The Strait Gate, Part 2
February 15, 2019
We ran a bit long last week, and we
may run a bit long again this week, but I want to share as much of this
revelation with you as I can in the shortest amount of time.
We
wrapped up last week by saying that Jesus does make requirements for
healing, for health, for life, for receiving from Him. The first and most basic is, faith. The second and equally basic is, relationship
with Him. Not religion. Not attending church. Not agreeing with certain doctrines. Not meeting a set of standards required by a
committee of Christians. It is
relationship! Relationship! Relationship!
The
gifts of healing, health, life, wholeness, being raised from the dead,
provisions, etc., all come as a matter of wooing us to a place of deeper
relationship, unity and oneness with Him as His counterpart, His Other
Self. In fact, we can say that these are
a dowry given to us as a foretaste of the permanent change of our nature,
character and makeup (our new onoma in Him). In our places of public ministry, this is a
perspective which often gets lost in the "doing." The gifts become the objective. The healing becomes an objective. Provision for our natural needs becomes the
objective. Jesus Christ our Bridegroom,
and His heart's desire and purposes get shuttled aside -- and we rarely are
aware that we are the ones shuttling that desire aside!
There
is a picture that is worth taking a look at in Revelation 3:7-13 (and bear with
me for a moment. I’ve shared this picture with you in the past few months, but
there is a part of it that bears repeating.)
The seven letters, as you know, are addressed to the seven Ekklesias,
and represent a single letter to the Bride.
The message to the Bride is the overcoming of the seven spirits
(exemplified in the seven nations which occupied Canaan) or ruling
principalities which comprise the nature of the Beast (seen throughout
Revelation) and are the counterfeit for the Seven Spirits of God. (Anyway, that's a separate study that I can't
take the time to delve into in this discussion but will share at a later date.)
Without
getting into all of the areas of overcoming identified in this particular
letter, the message to the Ekklesia in Philadelphia is "I
have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it..." The “open door” is identified with the “key
of David.”
The
phrase, “the key of David,”
is a very well identified Hebrew metaphor which means, “the power and authority
of David,” and represents the
authority to access all that is
within. The authority
represented by this key is that He who holds the key,
"openeth and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man
openeth." The key of David
also has another very specific application: the tabernacle of David.
For
reasons that seem to escape me, God's people have not learned the lesson of
David’s Tabernacle. More than that,
those who have served in places of responsibility and leadership seem to think
that it’s okay to call their hymn-singing, song-singing, scripture-choruses and
preaching, "worship." It is
not worship! Then they wonder why
there is such a struggle to see things happen.
They wonder why there is no provision of God. They wonder where the miracles went. They wonder why there is such "backsliding"
among the people and why people's relationship with God is like a yo-yo.
The
reason is because their priority is "ministry to the people," instead
of "ministry to the Lord." The
clearly drawn picture in scripture is the priority of ministering to the Lord. If those who serve in places of leadership
can come to the realization that the only thing which counts is ministry
to the Lord, they will soon see that as they minister to Him and live in His
presence (and set aside their "need" to minister to others) the Lord
will go forth as a Bridegroom eagerly desiring to provide all that His Bride
needs.
Ministry
will go forth, but in a totally different dimension by the Spirit. People will see their need (because the Holy
Spirit reveals it to them) for deliverance -- and experience it! God's people will experience salvation in a way
that can never happen with the traditional altar call. They will see truth revealed in their inner
beings, being taught by the Holy Spirit -- even if they have never read the
Bible! The Holy Spirit will be poured
out on a people, sovereignly -- but it will not happen like this unless leaders
can lay down their titles, their books of learning, their positions, their
"responsibilities to the people," and their preconceived ideas of how
the Lord wants to do things — all predicated on having eaten from the
"Tree of Knowledge".
Once
again, I must reiterate: this will only come by living in His presence,
living in worship, living in a place where worship goes forth from and in one's
spirit 24 hours per day! There is no
other way! There is no
substitute!
