by Mike Vinson
Nashville Conference, 2005

When I say the words fullness of Christ, I’m talking about CHRIST. What I’m saying is basically the same thing you’ve already heard, and everything we say is going to be a repetition of what we’ve already said because we are coming to understand that Christ is ONE. Since Christ is one, everything that he says is actually in accord with everything else he says so that everything Christ says and believes is one thing. And it all boils down to love.
Let me read you a few scriptures to set the stage that I’m going to try to open your eyes to see and give you a little more of a grasp on what the fullness of Christ is. Theres so much to say about Christ, I’m not going to be able to give you all of what the fullness of Christ is that is a life- time experience. I am going to give you some directions, some principles that you can apply as you continue in your walk. In Joh 17:3 we read:

Joh 17:3 This is life eternal that they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

In Joh 10:9 earlier he said,

Joh 10:9 I am the door; by me if any man enter in he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.

In Joh 10:1 he says,

Joh 10:1 Verily, verily I say to you, he that enters not by the door into the sheepfold but climbs up some other way is the same as a thief and a robber.

What descriptive words; a thief and a robber – pretty plain language. But he that enters in by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. How did you enter in? By the door; you entered in by the door. What are you? You should be a shepherd of the sheep that doesn’t allow them to be taken advantage of by the wolves. That’s what you ought to be! You don’t have to be a minister. You don’t have to be an evangelist. You should be a witness for Jesus Christ in whatever station in life God has you.
I was talking to one of my friends in New York just the other day and we were discussing women preachers. I don’t want to get into that right now, but she said “I feel like I’m doing everything you are doing with your web page. I’m just doing it on a smaller scale.” She’s a waitress and works at a restaurant, but every time that girl gets a chance to witness, she witnesses. She doesn’t back down when somebody asks her a question, and she gets asked questions because all waitresses do. Waitresses are getting hit on all the time so she has an opportunity to say what’s on her mind. And she witnesses for Jesus Christ. She is not bashful about Jesus Christ and the most dreaded words in the world are ‘Jesus Christ’. You can talk about God all day long and no one says a word. You can talk about Mohammed and Gandhi and Buddha, but the words ‘Jesus Christ’ make people cringe. Don’t you be that way. You gladly proclaim the name of Jesus Christ.

Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you that you shall be no priests to me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

So the only way to know God is through Jesus Christ and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. You have got to have a desire to know and please God before anything is going to become of your walk with Christ. It has got to be something that you are into!
But this talk is about the fullness of Christ… Knowing him in his fullness because anything less than his fullness is not him. I want to throw one more scripture in here I quoted earlier:
Psa 119:160 (KJV) Thy word is truth from the beginning. Terrible translation the word beginning should be ‘sum’ – the sum of your word is truth. It takes the totality of the Gods word to know God. You can’t just take He that believes on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. – that verse is not the sum of God’s word. It certainly will agree with all the rest of it, but if you think you can make a doctrine out of one verse, you don’t know what no prophesy of scripture is of any private [ interpretation] [ means]. The word private is idios. Christ entered into a ship and came into his own country. The word own is the same word translated private back in Peter. No scripture is of its own interpretation but, why is it not of its own interpretation? Here’s why: But holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. All of these men were being moved by the same mind. What mind? The mind of God! The mind of God is not going to say one thing over here and disagree with itself over there. It is going to be the same message but if you don’t know the whole message, you are going to miss out on an awful lot and will end up deceived. You’ve got a bit over here and you made a doctrine out of it. So you’ve got to baptize in water because John baptized in water, did he not? Yes, John baptized in water so we become Baptists instead of Christians because we have a bit of the truth and we don’t have the fullness of it.
Peter says (2Pe 3:18) Grow in grace and knowledge in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Now and forever; that’s a hint of what I’m going to be talking about here.
Jesus Christ is not just a man who walked the earth 2000 years ago. Jesus Christ is not just somebody living in your life now. Jesus Christ is not somebody who will come later. Jesus Christ is none of those things. He is ALL of them, and anything less than that is not Jesus Christ. But what does the world do? It does what has created every denomination we have. It takes one truth and emphasizes it to the exclusion of the whole. And the one becomes what identifies you, and you identify with that and in so doing you’ve left out at least two- thirds of who Christ is. You’ve got to know him as Is, Was and Will Be. And when you understand that, then ALL of the questions have answers. The whole puzzle will fall into place and you begin to understand things that you couldn’t understand before. Prophesies that are mysteries and beyond understanding will open up to you because you see the fullness of Christ. You know who he was, you know who he is, and you know who he will be.
