The 7 characteristics

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The 7 characteristics of a true and anointed servant of the Lord Jesus Christ and member of the Bride of the Lamb in the end-time

What Scripture says about this:
1. They bring to the Lord as a burnt offering, all of their old, sinful life.
Isaiah 61:8 "For I the Lord love judgement, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them."

They hate their old, sinful life wherein they are bound, and give it to the Lamb of God that they be completely delivered from it by the divine sharing in His death on Calvary; this being brought about by the washing in His shed blood and the purifying power of the Holy Ghost's fire. God hates the robbery for burnt offering. This means, that we should not surrender in part unto redemption, but wholly. His true servants live up to this and strive for perfect sanctification by the Holy Spirit of the Lamb of God; of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2) Then the Lord Jesus will call such true servants to partake of the marriage supper of the Lamb, and they will obey His voice.
Revelation 19:9 "And he (the messenger angel of God to the apostle John) saith to me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God."

For the rest of their life they will then continually partake of the Lamb's marriage supper-table. This means that they preserve their salvation by the Lamb by continually bearing about in their heart His dying (see 2 Cor. 4:10-11).

3) Then the Lamb will accept them as future members of His Bride and will prepare them hereto.
Luke 17:34-37 "I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together."

He will gather them as members of His active Body.

4) The spiritual burning of the Holy Ghost's fire will then purify them and completely free them from sin.
Not only forgive, but also free them from their bonds of sin.
Malachi 3:1-4 "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, and they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years."

Levi is the tribe of Israel serving the Lord in His tabernacle and temple, and symbolically stands for the true, anointed servants who serve the Lord as bringers of the Word.
If they are sanctified they will be able to bring God's Word as a pure offering in righteousness to the Church. Judah and Jerusalem are symbolic for the New-Testament Church of the Lord. By this fire and the spirit of sanctification God's servant is made faultless, without spot and without wrinkle (see Ephesians 5:27); and he walks and works as a perfect conqueror over satan and sin (see Revelation 12:11). He will prepare and use such persons as true Gospel preachers and teachers in the world, and will mark them among the workers as such by their charisma and anointing.
Isaiah 61:9 "And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed."

5) He shall clothe them with the garments of salvation, with the robe of righteousness, and with His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).
Isaiah 61:10a "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness;..."

Revelation 19:8 "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints."

Psalm 45:13-15 "The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold. (And outwardly:) She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king's palace."

6) When the marriage has taken place, He will adorn His Bride with divine glory and authority.
Isaiah 61:10b "...as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels."

Revelation 12:1 "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven (i.e. the kingdom of heaven, namely the Bride[church] here on earth); a woman (i.e. the wife of the Lamb) clothed with the sun (type of the Father), and the moon (type of the blood covenant of the Son) under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars (type of the Holy Spirit)."

a) The sun stands for the justice and glory of the Father;
b) the moon for the Lamb of God and His blood covenant, wherein the Bride of the Lamb stands;
c) the twelve stars for the omnipotence and authority of the Holy Ghost, with which she is crowned.
She then is clothed with all the glory of God. Great power, knowledge and wisdom of the Holy Ghost is then put onto God's true, anointed servant, preparing him so for his final battle and labour in the Lord.
He will gird on (equip) them inwardly and outwardly with the whole armour of God.
Ephesians 6:10-13: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in the high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

7) When the marriage (the union with the Lamb) has taken place He shall use His servant as His instrument worldwide
in order to
1) restore the Church, which has deteriorated because of satan; and
2) to bring about the worldwide revival, whereby the harvest shall be innumerable (Revelation 7:9; 14:14-16).

Isaiah 61:11 "For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations."

CLICK HERE if you want to read this study – that is to long for the Blog – further.

By E. van den Worm

LUKE (Chapter 11) - Our life must be a lovely fragrance (namely as of incense) before God’s countenance

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In the light of the Israeli Tabernacle we must see this chapter in the sign of the altar of incense. For the altar of incense is the place where we, in prayer and worship, come to God and His Christ.
When we have read all chapters so far, we have seen the divine ascent (by the which a higher spiritual level is meant) in the heavenly Tabernacle. We went from the sevenfold candlestick, which typifies the revelation of God's Good (Gospel) Message in the power of the LIVING Christ, to the table with the twelve show loaves, which speaks of communion with this powerful (and LIVING) Word of God, whereby the sinner changes into a child of God, into a show loaf of and for God, in this sinful world. By this experience of the indwelling Christ and His mighty, inner workings, the child of God comes to true worship of his great Redeemer and Savior; of his great Lord and God, with which we then (in the spirit) have come near to the altar of incense. And every time the revelation of His Word in us becomes more wonderful and glorious, we come to a deeper experience of communion with Him, which goes together with an increasing dying to self; whereby we come to glorious worship of our Savior and God.
In this way we become acquainted, over and over again, and in increasing measure, with this divine triangle in the holy place of His spiritual tabernacle: namely with the candlestick, the table of show loaves, and the altar of incense. It is this divine triangle which sanctifies us by the power of His blood, His Word and His Holy Spirit. It is also this divine triangle which – when we will have finally been completely freed of all flesh (namely of all our sins and our sinful nature) – will let us, through the veil, into the perfect life of God's Holy of holies. And this perfect (and thus holy) life God's Bride(church) must already have here on earth in order to be able to experience the wedding feast with her heavenly Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Part I: How we must come to God in prayer
11 verse 1-2a: "And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name."

