A sword, a sword sharpened and polished- polished to flash like lightning! A sword is appointed to be polished, to be grasped with the hand by He to whom it rightfully belongs- to Him the Father has given it; in Him the Father has entrusted and committed all things. It is sharpened and polished, made ready for the hand of the Resurrection.
Sharpened, polished, appointed and grasped is the Sword of the Resurrection- a sword that brings life in abundance, its silver blade reflecting and shining forth the light of the glory and sovereignty of the R/resurrection on every side. So that every heart may acknowledge the Lord our God, every mouth confess and testify, and every knee bow- so that the risen be many, to highest praise and exaltation God. The Father has stationed the Sword of the Resurrection at the gate (Eze 21:15) - our Lord Jesus Christ is the gate for the sheep, He is the gate that leads to life- whoever enters into eternal life has entered through Him, for on Him the Father has placed His seal of approval, and whoever enters through Him will be saved. He has come so that we may have life, and have it to the full, for to have the fullness of life is to have resurrection to the power of eternity, and to have the fullness of resurrection is to have eternal life in infinitely increasing and unceasing measures in all the eternal dimensions of a timeless realm.
Once held in the hands of brutal men, the sword of slaughter resurrected is the eternal Sword of the Resurrection which comes out of the Lord’s mouth - a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations- and this is what overflows from His heart to His mouth- Jn 11:25: “ I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
The Sword of the Resurrection flashes and wields to cut and divide between the sheep and the goats, it brings in other sheep that is not of this sheep pen, for He did not come to bring peace, but a sword- to turn, “man against his father, a daughter against her mother. A daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” And when the Sword strikes- it strikes authoritively with the power that is the glory of His word the truth and the justice and the righteousness which is His law resurrected.
Do you see design of the Sword of the Resurrection in God’s word? This is the Statute of the Resurrection: The sharpest point of the sword is the Lord’s declaration- “I am the resurrection and the life.” How it pierces the heart if you so let it, if you open your heart to let Him in and consume you, to strike and kill you, to raise and resurrect you. It is followed by the law - the double-edged blade of the sword - “He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” And with a question directly from the throne, “Do you believe this?” - the Lord invites you to take a step of faith with Him into Himself, into the Father and the Holy Spirit- the Holy Trinity of the resurrection – the persons of the Godhead, the event, the process, and the result. If you do believe His word, then encircle your hands with the hands of He who grips the sword by its handle and be prepared for the Lord to strike you with the Sword of the Resurrection, because whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Him will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Is it not wiser and better to choose to gain the resurrection of your soul and forfeit the whole world? He whose hands holds the Sword of the Resurrection also holds our lives and all our ways, and it is by the total and complete death of our old self and old ways that our new selves and new ways may be resurrected, and the delight of the unsung dreams and buried fantasies be given the hope of renewal by God’s resurrection in us and us in Him. Who is it all about, if not solely about Him? Who is all for, if not solely for Him? Is it not the sweetest thing that we are able to come and share our master’s happiness?
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. The world has been judged by the one enthroned in heaven- the Son testifies to the Father’s judgment and He who sent Him is true. This is the verdict: “Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of the light because their deeds were evil.” The ones who do not believe stands condemned because they have forsaken His law, they do not follow the statutes, they violated the decree and failed to keep the Lord’s commands. Even the priests have rejected the law and did violence to His law. “Peace, peace’, they say when there is no peace, not for the wicked, for they had not known the day that would bring them peace. If you believed, the Lord would have left you His peace, His peace He has given you, and He does not give as the world gives. He gives abundantly and without cost, He gives with pleasure and kindness.
What was your response to the Lord when He asked you: “Do you believe?”
Did your respond with words that choked His words because you showed no recognition or emotion to the newness of the revelation He gave you, the revelation of Himself, as you were more concerned with the worries of this life and the desires for other things? Or did you allow His words to be snatched away from your heart by asking someone else to go to the Lord when He did not ask for her, because you could not bear the burden of His words – and you carelessly let His words fall to the ground and the birds came and ate it up? Or did His words find no root in you and at the time of trouble, persecution and challenge, you quickly fell away from your hesitation to roll away the stone in your heart to release death out of the tomb which you were hiding in darkness? Were you loving the darkness and were you refusing to come into the light to have life?
