Step 3 Buried - Six Steps to the Throne Series
SIX STEPS TO THE THRONE
Gary Garner
Lesson Three: BURIED
In the book of Ruth we see that Ruth was given six measures of barley (Ruth 3:15,17) . Jesus filled up six waterpots with water and turned them into wine (John 2:6). The candlestick in Moses’ Tabernacle had one central shaft and then six branches (Ex 25:32). You remember that on the table of shewbread, the bread was divided into two stacks of six each.
I think it would be beneficial, as we continue this series on “Six Steps to the Throne,” to show you how many times the number “six” is spoken of in scripture. There is something important about those six things that Jesus did. The Bible says when they were bringing back the ark of the covenant, they went six paces, stopped, worshipped and sacrificed. When we say Six Steps to the Throne, we are just using this as a launching pad. We could use many, many places; but we’re using this as a launching pad to get a visual picture of our ascent to the throne.
1 Kings 10:18 Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold.
19 The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind: and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays.
20 And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.
Now, again, the Old Testament gives us visual aids to spiritual truths. This is a visual aid. Here we have a throne. In the natural, it is King Solomon’s throne, but in the spirit it pictures the place where God is resting. When you think of a throne, don’t think of a fancy chair somewhere. When we’re speaking of the throne, when we say Six Steps to the Throne, we’re not talking about a chair. Sometimes we think that God is sitting on a throne, and Jesus is sitting there with Him.
Don’t think in the world of the spirit of a big chair somewhere. Think of a place of rest. That’s the whole idea of the throne. Jesus is ruling today from a place of rest. He is King of kings and Lord of lords because He’s come to that place where the work is finished. This is the idea; we need to understand this. That’s the reason that in the Most Holy Place there was an ark with the mercy seat on it, and Psalm 99:1 says that God sits between the cherubims. Why? Because that is the place of rest, over the shed blood, at the place of the finished work. God rests; that’s His throne.
The whole message of the Word of God is that God wants, and is going to have, a man or a people who are resting, ruling and reigning with Him from the dimension of His throne! Genesis 1 says, “Let us make man in our image... and let them have dominion... let them subdue.” That is speaking of ruling and reigning. The next thing we see in Genesis 2 is that He rested because He had already finished the work. That pattern is played out all the way through scripture. When all is said and done, God will have a people at the end of six days who are there between those cherubims in the fulfillment of what that type speaks of, the Most Holy Place, ruling and reigning with Him.
There are six steps to that throne, which speak of the six things that were revealed to Paul that Jesus did and the six things it means to us. Doesn’t that speak of twelve? Well, you see, a step has a riser and a tread. First there is the revelation of it, and then there is the walking out of that revelation. There is what Jesus did, and there is that which we reckon to be true of us. The walking out of the revelation is the natural consequence of the reckoning. People say, “I’ve got to make this work in my life.” No, you’ve got to reckon it to be true in your life and it will work automatically.
“If I’m dead then, I’ve got to quit this.” That’s true, but when you look in the mirror of the Word of God long enough, then you will respond to what you reckon yourself to be. That’s the difference in works and rest. It’s the difference between doing it yourself and growing into it. I do believe we need to put action to our revelation. Paul said, Reckon these things to be true, and then don’t yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness or weapons against yourself. The thing that the church has never done is the reckoning part; it’s the tread part of all of these six things.
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
2 Cor. 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
He died for us, as us, so that the scripture records that we died. Not the “we” that we presently are, but the person we were before Christ. While reading II Corinthians 5:17, you will see “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” You might ask the question, if I am a new creature (translations reveal that it is a creature that never existed before), then what happened to the person that I used to be? You ought to ask that question; that’s the beginning of your ascension. What happened to the person I used to be? I am not both people. I’m not the old man and the new man.
Then what happened? What happened to the person I used to be? The truth is, I was crucified, I died, and I was buried. That’s what happened. That is the history of my old man. That’s the truth; not the person I am today, but the person I used to be before Christ. This leads us up to where we’re going right now.
Identification with the finished work of Christ is based upon three things; We will say this in every one of these lessons because it is important to have it in the forefront of our thinking. This is the foundation upon which all of these understandings are based. Three facts:
1. Everything Jesus did, He did for us, so that whatever He did was placed on our record or on our account in the heavenlies. Jesus was crucified, so the Bible says you were crucified. Why? Because Jesus was crucified as you. He wasn’t crucified for Himself; He was crucified for another. He was our substitute. A substitute is “one who takes the place of another.” To what degree was He our substitute? That’s the basis upon which a real revelation is produced. He did not go there instead of you.
