There are two worlds – God’s world and man’s world. And since God’s ways are not our ways it is necessary for us to pull up out of the man-realm and learn how to live in the God-realm. We have always been motivated and influenced by the things of this world, by our education, our environment, the way we reason, heredity, all of these things. Now all of a sudden we have to learn how to live in a different world - God's world. We are now finding it necessary to learn how to think as He does and to be motivated by different principles. That is not an easy transition to make and neither is it made instantaneously. It is a process; it is happening, but it is change that takes place gradually. We are thankful for what God has done, but if we can learn the principles of the Kingdom the process will be speeded up.
There are Scriptures that speak of the Lord bringing forth miracle change. Isaiah prophesied of a nation being born in a day (Isaiah 66:7-9). Babylon will be brought down in one hour (Revelation 18:17). In John chapter two Jesus turned the water into wine; He eliminated the process of making wine. He didn’t go out and plant the seeds, wait for them to grow, etc.
We want to make the transition from man’s world to God’s world; we want to learn how to walk and live in the Spirit (Galatians 5:25). How can we make this transition take place more quickly? Well, as long as we are hanging on to human ways of thinking, we will not be able to function in the spiritual realm – in the world of God. We have to make this transition, and as we shall see, it takes place as we ascend spiritually in the Lord. We will begin our study in the third chapter of Exodus.
Exodus 3:1-2 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of
Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the
mountain of God, even to Horeb.
2 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the
midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the
bush was not consumed.
The burning bush not being consumed by the fire is a type of the church the Lord is creating even at this present time. The fire is His presence, for our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). His presence in the church does two things: it consumes the dross of our flesh-nature and it creates us into His image that we might live in His world. Out of the bush, the church, will come forth the Word of the Lord. It is like the picture in Revelation chapter one. The voice of the Lord is heard as the sound of many rushing waters because His voice is coming through many channels.
It is also interesting that the bush was an acacia bush. It was the wood that was used in the Tabernacle. It grew in the desert. The Hebrews called it incorruptible wood because it didn’t deteriorate like other wood. The altar and different pieces of furniture were made out of this acacia wood. It is a type of the incorruptible nature of Christ and of the nature we are receiving by the fire of His presence.
Exodus 3:3-5 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight,
why the bush is not burnt.
4 And when the Lord (Jehovah) saw that he turned aside to see, God (Elohim)
called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he
said, Here am I.
5 And He said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for
the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
This ground (we were formed from the dust of the earth – Genesis 2:7) is becoming holy. There is a change taking place so that our earthen nature is becoming holy ground. In one of the Gospels when Jesus was feeding the 5,000 He had them to sit down on the grass in groups of fifty. Then Jesus broke the bread and gave it to the disciples and the disciples fed the multitude (John 6:5-11). There is a divine order in receiving living bread from the Lord. The disciples receive from God and then they feed the people – they minister the living Word. It is interesting that Jesus had them to sit on the grass. That doesn’t sound like much, but it is important. It is necessary to sit on the grass if you are going to receive living bread from the Lord. Do you know why? It is because Isaiah said that all flesh is grass (Isaiah 40:6). So, you will have to sit on your flesh, take dominion over it in the name of the Lord. Then you can be fed by Him, because He has not committed Himself to man (John 2:24). So conquer it and put it under you, then you can be fed of the Lord. As you take dominion over it, His Lordship comes and there is a transformation that takes place and your flesh nature is changed so that it becomes holy ground.
Exodus 3:6-7 Moreover He said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was
afraid to look upon God.
7 And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in
Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their
sorrows.
In the past we were taught that Egypt represents our life of sin before becoming Christians, but that isn’t correct. The Israelites were God’s people before they went into Egypt. Therefore, Egypt is a type of the bondage in which many of God’s people are enslaved. Egypt is a type of man-made religion and the taskmasters represent the man-made doctrines designed to control the people. But, as with Israel, God has seen the affliction of His people and He is raising up a Moses Company to lead them out of their Egypt.
