Step 5 Raised - Six Steps to the Throne Series
SIX STEPS TO THE THRONE
Gary Garner
Lesson Five: RAISED
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.
This king was Solomon; he had a kingdom that best typifies what the kingdom of God is symbolized as in the scriptures. The war was over; David, his predecessor, had defeated all the enemies; and he was just enjoying the spoils of victory that David had wrought. Just like this kingdom that we are enjoying spiritually. The King, Jesus, who has defeated all the enemies, produces all that we are enjoying and we are enjoying that.
As this kingdom grows within us, we have this expressed symbolically by Solomon’s kingdom. We have here a picture of Solomon’s throne. In Revelation 3:20 & 21, we are told that if we will sit down at the table and feast on Him, that we will be able to share His throne. We have talked in previous lessons about this being a picture of how we get to the throne, how we enjoy this ruling and reigning with Him.
Notice in verse 18, how do you get a throne of ivory? Do you see death involved with that? The only way you can get ivory is from the death of an elephant. So this whole throne is produced by death, and we know that speaks of the Lord’s work to do away with who we were.
When you see the words “six steps”, you understand that what we perceive the steps to speak of are the six redemptive steps that were revealed by the Apostle Paul in his epistles, that Jesus wrought for us in His redemptive work. Those six steps are crucified, died, buried, quickened, raised and seated. Those are six steps to the throne. These get you to the throne. These picture the every-increasing ascension life that we are growing into. We are already one with Him at the throne; we are already seated together with Him in the heavenlies.
Sometimes we call them twelve steps. Why? Because each step has a riser and a tread. Christ was crucified; we were crucified with Him. The riser would be His crucifixion; the tread would be “crucified with”; that’s walking it out. Six steps to the throne. We need a supernatural revelation of each and every one of these principles.
Today we are going to look at being raised together with Him. He was not only crucified; He not only died and was buried; He was quickened and then raised. Quickening and rising are two different things. Quickened is given life to, it is the impartation of life; but He was raised then after that.
Let me show you several places where the Bible says we were raised together with Him.
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.
When was Christ raised? He was raised on the morning of the third day, two thousand years ago.
Because we are in Him, God saw us rising, or resurrected, with Him. We have resurrection life.
Ephesians 1: 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.
Notice that the power that is “to us-ward who believe” is resurrection power. It is that same power with which Christ was raised from the dead. We were raised; resurrection life is ours because we were raised with Him.
Ephesians 2: 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
We were raised with Christ. It is not difficult to teach what it means to be crucified with Christ. It is not difficult to teach what it means to be dead or buried. That is the doing away with the old. We don’t have a problem teaching “quickened together,” because that’s the impartation of life, and you and I have the same kind of life that He has. But you can see a problem, there is more to resurrection than just teaching that we came out of the tomb with Him, because Jesus’ body was different when He was raised. We want to deal with that now.
Let me continue with this thought of resurrection. We’re talking about “raised together with Him.” Let me first show you that the resurrected Christ is, in fact, our “Promised Land.” We need to see that. The children of Israel wandered through the wilderness forty years on their way to the promised land. To them that was a natural land in a physical country.
But we do not inherit some piece of property over in the Middle East, nor is our inheritance some geographical location somewhere a billion miles from here. Our inheritance is the fullness of the raised Christ.
Acts 13:32 and we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
Notice what he said: “the promise” (singular) made to the fathers (plural) was fulfilled in that He raised Christ from the dead. The “raised Christ” is the fulfillment of the promise. Everything in the Old Testament was physically typical of what Jesus was when He was raised from the dead.
You and I today are not in union with the earth-walking Jesus. We sometimes try to identify with Him, but that is not who we are in union with. The earth-walking Jesus was doing what He did as a man, identifying as a man, in order that He might go to the cross as a man. He then became who we were and died to it.
Then God quickened Him and He was raised from the dead. The man who went into the tomb was not the same man who came out of the tomb. Jesus had become whom we were when He went into the tomb; that person that we were did not come out of the tomb. God made Jesus to be unto us righteousness, sanctification, redemption and wisdom. (1 Corinthians 1:30) Jesus became the last Adam. God made a brand new head of a whole new race of beings called “the new creation man.” “New creation” means that Jesus was the beginning. Jesus became the head of his body when He was raised from the dead.
It is a brand new creation that you and I are involved in. When that man was raised, praise God that was a new creation man. “This day have I begotten thee” Hebrews chapter 1 says. “This day have I given life to thee.” That is so vitally important.
