Body and Spirit were mingled to produce a living soul which then fell from grace through the seduction of sin. The material earthly body is now indwelt by an invisible "living soul" composition. This is much like a glass containing a mixture of oil and water. Both are fluid but of a different nature with differing properties. The analogy fits perfectly in secular application to our psychological concept of the conscious and subconscious mind within our body. The subconscious mind is so called because it is subject to the dominant conscious mind. In general practice our culture applies the term "mind" to both the conscious mind and the subconscious mind in acknowledgment of their mental existence within our bodies. This application tends to confuse our understanding for it would seem as if we have two minds in one body. However, both the conscious and subconscious are elements of the same and single "mind" and dwell in the same vessel of the body.

The conscious element of the mind is dominant (Gen 3:16) and the seat (Rev 13:2) of the will and emotions. The conscious considers and makes the decisions of our waking life. He is in control of the internal decision-making process and he is in control of the body. He seeks to extend his control into the external world that the vessel body passes through. He is at the helm of the ship. Who have I just described? His operative orientation, i.e. point of view, is that he is the center of a one-dimensional material universe. He seeks to control every perceived thing internal and external to him based upon his experiential consciousness of the material body within the material world. He is the soul.

The subconscious element of the mind is subject to the conscious much as a passenger in an auto or a ship at sea is subject to the driver or helmsman. The subconscious functions as the librarian of the reference library and navigator of the mind. She is very quiet (1 Kings 19:12). She gently attempts to influence the conscious by communicating her thoughts through whispers of suggestions which are received in the form of intuition by the conscious. In a Christian, her operative orientation is that God is the center of a multi-dimensional invisible and material universe. She seeks to influence the conscious. This orientation is derived from and based upon the received influence of the Holy Spirit who dwells within her. She has the thoughts of God which are diametrically opposed to those of the conscious. She is that which we call the spirit.

In a non-Christian mind the soul and spirit are in harmony for both agree that the soul is indeed the center of the universe. This is a good marriage in terms of cooperation wherein both parties are uniformly miserable. In a Christian mind the soul and spirit are in opposition for the spirit agrees with God that He is the center of the universe. This is a bad marriage cooperatively wherein one party is miserable and the other full of all joy. The soul seems always to be the loser. The only way he can win is to lose. The opposition of the spiritual subconscious to the soulical conscious was not always the case. She was at one time completely mingled and in accord with the conscious (Gen 1:27). However, God in His infinite wisdom separated her physically and also as a biblical type of separation from the conscious (Gen 2:21-23). They fell from grace cooperatively through her personal spiritual adultery and his personal disobedience to God (Gen 3:6). They were defiled soul and spirit, but they were still mingled together and in mutual harmony. Soul and spirit are still now mingled together in harmony within those unsaved individuals who have not received the dividing separating work of the cross.

Please bear in mind that triune God is both male and female. In conventional gender usage the soul and the spirit are twins in the meaning of having been born together which depicts original commonalty. The biblical type is Esau and Jacob. Although, a future study would most assuredly be illuminating of Pharez (Heb: breach) having to do with Amos 9:11; Acts 15:16; Rev 21:3, and Zarah (Heb: a rising - as the sun) who were twins: Pharez being a direct ancestor to Messiah (Matt 1:3) and Zarah of the scarlet thread, i.e. the overcomer and the converted church. There also is an interesting apostle named Thomas who is called Didymus meaning twin, of a not biblically specified brother or sister. "Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual." (1 Cor 15:46). By this word we know that the soul was firstborn in Genesis 2:7 and then the spirit. The soul is the eldest son. In God's earthly order the soul is dominant (Gen 3:16). We are given a multi-dimensional stable steady type of unified separation expressed in Adam and the woman before the fall (Gen 2:23), and we are given a multi-dimensional actively vacillating type of divergent separation described as dominance and submission which is expressed in Adam and Eve after the fall (Gen 3:20). Our ultimate restoration is back to that original state of unified separation, i.e. corporate equality.

*For the word of God [Gk: logos (John 1:14; 1 John 5:7, Jesus Christ, the Bible)] is quick [Gk: alive], and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Heb 4:12)

Why must the soul and spirit be divided in God's order? They have fallen together from the grace of God into defilement. If they are to return and be restored to God they can only do so through their purification by the eternally redeeming blood. He who refuses to receive this redemptive blood is eternally separated from he who receives it. Whatsoever returns to Him will have become Him (Psa 82:6; Isa 41:23; John 10:34). However, God is a Spirit (John 4:24). An invisible Spirit (Col 1:15; 1 Tim 1:17; Heb 11:27). The material things of this world and those things which pertain to them including material thoughts and desires cannot return to God for they are not spiritual, they are soulical. Their focus is on the dust of mammon rather than the glory of God. Only that agape love which He gave us as a deposit (1 John 4:19) through which effectual working we have become Him can return to God. This returning entity is our presently invisible agape spirit.

*Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. (Ecc 12:7)

*Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. (Psa 31:5)

Eternal salvation is a free gift by the grace of God of a part of His agape Spirit. It is deposited and housed within the spirit element of our mind because that spirit element was once Spirit before the sacrifice of Genesis 2:7, and thus it remains a fitting receptacle. The pattern of the suit, although tattered now, still fits for it was once worn by the Wearer in Shekinah glory. "The gifts and calling of God are without repentance" by God (Rom 11:29). By this word we know that once the Holy Spirit is received into a place within the spirit element, that He will never leave nor forsake that mansion (Gen 28:15; Deut 31:6,8; Josh 1:5; 1 Chron 28:20; Psa 37:25; John 3:15; 6:51,54,58; 10:28; 12:25; 14:16; Acts 13:48; 2 Cor 5:1; Heb 13:5; 1 John 5:11-13; 2 John 1:2). That means eternally. We must realize by now that the Spirit of God cannot dwell in the soul because that aspect of a man is of this world worldly and thus enmity to God (Gal 5:16,17). Our eternal fate is sealed at either the time of death or the last trump (1 Cor 15:51-53) whichever may come first. At that moment the sum total of that soulical aspect in a man which is then still separated from God and remains unconverted to spirit (Rom 12:2) shall die. That is, it shall remain that which it then presently is: dust and that which pertains to the dust of this world, and shall suffer eternal separation from God (Rev 21:1). If a man has not ever been to the cross and received the Holy Spirit agape deposit, he is completely soulical and therefore will be completely cut off from the face of God, eternally. Only that part of him which is of God can return to God. Heaven is the place of the finished work positionally and the ultimate residence of the experiential work once it attains to and becomes the positional finished work. Heaven is the residence of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. There is no unfinished work in heaven. It is a place of rest. There is no cross in heaven.

There are some men past and present dwelling in the church of Jesus Christ who profess, teach, preach or believe the doctrine that all men will receive eternal salvation, if not here in this worldly life then in the form of a second chance after death. Sounds great to my soulical man. Take heed what ye hear. Beware lest your inner witness be soulical. There are many who believe that all men will be saved. Congratulations. You who do so believe have joined and bonded yourselves into a majority group which includes all those working their way toward salvation as well as Spiritualism, Baha'i, Hinduism, New Age, Christian Science, Church of Satan, Confucianism, Eckankar, Freemasonry, Hare Krishna, Rosicrucianism, Scientology, Yoga, Transcendental Mediation, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, Unitarianism, Universalism, Voodoo, Witchcraft, Buddhism, etc., etc., to name just a few of the more prominent. This is the Jezebel company that you lie abed with. "Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit [spiritual] adultery [Gen 3:6] with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds." (Rev 2:22). Please note herein the promise of Christ Jesus of "great tribulation" and also in Matthew 24:21, for you are in need of the fire of great purification. The scriptures which rebuke this Jezebel doctrine, for that is its worldly application, are Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21. I suggest in all sincerity that you submissively and obediently read them "because thou hast left thy first love." (Rev 2:4). His name is Jesus Christ. The doctrine of universal salvation is the uninspired blasphemy of men in soulical ascendancy situate in positions of authority in the body of Christ who in fact stand as infants in need to be fed again of milk, and not of strong meat for they are unskillful in the word (logos) of righteousness (Heb 5:11-14). This doctrine is soulical foolishness received by itching ears not grounded in the logos Word of God. It is a result of imbalance: too little logos and too much spiritualization. There is no cross in heaven. Of such an one shall we witness the mind of God and the power of His two-edged sword:

*Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron. (1 Tim 4:1,2)

The following is an unconditional statement: one cannot receive the rhema Word of God without first receiving the logos Word of God. One must first eat and digest the Bread before the inner Light can shine upon it. The rhema Word always has a logos foundation. Any and every truly anointed servant of God speaking rhema can always refer to his expository logos foundation. Always means always means always. There are no exceptions. The anointing of God is rooted and grounded in the logos Word. A Godly house is built upon a logos foundation and filled with rhema light, "for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Cor 3:11).

*And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. (Gen 22:6-8)

*And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh [Heb: Jehovah will see to it, Jehovah will provide]: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. (Gen 22:13-14)

In Hebrew the word Moriah means: my teacher is Jah. What here is our Lord teaching? Father and son ascended the mount of sacrifice "together." This speaks of mutual sacrifice. What was sacrificed on the mount? The lamb of God or the ram of God? What is the difference? Well, a lamb is the son of a ram. A lamb has no horns. Horns are the primary power symbol of the Bible. Rams have horns. "God will provide himself" a sacrifice and He did. God sacrificed Himself here on Mt. Moriah as the ram, and, that which prophetically was in His loins: the lamb of His Son. The ram is the Father, the lamb is the Son. In the beginning the Holy Spirit sacrificed Himself (Gen 2:7). Then Father God sacrificed Himself (Gen 22:13). Then Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself (Matt 27:50). Would the Father do less than what He asked of the Son? Would the Son do less than that asked by the Father? Would you do less than what the Son has asked of you? Guess who the fourth sacrifice is? What have you learned?

