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LIGHT OF THE WORLD INSPIRATIONS
The Reconciled Body
by Tony den Hartog
Preached 4/30/2001
A transcription of tape 2038
Transcribed by Jackie Weber
The body of Christ is not a particular
denomination or church, but rather the body
that Jesus bought with His own life, with His
own blood, to present it holy and blameless
unto the Father--without spot and without
wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27). According to the
Scriptures, He reconciled all mankind unto
Himself, not imputing their trespasses, and
has given to us the ministry of
reconciliation--to let all men know that God
was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world
unto Himself (2Cor 5:19).
This is of course the legal document--or the
New Testament. It is finished and sealed.
And yet there are not even many Christians
who are aware of that fact. They still think
that something needs to be done; but there
is nothing to be done because Jesus said it
was finished (Jn 19:30).
So what needs to happen before we can
begin to experience a certain amount of
peace, love and joy? We don't see much of
that at all in what we call Christianity. We
can't blame the world which doesn't know
any better. But we ought to know; we ought
to have the testimony of Jesus within
ourselves.
Matthew 24:27 For as the lightning
cometh out of the east, and shineth even
unto the west; so shall the coming of the
Son of man be.
You must remember that this was before
Jesus died--before the cross. There was to
be a coming.
What does "as the lightning cometh out of
the east" represent? The "east" represents
the Presence. That is where the sun comes
up--that is symbolic, of course. The Son of
man begins to appear from the east, and
that represents within; for it is impossible for
Him to come from without. Jesus said,
"Behold, I stand at the door of your heart
and knock" (Rev 3:20). Is He knocking from
the outside or from the inside? He is
standing on the inside knocking.
And He said, "If any man has an ear to hear
what the Spirit saith to the church and
opens the door of his heart, I will come in
and sup with him and he with me." That is
what I would call the coming of the Son of
man--not the second coming, but the
coming. The word "coming" in the Greek
means Presence. It doesn't really mean that
Jesus is coming from somewhere; He is
already here. But of course we know that
He is not here physically.
Yet He is here physically because we are
His body. We are His members. We are the
fulness of Him that filleth all in all (Eph
1:23). We are simply the body of Christ.
Even Paul says that we should no longer
know each other after the flesh; neither
should we know Jesus after His flesh, or
after His human birth. Have you noticed
that Paul never celebrated Christmas? He
never remembered the birth of Jesus. After
the book of Acts when the Holy Spirit
was poured out, you'll never read again
that the church celebrated the birth of
Jesus' body.
What do we celebrate? We celebrate the
birth that is taking place within us--that
Christ might be born within you and me.
That is the birth that we celebrate: being
born again of the Spirit of God. We are
really flesh of His flesh and bone of His
bone (Eph 5:30). We are Spirit of His Spirit.
But we haven't yet grasped this; and that is
why we are reluctant to come out into the
open and accept the glorious gospel of
Christ which Paul said he was not ashamed
of and which he preached
everywhere--though he was called a heretic
and was beheaded for it.
The people were saying of Paul,"Who does
this babbler think he is?" (Acts 17:18). But
he replied that he didn't think anything of
himself because
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me: and the life which I now live. . .
.
How many Christs are there? There's only
one.
And the Scriptures say that
Luke 17:37 . . . Wheresoever the body is,
thither will the eagles be gathered together.
Are you the body? That's where the eagles
are gathered together. The eagles are
those who are very alert, that have oil in
their lamps and are not easily persuaded to
listen to false doctrines. It is a false doctrine
to believe that Jesus isn't here--because He
said, "I will never leave you or forsake you,
even to the end of the world" (Heb 13:5; Mt
28:20).
Has the end of the world come yet? No, so
you know He is here. You may say, "I can't
see Him. Where is he?" That is now the
secret. Jesus said, "Do not judge by the
appearance" and "Don't know each other
after the flesh." Don't say, "You are a Jew,
Christian, Pentecostal or sinner" or "You
are no good" or "Don't listen to this Tony
because you will be deceived."
You don't have to worry about being
deceived. If you are afraid of being
deceived, you are already deceived. The
Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth and
beside the still waters where you will
experience the life that Jesus said He
wants us to have--life to the fullest, for
Spirit, soul, and body, financially, socially,
and economically. He wants you to prosper
and be in health, even as your soul
prospers (3Jn 2).
Isn't that a simple Gospel? We have made
it so complicated. And I don't know why.
Matthew 24:27 For as the lightning
cometh out of the east, and shineth even
unto the west; so shall the coming of the
Son of man be.
