Part  I –   The Lamp-Stand Model

Subpart C  –   The Fulcrum

Article 1  –  THE FULCRUM OF GOD’S POWER

By Daniel Irving

a.  The Analogy of a Fulcrum

b.  The Futility of Flesh

c.  Horns as Bearing Allusion to Power

d.  God’s Power as Hidden

Article 1

The Fulcrum of God’s Power

a.  The Analogy of a Fulcrum       Section (a) may be viewed in video form at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDLRS-v_tCQ&feature=youtu.be

In this subpart we turn our attention to the fulcrum of the Lamp-stand.  Special attention  would seem warranted in the light of some divine signs that were given to the church at the commencement  of Twentieth-Century-Pentecost.

What is a “fulcrum”?  A “fulcrum” is the point of support on which a lever turns in order to achieve a greater output-force.  The word is sometimes used figuratively to mean anything that constitutes the means of exerting influence or power.  When we consider the Lamp-stand model, we find that it has a true fulcrum that shares position with the central stick which stands for the principle of Pentecost.  Pentecost is that principle of union between Christ and His body that is initially-transacted through baptism – a principle that will be discussed in a following article in greater detail.

Why does Pentecost stand in the place of power for God’s redemptive work?  The true locus of the divine power is the cross of Jesus Christ.  And therefore at each conjunction between Messiah Head and Messiah Body there is a forming of that only true “altar” of God.   This is a vital-characteristic of the model!  And it demonstrates that Calvary stands as the exclusive-means through which men may draw nigh unto God.

On His way to the cross, Christ said:

Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out.

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”

                                                                                    John 12:31-32

Jesus also said:

“ I am the way, the truth, & the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me.                                                                                       John 14:6

Christ is the exclusive means of drawing near unto God, and His cross is the means of being drawn unto Himself.

Traditionally, we have understood the cross as having association with the work of justification; ie. Christ’s sacrifice-for-sin allowing God’s forgiveness for transgressions-past.  However, the model demonstrates that the work of the cross continues throughout God’s redemptive processes.  This aspect of the model proves the truth of Andrew Murray’s words; “. . the Holy Spirit of Pentecost and the Spirit of the Cross are one and the same.”[1]    To gather-in this principle, we will begin with a discussion of . . .

b.  The Futility of Flesh

The cross of Jesus Christ is the power of God.  Paul writes:

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness;  but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.                         I Cor. 1:18

Remarkable statement this is!  What is the power of God?  Is it the power to create or to destroy material-things?  Not according to Paul!  According to Paul, the power of God resides in the principle of His Son enduring death on the cross.  Therefore the prophet Habakkuk foretold the power that would be represented in God assuming flesh and having that flesh nailed to a tree:

God comes from Teman, & the Holy One from Mount Paran.  Selah.  His splendor covers the heavens, & the earth is full of His praise.                         Hab. 3:3

The prayer of Habakkuk begins with an allusion from the words of Moses concerning the establishment of “Jeshurun”[2] the Israel of God.  They saw the Lord’s power and His glory displayed.  Therefore Moses commences upon this reference to “Jeshurun” with the preamble:

The Lord came from Sinai & dawned on them from Seir;  He shone forth from Mount Paran, & He came from the midst of 10,000 holy ones;  At His right hand there was flashing lightning for them.  Indeed, He loves the people; All thy holy ones are in Thine hand,  & they followed in Thy steps; [everyone] receives of Thy words.                                                                                       Deut. 33:2-3

The prophet declares that; “God comes from Teman”

God comes from Teman, & the Holy One from Mount Paran.  Selah.  His splendor covers the heavens, & the earth is full of His praise.                                                                                      Hab. 3:3

 “Teman” was a city within the country of Edom, named-for one of Esau’s grandsons:

  These are the names of Esau’s sons; Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Bashemath the wife of Esau.  & the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, & Gatam, & Kenaz.                       Gen 36:10-11

Therefore “Teman” is a sub-category of “Edom”.  “Edom” is a metaphor for flesh-and-blood” (ie. the “natural-man”).[3]  Therefore “Teman” is a sub-category for “flesh and blood”.  Therefore we ask the question;  How can it be said that “God came from flesh & blood”?  The answer is the incarnation of God in the Person of Jesus Christ.   This is a principle that constitutes even the “mystery” of the path to true-“godliness”:

& without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh . .                                                                                        I Tim. 3:16

This metaphor holds in the prophecy of Jeremiah wherein God questions the wisdom of flesh and blood in matters of spiritual-things:

Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts;  Is wisdom no more in Teman? Is counsel perished from the prudent?  Is their wisdom vanished?                                                                                       Jer 49:7

And we know to what this prophecy relates given the words of Paul, who explains:

But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God:   For they are foolishness unto him:  neither can he know them, because they are spiritually- discerned.                                                                                    I Cor. 2:14

So the answer is “no”, there is “no wisdom in Teman”.   But where does the wisdom reside?  The answer is with the Spirit of Christ.

Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches,  But which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.                                                                                      I Cor. 2:13

Therefore the wisest-thing that can come from the lips of Edom (ie. the natural-man) is to declare the cross of Jesus Christ; the “foolishness” that happens to be the “power of God”.[4]

For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, & will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.  Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?  For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God,  it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.                                                                                      I Cor. 1:19-21

Therefore Christ Jesus rejoiced at this:

In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, & said, “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven & earth,  that Thou hast hid these things from the wise & prudent, & hast revealed them unto babes:   even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.                                                                                      Luke 10:21 

We shall never overcome through the means of the flesh.  Our natural strengths shall prove themselves worthless implements in spiritual matters.  Our own wisdom, understanding, eloquence, righteousness, nobility of purpose, or whatever else with which we may be equipped, shall be for us, only stumblingblock to the true godliness required for  eternal life.  Even though ours own ways appear right and acceptable, this is even shat defines the spiritual fool.

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.  Prov. 12:15 

There is no counsel for the soul other than the Spirit of Christ.  Yet the natural man will faithlessly continue in his way of believing what seems right to his own natural mind.  Teman alludes to our natural humanity, void of understanding, yet trusting therein nonetheless.  But this will end in the curse of death, as outside the true counsel of God that is the testimony of Jesus Christ.  Therefore Jeremiah prophesies:

Thus saith the Lord, “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, & whose heart departeth from the Lord.                  Jer. 17:5

c.  Horns as Bearing Allusion to Power

Therefore “Teman” is used as an allusion to flesh and blood, the place to which God humbled Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ!  Habakkuk’s prophecy then states:

& the Holy One from Mount Paran.  Selah.

Who is “the Holy One”?   Jesus Christ.  His appearing at which the devils cried out: 

Saying, “Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth?    Art thou come to destroy us? I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God.                                                                                      Mark 1:24

And although He would not allow them to declare His holy-nature, He did give this work to those believing in His name after His crucifixion and resurrection.  Peter declared on the day of Pentecost:

  But you denied the Holy One & the Just, & desired a murderer to be granted unto you;                                                                                     Acts 3:14

And Peter quoted David, who prophesied concerning the Lord Jesus Christ:

Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,  neither wilt thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.                        Act 2:27

Habakkuk’s prophecy declares Christ to come from “mount[5] Paran”.  The “wilderness of Paran” was in the Arabian desert on the Sinai Peninsula and constitutes a place that Israel passed through after their departure from Egypt.  The prophecy of Moses proclaims the great event of the Lord’s manifestation as occurring here:

The Lord came from Sinai & dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran,                                   Deut. 33:2

The prophecy continues:

And His brightness was as the light; He had horns coming out of his hand; and there was the hiding of His power.                          Hab. 3:4

The Hebrew word meaning “horns”[6] means a literal “horn” as that belonging to a bull or an ox.  For instance, the word is used to describe the ram that was caught by his horns in a thicket during the sacrifice of Isaac:

And Abraham lifted up his eyes, & looked, & behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns:    Gen 22:13

The Hebrew-word is also used in reference to the four horns of the bronze altar:

And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the 4 corners thereof:  his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.       Ex 27:2

The Hebrew word translated “horns” (KJV) has an interesting history.  While it is certainly the word for an animal “horn,” the translator, Jerome, incorrectly translated the word “horn” in the context of that which was emanating from Moses’ head when he descended Sinai.  Thus Jerome’s translation (which became the basis for many later translations) contained a mistake that would have serious consequences for centuries to come when the error was repeated in Church artwork portraying Moses with horns coming from his head.  Thus the world received the stereo-type of the horned Jew.