*And we have known and believed the love [agape] that God hath to us. God is love [Gk: agape]; and he that dwelleth in love [agape] dwelleth in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:16)

*We love [agapao] him, because he first loved [agapao] us. (1 John 4:19)

26. agape, ag-ah'-pay; from G25; love, i.e. affection or benevolence; specially: a love-feast: (feast of) charity, dear, love. //// A word not found in Classical Greek but only in revealed religion. Often translated as charity in KJV, meaning benevolent love. Its benevolence, however, is not shown by doing what the person loved desires but what the one who loves deems as needed by the one who is loved, i.e. John 3:16. God gave not what man wanted, but what man needed as God perceived his need, namely His Son who brought forgiveness to man. God's love for man is His doing what He thinks best for man and not what man desires or thinks that is best for himself. It is God's willful direction toward man. But for man to show love to God, he must first appropriate (receive: Rom 10:9) God's agape, for only God has such an unselfish love. Contrast philia (phileo): friendship based on common interests.

25. agapao, ag-ap-ah'-o; (much); to love (in a social or moral sense):--(be-) love (-ed). //// Indicates a direction of the will (a decision) and finding one's joy in something. Contrast with phileo: to be contented with, denoting common interests, hence befriending. Agapao is used of God's love toward man and vice versa.

5368. phileo, fil-eh'-o; from 5384; to be a friend, (fond of [an individual or an object]), i.e. have affection for (denoting personal attachment, as a matter of sentiment or feeling; while G25 is wider, embracing especially the judgment and the deliberate assent of the will as a matter of principle, duty and propriety: the two thus stand related very much as G2309 and G1014, or as G2372 and G3563 respectively; the former being chiefly of the heart and the latter of the head); specially to kiss (as a manifested mark of tenderness):--kiss, love. //// 5384. philos, fee'-los; properly: dear, i.e. a friend; act. fond, i.e. friendly (still as a noun, an associate, neighbor, etc.):--friend. //// To love with the meaning of having common interests with another.

The natural soulical man walks positionally and experientially in phileo love which is selfish self-seeking head love and intellectual assent. The priority in a phileo relationship is what I want rather than what the other wants, i.e. what I will get in exchange for doing or saying some thing. Phileo is manipulative. The priority is me: selfish, self / ish (of the self), self-centered and thus soulical. I am the center of the universe. Phileo is a controlling love. It takes and controls at the expense the other person. God is agape love. Agape love is sacrificial heart love. The phileo soulical element of the self walks by sight which is a material universe orientation. The agape spiritual element of the self walks by faith which is a spiritual universe orientation. In a Christian, one or the other of these elements of the self is always in ascendancy.

*And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny [Gk: deny utterly, disown, abstain (and thereby crucify)] himself [his phileo soulical self], and take up his cross daily, and follow me. (Luke 9:23)

Agape is sacrificial love. The priority and focus of sacrificial love is the other person as exemplified by the faith walk of Peter as he walked on the water (Matt 14:29). Sacrificial love seeks to share with and become the other person while harboring no thought for personal consequences, i.e. what can I say or do that will benefit the other person. Sacrificial agape love singlemindedly seeks to enter into the other person to fill he who is loved with love: joy, delight, exultation, gladness, rapture, bliss, satisfaction, ecstasy, happiness, pleasure. Jesus seeks that of Peter. Peter seeks that of Jesus. Filled with agape love, Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus seeking to fill and be filled. His agape spiritual man was in ascendancy, temporarily. Then his phileo soulical man regained ascendancy and "when he saw [sight] the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me." (Matt 14:30). So then, Peter in soulical aspect "saw" and "was afraid." We know that "there is no fear in love [agape]; but perfect love [agape] casteth out fear." (1 John 4:18). God is agape love. When Peter was walking in agape, he had no fear.

Agape love is a giving love which can only issue from the heart (Matt 6:21) wherein dwells the Spirit of God. Agape love willingly seeks to fill the intended receptacle with all of its agape self at all times (Gen 15:1). If agape cannot fill the intended receptacle with itself, it is only because the receptacle refuses to receive it. The agape spiritual aspect seeks the conversion through crucifixion of the soulical self into the fullness of agape because agape spirit knows what is needful and best for the well-being of the soul. Praise God. The Greek meaning of crucify is: to extinguish (subdue) passion or selfishness, exposure to death, self-denial, the atonement of Christ. Agape love is literally a gift of part of His Own Person from God the Father freely given to us by His grace. We ask for it. He gives it. We receive it into ourselves. (Rom 10:9). It is planted a seed in form of a deposit of His Holy Spirit (2 Cor 1:22; 5:5; Eph 1:14), the fullness of which we every single one shall grow up into. This seed of Christ Jesus (Matt 1:16) is lovingly deposited within us as we of our own volition submit our self and open our heart and arms for salvation. It is watered and nurtured by the Holy Spirit. It will be harvested by God (Ps 22:30; Matt 1:17). We provide willingness (2 Cor 8:12) manifested as the ground of our heart wherein the seed is planted (Rom 12:1).