1: We must come to Him in absolute acceptance of His Fatherhood, in obedience and respect for Him. In the very first place our altar of incense (in the spirit) must be characterized by worship of our great God and His, for us, so lovely Name.
In those days, when Israel's high priest had to enter the Holy of holies once a year, at the Great Day of Atonement, he was to do this with in the one hand the blood of sacrificial animals (for the atonement of sins), and in the other hand the smoking censer (Leviticus 16:12-14). This incense is symbolical for our worship. Before everything else, we must come to Him with praise and worship!
We will not look at seven points in total, to see how we can come to Him in (and by) our prayer-life. We saw that the first point was: come to Him in worship, namely in surrender of our sinful being on the basis of the shed blood of Lamb of God.

2: We must come to Him with absolute acceptance of His divine lordship.
11 verse 2b: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth."
We do not come to God to, in the first place, ask Him for something, but we come in the first place to Him to give ourselves to Him. "Thy Kingdom come." Where? Deep within our own heart. "Thy will be done." Where? Again, deep within our own heart, in our own life! For, God must be able to, after His will and pleasing, be King (and thus Lord – Ruler) in our own heart and life, that He fulfill His will – in and through us – just as He can do this in heaven!

3: We must come to Him pleading upon His blood.
11 verse 3: "Give us day by day our daily bread."
We know that this "bread" does not only refer to the bread in the literal sense, wherewith we feed our body, but also and in particular, to the spiritual food, which is the "Bread of Life". For this "Bread of Life" is His flesh – the true spiritual food – and His blood –the true spiritual drink– (see John 6:51-58). And this is called the Word of the cross, by the which is meant His sacrifice on the cross for us (for the atonement of sins). Therefore we must look upon His finished work on Calvary, and plead upon His (atoning) blood, but we also must form one planting with this atoning sacrifice of His, whereby is meant that we, too, must be willing to completely die (off) to our old, and thus sinful, life (Romans 6:5; 2 Corinthians 4:10-11).
As we now know, Israel's high priest was not allowed to enter the Holy of holies without this atoning blood (of sacrificial animals), just as he was not allowed to enter without incense. If he did, he would be killed – just like Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons (see Leviticus 10:1-2), were slain by God's judgment.
"Give us day by day our daily bread". So we must come to Him, daily cleansed by His blood, and daily sharing, in the spirit, His dying on Calvary. This is what we need from Him day by day.

4: We must come to Him confessing all our sins of the past (and with all our needs).
11 verse 4a: "And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us."
As well as confessing our sins God must be able to find in our heart the willingness to forgive others, who are indebted to us. And it must be such a willingness, that when they come to us for forgiveness for their crime, we (in the same moment) will be able to do so with all our heart. As children of God we should not harbor any grudges and/or hatred against anyone, whatever they may have done (or still do) to us. We must have forgiven them in our heart already, so that when they come, we, urged by God's love, will be able to grant them that forgiveness (Mark 11:25-26).

5: We must develop a sincere desire to be (completely) purified and sanctified by Him.
11 verse 4b: "And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil."
Herewith are meant the needs of the future; the time lying before us. Prayerfully ask the Lord to put a deep longing in your heart for complete purification and sanctification; it is a prayer very pleasing to God. This will lead us to a life wherein we will be completely free from (the power of) the evil one, whereby we also will be completely free from sin, and from the power of our sinful flesh and our sinful lusts! The plea: "Deliver us from evil" means: "Father, deliver us (completely) from all dark desires, so that the evil one and his temptations will have no hold over us anymore; because our sinful flesh and our sinful lusts will be dead completely through Your works of grace." Then our flesh can be no playground for the evil one anymore! He wants to take us there; and this will also happen if our heart is sincerely aimed at this.

6: We must come to Him with perseverance and boldness.
11 verse 5-8: "And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth."
We must come to Him with the same perseverance and the same boldness as this shameless friend. God will then give us what we desire (after His will and pleasing). We may come to God and boldly claim His promises, given in His Word.
This friend asked shamelessly for three loaves; and these are symbolic for the perfection in God! He is the type for the sinner who comes to God and claims His promise of perfection in Him... in order to, in the fullness of His nature and being, be able to serve others in the midnight hour; in the hour when the dark forces will rule (as never before)... He asked for the three loaves in order to stand (and persist) as a pillar of God in the midst of the storms of this age – storms of unrighteousness, because the majority of humanity live without norms and values, without God and His law – to be for others in this world as God's channel of salvation and NEW LIFE!

CLICK HERE if you want to read this study (Chapter 11) – that is to long for the Blog.

By E. van den Worm