Paul Godfrey

Audio: MP3

Whenever you have an open door, it’s an indication to come through. Someone opens the door for you, then you go through.

Genesis 5:21-24 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:

And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:

And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:

And Enoch walked with God: and he [was] not; for God took him.

One thing we must bear in mind in our Christian walk is that we are going somewhere. Sometimes we can feel that all through our life we are just wandering around in circles. I find it extremely difficult to go walking around in a circle for exercise. If I had to go and get the bread in the morning from a shop or I had to go and visit someone and I had to walk, I can do that, but just to walk in a circle and come back I find quite challenging. When there is a purpose in view, when there is an object in sight then the walking doesn’t seem to be so taxing.

When we walk with God, we are going somewhere

As Enoch walked with God, he arrived at the place where they were going. When you have been travelling for a long time with the hope of being somewhere and the anticipation of the great time you will have when you arrive, you can persevere through getting up early, packing your gear and travel. When you get there, there is a sense of relief. Enoch was on this dark planet for three hundred years.

Let’s not think he had an ethereal dreamy, blissful life here on earth. He was walking out of this earth; he didn’t want to stay here. He lived in a time that is equivalent with today. After three hundred years when he got to the last step, the day before God took him, he would have been weary of this earth. Are you weary of this earth? He would have been tired of humanity and sin, and all the corruptions that came as the result of not walking with God. The next day he stepped into heaven; God took him and his life continued in the bliss of heaven with the presence of God and the holy angels; what a relief at arriving.

Enoch’s walk with God was not in a trance or vision, but in all the duties of his daily life. He did not become a hermit, shutting himself entirely from the world; for he had a work to do for God in the world. In the family and in his intercourse with men, as a husband and father, a friend, a citizen, he was the steadfast, unwavering servant of the Lord. {PP 85.1}

This is the walk that he had, and this walk gets you somewhere. If we diligently do our duties we will get somewhere. How many times do we do the mundane things of life, washing the dishes only for them to get dirty again, to wash them again so they can get dirty again, to wash them again? We think are we getting anywhere? The rounds of duties seem to be one circular, non-stop experience of going nowhere. Those duties will get you somewhere. This is the walk that Enoch had. He walked with God not in a trance or somewhere beyond the realities of life, he was down to earth, and he did what he had to do to the glory of God; that got him somewhere.

This is the good news about walking with God because there is an open door for those who walk with God.

1John 1: 6-7 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

If we make a profession to be a Christian to have fellowship with the Lord and we don’t walk which is the most practical thing you can do; moving your legs and going somewhere. If I would make a profession and yet my practical life, doing the dishes, looking after the children, going to work and being faithful in all these things does not reflect my Christian profession, then I am telling a lie and I do not the truth.

In verse seven, God illuminates our duty. He sets before us; this is what you need to do. I will then practically do that according to the illumination that God has given me so I understand what I have to do. There are many things we think we have to do that God doesn’t actually want us to do. God has a straight, plain path before each one of us and they are the duties that lie straight in front of us to get done.

Many people think that being a missionary is to go somewhere to be a missionary. How can you go somewhere and be what you’re not? Missionary work starts right in the home, right where we are. Jesus made this example when He said to first start with Jerusalem, then Judea and then Samaria and then to the uttermost parts of the world. In other words, if we can’t look after our own home location, we have no right to go into Judea (the suburbs). If we can’t do that we have no right to go to the next state across or the next country across and work in Samaria. If we can’t do that we have no right to go to the ends of the world to become missionaries.

This is what Enoch did. He was a father, a husband, a friend and a citizen as a servant of God. Can you clean the house with the mentality that you are serving God? When we do these duties, this is what it means to walk in the light.

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Have you ever wondered how to be cleansed from sin? How will the blood of Christ cleanse us from our sin? In doing what God tells us to do, and as we do it we will become washed. When we actually put our feet into the road, when we lay down the fishermen’s nets and our occupations in doing what we want to do, and do what God calls us to do then the education, the cleansing process starts. We can’t just ask the Lord to forgive us from our sins and never walk in His ways. Walking in His ways is the process of cleansing you from sin.

