by George R. Hawtin

CHAPTER FOUR

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THE SEALING OF THE SONS OF GOD

It would be impossible to over-emphasize the importance of the hour in which we now live. It should be plain even to unregenerate minds that the end of the age is upon us. There is a tenseness and an expectancy in the air that causes all men to believe that we are rapidly approaching an unavoidable climax from which there is no escape nor any shadow of turning. Events are taking place in the world that are irresistible. Spiritual forces have been set in motion that are beyond human understanding. As a boat that has passed Redemption Point in the Niagara River is swept by the rushing relentless cataract toward its inevitable doom, so the world, which has long flirted with the river of destruction, has been caught in its rapids now to be hurled with ever increasing speed to dreadful tribulation and destruction.

The twelfth chapter of Revelation gives a wonderful description of the travail of a spiritual woman and of a man-child that was born of her travail who is without doubt a glorious company of sons who are to appear on earth in the last days. At the moment of his birth he was caught up to the throne of God away from the presence of the dragon who sought to destroy him. But at the moment the man-child was caught up into heaven, there was war in heaven, and the devil was cast down upon the earth. Knowing therefore that his time of authority over the minds of men and nations is very short, he has great and terrible wrath and goes forth in all his frustrated fury to utterly obliterate all that oppose his power. “And the dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: He was cast out into the earth and his angels with him.” (Rev. 12:7)

The words in this passage, “That deceiveth the whole earth”, are most significant. Satan’s masterpiece is not tribulation and bloodshed, but deception. He is a liar and a murderer. He murders souls through lies and deception today just as he did in the Garden of Eden long ago. We do not know all the truth contained in the twelfth chapter of Revelation. We admit rather that we understand little of the great events mentioned there which are, without doubt, ordained to transform the whole world. Let us remember, however, that while we have but dimly seen these truths afar off, yet we have caught a glimpse of them and the vision of their vast eternal truth has gripped our imagination impelling us relentlessly toward them that we may partake of them and know as we are also known. We have already known much of the travail of this heavenly woman who stands clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet. There has been an almost unbelievable travail in the hearts of countless thousands that the sons of God may come forth to join Christ in His kingdom and deliver the world from its bondage, its thraldrom and decay. Dare we think that this sore travail has gone unnoticed by God who gave it? Dare we say that the sons of God have not already been sealed in their foreheads and even now are ascending in the Spirit to cast Satan out of the heavens, his long possessed domain?

However far we have progressed in this direction only the Master knows, but it is clear that, at the time the manchild was caught up to heaven, Satan came down with great wrath to deceive the whole earth. (Rev. 12:1-9) Every day I become more convinced that a strong subtle spirit of delusion has come upon the earth during the last few years. There is something that is fogging up the minds of the people to make them believe a lie. What greater example of this do we need than is found in the almost universal acclaim given to the Pope of Rome by millions of Protestants all over the world? Not only are the religious denominations of professing Christendom openly flirting with the pretty harlot of religious unity as she waits at every corner, attired in her goodly Babylonish garment, but other religious systems are also casting admiring glances in her direction. We are seeing before our very eyes the reality of the parable of King Solomon when in the Spirit he wrote these words:

“Say unto wisdom, thou art my sister, and call understanding thy kinswoman: That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger that flattereth with her words. For at the window of my house I looked through my casement and beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding passing through the street near her comer; and he went the way to her house. In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night; And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot and subtle of heart; She is loud and stubborn; and her feet abide not in her house. Now she is without, now in the streets and lieth in wait at every corner. So she caught him, and kissed him, and with impudent face said unto him, I have peace offerings with me; this day I have paid my vows. Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: Let us solace ourselves with loves. For the Goodman (Christ) is not at home, he is gone on a long journey. He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattery of her lips she forced him. He goeth after her straightway as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a to the correction of the stocks; Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to a snare and knoweth not that it is for his life.” (Prov. 7:4-23) A careful analysis of this passage will show that it is a perfect description of the visible church systems of our day.