2. His substitutionary work was a literal identification with you. In other words, Jesus became just exactly what we were, so much so that when God viewed Him on the cross, He legally viewed us with Him. Romans 6:6 says my old man was crucified with Him. My old man could not have been crucified with Him unless He became who my old man was. That happened; it is spoken of in John 12:32 If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me. That is His identification moment; that’s the moment He became who we were. That’s the moment He opened His pure lovely sinless spirit to the condition of us all. Whatever He became on the cross was so much like me that God could view me as dying there. That must be what God saw because He wrote that in the scripture. I was crucified; I died.
Now what is the natural sequence? What’s the next phase? What’s the next step in the whole process? If you were crucified and if you really died, then what needs to happen next? You’d better bury the dead man. This is a finality. Many people when they first start understanding these truths, wonder why there is so much detail. You could say, just keep it at crucifixion and let’s go on. God literally puts the last nail in the coffin by revealing that we were buried with Him.
Go through the Old Testament and you will find over and over this principle: don’t touch a dead man, or you’re unclean. What are you supposed to do? You’re supposed to put the dead man in the tomb or the grave and bury him. Don’t touch the dead man; this is what has produced the uncleanness in the body of Christ, because we constantly touch that dead man. In the spirit it is a constant digging up of our dead man and burying him again.
“What are you doing with that thing?” “Well, this is my old man.” In the spirit we are digging up that stinking grave, bringing it to church with us and saying, “Teach us what to do with this.” First of all, you need to leave him there. You need to let him go. You need to realize that when something is buried, it is over. God help us to solidify that in our own thinking.
3. Since you are in union with Christ right now, His history is your history.
1 Corinthians 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
So also is Christ. Thank God for the courage of the apostle Paul. Thank God for the power of the Holy Spirit who could get him to write down “So also is Christ.” This is Christ. He did not say, “so also is the body of Christ.” I would have just been so tempted to put “the body of Christ.” He said, “So also is Christ.” There is a head; there is a body. Just like my body with all its members is “me” (bears my name), so also is Christ. My head doesn’t have different name than my body. My head and my body together make up “me”. So also is Christ. If we are a member of that body, then we are part of Christ. Is that too difficult? We are in union with Christ in terms of His life and His nature.
Now let’s look at a proof scripture.
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
We just talked about “baptized into Him” in I Corinthians 12. Don’t look at water when you think about that. Don’t think about water baptism; think about Spirit baptism. The water baptism is just a physical picture of the Spirit baptism. It’s a teaching tool, and it is commanded of Jesus to go ahead an do it, just like communion. But the Holy Spirit placed you into Christ, and if you are placed into Christ, then you are replaced into His death because Christ died. That was part of His history. Verse 3 says we were placed into His death. Notice the progress here. Because of the fact that we were placed into His death, we are buried with Him by baptism into that death. “Like as” means that this is the only way that what he is about to say can happen.
The whole purpose is that newness of life would manifest in our whole being; the only way to get that is to do away with who you were. So you are placed into Christ, which means an incorporation into His death, and since that includes crucifixion (that’s where He died), since you were in His death, you must have been involved in the burial. This teaching itself is not going to change you. It is the revelation of it; you’ve got to actually see it. I’m not talking about physically; it’s got to be a spiritual revelation. Once you see your old man dying, you will never be able to hear some of this false stuff that’s going around. It no longer makes any sense to you.
If you ever experience the cross, it is difficult, even impossible, to doubt it. When God reveals something to you, it is revealed! You can’t teach someone a revelation. We can’t give you that revelation. We can’t reveal it to you; We can just expose you to it. Part of the problem is that we get our revelations from other people, and they’re just that: someone else’s revelation.
But if God reveals it to you, it will become a driving force in your life. What I know is an eternal thing. It happened before the foundation of the world.
I believe that when I got into Christ, I got into the predestined one. I believe His history is my history; and I believe His future, praise God is mine! That is predestination; all the predestination scriptures are involved with being in Him. If you are in Adam, you have his history and you have his future. If you are in Christ, you have His history and you have His future. There are only two men in the world; Adam and Christ.
Colossians 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
You were buried with him. That is simply saying, since you were buried with him, you were also raised with him. It’s the natural consequence. If you were there crucified, then the natural sequence of that is that when He died, you died; and you were buried because He was buried.
Now let’s picture it.
Matthew 27: 57 When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus disciple:
58 He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.
59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher, and departed.
61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.
God’s days begin in the evening. This is the time of a new day, a prophetic projection. Arimathaea means “heights.” Do you believe you’re called to the heights of Zion? Joseph means “the adding.” Take these verses and just replace “Joseph” with your name. Here is a man, who was a disciple, who had hewn out of a rock a place to bury himself. He was a rich man. Since they didn’t have jack hammers in those days, how long do you think it took for a man to beat out, a piece at a time, out of a rock, a place to bury himself? It must have taken up a great amount of his time. People would say, “What are you doing, Joseph?” He’d say, “I’m just going to bury myself there. What I’m going to do is bury myself. I’m working at the process of burial.”