Jesus
makes this abundantly clear when He says, "Enter ye in at
the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to
destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and
few there be that find it." (Matthew 7:13-14 KJV)
The
word, "strait," in the Greek text is stenos, a word which is a
direct translation (by the Septuagint translators) for the Hebrew word, tsar. It means: "to
be narrow, constricted, compressed," hence, "a difficult place, a place of affliction." Strong, is his Greek dictionary, suggests
that stenos may be derived from histemi, in the sense of "obstacles standing in the way." In any
event, the Hebrew word, tsar, also was used by
the Septuagint translators to give birth to the Greek word, thlipsis, which is translated: "tribulation," or "affliction," in the English versions.
The
picture is obvious. The "strait
gate," which leads to life, is the gate of worship. One does not come through this gate with all
of the trappings of ministry, doctrines, or whatever. If it were easy, everyone would be able to
come through without difficulty.
The
"obstacles standing in the way" of those who consider entrance are
the obstacles of ministry, the obstacles of society, the obstacles of position,
the obstacles of responsibility, the obstacles of doctrinal understanding,
etc. One must be willing to drop
everything to get by those obstacles in order to enter the strait gate. One must be willing to endure the affliction
and tribulation brought on by well-meaning, but ignorant, brethren who do not
see the life that is available on the other side of the gate of worship, who
only see "the needs of the multitudes" and not the relationship
available with the Bridegroom, who is the source of provision for all those
needs.
There
is one other aspect of this that is of great concern to brethren who consider
the prospect of walking away from their "ministries" -- especially
those who have lived off of "tithes and offerings." I don't want to get into a discussion on
tithes and offerings other than to simply say that it is no different from
someone who walks away from a conventional job and salary in response to the
beckoning of the Lord. One must be able
to respond to the Lord without regard for one's income. The moment that our income -- whether it be
from the tithes and offerings of people who give, or from a weekly paycheck on
some job -- becomes a stumbling block to our obedience, or a reason to not
respond, it has just become idolatry, no matter how logical our
reasoning process. It becomes the lord
of our life because we choose to eat from the "Tree of
Knowledge."
That
this is eating from the Tree of Knowledge is evident because we make our judgment
based on the fact that it is "good" to provide for our families, and
that it is "evil" to become a burden to society -- that it is
"evil" not to look to the future for our daily needs.
This
is a terrible trap, and a lie of the "Beast." What makes it a lie is the fact that while it
is "good" to provide for our families, etc., it essentially adopts
the position that God is incapable of directing our foot-steps in such a manner
as to provide for us, and that "God helps those who help
themselves." It is imperative that
we remember that when in the Holy of Holies, He is our provision -- PERIOD! He does not want our help. He does not want us reasoning how we will
provide for ourselves. The only thing He
desires from us is our responsiveness to Him! NOTHING ELSE! This requires some walking out of His Word to
us and will most certainly bring thlipsis as we allow Him to
re-order our priorities -- including what we think is necessary to live!
There
is another aspect of this which deserves consideration. In Hebrews 6 -- and we are all familiar with
this picture -- the apostle Paul (we assume him to be the author) states, "Therefore,
leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection;
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith
toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of
resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God
permit......"
This
statement has staggered many because they are caught in the Outer Court, or in
the Holy Place. Simply put, we are told
to lay aside our doctrines of salvation, all of our foundational truths, our
doctrines of baptisms in water and in
the Holy Spirit, the realm of the supernatural, miracles, and raising the dead,
and -- wonder of wonders -- our end-time doctrines (this is the essence of the
doctrine of eternal judgment), and go on to the "finishing!" The word, "perfection," in the
Greek text is teleios. This word means: to be fully completed, to be
finished, to be full grown.
When
we take into consideration the fact that Jesus' purpose was not just to come
and save people from sin; that He did not come to take people to heaven; that
He came to get for Himself a finished Bride -- a Bride who would be His
counterpart, a fully complete Bride who reflects Him in every
aspect -- the statement in Hebrews 6
takes on a different picture.
