SAUL OF TARSUS
Saul of Tarsus was a Pharisee of the highest rank. He says of himself, �I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee. For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of Yah, and wasted it. And, profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.�
When Yah changes a person�s name it signifies a change of character. It is not known whether Yah changed Saul�s name, or if he changed it himself. Perhaps, even the believers changed it to separate him from his former reputation as a persecutor of the church, and to make him more accepted as a believer. At any rate he had his name changed.
Paul was a very religious man, and Yah wanted to use his dedication and fervency to further the Kingdom of Yah. So, one day he had an encounter that changed his life. He was struck blind by the brilliance of the Lord when He appeared to him. Why? The Lord had appeared to many men after His resurrection, but did not blind them. You might say He was punishing Paul for persecuting the church, but I don�t believe so. At that time Paul could only see with religious eyes, and he acted out of that knowledge. He was spiritually blind. Yah was showing him how blind he was. Until he could no longer see through his religious eyes, he would be of no value to Yah, or to himself.
When we have become blinded by religion, and by its teaching and ideology, we see only with religious understanding. Yah must come to us, and blind our eyes to Religion so that we might see spiritual things.
Paul�s encounter with the Lord left him with great scabs upon his eyes, and he was physically blind. Yah left him that way until he began to pray. This is the secret of Yah�s dealing with men, first, revelation of truth, then blindness of natural understanding, and eventually spiritual insight. Then, Yah sent him a messenger to remove the scales from his eyes that he might see, and to tell him what his mission in life was going to be.
Yah finds us going our own way and begins to reveal Himself to us, and the brightness of the revelation blinds us. We then find ourselves groping in the darkness of spiritual understanding with fleshly scales upon our eyes. And it is there that many remain because they do not �pray� and seek Yah for understanding. Religion has made them dependent upon others, just as Paul after his encounter with the Lord, was dependent upon those who traveled with him to guide him to where he was going. Many just become discouraged and lose hope. They can no longer see, for in a real sense their religious eyes have become blind.
Have you ever come in from outside at night and found the interior of the room pitch black? What happens when you turn on a light? You are blinded by its brightness, and you must stand there, and allow your eyes to adjust to the light. The same thing happens when you leave what little light you had in religion and enter into a new place in Yah. The illumination of truth blinds you to the point you cannot move on until the scales of religion are removed.
However, for those who seek Him, He will not leave them in darkness. He is the light of the world. You cannot get true light anywhere else. All other light is man-made. Yah has not left us blind, but has sent His Holy Spirit to open our eyes, and to remove the scales of the flesh, so that we might see the things of Yah with spiritual eyes.
I want you to notice that when Paul�s sight was restored he went into the desert where he received revelations from Yah. Paul testifies that while he was out in the desert he had seen visions, whether in the body or out, he could not tell, and the Holy Spirit taught him spiritual things. After two years he came out of the desert, and began to preach.
Today we have a ministry coming out of the wilderness of flesh and carnal thinking with a vision of sonship, and revelations that will transform us into the image of the pattern Son.
Yah�s people were very religious before YahShua came, died on the cross, and opened up the new and living way. The true church was born out of religious law into a new place in Yah. The revelation of the New Covenant was so brilliant that it has blinded the church age. The church has needed time to get adjusted to the light of new revelations. But, unlike Paul, they continued to grope in the darkness of man-made light. For almost two thousand years the church, as a whole, has been praying with scales upon its eyes. Only in recent times has the Holy Spirit begun to remove scales from our understanding, and to cause a people to see the call of sonship upon their lives.
Throughout his whole life Paul continued to have trouble with his eyes. He mentioned several times having eye problems. The religious spirit kept muddling his spiritual vision or understanding. He had to constantly battle the religious Pharisee spirit, and he called it a thorn in the flesh. It is so hard to be completely delivered from religious ways. They have a tendency to stick around and bug us. Hear what Paul says, �There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.� If you will notice in Paul�s writings he still holds to some of his Pharisee ways, and they seep out at times, and he is found trying to bring them over into the New Covenant. For some believers, there will always be a reminder of where they came from, and can find themselves buffeted by the religious spirit that still tries to cling to them, or from the religious spirit in others as a thorn in their flesh.
The War
Have you ever wondered why when Paul sought Yah three times about this thorn in the flesh that Yah just answered him, �My grace is sufficient?� It is because of the Battle of Armageddon. Paul was to be an overcomer, and thus he was to do battle with this religious spirit and conquer it. For an overcomer Yah does not work deliverance, but gives grace and strength for the battle. Three is the number of completeness, and Paul was to completely overcome this messenger of Satan.
The war between good and evil, between the army of Yah and the army of antichrist began shortly after the cross, and will consummate in our day. In this �great day of the Lord� all the evil and religious spirits have been brought together to do battle, in the end of the ages, with the Lord and His angels in the Battle of Armageddon. Angels speak of spirit. Our spirit being is an angel. Twice in Revelation John seeks to worship an angel and is told that the angel is merely a disembodied saint. We are told to be careful to entertain strangers who come to our door, because we might be entertaining an angel unaware, or a hidden angel.
Here, in our time, the forces are gathering, for we are standing on the brink of the final, decisive battle, and that battle will take place in the Kingdom Age. The evil and religious spirits in man will be destroyed, or at least cast into the abyss, and blood will flow as high as the bridle on a horse. I am speaking spiritually here. We know that the life of the flesh is in the blood, so it is our flesh life that will be destroyed in this battle along with its evil and religious spirits. However, not all will be destroyed, some will be taken prisoner and cast into prison to be released at the end of a thousand years. Paul tells us �we wrestle, fight, not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.�
On the scene now we see the army of the Lord poised for battle, wearing the whole armor of Yah. �Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.�
Soon the sons of Yah will go forth in their manifest glory, the Harlot will fall, and the prisoners will be released from her dungeons. Creation will be freed from death and decay, and the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth. Are you ready? Has the call to arms sounded in your spirit? Have you answered?
Paul said, �It is Messiyah in you the �hope� of glory.� Messiyah means, �Anointed One� and we received the Holy Spirit in part as a foretaste of that which is to come. What is to come? YahShua said, �You will receive �power� after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you.� Power to do what? Power to act out of our new nature and power to overcome. The inherent power to do what is in us to do. �For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.�
We will no longer be acting by the power of the Holy Spirit, who is our schoolmaster, but we will be mature, and begin to act, or live, out of the hidden man of the heart, our new nature. �When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, of what we will be, then we shall see face to face, the pure reflection of the man we are. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.�
�I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of Yah to be revealed.�
I am always available to answer the questions of a hungry heart. It is Yah's will that we help one another up the hill to transfiguration. However, keep in mind that it is not revelation knowledge that we should seek, but "HIM". Spiritual understand will automatically come as we become more aware of "HIM" and become more like "HIM". Many fall short of full sonship by becoming too caught up in the revelation, and not caught up "IN HIM". "HE" must have preeminence in our life even in our getting of revelation knowledge. I can not stress this enough.
MY HOMEPAGE