"HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THEM"

Pastor Carolyn Sissom \ June 6th, 2012 (6799 views)

‘HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THEM”

Sunday, June 10, 2012, The Year of our Lord

Pastor Carolyn Sissom

 

God begins His purposes with a man (singular) and consummates them in and through a people (plural).

 

Romans 10:15, “And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things’!”

 

Isa. 52:7: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace; and brings good tidings of good, that publishes  salvation; that says unto Zion, thy God reigns!

 

Notice the transformation made between the Old and New Testaments.  The mystery of salvation began with “the beautiful feet of Him” and became “the beautiful feet of them”!  The beautiful feet of Jesus the Messiah have become the beautiful feet of Jesus’ Body, the church.  Isaiah is prophesy of the ministry of Jesus.  Paul is prophesying of the ministry of Christ's Body, the Church.

 

The New Testament term for “beautiful” means “belonging to the right hour or season (timely); flourishing (beauteous)”; it describes that which is seasonably, produced at the right time, as of the prime of life, or the time when any thing is at its loveliest and best.  The glory of the Latter House shall be greater than any other.

 

It is our hope that the Church’s finest hour is before us!

 

  Haggai 2:9: “The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, says the Lord of Hosts; and in this place will I give peace, says the Lord of Hosts.”

 

The time to favor Zion, the set time, is come.  This is when the Lord will build up Zion (His Church) and appear in that corporate glory.

 

Together we are being changed from glory to glory.  Christ in and among each of us and in all of us is the hope of glory.  Remember unity is glory.

 

Eph. 3:10:  “…might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.”

1 Pet. 4:10: “…as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

 

Manifold means variegated, marked with a great variety of colors of cloth or a painting.

 

Compounded together, the end-time, glorious church comprises the fullness of Him who was the fullness of the Godhead bodily.  The Word declares that we are the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all. (Eph. 1:23)

 

Psalm 133: 1-2:  “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!  It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments.”

 

It is good and delightful to the Holy Ghost for brethren to “dwell” or “sit down; to marry” in real covenantal commitment.  We are to dwell “together” as a “unit,” joined and compounded.  We must endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit until we come into the unity of the faith” (Eph. 4: 3, 13).

 

The ointment is the anointing and is a Person.  The anointing is the Spirit of the Son who is the Head of the Church.  Gal. 4:6: “…God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son…”

 

The precious ointment, the “olive oil” typifies the anointing that rested on Jesus:

 

1. Poured on the Rock where Jacob rested (Gen. 28:18).
2. Burned for light (ex. 25:6).
3. Used to make unleavened bread (Ex. 29:2).
4. Used for cleansing the leper (Lev. 14:17).
5. Used to anoint shield-leather (2 Sam. 1:21).
6. Used to anoint kings (2 Kings 9:6).
7. A sign of outpoured joy (Ps. 23:5).
8. Mingled to make perfume (Song 1:3).

 

Unity of the Spirit and the Bond of Peace in the Body of Christ is like the precious oil that ran “down” Aaron’s priestly beard.  Oil on the beard is a picture of the full-grown priest, the many-membered new creation man in maturity and completeness.  The anointing rushed “down” to the “skirts” or “edges” of his vestments, to the borders of his robes.

 

In the Lord’s high priestly prayer in John 17, he prayed that “they may be made perfect in one…”

 

All true unity flows “down” from the glorious, inter-theistic union of God the Father and God the Son.  You and I have each been given the privilege and the right to fellowship in and with that mystery.

 

The corporate unity and anointing will bring healing to others.  The woman with the issue of blood who touched the “border” of Jesus’ garment was delivered (Lk. 8: 43-44).  She pictures the American church bleeding to death because of the bloody issues that men have raised (for out of the heart) are the issues of life. (Prov. 4:23).

 

Our Savior came forth from the bosom of the Father---now Jesus is the issue!”  Once the woman pressed through all that other stuff and touched Him and His anointing, she was set free!  The Church is pressing through!!!  There is a remnant being raised up all across American who will not allow their faith to be trampled on by the spirit of the anti-christ.

 

Ps.133:3:  “As the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

 

Dew is a rich symbol of the blessing of the Holy Spirit and the unity He brings.  The fountainhead for the oil was the head of Aaron (The High Priest).  The dew “descended” from off Hermon (the ancient name for Mount Zion).  It was there---and only there---in the place of corporate unity and anointing, that the Lord has “commanded” or “ordered” blessing, benediction and prosperity; ever-increasing, abundant overflowing life!”  This is the place and ordained blessing of our destiny.

 

Real unity cannot be created, because men have tried and failed.  It can only be kept.  Unity flows downward to us from the relationship between the Father and the Son, and it is based upon the seven absolutes of Ephesians 4:4-6:

 

1. One Body
2. One Spirit
3. One Hope of your calling.
4. One Lord.
5. One Faith.
6. One Baptism.
7. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

 

We must preach, teach, and demonstrate the unity of the Body of Christ in all that we do.  The household of faith is one family.  Spiritual brothers and sisters who do their Father’s will have a stronger tie than natural kinfolk!  A house divided against itself cannot stand; it will become “desolate” or “laid waste,” and the House of God is not exempt.  According to John the apostle, if we do not love our brother, the love of God is not in us.  Jesus said even our sacrifices, offerings, and prayers are no good if we have built walls between each other.  In fact, Jesus named only one thing that would show the world that His Church was of God.