The "west" is our mentality, our
mind--where we begin to hear. Our mind is
not a tool to think with, but rather to
become receptive with. We must begin
to listen rather than speak. When we are
alert and listen, we begin to hear the voice
of the shepherd. Jesus said, "My sheep will
hear my voice" (Jn 10:27). Are they going to
hear the voice when they start arguing
about doctrine?
We cannot hear the voice of Jesus when
there is strife, when there is no love
amongst the brethren. It is then that we
begin to listen to strangers and confusion
sets in. And we have all sorts of problems,
including pain and disease. Then people
will ask, "Why did this happen? He was
such a lovely brother, and now he is dead."
It is all because we do not discern the body
of Christ. When Paul talks about the
communion, he says, "Many of you are
sleeping (or dying) because you are not
discerning the body of Christ" (1Cor
11:29-30). When we begin to judge one
another, for whatever reason, we think we
are doing it to someone else.
But Jesus said:
Matthew 25:40 Verily I say unto you,
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of
the least of these my brethren, ye have
done it unto me.
This is why I put a watch over my mouth.
For when I speak evil about somebody
else, I sin against myself. When I reap the
consequences, I wonder why this is
happening; but the rubber ball is just
bouncing back to me.
After many years of preaching and teaching
this Gospel, I have learned to be very
sensitive to judgment--because I've seen
the evidence and don't wish to suffer. No
one wants to suffer, but the law is there.
The wages of accusation causes conflict.
When you have conflict in your mind
and heart, the chemicals in your body
begin to generate things you don't want.
But when you are in agreement with
everything that Jesus (who is the Word
made flesh) speaks, those words are life
to you:
John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth;
the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I
speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are
life.
Proverbs 4:22 For they are life unto those
that find them, and health to all their flesh.
Jesus is the Savior, but how does He save
you?--by listening to Him. How does faith
come?--by hearing the voice of the Son of
God. You cannot have faith without hearing,
and you cannot hear when there is strife,
arguments, and conflict. For God
commands the blessing only when the
brethren dwell together in unity (Ps 133).
That is when the oil of the Holy Spirit covers
us and protects us from danger. That's how
it works.
We are in the time Jesus spoke of:
Matthew 24:29 Immediately after the
tribulation of those days shall the sun be
darkened, and the moon shall not give her
light, and the stars shall fall from heaven,
the the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken.
I'm telling you, not the power of heaven, but
the powers of the "heavens" will be shaken.
All the things that have been generated in
the mind of man (or the mind of flesh--the
carnal mind), all the things that this world
represents in whatever form (religion,
philosophy, science) are going to be
shaken.
Verse 29 . . . the sun shall be darkened,
and the moon shall not give her light. . . .
The moon represents occult wisdom or
knowledge. The sun represents natural
knowledge generated out of the natural
mind. And the natural mind cannot know
the things of God, for they are spiritually
discerned (1Cor 2:14). All that man has
ever known about God (the doctrines he
has learned over the centuries) will all be
blotted out because it never had any power
or substance to help mankind at all; for man
has rejected the knowledge of God. They
have, instead, placed themselves on a
pedestal and said, "Listen to me."
We are admonished: "Cease ye from man,
whose breath is in his nostrils" (Is 2:22).
And Jesus said, "What went ye out for to
see? A man clothed in soft raiment?" (Mt
11:8). Did you come to hear an orator?
Jesus also said, "I can of mine own self do
nothing" (Jn 5:30) Do you ever hear that
from the pulpit? Jesus said it was His
Father within that was doing the works (Jn
14:10).
Everything that has ever been formed
(which we know as this world) is going to be
shaken. And all the kingdoms of this world
will be converted and become the kingdoms
of the Christ (Rev 11:15).
Matthew 24:30 And then shall appear the
sign of the Son of man in heaven.
Remember that this Scripture was before
Jesus died. The sign of the sun darkening
and moon not giving her light happened on
the Day of Pentecost. Peter said to the
people there:
Acts 2:16-17, 20 . . . this is that which was
spoken by the prophet Joel. . . . Your sons
and your daughters shall prophesy. . . . The
sun shall be turned into darkness and the
moon into blood. . . .
They were all baptized in the Holy Ghost,
and the Son of man came back to them.
Jesus had told them that after He died, He
would first go and prepare a place for them
(Jn 14:2-3). Peter wanted to follow Jesus
right then, but Jesus told him that he
couldn't follow him then (Jn 13:36) because
first He had to go to "my Father and your
Father, to my God and God" (Jn 20:17),
that He must first complete the work of
reconciling all men. Then, Jesus said, "I will
come again" (Jn 14:3).
He ratified the New Covenant in His own
blood and descended again and gave gifts
unto men (Eph 4:8). And he filled us all with
the Holy Ghost and with power.