Proverbs 24:16 For a just [man] falleth seven times, and riseth up again:

When we fall seven times, we start to learn something about our dependence upon the Lord. We can’t become dependent upon the Lord until we become independent from ourselves. That requires some experience. Jesus took the disciples and for three years they walked with Him. They made mistakes and were doing the wrong things and fighting with one another and in the doing of all those mistakes but trying to do the right thing, they were learning the gospel; they were understanding the love of Christ in relation to their failures and in relation to getting up and keep going.

That process of doing something with Jesus is the method of purifying your life. If we sit down on the chair and say, Lord, I’m not going to move until you cleanse me, we will never be clean. When Enoch walked with the Lord, he was purifying his life; God was doing it in him as he was practically doing his duties. He wasn’t just washing dishes; he was purifying his life in washing dishes.

Walking with God is purification

John 14:1-3 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

In my Father’s house are many mansions: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also.

There are mansions in heaven. There is a door open to a mansion to a place where God wants you to live there with Him. He wants you to dwell in His city, to look after you personally and to be your King. He wants to be your governor. This place has your name on it. The door is open for you; will you go in?

The physical structure of this place is there but the preparation needed for me to be fitted into that place is what God is working upon. That requires Him dwelling with us if we are to dwell with Him. He wants us to dwell in His city with Him; to walk together with Him there, but first He wants to dwell in our city, in our being, to dwell in our habitation. When this habitation is pure, then we are welcome to come into His.

2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of [this] tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

When we are talking about our house, we are talking about our body. Our body is earthly; it is made from the dust. If this body is dissolved there is another house for us and that is built by God. It is an eternal, heavenly house.

2 Corinthians 5:2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:

How many people are tired of their bodies? We get drained, even the young, because our bodies are so weak. The stresses of life cripple us and we are groaning because we would love a new body.

2 Corinthians 5:3-10 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.

For we that are in [this] tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing [is] God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

Therefore [we are] always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

We are confident, [I say], and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things [done] in [his] body, according to that he hath done, whether [it be] good or bad.

How you dwell in your house today will determine how you will dwell in the house in the future. If we are dwelling in a corrupt house and it’s earthly and has many problems and we live in connection with those things, then we will be absent from the Lord. But if we are desiring to get rid of this body, understanding that the mechanisms in this body are so faulty that I don’t want to listen to them anymore, then I will walk by faith and not by sight.

I will walk not according to the senses that this body gives me, but according to the senses which God will give me. What does that mean?

2 Timothy 2:3-4 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of [this] life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

As we dwell in this earthy tabernacle we must not get comfortable in it. We must not love it to the point of wanting not to be in heaven. We must desire to say, ‘I want a new body’ and groan for something better than what I have. The Christian’s watch-word is ‘something better.’

Can we get tangled up in the affairs of this life and please God? What does it mean to be entangled with the affairs of this life? When I am dwelling in my body and my body brings suggestions and feelings to me, and I follow them, I will find myself getting entangled. They will start wrapping around me and getting stronger and stronger until I can’t resist the inclinations that I have born in my earthly body which will be dissolved when Jesus comes.

Crisis

When a crisis comes with intense feelings, how many people act upon that feeling? If we are in a marriage and the marriage seems to have some stresses that at the time seems like the end of the world is happening. There may be an argument. As far as God’s concerned this is not the last one, it’s not the first one, things are going to keep going, but as far as we are concerned this is it. With the intensity of feelings I make an action to leave. Or we may be in employment and having a hard time at work and I want to quit. When I get another job the same thing happens, the same thing will happen again and I will want to quit. I start to get entangled with a whole lot of decisions in my life built upon my emotions. In two or five or ten years my life will be such a tangled mess because of the original choice to follow the body in what it feels like.

This is what it means to be tangled up in the affairs of this life. I may see a business opportunity with my entrepreneurial mind and when I am in the midst of it I will realise it is not the will of the Lord. Then I will be tangled with a debt and then think I need to do something else to earn more money to get out of my debt and I get tangled even further, until I’m stuck. I will be strangling myself because of decisions made according to the feelings that belong in my body. If we want to please God, if we are a good soldier of Christ, we will not entangle ourselves in the affairs of this life. We will not wake up in the morning and feel that I don’t want to go to church today because it’s too hard. A good soldier will say, That’s my feeling, but I’m not going to be entangled with this feeling, and I’m going anyway. As we go against our feelings, God will be pleased. This is what we read in 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy 2:3-4 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of [this] life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

Things are only hard because we don’t feel like it. If we felt like doing it, is it hard; not at all? When it says to endure hardness as a good soldier, what is that telling us? The hardness is that I feel like this but I’m going to do that; I feel like sleeping in, I don’t feel like going to prayer bands, but the soldier will say I am getting up anyway. This pleases God. This is walking by faith, not by sense or sight.

Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him:

Many people go to heaven in feeling today when they take drugs or have some experience, and as far as they are concerned they are translated. Enoch was translated by faith, that is real substance; faith is the substance of things hoped for.

Hebrews 11:5 for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

11:6 But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

If Enoch pleased God that means Enoch must have had to go against his feelings. If he went with his feelings, that is pleasing yourself, not God. It is impossible to please God without faith. We cannot make God happy while going with our feelings. If we go with our feelings we will still not be happy because we just get tangled, so you have to follow another feeling and it’s just a downward situation. If we walk by faith it’s an upward situation and we are going somewhere, we are going to heaven.

When we learn to walk by faith and not by feeling, we shall have help from God just when we need it, and His peace will come into our hearts. It was this simple life of obedience and trust that Enoch lived. If we learn this lesson of simple trust, ours may be the testimony that he received, that he pleased God. {CC 31.2}

Trust God

This is the whole gospel in Genesis, to trust God. If we would understand that He made all things, that if we choose Him we will have peace upon our countenance. Enoch had peace shining out of his countenance. If we would make that decision, we would be sealed and will enter in and be sealed. Once we are sealed we will be tested; do these people really walk by faith or not? That is the whole point of Jacob’s trouble, to see whether you walk by faith or by your feeling. Therefore God will say, give them every feeling you can throw at them and we will see what they walk by.

Feelings of discouragement and despair such as, God doesn’t like me, others don’t like me and I sense in myself that I don’t like myself. All these strong overwhelming impressions that no language can express, will come to us to test whether we are living by faith.

Seeing that we are to receive a kingdom that cannot be moved, we should serve God reverently and with godly fear. If we are to receive a kingdom that cannot be moved, do you think that we can be moved? A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. In other words, a double-minded man cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven, because the kingdom of heaven is the most stable experience ever. If I am double-minded, if I am one minute going with my feelings and the next going by a desire to serve the Lord, but I can’t be bothered any more, it’s a mess. This is the core problem of not succeeding in your spiritual walk.

We are living in an evil age. The perils of the last days thicken around us. Because iniquity abounds, the love of many waxes cold. . . . {CC 29.4}

Enoch’s case is before us. . . . He lived in a corrupt age, when moral pollution was teeming all round him; yet he trained his mind to devotion, to love purity. His conversation was upon heavenly things. He educated his mind to run in this channel, {CC 29.5}

When you are trying to educate children, do they want to do something else? They have their feelings, they are bound up in this earthly body that you and I are bound up in, and they haven’t mastered it at all. Their education is come back, sit with it, stay with it; then they are off again, come back. Enoch trained his mind. His mind was off, come back, come back; to the point until it gets easier and easier as it is with a child. If a child is consistently put into place, this far and no further, the child will eventually learn. This is what happens with our own brains.

and he bore the impress of the divine. His countenance was lighted up with the light which shineth in the face of Jesus. {CC 29.5}

Enoch had temptations as well as we. He was surrounded with society no more friendly to righteousness than is that which surrounds us. The atmosphere he breathed was tainted with sin and corruption, the same as ours; yet he lived a life of holiness. He was unsullied with the prevailing sins of the age in which he lived. So may we remain pure and uncorrupted. He was a representative of the saints who live amid the perils and corruptions of the last days. For his faithful obedience to God he was translated. So, also, the faithful, who are alive and remain, will be translated. They will be removed from a sinful and corrupt world to the pure joys of heaven. {CC 29.6}

Our present work is to come out from the world and be separate. This is the only way we can walk with God, as did Enoch. {CC 29.7}

Why are there corruptions around? Is it because men and women today go on their feelings? We can look out the window and say that the world is so bad, everyone else is so bad. If we are following our feelings, even though our feelings may not be expressed in such a terrible way, the principle is just as evil as the most terrible thing you could think of.