Exodus 3:8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
This is the verse we were looking for. The Lord says, “I am come down to bring them up.” That is vertical movement. Vertical movement is a spiritual principle found in literally hundreds of places in the Bible. It is important for us to understand it and learn how to make it work, for it will greatly increase our spiritual growth. So the Lord said, “I am come down to bring them up out of that land unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites.” The Canaanites and all the other “ites” that opposed the Israelites also represent the forces that oppose our upward movement into God.
Let’s go to John’s Gospel. John is always a good place to go. We’re talking about rising up into God’s world, the realm of spirit, the land flowing with milk and honey.
John 14:1-2a Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in
me.
2a In My Father’s house are many mansions …
“Mansions” is not a good translation of the Greek word mone. The same word is used in verse 23, where it is translated “abode.” Abodes or dwelling places would be much more accurate than “mansions.” So it should be: “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places,” meaning there are many levels of spirit in God’s world. Where do you want to dwell? Let’s ascend as far as possible into God.
John 14:2 In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
The Lord is not talking about some place up in the sky. In John 16:7, Jesus said, It is expedient for you that I go away. In verse 16 of the same chapter, He said, I go to the Father. Now, we know that the Father is Spirit (John 4:24). God is Spirit, not a spirit; He is Spirit! He is omnipresent. So Jesus saying, “I go to the Father,” is the same as saying, “I go to Spirit.” He becomes Spirit so He can prepare a place for us. What place is He preparing? The same place He was talking to Moses about – “I’m going to bring you to a land, a good land flowing with milk and honey.” But all those Canaanites in our flesh nature have to be taken care of.
The Lord has prepared a place for us and will prepare a place for us. Do you remember when Esau wanted to kill Jacob? Jacob left home on the run. He was running from Esau, but actually God was in his circumstances. Have you ever been fearful of something and later found out that God was in the whole thing? Anyway, it says that Jacob stumbled upon a place and it was there that he had a dream of a ladder reaching from heaven to earth (Genesis 28:12). The angels of God were descending and ascending on it. He had stumbled upon a place. This is very important to the Jews because to them it spoke of a place in God. He stumbled upon a place. Now you’re going to find yourself stumbling upon a place. It’s a place that God has prepared for you, and you’ll say, “What am I doing here?” In fact, where you are right now is a place that God has prepared for you, and you probably just stumbled in unaware of what was really happening. You were probably running from something as was Jacob - circumstances or whatever your Esau was – and you stumbled upon a place. Well, the Lord prepares a place for us.
John 14:3a And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself…
“I will come again” in the Greek is in the present tense – I come. Listen, it’s not that one day He’s going to come. There is a spiritual coming of the Lord that’s taking place right now and it’s a continual thing. He is coming and He continues to come. That is the way spiritual growth takes place. It is His life coming forth in you that brings change. He is not only preparing a place for you but He is also preparing a place for Himself in your heart. He is preparing a place for His throne in the many-membered Body of Christ that He might rule and reign from there. Sometimes the Scriptures speak of Him preparing a place for us and sometimes it speaks of Him preparing a place for Himself - same place; we’re going to be one with Him.
John 14:3b … that where I am, there ye may be also.
He’s not talking about a geographical place. It’s a place in the realm of spirit. It is not a place where we go after we die. It is a place that He has prepared for us right now.
It is not uncommon for God to speak of something in the past or present tense that hasn’t yet happened. Let me give you an example. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6. Isaiah is speaking about Jesus Christ. He says, “Unto us a Son is given,” but literally hundreds of years will pass before He is born. God speaks of things that are not as though they are (Romans 4:17). And when God speaks of creating man in His own image in Genesis 1:26, He is speaking mystically of the man in Ephesians 4:13 – the Body of Christ. Then in Revelation 3:14 Jesus says that He is the beginning of the creation of God. There is a creation of God taking place right now in His people. He is preparing Himself a dwelling place. We become His dwelling place and He becomes ours.