*When any one heareth the word [Gk: logos] of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that [seed, logos word] which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. (Mat 13:19)

*But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word [Gk: logos], keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. (Luke 8:15)

Now and forevermore we too share in God's agape love for by His gift of salvation we have become in part Like Him (teknon, nepios) but then when the fullness of the second time is come we shall have become fully Like Him (huios: Heb 2:10,11).

*Beloved, now are we the sons [Gk: teknon: a child - as produced. (vs. Gk: huios: connoting mature sonship)] of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)

*Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child [Gk: nepios: an immature Christian, babe, childish], differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under [Gk: beneath, underneath, below (submitted to)] tutors [i.e. doctrines of the law as a schoolmaster Gal 3:24,25] and governors [i.e. the world] until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children [Gk: nepios], were in bondage under [Gk: beneath, underneath, below (submitted to)] the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son [Gk: huios], made of a woman, made under [Gk: beneath, underneath, below (submitted to)] the law, To redeem [Gk: buy up, purchase, rescue, ransom] them that were under [Gk: beneath, underneath, below (submitted to)] the law, that we might [be born-again from the darkness beneath up into the Light and] receive the adoption of sons [Gk: huiothesia]. And because ye are [positionally] sons [huios], God hath sent forth the Spirit [agape] of his Son [huios] into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son [huios]; and if a son [huios], then an heir of God through Christ. (Gal 4:1-7)

That darkness which we as nepios children were at one time submitted to and in bondage "under" encompasses two things: the elements of the world, and the law (Gal 4:3,4). These two things are both phileo for neither the world nor the law has the agape Spirit. We as nepios were "under," or submerged beneath and submitted to these two phileo orders until the adoption of our own persons as huios. Through our adoption by Father God as sons (huios) of God and fellow brethren of Christ Jesus (Heb 2:11) we are now no longer in bondage to the elements of the world or in bondage to the law. We have been loosed from the phileo bondage and power of darkness, and been translated into the kingdom of His dear Son. (Col 1:13). Those old bindings have been broken. However, we are newly bound. We are in bondage to and with God (Eph 6:20; Col 4:3), for in His agape grace He hath bound Himself to us. Herein lies a great mystery for the soulical man and no small amazement for the spiritual man: that Elohim God the Eternal Creator El-Elyon of all the infinite universe would personally and individually bind Himself to a human, particularly and specifically such a one as you or I and thereby share even now of the unsearchable riches in the Shekinah glory of Himself with a man that He created from the dust of the earth (Eph 5:32; 1 Tim 3:16). This is the mystery of the grace and effectual working of agape.

The born-again experience is expressed in the act of adoption by the taking up to oneself into oneself that which was not originally born of oneself. This is done in agape. It is the golden chain. The adoption from an existent "under" phileo state submitted to the world and the law up into agape Christ through the lifting up or raising up of the cross, i.e. "lifted up" (John 3:14; 8:28; 12:32), "raised up" (Luke 1:69; Acts 2:24; 5:30), speaks of a redemptive rebirth. This cataclysmic action of the cross is dually delineated within the parameters of binding and loosing because it produces both an instant positional finished work reality and a becoming finished work experiential reality. Positionally the work of the cross is instantly completed and we are eternally bound through the golden chain of agape into God. This chain extends from one end anchored in the soul (Heb 6:19) up into God Almighty. This unbreakable chain of agape is our eternal assurance for no man is able to pluck us out of the Father's hand (John 10:29). Experientially the work of the cross is the progressive loosing of existing phileo bindings with the world and the law, and then transforming those loosed phileo bindings into agape bindings by submitting them to the blood of the cross. Positionally we are fully empowered Sons of God. Experientially we are students of the cross obediently receiving our education for service in the Kingdom. (2 Tim 2:15).

The work of the cross is positionally symbolized in full immersion water baptism. The old phileo soulical man is dead: buried, covered and hidden in sin from the Light. The new agape spiritual man is caught up into the Light and lives in Christ. The cross is experientially symbolized by Jesus as He explains to us that "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself [his soulical self], and take up his cross daily, and follow me." (Luke 9:23). We are to "deny" our soul which means we are not feed the soulical desires that dwell within us because these desires still remain untransformed into the mind of Christ (Rom 12:2). This denial is to be accomplished daily by the submissive volition of our soulical will to the catalytic action of crucifixion. It is self (soul) sacrifice (Rom 12:1). Our soul must willingly sacrifice of its phileo self if it is to become filled with the agape of eternal life in God. We decide, the spirit man and the soul man together agree to nail those soulical desires to the cross. These desires which suck the blood of our life (Lev 17:11,14) are affixed to and hung up upon the cross in the Light. Vampires, who represent an exact and crystal clear multifaceted cultural archetype of our soulical man are creatures of darkness and die in the light. The crucifying action serves to starve these soulical desires to their death. Once bound (affixed, nailed) to the cross they cannot live because there is no phileo food for the soul at the cross: only the agape blood of Jesus Christ of which, the soul having never received a deposit thereof, the soulical desires cannot partake. If they cannot feed and grow, they will starve and die. Through the influence of the spirit man, the soul man voluntarily relinquishes control of a certain part of himself that he has become willing to sacrifice. He willfully allows that part of himself to be sacrificed upon the holy fire of the brazen altar. He yields that portion of himself to be nailed to the cross. Well done, good and faithful servant. Hallelujah!