If I go on my feelings by yielding to discouragement, I mope around and yielding to that is just as bad as someone having hatred and killing somebody. Not in consequence but in foundation of the principle. How can I say they shouldn’t do that; yet I go get discouraged and yield to my discouraging feelings instead of taking God’s word as it says and going against my feelings until my feelings catch up with what I am doing?

2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

Once again here is the gospel in Genesis. Genesis tells you what God is about; all through those stories, as the story of God protecting Sarah despite Abraham messing up.

2 Peter 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that [pertain] unto life and godliness,

Does Genesis teach that? When He made man, everything was there ready to pertain to the life of mankind. When He made the plants, He didn’t make everything ready to sustain the plants, the sun wasn’t even made when He made the plants; but when He came to make you and me everything was ready for you and me.

2 Peter 1:3 through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

When we read the word ‘lust’ we think it some sexual activity, but the word simply means feelings and desires. Through God’s word we can overcome the corruption that is in the world through feelings. This is Enoch’s experience; he walked with God against his feelings and by faith he was translated, he came to that point by doing this real thing.

2 Peter 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

As you get to know and understand God, that will lead to being temperate. The love of Christ constrains us, it’s a constraining element. With the love of God being active in my mind, when I go to do something intemperate, I will have to break my conscience to do it. The love of God is the belt that constrains us.

2 Peter 1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

How many people find it hard to be patient? To be patient we need to go to bed on time. If we are intemperate and we are not sleeping because we are staying up late, can we expect to be patient?

2 Peter 1:7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make [you that ye shall] neither [be] barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If we have a knowledge of God and yet we are not patient and kind and tender-hearted, then our knowledge of God is vain.

2 Peter 1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

When we develop the Christ-like character which is unselfish love, then God will swing those doors open and say come in. That is what Enoch’s experience was; he went against his feelings and he implemented the gospel practically in his life, adding and adding a step after a step after a step, until the next day he was in heaven.

We Are Going Somewhere

Revelation 22:14 Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Enoch kept the commandments; Enoch was a commandment keeper. He pleased God and as he walked, the method of obeying the commandments was by faith, not feeling. Enoch was a commandment-keeping Christian because he had the faith of Jesus Christ.

If we have the commandments of God the only way to keep the commandments of God is by faith, not by how you feel. As we do these things contrary to our feelings, then we have a right to enter into that city. The door will be swung abundantly, not just squeezing in just because we just made it, it is your right. If we want real rights let us keep the commandments of God, then we will have the right to the tree of life.

Revelation 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

God is a God of the beautiful. God loves beautiful things. He didn’t spare anything in this city; He made it absolutely beautiful. He didn’t just keep in it heaven, He wants you to be there. He made the earth beautiful for humanity; He wanted humanity to enjoy beauty. He made these beautiful things then gave us the eyes to be able to see them.

Revelation 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, [and be] their God.

Revelation 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

We will no longer have to resist how we feel; in heaven you will do how you feel. It will be pure and holy as God is. The loves that God has put in the bosom of humanity can find truest expression in heaven with no sin. Do you want to walk there? Come on, let’s go.

Revelation 21:5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

These words that we read are as sure as Jesus Christ Himself who is the true and faithful witness. If Christ isn’t real, then these words aren’t real. If Christ is real and history tells that He is real. Prophecy tells us He is real, the world around us tells us He is real, and then heaven is a real place. This is not just some lovely, serene picture to dwell upon to keep you going, this is a real place that we are really going to.

Revelation 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Fearfulness and unbelief is on a par with murder and adultery because the essence is the same and it’s built upon feeling. If those feelings come to me and I take those feelings and move with them and walk according to them, then heaven isn’t my home while I do that.

If I will walk by faith, looking to the joy that is set before me, then I can endure as a good soldier, not entangling myself with the affairs of my body.

Revelation 21:10And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

11 Having the glory of God: and her light [was] like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;

Let your mind picture this, this is real. This description is given so mankind can get this thought of what this city is about in his mind.

Revelation 21:12 And had a wall great and high, [and] had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are [the names] of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.

