
The true Revelation of the Father of our LORD Jesus Christ is the Grace-Truth reality of an Almighty God that raised Christ Jesus our Saviour and LORD from the dead AS GOD for our blessing, not our judgment, that we might get to know Him as Father, as our Heavenly Father – without any sense of guilt or condemnation because of sin … and thus, knowing Him as our Heavenly Father, we might come into the revelation of Who He is AS GOD, the power of this God Who raised Jesus from out of the realm of the dead, for us, as us, … This is what Eternal Life is Beloved…to know THIS Heavenly Father as also our Awesome God! (You can look & study the connection between Genesis 17’s encounter with Abraham and the resurrection of Jesus for our blessing in Romans 4).
The Grace-truth reality of who the God of the Jewish people actually was came to be for Paul when he beheld Jesus in His resurrection glory on the road to Damascus. It is borne witness to in Paul’s opening statements from many of his epistles, from the Greek word order:
“Grace to-you, and peace, from God/Father, of-us, and (from) LORD Jesus Christ” – Rom. 1:7. It is virtually identical also in I Cor. 1:3, II Cor. 1:2, Eph. 1:2, Phil. 1:2, Col. 1:2, I Thess. 1:1b, II Thess. 1:2
“Paul, (an) apostle, not from men, not-even through man, rather through Jesus Christ and God/Father, The (One) having-raised Him from-out-of (among the) dead. Grace to-you, and peace, from God/Father, and LORD of-us, Jesus Christ.” – Gal. 1:1-3
“Grace, mercy, and peace, from God/Father, and Christ Jesus, the LORD of-us” – II Tim. 1:2
Paul is not just filling up space on the pages of his letters. The revelation of the Father as God, of God as Father, never came to him through the Law. It came to him through the unveiling of Christ Jesus, whom he first saw on his way to Damascus thinking he was doing the work of “God” … it had previously always been through Old Covenant eyes that he had set God up in his mind as to how he thought He was; that’s why he was carrying a “sword” against the church. His pursuit to persecute was changed, however, to a pursuit of Abba Father’s love as the True God of his fathers … when he beheld Jesus in His resurrection glory! (… a direct answer to Jesus’s prayer quoted at the top from John 17:3). (Look up the Greek word for “Persecute” in Acts 9:5, and the Greek word for “Pursue” in I Cor. 14:1). Christ Jesus is the true Revelation of Who the Father is as God. And this God/Father only has Grace and peace to speak to you, to pour out of His heart to you.
It’s time for the veil to wholly be pulled from our eyes, Beloved. We cannot unveil to the world the immensity of this Awesome God as God and Father if we do not see Him through the severe goodness He grants to us without ceasing through the severity of the judgment He poured out upon His Son at the cross instead of upon us (ref. Rom. 8:32). Yes, there will be a future judgment by God to those who reject ultimately such overwhelming Grace and Mercy. But until that day, it is for us to bear the ministry of reconciliation, the same way as did Jesus our Saviour, with GOD in Him “not reckoning their trespasses against them” … … because it is “the kindness of God, yes, of GOD, that leads to repentance.”
So this is my prayer for you, Dear Ones, as has been prayed and declared at our church by a businessman for many months over us, as that which Paul prayed for the precious saints in Ephesus:
“Because of this, I also, having heard of the among-you faith in the LORD Jesus, and the love which (you have) unto all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, remembrance of-you making in my prayers, in that the GOD of the LORD of-us, Jesus Christ, the FATHER of Glory, might-give to-you a spirit of-wisdom and of-revelation in detailed/intimate/true knowledge, HIS (GOD’s), being-enlightened, the eyes of the heart of-you, towards knowing, you, what is the hope …” Ephesians 1:15-18a (** from Grk txt)
You are greatly, greatly loved, Beloved. Mark Dingemans
This letter’s opening title is taken from Psalms 9:10
P.S. Beloved, this newsletter is meant to be a Bible study for you that you might come to know, confidently, the Grace Truth reality of the Father’s full heart of Love towards you because of His having sacrificed His only Son to gain you, to gain an uncondemned open faced relationship with you everyday of your life, even and especially when you blow it. Please take the liberty to print up any of these newsletters if you wish, and write out the scripture references posted in these letters. You are greatly Loved, Beloved. Mark D.
kairos – (Kahee-ros’) – Strong’s concordance defines this word: “an occasion, I.e. set or proper time.” The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible (NASB) defines this word; “season, time, but not merely as a succession of moments, which is chronos,” [from which we derive the English word ‘chronology’]. “Kairos, however, implies not the convenience of the season, but the necessity of the task at hand, whether the time provides a good, convenient opportunity or not.” This must be understood. Strategic times of the Lord do not necessarily imply good or convenient times. We are in Kairos times. Maybe not good or convenient times, but definitely strategic, opportune times because of the season we are in. We must have “ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches,” (Rev. 2:29), so as to respond correctly to the Kairos time.
* Some Scripture for this letter is taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, (c) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Other references translated from Grk. Txt as presented in T. Newberry’s Englishman’s Greek New Testament, Zondervan Publishing – 1982- originally published in London, Eng. 1877
** The translation from the Greek Txt as presented in Thomas Newberry's "The Englishman's Greek New Testament" Originally published in London, Eng. 1877. Zondervan Publishing House of the Zondervan Corporation. Grand Rapids, MI 49506 I have endeavored to show both Greek text wrd order, along with hyphens between words in English, which are single words in the Greek text. Massoretic text from website qbible.com/hebrew-old-testament