Or did His words find a place in your heart even though you had not receive full understanding, but you understood His words to be the truth and sought it as truth, and by persevering and seeking high and low for Him, led you to the heart of where His resurrection and your resurrection took place? For the Lord did not ask, “Do you understand it?”, or “Do you like it?”, or “Does it seem good to you?”- He was requesting and testing us for a drop of belief to take the first step of faith, even if it was only a mere shuffle, as it is faith which is pleasing to God, and it is by knowledge that we do not perish. But the Lord had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray Him.
But if they did believe, they would have crossed over from death to life; if they believed and open their hearts in repentance and acceptance, their eyes will be opened that they may see wonderful things in His law (Psa119:18), the law that goes out from Him (Is 51:4). For if they first believed in their hearts and then followed the law with their heart and soul, spirit and mind, flesh and strength- it will be their testimony and out of the overflow of the heart the mouth will confess “YES! Jesus is the resurrection and the life. I believe in Him and will live, even if I die; and if I live and believe in Him I will never die. I believe this, and I know I will see the glory of God! Amen Holy Spirit!” For the Lord is returning in great power and glory, and the sign of the Son of Man appearing in the sky at His arrival is His sitting at the right hand of the Father and in His glorified body, glorified by the resurrection.
It is to the Father’s glory and honour and pleasure that the truth be declared and testified based on the power of the law which is the undeniable goodness of His word, combined with the loyalty and passionate love of faithful expert witnesses- our testimonies which comes first by faith and then increased by knowledge and sealed with love, counselled by the Holy Spirit. For in His law, the islands put their hope. But for us, it is not just our hope, which is a casual wishing for the coming of things which seem to good to be true. In his law and in the opera of the resurrection of His law and of the Law of the Resurrection, we put in His law our complete trust, our determined love, our happiness, our faithfulness, our commitment, our focus, our ambitions, our time, our humble obedience, our passions, our sufferings, our battle plans, our pleasures and our delights.
Do you see the Sword of the Resurrection in God’s law, its silver double- edged, razor sharp blade flashing across His word as you turn the pages? See how it illuminates the word of God like bolts of lightning across the sky when it reflects unto the earth the light of the glory of the knowledge of the Resurrection which fills it as waters cover the sea. The Sword of the Resurrection extends all over the heavens and earth as He stretches out His hand to make justice the measuring line. And when the sword is raised to strike to shake all nations, He makes righteousness the plumb-line - to resurrect the right standing of sons and daughters of God the Father of Resurrection beyond that of His original desire, and our covenant with death is annulled and our explicit agreement with grave which came from the forsaking of His word no longer stands (Is 28:17). See, smell and hear how the Sword is coated with the fragrance of the exercise of the delights of the Lord- kindness, justice and righteousness!
And this is how He exercises kindness and righteousness from the beginning to the end, filling all the space in between with pure perfect holy precious justice. For as Jesus came full of grace and truth- kindness is exercised in Him through grace, and righteousness through truth. There is no kindness if not for mercy, for we all need God’s mercy, all has fallen short of the glory of God- and whoever turns from the error of his ways is saved from judgment which brings death. Repentance in the name of Lord allows for atonement in the continuous flow of His blood sacrifice which covers a multitude of sin, for it is by grace that we have been saved. There is no mercy without there first being a correct and true judgment by the Holy One. But we are forgiven from God’s judgment of us - which is that every inclination of our hearts are evil from childhood- and here lays the kindness found in forgiveness- shown to us by a merciful God because of the covenant of the blood of Jesus Christ which is poured out to many for the forgiveness of sins.
