by Seeley Kinne
Contact the Lord and spend time with Him, and you will become like Him. The closer the contact, the more you partake of His nature. He is such a fountain of life that He imparts life to all who approach Him. This “imparting” power is resident in Jesus Christ.
“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you….” James 4:8
“…When He shall appear (draw nigh), we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” I John 3:2
There are varying degrees of fellowship and experience with God, as is taught by many Scriptural illustrations, such as the Outer Court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle; the High Priest, the Priests, and the Levites in Israel; the three within the twelve disciples; the thirty-sixty-hundred fold.
“But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor.” II Timothy 2:20
The kingdom of God is indeed a great house, in which are many vessels varying in quality, capacity, rank, and order. Our “placement” in His kingdom requires of us an extensive and particular course of preparation. A part of this is the development within us of a quality prophetic capacity.
“Prophecy” is the utterance of one who has developed this prophetic quality; one who partakes of God, of His Divine nature; eats the flesh and drinks the blood of Christ, the true bread of God.
True prophecy is God speaking by the mouth of man, yet it is more than that.
“…The words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63
The prophetic word is “spirit” words, which are brought down to the human level to become words of life to the hearer.
“For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.” I Corinthians 4:20
“And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” I Corinthians 2:4
To merely speak the words of divine truth apart from an experiential knowledge of them is to be as a Pharisee, of whom Jesus said, “They say and do not.”” The Words of the Almighty are full of life and power. Christ has nothing in common with Pharisees.
For the Son of God to become the Saviour of men, He first became the man Jesus Christ: a babe in a manger, a boy in the temple, a man from Nazareth who was a carpenter, baptized of John. He received witness of His Father from heaven through a voice saying, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,” as the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, descended upon Him. One would suppose that His ministry would begin at once, but instead, “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil.”
Jesus must know the vicissitudes and sufferings of man with the various attacks, insinuations, and temptations of Satan, so malicious and painful.
“For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15
Not only did Christ personally meet and vanquish Satan, but He dwelt among the people. He met and shared their temptations, trials, problems, and sufferings. He ate with the publicans and sinners. He was too familiar with the common people to suit the religious leaders of that time. They had theories to promulgate, but He had spirit, life, and power to impart.
And He came to know, not by observation, but by experience, our afflictions and heartaches, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest.
When Jesus spoke, it was the anointed prophetic word, gracious, full of spirit, life, and power. The dead came to life, lepers were cleansed, the lame leaped, the blind saw, and life sprang up wherever His Word came. For He not only spoke the Word, He had compassion. He felt, He knew, He experienced and lived in the life of the articulated Word. This is the mystery – that Jesus not only spoke the Word, He was the Word (John 1:1-5).
Jesus said, “I proceeded forth and came from God” (John 8:42). He proceeded as the living Word from the Father, and came forth into the world as a messenger sent by the Father.
This procession of the Word, from the Father through the Son, is a most profound mystery; and can be rightly understood only as God reveals it. That same infinite power that is in God, the Almighty Father, and in Christ, the Almighty Son, is in their spoken proceeding Word. Nothing of it can fail.
“Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven.” Psalms 119:89
And so of Jesus, the God-man, not only does the fullness of the Godhead dwell bodily in Him, but the fullness of man also. Jesus not only knew us by observation and discernment, but He participated in our thoughts and feelings, partook of our human (un-fallen) nature, and became a sharer in our joys and sorrows, our pleasures and pains, and all our vicissitudes: a merciful and faithful high priest, in all points tempted and tried, yet without sin.
We then are to become His ministers, and share the eternal Word in its being spoken forth. This procession, or coming forth of the Word does not end with the Son; but the “Word of God was preached of Paul,” the early Church, and onward through us (Acts 17:13, 19:20).
He who proclaims the Word of God must first partake thereof himself; he must eat the book – “The husbandman must first be partaker of the fruit.” He cannot speak the Word mechanically as a mere machine, like Balaam’s dumb ass. He first shall enter into its fellowship, and experience its meaning and life. This is a living essential truth, which lies at the foundation of the prophetic Word of God. It cannot be evaded without our becoming pharisaical.
“Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom….” Colossians 3:16
“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink. He that believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” John 7:37-38
To become a “co-worker” with the Lord in dispensing the quickened, anointed Word of God is a most exalted ministry. But it requires being a partaker of the Word before one can become a dispenser thereof.
Natural water carries, in solution, the elements of food. The water-of-life is the Spirit of Christ carrying the Word of God, His words and gifts. One who is prophetic becomes a dispenser of this living Word, and its miracle effects.