However, in this case, the translators would have done better to keep the word “horn,” as Habakkuk’s prophecy alludes to that which emanates from the hands of Jesus Christ, ie. Power.  “Horns” are a common prophetic symbol for power.[7]  Whose power is this prophecy referring to?  This is the power of “the Holy One”, (v.3) which can only be a reference to Jesus Christ.  How great is this power of Christ?  His power is “all power”.  For the Father gave Him “all power” “in heaven and in earth:

  & Jesus came & spoke unto them, saying, “All power is given unto me in heaven & in earth.                         Matt 28:18

Jesus spoke these word following His crucifixion, death, and resurrection.  Therefore “horns coming from His hands” bear allusion to the nailing of His hands upon the cross to effectuate the purposes of God and the demonstration of God’s power.   Therefore Habakkuk’s prophecy concludes that; “there was the hiding of His power”.  His “power” is in the nail-marks of His hands.  The correlation between His sacrifice of Himself on the cross and His being given all-power is clear, as Paul writes:

But made himself of no reputation, & took upon him the form of a servant, & was made in the likeness of men:  & being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, & became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.    Philip. 2:7-8

Here then is the antecedent to the glory and power of God; the obedience of His Son in submitting to the cross.  Therefore, having been; “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross”, Jesus Christ fulfilled all obedience.

  Wherefore God also has highly exalted Him, & given Him a name which is above every name:  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven,  & things in earth, & things under the earth;  & that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.                                                                                       Philip. 2:9-11

Therefore after His resurrection from the dead . . .

 Jesus came & spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven & in earth.                                                                                      Mat 28:18

d.  The Hiding of God’s Power

We understand that Jesus was given “all power in heaven and in earth.”  We understand that all power was given Jesus Christ as the result of His being lifted up as a sacrifice unto God and having his feet and hands nailed to tree.  What may be less understood is the meaning of prophecy in terms of the hiding of all power. Habakkuk’s prophecy states:

He had horns coming out of his hand; and there was the hiding of His power.                                                                                      Hab. 3:4

Why is his power “hidden”?  Consider (again) that His power is “all power in heaven and in earth”.    The apostle Peter writes about; “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”.[8]  That power shall be revealed one day, known in prophecy as the “Day of the Lord” – the result of which will be the salvation for those that make Christ their trust.  Therefore there has been a day determined in the mind of the Father in which to reveal the almighty power of His eternal Son.  Until then, His power is hidden – to be made manifest only at such time it is God’s will so to manifest – the manifestation of which is sanctified by faith.   The gospel is very clear that only those whom the Father has called to come to His Son can effectively come.

“No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; & I will raise him up on the last day.  Is it not written in the prophets; ‘& THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD’?  Everyone who has heard & learned from the Father, comes to Me.”                                                                                      John 6:44-45

The apostle Paul touches upon a mystery of the last days; a time when there is great wickedness and error that is attended by abounding grace![9]   Paul writes to the Romans:

What if God, willing to show His wrath, & to make his power known,  endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:                                                                                      Rom. 9:22

God looks to the day He can demonstrate His might via the strength of His quickening power in Christ.[10]  This power is “all power in heaven and earth” and will come as wrath against the ungodly in that all things shall be suddenly and irrevocably overthrown in favor of Christ.  But this power is hidden until that day.  Until that day, we have the witness of God as the means of having His power revealed to our own hearts through the means of “faith”.

The prophecy reads; “and there is the hiding of His power”.  Where?  In his “hands”.  The nail prints in the hands of Christ are a testament of the love of God to His elect, and manifested by faith.[11]    His power is “hidden” for one reason, ie. the patience of God, and He will continue to “hide His power” until the Father determines that as to the work of redemption; “it is finished”.

Mercy, peace and grace shall abound to God’s child, to whom the Lord states in prophecy:

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?   yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.  Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.                                                                                      Is. 49:15-16 

For God has “inscribed you on the palms (of His) hands”.  The nails that pierced the hands of the Savior shall be the testament that continually emits the truth of His love.  The nail prints in the hands of Christ are a testament of the love of God, to His elect, by faith.  Those who by faith can receive this truth into their heart will know the work of the Spirit.  That work of the Spirit will also result in their sanctification, ie. the “building of their walls:”

The Hebrew word translated “continually”[12] means to stretch, and therefore means to flow continuously without break or ceasing.  The word bears an association to the continual abiding in the presence and anointing of Christ.[13]  The “walls” of the city exist as a spiritual certainty in the mind of the timeless Creator to be realized at some time within the natural creation.  What is represented by the concept of a “wall”? [14]  The meaning appears obvious.  A “wall” is a barrier between those things inside, and those things outside.

He that has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.         Prov. 25:28

What would God want to keep outside a wall?  Those things that would defile; the defiling principle of sin.  Therefore we read in Revelation:

For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.                                                                                        Rev 22:15 

In his letter to the Phillipians, Paul uses the metaphor of dogs in reference to those who by contrast have placed their “confidence in the flesh.”  Therefore by rejecting the gospel of God, they have made themselves consummate sinners.