His kindness has caused Him to resurrect His covenant of love and peace in place of the covenant with death we had once imprudently made in our wicked and sinful rebellion. This is the everlasting covenant which He has established, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them”. It is not that He will bring us into a land flowing with milk and honey, or give us land as an everlasting possession, but there comes a time called “NOW” that we can live with Him and be with Him forever in nearness and togetherness, and we will never have to separate from Him again and Him from us. We do not want land flowing with anything if we cannot be with the Lord and live with Him and gaze upon His beauty. We are chosen- for many are called and few are chosen- to be like living stones built into a spiritual house to be a royal priesthood. And like the Levite priests, we will have no inheritance in the land or any share among the people (Nu 18:20). The Lord Himself is our share and our inheritance, and we need no other nor any land for we will not be bound by and in the land that is New Earth- for we will fly and soar into the New Heavens and all of the eternities with God that our resurrection has allowed us to be made possible to be fully in His life. And as the chosen elect, what more is there to desire, other than to not only live with Him, but to live IN Him and Him in us as the fourth person of the Holy Trinity, a daughter or son of the First Resurrection being resurrected in continuing fullness?
The covenant was resurrected when Jesus gave us the cup that is the new covenant in His blood. For we have life in us- we have Jesus in us- we have the R/resurrection in us because we followed His command to drink His blood and eat His flesh, so that our blood and flesh are made one with His glorified blood and flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit, which we have received and are clothed with- the power of the resurrection from on high, He lives with us and is in us. And this grace which comes by forgiveness, the authority to exercise kindness on earth to show the world and testify that our Father and God is rich in mercy, slow to anger and abounding in love, and forgiving sin and rebellion- this command we have received from Jesus, “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven”. But this command to exercise kindness on earth was only given at the time of the reception of our Counsellor- the Holy Spirit who convicts the world in regards to sin righteousness and judgment is also the Spirit of grace, the Spirit of wisdom and holiness, and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. The Holy Spirit testifies about Jesus, and His testimony is valid. We must also testify with the Holy Spirit, for we have been with Him from the beginning and desire to travel with Him to the end and to the beginning again. Just as the Son testifies to the Father as He knows Him because He is from Him, we must also testify to the Father’s kindness by exercising it through forgiveness in the name of Jesus. The law that the Lord gave us, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” is a double portion of forgiveness and our second testimony of the Father’s forgiveness and justice.
For the law was given from God through Moses; but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ from God. Justice and righteousness were exercised through the administration of the Mosaic law through obedience and strict compliance for an appointed time. It was a prequel to the greater things to come, for Moses Himself testified to God’s word that God was sending Jesus, a prophet like him from among their brothers, who is the one who tells us everything God has commanded Him as He puts His words in His mouth. (Deut 18:18) He is the one who followed His Father’s words to perfect precision, for wisdom is proved right by her children. And so the Son proved right the wisdom of the Father by His actions, testifying of the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit, who is Wisdom personified. For the Lord did not speak of His own accord, but the Father who sent Him commanded Him what to say and how to say it. (Jn 12), so whatever He says is just what the Father told Him to say. It is our Lord, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.
But we have discredited God’s justice, we have perverted justice by siding with the crowd, that is the world, and not standing by and favouring God’s Word, that is His Son. We have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness that stings the mouth of He who gave all of creation His law and decrees, commands and statutes. So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter- because when we ignored, deserted, mistreated and dishonoured the word of God, we have neglected the more important matters of the law- justice, mercy and faithfulness- and we also neglected the most important matters of the law- justice and the love of God.
And so we continue to fall from a great height because we had forsaken our first love and we plummeted into error because we do not know the Scriptures or the power of God, and those who diligently study the Scriptures still refuse to come to Jesus to have eternal life. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice (Is 59:14)- He looked but there was no one to help, He was appalled that no one gave support, and so His own arm worked salvation for Him (Is 63:5). The islands will look to Him and wait in hope for His arm… and His arm will bring justice to the nations. (Is 51:5) The Holy Spirit also says testifies about Jesus, “In faithfulness he will bring forth justice…in His law the islands will put their hope." But to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? (Jn 12:38/ Is 53:1) And to whom has the law of the resurrection and the Resurrection of the Law been revealed? Even when it was revealed, did they believe? And when they believed, did they follow? (And if they followed, would they have submitted to the Sword of the Resurrection?)