But what’s wrongs with what I just said? The thing that is missing there is that Jesus Christ doesn’t put it that way. He says I am he that IS (primarily), WAS (secondarily) and WILL BE (thirdly). Now, if we take that order and change it in any way, we become what is called a preterist who says everything is done in the past and is all fulfilled or we become a dispensationalist who says everything is going to happen in the future; all the prophecies are for the future.
What is prophesy? I told you this morning; does anybody remember what I said? Edification and comfort – that is what prophesy is. All the scriptures that talk about future events are doing nothing but that. When I said this country will pay for its sins, I wasn’t going out on a limb to say something like that. The Bible says that from beginning to end. All men will be called to give account of themselves; all men everywhere at all times. So it’s an easy thing to say. When you say something that comes of yourself, then you are in big trouble. Because if it is of yourself, then it will not come to pass, and even if it does come to pass because of just coincidence or whatever; if it’s of self, it will still bite you. It will hurt you because there is nothing that is to be understood as being of us. We’ve got to understand that. We’ve got to understand that ALL things are of God.
Earlier some of us were sitting at the table discussing what you ought to do under this circumstance and that circumstance and what happens if it turns some way than you think ought to happen. Well, it’s all of God. It’s all of God. And once you actually accept that, the peace of mind that you are going to have is going to be something that the world doesn’t have. They think they’ve got to DO something for God. You don’t have to do anything for God. God is going to do plenty of things through you, but YOU don’t do anything for him [ because] you don’t have anything to offer! He’s got everything to offer you, but you’ve got nothing to offer him. So don’t worry.
We were coming up the road and had to stop in the traffic; like I was telling at lunch, just a few years ago I would have been so frustrated because I was going to be late. I wanted to be here around 2:00 or 3:00 oclock, I got here at about 6:00. There was highway construction down about half way up, then we hit Nashville traffic at 5:00 and we didn’t get here until sometime after 6:00 I guess, but I just sat there, calm for me, and said “Well, you know, God wants us sitting here instead of being there.” So that’s the way it was, and it makes it so much easier! It’s still the flesh you know. You are still struggling, but He didn’t say you didn’t have a burden – he said “my burden is light”. Yes, you are going to struggle against the flesh until the day you die, but if you understand the fullness of Christ, you’ll understand his sovereignty, you’ll understand all the prophesies in the scriptures. They will begin to gel in your mind because he Is, Was and Will Be.
In Col 1:24, we are told [ I Paul] Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body’s sake, which is the church. Fill up the afflictions behind of Christ – something lacking in Christs afflictions what could it be? It was 2000 years ago; it’s come and gone has it not? Has it NOT? Think about it. Has Christ not died on the cross; has that prophesy not been fulfilled; is it not over with? NO, I’m telling you it’s not over with because his word is Spirit! and it IS, and it WAS and it WILL BE whatever He is all the time. And if you leave out any one of those, then you don’t know how to deal with verses like these. You understand THIS – you UNDERSTAND this and all scriptures will begin to fall into place.

Col 1:24: Whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God; even the mystery which has been hid from the ages and from generations.

What’s he talking about? He’s talking about ages and generations; the word ages is aions. Aions what? Generations of people. Your aion is your life. You have a beginning, and you have an end in this aion, but there is an aion to come. There is an aion to come, and you need to quit thinking of aions as big, long periods of time , i. e.; some people say there’s one before Adam, then there’s one from Adam to the flood; then another from the flood to Christ; another from Christ to the millennium; then you have the millennium. You’ve got FIVE aions. Noooo, there is an aion for everything that is alive. A dog has an aion, a cat has an aion, and you have your aion. Think of aion that way and you’ll have a whole lot better understanding of what’s being talked about when you hear phrases like the aions of the aions and this present evil aion. There’s no scripture for an aion before Adam. It’s just not there. That’s the beginning.
Look at Luk 11:50-51: beginning of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah. That’s Christ’s time. Abel was Adam’s second son; that’s the beginning – Adam and Abel. And Satan was a liar and a murderer from when? The beginning! Not before Adam – from the beginning!
(Back to Col 1:24-25) Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations but now is made manifest to his saints; to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is.. (Here we are, we’ve got the mystery) Christ in you . Not just in the people back 2000 years ago; in YOU – in THIS generation. Hidden from generations before but made known in Christ. Ever since Christ, those who know Christ know these things. They know the mysteries of God! They know the fullness of Christ. They know Christ as he was, as he is and as he will be. That’s what Christ did when he opened their understanding so they could understand the scripture. Thats what he did!