Yes, indeed! There is a strong delusion settling upon the earth. It is a delusion born of Satan that makes wrong look right and makes right look wrong. The words of Jesus, “That they all may be one,” are being proclaimed far and wide, but the unity carnal men see in these words is not the unity that He saw. He saw a unity that is born of the wisdom and fire of the one omniscient Spirit, but man sees a fraudulent, physical togetherness that demands unity at any price, where the minds of men are frozen together in the darkness and deception of the dismal valleys of tradition, where the sun of righteousness never shines nor living waters ever flow. This is the D-day and this is the H-hour when we must say to wisdom, “Thou art my sister,” and call understanding our kinswoman that they may keep us from the strange woman, from the stranger that flattereth with her lips. (Prov. 7:4, 5)

There is a sort of mass production, assembly line spirit in the world. We live in the day when countless thousands of items are mass-produced and individuality is forgotten. I recently watched an assembly line producing tin cans. Eight hundred cans per minute were racing off the end of the line, every one exactly the same size and shape, every one bearing exactly the same label, and each the duplicate of the other. This same spirit has invaded humanity until it tries to squeeze all Christians into one mould. It wants them all to look alike, think alike, believe alike, and be alike, but they must take their likeness from the stamp of tradition and not from the stamp of the Spirit of God. There is a vast impassable gulf between this kind of unity and the unity that is born of oneness with the Spirit of God. The former makes us slaves to a system. The other makes us sons of God, an individual in his own right yet bound by the invisible Spirit to the whole body of sons even as the hands and the feet, being individuals and specialists in their own realm, are united by joints and bands, spirit and blood and life.

In the economy of the antichrist, man is only a number. In the economy of God we are individuals with a name in our foreheads. The new name God will write upon His people will describe exactly what we are. It will describe our position, work, and glory in the ages to come. Our Christ was called Jesus because His ministry was to save His people from their sins. So also will the new name God will write upon His people describe perfectly what they are in God’s eternal economy ages without end.  Amen!

Let us return for a moment to the thought of the strong delusion that is settling down upon the world and upon the professing church today. Paul the apostle, speaking of the end of the age, described the coming of strong delusion in these words:  “And then shall that Wicked (antichrist) be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming; even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they might all be damned (condemned) who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thess 2:8-12)

This scripture is not describing publicans and harlots and the general run of unregenerate men. This scripture adequately and perfectly describes the professing church of our day. If you think for even a moment that the professing church of our day loves the truth, then strong delusion has already overtaken you. The Jewish church of Jesus’ day did not love truth. That is why they rejected Christ. They did not love truth. They loved tradition, form, and ceremony. They loved tradition so much that they made the word of God of none effect by their traditions. Their priests did not love truth; they loved to be admired of men and called Rabbi. They loved to wear long robes and to make long prayers in public places to be seen and heard of men. Jesus told them they were hypocrites and whited sepulchers which appeared beautiful to men, but within were full of dead men’s bones. As it was in the end of the dispensation of the law, so also it is in the end of the dispensation of grace. Most Christians in spite of all their profession do not love truth. They love their programs, their buildings, their pet doctrines. They love to have their little “song and dance”. They love to get a wisp of blessing or a happy feeling, but that which crucifies the old life and the old world and the old nature, they reject. Show them what the flesh really is and they hate you for it and cast you out. Tell them what it means to walk in the Spirit and they have no idea what you are talking about. You become a proverb and a byword among them, and you are looked upon as some queer individual who has gone soft on religion.

All this is part of the mystery of iniquity. Godliness is a mystery, and great is the mystery of iniquity. Iniquity is really rebellion. It is born in man’s human nature to rebel against truth and love it not. Our age will end, not with innumerable multitudes rising to meet the Lord in the air, but with a vast professing church buried in strong delusion. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the day of the coming of the Son of man. Certainly there will be a resurrection. But the company who will be raised and caught away will be the in-Christ company, not the people who love systems above Christ and traditions above truth. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.” (2 Cor. 5:17)