For Moses said, “Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you”. But the Lord said, “Follow me”, and “I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father confers one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” He testifies to the Scriptures as truth, for it is written: “The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” How are we going to be witnesses of “these things”, namely the R/resurrection, if we had not followed Him? How will anyone be led towards repentance if not for the testimony of God’s kindness and forgiveness which are displayed in His Son? (Ro 2:4)
Kindness and righteousness was exercised by Jesus Christ through truth and grace - He came so that we may believe in the Son of God and put our faith in the Son of Man, follow Him, listen to Him and obey everything that the Father has commanded through Him, and return to God resurrected through Him. The double portion of righteousness comes through Jesus for His righteousness lasts forever and will never fail. For no longer are we declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law, because a righteousness from God apart from the law has been made known through faith in His Son, and to go back completely and solely to the law now that Jesus has come and is returning is to ignore and pay blatant disregard to all the words He ever said, all the things He had done and all that the Holy Spirit is doing for Him through us. To go back entirely to the law now without taking in all the words of Jesus and the counselling of the Holy Spirit only brings a haughty self-righteousness because of this righteousness which is based on faith in the resurrection and He who is the Resurrection. The Lord has done this to demonstrate His justice, so that those who have faith in Jesus may be justified apart from observing the law. He did this to show us that His ways are just, and it is our ways which are not just. For even in our flailing and superficial attempts of following the law, we had manipulated and twisted God’s law through Moses into traditions and rules taught by men- and so we come near to the Father with our mouths and lips, and our hearts are far from Him- thus neglecting the love of God, the most important matter of the law. But now, we are under grace and not under law.
The Lord has done this and it is marvellous in our eyes, for our eyes have been adjusted and focused for resurrectionary vision, for resurrection is what we desired and asked for, and the Lord is upgrading and improving us to take us to yet another level- for without it, how are we to seek and find the Sword of the Resurrection in His word to fight the battle side by side with the Lord? A battle we are being prepared for, a battle worth denying ourselves and picking up our daily cross and following Him for, a battle worth living for and a battle far more worth dying for- a battle of Truth against the father of lies and those who run with him, to testify for and to the Lord the truth of the R/resurrection, a battle designed to honour God and the truth of His word by making the resurrections of God’s eternities a reality without further hindrance and opposition, a battle to bring all authority in heaven and earth under the Resurrection, and to bring all that belongs to the Father into the R/resurrection because all that belongs to Him cannot remain un-resurrected forever. The Father will bring all that belongs to Him back to Himself, all that He had created for His praise and glory into His eternities with Him, whether through the first resurrection or the second resurrection, whether in close proximity or a great distance. For even the second death is a form of resurrection because it is not a death as we know it, but it entails the endless duration of days and nights in the lake of burning sulfur, being everlastingly cleansed of the filth of their works by the sulfur, without a route of escape, without a right of appeal, without any changes or ending. For as death is a conclusion to physical life on earth, the second death has no such conclusion on new earth.
For those who were held in the dungeon cells below, those descended to the stones of the pit, incarcerated in the holding cell that is hell, there is still a possibility of the right of appeal between now and Judgment Day, for Jesus did go and preach to the spirits imprisoned long ago to free the prisoners from the waterless pit. The sentence of heaven or hell is only an interlocutory judgment, which means a judgment for now and expires upon a higher verdict, and its judgment criteria is the law of salvation. If you are saved, you will go to heaven and wait for either of two things- to be the returning party with the Lord for the Millennial Reign on earth, or be the welcoming party for His return from the Millennial Reign, to which you also await your judgment from the great white throne on Judgment Day. The sentence on Judgment Day is the final judgment made according to the book of life, but the judgment criteria is not law of salvation, but it is the law of resurrection. The dead will be judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books, what they had done with the resurrection since their salvation- judged according to their own conduct, deeds and actions regarding the R/resurrection the person, event, process and result. And the degree and measure of the resurrection in them and them in God will determine their place in eternity for eternity. But for us, to strive to partake in the first resurrection or the second resurrection is a choice we must make NOW, for to us, the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has being given to us NOW, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. And so, justice requires that since the secrets of the resurrection of the kingdom of heaven are given to us now, much more of the resurrection will be asked of us at this time.