Now Peter can grab a verse here and grab a verse there, and it will ALL fit perfectly with the rest of the Word. It won’t disagree with it, but it will give the world the excuse to use this phrase “prooftexting oh, you’re just prooftexting.” Well, shouldn’t you prove all things? “Well, yeah, but that’s not what I mean. You’re just taking verses that [ you] want to make your point.” Nobody does that worse than the churches do. That’s what they do, and they ignore the scriptures that we point them to. We take the whole Bible; we believe EVERY word of it. We believe that God really is LOVE. That’s the only place you can go with the word of God. But boy, does it become a powerful tool, does it become an offensive weapon, does it become a fire coming out of your mouth once you get hold of this is, was and will be Christ! You become something to be reckoned with; little old you because you have something that most educated men in the world don’t have; you have the mind of Christ.
It’s a gift that you can’t work for, but it’s a gift you can use for the glory of God, and it will always be for the glory of God. Any glory you try to glean from it will just be glory you have lost because you, I, we are all nothing.
Someone sent me a joke the other day. This preacher was taking the offering and he was praying and says “Oh, God, we know that without you we are but dust.” Some little girl in the front row says “Mommy, what is butt dust?” Well, we really are nothing without Christ. And to think you can be something of yourself is to fit right into that little girl’s thought.
I’m asking a question here: Who is Christ in you? Who is your Christ? Is he a Christ who only and who primarily is in the past? Is your Christ a Christ of the future? Or do you have a Jay Preston Eby’s Christ who is everything right now and anything that goes into the past is not Christ and anything that goes into the future is not Christ?
Listen, when you leave out the past, you don’t have a foundation. When you leave out the future, you don’t know what it’s all about because these aions are coming to a conclusion. They’re coming to a consummation. I remember asking one of Jay Preston Eby’s chief protogees “What to you is coming after the millennium?” His answer was “Oh, you’re getting way out there now, we don’t need to concern ourselves with that.” Well, wait a minute! Why don’t we need to concern ourselves with what happens after the millennium? The Bible concerns itself with it. But they don’t think about that because they are so present- centered. I know that the word ‘presentist’ isn’t a word you will find in the dictionary, but I’ve coined it for the sake of my talk here.
If you are a ‘presentist’ and you don’t want to think of the past or the future, you know a one- third Christ. If you are a preterist and don’t want to think of the future or the present, then you know a one- third Christ. On the other hand, if you are a dispensationalist, and all you want to talk about is exactly how are these prophesies going to be fulfilled and what is the timeline of the Book of Revelation and all that, you missed the whole point of the Book of Revelation which is to do the things that are written in the sayings of the prophesies of this book! That’s the point of the book! It’s book- ended at the beginning and at the end; it’s emphasized and it’s giving a warning to do these things. It’s made so clear and yet the world is blind. God has blinded them and the most learned theologians in the world don’t see verse 3 of Chapter 1, verse 6 of Chapter 22 and verse 18 of Chapter 22. They just don’t see them! I read them a dozen times in my life – out loud and with my own eyes and didn’t see them! (22:37) Blessed is he that reads and they that hear the prophesies of this book and keep the things that are written in it for the time is at hand. That’s an IS, WAS and WILL BE Christ.
And he goes on in Chapter 1 four times in that one chapter – telling you that ‘I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, he that is, was, and will be.’ Then seven more times in the book, he tells you again, ‘I am he that is, was, and will be.’ (22:13) WHY? Why does he do that so many times? I used to just wonder you know, that’s kinda redundant; yeah and I missed it! It’s kinda redundant and I MISSED it!

Someone who has been corresponding with me just this past week said, “Can you tell me in one paragraph what a preterist is?” I said, I can tell you in one sentence. A preterist knows a one- third Christ. Now, if you are interested in why I would say that, read the next few paragraphs. And I explained to him what I just explained to you. – Christ is, was and will be. But, he writes back to me and says, “I don’t know a dispensationalist or a preterist who would deny that Christ was, is and will be.” I said, look at the way you worded that. You said ‘was, is and will be’ and I haven’t heard from him since because I pointed out that the very concept of was, is, and will be is not understood by anyone who calls himself a preterist or a dispensationalist. Because Christ doesn’t call himself a preterist or a dispensationalist and he doesn’t call himself a ‘presentist’. He calls himself the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. These are HIS words describing himself he who IS, WAS and WILL BE. And that is what we’ve got to see him as. Anything less will be less than Christ.