In the sixty-sixth chapter of Isaiah, verses one to five, there is an appalling description of the hypocrisy of Jewish worship. Isaiah saw them going on with their usual forms of worship. They were offering bullocks and lambs on the altar as they had been commanded. They were making their oblations as usual. They were burning incense unto God just as they had done for hundreds of years. But the whole thing was hateful in God’s sight and He abhorred it as only God can because they chose their own ways and delighted in abominations. Therefore God sent them strong delusion that they also might be damned. Therefore He said, “He that killeth an ox (for sacrifice) is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb as if he cut off a dog’s neck, (a dog is an unclean animal); he that offereth an oblation as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their abominations. I also will choose their delusions and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear; but they did evil before mine eyes and chose that in which I delighted not.” Verses 3-4. Now read verse two and you will see the kind of man God is calling in our day. “… but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at My word.” But again in verse five we are told what will happen to a man who fears God’s word. He certainly will not last long nor be popular among the religious enthusiasts of his day for thus it says: “Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at His word: Your brethren that hated you cast you out for My name’s sake and said, Let the Lord be glorified; but He shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.” (Isa. 66:5)

The above verse of scripture is just as true today as it was when it was written. Any man who receives a revelation from God will certainly be cast out of the church, and, when they cast him out, they will think they are doing God a service. They will thoroughly believe they are cleansing the temple of a great evil. They will quote these very words, “Let the Lord be glorified,” while they are shoving him out of the door. Twice during my life I have had the bitter experience of being cast out for truth’s sake. I can still hear the bitter speech of the superintendent of the denomination as he declared, “We felt before God something had to be done.” But thus it has ever been throughout all the ages from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias in the Old Testament, and from the blood of John the Baptist to the blood of the last martyr in our age.

Truth forever on the scaffold,

Wrong forever on the throne.

But that scaffold sways the future,

And behind the dim unknown

Standeth God within the shadows,

Keeping watch upon His own.

You will notice then from reading these passages that it is God who sends the delusion. The reason He sends it is because men do not love the truth but prefer to believe a lie. Men hate truth because it disturbs them and brings them under conviction. It demands action and repentance even in the oldest saint, for no man can advance even a step with God without repentance. No man can see God and live, for seeing God brings repentance and death to the old life, but a glorious walk in realms hitherto unknown. While no man can see God and live, neither can any man see God and die. He dies to the old but lives to the new even as the song-writer so beautifully said, “There is life for a look at the crucified One.” We are always dying on old levels and living on new ones as we are being changed by His Spirit from glory to glory.

Heaven is not reached by a single bound, But we build the ladder by which we rise from the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, And we mount its summit round by round.

The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. To the man who walks with God each day presents a new horizon, new realms to explore, new lands to conquer, new experiences to enjoy, and new heights to reach. The journey from infancy to maturity is a long one. The road that leads from childhood to sonship is lifelong. Maturity is not attained by traveling in endless circles nor by remaining just as we were when we were saved years ago. It is a straight and ever narrowing pathway that leads to the Elysian fields of God’s eternal glory where we become like Him, for we see Him as He is.

Christians have spent so much time preaching a rapture in which they would all rise to meet the Lord and all be changed in the twinkling of an eye, where they would put on incorruption and leave the world and its inhabitants to the antichrist, but they have completely ignored the parables of Jesus that show so clearly that the kingdom of heaven (the church age) is to be an age when wheat and tares should grow together, none knowing which was which. Matt. 13:28, 29. It is an age when sheep and goats roam the same pastures both bleating alike. It is an age when good and bad fish are caught in the same net, an age when the leaven of malice and wickedness invades the whole lump of dough. Why have we so willingly overlooked the teaching that at the end of this age there will be a great dividing of one from the other – that the goats will be separated from the sheep, the tares from the wheat, and the bad fish from the good? Why have we overlooked the terrible image of the Babylonish harlot with all her illegitimate daughters and the awful doom that is predicted upon her and all who follow her ways of confusion? Can you not see how Christians do not love truth, but hide from it? They don’t want to differentiate between wheat and tares. They don’t want to distinguish between sheep and goats. They prefer to go on believing that everything that names the name of Christ will be raptured regardless of whether he departs from evil or not.

Ezekiel in the eighth and ninth chapters of his prophecy unveils an obnoxious picture which has its parallel in our day. He saw the abominations in the temple of the Lord on one hand and the sealing of the true servants of God in their foreheads on the other. A very strong sense has flooded over my soul of late convincing me that the day of the sealing of the true sons of God is at hand.