Salvation
is not an objective -- it is only the first stone in the foundation! Baptisms in water and in the Holy Spirit are
not a goal -- they are only pieces of the foundation. The realm of miracles experienced in the
laying on of hands is not a measure of spiritual attainment -- it is a tiny
microcosm of the whole picture. Raising
the dead is not a goal -- it is only one of the aspects of Jesus' ministry, and
a natural part of being in Him! Eternal
judgment, and the scope of events in the end times, certainly is not a goal or
objective in Him! It is only a picture
of that which happens at the end of certain earthly events. It is not even a picture of the end of things
in Christ, but rather is a precursor to the beginning of a whole new
dimension!
These
truths are not invalidated by leaving them!
They are simply put where they are supposed to be -- at the bottom,
as the foundation! They are not even
the building! They only serve to lay the
necessary preparation so we can be "permitted" to "go on to the
completing or finishing" that our Bridegroom desires.
The
statement in verse 3, "if God permit," is even stronger in
the Greek text, and makes abundantly clear the fact that He will not
permit us to go on if we cannot lay down our doctrines of salvation, baptism,
miracles, end-time doctrines, etc. They must
cease to be a focus of attention, or even a topic of discussion on a
regular basis. The reason He will not
permit us to go on "to the finishing" is because this is
a call into the Holy of Holies. This is
a call into His presence! This is a call
to come beyond the Outer Court and the Holy Place, where all of these
foundation stones were laid. There are
none of these doctrines in the Holy of Holies, nor is there a need for
them. He makes very clear in verses 4 -
8 why He will not permit us to come into the Holy of Holies if we do not
lay down these doctrines.
Paul
states that it is impossible to be renewed again to repentance once we have
tasted and experienced the reality of living in Him, once we have experienced
being One with the Holy Spirit, once we have experienced the dimension of the
works of power and authority of the age to come, and then......parapesontas... deliberately walk back out into
the Holy Place. He clearly states that
we cannot be renewed to a place of repentance once we have walked back out into
the Holy Place, and then later, be again called to live in His presence in the
Holy of Holies.
This
is not repentance from dead works, nor are we talking about a salvation
experience. He likens it to crucifying
the Lord Jesus Christ once again. This
is a specific metaphor which describes nullifying His death on the cross. The essence of this is that by our action in
deliberately returning to the Holy Place realm, we turn back to the Tree of
Knowledge, to which He laid the ax with His death on the cross. We, in effect, say to Him, "We prefer
the Tree of Knowledge to the Tree of Life.
We would prefer to live in a realm where we can discern what is good,
and what is evil, and make our own judgments."
There
will obviously be those who will question how I have arrived at this
understanding, so let me hasten to clarify things. Salvation comes first as a revelation to us
by the Spirit of the Lord. It becomes
life in us by our responding to the Holy Spirit. Baptism in water comes first
as a revelation by the Holy Spirit within us -- even if we receive that
revelation by reading certain scriptures on water baptism -- but it does not
become life until we respond.
By
the same token, for most people (and I know there are exceptions to this)
baptism in the Holy Spirit comes first as the Holy Spirit reveals the need and
necessity of our living and operating in this realm. It becomes a reality -- a fact of life --
however, only when we yield to the Spirit in direct response. The same holds true for the "laying on
of hands," which we equate with the realm of miracles, the raising of the
dead, and the preparation for what has been generally referred to as "end
times." All of these things begin
in us by a revelation of the Spirit.
They are real! They are
valid! They become a dimension of
absolutely stunning and exciting life when we respond to that which the Holy
Spirit directs us -- either to do or to say.
Again,
we have to stop here. We should be able
to finish this next week.
In
case you are missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our
Sunday worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about
10:30AM Pacific. That conference number
is (712) 770-4160, and the access code is 308640#. We are now making these gatherings
available on video using ZOOM. If you wish
to participate by video on ZOOM, our login ID is 835-926-513. If you miss the live voice-only call, you can
dial (712) 770-4169, enter the same access code and listen in
later. The video call, of course, is not
recorded – not yet, anyway.
Blessings
on you!
Regner
A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Temple, Texas 76504
Email Contact: CapenerMinistries@protonmail.com
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