So he finally gets it finished; he finally works on it long enough to build a place of burial. Who’s he planning on putting in it? Himself. Then he heard of the death of Jesus; and he took the body of Jesus and put it in that tomb that he had worked all that time on for himself.
He buried Jesus in his own burial place and rolled the stone, then he departed. That is a picture of what every one of us must do. We’ve got to see Jesus’ body buried in our own tomb, our old mans tomb. As we roll that great stone over it and seal it up, we can say, “Thank God, that’s over with.” Look at it spiritually now. Joseph had been working all his life to produce a place to bury himself. Now what’s he going to do about his own death? Well, it’s over. You have no place to bury this person. This is the new man. I’m not going to get into that physically, but I want you to see spiritually what I’m sharing here.
Ezekiel 10: 10 Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.
11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.
This chapter is a picture of the glory coming to the house; it’s a picture of the finished work, of a throne in the midst of the house. The throne is a place of rest. Show the house the house. What we need to see is a revelation of the house.
Have you ever been ashamed of the things you’ve done since you made Jesus Christ Lord? Everybody would say yes. It is amazing; when people begin to understand the cross, when they see Christ, it produces an understanding of their condition. I think of the Shulamite woman in the Song of Solomon. When she saw the king, she said, “He is white, and I am black.” It has nothing to do with race, it’s a condition.
Isaiah said in chapter 6 he saw the Lord sitting on the throne, high and lifted up, and he realized that he was a man of unclean lips. The first thing that happens is always opposite. We say we want to see Jesus, and when we see Him, it’s like it reflects back on us. We think, “If I’m in union with Him, then why this iniquity? The Bible says we will be ashamed of our iniquities.
If you see Christ, you will be ashamed of your iniquity. The grace of God teaches you to deny ungodliness. I can’t teach you to deny ungodliness. How do you do that? By revealing grace. If grace teaches us, then you don’t have to teach to deny ungodliness; you teach grace. It just brings a conviction and a spiritual awakening in your life.
Let them measure the pattern. Who is the pattern? Notice that verse 11 says “the goings out therof” and “the comings in thereof.” If you are part of the house and you are ashamed of your sins, the first thing you have to do is to see the “goings out” of the house. What has gone out of the house? Everything we used to be. That is the “goings out thereof” and the “comings in thereof.” “The forms thereof” would be the many forms that Jesus took; He is the head of the house. He took on the form of a servant; He took on the form of your old man; He took on the form of who you are.
Look at this characteristic of a soldier. You’re a soldier of the Most High God; you’re part of the army.
Deuteronomy 23: 12 Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad:
13 And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee:
14 For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.
Notice that is says, a paddle upon your weapon. The Bible is a weapon, the Sword of the Spirit. There is a paddle attached to the weapon to bury what comes out of thee. Is that plain enough? Spiritually speaking, there is something that has come out of you. It’s over. Bury the past. In the army, you never go to war without a paddle.
Deuteronomy 22: 10 Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.
An ox is one of the natures of Christ. It means sacrifice. I want to be a living sacrifice, but you can’t plow with an ox and an ass together. The Bible says that Ishmael was as a wild ass. This speaks of the untamed nature that we were born with.
Jeremiah 22:19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
This is all they did; they didn’t bury this creature; they just separated him and took him outside and threw him outside the camp. They had no burial. The reason that the Ishmael past still exists is that we never bury it. He doesn’t have a burial; he just exists. He’s never put away finally.
John 20: 1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher.
2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him.
3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulcher.
4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulcher.
5 And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.
6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulcher, and seeth the linen clothes lie,
7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
This is the same sepulcher in which your old man was buried. The stone was rolled away and Peter walked in there, and he saw the body cloth lying in one place and the head cloth lying in another. The cloth that covered the head was neatly folded up and set aside, and the body cloth separate; it hadn’t been place with the head cloth. This cloth once covered the dead body of Jesus, but Jesus was alive. Jesus folded up the head cloth, because the work of the head was finished. There is still something left for the body to do. What we are teaching here is to be so bold as to go over there and fold that body cloth up and lay it with the head cloth. There is still something yet to be done. God is wanting a people so bold as to go fold up the body cloth. “Let’s go wrap it up and put it over there with the head.”
We are being asked to do that same thing. We’re coming to the place where Peter was, and we’re being asked, “What is that cloth for?” That cloth covered who you used to be. I know that there will be a people who are bold enough just to wrap it up. We may do it with fear and trembling, but we will do it.
