The Day of New Beginnings

Seeing the Lord in the Present

 

What is the biggest hindrance in making the transition from living in a time realm to the eternal realm of the Spirit? It is the way our Adamic natures perceive things. 
 
Luke 11:
47* "Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them.
 48* "So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs.
 
Jesus told the Pharisees that their fathers killed the prophets, but it was them that built their tombs. What does this mean? When we look back historically at any famous or important person, it is easy to eulogize them for their accomplishments. For example, we can look back historically to Moses or Elijah and laud them for the great works God accomplished through them. We can point to the great miracles that took place through them and have all the praise and respect in the world for them. But if we had known them at the time they accomplished those things, our outlook might have been different. Hindsight does not have to contend with the present reality of these men’s personalities or how they related or conducted themselves. If we had lived when they did and actually known them, we might have found them to be very offensive. We would probably have stumbled over their flesh in some way. Viewing things in a time realm conveniently removes the need to see by revelation.
 
You could say, “Oh, not me, I would never have stumbled over such great men of God.” But an entire generation stumbled over Jesus, the Creator and Son of God. It was written of Jesus: "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." Jesus’ life in the then present was a constant stumbling block and an offense to those He ministered to. 
 
Mat. 11:
2* Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples
 3* and said to Him, "Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?"
 4* Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you hear and see:
 5* the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM.
 6* "And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me."
 
When John the Baptist sent word asking if Jesus was really the One, Jesus sent back the previous verses as His answer. Notice verse 6: “And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.” Living in the soul realm which is the Time Realm always distorts reality. The things we praise from the past would appear completely different if we viewed them from the then present. That’s why Jesus told the Pharisees that their fathers killed the prophets and they built their tombs. If those Pharisees who built the tombs of the prophets and honored them had lived when their fathers did, they would have also killed the prophets rather than praising them. That is human nature. It is incapable of perceiving Truth in the present. That’s why much of Christianity either looks to the past to praise and love an historical Jesus, or looks to the future to anticipate a coming one. 
 
In the Trumpet issue, The Now Realm, Henry DuBose writes, “It is recorded in Luke 4:16-21 that Jesus went into the synagogue and stood up to read.  He opened the scroll to Isaiah, what we know as chapter 61, and read. Then He closed the scroll and said, ‘This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.’ He took prophecy in the predictive mode and brought it into the “Now Realm.” That doesn’t set well with religious folk. As long as it is in the future it is acceptable. But when you bring it into the “Now Realm” people have a problem with it. Christianity, in general, only views the Scriptures historically and futuristic. John 9:22 says that the Jews had predetermined that if anyone confessed that Jesus was the Christ he was to be put out of the synagogue. That is what religion does, keeps it in the future. ‘Don’t bring it into the present. Let’s keep the coming of the Lord in the future so we don’t have to deal with it.’”
 
It’s hard to perceive the Lord being manifested in the present because it is often without the supernatural connotations that we have when we look back historically or forward to the future. We relate to things in the present through our own flesh natures. When someone says Christ is right now being manifested in the present through a people, our first inclination, often unconsciously, is to look at their flesh and say, “Hey, this person is no different than me, what’s he talking about, Christ is coming forth in a people?” This is precisely what the Jews did to Jesus.
 
John 10:
32* Jesus answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?"
 33* The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God."
 
All the Jews could see was Jesus’ flesh. And without a revelation such as Peter had when he proclaimed, “Thou are the Christ, the son of the living God,” we too would have stumbled over Jesus. Remember how the Jews marveled and said of Jesus just after He put that scroll down in Luke 4:16-21, "Is this not Joseph's son?" 
 
John 14:
7* "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him."
 8* Philip *said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us."
 9* Jesus *said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
 10* "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.
 
Phillip was seeing in the soul/time realm when he said, “Lord, show is the Father.” All he could see was Jesus in his flesh. But Jesus was walking in another realm, the Eternal Realm. Only in the Eternal Realm could Phillip have perceived what Jesus meant when He said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” There was a present manifestation of the Father happening right then through Jesus.
 
The Jews were indignant because they perceived only a man making Himself out to be God. After all, they were only men. That is time realm perception. In the realm of time Jesus did not appear to them any different than themselves.  And so it is today. We must learn how to break free of the limitations the realm of time puts upon our perception. In the realm of time which is the soul realm, our Adamic natures absolutely prevent us from seeing the Lord in His current manifestation. But when we break out of the time realm, we can perceive the Lord in our spirits. We can see Him just as He is without being offended.
 
The “end-time” manifestation of the Lord is one of Him in His Body. That’s why Jesus said you will not see Me until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” This is a reference to Himself but also to those who carry His presence. If we don’t break loose to see Christ in the “Now Realm”, we will stumble over His manifestation just as the early Jews did in their generation. Jesus had nothing good to say about the generation in which He was manifested in the flesh. He called them an evil generation. Why? Because they could not perceive Him in the eternal realm, the realm of Spirit. They could not see past His flesh. 
 
We must seek God until this Eternal Realm is real to us. We must be able to perceive the Lord Jesus Christ as He is manifested in His body. We must “see” Him outside the soul realm of time. Then will we have the access and realization that all things have already been accomplished and are waiting for us.