When Jesus was teaching, He would often say, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear
(Matthew 11:15).
In the letters to the seven churches recorded in the book of Revelation, the ascended Christ would end each letter with, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches
(Chapters 2-3).
Isaiah says to those of us who are listening:
Isaiah 30:21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
We are familiar with the story of Samuel as recorded in 1Samuel 3. First we are told that the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision
(v 1) —implying that not many people were able to hear directly from the Spirit. Later we learn that Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him
(v 7). We read of Eli, the priest whom Samuel was serving, that his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see
(v 2). I think we can safely say that his physical blindness was but an outward manifestation of his lack of spiritual insight. But he at least perceived that the Lord had called the child
and told Samuel to respond Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth
(vv 8-9). We know that Eli was as deaf as he was blind because he had to ask the child Samuel what the Lord had said concerning his own household; though a priest, he couldn’t hear for himself (v 17).
If we read the whole of the Old Testament, we find only a few people who had ears to hear. Indeed, they had such a terrifying concept of God that they didn’t even want to hear. The children of Israel pleaded with Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die
(Exodus 20:19).
So Moses gave them the law (John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.), which Paul calls the ministration of death
(2Corinthians 3:7) to restrain their conduct.
But we are not under the law, but under grace
(Romans 6:14), what Paul calls the ministration of the Spirit
or the ministration of righteousness
(2Corinthians 3:8-9). That veil upon our minds which is untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament is done away in Christ
(2Corinthians 3:14). Paul says (speaking of the children of Israel), Their minds were blinded
. Then he goes on to say that the veil is still upon the heart even unto this day, when Moses is read
(2Corinthians 3:15). If we are still reading Moses
and attempting to relate to the Old Testament concept of God that strikes terror in our hearts, the god that the scribes and Pharisees called their father
(John 8:41), rather than the only true God
whom Jesus prayed we would know (John 17:3), then our minds are still blinded. Paul calls it being alienated
from God in our mind (Colossians 1:21). Jesus calls that god the Pharisees thought to be their father the devil who never abode in the truth
(John 8:44) —a god that the Spirit of truth (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13) cannot reveal to us. That god of wrath, judgment and punishment is the god Paul was serving when he was pouring out his wrath against the followers of Jesus Christ. This was the law god who desired sacrifice, not mercy.
There were some Old Testament seekers after God who understood something of the only true God.
Hosea had an inkling. He was able to write:
Hosea 6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
So did David. Though he did ask God to inflict the most horrible punishments on his enemies (Psalms 109), he also knew that God’s Presence would never leave him, even if he made his bed in hell (Psalms 139:8) and that God wasn’t interested in sacrifices and sin offerings:
Psalms 40:6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
David had the revelation that what God wants (as Jesus so often said) is for us to have hearing ears —so that we will listen and be able to hear what the Spirit is saying. Then we don’t need the law to restrain our conduct.
Jesus said that He had to go away so that He could come again as the Spirit of truth to live in us and as us (John 16:7). His final instructions to His disciples before His ascension was to wait for this event to take place (Luke 24:49). That Second Coming
did indeed occur on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). And those who were able to recognize and receive (be baptized into) this Holy Spirit went on to turn the world upside down
(Acts 17:6) as they consciously availed themselves of the power of God that Jesus said would be theirs as it was His —now that He had come again
in each of them.
- Matthew 28:18
- And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
- Acts 1:8
- But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
That’s why Jesus could say,
Matthew 11:11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
The Lord’s Prayer
had been fulfilled in the lives of these believers. The kingdom of heaven had come and God’s will could now be done on earth as it was in heaven
(Matthew 6:10) because they had been endued with power from on high
(Luke 24:49).
This power of God is the same power that man was endued
with in Genesis 1:26 when he was given dominion over all the rest of creation. But when man listened to the serpent (the carnal mind) and saw himself as separated from God and began to set up for himself all sorts of rules and regulations (law) to make himself feel loved, or at least accepted, by this law god
(which Jesus called the devil
), he began to use that power to create darkness and evil
(Isaiah 45:7)–see What Is the “I AM”? and Belief in Two Powers.
We have many recorded instances in the Old Testament of men availing themselves of this power both to make peace, and create evil
(Isaiah 45:7). They used it to escape the wrath of their enemies (Daniel in the lion’s den; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace), but they also used it to destroy their enemies. Elijah called fire down from heaven while Elisha, when called names by forty-two little children,
cursed them in the name of the Lord
whereupon two bears appeared and tore them to pieces (2Kings 2:23-24).
These are all stories of men whose kingdoms were of this world,
But Jesus
Galatians 1:4 … gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.
Jesus came to fulfill the will of the true God and our Father
by returning us to the kingdom of heaven (Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15); Paradise of God —(Revelation 2:7)) from whence we came. He said to Pilate:
John 18:36-37 … My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
Notice that in the kingdoms of this world, people fight and destroy their enemies. That is not the way of the kingdom of heaven:
Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
That’s why of His enemies,
Luke 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
And that is why, when James and John wished to call fire down from heaven (as Elisha did) to destroy their enemies, Jesus
Luke 9:55-56 … turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.