Common salvation (Jude 1:3) occurs as the soul man yields just the tiniest little bit of his self to the cross. The work of the cross is instantly finished positionally and beginning experientially. Great salvation (Heb 2:3) is fluid and occurs as the soul man continually yields more and more of his self to the cross. This is an experiential transformation process much akin to the incremental filling of a glass with water. Eternal salvation (Heb 5:9) is the work of the cross finished positionally and finished experientially, i.e. the glass is full, of agape. Praise God.

*Charity [Gk: agape love] never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child [Gk: nepios: immature Christian, babe], I spake as a child [babe], I understood as a child [babe], I thought as a child [babe]: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity [agape love], these three; but the greatest of these is charity [agape love]. Follow after charity [agape love], and desire spiritual gifts, but rather [Gk: better] that ye may prophesy. (1 Cor 13:8-14:1)

When unsaved, we were 100% phileo, selfish, self / ish (iysh is the Hebrew word #376 for a man as an individual male person; thus self / ish equals self man), natural men because we had not the Spirit of God dwelling within. Once saved we are 100% agape positionally but experientially a vacillating mixture of phileo and agape. The work of the cross is a complete and finished positional faith reality. However, we presently dwell in a dual reality. Our experiential sight reality is becoming that positional finished work, hence we must take up our cross daily. We take up our cross first and once for positional reality which is eternal, and thereafter daily for experiential reality which is temporal. To that end, we have been given an aide, a Comforter, a Helper, the Holy Spirit. God (agape) dwells with us in the inner man (Eph 3:16,17). This saved state of existence is identified as a carnal Christian. We are positionally pure but experientially mingled (Lev 19:19; Deut 22:9). In this present body we shall always be carnal Christians mingled experientially spirit and soul although to an ever lessening degree if we continue our walk toward the Lord. We shall be carnal Christians until either we die or we are changed at the last trump (1 Cor 15:52), whereupon our experiential reality will have become our positional reality. Internal vacillation occurs now because we are constantly in spiritual warfare as our phileo soul is being transformed into agape spirit (Rom 12:2). In psychological parlance, Christians are schizophrenics with enmity between personalities (Gal 5:17). As a result of this warfare, sometimes we see with natural eyes (Mark 8:25) and sometimes we see with spiritual eyes (Mark 8:24) depending upon whether the soul or the spirit is at that particular time in ascendancy. We are a chosen people with a present dual nature dwelling in a dual universe. Natural and spiritual. Soulical and spiritual. Phileo and agape. Sight and faith. Experiential reality and positional reality. Jerusalem is a type of the true church in the Bible. The primary Hebrew meaning of Jerusalem is "dual."

*Simon Peter saith unto them, I go [Gk: to lead oneself (the ego I: natural soulical self)] a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing [the soul can take nothing from God]. But when the morning was now come [Rev 2:28], Jesus stood on the shore [Gk: a beach on which the waves of the sea (Bible type of humanity) dash]: but the disciples knew not [Gk: understood. (soulical eyes)] that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children [Gk: paidion: a half-grown boy or girl, an immature Christian], have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore [last manifestation of learned obedience. Contrast to first obedience lesson of Luke 5:4,5, and results], and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Therefore that disciple [John] whom Jesus loved [agapao, used here by way of personal identification. Jesus loved them all] saith unto Peter, It is the Lord [manifestation of spiritual eyes]. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord [from John, Rom 10:15], he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) [Peter had been walking naturally without a covering, i.e. the garment of Jesus Christ] and did cast himself [sacrificed] into the sea [Jonah]. And the other disciples came [followed as sheep] in a little ship; (for they were not far from land [Mark 12:34: not far from the kingdom of God: Jesus], but as it were two hundred cubits [300 to 400 feet, approx a football field in length],) [obediently] dragging the net with fishes [into the millennium]. As soon then as they were come to land [promised land of prophetic seventh day millennial kingdom], they saw a fire [God's holiness] of coals there [Isa 9:19; Ezek 15:6;21:32; Matt 13:50: burnt wood: unsaved men, fuel for the fire], and fish [saved, caught up men] laid thereon [Gk: to rest upon, to lie outstretched, to be appointed. (prostrate: before God and being purified for service to the kingdom of God)], and bread [Gen 15:1, more of triune God]. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught [up, Matt 13:47-50]. Simon Peter went up [Gk: ascended], and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken [Gk: schizo: split or sever: break, divide, open, rend, make a rent]. (John 21:3-11)

