Companions In Tribulation

Introduction

 

 

"I am Alpha and Omega...who is, and who was, and who is to come, THE ALMIGHTY," speaks the divine voice at the opening of the book of Revelation. A little later we read, "When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last..." (Rev. 1:17). At the closing of the book the same voice declares, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify these things unto you in the churches" (Rev. 22:13,16).

People have great difficulty understanding an abstraction, a force, or a spirit. It must be personalized, it must take form, and that is why God has come in the person of Jesus Christ so that we might see Him and see what God is like. That is why in the book of Colossians the apostle Paul says of Christ, "He is the exact likeness of the unseen God; the visible representation of the invisible.. .for it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him and in and for Him" (Col. 1:15-16). Therefore, the embodiment referred to as Jesus in the physical world, in the atomic world, is the invisible Yahweh who exists in a Spirit or Light World. He is Almighty Creator of everything in heaven and in earth! "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Other scriptures tell us that it was Yahweh who is the great Creator! Glorious, indeed, and wonderful beyond human description is the great truth that the book of Revelation is the unveiling of God-Yahweh-Yahshua ; the invisible Almighty God who came to earth as our Lord Jesus Christ!

I have no desire to dispute doctrines about the Godhead. I am sure each of us has our understanding of God, how God is one and how God is three, and all the rest of it. I am not writing to debate those issues, rather to point out a truth which the Spirit has made very real to my heart. There are many kinds of terminology that we still use that are not the Spirit's terminology. They are not what the Spirit has witnessed concerning God, but terms that men have coined to express their conception of the Godhead! Many of these terms have come right out of the darkness of religious carnal minds and the Lord's people have embraced them and parrot them as though they were divine revelation! Christians talk about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Did you know there is not a scripture in the Bible that talks about God the Son? There is not a scripture in the Bible that speaks of God the Holy Ghost! Yet the title "God the Father" appears many, many times throughout the New Testament. "To us," Paul said, "there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him" (I Cor. 8:6).

Jesus is always referred to as the Son of God not God the Son. Now you say, "Wait a minute, brother, are you telling me Jesus isn’t God?" Not at all! I am saying that He is not called God the Son. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is most often referred to as the Spirit of God not God the Holy Spirit. God Himself said, "I will send my Spirit; I will pour out my Spirit." He no where said, "God the Holy Spirit will come to you." Do you see what I mean? We use terminology that has been formulated by the theologians of the church systems which are not found in the word of God! Jesus said that the Father had sent Him, and that the Father is God. So to us there is one God who is the Father! The question follows "Was Jesus God?" Absolutely! But did you know that the God in Jesus was the Father? What did He say? "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself but the Father that dwelleth in me, HE doeth the works." (Jn. 14:10).

Can you imagine GOD saying, "I can of mine own self do nothing?" Yet Jesus confessed that He, of Himself, could do nothing! Only the Father in Him could speak and do the works! So what I am saying is, THE GOD THAT WAS IN JESUS WAS THE FATHER!" Great is the mystery of godliness: GOD was manifest in the flesh." (I Tim. 3:16). Not God the Son manifest in flesh. GOD was manifest in the flesh!

The great Indian apostle and mystic, Sadhu Sundar Singh, was caught up in the Spirit. I know not whether he was in the body or out of the body, but he was caught up in the Spirit and saw, in Spirit, the throne of God. Just as John saw, when on Patmos he was caught up in Spirit, Sadhu Sundar Singh saw the throne of the heavens of God's Spirit and there was ONE who sat upon the throne. He did not see three thrones! He did not see God the Father sitting on one throne, God the Son sitting on another throne, and God the Holy Ghost upon a third throne. Nor did he see one throne with three Gods seated upon it! He saw one throne and on the throne he saw One sitting, and the One he saw was Jesus. He saw Jesus sitting on the throne! But emanating, radiating out of Jesus in a never-ending and all-encompassing effulgence of glory, majesty, wisdom, power, dominion, love, mercy and goodness was the Father! Shining out of Jesus was the scintillating glory of the Father so that Jesus could say, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet thou hast not known me? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?" (Jn. 14:9).

My heart's desire and prayer to God is that all who read these pages may now see themselves in Christ. May God enable you by His Spirit to see yourself IN CHRIST

 

J. Preston Eby

 

Companions in Tribulation, Chapter 1

Companions in Tribulation, Chapter 2

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