Six is the number of man and six is the number of this present dispensation, for the dispensation of grace is the sixth dispensation and the sixth day. It is very significant, therefore, that Ezekiel says, “And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, and in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord fell upon me.” (Eze. 8:1) Six years, six months, and five days. The complete number would have been six years, six months, and six days. Therefore the sealing took place just one day before the judgment of God burst forth in awful wrath against all the abominations carried on in the name of the Lord.

Ezekiel was carried away captive to Babylon, and he was still in Babylon when God opened his eyes to see the true reason for Israel’s captivity and the judgment that was to follow. In the Spirit he was picked up by a lock of his hair and brought in visions of God to the temple at Jerusalem. (Eze. 8:3) He found himself standing at the north gate of the temple where the Spirit of God spoke to him, commanding him to behold all the abominations that were in the house of God. The words of Moffatt’s translation add to the simplicity and forcefulness of the meaning; therefore, we will quote from his text. (Eze. 8) “The Spirit lifted me between heaven and earth and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem to the door of the north gateway into the inner court where the idol stood that provoked the Eternal to resentment.” (Vs. 3) “Son of man. He said, ‘Do you see what they are doing? Do you see the horrible impieties that the Israelites are practicing here, forcing Me to leave My sanctuary? You will see worse than that.” (Vs. 6) Ezekiel was then taken through a door of the court and commanded to behold the idolatry that was going on inside in these words: “Go inside; look at the detestable impieties they are practicing here. So I went and looked; there pictured all round the wall were all kinds of vermin and reptiles, loathsome representations, and all the idols of Israel. In front of them stood the seventy elders of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, every man holding a censer from which rose the scent of incense in clouds. ‘Son of Man,’ He said, ‘do you see what the elders of Israel are doing? … You shall see still worse.’” (Vs 13-15) “And He took me to the outer door of the north gateway into the Eternal’s temple where I saw women wailing for Tammuz. (Tammuz was a hero of Babylonian mythology who supposedly was killed and resurrected.) ‘Son of man,’ He said, ‘do you see that? You shall see even worse.’“ (Vs. 13-15) “And He took me back into the inner court of the Eternal’s temple where at the very door of the temple of the Eternal between the porch and the altar I saw about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the Eternal and their faces turned to the east worshipping the sun. (Vs. 16) ‘Do you see that. 0 Son of man?’ He asked, ‘and is it too slight a thing for Judah to practice these detestable impieties of theirs here? Must they also fill the land with violence and anger Me still further? They are filling My nostrils -with their stench! But I will take action in My fury. I will have neither mercy nor pity upon them. I will not listen to them, even if they call Me at the pitch of their voices.” (Vs. 17-18)

The abominations which Ezekiel saw were indeed terrible – the images that provoked God to wrath, the hero worship, the offering of incense to images and representations, the worshipping of the sun and the things which are created rather than the Creator Himself. All these things were detestable in the sight of God, and awful judgment upon them was certain. But the solemn fact is that in our day all these abominations exist. The worship of saints, the offering of incense to images, the adoration of heroes are almost as universal in the professing church as they are in show business. The ancient cathedrals of England and Europe are replete with grotesquely carved gargoyles which seem to depict evil looking creatures that could come from nowhere but the pit.

Let us remember that a man may be an idolater without having an idol of wood or stone or gold. Covetousness, for instance, is idolatry. Col. 3:5. And covetousness is rampant in the professing church, not confining itself to the pew or to members of the congregations, but clergymen of all sects greedily covet money, large congregations, prestige, worldly goods, luxury of goods, homes, clothing, and many other things. The racketeering in the church system has become so great that pulpits are invaded by unscrupulous characters who in hope of gain deceive the people, making themselves to be great ones and resorting to every trick and to attain their ends. It may seem to some that I speak too boldly on this point, but half a century of observation has revealed many bitter and unpleasant things, removing the veneer of outward show to reveal the true purposes of the heart.