Now, what’s wrong in thinking of Christ in these different ways? Well, what’s wrong with it is everything is placed ‘out there’ or else (in the case of the ‘presentist’) it’s all ‘in here and there is no out there’. Listen to what Christ says: Mar 7:15 – There is nothing from without a man that entering into him can defile him.
We’ve been talking a lot about food lately, and my wife is very big on that sort of thing. Christ is not saying here that if you drink arsenic, it’s not going to kill you. What he is saying is concern yourselves with the things of the spirit and not the things of the flesh – in fact, your focus in life – make that your love and your passionate thing. Think about the things of the spirit. Have your thoughts and affections on things above and NOT on things on the earth. Nothing from without a man that entering into him can defile him, but things that come out of the man, those are they that defile him. If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.
So, what he is saying, every time you see that statement – it’s in the New Testament several times and in Revelation also. If you have ears to hear – Who has ears to hear? Those to whom they are given; only those to whom they are given (Mat 13:16); But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear. But to them it is not given to see nor to hear the mysteries of the kingdom of God. So this phrase, ‘if any man has ears to hear, let him hear’ is talking about the mysteries of the kingdom of God. It’s not talking about anything physical.
I think you know I’m not a statistician – but I think dispensationalists probably far outnumber preterists or ‘presentists’ because everybody is into ‘what does the future hold?’ They all want to know what’s around the corner, and you have all the TV ministers assuring you that they can tell you. I was listening to a guy the other day, and he was saying, ‘These things have symbolisms and they have meaning to them.’ I thought, boy, this guy is going to say something here. And sure enough, he did. ‘If you’ll just send $75 for my cassette tapes, I’ll show you what it is.’ You know, I didn’t spend $75 because I didn’t have it to spend, but I would have loved to have heard that because it would have been some THING he would have given his interpretation of; what those things are the locusts and all of that and it have had not one scripture to back it up. It would have been his opinion, because it always is. You know how I know that? He wanted $75! Listen, there is another way you can try the spirits, going back to my talk earlier today. When somebody wants money, you’ve just tried that spirit. It’s a HINT at it. Stay as far away as you can get because money is not what God wants from you. He doesn’t want your money! He’s got no use for it! He wants YOU! He wants your heart and your soul. ‘Where your treasure is, there will your heart be.’ Where is your treasure? Is your treasure money, or is it things that are above? It’s a simple question but it is hard to answer. It’s hard to answer.
I have a few friends right here in this room who have their heart in the right place. I have a friend who meets with me at the house who is just new to all of this just as some of you are. Just in the last couple of months he’s come to understand the things of the spirit. He came searching for something on tithing because the minister was ragging the church to death; a big church just south of Atlanta. They had a big fine building, and wanted an even finer building. It was ‘only’ going to cost $20 million, and all the pastor had to get was just a pledge of so much every month from so many in the audience, and they could achieve this. He just sensed there was something wrong there, and he saw the light on that subject. And he saw some of this other stuff, too, and he thought, this guy is a nut, but he’s got this right. That’s just what he said; just what I’ve heard from several people the first time they see something they like, but the rest of it is pure heresy. I mean ‘this guy doesn’t agree with anything that anybody says! So he’s obviously a heretic because all of God’s people can’t be wrong, can they?’
But then, he started looking at it and, you know, there’s a lot of scripture in that site; there’s a lot of scripture in there! You know, it just kind of makes you think if God is working with you, it kind of makes you think. Then you go back, and you go back later again, and then you say ‘wow, you know he may be right about that, too!’ And the first thing you know, you’re looking at another subject, too, and you find out they [ the orthodox churches] were wrong about that, too.
This guy was working for the government, and he had a $1 million contract teaching our men and women the anti- Jessica Lynch program. That’s what it is, a government program they are paying him big bucks to develop it to keep that from happening again so that even mechanics (even female mechanics) will know how to handle guns and defend themselves. He’s a West Point graduate and that’s what he knows; that’s what he trained in. And, he’s come to see all these things that we see. He asked me while sitting at the house in Bible studies (and I don’t pull punches at home or anywhere else) on whatever we’re on this week, but I don’t go to this young man and say ‘Hey, you are working for the government, and you need to get out of this. You’re teaching people how to kill people.’ I let God take care of that. And so, he came to me a couple of weeks ago and said, ‘Mike, what do you think about what I do?’ I said, ‘you know what I think about what you do. Thats the reason you’re asking me.’ He says, ‘Mike, I’ve got a $1 million contract, I can do very well.’ I said, ‘So, what’s your point?’ He says, ‘Well, I just wanted you to say something.’ I said, ‘I’ve said a lot. You’ve read my papers. Have you read what I say on my site about military service, voting and that sort of thing?’ He said, ‘Yeah, yeah, I read it. So you think I ought to quit, huh?’ I said, ‘I didn’t say that. I wrote what I believe, and you know what I believe, and you know what the Bible says. If you read those scriptures, then you know what the scriptures say on it.’ He says, ‘Yes, you’re right.’