But three hundred years after Jesus died,
the church put a veil over that which came
to them and began to worship the man
Jesus after His physicality and the mother
of Jesus after her physicality. They put that
on a pedestal and created this idol, and the
church is still blinded by it. Even though we
may call ourselves Pentecostals, we remain
blinded--because we still celebrate the
physical birth of Jesus.
We must go back to the invisible God, the
invisible Savior that is standing at the door
of our heart and knocking. We must begin
to listen to what He says. Why do you call
Me "Lord, Lord" and do not listen to what I
am saying? (Lk 6:46).
We must refrain from trying to work all this
out with our minds. We mustn't ask one
another, "What do you think about that?" I
don't think at all; I only listen. I want to
speak only when I hear my Father speak.
You wouldn't hear what you hear me saying
tonight if I didn't know that it is God wanting
me to say it and you to hear it. Otherwise, it
would just be my opinion.
Matthew 24:31 And he shall send his
angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and
they shall gather together his elect from the
four winds, from one end of heaven to the
other. 32 Now learn a parable of the fig
tree; When his branch is yet tender, and
putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer
is nigh: 33 So likewise ye [He was talking to
His disciples], when ye shall see all these
things, know that it is near, even at the
doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This
generation [the generation the disciples
lived in] shall not pass, till all these things
be fulfilled. 35 Heaven and earth shall pass
away, but my words shall not pass away.
Jesus was saying to His disciples, "When
you see the sun being darkened and the
moon not give her light, then you know that
the Son of man is coming in the clouds of
heaven with great power and great glory."
Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost
was fully come, they were all with one
accord in one place.
Notice that they were "in one accord," not in
conflict, not arguing. They were waiting and
listening. And they were in "one place"--the
"place" which Jesus said He was going to
prepare for them, the place where He was.
Verses 2 And suddenly there came a sound
from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,
and it filled all the house where they were
sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them
cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat
upon each of them. 4 And they were all
filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to
speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave
them utterance.
The "other tongue" was the tongue of the
New Covenant, and everyone heard it
according to their understanding. You
cannot force anything. Everyone receives
this Gospel on the level of his perception
and understanding. When you hear it, even
with only a little bit of light and
understanding, treasure it! Hold onto it, for
even that little bit gives great freedom and
deliverance.
Verses 14 . . . Peter, standing up with the
eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto
them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that
dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you,
and hearken to my words: 15 For these are
not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but
the third hour of the day. 16 But this is that
which was spoken by the prophet Joel; 17
And it shall come to pass in the last days,
saith God. . . .
Now what we just read in Matthew 24 about
the sun being darkened, etc. came to pass
on the Day of Pentecost when natural light
and moonlight (everything that had been
generated over many thousands of years)
was fulfilled in Christ Jesus. Jesus had
been referring to the words of the prophet
Joel, just as Peter is here:
Verses 17 I will pour out of my Spirit upon
all flesh: and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, and your young men shall
see visions, and your old men shall dream
dreams: 18 And on my servants and on my
handmaidens I will pour out in those days of
my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: 19 And I
will shew wonders in heaven above, and
signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire,
and vapour of smoke: 20 The sun shall be
turned into darkness, and the moon into
blood, before that great and notable day of
the Lord come: 21 And it shall come to
pass, that whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved.
Salvation has nothing to do with you
going to heaven. Salvation comes when
you hear the voice of the Son of God that
is now freely given to us. We all can receive
it, whether Jew or Gentile, saint or sinner,
male or female. When you hear the voice of
the Son of God, you will pass from death to
life. It happens instantly. Jesus said:
John 11:25 I am the resurrection and the
life: he that believeth in me, though he were
dead, yet shall he live.
And whosoever perceives His voice shall
not see death (Jn 8:51). When I speak of
"death," I'm not talking about the
cessation of the physical. We are
already in death. Even Jesus was in death
at one stage, when He said, "You will not
leave my soul in hell" (Ps 16:10; Acts 2:27).
He was in hell before, not after, He died. He
was in hell in the Garden of Gethsemane
when He cried out, "Father, if thou be
willing, remove this cup from me:
nevertheless not my will, but thine, be
done" (Lk 22:42). By surrendering and
giving His life for the world, He established
the principle of salvation. So the Word of
God that you hear within yourself is the
power unto salvation unto all those that
believe (Rom 1:16).
You should not confuse the word "salvation"
with the word "reconciliation." God
reconciled the whole world unto Himself,
not imputing their trespasses (2Cor 5:19).
Legally, He has given you the keys to
unlock hell and walk out. You are not
going to hell; you are already there, but
you can walk out. You have the right to.
