Part  VI  –  Transitional Aspects of the Lamp-Stand Model

Subpart A  –  Messiah-Head; The Incarnation of Christ

Article 5  –  The Object of Revelation Knowledge

By Daniel Irving

a.  Knowledge of the Incarnation of God

b.  Walking in Knowledge

c.  God’s Incarnation as His Revelation to Bestow

d. Formation of God’s Children in the Womb

e.  The Question that Brings an Answer allowing for the Entrustment of our Soul  

f.  The Experience that Works Hope

g.  Called to Comprehend what is Naturally Incomprehensible

Article 5  –  THE OBJECT OF REVELATION KNOWLEDGE

a.  Knowledge of the Incarnation of God

That God manifested Himself in human flesh is a concept not apprehensible except by faith.  The incarnation of God is not mere doctrine.  The incarnation of God is part of the mystery of God’s kingdom.  God’s incarnation is something that only He can reveal.  Not a revelation of the mind, but a revelation made to the spirit, by the Spirit.  Therefore Paul writes:

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

This is spiritual knowledge; something foretold by the prophets many hundreds of years in advance of its manifestation, e.g.:

Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.         Is. 7:14

Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?    Is. 63:1

There are times we are challenged in our mind as to what we truly believe, by profession, concerning the Person and work of Jesus Christ.  But this is not the same thing as Faith.[1]  Faith is not the acceptance of a set of doctrinal facts.  Faith is a revelation made spiritually, impacting upon the heart so as to allow an apprehension of God.  Faith is the means to apprehend God’s presence, His voice, His hope.  This occurred for Peter when he declared to the Lord “Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”   Consider the Lord’s response.  Did He say; “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for your doctrine is correct!”?  No.  Rather, He said:

“Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee,  but My Father which is in heaven.      Matt. 16:17

The true knowledge of God, comes from God.  That knowledge is the revelation of Christ.  While we cheaply mis-define faith as a doctrinal creed; an accepted set of facts concerning Christ, this is not “Faith” as the apostles used the term.[2]  Neither is the church built upon the doctrine that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  This is rather what institutions are built upon.  The true and mystical Church of the Firstborn is built upon the revelation that God manifested in flesh in the Person of Jesus Christ.  The rock to whom the Lord refers is a matter of revelation knowledge.   “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God”.  Neither was the Lord referring to particularly to Peter, as Peter was no rock, as is shown by his denial of Christ prior to Pentecost, and his stumbling on the issue of faith even after Pentecost at such time when “certain men from James” arrived in Antioch.[3]  The Lord was referring to the revelation knowledge of the incarnation of God, as the basis and foundation of His kingdom.

While it is good and necessary that men preach and teach that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” this is not the same as the conveyance of the substance, which must come from God.  If the witness of heaven is not at work, then all that has happened is that; “flesh and blood has . . . revealed it to you.”   And if this is all that our faith is, then flesh and blood may take it away again.  It is not eternal.

b.  Walking in Knowledge

That having manifested in the flesh, God should allow that His body should die, is, as well, non-apprehensible to the natural mind.  Consider the quandary this presented for the Jews, who listened to Christ make reference to his being “lifted up” from the earth in death.  This caused considerable difficulty for them:

  The people answered him, “We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever:   and how sayest thou, ‘The Son of man must be lifted up?’ who is this Son of man?                  John 12:34

Notice something vital in this question.  The difficulty they had with the concept that Christ should die, went to the very issue of their ability to perceive the Person and work of God that is the revelation of Jesus Christ. The thought that Christ should die, resulted in the question; “Who is this Son of man?”   Having received the principle that “Christ abideth forever,” they had become attracted to that glorious revelation and quickening witness that the eternal life of God had been made accessible to men through the incarnation of God in human flesh.  How defeating must it have seemed to this revelation, when Christ began speaking of His Death!  The glory and the joy they had experienced in the presence of the Eternal One seemed to run aground by inexplicable allusions to the Death of God Incarnate.

The Lord’s next word to them was:

“Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you; for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not wither he goeth.  While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be children of light.”            John 12:35-36

These words allude to a revelation which would come upon these witness to the Lord’s life.  As witnesses to His life, they were privy to the revelation of God which, although eternal, had yet to complete its course upon the earth.  In order for that revelation to become complete, those experiencing the witness of His life must stand in belief of that witness.  The parallel of this principle to the Christian experience is expressed by the apostle Paul when he writes:

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.            Gal. 5:25

Why is this critical?  It is because . . .

  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God; they are the sons of God.   Rom 8:14

And notice that Paul expresses the very same principle as did Christ.  Jesus told those beholding His glory to believe in what they were sensing with their hearts so as to walk within that apprehension.  He said this would result in they themselves becoming “children of light.”  Likewise, Paul tells believers to “walk in the Spirit.”  As well, Paul says that through being “led by the Spirit,” we are “sons of God.”

If we have received light, we must believe.  If we have received an apprehension of the incarnation of God in the Person of Jesus Christ, we must believe so as to operate according to that truth we have received.  For this is also the time of empowerment to comport ourselves to the holy nature that has been made manifest to our soul.  A profound work has been accomplished.  It is time to make that work effectual within the man through Faith.  Those former works of the flesh which infected all our motions in thought, in word, and in deed, must give way to the fruit of the Spirit which God intends to produce within us.