The church system of our day is in a sorry state, and it, with the world, is rushing headlong for judgment. Strong delusion has settled down upon the people making them willing to believe a lie and grasp almost anything that will attract a crowd, bring a measure of excitement, or add to prestige and prominence. In all the vast church system today there is but a handful of people whose hearts are crying out for the will of God. There is but a tiny remnant who long to be filled with the wisdom of God and who make the mind of Christ their daily, hourly quest. Few there are who sigh and cry because of the abominations and injustices everywhere and who wait with longing spirits for the judgment of the Lord. But there is a tiny remnant, according to the election of grace, who can say, “At night upon my bed I sought Him whom my soul loveth.” There are still a few who cry, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better than wine,” (S. of S. 1:2) There is still a handful who pray, “Tell me, 0 thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flocks to rest at noon: For why should I be as one that tumeth aside by the flocks of thy companions?” (S. of S. 1:7, 8) “The voice of my beloved! behold he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart; Behold he standeth behind our wall; he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice. My beloved spake and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; and the time of singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in the land. The fig tree putteth forth her green figs and the vines with the grapes give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” (S. of S. 2:8-13)

Not only has a spirit of delusion settled upon the world, but the spirit of confusion is rampant everywhere, manifesting itself in every aspect and walk of life. Confusion reigns daily in the governments of the world. Confusion stalks like an evil spectre among the nations, disrupting all their international agreements. Confusion and disorder reign in millions of homes where all authority has gone from the parents and all respect has vanished from the children. Art and music always reflect the temperament and disposition of the people of the day. Certainly music has returned to the jungle and art to the weird grotesqueness of the kindergarten. Juvenile delinquency has attained such proportions that the Attorney-General of the United States has declared that if it cannot be beaten in ten years it will be unbeatable. Confusion reigns among the races and colors of people, among the majorities and minorities. It reigns between labor and management and between nations that have and nations that have not. And by no means least is the confusion that reigns in the church system, which is spiritual Babylon. Babylon is confusion.

At the time when the vision of all the abominations in Israel appeared to Ezekiel, he saw the wonderful spectacle of the true elect sons of God being sealed or marked in their foreheads. This sealing event which was of so great importance to Israel is of no less importance to us who have come to the end of the age. Not only are we seeing a great separation between good and evil and wheat and tares, but our minds are being set apart and sealed unto God in preparation for the great day when the 144,000 sons shall stand upon Mount Zion, having their Father’s name in their foreheads.

The vision which Ezekiel saw in the Spirit vividly portrays the events which will shortly come to pass on a world wide scale. The world, that has so thoroughly rejected God, is coming into the judgment of tribulation, and the church systems, that have turned from God to every imaginable vanity, are going to know the full penalty of their wrong and pay the price of walking in their own ways.

Amid the scenes of evil and wickedness which Ezekiel saw he heard the voice of God calling forth the men who were to destroy the city. Thus it says: “He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, ‘Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.’ And behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed in linen with a writer’s inkhorn by his side, and they went in and stood beside the brazen altar. And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side; and the Lord said unto him, ‘Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.’ And to the others he said in mine hearing, ‘Go ye after him through the city and smite: Let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark, and begin at my sanctuary.’ Then they began at the ancient men that were before the house. And he said unto them, ‘Defile the house and fill the courts with slain: Go ye forth.’ And they went forth and slew in the city.” (Eze. 9:1-7)

You will notice especially that the people who received the mark in their foreheads were the people who sighed and cried because of the abominations in the house of the Lord. The reason the vast majority of people feel at home in the church systems is because their minds have become accustomed to their surroundings. The light of revelation never penetrates their hearts. They have become so accustomed to custom, ceremony, and tradition that they take it all for granted. Tradition says we must go to church; so we go. We are supposed to listen to a sermon; so we listen. We are supposed to sing songs; so we sing. We are supposed to give offerings; so we give them. It is custom to praise the Lord; so we praise. But truth and experience have fled from so many hearts, and serving God from an overflowing fullness of the Spirit is seldom known. The revival fire that burned in the fathers is but a fleeting tradition in the hearts of the children just as the miraculous wonders of Moses in the land of Egypt and at the Red Sea became little more than bed-time stories to the succeeding generations. The vision and reality was gone.