Ephesians 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
This is vertical movement. However, don’t assume to have experienced this just because Paul says that God “hath raised us up in heavenly places.” We tend to read a verse like this and say, “Oh, I’ve been raised up to heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” The verse does not say “all Christians”; it says us. Who does “us” refer to? It refers to Paul and anyone else that has been raised up in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. All Christians have not been raised up into these heavenly places in Christ Jesus, but that doesn’t mean they are not really Christians. Many, while having repented and received Christ as their Savior have never progressed beyond that point. And, most often, their spiritual growth has been stymied because they assumed to have something they did not have. For example, many believe they were filled with the Holy Spirit upon conversion when they weren’t. Consequently, the door was closed to that experience. If you think you have something you don’t really have, then you have closed the door to receiving it.
Colossians 3:1-2 If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
If you have been risen with Christ, that is, if your vertical movement in Christ has begun, then keep seeking to move higher in God. Don’t ever let the vertical movement stop.
Here, again, we are talking about that other world, the world of God. We’re not talking about a literal place up in the heavens somewhere. We’re talking about a place in God. That is where we are rising up to, or should be.
Revelation 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.
Here is a key. The Lord is saying, “Come up here.” That means we are responsible to take the initiative when the door has been opened to us. The door in heaven is opened and the invitation given. Now it is up to us; vertical movement doesn’t just happen. How many times in the Scriptures did the Lord say, “Lift up your eyes” or “Lift up your heads”? Take a step; start your vertical movement now!
Have you ever seen the time charts that some ministers use in their evangelism? The chart covers Biblical history: the creation, the antediluvian period, the prophets of Israel, etc., then the period of the Gospels, and after that the church age followed by a rapture, tribulation period and the Kingdom. It is a chart that chronologically shows history on a horizontal time line. Well, that’s the way of man. In the natural, you grow from one year to another year and change takes place. It’s the realm of man; it is horizontal movement. The realm of God is vertical. Teaching from the horizontal time line perspective causes a person to think he has to wait until a certain time for God to do something. “Well,” they say, “in the timing of the Lord.” That’s unscriptural. It’s unrealistic in the realm of God. God is omnipresent! God is, and everything of God is. You must believe that He is, that He is in the now realm (Hebrews 11:6). He is Jehovah – I am that I am, the now God.
Spiritual growth is vertical. You don’t have to wait until sometime in the future for change. He is saying, “Come up here! Begin your vertical movement into God!” We have scripture after scripture after scripture concerning this principle. He told His disciples, "Don’t say four months and then cometh the harvest. Lift up your eyes and see that the fields are already white for harvest” (John 4:35). It would be four more months before the harvest in the natural, but there is a spiritual harvest that’s in the realm of God and it’s ready now. Lift up your eyes! That’s vertical movement. Don’t say four months, don’t say in the future. Take it out of the time realm.
In Matthew 23:13 Jesus said to the Pharisees, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the Kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. How did the Pharisees shut up the Kingdom of heaven against men? Well, they talked and preached about what God did in the past. They also talked about the time that the Messiah would come in the future, but they didn’t have anything of God for the people in the present. They had shut up the Kingdom. The Kingdom has to be in a present tense. It has to be present. John the Baptist came on the scene preaching, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). It’s available! It’s at hand! It’s now! Then Jesus began His ministry preaching, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). When He sent His disciples on a ministry trip, He told them, “As you go, preach, saying, the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 10:7). Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Get out of the horizontal time realm of man and begin your vertical movement into God. Don’t put God in the future; you don’t have to wait for a future date to have a meeting with God. Draw nigh to Him and He will draw nigh to you (James 4:8).
God told Moses, “I am come down to bring them up” (Exodus 3:8). This is the reason the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth. He became as we are so that we could become as He is. He has come down to bring us up out of the time realm of man into the world of God.
Copyright © 2002 by Henry DuBose