Do you think there is room for you? There are twelve gates to get into this place. Whatever make-up you have, whatever nation you are from, whatever temperament you have, there is a gate for you; there is an entrance for you that God has marked out for you, if you walk by faith with Him and follow Him, and not your feelings.

Revelation 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.

16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.

Do you realise how big this city is? It’s approximately 500 kilometres across, 500 kilometres deep and 500 kilometres high. There is room for you. God has some estate for you. The Bible says the angels which left their first estate; they left it, there is room in this estate, it’s not packed out. It is huge and every millimetre of it is beautiful.

Revelation

21:19 And the foundations of the wall of the city [were] garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation [was] jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;

21:20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.

21:21 And the twelve gates [were] twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city [was] pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

These gates are huge and they are one pearl. Do you know how a pearl is made? It starts with an irritation. The mother pearl starts putting a mucous over this irritation to stop the irritation and keeps putting this mucous over it and it starts to get hard, then as it keeps doing it, it turns into a ball and there you have a pearl. These gates which we go through, the start of the walk started with an irritation, sin. As we let the love of Christ covering us, keep covering us, then we have a right to walk through these type of gates of pearl.

I wonder what the angels think when we dangle gold from our ears; they must think, Why are these people hanging road base from their ears? It is the basis of heaven and we dangle it everywhere. This is not the glory of heaven; the glory of heaven is God Himself. Let us not get caught up with gold things and jewellery; let us give that up. When Jacob came to the place where he wrestled with the angel and had his Jacob’s trouble experience, he built an altar. He said to his family to take the idols from among them, take off the earrings and the necklaces and jewellery and put it away. They hid it and never found it again. If we want to go into heaven, we don’t want to be having all our road-base hanging off us and God to say, What are you doing? We know that the road is made out of gold, we well be walking on it, so we can give up gold here. The purity of gold here is rubbish compared to what heaven has. Let us not get caught up in the price of road-base.

Revelation 22:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb [is] the light thereof.

24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.

If we say we have fellowship with the Lord and walk in darkness, we lie. If we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin and heaven is our home. If we are not doing it here, we can’t do it there. If I can’t get along with my brethren here, how will I get along with them there? They will be the same people.

Revelation 22:25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.

27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither [whatsoever] worketh abomination, or [maketh] a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

28 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

29 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, [was there] the tree of life, which bare twelve [manner of] fruits, [and] yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree [were] for the healing of the nations.

30 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

31 And they shall see his face; and his name [shall be] in their foreheads.

32 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

33 And he said unto me, These sayings [are] faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.

The Pinnacle of Heaven is God and the Lamb

Are we almost home? We are almost there. Keep up my brethren, don’t give up, keep denying your feelings, keep walking by faith; we are almost there. This place will soon be a visual reality to our eyes. This place has our beloved Saviour.

As the ransomed ones are welcomed to the City of God, there rings out upon the air an exultant cry of adoration. The two Adams are about to meet. The Son of God is standing with outstretched arms to receive the father of our race–the being whom He created, who sinned against his Maker, and for whose sin the marks of the crucifixion are borne upon the Saviour’s form. {GC 647.2}

Eden restored

All the children redeemed that have received Jesus Christ, holy and undefiled, the tree of life is there. Adam steps in. He messed everything up. He would be the most humbled man because everything he saw and knew was wrong was a rebuke to himself. The death, fighting, adultery and bloodshed was seen by Adam for 900 years knowing it was a result of what he had done. Adam walked by faith; if he didn’t, he probably would have killed himself. He had to walk by faith in the belief that God, Jesus Christ, is going to fix his mess up.

We live in many problems that we can’t fix. There are many marital problems that we can’t fix; Jesus can. Jesus can fix my situation. I can’t make everyone right around me, but I can yield my life to Him who can fix all things. As Adam had observed 900 years of his failure screaming to him, every leaf that dropped to the ground was telling him, You’ve sinned, you’ve sinned, you’ve sinned. The devil didn’t have to say a word; he would have had it all the time in every avenue. He probably went to the grave quite happy to pass away, to have a rest.