I thought I may not see him again, but he called me back the next day, the NEXT DAY and said, ‘Well, I did it.’ I just couldn’t conceive of him making a decision and doing something that quick, but he had called the people he was working for and said, I signed a contract (and the reason he’s not here right now is that he signed a contract, and you need to keep your word) – ‘I’m at Ft. Benning right now training soldiers, but I told them that I’m going to complete what I signed, and I’m not going to go into the rest of it. I’ve got to finish this, but then I’m going to drop it. I’ve already got resumes I’m going to start sending out.’ He put the word of God ahead of the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. And I had to just thank God for that. Because God had given me the opportunity to work in the life of a young man. I’ve had a hand in working with him, and YOU have the same opportunity to work in the lives of those God places in front of you. Anyone who comes before you have been placed in front of you by Jesus Christ. Now you have an opportunity to do something with your situation. What are you going to do with it? How are you going to handle yourself? How are you going to deport yourself when God puts someone in front of you? Are you going to hang your coat of many colors up?
The coat of many colors has to do with rulership. I thought the only two places the many colors were mentioned in the Bible besides Joseph’s coat were the rainbow around the throne of God and the rainbow God put in the sky when He made His covenant with Noah. I thought those were the only places it was mentioned. But Sandi showed me something just last week that brings out the same point every time you see the many colors; it has to do with rulership around the throne of God because the other place it is mentioned is when Amnon raped his sister, Tamar, King David’s kids. Amnon raped his own sister and then it says, the hate he hated her with was greater than the love he loved her with. I guess Amnon’s definition of love was today’s definition: if it feels good, do it. That’s his definition of love. And he hated her more than he had loved her. And, it says, And she took her coat of many colors, for such was what the daughters of the King wore The daughters of the King wore coats of many colors. Many colors are always associated with the throne and with rulership. And, if you take that coat off and hang it in the closet because you’re afraid of offending your friends, you’ve just given up your inheritance for a bowl of pottage. You’ve taken the lentils for your inheritance. And you just can’t afford to do that.
Getting back to the fullness of Christ. Christ goes to great lengths to let us know that he is not broken up into these different denominations and schools of thought. Paul talks about in 1Co 1, Some of you say, I am of Paul, some of Apollos, and some of Cephas (Peter). Then he poses the questions, “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of Paul?”
Whats the answer to all three of those? No, No, No. Christ is NOT divided, Paul did NOT die for you and you weren’t baptized in the names of Paul or Cephas or Apollos. And you are not a Baptist or Methodist or any of these other divisions of Christ that we have among us.
In 2Co 11:3, But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. That word simplicity is elsewhere in the Bible and is translated most of the time as singleness – the SINGLENESS that is in Christ. Do you think that the Christian religion has been divided from the singleness that is in Christ by about 10,000 times over or whatever it is? I heard some statistics awhile back, and I thought ‘My, that is incredible how many different denominations there are in the Christian religion!’ It’s the most fractured thing in the world, yet it calls itself ecumenical. You just got another one of those black/ white statements about the church. ‘We’re all one we just hate each others guts.’ I keep saying it in my emails it really is amazing the capacity of the carnal mind to accommodate contradiction. The subtlety that Satan used is here today.
In the 4th verse of the same chapter of 2 Cor, Paul says For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus… Another Jesus – another Jesus other than what? A Jesus who IS, WAS, and WILL BE who loves who is not divided. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
But the historical Christian church has succumbed to every one of those things and they have never like Ray quoted in Act 20, Paul says I know that of your own selves will arise grievous wolves not sparing the flock but will try to pull off unto themselves disciples of your own selves. How many? Just a few of your own selves? No, no, it was the bulk, it was the church as a whole and Paul was left all by himself (everyone there in Asia, that’s where Ephesius was). He was talking to the Ephesian elders when he said that, and he said everyone in Asia has forsaken him. So the sum of who have come preaching Paul’s doctrines are the vast majority.