What are the perceptible effects of the Spirit of God bringing righteousness to fruition?  Paul provides this non-comprehensive list:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.                               Gal. 5:22-23

Certainly, when the Spirit moves upon our heart, we sense all of these things.  But should it stop there?  Paul also tells us there should be some expression of these inner holy sentiments.  They materialize in works.  Without the works of faith, we risk the prospect of rejoicing in a light which may suddenly turn to darkness.  Recall the Lord’s words:

“Walk while you have the light, that darkness may not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes.  While you have the light, believe in the light, in order that you may become sons of light.”            John 12:35-36

c.  God’s Incarnation as His Revelation to Bestow

We cannot bring this revelation.  For God’s word is clear.  The revelation of God belongs to God to reveal.  Jesus said:

All things are delivered unto Me of My Father: and no man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.                      Matt. 11:27

Just as Jesus Christ is the baptizer with the Holy Ghost,[4] so it is Jesus Christ Who reveals the Person of God unto men.  This is because He Himself is that revelation.  Jesus Christ is the “image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.”[5]  The firstborn of every creature is the child that is born unto God.  These are the sons of God.  These are the “children of light” to whom Christ refers.

The revelation of God that is Christ, even is the Kingdom of God.[6]  Therefore the preaching of the Gospel has a purpose in the revelation of the Person of God to men.  While the revelation belongs exclusively to God, we must not think it a revelation God is in any way unwilling to bring.  God’s will is to reveal His Person to men.  Therefore Jesus said:

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.    Luke 12:32 

d. Formation of God’s Children in the Womb

We should then ask ourselves, Why is this revelation not immediately brought upon a confession of faith in Jesus Christ?  The answer to this question is that there is a preparation which must be performed before God may reveal Himself to His creature in a way that will ultimately seal the sanctification of His creature, rather than end in the destruction of His creature. This is why the work of our redemption is a work which must be entrusted to the hand of God.  One substantial obstacle to this committal of God’s work to God, is man’s own self-assurance.  Recall Isaiah’s prophecy:[7]

Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons, and you shall commit to Me the work of My hands.                      Is. 45:11 (NASV)

The Interlinear Version renders the prophecy, “Do you give command to me about my sons, and about the work of my hands?”  But the implication is the same.  This prophecy speaks to the presumption of men concerning spiritual matters; matters that should entirely reside within the office of God.  Christ is that office.  His is the rule of God over men that is God’s kingdom; He is the satisfaction for humanity before God;  He is the atonement for and the sanctifier of men, through whom men may stand in God’s presence without peril to their soul;  He is the expression and communicator of God to the man.  He is all things God to the creature.  He is the Light of God; the Road to God; the Gate unto God; the Word of God; the Breath of God; the Bread of God; the Water, the Milk, and the Wine of God, and the Hand of God to effectuate all of God’s purposes.  He is the image of the invisible God through Whom God’s children are brought forth into eternal life.  Therefore, how can it be that men presume to stand in that office themselves in terms of their own redemption?

The Hebrew word translated “Maker”[8] simply means to “form” or to “make.”  But it is also the universal KJV word for “potter.”  The word is used twice in the following Scripture, in which it is translated as “formed:”

Gen 2:7-8  And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, & breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; & man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; & there he put the man whom he had formed.    

We find the Hebrew word appearing in such places as:

Jer 1:5   Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Ps 33:15  He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.

Ps 94:9   He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not    see?

Ps 139:16  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my      members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

In the same way we would say in English, that a “baker” “bakes,” so it is in the Hebrew in regards this word for “potter.”  He is a “former” (ie. one who “forms.”)  Therefore this is the same word used whenever the word is “potter.”  For instance, this is the same word used when God says to Jeremiah:

Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear My words.  Jer. 18:2

e.  The Question that Brings an Answer allowing for the Entrustment of our Soul  

What God is doing is a matter concerning His sons.  He is in the process of forming them in the womb.  The prophecy declares, “Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons.”  For this is a matter God would have us inquire into.  An inquiry which may bring a difficult, even painful, lesson if it is to be rightly answered.  As the potter’s clay is pressed and molded, so is the human soul in order to be prepared as a vessel for God’s kingdom.  But if we make this inquiry of God, He will answer such an inquiry.  He will answer the inquiry because this is His declared will.

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.         Luke 12:32 

There is a troubling of soul on the way to the knowledge of God.  But the path through the valley of the shadow of Death leads to the revelation of Life.  What shall come after this revelation of our true spiritual estate and condition?  Through the dread of God shall come the manifestation of God Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ.  A Person we would not have known had inquiry not been made of God; a Person Whose knowledge is even eternal life, and Whose presence brings the continual sustenance of God.  Upon this revelation:

you shall commit to Me the work of My hands.         Is. 45:11

With the revelation of Jesus Christ, sanctification, as an ongoing process of abiding in God, may progress, braced in the apprehension that God has been caretaking our redemption and salvation even when we were not.  This is a part of the apprehension of His mercy upon, and His intimacy with, His creatures.

