By George H. Warnock
WHERE DWELLEST THOU? COME AND SEE!
"For thus saith the high and lofty One
That inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place,
With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,
To revive the spirit of the humble,
And to revive the heart of the contrite ones (Or, "the bruised ones")"
(Isaiah 57:15)
Shall we not go there and dwell with Him there, not just one day like the two disciples of old... but all our days? He gives the invitation: "COME AND SEE!" This is the only road map He has for you. Others can tell you about Him. Others may give you all the answers. But until you "come" and walk with Him in the Way, and See for yourself--you will never really discover where God dwells.
THE ASHES OF A HEIFER
"And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin" (Numbers 19:9). "And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it..." (Numbers 19:18).
How little have we appreciated the "ingredients" of God's grace that flow unto us who are partakers of His Spirit. All the ingredients of the Cross are mingled together in the Spirit of Truth who has come to abide within His people... just as the ashes of the red heifer, and the ashes of hyssop and scarlet and cedar wood were mingled together in the water of separation.
Now, "If the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"
Paul asks a question that requires no answer but the question itself. How much more shall the Blood of Christ? This goes far beyond the matter of forgiveness. We know we are forgiven, and we know that God justifies and looks down upon us as a redeemed people... as a people who are righteous because of the righteousness of Christ. But how can we comprehend this, that we can look upon ourselves as God looks upon us, our very conscience having been purged from all defilement? There are areas of cleansing by the "Water of separation" that as yet we know very little about. I believe we have greatly minimized and limited the cleansing work of the Spirit of God in our lives. God has a cleansing for the mind that is so total and so complete that the very conscience is purged from dead works to serve the living God, and there will remain "no more a conscience of sins." And if the Blood of Christ avails not for this, was there any need for Christ to die? Could we not have continued with the offerings of bulls and goats? And would not the "water of separation" and the "ashes of a heifer" absorbed in that water take the place of the Holy Spirit in our lives?
The potential and the implications of the Blood of Christ, and the nature and character of the living stream of God that has absorbed the efficacy of that Blood for the cleansing of His people, goes far beyond anything that we have ever imagined or thought possible. For there can be nothing more clean and pure anywhere in God's universe than the defiled sons of Adam who have been cleansed and purified by the cleansing of the Blood and the washing of His Holy Spirit.
The apostle is careful to say that it was "through the eternal Spirit" that Jesus offered Himself without blemish unto God. As the precious Blood of Christ was flowing down from His sacred body, the Spirit of God was there--absorbing every drop of it in His own Being. The time would come when Jesus was glorified that this Holy Spirit, impregnated with the Blood of Christ, would be shed forth upon God's people, as a pure stream of purifying, cleansing water of life, purging the very conscience of the sin-burdened and troubled soul.
The conscience is that inward "knowing with one's self"... that inward awareness of SELF. Now God looks down (through the Blood of the Cross) and sees perfect redemption and healing. So perfect... that He declares: "Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." Now, through the application of the Blood and the operation of His Spirit in our lives God would have us to see ourselves as He sees us... clean, and pure, and holy--with the past under the Blood and forgotten.
I could never understand how God could "forget" when it was easy for me to "remember." It must be just a manner of speech. Surely God couldn't possibly FORGET! Then I think I heard the Lord say, "You cannot forget because you are human; but I can forget because I am God."
God no longer has any problem with our many sins of the past, because the Blood of Christ has obliterated them from His mind! We know that, But the "conscience" continues to retain these thoughts because the "mind" has not been fully renewed, and the carnal mind which is ever at enmity against God, refuses to loose its hold upon us. But in the New Creation the former things are done away, neither shall they come into mind.
We have New Creation life now, But it is still in embryonic form. O that the Body of Christ might pursue the vision of total union with Christ... for it is only in that total union with Him that we shall know and experience the "fulness of the Spirit" in our lives, and the fulness of the efficacy of the Blood of Christ that comes to us as we partake of that Spirit.