Christ says in Luk 6:26; Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you for so did their fathers of the false prophets. (41.53) What do you suppose people are doing today? The same thing. To whom? The same people; the false prophets. They’re speaking well of the false prophets, and they’re despising the two witnesses. Why? Because the two witnesses torment them that dwell upon the earth. The earth is Adam. The two witnesses torment Adam. That’s right the word earth and the word Adam are the same word (Adom and Adoma).
My son has been studying the Hebrew letters, and he didn’t even know what the word was. I said, ‘Son, come in here and tell me what this word is right here.’ He said, ‘Ah… doma’ sounding it out. I said, ‘What’s this word right here?’ He said, ‘Ahdom, basically the same word except for the ‘a’ that changes it to Adoma.’ I said, ‘Do you know what those two words are?’ He said ‘What?’ I said, ‘That’s Adam and earth in the King James.’
And the two witnesses torment them that dwell upon the earth. Well, what is Adam? Adam has been pushed up out of the sea so the beast that comes up out of the earth and not out of the sea is Adam in the church pushed up a little bit above the sea and the vast hordes of humanity that aren’t even called. These people have been called. They are the earth just a little bit closer to God than the waters of the sea but not that much closer to God. Whereas, the manchild that the woman brings forth, He’s caught up to the throne of God and is seated with God in heavenly places according to Eph 1:3. But everything else is on the earth. And that manchild, who is nothing but the two witnesses, torments those on the earth. How does he torment them? With the fire that comes out of his mouth. If any man would hurt them, they must be destroyed by the fire that comes out of the mouth of the two witnesses. What is that fire? Just look at this scripture, Jer 5:14. You see, I don’t have to guess about these things, I can speak with authority on what the fire coming out of the mouth of the two witnesses is. Wherefore thus saith the Lord. Let me read the verses before that; it looks pretty good. I’m going to start with verse 12: They have belied the Lord, and said (this is the false prophets), It is not he, neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine. That’s what people are saying about the United States right now. That’s what the ministers of the world are telling you. I heard Fred Price, he said, If you are keeping the commandments of God, you will NEVER know poverty or sickness or disease. You will NEVER have trials and tests. That’s what the man said and that’s what the false prophets have always said. (vs 13) And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them. Wherefore thus saith the God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Isreal, saith the Lord: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.
Well, however God decides to fulfill his word, you will reap what you sow, and I’m going to talk on that tomorrow on the practical application of the lake of fire. You are going to be amazed at what the Bible has revealed about the lake of fire that was right there in front of your eyes, and you never saw it. IS right there in front of your eyes and you NEVER saw it! You just didn’t SEE it and, yet, it’s there! And do you know what’s going to make the difference in your understanding what I’m going to show you tomorrow, and you didnt understand and see this IS, WAS and WILL BE thing. You see all these scriptures become applicable all the way along. You’re going to say ‘WOW, why didnt I think of that?’ That’s what I thought! Why didn’t I see that BEFORE? It was there all along! It’s always been there but I’ve never understood Is, Was and Will Be until recently. Now I know Christ in a much fuller way than I ever have.
If you come to see that Christ is one and that his word is one, and that the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. (Joh 6:63), from that moment you will leave all the church behind. From that moment they didn’t walk with him. When you come to see Christ in his fullness and that his word is spirit, the words I speak unto you are spirit. And Christ says in Mat 24, Heaven and earth will pass away but my word will not pass away. Jesus Christ’s word is going to be the same yesterday, today, and forever. Why? Because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Therefore, everything he said in the Old Testament, in type; in type is true in the New Testament in reality. But, if you see the type and you don’t see the reality, you’ve missed the whole message. If you think that circumcision is a physical thing, you’ve accepted the shadow for the reality. And if you think that tithing is a physical thing that God wants one- tenth of your physical money, you’ve missed the type for the reality. God wants all of you.
When Joseph was in charge of Egypt (I’ll be talking on this tomorrow but I want to interject this right here) when he was in charge of Egypt, he was given all power that the Pharaoh had except for one thing. What was that? The throne. Pharaoh said all things will be done according to your word, you will be equal with me in everything but the throne. That should tell you something about who Jesus Christ is. But, when Joseph was in charge, what did he do for the Pharaoh? He bought up everything in Egypt all of their cattle and land – then he bought their homes. But the famine just persisted and persisted, and they came to him and said ‘we’re going to die if you don’t sell us more grain.’ He said, ‘ok, I’ll sell it to you; I want YOU.’ This was a slow process. They had to give up their cattle, give up their land, give up their homes, and finally they had to give themselves up. Do you get anything out of that? Good! Because he that loses his life will find it, and he that finds his life will lose it.