Now Adam who messed everything up comes and Jesus wants to hug him. Everything has been screaming to Adam, You’re a failure. All his children would have told him, You’re a failure, Adam. Now Jesus is coming saying, Come to me, please. This is what heaven is like. Heaven will not bring up our sins to us; heaven is restored. Come to Me. As the huge being of Adam resurrected as he was in his stature before he died, and you and me resurrected in our small stature, we see big Adam as the humblest man.

As Adam discerns the prints of the cruel nails, he does not fall upon the bosom of his Lord, but in humiliation casts himself at His feet, crying: Worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain! Tenderly the Saviour lifts him up and bids him look once more upon the Eden home from which he has so long been exiled. {GC 647.2}

This Eden was the same place; God took Eden. God didn’t just make another one, this is the place that six thousand years before Adam walked upon, where he cared for the garden. He loved it and delighted in it. For 900 years after, he was exiled from that place. Nowhe sees Christ and His great love with no condemnation at all, who suffered all things just to put him back in his home. If He wants to Adam in his home, then he wants to put you there too, because we were originally meant to be in Eden.

Heaven’s door is open, it is not shut; we do not have to knock on it and say, Lord, Lord, please let me in. It is open to all those who walk by faith and not by feeling. This is the fundamental reason why the earth is the way it is, because of feeling. Are you willing to give up your feelings and to deny your tendencies that you have to not do what God wants you to do? Give it up, and heaven is your home.

We think we are weak compared to the strong feelings that we have that come to us. I am so poor compared to these rich feelings that so powerfully hit me. My friends, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

If you understand our weakness, then you will understand your need of Jesus Christ, you will understand that He is worthy and I am not. This is really the first step. If I understand that I am spiritually bankrupt, spiritually impoverished, then that will lead me to being hit to the core that I have not the wherewithal to do this, but Jesus does. As I realise my poor condition I will mourn and Jesus comes with the words, blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. As I am mourning and realising my terrible situation, can I be proud? Can I walk around thinking I know all the facts, I can overcome everything, I deserve to be in heaven? Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

These are the steps of Enoch. He realised his condition, he saw the helpless child that he just gave birth to, and saw himself in that helpless child that can’t do a thing for itself. He mourned and became meek. As he became meek, he was hungering for the Sustainer and Creator, and Redeemer. He cried for something that he did not have. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. Once we have been fed by God, we are fully conscious that I do not deserve that which He gave me. I have done nothing to solicit God’s help to me. I have been bankrupt. Sorry but put into the dust and ashes of humility, and now God will feed Me? Blessed thought. This will lead to mercy. This is the next step. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.

If we go through this walking with God of poverty of soul, of tearful experiences, of meek realities of hungering, we will become merciful to other people; we can’t just cut everyone down and start slamming individuals. As we become merciful, this action of mercy, delivering to somebody something that they do not deserve at all, creates a pure heart. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. You cannot have a pure heart if you are not merciful to others. You can’t be merciful to others until you realise the mercy God has given to you. You can’t realise it’s mercy until you realise you don’t deserve it. This is the walking by faith, not by feeling.

As we become pure in heart, then it is that we become true ministers for Jesus.

Peacemakers

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. This is the state that Enoch was in. This is the state that you and I are to be in, to be peacemakers; to make peace. That doesn’t mean to try to get the Arabs and the Jews to love each other; it is to get people to love God. When they are at one with God, they in turn will be at peace with those around them. This is the ministry that you and I are called to. Was not Enoch a minister? Was he not a prophet who prophesied and a preacher of righteousness? We are not all called to preach from the pulpit, but we are all called to save souls and to be peacemakers. When the Peacemaker was on earth Satan was angry. What if there were a lot of little peacemakers? Jesus has lots of children and they are all like Him. Do you think that makes the devil happy? Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Heaven belongs to you; it is your place, your house, your dwelling place, your country and your home. The door of heaven is open to those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, because they are peacemakers, they are working in the lines of Christ; living by faith and not by sight.

To be true ministers of the Lord we can’t act upon our feelings. If we minister to people according to our feelings we will get annoyed at people. If we act on our feelings we will try to cut them down and correct them and be harsh to them. If we want to be ministers we cannot act on feeling, but by faith, to see what God sees.

Heaven is open; Jesus wants you there. If you can trace your lineage to Adam, then He wants you there.

Amen.