Schizo is the Greek word from which we derive the word schizophrenic. Was not the temple veil of the dual nature of Jesus Christ son of man and Son of God rent in two, separated for God's purpose? Our ultimate restoration to God is through unified separation which is being consummated in a corporate body. We must be separated individually that we may become unified corporately. This is accomplished by the result of the action of the veil. God unveils us to Himself. That is the action. He reveals Himself to the unveiled agape part of us that can receive Him as we seek His face in and through agape love, "for there shall no man [Heb: Adam (natural soulical man)] see me, and live." (Ex 33:20). That love is the golden chain which binds us eternally to God. The book of Revelation is a book of agape love for it is a blessing (Rev 1:3) to the servants of God. It is also a snare akin to "tongues" for the as yet unbroken, unsacrificed, undenied, uncrucified prideful natural soulical man that remains in each of us for we are none of us perfect, no not one (Rom 3:10). This creature of darkness within attempts of his own self to wrest the things of God from God while in phileo mode. How foolish is that soulical aspect as he pretends to be a servant of Jesus Christ in imitation and counterfeit of the spiritual man. He does so to gain the blessing of Revelation 1:3 which for him can only be a curse (Deut 11:26).

Why did the first casting of the net in the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ brake (Luke 5:6) and the last casting of the net in the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ not brake (John 21:6)? The net of God is the pure Word of God which is Spirit (agape) which cannot be broken. His good and faithful servants are saints who are fishermen that minister the Word by casting it over all the world. When His servants cast the net in order and obedience (1 Chron 15:2,12,15), i.e. without mingling their soulical selves into the message and thus defiling it, the net cannot be broken. It is far more beneficial to the kingdom that you be an expository preacher-teacher rather than a topical preacher. An expository preacher affords the soulical aspect less opportunity for mingling his soulical self into the message. Nevertheless, God's will be done.

*And the Word [Gk: logos] was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

*For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word [Gk: logos], and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. (1 John 5:7)

The sower soweth the word (Gk: logos, Mark 4:14) parable exclusively employs the Greek "logos" for word in all three renditions of Matthew, Mark and Luke. What is the parable? "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God." (Luke 8:11). That's it! Jesus said "Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?" (Mark 4:13). "All parables" is pretty inclusive. The entire Bible itself and all the contents thereof is a parable for it is the Word of God (Luke 8:11). Can a part be other than the whole? A parable is a figure, a similitude with multiple meanings: it is multi-dimensional. It has a literal meaning but it also has an abstract meaning. It is dual. A parable is dual in nature although not limited to duality. It has a single specific literal meaning for those who walk by sight, and another abstract meaning or hierarchy of meanings for those who walk by faith. Be ye therefore Bereans (Acts 17:10-12). There is a twofold test for the veracity of any speaker: do the words witness with your Spirit, and, is the logos foundation present and solid? If both of these circumstances are not unquestionably present, that speaker is highly suspect and either you or he or both are probably soulical in ascendancy.

*So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. (1 Cor 15:42-49)

The apostle Paul prayed that "the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thess 5:23). Paul prayed for us that our complete and entire mind and body be sanctified "wholly" that the "whole" be preserved, rather than a part. Yes Lord. Sanctification is the preservative. That part of you which willingly receives sanctification shall be preserved. How much of you are you willing to submit to the fire of the cross that it might be preserved?

*Whom shall he [God] teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts [Heb 6:1,2: maturing Christians]. For precept [Heb: commandment] must be upon precept, precept upon precept [vertical agape: from God to saint]; line [Heb: a cord as connecting; for measuring] upon line, line upon line [horizontal agape: from saint to saint]; here a little, and there a little [Matt 13:32, little by little it becomes enlarged and grows]: For with stammering [Heb: foreign] lips and another tongue [Heb: language] will he speak to this people [1 Cor 12:10: the foreign tongue or language of the Lord is the Word of God expressed as a parable Mark 4:13 and His name is Jesus Christ: John 1:14; 1 John 5:7]. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear [Heb: understand]. But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward [from their evil ways], and be broken [Heb 4:12: divided their spirit from their soul: made schizophrenic], and snared [in the net], and [that part converted to spirit be] taken [up to Him]. (Isa 28:9-13)

This was the third appearance of the resurrected Christ Jesus to the disciples but the seventh appearance of twelve denoted in the Bible in human form. The resurrected Christ has appeared exclusively to the disciples and to converts. He has appeared a total of twelve times bodily plus one interesting sighting by Saul on the Damascus road. Saul saw Him as Light and heard His voice. Saul's traveling companions saw light but not Him and heard a voice but were without understanding: tongues. (Acts 9:3-9; 22:6-11). Agape is a tongue. He has never appeared to an unsaved man. He cannot because it is not yet the appointed time but He will visually appear to unsaved men very soon and that to their great sorrow (Matt 24:30). He can now only be seen through agape with spiritual eyes (Mark 8:24). Neither the unconverted natural man nor the soulical element of the converted man contain the deposit of agape necessary to perceive and understand He who is Agape (Matt 13:11-15), i.e. they do not speak the same language.