So it all boils down to this: do spiritual things mean anything to you? If they don’t, don’t waste your time coming here because that’s all we’re going to talk about. Things you can’t see and touch. I’ve had it said to me many times, ‘Oh, to you everything is just spiritual.’ Yeah, that’s all, yeah it’s just spiritual. If it’s spirit, it will be here tomorrow. You can count on Mike Vinson being your friend tomorrow and the next day and the next day because I’m not interested in anything of this world. I’m interested in you, and you, and you and not in what you have. I want to see you with me in that first, blessed and holy first resurrection. On whom the second death has no power. The second death isn’t second death because you’re going to have to die again. It’s only second because it’s the second group of people who die to the self. They do it later. It’s like the Amco transmission commercial ‘pay me now or pay me later.’ We are all going to give account of ourselves to God and it’s better it really is better if you’re in the former group. You are what’s called by God firstfruit. I was just [ saying] that our garden is coming in, and it’s something to see these firstfruits! They are really special to God. The blueberries; the average one is about the size of my little finger hanging there on the bush and the bush is coming down to the ground some of the limbs are literally breaking from the weight of the blueberries. But the firstfruits stand out among the rest of them. They’re real dark blue but they have this kind of white haze on them when they’re really ripe and taste so good. Those are firstfruit blueberries. The same thing with the tomatoes. The first ones that come in, one slice will cover a slice of bread because firstfruits are special to God. But he’s the saviour of all, he wants the rest of that fruit, too; he wants it ALL! Isn’t he something? He wants it all. And he is going to have it all- he’s not going to lose one. He will leave the 99 in the wilderness and go and find that lost sheep. But that lost sheep, he’s not going to leave it in the wilderness, that lost sheep is the elect!
We need to open our eyes and see what these parables and all these things we thought were so bad really are! The prodigal son is the elect; it’s not the elder son; he’s the one who hates the elect because God is showing some special favor to this guy that wasted his substance for so long. He thinks he’s somebody, you know. Look at him, he’s giving him a robe! Doesn’t that sound like a coat of many colors story? This guy who wasted his life is the one who is being made ruler! This guy who worked not one minute for 11 hours and then comes in at the last hour is being made ruler and getting paid first. It’s not fair! And God says, ‘What do you mean, its not fair? Am I not giving you what I said I would give you? You’re all going to receive life that’s what I promised everybody; you’re all going to get it but, can I not do with my own as I want? And I want to do it this way.’
The flesh just doesn’t like the way God does things. We just don’t like it! We despise it by nature because the carnal mind is enmity against God. It hates God. And it can’t help it, it was made that way, marred in the hand of the potter. But it was marred for the purpose of being destroyed and made anew in the image of his son. If we were made in the image of God back there in the past, why in the world are we being conformed to his image up here? Because he is making man in his image, and he is going to make ALL men in his image. That’s a wonderful message; that’s gospel; it’s Good News! So everything we say, think and do should be centered on this full understanding of Christ; this Christ who loves his creation who is going to redeem all, past, present and future.
Let’s turn to Rev 22 and I’ll wrap this up. I’ve said what I’ve had to say on this and I’ll close with this. Rev 22:6. My Bible here is a complete Bible, Old and New Testaments look at that Nelson 1755 it’s got a column in it with all the scriptures back in the Old Testament quoted and little sub- heads; it’s really nice. Right here at the 6th verse of Chapter 22, it says Conclusion. This is the conclusion. Listen to this “And he said to me, these sayings are faithful and true and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servant the things which much shortly be done.” Why are the things in the Book Revelation done shortly – the word means quickly? Why? Because this life is as a vapor that appears for a moment, then vanishes away. And you know you don’t generally come to know Christ until you’ve wasted a few years of your life anyway. So what’s left? I say wasted – it’s all of God – you had to go through what you went through. I went through 50 years. and when I finally began to see, I thought, “man, my life has been a waste.” My father is in his 90’s, and he has resisted this teaching that I used to push on him, universal reconciliation and all, and he resisted it and resisted it. But I gave him a copy of a Tentmaker publication; a video of Louis Abbott being interviewed by Gary Amirault, and there is something about seeing an older man – a man who is older than he was talking about the word aion, that got through to him. I couldn’t but I had given up on Dad, I just figured it wasn’t meant to be. So he sits in on our Bible studies. He lives with my brother, and that’s were we meet for our Bible studies. Dad was always there, he’s always read his Bible and liked the fact that we were into our Bible, but he just couldn’t buy into it (universal reconciliation). God had not opened his eyes, but I went over there after giving him that tape. I had already forgotten I’d given it to him. He said, ‘You know, son, I have wasted my life.’ I said, ‘What do you mean, Dad?’ He said, ‘I have wasted my life all these years I thought that God was going to burn people in hell for all eternity and you’re right, it’s not going to happen.’ I said ‘DAD, what do you mean, what made you see that?’ He said, ‘That tape you gave me. That man is right! Louis Abbott is an old man and he knows this word aion pretty well’, and you know, there’s something about an older person that can get through to an older person where a younger person can’t especially, a son who has given him trouble all his life! And arguing the scriptures with you, anyway! So he saw it and now he sees it and now he knows it and he loves it and appreciates it. But he felt like he had wasted his life. Well, he didn’t. That’s just the way God ordained for my Dad to come along. His life wasn’t wasted, it was what was necessary for him to do what he did and to bring me where I am and the whole plan of God to fall into place, Dad had to be the way he was. You’ve got to be the way you are, I’ve got to be the way I am. Don’t look at it as waste. Thank God that he has given you eyes to see and ears to hear because they are very rare. The word few means fewer than you even want to think’ and pray that you are one of those precious few.