God has made the material creation, and He has also formed the new.  When we finally “commit God’s creation over to Him” we enter upon the seventh day of His rest.  We become part of the eternal Sabbath day of God, which constitutes the perfecting of all things in Christ.  This source will come when we finally apprehend that God loves us, that He has made a sure provision for our redemption in the blood of Christ, and that He has not forgotten His covenant, but has performed His covenant even when we could not it.

What could it mean for God to say “you shall commit to Me the work of My hands?”  What is the “work of God’s hands?”   In one sense, the “work of God’s hands” is all things.  But God is directing our attention to a very specific work He is doing.  He directs our hearts to the “new thing,” telling us to “behold,” as a prophetic signal to see something with our heart:

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?   I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.                 Is. 43:19

God’s provision for that “new thing” is even Himself, the rivers of life that are His own presence ministered to men, found to be sinners under Law.  This is the work of the Cross of His Son, and the “new thing,” which brings to term the new creature.

We are told that after we have “asked Him about the things to come concerning His sons,” God shall bring a result.  We shall then “commit to Him the work of His hands.”  Little do men perceive the true work before which all earthly work pales comparison.  For despite the present darkness, the earnest expectation of the creature is in this work which is God’s to perform:

 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.                           Rom. 8:19

All nature groans in anticipation for the revelation of what God is doing in bringing forth His children.

f.  The Experience that Works Hope

There is an inference to be taken from prophecy’s statement, “you shall commit to Me the work of My hands.”  The inference is that we had not formerly committed that work to God.  We refused to entrust the care of all things over to Him.  We had not the confidence in God that constitutes the rightly based Hope.  But once God has given us an experience of Himself, we begin to have a rightly oriented basis to the hope that works redemption:

And patience, experience; and experience, hope:             Rom. 5:4

It takes experience with God to learn to trust God, unto the removing of our own hand from the potter’s clay.  The eternal soul is His concern.  Before removing our own hand from the work, we formed an image likened to earth.  We formed the clay based upon our natural perceptions under the spiritual condition of Law.

  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.       Rom. 7:14

What was being formed on the potter’s wheel within this fallen condition under sin, guided by the Law as that principle standing sentinel over the sinner, was not in God’s image.  Our efforts to perform upon God’s work led only into deeper corruption.  But when God has answered our question “concerning His sons” through providing us with an experience with Himself, this shall produce a hope that is sure, as one that is rightly based in the Person and work of Jesus Christ.  God says, “then,you shall commit to Me the work of My hands.”

Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.   Ps. 110:3

The “womb of the morning” is none other than the same womb to which Nicodemas incredulously referred when he asked the Lord:

“How can a man be born when he is old?  He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb can he?”           John 3:4

He cannot.  But with the aid of the Holy Spirit’s witness, he can bring himself into a posture before God to sincerely ask the question God wants to answer for him.  That answer will be the manifestation of God Himself through the Person of His Son.  God’s expressed desire is to awaken us unto righteousness that we may find birth into a kingdom in which the light of the Spirit of God is the light that guides.

g.  Called to Comprehend what is Naturally Incomprehensible

Those called unto God’s eternal kingdom, are called to become Sons of God; Children of light;[9] who do not walk in a way apprehensible to the children of this world.

“For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.”   Luke 16:8

When at last we have committed to God the work of His hands, our ways shall not be comprehended by those around us.  We are now being led by a light that the world does not perceive.

And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.                                            John 1:5

In fact, those that walk in darkness, do not even understand the spiritual principles that govern their own behavior:

The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.         Prov. 4:19

Those that walk according to their natural senses, have no comprehension of things spiritual.  Therefore neither can they comprehend the things of Christ:

He was in the world, and  the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.                            John 1:10

But what does John write about those to whom the light was made manifest, and who received the witness it brought?  We read:

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood,  nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.              John 1:12-13

They have been born of the Spirit, the “dew of their youth”.  For them, holiness is a beautiful thing to behold.  They have beheld the Son of God, and they are enamored by the Spirit of Holiness.  For the love of God’s holy image, they have become subjects “willing in the day of His power.”  Willing to do what?  Willing to  “commit unto God the work of His hands.”  Which means what?  They have become willing to undergo the rigors and stresses necessary to enter into the kingdom of God.  For recall that:

  . . . we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.   Acts 14:22

The work of God includes periods of distress for soul and the natural mind.  But we know that:

If ye endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons;  for what son is he whom the father chastens not?     Heb 12:7

Chastening at the hand of God is a significant aspect of the kingdom of God.  This is something we must willingly endure to come into conformity with spiritual purposes which run contrary to those natural.  What will be the effect of entrusting God and enduring in patient obedience?

  That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke,  in the midst of a crooked & perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;                   Phil. 2:15

We shall appear from the wilderness of this life with our trust affixed in God, perfectly conformed to His holy Person and purposes in Christ.

Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?   Songs 8:5

But although this revelation is brought only by God, it is a revelation rightly received through the means of faith. We must believe at such time God’s image is made manifest to us in the Person of Christ.