*So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest [agapao] thou me more than these [1. more than these other disciples love me? or 2. more than you love these other disciples? or 3. both: Matt 22:37-40?]? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love [phileo] thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest [agapao] thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love [phileo] thee. He saith unto him, Feed [Gk: Shepherd] my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest [phileo] thou me? Peter was grieved [Gk: in distress; to be sad: grief, grieve, be in heaviness, be sorrowful] because he [Jesus] said unto him the third time, Lovest [phileo] thou me? [How would you feel?]. And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love [phileo] thee . Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. (John 21:15-17)

What could Peter say? What would you have said in Peter's place? Yes, of course you would have said to Jesus "I agapao thee" because you have the deposit of that agape dwelling inside you which enables you to return that to Him which is His. Would you really have said that? What happened to Peter? Did Peter have that agape? No, not until Pentecost. That would seem to explain Peter's phileo response to Jesus insofar as Peter was speaking from the upper limit of his then existing capability in an honest and sincere heart. However, that interpretation is incorrect. Peter had previous to this instance already received the Holy Spirit agape inside him. He had present the indwelling agape Spirit as Jesus here questioned him, and he had it before Pentecost:

*Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her. Then the same day at evening, being the first 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. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. (John 20:18-23)

So what happened here on our fishing expedition? Peter was "grieved" in his agape spiritual self for his phileo soulical self. Why? Because he could not bring his uncrucified soulical self to confess (Rom 10:9) agape love for Jesus to Jesus and before his fellow disciples (Matt 10:32). Peter knew the difference between his heart and his head. That is why he could be grieved for without the indwelling agape he could never have known the difference. His spiritual man and his soulical man were vying for ascendancy as is manifestly demonstrated by his words. His spiritual feelings were agape but his soulical feelings were controlling and phileo. Much the same situation occurred in Mark 5:1-13 with the demoniac of the Gadarenes. Therefore Peter responded to Jesus both ways all three times. "Lord, thou knowest all things" was his final agape response in submissive acknowledgment of Lordship. He knew that Jesus could see the agape in his heart. "Thou knowest that I phileo thee" was his truthful soulical response without the Lordship acknowledgment. The end result of this exchange between Jesus and Peter would ultimately be the same as the exchange between Jesus and the man of the country of the Gadarenes. When anyone receives Jesus Christ into their heart, the end result will always be the same. It is just a matter of time. Here is the patience and faith of the saints (Rev 14:12). Have faith in God. Are we not, most of us, often grieved over that which we actually say and do vs. that which we know in our heart we should be saying and doing? Let not your heart be troubled, be assured that He which hath begun a good work in you will continue to perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Php 1:6). If we had not the eternal sealing (2 Cor 1:21,22; Eph 1:13,14; 4:40) in our hearts of the indwelling agape of God we could never know the difference. That you perceive the difference proves its existence within you, for it is not possible to perceive that which does not exist. Nevertheless, the spirit man within each of us is rightfully grievous in all foreknowledge of the terrible consequences of eternal separation from God. He weeps in sorrow as did Peter for the unsacrificed soulical man within.

This multi-dimensional parable is a microcosm of the Bible. Thematically we have pictured in this parable in my no particular order: 1. grace and law; 2. agape and phileo; 3. fall and restoration; 4. firstfruits and harvest; 5. spiritual element and soulical element vying for ascendancy within the same mind; 6. spirit man and soul man individually as brothers; 7. overcomer body and church body; 8. God and mammon; 9. heaven and hell; 10. faith and sight; 11. shepherd and sheep; 12. Esau and Jacob; 13. Judah and Ephraim; 14. Jacob and Israel; 15. Isaac and Ishmael; 16. Zion and Jerusalem; 17. Judah and Jerusalem. There are certainly more themes in this parable than I am able to receive at this moment as an elder son. Thank you Lord. Praise God. Although some of the themes listed herein are more than closely related to each other, all are interrelated and each listing has a distinctive message. Each of these listings is a dialect of the tongue of the Lord (Luke 8:11; John 1:14) that "devout men, out of every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5) will hear. "Every man heard them speak [the parable] in his own language [Gk: dialect (understanding)]." (Acts 2:6).

Prodigal is not found in the Bible but it is the generally accepted appellation of this parable. The word "prodigal" means to be wastefully or recklessly extravagant. We must pay particular attention as to what exactly was wasted in this parable and who exactly did the wasting (this is a highly recommended and most excellent topic for personal rumination, i.e. chew the cud on that one for a while!).

The Father gave to the younger son the portion of "his living" meaning His kingdom which was the family inheritance. As part of the family of God, our full inheritance can only be fully received once we as a spiritual man have become completely separated from our soulical brother. Please note the separations Abraham experienced. "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son [Gk: huios]." (Rev 21:7). "All things" is all inclusive, including first of all things the fullness of the Holy Spirit and His eternal life (Gen 15:1). The lesser balance of our inheritance is a land flowing with milk and honey (Lev 20:24), and treasures of substance (Prov 8:21) because "the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just." (Prov 13:22). Upon his request to the Father, the younger son immediately received his full inheritance positionally (Rom 10:9). However, he was able to recognize and walk initially in only that part of the inheritance which was visible and had substance. Why? Because natural men walk exclusively by sight and he was still almost completely natural.