Let’s read the rest of this Behold I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the saying of the prophecy of this book. And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then said he to me, see thou do it not: for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren, the prophets [ what is prophecy? He that speaks exhortation, edification, and comfort.], and of them which keep the sayings of this book [ thats who these angels are – they keep the sayings of this book- they have experienced this entire book]: worship God. And he saith unto me, seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand. Seal it not from whom? From those who have been given eyes to see and ears to hear. It’s not for very many people, but its not sealed for them. Listen, the Book of Revelation and only those who know Him can have the book open. He’s the opener of the seals. Now all the rest of the world, they know a preterist, a dispensationalist, a ‘presentist’ Christ, and they don’t see the seals being opened because it’s all past history, it’s all future or it’s all right here and now. But it’s not the FULLNESS. Get the FULLNESS; get the whole ball of wax. Get the whole story; get to know Christ! He’s all of those things.
… for the time is at hand. It was at hand then, it is at hand at the next generation, the next generation, the next generation right down to the year 2005. (vs 11) He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. Behold, I come quickly [ same thing he is saying in Chapter 1], and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. [ there it is again] Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. What is the tree of life? It is Christ!
(vs 15) For without [ out there in the lake of fire, in the world] are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. WOW, that is the church of God, right there – that’s who that is. God’s fallen church, his harlot wife that brings forth the manchild but, then flees into the wilderness. The manchild is caught up to the throne of God. That woman is that second beast with two horns like a lamb but speaks like a dragon.
(vs 16) I, Jesus have sent my angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. What is that angel? That angel is those who keep the sayings of this book (vs 9) YOU be that angel!
(vs 17) And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will [ that word is desire and it means God has given that desire there is no free will it is all of God], let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
All the Christian church does is add to the prophecy of this book. They turn all the symbols into things they want them to be which are not what the things they want them to be. They say ‘thus saith the Lord’ when the Lord has not spoken, they add to the words of this book. .
(vs 19) And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy. Well, there is a group called preterist that says it’s all done, and it’s not for you. That takes away from the words of the prophecy of this book which you must keep if you understand God’s word that way. God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
That is all I have to say; your part in this book is the whole book, it’s not part of it. It is the whole book. First you’ve got to know who the churches are, then you’ve got to recognize it. These churches in chapter 3 are this harlot woman over here in chapters 17 and 18. Thats who this church over here with all its problems is. Open your eyes and see what’s in the book and realize that you are looking back, standing in the Holy of Holies here with Christ, the throne in the ark. All of that out there is symbology, but you are in Christ and in Christ, you are in God, and God is on the other side of that veil. You’ve got to go through this veil and you’ve got to go through that veil. That veil has been torn into so that you can go through and look back and it won’t be until you have gone through those two veils that you will see any of this. But then you will look behind you and when you hear the voice, you’ll turn around and see the 7 golden candlesticks right there in the Holy place. The shewbread will be on the right and the candlesticks are on the left and the golden altar is in the middle with a veil between them and the ark. When you read the fire coming from the altar, you need to understand what all these things mean and you can do that now because you have a little more understanding of what the fullness of Christ is. You know a God who was what he is yesterday, he is what he has always been today and is always been.