You don't have to stay in your suffering,
torment, and anxiety. You have the cart
before the horse when you think that you
will go to hell if you do or don't do
something. The fact is, you are there
already. Jesus came to save us from this
hellhole.
Acts 2:20 The sun shall be turned into
darkness, and the moon into blood, before
that great and notable day of the Lord
come: 21 And it shall come to pass, that
whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be saved.
Philippians 2:10 . . . at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow. . . 11 And every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord. . . .
Call upon the name of the Lord, and you
shall be delivered from "this untoward
generation" (Acts 2:40). You shall be
delivered from your fear. When you begin to
hear the peaceful voice and have the
recognition that Jesus is right here right
now, your body, which has been so full of
anxiety and frustration, will begin to relax
and your countenance will be lifted.
A smile actually gives your face a rest, but it
is hard to smile when you are under heavy
oppression. It is now easy for me, because
"I know in whom I have believed, and I'm
fully persuaded" (2Tim 1:12) that Jesus has
delivered me from the hell that I was in for
45 years. You don't have to tell me what
hell is all about; I've seen it. I've seen the
demons running around and been
tormented out of my mind. But now I know
that I'm in heaven. Jesus has translated me
out of that hell and put me in the place of
communion. Now I feel a bit guilty for not
feeling guilty.
Sometimes it is not easy. People will move
to the other side of the road because they
don't want to talk to you. I would love to see
the brethren coming together in unity and
loving each other. How is the world ever
going to believe if we keep on behaving like
we do? Jesus said that the world would
begin to believe only when we love one
another (Jn 17:21). That's the witness, the
sign that the body of Christ is at last going
to yield themselves to Jesus, saying, "Lord,
I can of mine own self do nothing. You take
over the reign of our lives."
It's not because I know so much or can do
so much. I don't know anything and can't do
anything. I'm not very intelligent, but I know
SOMEBODY and He talks to me and shows
me what to say. I've been doing this for
twenty years, and it is always the manna,
the Gospel, the Word of God. It's always
pure and wonderful and has a freeing agent
within itself which causes you to experience
salvation.
Salvation is the word "sozo" or "soteria"
which means to be preserved from the evil
powers that are in the world.
John 17:14 I have given them thy word; and
the world hath hated them, because they
are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take
them out of the world, but that thou
shouldest keep them from the evil. 16 They
are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world. 17 Sanctify them through thy truth:
thy word is truth.
Jesus relied totally on the living Word of
God. After forty days and nights in the
wilderness, He was tempted of the devil,
who said to Him, "If thou be the Son of God,
command that these stones be made
bread" (Mt 4:3). Why don't you show that
you are a man of faith and power and turn
those stones into bread? Otherwise, you
will never be the Savior of the world, for you
will die in the wilderness. Jesus responded,
"Man shall not live by bread [or body, or
circumstances] alone, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (v
4). Later He said, "Get thee behind me,
Satan: for thou savourest not the things that
be of God, but the things that be of men"
(Mk 8:33).
Satan can only work on your feeling that
you are something, that you have to be
something or have something, or that you
have rights. But you have no rights at all.
You don't even have the right to breathe as
an independent self. There is no
independent self. You are all crucified with
Jesus on that cross. If you have a
personal ego or a self that wants to be
something, you are sinning. We are all
one body and members of one another.
So let the Holy Spirit do the work of building
this wonderful church.
Psalms 127:1
Except the Lord build the house, they
labour in vain that build it.
I do not profess to be anybody or anything,
but I know that I've been given the Word
that God is going to reconcile the church to
its former glory where the signs, wonders,
and miracles will again be done through His
Holy child, Jesus--but not until we make
peace and experience the joy that is
rightfully ours.
Let us just pray:
Father, we thank You for
your Presence here. We thank you that
your Word will not return unto you void, but
it shall accomplish that for which it has
been sent. And instead of the thorn and the
curse, the disease and the problems that
the world is facing, the fir tree comes up,
the health of the body begins to spring up.
We have a new spring in our step and we
are getting more insight into how to deal
with our secular life and our family and
whatever we have to deal with at work. and
at play. We thank you, Father, that You will
give us wisdom and insight into all these
things--how to communicate this life of
Jesus to all those round about us as we do
not see them as sinners or people going to
hell, but rather as the redeemed of the
Lord. And we can share that Jesus
reconciled them; we'll not condemn them
but rather tell them that God loved them so
much that He gave Himself for them so that
they also can walk in this newness of life.
And we give you thanks for it in Jesus'
lovely Name. Amen
Let us be still and reflect on these things
that we have heard. Meditate on the words
and know that we are accepted in the
Beloved--every one of us.