 

John 13:35: “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one to another.”

 

Jesus is our peace, our bond of unity and harmony.  He made one in Himself of all races, nations, classes, and genders who have received Him.  His finished work rent the veil separating man from God and broke down the hostile dividing wall between brethren.

 

Now out of jealousy and envy, mankind has constructed new walls with their various beliefs and interpretations of the Scriptures.  This often joins with greed to create division.   Such traditions of men have nullified His Word.  When complacency and pride are added to this witches’ brew, there is nothing but death in that pot.

 

Christians’ love one for another makes a blanket statement to the world that their Faith is real.  Love means preferring your brother above oneself.  Love binds us together in the glory of the union of God the Father and God the Son.

 

Rom 12: 4-5: “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office; So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.”

 

The Apostle Paul went on in Romans 12 to mention several gifts and ministries that God has given various members of the Body to help ‘put us together’ and teach us to operate in the will of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is also a Person.

 

God in the Person of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Son…”

 

1. Teaches (Jn. 14:26).
2. Testifies (Jn. 15:26).
3. Reproves (Jn. 16: 8-111).
4. Guides into truth (Jn. 16:13).
5. Speaks (Acts. 13:2).
6. Calls men into service (Acts 13:2).
7. Directs men in service (Acts 16: 6-7).
8. Prays and intercedes for us (Rom. 8: 26-27).
9. Searches all things, even the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2:10).
10. Works through us (1 Cor. 12:11).

 

Jesus Christ is the “Anointed One”.   His anointing flows like a river from Him who is our High Priest and from his head down to His earthly body through the Holy Spirit.

 

Gal. 4:6: “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father”.

 

The Father, through the outpouring of the Holy Ghost (the Spirit of the Son), has multiplied His Son Jesus into a many-membered (manifold) Man.

 

Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ anointing rests upon His church.  Let us consider the spiritual precedent of Elijah and Elisha in 2 Kings 2:8-14:

 

Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.  And it came to pass, when they had gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken away from you.  Elisha said, I pray let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.  Elijah said, you have asked a hard thing; nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so unto you; but If not, it shall not be so…and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.  And Elisha saw it…and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.  He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; and he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah?...”

 

Elijah went up, but his mantle came down.  Elijah ascended, but the mentor’s anointing remained in the earth to rest upon his spiritual son.  Jesus went up and His Spirit came down.  Jesus ascended, but “Christ,” the anointing (Christos) of the Anointed One, remained in the earth to rest upon His Church.

 

The Hebrew word for mantle means “something ample; wide, large; figuratively, powerful; excellent, famous, gallant, glorious, goodly, lordly, mighty, noble, principal, and worthy”. 

 

These adjectives literally describe the corporate (manifold) anointing that rests upon Jesus and His Church.

 

This double portion, or the portion of the firstborn belongs to all of us who are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ!

 

The only criteria for receiving Elijah's anointing was that Elisha “see” him as he was taken up in ascension.  We must not only see the Lord Jesus in His crucifixion, but also see Him as the resurrected Lord who ascended.  We must see Him as the greatest Son of David now exalted and enthroned far above all things.  We must see Him as He is, not just as He was.

 

When Elijah ascended into Heaven by a whirlwind, Elisha the younger prophet “took” or “raised up” the mantle of his spiritual father after Elijah’s mantle “fell” from him.  Centuries later, Elijah’s spirit also rested upon John the Baptist.  In an even greater day, when Jesus the Son of God was raised up to the right hand of the Father, the Holy Spirit of Jesus “fell” upon the early Church.  The Greek word for “fell” is epipipto, and it means “to embrace with affection.”  The love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Ghost, and the Lord God of Elijah literally dwells in the corporate Body of His Son today!

 

The end-time Church is “amphitheatred” about or surrounded by those who died in Christ by faith long before His first coming.  Although they are not complete apart from us, their anointed way of life---their spoken and written words, and especially the laying on of the hands---and that which was alive in Christ in union and unity with God the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit lives on.

 

The Holy Spirit is multiplying and compounding itself exponentially!  Like the rising waters of the river in Ezekiel’s prophetic vision, the anointing has steadily risen to the ankles, knees, and loins.  Now we have finally come to the epochal span where there are waters to swim in a river that cannot be passed over.

 

At least twenty-five years ago, I had a vision that I was up to my neck in a stream of a golden river.  However, I was holding on to one small twig on the river bank.  I pray I have let go of that twig and have allowed the waters to cover me.

 

The anointing is a Person---the Holy Ghost, the spirit of the Son, Jesus, the divine Seed, fell into the ground and died.  He has come forth in glorious resurrection and now enthroned in unparalleled majesty and splendor.  From that Kingly posture, He has poured out His own Spirit upon the nations of the earth.  As with the woman in the days of Elisha, the oil of anointing has multiplied, and the anointing upon the Head has flowed down to His Body. 

 

The “feet of Him” has become “the feet of them”.

 

1 Cor. 12:12: :”For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is the Christ.

 

Preached by: Pastor Carolyn Sissom

Scripture from K.J.V.

I have entered into the labors and gleaned from “Corporate Anointing by Kelly Varner; comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those from whom I have “entered into their labors”.