Why is that so important? Because it is one thing to realize that our sins are forgiven; it is another thing to realize the person we use to be no longer exists. The sinner part of my life is over. I’m not that person anymore.
Psalm 99:1 The Lord reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.
Where does God sit? Where is His resting place? Where is His throne? His throne is between the cherubim’s. I’m not talking about some physical chair; I’m talking about a place in God where you can actually live out your destiny as manifesting Jesus.
Exodus 25: 17 And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
18 And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.
19 And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubim on the two ends thereof.
Notice these cherubims were made of the mercy seat. The were part of the mercy seat. They were “in union,” as it were, with the mercy seat. It is not speaking of angels, not as we have heard angels spoken of. The world angel just means messenger; it could be man, or it could be a celestial being of some kind. But not here, because these creatures were in union with the mercy seat.
1 Corinthians 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
I believe that these cherubims speak of people who come to rest where God rests over the mercy seat; they are people in union with Him. Those in union with Him are to enter into a place of resting there. God dwells between the cherubims. At the end of the book, the Bible says, He is in the midst of His people. The blood of the atoning sacrifice is right there in the midst of it all; that’s the death.
Romans 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood,....
That word propitiation is the same Greek word translated “mercy seat” in Hebrews 9:5. What is He saying there? That Jesus is the mercy seat. That mercy seat pictured Jesus and His redemptive work, what He did.
Exodus 26:1 MOREOVER thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubim’s of cunning work shalt thou make them.
There were four layers of this covering. The first layer was a linen cloth that was embroidered with cherubims. You could be so engrossed with these furnishings; you could look over to the left and look over to the right. But the Bible says that we ought to seek those things which are above. Where were the cherubims? They were embroidered in this white linen cloth; they were placed on the ceiling so that, in that dimension, when you walked in there and looked up, you saw the cherubims. Can you see that, in looking up, you envisioned your destiny, because between the cherubim’s is where God rested.
Let me show you how this applies to the New Testament. You cannot interpret or properly understand the New Testament until you understand the Old, because it was written from that perspective.
Colossians 3: 1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
We’re talking about the resurrection, or the quickening. How does this verse apply to us? Did you ever read that scripture and wonder what are the “things which are above?” First of all, He’s not talking about a natural direction. You get the idea that, if you’re a Christian, you need to be looking up constantly. Not direction, but dimension; looking to a higher realm. That’s exactly what you did if you were in the Holy Place some 3500 years ago. If you were a priest and you looked up in the natural, what did you see? You saw a picture of the cherubims plastered on the ceiling. It is all a picture of your destiny.
Notice in verse 2, you are to set your mind on those things. You seek, renew your mind to, and with everything you’re worth, go for the rest that is behind the veil. Set your affections on those things, not the things of this earth. We can get caught up in all kinds of things. We think, “If I’m a Christian, I ought to be doing this and this and this.” Set your affections on things above. That’s not talking about dreaming about what heaven is going to be like, with a beautiful physical mansion and a harp with your name engraved on it. We’re talking about a spiritual place, and you can take this though and say, “Hey, priest, look up. Seek those things.” What things? “Those things embroidered in that linen, the cherubim; seek those.” Seek that place in God. Seek to become in union with the mercy seat in your understanding.
Verse 3 says that we are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, that will be in us. Then shall we also appear with Him behind that veil in glory. The glory (appearing) was behind the veil.
God forgive us for being so carnal. Many today are living in a Disneyland attitude about life with just fun and games, and there is a spiritual dimension that is opening up through the Word of God that can change your life.
Luke 21:25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Mens hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Hear what this says. One of the signs of the times is that men’s spirits, the hearts of men, will fail them because of fear. It says, “for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.” It doesn’t say that those things touched them; it just says they were looking at them. They set their affections upon the things of the earth. They set their minds upon the things of the earth.
That’s what that word in the Greek means; affection means mind. You can be looking at the wrong things in this dimension, your heart will fail you at the end of this age. We’ve got to be so caution; we’re not playing games. We’re at the end of this 2000 year period of time, and Jesus said, men’s hearts will fail them, not because these things come on them, but because they are looking at the wrong things.
Both of the cherubim’s were looking at the blood on the mercy seat. God is looking at the blood. The problem is, we’re looking at the things. We’re looking at our actions, at those things that are on the earth. These truths are eternal truths. They are life changing; they are life producing.
We need to understand our covering. It’s a pitiful thing to be born again, spirit filled, and still be totally robbed of any victory in your life. Well, look up! You see those cherubims. That is the throne; that is what we’re looking for. When you study about the six steps to the throne, you are looking up. You may look at me in the natural, but you’re looking up in the spirit.
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