Romans 1:4 says that God declared this to be His son by the resurrection of the dead. “This is my son; this day have I begotten thee. This is the firstborn from among the dead,” not the firstborn of the dead. He came out from among the dead. He left the dead there and came out from among them as the head of a whole new race of people, a new kind of people. The resurrected Lord is our promised land. Praise God!
1 Peter 1: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
He has given life to us by the resurrection of Christ from the dead. How did God give life to us, by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? When you get saved, when you receive Christ, that is not when the life that you get originated. God did not give you a separate life; He placed you in the man who has life. You became “in-Christed”; you got His life because you are in Him. You don’t get another birth; it’s the same birth. When God was raising Jesus from the dead, God was giving life to us in Him. He is the vine; we are the branch. It is the same kind of life that flows through us. It is resurrection life.
He says in verse 4 that we were begotten to an inheritance. He’s saying that our inheritance is that resurrected Christ; he is our inheritance. We are growing up into the manifestation of that resurrected Christ; that is where we are headed. That is what we are maturing and growing up into. You must understand first of all that you are comprised of an inner man and an outer man.
II Corinthian 4:16b though our outward man perish, our inward man is renewed day by day.
I Peter 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of a great price.
There is a man inside and a man outside. Jesus, when He was raised from the dead, had another kind of body, a resurrection body. It is obvious from scripture.
John 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the fist day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
The doors were shut. Why did Jesus have to say, “Peace be unto you”? Because the doors were shut when He came into the room. Here are some folks that were afraid of the Jews anyway, and Jesus walks into the house and doesn’t use the door. The He says, “Calm down; be peaceful. It is I.”
There is more to the resurrection than just saying, “Well, thank God, we’re raised together with Him,” because Jesus had another kind of body. You could see the nail prints, but it was a different kind of body.
We are raised with Him, “If you be raised with Him...” but where is that union that “raised together with,” the resurrected Lord presently located? It is in our inner man. Your inner man has the same senses as your outer man. This is what we need to realize: when the Bible says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” He is talking about spiritually consuming the Lord.
When Jesus said, “Eat my flesh and drink my blood,” he was not talking about any natural tasting or natural consuming. He was talking about your spirit man who is in union with the real man.
Notice Saul on his way to Damascus to persecute the church. Jesus showed up with a light so bright that it blinded him. Did you know that nobody else saw that light? It was so bright that it knocked him down, and he said, “What would you have me to do?” The others saw nothing, and they were right there. There are spiritual eyes and there are physical eyes.
The spirit man is in union with Christ. Jesus was walking through the crowd, and somebody reached out and touched Him. Virtue came out of Him. II Corinthians 2 tells us that we ought to be an expression of the fragrance of the Lord everywhere. It is in that part of our being that we are in union with the resurrected Christ. Our inner man is in union with the raised Christ. It is out of that part of us that we must begin to see.
How beautiful that is! I’m a new creature in Christ. We have a tendency to think, “That’s spiritual,” and think it’s somehow less than the physical, but it’s not.
43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45 And so it is written. The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Can you see Jesus’ death and resurrection in that? There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. You have a natural body and a spiritual body. In verse 45 “a quickening spirit” means “a life giving spirit”. You have the same life in your spirit that He had in His spirit when He was raised. That is important. You have a heavenly birth, the resurrection life, and ascension life. It is a present tense thing.
We’ve got to learn to live out of our spirits; we’ve got to learn to be spiritually conscious. We’ve got to learn to draw healing and life from our spirits; healing comes from the inside out. Healing is something that is the present condition; it is life. We’re learning to see the Lord. When we say we need an appearing of the Lord, we’re not looking with our physical eyes’ we’re looking with our spiritual eyes. We’re seeing Him.
The bible says that Moses could see Him who was invisible. God is giving eyes to us. The Bible teaches that the life in the body of Christ will someday increase its domain to the outer man. In other words, that which is true in us will be on us.
2 Corinthians 5:4
4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
We want to show you that this resurrection life is going to quicken our mortal bodies. This body that I am in right now, this earth-suit, this flesh and blood body (you don’t see the real me), is something that I inherited from the first man Adam. I didn’t get this from Christ. The Christ in me is affecting this body, but this physical man is something I got from the first man Adam. Before this thing is over, all of the first man will totally be annihilated and only the second man will stand.
In verse 51, Paul is showing us a mystery. In verse 52, where it says “at the last trump,” the word that is translated at, is really the Greek word that means “during.” When most people read this whole phrase, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump,” they think of an instantaneous change.