But never has God left Himself without a witness. Never has He been without His handful of elect who have not bowed down the knee to the prevailing systems of the day. The seven thousand of Israel who had not bowed down the knee to Baal in Elijah’s day were the harbingers of the elect of all ages who bowed not the knee to any but God. They cast from them as profane the authority of Baal, of Nebuchadnezzar, priest, Pope, or preacher, system or organization. There has always been a handful of people who are separate unto God, and there is also today a remnant according to the election of grace who are wholly the Lord’s. As Jonah was vomited from the belly of the sea monster, indigestible and indestructible, so these are vomited out of the sea of humanity. They bear the invisible mark of the Lord in their foreheads and the destroying hands of death and tribulation shall not overwhelm them.

The mark of God in the forehead is not a stamp or a brand. It will not be visible to man at all. It is that which God sees but which man overlooks altogether. These men and women who sigh and cry because of the abominations in the world and in the professing church are the people who have the mind of Christ. Their concern and grief over all iniquity is identical with that of the Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who have the mind of Christ are the ones who have the mark of God, the seal of the living God in their foreheads. Rev. 7:1-3. Furthermore those also who are said to have the Father’s name in their foreheads (Rev. 14:1) are those who possess the mind of Christ. To have the Father’s name is to have the Father’s mind, for none can use the Father’s name but those who have His mind.

When the apostle Paul said, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” the depths of his meaning reached far beyond all natural understanding. The mind that was in Christ Jesus was the Father’s mind. Let us never forget that. The Father’s mind dwelt in the Son. It was this above all else that made Him one with the Father. Their purposes were identical because their minds were identical. Their unity was perfect because they had the same mind. Not two different minds, each one alike, but one mind indwelling both, and that one mind was the mind of the Father. Man is never able to find true unity. He has sought it for centuries. He has tried to attain it through teaching, through instruction, through discipline, through dictatorship, through popery, through tolerance and charity. He has tried to find it by avoiding points of difference, but he never has found it because natural minds are never one. There are as many different minds as there are different people.

The only unity that is now and the only unity that ever will be comes when the carnal mind with all its enormities and divisions is crucified and the mind of God the Father comes to dwell in us, even as it dwelt in Jesus Christ. This is true unity. This is true sonship. This is the mark of God and the name of God in the forehead. The countless divisions in the professing church shout from the housetops that there is no unity in the carnal mind, and they likewise prove that millions of men, though believers, do not possess the mind of Christ, nor have they God’s name in their foreheads.

During the last few years there has come to many people an ever increasing and almost insatiable longing to be filled with the wisdom that is from above. The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easily entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Such wisdom can never be attained by resolve, by endeavor, by teaching, or any such thing. This wisdom comes when the mind that dwelt in Christ Jesus comes to dwell in us. Then, and then alone, are we one with the Father. Then are we one with the Son. Then and then alone are we one with all people in whom that blessed mind doth dwell. Then will our lips truly repeat the words of Jesus, “I and My Father are one.” This is sonship indeed and everlasting life. Little earth-bound man pores over his books and his Bunsen burners in search of wisdom. He peers through his feeble telescope to search the heavens and his microscope to investigate the earth, knowing not that the mind which made the heavens and earth will dwell in us if we desire it more than rubies, and the wisdom that planned the eternal purposes will be ours if we covet it more than gold.

This is the mind that will govern the kingdom of God in the age that is at hand. The mind of God dwelling in the sons of God will be the source of everlasting peace when men, with confidence and assurance, will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning-hooks and shall learn war no more at all. “And there shall come forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse (David’s father) and a branch shall grow out of His roots, (I am the vine, ye are the branches), and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge after the sight of the eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of the ears: But with righteousness shall He judge the poor and reprove with equity the meek of the earth:  And He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of His reins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and them falling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain:  For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Isa. 11:1-9) It is plain for anyone to see that all this blessedness comes from the wisdom and knowledge of the Lord which dwells eternally in the mind of Christ, for this blessedness reaches the earth when the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Perhaps we have been casual in reading Paul’s exhortation, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 2:5) But if we meditate upon the whole passage our minds become overwhelmed by the magnitude of what he says and the magnificent glory of the results attained by Christ because He had the Father’s mind dwelling in Him. And I suppose the result would be no less great for any man who through consecration to God crucified his own mind that he might be indwelt by the mind of Christ, which is the Father’s mind. So the apostle declares, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name that is above every name: That at (in) the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:5-11)

It seems to me that to comment on this scripture would be to do it an injustice, for the fullness of its meaning transcends the eloquence of men. Its truth beggars description and the extent of its glory defies our understanding. Yet be it known that when all things in heaven and earth and under the earth bow to Christ, it will be because the mind of the Father dwelt in Him in divine fullness and completeness, bearing Him on its everlasting arms into all the will of God both for time and for ages eternal and without end.