Blessed and holy are those who have part in the First Resurrection, the second death has no power over them. They will be priests of God, and having reigned with Him for a thousand years, they are eligible to sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? Do you not know that we will judge angels? (1Cor 6:2) For the Lord said, “In the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you”. We will not judge by human standards or mere appearances, but we will judge by the fullness of the resurrection we have attained from this moment on till the Lord returns and to Judgment Day, for the fullness of resurrection allows us to be eligible to take part in the first resurrection for the millennial reign, which is a ongoing training ground. And to qualify, we must have resisted the beast. We must also be headless- beheaded as a witness of Jesus and to Jesus, our testimony for Jesus and of Jesus, and our testimony for the word of God and of the Word of God. All of this is in the Word of God, it is in the law resurrected, and the Law of the Resurrection testifies to the resurrection that does take place in the Word of God. And now what will the Sword of the Resurrection of the Law do? It will fight the battle of truth to pierce and tear down the veil of deception and fraud that there is no resurrection, there is no life, as a testimony for the Word of God that our Lord is the Resurrection and the Life.
So this is each of our own personalised, tailor-made sword of the resurrection- our individual testimonies of God based on the resurrected law and the Law of the Resurrection. The sword is personalised because we each have our own experiences, thoughts, freewill and revelations from the Lord to which our testimonies flow from- no testimony is the same if you endeavour to spend private quality time with the Lord and in His word and in His work. And each sword is tailor-made by the wonderful hands of the Holy Spirit who relentlessly and passionately refines and polishes us like a skilful jeweller cuts a diamond from the rough to offer us to the Father. He teaches us ALL things and reminds us of all the things the Resurrection has said to us, and He takes from what is the Resurrection’s and He makes it known to us, that we may testify of the R/resurrection with Him in power. We do not worry about how we will defend yourselves or what we will say when we are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, for the Holy Spirit will teach us at that time what we should say. This is to the Father’s glory, that we bear much fruit of the resurrection, showing ourselves to be not only disciples, but sons and daughters of the Father of the Resurrection. How precious and valuable and useful is our own sword of the resurrection, and how thankful we are that the Holy Spirit is teaching us how to use it like a skilful and strong warrior!
For as expert witnesses of Jesus and the Word of God and ultimately as judges, we must not only seek and find, understand and know the resurrection of the law and the Law of the Resurrection, we must learn and practice wielding the sword of the resurrection as easily and effortlessly as we use a fork and knife- for the resurrected law and the Law of the Resurrection is the statute on which we are judged upon. And it qualifies us for the First Resurrection because as witnesses, we depend on our testimony that is based upon the law. If we do not know the law, how are we going to judge others by the law? If we ourselves have not attained the full stature of resurrection and the likeness of the Resurrection, how are we going to reign with Him when He returns in power and great glory, in His glorified body? How then are we going to judge the world according to the resurrected law and the Law of the Resurrection, for the law itself will reject you and say, “away from me, I never knew you!” If we do not learn and refine our skills and expertise to wield the sword of the resurrection, how are we going to fight the battle of truth to bring all of God’s eternities into the truth of reality? What other sword can bring the resurrections of all things into eternal victory but for the Sword of the Resurrection of the Lord?
For the Lord who is the Life brought us salvation, and the Lord who is the Resurrection brought us eternal life. The Resurrection and the Life is good and it is beautiful. His law resurrected is good and it is beautiful.
Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honour and power and strength be to the Holy Spirit who guides us into ALL TRUTH, the treasures of the R/resurrection!
Let the swords of the resurrection be released without further hindrance!
AMEN HOLY SPIRIT!!!!