From studying the concordance, we don’t think that is what is spoken of in the Greek at all. It is “during the last trump.” “In a moment” is the same word that Paul uses when he says, “for our light afflictions endure but for a moment.” It can seem like a long time, but for God is a moment.
By “the twinkling of an eye,” sometimes you think you’ll shut your eyes and when you open them you’ll be changed. What he’s talking about there is this trump, this impartation of light. The change comes by the increasing spiritual impartation of light. The trump speaks of revelation, enlightenment. What he is saying is that there is a change that takes place during the last trump.
1 Corinthians 15:26 the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
The life in us will someday work its way to the outer man. Somebody will be alive during the last trump. We have a better chance of being that people than those people that lived two hundred years ago. We are closer to the end of “during that last trump” than any generation that ever lived. The revelation is coming quicker, and we don’t doubt that there is a change going on.
Paul knew he was raised together with Christ, but he cried, “I want to know Him in the power of his resurrection.”
Romans 8: 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Do you have Christ in you? What does quicken mean, to make alive? The greatest event for any believer is to be placed into the body of Christ, but the great event that the world is looking for is the appearing of Him in His body. We believe with all our heart, that it is going to take more than just good preaching to change the world. It will take a manifestation of Christ.
Romans 8: 21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
The whole creation that God created groans and travails, because corruption is everywhere. The results of the fall of Adam touched everything. “Having the first fruits of the Spirit” means being filled with the Spirit. “Even we ourselves groan within ourselves.” The body of Christ is groaning within itself for something to happen. Who is waiting for the redemption of the body? The whole creation is waiting.
Romans 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
They are waiting for the manifestation of those that are in union with Christ. Jesus had a different kind of body. I believe that, when all is said and done, so will we; so will His body. This isn’t minimizing being in union with the resurrected Christ, because we have resurrection life in us. We have ascension life in us. The scripture teaches us that there is a day when that life that is within us will extend its domain to our outer man. God doesn’t use anything that Adam left us; He gives us something brand new.
Philippians 3: 20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ:
21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (That work was what he did on those three days and three nights and our identification with that.)
Notice that it is Jesus who will change our vile body so that it will be like His glorious body. What a glorious passage! Sometimes we just believe for this glorified body; but you can’t believe for this. What does the scripture say? It says, “From heaven we look for His appearing, who shall change our bodies.” Do we look for the change of the body, or do we look for Him? We look for Him.
The very life that you have in you, His resurrection life, is working its way out of you into your body. There is a change. We don’t think it’s an instant thing; we think it is a progressive thing. We believe it is even at work in this hour. We believe we are in the last trump; and during that last trump the understanding, the vision, the seeing, the growing up of the inner man is working it’s way to the outer man, to be seen by all.
Do you understand that this would be a great way to touch the world very quickly? Paul said, “This is a mystery. We shall not all sleep.” Some will not go the way of the grave.
Isaiah said he saw a time when men would live as long as trees. (Isaiah 65:22) That is a long time. I don’t know when that time is, and I don’t think this is something you can believe for. But it is something that will happen.
2 Corinthians 5: 1 For we know that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven:
3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
The earthly house is a house made of earth. Paul is talking about the spirit man unclothed now with the natural body. My spirit has a natural body. David called it a prison. If that weren’t going to happen, why in the world would he say something like - “that mortality would be swallowed up by the life.” The earnest is the down payment; when the fullness comes, it will affect our outer man.
When Jesus came into your life, he came into your spirit. From the time when you received the Holy Spirit, He began to renew your spiritual mind. When your spiritual mind gets flooded with light, it will begin to affect your physical body spirit, soul and body, and the total man, manifesting the life of Christ.
We used to teach and believe that this trump would blow and we would ascend, and during that ascension there would be a change. I believe every bit of that. I believe this is the last trump; I believe we are ascending, and I believe there’s a change taking place.
But what God wants is to bring heaven to this earth. Our previous thought and many of persons current thought on that is and was that He was going to get us out of here so He could pour out hell on everybody in the form of physical fire, and just burn everybody up to where their eyes melt in their sockets. (Zech. 14:12).
Then we follow that by saying, “Oh, isn’t it great that it is close to the time of our departure?” By saying that we were saying, “Just pour hell out on them, Lord.” But God is going to melt the eyes of the unsaved, their natural sight. He’s going to give them His eyes. He is going to make people more conscious of the Spirit than of the natural. Praise the Lord!
Next: Step 6 - Seated
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