Would God that we might see that to obey a command of God is one thing, but for a man to have the mind of God dwelling perpetually in him is another thing altogether. It is one thing to have the mind of God about a matter, but it is something different altogether to have the mind of God. Jonah had the mind of God about the matter of going to Nineveh, but he certainly did not have the mind of God dwelling in him, for if he had, he would have coveted God’s will just as Jesus did, who was able to say, “I do always those things which please the Father.” It is clear then that to momentarily have the mind of God about a thing is not the same as having the mind of God dwelling in us.

When one possesses the mind of Christ, He has a re-newed mind. His mind is transformed after the image of Him who created him. Such a man presents his body to the Lord as well as his soul and spirit, and he is the Lord’s, spirit, soul, and flesh. Because he is renewed in the spirit of His mind, his body begins to be transformed as well. For this reason then Paul said, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, and be not conformed to the world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. …” (Rom. 12:1-2)

In the depths of my spirit I am certain that of all truth being brought to light today none is of greater importance than the truth concerning the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ is the mind of God. The mind of Christ is the mind of eternal, immutable, omniscient wisdom. It is the mind of Christ that will govern the world in wisdom in the glorious age into which we shall soon enter. This is the mind that will bring order out of the fearful chaos that now exists. This mind will empty the arsenals of the nations and fill the stomachs instead. It is His mind of wisdom that will fill the whole earth with the knowledge of the Lord even as the oceans are filled with water. Justice and judgment and equity will be everywhere, the reaper will overtake the sower, and none shall ever be afraid. The mind of Christ is a priceless gem, rich and rare above all the treasures of earth. From its eternal wisdom universes roll forth in their orbits and nations dwell in peace.

The carnal mind is the mind which is possessed by all natural men. It is the mind which is concerned only with the carnal, which is the body made of flesh. People hate this truth and cast it from them as profane, but it was given to me by a revelation and proven by many infallible proofs. The carnal mind is an enemy of God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, so that they who are in the flesh cannot please God. The carnal mind is concerned only with the physical realm. That is why so many Christians are far more interested in physical healing than they are in spiritual progress. The carnal mind is the mind that is concerned with the literal and physical realm. It can never lift itself higher than this.

To be carnally minded is death. That is why all men die. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace. The very moment men begin to have the mind of Christ dwelling in them, there will be an end of death, for the renewed mind will also renew the physical body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body.

The carnal mind was never designed to reign. It wrecks every kingdom it possesses, because it is centered in self, concerning itself only in the physical realm. It always becomes corrupted because it makes self the center and not God. It manifests itself in men like Nebuchadnezzar who commands all men to worship his image, or in Pharaoh or Herod, who sought to crush everything that might oppose them. It must try to exterminate all that is Godly as did Haman, Jezebel, Hitler, and many religious leaders. It sets itself up as a god so that he as God sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. It desecrates the vessels of the Lord as did Belshazzar and offers swine on the altar of the Lord as did Antiochus.

When the heart first cries, “Thy will be done” the mind of Christ begins to form in man. This is the beginning of the sealing of the mind. When God’s people become fed up and sick to death with all the abominations about them in the world and in the professing church, then and then only do their hearts begin to reach out for the will of God and the mind of Christ. When the heart of any man becomes filled with an insatiable longing for the fullness of the will of God, he discovers that all other wills are at an end. He finds that there is no trace of his own will yet remaining. There is nothing he wants to do to please himself, nowhere he has ambitions to go, no great purpose he wants to accomplish. He has one desire, one love, one hope, and that is to have God’s will revealed to Him that he may do it in all its completeness, for it has become his very life. The will of God is his food and drink. This is his joy and crown. This is his love and only aspiration. His soul continually sings, “I delight to do Thy will, 0 my God; yea, Thy law is within my heart.”