So Jesus came to bring to us the knowledge of the true God
and came again as the Spirit of truth
in each of us to keep bringing to our remembrance the truth of who we are in relation to this true God
who is love (1John 4:8,16), who neither judges nor condemns (John 5:22,3:17; 8:11; Romans 8:1), but rather saves
(Luke 19:10).
John 14:26 (KJV) But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
The point I want to make is that the Spirit of truth who is given to guide us into all truth (John 16:13) is ALWAYS speaking, always bringing to our remembrance all the things that Jesus said.
The problem is that we can’t hear. Like the children of Israel, we are afraid of this law god
who takes our children from us, lets us die of cancer, is responsible for floods, tornadoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes and all the other natural disasters (acts of God
) taking place around us, and, worst of all, sends us and our loved ones and all those people who never even heard of Jesus, to hell to burn forever if we don’t do whatever it takes to meet His requirements for being saved.
And like the children of Israel also, we have been taught to believe that God only speaks to certain people (perhaps Moses for them and Billy Graham or some other minister for us) who will in turn tell us what God said and what it means. We protest that this is not the case; but if we ourselves hear from the Spirit that which is not accepted by whatever group we are affiliated with, we are told that we are deceived and in error. So very few of us are brave enough and confident enough to listen for ourselves.
And even if we do, we have made it such a spooky
thing and have concocted all sorts of laws that we must obey in order to hear (fasting, attitudes of prayer, being morally pure, etc., etc.) that we have again lost any confidence in our ability to hear.
Suppose we do persevere and do hear the words that Jesus spoke while upon this earth. Suppose we hear Him say that nothing can by any means harm us (Luke 10:19) or that we can receive whatsoever
we ask for in my name
when we pray and believe that we receive it (Mark 11:24; John 16:23) or that we are not to resist evil (Matthew 5:39). Suppose we hear that He has enabled us to do the works He did and even greater works
(John 14:12), that the sick will recover when we lay hands on them and that nothing poisonous that we eat or drink can hurt us (Mark 16:18). Suppose we hear Him say that we are one with the Father just as He was (John 17:21) and that we have been sent into the world for the same reason Jesus was (John 17:18), to bear witness to the truth (John 18:37), to bring light into the darkness (Matthew 5:14). If we should hear these things spoken to us by the Spirit, we are told, even by the church world, that Jesus didn’t really mean it that way or that He was referring to the future. Then we are given scientific proof
that none of this works. (See Dare We Trust God for Our Physical Well Being?)
No wonder it doesn’t work! How can we believe the law god
we have been taught to believe in? There is no way to be sure that this god will give us what we ask for. He is certainly not the love that casts out all fear (1John 4:18). No, he is the one who instills the fear that hath torment.
I want to believe that all His thoughts toward me are thoughts of peace, and not of evil
(Jeremiah 29:11); but I cannot.
Believe me, I tried. For more than six decades I desperately tried to believe. It was not until I received the revelation of what Jesus was really saying to the Pharisees when He told them that the god they knew as their father (John 8:41-44) was really only a false concept of the true God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
(2Corinthians 11:31) —then only was I able to understand that nothing could separate me from His love (Romans 8:39). Now I can believe He is within me as He was in Jesus, that indeed I am one with Him as Jesus was —that there is but One. Jesus called Him Father; Paul called Him the Christ; we all call Him the Holy Spirit. I can now say with Paul, It is no longer I who live, but God living as me
(Galatians 2:20).
Because He is my life, because He never leaves me, I can now hear Him speak to me the words that Jesus spoke. And there’s nothing ethereal about it. I don’t have to meet any qualifications or keep any laws to hear. I used to think I had to jump through some sort of spiritual hoops to qualify and then write down everything I heard the minute I heard or risk losing it. I knew I was called to write (see What Is “God’s Call”?), but my concept of the God who was giving me what I was to write was so full of stipulations that writing was burdensome. I had no revelation of open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it
(Psalms 81:10) or, in my case, open your computer, and I will do the writing.
Though I could quote the Scriptures, Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it
(1Thessalonians 5:24) and He performeth the thing that is appointed for me
(Job 23:14), I didn’t know how to let them operate in my life.
Now I understand that the Holy Spirit (Christ in you
— Colossians 1:27) is speaking to everyone all the time, and it is as natural as breathing —when we rid ourselves of our false beliefs about God and our relation to Him and the demands we think He places on us to receive from Him. I no longer need to be some sort of spiritual gymnast to hear. Now I just be still
and listen or open my computer and start typing. Like the child Samuel, I just say in my heart, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth
(1Samuel 3:9). I don’t have to do or not do anything to get revelation or to keep it from being taken away. I have, consequently, written more (from the Spirit) in the last four weeks (mid-September to mid-October, 2012) than in the last four decades.
I am at last beginning to experience the abundant life that Jesus said He came to give to us —for I now know that I am His sheep
and I can hear His voice. I know that I am of the truth
because I am allowing the Spirit of truth
to lead me into all truth. (John 10:27 ( My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: John 18:37 To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.)