The sight walk of a newly converted Christian has to be transformed (Rom 12:2), experientially converted, to a faith walk. How? "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word [Gk: rhema] of God." (Rom 10:17). We eat the logos and hear the rhema. That process of hearing, as in receiving, the rhema word and allowing that received rhema to work a transformation within us is experiential. It occurs as we continue to advance on our journey as pilgrims (1 Pet 2:11) trekking through a hazardous, to our natural man, wilderness which extends from the Red Sea to the Jordan River. It takes time to convert a rebellious soul into an obedient spirit. Phileo to agape. The vast preponderance of the early walk of a newly converted Christian is by sight. He will continue to walk by sight, although decreasingly so, for his entire wilderness trek as his sight walk becomes increasingly transformed and converted by rhema into a faith walk. Jacob died at Penuel (Gen 32:30,31) but continued on for a time. He didn't know that he was dead. His experiential reality caught up with his positional reality when God officially called his name Israel (Gen 35:10). Meanwhile, Jacob had become a zombie which is another cultural archetype for a dead soul man. He appears to be living, but is actually dead. The walk to God begins in sight and ends in faith. Sheep and shepherd. The walk begins in vast phileo preponderance and a tiny little gift of agape. The lessening phileo is progressively converted through rhema into increasing agape. First the natural, then the spiritual. (1 Cor 15:46). No one can cross the Red Sea which is the beginning of our faith walk and also cross the Jordan River which is the fullness of our faith walk at the same time. No one, including Jesus has ever done so. Hallelujah!!

Let us say that your name is Justus. You personally are a disciple of Jesus and were numbered of the men that had traveled with Jesus from the baptism of John throughout the past three and one-half years. You were witness to His baptism and His entire earthly ministry. You were witness to His death and resurrection. You were witness to His ascension. You have now been nominated by the eleven apostles along with another man to become an apostle in their company for the ministry of Jesus Christ. The nomination is lifted up to God, and Matthias is chosen.

He won. You lost. How does that make you feel? How do you feel about that? Stop reading for a moment and search your inner feelings as if you were Justus. Are you disappointed, or perhaps slightly angry, or both? Do you wish that you could have been an apostle? Do you even now as you read this wish that you could be an apostle? Do you suppose that Justus had any of these thoughts that you have? What kind of a man was Justus? We know that Justus and Matthias were held in the highest estimation by the eleven apostles, else they would not have been nominated from amongst the 120 disciples then present. To be esteemed highly by an apostle speaks volumes as to the character of a man. Would not a man of this unblemished character who lost the apostleship to another man be happy and gladdened for that man? That is how a pure man of God, an agape man would feel. He would be joyously happy for the man who received the apostleship because God's will had been done. Did you feel like that? How much phileo is in you? Are you happy in defeat?

These thoughts are all correct and provide an excellent lesson of the working of humility in God's agape love and the priority of setting forth another before oneself (Matt 22:37-40). First God, then Matthias, then me. However, all is not as it would appear. (It literally never is).

In the Greek, Justus means "just." Isn't that interesting? Please recall what the elder son declared of himself concerning the law of his Father: "Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment." (Luke 15:29). The elder son declared himself just. He was also judged just by his Father: "Son [Gk: teknon: child], thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine." (Luke 15:31). The law is just, and the law is phileo because it was before agape Jesus was born into the world. First the natural, then the spiritual. The order of nomination given in scripture is "Justus, and Matthias." Then how could the apostles nominate this man? Because his appearance was perfect (2 Cor 11:14,15). However, "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jer 17:9). Only the word of God which is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart (Heb 4:12) can know the heart. Certainly not the apostles who had plenty of phileo problems of their own. Their judgment of the unblemished character of Justus did not include the heart of the man. God's did. This particular man named Justus is not ever again mentioned in the Bible. In the Greek, Matthias means "gift" or "gift of the Lord." That is spelled agape. Well, praise God. Phileo and agape. Did you note the duality of the nomination, i.e. that two were nominated or lifted up equally by men? Only one was chosen. Thank you Lord. God is agape Love.

*In that day [the Lord's imminent day of Atonement] will I make the governors of Judah [corporate shepherd huios of God body: Mt. Zion] like an hearth of fire among the wood [of unsaved men], and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about [Joel 2], on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem [Rev 12:1,2,5,6: the woman: corporate true believing sheep of the church] shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem [the sheepfold]. The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first [firstfruits body, an hundredfold: Rev 14:4], that the glory of the house of David [Zech 12:8: remnant of her seed, thirtyfold] and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem [church, sixtyfold] do not magnify themselves against Judah. (Zech 12:6,7)

Hallelujah!! Praise God. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen

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