You will not reach this blessed goal without a struggle, neither will you reach it without a revelation of the will of God. You will find yourself becoming empty of the plans and schemes you cherished to advance the kingdom of God. You will find yourself kneeling in prayer with all requests gone from your lips. But in their place your heart will groan forth the irresistible request. Thy will be done! Thy will be done! And when you have reached the glorious place where your soul at last reposes in God’s will, you will find you have become a stranger and a foreigner to all your acquaintances, for your words and speech will seem to them as idle tales because they do not understand you. My greatest and most heart-breaking surprise after entering into this rest was to find that scarcely a soul understood me, but to all my friends my words were but idle tales. That is why I declare that the will of God must be a personal revelation to the believer’s heart.

To enter fully into the freedom and liberty of the will of God is the beginning of the sealing of the mind. It is the beginning of the mark of God in the forehead.

In Ezekiel’s vision there was deplorable abomination in the house of the Lord. But did you notice as you read that all the abominations had to do with worship”! God is not half so concerned about the sins of publicans, harlots, and drunkards as we may think, but His fury is rising every day against the disorder, confusion, and abominations in the professing church. Amid all the abominations that Ezekiel beheld his eye did not miss the fact that there was a small number who sighed and cried because of the abominations on every hand. And those who sighed were the ones who were marked and sealed unto God that they might escape the dread destruction that was to come.

The dreadful scene of destruction which Ezekiel saw following the sealing of the elect is going to be re-enacted at the end of this age, and that will be very, very soon. I am one who believes that the sealing is now taking place. In John’s vision on the Isle of Patmos the events of the closing years of time passed vividly in panorama before his wondering eyes. Amid the dread horrors of that tribulation day he beheld four angels of God holding back the winds and all destruction from the earth until the sealing of the servants of God in the forehead had been completed. Thus it reads: “And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four comers of the earth, holding the four winds of earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, ‘Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of God in their foreheads:”  (Rev. 7:10-3)

How can we ever possibly over-estimate the importance of this sealing? Certainly there is destruction coming upon the earth as the book of Revelation clearly shows, but not until the sealing is complete. Certainly there will be slaughter as Ezekiel saw in his vision, but not until the servants of God are marked in their foreheads. This sealing of the mind is now in progress. People are being separated unto God in a manner hitherto unknown. I do not think that there has ever been a time when the truth concerning the mind of Christ has been made more clear, and neither has there ever been a people more desirous to understand what the will of the Lord is. Never has there been more spiritual insight concerning the condition of organized religion, and never has Mystery Babylon loomed so large nor been so ripe for destruction.

The hour of the sealing of the mind is here. The hour of judgment and destruction is at hand. The priceless prize of the mind of Christ is available to all who sigh and long for it above all earth’s treasures. He who has the mind of Christ will have God’s name in his forehead. “And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on Mount Zion and with Him an hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers, harping with their harps: and they sung as it were a new song before the throne and before the four beasts (living creatures) and the elders, and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty-four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women (the harlot daughters of Babylon) for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.” (Rev. 14:1-5)

The Spirit of God has warned us of another mark that is coming. It will not be the mark of Christ, but the mark of antichrist. A system of world government will be set up in which no man will be able to buy or sell until he has received the mark of the Beast or the number of his name either in his right hand or in his forehead. Rev. 13:16-18. Men have long talked of a world government and a world church. There are signs even now that some have already thought of the possibility of numbering all men for the sake of convenience and identification. An article appeared in the August, 1963, Reader’s Digest under the title, Call Me 552. The article, though intended to be amusing, is a hint of the way the wind is blowing even as a small straw upon the water indicates the direction the stream is moving. “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the Beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred three score and six.” People have tried for centuries to discover what the 666 indicates. The truth is it is the number of a man, and the man will be very evident when the time comes.

Let us not concern ourselves or waste any time worrying about the mark of the beast. That will come in its time and none can stop it. But let us mightily concern ourselves with the other mark, the mark of God, the sealing of the sons of God in the forehead. Let us search for it as for hidden treasure, for the great day of the sealing of the servants of God in their foreheads is at hand and none can hinder nor prolong it.